II

[1st]

Kind of fitting that I was sent into this world in October.

That was the first thing I can remember thinking after my initial panic upon realizing that I had been sent to what would become an undead buffet in a few months.

The summary of my time thinking and flailing is as follows: I could die! Not if I'm prepared! How do I do that? Geh. Ah- never mind. Guess I could wing it. That's asking for death. Oh boy, oh jesus. Think back on the preparation a character has put into zombie stories, any one, something.

An altogether fruitless waste of time. I had decided to leave it for a future me to worry about and went to bed.

One month had passed since my epiphany and the panic that followed. Halloween had come and gone and in that time a plan had formed. Collect non-perishable goods, work out, learn and purchase stuff for self-defense, maybe some camping equipment, yadda yadda yadda. Definitely a work in progress. I'd even gotten to doing some of that stuff, though admittedly not much. Despite having better posture and being thinner and all around looking better I had not been blessed by the Powers That Be with incredible fitness and physique. The first few weeks of working out had been what one would describe as 'Hellish.'

Thanks to that however, I'd discovered something. The day after my first work out I woke up sore, all kinds of sore, like you wouldn't believe, making work rather difficult. What I found however was that by the next day not only was I feeling better, I felt stronger.

I'd tried working out for a bit (read, a week) back home and quickly given up, I know for a fact I hadn't felt that much stronger if at all. And seeing how long it had taken my older brother to make notable gains told me this wasn't normal. Then I remembered something, this was Highschool of The Dead; here, Takashi and the others (with the exception of Saeko and Rei kinda, seeing as they were trained in weapon use beforehand) had gone from normal people to action stars. The transition shouldn't have been as easy as it was, and yet there hadn't been any obvious problems. This brought me to a conclusion, to ease the burden of a tougher lifestyle on people wholly unprepared for it the world made physical activity easier. I could use this, I'd been worrying what to do to prepare and this give me a significant step in the right direction. If the burden of physics lightening up allowed them to pull crazy stunts, I could too, all I needed was time, dedication and knowledge. All of which were present.

It was time to start the grind.

After that I'd found myself making steady progress, seeing as it'd been only a month nothing too major had taken place. Work was fine, the only problem with taking care of myself was all the bills to pay; I could cook and clean well enough to make sure my health wasn't a problem and I hadn't had any reality shaking encounters with the cast or important people in the world and things were peaceful. I could prepare unheeded by any problems.

I decided to look into the main characters. Nothing came up for Takashi, Zeke or Shizuka. Made sense seeing as they didn't really have any relation to people of note. The details that I didn't know about the others were few, Rei's father was respected and had a few cases under his belt so his deal with Shido seemed to be just the latest in a string of corruption reveals, or at least it would've been if not for what would eventually happen. While I had known that Alice's dad had been a journalist I hadn't known what he covered, which was to say a lot. From what I saw his articles covered a wide spectrum of subjects, none of which really caught my attention. Saeko's father, Hideki Busujima was really, really good. The crazy things I'd seen Saeko do in the anime were nearly eclipsed by her father, seeing him in action made me realize just how far one could go in a world like this. In one of his demonstrations he'd shown his quick draw; I'd seen Stan Lee's Superhumans, the episode where a guy cut a pellet in two had been amazing to me, Hideki surpassed that. He cut a pellet going over 500 kph clean in half and managed to almost have his sword back in the sheath by the time it hit the wall. This guy was incredible, I could definitely see how Saeko was so good with someone like this teaching her.

More importantly this was inspiring to me. Obviously, I couldn't get quite this skilled since I didn't have that long but I could work with this. Being in this small apartment with a job at a convenience store didn't mean my chances of getting out of this were as abysmally low as I'd previously thought, he was proof of that.

That night my work out was especially intense.

"Welcome!" I greeted as the door opened and more customers walked in. It was Takashi and Hisashi. I'd discovered throughout the month that he came here often, usually with friends though sometimes without. I'd gotten to know them a bit through hearing snippets of conversation. Takashi was generally easy going, talking and laughing with whoever he was with. Hisashi seemed more calm, still nice and talkative but not as loud as Takashi. Rei was kind and caring, often making sure they didn't forget anything and easily talking to multiple people at once. I have to say, it was quite a difference from what I remembered in either version of the story, though I suppose that was due to the strained nature of her relationship with Takashi and not really being comfortable with everyone else. Last was Morita; there hadn't been much to see of him from the story, a few lines to Takashi before he died in the first chapter and a bonus chapter with exposition on the girls. Seeing him alive was odd, the bits we had seen from the manga were enough to get a picture of his personality and he stayed relatively true to that, he was The Fun One of the group, making jokes, pervy remarks and other light hearted things, though never going over the line.

It was interesting to say the least to see all this interaction with people I knew were gonna be dead come next spring. Like a slice of life spin off but, you know, real, I guess.

Takashi and Hisashi came up to the counter and placed their stuff on it, I rung it up and bagged it, accepting their pay and quickly bowing while giving a farewell. "Vega-san?" A voice quietly called out.

"Yes?" I glanced at Naoya and waited for him to say something.

"Why do you always stare at them?" His voice was soft, almost like he'd been afraid to ask. In the time I'd known Naoya he'd gone from extremely nervous to passable, the fact that he asked me anything at all was good as I'd been sorely lacking in ways to distract myself from boredom on the job other than occasionally staring at Takashi and his friends.

"They remind me of school, and I know one of them" I said, not quite the whole truth, but I didn't really want to tell anyone that now did I?

"How so?" He asked, seemingly gaining a little confidence from my casual speech and not rebuffing his question.

"The uniform for one thing," I started, trying to think of anything else that would warrant staring at them specifically. "The way they spoke, how happy they were, that kind of thing." I couldn't really think of anything else to say.

"Ah," he said, I guess that meant this conversation was drawing to a close. "Did you enjoy it?" he mumbled.

Guess not. "School?" I asked, turning to him, he nodded. I mulled that question over, had I? I'd never really thought about it other than the usual 'school sucks, why does this matter?' But now that I was out? "I dunno," I said, not wanting to take too long with my answer lest Naoya think I wouldn't reply. "I guess," I amended.

"Oh, how did you know them?" he asked, seeing I didn't have much to say on that and changing topics.

"I started learning karate," I said. After watching Hideki the first few weeks I'd figured it was time to get started on learning how to fight and joined a class, even if I wasn't going to use it against the spooks I figured the conditioning would help at the least and I planned on learning more than just Karate in the first place. Needless to say I was surprised to see that Hisashi was there and remembered him mentioning that when he'd refused to use a weapon in the first chapter. I'd laughed and chastised myself, I was doing something that one of the main characters' friends did, of course we would be doing it at the same place. Thankfully no one had cared about me suddenly laughing in the middle of training.

"Ah," he said again, this time not choosing to say anything else.

Neither of us said a thing after that.

[3rd]

Hirano Kohta was tired, some upperclassmen had been harassing him again, slinging the usual insults and prodding him, trying to get a rise out of him. No one had helped him of course, they never did. He was always stuck taking it whether in school or out. Once they'd let him go he'd just brushed himself off and started to head home. Thankfully he had something to look forward to. In a little over a week he'd be heading to America for some training, thinking about all the awesome stuff he'd learn over there brought a small smile to his face.

"Hey, tubbs!" The harsh tone and words he heard made that smile die a very young death. He paled and gulped while turning around, looking to what he could only assume was another person or group of people ready to pick on him. He was sadly proven right when he saw the blonde hair and muscular build of Tsunoda Hino, member of the track team and one of Kohta's top tormentors. Kohta breathed deeply and hunched in on himself, assuming an aura of submission and defeat. "Yes, senpai?" He softly asked, wanting this to be over already.

"Hah?" Tsunoda sneered, cocking his head as if trying to make sure he heard Kohta correctly, "don't you mean sir?"

"Yes sir?" Kohta quickly corrected, drawing further into himself.

"Listen to this fucking useless otaku!" Tsunoda cackled "couldn't even address me properly!" Those with Tsunoda laughed, Kohta stiffened. "Did our game earlier make you forget everything important? Or are you just that stupid?"

"No sir," Kohta said, staying completely still.

"Make sure to remember next time okay? We wouldn't want to have to make sure you remember, you couldn't pay us back for wasting our time on you if that happened." Tsunoda lectured, playing up the situation before continuing "I'm glad I caught you now, me and my buds were just thinking we wanted something to eat and who better to help us then our bud Kohta huh?"

Kohta looked out of the corner of his eye and saw everyone walking past him, playing off what was happening and going about their business. As always.

That made what he had to say all the worse.

"I don't have any money senp- sir." Kohta started to tremble, he knew what was coming next.

"What was that?" Tsunoda asked, leaning in again and feigning confusion "it almost sounded like the fatty refused."

"I don't have any money," Kohta said again, dread building the longer this went.

"What did I say about paying us for spending time on you Kohta? If you don't have anything then you're gonna hafta pay us another way, right?" Tsunoda said, voice oozing with sleaziness. The other guys started to close in on Kohta and he began to hunch over. Here it comes. "Well I'm sure I'll think of something this time," Tsunoda said, already stepping closer and loosening up. Here it comes.

As soon as he was in range, his fist lashed out.

They'd been just getting to the worst of it when one of them cried out and fell.

Kohta didn't dare look up in case one of them took the chance to kick his face, he'd made that mistake once, it was enough to not do it again. Still, it seemed as if they'd suddenly stopped hitting him though Kohta knew that couldn't have been it. Why would they?

A minute passed. Kohta heard a heavy breath followed by some spit, he flinched, he hated it when they spat on him. Still nothing came. He felt a hand shake him and he tightened up. The hand pulled back and Kohta waited for the punch that was sure to follow.

Again. Nothing.

Eventually Kohta looked up meekly and saw two people sitting by him, waiting for him, as well as his tormentors lying on the floor, groaning or out cold. He started to loosen up and sit down, though not before backing away a bit, just in case.

"You alright?" One of them said, he was tall with well kept grey hair and neutral brown eyes. A good looking face without glasses and he seemed rather lean, like a gymnast or maybe a welterweight boxer, his voice made him seem more mature, Kohta thought it somehow suited him. He got up and held a hand out to Kohta, who briefly hesitated before taking his hand and getting up.

"Yes, uh," Kohta paused, still nervous, "thank you." He started to bow before flinching at the pain that flared up.

"No problem," the boy said, smiling and waving off Kohta's thanks. They both heard shoes shuffling closer and turned to look at the figure. It was the other person Kohta had seen when he looked up, though this one appeared a bit older, plainer and foreign. His hair was brown and wavy, it swirled about kind of messily, though Kohta guessed that was from the fight. He had glasses that were crooked and droopy brown eyes, which seemed to be sizing up Kohta, something he noted with curiosity and a bit of caution. He was just as tall as the boy and broader, adding to the impression he wasn't Japanese.

"Jeez, you took quite a few hits yourself didn't you, Vega-san?" the boy asked lightheartedly, looking him over and seeing that he was indeed more banged up. The boy suddenly realized something and turned back to Kohta, making the boy flinch. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself, I'm Igou Hisashi, nice to meet you, though I wish it could've been under kinder circumstances." He bowed a bit and Kohta returned it while getting out a quick 'nice to meet you.' "Hirano Kohta," he said before Hisashi turned to the other person which he took as his cue to introduce himself. "T-Vega Thomas, nice to meet you." His voice was deep but flat, as if he always tired. The name was definitely foreign. He stuck his hand out, Kohta stared at it for a second before Thomas spoke up "not too fond of bowing if it's all the same to you," he clarified. Kohta realized what he meant and shook his hand. "Thank you," he replied, bowing a bit and shuffling about.

"Happy to help," Thomas replied, tilting his head a bit as he did so, his glasses slipping before he pushed them up.

"We should probably get out of here before they wake up," Hisashi said, to which Thomas hummed in agreement and Kohta gave a brief nod. They asked where Kohta lived and started to head there with him, chatting intermittently.

[1st]

When I'd tried heading to my lessons with Hisashi who'd come in for some snacks alone and decided to head to the dojo with me after dropping his stuff off at home and changing, I'd assumed it would be a normal affair.

Then we'd come across someone getting wailed on and Hisashi had rushed in to help him. It had turned out the victim was one Hirano Kohta, gun expert of the main group and one of the major contributing factors to their continued survival. I can remember thinking about what the odds were to come across him so soon after meeting Hisashi but pushed it aside in favor of not ending up flat on my back. After dropping him off at his house, we'd headed to the dojo to explain what had happened and try to participate anyway. The dojo master commended us for helping the defenseless but wanted us to not be so reckless next time. We were allowed to lightly go at it and went home early.

Which brought me to now. I was aching, quite so. I'd never really been in a fight before and the only reason I hadn't been laid out was Hisashi backing me up and the bit of training I had on the amateurish thugs. That along with the fact that I'd gone through with lessons anyways meant I was worse off than any other time since arriving. I was trying to alleviate some of this by soaking in a hot bath and thankfully it actually worked, even if it wouldn't prevent me from feeling it again tomorrow.

Coming out and feeling refreshed I went to the kitchen and made a sandwich, eating it while messing about on my phone. Every game I had while the same in that I owned them were different due to the fact that I'd essentially traveled back in time. A lot of the things I enjoyed presently didn't exist yet actually. Persona 5 chief among them as I'd been trying to Platinum it but the point was this: even if I had the same stuff, they weren't nearly as far along as they were back home. Which wasn't to say passing time was more difficult now, quite the opposite in fact; looking up stuff I'd meant to get to before, things that were now available to me since I could read and speak a whole different language and preparations for the apocalypse this coming spring made sure my hands were rather full.

I finished my sandwich and continued browsing for a while before stopping and going to my room. It was about 8:40, still plenty of time before sleep was required. So I picked up my laptop and started to search for things to buy. I'd started this well before starting my lessons and around the time working out had really picked up so I'd done quite a bit of looking around. The biggest problem I had was that I was a clerk in a small place, not only was space a problem but price was too. I had to worry about bills, food and lessons, finding spending money besides that was troublesome and even when I had it, there was only so much managing I could do before running out of space and one of those storage rooms would be a problem as well since it would be another drain on my funds. If I tried to keep tabs on what I wanted to buy and bought them when the time was near there was the problem of getting it all in a safe place in a timely fashion, spread too long and drain became a problem again, rush it at the end and there was a chance that what I wanted would be gone. There was the fact that I could just buy a different brand or wait for restocking but the problem with that was I wanted the best I could afford, and I would constantly doubt if what I'd gotten would be enough, though I suppose that would be a problem anyway. And throwing aside the budget plan for piling on debt brought with it more possibilities to consider.

I let out a long, suffering, sigh. This was hard, being an adult was hard, not just when it came to surviving the apocalypse either, it sucked in general. Why couldn't I just be back home? Lounging around and not worrying about anything? I looked back at the clock, 10:13. I'd found and purchased some minor things from my list while thinking about all the problems I had without even realizing it. Good job, me, seriously. I should go to sleep now, my shift started at 9:15 tomorrow and while I didn't need too long to wake up once up and about, there was the danger of oversleeping if I stayed awake for much longer, even with an alarm, or ten.

I just hoped my soreness and bruises didn't make everything a hassle.