To Each Concealed Feelings

"Mmmrghh..."

Claire was puffing her cheeks with her arms crossed. Looking like a squirrel who had its cheek pouches full of seeds.

Only a few minutes had passed since she tore me off from hugging Aunt Amelie and brought me to her room.

Looking at her like this, I couldn't help but smile. Such things happening was pretty nostalgic.

Claire and I, as well as Aunt Amelie, had always been stuck together even back when we were still at the camp. Since Aunt took care of us, I quickly got attached to her.

There are times when something similar to earlier happens, with me hugging Aunt Amelie and Claire quickly separates us and sulks just as what she's doing now.

In the past, I thought she was jealous of her the affection her mother's been giving me, but it was only later that I realized it was a different kind of jealousy.

Seeing the cutely sulking Claire, I couldn't resist and hugged her from the back, which seemingly shocked her as I felt her body squirming. It was an action that only lovers would do.

"Sorry sorry, still it was kinda nostalgic seeing you get jealous of your own mother."

"Mouu...! But I can't deny that. Haah... I'm quite a weird woman don't you think so?"

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily call it weird but... I guess it wouldn't be a lie to say that you're quite an outlier in this kind of thing."

Although Aunt Amelie would probably just laugh it off, Claire feeling a sense of rivalry with her own mother can feel weird for the person herself. If her father sees this, he would probably try to kill me.

As I was thinking of that, Claire separated herself from my embrace and moved a little bit. She wore a solemn expression that was pretty hard to read. Then, she turned to me and asked.

"Leon... How can you be so calm?"

Her words surprised me a little but now that I think about it, it's not a strange thing to ask.

The world... Had changed so much, heck we already call it an apocalypse. But here, we were acting as if it was just an ordinary day. Although I haven't let my guard down yet, I did feel quite at ease.

From the moment I woke up, I was already fighting those undead. Arriving at this place and seeing Claire doing fine had put me at ease.

"How, huh? Hmm... I guess it's fine to put it this way. Claire, do you remember what my callsign was in the camp? The one they gave us on our first practical activity."

"Callsign? Ahh... They called you Trailblazer, right?"

"Yeah, generally, it referred to a person who leads the way, more often by creating new paths when there was none. That was both my callsign and a nickname they gave me."

At that time, I thought that I barely had the capabilities of a leader. But when we were actually on the field, I was the one who managed to adapt the quickest.

"I can adapt to most situations. That's probably the best way to put it. I'm not sure if that's a blessing or a curse but I'm pretty sure that it's something I had since birth."

"Way to brag."

"I'm not bragging, though I can see that having known your talent that much may seem like bragging. Anyway, that's the reason why my survival skills were also top-notch. To be honest, the reason I joined the club back then was also part of that, I missed my life in the camp even though I didn't like it."

In the end, I guess I simply adapted too early. It wasn't a complete adaption though. There were still things that I couldn't possibly do, such as killing living people. But even without those, I can already live in this kind of world without cowering in fear.

"So, get it now?"

"You're a bit bad at explaining things but I do get the gist of it. Then, I have one more question."

"Shoot."

"If... If you found out that the person you knew for a long time, had been hiding a nature that would probably disgust you... Can you still accept that person?"

Claire asked me a question but her tone was as if she was about to cry. Was it about a friend of hers or maybe a relative? I'm kind of worried but I also didn't want to pry.

Still, what would I do, huh?

"I guess, I would start by finding out more about the story, about why that person is like that. Then, I guess I'll decide by that time whether to accept them or not."

"... I see, fufu, mom wasn't wrong, you really are kind."

I wasn't sure if my answer was acceptable since I also just came up with it but Claire didn't say anything further. An awkward atmosphere befell the room, Claire's expression was still unchanging.

That was until she stood up and shifted to her usual smile. A little worry still lingered inside me as I considered her words earlier. Could there be something more to that than what I can think of?

However, no matter how hard I pondered over it, no answer came to me. In the end, all I could do was put it at the back of my head. 

Claire walked to her closet and near it were large drawers. When she opened them, she took out two bags. If I'm not mistaken, those are duffle bags?

They're a staple in a survival scenario. She's prepared.

"Come here, Leon."

"Unn, what's this?"

"Our stuff."

She beckoned me to come over and opened the bags as I walked over to her. She pointed at one of the bags, seems like that one's mine.

It contained a rifle that seemed to be an AR-15, a long-barreled revolver, and another pistol that I do not know the model of. There was also another suppressor, a grip, and a longer mag, which seemed to be for the rifle. There are also loads of ammunition.

"...!?"

However, as I dug out the bag, I found another object. When I picked it up, my eyes seemingly shone brightly, as I saw one of the weapons of my dreams.

There was a katana! It didn't have any extravagant carvings and looked simplistic but it's a katana!

I looked like a child who got his new toy as I held it with two hands, with extra care. Claire, who seemed to notice my agitation, smiled exasperatedly.

"Jeez, I knew you'd get excited over that but I didn't expect this."

"I can't help it, I dreamt of having one of these but I never got the chance to buy one."

Her smile didn't fall off as she simply sighed in response. Out of everyone else that I know, she's probably the only one who knew that I have this kind of nature. But I do not mind it, she's my precious childhood friend after all.

I placed the katana back in the bag carefully, which earned another exasperated gaze from Claire. Next, I took out the rifle and asked Claire about it.

"By the way, this rifle seems pretty big, you know that I could only use handguns proficiently, right?"

"I know, but if you want to fight properly against the dead, and possibly, the living too, you need a more powerful weapon. You do have to be conservative with the ammo though."

"I think I heard some pretty dangerous words there but putting those aside, is this an AR-15?"

"Hmm? Well, I heard that it follows the same make but no, it's a HK417, it's not as lightweight compared to others but you should manage with the right technique."

"HK417? This isn't commercially available, right?"

"Nope, it's in my father's collection, one of his favorites."

I heard more terrifying words. Does this family allow children access to their arsenal? That aside, I made a mental note to take care of the gun, the same way I'll do with the katana.

"Are you sure this is alright?"

"It's fine, it should rather be used than collecting dust in the storage."

"...I see."

"Haah... If it makes you feel better, then remember that Dad isn't with us anymore."

"Huh!? Seriously!?

This was the first time I've heard of such a thing. Her father is pretty famous so he should've been featured in the news. That's what I thought until I realized that I don't follow the news either.

"Wait, you didn't know?"

"No."

"I see. Well, but that doesn't give you the right to take my mother, okay?"

"I wasn't trying to do that!"

Claire gave me a doubtful look before turning to her own bag. Seriously, do you not trust me that much?

I also turned to my own business, taking the accessories and equipping them on the rifle. Unfortunately, there were no sights available but I should be able to manage with a little practice.

However, inspecting the gun, a knock came from the door. Claire walked to it and opened it, revealing the feature of the guy earlier, Jean.

As the door opened, our figures were also revealed to him. He was smiling when he saw Claire but frowned as he also saw me inside. Man, you could at least make it less obvious.

"Miss Claire, another large group of zombies are heading straight to us, we need you at command."

Claire pondered for a bit before smiling as she turned to me.

"Alright! Leon, we got some spare ammo we can use since Dad kept a lot for that gun. How does a test run sound?"

"Not a bad proposal, I accept it."

As she said that, she opened one of the drawers near her closet, and took some of the same ammo boxes as the ones in the bag. Spare ammo, huh? I guess, she did predict something like this from happening.

"Wait! Use this."

With a smile, I took the rifle and headed to the door but Claire stopped me and handed me a sling. I then strapped it on my rifle and spoke.

"Now then, let's get to work, shall we?"

Claire smiled as well and deeply nodded as we walked out of the door and closed it. We walked straight out of the mansion, ignoring the other guy there who could only follow us bitterly.