Kurumi swung the shovel with all her might, as she jumped out the door. She couldn't see the figure clearly due to her own shadow blocking the light and the fact that whatever she was attacking was wearing black.

Before she could make impact, Kurumi suddenly felt the shovel being yanked out of her hands, letting her stumble to her knees. As quickly as she went down, she glared at the figure. Expecting a zombie or a hostile figure, the pigtailed girl was greeted by a healthy helping hand. With normal human skin. The young girl couldn't believe her eyes, she looked upwards. A man, wearing sunglasses stood above her. "Are you okay?" he asked, reaching his hand further.

"I'm ok." She answered shortly, feeling a bit out of place.

Frank didn't mean to harm the girl. But he didn't expect someone like her to jump him with a shovel of all things. The girl reluctantly took his hand, and he pulled her up. She brushed some dirt of her uniform, which looked identical to the one, most zombies around here were wearing. Frank glanced into the room, where three other girls sat, wordlessly staring at him in awe. His suspicions were correct, these girls barely looked 18. Except for one wearing a black hat, she looked 12.

The apparently oldest of the girls, a brunette quickly jumped from her seat, heading towards Frank. Within seconds, she was inspecting almost every part of his body, with a sharp look in her eyes. After a while, the girl loosed up, smiling. "It looks like you're not bitten."

He returned his gaze at the girl with the pigtails, who was now firmly holding her shovel. "It wasn't my good will to do that. It's not every day, you get jumped with a shovel. But I hand it to ya; that was some impressive skills there." Judging from her physique, Frank found it surprising for a teenager to move that fast with a tool that heavy, nonetheless. He panned over the girls.

"Oh! A camera! Are you a photographer?" the tiny girl with the hat jumped from her seat, as she waltzed towards the man. She grabbed the camera around his neck and was about to take selfies with it, before Frank snatched it out of her hands. "Sorry, Kiddo. That's not a toy. By the way, I'm a photojournalist"

"I'm not a kid!" the girl pouted her lips. Then she stopped for a moment, looking at nothing before saying. "Ok. If you say so, Megu-nee." She turned to Frank, bowing "Sorry."

Frank, on the other hand raised an eyebrow at that. That was, until his stomach begun to growl. "Oh boy." He mumbled. The brunette stroke a lock behind her ear. "You must be hungry. I think we still have some curry left."

"Sorry for jumping you earlier," the pigtailed girl, smiled albeit embarrassed "I'm Kurumi Ebisuzawa." She said, before glancing at her brunette friend, who ate as dignified as the Queen of England. She wiped her mouth, before saying "Yuuri Wakasa. Pleased to meet you." She looked over to a blonde girl, whom Frank hadn't really noticed up until now. "Miki Naoki." She said dryly before returning to her food. "Yuki Takeya, but you can call me Yuki-chan!" the little girl eagerly said. "Ok. Frank West." He finally said, just now noticing how out of place he was in a band of Japanese schoolgirls.

"Oh, and this is Megu-nee!" Yuki pointed at thin air. "Megumi Sakura." Yuuri corrected. "She's our teacher." Imaginary friends had always been a red flag to Frank, and he became wary. "Ok?" albeit considering Yuki was only a child, he guessed it couldn't be helped. It would not surprise him if the girl became mental because of the outbreak.

"Anyway, what are you girls doing here on your own?"

A glum silence entered the room. Perhaps he shouldn't have said that.

These girls had been trapped in their own school, unable to talk to their families. It could only be crushing to be put in that situation, not to mention the constant threat of death outside. "Sorry, 'bout that." He said, proceeding to pan at the girls to find any reaction.

It was Yuki, who broke the silence.

"We're living here! That's the purpose of the School Living Club! And Megu-nee is our advisor. The others think it's a bit weird, but I don't mind. They like coming here and have fun! And the most important thing is that we all love school!" Yuki gleefully explained. "They're probably busy with their own clubs, senpai" Miki said. "But it is possible to join two clubs at the time." Yuuri smiled.

"Hmm, maybe more members could be nice?" Kurumi pondered. "Yes! Then it could be like our own little country. And we could go and have fun like watching fireworks! And eating cake! I bet everyone would be happy too!"

"The others…?" Frank nearly choked on a piece of chicken. He frowned deeply. Though he was surprised by Yuki's upbeat nature, he really had a hard time not questioning her state of mind. She lived at school, which was understandable giving the situation at hand, and she was likely, with no doubt unstable, which was just tragic. "Sorry to interrupt but you do know there's a zom-"

"I hoped you enjoyed the food!" Yuuri interrupted, sharply glaring at Frank for a brief moment. "It was really delicious!" Kurumi smiled, watching the brunette rising from the table, taking the plate with her. "Miki, why don't you show Mr. West around." Miki shrugged, nodding. That wasn't a question. Sighing mentally, she stood up and looked at Frank, not really wanting to do this. But for the greater good, he needed to know.

Another staircase lead to the school roof. Before long they were outside, watching something that looked a garden. Fields of vegetables; all kinds of them. There was fruit too, all fresh and colorful. The scenario almost looked the Garden of Eden. It appeared that food was not much of a problem here.

"What's up with her, uh-Yuki? Scratch that, what's with all of you? Everyone else in this building are dead!" suddenly Frank wondered if that was appropriate; for a moment he wondered if they were all unstable, then it hit him; the barricades! There was no possible way, none of these girls knew about the zombies, otherwise they wouldn't have built them. No one else could, since the wires looked maintained. Someone within that club knew.

But how long had they been there? Had they lost their minds because of constant isolation? Why did Yuki act like nothing ever happened at all?

So many question kept flying around in Frank's head, he was sure hell it was going to explode.

"Nothing is wrong with either of us, not even Yuki-senpai. She's just… distressed." Miki looked away. Frank frowned "Don't expect me to believe that." He changed his tone.

"Look… I can fully understand if you are stressed out by the outbreak, and if you're unable to contact your parents. I'm sorry." Frank placed a hand on Mikki's shoulder; the girl shrugged by the gesture. "Don't expect me to believe that." She said, mockingly, trying to convey a smile. Maybe she should try not to be so gloomy.

"Well, of course." Frank smirked, perhaps he wasn't much of a jerk as the girls made him feel like.

"Yuki-senpai began to 'ignore' the outbreak when Megumi-sensei died." Miki's lips dropped again. "At first, I too couldn't understand why Kurumi-senpai and Rii-san played along. In fact, I hated it."

"So why do you condone it now?"

"Perhaps you of all people here should now. You mentioned it yourself." Miki smiled again, this time a little brighter. "It's hard, true. But with Yuki-senpai, these times become more wonderful. You can't constantly keep worrying about everything."

Growing more serious, she grabbed Frank's wrist. "Please, don't hurt senpai…" the blonde girl said, almost begging.

Frank felt conflicted; could he live with himself ignoring the Yuki's mentality, outright playing along with her illusion or be the voice of brutal reason and show her reality. He could barely bring himself to choose the former, yet he had to. For now. "Ok." He said lowly, removing his hand from Miki's shoulder.

Yuuri sighed, frustrated and worried as she washed dishes, putting the leftover curry and rice in the refrigerator. Perhaps she could mix something up with whatever could be found tonight. The inventory was growing a little thin and now they needed to provide for four girls, a dog and…

A sudden rush of heat went to her body, making her see red for a brief second. She slammed the door to the refrigerator, her nails digging into the handle. What now? What now? What now? What of he destroyed everything?

And then it was gone.

Forget it… you're just stressed. Relax. He is not a bad person.

"Rii-san?" Yuki came from the doorway. "Ahh, Yuki-chan. You startled me." the brunette said, keeping her back to the pink-haired girl. She didn't need to be seen like this.

"Rii-san, are you all right?" Yuki asked, clearly worried. Taromaru barked. "I'm fine." Yuuri responded, albeit distant.

"By the way, Yuki-chan. Can you call the others here?"