Chapter 20: This is what being a newlywed couple is like

Friday 9 May, 20XX - Part 1

We went down to the city. I drove extra slowly, just in case there was a sudden exodus of cars coming our way.

An hour had passed since the lights went out. It was midnight. A new day had started.

We drove into the city.

“Wow,” Yui mouthed.

The 24 hour convenience stores had their lights turned off. The traffic lights were dark. Every window melted into the night.

“It looks like one of those abandoned tourist towns from the Bubble Era,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“During the height of the Bubble Era, there were a lot of tourist towns, hot springs towns, theme parks and so on. After the bubble burst, almost no one traveled, so these towns were abandoned.”

“Ah, I think I’ve seen videos of those places.”

But unlike those abandoned Bubble Era towns, the streets of this city were filled with people. Some were wearing street clothes, others were in their pajamas. Many were using their smartphones as flashlights. It looked like they were treating tonight as a summer festival. A thrilling diversion from their usual lives.

“People aren’t panicking,” Yui observed.

“Mh, yeah. It’s calm – for now.”

“For now?”

“I think something will happen soon.”

Yui didn’t ask what that ‘something’ might be.

Regardless of how the locals were reacting to the blackout, Yui and I had to push ahead with our own plans.

In the past few days, we had gone through most of our supplies. Turns out, three meals a day and changing clothes used up a lot of what we carried with us. At the same time, we couldn’t easily go into town to resupply because the police might be looking for us.

Which meant that tonight was the best time for us to resupply.

The police would be kept too busy to look for two runaway teenagers.

Even if they did see our red Kei car, it would be difficult to recognize us in total darkness.

We stopped at a 24 hour supermarket located just outside of the shopping arcade.

There were several people roaming about inside. At the check out, customers were placing money beside the cash register before leaving with their purchases. There was even a line of people waiting to do that.

“Huh…it’s quite orderly,” Yui said. She sounded almost disappointed by how orderly it was. “You were right, Haruto. Some people will live their peaceful lives until the end of the world.”

A store attendant approached us.

“Good evening. I’m very sorry, but the power has gone out. We’re trying to fix it as soon as possible. I’m very sorry about the inconvenience.”

“Is the store open?” I asked.

The store attendant looked hesitant. “The store is open, but please be careful. It’s easy to trip when it’s dark like this.”

““Thank you very much! We apologize for the trouble caused.””

Yui and I each took a shopping cart and vanished between the shelves.

“I had thought up five different ways for us to get in if she blocked us.”

I said nothing.

“You’re not going to ask what schemes I had in mind?”

“I can kind of imagine.”

“Tch.” She clicked her tongue. And then she added, “It’s a shame. The second one would’ve been my masterpiece.”

After camping for a few days, we learned what we needed on the road and what was too difficult to use.

We didn’t eat any of the rice we brought because we didn’t have a rice cooker, nor was there an electrical outlet to plug in a rice cooker.

Instead, we focused on pre-packaged foods like instant rice, noodles and instant curry. It might not be healthy, but they were easy to prepare if we had to sleep under the sky.

To keep some kind of nutritional balance, we got some fresh fruits. Those might be expensive and won’t last very long, but at least we’d have some fresh food until we could resupply again.

When we lined up at the checkout counter, I couldn’t help but wonder if this is what being a newlywed couple is like.

Grocery shopping together, taking late night walks, holding hands in the dark…

Yui turned around.

Crap! She saw me staring at her.

“Haruto?”

“Ah…uhm…” I couldn’t say that I was thinking if us being like this is what being newly married feels like. We weren’t even dating. Any girl in the world would say, “Uhm…ahaha…that’s kind of disgusting, sorry,” with an awkward smile. If she made that expression, I would sink into the ground and die.

Ah, I knew what to say.

“I was just wondering if there’s anything we’ve forgotten.”

Yui put a finger to her chin. “Did we forget anything? Ah! Wait. Go ahead, Haruto. I need to go get some essential items.”

I decided not to ask what those ‘essential items’ were.

After we finished our shopping, we drove around the city, observing the locals.

Next to a public park, there were people lining up with buckets next to a manually operated water pump.

“Haruto, look. They are lining up for water.”

“Huh…I guess there is no running water if the power is out.”

There were people helping the elderly carry the buckets of water back to their homes.

“There is some kindness in this world after all,” Yui commented.

“Yeah.”

“Too bad it isn’t offered equally.”

I could hear a sliver of loneliness in her voice.

Afterwards, we pulled into a parking lot next to a convenience store that had closed for the night. It was 3am. Despite the coffee, we were both dead tired. We both fell asleep.

It was Yui who shook me awake hours later.

“Haruto, wake up.”

“Huh…?”

“The power is back on. We should leave.”

“Ah…okay…”

I yawned.

It was just after 5am. Looking outside, the lights in the convenience store were on, the traffic lights were operating. The world had gone back to normal.

Yui went into the convenience store to use their bathroom.

While waiting for her, I pulled out my phone to check if we had 5G again.

Yup. Five full bars.

I sent a reply to that email.

“What will happen next?” I wrote.

I let out a sigh. Where should we go next? We had to abandon our tent with the Kobayashi sisters. We’ll have to either find a hotel or a new tent.

Although changing camping sites is such a pain…

My phone vibrated. It was a reply from them.

“Would you like to meet?”

I almost dropped my phone. My heart beat so fast I could hear it.

The person responsible for the end of the world wants to meet up?

With shaking hands, I wrote, “When and where would you like to meet?”

No immediate reply came.

A little later, we drove down a quiet residential street.

“Haruto, is something wrong?” Yui gave me an odd look.

The excitement must’ve been all over my face.

“Yui, listen. I sent a reply and they answered asking – “

Before I could finish the sentence, something on the road caused me to hit the brakes.

“H-Hey! What’s wrong?” Yui scowled.

“Look over there.”

I pointed ahead. A person sat slumped over next to a vending machine outside a 24h Times parking lot. His face was covered with blood, his legs spread out, his clothing torn.

He had clearly been beaten up. Maybe he was even on the verge of death.

Normally, I’d ask a passerby to call for help and try not to get involved beyond that.

But I recognized this person.

It was the elder Murakami brother. Kobayashi Yuki’s boyfriend.

Murakami Ryu.