Chapter 6:

Country: Japan

Population: 127 Million

Infected: 67%

Date: Wednesday • April 1 • 2017

Point of View: Ouran Group

Ever since it was announced that Haruhi was in the same situation as Kanako, communication with the remaining hosts was...

It was spotty, at best.

Haruhi outright refused to talk to everyone except for Kaoru. Kyoya had to relay the messages to Ranka instead pf Haruhi contacting him directly.

It was obvious that something happened.

That Haruhi was angry at them. And so was Hikari.

Though she remained neutral throughout most conversations, she became quiet the moment her situation was brought up.

It wasn't that she hated it.

She would rather have died than let history repeat itself in that manner.

It was just—

Why wasn't two months enough time to mull over her options?

Enough time to weigh how angry she was over her predicament?

Enough time to think through how this would affect her plan of running away with Hikari?

Enough to think about how this would affect the course of their lives, in general?

Enough time to think about whether or not she would need to choose between this, and her girlfriend?

All of this remained hidden.

Though it had the side effect of her being silent.

Why wasn't two months enough time?

Haruhi hummed as she played with her girlfriend's orange hair.

"Look who's able to grow her hair out, finally?"

Hika smiled. Shooting Haruhi a suggestive wink with her hazel eyes.

"I know, right? I'm actually able to style it, now!"

Haruhi chuckled, amused at how excited her partner was over her long hair—which barely stretched down to her shoulders.

She should have anticipated that the conversation would take a more serious turn.

"So,"

Hikari didn't even need to finish.

The tone.

The look in her eyes.

The grimace.

Those things said it all.

"I'm keeping them."

The words slipped out before she even had the time to process how to say them.

Though, as jarring as it seemed to Haruhi, Hikari was unfazed. Smiling lightly and pulling her partner into another tight embrace.

"I figured. But, is there a plan for later? With the "running away" thing?"

Haruhi could only shrug.

"I don't know. Maybe if I can get Kyoya to feel guilty... Or if I can keep them hidden the entire time... Or even if we do it sooner. We were supposed to graduate next month, anyway?"

Hika needed a minute to mull the words over. Nodding lightly.

"Let's plan for that, then."

Later

Nobody was sure what they expected when there was a knock at the door.

It was initially anticipated as an infected, but that didn't entirely make sense.

Whoever was on the other side drilled that idea in further when knocking was made into a clear pattern.

Ayanokoji rolled her sleeves up this time, yanking a blunt object off of the table she was sitting at and marching over to the door that nobody else wanted to go to.

Haruhi swore she caught Renge swooning over her bravery.

"Oh, wow!~ She's so confident and courageous!~"

Maybe it was also the way that her crimson red hair flowed in her stride. Of her sharp, steel grey eyes that narrowed with a look that proudly displayed one message before she even said it.

"If it's a threat, I'm taking the sucker out."

Seika Ayanokoji—in an odd brag—said that she was an expert with tying knots with any material.

This alone wasn't odd.

What was odd was that she apparently learned it from a long-estranged relative that thought the topic was more important than anything combat related.

Which, upon explaining, was realized to be very important to her family. They were very old money, and thus believed that they needed to show their strength to avoid being targeted by other families looking to bring them down.

All it took was one look to examine the knot.

And then she dug four fingers into the knot, spreading the loops and allowing her to swiftly remove both ties from the door in the span of a couple seconds.

Initially, it was unsettling to see such a tight knot come undone so quickly.

But, it probably wasn't as bad as the students assumed, so long as Seika could re-tie it just as fast.

The door clicked open, the redhead peering out the door with almost predatory eyes. As if she looked forward to seeing an infected to use her weapon on.

However, on the other side of the door stood a young man in a black cloak.

Umehito Nekozawa.

"Oh."

Seika had nothing else she knew she could say. Opening the door all the way so that the other students could see the survivor.

"Nekozawa?"

Nekozawa nodded.

"Apologies for not approaching you all sooner. We were under the impression that we were all alone."

Another female student laughed.

"Same over here!"

None of the students hid their relief to see other survivors.

Renge spoke up.

"Wait, how did you find out we were here?"

Nekozawa gestured outside.

"Oh, my group had decided to block off the area so we wouldn't have to worry so much about noise level. And we were looking for the supplies to do so when I found your door locked a few moments ago."

Other members of the group lit up at the idea. Haruhi speaking what they were thinking.

"We have plenty of large props that we have to help with that. We can probably block off and have the whole hallway barricaded."

Haruhi turned on her heel and went to the prop room to display her point.

She even found small listening devices and cameras.

It didn't take more than Hikari going to carry a table out for everyone else to join in and bring out the big, heavy props to barricade the hallway.

Nekozawa's group members joined in as well. Visibly relieved at the sight of more survivors.

Afterward, the situation seemed less tense.

Unlike what they had been bracing themselves for, no infected seemed to hear them putting up the barricades.

Perhaps because there were so few infected left, to begin with.

Maybe...

Maybe the same went for the outside world.

Maybe it would be safe to leave, soon.

Haruhi's consideration of this subject was cut off by the sound of her ringtone a distance away.

Then, the sight of Kyoya's contact on her phone.

Calling her.