At last, perhaps the most awaited chapter for most of y'll finally is here!
Hope you guys enjoy and sorry for the wait!
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Act 12: Burden
Rentaro didn't know for how long their ride had been going on for so far, although not for much, they still had time before the night arrived.
He currently was looking through the window while his mind was somewhere else, dozens upon dozens of stuff going through his head. Of course this was the case since they were finally out there again, out there with them.
They just left a safe spot, at least for the next couple of days, and separated from a strong group, not to mention that they had to leave one dear friend behind, and other two companions that they had made along the way, including a little pupper as well that they also grew to adore.
But some things just needed to happen the way they did; they couldn't be upset about it, in fact, all of them felt slightly relieved because of it, but still, it was a saddening circumstance, but nobody could afford to be selfish or prideful nowadays, in this new Undead World.
Ren especially was concerned about his friend Kohta, more than the rest; while Takashi and Rei were now focused on rescuing their parents, Saeko had made his mind and he also knew how mentally strong she could be. Shizuka seemed fine at the moment, although her mood wasn't as good as always. Then there was Kohta; he made sure to turn around and check on him, as his friend was currently sitting at the back, looking really down as he looked out the window. No surprise really, it had been pretty clear at least for him that his friend genuinely liked Saya, and had made the upmost effort to protect her all this time, but now, they had to move on without her, since she was under the protection of her parents now.
It had been very noble of him, to offer his help and choosing to continue with the rest of the group. He doubted that anyone in the group would have protested or took the wrong way if he chose to stay with Saya, especially now that they seemed to be getting along better, like calling each other by their first name and stuff.
But in the end, they had to move on, and fight.
And if this crazy world wanted it that way, they all would meet again.
But if not, Ren would make his biggest effort to change that.
He finally was pulled out of his pondering, once he and the rest reached the highway after a quick left turn, also meaning that the city was finally perfectly visible as well.
"Let's slow down" Ren told Shizuka, who did just that.
And as they all gazed at the city, they all thought the same… it didn't look promising.
Him, alongside everyone else carefully inspected their surroundings and what was ahead of them, all reaching the same conclusion in the end. It was no good.
"Stop the car" he recommended, and just a second later, Shizuka pulled the brakes. "Let's turn the engine off for now".
Smoke was coming from numerous spots out of the city, there were dozens of abandoned cars on the road ahead, and most notoriously out of all, just countless of them ahead.
A dead city, it's what they were looking at the moment.
"There's too many" Saeko commented while leaning forward, from the back seats, taking a better look at the view upfront.
"Why is it like this?" Takashi questioned, immediately feeling frustrated with the situation.
"That E.M.P blast essentially killed any sound that was coming from the city, or at least most…" Ren responded instantly. "It wasn't that noticeable before, but now the Humvee's engine must be echoing all round; there's a high chance it's the only working engine of the whole highway… or whole city".
"Then, what do we do now" Rei questioned.
Ren looked at the scene in front of him for a few seconds. "Let's hop out for now, we have some small company coming at our way… Kohta, go up and check if there's any of them behind us".
"Got it" and with that, quickly stuck his head out the Humvee's sunroof and quickly came back down. "There's a couple of them".
"Saeko and I will take the ones upfront" Ren announced. "Takashi and Rei can take care of the ones at the back, that should at least buy us some time. Kohta, you keep an eye on our surroundings, use only the crossbow if necessary, we can pick up bolts later. No shooting, that would draw some huge attention".
Nobody protested at this, and all readied themselves.
"Do I use the shotgun as a club?" Takashi asked, noticing he didn't have any melee weapon now.
"My bokken should be somewhere around the bags; you can use it" he recommended. "Or…" Ren muttered before drawing the bowie knife out from the leather scabbard that was strapped to his chest, before showing the blade to Takashi. "You can use this if you want".
Takashi stared at the knife for a couple of seconds before chuckling a bit nervously. "I think I prefer the bokken…"
"Sure".
They made quick work of the zombies that were surrounding them, which weren't many, and quickly regrouped near the Humvee, at its front, while Kohta continued scanning around from the sunroof. Shizuka stayed inside the Humvee with Guts.
"Now, what should we do?" Saeko asked as she crossed her arms. "The problem now is how we're going to get through here".
"Should we just try going through them again?" Shizuka recommended.
"There's abandoned cars and all sorts of obstacles in front of us now" Ren pointed out. "And while the Humvee might be strong and sturdy, it could be just like last time; too much accumulation of their blood and guts can make it slide, cause an accident and get us stuck all over again".
"I know!" Rei announced. "The Humvee can go through the water right? How about we go into the river? I don't think they will go in the water".
"Well… the river is right there, but not exactly that close, the path isn't clear" Ren pointed out. "And that could only get us so far…"
"Then, what do you suggest we do?" Saeko questioned.
Ren stood there for a couple of seconds in silence, thinking about every possibility and what could be done. Their current equipment and weapons, where could they possibly stop to rest once the night arrived, everyone's abilities, the dangers, all possible routes…
Finally, he sighed before scratching his head.
"They are not gonna like this…"
...
...
Ren fired his handgun for the fifteenth time, successfully nailing another zombie in the head.
"And that's a full mag" he thought, before reloading the handgun. He had gotten some ammo back courtesy of Souichiro, so he didn't have to worry about it that much.
He put the handgun back on its holster, and while sweating a bit, he looked at the pretty terrific scene in front of him.
Currently on top of a car, he was away from the previous stop where the Humvee was at, while a huge crowd of them slowly but surely made their way towards his current spot.
At least, Busujima Saeko was right by his side, also silently watching the scene, even while looking slightly tense herself, but with a serious expression overall, looking determined.
His plan was simple, but reckless as hell… and even slightly dumb to some extent.
He would attract the zombies towards his direction, by firing his pistol, which echoed around now more than ever, essentially clearing the road ahead of the Humvee by dragging all of them to him.
His firing had started a while ago, with a specific interval between each shot, making sure that with each, he took out the nearest zombie that was currently making his way towards him, also while slightly changing spots every now and then, but essentially dragging all the zombies towards a general direction in specific.
And that was just the first half of the plan.
On the other hand, the rest of the group, with the road ahead finally clear, at least for the most part, would head over to the meeting spot he had pointed out.
Thanks to his conversation with Yuriko back at the estate, where he pointed out possible spots that could be used as settlements, apparently she, with the help of her husband and staff, used their contacts and influence right before the P.E.M did the thing, made a couple of calls and found out that the city's mall – Taei Shopping Town – was currently being used as one; that she told him right before they left the estate, before saying goodbye. Of course, that didn't exactly mean that the place was currently still safe or used, especially after the P.E.M exploded on them, killing all technology, but the chances were still there.
It was at a very good spot, right between the middle from they were at right now, and Takashi's neighborhood, as well as the elementary school where her mother worked at, and not far away from the police station.
The rest of the group of course, would have to leave the Humvee on a safe spot near the mall, and walk the rest of the way, as Ren recommended. They didn't need any possible survivors in the mall finding out that the possible only working engine working around was in their possession; the hiding spot didn't have to be perfect or something like that but decent enough at least, the Humvee was an armored vehicle after all, anyone that tried to break-in would just lose their time.
…But of course, the rest of the group immediately protested about his plan, specifically Takashi and Rei, who didn't agree with it at all, no wonder, since he was using himself as bait, basically, which is something he wouldn't allows anyone else to do; and while Kohta and Shizuka didn't say anything, they clearly weren't happy about it either.
In the end, while reckless, they didn't really have other options aside from that one really. It was not until Saeko offered herself to accompany him and a bit of convincing from him, assuring that he didn't plan to die or commit suicide in style, that finally everyone in the end accepted it, although not happy.
And after a quick goodbye and wishing luck to one another as well as signaling Guts to guard the rest, minutes later, this is where he ended.
With a huge crowd of the undead in front.
He gazed at them while taking a few deep breaths, while occasionally glancing at Saeko. No way he had any right to protest her accompanying him really, even if it meant throwing yourself headfirst into danger; he was doing exactly the same after all. And a part of him was glad she was by his side, since she was the only one that could keep up with and match his athleticism and physical abilities, so moving around with her while worrying about her stamina wasn't going to be an issue, not to mention that the two could deal with any zombies on their way without the use of firing a gun.
Of course, technically it was all going according to plan… but still.
"…Maybe I attracted too many" he muttered.
"You always go overboard, Ren" Saeko commented.
Despite the situation, he chuckled at her comment.
She was right about that.
He then glanced one last time at the Humvee, which he could still see from that distance, although hardly, still at the same spot, with the engine still off, waiting for the right moment to move.
Now, onto the next part of the plan.
They both were carrying bags now, Ren one on his back, that had some clothes other utensils and little food. But Saeko also had a smaller back in her hands at the moment.
Ren extended his hand towards her direction, and Saeko quickly got the message… as she handed him a stick of dynamite.
They would use the dynamite not to immediately explode a bunch of them as possible, but as a final distraction, not only from the Humvee, but from them two. The dynamite would also drown the sound of the Humvee's engine down, at least to a certain radius and to some extent.
Ren got the lighter out that had been carrying in his pocket – one of the many small tools and utensils he stuffed in a bag before leaving his house – and ignited it, bringing it closer to its fuse.
After one last deep breath, he finally set it on fire.
He immediately after threw the stick right in the middle of the crowd of zombies.
Both him and Saeko jumped off the car running to their left, while covering their ears.
After just a couple of seconds, it exploded.
The sound of the explosion echoed around all over, and even despite the fact that he got away from it while covering his ears, it still left them ringing.
Ren took a look at where he had thrown the dynamite for a split second, and witnessed all sorts of body parts, blood and guts flying around alongside a big smoke wall.
That would certainly attract the attention of every single one of them over a huge radius.
So they needed to act quick.
They ran away from the crowd for a bit before Ren extended his hand again, to which Saeko quickly responded by handing him another stick.
He immediately ignited it and threw it towards the crowd, and after a few seconds, it exploded, killing even more of them.
It was very effective, and had taken care of a huge part of the crowd already.
Plus, it was actually kind fun in a twisted way. He had pictured something like this from the moment they received the dynamite from the Don. Who would have thought he could put it to test this fast?
From the corner of his eyes, he noticed the Humvee had already started moving, and after a few seconds, it disappeared from his view. Their path was clear, and they would enter the city in shortly.
Now he only had to worry about himself and Saeko.
He looked at the crowd in front of him, significantly smaller now, with the zombies looking as confused as ever. He wondered if the dynamite managed to damage their hearing enough? Could it be damaged anyway? As of right now barely just a few of them were making their way towards him and Saeko, while the rest stood in place or walked towards the epicenter of the latest explosion.
It was time to head out.
Saeko handed him one last stick of dynamite, that he threw the furthest he could after igniting it, and before it exploded, they both took of running the opposite direction.
The explosion echoed around once again, behind them, as they took running taking that chance to escape from the zombies, that were now focused and heading to where the last stick exploded.
Out of the 10 sticks that he had grabbed from the estate's armory, he had picked 4, with the rest still at the Humvee, so he had one left now; they would use it in case of an emergency.
They continued running, avoiding every zombie in their way swiftly, and while most if not all were still heading towards the spot of the last explosion, it's not like they were still safe. Every single one of them around the area was heading to that general direction, so they needed to stay focus and avoid them as nimbly and smartly as possible.
...
...
They had been running for a while now, but with none of them tired or in need for a rest at all.
Ren looked at the sky; they still had some time left before the night fell upon them. But he needed to think quick about a place where they could stay; the chances of arriving to the meeting spot at a safe time were pretty slim.
His house was not that close from their current spot, and when they left it was literally riddled with them. So, in short, not really the safest option.
He looked at Saeko, who kept the pace, as they moved shoulder to shoulder, her eyes as focused as ever.
He was really glad she was by his side.
Things had been slightly tense the last time they talked, and since then they hadn't had a proper talk, although things certainly where in a better spot and there were no hard feelings. They still worked almost perfectly as a unit.
Perhaps this was his chance to have a proper talk with her, now that it was just the two of them.
But once they were completely safe, of course.
Ren looked around the area and before they took a turn, he stopped to take cover and hide behind a wall, with Saeko stopping right behind him. He stuck his head out and eyed at the path, not liking what he was seeing, as he eyed at numerous of them.
"Yeah, we can't go through there" he muttered, although loud enough so Saeko could hear. "Let's go back for a bit".
Saeko nodded and they did just that, although, as he looked at his surroundings, he started recognizing and remembering the current area.
He stopped dead in his tracks before scanning around, finally recognizing where he was standing.
Saeko looked at him slightly confused by his actions, before he signaled her with a tilt of his head that they were heading to a certain direction.
They entered an alley and once they were close to its exit, Ren turned his head to look at her.
"We'll do a quick stop at a place, I want to check something out quick" he muttered to her, and she nodded… before her eyes widened suddenly.
"Ren-!" she warned.
And he immediately knew that he had to look ahead of him. A zombie came out of nowhere, entering the alley just as they were about to exit it. Sneaky bastard.
Ren reacted quick enough and dodged its attempt to grab him by lowering his own height and in a quick move of the feet, he immediately was now behind the zombie. He kicked it at the back of its knees, bringing it down before drawing his bowie knife out and stabbing it at the back of the head, he then twisted the knife inside its skull, just making sure to take it out.
But he heard moaning behind him and slight footsteps; yet another zombie was entering the alley. He quickly pulled the knife out of the other's zombie's skull and flipped it in his hand, now grabbing the bloodied blade with his fingers. He brought the knife back, at the height of his head as he looked at the zombie, and just a second later, he threw it, managing to nail the walking corpse right between the eyes.
Ren huffed as he saw the zombie fall on its back, limp.
It was the very first time he ever threw a knife like that, and he had been successful, which honestly made him feel pretty cool.
He was in some way grateful that the zombies were really an easy target. Just as he had commented to the boys back at Rika's house, they didn't have to worry about the zombies dodging or taking cover, and since they were slow, even for someone like him who wasn't an expert or a prodigy at gunsplay, like for example Kohta, he still could be effective while at it… including knife throwing as well even.
He walked towards it, although with his eyes on full alert in case another appeared. He pulled the knife out and cleaned the blade with the corpse's clothes as well as his hands, before putting it back in its scabbard.
Standing up, he glanced over his shoulder to look at Saeko, who was currently looking at him… and was that awe in her eyes what he was seeing? Certainly made him feel cooler than ever.
"All good?" he muttered.
"Y-Yes" she replied.
"Alright".
She continued to follow him in silence and just shortly after, they arrived at the place he was looking for. As they entered, he turned around to look at Saeko, who glanced around, clearly slightly confused by his choice of spot to stop.
"A bike store?" she questioned.
Indeed, they were inside a bike store now; the same in were Rika took him to get him the motorcycle for his 18 birthday. He had remembered it was around.
"Saya mentioned that there was a possibility not everything was affected by the bomb" he commented. "If there's actually a still usable bike then that would be gold".
"I agree… but it doesn't sound very promising" Saeko commented.
Which was true, although, it didn't hurt to try. If anything, they could use the spot to rest and spent the night in, if possible; didn't sound like that bad of an idea in his head. Also, if they were to be successful, he could always pull the same trick he pulled back when they saved Alice and her dad, with the bike horn, to deceive the zombies; he had brought duct tape in the bag he currently had after all.
"Also could be dangerous" she continued. "It's not like this is a date, after all…"
That last bit she said in a teasing tone, while glancing behind Ren.
He looked back to see at what she was referring to, and noticed the big poster at the wall, that showed a couple riding a bike together, while kissing.
It's not like he had actually pictured something like that at all when he entered the store… till now.
Ren chuckled a bit before grabbing a handgun, turning on the flashlight before handling it to Saeko. "Well, if it was, so far it's been a very crazy first one, to say the least…"
Saeko joined him, chuckling as well, before grabbing the handgun with the flashlight. "…Although not the worst".
Ren chuckled once again at her comment He really enjoyed how she matched his energy; and it seemed like things weren't awkward between them anymore, although, were they ever to begin with. Thankfully, both were pretty mature for their age and knew how to move on.
He grabbed the other handgun to use a flashlight as well, using it to look around better; in times like this he was really glad the handguns flashlights were E.M.P resistan. He eyed at the bikes around, counting around 20 or so… it would take him a while to test them all, but well, hope was the last thing that should be lost.
"Ren" she called his name. "Come see this".
He immediately did, walking towards where she was standing right now, before using his flashlight to see better at what was in front.
It was a room apart from where the bikes were, and as he illuminated it the best he could, they noticed.
"A buggy?" he muttered.
In front of them, what seemed to be an ATV Buggy of a dark green color, was parked.
Now that he remembered, months before when he came alongside Rika, the manager of the store had showed it to them, obviously trying to sell it, but was rejected in the end; it wasn't cheap either.
Although Rika had mentioned after, that it seemed to be a military model that was discontinued, and she was surprised that a bike store had one.
If it was of former military model, then that meant…
Ren walked up to it and proceeded to opens the hood, to gaze at its insides, using the flashlight for aid.
"It seems like it can travel through water as well" Saeko commented from behind him, as she looked around herself.
"Hmm" Ren hummed, mostly focused on checking if the vehicle was still usable.
And while he was no mechanic, everything seemed fine, and it didn't smell like the insides had fried at all.
Well, in the end the quickest way to test if it worked was essentially trying it out directly.
As he was about to stand up, the distinctive sound of keys dangling came from right next to his head. He turned to gaze at Saeko, with the keys in hand, offering them to him.
He smiled before taking them.
As he entered the buggy, with the help of the flashlight, he looked for the spot to enter the keys, and as he slid it inside, he took a deep breath.
"Cross your fingers" he muttered.
"Fingers crossed" she replied.
Ren turned the keys and…
Was glad to hear the sound of the engine igniting, announcing that it still worked… although that meant that any zombie that was around noticed it, but who cared right now.
Ren smiled and for a moment didn't know how to express his slight excitement at the great news, before he simply raised his fist and shook it, victoriously.
"Glad you're happy" Saeko commented from the back, as she also got inside the vehicle.
Ren simply chuckled at this.
This opened at least a few more paths and possibilities for both.
...
...
They left the store shortly after and drove around, with him at the wheel, although being as careful as he could. The ATV worked just fine, but wasn't as sturdy or as protective as the Humvee, or a normal car even. But it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, since it was essentially drove like you would a bike, with handles, which was even better.
It also meant that the engine was echoing all around, drawing zombies to their general directions. Even if he personally was optimistic and confident at times about the whole thing, it's not like he could bring himself to underestimate the danger they represented, he'd be dumb if he did. Since they were at numbered to at least 1 to 50 or easily even more, getting trapped and completely surrounded by them was always a possibility.
There were already multiple of them surrounding the two at the moment.
"We have a vehicle now" Saeko commented from the back. "But that doesn't solve all of our problems… so any new plan?"
"Perhaps…" he replied, still eyeing at the front. "Although, it might fall in the same category as the previous one… a little wild, maybe a little dumb".
Saeko chuckled at this. "Honestly, is never boring around you, is it?"
"It's a talent" he said with a smirk. "Hang on tight!"
He drove the ATV down a near riverbank, stumbling a little bit, although landing safe in the end. After that he immediately looked upwards at the zombies that were still on the road, that he successfully baited into following the vehicle. Shortly after, they witnessed all of them stumble, trip and fall down the river bank, hitting themselves multiple times.
"So the assholes can't use stairs or go downhill properly" he pointed out with a smirk. They truly had the worst sense of balance really.
"So it seems…" Saeko muttered.
Nobody could stand immediately after such a rough landing.
But they were not normal, after all.
Bad luck, it seemed like none of the around dozen that they dragged down, properly hit themselves or landed on their head.
"Of course" Ren muttered, slight annoyance in his tone as he watched the zombies stand back up, slowly but surely.
"It would had been too easy; don't you think?" Saeko commented.
"Well then" Ren said as he grabbed the handles again.
"What's next?" Saeko asked, looking back at him.
Ren glanced at the river a couple of meters away from them, before smirking slightly. "A little splash?".
"Huh?" Saeko questioned in confusion.
But immediately after Ren started driving towards the river's direction and shortly after, effectively entering and staying afloat thanks to the ATV build, of course, not without also splashing a significant amount of water on top of them.
He even laughed a bit while pulling his now, wet hair back before looking back at Saeko. "That was fun, eh-? … Oh".
While they were now save from the zombies, he had miscalculated, and forgotten about a certain small detail… Saeko was currently using her uniform, whose fabric was of white color, meaning that after getting wet… he could see through it.
It was bad… at what he was gazing at right now, in many different ways.
He could perfectly see Saeko's purple bra now… and her position wasn't helping either. Since her skirt was already so short, with the way she had her legs positioned, he could clearly also see her thighs and… you know.
Well fuck.
To add to the fuel and make matters worse(?) she pulled the fabric from her school uniform around the chest area before letting it go, essentially make her breast jiggle a bit.
Yeah, he was totally ogling at her right now.
Lord forgive him.
As he continued to stare at her in her current… wet state, she finally seemed to notice he was doing so, and their eyes met.
"…oops?" was all he could manage to mutter.
Saeko immediately after covered herself with her own arms and by closing her legs.
"I-I'm a girl, you know?!" she said, while blushing profusely.
Ren turned around right after, trying to calm his own mind and body now, after such view. "Ahh… yeah, right, sorry, my bad".
What kind of perverted, surreal situation he just got themselves into?
Ren then found himself pressing his lips together, biting them while covering his mouth with his hand… holding back a laugh?
Was he turning into some kind of pervert now? Should he blame her for it? Probably not, that'd be low… looking back at it, he always has been some kind, after all, since he was some big time sadist… which made him wonder, did this count as sadism? To think he'd ever find out he was this much of a mad lad…
I mean, there was something comedic about the whole thing… could you really blame him? Straight out of a perverted anime.
He hoped she didn't notice.
She did of course, that he knew.
Great, now she probably thought he was some prick that did in on purpose.
After some time, he finally calmed down and found a new source of entertainment, by watching the zombies that had been chasing them simply stand in place, without entering nor even touching the water, which was interesting to say the least… what kept them from doing so? Did they have some instincts left in them?
Finally, after a few minutes, the zombies apparently found a new source of attention and slowly started walking away from the coast.
"Yeah that's right… run away pricks" he muttered while leaning back on his seat.
"Had fun?" Saeko whispered, dangerously close to his ear, in an even more dangerous tone, which sent shivers down his spine and immediately made him straighten up his back.
"Uh yeah…" he responded right after, by pure instinct, since his mind had gone blank.
"I noticed" she said, in a teasing, almost accusing tone, although there was no anger or any sort of negative emotions behind it.
"Yeah, sorry about-" he began, but was cut short as Saeko brought her face even closer to his, with her index finger now in front of her mouth.
"I get that you're excited, but now we must keep our voices low, they are still around" she whispered to him, keeping the same dangerous tone.
This was obviously being her getting him back for earlier.
He just accepted his fate.
This woman was really going to be the end of him.
And he was not one bit against it.
...
...
He drove the ATV through the water for a couple of minutes, until they reached a sandbank. In there, they could park and finally take a rest; they had been going non-stop ever since a while now.
He wondered if the rest of the crew had already made it to the mall.
Out of the vehicle now, he stood a couple of meters away from it while looking around, with his back facing it. While Saeko stayed behind still sitting on it.
"So your plan was to come to the sandbar here all along?" he heard Saeko's voice question behind him.
"Yeah, I remembered about it once we reached this area. I recall adults always telling me and Takashi to never play around here when we were little. The water's deeper than it looks and the current is deceptively strong".
"Well, everything is going according to plan for now and we're in safe spot… perhaps we should take a small rest" Saeko recommended.
"I agree" he said. "You can get yourself comfortable, I will-"
He was cut short by a rather… cute sound.
Saeko had just sneezed.
He immediately turned his head around a tad concerned, noticing that her clothes were still obviously wet and he could still see through them.
"E-Excuse me… I'm feeling pretty cold right now" she said with a weak tone, her face all red while diverting her gaze. "And I don't have anything to change to…"
Well, now he really felt like an asshole. Deserved. Of course she was feeling cold.
Also, was she blushing only due to the cold or…? Anyway.
"Give me a sec" he told her as he walked back to the Buggy, looking specifically for the bag with clothes that they had brought, although only his clothes were inside, but it could work out exactly as it did back at his place when he lent her his clothes. After searching for a small bit, he found a black tank top of his, the same he was using back at the Takagi Estate, before offering it to her. "You can use this… also, sorry again, you know… for the inconvenience" he said as he diverted his gaze away from her, trying to not ogle at her figure yet again.
Saeko looked at him for a short moment before smiling and grabbing the tank top. "Thank you".
"I will…" he said as he pointed behind him, before turning around walking to his previous spot. "Well you know…"
Not like he could stand right in front and watch her change.
What followed, was probably the most tortuous minute he had ever lived.
He bit his lips together as he watched aimlessly to his front, trying to not focus at what was going on behind him and ignoring it the best he could.
Busujima Saeko was changing clothes right behind him… which surprisingly wasn't the first time for him, since it had happened back at his room a few days ago, but she had pulled it out that time without him noticing, now he was fully aware.
He finally found a much needed new source of attention as he noticed a couple of zombies walking on the road nearby, although of course, far enough so that he didn't have to worry about it.
"I'm done" she announced, much to his relief. "You can look now".
Which he did, taking a look at her new appearance now.
You'd think that by at this point him getting his breath taken away by her wouldn't be as usual anymore, but no, here he was mesmerized by her beauty yet again.
Really how was it possible for anyone to make a simple black tank-top look this good? It looked perfect on her and it blended smoothly with her short black skirt and her stockings, if he didn't know better, he'd think she was wearing a short-dress from a certain angle.
The cherry on top was that she was currently putting her hair on a pony-tail… really?
Does she want to kill him?
She even had the audacity to smile innocently at him after she noticed him staring too much. "Do I look funny?"
"No-" he responded almost immediately, before taking a deep breath as he rubbed the back of his head. "It really looks good on you, that's all".
Her melodious giggle filled the air. "You really look at me as a girl, don't you, Ren?"
"Well…" he said, trying to regain his composure, as he crossed arms and slightly diverted his gaze. "Hope you don't mind".
Did he pretty much confirmed that he was attracted to her just know? Not that he cared, he had made that pretty clear already.
"It's fine" she replied in a calm tone. "I am a girl after all, right?"
An impossibly attractive one, in his eyes especially.
Also, did she just technically say that it was ok for him to look at her? Probably…
"Well, indeed" he replied, in an almost joking manner.
Saeko chuckled at this for a bit. "You're a real gentleman, aren't you, Ren?".
Was he?
It was kind rich she decided to tell him that for the very first time minutes after she caught him trying to hold his laugh back like maniac, after splashing her with water and then proceeding to eat her with his eyes.
"I try to" he replied as nonchalantly as he could.
"You're always looking out for me" she said with a smile. "Offering me clothes when I need them… or when you helped me back when we were stuck at the highway, even tried getting me to climb the fence before you, even though you were hurt".
Oh, so she did notice.
"I never properly thanked you, did I, Ren?" she said, once again in a tone way too dangerous for him.
The way his name rolled of her tongue was driving him nuts. Was she doing it on purpose? She kept saying it.
He simply returned her eyes to meet hers, looking at her once intently once again. "It's just in me to do so…"
Currently she was fixing her hair behind her hair behind her ear, in a very girly manner, looking pretty relaxed. He tried to not look to hard at her, especially at the fact that around her chest area, she was poking the fabric of the tank top with, you know… probably because of the cold.
She had definitely noticed though, and he caught her returning the stare just as intently. He wondered if she felt exactly the same way about him. At least it seemed like she was attracted to him to some degree, but was it to the same extent as he felt attracted to her?
He wanted to find out.
A breeze immediately made him huff by instinct, as his body slightly shivered, making him break the eye contact. Good, to a certain extent, he didn't know if his mind or self-control could have handled any more tension.
" Oh, it is cold…" he muttered while looking around.
"You should change too" she recommended with a smile. "It'd be troublesome if any of us catches a cold".
"Well, we can always warm each other…" he thought. No way he was actually saying that of course.
"You're right" he agreed, and a second later he was searching inside the bag again, and immediately found a black t-shirt of his.
He then, calm but quick, started taking off the straps and holsters that he carried around his shoulder and torso. He took a what he thought to be comedically considerable amount of time to do so, still not really used to carrying around said stuff, before placing them on top of the ATV.
Huffing after taking the last one, he unzipped his pull-over down and felt slight satisfaction as he separated the damp fabric from his skin. As he was doing so, he noticed from the corner of his eyes the figure of Saeko tensing slightly; he immediately diverted his full gaze to her to which she responded by diverting hers away from him.
Oh, right… he was totally stripping in front of her wasn't he? Well, just his torso. Should he have turned his back to her or something? He was still standing basically right beside her. Well. it's not like he had anything to cover, unlike her. Breast, you know?
And he totally didn't mind her staring.
While not huge, he was aware that he had a pretty well-defined body that ranged between ottermode and athletic, and he was certainly bigger than the average guy around his age; he was pretty proud of it too. He barely even lifted weights, and had achieved that form mostly cardio and calisthenics, also arduous training ranging from kendo back in the day, to striking, self-defense and taiho-jutsu more recently, courtesy of the gym Rika introduced him too, since he actually was taking his pre-training to become a police-officer and hopefully a future SAT member seriously, just like Rika.
He had to hold back a smirk and a chuckle as he looked at Saeko furiously blushing now, while clearly giving a good effort to not gaze back at him. Nonetheless, after rolling his shoulder and cracking his neck, he put on his black t-shirt, followed by holsters and knife scabbard back again, and he was good to go.
…he might have flexed a bit here and there on purpose, worth mentioning. Might.
"You can look now" he told her, repeating her own words from earlier, in a maybe too noticeable teasing tone.
It worked though, as she shyly looked at him again.
He tried to suppress a shit-eating grin to take over his features.
"You can take a small rest" he said as he walked away from the ATV. "When you're ready to go just me tell me so".
Complete silence followed through, and he simply kept his eyes on the zombies he had previously spotted earlier.
"Is there someone you like, Ren?" she heard her ask behind him, much to his surprise.
He raised an eyebrow at this and responded without turning around. "Pretty unexpected question…" he muttered.
Saeko slightly chuckled at this. "Well, I was just wondering… while I never have been interested in gossip and those sort of stuff, I was aware of your popularity among the females in the school".
He kept his eyebrow raised at this. Not that he wasn't aware of it, Imamura and Morita especially never stopped pointing it out with jealously, and while he was slightly flattered, in the end, he was simply just interested in one, and one only.
"Honestly, it's quite the surprise that you didn't have a special someone…" she continued.
Ah, he totally saw where this was going.
Was this her trying to make up for her shyness from earlier?
"As surprising as it is… no, I didn't have one, in fact, I've never had one" he revealed, in the most nonchalant tone he could pull.
A few seconds went on by in complete silence, and he almost felt like turning around to look at Saeko's current expression.
He then heard her slightly chuckle.
"Honestly, on our first year in highschool I actually believed you and Miyamoto were dating" she said, in a slight teasing tone.
"Huh?" he turned his heard around to look at her with a slight grossed out grimace, and noticed her staring at him with a clearly entertained demeanor, while smiling innocently. "Me and Antenna-girl? Never, not in a million years".
She chuckled at his comment. "Well, I remember you two being inseparable back then".
Well, yeah, they were kind of. After all, despite their banter and everything, him and Rei were still the best of friends that knew each other since childhood. When both entered their 1st year in highschool a couple of years ago, while both were pretty friendly and easy to approach individuals, they still technically only had each other. Takashi, Hisashi and Saya as well were all still in middle-school after all, so that 1st year was probably the period in where he hanged around with Rei the most. Nowadays, it was easy to forget that Rei had lost a year and was supposed to be sharing the same year as him and Saeko, all courtesy of the snake that was Shido. Finding out really made him even more glad that he left him to get chewed on back at the school.
He of course, had to be either blind or stupid to not notice that Rei was an incredibly attractive girl of course, but he had always and would forever see her as a sister more than anything, an annoying one in fact. Although, he did remember the rumors of them dating going on, but both ignored them; who cared really? He also remembered the first couple of times that he got in trouble for fighting and stuff was for shooing off dudes that constantly hit on her too aggressively, which was no surprise.
Now, he remembered that first day of highschool, when he found out that not only Saeko was going to be there as well, but also sharing class with him. That, he was thrilled about.
Not that he ever capitalized on it anyway.
"We were… well, we are good friends after all" he responded casually.
A couple of more seconds went by in silence, before an idea got to him.
"That reminds me… that's funny coming from the most popular girl in school" he said.
"Was I?" she asked, innocently and clueless.
"You were, didn't you know?" he asked, actually surprised. The fact she was the most attractive girl among the males was pretty common knowledge, although he never once heard about anyone confessing or hitting on her, perhaps because they thought she was just unreachable as an individual… or aware that she could kick anyone's ass.
"What was it again…?" he muttered, remembering Morita's description of her. "Something about you having a dazzling combination of severity and kind-heartedness… while also having a dominating older sister-type feel to you, that drove guys insane? …or something like that".
"Oddly specific" she said while raising an eyebrow, although amused.
"Yeah, not my words by the way" he replied nonchalantly.
"How would you describe me then?" she asked, cheekily.
"A tease?" he didn't miss a beat before responding.
She giggled at his answer.
A silence followed through for a small while.
Until something flashed through Ren's mind.
"Then, what about you?" Rentaro asked, getting Saeko's attention once again. "Was there anyone you liked?"
Saeko looked at him for a couple of seconds, before genuinely smiling, while looking at the sky.
That had to be the most genuine smile he had ever seen from her.
"There was indeed…" she muttered. "…a man that I liked".
…
Well now he fell stupid for asking.
He got his little pride and feelings slightly hurt for that.
Not that he could be mad about it, he never once tried a move or to get closer to her until the very last week before all of this started. It was completely normal for her to be attracted to someone else, when he was never even present in her life, till a couple days ago.
But it was the smile and all the range of emotions her eyes showed once he mentioned said man.
She really must have liked him.
Liked being the key word that stopped his heart from completely sinking of course.
Would she ever see him in that same light? Has her face ever lit up like just know after thinking about him?
Perhaps in the end, her interest for him was just a mere attraction or lust caused by the stress of this whole thing.
Not that he was ever a man worthy for her after all. He was just both a coward and a brute in the end.
He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to stop from thinking about it any further.
Love was truly an annoying puzzle to deal with.
Will he eventually figure it out?
...
...
The night had pretty much arrived at that point, and it was going to get completely dark in a couple of minutes. He continued driving the ATV down a road, with Saeko at the back.
Although the situation wasn't looking very nice; the ATV's engine truly was dragging a lot of them around. A lot of paths were riddled with them so they couldn't pass through; they simply couldn't rely much on the ATV's sturdiness, not to mention that they barely had any cover, and the chances were low, but it could lead to a freak accident and he knew better than just relying solely on guts and luck.
"It's just as bad as it was before we hid out on the sandbar" Saeko commented from behind him, looking at all the zombies that were around.
"I have something in mind" he told her with his eyes glued on the front.
And after taking a quick left turn, it was finally visible.
"A park?" Saeko questioned.
"Hope they don't mind to stop and play for a bit" he muttered with a smirk.
She was not gonna like this one.
He headed directly to the big fountain in the middle of the park and by using the stairs around it, he drove the ATV inside, once again splashing water all over them, although nowhere near as much as in the river.
He heard Saeko grumble a bit behind him immediately after, which was to be expected, since he gave no warning.
"Do you enjoy making girls wet or something?!"
That sounded funny; he actually chuckled at that a bit. He had to stop himself from making a joke out of that.
"The tape, please" he said with a smirk, ignoring her complaints
Saeko looked at him for a split-second before quickly searching inside the bags and handing him the duct tape.
Pulling basically the same move he pulled back at his neighborhood when saving Alice and her dad, as quickly as he could, he tightly wrapped up the ATV's handle and got out of it, essentially making the vehicle go around in circles on the fountain, which would successfully be distracting all of the zombies around them.
With both still in the vehicle, they glanced around, with Ren feeling pretty proud of the success of his plan. Although it was a bummer that they had to abandon it after such a short time, it had served them really well. Not only they had successfully created a distraction, but they weren't that far away from the meeting point either.
"I see" Saeko muttered, while standing up off her seat. "Good thinking".
"I have my moments" Ren said while grabbing the bag that they had sitting at the back. "The east exit's not too far from here; this sound should go a long way and serve its purpose… but still we have to take some out of our way to escape".
Saeko slowly started unsheathing his katana, her expression now completely focused. "Of course… I'll consent to that!"
Immediately after, Saeko jumped of the ATV, followed by Rentaro.
Right after landing, a zombie threw itself at his way; he quickly lowered his height and with his back, he catapulted the zombie behind him towards the fountain, splashing some water over him. He managed to turn around in time to witness the ATV taking some light bumps, running over the zombie underwater, and hopefully bringing it to its end.
"Get fucked" he thought with a smirk, before looking at Saeko.
She was currently not so far away from him, currently pointing her katana at a zombie's chest, successfully keeping it away from her.
"Quite a putrid smell…" she muttered in a confident tone. "You should at least wash your hair".
And a split second later, that same zombie's head was rolling on the floor.
Well shit, that was cool.
She beheaded yet another zombie, sending its head flying towards the fountain.
"Now…" she muttered, with her back facing him. "Hesitation is useless!"
What he witnessed the following moments afterwards, could only be described as just pure bloody awesomeness, in capital letters.
Saeko slashed every zombie in her path expertly; she was making it look easy. Even the zombies that were approaching him and he looked to take out himself, got taken out by her before he could even move.
He could only watch in awe at her as severed heads, brains and blood flew around, all courtesy of her.
…Now that he thought about it, he enjoyed watching her fight… or more like, he enjoyed watching her tear shit up, almost as much as tearing shit up himself. Did that have to do with the fact he liked her or just him being a bigger sadist than he initially thought?
The scene he was currently witnessing was truly amazing.
Also, their path already was pretty clear and they could go… but he honestly didn't feel like stopping her, she was really laser focused with the task at hand.
But suddenly, she froze.
Rentaro looked at her confused.
"Saeko?" he called her name.
She didn't move
He moved to his side and noticed that she was currently staring at trio of zombies… with the appearance of kids.
Not surprising since they were in a park.
A saddening fact indeed.
But they were still zombies
"What are you doing?!" he questioned as he started approaching her before kicking a zombie out of his way, and her only response was to slightly turn her head around, and he noticed that her expression gave away pure shock and doubt, even fear; first time he ever saw her in that state, caught him by surprise. But once he noticed the little zombies shorten the distance towards her, he quickened his pace.
"Shit!" he muttered while grabbing the handgun from his belt, and just in time managed to grab Saeko by the arm and pull her back, before shooting the zombie in the head with his handgun, before it managed to get any closer.
He had tried not using his firearms to not draw any more necessary attention, but that was useless now.
"Well fuck".
He looked back at Saeko and once he noticed her still shocked expression, he grabbed her hand to drag her out of there. In fact, she seemed even more shocked now, probably by his actions. Hell, even he cringed a bit momentarily when he blew the little zombie kid brains out.
But it was still a zombie in the end, he kept telling himself that.
"This way, hurry!" he commanded her as he lead the way while still grabbing her hand, and thankfully, she complied silently.
He noticed 3 zombies now blocking their path, and he groaned annoyed. While momentarily letting go of Saeko's, hand, he unsheathed his katana and immediately darted forward beheading one, splitting another's head open and kicking the final one out of the way as hard as he could.
Going back to grab Saeko's hand a second later, he looked at her face, and bit his lips together at what he was seeing. She still looked slightly in shock, shy even.
There was no way they were reaching the meeting point at all, currently. It was too late.
He started looking around frenetically, until he finally noticed not so far away, a sando, which lead to the start of a set of stairs, that ultimately lead to a shrine.
Those were a lot of stairs, that he knew, but it was absolutely their best option at the moment.
They climbed the stairs as fast as they could, although he was as careful as possible, checking on Saeko every now and then while she followed him silently. Finally, much to his relief, they reached the top and there was no sign at all of their presence around.
He missed no time and entered the shrine with Saeko, immediately after blocking the entrance with a wooden plank.
Huffing, while finally relaxing a bit since now they were safe, he turned around to look at Saeko, who was sitting on the floor, clearly still feeling down.
And as much as he wanted to ask her what was that all about, he restrained himself.
"It's too dark out there right now" he said. "We will rest here and wait until morning".
No response from her, although he wasn't surprised.
After laying down his bags and taking his equipment off, putting all of them in a corner, he noticed Saeko finally moving, to take her own katana off from her belt, and setting it aside.
He started looking around with one of the handguns flashlights and quickly found some candles, much to his relief. That meant it wasn't going to be completely dark in there, which was good not only for their eyesight, but in case one of them broke in.
After setting some of them around, including one in the middle of the shrine, he once again looked at her.
Never in his life he had seen her this vulnerable.
He really wanted to ask her what was the reason behind this behavior, but didn't know if it was the best thing right now. Maybe improving the move would work.
He searched inside the bag he carried quickly and got out the food they had brought. A yakisoba bread with an anpan and a two bottles of water.
After finding a white blanket, he laid it on the floor before putting the supplies on top.
"We have two bottles of water and those two breads, you can pick whichever you want" he told her in the lightest tone he could muster. "Sorry the menu is this tiny though…"
No reaction at all from her, as she simply eyed at the food.
Well, that had hurt his pride a little bit.
"Eating is important…" he muttered in light joking manner, and was about to start a dumb speech about how eating carbs and hydration was essential for survival nowadays, but was cut off once Saeko silently moved to sit on the blanked, grabbed the anpan and a bottle of water, much to his relief.
He smiled a bit before grabbing the yakisoba pan and eating it, before gulping down half the bottle of water before setting it aside. He would save the rest for tomorrow. In silent, he from time to time gazed at Saeko slowly but surely eat the anpan, and drinking around a quarter of the bottle of water before setting it aside as well.
Well, at least they got through that.
But she was still not looking alright.
Perhaps he'd had to try something a bit cheekier.
Which gave him an idea.
"Oh, right"
He once again searched inside the bag beside him and grabbed something before handing it to Saeko. Who curiously looked at the small plastic pack while grabbing it.
Ren shortened the distance between them before bringing his hand near his mouth, like he was about to tell a secret.
"Just between you and me… it's a handheld toilet just for you, my lady Saeko" he whispered nonchalantly.
As he distanced from her again, he noticed her looking at him with wide eyes, and much to his satisfaction a second later, she brought a hand up to cover her mouth while laughing. And it was cute as hell.
Oh sweet victory.
Rentaro found himself smiling as well. "Hey don't laugh, you should be glad we got this".
Saeko continued laughing for a bit more, before she looked at him, quite tenderly.
"…I'm glad" she said with a smile. "I'm really glad you're with me, Ren".
Well, things were definitely heading to a much better direction now, that, he was happy about.
Although a silence followed right after.
And Saeko didn't seem like she wanted to talk.
But, they really needed to talk it out, whatever she had in her chest.
What was preoccupying her? What was currently holding her back?
He had a feeling it had to do also with their conversation back at the Takagi Estate, after sparring
"What's troubling you?" he questioned directly, in the gentlest tone he could pull.
Had it actually been the zombie children? Well, he could understand; shooting it didn't exactly make him happy either, but in the end, they were still not really children anymore.
A small silence followed right after, as he waited for an answer, before Saeko smiled slightly, although with mostly melancholy behind it.
"You asked me on the sandbar if there was someone I liked, remember?"
He raised an eyebrow at this. "Yeah, I did…"
He silently watched as a deep blush took over Saeko's face as she gazed around the place, nervously, before her eyes finally landed on him.
"It was you… It's always been you, Ren" she whispered in a weak tone.
…
Oh
Well, this were not the circumstances in which he pictured her ever confessing her love for him, at all.
He didn't even know if he should feel happy or not at the moment.
He could only widen his eyes in shock as his heart-rate started picking up. Also couldn't stop the slight blush from taking over his cheeks.
Totally at loss for words, he was.
Love was truly a puzzle.
XXX
XXX
XXX
Hey…?
I know, sorry for that cliffhanger.
I KNOW, I KNOW, I APOLOGIZE
Bit of a d*ck move I'm aware...
I initially planned for this and what was coming next to be one chapter as a whole… but as always words just kept flowing and before I even realized, I was already almost at 10k words before even reaching the shrine, and what comes next is… quite long, and while I like my chapters with lots of content… I also don't feel comfortable posting stuff that long.
Hope y'll don't mind.
But this chapter (and the next) are deffo the ones I've been the most excited to write ever since this small project began… which technically started over 5 years ago. I actually had a really hard time deciding if I should fit it in after the highway battle (anime-timeline) or after leaving the Takagi Estate (manga-timeline) and ultimately chose the latter, for more development and stuff, just thought to be better; so yeah I know, for those who prefer the anime-timeline (for obvious reasons) I know the wait has been long, sorry again.
Also decided to fit in a bit from the anime timeline as you guys noticed. While the crew still has the Humvee, as in the anime time line, so they never escaped the Estate with the ATV like in the manga, I still decided to include it and gave it the same quick one-chapter roll like in the anime, of course, for several obvious plot reasons, hehe.
Also, as you guys noticed, I made the mall to be something Yuriko told the group about, after her talk with Ren left her wondering some stuff. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember correctly ever the group finding out about the Mall or someone telling them about it, they just got in there outta nowhere and that's it, so in here I tried to give it a tad more sense.
Also yes, as you can see, this is why I decided to include the dynamite possession after I remembered the Takagi group having some.
So what now?!
Turns out Rentaro was the boy Saeko liked all along… but why she never told him? (Y'll know already, probably)
But what will be Ren's reaction when she confesses her darkest deepest secret? What will he do? How will he feel?
Stay tuned and wait for the next one! (lmao sorry again)
Hope y'll enjoyed this chapter and those two interacting more now!
Reviews are always welcomed!
And thanks so much for the support as always!
Have a nice day!