"Quit screaming. You're not bitten."
Kitahara Sosuke gave him a swift kick. "Keep yelling and you'll bring more of them here."
"Not bitten?"
Koga Shouji quickly shoved Tomioka Izumiyama's body off and scrambled up, running a hand across his neck. After confirming he was fine, he exhaled heavily and turned to Sosuke, eyes gleaming with gratitude.
"You saved my life, man. No, big bro, you're my blood brother now. I'm Koga Shouji. What's your name, big bro?"
"Don't go claiming people as family. I'm not your brother."
The world had already ended. Kitahara Sosuke had no interest in gaining siblings or attachments. In this new world, every extra tie was an extra risk. If someone wanted to follow him, they needed to prove their worth in combat. Nothing else mattered.
He nodded toward the body behind Koga. "You just gonna stand there? Want him to take another bite out of you?"
Koga turned his head and nearly jumped out of his skin. Tomioka Izumiyama, who was supposed to be dead, had somehow sat upright again. His eyes now clouded and gray were identical to Matsuda Yuko's before she turned. The gash on his forehead bled freely, but he stared straight at Koga like he wasn't even in pain.
"What the hell?!"
Koga let out a strangled scream and dashed behind Sosuke, panicked. "Big bro, he turned too!"
"You think I can't see that?"
Without hesitation, Sosuke swung his bat once again.
The sound was sickeningly final.
Izumiyama's skull caved in, blood spreading across the floor in thick, dark streaks. The once-clean classroom tiles were now stained with blackish red gore. His twisted corpse twitched once… then fell silent.
Sosuke didn't know the guy. And even if he had, it wouldn't have made a difference.
Sometimes, the malice of the living far outweighed the danger of the dead.
The rest of the students were pale and shaking. Some dry-heaved into trash bins, while others bolted to the back of the room to vomit. No one here had ever seen a real killing before let alone something this gruesome.
Sosuke didn't waste time worrying about their feelings.
He turned back to face the class. "I'm leaving the school. You can stay or come with me. Your choice."
"You're leaving? Right now?"
Kasasaka Shiko's face was pale, but unlike the others, she at least kept it together. She didn't retch or collapse in fear. That already put her a step above.
"But… but didn't Koga say the floors below are crawling with those things? How are we even supposed to get out?"
Her voice shook, but her question was serious.
"Yeah, bro, isn't it better to wait for the police to come? There's too many zombies down there," Koga quickly added.
Sosuke shook his head. "I'm leaving either way. The police aren't answering. And if the lines are down, that means the situation outside is even worse. The initial chaos has already passed. This is the best time to get out."
He looked around. "You saw it yourself. Once someone's bitten, they die and turn. Wait too long and we'll be surrounded."
What he didn't say was this: the lowest-class zombies had poor vision, relying mainly on sound. Right now, with plenty of survivors making noise, their attention was scattered.
But in time, the screaming would stop. The school would go quiet. And the moment you made a sound, they'd all come running.
Once that happened, the only thing left would be death.
"I'm staying. I'll wait here in the classroom. If the police can't handle it, the Self-Defense Force will come. They won't let us die in school," Koga said quickly.
"Yeah. Our school's pretty famous in Tokyo. They won't abandon us."
"Maybe the signal's just blocked. Rescue teams are probably already mobilizing."
Sosuke listened to them mutter excuses and cling to hope, but none of it surprised him.
The strong carve out hope from despair.
The weak wait for salvation.
In this new world, only those who fought would survive long enough to evolve.
They would rise high enough to grasp the moon, dive deep enough to wrestle sea monsters.
To wait and do nothing was suicide.
Kasasaka Shiko hesitated. For all her sharp wit and calm demeanor, when faced with real life-and-death, she realized something.
She was just a normal high school girl.
She had no power. No means to resist. Not even the confidence to swing a bat at a zombified classmate.
Sosuke glanced at her and sighed. There wasn't time to waste. Sentiment had no place here.
"If that's your decision, then stay."
He turned without hesitation.
But the moment she saw his back, Shiko felt a sudden, inexplicable fear like this would be the last time they ever saw each other.
"Wait! Kitahara, I'll go with you!"
She didn't know why she said it. It wasn't love or admiration. Just a gut feeling a sixth sense screaming at her not to stay behind.
Sosuke blinked in surprise. But he nodded.
If she wanted to come, he had no reason to stop her.
In fact, anyone in the classroom who wanted to follow him was free to do so so long as they didn't slow him down. That was the only line he still drew as a human being.
Grudges should be settled. But humanity shouldn't be discarded.
Once you became just another walking corpse, you could never evolve again.
"I'll protect you," Sosuke said, his voice firm.
They stepped out from the fourth-floor classroom.
The sky looked darker than before.
"Seems like the fourth floor's still secure. The zombies probably haven't started climbing yet. Either that, or the noise from other parts of the school is keeping them busy," Sosuke muttered, scanning the area. He could still hear panicked footsteps and the distant hum of car engines.
"Stick close. I'll lead. No matter what happens, don't scream or panic."
"Got it. I'm not that dumb," Shiko replied, gripping a long umbrella in both hands. They'd found several umbrellas in the supply closet. Sosuke had handed her one for self-defense.
She took a deep breath. "Don't underestimate me. I've been working out recently. If nothing else, I'm great at running away. And when I was writing Love Metronome, I looked up a ton of post-apocalyptic novels for inspiration. Sure, I'm scared. But I'm not gonna act like one of those idiot side characters who drag everyone down."
She nodded to herself, then took the lead with cautious determination.
Sosuke smiled silently as he followed behind.
But after a few steps, he frowned.
Love Metronome, if he remembered correctly, was a romantic slice-of-life light novel.
And she looked up zombie apocalypse stories… for that?
Now that was terrifying.
Even falling in love had become a horror story.