[31] The Settlement

"Well, look who came crawling back."

For a moment, I had no idea who he meant until I recognised the man standing by the gate.

Ah, right. The gatekeeper.

The settlement had grown since my last visit. The entrance was wider now, reinforced enough that I almost missed the two cars that had marked it before.

The same man was still on duty. His flattened nose was hard to forget, especially with the burn scar disappearing beneath the ragged edge of his left ear.

He remembered me much better.

"Thought this place wasn't good enough for you?"

"I never said that."

He snorted.

"No. You just heard everyone here had to work and walked straight back out."

That was during the first week, when I took interest in the growing settlement in the Stronghold's vicinity. 

But if you wanted to join them, you needed to be able-bodied and work. I had Yoru waiting back at the warehouse then. Joining also meant giving up several hours a day to whatever needed doing here.

That didn't fit my plans. So I left.

But from his unwelcome expression, I'm guessing he took that personally.

"We're not here to join."

"Then what are you doing here? Pfft, acting so tough. Let me guess, you ran out of supplies?"

His eyes moved past me.

Lunallu had already changed out of anything that might identify her too easily with the EDF camp. Yoru stood closer to me, a loose cap pulled low enough to hide her ears.

The gatekeeper looked between the two of them, then back at me.

"Wow, you've got some lookers with you. Guess three people ain't enough to share?"

There was something in the way he said it that made Lunallu narrow her eyes slightly.

"Something like that."

It was easier to let him believe whatever he wanted.

His attention lingered on Lunallu again.

"Must be nice, man? Some of us have been breaking our backs keeping this place standing while guys like you disappear for a few weeks." He glanced at Yoru. "Then you show up looking clean with two girls following you around."

Yoru's fingers twitched beside mine.

I reached over and held her hand.

"Yuna."

She looked up at me. The name still took a moment, but her grip eventually eased.

"Yuna?"

"She's my sister."

The gatekeeper looked at her again, with naked interest in his eyes. Still, whatever he had been about to say died somewhere behind his teeth.

I nodded toward Lunallu instead.

"Lina. She's family too. She's been staying with an EDF camp nearby."

Lunallu gave a light nod.

"Hello."

That seemed to bother him more than if she had ignored him.

He rubbed his tongue against the inside of his cheek.

"So she brought you here?"

"Yes."

"And now you think you can just walk in?"

"We're visiting."

"Visiting... hah." He repeated the word like it offended him.

The second guard beside him had been quiet the whole time. He looked older, maybe late forties, with an EDF jacket thrown over whatever he had been wearing underneath and a cigarette resting between two fingers.

Yoru's eyes went to the smoke almost immediately,  her nose wrinkling. The man caught the look, glanced at the cigarette, then quietly crushed it beneath his boot without being asked.

He seemed like a nice guy, despite the shaved head and neck tattoo.

"This miss had been vouched for before," he said. "If they're with her, just write them in."

The gatekeeper didn't move. Instead, he looked at me.

"You know, people here actually work for what they eat." His eyes went to the girls again. "Being pretty and hanging off some guy doesn't get you special treatment."

Even after the world ended, some clichés still found a way to survive.

"If you have a problem with me, then keep it with me."

His eyebrows rose.

"They didn't say anything to you."

Maybe I'd hit the part he wanted.

"Protecting them now?"

"No. I'm asking you to stop wasting everyone's time."

"What, office boy got some balls now?"

I heard Yoru inhale beside me. My thumb rubbed once across the back of her hand, and she stayed where she was. A few people inside the gate had started looking over. Not many, but enough for the man to notice. He jerked his chin toward a stack of metal plates beside the barricade.

"Since you're only visiting, how about you make yourself useful first?"

I followed his gaze.

The plates looked like they had been stripped from somewhere nearby. Construction site, warehouse, maybe a shutter. Two men farther inside were carrying them one at a time toward the wall.

"I don't mind helping out a little, but are visitors supposed to handle all that on a first day?"

"They're not," the older guard said.

The gatekeeper ignored him.

"I'm only asking you to move one."

"Why?"

He gave me a look as though the answer should have been obvious.

"Thought you said you didn't mind helping."

Ah. So that was what this was.

He wanted an audience. One of the men carrying the plates had already slowed down to watch us. A few others nearby were doing the same. The gatekeeper walked over and hooked both hands beneath one of the plates.

"Like this."

He lifted it off the ground and carried it several metres before dropping it beside the barricade with a loud clang.

He came back rubbing his palms together.

"Your turn."

I let go of Yoru's hand and pulled my sleeves down before walking over.

The gloves underneath were one of the things I had recovered from the lower-rarity pulls.

★★ Load-Assist Gloves.

I crouched beside the plate and tested the weight.

Heavy. Not ridiculously so. The gloves tightened around my fingers, helping my grip and taking some of the strain off my hands and wrists.

"Need help?" the gatekeeper taunted.

"No."

I got both hands under the edge and lifted. It came up easier than I expected. I had to slow myself down halfway through so it wouldn't look strange.

The man's smile disappeared. I carried it past him and set it down beside the one he'd moved. There was a short silence, before somebody near the gate laughed.

"Looks fine to me."

The gatekeeper's jaw tightened, as he pointed at another plate.

"Try that one."

The older guard reached for the cigarette pack in his pocket, glanced at Yoru, then stopped and let his hand fall.

"Enough." He looked at the gatekeeper.

"Stop being petty."

Then he turned toward the settlement and raised his voice.

"Chen! Bring these three in!"

A younger man with a crew cut looked over from near the barricade and waved before heading our way.

Behind him, two kids were chasing each other between the tents. One had his arms stretched out in front of him while making an awful groaning noise.

"I'm a zombie!"

The other kid screamed and ran faster.

I couldn't help but laugh.

Of all the games to survive the apocalypse.

"You think this is funny?"

I looked back at the gatekeeper.

"What?"

His face had gone red.

"You laughing at me?"

"No, I was—"

He grabbed for my collar before I could finish.

I caught his wrist. The glove tightened under my sleeve.

His expression changed when he tried to pull free and couldn't.

"Let go."

"You first."

"Fucker!" He shoved forward with his other hand.

I stepped aside, twisted his wrist just enough to break his balance, and sent him stumbling into the plate he'd wanted me to lift.

"Aaggghhh! My wrist!"

Maybe I overdid it. I still felt a little bad hearing him cry out.

Still, he grabbed me first.

The older EDF guard was between us immediately. He gave me a look, but didn't say anything further. Instead, he turned towards the other man, who was cradling his wrist against his chest in pain.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Mason. Go change shifts with the next person, you're out of it."

"Ghhh... just you wait..." Mason glared at me before backing off, shoving past the onlookers in his way.

"Chen. Take them in."

The crew-cut hurried over.

"Hey guys! Sorry about that, I'll bring you to your bunks. Please follow me..."

I adjusted my sleeve as I checked my two companions again. They seemed rather unperturbed by the small scuffle. Yoru, however, was looking past the gate, toward the industrial slope where the Stronghold was hidden.

"What's wrong?"

Her gaze lingered there for another second before she shook her head.

"Nothing, Ma— ...big brother."

I followed Chen through the gate before anyone found another reason to make this take longer.

Chen led us through the gate.

The settlement looked different from the inside.

People had taken over most of the buildings along the road. Some of the shutters were open now, with blankets hanging where glass used to be. A few cooking fires had been set up beneath the covered walkways, and someone had painted arrows on the walls to mark where people were supposed to go.

It felt lived in.

"Visitors stay near the back with our older folks," Chen said. "Less traffic there. You three staying together?"

"Yes."

He nodded without questioning it.

Yoru stayed close enough that her shoulder occasionally brushed mine. Her eyes kept moving whenever someone passed us.

Lunallu noticed too.

"...Hey... Yuna. Don't look at everyone like that," she said quietly.

Yoru looked at her.

"They'll think you're nervous."

"...Not. Nervoushh..." She bit her tongue saying that.

As Chen led us along, a few people greeted him in passing.

"Morning, Chen!"

"Morning!"

Another voice called his name from somewhere ahead, and he answered without slowing.

The people we passed looked worn, but not miserable. Most were dressed in whatever had survived the past few weeks, with old work clothes mixed with things that clearly belonged to someone else. A few smiled as they went by.

There was no panic here. People were tired, busy, sometimes dirty, but they were living rather than waiting to die.

I also noticed how young a lot of them were. Teenagers, mostly. Some looked barely out of school.

...Why did zombie stories always end up with so many high schoolers?

Hmm.

Thinking about it, maybe it wasn't that strange. Younger people could run, adapt, and get out of bad situations faster. They also had less to lose in the practical sense. Fewer homes to maintain, fewer dependants; adults had more things anchoring them in place.

Sometimes that probably got them killed.

Yoru kept watching them, more puzzled than interested. People were walking up to each other without hesitation, calling out names, smiling, turning their backs without checking who was behind them.

None of it seemed to make sense to her. Watching her take it in, I was glad I hadn't left her at the Stronghold. Lunallu had adjusted by spending time around other people. If I wanted Yoru to get there too, she needed more of this.

One step at a time.

I was about to ask what she thought of everyone here when a notification opened at the edge of my vision.

[Party Request Received.]

...? Hm. A party request?

Charlotte. I slowed slightly.

That was unexpected. I hadn't heard from her directly since the camp, and her Affinity still shouldn't have been high enough for normal communication.

More importantly, I hadn't even known Operators could request to join my Party themselves.

"Lina."

I leaned closer to her ear so Chen wouldn't hear.

"D-Doctor?" She flinched slightly at the distance.

"Can someone request to join my Party on their own?"

"...Of course."

Before I could pull back, Yoru tugged me away by the arm.

"You can do that?" I asked more quietly.

"...Yes. Do you want me to join your party now?"

"Ah... no. I was just curious about something."

"...? Alright."

Thinking back, when I first formed a Party with Lunallu and Charlotte, neither of them had treated the system itself as strange. I had assumed the controls were mine because I was the player.

Well, that was useful to know. I didn't think much more of it and opened the request.

[Charlotte Holmes has requested to join your party.]

No explanation. Of course.

"Something wrong?" Lunallu asked.

"Charlotte."

Her expression changed slightly.

"She contacted you?"

"Not exactly."

Before I could decide what to do with the request, another notification appeared.

"Accept it."

I frowned. Didn't Private Communications require 50 Affinity? I pulled up the Operator list and checked her profile. The communication option was unlocked. Last I remembered, Charlotte had been sitting at 39. ...So she'd somehow crossed the threshold while she was away.

I glanced to the side, where Lunallu pushed up her round glasses and looked back at me with a question on her face. They had no prescription, of course. She just wore them for her new identity.

Apparently, I'd been staring. I turned back, deep in thought.

Lunallu's Affinity had gone up without me doing much either. Unless it's a special case for an Operator like Yoru, maybe it wasn't something I had to actively raise after all?

I couldn't check Charlotte's exact number from here. That still required seeing her Status Window in person.

[Charlotte has joined your Party.]

Maybe she's testing something again. Well, I'll leave her to it if she can find out something about the Party mechanic.

It was probably better not keep Yoru in the same Party as Charlotte for long.

I looked over at her, and whispered, "Yoru, leave the Party for a while."

She immediately looked unhappy.

"Mast—mmph!"

I covered her mouth before the rest came out.

Chen glanced back at us.

"Temporary," I told Yoru.

Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded.

"...Okay..."

[Yoru has left your Party.]

I gave her hand a small squeeze.

"I'll put you back in later."

She pressed closer instead, putting more of her weight against my free arm.

Lunallu noticed.

"Cousin, you sure got close to sister Yuna while we were apart."

I could almost feel the thorns behind that smile.

...Is this jealousy?

I almost dismissed it, then remembered her Affinity. That number had climbed a lot while we were apart. If it really reflected how she felt about me, then treating this like a joke would probably be a bad idea.

She did look... pouty.

I should talk to her properly once we're settled down.

"She gets nervous around crowds," I said with a wry smile.

Chen glanced at us from the corner of his eye.

"You siblings are really close huh, you're making the rest of us jealous."

"...We're the only family left, after all."

His expression dimmed.

[Affinity has increased by 1.]

[Affinity has increased by 1.]

What...?

Beside me, Yoru's hold tightened, and Lunallu went quiet too. Their eyes met for a moment, and neither looked away. I had only meant it for the cover story. Apparently, they hadn't taken it that way.

"Yeah..." Chen looked ahead again. "I get it. Sorry for bringing it up..."

"Don't be."

He's a good guy.

The road opened up farther in.

The settlement had spread through an older trade estate, the kind built around repair shops, hardware stores and small warehouses. The survivors had blocked off the connecting streets and taken over most of the block. Most of the shopfronts were occupied now. Doors that had been shut on my last visit were open, with people moving in and out carrying whatever the settlement had found a use for.

I had to admit, it was impressive.

Chen seemed to catch me looking around and straightened a little.

"Pretty good, right?"

"Yeah. You guys seem to be doing quite well. Better than when I last came."

He grinned.

"We're expanding as more men join our ranks. Cleared the back row last week too. Having people just moves everything faster."

There was obvious pride in his voice.

"Most of this was just empty shops at first. Now we've got proper sleeping areas, storage, even a kitchen that doesn't get flooded every time it rains."

"Not bad."

"Not bad?" Chen looked back at me. "Give us another month."

He sounded completely serious.

"Once we get the next block cleared, we'll have enough room for everyone. Maybe even get proper power running again."

Looking around, I could understand why he believed that.

For three weeks into the end of the world, they were doing well.

That was the problem, though. Three weeks wasn't very long.

From what Yerin had told me, places like this were the exception. Some neighbourhoods still had running water. Others hadn't seen it in days. Power came and went depending on what was still connected, and every road they cleared could become useless again the moment a horde wandered through.

The infected estimates weren't getting any better either.

If enough of them started moving out from the denser parts of the country, the heartlands would feel it next. There were only so many places the EDF could hold at once. At some point, the government might have to decide which ones were worth holding at all.

...This place had managed to start something resembling society again, but most of what kept the old one running was still gone. I looked toward a bundle of extension cables running from one building to another.

A generator rattled somewhere nearby. Useful for now. Not something you could build a future around.

"You guys get much help from the EDF here?" I asked.

"Not really help." Chen scratched his cheek. "We've only got a few of them stationed here. Mostly for relaying messages and keeping contact with the other camps."

"So they don't run this place?"

"Nah. We've got our own leaders."

He pointed farther down the road.

"Husband and wife. They were already organising everyone before the EDF started coming around."

"What do the soldiers come here for, then?"

"Information, mostly. Sometimes they'll bring news from outside and trade it for whatever we can spare. Food, batteries, medicine if we have enough."

That sounded closer to what Yerin had described. The EDF wasn't rebuilding every settlement themselves. They didn't have the manpower for that. They were keeping them connected.

...In a way, the EDF and I were thinking along the same lines.

The difference was that I still didn't have a proper plan. Not yet, at least.

A lot depended on what the gacha gave me. The tents were already enough to shelter people, and I still had emergency rations sitting untouched in my Inventory that could keep someone going for nearly a week. Trust me. I'd tried.

These were enough to keep people alive for a while. But building something like this was different. Water, power, sanitation, security, a steady source of food... I'd need proper answers for those eventually.

I'm no saint. My goals aren't exactly selfless, but they still involve keeping humanity from going extinct. If I can save people along the way, I will. But keeping people alive today isn't enough. Eventually, I'll need to help build something that can still be here tomorrow.

That's why I've been letting the Operators spread out when they choose to help on their own.

I can't do everything myself.

"Chen!"

The shout pulled me out of my thoughts.

A man farther down the road waved at him.

"Minji is looking for you!"

Chen groaned.

"Again?"

"She said now!"

"Yeah, yeah! A minute!" He turned back to us.

"Sorry. We're almost there anyway."

A short walk later, he brought us to one of the quieter buildings near the rear. A few plastic chairs had been placed outside, mostly occupied by older men and women talking among themselves.

"This one's for visitors and the older folks. Water's around the back. Toilets are downstairs, but don't use the second one. It's clogged."

"Got it."

"Food gets handed out around noon and again before dark. If you're going outside the barricades, tell someone first so we don't think you're missing."

He pointed upstairs.

"Second floor should still have some empty rooms. Just pick one with a green mark on the door."

"Chen!"

The voice came again, louder this time.

"I said I'm coming!"

An elderly woman nearby laughed.

"Go, Chen. I'll show them around."

The young man looked relieved.

"Thanks, Auntie May."

He gave us a quick wave.

"Sorry again about Mason. He's been stressed because of his..."

Chen trailed off, glanced aside, then rubbed the back of his neck.

"...Never mind."

Everyone had their own story. It was the zombie apocalypse, after all.

If I ran into Mason again, I should probably clear the air. Temporary or not, there was no point making enemies here.

"If you need anything, just ask around."

Then he hurried off. Auntie May watched him go before turning to us.

"That boy, heh... always running somewhere."

Her attention settled on Yoru.

"Oh."

She stiffened at the sudden attention.

Auntie May smiled.

"Such a pretty girl."

Yoru looked at me.

Then at Lunallu.

"...Thank you," Lunallu whispered to her.

Yoru hesitated. Her mouth moved once before any sound came out.

"...Thank. You."

The words were awkward enough. Yoru followed them with a stiff bow, clearly unsure what came next.

"Good girl."

Her grip on my arm tightened. The edge of her cap shifted slightly.

Auntie May pushed herself up from the chair.

"Come. I'll show you upstairs first. Then you should go eat before the queue gets long."

"There's a queue?"

She gave me a look.

"Young man, there is always a queue for food."

Auntie May started up the stairs, and we followed.

Yoru kept close to my side, one hand still wrapped around my arm as she watched each landing before stepping onto it. Lunallu followed behind us in silence, her eyes moving over the rooms and whoever happened to be nearby.

If I remembered right, the food queue was near the chamber anyway.

Convenient.

The room we were led to was better than I expected. Someone had cleared out most of the old furniture, leaving three mattresses along the wall and enough space for our things. I glanced at Lunallu. She must've left a pretty good impression in the EDF camp for them to accommodate us this easily. Lunallu caught me looking and gave me a faint smile.

My chest gave a small thump. Those clothes looked good on her.

Auntie May pointed toward the door.

"Water's downstairs. Food should be ready in about half an hour." She looked between the three of us. "If you need blankets or anything else, just come find me, darlings."

"Thank you so much, Auntie May. We'll be in your care."

Yoru hurried to copy us.

"T-Thank... you... very much..."

Then she bent almost ninety degrees.

Auntie May blinked before laughing.

"Haha... it's nice to be young..." She waved us off and headed back downstairs.

Yoru stayed near the entrance while Lunallu checked the room in silence.

I set my bag down.

Half an hour. Taking the time, I relayed my plans to the two of them.

By the time we headed downstairs, the smell of cooked food had already reached the building.

Auntie May wasn't kidding about the queue. It stretched across the open space ahead, with people carrying whatever they had available to hold food. Metal bowls, plastic containers, old lunchboxes.

Yoru slowed when she saw the crowd.

"Stay close," I said.

She immediately took that as permission to hold my arm again.

The queue shuffled forward, bringing the people behind us a little closer.

Lunallu stepped in beside me and lowered her voice near my ear, her chest pressing lightly against my shoulder as though she hadn't noticed.

"Doctor, if the chamber is where you remember, we can watch the traffic around it while we eat."

"...That's what I was thinking."

Does she actually know what getting this close does to a guy? ...Hm. Maybe she does.

Still, I kept my eyes ahead. A few men in the queue kept looking over. One ahead glanced back twice; another behind us wasn't nearly as subtle as he thought. Even dressed down, Lunallu and Yoru still stood out. At least staring was as far as it went. For a place this packed with strangers, that said a lot about how well they kept things in order here.

Yoru's grip on my arm tightened. Her fingers trembled slightly against my sleeve.

"Yoru, it's okay," I whispered.

"...Mm..."

The line moved quickly enough. Food distribution seemed well organised. A pair of large stockpots sat behind the serving table, one filled with rice and the other with a thick stew of vegetables and some meat chunks. Someone beside them was ladling portions out while another person kept the line moving.

"Three?" The woman serving looked at us.

"Yes, thank you, ma'am."

"Ey. Youngsters need to eat more."

I'm... not a youngster though. Well, maybe? I'd been told I had a younger face by my colleagues.

"Here, girlie. I gave you extra."

This must be pretty privilege.

The woman filled the first container and passed it over. Yoru stared at the portion blankly. Lunallu leaned closer and murmured the reminder beside her, before Yoru finally accepted the bowl with both hands.

"Thank... you."

The woman smiled.

"You're welcome, sweetheart."

For a moment, something softened in Yoru's eyes. A faint shine gathered there before she lowered her head.

I gave her a small nudge from behind.

"Come on."

She moved along without a word, still holding the bowl carefully in both hands.

Lunallu watched her for a moment, her expression softening with the familiarity of an older sister.

Maybe that wasn't too far off. Yoru had been born into an adult body, but when it came to things like this, she still had very few mature sensibilities. It was rare to see Lunallu look this openly sympathetic. Maybe Yoru reminded her of the people she'd once seen touched by the smallest kindness back in the prison.

Lunallu and I were served next. Neither of us got shortchanged either, with the woman giving us both a generous scoop before waving the next person forward.

We stepped aside to make room for the people behind us.

That was when I noticed familiar faces farther along the queue.

Celeste. Linda was beside her, and Ethan stood a little behind the two.

So they made it. I had expected them to. Celeste looked healthier than when I last saw her.

There wasn't any reason to approach them.

As far as she knew, we'd never met. Besides, standing around with Yoru beside me would only make things easier to notice.

Someone else caught my eye as we moved away. A girl with pastel-pink headphones was collecting her food nearby.

She looked strangely familiar.

Our eyes met for a moment before she turned and left with her food.

"...Let's go."

I nodded toward the far end of the block.

We moved away from the queue with our food. The closer we got, the more people I noticed with phones in their hands. That was strange enough on its own. A man sitting near the roadside was watching something on his screen, while a little girl beside him leaned over to see.

"...You guys have internet here?"

The man looked up at us, his gaze lingering on the women.

"Sort of." He lifted the phone slightly.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out mine.

I'd kept it charged all this time, even though there hadn't been much point. Aside from the calculator, torchlight and checking the time, it was mostly just dead weight.

"Signal's only good around here," he continued. "Gets worse the farther you go."

I pressed the power button and watched the screen light up.

Still, I'd kept carrying it. Partly out of habit, partly in case the lines ever came back and something important managed to get through.

My eyes moved toward the signal indicator.

If it's true...

I glanced farther down the block. The chamber was still some distance away, but this was already the closest I'd been to it since coming back.

...There might be a connection.

"You're new here, right?"

Yoru shifted behind me at the sudden question, half-hiding herself against my back.

The man noticed, but didn't comment on it.

"Sorry. Just figured you guys heard about this place and came over for the signal."

"...People come here for that?"

"You really don't know?" He looked mildly surprised. "Then you probably haven't seen the videos going around."

"What videos?"

"What else? The meteorites, man."

"...What about them?"

"The latest one caused a whole mess. Came down near one of the outer districts and apparently pulled a bunch of infected toward it."

I knew this would happen. 

"The EDF blocked off the area after. Government put out another warning telling people to stay away."

He raised his phone and tapped at the screen.

"Someone caught the whole thing too. That's why everyone's been passing the video around."

The clip loaded almost immediately. That caught my attention more than the video itself. On-screen, something burning tore through the night sky before disappearing behind a row of buildings. The person filming swore and started running. A few seconds later, the camera swung back toward the road. Infected were already moving in the same direction.

"Huh."

"Crazy, right?"

I was looking at the corner of his screen now. The connection was stable. I checked my own phone again.

"...Does it always work this well here?"

"Pretty much around this side."

He gestured farther down the block.

"Gets stronger the closer you get to that thing. People around here already think it's connected somehow."

He glanced back at the video on his phone.

"Especially after this latest one. Weird objects start showing up, infected start acting strange, then we've got that thing sitting here giving us signal?"

He shrugged.

"Could be bullshit, but people talk."

He looked back down at his phone.

"Still, I'm not complaining. Been weeks since most of us had anything to watch that wasn't someone's saved videos."

A small grin crossed his face.

"People crowd around whenever something new loads. News, dumb clips, whatever. Makes things feel normal again for a bit."

Then he leaned in slightly, lowering his voice like he was about to share something important.

"Some people even swear they've seen a person come out of it."

"...Yeah. That's bullshit for sure."

Lunallu and Yoru were already looking at me as I said that.

The man laughed.

"That's what I said. Still, you hear enough weird things these days and people start believing anything."

"You're right. It's a crazy world we live in these days."

"Damn right."

I thanked him and moved on before the conversation continued on to his growing interest in my companions.

The farther we walked, the stronger the signal on my phone became.

One bar. Then two. Ahead, people had spread themselves around the open space near the chamber, eating, talking, or staring into their phones while they still had a connection.

Conveniently enough, that gave us plenty of reason to be there too.

Then I noticed it. A faint pulse ran across the chamber's surface, barely visible. Another followed when I took a few more steps.

...It's reacting to me, just like before.

I slowed.

"Stay back a little."

"Doctor?" Lunallu whispered. "Is it dangerous?"

"No, but we'll probably be exposed if we get any closer."

The pulse faded again once I held my distance.

We found a place near the edge instead and sat down with our food.

I took out my phone again and unlocked it. A second later, it started vibrating nonstop.

Messages flooded the screen faster than I could read.

"...What the hell?"

Voss had been on my mind again.

The way he talked, the way he moved, how easily he handled everything that would've gotten the rest of us killed.

...Even now, I still couldn't tell what kind of person he really was.

My head had been a mess since everything started.

At the very least, this place was safe enough for the three of us. We had somewhere to sleep, food every day, adults watching the barricades instead of students like us.

...Thinking about it, Celeste was the one who brought us here.

I looked ahead at her. Her shoulder-length brown hair was held back by a simple hairband, and she'd changed into something a little more mature than what I was used to seeing her in.

She looked different. But she looked nice in that style too. Seeing her there in front of me, safe and smiling as she waited in line, made something in me loosen.

If she hadn't insisted on coming here, I didn't know where Linda and I would've ended up.

But the person who told her about this place in the first place was...

Voss.

My eyes dropped slightly. 

...Even those clothes made me think of everything that happened after we met him.

I gritted my teeth without noticing.

Why did everything keep coming back to that guy? Am I really... Is she...

"Ethan."

Linda's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Move."

I looked down. The queue had already shifted forward, leaving a gap in front of me.

When I had noticed Linda's stare, her smile had disappeared. Before I could answer, she slipped her hand around mine and squeezed.

"Ethan," she whispered. "After everything that's happened between us, you're still staring at another girl?"

Her fingers tightened around mine.

"You're going to take responsibility for me, right?"

"W-What? No, Linda, I was just—"

Celeste's head started to turn at the sound of our voices.

I quickly pulled my hand free.

"Nothing!"

She glanced back at us.

"...Okay?" Celeste gave us one last puzzled look before turning back around.

I let out the breath I'd been holding.

Beside me, Linda was still staring, lips pressed into a thin line.

"Tonight," she whispered.

My shoulders stiffened. I knew exactly what she meant.

"...Linda."

I should've told her no.

Instead, nothing came out.

Linda's smile returned.

"At least your body's honest." She gave my hand another squeeze, looking far more satisfied now. I turned away before she could tease me any further.

That was when I caught a couple of guys farther ahead whispering. For a second, I thought they meant Linda holding my hand. I almost felt a little smug about it.

Then I followed their gaze.

A man was walking away from the queue with two women beside him.

...Oh.

One stayed close to his arm while the other walked beside him. Both stood out immediately. No wonder the guys ahead had noticed. The man wasn't old, but he was definitely an adult.

For some reason, that bothered me more.

Seriously?

My eyes stayed on the two women a little longer than they should have.

Were they foreigners or something? Even now, with everyone else looking exhausted and half put together, they somehow looked almost flawless. And both of them were with that guy? What was he to them?

I looked at him properly.

He was definitely older than me, though not by that much. Mid-twenties, maybe. Glasses, messy hair, heavy bags under his eyes. His eyes themselves looked half-dead, like he hadn't slept properly in years.

He wasn't exactly some handsome celebrity.

Still...

'...I might like older guys.'

Celeste's words came back at the worst possible time.

I looked toward her. She was staring too.

My chest tightened. Then I noticed her expression.

She wasn't really looking at the guy. Her eyes had settled on the girl walking close beside him.

Celeste frowned.

"...Wait."

"What? You know those people?" Linda glanced at her with mild curiosity.

Celeste didn't answer. The three of them were already walking away, leaving mostly the girl's back visible beneath the loose cap.

Celeste's brows drew together slightly, like she was trying to remember something.

I felt something unpleasant twist in my stomach anyway. Of course. Of all the people here, she had to keep staring at them.

I had no idea what that was about.

Still... at least she hadn't been staring at him.

...That was probably just petty jealousy. It's not like Celeste and I were even dating. But I was... glad.

Celeste shook her head eventually and finally turned back to us.

"Come on. Let's grab a spot before they're all taken."

She smiled.

"I found this really stupid meme yesterday. You two have to see it."

Linda laughed and followed after her.

I went with them.

Celeste was already talking again by the time we left the queue, with Linda cutting in every few sentences and dragging me into it whenever I stayed quiet too long. Listening to them, I found myself smiling too.

Maybe this was the one good thing that came out of all this.

Before, the three of us had our own lives. School, family, different plans after graduation.

Now we were together almost all the time.

And somehow, after everything that had happened, moments like this still existed.

I wanted to protect that.

If only these days could stay like this forever.

I would do whatever I could to keep them that way.