NB: This story takes place directly after the events shown in the Anime.

I was hopeless. I thought the mall would have saved me, but it was my downfall. I opened the chamber on my pistol. One bullet left. Nothing was coming for me, but my machete was broken and I was alone. Hopeless. The sun was rising; I watched the orange glow of the star as it rose above the horizon. I pulled the hammer back and held the gun to my head. I couldn't even dispatch myself with honour. I saw a group of others coming past, a tall skinny boy with dark brown hair leading the group. I saw them react as they noticed me surrounded by the corpses of the living dead, finally dead for good. A chubby boy with a flop of brown hair covering part of his face and glasses was holding hands with a little pink haired girl with a small dog at her side. He turned her away from me into his chest. There were three other girls, a rather well endowed blonde woman, a pink haired girl with glasses and a girl with light brown hair holding hands with the taller boy. The taller boy let go of the girl's hand and approached me.

"Hey! You! What do you think you're doing?" He said in Japanese.

"I'm helping you all." I replied, stuttering a little. My Japanese was rusty, as I'd been thinking in Korean a lot recently, trying to keep the language of my ancestors alive.

"How is this helping?" He asked.

"I've got one bullet, no supplies, no group to look after and nothing to live for. I'm sorry the girl had to see this. I'll wait for you to get her out of sight."

"You still want to go through with this?"

"What else do I have?! You have no idea if you can trust me and only my word for it. No point in giving me your supplies to help. I'm alone and if it saves even one of your lives, it's probably more worthwhile. Helping me out is just prolonging the inevitable. Plus, it's one less zombie to kill." I looked into his eyes as I said this.

"We call those things Them... Well, if you're sure. Just wait until Alice and the girls are out of sight." He sighed. I could see that my lack of the will to live was getting to him.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to do this either, but I have nothing else."

I was trembling. He could see that. I dropped the gun, ensuring the safety was off and the hammer was still pulled back.

"What's your name?" He asked me.

"Tatsuzo Euikon. Yourself?"

"Takashi Komuro"

I smiled at him.

"Thank you, Takashi."

I watched them continue walking.

"Is he going to be ok?" I heard the little girl ask, worriedly as they passed close by. I felt her eyes fall upon me, half filled with tears from seeing me earlier.

It was difficult not to weep, but I held myself together.

"I'll be fine, Takashi helped me." I said to her with a friendly smile. She didn't look convinced.

A girl in a long skirt, with dark violet hair and a sword entered. She seemed familiar.

"Wait up! We're all clear!" She said, panting slightly. She bolted towards the group. As the pile of "Them" around me shifted into her view, she approached me cautiously. Then she recognised me.

"No way!" she exclaimed

"Saeko Busujima?" I inquired, realising who she was

"What are you doing?"

"Finishing it."

"Why?"

"Because I have nothing else. No group, no supplies. Just this one last bullet."

She hugged me close.

"Not anymore. I'm with the others. I can't believe they'd leave you like this!" She said.

"They didn't. Not consciously. How could they have trusted me enough to take me in? We've all made that mistake now. I know I have. And I've paid the price several times over..."

"Let me talk to the others. Don't go anywhere." She eyed my gun.

I sighed and handed it to her. But not before etching a triangle into the grip with a broken shard of rusted metal from what was once my machete.

She ran to catch up to the others. They all started to come back to me.

Saeko spoke to them. I could see them all, but they were just out of earshot. I watched them all discuss and eventually reach an agreement.

Takashi and Saeko approached me.

"You can come with us. We have some introductions to make then."

I walked up to the rest of the group.

"Hi, I'm Tatsuzo Euikon" I said.

"Kohta Hirano" The chubby boy said, pushing his glasses up and extending his arm. I shook his hand.

"Rei Miyamoto" The light brown haired girl said with a smile.

"Dr. Shizuka Marikawa" The blonde woman said, looking off in another direction.

"Saya Takagi" The pink haired girl said.

"And yes, that is the Takagi family you're thinking of."

"Oh, it's an honour, Lady Saya." I said, smiling. She blushed a little and I saw Kohta shoot me a jealous look. I walked past him to approach the little girl and the dog.

"Sorry. Just trying to make a good impression." I whispered to Kohta as I passed. He seemed to relax again.

I crouched slightly and petted the small white dog.

"That's Zeke." Alice said.

Zeke barked happily.

"I'm Alice Maresato. Are you going to help look after me?" She asked.

I looked back at the others who only smiled warmly. I looked back to Alice.

"Yes, I suppose I am." I grinned and ruffled her hair a little.

"Any friend of Saeko's I call my big brother or sister." She replicated my grin, only even larger. I stood up again.

I shook Takashi's hand.

"Saeko Busujima. Pleasure to meet you." Saeko said, jokingly. I made an effort to awkwardly extend my hand to play along with her. She giggled and hugged me again.

"He was always my rival in Kendo Club at school. Only one who could keep up with me." She smiled, arm still around me.

"Being closest to your skill level and keeping up with you are two very different things. I could never keep up with you." I clarified.

"Stop being so modest!" She said.

"I wouldn't be if the only person I could never keep up with wasn't right here! Then I could say whatever I wanted!"

Rei laughed at that.

"You're funny. I like boys who are funny." She said.

"That's a good start then. I like to make a good impression."

"Wait... You were at our school?" Takagi asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it. Nobody ever really noticed me unless I was carrying a wooden sword." My eyes fell upon Saeko as I said this.

"Oh! You're the kid who had all the back problems!" Dr. Marikawa said.

"Yeah. I need to get some medicine while we're here actually. It's not like there are a bunch of chiropractors around right now..."

"We didn't see you at the school when all this happened." Takagi said.

"Yeah. I was seeing my chiropractor then. He went into another room for a minute and came back as one of Them as you say."

"Oh. That's why you didn't answer when I called you then." Saeko said.

"Yeah. Well, it's nice to introduce myself, but can't we do this while we go do what we need to? I'm sure there's a lot to get."

Everyone nodded.