Font Size:
“It looks like we’ll make it in time, huh?”
As the afternoon approached, we finally saw the end of the work on the moat.
The hole had been dug, but the real challenge lay ahead.
We had to process a large amount of timber we had cut down into logs, line them up along the moat’s sides, and drive them into the ground. It seemed like a simple task, but it turned out to be more difficult than we had anticipated.
I was prepared for the worst, thinking we might not finish on time. However, the high-performance heavy machinery that arrived two days ago, albeit delayed, proved to be a huge help.
At first glance, it looks like a regular excavator, but its capabilities are completely different.
It can grab and cut down trees, remove branches, and cut them into even lengths all in one go. And it does it all at an impressive speed.
Apparently, this type of heavy machinery is rare in the forestry industry, and the rental car clerk apologized for not having one available until the day before yesterday.
“The progress of technology is amazing,” I thought to myself.
Diya seemed deeply fascinated by the movement of the heavy machinery and kept filming the work scene while admiring it.
If we kept up this pace, we would likely finish the moat construction before the sun set, which was a huge relief.
“You could build a cool-looking log cabin with this thing,” Diya remarked.
“It would definitely make an impact,” I replied.
We both sat down next to a pile of chopped wood and watched the heavy machinery in action.
We were taking a break while Hinoyama-san, who was skilled in operating machinery, was operating it. He had learned how to use it quickly and efficiently, and was now better at it than Diya.
With this machine, we might be able to fend off the Modoki… or so we thought.
But the biggest problem still remained.
The question remained: could we defeat the Modoki, who were once human?
According to Mikishima, “Humans who have completely transformed into Modoki can never return to their former selves, even with the administration of a cure. So, you must mercilessly defeat them.”
When Jinguichi pressed Mikishima, saying that it might already be too late for Iwaro-san, Mikishima replied vaguely, “We’ve been administering the cure gradually from an early stage to slow the progression. There’s still hope. Whether you choose to believe it or not is up to you.”
Although we knew that our chances were slim, we had no choice but to cling to that hope.
“Hey, Jin, can you kill people… I mean, Modoki?” Diya asked, looking at me with her head tilted, while hugging her knees.
She must have been thinking the same thing.
“I don’t know. I understand that there’s no need for mercy against them, but…”
Of course, I had never killed a person before. In fact, I had only been in one fistfight back in elementary school. This wasn’t a situation where idealistic notions would hold any weight. I understood that.
To kill or be killed. There were only two choices. So there was no need to even consider which one to choose.
“I wouldn’t hesitate in a game, though. Reality is tough, huh?”
“Yeah, it is.”
There have been many times when watching horror movies, where I saw the characters hesitated to defeat zombies, murderers, or monsters, and became frustrated as I watched people them being killed.
I used to be disgusted with their cowardice, thinking, “Why hesitate? You’re going to die if you don’t act.”
But now that I find myself in that situation, I am also struggling with the same conflict. Even though I haven’t encountered the enemy yet, I’m already feeling this way…
“Once, I went to Hawaii for work and had an experience shooting a gun. But I had a hard time pulling the trigger. I felt my hands shaking because I realized that pulling the trigger could easily kill a person.”
Perhaps reminded of that time, she posed as if holding a gun and said “bang,” laughing self-deprecatingly.
There are no guns in this place. She had wanted one, but since she had lived a respectable life, she couldn’t think of a way to acquire one.
However, there were many other dangerous weapons, such as crossbows and others that could kill people.
“Uncle and Hinoyama-san said, ‘Leave the crossbow to us!'”
Both of them have experience shooting guns and have even participated in hunting.
“If you’re a detective, it’s natural to shoot a gun. The best would be a magnum.”
“What kind of detective from which country and when are you talking about?”
It wasn’t apparent that we were intimidated by the two of them…at least not on the surface.
“I wish we could just throw them in the ditch and wait for time to run out,” said Diya.
With the depth of the ditch, even a human would find it difficult to climb out. My sister, who had accidentally fallen in, couldn’t climb out on her own and had cried for help.
However, the Modokis had surprising strength. When Jinguichi-san had grabbed the elderly-looking Modoki, the Modoki had easily shaken him off.
If they had that kind of strength, perhaps reinforcing the ditch with logs would be useful.
“Well, we don’t have any other choice, right?”
Diya stands up and hits her knees with force.
“Yeah, if we have time to think, we have time to act. Let’s finish it first and worry later.”
“All right, let’s pick up the pace!”
“Okay, let’s get fired up, Jin!”
“The sun had completely set and it was a little past 7 PM.
“We did it! Woohoo!”
“I’m exhausted!”
“Alright! Yes!”
“Oooh, my back!”
“First one to the food!”
Everyone let out a cheer.
We barely made it in time.
Standing here, completely drained, yet filled with a sense of achievement.
“Alright, let’s use the scrap wood as firewood and have a barbecue!”
Knowing this was going to happen, we had prepared the food in the morning and brought it out to the yard.
The barbecue grill was already set up. All that was left was to light the fire and start cooking.
“Meat, meat! Uncle, you should eat some vegetables, since you’re old.”
“You idiot. I’m old, which is exactly why I need protein.”
“But, senior, you’re avoiding fatty meat, right? Oh, I’ll have that one.”
“This is the child that I carefully raised!”
Diya, Jinguichi, and Hinoyama were all in high spirits as they competed for the meat.
My sister and I decided to take a break from the survival-of-the-fittest meat-eating world and enjoyed our food on the wooden deck while watching the others.
“We somehow made it this far.”
“It was a long journey, that’s for sure.”
About a month had passed since the premonition dream.
That day was still in the future, but our fate would be decided tomorrow. It was no exaggeration to say that much.
Our plan was to fortify the house and survive with just the two of us siblings. But now, there are more people and it’s so lively.
Looking up at the night sky, countless stars were visible. I remembered that even the night I woke up from the accident, the stars were beautiful.
“Premonition dream…I’ve always wondered why I suddenly started seeing them after that day.”
“But you could see them before too. You were just too lazy to open your eyes, that why it looked pitch black”
A limited ability that could only see premonition dreams from 6:30 to 7:30. I believed that I had only been dreaming black dreams because I had been sleeping with my eyes closed even for the future one month later. But it was different.
“Yae-nee, did you actually know? I couldn’t see premonition dreams until that day. It was an incomplete ability.”
She didn’t say anything, but her expression was the answer.
“Don’t make that pained face, sis.”
“Since when did you began thinking about it?”
“Maybe since I had a dream about a zombie apocalypse. I didn’t doubt it until then. But that incident made me think more about precognitive dreams, and I started to question it.”
I wasn’t powerless. I wasn’t trash or a dropout.
The joy of having the ability was so strong that I never doubted my precognitive dreams.
“I dream only during a limited time frame on the first of every month. But when I think back, there were days when I woke up early on the first. Do you remember when we all went to the amusement park in first grade?”
“I remember it clearly.” My sister smiled gently with tears in her eyes.
“We didn’t have much entertainment in our village, so we were excited for the amusement park and woke up at 6 am, we couldn’t sleep because we were so thrilled. But the premonition dream I had in March was pitch black, even though I was awake at that time.” I said
“On that day, we were all running around early in the morning, and I was woken up too.”
My sister lifted her upper body and flapped her legs, a gesture she used to do often.
“So, why did I start seeing premonition dreams? … It’s thanks to Father.”