Haizaki stood in front of a vending machine, inserted coins, and pressed the button for bottled water. The vending machine, still operating, dispensed the bottle, which fell with a clack.
"Food and drinking water aren't urgent for now…"
Aside from the vending machines functioning normally, Haizaki also discovered that the surrounding shops were intact, fully stocked, with nothing missing.
Twisting open the bottle, Haizaki drank in large gulps, moistening his parched throat.
The entire street was silent. Aside from the sound of his footsteps, only the wind and the rustling of leaves could be heard.
It was not much different from the Chiba he remembered.
Scattered across the street were pieces of clothing, shoes, and other personal items people would normally carry when going out.
Haizaki even spotted a Sōbu High School uniform. This caused him to change direction, walk over, and squat down beside the clothing.
He reached out, lifted the clothes, and began examining them.
From top to bottom, there was a jacket, underwear, a short skirt, panties, and shoes. It was exactly as if a girl who had been standing there had suddenly vanished, and the clothes she was wearing had fallen to the ground under gravity.
Tap.
A small booklet fell out. Haizaki picked it up.
"Chiba City Municipal Sōbu High School — Isshiki Iroha."
Haizaki froze. His expression gradually changed as he looked at the brightly smiling girl on the student ID. Memories long buried deep in his mind surfaced.
—
"Senpai, you help me so much—it's a little touching. But it won't work. You're a good person. We're impossible. Please give up."
"Senpai, you like younger girls. I do like older ones, but… I'm sorry. We really are impossible…"
"Am I being treated specially by you, Senpai? Even in this collapsing apocalyptic world, being treated this way by you makes me really happy. But… it seems I can't keep walking forward with you anymore…"
The girl in his arms gently stroked his face, but her hand eventually lost its strength. Her bleak smile lost its light, her body gradually grew cold, and life faded away.
"You always thought I was going to confess to you."
At that moment, the sky lost all its color. It was cold. So cold.
"But when I finally wanted to speak, you never gave me another chance."
He remembered…
That night, the first time he ever drank alcohol. As he drank, tears quietly fell.
Haizaki's nose stung.
His eyes ached.
Memories related to the girl flashed before him like scenes from a movie, one after another.
Haizaki tightly shut his eyes.
His fists clenched hard.
Right now, he had more important things to do.
So wait a little longer. Just wait for me one more year.
But by then, you would definitely reject me again, wouldn't you?
Thinking of this, a faint smile appeared beneath Haizaki's suppressed expression.
One minute later, after regaining his composure, Haizaki reached out to return the student ID. But his hand froze midair, as if possessed, and he decided to keep Iroha's student ID for now.
As for the girl's clothes…
"I'm not a pervert."
Haizaki grabbed the clothes in one motion, stuffed them into his backpack, and ran forward.
At the very least, he could not leave Iroha's clothes on the street.
After that, Haizaki found a bicycle to use as transportation.
He needed to go to Sōbu High first. If he existed in this world, then Sōbu High should have records of him.
...
The closer he got to Sōbu High, the more dropped Sōbu High uniforms he saw along the sidewalks on both sides of the street.
Along the way, the empty shops, abandoned vehicles, and complete absence of people continuously stimulated him, sending chills down his spine and making his heart feel uneasy.
A different kind of apocalypse, yet the same result—imposing immense environmental pressure on those who remained, grinding away and corroding the human mind and spirit.
"Phew… I can't keep thinking like this. I've experienced the apocalypse before, after all."
Haizaki shook his head, reminding himself to stop these thoughts.
He needed to focus on something else.
After entering Sōbu High and reaching the classroom building, Haizaki got off the bicycle and quickly headed toward Class 1–C, where Iroha was supposed to be.
If this world was no different from his previous one, then Iroha's seat would be there.
Haizaki walked straight to the fifth seat in the second row by the window.
He pulled out one of the books inside. The name "Isshiki Iroha" was written on it, and the handwriting was unmistakably hers.
"Is this really a complete replication of my world?"
Haizaki had another hypothesis—that this world was actually his own world, except that due to the system, he and the assistant had avoided this apocalyptic disaster while unconscious.
But if that were true, how was he supposed to save his world?
This thought made Haizaki feel uneasy. Because it would mean that his one year of perseverance during the apocalypse in his previous life had lost all meaning.
He soon realized that this speculation was pointless, nothing more than self-inflicted trouble that added unnecessary psychological burden. He shook his head, threw the thoughts out of his mind, and took out the girl's clothes from his backpack.
Haizaki folded them neatly and placed them into the desk drawer. Then he took out the student ID from his pocket.
Staring at the smiling girl on the ID, Haizaki hesitated briefly, but ultimately decided to keep it for the time being.
To confirm the situation of "himself" in the Solitary Apocalypse world, Haizaki headed to the homeroom teacher's office.
"It's locked?"
This surprised Haizaki. Between seven and eight in the morning, the teachers' office was actually locked.
Thud. Thud.
Haizaki tried knocking—or rather, bumping against it—twice, but the door remained firmly shut.
"Climb through a window, or find a key?"
Whether the windows were open was another issue. As for the key, he remembered that keys were stored in a dedicated security room.
"Oh, right—Hiratsuka-sensei…"
Hiratsuka Shizuka, as the life guidance teacher, should have lists for all the classes.
Since he was already an admitted student, Class 2–J's list should include his name.
Haizaki quickly arrived at Hiratsuka Shizuka's private office.
"Excuse me, teacher…"
When he opened the office door, what he saw was a Sōbu High girls' uniform lying on the floor.
After stepping inside, Haizaki also found a woman's formal outfit and a white lab coat on the chair.
As expected, these were Shizuka's clothes.
Haizaki felt a tightness in his chest.
Another familiar person had disappeared. It made him feel deeply uncomfortable.
In his previous life, when the apocalypse broke out, Shizuka protected them as her students. Without question, she lived up to being an outstanding teacher.
Haizaki picked up Shizuka's clothes, folded them neatly, and placed them on the desk. From the fallen cigarettes, he took one out, lit it with a lighter, and placed it in the ashtray.
"Hiratsuka-sensei… everything will change. Everything will be fine."
There were still two years before the apocalypse erupted.
He would definitely change that future that led to destruction.
...