Chapter 2

I found myself in a dimly lit room.

I am Katō Toshiaki, a 32-year-old man.

As usual, I headed to work, bought coffee at the convenience store,

smoked while driving, and drank coffee at a long traffic light intersection.

After that...

What didn't go as usual...

The sudden emergency earthquake alert.

The car shook so much that I could feel it.

The air was filled with the screams of people who had jumped out of their cars.

"Come on, is it another big one like that? Where's the epicenter this time?"

I got out of the car and sat on the ground, waiting for the shaking to stop.

It was supposed to be...

Then I found myself in a dimly lit room.

I looked around.

There were about ten people, from young to old...

There were young girls and boys, probably high school students, and there were elderly people with white hair.

The most mysterious thing was that everyone was naked.

Normally, seeing a naked young girl would make me happy.

I'm just an ordinary man.

But in this bizarre situation, I couldn't just be happy.

It was clearly an abnormal situation.

Imagine this:

One day, you find yourself in a dimly lit room of about 20 tatami mats, with about ten naked people of all ages. That's not normal.

"What, what's happening here...?"

I could only mutter this to myself, to no one in particular.

"Um, let's at least have the young people stay together. Ladies, please gather over there. Gentlemen, over here. It's kind to avoid looking at them, right?"

The one who organized this was an elderly man with white hair.

His wife, probably, was comforting a young woman by stroking her head.

The young woman was crying.

It's no wonder.

This was an abnormal situation.

No matter how you look at it, it's not normal.

The shame and fear of being seen naked must have been overwhelming.

Everyone obediently followed the old gentleman's instructions, but the young ones kept glancing at the women.

It would have been better if they had just been looking...

"Hey, in a situation like this, we're probably going to be killed by terrorists, right?"

A man in his twenties said this.

He usually looked like a herbivore.

"Yeah, if we're going to be killed by terrorists anyway..."

A teenager also chimed in.

Terrorists?

It seemed that being killed by terrorists was already a given.

'Terrorists, huh... going to the trouble of stripping us and locking us in this room, and during an earthquake... What's the benefit for terrorists to lock captives, both men and women, in a room?'

As I thought this, the two men ignored the other men's warnings and approached the women with smirks on their faces.

"Hey, you two! What are you doing!?"

The old woman shouted, trying to protect them.

Bang!

It happened at the same time as the shout.

The door was roughly opened, and two men in armor like Western knights entered.

"What the hell...?"

Something flashed.

The knights' hands glowed before the first pervert could finish his sentence.

"We don't need scum who don't help their own and try to harm the weaker women."

"Did you... kill them...?"

One head was split in two,

the other's neck was severed.

If they were still alive, they would be zombies or gods.

Screams filled the air as the knight began to speak.

"We have no intention of harming you without reason. But we won't keep scum like them alive. For now, follow us out of this room."

Saying this coldly, the knights left.

"Everyone, I know you're confused, but it's best not to defy them. Let's follow them."

Encouraged by the old gentleman, the women, crying, and the men, trembling, stood up.

"You didn't even make a sound when you saw that. Are you a cop? A soldier? You've got some nerve!"

The old gentleman spoke to me.

"No, I'm just a sales guy."

I smiled.

"Ah, a sales guy, huh. Well, having someone reliable like you around will make everyone feel a bit better."

"Hehe, don't expect too much."

I humbly replied, and the old gentleman left, followed by everyone else.

"Hey, aren't you coming?"

A woman called out to me.

"Yeah, I'll be right behind you. Everyone, go ahead. I'll catch up after I finish my last task."

The woman nodded, though puzzled, and left...

Well...

My legs were weak, and I had peed a little.

I wiped my wet feet and crotch on the carpet and then followed everyone.

I was terrified.