Kim Haru could tell that someone might've even fought here over a scrap of food.

Looking at the chaotic mess in front of him, covered in stains of who-knows-what, Kim Haru closed his eyes for a moment.

No, he told himself, you've got to hold it together.

This is no time to let your obsessive-compulsive cleanliness get the better of you.

Forcing himself to ignore the urge to straighten things up, Kim Haru began searching, starting from the doorway.

He focused on the corners between cabinets and walls, or the dark recesses deep inside cupboards, beneath overturned items.

Maybe, just maybe, he'd find a bit of food that had fallen and been overlooked by the others.

Kim Haru had gone out of his way to find a long stick, using it to poke into crevices he couldn't reach or see.

He managed to pull out a few shriveled, moldy vegetable leaves.

No matter how hungry he was, that stuff was completely inedible—not just a matter of cleanliness, but eating it could lead to sickness or even death.

Kim Haru set the leaves aside and kept searching.

"...Seriously? Did a swarm of locusts come through here? Couldn't they have left a little something for the rest of us?" He had practically turned the whole kitchen upside down, yet aside from those rotten leaves, he hadn't found a single thing that could be eaten.

He tossed the stick aside in frustration and sat down, defeated.

Grumble~

His stomach growled again.

Kim Haru shot a glare at his uncooperative belly before reluctantly getting back up to continue searching.

He really didn't want the next time he regained his senses to be after having bitten into human flesh.

Finding nothing on the first floor, Kim Haru moved up to the second.

The second floor mainly had private rooms, as well as another kitchen.

Kim Haru searched through each room, one by one.

Most of the private rooms had been picked clean—even the curtains, carpets, and thicker tablecloths had been taken by those who had come before.

Luckily, Kim Haru's bad luck hadn't completely cursed him.

In the crevice beneath a cabinet in one of the rooms, he found half a bottle of water that had somehow rolled in there at some point.

The bottle looked much like the regular plastic water bottles Kim Haru was used to seeing in his world, though he didn't recognize the brand or the label on it.

But now wasn't the time to be picky about such details.

Kim Haru quickly unscrewed the cap and took a swig.

The cool water soothed his parched throat instantly, offering a moment of relief.

He only drank one mouthful before carefully tightening the cap and setting the bottle aside.

It wasn't that Kim Haru didn't want to drink; heaven knows how much he wished he could gulp down the water by the mouthful.

But he couldn't.

He didn't know if he would ever be lucky enough to find water again, just like he still hadn't found any food.