Morning sunlight slipped through the gaps in the window curtains, illuminating the room with golden lines. Azlan woke up not because of the light, but because of a strange uncomfortable feeling. There was a warm weight on his arm, and rhythmic soft breathing near his ear.
He slowly opened his eyes. What he saw made him immediately fully awake. Somehow, Akane was sleeping beside him, tightly hugging his arm and using his shoulder as a pillow.
What troubled him more was the soft sensation on his right arm; when he looked down, he saw his arm buried in Akane's cleavage pressed by their position.
Azlan took a deep breath, calming his emotional turmoil. He quickly analyzed the situation. He was still on his own mattress, while Akane's mattress across was empty. So it wasn't him who moved, but Akane who came to his mattress. In other words, he wasn't at fault in this indecent situation.
With a clear conscience, he decided to wake the girl up.
"Akane." He called in a low voice.
"..."
No response.
"Akane." He tried again, this time gently shaking her shoulder.
After several attempts, Akane finally woke up. Just woken from sleep, her mind was still groggy. She rubbed her eyes, then sat upright beside Azlan.
"Mmm... Azlan-kun?"
"Good morning..."
Without realizing it, the top two buttons of her sleepwear were open, causing her shirt to slip down and reveal her breasts wrapped in a stunning light blue bra.
Seeing that, Azlan immediately turned his face away.
"Akane, your clothes... The buttons are open. That's inappropriate."
"Hm?"
Not long after, Akane became fully conscious. Looking down. Lowering her head, she was stunned for a moment seeing the view of her own chest, then quickly she crossed her arms to cover her chest, then turned her back to Azlan while trying to button her shirt.
After a moment, with her face still bright red, Akane turned around again.
"Did you... see it?"
"I saw it. Sorry." Azlan admitted honestly, not wanting to make excuses.
Akane took a deep breath. "It's not Azlan-kun's fault. I'm the one who should apologize. Last night, I woke up wanting to go to the toilet, and when I came back, I was still very sleepy... I immediately lay down on the nearest mattress without seeing who was there."
"I see. I understand." Azlan didn't speak much, only nodded.
An awkward silence hung between them before Akane finally got up from the mattress.
"I-I'll go to the bathroom first."
Still embarrassed, she immediately left the room for the bathroom.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
At breakfast, they both had a silent understanding not to discuss the embarrassing incident in the bedroom that morning. The atmosphere was slightly awkward but peaceful, with both parties focused on their food.
After eating, like the routine last night, Azlan began collecting dirty dishes. This time Akane no longer protested, only smiled relieved seeing him help.
While standing side by side at the sink, Akane broke the silence.
"So... what are Azlan-kun's plans for today?" She asked while wiping a plate with a sponge.
"I'll look for a farming store. You said you wanted to garden, right? I'll find plant seeds, fertilizer, and other gardening equipment." Azlan answered, carefully drying a glass.
"Oh! You still remember! I can make our greenhouse functional!" Akane exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. "Then?"
"Then I'll go back to the mall to get solar panels and some tools. I want this house to have electricity." Azlan continued.
Akane stopped her movements, looking at him amazed.
"Solar panels? Azlan-kun can install solar panels? That's quite complex technical knowledge, you know. Not everyone has that kind of skill."
Azlan nodded while taking the next plate from Akane's hand.
"I learned at the refugee camp. The occupying country used to cut off electricity and water, so the refugees had to rely on our own ingenuity to survive. Including assembling electrical systems with solar panels or water power."
Akane's face turned sad hearing that explanation. She remembered Azlan lived in a war zone. The clinking sound of plates subsided.
"You... had to go through all that... It seems you had to learn many things that shouldn't need to be learned by someone your age. It must have been very hard, Azlan-kun."
"It's long past. What's important is we can use it now to make our lives better." Azlan responded flatly, drying the last plate.
"Azlan-kun is right." Akane nodded enthusiastically. "I'll clean the house and sort the items we brought yesterday while you're gone!"
"Don't work too hard. We have plenty of time."
"Don't worry~ Oh, and please also get some books about gardening if there are any!"
"Be careful outside. I'll wait here."
"I'll be back before evening."
Before leaving, Akane lent him the 4D Pocket. As Azlan turned to leave, she called him once more.
"Azlan-kun... thank you for doing all this."
"..."
Azlan didn't turn around, only raised his hand as a farewell sign before stepping out.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
After saying goodbye to Akane, Azlan activated Divine Dividing and flew. His destination was a farming store he had observed from the air. With skilled movements, he landed on the building's roof, then glided inside through a broken second-floor window.
He had to admit that Titans were far more troublesome than zombies.
Zombie attacks were triggered by sound; even if there were humans in front of them, they seemed blind as long as the person didn't make loud noises. On the other hand, Titans weren't just triggered by sound, but also by sight.
As soon as their eyes caught Azlan's figure, they transformed like a group of thirsty men seeing the only woman in the world, chasing him with terrifying persistence.
Therefore, before he could calmly loot the farming store, Azlan had to clear the area first.
With Touki glowing all over his body, he finished off dozens of Titans wandering around the store. Each of his slashes and punches hit their marks, targeting their napes. The giant bodies one by one collapsed and began to evaporate.
After the area was clean, Azlan entered the store and put everything Akane needed—vegetable seeds, fruit seedlings, fertilizer, shovels, hand forks, and small pots—into the 4D Pocket. He even took several books about farming for Akane.
From the farming store, Azlan flew to the mall he visited with Akane yesterday.
This time, he could be calmer. The Titans couldn't enter the mall with their large bodies, they could only stare watching him from outside through broken windows, or gather at the entrance. Of course, those without thinking failed to break in. After all, the concrete buildings in Japan were very solid designed to withstand earthquakes.
Azlan calmly collected everything needed—solar panels, cables, inverters, batteries, and various electrical tools. He even had time to take some LED lights and other electrically powered household appliances.
With the 4D Pocket now containing items to improve their lives, Azlan prepared to fly home. However, his ears that had been sharpened by three months of Senjutsu training caught the sound of curses from the ground floor.
"Damn it! Bastards! Are all the people in this city as greedy as assholes?! Can't they leave even a bit of food for a man like me?! Shameless thieves!"
Although slightly muffled, the voice sounded very angry and frustrated.
"There's someone? A native of this world or someone from another world like me and Akane?"
Without thinking twice, he decided to investigate. With quick and silent steps, he descended the emergency stairs to the ground floor.
There, in the darkness only illuminated by flashlight rays, a middle-aged man with a very flamboyant appearance was raging. His anger was so great that he didn't realize Azlan's presence.
His appearance was truly striking. Messy shoulder-length brown hair, an unkempt beard, and thick black glasses hiding his eyes.
He wore a red top covered by a striking leopard-print short-sleeved shirt, left open. A thick gold necklace with a red pendant adorned his neck. This flashy appearance was completed with black long pants and plain white shoes, radiating the aura of an arrogant and eccentric billionaire.
"Ahem."
"Who?!"
As soon as Azlan cleared his throat, the man turned around warily, thinking it was a zombie. Seeing it was a human, moreover a teenage boy, his wariness subsided.
"Wow, I finally met a human!"
"Hey, do you know where this cursed place is? There are giant monsters and zombies outside the mall! I don't even dare to step outside!"
He approached Azlan, starting to babble non-stop, more precisely venting all his frustrations on the youth he just met.
"Oh yeah, I'm Sawagoe Tomaru."
He introduced himself arrogantly, even though the situation didn't allow for such behavior.
"Can you take me to a safe place? I'll pay you later. Don't worry, I have lots of money. Just look at this gold necklace, it's real!"
He shook his gold necklace, as if the valuable item still had value in this already apocalyptic world.
"..."
Azlan could only observe him with a flat expression, questioning how a man like this could survive this far.