Shizumi frowned. “Would Sanroku even be capable of doubling its capacity? If not more?”
“Do you not have any resources left?” Kosuke asked.
Satoru rested his chin on his hand. “Well, we don't know the condition of the city since we left it, but it hasn't been very long. The city should by all accounts still have resources until the next harvest season, which is likely going to suffer from the flood. That's still a few months away, though. Food production suffered a lot of losses, but there should be reserves.”
“Then I propose that any resource that can be moved, is moved. Providing food would be our largest issue, but if there are indeed several months worth of food to ration out, then we will have time to expand, especially since the influx will come with its own capable workers to aid. We can clear out some facilities to provide sleeping spaces and set up a temporary tent camp for anyone that doesn't fit.”
“Are you sure that's something you want to do? People might be upset about their life being put on hold to support ours,” Yuko asked hesitantly.
Wakane offered a calm smile. “There will be objections, but most of the people will remember what it was like. The rest will likely fall in line as needed when they find themselves outnumbered. They might not cooperate, but they won't make an effort to stop it.”
“... Alright.”
Two weeks passed in Sanroku in an almost heavenly bliss as the people readied themselves for the reception of Shini. Yuko learned so much over the course of that time, it was almost overwhelming. Learning about Japan's history up until the bombing, at least what was preserved. Even Niku suffered losses in its historical knowledge despite how much they tried. Then there were oceans, the global (a confusing fact on its own) world and other nations, at least according to the map as it existed in 1950. Who knew what the world looked like 300 years later. It was better than not knowing anything. There were even multiple planets that weren't flaming orbs like the sun, but last they knew they weren't inhabitable.
Satoru seemed to take it much better, eagerly absorbing everything and debating with their tutor to better understand. Shizumi was not far behind, if less challenging. It was weird, to be on an equal level to them, at least for a moment. Yuko was quickly left behind. It made sense. They were both academics while Yuko only had the potential to become one had she sunk in the time and effort to train her mind more. Perhaps when she wasn't at the risk of being without a meal every day.
Speaking of food, Sanroku’s was pretty incredible, if sort of dangerous. Wakane and Kosuke had warned them not to eat everything they were offered in large quantities. Not because the people were trying to poison them, or anything, but because it was possible that they didn't have the ability to process certain foods, or even react poorly to them. The siblings have the same issue, being unable to eat spicy food. Satoru emphasized that eating too many new things at once would also be terrible for their digestive systems and to be careful. It was anything but fun to not be able to eat as much of the new foods as she wanted, but even the slightest bit more here and there already made it all so much more enjoyable.
The plan was almost frighteningly simple on paper. The people of Sanroku took a few weeks to prepare for the influx of people, as well as produce actual tons of the kegare curing medicine. Sanroku also has water faring ships, not many or meant to carry lots of people, but a handful. Those would be used to return the party back to the coast near Shini. Then, the party would go back to Shini to offer the new chance at life. Once ready, the sick and elderly would be brought to Sanroku with the ships the party arrived with, and while the bulk of the people migrated to Sanroku on foot, using the same path as the party had, said ships would be busy bringing in Shini's supplies to make sure Sanroku is ready to receive the incoming people.
Wakane even offered to have people prepare a box of their items to be shipped over on top of what they could carry during the migration to incentivise people to come, as soon as everything was settled. Yuko would've definitely liked that offer if she still had anything to call her own. Shini itself wouldn't be off limits either, so Yuko figured that going back for more items at a later point could be on the table.
Besides the party, the siblings also offered to come and assist, as well as requesting the aid of a few handfuls of additional trained soldiers. They would chaperone the people and help them keep calm and safe. They were even offered new firearms to aid in that, ones that would be capable of actually decommissioning any thirioids that they could come across. Yuko also spent a good portion of the two weeks training to use the new pistol. She wasn't amazing at it by any means, but in a pinch, she might be able to accomplish something. In spite of the new pistol she was offered, she held on to Fukui's. She couldn't bring herself to lose it.
The day of departure was almost bittersweet, but everyone was as ready as they could be within the given time.
Being on a thing that in and of itself floated on moving water took some getting used to. The unpleasant feeling of the rocking of the ship was beat out by the speed at which it traveled, though. What had taken their party over six days took little over half as many hours by sea. Having a map of the area definitely helped. Said map would hopefully help them reduce their travel time, but that was unlikely. Large groups of people moved slow, so at most it would compensate for time lost.
Unlike during their first journey, the thirioid bear proved no threat to them. Shizumi located it in its lair, took out her new sniper rifle, and felled the beast with one bright green shot while it was seemingly unconscious. It made the rest of their trip so much calmer. The siblings’ curiosity about Shini also helped alleviate tension, at least a little. Yuko couldn't help but be tense. It'd have been nearly a month since they left. Would they be heralded as heroes? Condemned as villains? Would they even acknowledge Yuko?
It was actually surprisingly boring. They were spotted as soon as they entered the outskirts, and hurried off to meet with their, at least Satoru and Shizumi's, initially assigned officer. Said officer was even already waiting for them, the news spread so fast. There was a lot of talking. Yuko tried to offer her opinion but was often ignored, so she instead just walked away. They didn't even try to stop her, she just walked out of the building with very little issue.
Yuko decided to see what the state of the city was with her own eyes.
Even from a cursory glance as she walked the streets, the city had notably deteriorated over the last few weeks. Even the West was worse for wear, even if it was less noticeable than North and South. South looked like it was a complete mess, while North was barely holding it together. There were people everywhere, most of them probably displaced from East as the emergency encampments weren't capable of holding everyone forever.
Yuko felt miserable trudging the streets again, especially with the state of Shini in mind. If anything, she'd never felt so miserable doing so as she did that moment. She already missed the surface and it'd only been a few days.
Not wanting to risk getting stuck, Yuko took a detour to find her favourite hiding spot in the outer wall. The sight was even more concerning from there. Most of East had been destroyed, and clean up was going slowly. Priority went to the fields, farms and tanks, which seemed to be in a semi-acceptable state again.
The actual residential area though… it was hard to tell that those were once building blocks, rather than just a miles stretching pile of rubble. Would they even be able to clear it? Where would they take all the stuff that wouldn't be easy to reuse? They didn't exactly have much of a garbage pile, but this was just too much material to process back into the system. No wonder it was left to sit there.
Her thoughts were disrupted by a familiar voice yelling up. “Yuko?”
She poked her head out of the crevice to find the source and gasped.
Dad!