Chapter 22
"Come in guys… come in"
Nanako had been trying to reach the others for over half an hour now but she'd got nothing and figured they might be out of range now, especially since they were in the mountains. Finally, something came through.
"Na…ko… signal… bad… are… ou… anoda… kay?"
Nanako nearly dropped the radio in surprise "Ritsu! I think I got them!" she called out.
Ritsu and Misuzu came running into the room, eyes wide, waiting as Nanako answered.
"Haruhi? Is that you? me and Ritsu are fine! We ended up in Karuizawa, Misuzu is with us" she was shaking a little as she tried not to cry.
"… zawa? Nana… ignal… bad… old… on…"
"No… the signal is rubbish" Nanako looked around and then "the roof… can I get to the roof Misuzu?"
"Yes! This way!"
Nanako moved with Misuzu, climbing the stairs to the attic, where there was a window that opened out onto a flat part of the roof that Misuzu used for his personal laundry to dry. Climbing out onto the flat part of the roof, Nanako tried again.
"Haruhi… can you hear me? Come in?"
"Nanako?... where… are… you?"
There was still a bit of static but at least Nanako could now hear what Haruhi was saying.
"Karuizawa… we got thrown off course by the hoard… Ritsu is with me… we found Misuzu" Nanako spoke slowly, though her heart was racing.
"Karuizawa… that's... way off… course… we are… in… Odawara… thrown off… course too… everyone's… okay…"
Nanako did a little dance upon hearing that everyone was okay, Misuzu and Ritsu relaxed a little as they hung out of the window, listening to the radio.
"Come to Karuizawa… no zombies for miles" Nanako clutched the radio tightly, praying they'd agree.
"Okay… heading… there now… radio when… nearer…"
"Okay! See you guys soon!" Nanako hugged the radio to her chest and let out a small relieved laugh before climbing back through the window.
"Wonderful!" Misuzu sung, twirling in a circle "I better fix up some rooms!"
Misuzu was off, humming a happy little tune as he vanished down the attic stairs, leaving Ritsu and Nanako in the attic.
Nanako's' POV
"Did they say they ended up in Odawara?" Ritsu asked "because that is a long way out from Tokyo… it's going to take them hours to reach us"
"Yeah they did say Odawara…"I sighed lightly "I know… they should be here before sundown though, and it seems they are all okay so that's a bonus"
Ritsu nodded "Yeah… that's true…"
I watched him for a moment, the way he seemed to relax as he processed that everyone was okay. It made me smile. I stepped towards him, wrapping my arms around him as I nuzzled into his shoulder.
We'd not had many moments at all to show any kind of affection, usually because we were on night watch, or the others were hovering around making conversation. I felt him stiffen at the sudden contact but he melted into the embrace, his arms wrapping around me, tugging me in tight against him, his face nestled into my neck as he breathed out slowly.
"I wish this… us… had happened under better circumstances…" he murmured against my ear softly.
"Me too…" I turned my head to kiss his cheek softly "but I am glad we are us now…"
He pulled back a little to look me in the eyes "I'm glad too…"
And then it kind of just happened. One minute we were looking each other in the eye, the next minute our lips crashed together in a kiss filled with heat, passion, desire and just a hint of anger at the world. My fingers curled up into his ponytail, his hands tangling into my hair. It was rough, yet loving in an odd kind of way.
"Ehem… I think that's enough of that!"
We sprung apart, red faced and panting to see Misuzu in the doorway, a frown decorating his face yet I could just about make out the twinkle of merriment in his eye.
"I uh… we…" I stammered
"Not… yeah… um…" Ritsu stumbled over his words.
Misuzu laughed softly "ah young love! Come help me get these rooms ready!"
An hour and a half later, Ritsu was taking a nap while I helped Misuzu decide what he was going to cook for dinner for when the others joined us. We'd secured the pension as best as we could so that Misuzu was able to use the kitchen again, though we'd be spending a lot of our time on the next floor up. Though there were no zombies in Karuizawa that we'd seen, we knew they would likely turn up eventually. Until then, we were technically free to roam as we pleased but with great caution.
"I'm thinking a nice rice dish with maybe some ramen and a curry and…" Misuzu was off.
I sighed softly as I listened to Misuzu reel off a list of things he wanted to make for dinner. Apparently this while end of the world thing and the having to make supplies last as long as possible hadn't registered with him yet and I didn't know if I had the heart to tell him… he seemed to excited about cooking for more than just himself… I guess I could keep quiet just this once.
"That sounds good Misuzu" I nodded as I moved to start preparing vegetables.
"So… how is Ranka, tell me the truth?" he asked as he busied himself with gathering herbs and spices.
"He's okay, a little stressed from everything but he's okay" I smiled "he's been sort of our groups dad"
"Oh that's so sweet!" Misuzu gushed "Ranka does think highly of you kids, even Tamaki… but don't tell him I told you that"
"Gotcha" I grinned softly.
So Ranka really did have a soft spot for all of us, even Tamaki. I wasn't surprised… as annoying as the host club could be (Tamaki especially) they had a charm about them that had you falling in love with them (even if you didn't want to be). By love, I mean that friendship love… or love you might feel for a puppy or something… that unconditional kind of love.
Those guys just somehow seemed to brighten your day without seeming to try too hard and they made time for anyone without ever complaining. Even now, during this crisis I hadn't heard anyone really complaining about much (aside from my little disagreement with Haruhi). They'd become my weird little family and I loved them for it, I really did… then there was Ritsu…
Ritsu was kind of a host club hang around in the sense that he'd harbored a massive crush on Haruhi until he learned from the others that Tamaki and Haruhi were in love, just too dense to realise it. Ritsu had gone from an acquaintance, to a sort of friend, to a friend to a boyfriend in a pretty short space of time and I knew this was all stressing him out. I could tell from how tense he was most of the time around the others and he never really showed his true self unless we were alone.
Hopefully we'd never have to be truly alone ever again.
Normal POV
With Haruhi and the others…
The drive had been long, uncomfortable, cramped but mostly silent since everyone aside from Kyoya and Ranka had fallen asleep.
"Of all the places for them to end up… I can't believe they wound up in Karuizawa" Ranka sighed as they drove through Tokyo, taking as many off road trails as they could to avoid zombies and blockades.
"Well we ended up in Odawara" Kyoya shrugged "but at least they are safe and you learned that Misuzu is okay"
"That is true" Ranka perked back up a little "I am so glad Misuzu is okay… but don't you think it's strange?"
"What's that?" Kyoya asked
"Well that there are no zombies in Karuizawa… don't you think that's a little odd?" Ranka chewed his lip
"Well Karuizawa is only a small mountain town… it doesn't usually get busy until the summer vacation period starts" Kyoya looked across at Ranka "from what I understand, Karuizawa is rather quiet up until then"
"Hmm that's true" Ranka appeared to be thoughtful as they turned down another street.
"Chances are, with the town being in the mountains, nobody has had any contact with any city folk and so nobody infected made their way up there" Kyoya paused "although, as time move onward, zombies will widen their search for food"
"Oh?" Ranka blinked "explain?"
"Well… from what we have seen of the undead population, they bite to infect but they eat humans when they get hungry. Eventually, when people are safe and secure and the zombies can't get to them, they are likely to migrate in the search for sustenance." He hoped Ranka understood what he meant "so these quiet mountain towns with zero zombies will only be safe for so long… until the zombies go on the move"
"I see… I think I understand… they have a primal sort of nature then?" Ranka slowed down a little as he took another corner to bring them back out onto another side road.
"Exactly" Kyoya nodded "If they can't find food they will die out… or at least that is my theory based on what we have seen"
"Its horrific" Ranka sighed "nobody knows what even caused this… all they were saying on the television was that Kosai Laboratories was where the first cases started and suddenly it's all over the place…"
"Well we can safely assume it isn't airborne" Kyoya nodded "or else we would have all perished by now"
"That's one small comfort" Ranka pulled the van onto the turning to a main road, consulting the map before pulling out and heading across the main road and back down another side road.
"I can agree there" the raven haired teen nodded "knowing that the only real way of getting infected is by bodily fluids is somewhat of a comfort since I don't plan on getting bitten or interacting closely with an infected person"
"I did think things were starting to look good until that man and his child came along" Ranka muttered "I can't believe he had the audacity"
"I can't believe we all fell for it" Kyoya sighed "I mean, it was convincing enough and I think the way it was executed was the reason why we didn't really question it"
"Yes well… we won't make that same mistake again" Ranka shook his head
"Hmm yes I agree, though we can't let ourselves become jaded from one bad experience" Kyoya shuffled a little to stop his ass going to sleep "we just have to be more careful next time"
"Yes… I agree… oh look! We should be in Karuizawa within the hour" Ranka smiled as they finally turned onto the Arakawa River Bridge.