Before he knew it, ten days had passed.
At the break of dawn, as the first golden light spilled across the land, Sosuke Kitahara opened his eyes right on schedule. Carefully, he shifted Kasumigaoka Utaha, who had been sleeping soundly in his arms, and sat up. Raising his head, he looked out the car window.
In the distance, several hundred meters away, a pair of massive iron gates cold and metallic were slowly opening. The gesture was a silent announcement: Yamanashi Prefecture, home to more than one hundred thousand survivors, was ready to welcome them.
Before them stood towering city walls, ancient in design yet guarded by men armed with modern automatic weapons. The fusion of past and future struck Sosuke with a sense of temporal dissonance.
They had arrived at the gate in the middle of the night, only to be informed by the sentries on the wall that the doors wouldn't open until morning. Sosuke didn't argue. He simply picked up the radio and ordered the others to spend the night in their vehicles no tents, no fuss.
This was already well beyond Tokyo's urban fringe, over two hundred kilometers out. Judging by the flaking paint on the walls, this place was originally a historical film set. Phase one of construction had only just finished before the apocalypse struck.
Ironically, it was this very reason that made it the perfect stronghold. It had become the sole gateway to Yamanashi Prefecture. Compared to the settlements they'd passed along the way, this one was on a whole other scale. Its imposing grandeur alone suggested it could house several hundred thousand people if needed.
The walls weren't hastily cobbled together, either. They were built using modern techniques tall, solid, and reassuring just by standing beneath them. The gatehouse and watchtowers on either end had armed guards patrolling diligently, not the type to slack off or take bribes.
As the metal gates opened, guards hoisted heavy machine guns onto the sandbag barricades, reinforcing the outer perimeter with spiked wooden barriers dragged into a zigzag path. Only a narrow, Z-shaped passage remained barely wide enough for one person at a time.
While the city gate bustled with military activity, Sosuke casually finished off a piece of bread and honked the horn, waking the girls in the other cars. Haruno Yukinoshita, Yukino Yukinoshita, and Yui Yuigahama groggily stirred, blinking away the remnants of sleep as they peered curiously out the windows.
Sosuke merely chuckled and ignored their stream of half-awake questions. He started the engine, exchanged a few words over the radio with the drivers behind him, and slowly rolled forward toward the gate.
"Stop!"
A middle-aged man in a camo uniform curiously lacking any rank insignia stepped forward and raised his hand. A rifle, slightly worn but still deadly, was slung over his shoulder. Two other men flanked him, dressed similarly.
He eyed Sosuke's car, then glanced inside, his brows furrowing slightly.
"You're from Yokohama, right? Survivors?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?" Sosuke replied calmly, pulling three cigarettes from his pocket and offering one to each of the men.
"Oh, no problem at all," the guard said with a smile, his demeanor instantly softening as he took a cigarette. He motioned for his men to light it for him, then exhaled a puff of smoke and continued, "But we need to run a quick check. Just routine can't let anyone in without confirming they're not infected. I'm sure you understand. It's for everyone's safety."
Sosuke nodded as he glanced up at the looming wall.
So he was finally back here.
"Of course. What kind of check?"
"You two, move the barricades!" the guard barked to his men. Then he leaned against the driver-side window and said to Sosuke, "Drive in slowly, straight ahead."
"Excuse me! Do you know someone named Hasegawa Shimono? He's my younger brother serves in the military..." Yui Yuigahama's mother, who had been sitting in the back, suddenly leaned forward and anxiously pulled a full pack of cigarettes from her coat pocket, offering it to the guard at the window.
His eyes lit up as he eagerly slipped the pack into his chest pocket. After a moment's thought, he shook his head. "Sorry, I've never heard that name. There are too many soldiers here I can't know everyone."
But perhaps feeling guilty for accepting the gift without offering anything in return, he thumped his chest and added, "But this whole gate area is under my watch. If you ever need anything, just come find me. I'm Eguchi Kawa just call me Captain Eguchi."
With the vehicles now following slowly behind one another, Sosuke's group was led through the massive gates. Once inside, they realized there was an inner wall still ahead. Only by passing through that second set of fortifications would they truly enter the city.
This outer perimeter was clearly designed to isolate and screen potential infected. But even so, its sheer scale and organization were a far cry from the half-baked resettlement zones they had seen earlier like that haphazard base near Chiba Expressway.
"Alright, everyone out. Private vehicles aren't allowed inside the city. Lock the doors and park here," the guard instructed.
The parking lot they entered was vast, already filled with hundreds possibly thousands of vehicles. Everything from compact city cars to heavy-duty Raptors was packed in tight rows.
Strangely, though, many of the cars had their doors tightly shut, while a few had bare feet sticking out of open windows, clearly occupied by people still resting.
"Bring your weapons, too. Everything needs to be registered," the guard called out, waving them toward a row of white prefabricated cabins lined up near the inner wall.
As they approached, a loud ruckus erupted from the far end of the cabins cheers and shouts like fans watching a live match at a bar.
Yukino, eyes wide with curiosity, stepped forward and asked, "Sosuke, what are they doing in there? Why is it so loud this early in the morning? Are they watching... baseball?"
The mention of baseball triggered memories of the iconic Koshien tournaments in her mind.
The lead guard, his ears sharp, heard her question and laughed without turning around.
"Baseball? Where would they even get the broadcast for that these days? Nah, they're gambling. That lot's been at it all night didn't even sleep."
Haruno and Yukino exchanged bewildered glances.
In a world where paper money meant nothing anymore, why would anyone bother gambling?
Sensing their confusion, the guard chuckled again and said over his shoulder, "I get it you newcomers must be curious. I'll explain everything during the inspection."