The hallway was momentarily wrapped in silence, and in that silence, the only sounds were the dripping fluids from the zombies and Saya's ragged breathing.
Hirano slowly lowered his empty nail gun. One could tell he was shaken too, his fingers were trembling against the plastic.
Then Saya touched her face, smeared with blood still sliding slowly down her cheek, tracing a dark line from her forehead across her smooth skin. She made a quick gesture to wipe it off, but only ended up spreading more blood all over her face.
She felt like crying.
But through it all, the pink-haired genius's gaze stayed locked on the boy in front of her.
That zombie…
'Did that zombie… explode?'
She tried to put her genius-girl mask back on, but her right eyebrow twitched. Then she lowered her eyes to her skirt, stained with black blood, and let out a long sigh.
"I'm all dirty."
Then she raised a finger, pointing at Yuu.
"Hey, you! Who the hell are you? And why'd those things explode? How can you disappear from one place and show up in another?"
Maybe it was her way of escaping the fear of staring death in the face, but all she could do was yell and vent her frustration.
In response, the golden-eyed, white-haired boy didn't answer right away. He just looked at her the way the sun looks at the earth. And then he smiled.
That smile alone was enough to calm Saya's roaring fear, even with her sharp tongue and proud spirit. But she couldn't get another word out.
Because before she could continue with more complaints, Hirano, still holding his nail gun, dropped to his knees.
"That was incredible!"
His glasses suddenly glinted.
"Those were some pretty insane combat moves! The zombies went flying everywhere while the others exploded! Did you see that, Takagi-san?! Did you see it?!"
He seemed to have gone straight from despair to worship.
In fact, his eyes were sparkling as he looked at Yuu like he was a superhero who'd just landed in front of them to save the day. He jumped to his feet, adjusted his glasses, and ran toward him with excitement.
"Hey, mister! Are you a esper?!"
Yuu adjusted the collar of his robe and swiped a fingertip across a drop of zombie blood on his cheek to wipe it away.
"I'm just a kind passerby."
"Don't lie, mister! I've read novels where, in the apocalypse, survivors awaken powers! They're called Awakened! Would you teach me how to get superpowers too?"
But it seemed this chubby boy didn't believe for a second that Yuu was just some kind passerby. Instead, the thought that in this apocalypse people might actually be able to use superpowers made him desperate to get them himself. It'd be amazing to become an Awakened, just like in the novels and manga he'd read!
Yuu lowered his gaze to the dead zombies on the floor. If one looked closely, one could see fine threads of dark energy seeping out of their bodies before fading away.
"Awakened, huh?" Yuu smiled at Hirano. "There's no need for that right now."
While they spoke, Saya stepped up to the broken mirror hanging on the wall. She thought she was fine, but in her reflection, she saw her bloodstained face and the trembling of her legs.
"How pathetic I look… I'll need my mother to wash these clothes."
She was the daughter of a wealthy family, raised in luxury since childhood. Her parents always cared for her and protected her. She'd never thought about what would happen if one day they couldn't protect her.
Beyond not believing in the supernatural, she outright rejected all that nonsense. After all, to her, if science couldn't explain it, it couldn't be real.
But outside, and even inside this very school, humans were biting each other. Then they died, and got back up.
The dead walking again. Didn't that sound ridiculous? It wasn't scientific at all!
Even so, that's what made them monsters.
At that moment, the purple-haired girl dashed across the room in a blur to drop a zombie with a single bokken strike. Clearly, she wasn't normal either.
Saya's skin crawled as she remembered the strange boy from before, who made zombies hang suspended in the air before bursting apart just from being gazed at by those burning golden eyes.
While she was lost in thought and worrying about her parents, she felt a gentle touch on her shoulder.
"You alright?"
It was the purple-haired girl asking, her voice kind.
Saya swallowed hard and nodded.
"We should introduce ourselves. I'm Saeko Busujima from Class 3-A. And I'm captain of the Kendo Club."
Saya wanted to snap at her, to yell about how it didn't matter now what class she was in or what club she belonged to. But she shut her eyes for a second to pull herself together.
"Saya Takagi, Class 2-B."
Hirano, still hyped up, scratched the top of his head.
"Well, I'm Kota Hirano, also from Class 2-B."
The blonde teacher approached with a gentle smile, her eyes showing concern for Saya.
"Shizuka Marikawa. I'm a doctor, so count on me if you need any medical help."
Once they'd all introduced themselves, Saya instinctively turned to look for Yuu. She was curious about that person, or monster, but he was already gone.
"Huhhh? He was just here." Hirano jumped, searching everywhere for him.
Saeko narrowed her eyes briefly, then spoke calmly.
"Yuu-sama isn't far. He has matters to attend to."
As Yuu's Blessed, she was able to sense his presence, just as he could sense hers.
Saya inhaled, and as she wondered what kind of relationship Saeko had with that person for her to call him -sama with his name, she straightened her stained skirt and gathered her strength.
"Alright. If he's gonna disappear, then we can't just sit here. Let's get ready to move out."