Beta read by Shigiya and Darklord331
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-Fujimi-
"Hey, lad, if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to use that dangerous weapon, then all I'm askin' is that you avoid as many casualties as you can and protect the others."
He remembered those words as clear as day, the request Cu had left with him before heading out. It had not been a small responsibility. It had settled on his shoulders like a weight he could not shrug off, a constant reminder that he was meant to keep everyone safe, whether he felt ready or not.
Truthfully, Kohta was nervous despite having a weapon that could change the tide in any possible riot. With the nail gun, improved by several modifications he made recently, one could confidently hit several zombies from a hundred meters away if someone asked him to. But dealing with people was another matter entirely. Managing them, calming them, guiding them, even speaking to them for more than a few seconds, made his throat tighten and ready to empty his stomach at any second. He always felt himself freeze up, unsure how to say the right thing or hold the attention of anyone who expected authority.
Others seemed to do it naturally. He did not understand how they made it look so simple. That was why having Saya take the leadership role for him had been a blessing. For all her temper and sharp tongue, she handled crowds far better than he ever could. Until Cu returned, Kohta figured he would keep himself occupied in the craft room and focus on making more gear. He could work on additional makeshift weapons, reinforce armor, and even build defenses for the school in case this place needed to serve as a base for a longer stay. All of it felt safer than trying to command a hallway filled with frightened teenagers.
People who were just bullying him not that long ago…
Still, planning for the worst never stopped the uneasy feeling twisting in his stomach. Things could not possibly go lower than the scenarios he pictured. That was what he told himself at least.
'I really should stop jinxing myself,' he cursed himself, his thoughts breaking apart the moment a rough hand snatched the nail gun straight out of his grip.
Yoshito stood before him with an expression clouded by anger from the denial by Shido of knowing where his sister was, and before Kohta could take a step forward, the large man raised the weapon and pulled the trigger. The bespectacled boy's breath caught in his throat as time seemed to slow. His heartbeat thudded in his ears, drowning out the shouts around him while the world narrowed until only the spinning nail remained in focus. It crawled through the air with dreadful slowness, angling straight toward its target.
Then it hit flesh.
"Kya!"
"Wah!"
"He shot it!"
"AAAH!"
But the scream he expected from the teacher never came, the sight of the man slowly falling to the group with a nail to the head never happened. Instead, Kohta watched in horror as blood burst from the shoulder of a light-orange-haired girl standing beside Shido. Her eyes went wide with shock and disbelief, mirrored by every student crowded inside the gymnasium. Droplets of blood spewing in the air, something that was aimed at Shido's heart, and now having pierced her shoulders.
"Ah… AaaaaaaaAaaaAH!" She let out a raw cry that snapped everyone out of their stunned silence. Like a puppet whose strings were cut, she collapsed on the ground with many around her scrambling away in panic — except for Shido, who moved aside, letting the girl fall.
"You… Y-You! How could you hurt a student!" After a few moments of looking back and forth between Yoshito and Miku, he shouted as he crouched beside her. His prior stunned face now twisted with disgust and fury. "Somebody stop this criminal now before he kills someone else! Teshima!"
"You bastard! You pulled her in front of you and used her as a shield—ugh!" Yoshito roared back, only for his shouting to end abruptly when a shoe flew from the crowd and smacked him square in the face. With Teshima somehow having gathered enough courage after Shido's shout, or perhaps scared to let the other side use that weapon again on him next.
The hit ignited the rest of the students. Their agitation, which was already at an all-time high, ignited into something dangerously close to a mob's fury. Kohta did not even attempt to calm them, for he knew trying to speak now would be completely useless… no different from usual, with no one even acknowledging his existence. The sound of rising voices filled the room as several boys rushed Yoshito at once, tackling him to the ground. The nail gun slipped from his grasp and skidded across the floor.
Every eye was fixed on the weapon. Several students lunged toward it at once.
"No!" dread filled Kohta at the sight, 'if any of them grab it, this will spiral out of control even more than it already is!'
It would be no different from handing the weapon to Shido himself, and he trusted certain members in that group even less than the actual teacher! Kohta pushed forward, but his foot slid on the polished floor. He dropped hard onto his side and watched helplessly as more hands reached toward the weapon.
"Do not let them get it!" he shouted, forcing himself up even though he already knew he would be too slow. Just as the boys closed in, another figure darted from the other side and snatched up the nail gun with both hands. She managed to slip through several people who attempted to catch her at the last moment with a surprising amount of agility.
"Momo!" Kohta breathed out her name in relief. The red-haired girl clutched the weapon close to her chest, gripping it with trembling fingers. Regardless, even if he knew less about her than anyone else, she always helped Saya, and that was all that he needed to know to trust her with his creation. "J-Just keep running! Don't let them get to it. B-Be careful with the trigger, it's sensitive and you might accidentally shoot!"
"You think I don't fucking know that!? I don't even know how to handle a regular nail gun!" Momo shouted back, rushing back several people until she arrived right next to the doors leading to the outside, nervously looking at the approaching crowd in front. "H-Hey guys, surely we can talk things out… right?"
"Momo! Hand it over right now! Do not tell us you are on the side of a murderer!" one of the students yelled as the group stepped closer.
She tightened her hold on the nail gun and snapped back, "It feels safer with me than giving it to you idiots! Do not come any closer or I will run! I am faster than all of you, and you know it. You are looking at the track star who nearly went national!"
"Are you seriously siding with a murderer and Saya?" One of the girls pushed back before turning their attention to Fumiko, who remained standing at the back. "Talk to her!"
"Hey! Don't bring her into this! If you're so worried about someone using this weapon to hurt another person, then let me keep it. I'll make sure no one gets to use it!"
"What are you wasting time on? Just get her! She can be faster than all of us!"
While one side tried to recover the nailgun, Kohta and Yoshito both attempted to move, only to be pinned down by several dozen students. Their combined weight pressed so heavily on him that the former felt his ribs strain until they almost bent and cracked. Each breath came in a sharp, restricted pull that made his vision haze and his thoughts scatter. His struggles only worsened the pressure, turning every attempt to move into a reminder of how trapped he really was.
"Here, you fatty! This is all because of you!" one of the students shouted before kicking him in the head. The strike hit with enough force to rattle his skull, sending a metallic tang spreading across his tongue as blood pooled inside his mouth.
"What do we do! Miku is dying!"
Strangely, even while getting kicked, punched, and smothered beneath a mass of bodies, his glasses cracking and blood running down his face, Kohta wasn't afraid. He felt a heavy, grinding disappointment towards himself with the outcome. Cursing himself beneath the noise, replaying every moment that led here and wondering what he should have changed. If he had taken a more active role from the beginning, maybe things would not have fallen apart this way. If he had stepped up sooner instead of letting Saya handle everything, if he had forced himself out of his room rather than hiding inside it, if he had asked others for help or taken even the smallest steps to keep a closer watch on Aimi, then perhaps none of this would be happening now. All those choices he avoided, and choices that barely required any effort.
Things could have been different… Yes, things should have been different.
'Sorry, Cu, I just hope things won't be too much of a mess when you come back.'
"Hey, watch out!"
"Oof!"
Bracing himself for another punishing blow, Kohta instead heard a chorus of pain-filled cries. but none of them belonged to him. Confused, dazed, he dared to lift his head, despite the weight pinning him to the floor. The pressure lessened, peeling away bit by bit, until at last he could even flex his arm. What he saw first left him speechless: a dazzling flash of black, lace-edged G-string.
Not the ordinary kind, either, a wild, lewd design straight out of rumor or the depths of internet art depravity, the sort of thing no sane girl would ever wear in public, especially not with a skirt.
His jaws fell at the sight.
'Holy… is this heaven?" The thought escaped him before he could stop it. Completely out of place yet impossible not to ignore, it shocked him enough to freeze him in place. Before he could blink, a pair of long legs fitted with some light armor swept across his vision and struck one of the boys in the face, sending the attacker flying backward. More shouts followed as a wooden sword carved through the crowd, knocking all seven surrounding students aside with a flurry of sharp, precise hits.
Long strands of purple hair slid into view.
"...Saeko?" he whispered, barely believing what he saw. She was the last person he expected to see here, let alone rescuing him. And wasn't she supposed to be outside with Cu and the others?
"Hands off!"
Another fist struck the student who had kicked his head moments earlier. This time, the boy spotted Takashi holding one of his bullies by his collar before tossing him aside. Takashi dropped to one knee at Kohta's side, his expression filled with concern.
"Hey, are you okay? Can you hear me? Shit, he's hurt badly. How many fingers am I holding?"
"You guys…" Kohta tried to reply, though his mind lagged, slow and foggy. He could not figure out what to say or what to even think. The dizziness pulsing through him dulled everything. "Am I dreaming?"
"If this is what you call a dream, then I am worried about what your nightmare would be." A third voice approached, and another figure moved into the edge of his vision. Rei supported Yoshito, helping him sit upright with careful movements. "Careful there, big guy, pretty sure you lost a tooth back there. Both of you look in pretty rough shape here. I knew we shouldn't have trusted that bastard," she said, the venom in her tone cutting through the noise as she eased Yoshito against the wall.
Kohta blinked slowly. If Rei, Igou, Takashi, and Saeko were here, then that meant the entire group had arrived. Which left only one question hanging in the air.
Then where was Cu?
"Oh…"
His eyes drifted toward the stage where Shido and his group had been before the shooting. Only two people remained now. Miku Yuuki lay on the floor, shot and struggling to breathe, tears streaking down her cheeks as blood poured from her shoulder. Beside her, Cu knelt with a look so cold that he felt a shiver run down his spine even through the pain. The blue-haired Irishman held her head gently while examining the wound, his expression carved into a deep frown.
'He doesn't look happy… at all.'
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It was never wise to pin everything on his luck; that thing never proved itself to be reliable. And he rarely attributed most of the consequences of his actions to that, yet the thought crept in whenever trouble found him. He had already pictured several outcomes the moment he stepped away from the group, each branching off into its own messy direction. The least likely path was the one where nothing changed at all and everything stayed quietly balanced, peaceful on the surface with that faint tension everyone pretended not to notice. From the very first day, he knew that sort of wish would never come true.
The outcome he expected most was simple enough. He imagined Shido taking advantage of his absence and slowly steering the others under his thumb. Another possibility, only slightly worse, followed the same pattern. Shido could have gathered all the supplies, loaded everything into the bus, and driven off with the students gullible enough to follow him, leaving the rest stranded without food or water. But the third outcome was the one he had prepared for and the one he wanted to avoid more than any of the others.
A student is dying.
Ironically, this was not even by Shido's hands or by one of his cronies, but because someone in his own group. Even if done unintentionally or aimed at someone else, in the end, it was Yoshito who pulled the trigger on the nailgun.
"The nail got lodged pretty deep inside. Missed the heart thankfully, but the bleeding is not stopping. Most likely damaged a major artery," he muttered after examining the wound with a hard frown. "And one of her lungs got a bit damaged too…"
He was no healer. He was no doctor. He was barely qualified to handle first aid in general… his shishou would not even let him treat a minor scratch on her body if by some miracle she did actually get hurt.
But he had been cut, stabbed, pierced, disemboweled, smashed against walls, tossed across battlefields, and left with enough broken bones to fill a medical journal. He knew how to stitch himself back together well enough to stand up the next morning and keep fighting. Unfortunately, the girl lying in front of him did not have the body of a hero shaped by divine blood that put him above the average person in terms of recovery. She did not know any magecraft to slow her own bleeding and had no special constitution to turn a fatal strike into a scratch. She was a regular human girl he barely knew, an infamous one at that, who slept with half the school, according to rumours Fumiko shared with him before.
Nevertheless, that did not matter, nor did he care; he had promised Kyoko that none of them would die under his watch.
"Kh… I-I… I-urgh… I… cough! I don't want to die. I don't want to d-d… diie. It hurts," Miku Yuuki cried out, her voice and words barely comprehensible. Her usual teasing, in most cases, highly flirtatious attitude he caught glimpses of before the outbreak, had vanished, leaving only desperation as she looked past him toward a certain teacher.
"Ah, I see."
Realizing what potentially went through her head at that moment, he nearly laughed right then and there. Having seen the moment the projectile hit her as they arrived, he recognized the angle and the impact and knew immediately what had happened. To her, though, he was most likely the one who would make the situation worse. He could see it in her eyes. She expected him to hurt her or finish her off.
"I'm not going to do anythin', lass," Cu said while tearing open the fabric of her uniform around her shoulder to expose the wound and the long metal nail buried in her flesh. Uncaring of her own nudity and weirdly lacking presence of any bras or the faint traces of bite marks on her breasts and hickeys around her neck… best to wait till she got better to question her sanity.
The man did not spare even a glance at Shido, who was already retreating into the crowd like a rat abandoning the floorboards before they collapsed. He ignored him entirely, focusing only on the girl's injury while the students behind them argued, panicked, or whispered among themselves.
"Idiots. Trying to remove that thing only made it worse, doesn't help that they did a shit job," he murmured. If the nail had been left alone after impact, the bleeding would have stayed limited. It still would have been painful, but manageable. Someone had tried to pull it out and had fumbled, thus forcing it deeper at an angle, tearing into the lungs, which he feared the most. Now, on the way in, and turning a bad injury into something far more deadly.
The thing didn't even look new and must have sat on the shelves for a while. The risk of infection was practically guaranteed if left untreated.
"I need to remove this first. Sorry, but you have to hold on for a bit. It will hurt," he told her, forcing his voice to stay calm as he offered her a brief, apologetic smile. "If it helps, you can bite my finger. It will aleast help you breaking your teeth or accidently biting your tongue off. And hey, it's a good opportunity to let some of that hate of yours to let loose on me."
He pinched the head of the nail between two fingers. In a single sharp motion, he pulled it free with little to no hesitation. "Hm!" Miku screamed at first and actually bit onto his hand with a surprising amount of force.
'Hey… this lass can actually tear someone's flesh if not careful,' thought the man, not really feeling hurt from the girls actions and mostly glad that it helped her to some extent while pulling out the nail. The pain hit her so quickly she barely had time to breathe.
Cu did not waste a moment. Discarding the nail and using his blood-soaked fingers to trace the skin around the wound in a familiar pattern, leaving behind glowing runes that shimmered faintly. The light flickered for only a heartbeat, not bright enough to catch the eye of anyone paying attention. The others were too occupied dealing with the chaos, too busy arguing with Saeko and Rei's group, or too lost in their own thoughts to notice anything else.
Except for Miku, who watched the entire process with confusion.
The rune he used was a subtle one that helped with minor healing, the glow fading the moment it settled under Yuki's skin, but it was enough to slow the bleeding and avoid any infections. Still best to let others treat it; he knew Shizuka would do so later on.
"What are you doing?" The question came from the girl he was treating, her voice faint, still shaken from what happened, but steadying as the numbing haze of the minor healing rune began to fade. She blinked down at the pale glow surrounding her skin, more confusion written across her face.
"A little magic trick I learned a long time ago. Sorry, I kind of forgot your name, Mikan? Yuto? Oh, wait, that's a boy's name, anyway, don't worry. You will live, and I promise you there will not even be a scar left behind, maybe." His tone softened as he guided her head back with one hand. "For now, it is better if you sleep."
She lifted a hand in protest. "Hold o..." Her words broke apart as the pulse of magical energy washed through her. The brief presence of energy settled over her mind and pulled her under before she had the chance to resist. Her eyes closed at once, her breathing slowed, and she sagged into a peaceful unconsciousness.
The wound along her shoulder remained open, but the blood had already stopped. His runes would knit the torn flesh together in a few hours. He avoided pushing his magecraft further, not actually having any experience using it on regular people, funnily enough. He knew more ways to kill people on the battlefield, not how to put them back together — so best to be careful.
Instead, he tore a strip from his uniform and used it to craft a makeshift bandage, wrapping it across her shoulder to hide the wound and keep it protected until the magic finished its work.
"That was close," he whispered, easing back until he rested against the wall. He let out a long breath, relief settling through him now that the rush of urgency had passed. "Why am I even gettin' this nervous? Shizuka is still here; she could have treated her much more easily compared to me and kept things from getting worse. But the damaged lungs had me a bit worried… oh well, it worked out." The thought circled his mind for a bit before getting thrown at the very back. Now, at least, that was no longer a concern.
With the immediate danger gone, he was aware of the crowd gathered near the podium. Their eyes tracked him with a mixture of worry and horror while watching Miku. Looking back and forth, he wondered if they were getting the wrong idea. "Hm?" A familiar head of pink hair appeared at the corner of his eyes as Saya stepped onto the stage, followed by Momo, who clutched the nail gun with white-knuckled fingers. The pink-haired girl stopped beside him and stared down at the unconscious Miku.
"Uh… she's not dead, by the way, just asleep." he said quietly, feeling a bit awkward with all of the staring.
A sharp scoff answered him from the other side. "Wouldn't have been much of a loss even if she did. She was busy throwing herself at Shido and would have laughed if someone on our side got beaten to death and tossed outside with the zombies. So I don't feel bad if she survived or not"
"A bit harsh, don't you think?" he replied with a light chuckle. He barely knew about the unconscious girl, only that she was well known among the boys and notorious among the girls.
"Forgive me if I have some grudges after what they were about to do," she muttered.
"They are young, stupid, and stressed. Right now, it is practically a miracle that people like you can stay calm and composed. Most would have fallen into full panic by now."
"Compliments will not work on me. I am still pissed."
He shrugged his shoulders. "At least I tried." Rising to his feet, Cu walked toward Momo, noticing how pale she looked. Her hands trembled as she held the nail gun as if it were the only thing keeping her upright.
"I-I had to take it. H-Hirano asked and then..." Her voice shook, the words stumbling over one another as fear and uncertainty took hold of her.
He reached out and gently patted her head. "Good lass. You have shown more backbone than most of these idiots. If this thing had fallen into the hands of someone else, then there would have been more than one person injured today."
She nodded her head while sniffing, almost throwing herself against him with enough force to make him shift a step back. He accepted the gesture without hesitation and wrapped his arms around her in return, letting her press her face into his chest until her breathing steadied. He gave a short laugh and said, "Hahaha, careful there. We don't want you accidently pulling the trigger on that thing. One injured person is enough for today."
Her grip tightened for a moment before she spoke. "I'm glad you're back. Things were getting really stressful, and Fumiko and I honestly did not know how much longer we would have been able to hold out."
"You two did well," he replied. "Better than I ever imagined, to be honest. So keep yer chin up and be proud of yourselves. For now, let me take care of the rest."
He turned his attention to Shido and began to walk toward the man, resting his spear across his shoulders with a casual ease that did not match the look in his eyes. "Hey, happy to see me?" he asked with a wide fake smile stretching across his face, though his eyes did not change at all as they fixed themselves on the man.
"O-Oh, brilliant! Student Seth, you came back from your trip! I always had my reservations, but you proved me wrong once again," Shido said, his tone bright enough to almost sound impressed.
"Are you sure you're not disappointed to see me alive?" he asked, the dryness in his voice impossible to miss as he stared directly at Shido.
"Now come on, young man, why would I ever want anything terrible to happen to my precious students? We have been worried about your endeavours outside these gates. When you did not return yesterday, many feared that something unfortunate might have happened. But you are here now, and we can finally work together again to make sure everyone is brought to safety, safe and sound."
"Great! We really do think the same way, hahaha! Mind if I ask something?" Cu replied with a steady smile, placing one hand on Shido's shoulder. "Why was everyone on the verge of killing each other?"
"He took my sister, aniki!" Yoshito shouted from near the wall. He was still holding onto his stomach, wincing from the pain left behind by the earlier kicks. "That bastard kidnapped her and is using her to force me to work for him!"
"Is that so…" Cu turned back toward Shido. "It seems like our interests don't align as much as you claimed they did. Shame really. So, where is she?"
The teacher's smile grew more strained, with the man adjusting his glasses. "Now, now, he is just exaggerating things. Nothing like that happened to his sister. She was caught stealing and we only wanted to make sure someone kept an eye on her, just to avoid any misunderstandings and to—gurgh!"
Shido's sentence collapsed into a strangled shout when a sudden weight crashed down on his shoulders, buckling his knees and sending him hitting the floor with a loud thud. His hands slapped the ground as he cried out from the pressure pinning him in place.
"I did not ask for explanations," Cu said, getting down to his level with his hands pressing down on Shido's shoulder harder by the second. "Tell me where she is. Right now."
With the amount of force behind his move, it would eventually snap the shoulders off their sockets. So he imagined the pain would serve as a big enough motivator for the guy to open his mouth and speak honestly for once. Which worked. "Shinji, bring them to where she is!" Shido spat, fighting through the pain.
One of the boys next to Teshima was startled by his name being called, looked around, and quickly shook his head. "But it wasn't me who—"
"Just do it!"
Cornered and visibly shaken, the boy had no other choice but to comply with the former gym teacher also pushing him forward, with all the staring faces around him — he just left to do what he was told. Under the pressure, he turned toward the exit and walked out of the building in silence, gritting his teeth as Cu followed behind him. Saya and Yoshito also joined them, each wearing their own mix of worry and frustration as they moved through the corridor.
"So, did you meet them?" the pink-haired girl asked after a stretch of silence.
"They're alive," he said, offering reassurance. "More than alive in fact. Your dear old pops is basically at war with the undead by the time I got there. Brave man."
She gave a faint huff, but the signs of worry and pride was evident. "Of course they're alive. It takes more than some ridiculous outbreak to kill them."
Her confidence nearly forced a laugh out of him, because she sounded exactly like her parents when they joked about how their daughter would not fall to such an outbreak. "The mansion is fortified," he said. "They've had a rough time handling a large horde of undead, but we managed to reach them in time. We helped push the horde back and regained some of the ground that was lost. They also reinforced the defences around the area. Your dad already started setting up living spaces for the students by raising tents and clearing areas to make room. Everything is being prepared, so we're properly set up now."
"That is good to know," she said while letting out a slow and steady sigh of relief. Her shoulders loosened as the tension left her body. Even when she never admitted it out loud and her expression remained carefully composed, Cu could tell she had been carrying worries about her parents' safety. She was hiding how much she worried about whether they had survived at all. "Things are not looking good on our end."
"I know. Do not think I missed the looks we were getting as you were heading out," he replied.
"I know you want to take the peaceful route and help everyone, but at this point, half the school, if not more than that, is on Shido's side. Trying to reason with them will not help at all. They have been taking advantage of the situation by controlling most of the resources and keeping the best of it for themselves. They follow him blindly. Those idiots."
"I know," he answered, and there was no hesitation in his voice because he had seen it himself back when he confronted Shido. Several students looked ready to rush him, even with his spear in hand. What that slimy guy had done to earn such unthinking loyalty remained a mystery to Cu. In his eyes, the man looked no different from a slick and scheming snake, which only made it more confusing that so many students saw him as something better. Once again, he found himself reconsidering how naive most people in this school truly were. They lacked any understanding of when not to rely on someone who fed them empty promises, and they rarely stopped to think for themselves. If peace failed, he knew the situation would eventually leave him with no choice but to resort to force to keep everyone under control.
"We are here," Shinji said as they reached a storage unit near one of the quieter hallways. He rummaged through a ring of keys, selected one, and unlocked the door, letting it open only to be shoved aside as Yoshito rushed past him.
"Aimi!" he shouted.
"Yoshito!" came the small and strained voice from inside.
Cu stepped in right after Yoshito.
The girl was there exactly as they had hoped, though the sight of her tied to a set of metal shelves made his expression sharpen. Her hands were bound above her head, leaving her unable to move more than a few centimeters. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, and her voice sounded rough from how long she must have screamed for help.
"Thank God you are safe. You really had me worried," Yoshito said with a shaky voice as he wrapped his arms around his sister. He glanced at the restraints and growled in frustration. "Damn it, how do I open this thing? Does anyone have scissors?"
Cu stepped forward without a word, wrapping his fingers around the zip ties and snapping them apart with a short pull. The broken restraints fell to the floor, and Aimi rubbed her wrists while looking up at her brother.
"W-What happened to you?" she asked after noticing the bruises on his arms, the dirty shoe prints on his clothes.
"Oh, it's… It's nothing. Hahaha, I was just carrying some things and fell down the stairs. You know how clumsy I can be at times," he said, trying to sound casual, forcing a grin he did not feel and hoping she would not see through it. The last thing he wanted was to make her even more anxious.
"Let's go. Grandpa and Grandma have been worried sick about you. And you must be thirsty too. I saved plenty of food and water for you," he said while lifting her into his arms. The girl accepted being carried with how shaky her legs looked, but before bringing her out of the storage room, Yoshito stopped next to Cu, giving him a sidelong glance filled with gratitude.
"Thanks again," he said quietly. "At this point, I might just owe you my life."
"Bah, stop saying stupid things. There is nothing to thank me for. I am lookin' out for you the same way ye would look out for me," Cu answered, bumping fists with him. "Just take her to Rei. We found someone around her age she can spend some time with."
Initially, he wanted to leave Alice at the mansion because she would be far safer with Saya's parents than on the trip back to the school, where the roads were crawling with more of those creatures. The school itself proved itself to be just as dangerous the moment he arrived. Yet, for reasons he could not fully grasp, the girl remained stubborn about staying with them. She grew nervous and visibly distressed at the mere mention of leaving her behind. He wondered if it was still too early after losing her father and if she carried lingering trauma he had not noticed.
"...You're back," Aimi whispered while resting against her brother's shoulder, her voice thin and shaky as she stared up at him with teary eyes. "I tried to help, but that teacher guy was stealing, and I tried to hide away, but... and..." Her words fell apart with her voice getting more and more shaky.
"It's all right. You did good, lass, no need to cry. You won't ever see that mean man again, that I promise," he said while wiping away her tears, forcing a wide smile to reassure her. "Now go to sleep. Let the grown-ups handle things from here on out."
"Okay." Mimicking her brother, she lifted her hand and shaped it into a small fist. A gesture which made both men laugh, and he bumped it against his, copying the gesture she had watched him share with Yoshito. Only then did she close her eyes and finally drift off. Once he carried her away, both Cu and Saya remained inside the storage room, the girl crossing her arms while staring at the spot where Aimi had been tied up earlier.
"Bunch of barbaric fools. What did they think would happen keeping a young girl locked in here just because they were afraid she saw something she shouldn't have seen," Saya said, her voice flat with frustration. "They didn't even give her anything to drink or eat! She was here all night!"
"..."
The grip on his spear tightened.
"You said she won't have to deal with Shido any longer. So what's the plan? Are you going to leave him behind before we leave to go off on his own little adventure? Because I guarantee you this. If not half the students, then most of them will riot and throw you off the bus instead, or follow him. As much as I would enjoy watching that unfold and putting them in their place, we still have to weigh the pros and cons here."
Leave him behind? Cu had never considered such a thing. The thought had never crossed his mind, not even once. In fact, he had something completely different and planned on no longer wasting any time to accomplish it.
"Guys!" A few seconds later, the sound of hurried footsteps reached their ears. Both turned to see Rei gasping for air as she pushed the door open. "We have an issue! That Shido and his group took one of the buses! And they smashed the gates apart!"
"What!?" Saya's voice grew louder with disbelief, only for both girls to stare when the Irishman beside them started to chuckle. The chuckle grew until it became a full laugh that echoed in the cramped room.
"Ha! Hahahaha! What a lad, what a lad," Cu said between breaths, covering part of his face while trying to steady himself. The two girls exchanged confused looks until he finally calmed down. "He just keeps makin' it easier for me. Don't worry, Saya. I still plan to keep my promise, and I already know how to deal with Shido. Have whoever is available head to the front."
Walking outside quickly, the group immediately came upon the scene of the gate completely destroyed with the sound of the bus driving off in the distance. The sound had caught the attention of both the students and some of the wandering dead around the streets.
With several already stepping foot inside the school ground.
Pa!
The sound of something being shot reached their ears, Cu finding Kohta holding the nailgun while aiming at the undead. "This is bad."
"I know." Losing the bus was a major blow, unless he got it back… but that required him leaving the others while the undead made their way inside the school grounds. "It doesn't look like there are many of them this time, but It's only a matter of time before more show up."
Having the students deal with these things was absolutely a no go. They did not know how to fight and would start panicking immediately, thus creating more chaos and unnecessary noise to attract more. Someone would eventually get bitten and spread that thing around, their friends would not have the guts to kill them in time unless he relied on someone else to do it — but even that was relying on luck a bit too much.
"Kohta, Saya, Rei… bring everyone inside the gymnasium and close the doors so that no one will see the outside and no one will start screaming." He instructed each of them with a tone that allowed no discussion whatsoever. Already seeing the protest about to come from them, a bit of anger slipped through his voice. "Just do it. If you want to keep an eye on me then fine, but everyone else must remain inside. Rei, I'll ask you to sit this one out too, I can't be holding back much to let you guys have a few kills."
"... Fine, I'll trust you with this one. It's your funeral." Saya muttered after some hesitation. He tapped her shoulders with gratitude and kissed Rei on the lips like some kind of maiden in those cheesy romance novels before going ahead.
"..."
"..."
His last action stunned Saya, who stared at Rei with a gaping jaw, then shook her head, cheeks flushed.
"Does Takashi know you two went that far?" asked Saya, eyebrows raised.
She got nothing but silence before they followed after Cu. Or rather Rei's gaze remained glued on him while Saya and Kohta did as they were told. She wanted to join him but remembered his earlier words and as much frustration they were, she knew he was being serious.
Ahead, there were easily more than twenty of those things walking in, their number growing with the entrance already being filled. But compared to the first day, their numbers were far less.
As for Cu, the man walked ahead calmly with his spear in hand. Face blank as he analyzed his current situation carefully, 'Sound really is a factor I should be keeping a closer eye on when we'll be moving with so many people. They can't see but eventually, even with the doors closed, they'll hear the people inside the gymnasium. Having Saeko, Rei or even one of the boys fight will create a lot of noise. Best to end this quickly.'
He wasn't an assassin by any means and his style never bothered with subtle things, whether it be loud shouts or powerful strikes that could raise a cloud of dust — he had all of them in spades. But quiet strikes? That was a new one.
Whoosh!
His spear moved in a clear horizontal sweep, not a sound but the wind following the strike. With Rei behind him watching as several heads from those closest to him, those who sensed him and we're going for a bite fell to the ground.
His muscles tensed, grip on the spear growing stronger and his eyes tracking each and every head ahead. '... Seventeen… twenty… twenty five… thirty one total.' Closing his eyes, Cu concentrated, releasing a deep breath, opening his eyes back but only with the world looking much different to his senses than before. The entirety having turned a colourless grey with the undead's movement having practically been turned into a snail paced speed.
Pa!
The sound of his spear striking the ground being all the indicator these things needed to zone in on his location, even those all the way on the back and start walking towards him.
He waited, their previously dispersed pattern getting regrouped as they headed towards the same direction. All the while he waited, seeing the path and just waiting, even the closest dead came close enough to go for the attack. Lunging forward with its teeth about to make contact with his forear—'Now!'
Every bit of his muscles burst forth at once ahead, a linear path he followed where each and everyone one of these things were at striking distance to his spear. One thrust, two thrusts, three, ten, eleven, beyond a dozen and continuing to grow — his arm had practically turned into a blur.
Off of them having large bloody holes where their face would have been while the other half having a thin red line forming on their neck.
To Rei who watched the entire thing, it was as if he stood in the middle of the path that led to the school and in the next moment he practically vanished. Having teleported at the entrance but this time his weapon having blood on it. Confusion swam across her eyes until she saw the closest zombie fall to the ground with a thud. Then the second one, then the third one, then the fourth, fifth, sixth and every last one of them following a similar fate. With the first one having not even completely collapsed, Cu had already marked something on the ground near the entrance.
It all happened so fast, barely even a single second and now what she witnessed could only be described as an instant execution. Nothing made sense, how he had moved so quickly to the point that even her eyes could not keep track and how all of those creatures suddenly stopped making noise and collapsed on the ground with wounds that were not there a second ago appeared out of nowhere.
"Hah… that should buy us some time." He said, while she remained stuck there. Ignoring her reaction, he went back to the gymnasium where Kyoko found him. The first greeting he got from the woman being an embrace, one tight enough that he felt her chest pressed up against his. He returned the gesture with a smile, "What about being professional in not allowing hugs at school?" He asked teasingly, yet the only response he got was the woman tightening her arms around him even further.
The slight tremble he felt in her being managed to make his smile die down. The man did regret making her worry so much, but he had no choice and had to take an active role. "Sorry about what happened. I couldn't really keep my promise to you."
She shook her head, "It's fine," Kyoko said, looking up at him tired… exhausted face that tried to smile. "I'm just happy that you're back and safe. It's my fault, I am the teacher and I should have known better than to let others influence them to such an extent. Maybe I… no, I definitely overestimated my ability as a teacher to guide people. I still have much to learn."
Even though she said that, this response brought him little to no joy. In fact, it only made the man feel worse than before. So, he grabbed her shoulders, getting on her eye level and staring right back with a serious face. "If there is one thing that you and I share is that we both suck at lying. So I will ask you right now, if you had the option to get those idiots back and try again, would you?"
"W-What?" A look of confusion crossed her face.
"Because I will say it honestly to you, those bunch do not deserve to be saved at this point and I should be focusing more on keeping what remains here safe." Taken aback by his answer, Kyoko remained uncertain how to even react. "I am willing to sit back and see them get bitten for all I care and turn into undead, which will save us the trouble of dealing with those snakes coming back to bite us in the future. But can you?"
"..." She avoided his gaze. "L-Leave it, I don't want you to risk your life any more than necessary. And… you shouldn't be saying such things, Seth. They are still young and aren't thinking straight. Just stay here, with us… maybe they might surviv—Ah!"
Her answer was clear regardless of how hard she tried to cover it.
His chuckle came out more hollow than he would have liked. As he pulled her head gently into his embrace once more, his hand passing through her hair and making her worries slowly go away, he whispered. "You have a good heart and really do suck at lying, Kyoko. Hah… what kind of hero would I be for not being able to keep a single promise of keeping a bunch of brats safe? Besides, I am in no danger."
Letting go of her gently, the man turned around and immediately set off at great speed. His burst picked up the air behind him while Kyoko's eyes widened in shock. "Seth!"
Hearing her voice from behind only made him sigh at his decision even further.
"I really do have a weakness for beautiful women… tch."
{Break}
(A few minutes earlier)
Things had gotten a bit tricky, and Shido had to admit that it had all the chances of becoming far worse with time. The realization that the other side had managed to piece together a makeshift gun was never something he had even imagined, and that single detail threw a large wrench into his plans. He had been certain that he could turn the situation around and change it into something useful that might end up working in his favor. After all, no one would fully trust the boy with a weapon, and sooner or later, he could have convinced someone to take it away from him. With enough timing and care, he could have gained that little toy for himself and tipped the balance in his favor.
"But then he just had to come back."
He clicked his tongue and thought, 'How he has not eaten by now is a mystery. Fuck it.' The curse stayed under his breath, but annoyance settled across his thoughts. Even if Cu and his group had not been overwhelmed by the monsters roaming the streets, he had been certain they would never return after seeking refuge at the Takagi estate. Yet they had come back, and the man could only think that he had never met such a group of fools in his entire life. Their presence irritated him, but the boy's presence irritated him even more, as he caused his plans to fall apart by just being there. Another weapon in the boy's hand made everything far more complicated for Shido, and also cost him what influence he had gained.
If there were more of those makeshift weapons lying around, it would create a risk he was not willing to take. So he would have to rely on drastic measures instead of careful ones.
"Everything is loaded in. Most of the students are all on board," Teshima said as she climbed into the driver's seat. The engine rumbled alive, vibrating through the bus and drawing the attention of less than half a hundred students filing in after him.
He turned toward them, watching how every loyal follower hurried to claim a seat. Some carried small bundles of supplies they had rushed to gather from the school's storage. Fear clung to all of them, but fear made them malleable. Fear made them listen.
"People," Shido began, letting his tone fall into something more… relaxing. In such moments, confidence was key, and people clung to anyone who remained confident. "It is clear that several members of the staff and some of the remaining students have taken the wrong path. They have sided with murderers. As your teacher, it is my duty to keep every one of you safe. I cannot risk your lives any longer when individuals like that have taken control of the school. It was only a matter of time before they cut down the weak and threw all order into chaos. So to avoid that path, I decided it is time for us to leave this place and find somewhere better."
"That is right. Those bastards killed Miku!" one of the girls cried out. She trembled, her voice cracking as memories of the orange-brown-haired girl twisted painfully in her mind. Many of the other students flinched at the reminder. They were still shaken from what they had witnessed, and none of them had taken even a second to rethink their decision after he presented his plan. They were terrified, and he positioned himself as their guiding light, pulling them away from the darkness and allowing him to sink his claws even further into their fear riddled minds.
"Quiet now, no need to cry," Shido said while softening his voice. "I feel deep remorse for what happened to her as well."
He slipped an arm around the distraught girl and drew her close with a calm and practiced gesture. She clung to him without hesitation, pressing her face into his chest while tears dampened his clothes. His hand settled on her back, rubbing in slow circles that only encouraged her to lean further into him.
"This pain is temporary," he told her, projecting sincerity into every word. "I take full responsibility for what happened back there. If you wish to cast me aside for my failures, I will accept it."
"No, please do not go!" the girl pleaded. Several others added their voices, their desperation rising as they reached toward him with trembling hands and wide, hopeful eyes. Their words filled the confined space, and Shido felt the corners of his mouth threaten to curl into a smirk. He held it back, but only barely. Perhaps that man losing his temper and firing the gun had worked in his favor after all.
He had lost one beautiful fruit that had offered him pleasant company during these difficult days, yet in exchange, he had gained something more practical. The loyalty of frightened students was a resource all on its own, and among them were more than a few girls who caught his eye. Not exactly as gifted as Miku, but they were still nearly up there when it came to looks alone. Plenty of different flowers to choose from, or have all of them for himself if he played his cards right.
"Let us go, Teshima," Shido said. "Before others discover what we are doing and attempt something deplorable to imprison us here. I cannot lose another student under my watch."
"What about the gates?" The former P.E teacher muttered under his breath.
"You think we have time to open them? Just drive through it!"
"That would mean..." Teshima's voice thinned for a moment, and a flicker of uncertainty crossed his eyes. Shido caught it immediately, and he leaned toward the front with a sharp tone. "Are you willing to put the lives of all of us in danger for a group of killers and criminals? If you do not want to end up like Miku, then press the pedals now. Or stay behind and let someone else more competent take your place, I remember you always had a liking for Akane — she would miss you too."
His bait struck the driver hard enough to jolt him out of his frozen state. He straightened in his seat and obeyed without hesitation, promises of having one of the students fueled his actions. A small price to pay in Shido's opinion if it meant having a loyal bulldog. The bus, heavy and overloaded with students packed shoulder to shoulder, lurched forward as the tires screeched loudly against the pavement. The sudden burst of acceleration surprised even those who expected it. The enormous vehicle shot out of the parking lot and barreled toward the entrance at a speed that felt reckless for something of its size.
"Brace for impact!" someone shouted, gripping the metal bars along the seats as the bus gained even more speed. A few students shrank back instinctively, but there was no time to prepare further. The front of the bus crashed into the gates. The metal crumpled inward, and the gate hardware snapped apart with a violent crack as the hinges failed. The barrier flipped outward and collapsed onto the road ahead.
Teshima reacted immediately, pulling the wheel hard enough to send a tremor through the whole frame. The turn was sharp, almost rude in how abruptly he forced the bus to comply, but he avoided sending the vehicle into the wall directly ahead. The tires bumped over scattered debris before regaining balance, and the rattling interior calmed little by little.
"Ah!"
Jerks and jolts rippled through the rows. Several students shouted in alarm. Others clung to their seats while loose bags slid across the floor. A few began crying, while others fell silent in pure shock. Yet the chaos lasted only a short while. Slowly, as the movement steadied and no further obstacles appeared, the bus became quiet again.
"We did it. We are free!" one of the boys shouted from near the middle row. Relief hit the group in waves. Cheers followed, spreading from seat to seat until the entire bus filled with loud voices. Some clapped. Others laughed in pure adrenaline-spiked joy.
Shido watched all of it with a pleased expression and clapped along with them. "This is only the beginning. Soon we will build our own paradise in this world," he said with a sly grin. His gaze drifted across the student girls scattered throughout the bus. The sight filled him with a growing sense of satisfaction. A few of the most striking students had been left behind, but many of those with him were still beautiful in their own ways. Their skills and loyalty would be useful. It was only a matter of time before they belonged fully to him.
He leaned back, enjoying the moment, until something glinted near the far end of the road. "Hm?" he muttered and turned his head. His eyes narrowed as he stared through the rear window. A faint reflection of light flickered in the distance. "I must be imagining things…"
At first, he assumed it was an undead wandering toward the noise they had made. Several of these reanimated corpses littered the street on both sides as they drove past, so it would not have been unusual. Yet this shape was different. A black dot approached rapidly, much too quickly for any undead. Creatures that got too close were sent flying, tossed aside as if someone was pushing straight through them.
He was not the only one who noticed. A student near the back leaned forward, squinting, then spoke with trembling confusion. "Isn't that... isn't that the foreign student?"
"What?" another replied.
"Are you serious?"
"He must be joking."
Their disbelief spread through the seats, but no amount of denial slowed the figure heading toward them. The black shape grew larger and more defined. Shido pushed past the students and braced a hand against the window frame to get a clearer look.
His stomach tightened. "It's him."
Far behind them, yet closing the distance with impossible speed, Cu ran straight down the road. A spear blurred around him in broad arcs, slicing through any undead that swarmed too close. Limbs and bodies flew apart in clean pieces, leaving a trail behind him. Even from the moving bus, Shido could see that the man's eyes were fixed on their vehicle and him.
The sight made him feel something he had tried to bury: fear. His heartbeat thudded faster with every second. Something felt dreadfully wrong.
"He's coming after us!"
"He is trying to kill us, too!"
"Didn't you see how he put Miku down? No way he will catch up. The guy will tire himself out and get devoured by those things."
"Good! That is what he deserved for killing our friend!"
While the others confidently boasted about the outcome of Cu's actions, the same certainty did not reach him. He sat stiffly in his seat with a cold pit forming in his stomach, unable to shake the dreadful feeling of fear crawling up his spine. How was he running so fast? It was like watching a hound relentlessly chasing after it's prey, tearing across the streets and anything that got in his way. Each stride looked powerful enough to cover several meters in one stride, carrying him across long distances. His hands moved in fast arcs, slicing down anything that stumbled too close to him, and his face showed nothing close to being winded.
"Drive faster," he murmured to Tashima.
"What?"
"I said drive faster, you fucking idiot! He is gaining on us!"
Just like that, the previous laughter and empty bravado vanished. The bus filled with a thick silence before panic spilled through the students. Every pair of eyes shifted toward the window, all of them staring at the approaching figure racing after them. Cu ran even faster than before, leaping over scattered debris and shattered cars as if they were nothing. Every step seemed to push him closer, his pace growing quicker instead of slowing.
"Teshima! Take a turn over to your right! Now!"
Shido forced Tashima to pull the wheel, and the bus veered sharply into another road. The vehicle bounced as it rolled down a hill, momentarily lifting off the ground before slamming back down. "Ah!" Everyone was jolted out of their seats, several of them yelping as they scrambled to grab the backrest in front of them. The bus roared forward with the combined force of its momentum and the downward slope, picking up speed far faster than the driver intended.
Shido glanced back through the cracked rear window. The road behind them was more than chaotic. Undead stumbled across the pavement, wreckage smoldered in several places, and twisted metal from fallen streetlights made the path uneven and cramped. Anyone normal would have been slowed by the mess. Anyone normal would have disappeared by now.
There was no way for that monster to keep up.
At least, that was the thought he desperately held until reality crushed it. Cu suddenly dropped to the ground and began sliding across the pavement, making him wonder if it was just his imagination, but he was pretty sure sparks burst beneath his boots as he shifted his weight and pushed himself forward again after slightly across the concrete for a bit! The turn they had taken did nothing to slow him. In fact, he looked even faster than before!
The students stared in disbelief. His figure was now clearly visible to every single passenger. Less than one hundred meters separated him from the speeding bus.
"Hiiiiiya!" several students screeched, shrinking back from the sight. Some were even more terrified of that display than the undead clawing at the streets.
Grinding his teeth with frustration, Shido shoved his fear aside and kicked the back door open with a loud clang.
"What are you doing? Start throwing things at him! We need to slow him down!" he barked at the boys clustered near the rear seats.
His orders snapped them out of their shocked daze. They scrambled for anything they had brought with them and began hurling objects straight out the open door, each one aimed at the blue-haired man gaining on them.
"Just go away! You monster!"
"Take this!"
"You two, unscrew that loose seat and throw it out when he gets close enough!" He commanded after seeing how little time remained in the vehicle, due to next to nothing. They missed their target, or not even leaving a scratch on his skin.
The boys, on the other hand, scattered like panicked insects, tripping over one another while grabbing backpacks, bottles, and whatever else they could find. Shido's frustration only grew as he watched them fling water bottles as if they expected such things to make a difference. He forced himself to steady his breath and moved to help two boys at the very back. Together, they pulled up one of the benches inside the bus, metal scraping against the floor as they wrestled it free. Then, dragged it toward the open back door and placed it at the edge.
They waited, gripping the bench with trembling hands.
Cu drew closer. The distance shrank by the second.
The moment he came within reach, they shoved the seat out of the door with all the strength they had.
Bang!
A clatter of metal echoed across the narrow aisle as the chunk of torn furniture scraped over the bus floor and shot forward in a straight line toward the blue-haired boy. It spun with enough force to batter through a ribcage or shatter a skull, the kind of makeshift projectile that could stop any normal person long before it even reached them.
Unfortunately, that outcome never came to be for he pulled the spear close to his body in a heartbeat, then thrust it forward in one clean motion.
To Shido's disbelief and the horror of every student watching, the spear carved through the flying seat as if slicing through soaked parchment. The makeshift weapon split apart in midair, the clean hole widening as the two halves spun off in opposite directions. Both pieces whipped past Cu without brushing so much as ruffling his hair.
"Dammit, I will not lose like this, whatever you are," Shido muttered under his breath, getting more erratic and desperate. His eyes slid toward one of the boys stationed near the front entrance, the same student who had helped pry the seat loose and hurl it toward their pursuer. A thought surfaced in his mind. On any other day, he would have masked the idea behind false concern or quiet orders to avoid suspicion. But with that monster gaining on them and the bus shuddering beneath his feet, he saw no room left for second guesses.
He marched forward, raised his leg, and drove his foot into the boy's back. The student pitched forward with no time to utter even a confused grunt. He fell straight out of the doorway and vanished from sight.
"Renji!" Several voices shouted his name at once, their terror rising into the tight space of the bus.
Cu, unlike before, reacted instantly. He pulled his spear back, moved it out of the way, and reached out with both arms. Catching the falling boy midair and the two of them dropped together toward the pavement. The landing slowed Cu for only a moment, but that moment was enough for the distance to grow between him and the moving vehicle.
"Ha. Finally," Shido whispered with a trembling breath. The bus lurched into a new turn, switching to another route, and the shapes of Cu and the rescued boy faded behind them. The former teacher wiped his palms against his coat, unable to stop the jittery feeling running beneath his skin. 'What in the world was that supposed to be? That person is not normal.' His thoughts churned, refusing to settle. No human being could run like that, let alone keep pace with a bus without collapsing. That thing, the one he used to call a student, was not human at all. "Good thing I left that place before everything fell apart," he whispered under his breath.
"Teacher, Renji…" one of the boys began with trembling uncertainty.
"He slipped and fell off the bus," Shido snapped before the student could finish. He fixed the group with a narrow stare. "This is for the greater good. His sacrifice will not be forgotten. You all saw the kind of monster we were dealing with. Now we know our freedom is almost within reach."
"Sh-Shido!" Toshima's panicked voice cut through the cabin. His eyes were fixed on the window.
"What is going on?"
"He's here!"
He spun toward him just as several streaks of blue moved beside the bus. Much to his disbelief, Cu ran parallel to the vehicle again, his hair trailing behind him.
"Why will you not die!" Shido yelled, his anger and fear surging past any hint of reason. He lunged toward the driver's seat, seized the wheel with both hands, and yanked it sharply. The entire frame of the vehicle screeched as it veered right, grinding against the brick wall lining the street. Shido aimed to crush Cu between the bus and the wall, as if brute pressure could erase the threat once and for all.
The side of the bus slammed against the bricks with a heavy bang. Windows burst outward with shards of glass flying everywhere, the metal paneling along the right side buckled and peeled away, and the grinding through the wall sent sparks dancing along the street. The bus lost a painful amount of speed, its frame groaning beneath the pressure.
Shido did not care. A twisted grin pulled at his lips. "That should have been enough! You can't survive this!"
The roaring scrape of metal drowned nearly every other sound until a chorus of cries rose from the students behind him — followed by one of them screaming a name he did not want to hear. Shido turned, expecting panic, but his gaze froze. It was as if the world paused as well.
In the center aisle stood Cu, his back straight and his spear resting casually at his side. His crimson eyes ignored the students and fixed only on him. There was something in that stare that made the teacher feel a cold grip tightening around his throat, as if an invisible hand pressed against his windpipe. A faint scent of blood slid into his senses, strong enough to make his stomach twist.
"S-spare me…"
The spear moved. Before Shido could even react, the boy drove the weapon into the floor of the bus. "—!" The entire vehicle jolted with sudden violent stop. A powerful force slammed through everyone, sweeping him off his feet. His vision snapped into darkness, followed by the thunderous sound of metal collapsing.
.
.
.
"Urgh."
A powerful headache throbbed behind his eyes, and the thick smell of burning filled the air around Shido. The faint crackle of scattered flames and the uneven sound of several people sobbing drifted through the wreckage. When he finally forced his eyes open, he saw he was sprawled on the floor of the bus. Shards of broken glass glittered across the aisle, mixing with torn food wrappers, spilled drinks, and the scattered supplies they had packed earlier. Some of it clung to his clothes and skin, making every movement feel heavier than it should have.
"We crashed," he muttered to himself, the words barely forming as he tried to steady his breathing. A glance toward the front confirmed it. The bus had smashed straight through the walls of a house, leaving splintered wood and dust floating in the air. The place looked abandoned, with no signs of the family that once lived there.
None of it mattered to him. Survival was the only thing occupying his thoughts now. "Hm!" he grunted again as he pushed himself upright. Pain flared along his side, but he ignored it. With slow steps, he made his way toward the exit, scanning the rows of seats. Students lay slumped over, some unconscious, others groaning with shards of glass lodged in their arms or faces, a few dazed from the sudden impact.
He did not stop for any of them. His focus narrowed as he searched the wreckage for the one who had been trailing their group. His eyes moved across every corner; he needed to get out of there as soon as possible. Which he did, getting outside the bus and still not seeing a trace of him, he ran.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
His feet went as fast as he could move them, running across several wreckages and bodies belonging to the undead. The stench of blood filled his nose, enough to make anyone vomit on the spot. He kept running, not even knowing where he was even going, but as long as it was far away from that bus and that man in particular. He did not feel safe staying there, hoping that even if the crash made everyone fall unconscious, the undead would reach that guy without him waking up.
'I'll go back to the school and come up with something… they should be having trouble putting back the gates, and they will need me. Many of them remain loyal to me and will not let anything bad happen. Tch, this is a disaster, I may need to just go to the Takagi estate immediately.' He was a well-respected teacher, and his father knew Soichiro; not a single place would ignore him or deny him sanctuary.
As he ran and continued to think about his next move, the man never noticed how not a single undead roamed the streets. There were nothing but dead bodies around him, many having large holes carved into their heads. His head still flaring up with a headache from the crash, the teacher soon came to an abrupt halt upon turning a corner and finding a figure sitting on top of a car with his eyes closed.
Bodies surrounded him, forming a pile with the stench assaulting his nose. But Shido did not care, for he soon came to stare back at crimson pupils. He trembled, everything suddenly felt cold, and the man felt his limbs freeze on the spot. "S-Seth… w-we can surely come to an underst—"
"Before leaving, I mentioned to Rei that I would take care of you the moment you did something stupid. In a way, I was giving you a chance since I wanted to keep the number of deaths at zero if possible. I could keep up with annoying people if it meant giving some peace of mind to Kyoko." The man ahead spoke calmly, cutting him off with a dry voice. "But you sure couldn't help yourself. I expected something bad, but not harming an innocent kid. And a lass almost died, and you pushed another brat out of the bus on top of that."
He hopped out of the car, landing on his feet and stretching his neck.
Shido took a step back, legs trembling, pants now soaked
"S-Seth, you can't kill a teacher! All of that was done under a moment of distress, surely you can understand that! They are still alive, right? Without me, you would have to deal with half the school fearing you; you'll need me to keep control! We can work together!" He screamed, trying to reach common ground, but only for the person in front of him to disappear.
"Eh?" His moment of confusion only lasted for a few seconds until he felt a sharp pain in the middle of his chest. Slowly looking downwards, Shido's pupils dilated upon seeing a spearhead sticking out of his chest, blood soon starting to fill out of his body and soak his suit. Air being driven out of his very lungs, unable to even scream, he could only watch helplessly as the weapon was pulled away, leaving a large gaping hole where his heart should have been.
In fact, it was still there, a portion of it that kept beating.
"Ghhrg…" He tried to speak, but nothing but blood came out of his mouth, stumbling forwards, turning around to see the blue-haired man standing right behind him with not an ounce of mercy in expression. Looking down on him like someone staring down at an insect.
"Yeah, no. I'm not in the mood to talking to a dead snake." He said, before turning around, that the sound of his footsteps echoed as he walked back towards the bus, leaving him on the ground, his vision blurring.
No, this… this couldn't end like this!
Shido tried to reach out, to beg for help… for anything.
The puddle of blood around him grew, and soon, at the corner of his eyes, right before light left his eyes—the man saw several rotting figures stumble towards him with the stench of iron and sound having attracted them. The last vision being that of a mouth filled with yellowed teeth stained with blood opening and chomping right for his face and jaw. With him unable to even scream, beg, or even move whatsoever.
The beating of his remaining heart ceased the very next second, with him having already lost too much blood.
------------
The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.