NoWaYu 11 preview

--Wakaba closed the diary after she had read it.
Her hands were shaking. Rage and helplessness stormed in her heart.
The other girls surrounded Wakaba and peeked into the diary. Various expressions arose on their faces... sadness, fear, rage, anxiety.
"Wakaba-chan..."
Hinata peered into Wakaba's face in concern.
"... It's okay, Hinata."
Wakaba shook her head and tried to console Hinata, but was unsure if she could pretend as if everything were indeed okay.
Wakaba walked up to the pile of corpses in the fountain and placed the diary softly beside it. She then silently placed her hands together while ruminating over the contents of the diary--

<bold>Some day in 2015.
How many days has it been since we've hid ourselves underground? My smartphone battery has died long ago, and I have no way of checking the date.
Some people have hoarded the batteries and mobile chargers that were in the underground shopping mall stores, so we can't use them. That said, even if we could use our smartphones, the airwaves seem to be dead, so they'd be pretty much useless outside of checking the time and date.
Anyway, at this rate, we'll forget our sense of time. So to prevent that from happening, I decided to start keeping a diary today. Besides, once we're rescued, there might be some value in having some kind of record of the days we spent here.

Some day in 2015.
I think for now, we should sort through our current situation.
Thanks to those monsters that appeared out of the sky in July, the town we lived is now in shambles. Tons of people died. Mom and Dad too...
My younger sister and I barely escaped with our lives and took refuge in the Umeda underground mall. Many other people had taken refuge there too. All of the exits have been barricaded, so those monsters can't get in.
We've been hiding in the underground mall ever since. No idea how it is on the surface. I wonder if my high school friends are safe. It frightens me just thinking about it.

Some day in 2015.
A fight broke out again today. A fight seems to break out among the underground mall dwellers just about every day. There are several causes. Scrambling over rations. Minor disagreements. Simple harassment of weaker people...
Some adults with strong senses of justice created rules to protect the young, the elderly, and the women. They also set up a system to fairly distribute rations. Without those people, we probably wouldn't be alive right now.

Some day in 2015.
It seems someone died in a fight that broke out today.
We all came here to escape the monsters, and yet now we have a casualty caused by human conflict. It's ridiculous!
But deadly conflicts are happening again and again. It's decreased after the adults set up the rules, but back when the barricades were just getting set up, it was really horrible. Since food is limited, some ruffians try to use violence to hoard it all to themselves.
Right before my eyes, a woman was killed with her infant still in her arms. And all she wanted was milk for her baby!
The corpses of the dead are gathered in a designated area. Leaving them where they died would be both a hygienic and mental nightmare, after all. Ahh, it's like I'm writing about corpses as inhuman objects, huh. Maybe my senses have started going crazy too.

Some day in 2015.
My little sister burst into tears. She kept crying that she wanted to go home.
She's normally a calm and selfless child, but I guess she's reached her limit. An adult got irritated at her crying and told me to kill her or put her outside. But the exits are barricaded, so we can't get out. If we lifted the barricade, the monsters would all flood in.

Some day in 2015.
I feel like we've been in this underground mall for ages.
Food supply shortages are becoming a problem. Since no new food is coming in, the supply's just depleting.
The adults talked and two options came up: kill the sick and elderly to reduce the number of mouths, or lift the barricade and search for food. But in the end, no conclusion was reached, it seems.

Some day in 2015.
For food today, we had two dietary supplement blocks and half a bag of snack sweets. Not for one meal, but for the entire day! Looks like the food supply shortage was worse than I thought.
The adults have been discussing how to handle the food supply shortage since yesterday.
Some people say that since the sick and elderly won't live long, we should just hurry up and kill them anyway to save on food. Obviously, though, most people aren't on board. Me neither.
Some people say that we should lift the barricade and go outside. They say that since a long time has passed, perhaps the monsters are already gone. But since nobody knows if the surface is really safe or not, many people are against the notion.
In the end, no conclusion was reached today either.

Some day in 2015.
My little sister's not doing well. She hasn't gotten up since morning. She responds when I call to her, but she seems out of it.
She might be sick with something. But I don't know what.
There was a doctor among the people who took refuge in the underground mall, so I had her examined, but since the doctor had no examination tools, it seems we can't know the specifics of her illness.
We had her take some basic nutrients from a drug store. There was not much else we could do for her.

Some day in 2015.
My little sister's still not doing well today. Things could get bad if this keeps up.
But there's nothing I can do.

Some day in 2015.
I need to get her to a hospital...

Some day in 2015.
My little sister's not responding. What do I do what do I do what do I do what do I do what do I do what do I do

Some day in 2015.
A horrible fight broke out.
The people advocating to kill to save on food have unilaterally begun to do just that. They killed several sick and elderly.
They killed my little sister too. I won't forgive them!! I won't forgive them!! I won't forgive them!!
But the diehards who started the killing soon found themselves killed by the opposing faction.
Nothing makes any sense! Why can't we all cooperate!? We'll all be dead at this rate!
My little sister was carried to the corpse pile by the fountain.
Maybe I should just die already too.

Some day in 2015.
It's been a while since I last opened this diary. After my little sister died, I just hadn't ever felt like doing anything, so I didn't write anything.
The underground mall population has decreased significantly as well. Many died in the conflict that claimed my little sister, and the conflict didn't end there. Many also died of illness or suicide.
But even with fewer mouths to feed, there's still too little food to feed them with.

Some day in 2015.
Another fight broke out. Between those that advocated leaving to the surface and those opposed. I really don't care either way. I don't care.
After all, there might not have even been a point in locking ourselves in here. Just a choice of death at the hands of humans or death by the jaws of monsters.
If we were just going to end up killing each other, it would've been better if the monsters just killed us from the start instead.

Some day in 2015.
The people advocating leaving to the surface unilaterally destroyed a barricade. It's the same pattern as before. Nothing more can be done.
The monsters were still on the surface. They rushed in one after another through the destroyed barricade. No matter how many fire prevention shutters we lock, no matter how many tables and chairs we pile up, those monsters tear through them like it's nothing.
I'm sure if they ever thought about it, they could've just eaten through the barricade from the start and annihilated all the people underground all at once. But perhaps they prioritized destroying the surface. Or perhaps they knew that all they had to do was wait and the underground refugees would annihilate themselves through unsightly conflict.
I am now at the corpse pile.
I wanted to see my little sister one last time.</bold>

"So this... is how it ended..."
Wakaba muttered before the mountain of corpses.
Even in the depths of despair, cornered by the Vertexes, people tried to survive. If even one hero were among those in the underground mall, perhaps the situation would've been different.
(If only I were there... maybe I could've saved them...)
Though she knew there was nothing she could do about it now, bitterness stung Wakaba's heart.
The very next moment, from the darkness beyond the passageway, a heavy thud and a grinding noise could be heard.
"Vertexes...!?"
Nothing else could have conceivably appeared in a place like that.
Wakaba firmly gripped the handle of her sword. Rage towards the monsters boiled through her body.
But she did not lose her composure.
"... There are no more survivors in this underground mall. Let's escape on the double! Hinata, don't leave my side!"
As she shouted that order to her friends, Wakaba unsheathed her sword. The other heroes drew their weapons in succession as well.
And at the same time, giant white monsters appeared out from the underground passage.
Wakaba stood at the helm, felling Vertexes while making way to the surface. She had already had a general idea of the underground mall's layout in her head. Without any hesitation holding her back, she kept pressing forward.
In the meantime, as Chikage slayed the monsters with her scythe, she recalled the contents of the diary. While the contents had filled Wakaba with rage towards the Vertexes, they provided Chikage with a different emotion.
Rather than rage towards the Vertexes, what Chikage felt was the powerlessness, the shame, the misery of the cornered people.
The people who, with neither the power nor the courage to oppose the Vertexes, had no choice but to shut themselves away in the dark and spend their final days in fear.
When faced with a force too fierce to fight, the weak are left with nothing to fight but each other.
In the end, no matter how critical the situation, humans are unable to cooperate from the bottom of their hearts.
And--
To her, the underground mall community seemed like a microcosm of the eventual fate awaiting Shikoku.
People were shut in the small world they called Shikoku.
The situation was stable right now, but if a more critical situation were to arise-- the people of Shikoku would surely begin unsightly conflict like the people of the underground mall. Driven into a corner, they would steal from each other, wound each other, and reach an ending deprived of their dignity as human beings.
(I... won't end like that...!)
Swinging her scythe, mowing down the monsters, Chikage glared through the darkness of the underground passage.
(I... have the power of a hero...! Such a miserable death is the last thing I want...! I will live... respected as a hero... until the very end...!)

After leaving the underground mall, the heroes threw down any attacking Vertexes as they looked around Osaka as a whole.
However, as they were still unable to find any survivors, they decided to head towards their next destination.
As they leapt their way, the girls remained mostly silent. For they felt if they were to open their mouths, only dark words would spill out.
After Osaka, they headed for Nagoya.
But no longer did anyone dare say "this time for sure".