Chapter 27

"Great job!"

As I was pulled up by the arm, the man patted my shoulder. He seemed to be around my age, tall and slender, with a somewhat gentle impression.

"A, ah..."

Overwhelmed by the man's overwhelmingly cheerful voice, I raised my visor with a slightly awkward voice. There were a few people in police uniforms around, and I detected a slight reaction of hostility, but it was probably just a cautious response.

"Thank you for helping me."

I took off my helmet and thanked the man standing next to me.

"I heard this is the evacuation center."

"You were checking the information online, huh? I'm glad you're safe."

The man firmly squeezed my shoulder and smiled.

Using my presence detection, I couldn't sense the entire building, but I could feel the presence of about 30 survivors. I couldn't tell how many of them were police officers, but it seemed like a significant number had survived.

"I'm Oda Tsugumi, the chief here. What's your name?"

"I'm Yanagi Aoi, nice to meet you."

Chief Oda stroked his stubble and scanned me from my feet to my face.

"Yanagi, I'm sorry to ask, but..."

"Hm?"

As the chief signaled to his subordinates, the female police officers left the room. At the same time, the hostility detection reaction slightly increased.

"Could you take off your clothes?"

Being asked this by a man around my age with a serious face, I couldn't help but laugh.

"Yanagi, I'm not joking..."

"No..."

Maybe I set my hostility detection too sharply. Reacting to unnecessary caution, I ended up having to be on guard unnecessarily.

"Sorry for laughing. Go ahead and check thoroughly."

Still suppressing my laughter, I apologized and obediently took off my clothes. The point was to check if I had been bitten by a zombie, which is why only the female police officers were asked to leave the room.

"Thanks for being so cooperative... Yanagi, you have a great physique. Do you work out?"

As the chief examined me, now in just my underwear, he touched my bare arm, and I laughed again. Indeed, my three years in another world had made my body lean and muscular.

"Ah... I like working out. But could you stop touching me?"

The male police officers around me chuckled, following my laughter. The chief, looking puzzled, seemed to finish the check without any issues, and I got dressed again.

"There's no problem. Yanagi, nice to meet you again."

I shook the hand he offered.

+++++

After searching my backpack, I handed over the crowbar, which was covered in zombie spinal fluid, along with a spare one, to the chief's subordinates. From their response, they seemed trustworthy. Besides, even if they were to pull out guns, I was confident that I could handle it if I got serious.

I exchanged friendly greetings with the male police officers in the room and left.

"Call me Oda. I'll introduce you to everyone."

Walking down the corridor with Oda, I could see civilians in the rooms, not just police officers. They all seemed to be in good health, and it seemed they were leading a fairly satisfactory life, though not as before.

"Oda, how many evacuees are there here...?"

My tone from my time in the other world was blunt, making it hard to use polite language. But thinking about it, Oda was probably the top here, so I tried to adjust my speech.

"Yanagi, you don't have to use such formal language. We're about the same age, right? By the way, I'm 35. How about you?"

"Sorry, that helps. I'm 35 too. You can talk freely to me."

Well, in my case, my age in the other world doesn't count.

"Wow, really the same age. Well, there are about 20 evacuees here. There should be around 10 more at the city hall."

There are fewer at the city hall.

Indeed, if that evacuation method is used, it makes sense that there are fewer. Perhaps only those who evacuated first are there.

"That evacuation method is well thought out."

Understanding the nature of zombies and using the building layout effectively was a brilliant move. When I said this, Oda's face darkened for a moment, but he quickly smiled.

"Is that so? I just did what I could."

"We've arrived. This third floor is the living area for the evacuees. We are generally on the second and fourth floors, and the roof. There are spare rooms, so feel free to use them."

We climbed the stairs to the third floor. Using my presence detection, I could sense about 10 people on this floor. Given the size of the building, it made sense that there were spare rooms.

Suddenly, one of the presences moved quickly and approached. As I turned around, it flew into me.

Thud, a head with short brown hair hit my chest.

"Senior, you're alive...!?"

There was my junior, Yuki no Shizukana Sumire, whom I had trained.