"Hey, you know who's territory this is?"

Takashi Komuro did not answer at first. He just stared ahead at the three older men in front of them. The one doing the talking was tall and stout, the others shorter and lanky. All were decked out in the dyed hair, sleeveless shirts, and torn jeans of the local ne'er-dowells.

After giving each one a quick scan, Takashi shrugged. "Just passing through." He watched the lead thug scowl, reach into his pocket, and pull out some brass knuckles. Takashi watched the would-be-assailant put them on and step forward. Piece of cake.

The thug swung his arm in a wide hook, but Takashi sidestepped, shoved the arm away, and brought the edge of his other hand to the throat. As the thug gurgled, Takashi grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed his knee up into the groin.

The thug collapsed, and Takashi turned his attention to his two compatriots, who had very suddenly gone white-faced.

Takashi sighed as he found himself on the steps of Tokonosu High School. He was an hour late, but that did not bother him as much as it would have the eight-year-old he used to be. He kicked open the door, making a token effort to wipe the bloodstain off his uniform sleeve with a handkerchief. Those punks from the few blocks back would be nursing headaches he did not want to think about, but they would live. He could see a few other students in the hallway, probably out on errands, but he paid them no mind. He kept his course for the stairwell.

The students saw Takashi as well, but none of them tried to interact with him. Takashi Komuro had transferred to the school last year, and it had not taken long for him to earn himself a reputation. The former terror of the school, Tsunoda, had mistakenly pegged him as a small fry and had tried to jump him after classes were done. Tsunoda had ended up in nose splints and an arm cast for a month. Every now and then someone else tried to pick a fight, but Takashi had always come out on top.

Rumors had surrounded him ever since. Some said he earned his fighting skills from a military academy. Others had said, half-jokingly, that he was a spy. No one had approached Takashi about it himself, even on the days he was not late or playing hooky. But it became a foregone conclusion that on the rare occasion someone tried to pick a fight, Takashi would be the one to end it.

He was equally notorious in the use of drugs, most of which were improvised from paint. And on more than one occasion, rumors would surround a girl who, it was claimed, had spent nights after school with him. The names of at least thirteen girls had been attached to him.

The teachers knew of all this, but none had a vested interest in him. The pressures of lessons, grades, and tests were enough to make them ignore a student who was failing as quietly as him.

And so no one particularly minded when he went to the roof wherever he felt like it.

Takashi leaned on the railing of the roof and looked upon the city skyline. He was feeling a little bothered now. He had passed a couple of classroom doors on his way here. He just had to turn his head around right at that second, that damned second where he could see Rei and Hisashi together in class. He shook his head.

"Hey!"

Takashi turned his head to see Saya Takagi walking towards him. She was a head shorter than him, but always did her best to seem like the largest person in any given situation. She squinted, giving Takashi a brief look at the shine of her contact lenses, and scowled.

"You keep coming up here whenever you're in a funk. Either that, or you're huffing paint, or…." She stopped, doing her best to force the flush out of her face. Memories of the school trip last week were coming back to her.

The class was to spend a day and a night at the deer park outside the city. Everyone had seemed to be happy, except for Takashi, who had turned and left as soon as he saw the tour guide. Even a mind like Saya's could not figure out why; he was a normal-looking man with slicked black hair and sunglasses.

She had found him in his allotted room at the hotel, crouching at the foot of his bed. His face was passive, but his eyes looked hollow and a layer of sweat was running down his face. They had looked at each other without speaking.

One thing led to another, and soon enough Takashi had Saya bent over the bed with her skirt around her ankles. He had taken her from behind, and she was just barely surprised by how loud she squealed. He had said nothing afterward, just went to sleep on the bed. And to her consternation, he never brought up their moment together after they had returned to school.

It disturbed her a little that she dreamt about it at night, even now.

She shook her head rapidly, and assumed her typical haughty demeanor. "You really come up here whenever you feel bad about Rei moving on from you?"

Takashi shrugged. "That too…"

"You don't want to talk about it?"

"I'd rather not…"

Saya shook her head. "You better shape up soon, or you'll have to repeat classes, or worse, the semester!" She turned and left.

Takashi continued to look down upon the school courtyard, trying his best to not think about what he had been thinking about. Then he saw something strange.

There was a single figure at the gate, but not moving quite like a person. Even from this distance, Takashi could tell that the figure was stumbling in an all-too-familiar fashion.

It can't be…

Chris Redfield was seated in his spot of the helicopter. He was dressed in fresh fatigues, and his rifle was locked and loaded. Tokonosu City, Japan had been hit by a virus, with a projection of at least 10,00 casualties, both deceased and zombified. The helicopter would touch down in another hour. He could only pray it would be enough.

"Hey...you don't seem the kind of guy to wear a locket."

Chris nodded at the voice beside him, but did not turn his head. He pulled the chain out of his shirt and clicked open the case in the middle. There was a picture of a boy inside, smiling. Takashi Komuro.

"Who's he?"

Chris was silent for a moment.

"He's my son. He's in Tokonosu."

Written by Jerviss by request of FeralG3.