Girls' Next Tour (A Girls' Last Tour fan-sequel)

Chapter 5: Outside

"Hey, Itsuki! What else do we need besides bolts, metal fragments, and fuel regulators?"

"Hmm - did you check your list if we missed anything?" Itsuki asked. He seemed to be scouring for parts through a warn-torn battlefield left with derelict tanks, vehicles, and weapons. "This sector is supposed to be filled with parts from old-era machines. I still wonder why they kept using these ancient things instead of electric engines?"

"Sensei told me that it had to do with something called 'EMP bombs', rendering the electricity useless in war. With just one hit of those bombs, they could disable the electronics pretty efficiently. So I guess the predecessors relied on old machine technology and fuel to carry out attacks and defenses. Anyway, did Daishi-sensei say what he needs the parts for?

"He told me he is restoring some old-era vehicles to use for outer sector scouting and the next batch of travelers. He also told me he is fixing one for us to use - I think he said it's called a Kettenkrad. Said it would suit us for when we go on our supplies run."

"Yeah, that's a great idea. My back is so sore after all these supplies run going by foot, so a vehicle will finally do us good." The other man answered. "Sensei fears that some of those nut cases might still have EMP weapons out there. Those old vehicles are much more reliable out here than the modern ones, considering that we still find fuel. Did you get to see the vehicle yet?"

"Nah, he told me it's a surprise. He only said it looked like if a motorcycle and a tank had a baby." Itsuki answered as he kept scouring through the metallic garbage. Itsuki was in his early twenties and wearing a green military outfit with a helmet on his head. On his back, he wore a large backpack and an Arisaka Type 38 rifle around his arm that he used for protection. Their squad was sent on a mission to scour the layer for machine parts and resources to help fix some of the machines back at their home.

"Haha, how would that work? The tank would instantly obliterate the motorcycle." The other man who went by the name of Yasuo also helped look around for the parts, he was about the same age as Itsuki, but then in this world, one wouldn't know their real age or birthday. Usually, in their village, most of the orphans were given a rough estimate of age by how they appeared.

Yasuo and Itsuki are both orphans from the outer layer that the survivors of the village found many years ago. They were taken under the care of a mechanic by the name of Daishi who was a long-standing resident of the village. They both had no recollection of their real families, however, they felt a close bond with each other as if they were brothers by blood.

"Well, thanks for putting that image in my mind now Yasuo. A tank and a Motorrad..." Itsuki let out a chuckle as he continued scouring through the garbage, carefully passing it with his old-age Geiger scanner to not pick up any dangerous-radioactive material by mistake.

"Oh... Here! I found something!" Yasuo held a piece of metallic material that looked like an old engine piston. "Looks broken thought!"

"Be careful to scan the piles first Yasuo, you know those iodine pills don't always help unless you want to spend a week in the infirmary on a dialysis machine again. I am sure sensei can find some use for it."

"Ughhh... but my backpack is getting so heavy Itsuki." struggling and complaining, Yasuo jammed the part in his large backpack, weighing him down with all the heavy parts he collected earlier.

"As the old folks say, finders keepers!" Itsuki replied and smiled as he continued scouring for parts. Feeling a bit peckish he felt it was time for a break as he sat down on the garbage pile and took out a green bar from his pocket.

"Anyway, do you want some rations? I brought some extra 'Soylent Green' with me."

"Why do you insist on calling it 'Soylent Green' Itsuki? Are you still that obsessed with that 20th-century book?" Yasuo questioned him.