Heart of a survivor × Chishiya Shuntaro

Chapter Two

Takara woke up to her alarm blaring its silly little tune like every other day. Unbeknownst to her that this wasn't just like any other day, today was different. She dragged herself out of bed into the bathroom and gave her reflection a good inspection. 

She looked more tired than usual, hair messy from her nights sleep, almost resembling a bird's nest, and a begrudging look on her face.

"Here we go again" she muttered to herself as she went to grab the toothbrush out of its holder.

After getting ready in the bathroom, putting on a light bit of makeup and grabbing some clothes out of her wardrobe, she made her way into the kitchen to make herself a quick breakfast. 

Something she hadn't yet noticed in her sleepy state was the lack of noise coming from outside her apartment. Normally at this time in the morning there would be some light noise of cars passing by the complex or the soft voices of her neighbours coming from the hallway outside her apartment. Yet there was none, but Takara was too invested in scooping up the last few cheerios from her bowl to notice this.

Realising the time, Takara quickly picked up her bag and rummaged around for her keys before exiting her home and locking the door behind her. She had been too busy putting her keys away and walking down the stairs that she had still not noticed how today wasn't just like any other day, it was the day her wish came true.

Once she had made her way down the stairs and onto the street she finally realised how quiet it was. There was not one car on the street, not one person walking on the pavement she stood on, nor was there anyone on the other side of the street either. She was completely alone.

"Now that's a first" she said out loud, confused as to why there wasn't a soul to be seen.

In her confused state she continued walking down the street towards the train station becoming increasingly more baffled as to why she still hadn't seen anyone.

She reached the train station which was harshly different to what she was used to seeing. At this time the station would normally be bustling with people, hurriedly walking to make their next train, too consumed with their own time keepings and plans to notice the people around them. But instead, Takara was faced with an empty shell of what the station used to look like.

All of the signs on the platform had rusted over making them barely readable and the well kept plants that littered the place had now overgrown into mini forests covering almost the entire platform. The tracks too were covered in leaves and branches making it impossible for a train to even take its course along the tracks. Looking over towards the screen where all the train times would normally be displayed, she noticed that there was no electricity hum in the air, the screen being completely black and blank which used to be lit with the day's train timings.

"And no electricity? That's just perfect" she said sarcastically, putting the lack of power down to some kind of outage across the city.

Still in a confused daze she made her way over to what use to be the ticket office. She used the sleeve of her hoodie to wipe away the layer of dust that had accumulated on the glass window and peered through to see the office in a similar state to the platform. The desk was covered in dust along with the office chair. Pieces of paper and other supplies covered the desk, like the worker just got up and left abruptly, the plant in the corner of the room now spreading up the wall with its vines creating an intricate swirling pattern.

"What the hell is going on?" Takara asked herself, now feeling a bit of panic and anxiety settling in.

"Well at least I've got an excuse for not making it into work" she said to herself, trying to make light of the situation. When deep down she was trying to not let her panic get the better of her.

An hour or two had passed since Takara had been at the train station and she was still yet to see another person. She was slowly coming to terms that it might be a while until she sees anyone. Her head swirling with thoughts of what might have happened; maybe there was an emergency evacuation? Maybe there was a massive gas leak from the factories nearby? Maybe the rapture happened and she was the last woman on earth? Maybe she had died in her sleep and this was the afterlife?

"Maybe you should stop saying maybe" she joked to herself, putting her dark thoughts to the back of her mind.

Turning her attention to what should be her next actions, she decided on making the most of the predicament she found herself in, her legs directing her towards the city center.

Wondering how long she would be left with a vacant city, she thought about sticking to the basics; food, water, shelter and some new clothes that were more practical. She couldn't possibly survive in her work shirt and skirt for much longer, she never cared for skirts or more feminine attire, always choosing comfort and practicality over style.

Finding the nearest clothes shop, she stepped inside and took in her surroundings. The place looked a mess. All the clothing rails were covered in a thick layer of dust. The mannequins were sprawled across the shop floor along with items of clothes scattered across the white tiles, she could see more clothes than flooring by how much of a mess there was.

She rummaged through the countless aisles of clothing and found a changing room on the ground floor to discard her ugly, uncomfortable work uniform. She walked out the store happy with what she picked out for herself. Takara was wearing some black cargos, a long sleeved green vest with an even darker green hoodie and some sturdy trainers. She felt like the multiple pockets on the cargos would come in handy down the line and opted out of picking up a coat for now, it was late spring so it wouldn't be too cold while she was out exploring the city.

Moving onto the next part of the mental list she made; food and water. Seeing a supermarket across the street she made her way over to it, the automatic doors not moving when she approached them.

"Right no electricity, why do I keep forgetting that" she mumbled to herself, scrambling at the doors in an attempt to pry them open. With great effort, the doors slowly screeched open.

The supermarket resembled the same state of the clothes shop. Broken jars and empty cartons spread across the floor instead this time, the stagnant stench of spoiled food filled her nostrils and it was enough to make her feel sick. How had all the food gone bad so quickly? Didn't everyone only disappear earlier today?.

Wanting to be as quick as possible, she picked up a few undamaged tins and jars that were left on the shelves followed by a pack of bottled water. Realising that two hands might not be enough to carry everything, she quickly left the building and returned with a trolley. It's not like anybody would notice if she took the trolley with her afterwards and honestly Takara couldn't care even if anyone did.

"Now all I need is a safe place to sleep for the night" she spoke aloud, pushing the trolley out of the store relieved to be breathing in fresh air again.

Seeing as she has the whole city in the palm of her hands, she thought about how she didn't have to go back to her cramped apartment for the night. She could choose any building she pleased to call home for the foreseeable future.

With her trolley full with food and bottled water, she settled on the closest block of apartments to the city center; she really didn't feel like pushing the trolley around the city for the night and soon it would be too dark to walk down the street without the lamps illuminating the way. She also thought that maybe if she stayed close to the center there was a higher chance of seeing another person, if there even were any.

She was just about to open the apartment building door when what used to be an advertisement billboard lit up in a bright white light that almost blinded Takara. Was the power finally back on?

Blinking away the shock of the light, she used her hand to block out some of the light and looked up towards the board, fixing her gaze upon the words written in bold black writing, and with that she read what awaited her.

➾ this way to the game ➾