Day 0
In a certain high school, the quiet after school life dominated the grounds. Students happily talked of the ups and downs of their day, what they would be doing later, or one of another limitless topics. These little bunches of friends scattered throughout the school to the point where you couldn't look in any direction anywhere without at least seeing a single person.
Teachers, meanwhile, made sure none of those groups causes too much trouble, else they end up distracting them from important work and marking. Not that there was ever really any problems, but nothing was ever perfect.
Other teachers kept a track of the wide variety of clubs and sports teams, which kept relatively well kept and didn't cause problems.
Well, most of them…
There was a certain staircase that had an interesting reputation. It was usually either avoided whenever possible, or flocked with people who would stand in blessed joy. Teachers were usually among the former, and students fell into the latter. The quiet sounds of music from the little doorway at the top of the stairs resounded through the air, the quiet melody stretching into the ears of smiling students. Even people in nearby clubrooms stopped to listen, even if for just a moment.
Come on...Pick up…
Yui's guitar continued to strum to her mental beat, the song having become practically rooted within her mind. She felt the music sound through her, and along with the others, found herself unable to focus on anything except for it.
She was one with her playing.
And then it was over.
The music came to a slow halt, the final echo of their music passing through the little room. For a moment, everything was silent, everyone taking in the feeling of the music.
It was Yui who broke the silence.
"I think we can take a break. Who's with me?"
"Seconded." Ritsu added, happily getting up from her drum set and making her way to the table.
Azusa simply sighed and shook her head.
"We just had a break 2 songs ago. We need to be practicing…" She stated, slightly exasperated. Mio quietly raised her hand in support.
"I agree. Let's at least get one more song in before we take another break."
None of this mattered, of course, as Mugi had already begun laying out more sweets and tea along the back table. Yui's eyes glowed brightly at the treats, and even Mio found herself walking over. It was pointless to try to drag Yui back at this point, and Ritsu would be hard to budge too.
"Azu-nyaaan. Come on, join us." Yui cried from across the room.
"All of you…" Azusa set down her guitar and made her way to the table where a little cake sat waiting for her. She dug a little fork into it, the little dessert crippling under its softness and happily piling onto her fork. She bit into it and was instantly met with a sweetness that she never stopped finding joy in. As much as she didn't like the band slacking off like this, she couldn't deny that Mugi knew what good treats looked like.
No response.
The banging grew louder as she dialed her phone once more, praying that she would get her call.
Come on, Yui…
Yui turned her head to look towards the window, unsure of why she had thought to do it or what was interesting. She just did.
Azusa cleared her throat, prompting Yui to stop and look at her. The others did the same.
"While we're here, I think it might be a good idea to at least talk about our practices."
Everyone nodded their head, nobody having any objections.
"Alright, then. First off, Yui-senpai, I think you had a few moments where you stumbled on the lyrics."
"Hehe. Sorry…" She continued to stare off into the window, her comment probably having gone in one ear and out the other.
She continued anyways.
"Ritsu-snpai, you're slightly off pitch in the ending."
She responded with a simple thumbs up and nothing more.
"Anything more?"
Azusa took a moment to think, but shook her head.
"Actually, that's all the comments I had. Other than that, I think it was great, and I'm sure we can do this with just a little bit more work."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry. We'll do great, but I wonder if we should get Sawa-chan to get us some new outfits." Ritsu added.
Mio felt a shiver go through her.
"M-maybe we should just stick to practicing for now. We can worry about outfits later…" Mio went quiet and the others slowly followed. Nobody dared to disturb the silence.
"Yui, I think your phone is ringing." Mugi stated. The sounds of the room returned to normal. Yui slowly made her way to her bag. As she opened it up, she found it slightly vibrating against the inside. She opened it up and found her sisters number against the screen before the vibrating came to a halt.
I should call her back
Before she could type the first digit, the phone began to vibrate again, her sisters number once again boldly displaying on her screen. With a little bit of worry, she put the phone to her ear.
"Ui, I'm-" She didn't even get through her first sentence before Ui's panicked voiced broke through.
"You picked up...thank you thank you thank you. Are you still in the club room?"
Yui paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. Of course the answer was obvious, but…
"Yui!" Ui's voice came in even more panicked, almost demanding.
"Ah, sorry. Yes, we're still here." She responded slowly. Ritsu leaned up next to Mio.
"I bet Yui forgot to clean up after herself and she's being chewed out for it. Don't you think?" Ritsu asked. Mio simply continued to eat.
Yui listened for her breathing, which was heavy and almost...relieved.
"Alright, good. Whatever you do, do not leave the club room under any circumstances. Make sure the others hear this too."
"Don't...leave the room?" At these words, the club's interest perked up, a mixture of surprise and fear sitting among the members.
"Why?" She quietly asked.
A pause.
"Do you promise to believe me no matter what it is? No matter how unbelievable?"
"Y-yes." Yui responded.
Another pause, this one lasting extensively long.
"Zombies...Zombies everywhere. I don't know how much longer I can hold out."
"Zom...bies?" She attempted to process the word, as if it were entirely foreign to her which, aside from the occasional movie, it really already was.
Mio fell into the corner, slowly muttering to herself.
"Zombies...like, the ones that eat your brains and turn you into them? Where are they?"
Ritsu fell into a dead walk, slowly approaching Mio with a dead expression.
"Mio-chan...I have come for you…" She slowly stated, sending Mio farther into the corner.
"You're not really a zombie...are you?"
"Yes...I am a zombie, and I've come for your braaaains…" She was now overtop of her, and a light tap was enough to bleach her face of colour. Mugi and Azusa still sat worried, watching carefully.
Yui, on the other hand…
Yui held back laughter, trying her very best to not fall to the floor.
"Ui, if you're trying to scare us, you did good, but that wasn't nice. Mio-chan is really scared."
The two continued in the background.
"Yui, I'm not lying or joking. Please, you-" The call ended abruptly, the loud beeps doing little to reassure her.
Still, zombies? She could have done better than that, but then again, it did do a pretty good job.
"Are you sure everything's alright?" Mugi asked. "She...wasn't serious, was she?"
"Of course not. Zombies aren't real." Yui replied.
Mio temporarily lifted her head, but forced it down again with another touch from Ritsu.
"But, she sounded serious when she told you to stay in the club room. At least, it looked like it from you."
"Ah, maybe she's planning a surprise for us, and doesn't want us to see it. Maybe it's a haunted house."
"If it is, she's doing a good job at it." Mugi stated.
"I'll call her back and let her know that we'll stay in the club room."
She dialed her number on her phone, walking to the door and letting it call.
One ring...two rings...three rings...four rings….five rings...beep...beep...beep…"
She hung up, calling her number again.
Same response.
"She's not picking up. I'm sure she's still just trying to scare us, though." Yui said with a smile over her face, though there was a part of her that said she was faking it. Even so, she picked up her guitar and started softly playing it. Soon enough, Azusa and Mugi joined her, and Ritsu and Mio followed shortly after.
"This'll pass the time quickly. Everyone ready?" Yui asked.
The others nodded, but none of them were really sure about the answer. Nonetheless, they still played, trying to keep their minds off the weird events.
About halfway through, Azusa heard a groan from somewhere behind her.
"Ritsu-senpai, did you get enough to eat?" She whispered.
"Hm?" She responded among the drums
"Never mind."
Their playing continued, mistakes abundant among the entire group. Nobody could blame anyone for it, though. Anyone except Ui, that is.
"Don't be mad at her. It was just a joke." Azusa thought to herself.
The groaning didn't stop and Azusa found everyone casting glances at each other, some even at themselves.
When they finished, all of them were looking at each other, unfocused on everything, yet focused on everything in sight.
"Should we take another break? I can bring in some more filling snacks if you'd all like." Mugi suggested.
Azusa was uninterested. She made her way to the door, taking a peek through the little window. For a solid minute, she stood there, unmoving. If she weren't standing up, it would be a genuine question of whether or not she was even alive.
Ritsu made her way towards the lifeless girl.
"Asusa-chan, are you okay?"
The girl said nothing, but the fact that Ritsu barely managed to catch her falling to the floor said a lot. A little too much, in fact.
"Azusa-chan! What happened? What did you see?"
She looked up at Ritsu with blank eyes that seemed ready to fly out of her head.
"Ui...wasn't lying…" She weakly stated, eyes cast to the zombie in the doorway.