Takashi and Tohno had gained around 10 minutes of a head start when Takashi decided it would be better for the two to stop at the closest departmental store and stock up. Tohno had hastily agreed and pulled into a gas station about ten kilometers away from the school. there wasn't a single undead in sight, so Takashi decided that getting out of the car and walking into the gas station store was a sound idea.

"Kit, we must act quickly, lest the bus catch up to us."

Takashi looked around. they had overtaken the bus a long time back. By his approximation, they were ten minutes ahead at the least. Buying supplies and refueling wouldn't take them more than half that time. And if the bus did pass by, it wasn't likely to stop at the gas station unless the driver saw the car. He had no idea who was driving the car, but it was most likely a teacher. He wasn't even sure that Rei and Hisashi were on the bus. But the thought of joining his classmates still hung in his mind, unbidden.

"That is a stupid idea and you know it, kit. Going out of your way for someone when in crisis is a surefire was of getting killed."

Takashi sighed. Sometimes, he was glad that he had a wise demon fox's voice filling his head with advice. At other times, he thought it was merely a nuisance.

At this point, he couldn't tell which one this was.

As he walked into the store, he was greeted by the most untroubled shop clerk he had ever seen in his life. The man was at peace with himself, his job, and the world.

Either that, or he was simply very, VERY bored.

The man didn't even move his head to follow Takashi as he entered, choosing instead to eye him with a very disinterested attitude. Takashi shivered as he felt the clerk's eyes follow him. Orbs of dullness stuck inside an immobile head.

"Kit, that man creeps me out."

Takashi silently agreed as he picked up a few packets of frozen meat from the freezer. He then walked towards the clerk and asked him a very unorthodox question.

"Would you give me a discount if I told you that the world as we know it was coming to an end?"

The clerk simply looked at him, his facial expression unchanging. Takashi looked out towards the highway and saw one of the undead appear from the underbrush. As it slowly crawled through the road, it looked directly at the petrol pump. Takashi was almost going to hightail it out of there when the school bus that he was trying to escape from appeared out of nowhere, bashing into the undead and sending it flying. Whoever was driving the bus seemed oblivious to the fact that buses aren't meant to go that fast for so long.

The clerk didn't even move when the bloodsplatter from the road accident covered the window of his shop. Instead, he looked at Takashi, and spoke.

"First time customers get a 40% discount. Take it or leave it."

"So, you're the Takashi that Morita speaks of so often, aren't you?"

Takashi turned his head to face Tohno. They were driving a respectable distance behind the bus, considering it was going towards the city at breakneck speeds. Tohno had decided to drive at a respectable pace, giving the bus a few minutes of roadtime ahead of them.

"Yes, I'm surprised you know Morita, though. Didn't think the teachers liked him much."

Tohno's face scrunched into a frown, "yeah, I noticed." he spoke, "Your school was quite...competitive...to say the least. I saw how the teachers treated students who scored low marks. it was almost disgusting to see, really. Morita was one of my favorite students, though. He used to take the old gibson acoustic from the music to the roof all the time. One day, I followed him to the roof secretly in order to see what he did, considering he was terrible with a guitar. The music I heard, though, was a completely different caliber than what I expected from him. When i questioned him later, he told me it was you playing the guitar, not him. I looked for you, trying to scout you into the music club, though I never did find you, considering how scarce you made yourself. Morita did speak quite highly about you."

Takashi turned his gaze back to the road. Morita was one of the only people Takashi ever really considered a friend. Probably because the teachers saw both of them as useless duds. He remembered seeing Morita when he was running through the school.

Only, he wasn't technically 'alive' anymore.

"He was a good lad, kit. Shame what happened to him"

Takashi was filled with guilt, considering he was unable to save the one person in school that he could truly call a friend. But he couldn't let this guilt hold him down. He had other priorities, like survival.

"You are better shinobi material than most of the shinobi I met during my life. At some level, it is almost frightening."

Shrugging off Kurama's comment, Takashi tried his best to put his feelings into words. All he could manage was meager compared to what all was going on in his mind.

"...Morita was a good friend."

Tohno seemed content with the reply, though, nodding in agreement. "It is a shame he let that bastard Shido put him down though. Morita had a brilliant mind, but if you treat a horse like a donkey long enough, it'll start acting like one over time."

Takashi smirked, the fact that Tohno hated Shido just put him on Takashi's good side. He allowed himself to close his eyes for a minute, using chakra was an exhausting ordeal, and it was best for him to rest up and recover as much chakra as he could. Considering he hadn't even used much, a good night's sleep would be enough for him.

The last thing he saw was a tourist bus overtake their car. And then his vision faded to black.

Takashi had barely fallen asleep when he was jerked awake by the car suddenly stopping. The first thing he felt as he roused himself from his slumber was the feeling of heat. It was followed by the scent of burning gasoline. As he opened his eyes, he saw a fire in front of his car, blocking the path towards the central city.

And on the other side stood a bus, and from the bus, five figures were walking towards the car.

"Kit, you might want to hide your katana."

Takashi nodded as he pushed his sword through the scroll in his hand. He then exited the car. Tohno had already stepped out and was speaking to the one man in the world who Takashi wished would have died in his school.

Koichi Shido.

"Ah, it is great to see another teacher from school able to survive this...disaster. Welcome to our fold, Tohno-san!" Shido proclaimed. he spread his hands in a welcoming gesture, though his eyes, glinting with malicious intent, made the gesture look almost forced.

"Ah, good to see you too, Shido-san." Tohno spoke. The passive look on his face made his words impossible to believe. Shido picked up on that and withdrew his gesture, focusing instead on the car.

"Ah, you have brought a secondary vehicle with you, how very nice! We could always shift some extra students from the bus into the car." Shido spoke, eyeing the chubby kid behind him as he spoke.

"It seems you are mistaken, Shido. Neither do we have any will to join you, neither are we going to surrender my car." Tohno spoke, radiating open hostility. Shido simply smirked.

"I see, but you are unarmed and alone, we have weapons and are many. Come with us, we'll keep you safe, else just surrender your car and we'll drop you wherever you need to go in the bus."

Tohno's hands curled into fists. His eyes shone with pure hatred. "Don't you dare lay a finger on my baby. or else..."

Shido's smirk grew wider, "Or else what?"

"Or else you won't have any fingers left by the end of it."

Shido turned towards the source of the voice as Takashi stepped out from behind the car, radiating pure killer intent. Shido was taken aback for a second, before regaining his senses and realizing that the person facing him was merely a schoolboy.

A damn intimidating schoolboy though.

"Kid, don't be foolish. We're five and you're two. Come along quietly and we'll be nice to you."

"Correction, there are three of you and four of them." A feminine voice spoke in a passive tone. Looking towards the source of the sound, Takashi found the source of the sound.

"Saeko Busujima. Quite an honor." Takashi spoke in a monotonous voice as Saeko and The chubby kid walked over to his side, leaving Shido at a loss for words.

"I see you know me, Well, my companion here is Kohta Hirano. And who would you be?"

Takashi was about to answer as a pink haired cannonball whizzed past Shido and almost knocked him over. It took Takashi a second to gather his wits and look down to see his childhood friend, Saya Takagi, hugging him.

It simply added to his discomfort, considering that he didn't really like the condescending genius. The only reason he bore with her was because he had immense respect for her parents.

"Takashi-kun! you survived!" Saya spoke, noticing his discomfort and taking a step back, much to his relief.

"Yes, Saya-chan. I wouldn't let a few of the undead hinder my ability to survive now, would I?"

"Oh bother, the coyote kit is here too. The only ones left are the vixen and the teme."

"You have no idea how worried Igou-san and Rei-chan were when they didn't find you in school!"

"Aaaand now the entire circus routine is well and alive, Huzzah!"

Takashi was both delighted and spited at the same time. The fact that Rei and Hisashi had made it out unharmed was a good thing. The fact that they might be around, however, was not comforting in the least.

"Yeah, give them my regards when you see them. We have to move." Takashi spoke, his indignation seeping through his words. He noticed Saeko's brow furrow as he said that. The woman was sharp, it wouldn't surprise him if she could read him better than anyone present there.

"Your regards? you aren't coming with us?" Saya asked, her face taking on a rather questioning appearance.

"No, I have things to do before I leave town. It would be in our best interests to not travel together, as I will probably take some time."

Saya looked disheartened, but quickly got herself back together and took on her stern, condescending pose again.

"Takashi, I want you to promise that once you're done with your 'work', you'll join us at my father's mansion."

"I love how she makes demands like she owns you, almost makes me want to toy with her before I kill her."

Takashi's mind filled with anger, but he knew better than to let it take hold of himself. He simply nodded, letting Saya have her worthless promise.

"Yes, I will. Now if you would be kind enough to get the bus moved out of the way?"

"Well, this is my crib, it ain't much, but make yourself at home!"

Takashi and Tohno had arrived at his house an hour after the bus incident. It was a roomy place, that is to say that there were way more rooms than one would expect from a single man's house. Which brought about a question in Takashi's mind.

"The house is quite large, do other people live here with you, a girlfriend perhaps?"

Tohno looked embarrassed as he scratched the back of his hair. "I don't have a girlfriend, haven't had one since I moved back from berklee. I had my eye on a certain teacher in school, though I don't see how that's going to work out now. I do have a female tenet though, she isn't here most of the time due to work."

Takashi had to resist the urge to chuckle. Tohno reminded him that no matter how distant they seemed, when all was said and done, even teachers were humans after all.

As Takashi walked into an empty room, he noticed that the bed had never been used. It was rather counterproductive to just have empty rooms, but then he saw the female accoutrements scattered around the floor.

"It would seem we are trespassing on the tenant's property, kit."

As Takashi walked out of the room, he saw a painting on a wall. Somehow, it looked familiar to him.

"Kit"

"Yes kurama?"

"I believe Tohno is hiding something from us."

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, you see that painting in front of you?"

"Yes?"

"That's the symbol of the sunagakure, the village hidden in the sand."

"So, you are saying..."

"What I'm saying, kit, is that we might find one of three things when we talk to Tohno about this."

"A man who has a bad taste for art"

"A friend who could be priceless if we were to survive."

"Or an enemy, ready to bury us under sand."