It wasn't meant to be like this.
Nothing anywhere near this bad. It wasn't even supposed to be "bad". Disordered, sure, but not in this kind of way, as he knew from what his parents had taught him.
However, it became cardinally clear to him that he could perhaps not count on what he knew. It was a bitter, sinking feeling that what he had come so far believing could, as it already was, take a turn that he knew nothing about.
What he and his family had failed to account for - a crucial element – was that worlds did not awaken in similar manners.
Though Dion himself could not be blamed for his ignorance, and neither could they.
Regardless.
'Your world is supposed to protect you,' He briefly thought to himself looking at them, 'Not this shit.'
On the Third Floor, within the nurse's office ~
Amid the assault of several zombies, there were four rebellious human figures.
They had lasted well so far, yet one of the cohort soon fell.
"Aargh!"
The agonised wail of a male student among them rattled through the room as he was toppled over by two zombies.
"Okada!!" Kazu Ishii hollered his guts out to his screaming friend as he pushed a zombie off using the metal pole he had in his hands.
He gritted his teeth, mentally asking for forgiveness from his best friend as he bashed down on the head of the zombie ahead of him.
He couldn't leave his position to help his friend. After all, the nurse, Marikawa Shizuka, was behind him - he was protecting her already.
Meanwhile, she stumbled away from a zombie that approached from the side while Kazu was dealing with the ones ahead.
"No! Stop!"
She flung the medic box in her hands to its face, bashing it into a backwards stumble as the contents rumbled through the air.
While nearer to the door of the room, Saeko Busujima, the bokken-wielding gir,l fought the most, dispatching a few others of Them at an otherwise quick pace.
Yet, woefully, it wasn't quick enough to reach Kazu, who was being surrounded by four others because of his shout. But she did not panic as she noticed something that surprised her. Through her battle, she already unconsciously wore a faint grin, and now, it blossomed into an amused smile.
Kazu gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tight, preparing for his demise.
Ensuingly, the window shattered inward and a pair of black boots swung in, kicking the four zombies into each other and making them tumble to the ground.
Dion's figure swung down from the Music Club room, right above, using the window ledge outside.
He landed in, then violently motioned to stomp over the head of a zombie to a crunching squelch. Hereafter, he motioned to stab viscerally down through the head of the zombie that had fallen beside it with the narrow of his wooden chair leg.
Thereon, while yanking it out, he spun on a leg, whirring the other through the unwilling stale air to kick another zombie.
Wobbling to rise, it was then hurled back with a violent kick to the jaw, breaking it.
He ignored it briefly, moving rapidly nearer to Shizuka - he slammed the thick of the chair leg ahead, breaking the skull and face of the zombie Shizuka had pushed away. Then he whirled to the next that had been trying to get up from him, dropping it, killing them in quick succession.
Thereafter, he finished off the one whose jaw he had shattered and broken.
Within a matter of a couple more seconds, all the zombies in the clinic lay dead.
"I am," Saeko said, having moved to crouch before Okada, who was lying against the wall, "the President of the Kendo Club, Busujima Saeko."
He was ragged, bloody and missing chunks of flesh, gurgling out blood.
She held her free hand over his one fine shoulder while he coughed out a bit of blood onto the arm of her shirt and her chest.
Nevertheless, without any form of jitter of grimace to her amiable expression, she spoke softly to him, "Okada-kun, you protected Marikawa-sensei well. I admire your courage."
Her hand slightly held him tighter, and she bitterly continued:
"You know what happens to those who get bitten, don't you?"
She paused for a moment as he gave a wry, wincing and feeble smile.
"Do you want your friends and family to see you like that? If you'd rather not, then I shall end your life here and now for you. Though it would be my first time killing another."
"P...please," He weakly mumbled with a grateful smile, "And...thank you,"
"Huh?! Wait!" Shizuka, who had regained her bearings and moved closer, aiming to try to help him, jolted forth while Saeko stood to her feet, hovering over Okada, "You can't-"
Yet Saeko interrupted, holding her arm back to Shizuka to halt her approach. She faintly warned her with her eyes.
"You may be a nurse, but I'll have to ask you not to interfere," She said firmly, "This is a matter of a man's pride."
Then, decisively, she gave a practised motion, holding her wooden katana up as she prepared to swing.
It was a motion that she had gone through countless times before. Its familiar weight would normally only be felt after hundreds of swings.
Yet this time, as she went through it, she felt it immediately.
"Protecting it, that duty, is one of the very sources of pride for a woman." She said intently. "To sit idly by in front of such an honourable man isn't my style."
Whrrsh! CRACK! Splat!
The bokken whirred through the putrescent, tepid air and thence, Okada's head was indented deeply, deformed by the blow, and his blood splattered across the wall and window, leaving him unmoving - dead.
All the while, Dion, Kazu and Shizuka stood with attentive, earnest yet louring gazes. Especially Shizuka, who gritted her teeth till they creaked, and she looked daggers at herself.
"..."
Everyone stood for a moment of silence while Shizuka took the sheets from her nursing bed and covered Okada's body.
Throughout his short process, she was biting at her lower lip so hard she bled.
"..."
"You are...Kazu Ishii, yes?" Dion spoke to the young man who was grimacing with his gaze lingering over his dead friend's body.
He jolted to attention with a faintly embarrassed blush at his unawareness of who Dion was.
"Ah, yes,"
He nodded thrice for the single question. Then another realisation dawned on him, and he bowed.
"Thank you," Kazu said earnestly. "Thank you for saving my life.,"
If it weren't for his timely stunt, he would not be alive.
"We should be thanking you instead," Dion said, shaking his head with a faint smile, "I like people like you. Those willing to see through their choices, whether the end is bitter or sweet,"
"You and your friend," Dion complimented, leaving him with a faint blush as he stood back up to the full of his height, nearly identical to that of Dion's, "For protecting Shizuka-sensei with your lives like that, you have my respect."
He was a young man with dark brown hair and brown, bespectacled eyes.
Kazu was left slightly dazed, his eyes gleaming with a slightly moist sheen. He choked and sniffled back the tears.
"Thank you!" He bowed again.
Shizuka then came over as she looked at him with a faint, pondering attention.
She was a truly gorgeous woman who stood at 176cm. Her golden curtains of long hair cast down her figure freely. The golden light of her eyes, although still faintly quivering restlessly, still glowed with their usual gentle consideration. Her large bosom, coupled with the entrancing curvature of her figure, oozed a calming, languid sensuality, untainted by the horror or the room.
Regardless, she blushed faintly amid her prolonged look, watching as he simply stared back at her in all his amethyst attention.
"Thank you for saving us." She said delicately with a bow.
Dion didn't respond immediately, giving her a protracted look as she stood back upright. He almost seemed ever so slightly let down.
"You're welcome, Marikawa-sensei," He muttered without losing his smile.
She gave a hum and nod, then as she headed behind him to continue packing medical supplies, he handed her his bag.
"Fill it up with everything you need," He said, earning a deep nod as she hurried to pack.
Then, a gentle, reminiscing voice summoned his attention.
"It's a relief to see that you're safe, Sil-kun."
Saeko was walking over to him, greeting Kazu Ishii as she did so.
Kazu excused himself to help Shizuka Marikawa pack up a bag of all the medical supplies they could carry safely.
Meanwhile, standing to the full of her 174cm height, Saeko smiled up at Dion with a visible reminiscence.
"That was quite the entrance you made," She said.
Dion collected himself, then chuckled lightly.
"It was a great idea, wasn't it?"
Saeko only smiled a bit. It seemed interesting enough that she briefly and honestly thought of how it would be to try it herself.
Dion then pointed his finger at himself with a curious, faint smile and continued to Saeko, "You recognise me, Busujima-san?"
Saeko gave a slightly curious and odd look, then smiled and giggled a bit.
"I was a little unsure at first." She said, "Especially seeing such acrobatics,"
Then, the tenderness in her voice drizzled a showering reminiscence as she placed a hand over his chest and continued:
"However, I never considered the two years we spent in the same class to be nothing, you know? Not to mention that you, Sil-kun, were the vice-president of my club."
She paused briefly as he gave an appreciative, soft smile.
Then, slightly balling his shirt into her fist, she resumed:
"Yet you left without a proper farewell,"
The brief sharpness in her tone had made Dion grimace slightly as he averted his gaze, scratching his cheek as well.
"Uh..."
"I guess we did not share similar sentiments."
"That isn't true," He denied with a grumble.
Yet she didn't seem to pay much attention to it.
She gave him a brief once-over, and as her hand dropped back to her side, she said:
"You may have grown much taller, more...well-built and sound a little different. But you are still you."
Dion sighed faintly into a smile.
"I guess I was just hoping you'd let me off easy,"
Regardless, he was rather happy with this because beyond Yuto and Asami, hardly anyone else he knew in the school had recognised him without a re-introduction. Yet, she did. Nearly instantly, for that matter.
His heart eased a bit. Yet still strained as he wondered, 'Are those two alright?'
"..."
Saeko simply gazed into his eyes silently, her smile present, yet faintly ominous.
"I'm sorry for leaving all of a sudden," He apologised, opening his arms, "It was distasteful of me."
She did not say anything for a moment. Then they hugged briefly.
"Hmm," She muttered, nuzzling ever so slightly into his chest as she thought to herself about something, taking a breath. "I'm afraid, I do not forgive you."
"What can I do make it up to you then?" He asked as he took a breath himself.
At the same time, the others had finished packing up and were watching the heartfelt reunion silently.
Kazu silently wept with a helpless yet acknowledging admiration. He wondered if he would ever embrace a beauty like Saeko in this little life of his.
He didn't know who Dion, or rather "Sil", was, but he had been a student of their school at some point and was well acquainted with Saeko. If the other boys of the school were here, or even well alive, they would swear bloody murder on this "Sil" for his "transgressions".