Spoiled Food

- 4 days until disaster -

26th December 2072.

The rising sun disrupted our sleep time.

"Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning, Noboru..."

Masato, who has slept on the couch until now, yawned.

"The girls are still asleep."

"Oh, I see... But it's 9:00 AM. We have to get ready for the day."

"You're right... Okay."

He stood up on the couch.

"I WOULD LIKE TO ASK ALL THE LADIES TO WAKE UP QUICKLY! THEIR KNIGHTS IN SHINING ARMORS ARE WAITING TO GO ON A ADVENTURE!"

A thud was heard from the room the girls slept in.

"DEAR KNIGHT, PREPARE FOR YOUR EXECUTION!"

"Ah, no need to threaten a knight, my lady!"

Loud footsteps were heard before Ko came out, rushing at Masato.

"Why are you not letting me get my beauty sleep?!"

She shook him like a rag doll.

"It is well past your time for getting up!"

"Liar, what's the time, Noboru?"

"9:02 AM."

Ko paused for a second before continuing.

"Shush, you confident bastard. Ladies are always right." 

"Why are you saying that to me?! Noboru told you the time!"

"Alright, could you two please stop now? We have to plan out where we are going today."

"Fine."

Ko let go of Masato.

We were so fast, that we got dressed and ate breakfast in less than an hour.

"So, where shall we go today?"

"I don't know. You guys have to decide, because I have to go see a doctor."

"Oh, yeah. Almost forgot."

"And you complain about your grades..."

"Hey! I'm not at fault! I can't reject girls who want to go out with me."

"What happened with your last "girlfriend"?"

"She dumped me for another guy. Girls don't have any feelings for men!"

"Ugh... Tough. Anyway, I'm off!"

The walk to the medical center was quick as every other. When I got there, I checked in and then waited to be called in.

I was humming to a melody before the emergency device activated.

"Oi, Noboru? Are you there?"

That made me jump a bit.

"Why are you calling me while I'm at the medical center?!"

"Just so you know, we decided on going to the abandoned supermarket. Everyone will be there in an hour."

"Alright, but don't call me unless it's either urgent, or when you're finished."

"Capiche."

With that, I turned off the device.

It felt like eternity has passed after I finished, but in reality it took 2 hours.

I didn't get a call from anyone, so they must be still there...

Walking up to the abandoned supermarket, I saw movement through the windows.

"Yes, they're still there."

Going to the back, I saw the emergency exit opened, but the whole building was surrounded by electric fence.

"How in the hell did they get in?"

Inspecting closer, I discovered a pile of bricks stacked up against the fence.

"How did they-Oh, right. The supermarket was supposed to be destroyed this week, because they'll be building another robot shop."

I jumped over the fence and went through the door.

"Guys!"

I whispered.

The sound of silence was making me anxious.

Maybe I should give them a quick call.

I turned on the emergency call thingy.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?"

Silence.

"Hello?"

"Oh, Noboru! I'm sorry! I couldn't answer you because of this idiot!"

"What did he do, Ko?"

"When we got in, he tried to eat an expired chocolate bar, and we tried to stop him, but this chicken brain was so smart to sneak it into his pockets while we weren't looking and ate it."

"So, Masato got food poisoning?"

"Of course he did! We're on the second floor, hiding from the robot."

"Robot?"

"Yeah, there was a horrifying robot when we entered, but thankfully he doesn't have sound detection."

"Alright, I'm on the way."

I ended the call.

Horrifying robot? What is horrifying about it?

Moving carefully through the aisle, I make my way towards the stairs.

Making my way to the second floor, I never expected to see a 5-meter tall robot with chainsaw hands. It even had a horrifying face.

Wait, is that blood on his chainsaws?

I shivered at the thought.

"Okay... hah, huh, nice and slowly."

Even if the robot couldn't hear me, I still went slowly, making a huge circle around it.

"Noboru! Over here!"

Ko waved at me from the corner.

"Okay, one last sprint."

Breathing in and out, I ran for it.

"Go, go, go, go!"

I just got in time, as the robot turned to where I was a second ago.

"That was close!"

"Y-Yeah dude! Y-You were a-awesome!"

We were all hiding behind the cosmetic aisle, that was in the corner of the room, and Masato was the only one laying on the floor.

"Could you tell me what were you thinking while trying to eat an expired chocolate?"

"I was still hungry when I saw it, so I checked the expiration date, and thought that it wasn't far ago."

"Masato, are you sure you read the year correctly?"

"Y-Yes, I'm positive, Ko!"

She then brought out the wrapper.

"Can you read me this?"

"22nd of December 2071."

Masato's eyes went wide.

"Wait! 2071?! I thought it said 2072!"

"Ah..."

Ko let out a long sigh.

"Hey, Masami, you're ok?"

Masami was quietly watching these two argue, before I got her attention.

"Oh, I'm well. Nobody was injured. Well... Almost."

"Haha, they're like water and oil."

"That would be an accurate depiction."

I waited for a minute to see if they would calm down, but since things got worse, I had to calm them down.

"Okay, could you not argue for a day? Every time we go on these missions, you always fight!"

"That's why you're here to stop us."

With everyone calmed down, I began.

"So, did you find the canister?"

"We're unsure of that, because Masato poisoned himself, just as I was about to check."

"What do you suspect to be the canister?"

"We think that there is a canister inside the robot."

"What?! What makes you think that?"

"Because of his size? Did you see how wide he is?"

"Yeah, he's at least 5 meters tall and 20 meters wide..."

Yeah, it's probably the robot...

"Okay, I think I have a way to defeat him quickly."