January 22
After lunch, Shoko felt that her condition was manageable, so instead of returning to the bedroom to rest, she went to check on the survivor they had picked up that morning.
Thanks to the painkillers, she was no longer suffering as badly as she had been in the morning, but trudging out through the snow earlier had left her chilled to the bone.
So she still could not do anything strenuous and could only stay quietly inside the warm house. The mountain winds sweeping down from Mount Azuma made the surrounding trees rustle and hiss. By the afternoon, the weather had turned far worse than it had been in the morning. Heavy snow once again washed over the land, and, forced into idleness by her body's condition, Shoko had no choice but to remain indoors.
The others were busy outside reinforcing the lamp posts and barbed wire, clearing snow off the solar panels, and rigging up snowproof covers over the vehicles. There was plenty to do. At the moment, the entire house held only two people and one "prisoner."
Shoko's thinking was simple enough: fortunately, they had plenty of fuel stockpiled, and food and clothing were not a concern. Let it snow if it wanted to.
As long as it didn't last too long.
Wrapped in a blanket, Shoko sat curled up on the sofa in what had become a temporary infirmary and interrogation room on the first floor. A hot water bottle rested in her arms, with several heat packs stuck to her body, and even then she still did not feel warm enough.
The thirty-centimeter-thick exterior walls could not fully keep the cold out, and there was no fireplace in this room, so lighting a fire inside was not an option. If they tried to build a fire in here anyway… the smoke would be unbearable.
Several hours had passed since they brought the girl back, yet the sleeping beauty lying on the bed showed no sign of waking up.
Shoko had already removed the now-empty glucose drip bottle. A tiny puncture mark still remained on the girl's right hand, now covered with a pale yellow bandage.
Sprawled lazily across the long sofa, Shoko stared at the unknown brown-haired girl. Even asleep, the girl's face showed signs of having been worn thin, as though she really had gone hungry for many days. Yet apart from the unhealthy pallor, her cheeks had not hollowed the way starving people's usually did.
Curious, Shoko reached out and pinched her soft cheek.
Mm. That felt good.
Soft, springy, pleasantly squishable—like squeezing a stress ball.
It was way too satisfying. If she kept going, she really was going to leave the poor girl's face swollen.
Stopping herself, Shoko smacked away her own left hand, extinguishing that strange impulse.
Then she picked up the teacup steaming beside her and swallowed the hot tea in one gulp before turning her eyes toward the white world outside.
"This weather looks bad… ngh…"
The wind howled outside, and in the mountain valley the storm carried with it a terrible, eerie sound.
The sky was dark. Sunlight could barely pierce the thick clouds, only a few scattered rays making it through, so visibility was terrible. From where she sat inside, Shoko could not even see the far-off mountains. Even the silhouettes moving inside the perimeter fence were blurred, like characters in some pixelated game from the nineties.
There was nothing else worth looking at beyond the window, so Shoko sank back into the sofa. The pain in her lower abdomen had changed. It was no longer the earlier stabbing ache, but a searing heat coupled with a swollen, deeply uncomfortable heaviness.
It was unbearable.
Clutching herself, Shoko hurried into the bathroom. Fresh red blood had already seeped through the clean pad again.
"How is there this much…? Am I going to be the first person in history to die from menstrual blood loss?"
Cold sweat dotted her forehead as the thought occurred to her. Including this latest round, the amount of blood she had lost today already exceeded what most women lost over an entire cycle.
After a while, she emerged from the bathroom, still shaky in the legs, and made her wavering way back to the sofa.
"I really do have rotten luck these days… haa…"
With absolutely no idea what else to do, she nibbled on a piece of chocolate beside her to replenish some of the energy she had lost from the bleeding, then opened the system interface.
It had been a while since she had chatted with the system. Maybe today's shop had refreshed with something useful.
"So, System… what's in stock today?" she asked silently.
[So you finally remembered I exist, did you, dear Lady Shoko~?]
The system's voice carried grievance, bitterness, and the air of a pitiable wife long neglected by her husband.
The tone made Shoko's skin crawl. Combined with how miserable she already felt, it nearly made her let out some undignified noise.
"Ahem… what kind of nonsense are you on about now?"
[And whose fault is that? It's not like someone hasn't ignored me for days. Back when it was just the two of us, I stayed by your side for fifteen whole days—more, even! I've had my eye on you since the moment you were reborn. Do you have any idea how many years I've spent like this?!]
Had the system been starved of affection or something? Why was it acting like this?
"You've lost your mind," Shoko muttered.
[I most certainly have not. Don't you ever stop to ask yourself why I haven't been popping in to chatter with you lately?]
That… was true.
In the beginning, unless Shoko had something urgent to deal with, the system had been like a noisy street vendor, chatting endlessly in her ear. But over the past few days, they had been constantly on the road. Shoko had barely had a chance to talk to it at all.
Looked at that way, she really had neglected it.
Scratching her head, Shoko felt strangely guilty. It really did make her feel like some heartless scoundrel who used it and then ignored it afterward.
"I'll do better," she said. "From now on, System Miss, please continue to treat me like your personal mailbox for rambling whenever you want."
[That's more like it. So then—what do you want from me?]
"Well…" Shoko started.
But the system cut her off again.
[Let me guess: you want information about missions, rewards, intel, something like that?]
Caught out, Shoko could only give an awkward little laugh.
[Thought so. Fine, I'll tell you right away. New missions refresh tomorrow, and the random shop has been updated too. From now on, it'll have a much higher chance of focusing on one particular category of items at a time.]
A focused item pool? New missions? What kind of update was that supposed to be?
"What exactly do you mean by—"
Before she could finish, the door to the room opened.
It was Brent.
That meant her conversation with the system had to stop for now.
"Miss Shoko, has that girl woken up yet?"
Brent hurried in, looking none the worse for wear, and asked about the brown-haired girl.
"Not yet… What is it?" Shoko asked.
"It's nothing… really. I just wanted to check on the survivor…"
Brent looked like a child caught after doing something wrong, shifting awkwardly.
There was definitely a story there. Shoko asked her what had happened when the two of them fell down the slope.
At that, Brent's face completely lost composure, and she awkwardly explained.
So that was it.
Brent had been trailing behind the brown-haired girl all along. When the girl turned back, Brent had hidden herself and continued following quietly. She had been trying to watch her movements—but the girl had discovered her.
Then Brent had been ambushed near a large tree and lost her rifle in the process. She had wanted to talk, but the girl would not listen. Left with no choice, Brent had chased after her, and in the pursuit both of them had tumbled down the slope together.
Shoko really did not know what to say.
Brent… your judgment there had been spectacularly bad.
Honestly, she really never let anyone relax for long.
"Mm. Wait here a bit," Shoko said. "I'll go make you some tea in the sitting room."
"No, no, that's not necessary. I…"
Brent hurriedly tried to refuse. She could not bear to trouble Shoko over something so small, especially when Shoko herself was not feeling well.
Seeing that Shoko had not actually scolded her, Brent took the chance to slip away.
Shoko was just about to fetch the teapot from the main sitting room and return—
when, as she stepped back through the doorway, she saw movement on the bed.
Was the girl waking up?
Carrying a cup of still-steaming tea, Shoko quickly returned to the bedside, intending to check on her.
But at that same moment, several shrill animal cries rang out from the mountains.
The sound startled flocks of birds into flight and cast a sinister atmosphere over the world. Shoko instinctively looked toward the window. A few birds flew past the house.
A bad feeling suddenly rose in her chest.
Something was going to happen tonight.
"Was that… wolves?" she muttered.
Weren't wolves extinct in Japan? Unless these were infected wolves from a zoo?
No. First she needed to call the others back in.
After pulling the door shut, Shoko hurried out into the snow.
"Mmgh… where am I…? Wait… Why am I tied up?"
The girl's fingers twitched, and then she finally opened her eyes.
This place… she did not recognize it.
Her limbs would not move.
The moment she realized ropes had been wound tightly around her wrists and ankles, panic surged through her.
She could only thrash helplessly on the soft mattress, making the bed creak and groan under her.
Poor thing—she woke up to find herself tied hand and foot in an empty room.
So she had been captured?
Her memories returned in fragments. She had fainted while running. Most likely these people had picked her up afterward.
No matter how much she struggled, it was useless. After a while, even the bedframe's protesting noises subsided.
"Is anyone there?" she called out weakly, her voice hoarse with desperation.
Her words echoed back at her.
No one answered.
The silence was enough to drive a person mad.
At least, she realized dimly, no one seemed to have taken advantage of her while she was unconscious. That much was a relief.
But what was the bandage on her hand? And why was there IV equipment beside the bed?
Had they been treating her?
Or was she some kind of test subject now?
The chapter ends here.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 142)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter181)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter103)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter192)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 173
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 166
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 110
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 190
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 165
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 156
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 81
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 102
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 120
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 80
Uma Musume: I Want All 95
I Can Copy Unique Skills 84
Summoning an Evil God, but the 66
Supernatural Multiverse 83
My Harem Is Indescribable 75
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 81
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 75
Still playing traditional Honk 55
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 60
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 57
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 45
Transmigrated as Sukuna 55
Checking In in Demon Slayer 60
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 65
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 35
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 35
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 39
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 58
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