The Third Card-

The Four of Clubs

It had taken a while for Rei to dry her tears.

He could only observe from a distance as she let her emotions flow out in the form of choked sobs. It made him feel uncomfortable. Not because he felt guilty about bringing up Hisashi, but because it simply made him feel like an outcast. He was a stranger to emotion; he could not feel like how others could feel. He could comprehend it, understand why they would feel, but he could not experience it for himself.

What was strange was that Takashi had said nothing the entire time. The other boy almost appeared to be sulking. How odd.

He had initially assumed that the two of them, along with Hisashi were good friends. It seemed out of character for Takashi to be glaring at the riverbed instead of being by Rei's side. Perhaps they were not as close as he had originally thought? Or perhaps it was simply the fact that cold logic could never predict how emotional humans would act.

"Come on", Takashi muttered as he picked up a stone and threw it into the river, with a good amount of force no less, "We need to get going if we want to get to the station before 7."

Rei had initially said nothing, showing no indication that she had heard the boy talk. After a couple more minutes with a few hiccups here and there, she uttered a quiet "ok" as she slowly rose to her feet.

Once bright hazel colored eyes, still red from fresh tears, were now like a dull brown instead. The small traces of mascara running down her face did not do her much justice either.

He sighed as he turned his attention away from the girl, instead opting to glance back towards the fiery hell that they had just escaped from. His lips curved into a slight frown. It was a pity that Hisashi did not survive. He had no doubts in his mind that his two classmates would have preferred to be with the grey-haired boy instead of himself.

A small dull pain welled up inside him once again as he thought about the grey-haired boy. It was an odd feeling, an unfamiliar one. While it was not physically painful, it felt… bad nonetheless.

"Come on… Let's get going already."

He merely nodded while Rei muttered something inaudible. He sighed once again as he began to walk besides Takashi. It was a long way to the police station. If only he still had his MP3 player…

"Are you guys hearing this?", Saya frowned, "Shidou sounds like he's trying to get us to join a new religious sect or something."

Saeko merely nodded as she glanced out the window. The amount of vehicles stuck in traffic right now was as far as the eye could see. It did not seem that they would be getting through anytime soon. It did not seem that anyone would be getting anywhere too soon for that matter.

"At this rate we won't be going anywhere anytime soon", the purple haired swordswomen crossed her arms over her chest, "Perhaps it would be better if we continued on foot?"

"I think that's a good idea sempai," Kohta said as he nodded in agreement, "I don't exactly like Shidou-sensei."

Takagi snorted.

"Who actually does? The guy's as slimy and rotten as they come."

"Then we are all in agreement?" Saeko glanced at her watch, "We still have a few hours before the meeting time."

"Uhm, is it fine if I tag along too?" Shizuka waved sheepishly, "I don't exactly enjoy Shidou-sensei's presence all too much either."

Saeko merely smiled.

"Of course, we were all originally together at the start anyway."

The purple haired swordswomen then clapped her hands together.

"So it is agreed then?"

"Let's just go already," Saya said in a clearly annoyed tone of voice, "I'll go crazy if I have to listen to any more of Shidou's ramblings."

With an almost unnecessary amount of grace, the Takagi heiress rose up from her seat and made her way to the door, beckoning for the rest of them to follow.

The city was in a lot worse condition than he had originally expected. While he had expected to see panic and perhaps hysteria, the sheer amount of chaos that he had borne witness to so far had been quite surprising.

Destruction was everywhere. Cars were aflame, buildings were rundown and looted. He had never been to a warzone but he imagined that this was quite a good comparison to one.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, he sighed. His body was not used to the amount of physical exertion that he had to exhibit today. Looking over towards his two companions, he could tell that they were not faring any better.

Takashi hid it well, but he could see his slightly labored breathing. Rei simply looked like she was about to faint.

They had been walking for a few hours. Normally, they would have been able to make to the station by now. But because of the chaos the city was in, they had to take a lot of detours along the way. Not to mention the fact that they had to take their time and sneak around any undead in the vicinity. Factor all of these things together and a 2 to 3 hour walk ends up doubling or even tripling in length.

Taking out his phone, he saw that it was already past the meeting time.

"Takashi."

The boy looked over at him, raising an eyebrow, confusion evident. Not exactly a surprising reaction, he was not someone that usually initiated conversation.

"It is getting dark, we should find somewhere to rest and continue the next day."

Takashi stopped walking and reached into his pocket, taking out his own blue colored phone. He muttered something inaudible before putting the device back into his pocket.

"Yeah, you're right Arisato", looking around the black-haired boy scratched his head, "Maybe we could find a bridge to crash under or something?"

"A bridge? Do you know how disgusting that is? I am NOT sleeping under a bridge Takashi", Rei frowned as she sat down on some nearby rubble, "How about we just ask someone for help like normal people?"

Takashi shot the girl a glare in response.

"Oh, I'm sorry princess, I am oh so sorry for not taking that into account. Yeah let's just go knock on someone's door and ask them if we can crash at their place while there's a fucking zombie epidemic going on; that would go over real well wouldn't it?", Takashi threw his hands up into the air, "Yeah, I'm sure people would be real willing to help with the half the city up in flames and the walking dead everywhere!"

"Ugh! What the hell's your problem Takashi?", Rei venomously bit back, "You're always like this, why can't you be more like Hisashi for once?"

"My problem?", Takashi began to raise his voice, "What's your problem? Hisashi's fucking dead okay? He turned into a fucking zombie and I killed him! How about you stop fucking comparing me to him for once!"

At the rate their argument was escalating, their voices were probably going to attract every single undead in a 5 mile radius. Why does it seem like everyone he knows doesn't understand that if you want to survive you should keep your voice down.

He only shook his head dejectedly as he stepped in between the two. Troublesome.

"Do try to keep in mind that noise attracts them", he dryly remarked, "I know of a place nearby that we can spend the night."

The other boy only grunted in response while the brown-haired girl muttered a quiet apology.

He tilted his head towards that direction and beckoned for his companions to follow. Takashi stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked away as he briskly walked near his left side while Rei followed along on his right side with her arms crossed over her chest. While the tension in the air seemed to be so thick that it was starting to become visible to the human eye, he enjoyed the peace and quiet nonetheless.

The journey was uneventful, and for that he was grateful. He was much too tired to be dealing with any extra shenanigans that fate wanted to throw his way at this point. He had already dealt with more troublesome things in this one day than in his entire life combined. It was quite ridiculous when he actually stopped to think about it.

His apartment complex looked almost exactly the same as it was when he left it this morning, with a few minor differences here and there. Well, he supposed his now dead neighbor's body lying in front of the entrance wasn't exactly minor. Then there was also the fact that most of the complex looked a lot more trashy than usual.

He allowed himself a small smile as he stepped inside the confines of his apartment. Everything was exactly where he had left it. While his apartment was not the grandest place, it was good enough for him.

Takashi let out a soft sigh of relief as he stepped in after him. He could not blame him, after the experience of surviving through today, being inside the safe confines of solid walls was a nice thought. Rei followed after and immediately dropped dead on his couch. It seemed that she was even more tired than what she physically showed.

He frowned as he thought about having to wash the blood stains off his only couch later.

"So you live here by yourself Arisato?"

He lifted his head off his kitchen table and begrudgingly forced his eyes open. Being the small apartment that it was, it did not have a separate living room, instead it was connected to his kitchen. Takashi was seated in his only couch while he was sitting on a stool in front of his kitchen table. Rei on the other hand seemed to not want to be in the same room as Takashi and asked if she could use his shower.

"Actually, that was a stupid question", Takashi gave him an apologetic smile, "I forgot that you said you were an orphan."

Takashi did not seem like the type of person that enjoyed the silence. In a way, he supposed that the boy was similar to Hisashi in that regard. Not that he would mention that though, making comparisons about the two boys seemed to be a trigger for Takashi. An inferiority complex perhaps.

He sighed as he went to make some tea. He had wanted to fall asleep on his kitchen table as they had all silently agreed that it would be better to let Rei have his bed. But he supposed that he could entertain the other boy with some small talk, as he was his guest after all.

Setting the two cups on the table, he motioned for the other boy to come. He watched as Takashi walked over and sat in front of him, thanking him for the tea.

"So, you don't talk much huh?"

He shrugged.

"What is there to talk about?"

The sound of his showerhead continued to drum as the only source of noise while the two boys sat in silence. Eventually, the other boy had grown restless enough to break the silence.

"So, the kendo club?"

He nodded in response.

"I didn't take you for the kendo type."

"I'm not."

Takashi raised an eyebrow.

"Why'd you join then?", He asked in confusion before giving him a sly grin, "Oh, I see, for Busujima-senpai huh? And here Hisashi was trying to tell me that you were gay."

He almost choked on his tea. It would seem that Hisashi's jokes continued to haunt him from the grave.

"I am heterosexual. But I did not join the kendo club because of Busujima-senpai. I was…", he paused trying to think of the right word, "…persuaded to by someone."

"Let me guess, was it Okazaki?"

He nodded.

Takashi laughed in response.

"Oh man, you actually let him talk you into it?"

He nodded again.

Takashi continued to snicker.

"Well I can't blame you, he always goes after the new kids. The rest of us already know to steer clear of him."

The sound of the showerhead shutting off seemed to kill anymore small talk that Takashi had wanted to make. So they continued to sit in silence, taking occasional sips of tea.

When Rei walked into the kitchen wearing nothing but an oversized white T-shirt, Takashi's face flushed. Takashi looked away while he merely diverted his attention towards her face instead. He did not own any female clothing, and she could not wear her bloodstained school uniform to sleep, or rather he would not let her sleep on his bed wearing a bloodstained uniform, his couch being dirty was already bad enough, so he had given the girl one of his old shirts. There was little choice in the matter unless she wanted to walk around naked, which was something that he would rather she avoid doing.

"Is it really alright for me to use your bed Arisato-san?"

He merely waved her off, telling her to not worry about it. He was used to sleeping on tables, he did it in class everyday after all. She uttered a quiet thank you before heading towards his room.

Takashi sighed once he heard the door close. It seemed that they were still not on speaking terms after their argument earlier today.

"I'm guessing you want to know what's been going on with me and Rei lately huh?

He shrugged. While he was a little curious about their situation, he did not need to know if Takashi did not want to tell him.

"You know that Hisashi was my best friend right?"

He raised an eyebrow in response, unsure of where Takashi wanted to take this conversation before nodding.

"And you know that Hisashi went out with Rei."

He nodded again.

"It's just that… With Rei… I…"

Takashi seemed to struggle to find the right words to express his thoughts. But he didn't need to; it didn't take a genius to figure out what he wanted to say. Now it made a lot more sense, why Takashi hated being compared to Hisashi.

"You like her."

He did not know the feeling. But he could understand it.

The other boy remained quiet for a while before nodding.

"I never did answer your question from earlier huh?", Takashi spoke in a low voice, "About how Hisashi died."

He frowned as he remembered how his question had caused quite the amount of discomfort earlier in the day. While Hisashi's death did somewhat bother him, how little it did was quite disconcerting. He wanted to feel sorrow for the boy, to shed tears for him, but he could not. He was simply hollow inside.

"Hisashi got bit by one of those things… We had no idea what would happen at the time, we assumed he would be fine. It was just a small flesh wound after all right?", Takashi smiled a hollow smile, "Hisashi was right as always of course. He knew something was wrong. He wanted me to put him out of his misery before he turned. He said he didn't want to become one of those things. I… I couldn't do it until it was too late, we saw him turn right in front of us. I... took him down in the end."

Takashi looked haunted when he finished speaking. It took the other boy a while before he gathered himself and continued.

"Rei was hysterical about it of course", Takashi let out a bitter laugh, "She thought that I resented Hisashi for being with her, that I was glad to have him out of the picture."

Takashi sighed as he leaned back into his seat, his face contorting into a pained expression.

"The fucked up thing about it is, she's probably right."

"You are unsure?"

"I don't know. I feel terrible about Hisashi kicking the bucket, and even worse that I couldn't at least put the poor guy out of his misery before he turned", Takashi's face turned grim, "But I would be lying if I said that I wasn't at least a little optimistic about him being out of the picture."

He remained quiet, unsure of how to respond to the other boy.

"Some friend I am huh?", Takashi shook his head and let out another bitter laugh, "And now everything's fucked. At least before, even if it hurt, we all got along. Now he's dead and me and Rei can't go 5 minutes without screaming at each other."

"It has been a… trying day. Tensions and emotions are running high, people are not their normal selves. Perhaps in time, things will return to normal."

Takashi scoffed.

"Where'd you steal that from doc?"

"6th period psychology, you would know too if you attended more often."

Takashi chuckled.

"Huh, who woulda thought, Tanaka's lessons would actually be useful. Hey, wait…", Takashi narrowed his eyes, "Can you even be talking when all you do is sleep in class anyway? It's a wonder how you never get caught."

He let a small smile grace his features.

"Sleeping in class is one of my few abilities that I am rather proud of."

"Heh, what about having balls of steel? Walking through that minefield of zombies back at the school entrance was pretty hardcore."

He simply shrugged. It was not a matter about being brave for him, death simply did not bother him.

Takashi stood up and playfully punched him on the shoulder as he walked back towards the sofa.

"Hey, Arisato… Thanks for the talk", Takashi looked over towards him and grinned, "You sure you don't want the sofa?"

He simply waved him off. He was used to sleeping on desks and tables after all.

The next morning came quickly, too quickly. But then again, he was never really a morning person. He rubbed the back of his neck. That was going to be sore for a while, sleeping on his kitchen table probably wasn't the best thing for his neck. At least not over a span of that many hours.

Breakfast was peaceful to say the least. While Rei and Takashi still weren't exactly on speaking terms, they were at least civil to each other. Or perhaps they were simply tired, it did not seem like either of them were able to get much sleep. Unsurprisingly neither of them had much of an appetite either. It didn't really matter though, that simply meant more for him.

They had agreed to bring along a few supplies from his apartment. Mostly a backpack with bottles of water and a few articles of extra clothing. He himself had switched into his winter outfit since Takashi was using his spare uniform due to the boy's old uniform being covered in bloodstains. Luckily for him, his bokken was still in his apartment as he did not have kendo practice yesterday. He actually had a weapon that wouldn't break after a few swings now.

Catching his reflection on the corner of his eye, he looked into his mirror and sighed. It was a silly thought but he did not feel whole without his headphones hanging around his neck.

"Hey Arisato, you ready yet?", Takashi called from his living room.

He simply shook his head one last time at his reflection before making his way towards his companions.

He missed his MP3 player.

Author's Notes: Hey guys, I'm sure everyone's been wondering where the hell I've been. I simply didn't have any motivation to write anything for a while, but I'm back now. Hope you enjoy the chapter, and remember to leave me a review!

-SFX