"And what are you going to do, Komuro?" Saya said, looking back at Takashi, who uncharacteristically remained quiet throughout the whole conversation of their group and the commotion with Shido.
Her tone was blunt and sharp, yet her irritated look was laced with concern for her childhood friend—or, to be exact, for the guy she had feelings for.
Yet despite her worries...
"If you all want to die out there, then do as you like."
What the heck was that, you freaking MC? Why are you ditching your friends?
On second thought, not everyone in the group was Takashi's friend.
Takashi knew Imamura, but they weren't close enough to consider each other friends. Kohta was his classmate, but they had barely spoken. With his character development gone, he wasn't able to get close to Saeko since she wasn't particularly interested in him either, considering how irresponsibly he was acting.
Since Takashi was only interested in Rei, he wasn't ogling the school nurse, Shizuka, like all the other boys. He didn't even value or appreciate her friendship with Saya, much less care about her safety. And with their fight about Rei getting separated from them, he didn't care about Hisashi either.
To put it simply, since he had already lost Rei, he didn't care about anyone but himself.
Or perhaps he just didn't want to see Rei and Hisashi reunited, Nach thought, remembering Kohta's quote that people tend to look away from the things they don't want to see.
Putting aside whatever the reason for Takashi's bullshit was, or his worries about what would happen to the key events and the original plot now that Takashi—the supposed protagonist of the story—had stumbled and lost his way toward the next act, Nach decided to meet up with everyone now that they had gotten off the bus.
"Let's go and pick them up, Rei," he said as he started the van.
"Ehh? Aren't we waiting? Do you even know where they are, Sensei?"
---
An hour past noon, with Nach and Rei driving along the road at Onbetsu River, the sight of traffic at Onbetsu Bridge came into view.
"Sensei, look over there!" Rei exclaimed excitedly upon seeing Shizuka's group walking on the street.
Her worries about whether they would actually meet everyone from the bus—along with her concern about facing Shido again, and even her confusion about why Shizuka's group had gotten off the bus—had all disappeared upon seeing Hisashi.
The instant Nach parked the van at the side of the road, Rei hurriedly opened the door. But as she was about to step outside, her body froze, and an anxious expression painted itself across her face.
As guilt started to overwhelm her heart for what she and Nach had done, she suddenly felt a hand patting her head.
"You did nothing wrong, so you don't have to feel guilty," Nach said as Rei slowly turned to look at him.
Believing in his words and promise, Rei left all of her guilt to Nach and ran toward Hisashi, embracing him and crying in relief as he held her in his arms.
"I'm sorry I couldn't come to you back then, Rei," Hisashi said, then looked at Nach, who had just gotten out of the van as well, bowing his head to silently thank him for looking after Rei.
I did though… Come on her...
Nach simply smiled back at Hisashi, hiding the awkward and perverted thoughts running at the back of his mind. Right then, as if giving him a reward for keeping Rei safe and for surviving this long despite his encounters with aggressive and strong undead...
"Nach!"
Shizuka came running and lunged at Nach, embracing him tightly as she clung to him, pressing her large breasts against him for Nach to enjoy and indulge in their softness.
"That outfit looks good on you," she said, praising Nach's new clothes before burying her face into his chest.
It was a shame that the motorcycle ride with Shizuka was gone, but being embraced by her felt really good, Nach thought as he hugged Shizuka back, indulging himself in the softness of her body and her erotic, seductive scent.
"I'm glad to see you're unharmed, Nach-sensei," Saeko said as she approached with the rest of the group.
"Thank you for worrying about me, Saeko," Nach replied as he glanced at her. "Of course, you as well, Shizuka," he added, making Shizuka lift her head to look at him with a pout—not because he hadn't mentioned her first, but because of what Nach was doing.
"You really are a pervert, aren't you?" Saya grumbled, looking at Nach's left hand holding Shizuka's soft rear.
"I'm glad you're all safe, everyone—especially you, Saya."
"Hmph!"
Cutting to the chase, they decided to go to Rika's house next to rest, following Shizuka's suggestion after Nach mentioned that they wouldn't be able to reach the city anytime soon considering the traffic at Onbetsu Bridge. And as Nach expected...
"If that's where you're all going, then this is where we part ways," Imamura said, trying to act cool despite the anxious, worried look on his face.
"You live somewhere around here, Imamura?" Nach asked, pretending not to know that fact yet.
"Yeah, I'm going home."
It wasn't mentioned in the story whether Imamura lived with his parents, but from how he was acting, Nach was sure he did. He could only hope that it wasn't too late for them—or for the last member of the main cast, the little girl Alice, who was Imamura's neighbor. Alice would survive, of course, with her plot armor. But Nach wanted to save her father and mother for the little girl.
"We'll get there faster in the van. So just hop on already."
"Thank you, Sensei..."
---
Inside the van, Nach took the role of driver while Shizuka sat beside him in the passenger seat, eating some chocolates.
Rei and Hisashi sat on the middle seat, with Imamura on the extra seat beside the door.
On the back seat were Saya, Saeko, and Kohta.
"Where did you even get all this stuff?" Saya murmured while munching on a vanilla-flavored biscuit, directing her question at Nach about all the loot on the back seat and inside the camping bag.
"They were lying around on the street, so we picked them up," Nach casually replied, earning a dumbfounded look from Rei—conflicted that he was talking as if their journey had been an easy walk in the park, which it obviously wasn't.
Saya, on the other hand, gave a suspicious glare but decided not to think too deeply about it, considering they would surely need the supplies to fight the undead.
"Please let me have a gun, Sensei!" Kohta exclaimed excitedly, supporting his request by mentioning that he knew how to use one from training he received abroad.
"Sure, can you check the bullets then?"
"Gladly!"
While Kohta absorbed himself in checking the remaining bullets of the hunting shotgun, rifle, and two revolvers, Saeko was cleaning the katana and the cleaver of blood.
"Can I really have this magnificent blade, Nach-sensei?" Saeko said while admiring her reflection on the katana's blade.
"Ehh?—By any chance, is that katana expensive? It isn't a cheap imitation or something?"
"Definitely not. I'm sure it's worth hundreds of millions." (In Japanese Yen)
That bald yakuza probably stole it from his boss, Nach thought.
"As if you would find something like that lying on the street," Saya retorted as she proceeded to find more snacks inside the camping backpack, only to find Nach's trunks—Gyah!—causing a shriek to escape her lips.
After distributing their weapons, Kohta now had a rifle and revolver, Saeko had a real katana and a wooden one, Rei had her makeshift spear and a revolver, Hisashi had the golf club, Imamura had the cleaver, and Saya had the last revolver. Shizuka received the police baton from Rei, while Nach had his axe, sledgehammer, and the hunting shotgun.
They were all ready to fight the undead they would encounter at Imamura's house. However, Rika's house was actually closer.
Since they would need some open seats in the van for those they would rescue, some of them would have to stay at Rika's house. Which led to the question...
"Who's coming with you, Sensei?"
---
[PoruShark Writer's Note:]
Hey'a—It's UelUel, your poor, lazy, and lousy author. Please remember that even though I'm expanding the timeframe of the story, key events will still happen according to the original plot.
For example, even though the main cast spent the first night at school—which was supposed to be at Rika's house—it doesn't mean they already missed the chance to meet Alice and Zeke. In fact, they're ahead of it.
It may sound like a forced plot, but let's just say it's the effect of READER'S VIEWPOINT.