Author's Notes: This Chapter is really, REALLY short. Specifically because it'd supposed to be an introduction to the stakes of the Finale. With that, enjoy this short/extra chapter!
Weeks. It had been weeks since the beginning of the Outbreak. Despite all the hardships and death the group had gone trough, they managed to remain alive while keeping their enthusiasm and sanity intact.
Their life was basic, very basic in fact. Waking up, walking around the room or playing a board game, eating and sleeping. They simply did whatever they had to do to ease their boredom. A simple life, but still one they appreciated and enjoyed.
But they all knew, very deep within their hearts, that this simple life couldn't last forever.
"Everyone!" Naoto excitedly entered the room, having just come back from the outside. "I finally found one!" The entire group looked at him in confusion, wondering what it was that got him so excited. "Found what?" Hana asked. Naoto quickly scrambled trough his backpack, before taking out a small box with an antenna. Everyone instantly recognized what it was, understanding why he was so excited.
"It's a radio! With this, we can finally see if there's anyone else out there. Maybe we can even find someone to help us!" Naoto said excitedly. Being the one who went scouting the most, he had been constantly on the lookout for a radio, knowing that it was their one and only chance of communicating with the outside.
"Let's connect it right now! Maybe someone is broadcasting something. Heck, anything would be fine." Nagatoro excitedly exclaimed as Naoto quickly plugged the device in.
Despite their best attempts, none of the channels were broadcasting anything. There was no special signal, no survivors group reaching out to fellow survivors. There seemed to be nothing at the moment. "Huh. Maybe we should try tommorow." Naoto said, turning off the radio.
The rest of the day went on as normal. The entire group ate a small meal, before the evening arrived and everyone got in their futon to sleep.
Naoto and Nagatoro sat across eachother. "Can't sleep?" Nagatoro asked. Naoto shook his head. "Not really. I'm really worried about that radio. What if it doesn't work?"
Nagatoro slowly edged closer to him, her shoulder inches away from his. "I'm sure it'll work. This lonely nerd went out of his way to find it. I'm sure luck must be on our side." She smiled.
Naoto blushed slightly, before turning his head to the radio. "Maybe they only broadcast at night?" He slowly stood up from his futon, grabbing the radio and pressing the 'On' switch. Weirdly, nothing seemed to happen.
Naoto tried it another time. Still nothing. He could swear he left it connected. He looked at the plug. Yep, it was connected, all right. But for some reason, it refused to turn on. "Wait a minute." Naoto quickly put the radio back. "Let me check something."
"What's wrong, Senpai?" Nagatoro asked as Naoto approached the light switch, turning it on. The light refused to shine. He desperately turned the switch again and again, only to be met with the same result.
It took only a few seconds for Naoto to understand what was going on, and when he did, his heart nearly stopped from stress. All the power in the building was suddenly dead, meaning they wouldn't have access to electricity.
"Nagatoro... the building went cold. It looks like the remaining power finally gave out. I had hoped the generator in the basement would last us slightly longer."
Nagatoro looked at him in shock. "What are we going to do now? We only now got the radio and now we can't use it?! Can't you use batteries or something?!"
Naoto shook his head in disappointment. "N-No. The one I found only runs with electricity. If we want a chance of contacting the outside world, we need to find a place with working electricity." The boy quietly tiptoed across the room, trying to think of a solution to their problems.
Then, a sudden realization came to him. "Actually, I think our house has its own independent power source. My mum always complained about how the high voltage alway fried everything she plugged in, so she bought a small automatic generator or something. It really set us back for a few months on cash, but it'd be really convenient now. We'd practically have an unlimited source of energy.
Hearing that, Nagatoro lit up. "Really?! Score!" She said. "But it'd be too dangerous to go at night. We should wait until tommorow." Naoto nodded as the two of them got inside their futons.
"Senpai."
"Yeah?"
"Aren't you excited? We're finally getting out of here!"
Naoto nodded as he looked at her. "Yeah. I finally get to go back home." The two of them stared at eachother before Naoto spoke again.
"Naga-...Hayase." Hearing Naoto speak her name caused Nagatoro to blush, responding with a quiet stutter. "Y-Yes, Senpai?"
Naoto stayed quiet for a few seconds, before sitting up. Nagatoro followed along as he stared deep into her eyes. "You know, this will be very dangerous. We've never gone that far from school. We don't know how many Zombies are out there." Nagatoro seemed to be wearing a saddened expression, already expecting what he would say.
"There's a chance one of us might not make it put alive." He inched slightly closer to her. "But I want you to know that... I'll protect you and the others until my last breath."
Thump. Thump. Thump. Nagatoro's heart refused to stop pumping so loud. She was getting extremely flustered at the chivalrous claim that the boy in front of her was saying.
"Promise, Senpai?" Nagatoro said, inching slightly closer to him. Naoto gave her a smile as his face inched towards her as well. "Promise, Hayase. And when everythings back to normal, we'll go on that summer festival date i promised."
Naoto and Nagatoro stared into eachothers eyes, both lost in the mere beauty of the person before them. Naoto knew it. He could already feel it. This was the one and only chance he'd get for this. His face was beet red and he couldn't focus on anything, but he knew this was the moment.
He inched his face closer and closer before it was mere inches away from her. "Nagatoro... I-I-I..."
"What a fucking coward" Naoto thought to himself. He had killed countless amounts of Zombies, yet he couldn't confess to one single girl. "I-I-..."
Nagatoro put her finger on his lips, giving him a heartfelt and cheery smile. "I know, Senpai. Me too. For a very long time." She answered.
This was the moment. Nagatoro and Naoto's face inched ever closer, their lips mere millimeters from eachother. "I love you, Nagatoro."
BANG BANG BANG BANG! BANG BANG BANG BANG! BANGBANGBANGBANG!
Naoto's and Nagatoro's moment was interrupted by a loud banging on the door, which also woke up the rest of the group. Gamo was the first to yell out in a panic. "What the hell is going on?!"
The banging on the door only got louder as Naoto started to notice cracks on the edge of the door. "How did they find us?!" Hana yelled out in a panic.
Naoto quickly reached for his backpack, pulling out the gun he had found some time ago. It seemed like he could finally put it to good use. "Everyone. Stand back!"
The group quickly picked up what little they could as the knocking got louder. Nagatoro picked up Naoto's axe, stuffing it in his backpack as Gamo picked up her bat.
It wasn't even a second after that that the door broke down, revealing a massive group of Zombies. And at the front was one they all recognized.
They didn't know how or why, but somehow, he had remembered the place. It looks like he had kept his promise to kill them.
Riku, along with the others, stormed the clubroom as Naoto and the rest of the group decided they'd put up a hell of a final stand.
