Kore wa Zombie desu ka? Vol 1 Chapter 3.5

VOLUME 1

Chapter 3: Part 5

“Hooray!!”

Seeming more excited than I would have expected her to be, Haruna jumped her ahoge back and forth.

Seafood and fried shrimp pizza filled the table from end to end. There was another extra serving of the same thing next to where I was sitting. But we still might not have had enough. Haruna and Yuu both ate absurd amounts of food.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had alfredo ganahson L. (1) Itadakimaasu~.” (2)

Haruna gazed at the shrimp-and-mayonnaise pizza with a sparkle in her eyes. She quickly grabbed a slice, and brought it to her mouth. Also, al… what? Huh? Gana… what? What was that?

“Hm?”

Having stuffed her cheeks with a bite of the pizza, Haruna c.o.c.ked her head to the side as her ahoge bounced back and forth.

“This isn’t alfredo ganahson L at all!”

Her eyes widened and she stood up. She seemed strangely excited.

“What exactly is that al- whatever you thought it was?”

“Eh? Thinly spread out alfredo with a generous helping of ganahson on top, and a sprinkling of melted L… ah! Is that not something you eat in this world?”

Sounded like a recipe or something.

“I don’t think we do.”

“I see… that’s right. There’s no reason such a c.r.a.p world like this would have things like alfredo or ganahson.”

Suddenly disheartened, Haruna sunk back into her seat. She then bit into the shrimp-and-mayonnaise pizza that she still held in her hand.

“Ah, but this is good. So this will do.”

Oh, is it good?! Is it alright for you?!

Strength seemed to return to Haruna’s drooping ahoge, and one by one she ate through pieces of pizza. A smile appeared on her face. Yuu was eating with her usual complete lack of expression. And now look, the pizza disappeared in an instant, didn’t it? Was it sucked up? Looking at their small mouths chewing and chewing, I knew exactly where the pizza had disappeared to.

“Ayumu… when you ordered me to indulge myself, is that order still in effect?”

The only person who had not touched the pizza softly called out to me. I could see a bit of bewilderment under her usually piercing expression, so I asked her what was wrong.

“I’ve never had anything other than traditional j.a.panese fare. It’s a bit embarra.s.sing to say, but… I’m a bit frightened by food like this. Won’t you make me some miso soup?”

Returning back to her usual, tidy expression, Sera spoke just as tidily. I just had one question here.

Never had anything other than traditional j.a.panese fare? Are you telling me that the cooking you made for me before, that invincible cooking on which neither seasoning nor tableware had any effect… that was traditional j.a.panese fare?

“Just try a bit. It’s really good, you know. It’s not like it’s poisoned or anything.”

I pa.s.sed a piece of pizza to Sera. She stared at it with a grimace, but perhaps she seemed to come to a decision…

“A vampire ninja should fight without fear no matter what type of enemy appears.”

Persuading herself, she shut her eyes tight and resolutely took a bite. She opened her eyes and took another. She c.o.c.ked her head to a side and took another, and began to eat.

“This is quite incredible. To think that it would be this…”

She really seemed pleased. At this rate, the pizza would be gone in the blink of an eye. As I thought, it didn’t seem like we would have enough.

A lively meal. A mealtime that really made me feel happy. I can say it without any embarra.s.sment now… I really enjoyed being with these people.

“Ahh~, Pizza’s really quite something. Ayumu, let me use your cell phone.”

Haruna rolled around, sprawled on the floor, and held out her hand to me.

“Here you go.”

I handed her my cell phone, and she dialed out. It was a regular report back to her world.

Riiiinnngg…. Riiinnnnng…. Riinnnnng.

“Ah, is this Dai-sensei? Eh? Ah, I see. Well, please tell her that refrain-year, rising-cla.s.s attendance number 634526379 Haruna-chan called.”

How many people were in her cla.s.s?!

I wanted to say that, but it’s not like I could do that when Haruna looked so down. Well, it’s not like I would say it even if things were normal.

“Was she… not there?”

“They told me that she left for another world to gather research materials.”

She threw herself heavily onto the table and shut her eyes. Hey, are you going to sleep there or something?

“Haah… I can’t find any artifacts, I can’t become a masou shoujo, and I can’t call Dai-sensei… this is the wooorst.”

All the energy she had before seemed to have drained out of her. Her mood was seriously more fickle than the weather on top of a mountain.

“By the way, Haruna. What’s an artifact? I’ll also help look for them.”

“Hmph. Someone like you wouldn’t be able to find them.”

“But, it’s still better than just looking for them alone, right? What’s the name of the artifact?”

Haruna had been frowning, but she suddenly put on a sincere, shoujo-like expression.

“Hmm, I guess that’s true. Yes, that’s certainly true, I think. Umm… the name was… Kyoudou… umm. Kyoufu… yes. The name was Kyoufu. (3)”

Kyoufu? What was up with that terrifying name? I mean, could terror actually have a solid form?

As she said, it really probably wasn’t something I would be able to find.

“Is that something that has a physical form?”

“Of course! It’s like this, square and soft.”

She gestured with her hands, but I still didn’t understand. It didn’t seem to be something that was very big. Did Sera know what she was talking about? I asked, but Sera shook her head from side to side. What about Yuu? … Ah, she’s ignoring me.

“Well, if I happen to see something like that, I’ll tell you.”

“I’m not holding my breath.”

Haruna once again collapsed onto the table.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) Not sure I’m correctly “Englis.h.i.+fying” this from the katakana (Arufureddo Ganaason). Going from English to katakana and back again wasn’t really high on my priority list of learning j.a.panese. It’s a pretty useless skill in the long run.

(2) I’m pretty sure most people know what this means, but it’s a polite thing to do before you start eating a meal in j.a.pan. Except it happens more in anime than it does in real life… when I was in j.a.pan I honestly don’t recall more than once or twice I actually saw other people saying this.

(3) Kyoufu means fear or dread.