Princess Fischl

Chapter 62

Having chosen the road through the center, very soon our company encountered a rather unpleasant problem. The center was blocked by self-defense forces with permission to use force, as a result we were stuck in a traffic jam only a little bit, moving forward.

This delay got on many people's nerves, Takagi Saya tried to get on Takashi's nerves very successfully. Usually, it was boys who bullied girls they liked in their childhood to get attention, but here they were older and the situation seemed the opposite.

- Takashi, what the hell are you hanging around for?! - Saya yelled at the guy.

"You will answer for your mother," he answered without hesitation in the true spirit of feminism.

- Don't you dare fall asleep at the wheel! - the girl continued to yell.

"I was just thinking," the guy stretched out in his chair, clearly tired of sitting in one place.

"You called on the phone recently…" Rey began to say uncertainly.

- Yes, I saw a man talking on the phone and decided to try it.

- And how? - the girl asked quietly, obviously knowing the answer.

- No way, the network is overloaded, but it still works, I'll periodically try to get through the window. - after his words, the teenagers seemed to have just now remembered that they had phones and immediately began trying to call their relatives.

- Takashi-kun, maybe you should rest? - the nurse addressed the guy.

"We have nowhere to park to rest," the guy shook his head.

"Don't think you're irreplaceable. At the rate we're going now, Nurse Marikawa can handle it just fine," Saya said mockingly.

- You're very nice at deciding for others. Marikawa-san, will you try?

- I'll try, - the girl answered and while they were changing places she added, - And call me Shizuka.

- Everyone thinks to the extent of their depravity, - the guy said, noticing how the girls reacted to the nurse's proposal.

- I don't understand, have you never been in an informal setting? That calling someone by name causes such a reaction in you? - I asked in bewilderment. In the world of magical combat, everyone was somehow freer. Although maybe the thing is that shamans are a little, or perhaps even a lot, crazy?

- It's... - strange, but my question seems to have caused awkwardness? I know for sure that not all Japanese adhere to the fact that they are not addressed by name, and even on the contrary, they themselves immediately offer to address them by name.

- Gojo-san, the thing is that our school is considered to be quite elitist and most informal communication is conducted only in very narrow groups of friends. - the math teacher decided to explain to me.

- I see, I think I just made a mistake comparing your school to my last one. - I answered, nodding.

- Where did you study before? - Saeko decided to ask, who, like me, mostly listened silently.

- Um... Well, it was something like a closed school of martial arts with an occult bias. - I answered uncertainly. I can't say that it was a magic technical school.

"A martial arts school with an occult twist? What's that?" Rey asked, full of curiosity.

- Well, this school was founded, so to speak, by combat exorcists and they teach martial arts according to their methods. - After a couple of seconds of thought, I found what to answer.

"Shouldn't things be strictly etiquette in places like this?" Saeko asked.

- At the top among ourselves, maybe so, but in other respects it's the opposite, maybe walking on the edge makes you more relaxed? – I answered, not noticing that I had blurted out too much.

- What were you doing that, as you put it, "walked on the edge"? - Saya asked suspiciously.

- Huh? Um... we. - I hesitated with the answer. Even though I try to hide, sometimes I really want to brag, and now it's backfiring on me.

- What are you thinking about, Komuro-kun? - Teacher Kyoko seemed to have decided to help me change the subject.

"Water and gasoline," Takashi answered briefly, successfully drawing attention from me to himself.

- How much gas do we have? - Takagi jumped up immediately.

"Less than half a tank," the nurse responded from the driver's seat.

- The total volume is 250 liters, we have about 40 percent of the total volume, fuel consumption is about thirty-five liters per hundred kilometers. - the guy added, after which Saya immediately grabbed the phone and began quickly pressing buttons.

"It will be enough for us for almost 300 kilometers," the girl said confidently.

- Cut it in half, because of the traffic jams we are now standing more than driving, and the engine is running. Although the consumption is not the same as at full speed, it is there. - Takashi corrected.

- Just half? - the girl looked at him skeptically.

- It's better to prepare for the worst, then something good will be a pleasant surprise for us. - the guy shrugged the stoves. - We have enough food for today and tomorrow, and a little more than a liter of water per person.

"We have other drinks too," Hirano said.

"They're more likely to cause dehydration than quench your thirst," Takashi shook his head and leaned back in the passenger seat.

The next minute passed with questions about why drinks would cause dehydration and a mini lecture from Takashi, until it all came down to one pressing question that Komuro asked.

- What do you think about ways to replenish supplies? Personally, I can't think of anything other than robbery.

This question immediately sparked a heated debate between those who were against looting, and those who said that one's own shirt is closer to the body and there are simply no alternatives.

- People, I don't understand what you're arguing about? The question isn't whether to do it or not, but whether you have alternatives. - I couldn't stand it.

- But you can't do that! - Miyamoto Rei resisted, and then abruptly switched to her ex. - And anyway, Takashi, why are you silent?! After all, you suggested it!

- I don't understand the essence of your argument at all, as Gojo-san correctly noted, if there is no alternative for obtaining provisions, then we have no choice. When you are so twisted from hunger and thirst that you will hardly be able to speak, no one will remember the moral side of the issue. - the guy grinned. - I am more concerned about the military and the police, who received permission to use weapons against dissenters. Maybe they won't shoot a group of teenagers, but it is also possible that no one will sort things out.

- They won't shoot if we don't get cheeky, - Takagi said. - In case of natural disasters, the government allows taking essential items from the store for free, later paying for all the losses of entrepreneurs from charitable funds and the state budget.

- Really? I didn't know, we always had emergency backpacks with everything we needed that we used in case of anything.

- Stop. And if we can take the products quite legally, then what was the point of all the previous argument? - I couldn't help but ask.

- Well, can zombies really be considered a natural disaster? - Rey asked uncertainly.

- Gracious Barbatos, give me strength. - I muttered, making a facepalm. There's a zombie apocalypse outside, and she doubts whether it can be classified as a natural disaster!