のアキラに気付いた。そして静かにゆっくりと顔を上げた。普段ならアキラの機嫌を取ろうと何か答えるぐらいはしていたが、それもない。ただ顔を上げること。それが今のシェリルに出来る限界だった。
かなり困惑しているアキラと、静かに泣いているシェリルの目が合う。僅かに間を開けた後、アキラが自身の対人能力を超えている状況に非常に戸惑いながら、何とか声を掛ける。
「ど、どうしたんだ?」
前にもこんなことがあったなと、アキラはシェリルと初めて会った時のことを思い出しながら、アルファに助けを求めるような視線を向ける。
『今回は、俺は悪くないよな?』
アルファが意味深に
前回はシェリルに入浴を勧めると、随分と落ち着いてくれた。しかし今の安部屋に浴室は付いていないので、その方法は使えない。簡易なシャワーなどで代用できるとは思わなかった。
何とかしようと混乱した頭で考え続けたアキラは、その混乱から考え付いた方法を試してみた。恐る恐るシェリルの
シェリルは限界だった。
所属していた徒党が崩壊して、他の徒党への移籍にも失敗して、一定の生活が保障されていた生活基盤も後ろ盾も失ってスラム街の路地裏に放り出された。その精神的な負荷はかなりものだった。
その後、予想外の展開を経て、シェリルはアキラという後ろ盾を得た引き換えに、シベアの縄張りを引き継いだ新たな徒党のボスにならざるを得なくなった。だがそれがすぐに身の安全を保証する訳ではない。その後に拠点まで押し寄せてきた者達を、はったりに近い言動で惑わせて何とか切り抜けた。その死地を辛うじて駆け抜けた実感も、シェリルの心を疲弊させ続けていた。
その後の徒党の運営も問題だらけだった。アキラが徒党になかなか顔を出さない。
アキラが床に座って情報端末を操作している。シェリルには抱き付かれたままだ。どうしても離そうとしないので、起きるまで好きにさせることにした。
その間の暇潰しにネットの情報を閲覧していた。これも一応は情報端末を使用した情報収集訓練の一環だ。
東部のネットには膨大な情報が存在している。余りに多すぎる
重要な情報や価値の高い情報は基本的に有料だ。情報売買を生業とする個人や組織を仲介して手に入れる必要がある。ネットにはハンター用の有料サイトも無数にあり、有益な遺跡の所在地や、強力なモンスターの撃破方法など、様々な情報が売買されている。
また、様々な理由で各種の情報を無料で公開しているサイトもある。そのようなサイトから信頼性の高い有益な情報を選別するのも、ハンターが東部で生き残り、
「......助けてください」
弱々しい表情で、泣き出しそうな目で、他に
『そうね。両手に持つという手もあるわ』
アキラの脳裏に、AAH突撃銃を両方の手にそれぞれ握って構えている自分の姿が浮かぶ。
『そんな持ち方で撃っても命中する可能性は低いし、下手をすると発砲の反動で腕が折れるわよ?』
『そ、そんなに駄目だったか?』
『銃を支える身体能力が絶対的に足りていないからね。今のアキラではAAH突撃銃を片手で撃っても、威嚇射撃以外の効果は望めないわ。強化服を着用すれば多少無理な体勢でも銃の反動を押さえ込めるようになるから、2
『......はい』
アキラは気を取り直して整備を続ける。その途中で何となくシェリルを見た。
『アルファ。あれは結局何だったんだと思う?』
『私にもよく分からないわ。シェリルも疲れていたとは思うけれど、それ以上のことはね。起きても、深くは聞かない方が良いと思うわ』
アルファはシェリルの精神状態の推移に関する推測をアキラに説明しなかった。教えない方が都合が良いと判断したからだ。
『アキラも今日はもう休んだら? もう面倒事は済んだと思うけれど、明日また何かが起こった時の
『そうだな。終わったらすぐに寝るよ』
アキラは銃の整備を終えると、いつものように軽くシャワーを浴びて風呂の欲求をごまかしてから寝床に向かった。ベッドには先客がいたが、それを脇に移動させて
アキラはそう言った後で、また昨日の繰り返しになるのではないかと少し不安になった。
だがシェリルは大人しくアキラから離れた。寝ぼけた顔で身を起こし、大きな
「おはよう御座います」
「......お、おはよう」
アキラはシェリルの昨日とはまるで違う様子に少し戸惑っていた。その表情には自信と余裕が
シェリルが一度食事の手を止めてアキラに丁寧に頭を下げる。
アキラはよく考えずにそう答えた後で、昨日の出来事を思い返した。発端はシェリル達の
遠回りに嫌みでも言われているのだろうかと勝手に邪推しながらも、普通に礼を言われているだけだとも思いながら、下手に自分を関わらせた結果発生した厄介ごとへの反応も僅かに気になり、いろいろ混ざった差し障りのない返事を返す。
「まあ、昨日はいろいろあったが、次からも何かあったら言ってくれ」
呼ばない方がましだった。そう思っているのなら多少反応に出るだろう。アキラはそう思っていた。だがシェリルは予想外の反応を見せた。
「それなら今から抱き付いても良いですか?」
みながら予想外のことを言いだしたシェリルに、アキラが困惑しながら聞き返す。
「......何でだ?」
アキラが何となく思う。適当に受け答えをしていると、様々な理由を付けて受け入れられるまで延々と続ける気がする。そして強く拒絶してしまえば、また昨日のような状態に戻ってしまう気がする。それなら抱き付かれていた方がまだ良いか。別に不快でもないのだ。そう判断した。
「分かった。食べ終わってからにしてくれ」
「ありがとう御座います」
食事の後、シェリルは約束通りアキラに抱き付いていた。座っているアキラに正面から相手の足に軽く
アキラが言われた通りにすると、シェリルは口からくぐもった声を漏らして表情を幸せそうに緩めた。
(俺は何をやってるんだ......)
「シェリル。そろそろ離れてくれ。俺にもいろいろ用事があるんだ」
「......分かりました」
シェリルは寂しそうな声でそう答えると、名残惜しそうにアキラから離れた。アキラは心のどこかで
シェリルが拠点の入り口で丁寧に頭を下げる。
「送っていただいて、ありがとう御座いました。何かあればまた連絡します。それと、特に用がなくても顔を出してくれると
アキラが苦笑気味に言い訳をする。
アキラの言い訳は、不測の事態の発生を予想できなかった不手際への弁明であり、事態を悪化させた自身の行動への弁明ではない。そしてアキラにその自覚はない。アルファはそれを理解して、アキラの制御の困難さを再確認していた。少し真面目な表情で
「大丈夫。シジマの徒党とはちゃんと話を付けてきたわ。問題なしよ」
子供達が更にざわめき始める。切望していた答えだったが、同時に余りにも予想外な内容だったからだ。一斉に詳細を求め始める。
「だ、大丈夫って、本当か!? アキラは!? あいつは一緒じゃないのか!? 殺されたのか!?」
「シジマと話を付けたって本当に!? でもあいつらの仲間を殺したんだぞ!? どうやって!?」
「拠点とか縄張りとかを引き渡さないといけないのか!? その辺はどうなってるんだ!?」
一つしていない。今回の件でシジマ達にこの拠点や縄張りを明け渡すようなこともない。シジマ達とも今後は良い付き合いを出来るようになった。大丈夫。安心しなさい」
シェリルは自信と余裕を皆に見せ付けていた。口調などからも
そこでシェリルが表情と口調を少し強める。
「それで、ここに残っている人は何をやっているの? 縄張りの掃除や巡回とか
「い、いや、こんな状況でそんなことをやっている場合じゃないと思って......」
「ならここにいない人は? 予定を代わってもらったの?」
子供達が一度顔を見合わせた後、言い
シェリルもその程度のことは十分想定していた。この場の人数から抜けた者の数を算出しても、全く焦らなかった。この程度のことで抜け出すような者が早めに分かって良かったとすら思いながら、落ち着いた声で指示を出す。
「エリオ。何人か連れて、徒党を抜けたやつを探しなさい。銃や食料を持って抜けていた場合は全部取り返しなさい。連れ戻す必要はないわ。アリシア。皆に聞いて抜けた人間と残った人間を把握して、終わったら私に報告しなさい。残りの人は予定の作業をやること」
「そうか? そうか。まあ、大丈夫だって言ってるし、あんな後なんだ。不安な姿よりは良いか」
「そうよ。ほら、私達も始めましょう。ボスに怒られるわ」
「そうだな」
エリオ達も気を取り直して仕事に移った。
シェリルは自室で上機嫌でこれからの徒党運営の思案を続けていた。
While looking confused, Sheryl finally realized Akira was standing right beside her. She then slowly raised her head. Normally, Sheryl would say something as to not worsen Akira's mood, but she did not say anything this time, raising her head was the only thing that she could do now.
Their eyes met each other's, Akira was confused seeing Sheryl cry silently. After a brief moment of silence, Akira, who did not know what to do in this situation which was obviously outside his scope of communication ability, finally squeezed out some words.
"W-what's wrong?"
Akira remembered that the same thing happened back when he met Sheryl for the first time. He then turned to Alpha, seeking for help.
"It's not my fault this time, right?"
Alpha smiled teasingly.
Last time, he let her take a dip in the bathtub and she calmed down after that. But this time, he was living in a cheap room with no bathtub, so he did not have that option. He knew that the cheap shower would not be able to substitute a bathtub.
Akira fired up all his cylinders to think of a way to get out of this situation, he then finally came up with something. He slowly approached Sheryl and hugged her awkwardly. He remembered that last time when he was hugged by Shizuka, even though he panicked in the beginning, he calmed down eventually. So he tried to do the same to Sheryl. He decided to just stop and take a step back if Sheryl hated it.
Sheryl had reached her limit.
The gang that she was in was destroyed and she could not join other gangs. After losing everything that protected and supported her life, she had no other choice but to temporarily live in the back alley of the slum city. It was emotionally taxing for her.
After that, something unexpected happened to her, Akira agreed to support her, but in exchange, she had to start a new gang in place of Sibea's gang and she had to be the boss of that gang. But that did not mean that she finally got into a safe situation. Some people came to her base to threaten her, but she was somehow able to drive them off with a bluff. But that experience of passing those dangerous bridges, again and again, wrung her heart even more.
Not to mention that operating her own gang was not that easy, it was filled with problems and Akira would not visit the gang regularly. And when he did visit the gang, someone from her gang attacked him. The merchant that Akira introduced to her intimidated her and Akira threatened to kill her if she did anything stupid. Akira might be helping her, but it was not like he was her ally. Sheryl was made to understand that multiple times.
Akira was sitting on the floor, operating his information terminal. Sheryl was still hugging him. Since it looked like she would not let him go anytime soon, he was doing something else while waiting for her to wake up.
Thus Akira decided to surf the net in the meantime. It was also a form of training for gathering information using the information terminal.
The internet of the eastern district was filled with a huge amount of information. It was so huge that it would be almost impossible for someone with no ability to search to find what he or she was looking for. Of course, there were some searching sites too, but even using that, it was pretty hard to find something for Akira who had lived all his life in the back alley of the slum city.
Normally, any important or highly valuable information was not free. There was a need to buy them directly from people or organizations who were working as information brokers. There were countless paid service sites on the net that provided information tailored for Hunters. They provided information like the locations of the ruins that still had expensive relics, guides to fight powerful monsters and many others.
Then finally, there were countless sites that provided all kinds of information for free due to certain reasons. It was an important skill for a Hunter who wanted to survive and rise to success in the eastern district to be able to extract important and worthwhile information that could be relied on from these sites.
"...Please help me."
Sheryl looked so weak and her eyes started to get teary as she asked Akira for help because she had no other place to turn to.
"That's right. I can also carry 2 guns with both of my hands."
Akira then imagined himself marching with 2 guns in his hands.
"If you bring 2 guns like that, most of your shots will miss and it might even rip your arms off due to the kickback."
"S-so it's a no, huh?"
"Well, you don't have the strength to handle 2 guns, after all. So if you handle an AAH rifle with a single-arm, it would not serve any other purpose other than shooting a warning shot. Once you get an augmented suit, you'll be able to handle the kickback from the guns even in a bad posture. So if you want to carry 2 guns simultaneously, you should at least wait until you get your augmented suit."
"...Okay."
Akira returned back to his usual mood and continued doing the maintenance. In the middle of doing that, he glanced at Sheryl.
"Alpha, so what was that exactly?"
"I don't really understand either. I'm sure that she's too tired, but when she wakes up, it might be a good idea not to ask her too much."
Alpha did not explain Sheryl's psychological condition to Akira since she thought that it might be better this way.
"Akira, how about you take a rest for today too? I think this problem is solved for now, but another problem might come up again tomorrow, so you better take a good rest."
"You're right. I'll go straight to sleep once I'm done with this."
After finishing the maintenance. Just like usual, Akira took a short shower to suppress his feeling of wanting to take a bath before going to bed. Since his guest had already taken the bed, he just pushed her to the side before settling himself beside her. Although it looked as if Akira crept into Sheryl's bed, it was he who paid for the room. Moreover, Sheryl clung on him for quite some time. So he was sure that Sheryl would not mind sharing a bed with him as he slowly fell asleep.
After saying that, Akira was afraid that something like yesterday would happen again.
But Sheryl obediently let him go. She still looked drowsy as she let out a big yawn and lightly rubbed her eyes. Akira smiled as he saw that.
"Good morning."
"...M-morning."
Akira looked a bit puzzled since Sheryl was acting so differently compared to the previous day. She looked relaxed, there was no trace of her from yesterday. As she was smiling brightly, she looked way more beautiful than usual, which was also scary at the same time.
Sheryl then stopped in the middle of the breakfast and bowed to Akira.
After blurting that out without thinking, Akira remembered what happened the previous day. Although it was Sheryl who started the problem, it was mostly him who blew up the trouble. Although he did not feel guilty about it, he still understood it.
Thus Akira was worried if it was Sheryl's way of saying that she hated him in a roundabout way. But she was actually being honest when she said that she was thankful. And since Akira was a bit bothered by the bad thing that happened yesterday because of him, he answered back in such a way as he was trying not to offend her.
"Well, a lot of things happened yesterday, but if anything comes up again, you can just tell me."
If Sheryl thought that she had unnecessarily involved him in regarding yesterday's incident, it would at least be shown in her behaviour. So, by saying this he tried to ease her thoughts, but Sheryl answered back with something that Akira did not expect.
"In that case, can I hug you again?"
As Sheryl replied back with a happy smile. Akira was a bit taken aback as he asked Sheryl.
"...But why?"
Akira understood that if he agreed with her without giving it a serious thought, then Sheryl would come up with all sought of reasons so that she can keep on clinging onto him. But if he rejected her strongly, there was a chance that something like yesterday would happen again. When compared to that, it might be better if he just let her cling onto him, after all, it was not like it would cause any inconvenience to him.
"Alright then, you can do that after we finish breakfast."
"Thank you."
After they finished their breakfast, just like promised, Sheryl clung onto Akira. She embraced him from the front as he was sitting, she was in a pose that looked like she was straddling Akira. She wrapped her arms around Akira's back and neck, she looked very relieved. But she then asked Akira for something more.
As Akira did what he was asked to, Sheryl started to mumble while looking extremely happy.
[What the heck am I doing here...?]
"Sheryl, can you let me go now? I have other things to do."
"...I understand."
Sheryl replied back in a sad voice as she reluctantly let Akira free. He was relieved since he thought that Sheryl would not let him go.
Sheryl politely bowed to Akira when they arrived in front of her base.
"Thank you very much for accompanying me all the way here. I'll contact you again if anything happens. And also, I'll be very happy if you visit the gang even if you don't have anything to do here. I'll do my best to manage the gang, but since it's a hard job, it's really helpful to have a day like today where I can get a breather."
Akira smiled bitterly as he made some excuses.
Akira was saying sorry because of his inability to see that coming, he was not apologising for making the condition worse. Akira did not realize that. Alpha who noticed these facts was reminded of how hard it was to control Akira. She then gave Akira a warning with a serious face.
"It went well. We had a talk with Shijima and sorted out everything, so there's no problem now."
The children started to make a bigger ruckus. Although it was a very relieving answer, at the same time it was a very unexpected one too. Thus they simultaneously tried to ask further about it.
"N-no problem, you say!? How about Akira!? He isn't together with you!? Did he get killed?!"
"Are you for real when you said that you had a talk with Shijima?! But we did kill one of his gang members, you know!? So how did you wrap it up with just a talk?!"
"Do we have to surrender our base and our territory?! How did it end up regarding that part?!"
"Akira is unhurt. Shijima's gang won't ask us to surrender our base and territory, they might even work together with us. So it's okay, no need to worry anymore regarding this matter."
Sheryl looked confident in front of everyone. And from the way she said it, it did not seem like she was lying or trying to trick them. Thus they calmed down although they found it unbelievable.
Then Sheryl's face turned serious as she said in a strong tone.
"So then, what are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you guys be doing your job like cleaning the territory, patrolling around or collecting metal wreckages? Or is it like you guys have already completed those jobs?"
"W-well, no. We thought that it's not the time for doing something like that when we're in this situation..."
"So then, where are the people who're not here right now? Did you have a change of schedule or something?"
Then the children looked at each other as they hesitated before telling Sheryl.
It was fully within Sheryl's expectations. Even after she estimated the number of people who left the gang, she was not surprised at all. The only thing in her mind was that it was a good thing she was able to flush out those people who would abandon the gang at the sight of threat. She then gave out a command in a calm tone.
"Erio, take some children with you and search for those who ran away. If you find them with our guns or food provisions, retrieve everything. But you don't need to bring back those children. Alicia, confirm how many people left the gang and how many people who're still here. Report to me once you're done. As for the rest of you, just follow the usual schedule for now."
"Is that so? I see. Well, she did say that there's no problem now. But since that happened, I guess it was better rather than looking worried, huh?"
"That's right. But we should go too or she'll be mad."
"You're right."
Erio and Alicia then changed gear and got on to their own job.
Sheryl was still in a good mood as she was thinking of her next plan.
Rebuild World (WN)
リビルドワールド
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/rebuild-world/
Action Adventure Drama Harem Mecha Mystery Sci-fi Seinen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alternate World Anti-social Protagonist Apocalypse Artificial Intelligence Beautiful Female Lead Cautious Protagonist Child Protagonist Dense Protagonist Determined Protagonist Distrustful Protagonist Futuristic Setting Gangs Gunfighters Harsh Training Lack of Common Sense Male Protagonist Manipulative Characters Monsters Near-Death Experience Older Love Interests Poor Protagonist Poor to Rich Ruthless Protagonist Shota Sudden Strength Gain Survival Twisted Personality Unlucky Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9736dt/
非公開