“Mmm, it’s delicious.”

“It’s worth the effort.”

The pleasures of life are games and food. If asked which is more important, there’s nothing that can compare to the dishes my younger brother cooks.

“Just thinking about it makes me depressed. We only have about a month left to eat like this.”

Just the thought of it makes me want it to remain just a dream. I sometimes wish that all our preparations would turn out to be for nothing and just be needless worries, only to become a funny story later on.

“What are you talking about? Even if the future unfolds as my prophetic dream foretold, we’re doing everything we can to continue having meals together like this, no matter how the world changes. We’ll keep living our unchanged daily lives.” he said.

“If my little brother says so, it’s okay. I’ve always trusted you and I always will.”

As long as I leave it to my brother, everything will be fine.

“This time, for sure…I’ll definitely protect Yae-nee.”

“Sounds like a proposal.”

“What are you talking about?”

I tease him, and he blushes and looks cute.

After finishing bathing and brushing my teeth, I returned to my room. Usually, I would log in to an online game and get absorbed in it until sunrise, but I couldn’t get into the mood for it tonight.

I passed by my computer desk and lay down on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I’ve felt uneasy about my daily routine of sleeping, waking up, and playing games more than once. My guilt for burdening my brother has been growing day by day, and it feels like it’s about to explode.

But I couldn’t bring myself to take action.

There were times when I felt despair and thought, “I wish this world would just crumble.” But when I realized that such a future was waiting for us, I felt nothing but fear.

The image of our home being invaded by hordes of zombies like in a movie flashed through my mind. Both my brother and I would be devoured. I think it’s the right thing to do to fortify this house like a fortress.

If zombies were overflowing all over the world, it would be difficult to escape. It wouldn’t be a mistake to barricade ourselves in the house and wait for the situation to calm down.

In the first place, I don’t think zombies can move forever.

In zombie fiction, they eat humans. But what happens when there are no humans left to eat?

I think that even before they can get to their next meal, their corpse body will eventually rot and become unable to move. Especially during the rainy season or summer, decay would progress rapidly.

Even if they can withstand that, they will still eventually perish on their own. We don’t have to force ourselves to defeat them. Therefore, staying indoors and surviving is the best strategy.

This is just a wishful thinking.

My younger brother and I have had this conversation many times, with the condition being that the adversary is a zombie.

However, what we call “zombies” are not exactly the zombies we knew, but something similar based on what he has seen in his premonitory dreams. They seem to be former humans that can run with great force.

In many of the games we have played in the past, the pattern is that some kind of virus infects humans and causes them to multiply. By biting humans, the virus spreads, and those humans also become infected, causing the number of infected to increase rapidly.

If real zombies exist, then the question of whether there is anything “real” about zombies must be put aside. If they are simply moving corpses, they will eventually decompose.

However, if they are humans who have mutated, they may not decompose. Moreover, if they can eat something other than humans, the possibility of them self-destructing is even lesser.

It is common in many stories for limited resources to be fought over by humans and other creatures. Additionally, the question of how intelligent these creatures are, is a source of anxiety.

According to my brother, they just run blindly and bite, but in games, there are often mutated or superior species that possess high intelligence. If these creatures possess human-level intelligence, then even if we fortify our home’s defenses, they may still be able to breach them.

“No, no. It’s no good to only think about bad things.”

It’s a bad habit of mine. I tend to have negative thoughts all the time.

Even though my little brother is also anxious, he tries not to show it because of my attitude.

I’ll do my best. I’ll do what I can and won’t hold us back.

So that even in an apocalyptic world, my brother and I can survive together.