Pa!
Yuki Asahi, trapped in sorrow, suddenly felt a sting on his cheek.
He covered the burning spot on his face in a daze.
Eh?
Did he just get slapped?
Why?
“Yuki, move.”
Jiang Jian Yue’s cold eyes were fixed on him—no hint of jest or comfort, only a near-icy, indisputable command.
“.Got it.”
He finally found his parched voice, no longer hesitating.
The heat on his cheek kept reminding him: every second lost in despair, his survival probability dropped.
All other emotional distractions had to be pushed aside now.
Senpai was right.
Act first!
The boy forced himself to focus, and Jiang Jian Yue nodded in satisfaction.
The “pa pa pa” of adults really worked.
After retrieving a police radio from a nearby police box and teaching Yuki Asahi how to use it, the two temporarily split up.
***
An apartment on a high slope in the North District was chosen as a temporary base.
Statues carried boxes of supplies into the apartment, filling every room.
By the time the setting sun sank beneath the city skyline and the last item was brought in, the human-shaped statues crumbled to dust.
On a sofa in one room, Jiang Jian Yue let out a sigh, holding an energy drink in her hands, and gazed out at the burning sky beyond the balcony.
In the open kitchen behind her, Yuki Asahi watched oil sizzle beneath a steak in the frying pan, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the handle.
“World destruction… is it over?”
The boy silently muttered his once-nihilistic thoughts in his heart.
A bitter taste spread from his chest—far more nauseating than the cheap fat in the pan.
The thoughts of wanting to end everything were real once.
But now, with fantasy silently descending, wiping away all the city’s clamor and leaving only ruins and empty streets, he was gripped by a deeper emptiness.
Walking through the hospital corridors, he hurried past the place that held every step from birth to death.
A pen fell halfway through signing, an emergency bed blocked the way—there was no earth-shattering disaster, but every detail screamed: yes, this is doomsday.
Just a second ago, it had been a hot lunch, with Jiang Jian-senpai’s terrible jokes echoing in his ears.
The next, the world was wiped clean of people, leaving a burning city on the verge of collapse.
He always thought doomsday fantasies were an escape from pain.
But now, they were more hopeless than ever.
The suffering he once faced—struggles from school, family, and superpowers—seemed laughably small against such extinction.
He even lost the strength to complain or feel pain.
Who was the enemy?
Ikeda Sachi? Some unknown force? Or just a cruel cosmic joke?
If God really existed, he must be too cunning!
After finally crawling out of the mud, meeting a girl he liked, gaining powerful abilities, earning his own money… what now?
Those tiny, clumsy efforts to find light and connection in a rotten world were cut off just as they began.
Like being crushed by something vast and unstoppable.
Why me?
His Golden Eyes suddenly burned with light, ability activating, but emotional perception didn’t search for others.
It enveloped himself, letting him feel his own despair and confusion with painful clarity—he couldn’t swallow his emotions, only amplify them.
Yet in a corner, a faint courage flickered like a candle against a flood, unsteady but real.
The tendrils of perception reached toward Jiang Jian Yue inside the room.
For a moment, he sensed her emotions: exhaustion, calm, relaxation, confusion…none of them his own.
Shifting focus to Jiang Jian Yue, Yuki Asahi sensed new feelings stirring within himself—dependence, longing, peace.
Strengthening the sense of calm, Yuki Asahi let out a breath—this was enough.
He was tired today.
He plated the steak onto two dishes and set them on the coffee table before the sofa.
“Thank you.”
The two ate in silence, city flames washing in from the balcony and painting everything in a blurry orange haze.
“I really admire you, senpai.”
Yuki Asahi mumbled, shoving a piece of steak into his mouth.
“No matter what happens, you always stay calm.”
That’s just an act.
An adult who can’t keep calm is useless—at the very least, you have to fake it.
She wasn’t without confusion or despair, but it was like toughing out a kidney stone attack until the end of a workday—some things leave you no choice; no matter how powerless, you accept them.
Besides, for her, this wasn’t true despair yet.
When controlling Medical Mannequins to raid stores, Jiang Jian Yue actually felt a weird thrill, like playing Payday and trampling all over the rules.
Filling every room in the apartment with supplies also satisfied her hoarding instincts.
The future—waiting for the chain reaction to subside and rebuilding civilization—what a grand and hot-blooded idea. Life didn’t seem so gray after all.
Not to mention, she wasn’t alone.
“You get used to it.”
Jiang Jian Yue stuffed steak into her mouth, savoring the last remnants of the modern food processing industry, a faint smile on her lips.
Yuki Asahi stared at the misty smile in front of him, fork pressed against his mouth in a daze.
Jiang Jian-senpai’s smile…
Wait!
He suddenly thought of something very important.
If, and this was a big if, only the two of them remained in the world—would humankind really go extinct without offspring?
It was well known that animals, faced with extinction, would experience a surge of reproductive desire—a need to pass on their genes.
And now, as humanity teetered on extinction…
Weren’t they Adam and Eve in the flesh?
A heavy sense of duty pressed down on him.
Suddenly, the end of the world didn’t seem so bad!
Especially with the senpai he admired most by his side.
Jiang Jian Yue finished her steak, glanced at the blushing Yuki Asahi, and immediately understood what he was thinking.
Heh, Chunan sure dreams big.
She’d seen that plot in doujinshi and eroge before.
To be fair, it made sense—two lonely people stuck together for a long time would inevitably attract each other.
But reality wasn’t a game.
As long as Jiang Jian Yue refrained from making the first move, this guy probably lacked the courage to take the initiative.
What’s wrong with being 0721 for life!
She’d lived like that in her last life anyway!
It’s not like she was some lust-crazed pervert!
…At least, she hoped not.
Jiang Jian Yue felt a little uncertain.
During the day, when she was directing Medical Mannequins to raid supplies, she’d accidentally—totally not on purpose—brought back some condoms.
It was for future rubber reserves, not for anything weird!
Uh huh, sure thing big boss ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)