As you know, throughout my entries I’ve never really written my intentions. Even if it was something that would warm the hearts of many. Although for now, let’s say my excuse was I didn’t want anyone to know.

Kurumi does often spill the beans a lot and Yuuri was miles ahead of me in terms of cooking. Although leadership means you coordinate a team with varying skills and abilities to achieve a goal, would it be fair to have the leader have nothing to bring to the table other than management?

I hadn’t mentioned the radio a lot in my entry. But I will say, I’ve never gotten a response. Either the military ship that I’ve been patched to was a false hope, or they changed frequencies without any thought with those they were rescuing.

Or maybe they’ve given up.

Still too far out to confirm, but it doesn’t matter now. We’ll find a safe haven one day. I haven’t talked with Rii-san about it. But that decision will be made one way or another. Even if I don’t want to disrupt the power dynamic within this school.

After all, there’s still a mall we have to go to.

“Ready?!” Yuki called out from afar, reaching for her timer, “Set!”

Kurumi and I glanced at each other, exchanging rather confident smirks.

“Go!”

Although I had managed to hold a solid headstart for the first few seconds, I ultimately fell short once Kurumi managed to pick up the pace and reach Yuki before I could even reach the halfway part.

“What’s my time?” Kurumi turned over.

“What about me?” I followed soon, reaching the line.

“Kurumi, 14 seconds” Yuki raised her stopwatch, “Ryu, 22 seconds”

“Good enough” I looked over at Kurumi, who stared at the stopwatch in dismay, “Everything alright?”

“My time’s been at a freefall. I guess it’s ‘cause I’ve been skipping practice” Kurumi stared at the ground in shock, “I really need to get myself back on track”

No, you just needed to lose the shovel.

“Hey Kurumi-chan… could it be because of the shovel you’re carrying?” Yuki looked over.

“Ah you’re right!”

“I’m envious of your love for the shovel. Why don’t you just marry it already?”

“What?” Kurumi withdrew with a flustered look.

“Well…” I gave a short smirk, “Perhaps I can be the flower boy–”

Before I could finish my sentence, Kurumi whacked my head.

“You’d do better as the man of honor”

“Heh…” I rubbed my head, “Why the shovel though?”

“They say ‘when you’re proficient with a tool, it becomes a part of your body’ don’t they? You never know when I’ll get an ultimate skill with this”

By the look of Yuki’s face, she didn’t get a single bit of that info.

“So, do you want to time it without the shovel?”

“Nah it’s alright” Kurumi walked off while holding out Megu-nee’s car keys which surprisingly included a teddy bear, “You two have fun!”

Yuki and I exchanged looks at each other, before she reached out for her timer.

“Do you want to go for another run, Ryu? Without the school blazer of course”

“I’ll be alright” I smiled, “Since this is a field trip I’m obligated to wear this as per regulations”

“Suit yourself” Yuki shrugged, “Do you think Kurumi can drive well?”

“Better than me anyways. I’ve never driven. I’m more into maps anyways”

“Oh that’s right! Your neighbourhood is close to your house. Would you like to stop by and meet up with your family?”

“School rules forbid that unfortunately. But, if we happen to run into your house, I could let you stop by to say hi and take responsibility if you somehow get in trouble. The Headmaster is more lenient to me”

Her overjoyed reaction with her eyes widened made me brace for the inevitable tackle.

She’s definitely gotten closer towards me. Every interaction since that birthday had felt like she had my back.

“Yay!” Yuki leapt forward, hugging me in the chest and almost causing me to fall onto the ground, “Thank you!”

“Heh, it’s no big deal Yuki” I scratched my head, “Rules are usually that lax”

For obvious reasons of course. I had already marked off the entire area so Kurumi wouldn’t need to drive through that place to reach the Mall. After all, with four possible routes, it’s not possible to run into much of a traffic jam.

“Wait, we’re going in a car right? Since it’s me, you, Kurumi, Rii-san and Megu-nee are coming over?”

“Of course! Or else I would just hide inside the trunk in the meantime” I said with such confidence.

Hopefully Megu-nee owned anything above a four seater vehicle.

Although… that clearly wasn’t the case.

You couldn’t imagine my horror when I glanced outside at the parking lot with Kurumi only to realise every car in there was a four seater.

“Are we set?” I glanced over at Yuuri and Yuki standing at the door, my freehand gripped onto a baseball.

“Yep! We’ll be by the front entrance” Yuuri responded, before motioning Yuki (who was hugging onto Guuma-chan and a bouquet of flowers) towards the stairs.

“See you down there Kurumi and Ryu!” Yuki waved over, before mimicking Guuma’s hands to wave at us.

I gave a short wave to both of them, before looking at Kurumi who had already stood by the ladder. A small baseball bat laid close to the wall.

Despite the fact that it was a four seater, I had this rather interesting idea. So I proposed that I hunkered down in the trunk. It was a childhood thought that my parents never agreed on. After all, there is less risk sleeping in a trunk than in the middle without a seatbelt.

“Remember” I patted on Kurumi’s shoulder, “Brute force it if you have to”

“If it’s not there I’m blaming you”

Kurumi slid down the ladder, before making a dash towards the parking lot. Weaving past the few zombies in front, I used the baseball bat to repeatedly slam onto the ground while kicking the few close to me.

They were slow. Definitely too slow if I were to predict where they'd move. But considering Kurumi had spent some time and effort knocking down a few, this had given some of the zombies close to the parking lot time to surround her. As long as she kept moving, it should be fine.

After a few seconds of creating a ruckus with the baseball bat, I managed to regroup with Kurumi who was trying to insert Megu-nee’s car keys at the door.

“No luck Ryu!” She called out.

“Just brute force it!”

While smashing in a random zombie’s head onto the car’s engine, my mind instantly jolted towards a rather intuitive idea.

“Look for any colourful cars! Perhaps the red one I saw earlier–”

Kurumi had already ran towards it, knocking over a zombie that was just idling close by.

Of course! She had noticed the small teddy bear hanging on the car rear mirror was the same as the car keys. How couldn’t I have realised that sooner?

“Get over here Ryu!” Kurumi called out, before entering the driver seat.

“Pop the trunk!”

“Huh?” Kurumi raised an eyebrow, either forgetting what I specifically told her earlier or the fact I was using western jargon.

“It’s a four seater, remember?”

“Crap! Of course!” Kurumi scanned around the car, before pressing a small button that opened the rear trunk, “Hold on tight!”

By the time I had collided with the small boxes and miscellaneous items Megu-nee had left at the back, waving away the dust before closing the trunk. Although it was small, especially for my height, I should be able to hunker down soon considering I brought my sleeping bag.

Kurumi had already sped off towards the front entrance. I could barely make out her shouting for a moment, although with the sound of the car doors opening and closing, I didn’t need to worry anymore.

“Wait! Where’s Ryu!?” Yuki called out, her voice almost indistinguishable.

“Right here!” I shouted.

“Ah!” Yuki giggled for a second, “Kurumi-chan, you’re sure you can drive?”

“It’s a bit of a different feel than I’m used to, but no need to worry” Kurumi’s voice somehow came through, although more muffled than Yuki.

“Feel?”

“I prefer game pads instead of steering wheel controllers!”

Oh right…

“Wait what?!” I screamed while inside the trunk.

“It’ll be fine! Check out this perfect spin!”

The car suddenly lurched forward, followed by multiple sharp turns as I braced onto the rug so as to not hit my head on the trunk. With each turn, I braced my head close to the rug, praying that I wouldn’t get sent flying off the car.

Although it felt like a better alternative compared to risking the possibility of brain damage. Next time, I’ll risk sitting in the middle.

The ride was long, although over time Yuki gave random knocks on the chair followed by rather loud conversations as to hear each other through the thick walls.

Over time, Kurumi would make periodic brakes that led to my left hand grip onto the rug. Although considering what I had learnt a few years back, as long as I didn’t hit my head on something three more times, I wouldn’t have any form of damage.

Eventually, the car came to a complete halt, followed by the door opening. Yet instead of expecting someone like Rii-san to check up, nobody came. I remained patient for a while, until a few footsteps reached closer and closer to where I was. Eventually, the trunk opens, sending a blinding light into my eyes.

After a moment of rapid blinking, all I saw was a rather amused look from Kurumi due to how I had curled myself up with the head closest to the trunk with my left hand almost tearing through the rug.

“Any regrets?” She looked over.

“Megu-nee’s gonna kill me for this, isn’t she…”

“She wouldn’t mind. We’re gonna stop close to a gas station for the evening, but Yuuri needs help with the map. You wanna have a go at the wheel?”

“Sure”

For some reason, it felt as if Kurumi was hiding something. Her look said it all. As if she had just witnessed something rather tragic but decided not to talk about it and distract herself with something. Her shovel wasn’t bloodied, but perhaps that feeling of nostalgia must’ve hit hard on her.

As I walked over to the driver’s seat, I noticed the gate to one of the houses swung open, followed by the sign: “Ebisuzawa”.

Perhaps the correct action was to just not ask her about it. After all, I’m sure that strong face she made as she saw me was almost impossible to maintain.

Entering the driver seat, I noticed Yuki sitting at the front, staring at the map with a marker close to her hand. Although what really weirded me out was the fact that she had marked X’s all across the place. Especially around the four routes that I had specifically marked as possible routes.

With only one route being through Yuki’s neighbourhood.

“Oh, hey Ryu!” Yuki turned over, passing the bouquet of flowers to me, “Construction has been running a lot lately, but Rii-san said there’s a route we could try to use. There’s a nearby gas station we could use”

“I see” I rested the bouquet of flowers on my lap, “Well, let’s go there then. Although do know that considering the construction around here, your parents may not be home unfortunately”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“It’s alright! I could see them another time”

Yea. Hopefully.

We drove through the neighbourhood, with Yuki looking around in awe at the houses. It had been a while since she had officially joined the club, so I wanted to make a pit stop at her house. But considering the risk that she would run into something rather undesirable was too large, we had to ignore it.

“Wowww! I can still remember where all my neighbours are around here!” Yuki looked around in awe, almost blocking my view, “My house should be around this corner!”

“You said that before we made this turn. And the turn before” I shrugged, continuing to drive slowly to give Yuki a good view of the neighbourhood.

“I’m sure of it. It’s definitely this one!”

As we made the turn, Yuki’s eyes lit up as she stared towards the left.

“Right there! See?”

We made a stop right outside of a gate, marked ‘Takeya’.

“Wow, your house is quite large” Yuuri looked over, “Did you have a sibling?”

“No, it’s just me and my parents”

“I see…” Yuuri looked at her map again, “Well, do you want to at least stop by and look around the front yard before we continue?”

“Sure!”

We entered through the front gate, with Kurumi standing guard right outside. While Yuki continued to stare in awe at the garden that was somehow well maintained in her view, I peeked through the glass into the house.

Fortunately, her parents weren’t here.

“This feels so nostalgic! I wish I could just go in and lay on my bed right now!”

“Don’t worry Yuki. You’ll be able to do it when you graduate”

Yuki had made her way towards the side door, leading to what seemed to be a small pond and a mini garden.

“Huh, that’s odd. There used to be lots of fishes around here!”

“I see” I glanced around the place, noticing the back gate being left wide open right beside us before shutting it, “Well your parents must’ve relocated it to clean up the pond!”

“No wonder!” She crouched down, staring at the pond, “The water looks so murky right now”

“Heh. Perhaps you could do them a favour and clean it up? We still have some time”

“It’s alright. I don’t want to drag on the field trip any longer over something like this”

“I see” I turned over, glancing at the door, “Well, feel free to leave your parents a present at the front door”

“Aw I wish I had something on me right now…” She patted down her pockets, “Got anything?”

“I do have some sticky notes. Perhaps you could draw something up and plant it at a door as a surprise?”

“Sure!”

While Yuki started to write a little message on the sticky note, I stepped over to the backyard again, before opening the back gate which led to the house opposite to her. Perhaps Yuki’s parents were close with the neighbourhood.

Although before I withdrew back, my eye caught the attention of something at a far distance.

“Alright Ryu-kun! Let’s head back now!”

“Yeah… let’s go” I turned over, shutting the gate, “When did your parents move to this neighbourhood Yuki?”

“About a year and a half ago, why?”

“Nothing. It’s just I’m surprised your parents made a lot of friends with the neighbours”

“Oh of course! My mother always loved our neighbour’s cooking so she would often exchange food through this back gate so she wouldn’t need to run around the block to reach her side!”

Despite the fact that her parents had moved to a different neighbourhood, we still went to the same high school. Although with the added downside of her having to run the bus to get there. A factor to why she often fell asleep during class.

Surprisingly, Yuuri was right about the gas station being close by. You could easily jog over to it starting from Yuki’s house and it’d be under a minute. Two if you had a really inconvenient group of zombies wandering.

Settling ourselves down, I was granted the luxury of having night watch on a building overlooking Megu-nee’s car. Yet for the entire night, I still stared back at where Yuki’s house was. Or specifically what was beyond it.

Something kept aching in my mind. As if I had to check it out. Was it more suicidal than anything I’ve seen in horror movies? Definitely. But even with the rational and logical side of me begging to just keep watch, I still wanted to just go down.

“Ryu?” Yuuri whispered over, offering a small bottle of water, “You awake?”

“Yeah…” I gave a glance at her, accepting the bottle, “Just thinking about that house”

“I assume you’re worried for her?” Yuuri sat down next to me.

“I am… but that’s a small detail now. I’m forgetting something I shouldn’t have”

“That’s what Yuki told me last night. Said she had almost forgotten but was surprised when you hosted that party”

“Well, it’s not common to simply forget today's birthday. But perhaps living in school 24/7 does mess up your thinking… Heck I can’t even remember what day I’m in…”

“We haven’t really told Yuki that today is Saturday”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I told her class is still running while we were waiting at the entrance”

“I see” I sipped on my bottle of water, “Well let’s just not mention the dates… until graduation. She won’t question it”

“Yea… she won’t” Yuuri looked away for a moment.

“Is something wrong?” I turned over to her.

“No… it’s just… Yuki’s a bit interesting isn’t she?”

“Way beyond whatever is going on in her head right now”

“Of course. She’s been trying her hardest to make us smile”

“Yet she believes she’s burdening everyone right now…”

“Hey, at least you made her feel special with that Birthday you pulled off”

“It’s no big deal” I shrugged, “You would’ve done the same in my position”

“We would, but…” Yuuri stood up, “I would’ve just limited it to saving up some of that beef. You had quite the willingness despite what I used to perceive... Perhaps I was wrong about you”

As Yuuri made her way down the rooftop, I couldn’t help but pleasantly smile at that comment, before continuing to stare into the town.

I slept like a rock unsurprisingly. Not because my sleeping bag was poor or anything but rather the fact I somehow dozed off when I was meant to be on night watch.

Next time, I’ll bring a tent.

Although the sun was barely up, I couldn’t get myself to fall asleep. Just knowing it was close to the morning was enough to screw my perception of when to sleep and when not to.

Just to start off the morning, I decided to stop by at Yuki’s house. All while holding the same bouquet of flowers which I had carefully unwrapped to reveal the combination of orange Sakuras and yellow Himawaris.

I didn’t have any weird intentions. Heck, even if I did it’d be the most narrow and random intention I could think of like stealing a childhood cup because it was some sort of rare antique that you couldn’t easily get.

Rather, there seemed to be a house. A bit far off but on the opposite street that Yuuri had stated to be blocked off by traffic.

Yet before I planted my hand onto the door, a few footsteps followed behind me.

“Ryu?” Yuki stepped over, her left hand rubbing her eyes and her right hand hugging onto Guuma-chan.

“What’s up, Yuki?”

“Why are you up so early?”

“Couldn’t sleep much…” I nudged the door open, “Perhaps that place over there has been living in my head for too long…”

“Perhaps it's a place you remember?”

“Definitely” I pushed the back door open, moving towards the neighbouring house’s backyard with my baseball bat prepared on one hand and the other holding the bouquet, “Stay back”

Maneuvering around to the front yard of the house, my heart sunk upon staring at the open forest in front of me.

“Something wrong?”

“Nothing… it’s just…” I turned over to Yuki with a fake smile, “Perhaps you can wait for me here?”

“Hm? Did you meet someone you know?”

“Ssh”

“Whoops” Yuki placed both hands at her mouth, “Sorry”

“Just stay here for me, would you?”

“O-k!”

Nudging the backdoor open, I approached down the small path through the trees, going up a small flight of stairs while holding onto the bouquet. With each step, my heart ached each time. Each breath felt heavier and heavier, as if I was stepping into death itself. My mind spun over and over, almost ignoring my surroundings at that moment.

For some reason, I had stood right by the small entrance, waiting for Ryu-kun to step out. For the next few minutes, I anxiously gripped onto Guuma-chan, almost tempted to step out onto the door.

Although I’ve only used this path before to reach a neighbour’s house, I knew that there was a fork. With a specific path leading left towards the mountain I’ve never walked through before.

With each passing minute, I continued to wander around the backyard, before eventually staring at the empty fish pond in front of me. I wanted to clean it, but I didn’t know where to start. Especially since Mom and Dad weren’t here.

After a while of staring, I heard a few footsteps behind me. Turning over, I noticed Megu-nee attempting to sneak up on me from behind.

“Oh! Megu-nee!” I waved over, “You woke up quite early!”

“I know” She crouched over close to me, glancing over at the pond, “I noticed you and Ryu had snuck off back to your house”

“Yeah, Ryu’s just going somewhere”

“Somewhere?” She glances over at the path, before looking at the small hill overlooking the nearby house, “Where does that path go to?”

“Uhh… I don’t really know. But I’m sure he took the left path towards the hil”

“Why didn’t you accompany him? He could’ve been lonely”

“He said he wanted to go alone”

“Oh…” She awkwardly stared at the pond again, “Well, I do hope he comes back soon”

“Yeah…” I glanced back at my house, “Can I ask you something?”

“Hm?”

“He’s been… working hard lately, right?”

“Of course!” Megu-nee responded with a smile, “He’s been trying to learn how to cook or get into athletics with Kurumi! Although it seemed confusing at first, I’ve come to realise something”

“Oh? What is it?”

“He’s creating an excuse!”

“... Huh?”

“Think about it Yuki-chan” She pats on my shoulder, “He wouldn’t have spent entire weeks talking and running with Ebisuzawa while cooking the most complicated recipes with Wakasa-san!”

“Wait… so he’s deliberately trying to skip class?”

“Not exactly, Yuki-chan” Megu-nee gave a short chuckle, “He’s trying to understand everyone!”

“Uh… why?” I scratched the back of my head, before a sudden thought came into my mind, “Ohh wait! So he can make friends with them!”

“Exactly!” Megu-nee patted on my hat, “If he doesn’t know what Kurumi nor Rii-san likes and dislikes, how could he get along with them?”

“Wow…” I paused for a second, “Wait, then why hasn’t he ever asked me for anything?”

Megu-nee paused for a second, staring at the pond as she pondered over my question. Eventually, she looked back up with an excited face.

“Because all he needed was your smile!”

“My… smile?”

“Of course Yuki-chan! Without your smile, how would he be able to find the motivation to prepare your birthday? Especially since he has to tend to his duties as a Council President?”

“Yeah! I should do something for Ryu!” I turned over, my face lit up in excitement, “Perhaps a birthday party for him?”

“His birthday was in February unfortunately, Yuki-chan”

“Oh…” I paused for a second, “Well maybe after Graduation!”

“That’ll be fun! Perhaps I can stop by with you to help celebrate his birthday”

“Yeah! Let’s do that! We can still keep in contact even if we split into universities”

“That’ll be perfect Yuki-chan!”

As we both continued staring by the pond, the backdoor nudged open with Ryu stepping over, only holding a baseball bat this time.

“Oh, Yuki! Megu-nee” He stepped over, “What are you two doing?”

“Uh… just tending to the ponds” I responded back, “Megu-nee was just worried about us”

“I see… thanks Megu-nee” He gave a warm smile.

“It’s no big deal Tanaka-kun” Megu-nee looked up at the sky for a second, before tapping on my shoulder, “We should head back to the parking lot before Wakasa-san gets worried”

“Yeah!” I stood up, now making a quick sprint off, “Let’s go!”

“Wait up!” Ryu and Megu-nee followed soon after.

The three of us eventually made our way back to the gas station, managing to sneak inside without waking Kurumi nor Rii-san up. Ryu decided to sneak back up on the rooftop, deciding to watch the sunrise in the meantime.

We went back on the road. Yet this time I was driving but slower than usual since Kurumi didn’t want to hit her head on the trunk again.

Despite the few roadblocks, we managed to negotiate through by using the road leading to Hano’s house. Due to the slow drive, Yuuri had noticed the sign to her house, turning over to me.

However, before Yuuri could say a word, Yuki instantly patted her shoulder. Eventually, she nods before looking back at the window.

I resisted the urge to say thank you, rather I gave a quick thumbs up towards Yuki while Rii-san continued to stare into the map. After making a few turns, we eventually made our way towards an open freeway leading to our destination.

I will admit, I lie a lot. Not the best but at least I can roll it off my tongue without attracting great attraction.

I’ve done questionable things. Hide secret after secret while eventually being forced to admit when realising that it wouldn’t matter anymore. Tore friendships up in the name of friendships.

Why do I admit the truth randomly? No idea.

Sometimes I still wonder if what I’ve hidden makes me feel more or less of a friend. It makes me question a lot of things. Do I keep lying to keep up Yuki’s smile and delusion as per my promise, or do I face what seems to be the future? Do I pretend to be a functioning person able to control myself when in reality I’d do anything to make sure she was safe? Do I continue portraying myself to be an innocent person seeking a way to smile when in reality, I don’t deserve it?

I don’t answer a lot of questions. Nor do I want you to answer them for me. I’ll find out later.

Even as we reached close to the mall, I still find it amusing that the society I’ve once rejected is now the same lifestyle I try to mimic for Yuki’s sake. And to be honest, I’ve kinda missed it. The old me three weeks ago used to see society as no better than the apocalypse I’m in right now, but that line of perception is flawed. Perhaps a bit cruel and insensitive.

The School Life Club, or specifically its members, have kept me smiling and I intend to keep that smile. Not for myself, but for them as well as they’re trying hard to keep each other happy in a world where we’re not even sure if we’d make it to the next day. I’ll play along for their sake.

After all, that’s what a friend would do, right?