Interlude...

Dinner was finally over, but the whole group was still packed inside the kitchen. Since the table was not that big, some were standing near the walls. Daichi had asked everyone to stay after dinner so that he could inform all of them about the plan. Some were yet to have dinner, but they could always eat after the meeting was over.

Bella and Kemono were sitting on either side of Daichi while Roberta was standing behind Daichi with a stoic look on her face, and finally, Saeko was sitting beside Bella. The rest of the seats were occupied by Kohta, Yuriko and she was flanked by her daughter and her former bodyguard.

'That is a body definitely worth guarding' Daichi internally mused… he wondered how Yuriko maintained that killer figure. He wasn't going to start lusting after her or anything, but there were no rules against appreciating beauty.

"Assuming that rescue is not coming, we need to look out for ourselves. We do have some food, but it will be not enough if we want to keep the whole group well fed. We need to raid a few stores before we run out of food or any other necessary commodities for daily life" Daichi spoke out in a firm tone.

"Wait!! Who made you the leader? You are still a teenager, you aren't fit to be a leader!!" Yuriko's former bodyguard, Tsukomo Seiji, questioned in a skeptical tone. Daichi could understand where the man was coming from, but Bella clearly wasn't a social butterfly.

Bella's face morphed in fury and whipped her hand towards the imbecile who had dared to question the authority of her Lord. "How dare…!!" Bella snarled in fury, but Daichi grabbed her hand and stopped her from continuing.

"Bella, no need for violence. It is a genuine question" Daichi said softly, but his eyes were burning with determination. Bella lowered her hand without any resistance and looked at Daichi with awe in her eyes.

Daichi glanced toward the others in the room and he could see the people who had accompanied Yuriko were glaring at Bella and even Yuriko was looking at Bella disapprovingly. They can glare all they want, but if they decided to pick a fight with Bella then it was their funeral, but Daichi would try to avoid any infighting within the group.

"You have made a good point. I am a teenager and I am quite young, but that doesn't mean that I can't lead the group. Why don't we decide the leader with a vote? That is fine with everyone, right?" Daichi suggested politely. Now was not the time to be imposing, everyone was quite stressed and even a small argument could lead to a fight. He needed to deal with everything with a cool head.

Tsukomo Seiji glanced toward Yuriko. Daichi wasn't a fool, so he easily realized that the whole thing was suggested by Yuriko. He would have been a fool if he had not expected this. An adult would never like to be ordered around by a teenager, especially in this Apocalyptic World.

"...That will be fine, I suppose" Seiji said with an unsure look on his face. Daichi gave him a nod.

"Raise your hand, if you are fine with me being the leader?" Daichi asked without wasting any more time. He would be fine if the others decided to choose Yuriko, being the Leader was a huge responsibility. The survivability of the whole group would be resting on his shoulders.

Daichi was surprised to see that the whole group he brought from Fujimi Academy raised their hands in his favor. He didn't expect that Saya would choose him over her mother or any of the other adults for that matter. Daichi wasn't surprised to see that his mom and Roberta raised their hands in his favor.

Yuriko could only grimace when she saw Saya decided to support Daichi. There was no use in continuing the vote as the majority had already cast their votes in favor of Daichi.

"If you are not okay with listening to the orders of a teenager then you are free to leave, but you can't take anything from us. All the resources belong to the whole group, so if you want to leave the group then you are on your own" Daichi said in a firm tone, without leaving any room for arguments.

No matter how much Yuriko tried, she couldn't find any fault with the argument. Yes, it was immoral and probably inhumane, but in the current situation of the world, the argument was completely logical. Though, Yuriko noticed that the people who had accompanied her were not happy.

"Now, as I was saying before, we need to gather more resources if we want to survive" Daichi said, getting back to the initial topic. "We would also need gas if we want to keep using the vehicles, so tomorrow, I will be taking a team with me to the nearest gas station while my mom will be leading a team to a nearby shopping complex" Daichi revealed the plan.

"What about survivors, if we find any?" One of the women Yuriko had brought with her asked. Daichi believed the woman's name to be Sara Yui.

"You are free to bring them here, but before inviting them, don't forget to mention that this group does not run on charity" Daichi answered sharply. The adults who came along with Yuriko frowned after hearing Daichi's words, but surprisingly, Yuriko nodded her head in understanding.

"You mean that you are going to force everyone to work?" The man named Aoba Kenji asked accusingly and Daichi looked at the man like he was a fool. From the corner of his eyes, Daichi noticed that the woman who came along with Roberta didn't seem to disagree with him.

From Roberta, Daichi knew that the woman was a former policewoman, so he expected her to disagree with his rules, but she was yet to make any comments. True, she didn't raise her hand during the vote, but he couldn't complain since it was understandable. An adult would not trust an unknown teenager with their life.

"Of course, I am" Daichi snapped at the stupidity of the man named Aoba Kenji. "People are always forced to work. Before the awakening of Mana, people were forced to work for money, but now money has lost its value, so they need to work for food…" Daichi said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

When Kemono noticed the horrified looks on their faces, she snorted in disdain. Sometimes, people could be so naive and stupid. She wasn't surprised by their reaction though… Before the calamity, these people worked for Souichiro Takagi, the so-called hero of society.

"I can't believe all of you are so naive…" Kemono said while looking down at them like she had stepped in something filthy. Before any of them could complain or retort, Kemono decided to tear them a new one. "I am a fighter, I will be fighting in the front lines and you expect me to be fine with getting the same amount of privileges as the lazy weaklings?" Kemono growled menacingly.

Daichi knew that her mother despised people who couldn't stand up for themselves. "If they want to be protected then they need to give something in return" when the rebellious adults were finally cowed, Daichi decided to hit the final nail in the coffin. "Since money has no value, if they can provide food for free or weapons for the group, then they don't have to work as long as the resources last" Daichi said with a shrug.

"...I agree with Daichi-kun and Kemono-dono. We can't help everyone or we will raise discontent among the group just like Kemono-dono said. If the fighters and the people who aren't doing anything are treated equally then slowly the fighters would become dissatisfied with the group. Without the fighters, a group won't survive" Yuriko explained calmly and the people she had brought along with her looked like they had swallowed a lemon.

"Don't worry, I am not a devil, so I won't ask the children below 12 or the people older than 65 to work. I think that would be fine, right?" Daichi glanced toward Kemono. After thinking for a bit, Kemono gave her son a sharp nod. Then Daichi looked back toward the rest of the group. "By the way, how many of you are Level 1? I need to know so that I could divide the groups for tomorrow" Daichi questioned.

"I am Level 1, but I don't think that my Skill will be useful for combat, but I could handle weapons" Yuriko was the first one to break the silence after Daichi asked his question. "I can sense Treasures, at least that is what the description of my Skill says, but I don't know how it works or what is considered treasures" Yuriko revealed her Skill without a hint of worry in her voice.

Following her example, the others also decided to reveal their Levels. "I am still Level 0" Aoba Kenji said while looking slightly embarrassed.

"I am Level 1 and my Skill is called Wall. It allows me to tank a blow" Tsukomo Seiji revealed his Skill and Daichi immediately realized that the man wasn't saying everything. Daichi suspected that the man's Skill wasn't absolute and it had some limitations.

"Both of us are still Level 0" Sara Yui said while pointing toward herself and Kou Emiko. Both of them looked quite embarrassed. Daichi immediately started to rub his chin with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I see… that will be all, I will be assigning the groups tomorrow morning" With that, Daichi finally dismissed the meeting…

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