The Fifth Card-

The Seven of Spades

The police had stationed off the bridge, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the inner parts of the city. When Marikawa-sensei had attempted to ask why, she was simply ushered away and told to leave the area.

While it was somewhat annoying because they would have to take yet another detour, he could understand why the quarantine was necessary. From what he could see, they were mostly there to prevent people from leaving the quarantine zone. That meant that whatever this…"plague" was, it was probably a lot worse in the inner parts of the city. Bad enough that the higher ups had apparently decided to simply abandon the area and keep everything bottled up inside, whether they be monsters or humans.

He of course did not voice out these thoughts. After all, almost everyone's parents happened to be across that river when this whole mess had happened. He'd rather not make any more girls cry from careless comments if possible.

But judging from the grim look on Takagi's face, she had probably deduced the same thing. Now, whether or not she wanted to divulge this information, he was not sure.

"God damn it..." Takashi obviously not pleased with the recent turn of events, let out a couple more expletives before turning his attention towards everyone else. "What the hell are we going to do now?"

"Well, we could always just cross the river the old fashioned way?"

He could not tell if Hirano was actually being serious or if he was making a joke.

"You mean like… swim?" Takashi seemed to settle for the former.

Hirano slowly nodded in response, a cheeky grin on his face.

"You're an idiot. I'm not going to swim across a dirty river." Takagi's comment seemed to cause the glasses wearing boy to almost deflate. "Since this is the only bridge towards the inner city, we're just going to have to follow the river downstream until we see a shallower part. Then we can just take the Humvee and drive through it. It's going to take a lot longer, but we don't exactly have too many options at the moment."

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. While what Takagi had said sounded like a solid plan, there was only one small issue he had with it.

Where were they going to get a Humvee?

At this point he shouldn't even be surprised anymore. A lot of stranger things have happened already.

He could feel the contents of his stomach rummaging around in a rather uncomfortable fashion as the Humvee came to yet another abrupt stop. He usually didn't experience much nausea from car rides, but Marikawa-sensei's driving was something else entirely. It wasn't this bad on the bus, but with the smaller vehicle that they were all jammed packed in, it definitely made it a lot worse.

"Sensei!" Takagi's harpy like screeching did little to help with his problems.

"S-sorry!" The school nurse sheepishly smiled as she hit the gas again, "Rika's the one that usually does the driving…"

While he, as well as the rest of the group was curious as to what kind of friend the ditzy nurse could possibly know that possessed a military grade Humvee, the best answer that they received was that this "Rika" person was a part of the police force. Hirano in particular was especially persistent in grilling the nurse for answers, as apparently not only was this "Rika" person in possession of a military Humvee, but she also had several extremely illegal high grade military firearms hidden inside a locker in her apartment.

Several extremely illegal high grade military weapons that were now in the possessions of a group of high school kids and a school nurse.

What was even more surprising was that Hirano actually knew how to operate said military weapons. Apparently the glasses wearing boy had received fire arms training when he was on a trip to America.

It seemed that Hirano was a lot more than just another gun otaku. It explained his rather eccentric tendencies when it came to anything resembling a firearm anyway.

Another sudden stop led to him having his face plastered against the back of the seat in front of him, with a good deal of force he might add.

"Oh my, are you alright Arisato-san?"

His kendo captain's concern did little to ease the newfound pain that was now spreading across his face.

Truly, this would be a long detour indeed.

"Hey Arisato-san, so I know you probably prefer using your bokken, but you should still carry this with you just in case." Hirano seemed really excited as he held the pistol in his hand, "So this is how you reload, and you'll have 15 shots before running dry. Over here is the…"

He held the weapon in his hand as Hirano continued to explain the basic functions of the weapon with a good deal of glee no less. He believed that the glasses wearing boy had said that the pistol was known as a SIG-Sauer P226.

"So do you get it? Or do you want me to run through the basics again?"

While he didn't doubt that the glasses wearing boy would love to go through everything again, he had heard everything fine the first time. He wasn't exactly as… enthusiastic about guns as Hirano was.

"Well alright then… At least you actually listened. Takashi said that he would just use the Ithaca M37 that we got from the apartment as a club because it was too much stuff to remember!" Hirano cried out with tears rolling down his face akin to a waterfall, "A club! Can you believe that!?"

He actually could believe that. If the way he paid attention in school was any indicator, more than likely Takashi got bored with the glasses wearing boy's long winded explanation and probably just zoned out. Then again, he was probably the last person that could criticize someone else on their school habits. He had probably slept through more classes than Takashi.

He watched on with amusement as Hirano moved on to his senpai next as he tried to show her how to use another one of the fire arms that they had "borrowed" from this "Rika" person. Unsurprisingly Busujima-senpai had adamantly refused to use a gun and insisted that she was fine with her bokken.

Her skill with the sword was so great that giving her a gun would probably just lower her combat efficiency anyway.

"Hey guys." Takashi clapped his hands together, quickly getting everyone's attention, "Since Takagi's house is the closest, I was thinking that we should head over there first. Is that fine with everyone?"

No one in the group seemed to have a problem with their leader's suggestion.

"Alright then." Takashi stood up and began to walk back towards the Humvee, "We should probably get going now, I think that we've rested long enough."

He sighed as he stood up as well. The thought of getting back into the Humvee with Marikawa-sensei driving wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience. Even more so now that they had just eaten.

Hopefully his stomach would be more forgiving this time around.

He grimaced as the Humvee hit another "bump" along the road. They had gotten lucky earlier in that they hadn't run into much of the dead. But now that they were inside the inner city, the dead were a lot more abundant. So much more so, that they were crowding up the streets, which left little choice but for Marikawa-sensei to have to run them over, explaining the rather uncomfortable bumpy ride that they were all now forced to sit through.

He wasn't sure what was worse, sensei's sudden abrupt stops before or the new constant "bumps" along the road.

"H-hey wait… Sensei stop the car!" Miyamoto screamed in a panic from her position on the roof of the Humvee, "There's wires stretched out all across the road!"

He had to cover his mouth with his hands to stop himself from emptying his stomach of its contents from earlier as Marikawa-sensei slammed the brakes hard. The only problem now was that due to all the blood and guts that now greased the wheels of the Humvee, the vehicle continued to slide forward instead of stopping.

She soon lost control of the wheel and they were quickly left helplessly spiraling until they finally came to a hard stop from slamming into the metallic wires in the middle of the road. The sudden lurch ended up throwing Miyamoto off from her spot on the roof of the Humvee.

"Rei!"

Takashi had shouted her name before quickly jumping down after her. The horde of undead outside had all began to march towards their position due to the amount of noise that was generated.

His senpai had been the next one to act, quickly kicking open the door.

"Arisato-san, to the front with me! We will hold them off!"

The commanding tone of her voice booked no room for questioning. He simply nodded before following after her, his bokken in one hand and the pistol that Hirano had given him in the other.

While he was also skilled with the sword, he did not have the same problem that his senpai had with the use of fire arms. While it was unorthodox, he did not know why but having his bokken in one hand and the SIG-Sauer in his other just felt right.

Busujima-senpai had done a good job of pushing forward, drawing the attention of the undead away from Takashi and Rei. Judging by how long it was taking for Miyamoto to stand up, she must have gotten injured from the fall.

Like his captain, he was also more of an offensive type of fighter, preferring to press forward instead of going on the defensive. But, it was clear to him what is captain wanted him to do as he saw her cut down another undead, continuing to slowly push forward into the horde.

Dropping back, he and Takashi ended up standing side to side as they formed a protective wall in front of Rei. Upon closer inspection, he could see that the girl on the floor was unmoving with trace amounts of blood leaking from various small cuts on her body. If he had to guess, she was most likely unconscious, likely from blunt force trauma. Luckily for her, she still appeared to be breathing.

Although with the horde of undead that continued to surround them, they might all not be breathing for much longer.

Taking aim, he fired a few rounds into the crowd, thinning their numbers before stepping forward with his sword arm, swiping at any of the creatures that got too close.

Takashi seemed to have been paying some attention to Hirano's gun lessons after all as the other boy squeezed the trigger and pumped out shot after shot. The shotgun did its job well as the shells absolutely decimated every zombie that it hit.

No matter how many they killed though, another one quickly filled their ranks. After firing a few more rounds into the ever growing horde, he let his eyes quickly scan the battlefield. While his senpai was doing her best to hold them off, she was beginning to get pushed back, even with Hirano giving firing support from the Humvee.

"Shit! I'm out of ammo!" Takashi swore as he grabbed his now empty M37 with both hands and swung it like a club at any undead creature that got too close to the unconscious girl.

There were simply too many of them.

Fatigue was starting to creep in as he swung his bokken again, smashing into the skull of one of the many approaching undead. Another had managed to latch onto his sword arm from his blindside, effectively stopping his movements. With a great deal of effort he pulled his arm away, ripping his sleeve and dropping his bokken in the process. He kicked the dead woman back, giving himself some much needed space to maneuver. Bringing up his pistol, he took aim and squeezed the trigger.

Only to be met with the all too familiar sound of an empty magazine.

Ah, of course. Recalling what Hirano had said earlier, he only had 15 shots before needing to reload. A costly mistake as the dead one quickly closed the gap, bloodied hands searching for anything to grab onto. He kicked it back once more, buying himself a few more seconds of time.

His companions were faring no better, his senpai reduced to having to rely on hand to hand combat, having lost her sword sometime during the fray as well. Hirano was trying his best, giving covering fire from the safe confines of the Humvee but the horde was simply too large for one marksmen to push back.

Their savior came in the form of a rapid torrent of water.

"Grab the girl and get back behind the wires!"

The voice sounded feminine, although he could not be sure if they were female as the person was covered from head to toe in firefighter gear. With a nice display of agility the firefighter and their partner hopped over the wires, positioning themselves with better angles to hit the horde with.

While he was curious as to whom they were, he did not have the luxury to ask questions with the horde only being momentarily subdued with a constant torrent of water. So he obliged and assisted Takashi in carrying Rei away from the danger zone.

Takagi and Marikawa-sensei were the next ones to cross over, both looking relived. Hirano and his captain soon followed, with the two firefighters not far behind.

It was almost amusing to see the dead attempt to push their way past the metal wires when they could have just ducked under instead. Another blast of water soon cleared the wires of any stragglers that still attempted to power their way through.

Once the danger had finally seemed to pass, almost everyone in their group let out a sigh of relief. His captain quickly gathered her wits and thanked the strangers for their help, bowing to show her gratitude.

"Don't worry about it." One of the firefighters walked over towards Takashi and Rei, "What happened to her?"

"She fell off the Humvee when we crashed."

The worry in Takashi's voice did not go unnoticed, as the firefighter gestured to the other one to come over.

"Sakamoto, come check on her."

"Sakamoto" quickly rushed over and knelt beside the unconscious girl.

"Wait a second… That voice… And Sakamoto…?" Takagi looked over towards Sakamoto and then back towards the other firefighter, "Are you… mother?"

He raised an eyebrow at this.

The other firefighter responded by slowly taking off her helmet, revealing a very elegant looking women.

"Hello Saya."

The Takagi estate was huge. No, that was probably an understatement. He had never seen a house this big before. He knew Takagi was wealthy, but this was borderline ridiculous. The estate was probably the same size as their school grounds.

He was surprised to see this many people once they had stepped inside the Takagi grounds. Various tents and makeshift beds lined any open space within the estate. It almost felt strange to see people living normally after what had transpired the last two days.

After they had taken Miyamoto to the makeshift infirmary, Takagi's mother led everyone to Saya's room. While the Takagi estate was huge, their space wasn't endless, and there were a lot of people staying there. Their group was to use Saya's room as most of the other guest rooms were already taken. It didn't matter to him though, since Takagi's room was probably larger than his apartment either way. In fact, Takagi's room was so large that even after moving in a bunch of makeshift beds, more than half the room was still free.

Unsurprisingly Takagi wasn't happy. If she wasn't so visibly fatigued, she would have probably went on another one of her harpy rants.

Although she wasn't the only one, it was barely nighttime and everyone seemed tired enough to pass out on the spot. He was not an exception. To go from being a part of a normal student routine to fighting in life and death scenarios was not an easy change. His body was not used to being pushed to this extent.

Takagi decided to go take a shower while Takashi went back to the infirmary to check on Rei. Hirano and Marikawa-sensei also left to bring back some food, which left him alone with his captain.

He sighed as he eyed his torn sleeve in annoyance. This was his second outfit that he had ruined in two days. At this rate he would run through his entire wardrobe in a week.

"This is just like the club isn't it Arisato-san?" His senpai wistfully murmured, "Only this time we don't have our swords."

He supposed that was true. In the kendo the club, more often than not, he would usually be there alone with Busujima-senpai. While there were other members, they did not always show up. While his captain usually displayed a warm exterior, when it came to the art, she was very stern. So it was no surprise to him that the other members tended to skip out whenever they could. It didn't bother him though; he actually preferred it as the peace and quiet was always nice.

"Then again," Saeko smiled as she scooted over and took a seat next to him, "Even with the sword, you don't have much to say regardless."

He simply shrugged.

"What is there to say?"

She chuckled.

"Indulge me this time will you?"

He sighed. It seemed this time there wouldn't be much peace and quiet. His senpai always did try to push him to improve on his swordplay, apparently now she wanted to move on to his conversational skills.

"Come now, is having a conversation with me really that bad?"

No, it probably wasn't. He supposed that there were worse people out there he could be having a conversation with.

"We'll start with something simple." The almost playful tone in her voice did not go unnoticed, "Like how about the fact that you still don't call me by my first name."

He raised an eyebrow but otherwise did not respond, allowing her to go on.

"You call Komuro-san by his first name even though you've known me longer."

How long they knew each other had no bearings in why he referred to Takashi by his first name. Nor was it because of what their relationship was. There was a really simple reason as to why he uses his first name.

"He asked me to."

This time it was her turn to sigh.

"Are you really going to make me ask?"

"Saeko."

She smiled in return.

"That is much better. And I will not make you ask either, Minato."

He wasn't going to ask in the first place, but he did not voice this out of course. He had made the mistake of angering his captain once. It led to their next sparring session being a rather unpleasant experience. It was a mistake that he did not wish to make again.

Their conversation soon died off and he was finally rewarded with some peace and quiet. Leaning back against his seat, he let his shoulders sag and closed his eyes. He was tired enough to fall asleep on the spot but there was still dinner to be had.

The silence was nice but the occasional sounds of someone drumming their fingers on the hilt of their bokken was not. With a sigh, he opened his eyes.

"Something is bothering you."

It was a statement, not a question. He had spent enough time with his senpai to understand a few of her quirks and traits.

"Yes, I suppose something is."

He did not miss how her voice took a serious tone.

"Takagi-san and I had a conversation last night." She turned to face him, "A conversation about you."

While he was a little surprised, he did not allow it to show on his face.

"She is worried you know. You need to not be so reckless."

He did not know what to say to that so he said nothing.

"She is not the only one, all of us, your friends, are worried."

His friends? Were they considered friends? He did not know. He thought back to Hisashi; while he did not think that he and Hisashi were friends, their relationship was the closest thing that he knew of. A familiar pain began to well up in his chest again as he thought about the grey haired boy.

He looked at his captain. He imagined her being in Hisashi's place, being bitten by one of the dead before slowly dying. He could feel a sense of dread beginning to surface. He clenched his fists as he tried to remove the image from his mind.

He understood now. When you get close to someone, it will hurt when you lose them. He could understand Takagi's and Saeko's feelings.

He could understand his friend's feelings.

Author's Notes: This was actually suppose to be released a week ago but I ended up rewriting it about 4 different times. Hopefully it turned out to be decent enough to usual, thank you for reviewing!

In regards to some questions people have-

Other persona characters will appear in the future, either as cameos or as a part of the main plot. As for the female protagonist? I am sorry to disappoint but she will not be in this story. Now about the interludes, future interludes will indeed be from different characters point of views, expect the next one to be from Saeko or Takashi's point of view. And as for what I will do once the story reaches the point in which the manga discontinues at? I guess you can expect some divergences to happen sooner or later down the road.

In regards to Arisato's personality. In canon, I don't think he is apathetic because of death being sealed inside him. After all, Ryoji is death and he is anything but apathetic. I think that his personality is a result of the trauma he experienced as a child regarding the incident on the Moonlight bridge.

Sorry that there wasn't any best girl in this chapter for those looking for Mp3-chan, ah ha.

Till next time.

-SFX