CH3 - Finished Preparations

[3rd POV]

"Nice shot young man, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you've had your fair share of shooting guns" states a voice laced with amusement. Two people could be seen in what appeared to be a gun range, both had foam earplugs inside their ears meant to protect their hearing, supplemented by protective eye gear meant to shield their eyes from bullet casings. One of the two people remained standing while one was watching off to the side while leaning down on a table that had practice ammunition meant for the Type 99 Arisaka Rifle still carried by the person standing.

The date today was August 7(Sunday) and the person standing was none other than Lyon, who had been going to the gun range located just an hour away from the city itself and was owned by a friend of his mother, Akai Yoshiyaru, a young man with a slightly overgrown wavy mullet and bangs that parted, showing his violet purple eyes.

He was the only child of the Yoshiyaru family which kept the business of one of the few gun ranges in Japan open to this day. His mother had introduced him to Akai as soon as Lyon got his gun ownership license which took 40 days just to be completed and ever since then, Lyon had been practicing using the various guns he could get his hands on inside the range during the weekends.

Unfortunately, he couldn't practice using any actual handguns because of Japan's strict gun control, as it had limited the scope of what guns Lyon could buy. Shotguns were fine which was why the first gun he registered to his name was a used Miroku MK60 shotgun that cost Lyon roughly 140,000 yen to buy while it took 17,000 yen to cover the 200 20 gauge shotgun shells he also bought for the gun.

"Why do you practice shooting a rifle anyways? Don't you only own a shotgun? Wouldn't it be better to practice using that?" asked Akai while looking at the target Lyon's been shooting at for two hours now. Akai quickly notices the many holes centered on the target's head, showing him how much Lyon had improved since his first day on the range. He returns his sight to Lyon again, who was by now reloading the rifle with practice ammunition he kept beside him the entire time.

"Well, technically yeah I do only own a shotgun but who's to say that it was the only gun I own hmm?" Lyon snickers back with a grin before turning back his attention to his target. Getting a rifle legally was a lot harder than getting a shotgun as it required the person to have a shotgun license for more than 10 years already. This reply surprises Akai though before plastering a serious expression on his face and glancing toward Lyon.

"Oy brat, your legally allowed to own a shotgun, not a rifle, so if you went and got yourself a rifle and the ammo needed through more unsavory means then you bet-" Akai states to Lyon only for his words to be cut off by the sound of a gun firing. Lyon empties his gun into the target, still hitting the center of the head with a few bullets hitting the side instead.

"Don't worry, I was referring to a Type 99 Arisaka my father owns but never used alongside 50 7.7 x 58-millimeter bullets meant for the gun. Apparently, it was an heirloom from my grandfather that was passed down to my father when he died long before I was born. My father has a gun-owning license of his own except he doesn't even use it anymore so aside from maintaining it in top condition, nothing else happens to it." Lyon replies to Akai's earlier warnings making Akai's previously serious expression fade back into the casual demeanor he always kept on himself.

"I see, well I should probably close up. The sun is about to set and you should start driving back home before it gets too dark." Akai asserts to Lyon who had already begun to place the gun he was using earlier back on the rack where the other range guns were while putting his phone inside his pant pocket alongside his car keys. It wasn't really "his" car though, rather he was using his mother's car as she did not have to work on weekends which meant his mother didn't need the car for the day. His gun ownership license took 40 days to be ratified but getting his class one driver's license only took him a month.

Akai brought his car with him but since he lived up north in the Aomori Prefecture, they would have to part ways here, as Akai was about to enter his car though, he was suddenly stopped by Lyon who began to run towards him while shouting which managed to gain Akai's attention while halting him from leaving.

"Take care of yourself... Mr. Yoshiyaru and stay safe" Lyon tells Akai with a somewhat somber tone before waving back to him. Akai waves back as well before getting into the car and heading home back to his family. 'What's with that solemn expression of yours Lyon... hm maybe I should practice with him next Saturday as well... my shooting may have gotten quite rusty though since I haven't seriously practiced for quite a while now' Akai thinks to himself as he drives back home, fully unaware of what events will soon transpire in the world around them.

[Lyon's POV]

I watch as Akai's car leaves my sight before turning back to get inside my mom's SUV and start driving back home. As I was driving my mind began to contemplate the events that have occurred in my life since my return to the past, as well as all the preparations I had already finished. When I told my mom about how I wanted to learn how to drive and hunt she grew quite excited, a bit less so in the latter of the two but excited nonetheless.

After learning of my sudden interests, she offered to pay for my driving courses as well as the costs of the gun training, classes, written tests, practical tests, and mental check-up tests required to get my gun ownership license. I, of course, accepted as any decrease in the need to spend money for it would mean an increase in the amount of money I could use for procuring food, beverages, and other essentials I could think of to stockpile.

'The gun and the ammo cost me 157,000 yen but my budget was supplemented with the money I managed to save from my allowance as well as money I got off of selling things like old games, consoles, and desktop parts which amounted to 25,000 which meant that I only had 261,000 yen left to spend on resources like gasoline, food, beverages, and other essential supplies as well as auxiliary equipment like handheld transceivers and a bulletproof vest.

I was able to buy 2 years' worth of food, water, and toiletries at the price of 150,000 yen, I transported most of it to our cabin in Aoya forest whenever I had "hunting trips" but I kept at least 3 months' worth of food inside our own home. This meant that I only had 111,000 yen left for gasoline and handheld transceivers that would come in useful for the future.

I decided to buy four handheld transceivers or two-way radios with each costing me 2500 yen which meant that I only had 101,000 yen left for diesel fuel we could use for both the car as well as the dual generator we had in our cabin in the forest. Diesel fuel came at 186 yen per liter, so I decided to allocate 22,000 yen for fuel while the remaining 79,000 was used to buy a black standard level IIIA bulletproof vest which cost me roughly 69,300 yen.

The 22,000 yen fuel budget meant that I managed to buy 118 liters of diesel fuel to keep in the cabin stockpiled alongside the other supplies I had already accounted for. All I was left with after all the preparations were set and done was a mere 9,700 yen I decided to keep it on me in case a need for it suddenly arises.

My brain starts to strain with all the thoughts that barged into my mind the moment I decided to start thinking about the preparations I have already finished. 'Is there anything else I haven't accounted for' I think to myself worryingly as the anxiety I felt was brought upon by the fact that in just a few days, Z-day will occur and plunge the world into anarchy? My memories of everything that occurred since z-day had begun to become hazy over time but the memory of Alyssa's death was the one thing I could never forget which only steeled my resolve.

The trip back home went by a blur as I parked our car in our driveway before noticing another car parked in our driveway as well. 'Looks like father finally decided to leave his work for a while well... that or his colleagues kicked him out just so he can breathe some air from the outside world' I think to myself before getting out of the car and entering our house.

The sight that greets me is one of tranquility with my mother and father both sitting on the couch just watching a Korean zombie series titled "All of us are not alive". Both mother and father quickly noticed me as I walk into our living room before sitting down on an empty chair and placing my mother's car keys on a table right beside me.

"Welcome home son, look at who decided to finally come home" Mom states while looking at my father who was also just laying down on the couch looking at the television screen in front of him. Dad actually did come home every now and then, it's just that by the next day, he'd already be outside of the house again without us even noticing when he left.

"Oi, I was just here like a week ago. Anyways, tell me about this girl I've been hearing about from your mother, son" My father stated, trying to move the topic of the conversation away from him and into me all of a sudden. My mother managed to sneak a look on my cellphone a few days after I met Alyssa and ever since then she's been VERY curious about who this "Alyssa" person might be.

"She's just a friend dad, the only reason she talks to me a lot is because there's no one else she can talk to." I reply to their inquiry before suddenly feeling a vibration coming from my pockets. I take my phone out of my pocket and see a message that came from Ren which came with a picture of him and his dad carrying buckets of fish, his wet dusty blonde hair glistening to the rays of the sun as he carries a fishing pole on one hand and a bucket of fish on the other.

{Hey so uh... me and my pa got into a fishing competition so I kind of forgot to do my homework... mind letting me copy yours :)} Ren messages to me while my parents start to become curious of who I was talking to.

{The homework's literally about our view on genetic engineering which means it's supposed to be opinionated but yeah sure, just make sure not to make it too obvious} I text back before receiving a gif that had a guy bowing in thanks.

"Hoh is that Alyssa who you're talking to. I heard from your mother that you and that girl went outside yesterday, ah I'm so proud, my son finally has a girlfriend" my father tells me with amusement plastered both on his face and tone. Ever since that tour, me and Alyssa had grown slightly closer together, not in a girlfriend-boyfriend close rather we were something that was more than friends yet less than lovers, it's quite complicated.

I wasn't actually the only person she could talk to anymore though as I had introduced her to Ren after she decided to sit beside me during the classes we had together, she had also acquainted herself with our club leader, Chisato Okuma, a second-year college student with semi-long dark brown hair, blue eyes and a slender figure.

She became the head of the kendo club after being chosen as a successor to the previous year's club head. As for the "date" my father mentioned earlier, well since we were in the same extracurricular club we tended to leave the school at the same time, on one occasion I decided to try out one of the cake shops near our school with her and ever since then we've had what she called "dessert expeditions" every Saturday.

"Hmph, keep your secrets to yourself then, anyways me and your father are thinking of just ordering LFC for dinner, want anything specific, or is the usual fine with you?" My mother asks me, finally understanding that she won't be getting any information about this mystery girl from me anytime soon. "Yeah sure just the usual is fine, call me when the food's here I'm going up to my room to prepare for school tomorrow." I tell them while simultaneously walking towards the stairs leading up to my room.

I lay down on my bed as silence welcomes me into its embrace with almost next to nothing disturbing it. Ten minutes passed by before my stupor is broken as I hear my mom's voice calling me down, telling me to get my ass down there before my meal gets cold. I go down and enjoy my meal alongside my family, fully aware that in just a few days, eating alongside my family and the comforts I had begun to enjoy again so far would be taken away from me again by a virus that never even showed any warning signs until it was already too late.

My parents chose to return to the couch to continue watching their show, as for me, well I chose to just go back to my room and lay down on my bed. My mind kept coming back to the moment Alyssa died before shifting to the bits and pieces of memories I could muster from the early days of the apocalypse.

The first thing to take note of was that the only reason me and Alyssa were together back then was not that we were friendly or meeting up with each other as we do in this timeline, rather we were both chosen to stay behind by the teacher for whatever reason that we will never know anymore.

'Ren wasn't with us back then since he just wanted to go home as soon as possible and since he wasn't called out specifically by the teacher like us, he was one of the people that came home or at least tried to, I guess that's one thing I'll have to change already. We got to see each other again two months after Z-day in the evacuation center outside of Yoime City but by the time I met him he had lost much of his cheery disposition.' I ponder to myself.

Apparently, he was part of a much bigger group who were all headed to the evacuation center but midway into their dash out of the city, an incident I chose not to pry into took more than half of the people in their group, one of them being a woman that he had romantic feelings for after they had initially met on the same day everything went to shit.

"I chose to pry not into it any further than I did but damn do I somewhat regret not doing so back then." I sigh to myself while turning towards the side of my bed. Well, it shouldn't be too important to factor into my plans as long as we leave the city earlier than Ren had, so I guess contemplating about it any further will just be a waste of time. Too much planning will go to waste anyway since plans that come into contact with the enemy never survive.

Memories of all of the preparations I had done, the close-quarters combat training I've had with the head of our kendo club, Chisato, the shooting range practice with the gun range owner, Mr. Yoshiyaru and the cardio workout I did at home using my mother's gym equipment. I never really did question how I was able to go back into the past, I felt the cause and reason just weren't important anymore, not as important as all the preparations I've set at least.

'You've done what you could, everything else will be up in arms from this point on' I think to myself as the comfort of my bed and the soothing winds of the air conditioner bring my anxiety-riddled mind and fatigued body to unwind from worrying about the future any longer than I already have, for the day at least.

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AN: Trying to write a story that's as realistic as possible is very hard to be honest (for me at least). I had to delve as deep as I could on research regarding Japanese gun law, gun/ammo prices, gun characteristics, ammo supply and how long processing gun ownership and driving licenses took. I might have made a few mistakes here and there so if you have any corrections, please do tell me so that I can take note of it and change them. Everything else I wish to say is in the author's note down below. Thank you for taking the time to read this. :)