Volume 2 Chapter 19 (2/2)
The couple from before was inside. As it was a locker room, she locked the door. With her face turning red, Mizuki returned to the men’s restroom. It sounded as if someone was just leaving so she lets out her voice,
“Maaku, n….?”
(TL: Thinking it is her brother –Maa-kun– , she calls out to him, but breaks ‘kun’ into ‘ku’ and ‘n’.)
The person that came out wasn’t her brother, but the lean older male. He looked at her with sunken eyes.
“Ah… I’m sorry….”
“………………”
The man rudely stared at Mizuki’s body. At those eyes which seemed to crawl up and down her body, Mizuki was covered in gooseb.u.mps.
“…………….”
The man left in silence. While holding her chest, she felt a sense of impending crisis.
Eventually, Mizuki began to realize rescue was not coming. The office’s food had run out. The small amount of food they had brought could no longer feed three people. Thanks to the hot water, they were still feeding themselves off of powdered milk and sugar, but sooner or later, they would reach their limit.
The danger of them running out of food had happened.
At midnight, while they were sleeping, Mizuki feels something strange and wakes up. Drowsily, she sits up and hears footsteps nearby. She directs her attention towards them and sees the back of a man leaving the room. Like that, he goes outside.
Mizuki understood the meaning of the scene that happened before her, and thinking about it made her back crawl. The man had been beside her, and when he saw her wake up, left.
(TL: Night molestation :D)
(What was going to happen to me? What was going to happen if I didn’t wake up? It’s dangerous to remain here.)
She would have to take her brothers along, she doesn’t have the courage to go outside alone. When approaching the fire door, even now you could hear something hitting against it from the other side. Mizuki didn’t want to think about what was behind it.
Just like the T.V. in the office, the phone had no connection. Even optimistically, she couldn’t think it was safe outside. She decides to tag along when the old lady or the couple decide to leave.
She makes that decision and sleeps the rest of the day until the next morning.
When she woke up, it felt like there were less people on the floor. In fact, the only person left was the lean looking male. Everyone else was gone. Although her mind had not yet understood what was going on, Mizuki asked,
“Ano… where is everyone….?”
“…..Ah. They left.”
“Eh……”
“This morning. The three of them. Using the elevator.”
Mizuki was silent.
(Perhaps they thought two children were a nuisance…)
But, more than the shock of being left behind,
(Why did this person stay behind….?)
A chill hit Mizuki. The man was leaning back in a chair with his feet on a desk, staring at her with hazy eyes. He had a strange presence. Until then, the atmosphere of him sitting by himself in the corner wasn’t strange. As if he was the husband of this place, he sat there in the chair with a relaxed look.
(TL: j.a.panese say husband or wife of a household, basically she is saying as if it was his house.)
That day, I felt the gaze of the man stick to me many times. When I turn to look, he adverts his gaze, but it’s obvious he was looking at me. An alarm sounded in the back of my mind.
(Scary, scary, scary)
(I want to go outside. I want to go home. But, I don’t have the courage. Those who left hadn’t come back.)
That day, Mizuki never left her brothers. At night, they moved to the locker room; and locking the door, they slept on the hard floor. At the sound of something rattling, she woke up.
Emerging from her dim consciousness, the sight of the door k.n.o.b turning back and forth countless times entered her vision.
“!!!”
Mizuki became stiff with fear. Squeezing out a voice, she called out.
“W, what is it…..?”
“………………”
After some silence, the man’s voice could be heard from the other side,
“I found some food, so I thought I’d share it with you.”
(At this time of night?)
Thinking that, Mizuki speaks out,
“T, thank you, very much. Tomorrow, we’ll have some tomorrow.”
“………………”
With a rattling noise, the doork.n.o.b is once again turned back and forth.
Mizuki swallows a scream, and hugs her body. Having woken up, her brothers saw her appearance. Without raising their voice, they clung to her. After a few minutes, the doork.n.o.b finally stopped rattling.
With a bang, the door was kicked. The man’s footsteps slowly became further away.
“……………..haaa, haaa, haaa”
Letting out her held breath, Mizuki wipes a stray tear from her eyes. Her brothers look up at her with worried eyes.
“S, sorry. Onee-chan’s okay……” (TL: Onee-chan is big sister.)
Concealing her fear, she wraps her brothers in her arms. Taking in that warmth, she mutters,
“Dad….. A-kun….. help…..” (TL: tasukete)
Tomorrow came and they spent half the day without leaving the locker room. However, the need to use the bathroom, and their thirst, became unbearable. Gingerly, they check outside.
There was no sound, nor was there any evidence that anyone was there. Steeling themselves, they check each room, finding n.o.body. Only Mizuki and her brothers were left on the floor.
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