A/N: And here's the next chapter for the main story. Here's a question, would you like me to make chapters like the Valentine's one for every international holiday? Or even summer? Tell me and I'll do it.
GAT-X105VividPanzer: Glad you enjoyed it. It's hard to get a romantic mood to settle in. No, I didn't have a date. I stayed at home, writing the chapter (and not finishing it) while listening to one of the gayest songs in the planet. (Garden of Glass anyone?)
Rena Bodewig: Well wait for next time to confess… or don't wait for Valentine's and just do it! Go for it! You managed to mix Eri and Silver up but that's alright since you guessed all of them right! So, tell me what you want and I'll do it.
assassin101ist: I tried to make it as fluffy as I could and I'm glad it worked out with Nozomi and Eri's relationship with Marcos and Silver. Since you are a reviewer and thinks that it would make it better, then I shall follow thy command. I already thought of Silver and Eri's relationship though.
Dash24zappshift: Yeah, since two people wanted Maki to be paired with different characters, I ended up choosing none. But in the end, they did get to share a dance with Maki… but who got to her first?
"Seriously?" Silver asked as he unsheathed his sword and headed in for the kill. He stabbed the zombie in the head and it dropped dead. The silver haired teen kneeled down and examined the zombie. "Hm. It's not Takamitsu, that's for sure. He wore different clothing." He informed Marcos before he stood up. "But I wonder where the two are right now…"
"Shhh…" Marcos ordered and Silver nodded. The blue haired teen pointed at the door to their left. The two sneaked their way to there and heard muffled sounds inside.
"Hey… some- -side… let's -ck it out." A male voice said although very softly that Marcos could only hear some letters and words.
"Wh—if it's n—them?" The other voice, a female one, asked.
Marcos nodded at Silver and the latter opened the door revealing the two red heads at the edge of the room, conversing.
"Ah…" Kei smiled widely at the appearance of the two. He turned back at Maki with a grin on his face. "I told you it was them. You owe me a hundred yen!"
"Not so loud." Maki said, signaling him to lower his voice. "I'll give it to you once I get my bag back." Kei nodded.
The two older males looked at each other in confusion. Both knew what the other was thinking, 'What happened between these two?' They decided to let it go.
"Hey Ryotaru, catch!" Kei said throwing the pocketwatch into the air and Silver caught it.
"Thanks."
The two males gestured them to follow and be quiet. The two red heads nodded and they both followed the two older teenagers to the building which held the rest of Muse.
"Maki-chan!" Honoka exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around the said person. She then broke the hug, letting the others crowd around her.
"We were so worried!"
"You shouldn't have come out to find us!"
Silver cleared his throat to get the attention of the others. Seeing that it didn't work, he stomped his foot hard on the ground, creating a loud noise that by then caught the attention of the worrying girls. "Please stop crowding her. She still needs space."
Maki nodded at his statement and the others backed off.
"Tell us what happened… if you were at the police station then you must've been the ones to open fire…" Nico said.
"Well… we were the ones who fired… first." Maki replied, looking at Kei who was a better story-teller than her.
"This was what happened…"
"Fire!"
The two red heads looked back to see two other men in black and white suits. The man in the black suit raised an eyebrow. "I said fire didn't I?" He asked before taking out his pistol.
Maki and Kei looked at each other and they fired at the zombies almost immediately. Maki was glad that she underwent training for shooting guns with her father for safety. It was usually just pistols but at least the loud sounds didn't bother her much. The recoil was more powerful though and she stopped every once in a while to prevent the gun from hitting her. The horde was too big and they started to worry that they won't get out alive.
"Give us your weapons." White Suit said.
"W-Why?" Kei asked.
"Just give it!" White Suit continued and snatched the gun from Kei's grasp before taking hold of his wrist. Black Suit did the same with Maki. They pulled the two towards a room and threw them inside and said, "Don't go out." He said and shut the door leaving the two in complete darkness.
Moments later, guns were fired again but then stopped. They couldn't hear anything again after a few minutes and then heard one again… in a distance.
"And the next thing we knew, you guys found us." Kei said finishing the story.
"Two guys in black and white suits? I wonder where they ended up." Eri said.
Maki shrugged. "Well wherever they are, we should just hope that they are alive."
"Indeed." Marcos agreed. "If not for them, you two would have certainly been zombies when we arrived."
"Let's thank them if we ever see them again!" Nico exclaimed. "Because… if not for them…" She mumbled the rest but Marcos and Nozomi managed to hear the words, 'she' and 'gone'.
"Well anyway, let's not stay here." Nozomi said. "It's better if we get moving right?"
"Right as always Nozomi." Eri said with a smile.
The violet haired female just smiled in return and they were off once more into the apocalyptic wasteland.
"Can we… go to my house?" Honoka asked the others as they walked to nowhere in particular. "There are supplies there and I can change my clothes… Besides, I want to know if my family survived or not."
"Are you sure though?" Marcos asked the ginger haired girl. "If you do see your family dead… it might break you."
"I'm sure. I will be more at ease if I do see them!" Honoka exclaimed, looking around if it attracted any zombies. "Even if they are…" She gulped. "Dead."
The whole group nodded. "Alright. Which way then?" Kei asked.
Honoka smiled and led them all to her house.
"This is your house?" Silver asked, almost at disbelief. "I'm a regular customer here." He said. They looked at the bakery/home of Honoka.
"Really?" Honoka asked as she looked at Silver. "How come I never saw you?"
"I usually come here wearing a cap and shades. Then a jacket with the hood up." Silver then tried to make out a word to describe him while snapping his fingers and he stopped. "I look like a thief back then."
Honoka then thought hard. "Oh… I remember you! You always buy the same thing on the same day of the week so we always have it prepared." She said with a smile.
"Maybe you two should stop reminiscing your past here outside. Continue it inside and when we already find what happened to Honoka's siblings alright?" Marcos said, pushing his frames up.
"Ah… hai." They both said.
"I'll go in first then." Kei said.
"I'll accompany you." Silver said following Kei from behind. The others fell in a line behind them.
When they entered, they were greeted by a very unsettling silence. "Spread out. See if you can find any sign of life here, may it be zombie or human." Kei ordered to which Silver nodded to.
Silver decided to look downstairs while Kei took the second floor. The others stood guard in the living room.
Kei sneakily made his way to the hallway of the second floor without creating so much as a creak… alright, that's exaggerating it but it's still pretty quiet. He first went to Yukiho's room and opened the door, bat ready, to find no one there. He then made his way to Honoka's room and did the same thing only to get the same result. He went through almost all the rooms and the last room was before him. It was the Master's bedroom meaning this was Honoka's parents' room. He slowly opened it and his eyes widened at the sight…
Silver, on the other hand, had to search through the kitchen to find it completely fine. It didn't show any traces of being opened but what caught his eye was some blood on the cupboards. It looked so much like handprints. There was one on the top left cupboard, on the bottom center and the bottom right. He opened the top left cardboard and nothing but chips were there. He opened the bottom right and just found some plates there. He looked at the bottom center cupboard, it was bigger than any of the cupboards and could fit at least two of his size inside. Yeah, it was huge. He wondered what it was for. He then opened it…
"Nothing." He said, sighing and closing it again when he saw a shadow looming over him, preparing to strike. Out of instinct, the silver haired third year turned around pretty quickly and used his blade to block the incoming attack. He saw his attacker jump back once his weapon clashed with the other weapon. The attacker seemed to have been surprised with his speed as he/she yelped. "I don't hurt girls unless they are zombies." He said sternly, rising from kneeling down.
"G-Get out of here." The attacker, who sounded like a girl, said. "O-Or else, I'll smack you with this!" She warned him. She raised her weapon and from what Silver could make out, it was a frying pan. Good thing it didn't hit him or he could've been knocked out.
"Please… I have seen weapons far more terrifying than a simple frying pan." Silver said, trying to intimidate this attacker.
Then another voice spoke up, "Please just don't hurt us. Take anything with you…"
"I'm not planning to take anything." Silver replied to which the two girls gasped at. "Can you two step into the light? I promise I won't hurt you."
The two reluctantly walked into the lighted spot to reveal a brownish-red haired girl who held the frying pan and a blonde haired girl. Silver simply sighed. "Let's go. Your sisters are waiting." He said. The resemblance was obvious between Eri and the young girl. It was a bit harder for the brownish-red haired girl and Honoka's relationship but seeing something about her that resembled her sister convinced him.
"O-Onee-san is here?" The blonde asked, happy at the statement.
"Wait Arisa… we're not sure if he's telling the truth." The other one said, stopping Arisa from advancing.
"Gods you're hard to convince." Silver said in annoyance when he heard something form upstairs.
"Hey! I think I just found Kosaka-san's parents!" He announced. A few moments after that, quick, hurried steps echoed down the halls, followed by a thud and sounds of sobbing.
"That must be Onee-san!" The brownish-red haired girl said, dropping the frying pan and dashing towards the Master's Bedroom.
"Y-Yukiho-chan!" Arisa exclaimed but did not go after her. She looked at Silver.
"Well, let's go see your sister." Silver said to which Arisa nodded to. They both headed to the living room.
Honoka rushed to where Kei was. She saw the red haired boy waving to her and then disappearing into a room. She entered the room to see two corpses there, seemingly killed by a blunt object that was hit on their heads. She fell back and fell on her behind. She crawled back and hit a wall before her tears started to flow down freely. Her hands went to cover her mouth as she started sobbing. "This… This isn't real…" She looked at Kei as if suspecting him of the one who killed her parents.
Kei shook his head. "Don't look at me. I came here and saw this." He replied.
Suddenly a new arrival came, "Onee-san!"
"Yukiho?" Honoka looked over at her sister before the latter hugged her. She hugged back.
Yukiho had tears in her eyes. "I'm glad you're alive!" She exclaimed, burying her face in her sister's chest. "I thought you were gone…"
"I'm glad too. I… I don't know what to do if even you didn't make it." Honoka said, hugging her sister harder. "W-What happened to mom and dad?"
"W-We let a stranger inside while the whole outbreak was happening…" Yukiho began. "Then Arisa came and we took her in… suddenly the man turned and bit mom and dad. They managed to kill him and throw him outside but…"
"Your parents turned." Kei said and Yukiho nodded.
"Then… I… I…" Yukiho kept saying between hiccups. "I… killed them!" She said, crying harder now.
The words shocked Honoka to the bone but she understood why. "D-Don't worry Yukiho, you just wanted to protect yourself and Arisa-chan."
"B-But still…" Yukiho trailed off as she cried in her sister's arms.
"Let it all out Yukiho, it's alright." Honoka said, patting her sister's back and despite crying herself, she managed to sound like an older sister.
"Hey Ayase, look who I found." Silver said and Eri looked at him. Arisa appeared from behind him and both had smiles on their faces.
"Onee-san!" Arisa exclaimed as she ran to her sister and hugged her.
"Arisa…" Eri hugged back. "What are you doing here?" The two broke contact.
Arisa looked at Eri. "Well, I managed to get out of our house before it got overrun with those things. Then I ran here avoiding any contact I can. Yukiho-chan and her family accepted me too!"
"Well good job Arisa. I'm glad you didn't get hurt." Eri said, ruffling her sister's hair.
"Yeah!" Arisa replied. "But… Yukiho-chan doesn't feel so good…"
"Why?" Eri asked. Arisa explained what happened for the past two days and everyone was shocked.
"It is as to be expected." Marcos pointed out. "It is an act of survival. She should not feel guilty. Her parents cannot be saved."
"I tried telling her that but she won't listen." Arisa explained.
"It's all up to Honoka then." Umi said and their gazes traveled to the stairs. Everyone nodded.
"So… who's up for coffee?" Silver asked to break the silence. It has been at least twenty minutes and the two sisters and Kei have not gone down yet.
"I am." Eri said, yawning a bit.
"Me too." Nozomi said.
"Count me in." Nico said. Soon after, everyone craved for coffee besides Arisa who wanted hot chocolate.
"Do you know where the coffee is?" Kotori asked.
"Nope." Silver replied. "But I bet someone here knows where it is."
"Come on. Let's go prepare some coffee." Kotori said with a smile as she led Silver back to the kitchen. Silver prepared the kettle and filled it with water and placed it over the stove and turned the fire on. Kotori prepared the instant coffee, condiments and chocolate powder for Arisa.
"So… why did you want to accompany me?" Silver asked the grey haired teen beside him. "You know I can maneuver around this place just fine."
"I just want to make coffee for everyone and see their happy faces." Kotori said with a sad smile. "It's been a long time since any of us has been truly happy because of everything…"
"Ah, I see." Silver simply said. He sighed. "It's been a while since I've seen happiness too. Prior to when I met Takamitsu and Ibarra, I was all alone… killing, eradicating… avenging…" He closed his eyes as he remembered all those times that he cut the zombies down without a second thought. He then let out a small chuckle as he leaned on the counter, looking up with his eyes open. "I wonder…" He mumbled the rest and Kotori didn't hear but decided not to pry.
"Do you have any living relatives? Prior to the outbreak of course." Kotori asked.
"Ah, yes I do. My sister, she's in the military." Silver replied. "I don't know anything about her now, if she's alive or not."
Kotori smiled and the kettle made a whistling sound signaling that it was ready. She turned the stove off and poured the hot water in 12 cups and Silver mixed the instant coffee into them and some condiments. He put the chocolate powder in one cup and he brought one tray out and Kotori held the other.
"Your orders are served." Silver said, doing his butler act back when the job was still alive.
"Enjoy your meal!" Kotori said, following Silver's lead and acting as Minalinsky.
The others caught on quickly and sat on the seats. Good thing there were different tables so they could sit like they were in a restaurant. The two acting waiter and waitress began to serve the coffees to everyone.
"I believe this is yours milady." Silver said as he handed the hot chocolate to Arisa.
"Thank you." Arisa said with a smile as she accepted the hot chocolate.
"And this is yours my princess." Silver said, placing the coffee in front of Eri.
"Are you always like this on your job?" Eri asked as she took the cup of coffee and sipping it, feeling good as the hot water flowed down her throat.
Silver leaned in. "No, just towards you." He whispered and then backed off and started serving the coffees again. This caused Eri to blush. She noticed that Silver did call everyone as 'milady' and not princess.
"Onee-san, are you alright? Your cheeks are red." Arisa pointed out.
"Y-Yeah, I am." Eri said willing the blush to die down and it did. "It's nothing." She continued and sipped the coffee once more.
"If you say so Onee-san." Arisa said, going back to her chocolate drink.
Kei hated to destroy the moment but he needed to. "I'm sorry for disrupting the moment and all but we really need to go downstairs to check up on the others." He said.
The two sisters looked at Kei, pretty embarrassed that they forgot all about him. They stood up and nodded and they were heading towards the dining area.
"Honoka-chan!" Kotori exclaimed as she saw her ginger haired friend go down from upstairs. "What would you three like? Coffee or hot chocolate?" She asked, adding the Kei in the mix since he proceeded down as well.
"I'll take hot chocolate." Kei replied with a smile.
The two sisters were confused at first and they set their sights upon the others who were sitting down, having fun and just talking amongst themselves as if there wasn't a zombie apocalypse happening outside. "I'll take coffee then!" Honoka exclaimed as she hurried to where Umi was and sat down.
"Hot chocolate for me." Yukiho replied as she sat down beside Arisa. She felt a little uncomfortable since Arisa's sister was there but she managed to calm down after they got into a conversation.
Silver and Kotori met at the kitchen once more, preparing the new orders. "Are you happy now Minami?" He asked. "Now that they have momentarily forgotten about… everything?"
Kotori nodded. "Even if it is just temporary… seeing them happy makes me happy too."
"You're selfless Minami, you are so selfless." Silver said, putting the cups on a tray. "You feed on the happiness of others." He then carried the tray on one hand and reached for Kotori's head with the other. He then proceeded to pat it. "You're a good girl. I'm glad Umi met you." He said before proceeding to the dining room and Kotori followed with a smile.
Silver served them the coffee and the two acting maid and butler stood before them with a smile painted across their faces. "We hope you enjoy your meal!" They both bowed and then went back to the kitchen to make their own coffees and drink. They proceeded to go to their tables of choice, Kotori going to her best friends and Silver going to the only guys table.
"What are we going to do now?" Kei asked everyone and they all looked at him. "We can't hole up in here because there is a mass of zombies in the area. I have no idea where we can go."
The others forgot all about the fact that they were in an apocalyptic wasteland.
"Um… actually… we did hear about a safe house." Arisa said and the others looked at her.
