Highschool of the Dead: Fanfiction Darkpenn

Chap 26: all good things part 4

Tabibito

Takeo Tsazi eased the engine - now christened the Tabibito, with its name painted on the side - to a halt, next to the wooden platform with the hand-painted sign saying Maresato Station.

"Well, everyone seems to be in a good mood," said his sister Komhei, as they watched the passengers disembark and start walking along the road towards Maresato farm, a kilometre away. Many people were carrying baskets of goods to sell or trade, as well as tents and foldable tables. "Good thing we thought to connect the extra carriage," she said, although a surprising number of people had opted to ride on the roof. After some discussion, Takeo and Komhei had decided that there was no charge for that, although a ticket for a ride in a carriage was one Hiranote, which people seemed happy to pay.

"Everyone has a good time at Market Day," said Takeo. "Although we really should think of another name for it. Hey, look, there are those people who play in the band. This is going to be the biggest Market Day ever, I think."

He took a pad from his pocket and wrote down an estimate of the number of people they had carried. Alice, Rei, and Saya had said that the information was useful, although Takeo was not sure why. He assumed that eventually they would have to make the train trips more systematic, with something that Saya called a timetable. Harvest time was going to involve a lot more planning, as teams of people and machinery moved around the country.

But Takeo and Komhei knew that a lot of people caught the train simply because they liked it. Putting it simply, it was fun. It was not uncommon for people to get on and stay on until the circuit brought them back home. And the two of them often invited people with kids into the cabin. The little ones always liked to sound the whistle.

The Market Day rush notwithstanding, most of the train travel was for trading purposes. The Tsuyama factory was doing a brisk trade in re-built tractors and other farm equipment, and there was always fuel from the two Sakhalin refineries to be collected from Akita and distributed. And then there was the food. Chizu and her daughter Oh often appeared on the Tabibito, overseeing a load of foodstuffs that was going somewhere or another. There were times when Takeo thought that the whole country was described in the trading ledgers that of Chizu and Oh. The ledgers, and the chest of Hiranotes that they carried from one community to another, as they traded meat for wood, pots for fish, honey for nails. It occurred to Takeo that Chizu, after taking a small commission from each trade, had probably accrued a lot of Hiranotes of her own. Well, that was okay, she deserved it.

In fact, quite a few people were doing alright for themselves these days. When their mother had said that Takeo and Komhei should take over the Tabibito as an enterprise, she had said that any system of charges was up to them, as long as it was fair and as long as they offered free passage to people who were unable to pay. So they were doing alright, even allowing for the ongoing costs of running it. And then there was the constant need for wood. There was a family in Sakai that was making a good business of recycling timber for construction purposes, and they sold the scrap to Takeo and Komhei. It was a cost, but with one Hiranote per adult per trip, they were still making money.

For her part, Rei was generally willing to quietly hand out some Hiranotes from her stock to anyone who needed them, due to bad luck or a bad crop. She always made clear to the recipients that it should not be expected as a matter of course. The unwritten rule was that everyone who was capable of working did so; the other side of that was that help was available if needed.

It occurred to Takeo, as he thought about it, that Alice, Rei, Saya and Shizuka did not, themselves, have much money - although, of course, Rei literally had the license to print it. They always had a few Hiranotes in their pockets, but aside from that they seemed more interested in their various activities rather than business. Well, fair enough, they all seemed remarkably satisfied with what they were doing. And when any of them went back to Maresato farm - which all of them did at every possible opportunity - they could usually be found working in the gardens or something.

Takeo and Komhei started the train again. They were now heading for Hiroshima, the last stop on the line south, via Tsuyama (nearly everything was via Tsuyama), with some barrels of oil and petrol. There was still a group of teenagers on the roof, and Takeo gave them a wave. Probably going to Hiroshima for some building work, he supposed. A few days to earn some money, and then back here to enjoy Market Day.

"You know, Shizuka was saying that before the Outbreak there were dozens of trains, all over the country, and they were electric, much faster than this one," said Komhei. "I asked her why people seemed so happy to ride on this one. She said that people generally seemed happy enough these days, just because they were alive. People had so much stuff before the zombies that they didn't appreciate it, she said. Now they are pretty happy to have what they have. I guess that even includes an old train like this. It really should be in a museum, you know."

Takeo laughed. "No, the Tabibito belongs right where she is," he said. "And I think that maybe so do we."

END