"So, what do we need?" Takashi asked.

"Food, ammunition, water, first aid stuff, medicine for Tatsuzo's back and dog food for Zeke." Saya answered.

"We can make leisure stops while we're here too, right? I'm sure everyone would like some clean clothes, and word is everything's on sale." I said.

"Sure." Takashi said with a smile.

"I like the way he thinks already." Rei said.

"I'm an ex-Psychology student. I guess I just realised that doing things for fun in this new world often gets overlooked." I said.

They all nodded and mumbled their agreements.

I massaged my right shoulder with my left hand and grimaced slightly.

"I really need that medicine. I think there's a drugstore nearby." I said.

"I'll go with him. The rest of you go get the food and water. We'll meet you in the grocery store." Saeko said.

"It should be clear. I drew all of Them out earlier. I checked." I said to calm their worried looks.

Hirano gave me four extra bullets for the pistol.

"In case you run into trouble." He said.

"I'll take point." Saeko said.

"Ok. But stay close." I said.

"You're always so protective over me."

"I'm sorry. You're all I've got now. So you're going to have to get used to it. My family's dead."

Saeko gasped.

"I... I'm sorry." She said.

I didn't say anything.

"There it is!" I said, pointing at the store.

Saeko drew her sword.

I gasped when I recognised it.

"Is that...?"

"Yes. I believe so."

Saeko slowly approached the front of the drugstore and smacked the handle of the sword on a trashcan just by the entrance. Two of Them approached. Saeko's deep blue eyes narrowed. She took two delicate steps forwards and twirled around, bringing her sword down in an arc. The head of one of Them clattered to the floor with a gush of blood. The other one lost its leg and fell to the floor. Saeko calmly stabbed the sword into its head.

"That should be it. Seems pretty quiet." She said.

"It is now!" I exclaimed.

She and I walked into the store together. The shelves were barren.

"We'll need the key. Should be behind the counter." I said.

I vaulted over the counter and searched for the key. I found it hidden under a bloodstained family photo. I recognised the man in the photo as one of Them I had killed earlier. I moved the picture and took the small silver key. I used it on every drawer in the prescription only section.

I pulled every drawer out, searching for the medicines and the strongest painkillers I could find as well as anything else I could find that I thought might help Dr. Marikawa and the rest of the group. I found the ointment I needed. I grabbed all they had of it and took the strongest painkillers I could find, several other painkillers with more general purposes and some sleeping aids. I'd been really struggling recently. And it wasn't just with the arrival of Them. I hadn't slept well in months. I took as much as the store had. I popped one of the containers with some very strong painkillers my doctor told me to use if things got unbearable. I was practically hunched over with the pain right now, so I figured that I qualified.

"I'll put the ointment on when we find somewhere to rest." I said, grimacing with the pain still. I hadn't had any water to drink in about a day, so swallowing was almost as painful as my back. I flinched again as I swallowed the painkiller. I was still tense from the pain, but I knew I'd find relief once the pill took effect.

"Let's go grocery shopping!" I said.

Saeko gave me a small smile and the pain I was experiencing fell away for that brief second.

We walked through the bloodstained hallway of the mall to find the general store. We heard their laughter and exclamations as they found luxuries they hadn't seen in a while. I heard Alice scream as we approached the entrance. I instinctively reached for my pistol, but I paid closer attention and noticed she was giggling too.

I saw Rei pushing Alice in the shopping cart as fast as she could. Alice was cuddling a teddy bear she'd found somewhere within the large store. As I entered through the only manual push door, I saw the scale of the store for real now. I knew it was big, but this place was a haven. There was everything you could dream of in the long aisles.

Alice caught sight of me first.

"Hey, Tatsuzo! Look what I found!" She exclaimed, brandishing the teddy bear.

"Aww, he's cute. What's his name?" I asked her, as I got further into the store.

"Jonah." She said.

"Oh, that's an American name! I have a cousin called Jonah!" I said.

"Where does he live?" She asked.

"California. It's always nice and sunny there. And sometimes you can see famous actors."

"Have you seen anyone famous there?"

"Yeah, I saw my favourite band there. I got to talk to them for a while!"

"Were they nice? I know people who have met famous people who aren't very nice..."

"Yes, they were."

"That's good. If you like them, they should be nice to you."

"That's true. But sometimes being nice to people all the time is hard, isn't it?"

"Yeah..."

I laughed.

Rei stopped pushing Alice and went to try on some sunglasses. Saeko and I put the carrier bags full of painkillers and medicines into the cart full of food and water and a few luxuries.

Alice raised her arms towards me, dropping her teddy bear into the cart again. I picked her up.

She giggled and screamed as I lifted her over my head. I brought her back down to my height and held her. She wrapped her legs around me and I kept one arm latched onto her as we walked up and down the aisles. Saeko laughed warmly as she watched me do this.

"You're such a good big brother." Alice said, grinning.

This comment tore me apart. She wasn't the first little sister I've had. It was everything I could do to not break down in hysterical tears.

My little sister had died when this all started. I don't know how exactly, but I came home to find my mother, father and little sister turned. Part of me wanted to kill them, to release them from it. But I looked into my sister's eyes and saw the memories of me picking her up and idly chatting just as I was doing with Alice. I couldn't bring myself to do it, so I locked them in the house.

Saeko saw that I had gone to a dark place and averted my attention back to the present. I saw the look of knowing sorrow in her eyes as she realised what Alice's words had stirred in my mind.

"You have family from all over the world, don't you? Not just America." She prompted, her tone loving and warm in the same way I had been speaking to Alice all day.

"Oh, yes. I have family in America, Korea and Japan. I also have family that have moved from those places to Australia, England, China and Kenya."

"Wow! Have you visited them all?" Alice asked, fascinated.

"Yeah, mostly. But a couple of those times I was very young, so I don't remember much."

"Was it nice? Which was your favourite?"

"Well, Japan is my favourite. That's why I'm still here. I could move to any English speaking country or Korea if I wanted to. I'm fluent in English, Japanese and Korean! But outside of here, I'd probably want to go to Australia. The beaches there are so beautiful and peaceful."

"I like the beach! It's always beautiful and peaceful if you go when the weather's nice." Alice said.

"Me too. I love being in the water." Saeko said.

"So do I. I love diving underwater. It's like another world right underneath you. Maybe we should get some bathing suits when we go to the clothing store. I'd love to go swimming some day." I said.

"That's a good idea." Saeko said.

It seemed like everybody else heard me at that point.

"Yeah, that would be great!"

"We should go tomorrow. We need a break and we're close to the beach." Rei agreed.

When Rei said beach, she meant the small area of sand by the river. Being in inland Japan meant that was the closest to the beach as we got. We all knew what she'd meant regardless.

"Let's do it!"

"Takashi. You're the leader. What do you think?"

"I think we should. We just need to find a way to get there." Takashi said.

"We'll need a watch, too. Just in case." I said.

"I'll do it. I'm not comfortable taking my clothes off to swim. I just like sitting on the sand with my feet in the water." Hirano said.

"Oh, I thought we'd take it in shifts so everyone had a go in the water. But if you're happy to, that's fine. Just let me know if you want to go in for a bit, I'd be more than happy to switch if you change your mind." I said, smiling.

"Thanks. But I don't think I'll change my mind."

"Well, grab a suit just in case." I said, winking at him.

"Will do."

"Hey! Who made you the leader?!" Takagi asked, angrily.

"Me? Leader? I... No, I'm just trying to help. Leading a group on your own is difficult. It needs to be a joint effort. If I'm out of line, just let me know." I said, glancing at Takashi.

"Don't worry. He's just helping. Besides, I don't want to be the leader." Takashi said.

"Neither do I. But if everyone's okay with it, I'm happy to help out with that sort of stuff." I said. Everyone relaxed as I said this. Especially Takashi. Alice had been a little worried at the momentary tension as she squirmed in my arms.

"There's something I wanted to ask you." Rei said.

"Go ahead." I invited.

"You got that gun from a dead policeman, right?" She asked, worried.

"Yeah."

"Can you tell me what he looked like? My father's a policeman. I just want to be sure."

"Sure. My memory is a little hazy. He was fairly short, middle aged, bald and had a beard." I described. Rei sighed with relief. I wish I could have known that same relief. We continued getting supplies in the store for a little longer. I pushed the cart around at full speed with Alice inside, screaming and laughing while everyone finished getting what they needed.

"We're gonna have to keep this cart. Got a lot to carry, and I don't suppose we have vehicles anymore." I said.

"Yay! More pushing!" Alice celebrated.

"Clothes store now, right?" I asked.

"Yeah!" The girls said in unison, skipping ahead.

Kohta, Takashi and myself were behind pushing the cart full of supplies and Zeke snuffling inside the carrier bags full of medicine while Saeko and Shizuka held Alice's hands on either side.

We entered the clothing store. It was a huge place with two floors and a ton of changing rooms. Everyone looked at Takashi for what to do next. He sighed and deferred to me, obviously fed up of calling the shots for a while.

"Kohta, stay here with a loaded gun and our supplies. Look after Alice." I ordered. He jumped and saluted sarcastically.

"Yes, sir!" He shouted.

I cracked a crooked smile.

"Saeko and Shizuka. Check the bottom floor changing rooms, and then move on to the main part of the bottom floor to help Takagi and Zeke. Takashi and I will look up top." I coordinated. Takashi and I bolted up the escalator, ready to smash some heads. I grabbed a mannequin and swung at one of Them wandering up there. I could hear fighting downstairs, but no gunshots, which I took as a positive sign. It fell and I smashed its head with the base of the mannequin. I nearly slipped on the blood and smashed a few shards of skull under my shoes. I held my balance and swung at another one. The mannequin broke and bits of plastic embedded themselves in the one I was trying to kill. The force didn't knock it over. I was weaponless. Takashi came to me and smashed it repeatedly with his shotgun.

We were clear upstairs. We ran back down to check on Kota and the girls. I saw Saeko gracefully finish one more of Them off as it approached Takagi. Zeke barked, seemingly appreciative.

"Is that it?" I asked.

"Yeah. That's it." Takagi said as she got up and corrected her skirt.

"We need to get you a sword." Saeko said.

"Yeah. Definitely. Not like it's going to be easy to find, though." I agreed, not wanting to have another encounter like I'd just had.

"Let's shop!" Shizuka exclaimed, giggling. Everyone smiled. The men's department was on the upper floor. Takashi, Hirano and I walked upstairs again.

"Better leave them to it." I said.

"You know we're supposed to see them in the changing rooms right?" Hirano said.

"No, it's up to them what and when we see whatever it is we end up seeing. Besides, I've been on the wrong end of Saeko with a wooden blade. Now she's got the real deal, I really don't want to risk it." I said. Takashi and Hirano laughed. As we began to search for some fresh clothes, Takashi brought me to one side.

"Thank you for helping me out with all this. I really don't want to be the leader. I'm glad I found you." He said.

"Well, thanks. But I'm not taking over leadership. You're already the leader to them. Whenever you need to defer to me, I'll be here to give ideas and organise, but I'm not a leader. I'm not strong enough. They've relied on you for a lot, I can tell by the way they all look at you. I can't take the responsibility away from you, and I don't want to. But I can help with the weight of leadership." I said.

"Ok. That's exactly what I need. I wish we'd found you earlier." He went off to search through some clothes. I grabbed two pairs of jeans, a single red collared shirt when I wanted to put some effort into my appearance and five T-shirts with designs I liked or promoting a band or music artist I used to enjoy. With the ability to listen to music gone, I felt like it was all I could do. It had once meant a lot to me, an escape from the moments where I was living in a cruel, uncaring world that had turned its back on me. That was not always the case, I had led a mostly happy life before, but I'd always felt like the outsider. I'd also taken several pairs of comfortable socks, some multipacks of fresh underwear and some shoes for practical purposes. One pair of shoes for comfort when walking day-to-day, and a pair of boots for hiking. I had also taken two hoodies, one black and one blue and a dark blue baseball cap with a dragon on the front. We had taken a second shopping cart for all of the clothes we would inevitably end up with, but we couldn't take it up the broken escalator. I was struggling and staggering, arms full of clothes. I overheard the girls talking while I continued looking at waterproof coats and warm jackets for winter. They were saying things like

"Oh, this is cute!" and I heard Rei tease Saeko, saying

"Ooh, that's sexy! I bet Tatsuzo will like seeing you in that..."

Saeko tried to defend herself, but just mumbled in weak protest and resigned. I wasn't sure what her weary resignation to that comment really meant, but I was curious to find out. I picked out a pair of plain black swimming trunks with "Harmony" written in Kanji down the right leg for our beach trip.

The other guys came back wearing new stuff. Takashi was wearing a plain black T-shirt and some dark blue jeans. Hirano was wearing a checked collared shirt and smart black trousers. He'd also found a new pair of glasses and a pair of prescription aviator sunglasses. They were struggling with the clothes they weren't wearing as much as I was. I began to awkwardly shamble back down the escalator.

"Are you girls ready?" I called down.

"Nearly! We're in the changing rooms, come down and we'll show off what we've got." Rei called. I found the shopping cart and dumped the new clothes in with a sigh of relief.

"Don't show everything! Surprise us with the rest." I said.

"I hope we do. We got some makeup too." Rei said, sounding excited. Marikawa came out first. Wearing a white shirt, three of the top buttons undone and a dark blue skirt that hugged her legs. It was open on one side, which gave her mobility. Takagi came out next. She was wearing a hot pink tank top and tight black leggings. Alice followed her, wearing a small pink and black frilly dress with a bow in her hair. Rei emerged now, wearing a cream coloured tube top, revealing her midriff and a small light green skirt. Saeko finally revealed herself. Her fringe had been swept across her forehead instead of coming down the middle of her face now. She was wearing a deep red lipstick, a red top and a pleated black skirt. She looked stunning. I just about fell over at the sight of her.

"Wow... You all look amazing." I said. Hirano made a strange sound and started to get a nosebleed. Takashi nodded, speechless.

"Enough drooling. Let's go." Saeko said. I shook myself conscious and tried not to look at her too much. She noticed and giggled a little. We put the rest of our clothes in carrier bags and put them in the other cart. We put Zeke and Alice in the food and water cart from the first store. As we walked towards the exit, my eye fell upon a music store. I ran in.

"Just a minute! I'll catch up!" I called. I looked around and saw all of the vinyl on the walls, regretting that nobody would ever be able to hear it again. I grabbed an acoustic guitar and a case and strapped it to my back. I ran to catch up with the others.

"We need a place to rest." Takagi said.

"I know a place. A crazy ass friend of mine who didn't make it. No family and a bit of a weapons nut like our friend Hirano here. There's probably ammo and weapons there. It's about a block away." I suggested.

"Sounds good. Lead the way." Takashi said.