Chapter 52

"Wh-what is this? Isn't this a shelter?"

The man with the dark skin and nose piercing raised his hands and wore a strained smile. The gunshots heard earlier were probably from this man firing at zombies outside. In one hand, he held a gun, and he nervously looked around at the police officers who had surrounded him and were aiming their weapons at him.

"Don't move. I don't intend to harm you. I'll have to take that weapon."

As Oda glanced at me briefly as I entered the room, he said this while still aiming his pistol and slowly approached the man with his bearded subordinate. The man did not resist when his gun was taken; he complied obediently. It was a revolver, the same type the police officers were using.

Oda handed the gun to another subordinate behind him and then proceeded to pat the man down.

"…Keep your hands up. Stay calm."

Because the man had a gun, Oda seemed to be quite cautious. When I arrived, he wasn't this cautious. Well, I only had a crowbar. Now that I think about it, maybe it was better that I didn't bring a knife from the home center.

Oda must have also connected the dots with the incident at the supermarket and had some thoughts about the man having a gun.

"…Alright, you can lower your hands now."

After finishing the pat-down, Oda took a step back from the man, and the other police officers relaxed their tension.

"Is this a shelter, right? Nothing's going to happen, right?"

"It's okay, I'm sorry for the rough handling. Just let me check your injuries one last time."

"O-Okay, I don't mind…"

The man said this nervously, and a few female police officers in the room left. They had probably been asked to leave the room when the man was seen with the gun.

The man followed Oda's instructions, took off his shirt, and had his injuries checked. There didn't seem to be any problems, but in his backpack, along with daily necessities and food, there was a long-bladed knife and a radio.

"I'll have to take all dangerous items. And this one too."

Oda said this and handed the knife, multitool, and radio to a subordinate.

"W-What about the radio?"

"Is there a problem?"

"A-Ah… Y-You see, it's a memento from a friend. Can't I keep it?"

The man said this anxiously. Oda raised an eyebrow at his words and shook his head.

"…We'll keep it safe for you. If you're not satisfied, you might have to leave, I'm afraid."

"…No, that's fine, hah. Anyway, I'm safe, right?"

"Yeah, you're safe now. I'll have someone show you around."

Oda said this, returned the backpack to the man, and instructed a subordinate to guide him.

The man smiled and tried to be friendly with everyone around, but his eyes still showed a clear sense of hostility.

+++++

"Oda."

After the man left with the police officers, only Oda and I were left in the room. Oda looked troubled, as if he was deep in thought.

"…What is it?"

"You might want to be careful with that guy."

The hostility detector had been reacting since we were in the car. Well, that's understandable. We might not be a truly benevolent group from the outside, so he could have been highly cautious.

The hostility when we climbed the ladder and he was surrounded by police officers is also understandable, a natural reaction.

But the fact that he still held onto that hostility even after everything was over was clearly unnatural. Even if he was still a bit cautious, it was almost the same as when he was surrounded.

"Yanagi. I agree with you."

Unlike me, who has the "Always in Battle" skill, Oda can't explicitly sense hostility. Still, he felt the same way I did.

"But we can't treat him unfairly just because he seems suspicious. It would be selfish to wish he had caused a commotion just now."

Oda said something very similar to what I had been thinking on the rooftop.

Just because someone seems suspicious doesn't mean they will do something. Similarly, just because someone is hostile doesn't mean they will act on it.

"If the gunshot wounds from the infected at the supermarket are related to him, things could get complicated. That's why I took the multitool and the radio as a precaution."

"…You're as good as ever, Oda."

If he is part of a group and the person watching us from the police station is also part of that group and connected to him, that radio could have been used for communication. I respect Oda for taking immediate action based on his experience and intuition, even though he shouldn't have known about the lookout.

"The helicopter hasn't come, and we were planning to retrieve your car soon. Things just aren't going smoothly."

"It can't be helped. I'll keep an eye on him."

"I'm sorry."

I patted his shoulder and told him not to worry, and Oda smiled apologetically.