Hello everyone

Hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

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Chapter 4: Among The Living

"Ren, what the hell man?"

Ren glanced at his best friend, Komuro Takashi, as he approached and glanced at him with both confusion and slight shock; clearly looking for an explanation for his actions.

It was no wonder. About a minute ago he had left his class counselor, Shido Koichi, behind, outside the bus they were currently in, to die, his intentions being exactly those by the way. Not that he would admit it.

Ren could only stare back at him silently, his eyes still unwavering, looking as determined as ever. He did not regret that one bit; he was extremely glad he had done it even. Maybe it was the fact he hadn't personally done it with his hands, being them the ones that took care of the job; although he was still the main cause in a way.

"Wasn't that your counselor?" Takashi once again questioned him with a scowl.

Ren took a step forward; his face now inches away from his friend's.

"Trust me" he whispered, making Takashi's eyes open wide in shock at how serious his tone was. "He was dangerous".

"He did the right thing" Rei joined in, approaching Takashi from behind. "You did the right thing Ren" she said, reassuring it to him, now staring at him, while extending her arm and placing a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly. She must have been really grateful.

Takashi seemed to finally relax a bit, not doubting his friend's statement, while also taking into account Rei's words finally. As horrible as it could seem, Takashi was aware that there must have been a reason why his closest friends seemed to agree on something like that.

Saeko who had taken a seat near them as well as Saya and Hirano, who were sitting next to each other didn't seem like they were about to protest, nor that much troubled by his decision at all. Good.

"What the fuck did you just do?!"

He and his whole group then turned their heads around, towards the back of the bus, to stare at an enraged Tsunoda. The rest of the back group also was staring at him like he was some kind of madman or monster.

He frankly didn't give a shit. But still had to deal with it nonetheless.

"Why the hell did you close the door?!" Tsunoda continued.

Ren sighed. While he couldn't care less about what they thought about him, the only truth was that in their eyes, he had left their teacher to die at the last moment. Shido was gone and that was one thing, but now he had to deal with the back group's bullshit; and he frankly didn't feel like starting a civil war inside a bus right after they had just escaped the school.

"He was taking too long" Ren responded instantly.

"Bullshit!" Tsunoda replied instantly

"He was just a couple of feet away!" now it was Miku's turn to join in.

"Couple feet that could have cost us a lot" he responded right after, confidence in his tone.

"We could have just waited a bit longer!" Miku insisted.

"A little bit more than that and we all would have been into some deep shit" he stood his ground; and he frankly didn't know if that was true or not, also didn't care. As long as he could get them off his ass, he didn't care.

But it was going to be difficult; Shido seemed to have led the group, so in a way, he had just left to die their savior, not to mention their coach – referring to the ones that were part of the track team –. He also couldn't just start spilling out every slimy act Shido had done that he had witnessed, that could make matters even worse.

The back group kept on with their crying and complaining.

"It's done ok?!" he raised his voice. "There's nothing we can do about it".

"Yes we can!" Tsunoda followed. "We should throw you out of the fucking bus!"

Leave it to that brute to come up with the dumbest ideas. Ren was pretty sure that the guy didn't like him one bit, not to mention that he was probably still mad that Ren had smacked him a few days ago.

Rentaro noticed Takashi, Rei and the rest of his group tensing at those words, minus Shizuka who still had her eyes up front. Hirano even readied his gun, but Saya stopped him by placing a hand on it.

"I'd love to see you try that" Ren muttered, his features turning as serious as ever, while gripping his bokken tightly with one hand.

"We gotta throw him out!" Tsunoda this time glanced at the rest of his group, trying to rally them up.

"Is this fucking idiot trying to start a brawl?"

"No you are not!" Rei joined in.

"There's no point in that!" Takashi added.

"But he's a murderer!" Miku continued.

"He's not!" Rei replied immediately.

"Yuuki's right!" another one of the females from the back group agreed. "He's dangerous!"

Then, they were all caught off-guard when the bus suddenly came to a stop. Shizuka then turned around, from her seat as best as she could, since she was wearing a seatbelt, while staring at the whole group.

"Stop it! I can't stand all this ruckus in the back!".

Also worth mentioning that thanks to the seatbelt that was pressing against her chest, her bosom was now as noticeable as ever.

Even so, that actually managed to make everyone shut up. After a couple of seconds of pure silence, Saeko finally stood up from her seat.

"Nobody's throwing anyone out" Saeko warned, with authority in her voice and bokken in one hand. "Shido's gone, that's it. There's no point in crying over spilt milk; even worse is trying to commit to something as foolish as a personal vendetta in this kind of situation we are in".

Ren could tell that the last part had been especially directed towards Tsunoda.

The back group didn't respond, although they still didn't look convinced at all or willing to stand back.

"And for your information, if you still go on and keep up with that nasty idea of throwing him out" Saeko then turned her wrist slightly, making the fact that she was holding her bokken even more obvious, in a menacing way even. "I'll have his back".

The back group seemed taken aback by this. Having the kendo national champion menacingly warn them to stop their rambling with a bokken in hand to top it off, must not have been the most 'calming' of things.

After those words left her mouth, Rentaro could feel a warm feeling bubbling inside him, he almost felt like smiling. Damn, she really was making him fall for her even harder.

"We will have his back" Takashi added, while placing a hand on Ren's shoulder and pointing at the rest of their group with his other one.

That finally seemed to do the trick, as the back group finally, reluctantly took each one a seat at the back, while whispering to each other worth mentioning. They were pulling back, but just for now.

Ren sighed, seeing as how things finally settled down momentarily. While Shizuka finally started driving again.

"Don't listen to them. You did the right thing and I'm grateful for it" he heard Rei speak. Ren noticed her and also her smile on his face. He didn't know the story behind her hatred for Shido, but seeing her relief was also another good point to add to his decision.

"Hey, if my childhood friend insisted on not wanting some asshole near her, I was to intervene in her favor eventually" he responded with a smile. "It also served a snake like him just right".

Rei nodded at his words while giggling a bit. Takashi soon joined them along Saeko and now the whole group was near each other, on the front of the bus.

"I don't really know why you guys hated that teacher, but if you guys think that was the right choice, then I guess it's cool for me" Takashi commented.

"He was the reason I got held back a year!" Rei announced, earning widened eyes from Takashi, Ren and even Saya. "He was scum!"

"R-Really?" Takashi asked in disbelief.

Well that explained a lot, at least for Rentaro. While not in the same league as Saya, Rei was and had always been an honorary student, one of the top of any school she had been, always. Her losing a year never stopped being fishy for him, not even for a second.

"Back in the school, I came across him; saw him use my class president as bait. Literally pushed her towards one of them before walking away like it was nothing" Ren also revealed, earning slightly shocked expressions from both Takashi and even Saeko. Rei didn't seem that surprised, while Saya and Hirano listened quietly.

"Furukawa-san?" Saeko asked, in slight disbelief. Ren nodded at her. She then lowered her gaze, looking clearly troubled at this. He understood her; he wasn't exaggerating when he said that Furukawa was a good person, also extremely likable. "I also never liked him, he always rubbed me the wrong way, but this…?" Saeko added, still a little taken aback by what Ren had just said.

"Ah- I- I also think that what Ren did was for the better" Hirano chipped in. Ren also knew the reasons behind Hirano's statement; he had commented to him previously about Shido encouraging the class to bully him.

"Never liked him either" Saya joined in. "It was as clear as day that he was as false as they come. Anybody with enough brain cells could tell that".

"Was I the only one that didn't hate him before this?" Takashi asked while scratching the back of his head.

"As I just said, anybody with enough brain cells… so not you" Saya chipped-in, while staring at Takashi with a mocking smirk.

Takashi merely chuckled at this while he kept scratching the back of his head.

"Umm…"

The group turned their heads to the front to look at Shizuka, while she was still driving.

"I know I should not speak ill of the dead but…" she then turned her head to look at the group. "I always thought Shido was a bit creepy too" she whispered that last part, earning grins, chuckles and giggles from the group.

The group then stayed each at the exact same spot in silence for the next couple of seconds. Nobody really knowing what to say next.

"Welp… I'll go take seat if you guys don't mind" Ren commented. "These past two or three hours have been the longest in my entire life".

The group didn't protest at this, but before he went to his seat he turned around.

"Also" he muttered, quickly grabbing the attention of his group once again. "Keep one eye open all the time, even while sleeping".

Ren turned around before he could see the response from the group, not like he needed to see it to know that they all knew they had to be on alert. He went and took the double seat right behind Shizuka, on the left side, taking the seat that was away from the window as he felt he could check on Shizuka and the rest from that side a bit better compared to the other. As soon as he sat down, he felt his whole body relax, almost go comfortably numb. Realistically, he wasn't that exhausted, but overall, the stress he had been going through was insane and his body reaction clearly showed that. He could almost feel his eyelids growing a bit heavier. He sighed while closing his eyes, exhaling through his nose.

"Maybe a quick nap won't hurt" he thought. It was going to be really hard to keep one eye open though, he felt like he had run a marathon while being chased, which was not far away from reality.

"Mind if I take a seat?"

Ren opened his eyes and looked to the right to find Busujima Saeko staring at him, with a small smile on her features. Rentaro eyed her for a brief moment.

"She wants to sit next to me" his mind stated the obvious; while he wasn't trying to overreact, he had noticed that Busujima had been surprisingly friendly towards him, weird for someone he barely talked to before the outbreak… maybe it was just her nature? Not that he complained though; he didn't want his mind to fill with delusions, but he also couldn't play dense, right?

"Make yourself comfortable" he told her, his face not changing. "I like to talk though, just so you know".

Saeko giggled at this. "Will not complain".

Then, before he could stand up to give her enough space to move towards seat, Saeko was already at it, with her back facing him and her rear passing dangerously close to his face. Ren instinctively pressed the back of his head against the seat, but also, while he tried to divert his gaze, it just kept coming back to her rear, whose outline he could manage to notice through her skirt's fabric.

And if that wasn't enough, the bus suddenly took a small bump.

Nothing to worry about, but enough to momentarily make Saeko lose balance, before she landed on Rentaro's lap.

"Whoops" he muttered as he caught her, his hands on her hips. "You ok there?"

"Y-Yes, excuse me" she replied immediately, finally moving to her seat as she looked through the window, away from him.

Ren had noticed that her ears were tainted in pink.

He would be lying if he said that didn't do anything to him. Just that brief moment sent his body to a state similar to the adrenaline rushes he got when he fought. Not because he 'felt' a woman against him, but solely because it was her more than anything. He was extremely drawn to her, it was almost ridiculous. But while his heart and blood through his veins raced, he didn't feel agitated at all, and merely just eyed her, while trying to not smirk. After all these years of being so deeply attracted to her, his mind and body were reaching a limit.

She was slowly driving him insane… and he didn't mind, but he also wasn't going to keep his arms crossed anymore.

"Busujima" he called her. She finally seemed to compose herself as she looked back at him. "Thanks for that from earlier by the way, it was really nice of you".

She raised an eyebrow at this, seemingly not knowing what he was referring to.

"No, not talking about what just happened" he told her, a sly smirk on his features. "Although I can't say I hated it".

She kept on staring at him, with her eyebrow raised, until she figured out what he was referring to. Her cheeks then got tainted a little bit in pink while her eyes looked away from him, clearly caught off-guard by his sudden teasing.

"Talking about you standing up for me and beating some sense into that lot" he reminded her. "Glad to know you got my back".

She seemed to break out of her slight embarrassment as she heard this.

"Don't mention it Sakata" she smiled, her tone gentle. "We're… friends, after all".

Well that was new for him. He also noticed that she didn't add the 'san' at the end of his surname; that was some progress indeed, but they could certainly aim for something much higher.

"Ren" he muttered.

"Mm?"

"My friends call me Ren" he told her, with a smile while extending his hand towards her, looking for a handshake.

She looked at his hand for a couple of seconds before smiling.

"You can call me Saeko too" she said as returned the handshake.

Ren felt a slight electric shock as soon as their hands touched, the worst- no, the best part was that he just knew she had felt the same. He also couldn't help but notice that her hands, while smaller than his, they weren't as dainty and delicate as you would expect from a woman that looked as elegant as her. He could feel all the years of practice she had put on in the art of the sword; truly admirable he thought. If anything, it made him feel even more attracted to her.

"Well Saeko, hope we get along very well from now on".

"Likewise, Ren".

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Ren slowly opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was the back of a seat right in front of him. He quickly remembered then, that he was inside a bus. He had fallen asleep in his seat with his arms crossed, although he could tell it hadn't been for long; his bokken was resting between his arms and upper body. His mind then quickly flashed all the events that he'd been through moments before and right after escaping from the school, in this very bus.

He felt like standing up, but stopped himself immediately when he felt something in his shoulder. He slightly glanced to his left to notice that Saeko was currently with her head resting on his shoulder, asleep apparently. He could both hear and feel her steady breath, well deserved, he thought; he hoped he was having a nice sleep right now, everyone needed some after everything that had happened.

His heart also had skipped a bit once he realized, nothing out of the ordinary though; he quickly calmed his heart down.

Ok now, as corny as it could sound, the thought of him one-day waking and finding Busujima Saeko by his side was something that had been on his mind way before this. What? He was an 18-year-old; even he thought about that stuff, very normal considering that he was head over heels for her. But the fact that it was now real almost made him chuckle a bit, not at the fact that it was happening, but at the fact that it was happening in a bus, while they were in the middle of a Zombiepocalypse. Talk about romantic.

"Ain't this nice?"

He then looked through the window, his eyes finally noticing that it was night already and they were stuck in traffic; he also saw some cops on the sides, probably trying to keep the situation under control as much as possible. It was not the most calming of things, but in a weird way, the fact that he was surrounded by the living was certainly better than being surrounded by the dead. He just hoped there wasn't some psycho or someone that had lost his mind already among them, that could trigger some chaos; no need for those, he had his hand full with Tsunoda and his group at the back.

His body tensed a little when he heard some gunshots coming from the outside, although he could tell they were coming from a considerable distance, they were still quite loud. Served as a quick reminder they were not completely safe, that was clear, obvious even.

Almost at the same time, Saeko woke up, alerted. She lifted her head from his shoulder and almost at the same time, her right hand rushed to grab her bokken that was on her left side next to the window. He moved his hand to calm her down, placing it on her forearm.

"It's alright" he whispered. Her body quickly relaxed as she turned to look at him.

"Did… Did I fall asleep?" she questioned, looking for confirmation. It almost seemed like she couldn't believe herself.

"Uh… yes?" he answered her, while removing his hand from her forearm. He noticed that she lowered her gaze a bit, almost looking ashamed of herself.

"My mistake" she said as she looked back at him.

"And why is that?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"I intended to stay awake, to keep a watch" she said. "I believe I told you, when I noticed you were going for a quick nap".

Did she? He didn't remember, really. After their little conversation was done, he got himself comfortable and closed his eyes, eventually falling asleep, and didn't really remember anything about her keeping a watch.

"Maybe got yourself a bit too comfortable?" he said with a smirk, as he gently tapped himself in the shoulder that she had been resting her head on just a moment ago.

Saeko seemed confused by this, as her eyes went from Ren's own eyes to his shoulder a few times. Her eyes slightly widening and her cheeks blushing slightly were the confirmation for him that she finally had realized.

"D-Did I really?" she asked, the tone in her voice showing bits of embarrassment. Very cute in Rentaro's opinion. "I am very sorry" she continued as she slowly bowed her head.

Well this was something entirely known for him. Saeko in his eyes always seemed to be just someone too amazing and too beautiful to be from this world, always elegant and smart; he felt like she was just out of his reach and that he just wasn't worthy of her. But as of now as he was earning this type of reactions from her, these thoughts were slowly changing, and he was becoming even more bold by the second.

Maybe it was not the right time, in the middle of a Zombiepocalypse that had just begun some hours ago, but it was exactly because they were in the middle of a Zombiepocalypse, that he felt like making his move now more than ever. If not now, then when?

"Don't worry about it, I didn't mind" he assured with a smirk.

"Still, I shouldn't have fallen asleep" she replied.

"It's alright Saeko" he said, her name coming from his lips seemingly doing the trick.

She seemed to finally give up and relax, she then smiled.

"You're very nice, Ren" she told him. He almost felt like she put a little bit of emphasis on his name.

"I try to" he responded with a smile as well.

They both heard some slight ruckus in the background, Ren quickly identifying Tsunoda's annoying voice.

"To the people I like at least… I'll go check on everyone".

Saeko nodded at this.

Ren grabbed his bokken and got up from his seat and first checked on Shizuka, who was still on the driver's seat, resting her chin on the Wheel while looking at the front.

"Shizuka" he whispered as he placed a hand on her shoulder, quickly getting her attention. "Everything alright?"

"Oh, Ren-kun!" she looked at him, her face beaming. "Did you manage to sleep?"

"A little bit" he replied with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"A little tired" she said as flopped against her seat. "This traffic has no end… but don't worry, I still can drive" she reassured him with confidence.

Ren chuckled at this, at times it really seemed like she had an unwavering spirit, and it was honestly like therapy to him amidst all of this.

"Call me if you need anything alright?" he told her, and she responded with a nod and a smile.

Rentaro turned around and noticed that the group at the back were all sitting really close to each other, with the only one speaking being Tsunoda who had his back turned to him and probably spewing bullshit, Ren guessed. He knew Tsunoda very well and even before this whole thing, Ren was very aware that Tsunoda was just some brute with nothing good in his mind. And right now seeing him talking to the group, Ren was anything but calm, knowing him, he was probably trying to turn the whole back group against Ren's group and start something stupid, and he was most-likely going to succeed; they already seemed to hate Ren after he had pretty much left Shido to die, which was pretty understandable, he had to admit. Tsunoda was far from bright, very far, but from the back group, he seemed to be the only one strong-, scratch that, he was the only one dumb enough to try and start something stupid.

He walked then towards Saya and Hirano, who were sitting next to each other, just one seat behind him, only that at the right side. Saya, who had her eyes closed, seemed to notice him as she opened her eyes and looked at his way; Hirano also seemed to do that as he was also now looking at him as well.

"How's everything looking?" Ren asked, standing next to them, resting his elbow against the seat that was in front of the pair.

"Nothing worth mentioning, only what you can see for yourself" she replied with her arms crossed, referring to the traffic, Ren immediately knew.

"How long has it been?" he heard Saeko's voice ask, who was now approaching them and then stood right behind him.

"Around two hours" Saya replied. "We have been moving one kilometer per hour at best".

"Not stuck at least" he commented.

They then heard Tsunoda raising his voice once again, and all four grimaced at this, clearly annoyed.

"What about the twat at the back" Rentaro muttered.

Saya sighed at this, clearly fed-up with him as well. "He was quiet at first but has been getting louder as time has passed; have tried not paying attention to him, but it's easy to know he's not planning anything good… don't think that gorilla can come up with a good plan at all".

Ren chuckled at this.

Then they heard a growl, and him, Saeko and Saya turned around to look at Hirano, who had been quiet the whole time, until just a second ago, although that hadn't come from his mouth.

Ren also had to admit that was the loudest stomach growl he had ever heard.

"Geh-! What's wrong with you?!" Disgusting!" Saya started bashing the poor boy while looking at him. "Make it shut up!"

"B-But I can't help it Takagi-san…" Hirano defended himself while placing both hands on his belly. "I haven't eaten in a while".

"We haven't eaten in a while after all. I'm very hungry too" Ren commented, being honest, but also trying to help Hirano out too.

Takagi scoffed at this. "You men are really helpless, aren't you?"

"I'd also like something to eat, to be honest" Saeko added.

That seemed to get Saya, and now she was staring daggers at Saeko, who merely giggled.

Ren then turned his head, searching for Takashi and Rei, then quickly noticed them; they were one seat behind Saya and Hirano, but on the right side. Takashi was sitting on a single seat that had no pair, while Rei was standing next to him; they were both chatting. Ren immediately knew that Takashi probably intended to keep a watch on the group at the back

He was about to approach them, but his body tensed-up once he heard more gunshots, this time way closer. His eyes quickly looked through the window towards the direction of the noise. He noticed a group of what seemed to be cops, shooting at one of them.

His group remained silent, but some of the girls from the back group screamed a bit in panic.

"See what I'm talking about?!"

Ren almost rolled his eyes once he heard Tsunoda's voice once again, now more clear than ever.

"We are not safe here!"

Ren's eyes landed on Tsunoda, who was now standing a bit closer to the middle of the bus, while facing them, although he was clearly talking to the back group.

"Why are we following these idiots?!" he continued. "They decided to go to the city and now got us stuck in here without considering us!"

The back group didn't say anything, but didn't really seem to disagree with him.

"We should have stayed at the school and find a place where we could hide!"

"Is he for real?" Rentaro heard Saya mutter. "What an idiot".

He was an absolute idiot indeed.

"He's right you know" Ren noticed another male, slim-looking student stand up from his seat. "Being here will only put us in more danger".

"We should turn the bus around, we don't have to follow the rest!" now Miku joined in.

The rest of the back group actually started voicing their opinion as well, all agreeing.

Ren took his words back, he was not an absolute idiot, they were absolute idiots. Tsunoda's dumb ideas somehow had reached them.

Tsunoda then seemed to notice Takashi, who was staring at him with probably not the friendliest look.

"The fuck you want?!" Tsunoda shouted at Takashi. "Wanna throw hands or something?!

Rentaro groaned at this, staring daggers at Tsunoda. Now he wanted to pick a fight with Takashi? The hell he was trying to achieve?

"He hasn't said anything" Rei commented; Ren could hear anger in her voice. She was clearly pissed as well.

Tsunoda stood there in silence with a scowl, thinking about what he wanted to say next.

"I fucking hate him!" he shouted while pointing at Takashi. "I just can't stand this fucking bastard!"

Takashi stared at him, clearly frustrated by his behavior. "Why do you hate me? I have never even talked to you" he responded with annoyance in his tone, standing his ground.

Tsunoda seemed pissed at this and Ren noticed he was about to do something stupid, and while he knew Takashi could take care of himself, it was better to stop anything from happen.

Ren took a step forward, loudly, which managed to grab the attention of the whole bus, just as he had intended. He noticed Tsunoda clearly taken aback by this, who remained in place, not doing anything in the end, but while staring daggers at Rentaro.

Ren walked forward and stopped right next to Takashi and Rei, in front of Tsunoda. He could see as clear as day that the guy was nervous. What happened to his guts from just a few seconds ago? Didn't he want to pick a fight? Rentaro had to stop himself from smirking.

He noticed that Tsunoda was glancing at his hand specifically, the one that he was holding his bokken with. Ren exhaled through his nose before extending said hand backwards; Rei apparently quickly got the message and grabbed the bokken with her free hand, while the other was holding her spear.

Tsunoda seemed to relax a bit after this, although he still looked nervous.

"So tell me" he began. "What's your brilliant plan again? We can talk about it, like civilized people. Then I'll tell you why you're wrong"

Tsunoda stood there in silence for a couple of seconds. "I have nothing to say to some fucking murderer!"

Ren bit his lip at this. "Listen buddy…"

"I am not your fucking buddy!"

"Listen here…" this time he said more seriously, almost menacingly. "I know we've had our differences in the past, but right now, they're the enemy, not us" he said that last part while pointing at where the zombie had just been shot at. "So we either stay calm and carefully think about what we should do next, which will definitely not be turning this bus around and going back to the school".

Tsunoda seemed to now be fuming, his veins as clear as ever on his forehead. "You think I'll listen to you?! You think you're hot shit?!"

"Calm down-"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Just calm down".

"I said-!"

"Just calm the fuck down".

Tsunoda's patience finally reached its limit, as he lunged himself towards Rentaro.

Ren stood there, waiting for the right moment, his patience had also reached its limit after this. He was trying to be civilized, but there was just no chance with people as deluded as this, especially with guys like Tsunoda, who had shit for brains.

Tsunoda tried to punch him, but Ren almost a bit to easily read his move; he had thrown his arm back by a lot, and way too slowly in Ren's experienced eyes. He immediately responded with a straight right to the gut. Tsunoda was affected by this immediately, as he groaned in pain and out of breath, while his upper body bend forward due to the impact. He could had stopped there, but he didn't feel like it, he was feeling a little bit to frustrated, and he also had to make sure Tsunoda would shut up and never try something funny ever again.

Ren placed his hands on Tsunoda's head, holding it still as he charged a knee strike, that he cleanly landed straight in Tsunoda's face just a second later. Tsunoda's head and whole upper body shot up before falling on his back due to the violence of the impact; as he groaned in pain, he took something similar to a fetal position, as both of his hands went to his face, clearly in pain; not to mention that his nose was bleeding now, a lot.

Gasps and even screeches from some could be heard from the back group due to the scene. Ren on the other hand was trying really hard to not smirk as he looked at Tsunoda, while a feeling of pure satisfaction bubbled inside him.

"Tsunoda!" Miku said as she stood up from her seat and kneeled right next to the bleeding brute. Were these assholes a thing now or something? She then raised her head to stare daggers at him, but he could also see fear. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Is she for real?"

"He started it" Takashi commented from behind him, nonchalantly.

"And he barked at the wrong tree, clearly" Saeko added, from behind as well.

Ren almost chuckled at this; he then looked at the rest of the faces of the back group, who were looking at him like he was some madman again, but all staring daggers at him in the end; fine, if they couldn't understand with a proper talk, he was going to play the villain for them. If being nice wasn't going to work, he'll try his luck with fear.

Ren once again extended his hand backwards and just a second later received his bokken back from Rei; he then, with the tip, hit the ground, in a menacing way, which captured the back group's full attention.

"Listen here, you fucking idiots" he began, venom in his voice. "As far as I'm concerned, we secured this bus" he said as he pointed at himself and his group in the back with his thumb. "If it wasn't for us you never would have escaped the school that you seem to be missing so much now, and would've been sharing the same fate as that creep of a teacher of yours. You wanna cry and get mad at me because he got left behind for being slow? How about thanking us that we let you guys in to begin with? We could have just let you bunch behind and we wouldn't have lost anything, and we would have been much more comfortable than we're right now".

Ren took a deep breath before continuing, while also analyzing what to say next.

"We're not planning to keep anybody hostage here; if you guys really don't like it" he then pointed at the door with his hand. "Then you can fuck off, nobody will stop you, especially not me… But if not? Then just shut it and be nice. We're not gonna get ourselves killed just because some idiots we saved are feeling rebellious".

Ren then pointed his bokken at Tsunoda, his glare as icy as ever. "And you… you prick; try something funny again and I'll fucking end you".

Tsunoda merely looked at him in silence, while holding his severely bleeding nose, that Ren was pretty sure was broken. The rest of the group did the same, their faces now looking more nervous than ever, and without any intention to protest clearly.

Ren exhaled through his nose, before turning around to head to the front. He felt a pat on the back from Takashi, while he also heard Rei saying that he did a good job. The more interesting, thing for him was the glance that Saeko was giving him; she was smiling slightly, while her eyes gleamed, screaming something a little bit more than just interest.

Ren returned the look for a brief walk before walking pass and finally reaching the front. He stood, checking at what was ahead of them, he saw the traffic finally moving a little bit, but nothing spectacular.

"Sorry about the ruckus Shizuka" he apologized to the nurse, who still had her eyes up front.

"Ah- Don't worry" she responded cheerfully while looking back at him. "Not really driving right now technically, so I wasn't feeling that stressed about it".

Rentaro smiled at her response before turning to look at Saya and Hirano, the former who was currently staring at him with a smirk.

"Was it good?" Rentaro asked with a smirk, pretty playfully. Hirano then gave him the thumbs up, clearly approving, which Ren returned while chuckling.

"It was, I'll give you that" Saya replied. "Hopefully that gets those idiots off our backs from now on".

"It will not, at least not for long" Ren responded. "They will eventually find some guts in them again and start being loud".

"Can't say you're wrong".

"That also means the tension will be as heavy as ever now, hopefully they really don't try anything stupid".

"You did tell them that they could leave whenever they wanted" Rei commented while also joining in, after walking towards them, followed by Takashi and also Saeko.

"True, if they stay behind and start throwing a tantrum again, it will be their own fault" Takashi added.

"We will still need to watch our back" Saeko chipped in. "We never know with people like them. They could fly off the handle at any moment".

"Especially with a guy like Tsunoda with them" Ren commented. "We might have to leave this bus soon".

"True, we still need to look for our families" Takashi followed.

"But in this traffic, when will we be able to reach a good spot?" Rei added.

"The question is; could we even survive that… journey?" Ren questioned.

"We can" Takashi responded a few seconds later. "If we work as a team".

"But we're not some type of perfect machine or something like that, you know" Rentaro replied. "We can be very capable as a team, but we're still human. We get hungry, tired and sleepy. Escaping the school was already a challenge, who knows what we will encounter out here".

"It's true, we do need to be more prepared" Saeko agreed.

The group then stared at each other in silence, no one really having anything in mind.

Then Rentaro remembered…

"I have a suggestion for you guys" he began, grabbing the group's attention. "I believe is our best option right now…".

It was time to really prepare themselves properly for a Zombiepocalypse this time.

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Alright, that was Chapter 4, it was and took longer than I initially thought but hope you guys liked it.

See you on the next one.

And have a good one!