The girl under the moonlight was breathtakingly beautiful. Looking into her eyes, Leo took a deep breath and, in the end, didn't leave.
He gently sat down in the corner, and the girl followed, collapsing into his arms and burying her head against his chest.
She had been frightened far too much.
Leo lightly wrapped his arms around her, letting her lean against him. He could clearly feel the warmth of her body, as well as that alluring scent…
Though part of it was masked by the smell of blood, there was no doubt that at this moment, it was still an enormous test for him.
Not to mention how full and soft her body was—it didn't feel like a girl's at all. Strictly speaking, it was more like a fully ripened peach.
"Come to think of it, Food Wars was kind of an ecchi anime, right? And she was supposed to be a blonde tsundere?"
Leo gently stroked her back to comfort her, while recalling these details.
If he remembered correctly, she was definitely a tsundere. But judging from their encounter so far, there was nothing tsundere about her at all—she was a textbook fragile young lady.
Sure, she was a chef, but undeniably a high-born lady. A super young lady who ruled Japan's food world, the kind who could make the heiress of a massive meat conglomerate act as her follower.
"If I were in her world, I probably wouldn't have had any chance to interact with her at all. Though now that I think about it, I actually liked that girl called Meat-Meat more…"
The environment really was terrifying in how much it could change people, turning someone proud into someone so weak.
But as Leo recalled Food Wars, he suddenly remembered that he actually preferred the shameless fanservice character—the blonde gyaru who was always talking about A5 beef.
No particular reason. Just because she was big and showed it, making people—
"Mmh…"
Erina Nakiri let out a small cry. Only then did Leo remember that there was a girl in his arms whose figure didn't lose out to Meat-Meat at all, and in her current position, the inside of her thighs could clearly feel his reaction.
Leo coughed awkwardly a couple of times. Honestly, with his body burning up like this, he really didn't have that kind of energy. What surprised him was that even after noticing his reaction, the girl—wearing nothing but a shirt—still didn't move away.
Like an ostrich, she clung tightly to his neck, unwilling to lift her head and face this cruel world.
All Leo could do was sigh, pull down the blanket from the bed, and cover both of them, the two of them falling asleep together on the floor.
When morning came, Leo was the first to wake up—not for any profound reason, but because his bladder was about to explode.
Before Erina Nakiri woke up, Leo carried her onto the bed, then rushed back into his own room and solved his biological problem with a discarded plastic bottle.
But when he finished pulling up his pants and walked out, what he saw was Erina Nakiri, wearing only a shirt, leaning against the doorframe and blushing as she looked his way.
Caught being seen, Erina instinctively turned her head aside and muttered softly.
"It's not like… I was worried about you or anything…"
Such a classic tsundere reaction was incredibly satisfying—especially right before another dangerous outing.
Once Erina Nakiri had finished getting dressed, Leo brought over the remaining food from yesterday and handed her a can of luncheon meat.
"We're running low on food, so today we have to scavenge. We also need to find somewhere safer, or find tires we can use for this vehicle."
He really hadn't expected the zombies at night to be that terrifying—their speed, strength, even their detection range were all enhanced.
And the wolves were another major problem. If the zombies hadn't driven them away, the first thing they'd have faced today would've been a wolf pack, not anything else.
"Mm."
Erina Nakiri glanced at the pitiful amount of food left and nodded. She knew exactly why it was running out—because of her.
Leo had clearly been scavenging before, only interrupted by her. And with one more person, consumption doubled. She had no objections to going scavenging with him.
"So later, put on some thick clothes that are easy to take off but won't slow you down too much. I'm worried there might still be wolves nearby. And wait until I say it's safe before coming down."
Leo continued giving instructions while eating his luncheon meat, and this was also when he finally saw how Erina Nakiri ate it.
"Okay."
She took a deep breath, then under Leo's gaze, cut the luncheon meat into neat little pieces, poured in a large amount of honey, and swallowed it like medicine—no chewing at all, clearly wanting as little contact with her mouth as possible.
Compared to Leo's slow chewing, it looked incredibly wasteful. When she noticed Leo watching her curiously, Erina lowered her head uneasily.
"I… I can only eat it like this."
Leo didn't mind. He could clearly feel her rejection while eating—especially the instinctive gagging. That wasn't something she could fake.
"It's fine. People always need time to adapt."
He smiled, popped the last few pieces of luncheon meat into his mouth, then took out the final two bottles of water. He handed one to her, and poured his share into his honey jar.
Erina held the water for a long time without daring to drink, then spoke gloomily.
"Someone like me, cursed like this… I'm pretty useless, aren't I?"
For the first time, she truly hated her tongue.
If not for it, she wouldn't have been discovered by zombies so easily. Her meeting with Leo would've been calmer, not like this—being a burden, and a picky one at that.
"Maybe. I don't have your tongue, so I can't understand your experience. I don't really have the standing to comment. What I do know is that right now, the most important thing is staying alive."
Leo didn't commit one way or the other. They might not even have a tomorrow.
Erina still didn't understand where Leo's calm acceptance of despair came from, but she nodded seriously anyway.
"Mm."
After she barely finished eating and both of them rested for a couple of minutes, the two of them put on coats they found in the RV and headed out to work for today's food.
"If there are wolves later, protect yourself first. Don't worry about me."
Before opening the door, Leo took a deep breath. He didn't know if there were still zombies outside, or wolves, so he had to prepare for the worst.
Holding an axe, with a sharp kitchen knife as backup, Erina Nakiri nodded, her face serious.
"I'll do my best."
"Good. Let's go."
Leo's heart started pounding as he opened the door and dashed out. The sound of his landing wasn't loud, but enough to attract zombies.
But nothing bad happened.
There were no zombies or wolves nearby—it was as if they'd all moved away.
After carefully checking around the RV and confirming there were no threats, they finally relaxed. Leo then turned his gaze to the nearby houses.
He hadn't dared to scavenge here before because of the zombies.
Several zombies guarded the town entrance, and the tightly packed houses were full of signs of infestation.
Once a fight broke out, half the town's zombies would be drawn over, and that would be the end of it.
But now things were different. Most of the zombies had been lured away, and Leo also needed to confirm something.
Most importantly, there was a supermarket very close to the RV—and the wolf pack yesterday had drawn all the zombies out of it.
If possible, Leo wanted to see if there were large amounts of supplies inside.
Stepping carefully through the grass, they approached the nearest house. Leo peeked through a broken window at the decayed floor and interior, then led Erina inside through a smashed door, cautiously scavenging.
There wasn't much food left. They only found some vitamin tablets and candy—but unexpectedly, there was a box of gold bars on a table.
Under normal circumstances, Leo would've been thrilled. But in this world, gold was basically useless. He took one bar as a "don't leave empty-handed" souvenir, then left with Erina for the next house.
The second house was just as smooth—no zombies—and the haul was good. They found three cans of chicken and some well-preserved ham.
But—
"This is weird."
Leo stared at the empty bedside tables and storage cabinets, feeling baffled.
"What's weird?" Erina asked, confused, while searching for usable seasonings.
"They say every American has a gun. So why doesn't that apply to me?"
Leo genuinely couldn't understand. It wasn't like they weren't thorough—they'd opened every drawer.
Yet after two houses, there wasn't even a shell casing, let alone a handgun.
It made no sense.
"Maybe… um… the original owners took them with them?" Erina offered awkwardly.
"Probably."
Leo shook his head. He really wanted a gun—especially a submachine gun. That way, even against a massive zombie horde, he'd at least have a last stand, maybe die with some dignity.
But so far, he hadn't found a single gun. It left him uneasy.
Even if he never planned to use it, having one and not having one were two very different things.
And what if there were other survivors…
Taking a deep breath, Leo pushed those thoughts aside. When he'd slept holding Erina last night, he'd already noticed she was starting to run a fever too.
So the two of them probably didn't need to worry about other survivors at all.
"Alright. One more house, then we'll check the supermarket…"
He packed the food Erina had bundled into his backpack and turned to leave—
Then both he and Erina heard a broadcast from behind them.
"The shop is open!"
Along with the voice came a sound like a lock opening. They stared toward the source—and saw, behind the house blocking their view, a building flying a strange flag.
The sound came from there.
They exchanged a look and nodded.
If there were other survivors, that would be the best possible outcome. Opening a shop meant human order still existed!
As for why they instinctively believed it was a human broadcast—
The reason was simple.
This town had long since lost power.
Even the lights didn't work—let alone a broadcast system.
"Carefully check it out. If it's just a timed broadcast and there are zombies nearby, we run immediately."
Leo whispered instructions as they crept toward the sound.
What they saw was a fortress perfectly suited for the apocalypse—surrounded by spiked wire fencing and walls, with a gate reinforced by metal plating.
Inside the fences, within a metal building with barred windows, stood a woman behind a counter. She wore a stethoscope around her neck, and not only was there no sign of decay—she was breathing normally.
How could Leo be so sure?
Because she was big.
Her chest visibly moved as she breathed.
And most importantly—
There were no zombies inside.
"A living person!"
Joy flashed through both Leo's and Erina's eyes as they rushed toward the place with a living human.
As they approached, Leo carefully checked for zombies hiding behind doors—but there were none. There wasn't even a second person inside.
But Leo noticed something strange.
That merchant inside…
Seemed like—
She hadn't noticed them at all?