Shidou's brows furrowed and he grit his teeth in apparent annoyance.
"Are you really going to leave behind all these students who need you?!" He snarled as he stomped forward a step. "How could you disgrace your status as a teacher? As a nurse?"
Thck!!
The sharp discharge of a nail from Kohta's gun lanced through the air, grazing through the side of Shidou's cheek to embed itself into a chair in the back between two frightened students; Shidou recoiled, leaning against a chair as he almost stumbled to the ground, holding his bleeding cheek.
His gaze quivered over that of a livid Kohta.
"H-Hirano-kun?" He squealed the young man's name.
Kohta growled, threatening his nail gun at him, "I didn't miss. You're just lucky I wasn't trying to hit."
Shidou's hand clutched the chair he used for support, quivering the words, "N-Now, Now, I know you're a reasona-"
Yet Kohta's outraged holler interrupted him; the young man's visage contorting with disdainful ire:
"Do you know how many people I killed at school?!" He snarled, "You've never taken me seriously! But I held it in! I always kept it bottled up! I wanted to live a normal life, so I always held my anger in!"
Kohta grinned visciously, threatening his nail gun towards the man again as he continued:
"But I don't need to anymore!" He roared, "There is no meaning to 'normal' anymore!"
His glare sharpened and his grin sunk into the abyss of malice.
"I don't mind killing you if I have to," He swore. "Even if you're still alive. Try me."
Shidou shook to his feet, retreating in his steps with his arms raised and slightly waving in disarm.
"T-That's going a bit..."
Kohta once again interrupted, "Busujima-senpai, Sonokawa-san, get out. I'll follow behind."
"You can do it if you try, huh, idiot fatty!" Saya raced out giggling, with the bag slung over her shoulder.
Saeko smiled in appreciation, glancing back to him as she took her bokken and strut out of the bus, leaving behind the words:
"You're a real man, Hirano-kun."
Kohta followed behind, briefly glaring back at all the uneasy and frightened students. Clearly none of them had fought for their lives, unlike his friends. They were all scared witless.
He slammed the bus door shut, leaving them all in stifling silence.
"S-sensei," One of the female students shuddered their concern.
Therein, Shidou gritted and grated his teeth, glaring at the figures that walked away having abandoned and threatened them with their barbarity.
He whirled in his step, turning to face the students and his visage glossed over with glittering, pleasant relief.
"What a blessing in disguise," He preached, "To be rid of those savage pests!"
Meanwhile, with Dion's group outside, they were greeted by the congested commotion and suffocating heat of the outdoors, all of them complaining audibly about it. The difference was quite unpleasant considering that the air conditioning of the bus had kept them relatively cool.
"Where to now?" Shizuka asked.
"I don't really know this place that well so..." Saeko glanced towards Saya, Kohta and Dion at those words.
"Let's make sure Onbetsu bridge is even crossable first of all." Kohta said.
"It's probably blocked off, just look at all this. I'm pretty sure the other bridges are the same," Saya muttered with apparent annoyance, furrowing her gaze over the seemingly endless procession of cars and people, as she adjusted her bag over her shoulders.
While, as he wiped away licks of sweat from his forehead, Dion said, "We'll walk along the riverside road towards Tokonosu Bridge then. When those two see that there's no way to get across they'll probably try head back here to find us. Going directly through the residental areas will be too risky so I'm guessing they'll come back around like that if they don't decide to go all the way to Sengoku Bridge."
"Nice thinking," Saya agreed before she grumbled, "Let's just hope that idiot Komuro is using his head for once,"
The group then began on their way, avoiding trekking through the winding roads of neighbourhoods, they made it a point to stick beside the road beside the turbulent river waters.
Strangely, they hadn't met many zombies at all. If they did, it was the odd straggler or some small group; they either simply killed them or knocked them down for long enough to rush away.
From these small encounters though, they did recognize that it was not simple hearing that the zombies could sense with. It was too odd, as pointed out by Says, how unlike back in the school, these zombies seemed to stumble towards them from far away randomly too many times.
There had to be something more.
"The flood protection works are going through the most." Kohta mentioned with a wary confusion on his face, "What's even going on? I know it's been raining but this..."
"It wasn't like this this morning," Saya mentioned, remembering the sights of the water as she had been making her way to school. She seemed lost in silent pondering at the sudden change.
First the weather, now the river water? She wracked her brain, unable to find answers as a violent crash of water smashed against the concrete above the riverbanks towards their side, drizzling them in glimmers of water.
"..." Dion put on a silent long look at the water before turning away from it.
"Ah! Look!" Shizuka gave a hushed exclamation, pointing her finger down the riverside road.
Saya gave a relieved sigh while the others gave way to faint smiles.
The figures of Takashi and Rei had just turned out of a corner with a motorbike in tow. They seemed to identify their group as well and Rei hurried into a run.
"Sensei!" She exclaimed as she threw herself into Shizuka's arms, eliciting a giggle beneath the thud of their bodies together as they embraced one another happily.
Increasing his pace, Komuro followed closely behind.
"Miyamoto-san," Shizuka acknowledged softly, "Komuro-kun."
Takashi grinned widely at her and their pleasant reunion took off. The boys, Dion Kohta and Takashi gave each other brief nod and smile.
"I'm glad to see you're unharmed, Komuro-kun," Saeko said, smiling gently at him.
"You too, Busujima-senpai," Takashi told through a faint blush and smile.
Then a hand came nudging him back by the shoulder and through an almost upset pout, Saya muttered:
"What about me?" Her brows furrowed yet she blushed.
"I-I'm glad you're okay too, Sonokawa."
"Now that we're back together, what's the plan?" Kohta asked, "Should we try to squeeze our way through the lines of people on Onbetsu Bridge? Or should we check Sengoku Bridge first?"
Everyones attention had drawn away from the reunion at those words. In a brief moment of pondering, they all stood silently.
"If only the water was calm...we could have tried swimming across upstream where it should have been shallow," Saya muttered as she crossed her arms.
Dion frowned faintly as his brows furrowed, and his hand wiped at the sweat of his forehead. He looked at his moist hand for a moment then wiped his neck with his other and sighed.
"I don't want us in the water," His words drew their attention. The brows abover his eyes creased slightly as a bead of sweat slipped between them, "What if people aren't the only things that are turning into zombies?" He said heavily.
They all recoiled into grim silence. It was a small detail. A tiny one, when you think of how mentally occupying the reality that humanity was actively transforming into zombies. Now that he had removed the veil from such a possibility, they all became reluctant.
"The cats and dogs seem fine though..." Rei mentioned, seeking hope in her words. They had seen many wandering small animals along the way and none had changed.
"Perhaps...that's simply because they aren't the zombie's main dietary option," Saeko frowned deeply as she clutched her bokken tighter and, within her eyes, an odd, almost threatening glimmer speckled. "Although, that doesn't explain how the fish as well may have possibly transformed."
She crossed her arms, pursing her lips a little, "In the first place, we know nothing of how and why the first human transformed or was infected. Other animals may even be more resistant naturally, however we can't be sure the fish are the same and testing it out by risking our lives just to cross the bridge is not worth it when we are so exhausted and lack information."
Nearly everyone's grimace deepened as they nodded.
Saya groaned in frustration, scratching at her head briefly.
"To hell with all of this." Takashi cursed.
"Whatever the case may be, as much as I want to get across, I don't want to risk throwing ourselves into water we can't defend ourselves in if need be." Dion firmed.
"Um..." Shizuka summoned their attention as she said, "Then I think it's best we call it a day. Rest and plan for tomorrow,"
"Rest...?" Kohta muttered with an almost deflated confusion.
"It'll be getting dark soon," Shizuka explained reluctantly, glancing at the sun that was near to beginning it's disappearance below the horizon. "When it's dark it'll be difficult for Sil-kun and Busujima-san if we run into trouble,"
"Yeah but where can we stay until morning?" Saya questioned.
"I'm sure we could hold our own in the castle," Saeko grinned, pointing behind them towards a tall castle structure
"Heh," Through a grinning chuckle, Takashi responded, "We couldn't protect against a siege with this few people."
"..." Rei glanced reluctantly and almost warily as they chuckle between each other.
Dion himself seemed space out, simply staring beyond the tumultuous river, in the direction of his home.
'I might not make it through safely even if I'm alone...the police barricades are strict and everyones agitated. I don't know yet what the state of the animals is. If I force it, I could be throwing myself into a deadly situation. I should just...' Such thoughts occupied him amidst their discussions.
"..." Shizuka seemed to be the only one paying his space-out self some silent attention, with her expression still.
Then, she glanced back to everyone else.
"Excuse me, but I know a place we can stay at," Shizuka offered, interrupting the others, "It's a short walking distance from here."
"Oho~ Is it your boyfriends place?" Saya asked with a coy smile, almost slightly vengeful in its playful inquisition.
Jolting into a blush, Shizuka's hands fluttered before her, "N-No." She stuttered.
"It's my bestfriend's house. She's been busy with work at the airport and stuff for the past few weeks so she gave me a key so I could clean and watch over the place." She explained frantically as her gaze fluttered between all of their curious glances.
"Is it an apartment? Does it have an open view?" Kohta asked.
"Oh, yes." She explained, "It's on the river bank and it's a maisonette. There should be a convenience store nearby too."
Then she brightened into happy realisatoin, futtering her hands with wide gestures as she said, "And there's a car that's like a military vehicle too,"
"This big," She continued to gestrue with her arms.
"That's what she said," Dion snickered and she reddened back into a furious blush, skipping over to nugde him.
"Mou, Sil-kun stop teasing me already!" She nudged him as he chuckled to himself and shrugged while everyone else laughed as well.
"Let's get going then," He said.
Then he glanced to Saya and he conntinued.
"Oh, and Sonokawa-san, have you got anything in there I can use? I kind of broke my stick back then,"
Saya blinked momentarily, remembering what he had done, then nodded, rummaging through her back of stuff she had taken from the arts and crafts room of the school.
"Can you use this, Tsubakihara-kun?" She asked as she pulled out a crowbar.
"It's perfect," He smiled faintly as he took it.
She gave a silent hum as a brief look lingered between them then he turned to Takashi.
"Don't leave the bike behind," He said, "We might need it,"
"Lead the way, Marikawa-sensei," Saeko said.
Then, hardly a few minutes later, they stood before the Maisonette of Shizuka's bestfriend - Rika.
And the yards that surrounded them were teeming with just over a dozen zombies.
"As quickly as possible," Dion said firmly, earning nods from their main fighters in Takashi, Saeko and Rei.