While Nach and Imamura were carefully and slowly walking on top of the wall fence from the house behind the Maresato residence toward Imamura's house—Crash!—the swarm of undead in front of the Maresato house had finally breached the gate.
"Gyaahhh!"
A loud, panicked scream resounded within the house as Mrs. Maresato tripped on her trembling legs, stumbled to the floor, and was about to be caught by the undead that had broken in through the large overview window in the living room.
"Mommy!" Alice cried, embracing her mother in an attempt to help her get up.
"Get away from my wife!"
Before the undead could grab Mrs. Maresato and Alice, Mr. Maresato swung his blunt weapon—a large pipe wrench—and smashed the head of the undead old man who used to live in the house across the street.
"Hurry up and hide in our room!"
—Bang!—
Ignoring the unknown gunshot, Alice's family rushed toward the stairs, leaving behind the meal they had just started eating while watching the news on the television in the living room.
But even before they could reach the stairs, they were surrounded and cornered by more undead that had broken in through the windows and doors on the ground floor.
"Dear!"
"Daddy!"
"Argh!"
Alice and her mother helplessly watched her father get dragged away by the undead as the two of them were caught and about to be bitten and devoured, until…
"Get away from my wife, bastards!"
---
Going back a few moments earlier…
"One, two, three, go!"
"Gah!"
As soon as Nach and Imamura reached behind the Maresato residence, the two of them jumped from the top of the wall fence, aiming to get across the three-meter-wide backyard swarming with undead and reach the house's second-floor balcony.
Nach was able to grab the railing of the balcony, but Imamura's jump fell short. Still, Nach managed to grab his hand before he could fall into the swarm of undead, tossing him up onto the balcony, then pulling himself up before the undead could grab his feet.
—Bang!—
They quickly broke through the door, with Nach shooting the doorknob using his shotgun, then rushed down the stairs toward the ground floor where the screams were coming from.
"Get away from my wife, bastards!" Imamura shouted as he jumped from the stairs to save Alice's mother from the undead. He swung his cleaver the moment he landed, chopping its neck and beheading the undead who used to be the old woman who owned the store near his house.
I know you like Alice's mother, but calling her your wife in front of her husband and child…
"That's impressive, Imamura!" Nach shouted, praising him as he rushed to save Alice, killing the three undead about to bite her—beheading the first with a swift upward swing of his axe, the second with a sharp return slash, then shoving the barrel of his shotgun into the mouth of the third to stop it from biting Alice before pushing it away and chopping off its neck.
They managed to save Alice and her mother, but her father, however—
Wait, how's that possible?
Nach knew that Alice's father still had some plot armor left before his supposed death near the main cast at Rika's apartment. That's one of the key events in the original. But for him not to be bitten even after being caught and dragged away was starting to feel like forced plot.
Regardless of the absurdity of the new story, Nach wasn't going to let Alice watch her father die.
"If you're gonna help anyway, you could've done it from the start!" Nach grumbled, complaining about the original plot where Takashi only decided to help Alice after her father died.
Leaving Alice and her mother under Imamura's care, Nach charged into the swarm of undead to get Mr. Maresato.
With a quick stride, he swiftly passed multiple undead blocking his path, then swung his axe to chop the heads of the undead holding Mr. Maresato.
"Get your head down," he said before—Bang!—firing multiple shots with his shotgun to clear all the undead rushing to grab Mr. Maresato.
What the heck do they want you for?
"Sensei!"
Imamura shouted, calling Nach for help as he, Alice, and Mrs. Maresato got surrounded by undead Nach passed by to get to Mr. Maresato.
"What the heck is wrong with these undead?"
Nach and Imamura were clearly being ignored by the undead, while Alice and her mother were clearly being targeted. On the other hand, the undead were desperately trying to capture Alice's father alive without biting him.
At least, that was how Nach understood the situation.
"If you want to make it that easy, then so be it."
Since the undead weren't paying attention to them, Nach easily beheaded all the undead attacking Alice and her mother, with Mr. Maresato following behind him. And once they regrouped…
"Go upstairs and find a room to hide!"
Following Nach's instruction, Imamura led Alice's family toward the master bedroom on the second floor—Alice's parents' room.
First you call her your wife, now you know which one is the master bedroom?
While Nach pondered this intriguing thought, he locked the door as the last one to get in, then quickly grabbed a cabinet and dragged it to block the doorway.
That would at least give them some time to catch their breath.
"Daddy! You're not going to become like them, right!?" Alice cried, embracing her father.
"Please tell me you didn't get bitten, dear."
"I'm fine. I guess I got lucky," Mr. Maresato said, reassuring Alice and his wife.
"We got lucky," he added, looking at Nach to silently thank the stranger, then at Imamura, recognizing him.
"Aren't you the kid who lives next door?"
"Thank you, Imamura-kun," Mrs. Maresato said, embracing him to show her gratitude and relief that he was safe.
"Thank you, Imamura-onisan," Alice added, clearing Nach's suspicion with the fact that not only Mrs. Maresato but Alice also knew Imamura.
Or at least it should have—if not for Imamura's perverted grin.
Setting aside Nach's intriguing suspicion…
"What should we do now?" he murmured, thinking about the next part of their plan—the part they didn't carefully think through.
He was glad that Imamura chose to save Alice's family first before checking if his own parents were safe in their house.
Going to Imamura's house was, of course, the next step, but getting there—even though it was just the house next door—was the problem.
"We could just jump over the window to get to my room, Sensei," Imamura said before moving to the window, only after Mrs. Maresato let go of him. He swiped the curtain aside, revealing his room's window only two meters away.
"Well, isn't that convenient, Imamura…" Nach whispered as he approached him and grabbed both of his shoulders, trying to intimidate him into telling the truth, while Imamura awkwardly looked away.
"It wasn't like what you're thinking… Sensei…"
"You mean it's less… or more than what I'm thinking?"