Chapter Two: Lunch Boxes and the Wasteland
“Noriko?”
“...Huh?”
Noriko suddenly snapped back to reality.
During lunch break, several classmates had gathered around her, staring at her curiously.
“What were you spacing out about just now? I called you several times, and you didn’t hear me.”
“I wasn’t...”
Noriko gave a couple of awkward laughs.
She had kept switching back to the game last night to check her supplies, so her brain still hadn’t fully woken up. To make matters worse, she had nearly fallen asleep in class that morning.
“I wasn’t spacing out! I was just thinking about something really shocking!”
“Huh? What?” Several classmates immediately perked up with curiosity.
“American history.” Noriko cleared her throat.
“...What?”
“I saw it in a short video yesterday.”
She lowered her voice.
“I heard that someone once poured bleach and hydrochloric acid into a city reservoir.”
“Huh? Bleach and hydrochloric acid?” The classmate beside her frowned. “Wouldn’t that produce chlorine gas? That sounds like an attempt at mass murder...”
“Exactly! Any normal person would think it was an attempt at murder, right?” Noriko went along with it, her gaze suddenly becoming unfathomably deep.
“But then, a miracle happened!”
“What?”
“No one died after drinking it.”
“Instead, the powerful disinfectant killed all the parasites in the water.”
“Noriko.”
“Hmm?”
“Do you think ‘nobody died’ already counts as a success?”
“Of course not!”
Noriko panicked.
“The video really made a ton of sense!”
“It even said it was a public-health miracle buried by history.”
Her classmate stared at her.
“You actually believed that?”
“Noriko, how long were you watching short videos yesterday?”
“...I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“It sounded really convincing at the time.”
“You even remember it that clearly.”
“Because it sounded so real!”
“How did you fall for it?”
Noriko lowered her head and shoveled a bite of rice into her mouth.
“I refuse to answer.”
“Noriko, okay, maybe it wasn’t quite that ridiculous...” The classmate beside her laughed and tried to smooth things over. “Maybe it was just some junk video the algorithm randomly recommended to me...”
“No, that sounds way too absurd. I’m looking it up.”
One of the classmates could no longer resist. She pulled out her smartphone and began tapping rapidly at the screen.
When Noriko saw that she was actually searching, her heart jolted and a layer of cold sweat instantly broke out across her back. She gave an awkward laugh and waved her hands.
“Aw, you don’t have to look it up, do you? With stuff online, taking it seriously means you’ve already lost...”
“Found it.”
Noriko asked cautiously, “...So what is it?”
“It’s a chlorine compound used to purify water.”
“It has nothing to do with bleach and hydrochloric acid.”
“And mixing the two things you mentioned produces toxic gas.”
Noriko fell silent.
“What the heck were you watching?”
Noriko lowered her head and stayed silent for several seconds.
At that moment, all she wanted was to leave this place.
“...I’m going to the bathroom.”
“Now?”
“Yeah.”
“You haven’t finished eating.”
“I need to calm down.”
She walked out of the classroom without looking back.
Five minutes later.
Noriko returned to her seat.
She didn’t say a word. She simply sat down in silence and opened her lunch box.
Her classmate glanced at her.
“You’re back?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you still need to calm down?”
Noriko picked up a piece of fried chicken.
“Shut up and eat your chips.”
“HAHAHAHAHA!”
Afternoon sunlight slanted through the windows and spilled into the classroom, while the cheerful laughter left over from the earlier farce still lingered in the air.
Noriko chewed the plain rice in her lunch box with an expressionless face, silently swearing to herself that for the next few days, she would keep a safe distance from any short videos containing random trivia.
However, that resolve probably wouldn’t last even five minutes.
The classmate sitting beside her suddenly seemed to remember something and reached over to lightly tap her.
“Oh, right, Noriko.”
“Hmm?” Noriko kept chewing her lunch without looking up.
“I heard the disciplinary committee is going to inspect the school this afternoon.”
“Phones?”
“Yeah. They’ve been cracking down really hard lately, so be careful.”
The classmate pointed at her pocket.
“You were checking your phone again just now, weren’t you? Are the game notifications really that important?”
Noriko:
Noriko’s chewing paused for a moment. Then she frowned, looking somewhat annoyed.
“The engineering station is opening this afternoon.”
“The engineering station?”
“Yeah.”
“The first alliance to claim it gets a reward.”
“So you guys have to fight to be first?”
Noriko thought about it.
“...Not really.”
“Huh?”
“Only the first person to claim it gets the extra reward. If we don’t get that, it’s no big deal.”
“Then why are you still fighting for it?”
“Because who controls the engineering station is more important.”
“Controls it?”
“Yeah. Once it’s captured, the entire alliance gets a buff.”
“So there’s still a benefit even if you aren’t the first to claim it?”
“Exactly.”
Noriko glanced at her phone.
“And...”
“And?”
“Why does it have to be them again?”
“They took it from us last time.”
“If we let them take it again, I’ll be really pissed.”
Her classmate stared at her.
“Didn’t you just say it didn’t matter if you missed the first-place reward?”
“We can do without the reward.”
Noriko put her phone away with an expressionless face.
“But we can’t give up the engineering station.”
“...Is it more important than getting caught by the disciplinary committee?”
Noriko fell into deep thought.
“That’s a question worth considering.”
Despite saying that, she ultimately betrayed her words with her actions and fished her phone out from under the desk, turning on the screen to take a look.
On the screen, notifications were popping up furiously in the alliance group, reminding everyone that construction of the alliance flag was almost complete. Noriko frantically swiped through the screen to confirm that her troops had been sent to build it, muttering under her breath, “What a pain. This game’s timing is so damn inconvenient...” before shoving the phone deep into her uniform pocket.
After afternoon study period ended came the headache-inducing club trial period.
This school didn’t run its clubs particularly strictly.
Noriko decided to embark on a quest to find a “legally sanctioned paradise for slacking off.”
First was the Literary Club.
The clubroom was filled with a faint paper scent, and several upperclassmen were quietly sitting at their desks, writing.
The Literary Club president was a gentle, quiet-looking upperclassman with black-rimmed glasses. She showed Noriko around the room and introduced it with a smile.
“We usually write novels, read books, and occasionally discuss works.”
“Are the activities pretty flexible?”
“Yeah. As long as you turn in whatever you’re supposed to turn in.”
Noriko’s eyes lit up.
“Can I use my phone?”
“If you’re writing, sure.”
“...What if I’m not writing?”
“Never mind.”
She glanced at an empty seat in the corner that almost nobody would notice and silently checked it off in her head. She could probably take out her phone every few minutes to peek at her defenses here.
Next was the Computer Club.
Noriko pushed open the computer lab doors with a glimmer of hope, only to see a whole row of high-end PCs and gaming keyboards glowing with RGB lights.
An upperclassman sitting in front of a computer adjusted his glasses and casually asked, “Are you interested in computers? We mainly work on personal projects, edit videos, and write programs.”
Noriko immediately leaned forward, her voice carrying one last desperate struggle.
“Can we play games?”
The upperclassman swept a hand through the air grandly. “Sure.”
Noriko’s eyes shone.
“Mobile games?”
The upperclassman glanced at her.
“...We’re the Computer Club.”
Noriko looked at the densely packed code on the screen.
“Oh.”
“Are you interested in programming?”
“No.”
Noriko instantly lost all interest and turned away, crossing the Computer Club off her list in her head.
Undeterred, Noriko went on to investigate several more clubs reputed to be “quieter.”
The Tea Ceremony Club.
She had barely sat down for three minutes.
“Put your phone away.”
“The most important thing in tea ceremony is clearing your mind and focusing on the present.”
Noriko silently stuffed her phone back into her pocket.
“Got it.”
Failure number one.
The Library Club, Photography Club, Art Club, and Concert Band were no better than the Tea Ceremony Club.
The Library Club immediately dumped a huge stack of books on her and told her to sort and shelve them. The Photography Club enthusiastically handed her a camera, lenses, and a tripod, then informed her that they were going on an off-campus shoot tomorrow. The Art Club flat-out announced that the sketching assignment would take a full four hours. As for the Concert Band, after standing at the door and listening to one minute of its ear-splitting brass ensemble, she decisively turned around and left.
Not a single club would let her take out her phone and stare at the screen in peace.
After school, Noriko dragged her feet down the hallway of the club building like a defeated soldier.
She had ruled out several clubs in a row, only to discover in despair that there wasn’t a single club in the real world generous enough to let a high school student pull out her phone every few minutes to check the alliance’s status.
She stopped and leaned against a hallway window, watching the sunset dye the campus golden.
“...Why isn’t there a club where I can keep an eye on the engineering station whenever I want?”
Noriko rolled her eyes at the empty air. She had even begun seriously considering whether she should write a ten-thousand-word petition and go straight to the academic affairs office to apply for the school’s first-ever “Wasteland Survival Anti-Raid Club.”
As she grumbled to herself, a clear voice suddenly called out from behind her.
“Sato?”
Noriko was so startled that she nearly flung her phone away. She spun around.
Standing behind her was a girl. Judging by the year insignia on her uniform, she seemed to be a freshman too. She had slightly fluffy short hair and a smile that looked like she was enjoying the show.
“...Who are you?”
“I saw you in the clubrooms just now.”
The girl pointed toward the other end of the hallway.
“You still haven’t decided which club to join?”
Noriko froze for a moment.
“...No.”
“I knew it.”
The girl smiled.
“I saw you stop outside every club, take out your phone for a look, then sigh and leave a few minutes later.”
Noriko fell silent.
So her suspicious behavior—constantly checking her phone because she was terrified the major alliance would raid her alliance members—had been completely obvious to everyone.
“What kind of club are you looking for?”
“One that’s more relaxed.”
“Relaxed?”
“Yeah.”
“One without practice?”
“That would be ideal.”
“One without homework?”
“That would be ideal.”
“One without activities?”
“That would be ideal.”
The girl’s expression gradually turned peculiar.
“...Then why do you even want to join a club?”
Noriko thought about it.
“Because the school requires it.”
The two of them were silent for several seconds.
Then the girl suddenly laughed.
“Don’t you have a club you actually like?”
“Sure.”
“What?”
“Mobile games.”
“So is there any club where I can check a resource point every five minutes?”
“Probably not.”
“That’s a shame.”
She sighed.
“Otherwise, I’d be the first person to sign up.”
The girl couldn’t help laughing.
“You should find a more normal club.”
“I already did.”
“And?”
Noriko answered expressionlessly, “None of them suit me.”
“Then just pick one at random.”
“At random?”
“Yeah. Join first and figure out the rest later.”
Noriko fell into thought.
That suggestion...
It did seem a little more practical than continuing her search for a “legally sanctioned paradise for slacking off.”
She lowered her head and looked at her phone.
The countdown in the alliance group had entered its final seconds. This was the crucial moment when the engineering station would become available for the scheduled fight.
—【Everyone pay attention! The moment the server clock hits the mark, the major alliance will definitely send its main force to rally. Everyone, get ready to hit the timing early!】
Noriko suddenly made up her mind.
“Then...”
She raised her head.
“I’ll decide tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“I’m going home today.”
“But school just let out.”
“That’s why I have to hurry back.”
Noriko’s expression was deadly serious.
“The engineering station is open for grabs.”
“...What?”
“Can’t you fight for it tomorrow?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because the major alliance will take it.”
“And they already took two from us yesterday.”
“It’s nothing.”
Noriko turned and walked away.
The girl was left standing there with a baffled expression.
At that moment, Noriko had only one thing on her mind.
No matter what happened tonight, she couldn’t let them take it again.