Chapter 10: Groping in the Dark, Completely at a Loss, Surrounded by Enemies on All Sides

Chapter 10: Groping in the Dark, Completely at a Loss, Surrounded by Enemies on All Sides (暗中模索、五里霧中、考えたって四面楚歌！, Anchūmosaku, gorimuchū, kangae tatte shimensoka!) is the tenth chapter of the spin-off manga series of Zombie Land Saga, titled “Zombie Land Saga Side Story: The First Zombie”.

Synopsis
Higashino finds himself up to something with a Sagako he recently encountered. Meanwhile, the Busters search for a way to bring Eikichi back from his depression.

Plot
Higashino's questions about the Sagakos continue as he plans to do something on a beach, Araki who is behind him asks what they do there, not very confident that carrying a Sagako in a fish tank is a safe thing, since he acted in a mysterious way that morning by capturing that Sagako and taking it to that beach, but before continuing with what he was thinking, he leaves the task to Araki to care for and raise the Sagako that he has in his hands. Mainly because the day before he lost his sanity and killed all the other Sagakos they had found, so he must not lose his sanity this time, Araki is shocked by what he is saying, but more on the side that his residential complex does not allow pets.

Finally with Araki agreeing, he promises to leave food and water for him to take care of. The following days he fulfills his promise by leaving Araki enough food and water for the Sagako to subsist, but as a result of taking in a Sagako, the poor rookie officer has to deal with this Sagako leaving his entire house covered in mud. After several days with Doro-chan, it still shows no change despite not having eaten or drunk, which further uncovers Higashino's curiosity who wonders if it is really a truly supernatural being, while wondering the true source of the Sagako's energy, he remembers what Anna told him earlier, that the Sagakos are the symbol of the end of Saga. Remembering this, he returns to the beach where he was previously and proceeds to perform the experiment he was thinking about days ago. He explains to Araki that the rock ahead is called Tsutsumiichi, being a border between the former Hizen prefectures and the Chukuzen provinces, or in other words, the border with Fukoka.

Higashino throws the Sagako across the border and as soon as it crosses it starts to bubble and explodes as a black mass as the remains of it fall to the ground, shocked, Araki quickly leaves the place while Higashino remains undeterred. Suddenly something happens that leaves him dizzy, in front of Higashino appears a mysterious figure of a girl with a demon mask who reveals some questions that he had previously and presents herself as part of the God Magatsuhi. Understandably taken aback, Higashino can't believe how many strange things he's been living with since he came to Saga, Magatsuhi thanks him for eliminating that Sagako and makes a deal with him that if he eliminates all the Sagakos from Saga, he will receive a "prize" and the original power of Magatsuhi will return.

In the mansion, the busters are worried that something happened to Eikichi while MJ looks weak and old, as if he had aged 10 years at once. Tae tells them that she convinced Jofuku to talk to Eikichi to reveal what happened, apparently Higashino hit the high school boy leaving him psychologically affected by that. But they don't have much time to digest the information as MJ warns them of more Sagakos in Saga while he looks visibly weak and tired. Arriving at the place, the group sees a massive amount of Sagakos with spider eggs as a result of Higashino shooting several of them earlier, Anna says that they can't leave them in the forest where they can cause damage and with the rest of the team, they collect everyone they can and take them in a van to the mansion where they are locked in a room.

A week later, the group unsuccessfully tries to make Eikichi leave his room, Anna is very upset with Higashino and promises that when she finds him she will make him pay the consequences of his actions, while Hanako will look for a solution to not stand idly by and will look for a way to seal multiple Sagakos at once in a single measure to replace the onions. Alone, Tae talks to Eikichi from the other side of the door about his current situation, she tells him that if he wants he can take Higashino to court about what he did to him, but Eikichi in a state of negativity says that it's not worth doing. Nothing, because he is worth nothing. Tae tries to cheer him up by mentioning all the times that, no matter the situation, Eikichi always managed to pull through despite Tae's aggressive attitude, working hard to take his sister's place in the group. Thanks to him, Tae feels more comfortable and is managing to change her way of doing things thanks to Eikichi's strength, since he is carrying the feelings of those who are close to him on his back.

Tae tells Eikcihi that he has endured enough, she did not think that he could be hurt by human evil, and since the Sagakos will get stronger in the future, she will not let Eikichi get hurt again, and tells him to stay there while the group looks for a way to fix it. Contrary to what she thought, Eikichi takes the message very badly and leaves the room in tears running away from the mansion. From his point of view, the group just wants to drag him into fighting like he's just a replaceable pawn, he just wants to hear a "We need you" from the group.

Depressed and broken, he begins to question his place in Saga and search for a place where he actually belongs. He is not like Yuko, who helps everyone, he just needs a place where he can feel that he is really needed. Unaware for his negative thoughts, he accidentally finds himself in the path of a blonde girl who is about to run over him with her bicycle.

Characters

 * Saga Sagako Busters
 * Tae Yamada
 * Jofuku
 * Eikichi Hyodo
 * Yuko Hyodo (flashback)
 * Anna Shuri
 * Hanako Hakase
 * Keiji Higashino
 * Araki Aiba
 * Saki Nikaido (debut; young)
 * Sagako Curses (debut)
 * Mudskipper Sagako
 * Magatsuhi

Locations

 * Saga Prefecture
 * Saga Sagako Busters' Mansion
 * Karatsu Police Station
 * Tsutsumiichi
 * Araki's apartment

External Link

 * Gaiden Chapter 10 Unofficial English Translation

Trivia

 * This chapter is the second of the manga in which a character related to Franchouchou, in this case Saki Nikaido, makes her appearance.

es: Capítulo 10: A tientas en la oscuridad, perdido entre la neblina, asediado por sus pensamientos