My Vampire Older Sister and Zombie Little Sister

Book 9: Chapter 2

Part 1

It was nearly 8 at night.

The employees might still be there at that time, so the risk would actually have been less in the middle of the night.

Its eerily quiet, hesitantly said the Class Rep while holding her shovel close.

Now that she had calmed down, she may have realized just how odd it was to carry that around. Then again, it was more normal than usual with all the snow around and there werent any police out to question her about it anyway.

Class Rep, check your mask.

?

We would arrive at the downtown area soon. Her glasses would make it even harder to identify her, but I still wanted to reduce the risk of being seen as much as possible.

I felt a ripple-like tremor.

It was far from powerful and did not seem like an earthquake. Still, it was irregular and intermittent. I could also hear it from the rattling of the snow-covered manhole covers and drain grates.

Wh-what? The Class Rep tightened her grip on the shovel. Its like theres a kaiju stomping around.

You could call it a giant monster, I suppose.

The corner up ahead would take us out to the main road, so I held a hand out to stop the Class Rep while I poked my head out.

The tremor hit my body like a solid impact.

How could I even describe it?

The closest comparison I can think of is the cheering at a sports stadium.

But the emotions at the root of this were the polar opposite. It was undiluted anger, resentment, displeasure, and dissatisfaction. It was like every type of aggressive emotion had been mixed together, cooked with a powerful heat, and turned into a thick sludge.

What were they saying?

I didnt want to differentiate any of their individual statements. People were packed onto the 6-lane road as tightly as on a crowded train and they were all shouting whatever hateful things they could come up with.

Whatin the world? The Class Rep sounded dazed as she carelessly held the shovel. Isnt this about the water filters at the electronics store? That means this must continue for hundreds of meters past here. Its like New Years at a major shrine.

This was not a news story from some country youd never heard of.

These were the people of our own hometown who normally greeted us around town or recommended us clothes at the store. These werent zombies from a video game and they had not been driven insane by some kind of infection. Ordinary people from our city had reached this point. Discovering this side of them was something of a shock.

An accurate count is impossible since people are arriving and leaving all the time, but I estimate there are over 5000 people there, said Maxwell. Given the citys population density, that is a relatively small number.

But its still enough to fill a dozen schools.

You really do not want to know how many people are shouting about this online.

As someone with my social life focused on school, any group larger than the entire student body felt insane to me. I couldnt get a good grasp of how many people this was.

If that group exploded, who could say what would physically happen. They really were a kaiju crushing the city underfoot as it walked aimlessly around.

If I tried to oppose them head-on, I would be trampled in no time.

I had to focus on their weak point. For whatever reason, someone was spreading fake news to cause a riot, so they would need to provide a final ignition. That person or persons would be the minority here.

The microplastic snow would burn.

Without the fire department functioning, a fire could end up burning through a huge chunk of the city.

Maxwell, have you located the igniter yet?

No. I have not found anyone with pepper spray or a stimulant. The street cameras cannot actually see into peoples bags or below their clothes.

Not even with IR?

Security cameras are not the same as indecent hidden cameras capable of seeing through white swimsuits.

The Class Rep tried to take a worried look at my phone, so I quickly hid the screen from her.

Then look for anyone with a helmet or mask covering their face. Especially if it hides their eyeline.

There are too many to list.

Are any of them using specialized equipment for blocking facial recognition? You can also narrow it down to people wearing two different shoe sizes or shoes with unusually tall soles. Your gait can be used to identify you, so people who really want to avoid being IDed will use physical tricks to change how they carry their weight.

Sure. 9 people are hiding their face and standing at an unnatural angle. Of those, 5 are holding a drink bottle in one hand, two have injuries from fights, and one has removed their mask to vomit. The last one has nothing visible.

Show me the location of that last one.

The displayed photo was a tanned girl with her red hair worn in a ponytail. She looked my age or a little older. She wore a tank top and shorts and her jacket was tied around her hips by the sleeves. She had the look of a basketball player. Her baggy top gave glimpses of white, untanned skin.

The scarf was one thing, but it was highly unusual to be wearing sunglasses at night. Plus, she was carrying a sports bag over one shoulder.

Thats got to be them.

There may be more than one person hidden in the crowd.

Once we deal with her, we can steal her phone and check her social media and address book. After locating anyone in the same area, we can narrow it down to anyone who might be hiding pepper spray or another stimulant. How I get to her is up to you.

Sure.

Deal with her, huh?

What language was I speaking? What did that vague phrase actually mean here?

I had listed a number of tactics, but I had actually already abandoned the idea of multiple bad guys in the crowd. Looking for people hiding their face and standing oddly would lead us right back to those previous 9. It seemed unlikely anything would make me once more suspect the ones I had already ruled out, but it would make no sense for one of the bad guys to be hiding their identity while another was not. Members of the same group would share the same techniques and the same awareness of the risk.

That girl was most likely the only enemy here.

If she pulled some pepper spray from her bag and sprayed it around, this place would boil over.

If she didnt care to control it, she could start a riot right this instant. There was no time.

So shes about 200m away. Whats your recommended route?

Is your map apps recommended route good enough? Then travel 200m straight there.

If you cant find one, just say so, geez. Ill come up with something myself.

I wasnt about to push into that crowd while accompanied by a girl.

A mountain of people filled that 6-lane road.

However

This way, Class Rep.

Eh?

The independently-run businesses are closed, but the chain stores and department stores are still open. Maxwell, check the electronic locks and home security for the back entrances and unlock them if possible.

And if I am unable to open a door?

Ill force it open.

I didnt hear any shattering glass or screams, so this had to be the right choice. The main road was packed full, but we could avoid the crowd by cutting through the shops from building to building.

That might sound odd, but before they boiled over, they would maintain those boundaries. They required a justification for their actions. They were here because they believed the misinformation about Huge Camera hiding filters, but that didnt give them an excuse to attack other stores.

Of course, I could only do this because I could get all the many doors unlocked for me.

We would move from back entrance to back entrance and emergency exit to emergency exit.

The back areas were not visible from the main floor of the shops, so I was hoping we would not run into any employees on the way.

It is open, said Maxwell.

Lets get going, Class Rep.

I grabbed the knob and turned it, but it did not catch and no alarm sounded.

We found a narrow, dark hallway.

I didnt know what was the storeroom and what was the office, but we had to cut across the building to reach the next one over.

This one turned out to be a sporting goods store, or so the brand names on the stacks of cardboard boxes suggested. An indoorsy guy like me was far from an expert, but my little sister had made me tag along her when she was picking out her jogging clothes.

Coming in from outside was the tricky part, but going back out from the inside only required unlocking it myself. That would be no trouble at all.

Wow, groaned the Class Rep.

She was reacting to the deep tremor we could feel and hear. It was not loud enough to call deafening, but the ground was definitely shaking below us. I had to shudder at the thought of people causing that because it felt like when a train passes by. And if things went wrong, that could all be headed our way.

We were already in the danger zone, so it was too late to get cold feet. The only way to survive was to continue onwards. You couldnt jump across the ravine without taking a running start. The two of us continued on through the narrow passageway.

Huh, they dont put security cameras in the back of the store, do they?

Not unless one of the employees is stealing from the safe.

We couldnt let our guard down since a phones camera could be spying on us from anywhere with a 2mm hole, but Maxwell did not send any warnings. Besides, the exact same camera technology would be viewed as a spy device if it was not made clear there was a camera there.

Theres the door.

Leaving the building only required opening the lock from within, but doing that with an emergency exit would set off the alarm. Just to be sure, I checked for any cords attached before turning the knob.

We were in a different alley than before.

The adjacent buildings back entrance was only a few meters away.

So now its wash, rinse, and repeat? asked the Class Rep.

Around 200m would mean three or four buildings from here. Maxwell, is the target moving?

Sure. She is moving toward the electronics store because the entire crowd is pushing in that direction, but it is within the margin of error. She was located near Huge Camera to begin with anyway.

If you wanted to hide in the crowd for nefarious purposes, you would want to be nearby but not right on the front line. Trees were much more conspicuous once they moved outside the forest.

We snuck through the back of a clothing store and a department store to approach the target individual.

You have covered the distance, said Maxwell. You have no choice but to leave through the front of the store and enter the crowd.

You really think Im doing that? Its too dangerous. Maxwell, run a fluid mechanics simul-

I was cut off by the high-pitched screech of a feedback loop.

A megaphone!?

I grimaced and covered my ears. We were done with the safe back areas anyway, so we moved out to the front of the store. We were on the first floor of a department store. The employees at an accessory shop and a glasses store were crouched down and hesitantly looking out the window and they shrieked when they saw us, but now was not the time to worry about that.

We stayed inside and pressed our backs against the decorative pillar near the glass door.

I could hear something other than the angry yelling and shouting one would expect from the crowd filling the street immediately outside the door.

Listen to what we, the consumer, have to say!! It is our right to buy your merchandise, so stop hoarding the filters we need for our health and peace of mind!!

Others shouted in agreement, creating a great tremor. It all gathered together like crashing and receding waves.

The Class Rep shrank down with the shovel still in her hands.

What? Whats going on? Is that person one of the bad guys too?

No, replied Maxwell. They have made no eye contact with the target. Generally, accomplices will pay an unnecessary amount of attention to each other.

It occurred to me that the participants could have been recruited online so none of them knew what any of the others looked like, but now was not the time to think about that.

Wheres the basketball girl!?

30m into the crowd from you. She has stuck one hand inside her sports bag.

Was she the type to make use of every opportunity, even if it wasnt part of the plan!?

Maxwell, run a simulation!

I could, but that crowd is like a train at 300% occupancy. No movements I could calculate would allow you to run to her right this instant.

That wasnt what I meant.

The point here was to stop that sporty tanned redhead from doing whatever she was doing to trigger a full-fledged riot.

Run a fluid mechanics simulation. But instead of water or air, use the people out there in place of the free-moving molecules.

What exactly is the objective of this task?

Look into the change in density. How can I push on that crowd to most efficiently apply pressure to the ignition girl in the middle! But keep it low enough that it wont kill her, of course.

I glanced at my phone and ran out from behind the pillar, leaving the Class Rep behind. I threw open the glass door and a few members of the crowd turned toward me.

But it was too late.

Continue straight from there, said Maxwell.

Hragh!!

I used my whole weight to tackle them with my shoulder. In a one-on-one confrontation, they would probably have dodged it, but that wasnt possible while packed together so tightly.

I felt a softness reminiscent of the thick mats used for the high jump. Yes, my shoulder sank in rather than being knocked back. The force was transferred inward.

Still, this wouldnt be enough to knock everyone over like dominoes. I was up against a giant kaiju. An unexpected tackle from an indoorsy guy like me wasnt going to make it topple over.

But what about the people inside that rubber costume?

Everywhere I looked, I saw heads, heads, and more heads. The place had already been like a packed train, so changing the density just a little could be used to apply pressure to a desired point.

Gyah!?

I heard a weird cry from beyond the crowd.

Chicks could wind up mysteriously dead on chicken farms during the winter. As the chicks gathered together for warmth, they could apparently crush one at the center to death.

A bunch of people glared at me, but I made it look like an accident by holding up my phone like I was taking a selfie. These people had all gathered here like Tokyo on Halloween or a Shinto shrine on New Years. They were the type to accept a lot of weird behavior if it was done to stand out.

Maxwell!

The target was enveloped by the crowd. I cannot see her head with the overhead cameras.

Then we dont know what happened. Did we prevent her from acting or not!?

Just before she disappeared, I saw her sports bags shoulder strap slip from her arm. The crowd has begun pushing against each other starting from your position and it is gradually moving, so it should not be possible for her to reclaim her dropped bag.

So were we safe for now?

The loudspeaker voice was shouting again from a short distance away.

Hand over the filters! Or do we have to attack!? Well do it, I swear!!

He did not seem to be getting much traction with the other people.

And he must not have wanted to take the lead and accept the accompanying risk. No one stepped forward and they all watched to see what everyone else would do, effectively holding each other in check. The tense situation continued unabated, but they were gradually losing steam without anything to ignite them. We could probably wait for it to all taper off and fall apart.

(Satori-kun.)

The Class Rep approached me while keeping her voice low.

The crowd actually seemed to welcome the masked girl with a shovel. They mistook her for someone committed to their cause.

(So what ended up happening?)

(Real battles arent fought by lining up in front of each other and starting on a refs whistle. This is over already, so we need to find somewhere safe yes, somewhere elevated and away out of the crowds reach and keep an eye on things just to be-)

I trailed off and stopped.

I reacted to my own words by looking up into the night sky.

There was something there.

Something was coating the windows of the many buildings in this downtown area. Was that the snow?

Butit had solidified there?

If it had formed solid sheets instead of powder, didnt that make it a lot like panes of glass or a guillotine blade!?

Warning, a gust of wind is coming.

The instant I saw Maxwells message, I pushed the Class Rep to the ground.

Immediately, giant blades came loose from the building walls and dropped toward the ground.

Part 2

It was well-known that even a screw or pachinko ball could be deadly when dropped from a tall building.

Guillotines came in a variety of sizes, but you never saw one more than 3m tall.

So.

Ten, twenty, and maybe more thick blades dropped from the sky above.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!?

I could only scream.

Even if you noticed it coming, there was no dodging it in a crowd equivalent to a train at 300% occupancy. Not all the plastic boards dropped straight down; some began to spin as they peeled from the wall. But that meant a lot of them did fall like a guillotine.

I had pushed the Class Rep toward the department store window where the second floor wall stuck out like eaves. That was probably meant to keep sunlight from reflecting off the glass and preventing anyone from seeing through the show window, but it had saved us here.

User, it is not over yet!

Yeah. Everyones gonna want a safe zone. Theyll be rushing inside the stores, below the eaves, and anywhere else with a roof. And if they come charging in like a good sale just started

No. My initial warning was referring to a different risk.

?

What else could there be?

I looked up in curiosity and saw the scenery swelling out in the distance. No, wait. Hadnt Maxwells speech bubble said a gust of wind was coming?

The snow on the ground the microplastic snow is blowing into the air?

Then I heard several crackling sounds of static electricity.

That might sound normal enough, but wasnt lightning formed from the friction of water and dust rubbing together inside the fluffy cumulonimbus clouds?

Was that cloud of snow essentially an electrified thundercloud!?

Oh, no, no, no, no, no!!

I grabbed the Class Reps wrist and stood up while turning back the way we had come. We practically collapsed through the open glass door to tumble into the department store.

Inside! Get inside!!

From the floor, I shouted out to the crowd outside, but no one followed us. They must have been too confused so soon after the guillotine.

I recalled that glass was an insulator.

A moment later, white powder coated the glass like a giant balloon being pressed against it and thenwhat? What was that? Instead of the zap from a stun gun or a power cable, there was a deep boom like a thick tree being split down the center.

What had happened?

What was going on out there!? Werent there more than 5000 people crammed together like a packed train!?

Theyre okayarent they? hesitantly asked the Class Rep while getting up.

The tremor of their marching feet and the shouting from the loudspeaker were both gone.

There wasnt even any screaming or crying.

It isnt just us, right? There are a bunch more people out there, right!?

I had no answer.

I wanted to believe they hadnt all been killed, but the curtain of white powder covering the windows actually seemed like a blessing at the moment. I couldnt imagine our mental states if everything out there had been visible.

Was it just not possible for people to overcome a true natural disaster, no matter how hard we tried? Now we had no idea what had become of the tanned redhead who had been riling everyone up online and attempting to trigger a riot here. We couldnt even ask her why.

But.

My phone vibrated again.

Warning.

Youre kidding, right?

There was more?

This true disaster still had more in store for us!?

The wind was an irregularity caused by the buildings in the area. It is a short-term phenomenon and the static electricity cloud will clear up soon. That is not the problem.

Then what is the problem?

Sure.

I didnt want to know the answer.

I was sick of watching things get progressively worse here. But turning a blind eye would only allow it to get even worse than that. We had to monitor things if we wanted to survive this. So like it or not, I had to leap at any chance for info.

And Maxwell explained just how bad the situation was.

That static electricity has started a fire nearby.

Part 3

Forest fires would burn hectares of land in America or Australia, yet the actual source of the fire often remained unknown. It could come from a cigarette butt, negligence with a campfire, a car or drone accident, or even intentional arson, but something else could also lead to a true hellscape.

Namely, static electricity.

In areas with dry air, dry grass or leaves brushing together in the wind could become a deadly trigger. Kukyou City was coated with microplastics that built up air within them, so it might as well have been piled up with dried grass. And if the source of the fire had a voltage stronger than a stun gun

This is bad.

The glass door should have cut us off from everything out there, but my nose detected a change. It detected scorched air!

This is really bad!! Once it starts to spread, we cant stop it!!

You could make an emergency call, but it is unlikely the firefighters will arrive safely and put out the fire, said Maxwell. If the police and fire department were functioning properly, this unregistered demonstration would never have been able to happen in the first place.

What, because they benefited from the lack of emergency services, theyre not allowed to complain when it comes back to bite them? Im not accepting that. I dont know how many survivors are out there, but Id have nightmares if I just let them die!!

These were the people of my hometown.

I hadnt seen any, but some of my classmates could be among them!

Maxwell, how are things outside?

No. That spark took out the roadside cameras. No one in the crowd has made an emergency call, so all their mobile devices were likely destroyed.

I guess itd be faster to check myself.

Luckily, it was only a little past 8. The department store was still open for business, so the Class Rep and I ran up the escalator.

We didnt have a specific floor in mind.

The second floors bookstore and boutique had thick decorative sheets covering the windows to keep sunlight out, so we continued on up to the third floor. We approached the break area with a line of vending machines and looked down from the window.

The microplastic snow was blowing elsewhere in the wind and the scene beyond that thin white curtain came into view.

Ugh, groaned the Class Rep.

It was worse than I had expected. Not a single person had gotten up from the ground. The entire major road was covered by collapsed people. I wanted to believe no one had died, but after that guillotine and high-voltage current, it didnt look like any of them were going to be moving anytime soon.

I swept my eyes across the road and soon found the Huge Camera building with a large LCD screen on its wall. That was the electronics store being targeted by these peoples misguided complaints.

And I saw something else as well.

Is that it?

Past even that building, I could see a single line of black smoke. When I looked down toward the ground, I could see a flickering orange light that was definitely not electric in origin.

Isnt that fire taller than we are? asked the Class Rep.

It is unusually tall. One of the roadside trees must have ignited like a torch.

This had all begun with that lightning-like blast of static electricity. It must have primarily struck anything sticking out like a lightning rod, so this made sense.

And the fire was unexpectedly close to Huge Camera. If the fire spread to the rioters immobilized by the high-voltage current, that was the end right there. They would all be roasted whether they were still alive or not.

We had to do something.

But what could we do? We werent professional firefighters. But we could still move around. We didnt have to be Hollywood heroes. There was no need to expect so much. What could we realistically do as amateurs!?

Hold on.

Eh? What is it?

The forehead glasses Class Rep shrank down while still holding the shovel in both hands.

Yesthat was it.

This can work. Maxwell, I have a new simulation for you to run!

Sure. Give me the parameters.

W-wait, Satori-kun! A fire extinguisher isnt enough to put out anything larger than a campfire. Theres nothing we can do against a fire taller than us!

Not necessarily.

Our goal wasnt to put out the tree fire; it was to prevent it from spreading elsewhere. If it never spread anywhere else, I didnt care if that tree burned to a crisp.

Lets get moving. Time is of the essence. This gets a lot harder if the tree fire spreads to the microplastics on the ground!

Wait, um, Satori-kun!?

Confused, she glanced over at the fire extinguisher box in a corner of the hallway, but I wasnt interested in that.

I ran back down the escalators and shouted to the nervous department store workers.

Hook a hose up to a fire hydrant or at least a faucet! You need to have water ready!!

Eh? What???

Theres a fire outside and its too late to prepare once its reached you!

It looked like no one was going to listen to some kid in a mask. And I was really only telling them so I wouldnt feel bad if they came to harm. Whether or not they acted on my warning was their choice.

I opened the glass door and rushed outside.

I heard groans from all around.

I detected a scorched smell, but also something else. It was a lot like rust, but different.

Satori-kun.

We cant, Class Rep. The fire comes first!

I wanted to help the injured too, but all of those suffering people would die if we didnt stop the fire. We had to harden our hearts and shake free of the temptation.

But spraying water on that fire isnt enough to put it out!

Which is why thats not the plan. If we can blow away the air filled with microplastics, the fire shouldnt be able to spread!

The Class Rep clearly had some guts since she had not frozen up in this extreme situation.

We were far from safe here. More hardened microplastics could fall away from the building walls like a guillotine at any time and a gust of wind could blow another thundercloud across the entire road.

Plastic is plastic. It wont burn in a fire unless the conditions are just right. Its not ideal for it to melt and spread toxic gas around, but thats better than letting the fire spread!

So youre going to spray it with water?

Crushing it flat with a steamroller would work just as well. Think of it like squashing a down blanket to get all the air out.

We also didnt have to do that for the entire road. We only had to isolate the burning tree.

Its the same firefighting method they used in Edo.

?

She didnt seem to get my hint and she still held the snow shovel.

Fire extinguishers werent the only way to put out a fire. You could also move away, destroy, or cut off all nearby flammable objects.

Once the conditions needed to burn were no longer met, plastic would only melt like cheese when exposed to heat. That would help cut off the spread of the fire.

We could end this negative chain reaction and begin a positive one.

Fires would burn until they had a reason to go out, but they had no escape if you provided a reason to go out in all 360 degrees around them.

The closest fire hydrant to the fire is within the rectangular manhole 50m ahead of you, said Maxwell.

I cant see that with all the snow! And I cant open that without a special opener anyway!!

Then turn left just beforehand. Huge Camera is still open for business, so it would be fastest to acquire the necessary items there.

There?

But would they help us so soon after a mob of rioter nearly attacked them?

Class Rep, leave your shovel at the entrance. We dont want to scare them.

Fine, but are you sure this is a good idea?

The burning tree was right next to Huge Cameras entrance. Walking toward the store was enough to feel the prickling heat on my face. It wasnt everyday I got to look up at an entirely unmanaged fire taller than me. My knees felt an instinctual fear, much like when looking down from the edge of a cliff.

Locate any other options just in case.

Sure.

I gave Maxwell that instruction while stepping through the glass door.

Fortunately, they did not immediately attack me.

Y-you!?

?

I was pretty sure I didnt know this person.

But I must have visited this store often enough for the young male employee to recognize me. I must have asked a about a bunch of weird components for Maxwell.

The store itself was familiar to me, so I knew the layout. The first floor had their phone shop, internet provider, and a caf and bookstore for people waiting on their contracts to be finalized. Most people went up to where they had the major appliances, TVs, audio systems, video games, computers, routers, and other more niche electronics, but they also had a trendy restaurant on the top floor.

I was glad to see the employee was willing to talk.

I just had to ask.

Do you have any water?

!

Not a water filter! We need to stop that fire out front or itll spread to this building!!

Locating the hydrant out on the road would be difficult enough, but then we would have to shovel off the snow, pry off the heavy lid with the opener, lift up the metal pipe, and attach the hose. We would never finish all that in time. And the water line might be clogged with microplastics, making it unusable. But an indoor hydrant was different. Its tank would be isolated, so the snow wouldnt have affected it.

That said, no one would want to reach for the fire alarm if they didnt have to. Even elementary school kids knew that was asking for trouble.

Im not sure company policy allows for that

Show me the manual and we can analyze it for you. Maxwell.

Sure. This is only based on the version provided on the official website, but Article 3 Section 2 and Article 8 Section 9 say employees are obligated to protect store facilities, merchandise, money, and personal information. The building is under obvious risk of burning down, so it would be appropriate to use the stores provided equipment to put out the fire even if it is technically outside the building. In fact, failing to take basic precautions when the fires spread to the store is so easy to predict could even lead to disciplinary action based on company policy.

Now.

Was the wide-eyed employee shocked by the skill of my program, or did he think I simply had a human secretary working for me?

Access the fire department site and tell me how to use the fire hydrant. A report from a fire safety lecture would be good enough! Hurry!

Sure, sure. Yelling at me will not make the signal speed any faster, you know? How illogical-`

You pray when your computer or phones signal is weak or the HDD is acting up, right?

Dont expect me to agree with you there, Satori-kun, said the Class Rep.

The fire hydrant was the same kind as the one in our schools hallway. It had a red light and a fire alarm installed along with it and a white hose was folded up at the bottom of the door.

The pumpwas already hooked up. The end had a nozzle larger than a doorknob and the hose was fixed to it already.

Kukyou Citys standard indoor firefighting equipment has a 50m hose, so it will just barely reach the fire outside, said Maxwell. Each floor has its own equipment for extinguishing fires.

Urgh!

I grabbed the metal nozzle thicker than my arm and pulled on the hose with a grunt of exertion. It was not easy keeping it from catching on the model stands, the life size cardboard version of a celebrity, and other obstacles in the phone section. And it was heavier than I expected. This was not a job for one person. Werent the assistant directors at TV stations tasked with dragging the large camera cables around the studio like this? Anyway, I struggled my way along to get the hose out to the closest glass door.

It was time to face that fire again.

Class Rep, you hold this.

Eh? Eh? I dont know how to use it!

The water wont come out until someone turns the valve back inside the store. Just hold it tight against the side of your hip. It shouldnt spray unless you turn the nozzles ring, but if it does go off suddenly, the thick metal nozzle will smack you in the jaw if you dont have a solid grip on it. Ill be right back!

I didnt have time to stick around. The fire could spread beyond the tree at any time. A branch or the entire trunk could break and pieces would fall to the microplastics on the road.

I darted back inside and cut across the store to the metal door still open on the wall. This wasnt the time to think about how far to turn that valve. I just grabbed it and turned it as far as I could.

The hose on the floor started to swell out and that spread explosively out from here.

Oh, crap.

It was moving too fast, so it was going to beat me back!

I heard a scream outside.

Waahhh!?

Class Rep!!

I dashed outside to find someone battling a great serpent. And with a deafening spraying sound.

Hey, um, Satori-kun!? Do something about this jet!!

Didnt I tell you not to touch the nozzle ring!?

She was so strict most of the time, but she could be so careless at other times! And now she was soaking wet with tears in her eyes! Was she trying to kill me with cuteness!?

I wanted to help her, but we had no way for her to hand that rampaging hose over to me. The instant she loosened her grip, it would smack both of us in the jaw.

I had no choice.

Thats right, no choice!! She couldnt hand it over to me, so I had to reach around from behind her and grab the hose along with her! Desperate times call for desperate measures!! And I had a childhood friend to save!!

Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no!

Nice. She was so panicked and dizzy that she didnt notice. This was my chance to get right up in there with her!! Not to worry, soaking wet girl, Ill warm you up!!

Im so glad I went to all this effort. Good deeds really are rewarded.

This is not a statement on the plausibility of such an illogical idea, but I do think you should go to hell, said Maxwell.

Also, the forehead glasses girl had been trying really hard to aim for the top of the burning tree, but that was the wrong tactic. We were trying to soak the microplastics on the ground to flatten them out and get rid of all the air so they couldnt catch on fire. Once the fire had nowhere to go, the tree fire would simply burn itself out.

So we had to go like this.

I aimed at the bottom of the tree. I held down on the top of the hose to get it under control and then sprayed on the ground, starting with this side!! It was all about soaking the ground all around that tree!!

Kyah!!

She shrieked when the water bounced off the ground and hit her, but dealing with the microplastic snow came first. I guided our double grasp on the hose forward and further out. We sprayed the pressurized water at the base of the burning tree like we were firing a laser beam.

The snow-covered ground has sunk down between 15 and 20cm, said Maxwell. This is working. The air-filled microplastics appear to have been squashed together by the water.

Man, holding the metal nozzle with both hands was hard while also holding a phone. My hands were shaking so much I was afraid I would scratch the screen or camera lens.

We had to spray the water all around the bottom of the burning treebut we couldnt move to the other side. The hose was too short. We had no choice but to spray past the tree from where we were.

Then I heard a loud snap as something solid broke.

Wh-what?

Get back, Class Rep! Its falling!!

I dragged her back while still partially holding her in my arms from behind.

It was like standing directly in front of an orange-glowing waterfall.

The tree trunk had broken halfway up and it was falling toward the road. I could hear several of the burning branches breaking at once and a ton of embers flew up into the air when it crashed into the ground.

But that was all.

I heard a sizzling like water on a hot griddle and I smelled the noxious odor of melting plastic, but no wall of fire erupted out in front of me like when dry grass ignited. In fact, the fallen trees fire shrank like it was being smothered by something similar to melted candy.

Sitting on the ground with her in my arms, the Class Rep and I remained motionless for a while. We werent even focused on the hose that had left our grasp and was now going wild nearby.

Was it over now?

I had feared the embers might have flown too far when the tree fell, but when I turned my head to look, I didnt see anything else on fire.

Maxwell.

Sure.

Is there any chance this will happen again today?

That would depend on the wind and on the density of the snow accumulated on the ground, but it could easily happen many more times.

What ignition sources are there other than static?

I could list them out for you, but it would be meaningless. Modern humans cannot live without fire and electricity. Even if you try to cut back, the small microplastics can still get into the transformers and power lines and cause a short.

We had survived for todayor for this minute anyway, but what would we do next? A minute from now, another fire could start elsewhere and engulf the entire city. Even with a disaster environment simulator, predicting all of those and stopping them simply wasnt possible. Then was I supposed to prevent the fires from spreading in advance? Was I supposed to spray water over the entire city while more and more out-of-season snow poured down on it all the time? Thats insane!

Satori-kun. Still in my arms, the Class Rep sounded worried. Hey, Satori-kun. If its over, we need to help the people on the street. There might be a lot of injured people out there.

I know that.

Our ordinary lives were predicated on everyones safety in this city and I could tell that safety was crumbling away. We might be caught in a fire and killed a minute from now and the threat remained even if we went home and locked all the doors and windows. Every part of the city could be engulfed in flames depending on the wind direction. It didnt matter if you were awake or asleep.

I couldnt let things stay like this, but what could I do to change it!?

[Crawler Search] Evacuation [The Words You Need!]

Evacuation is one emergency option when a largescale disaster or incident has rendered ordinary life at home too difficult to continue. Some will simply move in with a relative or rent a room at a weekly apartment, but in some cases, the government will designate a shelter or build temporary housing.

In the last case, the conditions needed to begin construction vary, but they include the destruction of basic infrastructure that will mean long-term outages of electricity, gas, or water, and cases such as flooding or wildfires where the affected residents need to be removed from the area or they will continue to face the same risk.

In emergencies, shelters must be constructed swiftly, but (or perhaps therefore) the decision to construct them must be made very carefully and not just any open space can be used for a shelter. The size must be calculated out based on the expected number of occupants and the economic effect, so not just everyone in the affected area can use them.

For example, if a certain prefecture or city is hit by a disaster, the priority will be the registered local residents and any commuters or travelers from outside the region will be a lower priority.

It is also well-known that doctors, firefighters, and anyone with other special skills will be given priority.

Back to Chapter 1

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