A Quick Resupply Should Be Alright!

Two weeks later…

Munakata—Northern end of Fukuoka, Summer.

“A-Alice…” I desperately stretch my hand out, the sweats on my forehead hitting my eye. “B-Break… please…”

“We just left a few hours ago…” Alice replied. She looks back at the map with her shoulders jolting. “There’s a home improvement store just a few meters away… Let’s stop there and stock up on some stuff…”

“Haah… haah…”

My knees…

I think it’s going to collapse soon…

Oh god, it’s so hot…

“Come on now…” Alice approached me, lending me a bottle of water.

“Haah!”

I quickly grab the water from her, downing almost half of it. Then, I used the remaining amount to splash it on my face.

“Don’t throw away water like that!” Alice snatched the bottle away from me, looking into it.

“…Lukewarm…” I muttered, the water dripping down from my hair.

That didn’t feel good at all…

If anything, it makes things worse…

“Your stamina is much better than before, but man, you’re still pretty bad…” Alice looks at me with pitying eyes.

“W-We walked for ten kilometers! With… with barely any…” I walk out to the side of the road, slowly sitting myself down on the hot road.

“Why did I invite you…” Alice muttered.

“I heard that!” I aggressively pointed my finger towards her, “And I don’t think anyone wants to pair up with someone that has monstrous stamina like you!”

“Alriiiiight, let’s get moving… I don’t want to stay in this heat after all…” As Alice said that, she grabbed my jacket’s hood, dragging me across the hard pavement.

“Owowowwowoow! I’ll walk! I’ll walk okay!” I continuously plead, yet Alice is still pulling me.

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After a short stroll, we arrived at the home improvement store, its exterior filled with mosses and vines growing on the sides, the store sign on top of the building has parts of its words fallen off, making it hard to distinguish what the place is called.

Stepping inside, we’re greeted with a vast area that’s towered by multiple racks surrounding the entire place, with most of them being filled with multiple types of furniture, wood, and even fake plants that are covered in dust.

“Alice… remind me why we’re here again…” I ask as I fix up my glasses.

“…Tehe!” Alice poked her tongue out, smacking her head with her fist.

“Alright, cool…” I let out a sigh, placing my bag down on the floor.

“W-Well, at least we can stay away from the sun, right?” Alice states, letting out an awkward laugh.

“I guess that’s true…” I scout out the surrounding area. Once I’m done, I open my bag to see multiple pairs of clothes, my laptop, and some amenities to keep myself feeling clean. I then looked towards Alice and pointed towards her bag, “Alice, can I see what’s in there?”

“My backpack, or my suitcase?” She asks.

“Show me both.”

“Sure…” Alice handed her backpack over to me, and then she opened her suitcase, revealing an assortment of clothing paired with her amenities.

Unzipping her backpack reveals all of the food items and water we found on our journey. While most convenience stores we visited have tons of sweet drinks, most of them have gone past their expiration date, so we’re less reluctant to give them a go. However, most bottled waters still have a pretty long shelf life, making it easy to stock up.

So, we need a pretty large water bottle to keep us afloat, a better backpack to store more stuff, and a portable gas stove to cook up some decent food and boil some water if it does end up going bad…

Oh, I think something like a weapon would be good too, in case we run into wild animals. Considering the amount of stuff we’re carrying, something light like a knife should work well to keep my mind at ease.

We should visit a pharmacy after this to get some medicines. Something simple like vitamins, a few painkillers, Antacids, antibiotics, hydrogen peroxide… Oh, tampons are an absolute must…

“Hey Alice, can you keep an eye on our stuff? I have some things I need to get…” I said, pointing towards the dark area.

“…Are you sure you don’t wanna go together?” Alice asks, eyeing her surroundings, “This place is a bit scary…”

“I have an idea of what I want to get, so I shouldn’t be out for too long.” I replied, fixing my glasses.

“Are you not scared?” Alice asks.

“I’m used to dark places, so no need to worry!” I puff my chest out.

“…”

“W-Why are you looking at me like that?” I take a step back.

“It’s nothing… I just imagined how, and remembered why you came with me, and suddenly everything makes sense…” Alice slumped her shoulders.

“…I-I’ll go look for the things we need…” I turn my back on her, slowly walking into the dark area.

“Good luuuck~~” Alice nonchalantly screamed from the back.

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“Ooohhh…” Alice breathed out, eyeing my spoils.

At first, Alice was a bit confused as to why I brought in so many items, even to the point where she wasn’t listening to me as she listed off all of the issues of bringing this many things have. Eventually, I was able to calm her down to at least hear out my reasoning for most of the items I purchased.

“For the water bottle, I have these holders that we could attach next to our bags to keep them intact. It’ll be a bit heavier, but we’d be able to store more clean water than before…” I explained.

“That’s nice and all, but it’s still going to be heavy, you know?” Alice crossed her arms.

“That’s where we split most of the items to keep things balanced,” I bring over two giant backpacks and our old ones into one spot. “I think that we should place our clothing in our backpacks, while keeping our amenities and other important stuff in the suitcase. Since you’re the one pulling it, we should try to keep it light to make things easier…”

“Then what do we do about our used clothes? I was planning on using my bag to store them…” Alice says as she opens her bag.

“I think we should wear our clothes for an extended period, and throw them out once they smell bad, especially underwear. However, jackets and hoodies tend to last a bit longer, so I think keeping them for a while should be fine. Considering the time we’re in, getting free clothes should be pretty easy, but we shouldn’t be overly reliant on them…” I explained.

“Are you sure that’s a good way to preserve our stocks?” Alice asks, a disgusted expression plastered on her face.

“By limiting the clothes we carry, we can keep things light, while also making good distance without tiring ourselves. I usually wear the same shirt for two weeks straight, and it still feels pretty good…” I explained, fixing up my glasses. “Though I’d like to advise that underwear is an absolute MUST change, as it can get really uncomfortable after a while…”

“I don’t need you to tell me that…” Alice placed her hand on her chest.

“So, are you okay with these changes?” I spread my hands out towards our items.

“Well, after what you said, I've got nothing to argue about…” Alice then looks up at me, her eyes dilating, “I’m more surprised that you put this much thought into something… I’ve assumed that you’re just a sex-deprived lady, so I never thought much about you…”

“Hey…” I push my glasses up, staring straight towards Alice, “I may not look like it, but I consistently reached the top ten, and got a recommendation to study at Tokyo University, you know?” I puff my chest up.

“…You’re probably lying about this, but if it’s true, then why are you still in Fukuoka?” Alice crossed her arms.

“…”

“…Yuiko?”

“…I couldn’t keep up…” I face downward.

“Yuiko? What are you talking abou—”

“…”

I bite my lip, clenching my hands to keep myself together.

“…”

“…Oh! Was I spacing out?” I look up towards Alice, a surprised look dawns on her face.

“…O-ohh… It’s nothing…” Alice’s expression goes back to her usual sternness. She then picks up some of her clothes from the suitcase and moves them to her bag. “It’s getting dark out there, so let’s clean everything up and get some sleep while we can…”

“Oh, right! I found these sleeping bags while I was exploring, so we don’t have to sleep on hard concrete anymore!” I pulled out two cylinder bundles from my side, showing them off to Alice.

“Really?! Let’s goooo!” Alice pumps her fists into the air.

“Hehe!” I rub the bottom of my nose.

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