I won’t beat around the bush for now, since you already know what happened to Hano.

It’s a secret I often like to keep from anyone. The only reason why I had revealed it to Kurumi was due to my distraught at the time.

It feels stupid in my opinion. But I’ve concluded that if I hadn’t explained why, I would’ve been treated in a similar way to Yuki.

“Ready?” Kurumi knocked on the door.

“One second” I reached for a face mask, placing it under my chin in the meantime, “Gotta get some gloves”

My entire body was pretty much covered from my foot to my head. My blazer reinforced by a small removable textbook wrapped in tape around my arms. I had also brought in some head and face protection in the meantime.

I’ll admit, watching all of those zombie shows and movies have turned me into an ‘expert’.

“How do I look?” I swung the door open.

“Ridiculous” Kurumi chuckled, “May I?”

“Sure”

Kurumi threw my baseball helmet onto the couch and slid my face mask behind the scarf.

“If you wanna look good yet protected for the occasion, just go for fashion while hiding the protective features”

“I never knew you were into fashion”

“I’m not, it’s common sense”

“I see”

Most guys I know don’t dress to impress in a casual meeting. By the looks of how they chose their clothing, it might as well be the first shirt they found in their closet.

“What’s with the equipment?” Kurumi pointed, “It better be good”

“Tennis balls, kitchen knives, glow sticks, a few small chair legs I had broken off, and a bottle of water just in case”

“Why the chair legs?”

“They’re long enough to keep distance and help barricade any double doors with a handle”

Kurumi gave a chuckle in response.

I had over prepared myself, yet my philosophy had always been about thinking of everything and preparing for the worse. No possibility was left unnoticed, especially in a situation like this.

“Alright…” Kurumi gave a sigh, “They’re waiting for us at the barricades right now”

“Got it” I did a quick stretch, “Let’s hurry then”

“Race ya there” Kurumi ran down the stairs.

I didn’t bother to try and catch up with Kurumi due to my bag.

After passing through the table barricades, Yuki had started to move in with a carefree attitude towards the end of the hallway.

“Do you think it's a good idea?” Kurumi turned to Yuuri, “Especially with Yuki…”

“I get your point here, but we’re low on supplies anyways. If we were to try and attempt it separately, it could cause issues”

Compared to our last run, I had confidence that the items Yuuri had managed to reserve for the occasion would perform better in the long term rather than being used as a last minute distraction.

I often had to tend to using the leftover or old items I could scavenge in the meantime, so Yuuri had quite a lot to bring to the table.

“We would’ve done this sooner or later and I don’t want to leave Yuki on her own”

Looking at Kurumi’s sorrowful expression over something else and the trail of blood leading into the classroom, I decided not to say anything else.

“Alright, off we go” Yuuri turned to Kurumi who was looking at the door behind her, “Kurumi?”

“Oh, right” Kurumi’s expression hastily changed.

“Don’t tell me you all got cold feet”

“We’re good Yuki-san” I called out while running over, hastily checking the corner of a hallway, “Just give Kurumi and Yuuri-san a moment”

“Alright” Kurumi gave a short nod to Yuuri, “Let’s go”

Walking down the hallways wasn’t much of a concern. However, I had started to stay closer to Yuki, checking each room while trying to suppress Yuki’s cheerful voice in order to listen for any zombies nearby.

“Test of courage~ Test of courage” Yuki hummed while leading the group through the barricades.

“Tense up a little,” said Kurumi.

“It’d be scary if you ran into a real ghost” Yuuri mentioned while carrying the boombox.

“But it’s school. Nothing’s gonna come out”

“You don’t know what ghost could be lurking around this place” I reached for a tennis ball from my bag.

“Right…” Yuuri stopped, “There is no one in the school building at this hour… But what if there is someone…”

Yuuri’s aura had almost wiped Yuki and Kurumi’s hopes of going around the school carefree.

“That’s right” Yuuri switched back to her usual smile, “You know what? Ghosts are so lonely that they are drawn to people’s voices”

She turned on the radio which emitted a small calm melody yet loud enough to pretty much attract anyone close to the second floor.

“Then you shouldn’t switch the radio on!” Yuki looked in confusion.

“Huh? I thought you said there are no ghosts?” Kurumi looked at her with a smug face.

“O-Of course not! But you never know”

“From past experience…” I said, “There’s definitely a ghost around here”

“Kurumi and Ryu are right” Yuuri pointed to the other hallway, “So let’s leave the radio here and go from the stairs over there”

“Wow Rii-san, you’re so smart!”

While walking down the hallway, I leaned over to Yuuri.

“Good thinking, where’d you get the boombox?” I whispered.

“Just the music room”

“Do you think we can retrieve it after the test of courage?”

“Of course” Yuuri nodded, “The boombox doesn’t replay the music so we should be able to distract it”

“Good thinking Yuuri” I took a few glances around the nearby classrooms, before continuing forward.

“By the way Ryu-san” She took a quick glance at her bag, “Since we’re expecting a lot of supplies from the store, can I ask that you help carry some in the meantime?”

“Of course” I patted my bag, “I’ve emptied out the main compartment of it”

Any remaining doubts I had of Yuuri’s ability were squashed.

“Ah, you’re all here,” Sakura arrived at the stairs.

“Yes…” Yuki whispered in return.

“The test of courage is a great idea, I just hope that you don’t push yourselves too hard”

“Megu-nee… quiet down!” Yuki whispered loudly.

“Okay okay” She did a quick nod, “But how do we split up?”

Yuki leaned over to Yuuri.

“W-why don’t we all go together for a change?”

“Sounds good” Yuuri smiled, “Let’s do that”

“Yay!” Yuki hugged her.

“Then the five of us will stick together,” Sakura said with excitement.

I did a quick tap at Yuuri’s shoulder, followed by her responding with a nod.

“First of all… let’s head to the school store… then perhaps the library… Hmmm… any other ideas?” Sakura looked at us.

I did another quick tap after a moment.

“Alright, we’re going to the school store first, then the library after. We should all come back with evidence that we’ve been there. If we get separated, return to these stairs quietly. Got it?”

“Roger” Yuki followed.

“Good planning Wakasa-san,” Sakura smiled.

“Let’s roll” Yuuri and Kurumi had already reached the stairs by then.

“After you, sensei” I stood close to the stairs, keeping watch in the meantime.

“Thank you”

We continued towards the school store, as I continued to check for any nearby zombies inside the classrooms. To my surprise and convenience, we didn’t run into many.

“No… ghost?” said Yuki.

“Don’t let your guard down Kurumi” Yuuri opened the door.

While Kurumi hastily went through each aisle of the store, I decided to wait outside the door for the time being.

“Are you going to wait outside for the time being?” Sakura looked at me.

“I’ll be fine. Somebody’s gotta look out for the ghosts”

While Yuuri and Kurumi scavenged through the entire floor, I waited outside, staring into the moon that had illuminated the school.

For some reason, I couldn’t get my head off of the most trivial things ever. Such as if the astronauts even knew what happened. It sounded like something Yuki would think of.

“Alright Ryu, it’s your turn” Kurumi patted my shoulder before standing guard outside.

Everyone had taken the important items of the stores such as the school uniforms and shampoo. With the exception of Yuki who instantly ran for the food section.

While taking a small packet of balloons, Yuki ran up to me in excitement.

“Kurumi-chan! Ryu-kun! Look! Look!” Yuki called out to her.

“Can you keep it down a bit?” I whispered to Yuki.

“What is it?” Kurumi walked over.

“It says here they can be inflated up to twenty times their size” Yuki instantly stuffed them into her bag, “I’m taking them”

“Hey, hey. How are they useful…” Kurumi grabbed onto a tree clipper in the meantime.

“Did you gather all the evidence you need?” Yuuri walked over from the entrance.

“Yeah” Kurumi left the tree clipper in the bucket.

We had started to make our way towards the library, this time in a more calmed atmosphere after seeing nobody.

“Next stop is the library huh?” Kurumi led the group down the hallway.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I’d like to find myself some math textbooks,” Yuuri responded.

“Either a science or cookbook will do fine” I zipped my bag.

“Manga for me!” Yuki said with excitement while Sakura followed shortly.

The library looked slightly different from the last time I ran into it. Kurumi had given me the ‘Be on alert’ look as we entered.

“It’s so dark. Can I switch the lights on?” said Yuki.

“Well, we are doing a test of courage” Yuuri whispered, “Hey, watch your step”

“Okay!” Yuki walked ahead of the group.

“Go ahead, I’ll take a look around here” Kurumi stood guard by the door.

“Me too” I stood close to the librarian’s table, “You three go on ahead”

While Yuuri, Yuki, and Sakura had made their way down the library, I took a quick glance at Kurumi.

“What?” Kurumi returned a look.

“Do you think there’d be any of them around here?”

“Probably not” She did a quick look around the hallway, “You can thank Yuuri for that”

“Indeed…” I reached for a small tennis ball, “Quite the leader I would look up to”

“Yeah” Kurumi leaned her shovel towards the wall.

“So… about Hano?”

The change of subject seemed inappropriate at this time. But I needed to confront Kurumi about it, for now.

Kurumi had that sort of expression you’d get as if someone had orchestrated a crime scene and framed someone else all by accident.

“... What about her?”

“I don’t want you to feel guilty about her, alright?”

Kurumi stopped for a moment.

“Are you some sort of mind reader?”

“One thing I had remembered was that you even had a few loosely associated friends in your class that teased Hano just for fun. You just conformed to it because you thought it wouldn’t hurt”

Kurumi nodded in response, yet I could tell through her shaking hands that she had felt a sort of dread ever since I had told her about Hano.

“I don’t want you to blame yourself for it. I’m sure Hano didn’t mind such little teasing. I can say that with utmost confidence. Those who truly pushed her to the limits probably got what they deserved”

“Yeah… I do feel like that” Kurumi turned over, “Everybody did at one point”

My prediction was on target.

“It was impossible to control an entire middle school to do such. Even some of the high schoolers got into it… from what I heard”

“That widespread?”

I wasn’t exempt from the guilt Kurumi felt. In fact, when she mentioned that, it only alienated it even further.

“Of course”

“It wasn’t as severe for the most part, right?”

“Mhm” Kurumi nodded, “Did you ever do something to the bullies who took it a step further?”

“Yeah, but I was too late for that…”

“...”

“Looking back at it, she probably wouldn’t approve what I did”

“What did you do?” Kurumi turned over to me.

“Are you always that pushy?”

“C’mon. Everything you’ve told me, I still don’t look at you in any negative way”

Should I do it? Is it what a friend would do?

“Fine–” The sound of loud footsteps interrupted me.

As I turned over, Yuuri ran over to us panting.

“We have a problem Kurumi”

…

Great…

“Rii-san, what books do you want?” I asked Rii-san as we walked away from Ryu and Kurumi.

“Textbooks and workbooks”

“That’s so like you” I leaned over to her.

“Nope,” Rii-san responded, “These are for you. Didn’t you say you were struggling with math?” She went through a single textbook with one hand while holding a flashlight on the other hand.

“I’ll go look for books over there” I ran off from Yuuri.

“Wait!” Megu-nee followed.

Before I realized it, I had already reached my favorite manga shelf. All of these books, in one place just for me to borrow and read for the test of courage.

What a dream!

I scanned through each title on the shelves, looking for the latest issue of Darioman in the meantime. For some reason, we still had the same volume as from last time. Perhaps the author was taking a break?

I decided to look for another manga.

“These look interesting” I said to myself while reaching for a book, “Oh Megu”

“Hey, you shouldn’t run off alone” Megu-nee walked over, “You startled Rii”

“Sorry…”

“Come on, let’s go back to the others”

“Okay!”

I noticed the figure passing by the shelves.

“Huh? Is that a ghost?”

Megu-nee placed her hand over my mouth, dragging me away towards another aisle. As she continued, I squirmed my mouth around, trying to utter another word.

“Mmmmmhm!” Megu sat me down, hugging close to the bookshelf.

“Quiet” Megu whispered, releasing her hand.

The sound of a low groan behind the shelves silenced me completely.

It is definitely a ghost!

I felt a sense of fear enter my body. Thoughts started to rush into my mind, paralyzing me on the spot with only Megu comforting me.

If the ghost would come over and terrify us or take me or Megu-nee away. How would Rii-san, Ryu, or Kurumi find me?

All of these thoughts started to rush into my head, pausing every time I heard each footstep.

Another step followed soon, with the groan growing louder by every second.

Please let it be a delinquent… or a school dweller who overslept at the tables… just anything else other than a ghost…

I started to hold my breath in as it took another step, leaning close to Megu-nee’s shoulder.

A dark figure started to pass by us, its figure completely completely taller than anyone I’ve ever seen. It was slow, yet the groan it made kept me almost paralyzed.

At that moment, I had hugged myself close to Megu-nee, closing my eyes.

Seconds turned into minutes, as we sat there closely watching the figure pass by us. I had kept total silence, not even wanting to breathe.

I only felt the urge to say something by the time I couldn’t hear its footsteps.

“Megu-nee…” I whispered, “That thing…”

I felt Megu’s warm embrace.

“Don’t worry… the others will help you. They’ll definitely come. There’s no need to be afraid when they’re by your side”

I heard a thwack from across the floor, followed by the sound of a ball bouncing on the ground. Yet despite whoever was doing that, I sat close to the safety of Megu-nee.

“Don’t move”

I pulled my hat closer to my eyes, my body still filled with dread.

All I could hear next was a sudden slash. Followed by another. And another. It continued for some time until chatter followed.

It kept on going for a while until I could faintly hear the voice of someone else trying to intervene.

I decided to stay put in the meantime, under the safety of Megu-nee.

“Waah!” I felt a sudden flash of light burst through my eye.

“Oh, there you are,” Kurumi called out, with Yuuri and Ryu standing close by.

“Are you okay Yuki-chan?” Yuuri looked over, “Are you hurt anywhere?”

My eyes started to feel watery.

“I’m sorry!” I jumped up towards Yuuri, hugging her.

“It’s alright…” Yuuri gave a small comforting pat.

“It’s good that Megu-nee told you not to move,” said Ryu.

I looked over at him, noticing how red his school shirt was.

“Eek! What happened to you?” I lurched away in fear.

“Oh this?” Ryu pointed at his shirt, followed by a laugh, “Don’t worry! I played a prank on the ghost and dumped some paint over him!”

“I was so scared of the ghost. But Megu-nee was there for me” I turned over to her, who looked at me confused.

“Thank you Sensei,” Ryu said with a smile.

“Thank you, Megu-nee” Yuuri lowered her flashlight.

“Thanks Megu” Kurumi followed with a bow.

“Not you too, Ebisuzawa-san” Megu looked at us with a smile, “Don’t worry about it. I’m your club advisor after all!”

Megu-nee never wanted you to thank her for anything, even if she truly deserved it. She would always try to say that it was just her role as a teacher.

Yet she is more than just a teacher. She’s a friend I never want to lose.

By the time we reached the stairs leading to the third floor, Yuki had retained that same cheerful smile as before.

“What did you think, Yuki-chan? Was the test of courage fun?” said Yuuri.

“Yup!” Yuki turned over, “Lots of fun! Let’s do it again next year!”

“Sure, why not?” Kurumi continued up the stairs.

Despite Kurumi’s carefree response, I stopped to think. Sure we’re all in third year, but that meant that trying to convince Yuki that time had truly slowed down or completely stopped was harder for me.

At this point, toying with time isn’t the best idea. It’s best we move forward regardless.

“What about graduation? Would you really want to do that during University?”

“Oh right!” Yuki stopped, “I don’t know”

“Are you looking out for graduation?”

“Of course! I won’t miss graduating with you all!”

Kurumi slowed down for a moment.

When she does, it often was due to the fact that she was reminiscing about Katsuragi. It’s hard not to sympathize with her to be honest, especially since the times I’ve only blushed out of embarrassment when accused of liking someone when I don’t.

“What university do you want to go to?” Yuki looked at me.

“Perhaps one in the United States! I have relatives there”

“Wow! You have to study hard then, don’t you?”

“Of course I will. Alongside having to speak English fluently”

“You know how to speak English?” Yuki looked at me in awe.

“You say as if nobody can”

“I know, but that means you can easily speak to others in America!”

It’s a shame I didn’t get to travel to the USA.

The country isn’t really the safest compared to Japan, but from what I heard, I reckon people could defend themselves in a pinch. Perhaps rescue had already taken place there and we were next in line.

Perhaps it’s best to kiss my hopes of a normal life goodbye.

As we unpacked our items while Yuki and Megu-nee decided to hang out in their quarters, I noticed Yuuri and Kurumi holding a concerned expression.

“Good work out there” I tapped on Yuuri’s shoulder, “I was worried things were going to go downhill”

“Me too…” Yuuri looked at my shirt, “Do you have a spare uniform?”

“I have plenty of spares fortunately. Sorry for running off” I scratched my head.

“It’s alright. I know you were trying to protect Yuki…” Yuuri did one last glance at my bloodied shirt, “Perhaps you should’ve let Kurumi do it for you”

“Yeah…” Kurumi slowed down to join in on the conversation, “For a smart guy like you, you are quite messy”

Kurumi’s comparison between academic organization and action was silly.

“It’s not like people like me are always making the best decisions”

“Yeah, I know”

“I’ll be back soon”

I felt Yuuri tug on my blazer.

“I wanted to ask you something”

“Go on”

Yuuri’s heavy breath indicated to me the serious nature of the conversation.

“While you were handling the zombie, I had noticed that you looked weird”

Hm?

“What was it about me?”

“Despite covering your mouth with a scarf, I could tell from your eyes… you felt… y’know”

After waiting for Yuuri to try and articulate the words, she gave another tug.

“Crazy?”

I stopped dead in my tracks, turning over to her.

“I’m not insane Yuuri”

For some reason, I had this feeling I’ve rarely had before when I met that one zombie. Something completely different and almost malevolent that had taken over me when I realized the nature of it.

It was pretty much a feeling I’ve gone along without any question to it.

Despite it happening just a few moments ago, all I felt was a sort of blur in my action, marked by a few key moments such as pulling up my mask and Yuuri and Kurumi running over to me.

Was that what you call hatred?

I’ve only had such a feeling like that once in my lifetime. Yet today, it seemed as if I was reliving the same feeling.

“Hm, I know you aren’t” Yuuri continued walking, “Please don’t scare me like that”

“Don’t worry about it”

“Alright, we’ll be heading to sleep” Yuuri got up.

“Got it”

“See ya” Kurumi gave a short wave.

“Goodnight”

I had to tend to a shirt that reeked of blood for the night. A reminder that somehow, everything turned into a blur at that very moment. Even now, I thought that I had just blacked out and I’m in heaven.

I’ll admit, even I can’t seem to understand myself.