The journey to leave Nagazora was a long and treacherous one, a journey that would more likely than not end up with all four of them dying, if not in the city, then in the outskirts. But it was the only option they had.
Mei's face went pale when they entered the courtyard of Chiba Academy, seeing the corpses of her former classmates who had run to the courtyard before their inevitable demise. There was something different about actually seeing the people she killed as a consequence of her transformation. She looked down. As much as she hated her classmates for turning against her after the news of her father's arrest broke, she still believed they didn't deserve to die.
It was here that she suddenly realized something. Did her father survive? She didn't know.
She started crying.
"Mei? What's wrong?" Rei asked, approaching her as he did so.
"I'm… I'm okay…" Mei lied. "Let's keep walking…"
"You don't seem okay."
"I'm fine… Don't worry about me."
They continued to walk, but Rei still felt concern for her.
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The streets of downtown Nagazora City were eerie. There were barely any people on the street, and for the few who were, they were corpses. Mei seemed more distraught with each corpse they passed by. They all had lives, lives that she took by no fault of their own. Guilt flooded her heart as she walked by even more of them. She was the one who killed them all.
As they walked by a playground, she saw the mangled corpses of the children who were playing there, blissfully unaware that it would be the last moment of their lives. Their faces were etched with the ghost of their last smile, accompanied by pink lines all across their body.
She suddenly stopped walking and fell to her knees, tears falling from her eyes.
"I… I killed them all… didn't I…? They… They didn't deserve to die…"
The remaining three stopped in their tracks, and Rei immediately ran to her side in an attempt to console her.
"Mei…?"
She continued as if he wasn't there. "Why did I get to live…? Why me and not them…? Why…?"
"Mei, listen to me!" He tried to get her attention, but she didn't seem to even see him.
He then did the only thing he could do and hugged her.
"R-Rei…?"
"Don't blame yourself…"
He dragged her away as fast as he could.
"But… But I was the one who killed them…" she said.
"You weren't in control of yourself!"
"Yeah!" Kiana added. "It's not your fault, Mei-senpai!"
"The Bronya agrees that Subject Mei is not at fault," Bronya said.
"R… Really…?" Mei sniffed. "You all think so…?"
All three nodded. She turned around to look at the corpses again, but Rei stopped her.
"Mei, please… we can dwell on it later, but… we can't stay here…"
She looked down. He was right. Nagazora City was a dangerous place. If they stayed any longer here, they would eventually die.
"I'm… I'm sorry…" She stuttered.
"It's okay, Mei…"
The group continued to walk down the streets of Nagazora City. It was quiet, the only sounds being their footsteps and the low hum coming from Project Bunny. Cars piled along the sidewalk and in the middle of the road. All of them were nonfunctional, either having been physically destroyed by the Herrscher of Thunder or a stray lightning bolt; or having their engines seized up through excess magnetism. Stores along the streets were in various states of disrepair. Some had already been looted by Bronya the day before, but the rest were still fully stocked, though unstaffed. The fact that the Herrscher of Thunder had essentially killed everyone but four people in the entire region ironically benefited them as there was nobody to compete with for resources.
They passed by a park, a park Mei liked to visit. She stopped in her tracks. The cherry blossom trees managed to survive the destruction and were still standing. There were significantly fewer petals than when she last visited it with Rei, but they were still beautiful, and it calmed her down somewhat.
She stepped into the park and stood under the large tree in the center. Rei followed her.
"These trees…" she began. "They're a specially cultivated variety unique to Nagazora. No other sakura blossoms I've seen are this beautiful, but now… I don't know if they will last…"
He sighed. "If only… If only we could get the preserved sakura petals we made that day. Maybe we'll get to appreciate their beauty long after we leave…"
She shook her head. "No matter…"
The group continued to head northeast, and they passed by the Raiden Estate. Miraculously, it remained intact even through all of this mayhem. The group entered the mansion within. Rei and Mei walked up the stairs to the upper floor, and as Kiana was about to follow them, Bronya suddenly stopped her.
"Huh?" Kiana was confused.
"The Bronya deduces that it is best if we leave Subject Mei and Subject Rei alone."
"But what if they get into trouble?"
"The Bronya does not detect any zombies in the area."
"Okay, fine…" She seemed dejected.
The couple arrived at the door leading to Mei's bedroom. Mei slowly opened the door, and it was still the same as she had left it. There was a single jar of preserved cherry blossom petals set on her desk. She picked it up. "Do… do we take this with us, Rei?"
He thought about it. He had a sentimental attachment to the jar, and so did she, but it was too bulky. Bringing it would reduce the number of supplies they could bring. He shook his head. "I… I think it's best if we leave it here…"
"Oh…" She was disappointed, but her line of thinking that followed afterward assured her that it would be for the best. "I see…" She gently set the jar on the desk.
Rei looked around the room some more and noticed a single photo lying on the nightstand. He picked it up, and it turned out to be a photo of their first kiss. A tear rolled down his cheek.
"It's… It's still here…"
Mei turned to look, and she realized too. "I…"
He handed the picture over to her. She stared at the picture for a long while before holding it to her chest. "I… I don't want to lose this…"
"Me too…"
She looked at the picture again, before she suddenly ran to hug him tightly, tears flowing out of her eyes. He hugged her back, and they stayed like this for a while, neither of them saying anything.
\\\
The group left the Raiden Estate behind and continued northeast. They arrived at a train station that had a bridge going above the ground. Rei looked at the map and noticed the bridge would take them a significant way toward the direction they were planning to head towards.
"We should get on the bridge over there," he said. The others nodded, and they stepped into the station, walking up the nonfunctional escalator. They noticed a lone zombie growling within the customer service center, trying to get out. It stopped growling as soon as Bronya shot it with Project Bunny.
Unfazed, the group continued. They hopped over the gates and continued to climb the nonfunctional escalators to the main platforms. A lone, inactive train had stopped at the platforms, its doors opened. Another zombie was present there but was quickly dispatched by Bronya. The group then checked to make sure the direction they were heading towards was correct, and then they jumped on the tracks and began their trek.
The road ahead was long, but they had no choice.
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Night fell when they passed by another train station. They decided to camp there for the night, and it was a good thing they happened to be at a train station as it had begun raining outside. All four of them sat in a circle, with Project Bunny illuminating the center in lieu of a campfire. They were all eating canned tuna and baked beans, which did not taste good, but it was better than starving. Kiana notably continued to express her disgust as she consumed her rations, but she reluctantly ate it all regardless.
Rei noticed Mei wasn't eating her food. "Mei? Is something wrong?"
"N… Nothing…" she said as she stared blankly at her canned tuna, which had a small spoon embedded into it.
"You should eat it, Mei, or else you won't have enough energy for tomorrow…"
She didn't reply. Rei sighed before taking the spoon that was in her tuna. He scooped some of the paste up before taking the spoon to her mouth. She reluctantly opened her mouth to eat the tuna, and she chewed it a few times before swallowing.
"Why…?" She suddenly shook her head. "Why… Why did it all go so wrong… What did I do to deserve this…?"
"Mei…"
"I don't get it… Did I anger some god…? I don't know why everything had to go so wrong so quickly…"
She turned to look at him. "Do… Do you think things will ever get better…?"
"I… I know they will."
"But… how do you know…?"
"I don't know, but I have to hope… I want things to get better… I want things to return to normal, and I want us to live… I want you to live, Mei…"
"But… what if things don't get better…?"
"…" Rei looked down. He did not know how to answer that question directly.
"I… I'm sorry, Rei… I… I just couldn't help but… worry about these things…"
"It's okay, Mei… I do worry too. Everyone else here does. But we have to keep moving forward, and only then will things get better…"
"I see…" She wiped the tears off her face. "I won't give up. I won't…"
They gazed into each other's eyes.
"I love you, Mei," he whispered.
"I love you, Rei," she whispered back.
They kissed.
…
They were interrupted when they heard a metal spoon dropping to the floor. They ended the kiss and turned to see Kiana staring at them, her mouth agape.
"K-Kiana!" Mei blurted, her face turning red.
"Subject Kiana has been staring at Subject Mei and Subject Rei for the past 5 minutes," Bronya stated with a deadpan voice.
"Hey!" Kiana was annoyed. "Don't tell them, Bratnya!"
"The Bronya determined that Subject Kiana Idiotka should not be staring at them in the first place."
"HEY!"
Rei chuckled as he saw Kiana and Bronya bicker again. It was a bit comforting to see them act like this even at this time.
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He saw a battleship floating in the skies. Printed on its side was the word "Hyperion". There was a Schicksal logo accompanying the printed words, but it was seemingly scratched off hastily. He saw himself and Mei sitting on the flight deck, hugging each other as they watched the-
His slumber was interrupted by screaming.
"NO! STOP IT! STOP IT, PLEASE! STOP IT!"
He opened his eyes. He noticed Mei thrashing around in her sleep. She seemed to be having a nightmare.
"Mei!" He ran over to her side and tried to wake her up by shaking her. Her eyes snapped open and her screaming stopped. She looked at him before hugging him tightly and sobbing into his shoulder. He patted her back as she cried. "It's okay, Mei… I'm here…"
…
Mei eventually stopped crying. "I… I'm sorry, Rei… for waking you up."
"It's okay, Mei." He planted a small kiss on her cheek before climbing back into his sleeping bag. She blushed, a bit embarrassed by the kiss, but she returned to sleeping afterward.
Or at least she attempted to.
…
An hour passed. Mei still couldn't sleep. She sat up and looked at everyone else. They were all asleep now, including Rei. She sighed, deciding she should do something else instead of rolling around in her sleeping bag. She got up, being careful to not wake anyone up, and walked around the platform, looking for something to do.
She hopped onto the train tracks and looked toward the city. The rain had cleared up a while ago, and the sky was devoid of clouds. The city, typically lit up brightly at night, was now completely dark. A city that once never slept was plunged into an eternal sleep, never to wake again.
She looked up. The sky was full of stars, something the city hadn't seen for many years. Typically, the lights from the city would outshine the stars, but now that they were all unpowered, the stars returned in their full glory. It was a beautiful view, but it wasn't something she could admire now. It represented the destruction she had caused to the city. The amount of people she had killed.
She looked at the train tracks. A single train sat on the tracks, unmoving, its interior pitch-black. Typically, this particular line would have trains coming every two minutes, which was typical as it was connected directly to downtown Nagazora City. Every station on this line, especially those close to downtown, would be bustling with people. But now there was nobody. No trains would ever come, and it was eerily quiet.
Mei climbed back onto the train platform and went to look at the railway map. There was a station simply named "HOMULand Station", owing its name to the fact it was directly connected to said theme park. Having been reminded of an item she had been carrying, she walked to her bag and rummaged through it to find a photo. It was the one photo she cherished over every other.
She shook her head. Even though the photo had only been taken at least a month ago, she already felt that they were so naive then. She thought it was funny of her to think that things would only get better from there, when in fact they would only get worse. It seemed like some god out there was trying to tear them apart.
She looked at Rei. He was still asleep, snoring softly, his hand resting on the floor. She then looked at the picture again.
No… I love him… I won't let anything tear us apart… I won't…
She placed her hand on top of his, and he unconsciously tightened his grip when she did so. The warmth from his hand soothed her. Even in the face of all this adversity, something as simple as holding hands was able to bring some comfort.
She started crying again, and eventually, her weeping led her to fall asleep.
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The sun rose on a dead city. Rei slowly opened his eyes and saw an unlit ceiling. He turned to his left and noticed Mei was beside him, still asleep. Their hands were locked together, something he didn't remember happening last night.
He turned to his right and noticed Kiana and Bronya were already up. They seemed to be bickering with each other over something. He faced Mei again and gently tapped her shoulder. "Mei, wake up."
She stirred. "…huh? Is it… is it morning already…?"
He briefly took a look at the sky outside. It looked like the sun had just peaked above the horizon. "Yes."
"Oh…"
"Mei-senpai! Rei-senpai!" Kiana ran over to them.
"Good morning, Ki- mmph!" Mei was interrupted by the obligatory group hug, which thankfully did not last long. Rei stood up after Kiana stopped hugging them, but something was off. He felt weaker than usual, and his legs seemed less willing to carry his weight. He disregarded it before looking outside. There was still a long way to go before they could get to a place that could be remotely considered safe.
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The group continued to walk down the railway tracks as they did yesterday, but that would come to an end as they arrived at a tunnel entrance cutting through a large hill.
"Can't we just go through the tunnel?" Kiana asked.
Bronya shook her head. "Negative. If anything went wrong, it would be difficult for us to escape."
"Oh…"
Deciding against tempting fate, the group returned to the streets below through the train station behind them. They were in a location that was further away from downtown, though it was still rather dense with quite a few high-rises. And just like downtown, it was eerily quiet. Even the sound of birds chirping was absent. The streets looked as apocalyptic as ever, with cracked asphalt, abandoned cars, damaged buildings and pale-looking corpses.
As they continued to walk down the streets, Rei felt himself growing weaker to the point where he couldn't ignore it anymore. Each step took more and more effort for him to take, but he still tried to pretend it wasn't an issue regardless. Eventually, though, he couldn't walk as fast as the others and began falling behind.
"Rei?" Mei asked. "Is something wrong? You don't look well."
"No, I'm fine," he assured her, though it wasn't convincing as his legs began to visibly tremble. Still, they all continued to walk.
…
Rei suddenly collapsed.
"REI!"
"REI-SENPAI!"
Mei and Kiana ran over to his side, while Bronya slowly floated toward him instead. Thankfully, he was still conscious and didn't seem hurt from the fall, but it was still concerning.
"I'm okay-" he grimaced slightly before continuing. "I tripped, that's all."
"No," Mei shook her head. "Rei, you're clearly not okay…"
Bronya knelt and placed her hand on his forehead. She frowned. "Subject Rei has a fever."
"Rei-senpai has a fever?" Kiana asked.
"Yes."
That explains a lot, Rei thought. "Okay… but I can still walk."
"No, you need to rest," Mei replied.
"But we can't stay here, Mei. I don't want to drag all of you down…"
A light bulb lit above Kiana's head. "Aha! I can carry Rei-senpai!"
"You can do that?" Mei asked.
"Of course! Kaslanas are strong! And we always help our friends in need!" She proudly puffed her chest.
Bronya remembered seeing her try out the high striker and nodded. "The Bronya can attest to the former."
"HEY!" She seemed mad. "What about the last part?"
"Inconclusive."
"Why, you- Hmph! I'll show you!" Kiana picked Rei up rather recklessly and began carrying him on her back.
"H-Hey! Kiana! Let me- aaaAAAAAHHH!"
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After another few hours of non-stop walking, they finally made it to the outskirts of the city. What was previously an endless concrete forest was now replaced by smaller houses.
The sun was setting, and the group was now resting in a park. Rei was leaning on Mei's shoulder, feeling better than before but still not quite well yet. Kiana was busy burying her empty can of tuna in the sandpit out of pure boredom. Bronya simply sat with Rei and Mei.
Rei, feeling a bit hungry, rummaged through his bag and took out another can of beans. Even though he had only eaten it multiple times in the past day or so, he was already sick of it. Still, he reluctantly ate it regardless. It was that or starving to death.
"Where are we going anyway…?" Mei asked.
"Out of the city?" Rei said.
"But… after we leave Nagazora, where do we go?"
"…" He looked down. He didn't have an answer. He didn't know what they would do once they left Nagazora. For the past day or so, he had seen no sign of any rescue efforts, and he didn't feel like they would start now. Considering the magnitude of the disaster, the Japanese government would have most likely given up on Nagazora entirely.
"I… I don't know…" he finally replied.
"So… we're going to die here anyway?"
"We…" Rei gulped. "We could try walking towards Tokyo… but that's really far away…"
"But what other options do we have?"
He shook his head. "I can't think of any more."
…
Before the futility of the situation became fully apparent to the group, Bronya suddenly stood up and faced them. She stared at them with her dead eyes.
"Targets acquired. Two Herrschers. Fire."