WhIP

by footfungus

nederlands verhalen over mijn otp

200. tokrec apocalypse (06-01 00:48:34)

Survival? Definitely not a test

FynnyOwO

Summary:

"No, no, no, it isn't supposed to be like this."

He looked around him, panicking when he saw too many humans around him. Since he lived those twelve years without too many humans, he didn't know what to feel. "This is overwhelming"

He remembered the last thing he got through before he came back here.

"Ah... I died, didn't I?"

He was supposed to be the last human alive. Or in his situation before, the last one to die.

Notes:

This is actually my first story. A story even before I write the other books .

I just got the courage to post this since I am in a rehabilitation program, I can't write much. But I want to post something, so I post this story even if the plot is just so bullsh#t. I want to clear out my draft.

For those who are waiting for the other books, I'm sorry I can't write much, I'm having difficulty with my health condition. But I will still update them as much as I can.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

"This is how I am gonna leave the world, huh..."

He knew that for a fact, still... he couldn't help but thought out loud. After surviving alone in this mess, he couldn't help the habit of talking to himself... at least he talked?

He laughed out loud, caring less about the horde that he attracted. He's tired. If anyone saw him in this state, they would call him crazy. But who would when he was the last one of them?

Red liquid poured out from his stomach, painting the street red with his blood. Tons of growl grew closer to his current location but he paid them no mind.

"I'm coming Hina,.. partner.. everyone.." They must be laughing at my pathetic situation right now. He couldn't help but chuckled at the thought weakly, choking on the blood that filled his lungs.

"See you soon" the last thing he felt was the extreme pain all over his body and the scream of the undead surrounding him.

'till we meet again'

"-michi"

"-e..ichi-kun"

"Takemichi-kun!"

Startled from his thought, he turned his head towards a light brown-haired girl, paired with her light brown eyes and a beautiful birthmark on the corner of her lips. His childhood best friend who always there for each other through thin and thick. Blue-like sky eyes met light brown eyes.

"H-hina-chan...?" Tachibana Hinata. The moment of failure to save her was still fresh in his mind. Being able to look at her really brought the memories stronger. Before he could stop it, he already ended up bursting into tears on sight. He thought he was already past those crybaby phases, guess it stuck with him.

"Takemichi-kun?! W-what's wrong? D-did I say something wrong? You suddenly stop wal-" Hinata sounded alarmed while trying but failing to comfort him. Hinata was cut off from her worried rambles when a pair of trembled arms already wrapped around her tightly but gently. it was as if she was going to disappear anytime soon and he was terrified of it.

"it's nothing Hina-chan, just a bad day," She didn't buy it but she wrapped her hand around him too anyway. He almost burst into another flood of tears with that small gestures. "C-can we stay like this for a while?"

The more the arms around her tighten, the more concerned she had been. "Sure, Takemichi-kun. You know you can tell me anything that's bothering you, right?" She slowly rubbed his back.

"I know... that's why I'm glad to have you, thanks, Hina-chan." Takemichi let the brightest smile appear on his lips, tears still welling up in his own eyes as he pulled away from her to look straight into her eyes.

Hinata couldn't help but also smiled since Takemichi's smile was contagious. "come on Takemichi-kun, let's go to class"

Takemichi's step faltered when he heard the word 'class'. He quickly checked his phone to confirm his suspicion while Hinata watched him curiously and patiently. When he checked the date, he inhaled sharply.

The same day, 4th July 2005, was the day where everything turned upside down. 7:01 am, an hour and a half before the start of the apocalypse -more specifically the time it reached him-, and 12 years before the time Hanagaki Takemichi died. The time when society died.

No survivor, him alone. The last one of the human race.

His knees failed him, unable to digest the information. He almost pukes all of his guts out on the sight. When Hinata saw him, she quickly helped Takemichi to stand.

"Takemichi-kun!"

Couldn't hold them in, he barked a laugh out loud with students and teachers in the hallway looked at him as if he was crazy. 'Well, maybe I am crazy'. He thought. 'No, if this is a second chance, I'm not going to waste the opportunity.'

Hinata...

Takuya...

Atsushi...

Chifuyu...

Mana...

Everyone...

After he steeled himself, he looked at Hinata in the eyes, eyes burning with determination. He couldn't panic. He had a very limited time before it all happened again just like last time.

"Hina-chan, sorry, no class, and you're coming with me" He said seriously, no room for argument. He could see that she wanted to protest but before she could say anything, Takemichi grabbed her hand to go to the first destination in his mind.

Akkun's and Taku-chan's class. Good thing they're in the same class.

When they arrived, Takemichi didn't bother to knock on the door. They stormed into the class then dragged Atsushi and Takuya out of the class without giving them any explanation. Fortunately, there's still no teacher in the class or they couldn't take even a step outside of the class.

He didn't let go of them even when they protested but when both saw Hinata, they let Takemichi do as he pleased. Maybe there was a reason, they would put their trust in him. If he was about to ditch, there was no way Takemichi would rob Hinata into this scheme.

No one was in the club room when they arrived and Takemichi was glad for it or else they would beat him up to pulp for what he was going to do. He was going to take 7 baseball bats when he remembered that, no, Yamagishi and Makoto are not at school. In his past life, no matter where he searched for them, he couldn't find them.

Turning to the two of his male friends, he asked "Do any of you know where Yamagishi-kun and Makoto-kun?" Takemichi turned to what he was going to do earlier when he saw both of them shaking their head as no.

Atsushi couldn't keep his curiosity to himself anymore, so he asked "Oi, Takemichi, can you actually explain what's with you dragging us out of the class and stealing sports equipment?"

Takemichi gave them no answer instead he took 5 baseball bats when his eyes landed on the boxes of nails. He jammed some nails into the top of the baseball bat. the others winced at the loud noises and stared wide-eyed at the raven-haired boy. They had never seen the faux-blonde to be violent.

They needed weapons. Takemichi had them in his house but right now they need to survive with a weapon they could get their hand on. The weapon at his house, he would think about them later.

The room was full of a perfect weapon needed, enough for them high schoolers. Takemichi looked around when he saw the cupboard. Some spare gym clothes and shoes in there. Without any useless movement, he took one for himself and urged the others to take one too.

They changed into them when they heard Takemichi ask them to. Of course, Hinata changed in another room. When they have done Takemichi gave them each bat. They were scared. They knew nothing about what was going on but they were going to trust Takemichi, hoping he knew what he was doing.

And he did, but they didn't need to know that. Traumatizing them early on the day is the last thing Takemichi wanted.

"T-takemichi,.. we're not going to fight each other with.. this.. right? If so, I want to forfeit.."

If Takemichi was not in hurry he would laugh out loud at the moment, but he is. Otherwise, he really was grateful for Takuya, his shoulder felt less tense than before.

"No Taku-chan, that's ridiculous, we could've died" He snickered a little when he saw their relief face.

"T-then what's this for, Takemichi..?"

Dread filled their stomach when they saw Takemichi had stiffened. He checked his phone but when He faced them, his eyes unseeing when he saw them like he didn't really see them. It was like he was in a place where they couldn't reach for him. Atsushi couldn't help but think that something worse will happen later.

"30 more minutes and you will see, but please,.. please just listen to me for now" asked Takemichi, desperation clear in his shaking voice.

They never saw him like this, desperate, terrified, on the verge of panicking, and his eyes dull for a moment before the light came back. Too dull, too dull to their liking. After looking at each other, they nodded at him. Takemichi's current behaviour scared them, but they would put their trust in their friend.

They spent the remaining 30 minutes watching Takemichi shove the various thing in a bag. He looked so serious that the other two boys couldn't deny that he looked mesmerized like that. Takemichi looked at them weirdly when they avoided his eyes, pink hue on their cheeks.

Halfway through those 30 minutes, they heard a bloodcurdling scream in the hallway. They were ready to bolt out of the room to see what had happened only for Takemichi to stop them.

'Dammit, was I remembering the time wrong? There should be 15 minutes more' He thought.

"No, don't go yet, let me take a look first" Takemichi said desperately.

He took a deep breath and walked towards the door, the baseball bat ready in his hands. He asked the others to take a step back when he reached for the doorknob.

The moment the door opened, he was greeted by one of those ugly creatures right in front of the door. Without any hesitation he swung the bat right on the head where the brain located, blood splattered on his face.

Hinata, Atsushi, and Takuya watched in horror when they see Takemichi swing the bat on the 'person '. Before they could scold him, Takemichi yelled at them.

"We don't have time, let's run!"

Run? Why? They really trust Takemichi but their curiosity won over them. Who wouldn't when they knew nothing about the situation, their friend just kill a person and now there were thundering steps outside.

They took a glance behind them and their blood ran cold.

Those weren't supposed to be real. How. Before Hinata could stop it, a scream passed her throat. That was causing more undead after them. One of the undead who was faster than others managed to reach for Hinata but before it can leave even a scratch on her, Takemichi hit it with his bat then quickly dragged them away.

He couldn't manage to lose them again.

Before they could reach the stairs, Takemichi had pulled the fire alarm. The undead seemed to be confused by the sudden noise, their footsteps drowned in the background.

They kept following Takemichi -while Takemichi was hitting each of the corpses that were coming their way- when they recognized the way, the way to the rooftop.

Along the way they ran to, they saw a black-haired boy with yellow stripes who was around their age seemed to like having a panic attack. His breathing was so fast as if everyone would rob the air from him. Some of the unsightly creatures must have heard a sound coming from him when they proceeded to surround him.

Takemichi immediately smashed their skulls, trying to keep them away from the boy. Even if he didn't know the boy, he still didn't want anyone to die while he had his chance to help. The boy didn't seem to notice him though, too deep in his panic.

Takemichi couldn't leave him there. His friends stared at him surprised when he scooped the boy in his arms easily before they continued their run to the rooftop. He whispered sweet nothing in the boy's ears, trying to calm him down in this chaos.

When they reached the door to the rooftop, they almost deflated in defeat when they saw the door was locked. They looked around to search for the spare key the guard would leave.

'There's no time' Takemichi thought

Before they could make any movement to search for the key, Takemichi passed the now a bit calm boy into Atsushi's arms before he lunged forward hitting the door with his shoulder. They had looked at him in awe, their jaw hung open almost reaching the floor when the door opened forcefully in just one try.

'My strength stay with me,' Takemichi thought while staring wide-eyed at his hands, clenching them slightly. 'the strength worth of 12 years survival'

He couldn't really process what had happened when he remembered the situation he was currently in. Motioning the others to enter, he then pushed the door closed. He barricaded the door with an old couch he found.

The first time he had discovered the couch, he was weirded out why was it placed here of all places. He thought that maybe the couch was meant to be thrown out but he was glad it was still there.

Takemichi flung himself on the couch when he finished barricading the door. A shaky breath exhaled through his trembling lips.

Seeing the panicking boy with yellow and black stripes, Takemichi stood from his spot to approach the golden eyes boy carefully. Takemichi kneeled beside him to comfort him carefully, he's still a stranger after all. When the boy looked calm enough to talk but still tired, Takemichi gave him a soft smile.

"That was one hell of a panic attack huh?"

The golden eyes boy looked up to yell at the boy who talked to him when he saw the gentle look obvious on his face, especially in his beautiful blue eyes. He was stunned by his beauty, forgetting what he was going to say earlier.

"Earth to?" He snapped from his thought when the boy gently pats his head.

His eyes widen at the comforting gestures. He looked at the soft-spoken boy again when he talked.

"Are you okay? I'm Takemichi, Hanagaki Takemichi," Takemichi pointed towards the others before he continued "and those are my friends, Tachibana Hinata, Sendou Atsushi, and Yamamoto Takuya"

The boy looked at each of them before he turned his eyes towards the pretty boy again. It was hard to talk after his panic attack but he tried.

"H-Hanemiya... Kazutora.."

Takemichi beamed at him. Kazutora felt like he fell. Hard.

While with the others, Hinata, Atsushi, and Takuya shared a nervous look with each other. Takemichi was not behaving like usual but otherwise, he is still their Takemichi. They know.

Takuya approached Takemichi and grabbed his shoulder, slightly shaking him. "T-takemichi! What the hell just happened?! Could you explain? Please.."

He's scared, no that's an understatement, he's more than scared.

Takemichi shut his mouth tight, couldn't find in himself to tell them. It's not a common thing to say. He's not looking forward to be said mentally ill by his friends after all of this time-travel thing. He trusts them to believe him but no, survival is the most important thing they need to focus on right now.

He gave them no answer instead he stood up and walked towards the fence. The others glanced at each other again before hesitantly following him.

The sight their eyes caught made them want to believe that all of this was a dream. There's no way zombie is real, right?

Their knees felt weak watching all of those undead kept ripping someone's throat, blood everywhere. They -the only survivor in this school- immediately put some distance between them and the fence as if the fence was burning them.

Takemichi took a glance at his friends from where he stood. He kneeled beside them and rubbed their back soothingly while having a reassuring smile on his plump lips.

No matter what would happen after this, he was glad that this time he was not the sole survivor of this school.

'I had changed something'

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Flashback

A scream reached the raven-haired boy, currently looking outside the window while the teacher was teaching. He paid them no mind when he first heard it, it was school after all. Too many children.

But when the scream came after a scream and they became a bloodcurdling scream he could feel the dread increase in his stomach.

The teacher stopped the lesson to look outside when the door slammed open. A bloodied male student appeared but before he could say something, he was cut off by the scream that passed his throat .

Someone, no, something bites him.

That had led his classmates to shriek in horror and surprise . Those ugly creatures took notice of them and headed inside the classroom.

Takemichi grabbed Atsushi's and Takuya's hands ready to bolt out of the room when something seized Atsushi . He gasped as he saw Atsushi was being ripped apart . He felt how his stomach was clenching together.

He barely heard Atsushi ask them to run, not that he paid attention as the world was spinning around. Fortunately, Takuya dragged him out when one of the undead reached for him.

They were running in the hallway when they bumped into Hinata in the middle of panicking.

" Hina-chan !"

" T- takemichi-kun ?!"

They almost forgot what had happened earlier when Hinata ran into his arms. Blessed Takuya and his calmness in this situation decided to snap them from their own world.

"Hurry! There's no time!"

They were planning to go to the rooftop. Before they could reach the stairs though, something snatched Hinata from Takemichi's grasp.

Takuya and he tried to take her back but Takuya was grabbed by them too. Tears threatened to fall when Takemichi heard their howl of pain.

"Takemichi! Run! Leave us! Please, live for us!"

Takemichi hesitated. He didn't want to leave them. He looked at bleeding Takuya unsure when he heard it, barely.

" T-takemichi , onii-san, live for us"

Hinata's soft voice entered his ears. She was smiling softly at him with her tears and blood on her face.

Tears fell like a waterfall on his cheeks and he bite back a sob. Hinata, a girl he treated as his little sister, was calling him onii-san for the first and last time.

He was not going to leave them but if he waited too long, he knew he would die too. With the last promise hanging on the back of his mind, he ran to the rooftop.

When he had arrived, He quickly searched for the key. A whole school knew that the guard would leave a spare key to the rooftop there.

He found the key under the heavy vase and he immediately reached for the doorknob. He managed to barricade the door after he closed the door shut. Even with the closed door, he could still hear those growls of the undead out there and his skin kept crawling in disgust.

Just this morning they were getting breakfast together, how did this happen? Was this some kind of test for him because he messed up something?

This is definitely not a test.

Takemichi stood alone in the middle of chaos happened, looking down from the rooftop. No other survivor, him alone having a mental breakdown.

"Survival in the Zombie Apocalypse?" Takemichi chuckled to himself "Definitely not a test"

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Chapter 2

Summary:

Shelter. Naoto. Warmth

Notes:

I don't know where is this fic going.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Kazutora looked at the people around him, especially Takemichi. It was confusing. One moment he was ditching from the lesson and one moment everything became chaotic and scary.

Another moment a pretty boy was comforting him. He didn't remember if he walked on his own here. But he was confident he was not being able to walk earlier.

He remembered he came to public school after a long time in a rehabilitation school. Ditching his class till lunch and there were thundering footsteps along with screams here and there. He was going to see what was happening so he headed out from his ditch spot.

The moment he stepped into the hallway, some scary-looking men and women growled at him. Was there some kind of performance that need this kind of make-up? When they headed towards him, his gut was telling him that they were dangerous.

The moment they approached him with a clear intent to attack him, he kept punching and kicking them but they always got back up. He tried to run away from them but they kept following him. He was getting tired to keep them away from him, avoiding their skin from touching him when he heard the fire alarm bell. Someone must have pressed it.

The scenes around him, the loud noises, the growls from the creatures around him, and the ringing in his ears were giving him a strong throwback about the situation in his house. No, that place was no home. The memories were getting stronger causing his breathing started to get faster. His eyes were unseeing.

He knew he didn't pass out but he could see nothing. All black. He barely heard some crashing around him but he couldn't see. All he felt was getting lifted from the ground, being whispered sweet nothing in his ear. Warmth enveloped him with him desperately trying to melt into the warmth.

The boy who helped him.

He didn't know he had a cute and kind junior in his school. Kazutora looked at the boy who was rubbing his friends' back soothingly with a soft smile. He weirdly felt warm after a long time.

'Thank you'

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Takemichi looked around the rooftop to search for something that could help them. Even if he knew there was nothing. At least he needed to make sure of it.

Finding nothing, he looked at the others and snapped two of his fingers together, making sure their attention was on him. When he got the attention he wanted, he looked straight into each of their eyes.

"Listen, I know this is hard to accept but this is reality and to survive is our priority. That's our main goal" Takemichi held his hand out in front of him, giving them a chance to grab onto his hand.

"you can go on your own if you wish or you can follow me. But make sure to not make any loud noise. Unfortunately, those things have an incredible hearing"

If they wanted to they could go on their own, he was not going to force them to be with him. He knew he was unreliable sometimes.

Having a conversation with their eyes, Hinata, Atsushi, Takuya and Kazutora nodded at him without any hesitation. Atsushi as the head to grab Takemichi's hand. They already witnessed his survival skills earlier and if it meant that they were safe with him, they would follow him to the end.

Takemichi sighed in relief when they decided to follow him, he was not going to lose them for the second time.

He ushered them to stand up and follow him. He didn't hatch any plan yet but the most important thing they needed right now was a shelter, even if it was temporarily. That was the first rule of survival. A place to rest and he knew exactly where it was for now.

His house, yes house.

His neighbourhood was mostly empty in this season, most of the people in his neighbourhood usually went on a vacation or something. The lack of the undead in the neighbourhood was perfect for a shelter for the time being.

They went down using the emergency stairs towards the parking lot. He needed transportation, for now, he was not going to walk with danger lurking around him. This time, he had people to protect.

He could see some of the undead lurking around the cars. Taking his pencil box out of his school bag, he threw it at the steel pole away from those cars, making the clanging sound attracting most of the undead to it. Takemichi took care of the remaining undead before leading the others towards the cars.

They took a step quietly towards the car, checking each of the cars which had the key. Takemichi also checked the backseat of each car, not wanting the undead to kill them any moment if they weren't aware of their surrounding. Lucky for them that some teachers in this school leave the key inside the car.

Takemichi decided on a driver's seat before someone could say anything. He knew the others couldn't drive for shit. He didn't know about Kazutora but he was not going to waste their time asking if he could drive. Fortunately, his one of survival skills; driving stayed with him.

"Takemichi, do you really know how to drive?!" Atsushi whispered-yelled at him. He sounded troubled.

He looked at each of them when he noticed the worry in their eyes. He couldn't blame them, they were 14 and surviving in this hell. He had no license but he drive before.

He gave them a confident nod when he started the engine. He quickly drove away from the school ground before more undead surrounded them, hitting the undead along the way. The engine was loud enough to attract them.

When they were out of the school compound, all of them released a breath they didn't know was holding. All of them besides Takemichi looked at their surroundings horrified. Just this morning everything was well, and now everything turned upside down.

The road filled with the undead, some were ripping people's throats. They felt like vomiting at the sight.

"The world is ending huh..." Atsushi said dazedly.

The journey was in silence, no wonder still processing what had happened. Takemichi paid them no mind. After all, he still needed to focus on the road and the way to the Tachibana household. Yes, Tachibana. A few meters away from his house.

Tachibana Naoto was only a year younger than him and had been nothing but a sweet kid to him. But then again, it's unfair to leave him alone in all of this chaos without his sister. Mr Tachibana most likely was at his workplace.

He remembered he found the undead version of the kid, Naoto on the first timeline. He was not going to let the same mistake happen.

Takemichi parked the car far from his house, afraid the undead would follow them to his house with the loud noise. He was getting rid of some undead in the neighbourhood while he lead them to his house and ushered them to go in. If there was a risk going to the Tachibana's household, he would not endanger the others.

"I will be back later, please lock the door, search for some tapes and tape the window completely, the undead would likely notice the light once the night comes."

When all of them nodded in understanding, he looked at Hinata and said, "Do not open the door unless it's me, we will be using our childhood knock, you still remember those, right?"

Something akin to recognition passed her reaction and he pats her head before heading off to Tachibana household. Many would take this situation as a chance to robbed people's houses. He experienced it before and he wouldn't let the others experience it in his house. Absolutely not.

When he had arrived, he didn't expect to immediately face the undead in front of the door. Fortunately, it was just a small number of them. Less than 10. He grasped his bat tightly and bashed those undead's soft heads.

Distraught at the thought he was late, he quickly entered the house to search for Naoto. A sigh of relief escaped his mouth when he saw him hiding under the table holding a kitchen knife close to himself.

"Naoto-kun?"

He felt the pair of arms wrapped tightly around his waist the moment he made his presence known. With the feeling of the wetness on his shirt and the shaking of the younger's shoulder, he knew the younger was crying. It was a scary experience after all.

He remembered himself in the first timeline. Alone, no one to lend a shoulder, hungry, confused, terrified. Worthless piece of s-

He shook his head slightly to wave off the thoughts. He needed to be strong for others. He kept reminding himself that he was not alone this time.

By the time Naoto calmed down, Takemichi could see that the younger's eyelids were getting heavy. No doubt all of this chaos exhausted him.

Takemichi hauled him on his back, earning a shy protest from the younger. Eventually, the protest from the younger had died down knowing the older wouldn't change his mind. They -or only Takemichi- started walking to Takemichi's house where the others had been waiting for him.

Exactly like in the previous timeline, the neighbourhood really didn't have many of the undead. He had no problem getting rid of them but he had someone on his back that moment, so he would take the safe route to get back to the shelter using stealth. He knew it was a suspicious situation but he lived in this neighbourhood long enough to know this neighbourhood was safe. For now.

They continued to walk in comfortable silence. When they had arrived, he repositioned Naoto on his back, supporting him with his left hand. Naoto had fallen asleep on the way here.

He raised his fist towards the door and knocked on the door with a familiar rhythm.

In a second the door swung open from the inside, a girl with light brown-haired with puffy red eyes -no doubt crying at the thought about the end of the world- stood in front of the door. Her eyes widened when she recognized the familiar figure on Takemichi's back.

Takemichi smile reassuringly at her and put his index finger in front of his lips indicating to her that Naoto had been sleeping.

Hinata stepped aside, letting Takemichi to stepped inside. The three other occupations noticed Takemichi, wanted to greet him when they saw an unfamiliar figure on his back.

Takuya noticed that the smaller had been sleeping on Takemichi's back so he followed Takemichi to his bedroom. He helped Takemichi prepare his bed to put the younger.

After they tucked the younger in, they went downstairs where the living room was located. They huddled close to each other, taking any comfort they can get. A shocked blanket wrapped around them.

Kazutora wrapped his arms around Takemichi's waist, his head on his chest. Hinata on Takemichi's right. While Atsushi and Takuya on Takemichi's left, cuddling each other.

Silence enveloped them before a small voice from the only girl in the room interrupted the silence.

"Takemichi-kun,"

Takemichi hummed in reply, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes. He saw gratefulness in her eyes before the guilt flashed slightly in her brown eyes.

"Thank you,... you already save us,.. and you must have risked your life to save my younger brother alone. I feel bad for not remembering Naoto earlier, thank you" Tears that welled up in her eyes already made their way down her cheeks.

Takemichi's eyes soften at the sight, he brought her closer to him. He let his hand rest on her head, stroking her hair soothingly.

"Hina-chan, it's not your fault, you're in a dire situation," Takemichi felt the other two closing their little space, the arms around his waist tightened a little. "everyone will forget, in their mind were only survival, so you're not at fault. It's human's instinct"

He could hear a small sniffle then and there but he paid them no mind. "Let your tears fall, don't hold back, we still have a long journey ahead"

Not even one eye dried that night except Takemichi's. He told himself that he needed to be strong, he couldn't break, for Hinata, Atsushi, Takuya, Kazutora and also Naoto. He needed to be there for the others, he wouldn't let them be like how he used to.

At some points, Naoto woke up from his slumbered and joined the small mass of comfort. He huddled closer to his older sister and Takemichi, taking even a small contact as comfort.

They felt warmth spread in their heart, they really appreciated Takemichi's presence at a times like this. Before long, they all fell unconscious in each other embrace. But the night still didn't take pity on them.

The moment clock reached 6 o'clock in the morning, they were greeted by the heavenly smell coming from the kitchen. When they reached the kitchen they saw Takemichi in his little apron, his hips swayed cutely while preparing breakfast for them.

The boys felt their cheeks get warmer at the sight.

When Takemichi took notice of them, he let a bright smile painted on his cute face while greeting them, "Morning! didn't expect you guys to wake up early, come on let's have breakfast together."

They smiled at him, giving no verbal response. Even without words, they knew that no one could really sleep well after all of what happened. They enjoyed their first breakfast in the apocalypse, compliments were thrown left and right to the house owner but his mind was not with him.

'Mana-chan, I need to get to her as soon as possible' Takemichi lost in his thought, unaware of the concerned glance the others threw at him.

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Flashback

A month after the zombie apocalypse had broken out, he dragged himself out of his house. He needed to get some canned foods. He didn't want his food to get easily spoiled so he planned to just buy some canned foods.

He needed to walk a little farther this time since the convenience store nearby his house was not available. It's either already raided by others or the undead terrorized the store.

He was on his way back when he faintly heard a high-pitched scream coming from a house. Without any hesitation, he ran towards the house and spotted a small silver-lilac haired girl with messy buns on each side of her head in the middle of the undead circle.

He quickly threw the extra pipe he found on the street, making some noise. Some of the undead followed the noise but two or three of them still lingered over the little girl.

He swung the weapon in his hands towards the remaining undead.

Picking the little girl up in his arms, he quickly ran towards his house. He was glad just in a month he already learned how to run without making much noise. He still needed to improve many things.

When he was already inside his house, he set the little girl on her own foot, still not letting go of the hug.

"You alright, don't cry, I'm here, you're not alone" He patted her head softly, trying to comfort her. He was not familiar with any comfort gestures, but he would try.

When she calmed down enough, s he looked up at him and muttered a small thank you towards him.

He smiled softly at that. "Hey, what's your name? are you alone there earlier?" He knew that was a sensitive topic but he needed to know if there was any other survivor.

With a few hiccups here and there, she said "S-someone broke through o-our door and Luna-nee told me to go hide, but before then, she was already got hurt by that person,"

takemichi felt his stomach clenching together, he could guess what had happened but hearing those from a small child hurt him more.

"I-... I wanted to help her but she told me to run until I can no longer hear her. I ran outside to search for onii-chan, it's been a month since he came back but then those people surrounded me, they were so scary."

By the time she finished, a waterfall had already run down her cheeks. Him too, being a cry-baby and all. He hugged her tightly but gently, letting her cry in his embrace. They were strong kids, having to survive in this apocalypse just the two of them in that house.

Since then they travelled together, along with some other people they encountered along the way.

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"Takemichi-kun!"

Startled from his thought, he looked at the source of the noise. Blue-eyes met five pairs of concerned eyes.

"y-yes?" He stuttered. 'Deja Vu'

"you okay? you really lost in your thought there buddy" Takuya took a step towards him then put his hand on Takemichi's shoulder, grounding him to reality.

"A-ah, yes, don't worry about me," He gave them a reassuring smile, though they didn't look convinced but they still smiled and nodded at him.

Takemichi looked at Takuya, Atsushi and Kazutora repeatedly. The others gave him the questioning look when they noticed it.

"Taku-chan, Akkun, Kazu-kun.. sorry I couldn't check on your family, your house-"

Takemichi was cut off by a chuckle from Atsushi and Takuya, soft smile on their face. Kazutora just put his hand on Takemichi's head, looking away from him. Everyone except Takemichi noticed the pink hue on his ears.

"Takemichi, nothing is your fault. We're already glad that you saved us. If not for you, we sure we were not going to survive in that school" Atsushi and Takuya, along with Kazutora, Hinata and Naoto gave him a grateful smile. They looked at him with such warm eyes, butterfly churned in his stomach.

Takemichi could feel the tears welled up in his eyes. Feeling a little tugged on his sleeve, he looked to his side where he could see Naoto was tugging on his sleeve while having a little blush adorning his cheeks.

"Thank you,... for saving me... us"

The walls broke and the tears fell freely on his cheeks. All of them hugged him from every side, giggling at his crybaby self. They whispered at him comforting words, making all those lonely years alone buried deep down his mind for a while.

'Ah,..the warmth I promised to protect..'

Notes:

I'm trying my best to update. Even if the plot of this fic doesn't make sense anymore.

I'm sorry if this is boring. I just fix some grammar mistakes and I didn't change the plot. So it will still be my first fic ever. So I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense.

Takemichi will not meet Toman yet. Maybe in the fourth or fifth chapter? ... I will try to update them sooner.

Please help me by saying who you don't mind dying. I need them as much as possible. I need to do some sacrifices.

I'm going to continue my rehab, bye-bye!

Thanks to whoever reading this.

Chapter 3

Summary:

Kids

Notes:

Hehehehhegegehskgsksgsks hi.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Are you crazy?!"

Takemichi flinched at the loud noise. If you asked his past self, he would answer the question with a big no without any hesitation. After this whole time-travel thing though? He could say he was a bit hesitant to answer even a small no.

"You really can't be serious to go out there alone, right?" asked Takuya who stood straight beside a fuming Atsushi. Takemichi was really grateful for the gentle tone Takuya used.

"I-it couldn't be that bad," Takemichi scratched his head sheepishly, trying hard to avoid making any eye contact with an angry Atsushi. "I mean I know how to deal with those and we need groceries or foods to survive."

They deadpanned at his response. They didn't doubt his survival skill, not even in the slightest. But when he was out of their sight, as his friends and as who held him dear, they couldn't help but be worried for him. Anything dangerous could happen to him at any moment.

"Takemichi-kun,"

Having watched since earlier, Hinata decided to interrupt their bickering. Naoto and Kazutora trailed behind her, looking amused.

The three of them looked at the light-brown haired girl. Takuya and Atsushi almost breathed in relief when they saw her, thinking that she would be by their side. Their eyes widen when they heard her next words, hard to believe.

"Sure Takemichi-kun, go. Whatever it is, we knew you had your reason, just..be careful out there" Hinata exclaimed, smiling softly at him. Naoto hummed in agreement behind her.

Kazutora nodded his head agreed. He was worried but he would hate it if someone else tried to stop him from doing something he wanted.

Upon hearing those, takemichi shot her a grateful smile before turning to the other two with a smug expression on his face. "Well, you heard the queen"

Takuya and Atsushi slumped down in defeat. They really couldn't win against Takemichi, do they? A bunch of people were going to support him.

Kazutora looked at the group from afar, a ghost smile on his lips. He remembered those times when he and his friends were joking around like this. He really missed the others.

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Takemichi took the same road to the convenience store as the previous timeline. He didn't lie, he really was planning to buy some groceries and food. He had a feeling there would be more people than he ever expected in his two-story house sooner or later. So he really needed to restock the food plentily.

When he arrived at the convenience store, it was in the same condition as he remembered, just more stuff. He came here earlier than before so it was expected. This convenience store usually didn't have many customers because of the gangs lurking around. There was only two or three undead there, something he and his bat could manage.

Eyes landing on one of the items that were on the rack, Takemichi brightened before reaching out for it. He thought about buying the item before but he couldn't really think about it when the apocalypse hit them. He really needed Atsushi's help to apply the item.

Takemichi shoved some fast foods, canned foods and a bunch of tissue into his big bag before heading towards the counter, slammed down the right amounts of money. He took some candies too due to sugar could boost focus. Furthermore, if they needed to survive in this Apocalypse, they definitely needed to be more focused.

He couldn't buy too much. He was glad his strength stayed with him but if everything stayed the same as the first timeline, he probably need to lift a kid -or two- to his house. He would come back for more later.

(Takemichi was glad his scar didn't stay though, or Hinata would be screaming her lungs out the moment he was time-leapt to the past)

He took the same road and he was more alert. No one knows what would have happened in the future. Well maybe he knew but this is different. A lot different.

He took notice of the mitsuyas' house, surprised when there was some undead in front of the door. Contemplating what he should do, he remained hidden to think. He couldn't just barge into the house, the kids didn't even know him.

That was when he noticed the door was slightly ajar. A little girl looking like an older Mana poked her head outside. When she saw the undead however managed to get a loud shriek from her, attracting more of the undead.

She stayed frozen on her spot when she saw an ugly hand was reaching out for her. In other timelines, she would run inside and closed the door with too much struggle, her little sister stared worriedly at her and she would reassure her. The sights was haunting her for the rest of her life.

In this timeline though, before she could do anything, she heard a loud thud and saw the ugly creature lying unconscious there. In a second, she was hauled up and brought into the house back.

She was going to put a fight when her lavender eyes met the brightest blue eyes she has ever seen. She was stunned, barely registering the stranger's words and the rapid small footstep coming from inside the house.

"Hey, you alright? do you have any injuries? I'm sorry you have to see those" The stranger's voice was nice, she could hear them every day and didn't even get bored of them in the slightest.

After the question registered in her mind, her tears immediately flooded her cheeks. She was trying to get out to search for their brother and mother, they had never left them for a long time before. That was when she saw the scary uproar outside. She doubt she could forget them anytime soon.

When her tears were visible, the pretty blue-eyed boy's arms flailed around, unsure of what he should do in the situation. With a little hesitation, the little girl felt those arms wrapped around her tightly, but it was so gentle she could pull away if she wish to.

'Warm' She thought. She pressed herself closer to the pretty blue-eyed boy while balling her eyes out, still terrified from earlier.

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Takemichi immediately came out from his hiding spot, leaving his bag behind and swung the bat the moment he saw one of the undead reach out to the little girl. He could kill all of the present undead but he couldn't. Not in front of a kid.

He hauled the little girl up in his arms gently and hurriedly ran back into the house. Unaware of the big graze he got from the doorknob, ripping his hoodie sleeve.

When they were inside, he set her on her feet when their eyes met.

"Hey, you alright? do you have any injuries? I'm sorry you have to see those" He mustered up the best comforting tone he could manage. He winced a little for the sorry part.

'Those would leave a mental scar, no doubt' He thought to himself.

He was a little freaked out when he saw the tears welled up in her eyes. He didn't have any experience in this, albeit unsure, he wrapped his arms around her tightly but enough to let her pull away. They were strangers after all.

He breathed in relief when the little girl pressed herself close to him, bailing her eyes out. Rubbing her back soothingly, he noticed another smaller presence approaching them.

He looked up from the little girl in his arms to be met with another pair of lavender eyes. The smaller girl looked confused and scared, still keeping her distance from them. He sent her a soft smile while continuing to comfort the girl in his embrace.

After half an hour, the little girl already seemed to calm down. There was still some hiccup and sniffles here and there but she was calmed nonetheless.

"T-thank you Mr pretty" She said.

Takemichi could feel his cheeks getting warmer at what she called him. Usually, he would just shrug it off but this is a kid he was talking to. Kids are honest, way too honest with their bluntness.

"I-it's alright," He chuckled nervously, looked away to avoid eye contact. Eventually, he looked at the kids in the eyes again and mustered a serious voice as best as he could. "Where are your guardian? Are you two kids alone in this house? For how long?"

At some points the smaller girl walked to them slowly, tugging at the seemed likely her older sister's shirt. When he looked at her closely, he recognized her. Mana-chan.

"J-just us two," The older said quietly. "Okaa-san and Onii-chan didn't come back for two days already."

"I wanted to search for them, we're hungry.."

Takemichi's eyes soften hearing those and he gave them the best comforting smile he could.

"I'm Takemichi, Hanagaki Takemichi. How about you two come with me first and I will help you to find your brother later? It's dangerous without guardian here"

Well there was no adult in his house but he was mentally 26 years old, so it counted, right? He couldn't leave them here.

He could see them hesitate, looking at each other eyes before both of them looked at Takemichi in the eyes. He fidgeted under those analyzing gazes but it needed to be done, he was a stranger to them after all. After they found what they searched for in Takemichi's eyes, they nodded at him eagerly and hopeful.

Takemichi smiled in relief at the response he got.

"Well, if that's what you wish, I need the princesses' name first" He gave them his brightest smile. The two smaller squinted their eyes a bit at brightness, their expression brightened too.

"I'm Mitsuya Luna!"

"Mana, Mitsuya Mana!"

When he saw those smiles, he would be damned if he let anything harm these little angels.

He patted their head gently and said, "I need you to wait here for a while, I will get rid of those scary men outside first. Is it alright with you?"

Luna, the oldest of the two nodded firmly, a little hesitant. She didn't want the pretty nii-chan to get hurt. While Mana just smiled brightly and nodded at him, unaware of the older inner conflict.

Takemichi noticed Luna's change of emotion before giving her a reassuring smile, patting her head "Go pack some clothes and things you will need"

Once he was outside, he immediately closed the door, not wanting the kids to see the bloodied corpses. For him, It was easier to kill them compared to his first month in the previous timeline.

"Well, let's see how I handle these..."

After half an hour, Takemichi stood tall in the middle of many unmoving corpses. He glanced at his hoodie and winced seeing too much blood. He took off his hoodie leaving his blank white shirt underneath.

He felt a little sting on his arm. Taking a look at his arm, he immediately headed to where he left his groceries earlier when he noticed the big wound. He legit couldn't remember when he got them.

He took a wet tissue he bought earlier to wipe the blood off his arm. Searching inside the bag, he found the bandage he needed and wrapped his wound carelessly. He would treat them properly later. Taking another wet tissue, he swiped off the blood from his face before heading back inside, the bag on his left shoulder.

He must look welcoming for kids after all. Couldn't go to them with blood splattered on his face like a serial killer, could he?

Once he opened the door, he was greeted by the two smiling kids and one big bag. He smiled at them and patted their head gently.

"We could come back another time if you forgot something, but now.." He slung the bag on his right shoulder, lifting them both each in his arms. "shall we get going?"

Luna and Mana were staring at him in awe -amazed at the show of strength- before nodding enthusiastically.

"Alright! I need you two to keep your mouth shut along the way, we don't want the scary men to go after us after all" He said with a little wink at them, earning a little chuckle from both.

He knew it was risky carrying two kids in his arms, no weapon in his hands but he survived long enough to know how to walk stealthily. He took care of most of the undead on the road on his way here before, so they were not a lot.

Along the way, he asked both girls to closed their eyes if they ever encountered a bloodied scene. He really didn't want to traumatise them if it was still avoidable. He knew they would need to see them sooner or later but he still wanted them to sleep peacefully in his house for now. As peaceful as they could.

Luna was being really helpful when she kept Mana's mouth shut with her hand when they saw more undead. They didn't want to attract more of the undead. Even if the undead were not a lot, a sight of one of them could already traumatic the kids.

(Takemichi struggled to not let a laugh out when they covered their eyes by hiding their faces in his neck. Their hairs tickled okay.)

After a little far walk, they had arrived. He put them both on their feet to adjust the bag on his back and knocked on the door in rhythm.

In a second the door flung open, five figures immediately latching onto him, visibly worried. Takuya pulled away from the warmth to look directly at Takemichi who still stood bewildered.

"Do you realize for how long you've been gone?! Don't make us regret letting you go alone!" Takuya whispered-yelled at him. Takemichi didn't know he was such a mother hen but he was grateful, they cared for him.

Takemichi opened his mouth to reassure them but a small voice beat him to it.

"We're sorry, Take-nii must have been late because of us"

That was when the four noticed two new presence each on Takemichi's side, each holding his pants tightly, little tears in the corner of their eyes. Takemichi nearly fainted at the cute nickname while the others were staring widely at the three. Takemichi cleared his throat to gain their attention.

"Well, I- ... I can explain?" avoiding eyes contact, he scratched his corner side jaw before looking at the two youngest with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Luna-chan, Mana-chan. It's fine."

They stepped into the house. Hinata and others tried to talk to Luna and Mana only for them to stick with Takemichi most of the time, most likely still cautious of them.

Kazutora looked at the kids curiously. He felt like they were familiar to him for some reason but he couldn't remember it. The moment Takemichi introduced each of them did he remember him. Mitsuya.

When they were all in the living room, Naoto was the first one to notice the bloodied bandage on Takemichi's arm.

"T-takemichi-san!" The others turned to him at the urgent in his voice. The others followed his line of sight when they saw it too. Hinata hurriedly got up to search for the first aid kit.

"Ah, ... It's not so bad?" the audacity of him to chuckle, the other teens facepalmed at him while the kids fusing worriedly beside him. Takemichi quickly reassured them that he was alright the moment their tears made an appearance.

That was when Hinata kneeled in front of him with the first aid kit in her hand. Takemichi looked at her softly as she treated his wound delicately. After Hinata had done bandaging his wound, she looked at him in the eyes and spoke with the most serious voice he ever heard from her.

"Takemichi-kun, please don't get injured again"

Takemichi was startled at the impossible request. He chuckled nervously "I really can't promise you that, Hina-chan,"

Hinata sighed at his words, at least she tried. The other teens stared worriedly at the injured boy. They knew they could say nothing, it was not Takemichi if he was not injured after all. It was either he was clumsy or getting his ass beaten or anything, he would still have injuries even if sometimes just some scratch.

"But I'll try my best" Takemichi added on upon seeing everyone's upset face. If it could make them happy, he would try his best for them.

"That's good enough for us" Atsushi smiled at him. Takuya, Kazutora, Hinata and Naoto nodded in agreement.

Takemichi stood up abruptly from his place, making them surprised. He lifted both his arms in the air, stretching his body before looking at the others.

"Alright! Who's hungry? I'll cook dinner!"

He beamed at them and everyone in the room couldn't help but squinted their eyes at the brightness he emitted. It was such a good sight in this Apocalypse. Though the teens brightened at the mention of he would cook, his cooking is heavenly, who would refuse?

The kids were shouting excited 'me!' at him making him smile more. Having Mana-chan at his side again really made him happy. Not to mention he got an extra mitsuya. He is weak to kids.

They all slept with a happy stomach that night. They also got cuddles from Takemichi. What else could they ask?

Luna and Mana had a little trouble sleeping that night but nothing the pretty blue-eyed boy couldn't resolve. After the two youngest had fallen asleep, Takemichi addressed Atsushi softly.

"Hey, Akkun," He said softly, not wanting to wake up the others. The mention boy hummed and looked at him along with Takuya who he conversed with. The next words that fell from Takemichi's mouth left them shell shocked.

"Can you.. can you re-dye my hair to black? I-... I had bought the hair dye earlier"

There was a pregnant silence before Atsushi and Takuya were snapped out of their shock.

"... sure?"

Takemichi gave him a grateful smile before pulling the blanket up to his chin, cuddling with the kids. "Thanks" He would do all of these better. He decided that he would start it with himself by getting rid of his bright yellow hair.

Notes:

Let's see where this fic is going from here ... I just feel the need to add the kids since I want this fic to be a bit wholesome too. Let's see how this going!

Michi meets some of Toman's members in the next chapter! Stay tuned!

The suggestion for people to be sacrificed for is still open! Do tell me what you want to see in this fic too. I will consider them. But I'm not going to include all of them. I'm sorry.

Feel free to guess what happens in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 4

Summary:

Entering three of Toman's gremlins.

Notes:

I kind of love writing this chapter. But not really HAJSHJSVS since it becomes so confusing for a while.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Awoken at 4:30 a.m after falling asleep at 2:00 a.m really dampened his mood. Even if he was used to his sleep schedule, it would still irritate him greatly when his sleep felt lacking. But awoke with the sight of two little girls asleep on him really restored his mood.

It had been a month since the two new addition stayed with him. Takemichi moved them slowly and carefully not to wake them up. It was still early for them to wake up.

He stretched his body before heading toward the bathroom. After he brushed his teeth and washed his face, he did the daily exercise he had created along with his partner during his survival in the previous timeline.

He was too lost in his exercise that he didn't notice the time fled fastly. Noticing there were 36 minutes more before the clock reached 6:30 am, he quickly ran to the bathroom to wash up.

When he proceeded to take off his clothes, he saw himself in the mirror. Inspecting himself in the mirror, he didn't notice how pretty he is with black hair until the kids pointed out the first time they saw him with his new but not really new hair. His blue eyes stood out more with black.

He dyed his hair to cover his similarity to his mother though. He shook his head to remove the thought. They were not worth thinking about.

He shook his head to clear out his mind. Didn't matter if he was pretty or not, he needed to survive first. Takemichi still thought he was not pretty. He chuckled to himself before washing himself up.

When he was done, he went out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his small waist, forgetting there were other occupations in his house. he went upstairs to his bedroom quickly, unaware of the bright red boys and amused Hinata.

They had been awoken just when Takemichi entered the bathroom, deciding to just stay still in the futon for a while. They were surprised when Takemichi got out of the bathroom.

This was not the first time for Atsushi and Takuya to see Takemichi's body but they definitely just noticed a few muscles on his body. It was not really visible under the clothes though. His skin looked soft to the touch. Don't forget his slim waist, his body was kind of feminine. A body all the girls and women alike dreamed on to have.

When Takemichi came downstairs they pretended to be sleeping. His sleeveless shirt showed his noodle arms, still with a little muscle they noticed. Oh, how they should know under those little muscles were incredible strength.

Takemichi went towards the kitchen, probably going to prepare breakfast. The others would go help him but they sucked at cooking so they decided to avoid burning the house and just stay out of the way.

After 20 minutes, their noses recognized the heavenly smell before Takemichi went to the living room to call for them. They sprinted towards the table, avoiding Takemichi's eyes as best as they could.

Takemichi looked at them weird before he shrugged them off. He walked towards where two little siblings cuddled up with each other before waking them up gently.

Luna and Mana opened their eyes and blinked multiple times to get used to the light in the room. When both lavender eyes met blue eyes, they beamed at him. Takemichi's heart melts at the sight.

"Come on princesses, let's have breakfast" he said softly.

The two little girls only yawned and lifted both their arms, asking to be carried. Takemichi sighed fondly, he could never refuse them.

"You know that you're old enough right?"

When the others saw Takemichi scurried into the kitchen with both kids in his arms, their eyes softened. It was not an uncommon thing to see. They kind of got used to his strength that they didn't know his small body could have.

This entire week the two girls warmed up to them slightly but they would still follow Takemichi wherever he went like little ducklings. They refused to go with others without him. They refused to leave his side, or they would be sad. For example, right now.

"No! Please just stay with us! If so, bring us with you!" Luna wailed loudly, the unshed tears visible in the corner of her eyes. While Mana nodded in agreement beside her, her tears already streamed down her cheeks.

Takemichi and the others tried to cheer them up but their resolve stand strong still. The others tried to talk Takemichi to not go outside alone, but it was Takemichi they were talking about, he was pretty stubborn.

"what are you going to do outside? I mean, you already brought the food stocked too much, weren't you?" Naoto said behind the kids.

The others turned to Takemichi at the exclaimed, curiosity cleared in their eyes.

"It's the apocalypse," Takemichi could see some of them flinched at the mention, no doubt still hard to accept the reality. "obviously the electricity will run out sooner or later. So we need to get a generator to survive longer"

Hearing this, their eyes widened. The possibility never crossed their mind. Who were they kidding, the world was at its peak.

Unfortunately, the kids still refused to let Takemichi go. Takemichi could feel his heart wanted to give up but he really need to get a generator. They need to survive. Even if he was weak to kids. No, that was definitely another reason to survive.

He kneeled in front of the two.

"Luna-chan, Mana-chan.." He called them softly. The two looked up to him with their teary-eyed and he almost crumbled. The others were trying to stifle their laughter, knowing takemichi was weak to children.

"I'm sorry but I need to go for a while but I promised I will come back alive"

The others heard the word alive and almost scoffed. That meant he wasn't promised to not get injured. Luna and Mana still hesitated to let him go, so Takemichi used the last hopefully effective step.

"I will get you more candies and chocolates, how about it?" he could see the exact moment they brightened. No one could refuse candy or chocolate after all. Especially if it was free and in this apocalypse. Well, Takemichi would still buy it though. Him being him.

"r-really?" Mana looked up at him hopefully. They looked so cute and Takemichi tried his best not to squeal then and there.

"yeah!" he beamed at them.

Luna and Mana looked at each other for a while before they dived into Takemichi's arms. He was shocked but he quickly recovered from it and wrapped his arms around them gently.

"...come back?" He faintly heard the soft voice, muffled from his shirt. His eyes softened and he tightened the hug a bit before answering in the most confident voice he had, successfully convincing all of the occupations.

"yeah, I will come back. Promise"

Takemichi thought he would bring his katana but he just decided to bring the bat with him. He also bring his bag with him, easy to avoid using a plastic bag if he needed anything from the store. It was also used to put mineral water.

He took his jacket and car key before he bid goodbye to the others. The store he planned to go to was not that far from his house but he could hear his mind screaming at him to bring it. He could feel that he would need it.

He walked to the store, bat in his hands, the key in his pocket.

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"You f*ckers, That's for all of us Toman! don't be greedy, Kiyomasa!" A long black-haired boy yelled at Kiyomasa and his group in front of him. Unaware of the undead he attracted.

"ha? who said I agree to share? Do you realize our situation? Toman is no more!"

The long-haired blonde glared at the group in front of him, seething. Usually, the group would shrink on themselves when they feel the glare but the corpses they saw all this time were scarier.

"Mikey, calm down" The tall blonde with each side shaved, a captivating dragon tattoo on the side of his head put his hand on the shorter blonde. They really don't need to make a ruckus right now but they were all unaware of the approaching danger.

"...fine, Ken-chin" Mikey shrugged off the hand on his shoulder before he took a deep breath.

Mikey looked at the group in front of them again, ignoring 'ken-chin''s protest for the nickname. Before he could say something, they heard numerous footsteps heading to their spot in between the aisles in the convenience store.

Before they could react, Kiyomasa's group except for himself were yanked by something. The corpses. Stomach churned uncomfortably when the undead was ripping humans' bodies without any hint of gentleness in front of them.

The remaining others were frozen on their spot. Their knees felt weak but they were struggling to stand. It was not the first death they saw in this Apocalypse, but it was definitely the closest they saw people being ripped apart in a matter of seconds.

They were too shocked and terrified that they didn't notice a hand of the undead was reaching out to Mikey. Before it reached him though, a pretty black-haired boy, smaller than them smashed the corpse's head with a bat. The moment felt like it was coming straight from a shoujo manga where the hero saved the heroine in distress.

Ridiculously they could see a slight moment where the stranger looked a bit like Shinichiro.

"Snap out of it!"

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Takemichi was searching for the generator in the store when he saw the freezer from the corner of his eye. His eyes brightened when he saw them. He immediately took something from the inside of the freezer and put it in his bag before searching for the generator again.

While searching, that was the moment he heard it. Among too many undead, was a scream. No, not just any scream, it was like someone yelling.

There was no way the corpses could yell let alone form a sentence. So like the selfless dumbass he is, he went to the source of the yelling. He carefully walked along with the walking corpses, they all seemed like heading to the yelling too.

He couldn't let any dead happen when he was nearby, so he fastened his step. When he arrived he saw some teens around his age, some of them already were being ripped apart while some stood frozen from the shock.

He quickly swung the bat at some of the corpses when they got too close to the four teens. Unfortunately, they still seemed frozen, he couldn't blame them, they were still young.

"Snap out of it!" He yelled at them, hitting the closest undead to them. Fortunately, they seemed to snap out of their shock fast. "Quick! Climb the Gondola rack!"

One of them was about to ask why when Takemichi shouted, "Just get on! They couldn't climb!"

The four of them including Kiyomasa quickly climbed the gondola rack with so much struggle. Kiyomasa stood far from the others. When they were all got up, the tallest blonde held his hand out to Takemichi.

"Grab on!"

Takemichi instantly hit the closest undead before reaching out to the hand. They screamed for him when one of the undead was holding onto his bag. Takemichi hurriedly tap the back of his shoe twice, a knife stuck out of the shoe soles.

He kicked the undead, piercing the knife through its soft skull. Successfully reaching the top of the gondola rack, Takemichi looked up to the tallest blonde with a bright smile.

"Thank you! You help me there"

The tall blonde looked away, pink dusting his ears "no problem"

While they looked around, the three looked at the person who saved them. He was... small. But something the most noticeable was those blue-ocean eyes, they could feel them drowning in them.

The tall blonde wanted to thank their saviour for earlier but the long black-haired boy opened his mouth first.

"What the hell? how are we going to escape if we are stuck up here buddy?!" the long black-haired yelled at Takemichi.

The tall blonde scolded his friend. "Baji! don't be rude!"

Baji scoffed at him "What?! I was rig-"

"You realize your loud voice is the cause that attracts the undead more, right? Do you really want to be their meal? Because I don't" Takemichi hissed and glared at them. "And now my plan is ruined"

That shut them up. Mikey stood silent on the sidelines watching them, more specifically, the raven-haired boy. They couldn't help but thought the glare was cute, like a kitten. Still scary though.

Takemichi sighed before continuing what he was going to ask.

"Anything asides, the undead wouldn't be able to climb up here. So, any of you hurt anywhere?" He asked while smiling softly at them. He really couldn't stay mad.

Their breath hitched a little when they see the smile. 'Pretty' was what all of them thought forgetting to answer the pretty boy's question.

"Earth to.." Takemichi snapped his fingers in front of them, successfully snapping them out of their thought. His eyes shone with concern for them.

The tall braided blonde was the first one to answer him "A-ah no,.. you had arrived on time... Thank you for saving us, I'm Ryuuguji Ken, or Draken"

Upon hearing Draken introduced himself, Takemichi jolted in realization.

"Oh, how rude of me. I'm Takemichi, Hanagaki Takemichi" Takemichi gave them a bright smile before he continued "I'm glad you're not injured"

The others could feel their cheeks getting warmer and they shook their head in order to introduce themselves.

"Baji Keisuke, sorry for yelling at you earlier"

"It's fine, and for your question, I know a way out don't worry" Baji was stunned when Takemichi patted his head and winked at him. he winked. He f*cking winked.

Takemichi is such a cutie TT.

"Sano Manjiro, or Mikey, Thank you for saving us Takemitchy 3" Mikey said happily, finally speaking after standing silent.

'Takemitchy?' Takemichi thought confused, but he didn't voice out his confusion. After a second, Takemichi noticed their name, or nickname 'Mikey? Draken?'

Mikey, Draken and Baji could see the moment the realization hit Takemichi, his eyes widen.

"As in... Toman?"

That leaves them shocked. Sure, Toman was well-known in the gang world but Takemichi looked so fragile and soft-looking to know anything related to gangs. Did they really forget this fragile man was saving their asses earlier?

"yeah, though there's no more I guess.." Mikey chuckled, glancing at Kiyomasa from the corner of his eyes.

Ah. takemichi could sympathise with him. He shook his head before lifting his hand towards him "Nah, it's still there" He put his fist on Mikey's chest while smiling softly at him.

Mikey's and the other's eyes widen before they gave Takemichi their sweetest smile and teased him for the cheesy words. They cooed when the small boy burned bright red.

After a while, they were enveloped in silence, looking around the chaos from the top of the gondola rack. Unbeknownst to them, a hand from someone who stood behind silently approached the clueless Draken from behind.

Draken's eyes widen when he felt a force from his back, pushing him forward that made him lose his balance. He shut his eyes tight when he almost falls into the mass of the undead. Before he fell, he felt someone pull him backwards causing him to fall onto someone, his head on the small chest.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Takemichi snarled at Kiyomasa, pointing his bat towards him. His other hand wrapped around the shocked Draken's head protectively.

Takemichi, at that time, was looking around him when he saw Draken stumbled forward from the corner of his eyes. He saw Kiyomasa who was standing behind where Draken stood before. Being glad for his fast reflex, he immediately pulled Draken towards him to avoid him from falling into the mass.

Kiyomasa was staring wide-eyed at the fuming Takemichi, the nails on the bat were pointed close to himself.

"I'm tired of him always looking down on me! Even in this Apocalypse?!" Kiyomasa cried out, scowling. He tried to attack Takemichi but was stopped on his feet when Takemichi took a knife out of his pocket.

Taken by surprise, Kiyomasa slowly backed away until his feet reached the edge of the rack.

"Y-you ― AAAGHH HELP!"

Before Kiyomasa could finish his sentence, his legs were grabbed by one of the undead, dragging him into his death door.

They all except Takemichi were too shocked that they couldn't utter a single word. They looked surprised and horrified when they saw the sight. While Takemichi had a blank look plastered on. Still in shock, Mikey glanced at Takemichi from the corner of his eyes.

"...you're not helping him?"

Takemichi didn't answer him for a while. He just looked over Draken silently, checking if there was any injury. When he saw none, he stood up straight, looking down at the mass of undead.

"... I want to survive with the people I love," Takemichi said, still looking at the undead below "therefore I can't risk my life by keeping a human who could be a threat to me and the others"

They stayed silent, processing Takemichi's words. After a while, Draken chimed in,

"Thanks, if not for you... I would be dead. Thank you so much"

Takemichi turned to Draken abruptly just to be greeted by a smiling Draken. Mikey and Baji were also smiling softly at him. Takemichi's eyes softened at the gestures. They were kind, aren't they?

"So now... how the fuck should we escape..." Baji asked, looking around the store.

Their attention was grabbed when they heard a soft chuckle from Takemichi. They looked at him confused. Was there anything wrong?

"Don't worry" Takemichi said, tilting his head to the side while smirking. "I know a way out"

The other three looked at each other confused. They shrugged before looking at Takemichi again.

"Didn't mean to offend you or anything but..." Baji spread his arms wide, showing the situation in the store "...how?"

Takemichi deadpanned at the confused look he got from them. He put his face in his hands, sighing into them before looking at them once again.

"I wonder how did you survive all this time," Takemichi looked at them exasperated "did you know, the loud voice of yours attracted the attention of the undead earlier?"

When he got a clueless look from them, Takemichi suppressed a groan from getting out of his throat.

"The first thing you need to know" Takemichi lift his pointer finger "the undead have a really incredible hearing. That's why your yelling attracted them so much"

Takemichi looked relieved when he got a collective 'oh' from them. At least his explanation could make them understand.

"So how did that relate to how do we escape?"

This time Takemichi groaned frustratingly, not bothering to know who asked that. "It's their hearing" Takemichi pointed his ear "If you attracted them by noise, what did you should do to make them go away?"

The others looked at each other before Draken guessed unsurely, "...by making a noise somewhere else?" They snickered nervously at the answer. No way it would be the answer, right?

However, shocking them greatly, Takemichi brightened at the answer he got. "Correct! Good job Draken-kun" Draken was flustered when Takemichi pat his head and gave him a candy.

"But how do we make a noise somewhere when we are stuck here?" Mikey asked confused, raising one of his eyebrows.

They felt a chill go down their spine when Takemichi grinned darkly, eyeing Takemichi as he grabbed something from his bag. His grin widened when he found the item he search for.

"By this" Takemichi lifted the item he got from the freezer earlier.

"...ice?"

Takemichi glared playfully at Baji. "Dry ice"

"No different" Baji lifted his arms as a mocking surrender. "but what about them?"

"..." Takemichi looked at them blankly when they all looked at him confused, seemed like no one knew it. He sighed before looking at them in the eyes again.

"aren't we already learning this at school? Come on, this is science" He ignored how they all avoided his eyes. Ah, they must be some kind of troublemaker at school.

"Ugh just watch"

Takemichi took out his plastic bottle that was half-filled with warm water from his bag. Wearing gloves that he took from the inside of his bag, he took out a few chunks of the dry ice with his gloves on. When Mikey reached out to touch the dry ice, Takemichi slapped his hand away before he could touch them with his bare hand.

"Don't, it is dangerous to touch them without gloves" Takemichi glared warningly at them while they backed away slightly, a sheepish look on their faces.

Takemichi sighed again before continuing his task.

They watched as Takemichi drop a few chunks of the dry ice into the plastic water bottle, curiosity on their faces. Takemichi quickly caps the bottle tightly before throwing them far from them, eliciting a not too loud noise.

"...that's it?" Baji raised his eyebrow.

"Just close your ears" Takemichi said while closing his own ears. The others were confused but still obeyed Takemichi, closing their ears shut.

Their eyes widen when they heard and saw the explosion had erupted from the place where the plastic bottle landed. They still could hear the explosion even if they already shut their ears tightly.

Baji was about to compliment Takemichi after his shock lessen. But before he could let out a single noise, a hand cupped his mouth shut. He looked at the source just to see Takemichi.

"Don't say anything. They are slowly going away. Look" Takemichi whispered-yelled at them before hesitantly retracting his hands from Baji's mouth.

True to Takemichi's words, they saw the undead were following the noise of the explosion.

Before they could continue admiring the work, Takemichi nudged them each on the side. "Come on, this is our chance. Wait up" They watched in awe as Takemichi was stabbing the skulls of the undead effortlessly before jumping down without a single sound.

"Let's go. Make sure to not make any loud noise" he whispered for them.

They nodded at him. But because of their inexperience, their landing still made some noise. Their eyes widen when some of the undead turned to them again.

"Oh shit, here we go again"

"Let's go!" Takemichi immediately took off running after hauling Mikey up onto his shoulder. Meanwhile, Mikey was dumbstruck by the show of incredible strength from the small boy. The other two were also shocked but not without following behind Takemichi.

They followed Takemichi to the end until Takemichi entered the manager's room in the store. Takemichi put Mikey on his feet before running to shut the door closed the moment the other two ran into the room.

Takemichi immediately barricaded the door with the table he found in the room. Meanwhile, the others were panting, trying to catch their breath with all the running earlier. Mikey was frozen on his spot. Takemichi didn't even let out a single sweat.

They stared at him in amazement when he turned to them with a soft look.

"Well, that definitely was something" Takemichi shook his head playfully with his cute smile "I still wonder how you are still able to survive this month"

The other three could only chuckle at the statement. They couldn't believe it too. But if Takemichi didn't arrive earlier, they definitely would be dead by now.

"It's more surprising that you know about Toman with how cute you look" Mikey said with a grin trying to change the subject.

"T-thank you?" They could see Takemichi's face redden in embarrassment. He looked cute.

Before long, they noticed as Takemichi's smile fell. A solemn look was planted on his face. "I just know. I had this one friend who was a delinquent nerd. He was one of my best friends. But..."

Takemichi smiled sadly when he remembered Yamagishi. He really hoped Yamagishi and Makoto were safe out there. But he knew more than anyone else to not hope for anything in this hell.

Takemichi was snapped out of his thought when he felt a warmth on his shoulder. He looked to the side just to be greeted by concerned Mikey, Draken and Baji.

Takemichi shoved his sadness deep down his heart before smiling at them brightly. He shook their concerns off when they looked too worried for him. He sighed, thinking he was not worth the worry.

"well, I know a way out, and I know some nearby store to get food, let's go. But before that,.." He trailed before looking at them in the eyes"..where is your base? We can go to the closest store to your base. It would be easier to bring the foods"

Their eyes widen hearing those, not only pretty but also caring? sign them up man.

"It's a bit far. Musashi Shrine. We-" Draken said just to be cut off.

"What?" Takemichi looked at them wide-eyed while the others looked at each other, getting confused about Takemichi's reaction. "What date is today?"

They looked at each other again before Mikey answered the raven-haired boy "It's 3rd August."

All colours drained from Takemichi's face. Before anyone could ask why Takemichi had already run out of the store using the back door far into the room.

They immediately followed him when he asked them to. They were confused but amazed when they saw Takemichi was smashing any corpses coming toward them. His movement was fluid as if he did this for a long time already. But the Apocalypse just started a month ago, wasn't it?

The blood splattered on him making him a bit scary but still managed to look ethereal.

It was not a long run before they stopped at the car. They were really confused but still obeyed Takemichi to enter the car. They asked him if he knew how to drive but before they received an answer, Takemichi stepped on the gas pedal.

They were going fast but Takemichi still drive safely except ran into some undead. Well, their bad luck. The others were terrified for their life unaware of Takemichi's inner panic.

'Please, please don't be too late'

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Flashback

Takemichi and Mana were going to search for a new safe place -Takemichi's house was no longer safe enough- when they met him. Clothes dirty, a big black bag under his eyes, he looked so tired.

They were walking near the Musashi Shrine, but they avoided that place, the place was flooded with the undead.

That was when they met him, unconscious. Takemichi didn't recognise him but Mana did. She said he was her brother's friend. With the big puppy eyes Mana gave him, Takemichi checked for any bite marks and brought the boy with them when he found none.

They found a house, far from the shrine. They didn't know whose the house was but the house was unlocked and there were not many of the undead around the neighbourhood. It was enough for staying temporarily.

Moreover, the sun had been going down, Takemichi wouldn't let himself roam around at the night with a kid.

They settled in the house as best as they could in that situation. Both of them were tired, hungry, but not really scared since they were used to all of these.

Three days after settling in, the unconscious boy they brought with them started regaining his consciousness.

The boy frantically looked around him when he saw an unfamiliar place. He didn't recognize this place and he was alone. He remembered the last thing he knew before he fainted because he was tired and hungry was the undead surrounding him. His friends, family, told him to run, survive for them.

He managed to survive alone for 3 months with limited water and food. After 3 months he rarely finds any food, there were not many convenience stores after all.

He couldn't go to the mall since there were thousands of the undead there. So he starved himself, it was a little hard to find water too.

After another month he found himself no longer having any energy to continue. Before he fainted, he thought about his friends, their dying faces.

'I'm sorry, I couldn't go on'

He was a lot confused when he woke up in an unfamiliar room with a comfy bed under him. He saw a glass of water on the small table beside the bed and immediately reached for it.

He was alarmed when the door to the room opened slowly. Putting his guard up, he slowly stood from the comfy bed.

A familiar face poked out of the door and his tears immediately ran down his cheeks.

"Chifuyu! You're awake!" Mana chirped happily.

Chifuyu immediately ran to her and hug her tightly, various words flew out of his mouth.

"MANA! I- I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, mitsuya -"

Chifuyu's breath hitched when he felt those tiny arms wrapped around him gently. More tears ran down his face.

"It's okay, I expected that. Furthermore, I have Take-nii ! So, I'm not afraid!" Mana beamed at him.

Chifuyu was incredibly confused. 'Take-nii ?'

Before he could voice out his confusion, there's a soft voice echoed in the house. When Chifuyu saw the other, he immediately stood protectively in front of Mana. Many thoughts ran around in his head.

'who, are they here to hurt them? We need to go, we need to escape. We need to-'

Before he could continue his rampaging thought, Mana ran out from his back and ran to the stranger.

" Take-nii , he's awake!" Mana hugged 'Take-nii '.

Chifuyu still hadn't let his guard down but he was shocked Mana knew the other. The other was small, smaller than him. His figure was kind of feminine, hair a bit lower than his shoulder. He must have not had the time to cut his hair.

The most captivating thing about him was those blue like ocean eyes. Chifuyu felt like he could lose in them.

A soft voice interrupted his thought .

"Hey? Are you okay? Please do lay down in bed first, you just wake up and you're quite dehydrated" The boy's eyes shone with concerns lacing in them.

Chifuyu scanned the boy for any bad intentions. When he saw none, he slowly made his way towards the comfy bed, not putting his guard down yet.

The boy smiled softly at him.

"I figured you must have wanted more water, so I brought this" He lifted his hand holding a water bottle. He just noticed it.

The boy put the water on the table when they heard a loud growl coming from Chifuyu's stomach. He cursed under his breath.

The boy and Mana snickered at him making him blush. The boy looked at him and smiled sweetly.

"We still have the leftover, I will bring it up don't worry. Though, I need a name" He winked at him.

Chifuyu felt his cheeks get warmer before he stuttered out his name.

" M- Matsuno Chifuyu"

The boy beamed at him and he unconsciously squinted his eyes from the brightness the boy emitted.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Takemichi, Hanagaki Takemichi"

That was how they started their journey as partners through all of the chaos, sadness, trauma, and loss .

Notes:

Let me sob for a moment. I managed to write. Hooray! This chapter before I rewrite was so bland, I'm glad I rewrite this chapter.

Hope you enjoy this fic. Wait, How is it so far? Do you enjoy them? Or not?

Does anyone notice something about this chapter? It's 3rd August when Draken got stabbed by Kiyomasa! And this chapter is where Kiyomasa attempted to kill Draken by pushing him off the gondola rack! and both of them have Takemichi as the saviour!

Just want to keep some canon :'))

You know, when I was gaining my consciousness today, my mind immediately went towards a new idea for a new story. A story about Takemichi as an older brother.

But yikes, my current stories are still not finished. so I think I shouldn't write that story yet.

Thanks a lot for reading!

Chapter 5

Summary:

Toman.

Notes:

It became so confusing, I'm sorry.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

'please, please don't be late'

Takemichi stepped on the gas pedal as hard as his inner panicking. It was almost late afternoon. Anything more and this could get dangerous. He really hope he was not too late or they would be dead. He didn't remember about it much but he remembered chifuyu telling him that when it was 3rd August everything went downhill.

It must be 'it'. After all, the apocalypse had been a month.

He guessed these three were the higher-ups in the gang that weren't coming back by what Chifuyu told him. Probably dead when he heard them yelling in the store. If he hadn't decided to get the generator today, he guessed they would be dead by then.

Along the way to the shrine, the mobs just increased the farther they went. Takemichi pursed his lips before addressing the other three.

"Listen, we almost reached them. Grab the baseball bats my friends left in the back" Mikey, Draken and Baji looked at the back, seeing three bats reinforced with the nails. "When I stop the car, immediately run out of the car before the undead surrounds the car completely."

"...couldn't we just park the car somewhere and walk there?" Mikey asked hesitantly.

Takemichi looked at the broken rearview mirror and saw their confused faces. He sighed before addressing them once again, "look behind"

Mikey, Draken and Baji just took a little glance behind when their eyes widen. There were already too many undead behind them, following them with a normal-paced. The sound of the engine must had attract them.

"If my suspicion is not wrong, there would be a lot of them further. You get what I'm saying?"

Takemichi didn't get any verbal response but he could see them nodding at his words slowly from the rearview mirror. He nodded to himself, satisfied with their response.

The others didn't know what his suspicion was but they just knew that it was not a wrong move to trust the ravenette. So for now, they would listen, as long as they could survive.

"Follow me but don't make any sounds" they wanted to protest by saying that it was hard, but Takemichi cut them off before they could voice it out. "I know it's hard but please try, try to be stealthy, if it still fails I will have your back"

The three looked at him in awe. He looked so cool saying that while driving excluding the scenes where he ran into the undead with the car without any hesitation. Woah, that was brutal.

"We're here" Takemichi said, attracting their attention. Their eyes widen when they saw what happened. There were too many of the undead. When did this happen? Did this happen after they left to search for food?

Worried churned in their stomach. How were the others?

"In the count of three, get out of the car" They looked at Takemichi and nodded in determination. They would make sure their friends were okay.

"One," Takemichi changed the gear so the car would stop safely. "Three!" The moment he stepped on the break, Takemichi and the others immediately get out of the car, hitting any undead that was coming for them to escape. The others were lagging a little since,

'what happened to two?!' they thought.

One of the undead almost reach for Draken but Takemichi immediately hit them. He said he had their back so he was not going to back down from his words. He just nodded his head when Draken sent him a grateful look.

The three followed Takemichi towards a truck, the undead were less there. They caught their breath desperately while Takemichi was watching around, searching for any opening. When he saw some way for them to go to the others, that was when he saw a key dangling in the truck.

Takemichi told the others to watch around while he checked on the battery of the truck to see if the truck was able to be used. When he confirmed that the truck was fine, Takemichi immediately turned toward the other three.

"Listen, we will go where the others are located, when you get out of there please lead them to this truck as quiet as possible. You heard me?" Takemichi looked at them each in the eyes. They looked at each other before giving him a nod.

"Come on, be quiet" Takemichi waved his hand indicating them to follow him. Surprisingly, they managed to walk around the undead without being noticed too much until they reached the barricade Toman put. If there were two or three of them noticed the other three, Takemichi would take care of them. There was a horde of them around the barricade and it didn't look like the barricade would last long.

What they thought was true since the barricade they put was broken since there were too many of them.

"Why don't you do science something like at the store earlier?"

"You think I could? I have no more warm water. Ask me for it if you have them"

Takemichi looked around for a possible way when he saw a house near the shrine stairs. "Is there anyone in that house?" He asked the other three since they knew the place well.

"Huh? Oh, no one lives there as long as we are concerned"

Oh, abandoned then.

Takemichi cursed under his breath. He had an idea. A risky one. He knew something he was about to do was risky but he needed to do it. For his previous partner. And the others yes.

"You guys will get them, the survivors," Takemichi whispered, eyes still on the horde " and I will be distracting the mobs. While I'm at it get the survivors on the truck. If I'm not going back, let someone else drive. When all of them already get on the truck and I'm still fighting, yelled for me as loud as you can, it's hard to hear when all around you were only growls. BUT, only if you saw me fighting. If you can't see me, just go"

Mikey, Draken and Baji were about to protest at the idea but were shut down by the glare from Takemichi. "I will not take no, I know what I'm doing" They hesitantly nodded at him.

"Quick, or they would be dead" Takemichi urged them to go. Takemichi got out of his hiding spot and went a little far from them. When he decided that they were far enough, he took a deep breath before shouting, "YOU FLESH-EATERS, COME GET ME! OVER HERE!"

Automatically all of the attention went to him. The survivors' eyes widen when they heard his voice, either from shock or they recognized the voice. They frantically looked around for the Just who was crazy enough to tell the undead to go after himself?!

Hanagaki Takemichi apparently.

The horde of undead headed towards him not surprisingly a little bit faster than normal. he tried his best to hit them and avoid their reach for him. Some of them were still in their place but nothing Toman couldn't handle. They were worried about the ravenette though.

Mikey, Draken and Baji decided to take the chance to approach them. Dread filled their stomach when they just saw some of them.

'There are Mitsuya, Chifuyu, Hakkai, Sanzu, the twins, Emma. Some were not here. Where are Pah-chin, Peh-yan, Mucho and other Toman members?' They thought.

When they reached them, Baji immediately shut Chifuyu's mouth with his hand when he was about to shout, surprised to see them.

"Don't make any sounds or little flower's effort would be wasted" They immediately straightened themselves, shutting their mouth right.

"You know him?" Mitsuya whispered yelling at them. "Why would he call the mobs towards him?!"

All three nodded at Mitsuya, their faces grim "Follow us quietly" Draken said trying to avoid the question. He knew what Takemichi did was risky but he didn't want to hear their protest!

They took off towards the truck earlier. They managed to reach the truck but not without some undead noticing them. But they were Toman, they could manage.

They heard a loud noise that made them cover their ears but they were all busy surviving so no one had the time to look for the source. When they arrived, all of them were being vigilant, looking around them cautiously. What they meant was, wasn't it suspicious to see a spot without the undead when all around them was surrounded by them?

"So, who knows how to drive?" Draken asked, looking at each of them. The others looked at him confused, I mean, hello? They were middle schoolers? Who would know how to?

When no one raised their hand, Draken, Mikey and Baji cursed under their breath. "Look-" Draken was cut off when he saw Mitsuya hesitantly raise his hand.

"I have seen someone drive, they had explained to me in detail once but I never attempt to drive. Is that okay?" Mitsuya said.

Draken, Mikey and Baji traded a look with each other, nodding their head. "Good enough, we're not sure if he will be able to drive but take the shotgun seat first. The others-"

"No, it's okay I got it" Someone suddenly said, scaring them. Fortunately, they could keep their voice to themselves. They looked around to search for the source of the voice. "Up here"

Toman looked up when he saw a person crouching on top of the truck with a salute. They were a little terrified when they saw him with some of the blood splattered on his face. He looked like he just walked out of the murder scene.

"Get on"

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When Takemichi saw the other three going to the shrine, he smirked to himself and said, "well, let's start the plan shall we?"

Takemichi hit the closest undead before running towards one of the big trees. He kicked the tree hard causing the crows to fly out of their spot in the trees. One of the advantages among the disadvantages at almost dusk was the time when the crows were supposed to be getting ready for their sleep.

The sounds of the crows flocking away from the trees definitely confused the undead. When they were distracted by the sounds, Takemichi took his chance to go to the abandoned house, grabbing the crowbar that was laying on the ground. He slipped the crowbar into his pants before climbing the house. He was proud of his strong grip.

When he reached the top, he took a look down below. He looked around when his eyes set on a single unique undead. 'Gotcha, but I couldn't kill it. I might not survive with the crowbar alone' Takemichi thought to himself. 'Not today then. Different approach'

Takemichi's attention was brought away when he saw them from the corner of his eyes. He grinned when he saw the three along with the survivors were heading back to the truck. The survivors were less than he expected.

Muttering a small "Sorry", Takemichi took out the crowbar and grinned mischievously before hitting the crowbar on the electric pole that was near the house. The remaining undead immediately crowded the house and the electric pole as Takemichi sighed in relief.

The main question was how to get down? Takemichi looked around him when all he saw were the trees from where he was at the moment. Deciding on his escape plan, he stood up before jumping towards the trees. Wow, that was suicidal.

The trees actually lessened the impact before he stretched his arms to one of the tree branches. He swung himself on the branch before carefully landing on the said branch, letting out a relieving breath when he saw the undead were still crowding the pole.

He was caught off guard when he heard a growl from behind him. It was near. Takemichi immediately turned around and swung the crowbar to the undead's head. He stared at the unmoving corpse with his eyes wide, his breathing uneven.

'I'm getting rusty' Takemichi thought to himself, grimacing a little.

Taking a deep breath, he ran towards where the truck was, watching out for the remaining undead. He arrived at the cliff that was on the side of the road, some of the undead were roaming around. Just below the road cliff were the truck and the others.

Hopping onto the top of the truck, he crouched down looking at the others. Takemichi groaned when no one seemed to notice him. They were not going to survive long if this kept going.

"Good enough, we're not sure if he will be able to drive but take the shotgun seat first. The others-"

"It's okay I got it" Takemichi said after sighing into his hands, cutting off Draken. He looked down exasperated when they looked around searching for him. "Up here"

Takemichi saluted them playfully, smirking when they looked up at him. "Get on"

A person among the survivors caught his attention. "A girl?" Takemichi looked at the long blonde hair girl curiously, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"My sister, Emma" Mikey said, standing beside Emma protectively.

Takemichi smiled softly before giving her a head pat "Good, there is a girl in my house too. My best friend"

Emma perked up at the mention of another girl, smiling brightly before hopping onto the back of the truck.

They all almost got on when a ring froze Takemichi to his spot. "Frick" His phone got a call. He forgot to silence his phone but who in their right mind would call him in this situation?! Was there still a connection to begin with?! Takemichi's and the others' eyes widen when they saw the mobs turned toward them.

"Get on hurry!"

The others immediately got on the truck with Takemichi guarding them. When he made sure all of them were on the truck, Takemichi quickly ran to the driver's seat while Toman except for Mikey, Draken and Baji were a little sceptical about the boy driving.

Don't get them wrong, the ravenette was smaller than them.

When Takemichi was about to close the door, one of the undead reached out to him and Takemichi immediately kick the head, closing the door quickly.

Takemichi immediately turned the key on hoping the truck would work. A shaky breath of relief escaped him the moment the engine roared. He was glad. Without wasting any time he stepped on the gas pedal earning some shrieks from others. Driving the truck was a bit different from driving a car but he could manage.

When they were out of danger did Takemichi let out the breath he held earlier. That was when he caught sight of someone beside him. He really needed to pay attention to his surroundings more.

The guy was familiar. Takemichi wondered when and where he had seen him. He remembered them. He noticed the guy's hands were shaking so he held his hand gently, startling the guy.

"You alright?" Takemichi asked. His eyes were still on the road.

Mitsuya looked at Takemichi for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Y-yeah, I'm fine" Mitsuya stuttered out.

Lies. He was badly shaken seeing his friends being ripped apart by the undead. His stomach clenched more together when he remembered his little sisters. It had been a month and he was just able to get out from the base. He was sure his little sisters were dead already since they were kids and kids are curious. His tears threatened to fall but he held them in.

Takemichi noticed he was hurting so he tightened his hold for a bit before letting go of his hands. He put his hand on the steering again. Mitsuya almost whimpered at the sudden loss of comfort.

"Can you help me get my phone in my pocket?" Eyes still on the road, Takemichi asked Mitsuya. Mitsuya nodded a little before taking out the phone with his shaky hands.

"Check the connection. If it is still there, call back the previous caller"

Mitsuya nodded again, fumbling with the flip phone. When he found what he searched for, he immediately pressed the call button. It was ringing for a second before a girl's voice greeted them. He put the call on the loudspeaker.

"Takemichi-kun? You're driving?"

Takemichi took a glance at the phone. "Yeah, almost died." Before Hinata could say anything, Takemichi continued. "Hina-chan, can you help me search for the shock blanket as many as you can find in the house?"

There was silence before the girl spoke again "...sure, you bring someone?"

"Nah, too many for me to call them someone" Takemichi chuckled quietly. Mitsuya smiled at the sounds, it weirdly calmed him. "I couldn't take the generator yet, sorry"

"It's fine Takemichi-kun. Need more?"

Takemichi took a glance at Mitsuya for a moment before he continued "...can you get the kids on the phone?"

Mitsuya looked at Takemichi confused. 'Kids? ' Mitsuya thought.

When the voices on the other side of the phone spoke, Mitsuya was stunned, in disbelief. No there was no way. Right?

"Take-nii! You're coming back?"

Takemichi smiled slightly at the cute voices. "Yeah, Luna-chan, Mana-chan, be good girls and I have a surprise for you two. Okay?"

Mitsuya was too shocked to speak. His tears pooled in his eyes. He missed those voices so much.

"Really?! Okay! Be quick Take-nii! Bye-bye"

Takemichi hummed slightly, saying a small bye before the call ended. He looked at the frozen Mitsuya, noticing the tears in his eyes. His hand found their way onto Mitsuya's head, bringing him closer to let him rest his head on his shoulder.

"Just cry, no one is stopping you"

The two spent their ride with Takemichi driving, one of his hands stroking Mitsuya's head soothingly. While Mitsuya was crying, saying thank you over and over again.

Meanwhile, the people at the back had overheard their conversation. Their smiles plastered on their faces, happy for the silver-lilac haired boy. They were all watching around them in despair, it had been a month since all they saw were the shrine and trees.

'It was the end of the world, isn't it?'

Sighing in relief, Takemichi shut the truck down, opening the door to get out. He parked the car at the spot he previously parked the car. He watched as the other get out of the truck one by one.

Takemichi was about to say something to them when a pair of arms wrapped around him gently, cutting off what he was about to say. The guy hugged him tightly not minding the blood on him. Toman looked at them shocked.

"Tf Michi, you okay?!" Takemichi only saw the long rosy pink hair but he knew him. He knew that voice. He knew this familiar hug "Don't just show up and worry me like that!"

"Haru-chan.." Takemichi stared wide-eyed when the boy pulled away from him. He stroked his cheeks softly "you're with them too"

'that means you were dead with them too in the first timeline' Takemichi thought. His eyes watered from the thought. He searched for his childhood friend before but like Yamagishi and Makoto, he never find him.

Toman panicked at the sight of his tears but Takemichi held his tears back, not wanting to worry the others, especially Sanzu. He needed to be strong for them. He wiped the escaping lone tear from the corner of his eyes, smiling at Sanzu.

"I'm fine, I'm glad I meet you again Haru-chan!" Takemichi smiled brightly. Sanzu and the others have the need to squint their eyes because of the brightness he emitted.

Takemichi took a really deep breath before he said something he wanted to say earlier "I parked the truck a little far from my house, so we need to walk from here. The neighbourhood is not dangerous for now" He turned around so his back faced them, tilting his head to the back slightly to look at them.

"if you wish to continue to go alone, go now, no one will stop you. But I prefer you to go in the morning, it's dangerous to go at night"

Toman traded a look with each other. Mitsuya and Sanzu was the first one to go to Takemichi's side. Mikey, Draken and Baji followed after them. When the others saw their commander following the raven, they followed him too.

Takemichi playfully rolled his eyes, a soft smile on his lips "Fine, but don't make any noises or you will be a meal. Don't attract them to the neighbourhood" Takemichi walked without making any noises and the others were staring in awe. It took a lot of practice to walk without any noise.

'He is skilled' They thought.

It took them some time to reach Takemichi's house. They were surprised when they saw not too many undead were there. When they arrived, they looked up to see they had arrived in the big two-story house.

"Y-your house?" A boy with royal blue hair colour with indigo eyes asked. Takemichi looked at him confused.

"umm ... Yeah? I mean, who else?" Takemichi said, walking towards a mailbox. He took out a pack of wet tissue and wiped his face clean. Expecting a situation like this would happen, he kept the wet tissue and a clean pair of clothes before going out.

The others were stunned the moment his face was cleaned from blood. The face under those blood was beautiful. When Takemichi saw the others made no move to take the tissue, he sighed.

"And what are you waiting for? Wipe your face clean before we get in. There are kids in there"

Startled at the commanding tone, some of them who got blood on their face or hands immediately reached for the wet tissues. Takemichi nodded to himself, satisfied.

He looked at the door and saw the bag he kept there. Reaching for the bag, he took out a black shirt. He immediately took off his shirt and wiped his body clean before wearing the black shirt. Then, he took off his pants, revealing his mid-thigh shorts. Fortunately, the pants he was wearing today was waterproofed or his short will get dirty too.

Toman looked at him changing wide-eyed, their faces redden at the sight. Takemichi had a small body, slim waist, milky skin, it's a nice body. Don't forget his milky thigh anyone would die for it. If they were perverts, they would have been drooling at the sight, probably nosebleeds too. They just shamelessly stare though.

When Takemichi looked at them, they finally averted their eyes away, faces still red. Takemichi looked at them confused but he just shrugged his confusion off.

Mikey who was a bit impatient knocked on the door but no one opened it. He tried and tried again but still, no one opened it. He grumbled under his breath and he looked at Takemichi for help when he heard him chuckle.

Takemichi who saw this raised his eyebrow at him. He walked towards the door and knocked on the door in rhythm. That was when the door was opened by a girl with light brown hair and...

"Kazutora?!" Baji yelled.

Toman and Kazutora looked at each other in shock. Meanwhile, Mikey who was in front of the door glared at him, and Kazutora also glared at him. Their intense staring contest was cut short the moment they felt a heavy aura beside them. They gulped when they looked aside just to see a fuming Takemichi.

"Either finish this tension off or you two would be sleeping outside" Takemichi snarled at them.

They immediately straightened their back. Angry Michi was scary. But Mikey being Mikey and Kazutora being Kazutora decided to push his button.

"O-oh yeah, you will force us?" Mikey raised a question. Kazutora, if you asked him, no he was not just agreeing with Mikey. Nope.

That was how the two of them found themselves standing in front of the closed door. Just the two of them starting at the door blankly while everyone was inside.

Meanwhile Takemichi and the others.

'scary' Toman thought.

"Hina-chan!" Hinata's eyes widened, turning his head to the side abruptly when she heard the voice.

"Emma-chan?!" Hinata was pulled into a hug by her blonde friend. "I didn't know you were here too!"

"Un! Your friend there saved us!"

"I'm glad" Hinata let out a breath of relief.

Emma smiled brightly. She didn't expect to see her friend here. They knew each other when Hinata helped her with the delinquents. Hinata was surprisingly strong. They became friends since then.

Draken took the initiative to go to Hinata and Emma, whispering "Is this okay? To let the two outside?"

Hinata turned to look at him, craned her neck a bit to look up to Draken and chuckled slightly "Don't worry about it, Takemichi-kun will let them inside sooner or later. He just really strict sometimes but still have the heart of gold"

Draken nodded at her, turning to look at the raven-haired boy again.

Takemichi sensed the look he was getting so he turned toward Draken. Seemed like Takemichi could feel that they were talking about him when he winked at them before looking at the stair. He missed how Draken's face redden, Hinata and Emma snickered while the others threw Draken a jealous look.

Deciding to start the surprise, Takemichi called for them. "Luna-chan! Mana-chan! I'm home!" They heard small footsteps running down the stairs.

Luna and Mana ran down the stairs to greet Takemichi but when they got down, their eyes watered at the sight. Mana fell to her butt while Luna went behind her, hugging her gently.

They saw Takemichi waving at them happily, and a familiar figure they missed so much stood beside him. Takemichi had a soft smile on his lips and said, "surprise?"

The figure beside Takemichi waved at them, his own tears running down his cheeks. Luna and Mana were also no different, there was already a waterfall. All of the witnesses looked at the scenes warmly, happy for the Mitsuyas family.

"...Onii-chan..?" Mana whispered unsure while Luna tightened her hold on her little sister.

Mitsuya offered them a happy smile, spreading his arms wide "I'm home"

The others saw how the kids dived into Mitsuya's arms. If they saw the kids pulling Takemichi along, they didn't say anything. They would just look at them in jealousy.

.

.

.

Meanwhile the two outside.

"So, fancy meeting you here?" Mikey started talking to Kazutora, still looking at the closed door.

Kazutora rolled his eyes and scoffed at him. "Really fancy" He said in sarcasm.

Mikey continued his pouting, glancing at Kazutora beside him from the corner of his eyes. "I think.. we need to talk"

There was an uncomfortable silence around them. Mikey was about to give up when a small voice interrupted his thought.

"...yeah,.. let's talk"

Notes:

The more chapters I write, the more confusing the chapters get.

I'm sorry for not updating for a long time. This month had been hectic mentally and physically. My mental health surprisingly decreased while my physical increased. Well, still lucky.

I managed to write this chapter before this month ended. I would blame myself if I didn't update at least once this month.

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 6

Summary:

Random chapter. But I need it to comfort myself. Not really random, this chapter is still part of the story.

Notes:

I struggle a lot to include the characters in as many as I can. :')

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"So? You sort your problems out?" Takemichi looked at the two in front of him, leaning on the door frame.

Mikey and Kazutora traded a look with each other before slowly nodding at Takemichi. True, even if it was something hard to discuss, they managed to talk it out without ripping each other's throats. They could forgive each other in this apocalypse.

Takemichi looked at them with doubts in his eyes. After a few seconds in silence, Takemichi sighed before nodding, stepping aside to let them in.

"The foods are on the table, eat well"

Mikey and Kazutora brightened at the permission and immediately bolted into the house. Takemichi looked at them and shook his head fondly before closing the door shut.

Takemichi looked around the house, noticing how they all snuggled close to each other. The happy look on their face after eating a proper meal in a month. The shocked blanket wrapped around them. They might be talking normally but everyone could feel that they were still shaken by the chaos around them.

He looked at them in understanding, his eyes softened. They reminded him of his dream in the past, the dream that he never got to reach. To have someone with him at the start of the apocalypse.

In the corner of the room, he saw Luna and Mana talking to their brother happily. Their hands moved here and there when they talked about how they and Takemichi met. Their eyes shone with admiration.

"-and, and he was like gwaah. Mr, bad men went boom! Take-nii is so cool. Mana wants to be like him!" Mana said excitedly. Luna nodded in agreement while Mitsuya chuckled at their cute way of telling the story, sweatdropped a little when they looked just fine telling how the undead's head explode.

"Well, that's quite a journey you got there"

Luna and Mana brightened and continued their story. They talked to Mitsuya about whatever they experienced with Takemichi until they felt their energies were drained.

When Mitsuya saw their eyelids were getting heavy, he pats their head gently. "Come on, it's past your bedtime. Let's sleep?" Mitsuya asked them.

When Luna and Mana nodded their head and kissed his cheeks, Mitsuya stood up from his seat offering his hands, expecting his little sisters to grab them. He was standing dumbfounded when he saw Luna and Mana standing up just for them to run up to Takemichi, hands lifted upwards.

The other occupations stared at the frozen Mitsuya sweatdropped. Looking at the stunned Mitsuya, Takemichi gave him an apologetic smile before lifting both kids in his arms and bringing them to his bedroom.

Mitsuya looked at their retreated forms, feeling dejected. He waved dazedly when he saw how his two little sisters waved at him sleepily before slumping on Takemichi's shoulder. He barely heard footsteps heading towards him, too shocked to care about anything around him.

"You okay?" Mitsuya heard the concerned voice beside him. When he looked at his side, he saw Takemichi's two little friends, Takuya and Atsushi. They offered him a soft smile and he tried to return it as best as he could while still being in shock.

"I'm... fine?" Mitsuya answered them or more like questioned.

Takuya and Atsushi looked at each other before giving him an understanding smile. "Don't mind about earlier" Takuya convinced Mitsuya to have a seat before seating himself beside Mitsuya. The others Toman looked at them, opening their ears to eavesdrop.

"A month ago, Takemichi showed up in front of his house with two kids, your younger sisters. When we asked him about it, he told us about how the older, Luna went outside to search for you or their mom only for the undead to surround her." Mitsuya took a sharp breath when he heard those creatures surrounding his sister "When he saw them reach out for Luna, he ran as fast as he could to save her. And he succeeds"

Looking at him softly, Atsushi continued where Takuya left off "He got some injuries though. But he was happy when he got to save them, alone. So we couldn't really be mad at him" Atsushi brought his knees to his chest, hugging them tightly. He rested his chin on his knees, still smiling softly. "After all, Hinata, Naoto, Kazutora, Takuya and I managed to get out of the school alive thanks to Takemichi. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here at all"

Toman looked at him confused while the people mentioned smiled softly thinking back to when it first started. Kazutora interrupted from where he sat, looking downward. "Yeah, if not for him carrying me while running, I would have died right then and there. It's funny when I think about it, he's smaller after all"

Hinata, Takuya and Naoto nodded in agreement, chuckling slightly. There was silence before Hinata lifted her head up, looking at Mitsuya in the eyes "If it were us, teens, already traumatised, what about kids like Luna and Mana?" Mitsuya stiffened and Hinata smiled at him softly " They got traumatised badly, they could barely go to sleep when they were first here. They refused to sleep or go somewhere without Takemichi and Takemichi alone. They didn't want us."

Naoto decide to continue for his sister "Takemichi couldn't be seen anywhere without your sisters, every moment they would be with him" Naoto fidgeted his fingers, looking down "He takes care of them even if he needs to be awake the whole night because of them having nightmares. Maybe that is why they immediately went to Takemichi earlier? Takemichi got his own method to get them to sleep" Naoto said, admiration cleared in his voice.

Toman thought about what they heard. Their admiration towards the raven-haired tenfolds. 'like a dad or big brother' they thought.

Mitsuya looked at the stairs where they led upstairs when it was registered in his mind. "His own method? Did you know what is it?" All of Toman looked at them in anticipation.

All five of them, Hinata, Naoto, Kazutora, Takuya and Atsushi looked at each other before turning to Toman. Their faces were smug and a proud smirks on their lips.

"Well, how about you come and see? or hear? It's no fun if we just tell you" Kazutora stood from his spot, stretching his body. Tachibana siblings and two Mizo snickered at Kazutora's response. Toman looked at each other confused before standing up to follow Kazutora and others to go upstairs.

When they arrived in front of the slightly ajar door, Kazutora motioned them to make no noise with his index finger on his lips. They heard clearly the conversation between Takemichi and youngers Mitsuya.

"Why don't you sleep with your brother? Don't you miss him?" They were stunned at how beautifully gentle Takemichi's voice was with the kids.

"... we do. But we don't want to trouble him yet, we need to be strong first" Luna said. Mitsuya's heart melted at how cute his sisters could be. They heard another small voice, Mana's chirped,

"Un, and we love to sleep with your voice Take-nii"

Most of Toman nodded in agreement with Mana's statement, slightly jealous. They really wanted to sleep with Takemichi's voice too. When they heard a cute chuckle, their hearts melted.

"is that so? Aww, I'm flattered, thank you, little princesses,"

'he's good with kids' All of them thought.

"But right now the princesses need their beauty sleep. Come on"

When they peeked inside, they saw the kids put their heads on Takemichi's thigh, blanket up to their chins. Their heart was burning with jealousy at the sight. They saw how Takemichi stroked their head gently, removing any stray strand of hair from their faces. They were about to ask what just happened when they heard the most beautiful sound they had ever heard.

"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go

When all those shadows almost killed your light

I remember you said don't leave me here alone

But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight"

All of them were stunned, frozen on their spot. Hinata, Naoto, Kazutora, Takuya and Atsushi had smug looks on their face. They got to hear it before others, so it was a win for them.

The five of them remembered how the kids woke up crying in the middle of the night, and how Takemichi immediately came for them. They remembered how the kids were begging Takemichi to never leave them alone and how they cried the moment Takemichi said that he would never let them go.

All that time, they could only pretend to be sleeping while the tears streamed down their faces. Thinking about how the kids were witnessing something that traumatised them. Thinking about how much they also hoped that Takemichi would never leave them alone too.

"Just close your eyes, the sun is going down

You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now

Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound"

Luna and Mana smiled softly, their hearts felt light when Takemichi sang that they would be alright. They trusted Takemichi and if he said they would be alright, they would. They had no reason to doubt Takemichi in the slightest. After all, Takemichi was their hero.

" Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything's on fire

The war outside our door keeps raging on

Hold onto this lullaby

Even when the music's gone, gone"

The others looked at the taped window, reminding them of the war outside. Outside, maybe it was not a war but they knew, it was more than a war. This thing was what they called the end of the world.

They smiled bitterly, it was a long time since they heard music. But here was Takemichi, singing with his beautiful voice. They couldn't help but felt happy a little even in this situation.

"Just close your eyes, the sun is going down

You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now

Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound"

Reaching this part, Takemichi only hummed beautifully. All of them were cradled by the humming from Takemichi. Even the hums sounded angelic that they almost fall asleep.

They, the ones who were outside of the room, closed their eyes, appreciating Takemichi's angelic voice. The most or only pleasing sound to sleep on among those growls and howls outside.

Luna's and Mana's eyes already started to get heavy, and their grips on Takemichi started to get loosen. If they already said it before, they would say again and again that sleeping with Takemichi's voice was their favourite.

" Just close your eyes, you'll be alright

Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound"

By this point, Takemichi could feel how the breathing of Luna and Mana was steadied. By then, he knew they had already fallen asleep. Smiling softly, he pulled the blanket to properly covered them both, setting aside the hairs from their faces.

Carefully getting out of the bed, Takemichi looked pointedly at the door causing the others, who were at the door to flinch slightly. Takemichi opened the door just to find the others looking at him with a sheepish look on their faces. Crossing both of his arms, he looked at them expectantly when they just chuckled nervously.

Didn't want to wake the kids up, Takemichi closed the door behind him gently. Once again, he looked at the others expectantly, expecting the answer of why were they there.

"So?"

The others looked at each other, having no idea how to respond to Takemichi. When they looked at the five who suggested the idea, all of them cursed inside their minds when the five avoided their eyes, acting like they knew nothing.

One of them was about to speak when Takemichi stopped them, lifting one of his hands while sighing. Another hand of his was pinching his nose bridge between his eyes.

"Forget it. Come on, let's go downstairs first." Takemichi said with a small smile, already walking toward the stair.

The others looked at each other before following Takemichi to the living room. They all took a comfortable seat when they reached the living room. Seeing Takemichi had a serious look plastered on his face, they couldn't help but felt uneasy. By what, they didn't know.

"So, let's talk"

They flinched a little hearing Takemichi's cold but caring voice. He sounded so serious that it rubbed them the wrong way. They looked at Takemichi anxious after looking at each other.

"...about what exactly...?"

"Survival"

Notes:

Song: Safe and Sound - Taylor Swift 3

I just got discharged from the hospital. But guess what? I've been behind a lot with school. I need to catch up with my studies along with going to therapy.

Fortunately, the therapy fee was paid by my uncle. So I don't really need to think about money.

Still use a crutch when walking but otherwise, I'm fine.

I really am sorry I couldn't write much. But I really want to finish my books. I will never discontinue any of them. Please forgive me if I ever did/said something displeasing or rude to any of you.

Thanks a lot for reading! 3

Chapter 7

Summary:

Just them talking.

Notes:

I'm sorry this chapter is a bit boring.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Survival?"

"Yeah, survive to keep living" Takemichi looked at Chifuyu who was asking. His tone changed into a little warm. All of them preferred these warm vibes instead of the cold vibe they got earlier.

"Because from what I've heard from one of you," Takemichi pointed to Baji who was on his left side with his thumb while Baji anxiously scratched his head "that early today was the first time you were out to get food"

"In a month"

They couldn't help but glance at each other, avoiding Takemichi's eyes. They couldn't understand what was wrong with their situation before but they survived right?

"Yeah, you survived," Flinching, they looked at Takemichi wide-eyed when he spoke, as if he read their mind. "But, that means you know nothing about survival except staying in a green area"

"But it was safe" Hakkai muttered softly beside Mitsuya.

"Was, that is the keyword" Smiling softly, Takemichi looked at Hakkai in the eyes. Hakkai felt like drowning in those beautiful ocean blue eyes. "In that month, you got lucky to survive but in that month too, your luck to survive slowly ran out. For example, the situation from before"

Stiffened from the mention, some of them pursed their lips, remembering those who were gone. They sure had lucked out that time.

"And I'm guessing that a lot of you are dead already" someone choked on air when Takemichi was talking about death as if it was an everyday thing. Wasn't he supposed to be younger than them? But how did he know that many of them were already dead? They could be only surviving with just them. So how did he know?

"It's not hard to guess but let's talk about it when we enter the topic. We have a lot of things to talk about"

"Are you saying you know what this is all about? the thing outside?" Takemichi looked at the trembling figure of Hakkai, his grip tightened.

"..."

When Takemichi didn't give any response, Hakkai let out a shaky breath, chuckling weakly. "The humanity...

has finally come to an end, right?"

There was an uncomfortable silence around the room when Hakkai said it. The temperature seemed to fall drastically, rubbing them the wrong way. The tension in their bodies increased tenfold.

After the silence grew longer, Takemichi let out a soft sigh.

"That's why I said survival. There must be some kind of solution"

"Can't we just stay here? It's safe" One of the girls, Emma asked, fidgetting with her fingers. She sat beside Hinata who was sitting on Takemichi's right side.

Takemichi smiled softly, patting Emma's and Hinata's heads gently. "For now, there is no safe place in this so-called apocalypse. Sooner or later we need to move away"

Baji who was sitting beside Takemichi suddenly stood up, facing Takemichi with a frown on his face. "Are you crazy? How do you think we can move freely in this situation?! Do you think this is some kind of test?!"

Takemichi looked at Baji blankly before also standing up. He flicked Baji on the forehead hard, causing a red spot to appear on his forehead. Baji groaned while rubbing his forehead, trying to ease the pain. Not going to lie, it was hurt.

"I never said this was a test. Because when it comes to survival, it is never a test" The silence once again enveloped the room as Takemichi rubbed the spot he flicked on Baji gently, smiling "I appreciate it if you lower your voice, the kids are sleeping"

Baji muttered a small sorry before making himself comfortable on his spot earlier.

"I told you, you are free to go on your way" Takemichi looked at each of them in the eyes, determination burning in his eyes "Although, for those who stay, we are not going down without a fight"

Everyone except Takemichi bit their lips in distaste. No matter what, what Takemichi said was true, they couldn't go down without a fight. Not before knowing if this situation was really the end of humanity or not. Not to mention, they survived this long because of him.

"S-so, what should we d-do?" All of them turned to Chifuyu who was trembling in his seat. "Y-you seem like someone who knows what they are doing"

Takemichi grinned, tilting his head to the side slightly "and I do"

Everyone instantly looked at Takemichi in anticipation. Takemichi sighed once again, ruffling his already fluffy hair.

Takemichi made himself comfortable before continuing "Let's start with step 1. Don't make any loud noise. Why?"

Takemichi pointed to Chifuyu who lifted his hand excitedly. It was quite funny to Takemichi seeing how they acted like kids. That was cute.

"Because they are sensitive to noise!" Chifuyu practically vibrated in his spot, suddenly feeling excited. He shrunk on himself when everyone's attention turned to him.

"Correct, good job pa- Chifuyu-kun. They can't see well so they depend on their hearing. That's why stealth is important" Takemichi coughed awkwardly when he almost called him 'partner', pulling everyone's attention to him again. "You know, yet you didn't tell them to be quiet. Because of their loudness in the store, they almost become a meal to the undead"

They looked wide-eyed at the sheepish-looking Mikey, Draken, and Baji when Takemichi looked at them pointedly. It was the first time they heard about it so they couldn't hide their surprise. It really was a miracle for them to survive huh? And a lot of miracles happened in a day.

"Well next, don't get injured. If you ever get one, quickly wrapped the wound so the undead couldn't smell your blood. They were once human, so it is possible they got a sensitive nose"

Takemichi looked at them impressed when some of them took notes of what he said.

"However, from what I observe, don't fight the undead like you usually do. The undead is not delinquents like you guys" Takemichi put his head into his hands, sighing.

They all looked at Takemichi confused when he continued, "Just bash their head or they would get back up again. They wouldn't stay still as long as you didn't bash their head where the brains were located. Or you can slice off their neck or stab them where the heart was. It is pretty effective if you know how to"

They winced when they pictured the image of doing something brutal to the once human.

"But you don't need to fight them, best if avoid please" Takemichi smiled softly.

'I don't want you guys to bear the consequences. It's a heavy thing to bear. I'll do it, don't worry' Takemichi thought with a small smile watching as the others were letting out a sigh of relief.

"So far, the undead sensible to sound, their speed tops at jogging speed. Yet, it is already fast enough if we don't be careful. Their speed will become slower the more blood they lost, still not going to stop them though. Any question?"

"Do you ever see your own friends or someone dear to you die in front of you?" It was coming from a small voice. Takemichi looked at the person just too a cute boy with blue hair, Angry who was sitting closed to Smiley. The question was too sudden, catching Takemichi off guard.

They couldn't see Takemichi's reaction when the electricity was suddenly cut off. They all frantically looked around when all they saw was darkness. They hurdled closed to each other trying not to get scared. Hinata and Emma immediately latched on Takemichi's side closely.

"Ah, the electricity..." They heard Takemichi's voice crack, but they couldn't see his face in this darkness. "I was supposed to take the generator earlier today" Takemichi let out a little sigh before fishing out his phone, using the flashlight as the source of the light.

Standing up from his seat, Takemichi said, "Stay here, I will search for a candle" Takemichi told Hinata to open her phone while he went looking for the candles.

"You heard it right?" Mitsuya whispered to the others.

"You mean the way his voice cracked?" Sanzu scoffed "Who wouldn't"

His voice cracked. That just meant that the answer was yes. He sounded like he had been through a lot. After that, they were all enveloped in silence as the same thought ran through their minds.

'Who are you, Hanagaki Takemichi?'

After a while, Takemichi came back with a candle, putting it in the middle of the group. "I'm sorry, I failed to get the generator today. I will get it tomorrow"

"No, it's fine," Mikey said while lying on his back "after all, you failed because you help us, let us help you tomorrow"

Takemichi smiled softly, sitting on his previous spot that was beside Baji and Hinata "It's fine, I can do it on my own"

"But-"

"I will take one or two of you guys to help me, don't worry" Takemichi sighed in his hands. Mikey smiled triumphantly when Takemichi agreed to get some help. Takemichi didn't know how much he had sighed that day, he lost counts.

"Anyways, do you know the situation if we get infected?" Chifuyu asked Takemichi, frowning. "or maybe it is just like in movies?"

"Great question" Takemichi put his hand under his chin, thinking hard about the question. "They kind of the same. Don't get bitten, don't let their blood enter your eyes or wounds. If you get bitten, you most likely have a day before you turned into the undead or depends"

"Why do you keep calling them undead?" Smiley asked Takemichi with his usual smile "You also know they are zombies, right?"

Takemichi laughed at the question he got "Of course, I know" Takemichi wiped the lone tear that escaped from the corner of his eye. Seeing Takemichi laugh even in the dark made them forget the question Angry asked before.

"I used to be a guy who was in denial too. I refused to believe something like them from such movies exist. Not wanting to accept the truth, I keep calling them undead instead of a zombie. In the end, it's stuck. Technically, the words still have the same meaning"

"Then, you also know all of these skills from the movies?" asked Draken, raising his eyebrow.

Takemichi stiffened for a while before rubbing the back of his neck, laughing nervously "Well, movies are a great help too but pretty much from experience"

"Wha-" Draken was about to ask more when Chifuyu cut him off.

"Do zombies are as dangerous as in movies?"

With a firm voice, Takemichi said, "No" Some who watched the movies were about to sigh in relief when Takemichi continued "The undead here are way more dangerous"

No one could say anything, their eyes widen. There was no way, right?

"Think about it, do you think the undead in the movies can tear down your barrier easily?" Takemichi drank a glass of water before continuing "In the first place, there should be not much who went to the Musashi Shrine but why were there so many undead earlier today? They are not supposed to be that fast in the movie too"

Their eyes grew impossibly wide when they noticed the odd. New fear registered in their mind.

"W-why t-then?..."

"It is the wave" Everyone looked at Takemichi confused. Wave? As in the wave in the ocean? Noticing their confusion, Takemichi chuckled to himself "I don't know what it's actually called but I called them a wave since plenty of undead were swarming the place"

"How does it work?" Mitsuya the ever wisest man, asked Takemichi confused.

"That is what I mean by 'I'm guessing that a lot of you are already dead'" By the tone of Takemichi's voice, they just knew they were not going to like what he was going to say "In my research, in one place, there shouldn't be more than 20 to 25 people"

Frown letched to everyone's face. Toman members who were stuck at the Musashi Shrine sure were more than 25 people. But why couldn't they have more than 25 people? What was the reason?

"I don't know the reason too," Takemichi said as if he could read their thoughts again. "However, when the limit is reached, there would be a ton of undead surrounding the place"

'Just like earlier today' Toman thought.

"It usually has a time limit, maybe two weeks after 25 people gathered together for a minimum. And in your case earlier today, a month may be the maximum time limit" Takemichi said. He was sure a month was the maximum limit since he already survived for twelve years. He was sure of it. "The wave will last until everyone onsite die. It lasts for a few hours before they retreat for a while and then they would come back again until the last person is gone."

"You must have the idea to deal with the wave, right?" Atsushi asked from the corner of the room, leaning on the wall.

Takemichi just looked at him with a soft smile. However, anyone could see how sad his smile was. "I do"

They looked at him confused. If he knew, why would he be sad?

"Just because I know, doesn't mean it's easy" Takemichi shut his eyes tight when he remembered the past when he lost his comrades in the wave. "Among the tons of undead, there would be a single and unique undead hiding, that one was the one who controls the wave"

Hiding? That meant that that unique undead was weak right? They all thought.

"It would be easy if it was just like other undead but, sometimes they were a lot faster we can't even see them with our eyes, sometimes they were a lot stronger, sometimes they were a lot tougher than any metal. It's definitely not easy to kill them. It may cost our life because somehow they evolve and I don't know how it is possible"

The silence felt so suffocating that they felt nausea hearing it. Their blood ran cold, hard to believe what they had been told. Their stomach churned uncomfortably at the thought of fighting that thing. They were delinquents so they were no stranger to fear but those fear were nothing compared to this fear they were feeling.

"Although, it's possible" Their head turned to Takemichi fast, causing Takemichi to wince a little. The reassuring smile Takemichi gave them really eased their fear.

"That means, we just need a lot of training. I will help you guys," Takemichi stood up from his seat, stretching his body a little "The five before you guys already started it last week and I give you guys five days to rest before we start, to enjoy the free time you have for now"

Atsushi, Takuya, Kazutora, Hinata, and Naoto shivered when they heard the word 'training'. The training was definitely not a memory they were fond of.

Though, no one could stop the chill from going down their spine when Takemichi smiled, manic glints in his eyes. The only source of light also didn't help in their situation. The light from the candles made Takemichi's eyes look more manic than intended.

"Be sure to rest well. For now"

Notes:

Nothing is interesting in this chapter. the action will be back in the next chapter, probably.

Just a few more chapters and we will be done with the first arc.

Thank you so much for reading! You lot have been so sweet, thank you!

Chapter 8

Summary:

Generator. Or random chapter before starting a new arc.

Notes:

This chapter is rushed too sorry.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Waking up from their slumber with a heavenly smell really made their stomachs growl.

Mitsuya was the first one to wake up, rubbing his eyes as if to cease his sleepiness. The night was not being kind to him either but it was the best sleep he got in a month.

Finding his will to start his day, he shook Hakkai and Chifuyu who were both lying beside him gently. "Wake up, I think someone is making breakfast" Mitsuya looked around until his eyes fell onto the window and the only clock in the living room. He smiled sadly and said,

"I guess we can't really tell the exact time if the clock is not here"

Chifuyu and Hakkai groaned a bit before they both opened their eyes, blinking repeatedly to get chase away the sleepiness. Hakkai planned to go to sleep again when Mitsuya hit his arm.

"Don't go to sleep back, wake up. Wake the others too. I will go to the bathroom first"

Mitsuya stood up and stretched his body, yawning. His body felt a little stiff causing his body to make some loud pop. Going to the bathroom, he did his thing first before going to the sink, splashing the water onto his face. Grabbing his face towel Takemichi gave him yesterday, he wiped his face clean.

Twisting the doorknob, he was taken aback when he saw multiple people waiting in front of the door sleepily. Especially Mikey, who seemed like still sleeping, leaning on irritated-looking Draken's side.

Mitsuya chuckled nervously. "I'm going to the kitchen first then..."

He walked away nervously when they grunted. It was definitely the first time they had ever lived together comfortably, not waking up due to the undead banging on their barrier or hearing their growl for the first thing in the morning.

Smiling softly, he walked into the kitchen for his step to stop the moment he saw what in front of him was. In the kitchen were Emma and Hinata who were talking animately at the dining table with smiles on their face. That was not the reason Mitsuya stopped on his track though.

There, standing in front of the stove with a pan in his hand was Takemichi. The one and only Hanagaki Takemichi. He was talking with the girls while flipping the seemingly pancake with a sweet smile on his face.

Not only that, the apron looked so cute on him. There was no way to describe the butterfly in his stomach. He was so lost in what he saw that he didn't notice the others walking into the kitchen just to experience the same thing as him.

Their breath hitched a little when takemichi turned to them, their eyes meeting those captivating blue eyes. Takemichi's eyes widen a bit when he saw them before his expression turned into an ever-sweet smile.

"I see you guys have woken up, good timing" Takemichi placed the last plate of pancakes on the table before turning to them once again. "Have breakfast. I will wake the kids up"

All of them walked to the table dazedly, staring at the delicious-looking breakfast Takemichi made. Their faces turned red when they all thought the same thing,

'Husband/wife material'

Emma and Hinata just looked at them disgusted.

"What are you doing?" They all turned to the kitchen entrance where Takemichi walked into with Mana in his arm and Luna was walking on his right side, holding his hand. "Sit down and eat"

They immediately sit on the chair obediently, some of them took the plate to eat in the living room since not all of them will fit at the dining table. But, from each of their spot, they all could see how loving Takemichi was with the kids. They watched and ate in jealousy, especially Mitsuya whose sisters preferred Takemichi rather than him.

Takemichi was just oblivious to it all, giving his full attention to the two kids.

"Take me!"

Mikey whined, clinging to Takemichi. Takemichi just smiled brightly and pat his head gently.

"No, you're loud"

Mikey felt like his heart had been stabbed by a sharp sword. Slowly distancing himself from Takemichi, he went to the corner of the room, sulking. Takemichi and the others looked at him sweatdropped.

They were currently deciding about someone who got to accompany Takemichi to go take the generator. It would happen peacefully if it was not for the people who wanted to go with Takemichi badly, which were Mikey and-

"Take me with you then!"

Baji.

"No, you're too loud"

They sweatdropped watching as Baji joined Mikey in the corner of the room.

"How about us?" Looking at Mitsuya and Draken, Takemichi narrowed his eyes.

"You guys good," They almost sighed in relief before Takemichi continued "but I need you guys to take care of the others and the house. There's something more dangerous than the undead you know. Also, need some who can control these gremlins too"

"Also, I need someone who will act maturely in this house" Takemichi pinched his nose bridge, looking exasperated.

"You can just bring anyone, after all, you're good in this situation, right?" Smiley asked Takemichi, lifting his eyebrow "We all know how to fight"

Everyone started to argue with each other, arguing that they would be more suitable to go. All the while Atsushi, Takuya, Naoto, Hinata and Emma looked at them sweatdropped, fortunately not joining the arguments.

"Naur, don't be like that" Takemichi whined to them before sighing, stopping them from their arguments before they got worse. "Fighting ability didn't matter but survival is. You do know that if you ever get infected to bring harm to the others, I'll abandon you on the spot. Right?"

Just with that, the atmosphere became tense. Living in a nice house made them forget their situation for a while. They were a little shocked by what Takemichi said. After all, it was not an easy task to abandon someone. And he didn't sound like he was joking.

But it was Takemichi, he had more experience than them. They didn't need to know that Takemichi learned to do those the hard way. He was able to do just that by surviving for twelve years.

"... I let you guys survive with me. I'm willing and that's a fact. Although, it didn't mean I will sacrifice others just because of a person. Think about it." Takemichi said before standing up and going to the kitchen.

Everyone stood frozen on their spot, looking at the retreating figure of Takemichi. After surviving the wave, they were taking this lightly and they knew it. However, they also knew that without Takemichi, they wouldn't survive to see this day.

Their fist tightened when they thought about it.

.

"Don't you think it's too harsh, Takemichi-kun?"

Takemichi's movements came to halt when he heard the voice the moment he reached for the cabinet. At the same time, Hinata, Naoto and Emma stepped into his vision, looking at him concerned. Hinata was the one who talked.

"It needs to be done, they need to know the reality," Takemichi proceeded to take the glass from the cabinet before going to the refrigerator to have the water. "The reality that not everyone can survive. The earlier they know the better"

Hinata, Naoto and Emma stood behind him silently. Having Takemichi with them made them often forget how hard was it to survive out there. With Takemichi, all of the complicated things went to him, leaving them with simple things.

"It didn't mean I don't care for them" Hinata and Emma looked at Takemichi's back, seeing him standing still while looking at the covered window. He looked so small but his back looked big enough. It was as if he was carrying a weight that no one could see or handle. "I will try my best to protect them but, if they wouldn't try to protect themselves, it would be hard, isn't it? I-... I will make them understand the values of survival while I'm still here"

'While he still here? What does he mean?' The three of them thought. Hinata was one who was brave enough to voice it out.

"What do you mean by while you're still here, Takemichi-kun?"

Takemichi turned to them, looking into their eyes with a soft, sweet smile. However, the smile looked as if it was pain, eyes dulling for a while.

"No one knows if they could survive till the end or not. Life is unexpected"

And Takemichi knew that feeling well. After surviving those 12 years, not even he would expect that he would die because of some small mistake. Would this timeline last for 12 years too? Takemichi didn't know where their future was going, but at least they didn't fall without a fight.

As well as, if he got sent to the past, wasn't that mean there must be something? Takemichi thought to himself.

The three nodded in understanding, watching as Takemichi went back to the living room.

.

The moment Takemichi stepped back into the living room, someone jumped to him, clinging to him. And weirdly enough, Takemichi could tell who was it even without looking.

"Takemitchy! We're sorry!" Takemichi patted Mikey's head gently, sighing when the others also bowed to him, saying sorry.

"No, don't," Takemichi walked to the couch, detaching himself from a clinging Mikey with him. "I knew how you felt so it's fine. Furthermore, I told you I can just go alone"

A pair of arms wrapped around Takemichi's waist, catching him off guard. Someone leaned their forehead on Takemichi's shoulder.

"Take some of us please"

Takemichi looked to his side just to see his childhood friend, "Haru-kun..."

He looked around the room when he saw they all looked at him pleadingly.

"Fine, but Haru-kun is coming with me," Sanzu managed to sneak behind him just fine so it was a good choice. Takemichi looked around the room when his eyes landed on someone. "Ah right, Chifuyu-kun too. That's all"

Everyone abruptly whipped their head to look at equally shocked Chifuyu. After all, Chifuyu didn't expect even a little bit that he would be chosen. Chifuyu and Sanzu. That was some kind of unexpected combination if you ask anyone in Toman.

Knowing the fact that Chifuyu watched too many zombie movies, Takemichi chose him. Even the fact alone put Chifuyu above everyone besides Takemichi on the most likely to survive list.

"M-me?" Chifuyu pointed to himself shakily, still shocked.

"Yeah, and come on," Takemichi gave Chifuyu a bat that was enforced with the nails. "we don't get all day"

Takemichi turned to look at Sanzu, looking at him up and down. Sanzu fidgeted on his spot while being scrutinized by his childhood sweetheart.

They watched as Takemichi went somewhere and came back to the still-standing Sanzu. Sanzu was taken off guard when Takemichi grabbed his forearm and dragged him to the couch.

"Sit" Sanzu obeyed Takemichi without any problems.

Going behind the couch, Takemichi brushed Sanzu's hair gently resulting in the others looking at them shocked. Especially when Sanzu looked completely relaxed. Before, no one would be able to touch his hair without him throwing a death threat. It was definitely the first time they saw Sanzu that tamed.

Takemichi patted Sanzu's head gently after he was done tying his hair up. "Done, we don't want the undead to grab your beautiful hair, Haru-kun"

If their eyes could widen more, their eyes would be out of the socket the moment they saw Sanzu smiling at Takemichi softly. "Thank you, Michi"

That was out of character of him.

"Alright, let's go"

Before Takemichi could take another step, he felt his shirt was being tugged on. He looked down when he saw two pairs of teary lavender eyes.

"You're going again?" Mana asked while the tears pooled in her eyes more.

Takemichi smiled softly before kneeling down in front of the two kids, stroking their chubby cheeks with so much love.

"I'm sorry, but I told you I will be back"

"Promise?" Luna took out her pinky finger, holding them out to Takemichi. Mana did the same when she saw her sister do it.

Takemichi chuckled as he connected his pinky fingers with theirs.

"Promise. Now," Takemichi turned them to look at the eldest lavender. "I think your brother will be happy to spend time with you two"

Takemichi smiled brightly when the two ran to Mitsuya while waving to him, smiling but the tears still in their eyes. But, still smiling. They were such cuties.

"Let's go"

"I don't know why we decided to leave the car so far," Sanzu said to himself, grumbling under his breath as he struggled to walk as quietly as possible to avoid attracting more undead.

Takemichi found a car with the key intact in his neighbourhood. Since the truck they currently got was too big for three people, Takemichi said a small apology before opening the car door, sighing in relief when the engine started to roar at the first attempt.

Chifuyu sighed and nodded not too far from him. While, Takemichi had a smirk on his face, glancing at the grumbling Sanzu and Chifuyu from the corner of his eyes. Takemichi got the feeling they knew exactly why he leave the car a little away from their destination.

Of course, they wouldn't want the undead to surround their destination. Takemichi really didn't want to kill the undead much. It still left a bad taste in his mouth no matter how many he already killed.

"Look out, Chifuyu-kun, Haru-kun" Takemichi hit the undead that was coming for Chifuyu from his behind. "I've got your back"

Chifuyu nodded gratefully before turning back to focus on the threat before them. As Takemichi expected, Sanzu handled this better than his expectation. Chifuyu might freak out a few times but he carried himself better. Their footwork needed extra care though.

Takemichi really needed to plan out their training. To make their body lighter.

"Good work out there" Takemichi pat Chifuyu's back when they made it to the store without many casualties. The three of them were currently hiding behind one of the gondola racks.

Chifuyu exhaled a shaky breath, he really didn't expect himself to be able to go out of the house and still survive. Turning to Takemichi with a smile, Chifuyu whisper-yelled, "Because you got my back, partner!"

Takemichi halted in his movement, eyes widening.

.

"Partner, get out of here!" Chifuyu was holding the glass door with all his might. However, the door didn't seem to be able to withstand all of that undead.

"But-!" Takemichi looked to his side, looking at his partner in shock.

"No! I'm not going with you, I'm already bitten!"

Takemichi's eyes automatically moved to Chifuyu's left arm where he saw a bite mark as he heard Chifuyu shout at him. Dread pooled in his stomach when he remembered the tragedy earlier.

They didn't know or expect the supposed to be safe place turned out to be a facility where they were housing a lot of undead inside. They didn't know. He didn't know. He should have followed his gut feeling when he felt things were wrong. And now, they were paying a consequence. More specifically, his partner paid the consequence.

"Partner"

The gentle voice of Chifuyu snapped Takemichi back to his sense. Chifuyu was smiling at him gently, the colour of his skin slowly changing. The sights brought tears to his eyes.

"May we meet again in another life"

Before Takemichi could say anything, the sound of the glass cracked reached their eyes. Without further ado, Takemichi was pushed away by Chifuyu , away from the cracking glass door.

"You always got my back, partner, survive for me"

That was the last thing Chifuyu said before the door completely broke.

Takemichi watched in horror as the undead crashed on and surrounded Chifuyu, ripping him apart in a matter of seconds. Before he could lose himself at the sight, he heard growls and footsteps heading for him.

Running from there as fast as he could, Takemichi couldn't stop the tears as they were running down his cheeks. He ran and ran and ran without stopping. Chifuyu's face in his last moment was clear in his mind.

Takemichi ran from there until he found a door, picking up his pace when the door was on its way to shutting itself down. Before the door completely closed, Takemichi put his weight forward and slid under the narrow space, safely getting outside.

Once he looked back, the door completely shut, locking the undead inside with his 'probably dead' precious comrade.

Once he deemed himself safe for now, he fell to his knee with a bunch of fat tears running down his face. He looked so broken as if some part of him had been torn apart.

"Partner, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry... for being weak"

.

"-chi! Michi!"

Takemichi was snapped to the reality when Sanzu whisper-yelled at him, shaking his shoulders violently. Sanzu and Chifuyu looked at him worried.

"A-ah, I did it again..."

"What?" Sanzu and Chifuyu tilted their head in confusion.

"Nothi-" Takemichi cut himself off, tensing when he heard footsteps coming closer to where they were. The other two must have not heard it as they looked at him confused.

"Wha-" Before they could ask him, Takemichi cupped both of their mouths with his hands, leaning against their personal spaces. Too close.

Since Chifuyu and Sanzu stood close to each other, Takemichi inevitably were close to them both. They couldn't help the flush when their bodies were pressed close to each other, Takemichi's sweet scent coming into their nostrils.

Too close.

It was too close that they could see how long Takemichi's eyelashes were. They could see how some faint freckles adored his rosy cheeks. He looked so ethereal to their eyes.

They couldn't apprehend a single thing that was happening. Not until they saw three to five or seven undead walks past the aisle where they were currently at. The both of them tensed when three of the undead turned to them as if they could hear something. Once the undead continued to walk past the aisle, both released a relieving sigh, looking at Takemichi gratefully.

"Don't attack unless urgent, we can't attract more attention" Takemichi whispered to them, slowly retracting his hands from their mouths. They could only nod and released a shaky breath once Takemichi's body warmth leave them.

"Let's go, I think the generator is here" Takemichi waved his hand, urging them to follow him. "Watch your step"

Sanzu and Chifuyu looked at the thing in front of them blankly. They traded a look with each other before looking at the unamused Takemichi.

"So,... How do we bring this?"

"It has wheels for a reason"

There was silence before the sound of skin and skin colliding echoed in the room. Sanzu and Chifuyu facepalmed at their own dumb question.

"Right, sorry"

"Don't sweat it" Takemichi waved their concern off before pointing his thumb over the manager's room. "Let's go, there's a back door in there"

Chifuyu raised his eyebrow in curiosity. "How do you know?"

"I've been coming here constantly to stock up some food, drink or some toiletries" Takemichi began to head toward the generator, checking its condition. "This is the nearest convenience store from my house"

"..."

"...It's 4km away though..."

"Your point is?"

"Nevermind"

Takemichi shrugged them off and tried to pull the generator when it made a sound with its wheels, halting him to stop. The others looked at the halting Takemichi anxious.

"...this won't do" Takemichi straightened, putting his fingers under his chin.

"Why?" Chifuyu fidgeted on his spot, seeing Takemichi's serious face.

"It's squeaking and it's loud" Sighing, Takemichi pushed his hair up, revealing his beautiful forehead. He flicked two of his fingers when an idea came to his mind. "Oh, wait here, stand still"

Chifuyu and Sanzu looked at the retreating Takemichi confused but still obediently waiting there.

Meanwhile, Takemichi got out of the electricity room to the inside of the store where the various things were sold. Walking to the oil aisle, he looked around when his eyes landed on an olive oil bottle. Taking one of them swiftly, Takemichi searched around the store until he got what he needed, a pipette.

Reaching for the pipette, his hand froze halfway while holding his breath as some undead walked past the aisle. Just like earlier, they looked over to him just for them to continue to walk past where Takemichi was. When they were out of his sight, Takemichi let out a relieved sigh.

He really didn't want to kill them if he could avoid it.

Taking the pipette, he hurriedly went back to the other two. He frowned slightly when he saw both of them were literally standing still.

Sighing, Takemichi approached them and pat their head gently before heading to the generator with the oil and the pipette.

"What are you doing with that?"

Takemichi smiled brightly, turning to the other two. "To make the wheel squeaking free"

"...you sure it will work?" Chifuyu eyed the items in Takemichi's hands.

Smiling, Takemichi didn't even give them an answer when he turned to the generator again. He applied the oil to the wheel as clean as possible. He tried to move the generator and brightened when the loud squeak was gone.

When he had done, he turned to the two and answered their previous question with a bright smile.

"I'm not sure, but I'm glad it worked! It works well with the hinges so I thought that it could be applied here too"

Chifuyu and Sanzu looked at Takemichi dumbfounded before nodding their head slightly.

Takemichi laughed at their reaction before urging them to get going. Taking the generator with him, Takemichi lead the two to the street he frequently used.

Sanzu and Chifuyu sweatdropped seeing Takemichi take the generator with him without any struggle. As if the heavy generator weight nothing to him.

"...is it me or the amount of the undead around here are lacking?" Chifuyu asked no one, looking at his surrounding. That was when Sanzu also realized, seeing around them as the street was empty. Only one or two undead they saw along their walk to the house.

"It is! I clean this street as much as I can since I will be using this way often," Takemichi whispered-yelled excitedly. His steps bounced slightly. "As well as so the people I care for could use this way safely too!"

Chifuyu and Sanzu stared at Takemichi for quite an amount of time before both of them chuckled softly. Smiling softly in Sanzu's case. Sanzu prompted to ruffle Takemichi's head causing the latter to beam at him.

Resuming his walk, Takemichi walked ahead of both the others happily. He got a pat. Yay.

"You sure are kind" They both muttered softly which was going unheard by the oblivious happily-walking Takemichi.

"Wait," Chifuyu's eyes widen when something registered in his mind, looking at Takemichi disbelieving. "Clean? You killed all of the undead in this neighbourhood?! Alone? By yourself?!"

Halting in his steps, Takemichi nervously turned to the shock-looking Chifuyu and Sanzu, sheepishly rubbing his nape.

"Well, I don't?" Takemichi chuckled nervously, "I just lead them somewhere far"

'It not preferable to kill them after all' Takemichi thought.

Both Chifuyu and Sanzu looked at him shocked, eyes wide as well as jaws hanging open. "It is still amazing to lead them somewhere without getting killed" Both of them shuddered, remembering the event where tons of undead surrounded their base, having no idea how to deal with it until Takemichi came.

"That doesn't mean all of you can slack off!" Takemichi looked at both of them with a mischievous smile, sending a shiver down their spine. "You guys need to work out a lot"

Seeing the excited Takemichi, both of them came to the same conclusion at that time. They could feel their life was going to be hard starting from that day.

May they still live after that.

Notes:

After the lastest chapters of Tokyo Revengers, I give you nice Sanzu

I just have no idea how to write this story ... Forgive me if it's confusing. This chapter is in a rush.

Anyways, yeah! The previous chapter. The 'wave'... I've been inspired by a manhwa! You should give it a try! I dropped it somewhere, but I'm planning to reread it. Although, not now, I've been busy a lot these days.

'Return Survival'

Thanks a lot for reading!

Chapter 9

Notes:

This is just some random chapter before I complete the first arc. This chapter is not really interesting.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Control your breath more" Takemichi crouched down before Mikey, Baji, and Draken who were currently doing a plank.

"E-easier sa-said than d-done" Mikey gritted out his words. His face was red from doing the plank. The other two were no different from him.

The other members were standing aside, watching them while drinking the water Takemichi gave them. They had already done their turn. Just like their commander, they failed at getting to where Takemichi wanted.

It was hard. Didn't mean you had a strong muscle, you could do it. For example, their commander and vice-commander. The strongest in the gang.

Plank was in fact not the only thing they did.

- 6 minutes of quadrupedal movements, such as bearcrawling.

-6 minutes of jumping jacks and high knees running. Each for three minutes.

-12 strict pull-ups.

- Squats

- Bench Press.

-Walking Lunges.

Those were some of them and it really did a number on them because they need to repeat them until Takemichi was satisfied. Moreover, if they failed to control their breathing, Takemichi would tell them to repeat from the start. The girls were also going through the same things but a little more light than the boys.

Most of the exercises involved the legs, hence they couldn't really feel their legs after all of that but Takemichi said those were not even reaching the quarter amount of his supposed exercise. Takemichi really said those exercise could increase their strength and agility with his innocent face.

For now, they could say, doing the plank, was the hardest exercise they did today. They realized that they really couldn't stay still for long.

From this day, they decided. They decided that Takemichi was a devil. A cute devil.

...

Takemichi sighed when he saw their bodies were shaking in pain. Deciding to take a pity on them, he said, "Rest"

Wincing, Takemichi sweatdropped when they flung themselves to the floor, breathing heavily. "T-that was hard. I-I've never done a plank before" Draken said, nodding gratefully when Takemichi passed him a bottle of water.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Takemichi sat beside a panting Baji after giving him his water. "Doing plank, your body will build up endurance. Endurance is important for increasing physical stamina and strengthening and toning your muscles. Maintaining your breathing while doing plank can help you increase your stamina and it helps you when you need to be silent. It lightens our bodies. In addition, sometimes, our breathing when we run out of stamina can be loud. And being loud is something we don't want when we are out there."

No one said anything in reply. They were all busy catching their breath, pants filling the house.

Looking at the exhausted members of Toman, Takemichi checked his notepad, seeing all of their records. "The longest you can do is 5 minutes. An old man could do it in 10 to 15 minutes. You've got a long way to go"

"Like I said, easier said than done," Mikey said while still having his face planted on the floor.

"Is that so?" Takemichi hummed to himself, looking around the room. The others nodded while still trying to get their breathing under control. "I don't know why but I can do it just fine though?"

Multiple heads immediately turned to him shocked. Their wide eyes told Takemichi that they didn't believe him. He scoffed with a small smirk as he was underestimated.

"It's true" Kazutora was the one who said it, gaining the attention he didn't want from the others. The other four who came with him nodded their head agreeing "We did our training with him before"

"Lies" Hakkai said unbelievingly. He was still panting while Mitsuya who was also panting rubbed his back comfortingly "No offence but Takemichi is like.. the smallest, the second shortest after Mikey. There is no way he could do it better than Draken or Mikey"

The other Toman members nodded in agreement except Kazutora, Atsushi, Takuya, Hinata, Naoto, and Sanzu. Sanzu knew Takemichi better than anyone. Sanzu knew how high Takemichi's stamina was since they were kids.

"Hmm~" Takemichi put his finger on his chin, humming playfully. The bright smile he showed them really made their hearts light. However, the confidence in his eyes made them doubt their own opinion. "I could show you if you want!"

They looked at Takemichi wide-eyed. They were a bit sceptical of letting Takemichi do it but everyone made a path for Takemichi to do a plank on.

Takemichi gave the timer in his hand to Draken who was the closest to him. "I'm counting on you, Draken-kun" Everyone except Takemichi noticed Draken's ears redden when Takemichi smiled sweetly.

"S-sure"

Takemichi lay on his stomach before taking a deep breath and letting them out a few times. When Takemichi pulled himself up, Draken pressed the button on the side of the tamer to start the counting.

Everyone watched in awe as they saw how perfect and beautiful Takemichi's form was while doing the plank. His breathing was so calm and stable as if he was currently just standing still under a big tree. They still watched him, waiting for his breathing to get unstable.

10 minutes turned to 20. Then, 35 minutes. 35 turned to 45 until one of them snapped.

"Alright, fine, fine, you win!" Mikey whined, pouting while crossing his arms. "It's almost an hour and his condition is still as perfect as when he just started. Fine, we lost!"

Takemichi chuckled to himself seeing Mikey's childish behaviour. He got up from the plank position, sitting comfortably with his legs crossed. "It's because I've done it for a long time. I'm sure you will get it too!"

"There is someone who can do it for 9 hours. Although, they are experts and I'm not"

'yet you did it longer than any of us' They all thought, sweatdropping.

"Alright then!" Takemichi stood up with a smile so bright, putting both his hands together. "Before dinner, do it again! Tomorrow we will start early in the day. Okay?"

Takemichi only laughed when he got multiple groans from them. He waved his hand over his shoulder when they were whining at him. He was about to climb the stairs when someone grabbed the back of his top.

He turned around just to be greeted by a frowning Mitsuya. Looking at Mitsuya questioningly, Takemichi asked, "What's wrong Taka-kun?"

Mitsuya blushed slightly at the nickname. He knew it was to avoid the confusion between his name and his younger sisters but he still couldn't get used to it. The way Takemichi called his name made him feel like there were butterflies in his stomach.

"A-ah, no..." Mitsuya awkwardly rubbed his nape "... I just want to know about my sisters, usually they were still playing at this time"

"They're training too. Well, in their own way"

Mitsuya snapped his eyes to Takemichi, his eyes wide. "What?"

Takemichi only smiled softly before taking Mitsuya's hand into his, dragging him upstairs where the kids currently were. Takemichi led him to his bedroom where the door was slightly ajar, telling Mitsuya to take a look. So, he did.

What greeted Mitsuya was shocking. The room was as if there was a storm. The toys were littered everywhere while the kids were carefully walking around, their faces serious. There were sounds of growls and groans. When Mitsuya looked at the source, there was a television that was currently showing the undead show.

Before Takemichi could say anything, Mitsuya burst into the room. "Luna! Mana! What are you doing? This is not our house. The toys-"

Mitsuya cut himself off when he heard a chuckle behind him. Followed by the chuckles from his sisters.

"It's fine Taka-kun, these are their training" Takemichi spoke while walking toward the kids. He gave them each a head pat that they were happy to receive.

"What?"

"This is their training. The television, so they will get used to seeing the undead. It may be different to look at them on television and face-to-face. But it is the least they could do for now. We can't exactly bring them out just for them to get used to the undead. It's dangerous"

'and previously, it worked for Mana-chan too' Takemichi thought to himself, nodding approvingly.

Pointing toward all of the littering toys, Takemichi said, "For the toys, just so they could get used to walking silently without making much noise. It will help them be more alert to their surrounding. They will focus on walking carefully around the littering toys just so they wouldn't make any noise. They can't exactly do the exercise just like you guys, teens."

"O-oh, I see..." Mitsuya put his hands on his temple, leaning on the walls. Takemichi was weird Mitsuya thought, but Mitsuya was grateful for the former being concerned for his sisters' safety. Although, Mitsuya couldn't help but be jealous of their easy training than theirs, Toman.

The kids were taking it easy. Meanwhile, they, teens, felt like they almost lost their lives downstairs.

Mitsuya was startled out of his thought when he felt a small hand grabbing his pants. He looked down just to see his sisters were looking at him with their determined eyes.

"Nii-san, you don't need to worry!" Luna said while keeping their eye contact.

"We will protect you Nii-chan!" Mana said cheerfully, pumping her fist up.

Mitsuya's eyes widen when he heard their announcement. Warmth filled his heart along with tears pooling in his eyes. Smiling widely, he crouched down to pat Luna's and Mana's heads.

"Sure, let's work hard!"

The scenes of the smiling and laughing siblings made Takemichi smile. However, the memory that he thought he buried deep resurfaced again, making his eyes dull for a moment.

Before the other three could notice his change in emotion, Takemichi smiled brightly. He walked to the door, looking at the three over his shoulder. "Come on, go wash yourselves up, it's almost dinner"

Takemichi chuckled when the kids' eyes brightened. Walking out of the door, he walked downstairs seeing a bunch of teens lying around in sweats. Smirking, Takemichi looked at them amused.

"Go wash yourselves up," Their head instantly turned to Takemichi the moment he spoke up. "It's almost dinner time"

Takemichi shook his head fondly when they all scrambled to wash themselves up. Walking toward the kitchen, Takemichi slipped an apron over his head and tie a ribbon behind his waist before he started cooking for himself and the others, a soft smile on his lips.

Takemichi was happily cooking, setting up the table while humming a song. Lost in his thought, he failed to notice the others entering the kitchen. They watched as Takemichi set the table, the foods looked heavenly even if they were simple meals. They felt like their ears were blessed by hearing Takemichi humming, swaying his hips lightly.

"I really couldn't get bored of this scene," Someone said and got multiple agreements.

Takemichi was startled when he heard the voice, turning around just to see the others fresh out of the shower. He didn't realize how much time passed while he was happily cooking. Hinata and Emma cooed when he blushed out of embarrassment.

"Y-you guys have done?" Takemichi laughed awkwardly, rubbing his nape while looking at anything besides them. "Come eat then"

They immediately brightened, scrambling to eat. Takemichi looked at them fondly. They ate in a cheerful manner, talking and laughing with each other. Takemichi was glad that they didn't get discouraged by all of what had happened.

Just like his old self.

Looking at them with fondness, Takemichi said, "Good work for today"

The chatterer around stopped abruptly when they all turned to look at the smiling Takemichi. Fondness in his eyes made them feel like crying. Smiling wide, they said thank you to Takemichi while convincing him to come and eat with them.

Takemichi looked around him. The warm environment really made his heart light. It was really different from his previous life. Maybe, just maybe this time he would know how to solve this so-called test, the new beginning of survival. But yeah, to begin with, survival was never a test.

"The beginning after the end, huh?"

Notes:

I don't know what I'm writing anymore.

Vskshks it's the end of the first arc! I'm kind of glad I finished this arc. I don't know why. Let's celebrate ayyyyy-

However, how is it for now? Is it still okay? Feel free to say anything, I wouldn't be mad. Don't worry, I don't bite. :D

Thanks to those who still read this story! As well as my other stories! Thanks for leaving kudos/vote too!

Take care of yourself more, sweet readers!

Chapter 10

Summary:

Takemichi is worried.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"No"

Takemichi took hold of Naoto's hands and fix his posture in archery. The action caught the younger off-guard, the closeness between them made his cheeks burn. Hinata and Emma were cooing over his redden face not too far from them.

"You have a lot of potential in this but you need to aim it higher so it will go farther"

"Y-yes!"

It was into a week that Takemichi tasked them with weapon training. They were complaining at first but nothing angry Takemichi couldn't handle.

Takemichi let go of Naoto's arms before ruffling his hair affectionately. Looking around, he watched as the others were drowning in their sweat, panting heavily, missing the way Naoto's cheeks burned. The uneasy feeling in his heart or stomach didn't lighten at all these past two days. Things were too calm in this house. It was like a calm before a storm.

"It's almost three weeks huh..." Someone suddenly talked. Takemichi turned to the side slightly to see who was talking. Tachibana Hinata. She was also looking at the others with worry shining in her eyes. "...since their first day of training"

Pursing his lips, Takemichi sighed softly before turning away. "Yeah, it could happen anytime now" three weeks since the first day of their training plus the days Takemichi gave them to rest before the training. It sums up to almost a month.

"The wave," Hinata smiled softly while fidgeting with her fingers. "It's hard to imagine such a thing exists"

Takemichi didn't say anything. He knew that no matter what, these things shouldn't exist at all. Scratch that, the whole zombie apocalypse thing shouldn't exist in the first place. Instead, Takemichi brought his hand up to Hinata's head, patting her head gently.

Hinata's eyes widen before the tears pooling in her eyes, touched by the lovely gesture. Before the tears fall though, she wiped them away and chuckled slightly.

Takemichi smiled at her softly. His expression was so soft that it made Hinata's heart squeeze painfully. Even in this whole mess, Takemichi was the one who took care of them from the beginning. She didn't know how Takemichi could stay strong even in this.

"Although, didn't we supposed we supposed to be safe?" Hinata whispered, confused. Takemichi glanced at Hinata from the corner of his eyes, face still facing those who were training. "Our number didn't even add to twenty"

"Nothing hurt to be prepared" And that was the sentence Takemichi kept reminding himself. He did a lot of mistakes in the past and he would not be careless in this life. As best as he could.

He pursed his lips anxiously when he remembered that time. He remembered how his house was swarmed by the undead, a bunch of them, with only Mana and him in the house. It was a miracle they could get out of the house and still survive.

It was still a wonder how it had happened. Takemichi observed the wave for a long time but he still couldn't figure out how it happened with only two people.

The only conclusion he came to, there were people in the neighbourhood and they didn't want Takemichi to know.

But, why?

"How is the preparation going?" Takemichi asked Hinata softly, trying to change the subject.

Hinata put his hands under her chin, thinking thoroughly before she answered, "Everything is good so far, we separated the things we need and not. We don't have much in the first place. We are strays that got picked up by you after all"

"Joking aside, good. That means we can depart the moment the wave hits. It is right to leave the task to you" Nodding approvingly, Takemichi ruffled Hinata's hair in rough affection, smiling wide.

Hinata just swat his hand away jokingly, also smiling sweetly. "Of course, I'm Hina after all!"

"Yeah, you're Hina-chan. The capable wonderful girl. Although, why are you here?" Facing a bunch of tired teens, Takemichi raised his eyebrow playfully, glancing at Hinata from the corner of his eyes. "Shouldn't you be training too? Don't tell me you're slacking Hina-chan"

Hinata pouted slightly, childishly crossing her arms. "If your training is not so hard, I wouldn't be here"

Laughing from amusement, Takemichi smirked. "So you admitted you're slacking? No, can't do that. Look, Naoto is training harder than you"

Hinata pouted more when she heard what Takemichi said. "That's because he wanted to impress you so badly" Hinata whispered to no one but herself with Takemichi unable to hear her clearly.

Tilting his head slightly, Takemichi looked at Hinata confused. "What?"

"Nothing!" Hinata beamed at him.

As if sensing his sister talking about him, Naoto turned to her with a warning gaze. In return, she stuck out her tongue at him, snickering when the younger Tachibana pouted cutely.

Takemichi looked at the interaction between the siblings with fondness radiated from his eyes. He used to be included in the scene like that too, but it was long gone now. His attention was snapped away as Mitsuya came running to him with a panicked expression.

"T-takemichi!"

Takemichi looked at the panicking Mitsuya in alarm, putting both of his hands on Mitsuya's shoulders to ground him to reality.

"Hey hey come on, I'm not going anywhere," Rubbing circles on Mitsuya's back, Takemichi helped the out-of-breathing lavender-haired boy. "Take a deep breathe"

Mitsuya caught his breath, coughing a few times when he wrongly took a breath. When his breath turned a little more stable, he looked at Takemichi straight into his eyes and firmly said,

"It got worsen"

Instantly, Takemichi's blood ran cold. Without hearing anything else from Mitsuya, he ignored the curious look he got from the others and immediately sprinted to his bedroom.

There, lying in his bed with a flushed face and a bunch of sweats running down her face was Mana, along with the teary-eyed Luna beside the bed, holding Mana's hand. The youngest looked so vulnerable lying on the bed with unstable breathing.

Takemichi immediately walked to Mana's side with Luna stepping to the side slightly to give some space for Takemichi. Holding Mana's hand gently, he used his other hand to put on Mana's forehead and winced slightly when he felt his hand burning with the slight touch.

Mana's body temperature was too hot.

She was having a fever for the past four days. Two days in the beginning she only had a mild fever but when the third came, they figured that she had a high fever. Takemichi and Mitsuya both took turns to take care of the little one but unfortunately, today, the fifth day, her temperature was rising abnormally.

"Bring me warm water and a new towel, please"

Mitsuya immediately dashed out of the room the moment Takemichi finished with his order.

Meanwhile, Takemichi was wiping Mana's sweat with the cloth that had already dried.

"Mana-chan, Little Princess, are you awake?" Asking softly, Takemichi caressed Mana's crown gently, putting the strand of hair out of her face. "Do you hear me?"

Takemichi saw as the youngest Mitsuya struggled to open her eyes, looking at him with her teary-eyed. Takemichi felt his tears pool in his eyes but he willed himself not to cry in front of the sick child. He needed to be strong.

"Can you tell me what's wrong? Do you feel pain anywhere?"

"It h-hurts" Tears that were pooling in her eyes, fell onto the bed. Her voice sounded like she was in pain. "My b-body and h-head h-hurt"

"Shh... It's okay," Takemichi shushed the child when he heard how in pain was she at the moment even when talking. He kissed her crown gently while still caressing her head. "Be strong, princess"

That was when the oldest Mitsuya came into the room with a bowl of warm water and a new towel. He set it beside Takemichi, giving the latter access to use the stuff.

Dipping the towel into the warm water, Takemichi wiped Mana's face and neck with it before dipping it into the warm water again. However this time, he put the towel on Mana's forehead hence her headaches would probably lessen.

"Do you not have the medicine?" Mitsuya asked from behind Takemichi, concern lacing in his voice.

"I don't. There is not a single medicine in this house" Takemichi stated with his shaking voice, biting his lips anxiously.

Takemichi never kept any medicine in his house. No matter what medicine it was because no one but him live in this house for a long time already. If he was somehow sick, he wouldn't buy any medicine and just deal with it, suffering from the pain. Just because he thought that he deserved whatever pain that had come to him.

"I-it's fine, T-take-nii" A weak shaky voice snapped Takemichi out of his thought. Looking at the youngest, Takemichi saw as Mana gave him a weak reassuring smile. "I'm sorry. I've been slacking off"

That was when Takemichi's mind shut down.

.

.

.

Takemichi was seen pacing back and forth in the room, panicking more when the cough that reached his ears got worsened. Chifuyu was seen trying to calm his partner down but obviously failing.

"Partner, calm down. I'm sure it will be fine"

"And how do you know that? Are you sure about it?" Chifuyu flinched slightly when Takemichi turned to him with a hardened expression, his voice cold. When Takemichi saw the flinch, the guilt struck him, immediately trying to soften his expression. Sighing, Takemichi scooped down his face.

"I'm sorry, my emotions got the best of me for a moment"

Shaking his head to the sides, Chifuyu put his hand on Takemichi's back, rubbing it slightly. His eyes strained to the closed door that connected to the room where the sources of the coughing came from.

"Don't sweat it. I understand"

"What should we do?" Takemichi's voice sounded so weak that it broke Chifuyu when he heard it. " Mana-chan's fever won't go down and just keep increasing until she is unable to wake up from the bed at all. Is it really just fever? It doesn't seem like it at all to me. Shouldn't we get a medicine?"

"Absolutely no, it wouldn't be safe at a place like a hospital. You also know that"

"But-"

"Partner, I'm sure you too already realize that the convenience stores were no longer available, right?"

"...right, but-"

"Partner," Chifuyu sighed softly "You also know Mana-chan wouldn't like it if you sacrifice yourself for her"

That made Takemichi silent.

They both stood in front of the closed door with Takemichi's hand hovered on the doorknob. His other hand was clenched on his side as the horrible sound of coughing reached his ears. The coughing alone sounded so awful that Takemichi wished he was the one with the high fever, not their youngest.

It was already two weeks since the first day Mana's temperature was increasing suddenly. A week ago, her fever suddenly increased drastically that worried Takemichi so much. Two years of surviving together really made him treasure his companions so much. Not to mention, Mitsuya Mana was his first companion in surviving this apocalypse.

"I'm sure it will all work out" Chifuyu tried, even if he was not sure of it himself.

Takemichi stayed silent, slowly turning the doorknob. The sight of the smiling softly Mana , even if it was weak was what greeted him. His heart broke as Mana was trying hard to smile even if she was hurting to even make a small movement.

Slowly approaching Mana , Takemichi smiled sweetly, trying to appear strong in front of the youngest.

"How are you, Mana-chan ?" Takemichi asked softly with Chifuyu staring at him from the door.

Mana just gave him a reassuring smile before a cough escaped her throat. As her cough deceased, she turned to look at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry, Take-nii" She whispered. Her voice sounded so weak and hoarse. It was as if she was forcing out her voice. "I've been slacking off"

Takemichi willed his tears to not fall, holding them in. "Hey, it's fine" He gently caressed Mana's head and cheek. "When you heal enough, we will do as usual"

'So please, hang on. Don't leave me' was what Takemichi left on.

"Rest for now, Mana-chan "

"I can't wait..." Mana smiled softly before her eyes slowly fluttered shut. Takemichi continued to caress Mana's head comfortingly until she had fallen asleep. When he felt her breathing was even, he slowly retracted his hand, clenching it tightly before releasing it.

"Takemichi..." Chifuyu tried to talk to Takemichi.

"She's staying strong" Takemichi roughly wiped his tears. "So, we also need to be strong"

Chifuyu smiled softly in return as Takemichi turned to him with a bright smile.

"Yeah, let's stay strong"

They took turns to take care of Mana . Mostly Takemichi since he couldn't bear to not stay with Mana for a long time. He always spent his time staying beside Mana , humming or singing even if the youngest were sleeping, trying hard to not make her feel lonely.

The days went by slowly, drowning Takemichi in doubt and negative thoughts. They had never stayed in one place for too long since they couldn't be positive about the place they were staying. However, they couldn't go anywhere as they didn't want Mana's condition to be worse.

A week passed by, Takemichi was currently kneeling beside a pale-looking Mana with Chifuyu rubbing his back comfortingly. Mana put a soft smile on her pale lips.

"T-take-nii, I-I'm alright"

Tears that Takemichi had held as best as he could fell down his cheeks. His shoulders shook as he kept holding onto Mana's tiny hand.

"I-... I'm sorry" Takemichi uttered as his tears fell profusely. Chifuyu looked away as he wanted to hide the fact that he was also crying.

"Thank you, Take-nii. Thank you, really... If not for you..." Mana cut her sentence off, her batch of tears streamed down her face onto the bedsheets. "T-thank you"

'I just want you to stay' Takemichi thought to himself, not wanting to burden the child further. Instead, the hold on her hand just kept tighter. The silence just kept dragging on. No one dared to say anything.

"...Take-nii..." Mana said softly, trying to get Takemichi's attention. Takemichi hummed, turning to look at her with fondness radiated from his eyes. "Smile... for me. yeah?"

Takemichi didn't say anything, his bang shadowing his eyes. Slowly lifting his head, Takemichi smiled at Mana brightly.

"Yeah"

Mana smiled fondly, seeing his smile. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut while still smiling as she weakly said,

"you have the most beautiful smile, Take-nii"

That was the last thing she said before her eyes completely shut.

Takemichi, who was holding onto her hand, still smiling even if the tears were flowing down his cheeks. His lips wobbled before he broke down. His tears completely fell profusely without any sign of stopping. He wanted to scream so badly. He wanted to but he knew he couldn't attract attention to their hideout. He just settled it by letting his tears out.

"Why?" Takemichi put Mana's hand on his forehead. "Why are your hand so cold? Why do you close your eyes? Don't you want to see me anymore? You said I had the most beautiful smile so why don't you want to see me? Are you leaving me?"

Not a single answer was replied to Takemichi's questions. The sobs of his and Chifuyu's was all he could hear in the room. Chifuyu slowly took Takemichi away from Mana , hugging him tightly while Takemichi clung to Chifuyu . Takemichi desperately tried to get as much as warm he could get, bailing his eyes out.

"You really are leaving me"

.

.

.

"-Mitchy!"

Takemichi was snapped out of his thought when he felt someone shaking him violently. He saw Mitsuya was looking at him concerned, Luna clinging to his side. His eyes blankly moved to the worried-looking Mana, her eyes wide looking at him.

"Finally, we've been calling for you a lot" Mitsuya sighed, pushing his hair back. He couldn't help but be worried as he noticed that Takemichi seemed to disconnect from the world quite often.

Although, Takemichi paid the oldest Mitsuya no mind. Takemichi turned to Mana fully, caressing her crown with his shaking hand.

"Hang on, be strong" Takemichi offered her a small smile. Leaning down, he kissed her crown fondly before standing up abruptly. "I will be back" He sprinted out of the room hurriedly, ignoring the calling of his name. He took his usual outer shirt and his backpack along the way.

The oldest Mitsuya looked at the door of the room and Mana repeatedly. Clicking his tongue, he turned to Luna and said, "Take care of your sister for a while" before he ran out of the room, following Takemichi.

Looking around to search for Takemichi, Mitsuya heard a sound at the entrance door of the house. He immediately headed to the door, seeing Takemichi hurriedly putting on his shoes with his backpack on his back. Running to the ravenette, Mitsuya grabbed Takemichi's shoulder before the latter could get up.

"Where are you going?!" Mitsuya accidentally raised his voice. Takemichi just looked at him blankly, swatting away Mitsuya's hands.

"Where else? I'm going to find the medicine"

"Wait-"

"I will search for the medicine at the convenience store first"

"Wait, hear me out-"

"If the store didn't have the medicine, there is a hospital near it"

"It's just a fev-" Before Mitsuya could finish his sentence, he was slammed to the wall by great strength. In front of him was an enraged Takemichi who was gripping his shirt collar tightly. Wincing in pain, Mitsuya looked at the ravenette wide-eyed, not expecting that kind of action or strength.

"Finish it, I dare you" Takemichi growled at Mitsuya threateningly, showing his fangs. "Fever could also kill, you understand?"

Mitsuya gulped nervously, nodding hesitantly. Still holding eye contact with Mitsuya, Takemichi let go of his shirt slowly.

"I'm going alone. Don't tell the others, just told them to continue their training if they ever ask. And you," Takemichi shoved his pointer finger to Mitsuya's chest, still holding the intense eye contact. "Make sure you take care of Mana. Don't. Ever. Leave. Her. Understand?" He poked Mitsuya's chest with every single word he said.

"Y-yes"

"Good. Now, stay"

Takemichi turned around and walked to the door. Halting at the door, he spared a last glance at the nervous Mitsuya, Takemichi walked passed the door after saying,

"I'm sorry"

Mitsuya looked at the empty entrance dazedly. He didn't know what he should do. He didn't know what Takemichi was sorry for. However, he knew that he would feel horrible if something were to happen to Takemichi while the latter was getting the medicine for his younger sister.

'Please, be safe'

Takemichi didn't even think twice before he ran, slipping through a bunch of undead and did not care if they noticed him or not. Thankfully for his stealth skills, only one or two would notice him running past them. Only the destination he aimed for was in his mind as he kept running and running.

As he saw how the undead swarmed the nearest convenience store entrance, Takemichi headed to the back of the building, entering the building through the back door. He was glad that the undead seemed to only swarm the entrance and not the inside.

Heading to the medicine aisle, Takemichi's eyes widen when he saw the aisle was completely destroyed. How did this happen? There was anyone who would do something like this? Was this why a bunch of the undead swarmed the entrance?

Thrashing around the destroyed aisle, Takemichi searched for any available medicine. Unfortunately, he couldn't find any. The amounts also were too little. It was as if someone monopolized the medicine.

Clicking his tongue, Takemichi wasted no time running out of the store to go to another store that was near. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't even enter the store as too many undead was swarming the place, even on the inside. Scooping down his face, Takemichi sighed exasperatedly. What bad luck.

Looked like he got no choice. Takemichi really hoped this would go well.

Hiding behind one of the abandoned cars, Takemichi bent down to tie his shoelaces properly, securing them so they would not get untied easily. Taking a deep breath, he held it in for a while before huffing it out roughly. Standing up readily, Takemichi took off toward the destination he wanted to avoid, the place that could risk his life.

However, the image of the lying sick Mana was what motivated every single cell in his body. Even if the fever was normal, he didn't want to take any risk. He didn't want to lose Mana for the second time.

He was too lost in his mind that he just noticed he was about to bump into one of the undead. Stopping abruptly, he put some force on his feet to jump backwards. The jump had too much force so Takemichi put his hands up and bend his upper body more to the back so he could do pushed himself upright back and land perfectly. Unfortunately, he unconsciously made some noise so he inevitably attracted the undead to him.

Cursing under his breath, Takemichi ran away from the horde as fast as he could, thinking of something on the fly.

Coming to an idea, Takemichi approached one of the cars. Raising his arm high, he used his elbow to shatter the window to trigger the shock or vibration sensors. Unfortunately, the shattered glass didn't trigger the car alarm. The glass might not have been connected to the car's security alarm. Takemichi did all of the things that crossed his mind using blunt force to make the alarm go off.

Luckily, one of his random methods managed to make the alarm finally set off.

The sound was loud. Loud enough to attract the undead to it. Seeing as the undead headed for the car, some were seemingly confused by the loud noise, Takemichi used the opportunity to run away. He ran as fast as he could, his heartbeat beating fast.

Eventually, he managed to get out of the mess, leaning on one of the buildings to catch his breath. It just started but Takemichi already used up too much of his energy than he intended to.

As he took ahold of his backpack, he opened it and searched for something. Takemichi took out his water bottle from his bag, gulping down the water as some droplets were running down his mouth, trickling down to his neck. Wiping those droplets, Takemichi willed himself to stay focused. Focus on his objective. The things just started.

"Aight, let's do this..."

Looking up at the building in front of him, XX hospital, he gulped down his saliva. He did not have any good memory of this place for many reasons.

The ravenette winced slightly when he saw too many undead were there, outside and inside likewise. He had a mini thought of turning back but the image of the sick Mana lighting up his determination to get the medicine no matter what happened.

Even if he needed to risk his life.

Takemichi sneered in his mind, there was no way he would let these undead rip his life out for the second time without leaving the others with the skills they needed in order to survive. He would leave this place as soon as he got his hand on the medicine and went back home. That was the plan.

He was racking his brain to find the solution of how he could get inside without alerting any of the undead. There were too many of them at the entrance. He couldn't make a rash decision as it could endanger his second life.

Going around the building, Takemichi lit up when he saw the emergency stairs to the rooftop. He immediately used the stairs as the medicine room was probably on the third floor. The hospital had four-floor, so entering the building through the rooftop was not a bad idea.

The moment he reached the rooftop, he was greeted by two or three undead. Seemed like those were previously the workers at this hospital. At least it was better than using the door entrance. The amount of undead was less tenfold on the rooftop.

Slipping past the undead, Takemichi carefully pulled the door and sighed in relief when the door was not making any sound. Takemichi watched his steps as he climbed down the stairs, not wanting to make any sound that could attract unwanted attention. Even if the hospital was abandoned for a long time already, the familiar smell of the hospital still entered his nostrils.

Takemichi put his guard up when he saw the third floor was full of the undead. He was not confident in his stealth skill, so anything bad could happen if he was being careless.

Eventually, he reached the room where the medicines were stored at. Looking around, he searched for acetaminophen and ibuprofen. He knew nothing about medicine, but at least he knew what to get for fever.

When he got his hands on the medicine, he was surprised when a really loud noise was elicited outside of the room he was currently in. It sounded like an explosion. Looking around, he failed to see any sign of the noise. Shrugging his shoulders off, he continued to inspect the medicines in his hands before he paled when he heard thundering footsteps heading to where he was.

'What's happening?' Takemichi thought to himself as he got out of the room, shuddering as he saw a bunch of undead approach the location he was currently at. It was a hospital so it was not weird to see too many undead at the place. That was one of the reasons why the hospital was one of the places that people should avoid in this apocalypse.

Also, the fact that he didn't know the cause for the loud sound earlier made him uneasy.

Putting the medicines he got in his backpack, Takemichi took a run on the opposite side of the incoming undead. He couldn't afford to lose the medicines. After all, it was the sole reason why Takemichi risked himself coming here.

However, his run was cut short when the other side was swarming with the undead heading in his direction as well. Looking back, Takemichi started to panic when he saw both paths were blocked. This situation was just life-threatening. Takemichi had no idea what he should do to escape this place alive at the moment.

Taking a deep breath, Takemichi calmed himself down and looked into his backpack, searching for any useful tools he could use. It would be worse if he was panicking. His eyes brightened, breath hitched once his eyes landed on the rope inside his bag. Right, he shoved the rope into his bag before heading out of the house. He didn't know why but he was glad he did.

Takemichi hastily tied one of the rope's ends on the window frame, making sure the knot was strong enough to support his weight. When he was sure it was safe enough, he jumped out of the window without a second thought, tightly gripping the rope. It was fortunate that he jumped out that time as the undead reached him the exact time as he jumped. The undeads' fingers nearly touched his backpack.

Desperately hanging onto the rope, Takemichi breathed in relief seeing as how the knot could hold his weight pretty well without coming off. He winced a bit when two or three undead fell through the window onto the ground, splattering. He quickly looked up once he looked down, the sight was really gruesome even for him.

Never mind that, although, he was relieved that the rope seemed like it was able to hold his weight well. As he went down, his relief was cut short seeing as the rope was too short. "Darn". The rope ended on the second floor of the building.

He couldn't just risk his life and jumped to the ground from the second floor. Not to mention, there were still lots of undead down there, walking around without purpose. Most importantly, he needed to go back alive. Alive, to give Mana her medicine. If he was dead, who else would give her the medicine?

Looking around, his eyes brightened when he saw an empty window will among the fine-looking windows on the second floor. The window glass must have been broken. Although, the window was a bit far on his left from where he was currently hanging on the rope at.

Putting his right leg on the wall, Takemichi kicked the wall to his right causing his weight to sway on the left. He repeated the same action until the momentum caused him and the window became closer. The moment he deemed the gap was close enough, he jumped, letting go of the rope.

He cursed under his breath when he miscalculated the gap causing him to be a little bit far from the window. Fortunately for him, the gap was small enough that he could grab onto the window sill, hanging outside of the building.

He couldn't believe he had almost lost his life once more.

Takemichi easily used his strength to bring himself up through the window. Balancing himself on the sill, he looked around the room, getting suspicious of how the room looked untouched. Not really untouched since the items in the room were scattered around the room. But, the way there was not a single drop of blood was suspicious. Still, Takemichi couldn't see any living being in the room. The smell of some kind of medicine still lingered around the room.

Planting his feet on the floor soundlessly, Takemichi tiptoed to the door that could lead him to the hallway. Takemichi observed his surrounding, peeking through the door. The undead were definitely too much on this floor. Racking through his precious brain, he was too lost in his thought, planning on his escape.

Too lost in his thought.

That was what led him to be unaware of a presence that was approaching him from behind. The moment Takemichi sensed another presence near him, it was too late. A cold sharp knife already pierced through his stomach.

The smell of blood flooded his nostrils.

Coughing blood, Takemichi's eyes widen as he saw a skinny guy, too skinny, gripping the knife that was already impaled in his stomach as if his life depended on it. The good news is it missed his vital parts.

"W-who" Takemichi struggled to form even a single syllable. His throat automatically clenched itself caused by the pain.

The man was not even paying attention to what Takemichi said. His eyes were blown wide, unfocused. It was as if the man was seeing something else, and not Takemichi. The man kept muttering something along with 'zombie' and 'kill'.

Takemichi tried to reach out to the man. However, the man flinched away, his hands covering his head. It was as if the man was expecting Takemichi to hit him. Takemichi's heart clenched uncomfortably seeing the gesture. A familiar gesture. The guy looked like he went insane. The apocalypse did not help either. The situation must have worsened his mental state.

Swallowing his saliva mixed blood, Takemichi bit his bottom lip as his hand gripped the knife handle. He planned to pull the knife out but he didn't want to bleed out to death. So, he leaves the knife be, turning to the unknown man once again.

"H-hey, c-can you hear me clearly?" Takemichi tried to talk to the man. But, to his disappointment, the man seemed too out of it, trembling violently. It was a wonder how the man was still able to survive until now in this place.

Muttering a curse word, Takemichi reached out to the man. "Hey-" Seemed like it was a bad idea as the guy was currently clawing at his own face, screaming out loud. Takemichi's eyes widen, panic surging into himself as he realized the scream would definitely attract a lot of unwanted attention.

"I-I'm not going to hurt you!" Takemichi frantically waved his arms around, obviously panicking. "Please calm do-"

Takemichi cut his own words, his eyes widened more if possible as he heard thundering footsteps heading to where they were at. How many times already that the undead were coming for him? His panic grew more as the man abruptly got up and ran to the hallway while screaming, to where the many undead were gathering.

Fast on his feet, Takemichi followed the man outside, trying to help him but he was too late. Again. The man already got devoured by the undead. His screaming was nowhere to be heard anymore. The overwhelming smell of iron once again lingered in the atmosphere.

Blood draining from his face, Takemichi felt like crying and vomiting as he saw the man get ripped out in front of his eyes. The scenes would never get old no matter how much he has already seen them. However, he steeled himself, looking around as he searched for any possible escape route. He couldn't stay long as it could be his turn next if he didn't take any action anytime soon.

Turning around on his heel, he ran along the hallway, the way where not many undead gathered. Takemichi picked up his speed, cursing when he saw multiple undead coming out of the rooms. They looked mostly like the patients of the hospital.

He ran and ran, not forgetting to look around him as if it was possible for something to be any of use to him. It was not a useless thing to do as he saw the emergency stair on his right from the corner of his eyes. Heading for the doorknob, he dreaded when he pushed the door once. He also tried to pull but the same thing happened.

The door was not opening.

...

Sigh

...

As if Takemichi would let his chance slip away like this.

Putting his strength in his arms more, he pushed the door again, and again. The second time he pushed, fortunately, the door opened. He winced inwardly when he saw the state of the door. Welp, it was okay if no one found out, right? Let's just hope no one would find out.

Right. For now, let's focus on escaping first.

Takemichi didn't even attempt to close the door as he knew that it would be futile. Instead, he immediately ran down the stairs, skipping some steps to save time. He could hear the footsteps that were following him close behind.

Increasing his speed, Takemichi ran all the way to the first floor. The most dangerous floor in the building. He sighed in relief as he got to open the door successfully without any difficulty this time. Although, he couldn't let his guard down.

As he pushed open the door, he didn't even bother to look around as he stepped onto the doorknob and jumped up to the top of the door. Although, as he landed on top, he stumbled a little as the door was thin enough to make him lose his balance. Not to mention it swayed a lot. Fortunately, he had a pretty good amount of experience with standing on a moving surface. One more point for how heavy the door was.

Taking a deep breath and exhaled, takemichi observed around him with a great focus. It was definitely a good idea to get up there since the first floor was filled with the undead to the brim. If he was to decide to charge through the door without thinking, he would be ripped to shreds within a second.

No route. Not a single route for him to take.

The first floor of the building was already overtaken by the undead. It was obvious even without seeing it with his eyes as the place was quite crowded even before the apocalypse.

No. The thing was, how should he get out of there alive?

Rubbing his temples, Takemichi scrunched up his face as an incoming headache. He used his head too much with little sleep. He should expect it. No, he expected it but couldn't it pick a better time to show up? He had a life to save. Right, it was probably also caused by the amount of blood he was losing, but we were not going to talk about it.

As he looked up as if to ease up his headache, that was when he saw a perfect escape route. A vent. Moving carefully, Takemichi took off his backpack and rummaged around through the backpack. When he got the thing he needed, he carefully stood up on the swaying door and pointed the tip of the screwdriver to the screws that were connecting the grille to the vent.

Getting careless with his footing, he misstepped causing him to fall. However, thanks to his quick reflex, one of his hands managed to get ahold of the grille, gripping it tightly. The sudden movement made his injuries hurt tenfold. The blood started to drip down more than earlier.

Wincing, Takemichi pulled himself up as he tried to remove the grille as soon as possible. He repositioned his hands to hold the edge of the vent instead of the grille when he removed the second screw, so he wouldn't fall. Not long after, he was on the last screw. The moment the last screw was removed, the grille fell. Takemichi watched it fall in slow motion as his eyes widen, realizing that the noise it would make totally would attract the undead.

It was not wrong. As it fell, all of the attention went to where he was hanging.

Eyes widening, he could feel the sweat rolling down his nape. Holding on to the edge of the vent tightly, he used his remaining strength to lift himself up with a great struggle. When he got in the vent, he rolled around to lay on his back. His face twisted to one of pain.

The knife was still stuck to his abdomen. He couldn't pull it out yet as he didn't want to bleed out. He couldn't deny that not removing the knife was pretty effective to block the blood from flowing out profusely. However, the amount of pain he had been feeling from the start was unexplainable. The knife obviously grazed his insides more than earlier by that point.

Now, in order for him to crawl through the vent, he needed to remove the knife.

Gripping the knife handle, he took a deep breath before he pulled out the knife swiftly. The pain was so extreme that Takemichi felt like screaming but he couldn't. Not when he still needed to escape. Tears already sprung up, flowing down his cheeks. It hurts. It just hurts so much for his teen body with his still soft skin.

Tossing the knife outside through the vent, Takemichi took off his outer shirt. He wrapped the shirt tightly around his torso, tight enough to avoid him from death caused to blood loss. Once the fabric tightly secured his injury as well as it could, Takemichi lay on his stomach before he started crawling through the vent. Luckily the vent was big enough for him to crawl in it.

Finding the way out without knowing where he was heading was tough. All Takemichi could do was rely on his instinct. Not to brag but he sure was quite confident in his survival instinct.

Not after long, fortunately, he found the way out. The vent stopped at the back of the building. The smell of the air outside was obviously better than the one in the vent. Getting out of the vent carefully, he looked at his injury and saw that his outer shirt was soaked with his blood.

Any trace of blood colour on his skin was difficult to spot. The lack of iron in his body made his face pale, lips dried and smudged with dried blood. His breathing was getting haggard, making it difficult for him every time to inhale or exhale.

When he tried to take a deep breath, instant regret immediately swallowed him. He was getting choked on the blood that was stuck in his oesophagus. Coughing out blood, a scream threatened to come out as the coughs definitely increased his pain.

Wiping the blood off of his mouth, Takemichi shut his eyes tight before opening them again only to get rid of the black spot in his vision. He couldn't pass out here. Not yet. He couldn't.

Standing as straight as possible, Takemichi started to make his way back to the house. Even limping, Takemichi tried his best to not make any sound. He was injured so he didn't think he would be able to fight or shake the undead off if they ever came for him.

Every heavy step he made, not once did the image of the lying sick Mana leave his mind. Also, the moment when Mana took her last breath was still fresh in his mind.

'Wait for Take-nii, Mana-chan '

He was so focused on surviving, on going back alive to notice a burning stare on the back of his head. He didn't notice two figures were watching him from afar at the top of one of the tall buildings.

"Wow, he survived," The taller one among the two said while chuckling, amused and impressed. "He's tough. I thought he was stupid to go to the place like that"

The other one simply silently looked at the limping ravenette with unreadable eyes. He stared at Takemichi for a while until he clicked his tongue on his teeth. Turning around, he urged the other to follow him.

'Hanagaki Takemichi'

The moment the others heard the entrance door slam shut, they scrambled to their feet to see what was going on. Only to be greeted by a distressed Mitsuya who was ruffling his own hair roughly.

"What happened?" Hakkai asked his former captain. Looking around, he noticed he didn't see someone he thought was with Mitsuya earlier. "Where's Takemitchy?"

Hearing the question he didn't want to hear the most at the moment, Mitsuya sighed loudly, clearly distressed. The others were quite put off by the fact that Mitsuya seemed so distressed when he was one of the people who were the calmest among them.

"Just continue your training, Takemichi's order," Mitsuya said exactly as Takemichi asked him to. He was about to walk away to go to Mana however his shirt collar was grabbed once again. He was irritated at this point.

"Where is he?!" Mikey, who was holding the shirt collar tightly, shouted in concern.

Mitsuya understood the concern but he was already not in a good mood. Takemichi was out there risking his life for his sister while he was in this house and couldn't do anything to help him. The whole thing just now made his mood worsen.

"Can you please let go?" Mitsuya bit the snarl back, not wanting it to be obvious in his tone. Yanking his shirt back, he was about to walk away once again when someone grabbed his shoulder. Thankfully gently this time.

"We just want to know where he is," Draken asked, adding "please" after a second passed.

Mitsuya glared at the hand on his shoulder before he looked up as if asking for a little piece of patience for himself. He shut his eyes tight before taking a deep breath and exhaling them loudly.

"He's out. That's all I can say. Now, please, I need to go to Mana or Takemitchy will be mad at me"

Mitsuya just stormed out of there, climbing up the stairs hurriedly, leaving the others staring at his back blankly.

The others watched as Mitsuya ascended the stairs before looking at each other. That was all before they were all panicking about Takemichi's absence.

"Why is he going out alone?!"

"Where is he going?!"

"HE IS ALONE?!"

Multiple shouts of panic were resounding within the house. Before anyone would be able to go out of the house for them to search for Takemichi, a voice stopped them.

"I wouldn't search for him if I were you," Sanzu said, leaning on the door frame that was connected to their training room. He was there, looking at them with disinterested eyes along with worried-looking Hinata, Emma, Naoto, Atsushi and Takuya.

"If it were us, we didn't dare to go against Takemichi's words," Atsushi said, rubbing his nape while chuckling nervously. The others with him were nodding in agreement.

"Right, just listen or else," All of their eyes turned to the lavender-haired boy who was descending the stairs, looking at them tiredly. "Takemitchy would be sooooooooooooooo mad"

Mitsuya dragged the word out longer to make his point before disappearing behind the wall that was connected to the kitchen. Not so long, they saw him come out with a glass of water and climbed the stairs again right away.

There was silence spreading in the room, each of the individuals was lost in their thought. They couldn't deny it. No matter how adorable Takemichi was, he was scary when he was mad. Of course, absolutely, they didn't want to get on his bad side. Although, who was fool enough to get on their saviour's bad side?

Subsequently, they spent their time continuing their training just as usual. Regardless, they often got distracted. They were so lost in their thoughts that they often made the same mistakes over and over again. If Takemichi was with them, they would get penalties a lot.

An hour turned into two. Then, turned into three. In the end, they didn't know how much time had passed when someone lose it.

"WHY IS HE NOT COMING BACK YET?!" Baji ferally screamed out, ruffling his own hair violently. His scream was absolutely becoming the trigger for the chaos.

Everyone was pacing back and forth, arguing with each other. "Why is he not back yet? Is he okay? Where is he? Does he have injuries? Where is he right now? Where?" Anyone who saw the panicking Chifuyu would get tired, seeing the amount of pacing around he did, panicking.

"...would you all please calm down?" Mitsuya sighed tiredly, sitting beside a calm Draken. Both of them might look calm but they knew how much they were panicking internally. The absence of Takemichi really did take a toll on everyone, especially Mitsuya.

"We wouldn't be here panicking if you didn't stop us from going after him!" Mikey, Baji and a few others glared at Mitsuya.

Mitsuya returned the glare with his own, snarling "And get me in the trouble with Takemitchy? No. If you are sure that Takemitchy would only be mad at you, then go. Otherwise, no" Mitsuya put his thumb and pointer finger on each side of his temples, rubbing them as if to get rid of the headaches. "If we go out there, we would only be a burden to Takemitchy. Do you think it was easy to survive while making sure we are safe? Be glad Takemichi was kind enough to take us with him. Don't make him regret the decision and sit still"

Everyone got their mouth shut as Mitsuya was scolding them. A burden? They were livid when they heard it but they obviously couldn't deny it. What do they know about surviving when Takemichi's training alone they couldn't handle well? If they went out there, it would be risky for everyone. A lot.

Sanzu, Hinata, Naoto, Emma, Atsushi and Takuya were sitting far from the group. They were worried. The ones who came to Takemichi's house early were worried for Takemichi since Takemichi never took this long if he ever went outside. Nevertheless, each one of them still believed in Takemichi and believed that he would be back in their arms soon enough.

The silence was heavy. No one dared to say anything until a voice chimed from the entrance after a clicking sound echoed. A voice they have been eager to hear.

"W-what's with the atmosphere?"

Notes:

As promised! I update at least once before my exam next week! Hope you enjoy this chapter. There are too many loopholes in this chapter because it was too rushed, but I probably will rewrite this one day.

How is this chapter? It was longer than other chapters. 8000 words

Thanks a lot for reading!

Chapter 11

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"W-what's with the atmosphere?"

Recognizing the voice, they all turned to the entrance door. Their eyes brightened when they saw Takemichi standing there, leaning on the wall.

No one spoke a word as they saw Takemichi panting so much while clutching his bag strip with one hand while the other was clutching his torso tightly.

Hinata was the first one to notice that something was wrong with Takemichi. She let her eyes roam Takemichi's figure when she saw his torso was wrapped with his red shirt. Looking at Takemichi's feet, Hinata came to a horrible realisation. No, It was, in fact, not a red shirt. It was a shirt coated with blood.

"Takemichi!" Running to him, she cried out Takemichi's name with her alarmed voice which gained others' attention as well. They were confused until they saw the blood that was dripping on the floor.

The blood drained from each of their faces.

Mitsuya quickly ran to Takemichi, eyes wide. He reached him exactly as Takemichi slumped forward. The lavender-haired successfully caught the ravenette in his arms. The former looked down at the latter concerned while the latter looked up with a soft smile. Taking off his bag, Takemichi handed it out to the oldest Mitsuya which made Mitsuya's breath hitched at the sight of the bloodied backpack.

"T-the medicine," Takemichi still managed to give Mitsuya his bright smile, even if it was bloodied. "I've got it"

Mitsuya disregarded what Takemichi said, instead he brought Takemichi to the couch. Leading him to it Takemichi didn't want to be lifted. Once Takemichi leaned his weight onto the couch, Takemichi gave Mitsuya a grateful smile before turning to Hinata.

"F-first aid p-please, Hina-chan"

Eyes widening, Hinata nodded before sprinting toward the bathroom. Everyone was crowding Takemichi, talking at the same time. They talked his ears off. They were concerned and Takemichi knew that but the talking made Takemichi hurt his head more.

"Back off, can't you see he needed space," Draken said, pulling one after another to be a little far from Takemichi. "Let the guy take a breather"

Takemichi sent him a thankful smile, even if bloodied before Hinata came to him with the first aid box. She wanted to help him but Takemichi gently hold her hand to stop her, shaking his head slightly. He winced when the movement made his head sting a bit.

"N-no, i-it's okay"

"Let me help you" Hinata stubbornly said, looking at the paled Takemichi pleadingly.

Offering no words, instead, Takemichi smiled softly and took the box from Hinata. Mitsuya couldn't have any of that. Holding the box too, Mitsuya looked into Takemichi's gentle ocean eyes and said,

"Let us help please"

Takemichi stopped in his movement, staring deep into Mitsuya's lavender eyes. He was staring as if he was searching for something and Mitsuya didn't know what it was. After a little while of staring, Takemichi sighed, letting go of the first aid box slowly.

"I-if you can, s-sure"

Mitsuya was confused but he brightened when Takemichi permitted him to help.

Everyone's eyes locked onto Takemichi as he removed the fabric around his torso. Their eyes widened more at the sight once Takemichi removed the shirt that he wore.

"T-takemichi..."

The wound looked so deep that the blood smudged everywhere on his abdomen. The look alone was gore. They couldn't imagine how deep the wound actually was. No one in here should know how to treat a wound that deep. They might be in a gang but each of them never got an injury like that.

Takemichi looked around him, noticing the shocked look everyone gave him. He chuckled weakly, reaching for the first aid within the stunned Mitsuya's hand.

"I told you, i-it's okay. I-it was only a knife wound"

'Only' All of them thought. In the first place, how did he get the knife wound?

Everyone was holding their breath as they watched Takemichi open the first aid box and spread out the items he needed beside him. No one dared to say anything when Takemichi seemed so focused, not wanting to interrupt his concentration. The needle in his hand looked weird.

After preparing everything he needed including the needle and the thread, Takemichi cleaned the blood around the wound to see the wound clearly. Once he got a clear picture of the injury, Takemichi pushed the needle through the skin at a ninety-degree angle about a centimetre to the right of the wound. When he had gone deep enough, he twisted his hand clockwise so that the needle started coming up on the other side of the wound. He repeated the same process until he sutured his wound perfectly.

Everyone looked at Takemichi's hand in awe and horror. Takemichi's hands moved like a professional as if he used to do this thing millions of times already. They dreaded the fact that Takemichi was younger than most of them but still skilled in suturing his own wound.

Their eyes were not leaving Takemichi even once. They watched as Takemichi took a bandage and wrapped them around his torso skillfully without any difficulty. Except for the fact that his hands were trembling since the start. All of them released a breath that they didn't notice they were holding once Takemichi finished suturing his knife wound. All of the processes screamed perfection.

In the end, Takemichi did it all by himself. Not like it was his first time.

They all noticed how Takemichi's eyes were threatening to fall, getting heavy from exhaustion.

"You can rest Takemichi-san" Naoto appeared behind the couch, looking down at the tired Takemichi.

Takemichi smiled at him softly, reaching his hand up. His hand caressed the younger cheek gently.

"... I clearly will. Good night..."

Not even a second passed, Takemichi's eyes already fluttered shut, his hand back to his side. His breathing was getting stable.

Everyone watched him fall asleep, no one said anything to not disturb the young ravenette. Sanzu walked away from there silently to enter the bathroom. Not long after, he came back with a bowl filled with warm water and a towel.

Sanzu came back, seeing Smiley and Angry repositioning Takemichi to be in a more comfortable pose to sleep. Nodding gratefully to them both, Sanzu kneeled beside the unconscious figure and dip the towel into the warm water. Squeezing the towel, he removed the excess water before wiping the dried blood from Takemichi's face and body.

"Go away, go away," Emma shooed the others out of the living room. "Let him rest and we will take care of him"

She was getting a lot of complaints, especially from his brother. Simply with a glare, she successfully shooed them out of the living room, leaving Sanzu, Hina, Emma, and Naoto with Takemichi. Emma high-fived Hinata once she approached her. Hinata giggled at her friend's antic before going to search for a blanket and Takemichi's shirt before coming back with them.

Once Sanzu was done wiping the dried blood off of Takemichi, he took the shirt and help the unconscious Takemichi to wear it. He couldn't do it alone so Naoto helped him. Once they have done, Sanzu took the blanket from Hinata and nodded thankfully before gently lying the blanket on top of Takemichi, gaining a cute little smile from a sleeping Takemichi. Not to mention, he mumbled cutely in his sleep too.

He must be having a good dream. The witnesses thought, smiling slightly.

Unbeknownst to any of them, Takemichi was stuck.

.

.

.

Turning his head to every corner, Takemichi found himself in a place that was too dark. Too dark that he couldn't see anything, even his own hands or any part of his body. The darkness almost drove him insane, making him chuckle in disbelief.

"Hello?"

He tried calling out to anyone. Anyone. Just anyone. But his voice sounded like it was only in his head no matter how loud he spoke or scream. This made him scared and trembling.

"Anyone? Please"

Takemichi frantically looked around panicking. He never coped well with darkness and this kind of darkness terrified him greatly. He searched, searched for any sign of anything. Anything even if it were a living being or not. No matter what.

After what felt like an eternity, Takemichi saw a source of light from the corner of his eyes. He made a run to it in hope of seeing anyone or anything at all. Although, as he was approaching the light, something was grabbing his shirt collar from the back, yanking him. Falling onto his butt, Takemichi immediately put his guard up, looking for a potential threat.

As he didn't see anything, he kept looking around, sharpening all of his senses to see if there was any presence other than him. He was weirded out as he couldn't sense anything near him. Suddenly Takemichi was kicked out of his thought as a pair of hands was grabbing him by the neck, choking him.

There, in front of him with a close gap was himself. Not exactly him, accurately, it was him from his past life, seeming enraged. Blood was everywhere on him. Eyes that once shone like an ocean were now bloody red.

Clawing at the hands that were still choking him, Takemichi's eyes became narrower as he felt like he almost ran out of oxygen. He opened his mouth to yell but no sound came out.

"You failed!" His past self cried out, blood flowing out of his eyes.

Takemichi didn't know what to say to that. He knew that. He certainly didn't need others to point it out especially himself from his past life.

"S-shut up" Pressing his nails on the flesh, Takemichi managed to spit out the words.

Although, as he said that, his past self went quiet, staring at him blankly as the blood still flowed out of his eyes. Takemichi felt uneasy by the blank eyes directed at him. Before he could say anything, his past self threw him away causing him to land on his back. The fall made him gasp for air that was knocked out of his lungs.

Using his hand to support himself, he tried to lift himself up even shakily. Takemichi looked around him but the surroundings returned to all pitch black. Standing up on his feet, he stepped back a little by little but his back bumped into something firm. The structure didn't feel like a wall so he turned around.

Eyes widening, Takemichi choked out a sob as his eyes locked onto the bloody figures in front of him. The figures were walking to him, eyes dead but still looking straight at him.

"G-guys?" Takemichi took a step back as the figures took a step forward. "P-partner? Hina-chan? A-akkun? T-taku-chan?" The figures that were walking toward him were his friends that were present in his past life. There were two other figures that made Takemichi forget how to breathe for a moment.

They continued to walk toward him while yelling something incoherent. Takemichi couldn't hear what they spoke of clearly. The sounds hurt his ears. Cupping his ears to try to block the noises, he took more steps back with his eyes blown wide.

As he took steps back, his legs got stopped by something or rather someone causing him to fall backwards. Wincing, Takemichi looked up when he saw the person he spent days and nights in his house before it all went to hell in his past.

"M-Mana-chan?" Takemichi whispered in disbelief, eyes wide as his tears were finally streaming down his face.

"Take-nii, you failed," The past Mana said, her eyes also looking dead. "I, We, are dead. You're not. Why?"

Takemichi himself didn't know the answer to that. He was sure he was dead but in the end, he was alive. How could he know why? The noises from his past friends mixed together. The noises were hurting his ears so bad that Takemichi felt like ripping his ears and head off.

"S-stop it" Takemichi choked out the words as he couldn't stand it anymore. The words they spoke of might be incoherent but he could hear some things he wouldn't want to hear had been whispered to his ears. He didn't want to hear it from his friends' mouths. Each word made it feel like his ears bleed.

"STOP!"

.

.

.

Takemichi woke up with a violent gasp, panting for air profusely.

"T-takemichi-kun?"

Turning to the voice, Takemichi could see Hinata, Sanzu, Emma, and Naoto were looking at him worriedly.

Meanwhile, the people mentioned were flinching badly once Takemichi's eyes were set on them. Takemichi's eyes were looking hysterical, promising pain to someone who had done him wrong. As they saw Takemichi's eyes blinking rapidly was when they released a breath they didn't know they were holding. The blinking made the looks in his eyes gone, thankfully.

Their relief breath was cut short once Takemichi got up abruptly and grabbed Hinata by her shoulders. They waited with bated breath as Takemichi was caressing Hinata's cheeks with worry in his eyes.

Once Takemichi was sure that Hinata was indeed okay, he sprinted out of the room he was currently in, ignoring the calling of his name. Once he opened the door, he was greeted by the wide-eyed Mikey and Draken who were planning to knock on the door. Without sparing them a single glance, he ran out toward the stairs, passing the others all the while.

Climbing the stairs, he couldn't care less as he kept tripping on his own foot. Once he stood in front of the closed door of his bedroom, he straightened up himself, putting his hand on the doorknob. Taking a deep breath, Takemichi pushed open the door. Unintentionally harshly.

Mitsuya, who was sitting beside an unconscious Mana along with Luna, looked at him, eyes widened as he saw his dishevelled self.

Takemichi staggered to his feet, walking toward the unconscious Mana hesitantly. While Mitsuya stepped out of the way as he knew he shouldn't get in Takemichi's way when he was in that state, pulling Luna with him. Once Takemichi was beside Mana, he fell to his knees while the tears streamed down his face. He sobbed as quiet as possible, gripping his pants.

Mitsuya, Luna and the others who were outside of the room looked at Takemichi concerned. They didn't know what they should do, It was their first time seeing Takemichi cry. For the people who went to the same school as him, it was their first time seeing Takemichi look that broken. Sad was not a common emotion Takemichi ever show them.

Stirring awake from a tear that dropped onto her hand, Mana fluttered her eyes open. Her sleepiness slipped to oblivion when he saw the tears flowing down Takemichi's face. The person she cherished.

"Take-nii?" Mana hurriedly got up from her lying position. She tried to wipe down the tears but she was taken aback when she got pulled into the warm embrace of Takemichi instead.

Takemichi kept saying sorry over and over again but she didn't know what it was for. She was alive thanks to him and Mana knew that. There was nothing for the ravenette to be sorry for. If anything, she should be the one who should say thank you for saving her and sorry for being a burden. Not knowing what she should do, she hugged the boy back, rubbing his back comfortingly.

The hand on his back felt warm, not cold. It was not cold as how that time. It was warm and the warmth that was registered made Takemichi's tears double. He still couldn't believe he got a second chance to meet her. It was all unbelievable.

As Mana was rubbing Takemichi's back, she couldn't help but felt like the sleepiness was coming to get her once again. The warmth that came from Takemichi was making her feel safe and comfortable. Not after long, her hand that was patting Takemichi's back became slack and her eyes fluttered shut with calm breathing.

Takemichi's tears had already stopped while Mana was rubbing his back comfortingly at one time. Still, he didn't want to let go yet. That was all he could do to ease his dark thought about his nightmare earlier. When he felt the figure in his arms get heavier, he knew his Little princess had fallen asleep. Caressing her head, Takemichi wiped his eyes dry with his hand.

The others, who were standing outside of the closed door that was closed by Mitsuya when Takemichi and Mana were having their session, were still waiting for Takemichi outside. They didn't have the gut to leave Takemichi alone after what they had witnessed. They didn't feel that Takemichi wanted to be alone at the moment. Even if Mana was already there.

They all perked up when the door was opened and there stood Takemichi with a soft smile.

"Does she take her medicine already?" No matter how tired Takemichi looked, his voice never lost its warmth.

"She took it when you were asleep. Don't worry. Her fever had gradually declined" Putting his hand on his hip, Mitsuya smiled softly.

"I'm glad" The relief and warm looks on Takemichi's face put a smile of their own on their faces. "How long was I out?"

The others looked at each other unsure before Hinata spoke up.

"B-barely an hour," Hinata said worriedly, fidgetting with her fingers behind her back.

Takemichi hummed in acknowledgement. "That's plenty than usual" That took all of the others off-guard. An hour? Plenty? Those two words shouldn't be together at all.

"But it is not-" Chifuyu tried to protest that an hour was, in fact, not enough. Despite that, he cut himself off when Takemichi turned to him with a soft, sweet smile, eyes gentle as usual.

"It is enough. I-" Takemichi couldn't finish his sentence when his eyes blew wide, getting goosebumps. He abruptly looked at one of the taped windows, putting his guard up.

It was here.

Turning to the others as calm as possible, he said in the firmest and the most strict voice he got,

"Code four! Now!"

Notes:

To those who read before I changed the code, I'm sorry! I changed it to four! I just checked the outline once again :'((

I'm trying to update my other books too.

As you can see, all of my books including this one are fiction ;))

Thanks a lot for reading :))

3

Chapter 12: Chapter XII

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Code four! Now!"

Hearing the number, everyone's eyes widen. Without saying anything, they nodded and all of them took the bags they packed with some things they needed, before leaping through the window to the rooftop of the next house. Because of how tall Takemichi's house was, the way to the next rooftop from the window was easier. Draken hoisted Luna up on his back as he was the biggest among them as well as the strongest besides Mikey and Takemichi.

Mikey was small so Takemichi couldn't count on him in that part no matter how strong he was. There was a whisper telling him to not leave a child in Mikey's hands too.

Entering Takemichi's bedroom for the last time, Mitsuya hurriedly headed to his unconscious sister. Seeing as Mitsuya was pretty used to Mana's weight, he easily lifted Mana up. He could immediately feel the heat coming from her. She was tiny so it was easy to move around with her on his back. he was not sure if it was because she lost weight or he gradually became stronger. He was sure Takemichi's training played a big part in his growth. Nonetheless, he still struggled to hold Mana in place as he begin to move.

Seeing the struggle Mitsuya had to hold Mana in place, Takemichi took a long fabric before he ran toward Mitsuya, tying Mana to Mitsuya with the fabric he got. He made sure the way he tied them together was comfortable for both of them but tight enough for the knot to not come undone.

"There, now there was no need to worry she will fall"

Smiling gratefully, Mitsuya pat Takemichi's head before making his move just as Takemichi instructed them back in their training days.

Each of them took action while keeping their mouth shut, remembering the lessons they had to learn from Takemichi during those hellish training days. They knew what they should do already as Takemichi taught them what they need in order to survive.

For example, 'code four'. A code that no one among them ever used before. Despite that, Takemichi made the code the signal for it.

It. The wave.

Takemichi lived those twelve years in the past not just by surviving blindly. By moving from base to base, Takemichi could feel when it was the wave would come. That was one of the many advantages Takemichi was glad he picked up from his past life. One of his specialities.

They still felt goosebumps and shivers running down their spines every time they remembered the moment they discovered the code.

.

"So, how do we know when the wave will come?" Chifuyu raised his hand before he asked the question like the good student he was.

Takemichi smiled proudly, pointing at Chifuyu with his pen before saying, "Good question, partner"

The others were observing from afar, paying attention to each word Takemichi said. They were currently in daily meetings. Not just any meeting but the meeting where Takemichi would teach them some things they needed to know. Some were sitting on the couch, some were lying on the floor and others were leaning on the wall.

"That was the thing, no one knows," Takemichi said, crossing his arms on his chest. The others, including Chifuyu , were staring at him in shock. Before anyone could say anything, Takemichi added, "but I know"

"How?!" Mikey was staring at Takemichi wide-eyed, hard to believe.

Takemichi, not sure how to explain it, was biting the edge of his pen. Frown latched on his expression. Still not knowing how to explain it to them even after all those thinking, Takemichi sighed, looking at them with a soft smile.

"I don't know how to explain it" They all watched Takemichi in anticipation, knowing that Takemichi would have another thing to say. "However, I need all of your cooperation. When I say the code, everyone took the actions we discussed yesterday. You still remembered what you should do, right? We don't do those training for nothing"

Nodding, t hey glanced at each other confused before turning to Takemichi once again.

"What's the code?"

"Four"

At the answer they got, all of them looked at Takemichi puzzled. They couldn't apprehend the reason why out of all the numbers, Takemichi picked four. Mikey was the one who voiced out all of their thought.

"Why four exactly?"

Takemichi didn't answer right away. Instead, he smiled cutely before shrugging both of his shoulders.

"Because many consider the number to be unlucky"

They thought it was all to it. However, before they could ask more, Takemichi added, "at least for east Asians like us, Japan or China, Korea, and Taiwan"

"Why?" asked Hakkai .

Hearing the question, Takemichi turned to Hakkai, staring straight into his eyes. Everyone including Hakkai flinched a little when they saw Takemichi's eyes become cold with a little empty smile on his lips. The look made their skins crawl underneath their own skin.

"Because the number four is nearly homophonous to the word "death" and most of those who got tangled with the wave are dead"

.

Shivering, all of them didn't think the look on Takemichi at that time would leave their mind anytime soon. They continued to leap from rooftop to rooftop, careful to not make any mistakes until they arrived at the empty street where Takemichi had parked the truck the day before.

Parkour. A skill that almost killed them while they learn.

Meanwhile, Takemichi nodded approvingly once he saw the others all moved without his instruction. That meant all of them still remembered what he said. That was good. Easy for him.

Running back into the room, Takemichi went to take his backpack, slinging it to his back. Taking the archery stuff he got from his grandfather from the corner of his bed, Takemichi tied the bow to his bag along with a bag of arrows before he ran to the window. Not forgetting to slip on his spare shoes on the way. Using his strength, Takemichi climbed up to his house rooftop easily.

When he successfully landed on the rooftop, Takemichi scanned the surroundings while taking out the bow and an arrow. Looking down the rooftop, he could see massive amounts of the undead surrounding his house and the neighbourhood. If he told anyone that this neighbourhood was empty an hour before, no one would believe him, seeing the horde.

Pointing the arrow at the horde, Takemichi squinted one of his eyes while searching for his target. In the middle of the horde, far from his location, there stood a unique-looking undead. With one look, anyone would know that the undead was different. Rather, Takemichi knew it too well. Takemichi knew that that specific undead was fast, high sensitivity too.

Pulling the string and the arrow, Takemichi pointed the bow and arrow toward his target. He took a deep breath to steady his shaky hands. As long as he held a good amount of distance between him and the special undead, the undead wouldn't be able to sense him.

However, as he was ready to launch the arrow, he was caught off-guard when its head turned to him, directly making eye contact with him. It caused him to let go of the strings abruptly. Thanks to his luck or whatever it was, the arrow hit the target exactly on its head, killing it in an instant. Luck was also a skill in a situation like this.

He took a shaky deep breath to calm his heart, also releasing them shakily. He really hate it when those scary eyes were directed at him. Especially when the very species that owned that kind of eyes already killed a lot of people he knew.

Now that the main threat was gone, the wave would not be too aggressive. The other undead would be lost without their leader. Unfortunately, this huge amount of undead would stay in this neighbourhood, causing them to be unable to live here starting now.

Tying the bow on his bag, Takemichi tied his shoelaces securely before standing up straight. His eyes reflected his determination while looking at the undead walking aimlessly. Making a little jump repeatedly to warm his body up, Takemichi took off running to get the momentum in order to leap from rooftop to rooftop. This was something he often do with his companies back in his past life, so it was easier now as his body right now was young compared to when he first learned how to jump from roof to roof. Parkour played a big part in the process, he couldn't deny it. That was why he put parkour in the others' lesson.

He didn't see anyone while running and jumping. He just hoped that every single one of them who took off before him followed what they had discussed. He didn't plan on leaving any of them behind even if he just met them, especially after every effort he spent to teach them what he knew as much as he could. Well, not as much as he knew but enough to keep themselves alive.

Lost in his thought, Takemichi yelped as he misstepped and he almost fell. Almost. Fortunately, his young body has the most reflex and stability compared to his future ageing body. Sighing in relief, he was about to continue his journey before the movement from the corner of his eyes made him stop in his track.

The movement was coming from a dark alleyway, just below him. Peering down, his eyes widen when he saw three undead approaching a figure he recognized so well.

Without hesitation, he jumped down. He jumped exactly on the two undead that was closest to the unaware figure. Taking out two knives he kept on his pants strip, Takemichi stabbed both of the undead in the head, effectively taking them out. Crouching while extending his leg and swing, he tripped the other one until it fell face first on the pavement.

Before it could get up, Takemichi took the other presence's hand, running out of the alleyway without any sound. He winced when the other with him barely got to conceal the sound of his footsteps. Not wanting to endanger himself and the other, Takemichi hoisted the other up in bridal style. He continued to run, ignoring the way the other's eyes widen, face reddening. Takemichi kept his hold on the other even if the other's body kept pressing onto his wound, making him want to shout in pain.

Now that he could run without worry about attracting any attention to them, Takemichi ran as fast as he could while his hold on the other figure was secured.

He ran and ran, slipping past those lingering undead carefully and skillfully until he was out of the neighbourhood and the undead was starting to be less. Although, he was not stopping. His speed didn't decrease as he continued to run until the others and the truck entered his sight.

The others who were seemingly anxious about something, looked at Takemichi wide-eyed, mouths hanging open. They just seemed so shocked and lost for words.

However, Takemichi didn't pay them any mind. Putting the other on his own feet, Takemichi stared at the other blankly. A hint of anger was expressed well with his blue ocean eyes.

The receiving end of his glare was looking down, fidgeting with his fingers as he didn't dare to look at Takemichi. Before he could say anything, his shirt collar was grabbed by Takemichi, shocking him and the others who witnessed the ordeal. A few like Emma, Hinata, Mitsuya and Angry tried to pull Takemichi away but Takemichi was too strong.

"What do you think you're doing and not following the instruction?" Takemichi said blankly but his tone was lacing with anger.

"Do you really want to die that badly, Chifuyu?"

Chifuyu looked into Takemichi's eyes, eyes wide. "I-... I-"

"What?!" Takemichi whisper-yelled. His tone might sound harsh but no one could deny the concern in his eyes. Although, no one noticed when Takemichi winced in pain as the whisper-yell hurt the wound on his abdomen.

Chifuyu shut his mouth, eyes trembling. Slowly prying away Takemichi's hands from him, Chifuyu opened his jacket, revealing a black cat. The cat was staring at Takemichi, looking at him as if the cat recognized him.

The moment Takemichi saw the cat, his eyes widened. "... Peke J..."

.

.

.

Strolling toward the balcony with two mugs, Takemichi found Chifuyu staring at the moon. Approaching Chifuyu gently, Takemichi walked to Chifuyu's side, handing him one of the mugs.

"Hm? What's this?" Chifuyu took the mug from Takemichi gently. He put both of his palms on the mug, relishing the warmth coming from the mug.

"Hot chocolate," Takemichi paused as he took a sip from the mug. "I found some in this house"

Chifuyu hummed, also taking a sip of the hot chocolate. It had been so long since they ever drink something nice and warm.

"What's on your mind? Care to share with the big ol' Takemichi?" Takemichi said with a soft smile, eyes on the moon. He didn't even bother to look at Chifuyu as the latter chuckled.

"Just remembering my cat," Chifuyu said with his soft smile, twirling his drink in his mug.

Hearing that, Takemichi turned to look at Chifuyu, looking surprised and not surprised at the same time. "You have a cat?"

Chifuyu tilted his head upward, looking proud. "Of course, I'm a cat's dad. Oh, wait-" Chifuyu ran into the house leaving Takemichi alone on the balcony. Before long, Chifuyu came back with his phone in his hand.

Takemichi watched patiently as Chifuyu fondled his phone. The phone looked old and there were some unremovable blood stains. Even if they couldn't use the phone anymore, they still brought their phones with them to look at the remaining memories in their phones.

Although, the memories in the phone might not be able to be seen anymore seeing as the electricity was hard to find as the days went by.

Chifuyu brightened when he found something he was looking for. Shoving the phone in front of Takemichi's face, Chifuyu smiled brightly. "Look at him!"

Takemichi took a little step back to take a better look at the phone. he saw the pure black cat, looking straight into the camera. The fur looked well taken care of and he knew exactly how much Chifuyu cherished his cat.

"He's beautiful. Who is this little guy?"

"My cat. The last time I saw him was when the day the zombies surrounded me and my friends at the gang's meeting" Chifuyu moved the phone toward himself, smiling fondly as he saw the picture of the black cat.

"He's Peke J"

.

.

.

"I- I did what you told me to! I did! But- but I saw Peke J in that alley. I can't just leave him. I-... I'm sorry-"

With his pupils trembling, Chifuyu tried to reason with Takemichi but he barely got to say anything when he felt a weight on his right shoulder.

Takemichi put his forehead on Chifuyu's shoulder, closing his eyes tightly. He put his hand on his bandaged wound, trying to soothe the throbbing pain. "... I'm glad you're okay..." Moving his hand to the back of Chifuyu's head, Takemichi gently caressed the undercut blonde's hair, trying to say that it was okay.

After parting from each other, they smiled at each other before a voice interrupted them. "Oh, Peke J!" There, stood Baji who was staring at the black cat with his shining eyes, smiling wide while pointing at the cat in Chifuyu's arms.

Both Takemichi and Chifuyu chuckled along with the others. Baji sometimes really couldn't read the room.

Turning to look back at Takemichi, Chifuyu looked at him questioningly. He hesitantly asked, "How did you know Peke J?"

Takemichi parted his lips, about to answer Chifuyu's question when his eyes widen. The sounds of the approaching footsteps were near, reminding him of the current situation they were in. Forgetting Chifuyu's question for him, Takemichi turned to the others and seriously said,

"Get on, now. We don't have time. No matter what happened, don't make any noise"

The others didn't hear anything, the groan, the footsteps coming closer to them. But, they all knew not to question Takemichi's decision in anything if they wanted to survive. They hurriedly got onto the truck, doing anything they could to fit everyone without leaving anyone behind. Takemichi took Naoto to sit on the shotgun seat before he ran to the driver's seat, getting on before giving his backpack to Naoto.

Twisting the key, Takemichi was glad the truck was able to be used yet again. Stepping on the gas, the truck started to move at a stable speed, gradually becoming faster.

As they were all on the moving truck, their eyes all looking at all of the destruction around them. The situation around them, the corpse, the destroyed house or buildings, and the lack of any sign of living beings. Those things made it look like it came right from an apocalypse movie.

No one dared to utter a single word, eyes stuck to their surrounding.

In the past, they saw the place, the base, that they thought was safe being destroyed in a span of minutes. This time, they lost their safe place, Takemichi's house. They didn't know where to go anymore. some of them even felt their string of hope for everything to go back to normal got thinner.

Takemichi glanced at Naoto who was staring out of the window, a bitter smile on Naoto's lips seeing the destruction around them. Takemichi focused back on the road, his hands gripping the wheel tightly until his knuckles turned white. He was aware of how they all felt at the moment because he used to feel like them a lot in those twelve years. He regretted that he couldn't do anything for them except teach them how to survive.

His worry was cut short when his eyes landed on the gas meter. His eyes widen when the fact that the needle already reached E. Immediately, he turned to Naoto calmly, hiding the fact that he was panicking. He was about to ask if the younger know the nearest gas station. However, he stopped himself, recalling that the gas station was one of the places that have lots of undead.

He was racking his brain, trying to figure out what to do if the gas ran out while focusing on driving. As if he was using his remaining luck, he saw an abandoned bus on the street. A bus that was looking fairly well and it looked like the driver abandoned it, seeing how vacant the bus was.

Looking around, he wondered where all of the undead ran off to. The amount of undead on this street seemed unreal to him. There were only two or three of them. There should be more in this neighbourhood, right? However, Takemichi didn't pay it extra attention since he didn't know much about this neighbourhood.

He was thinking about if the bus was available. He thought that he should use it if it was available.

As if encouraging his thought, the truck they were currently using suddenly made weird noises. Some errors here and there before the truck completely stopped with black smoke emerging from the bumper. The only good thing was the truck died on the almost empty street. Oh, the bus too, if it was able to be used.

Gripping the wheel tightly, Takemichi knocked his forehead onto the wheel, sighing tiredly. He winced when his stomach started to throb.

"W-what happened, Takemichi-san?"

Takemichi looked to his side to see Naoto looking at him worried, his hand hanging in the air, trying to reach for him but hesitated. Smiling softly, Takemichi lifted his hand and placed it on top of Naoto's head, ruffling his hair gently.

"I wanted to say everything is fine but unfortunately we have a problem right now"

Albeit blushing, the concern in Naoto's eyes grew. He was about to say something when a finger connected to his lips, successfully shutting him up.

"It's still fine"

Naoto quietly gave the backpack to Takemichi when the latter asked for it.

Carefully opening the door, Takemichi get out of the truck with his eyes immediately turned to the others who already got out of the truck. He saw them looking around confused, standing close to one another.

"It's good that you guys know how to keep your mouth shut" Realizing it sound rude, Takemichi added a 'sorry' at the end.

The sudden appearance of Takemichi made their heart almost jump out of their throat. Hakkai almost screamed out loud if it was not for Mitsuya cupping Hakkai's mouth with his hand.

Raising one of his eyebrows, Takemichi said, "You should put your guard up all the time no matter what" By this time, Naoto already joined Takemichi and others, standing by Takemichi's side. Takemichi pat Naoto's head when he stood beside him.

Sighing, Takemichi continued, "Listen, the truck is no longer can be used. Look at the smoke" Takemichi jerked his head to point to the front side of the truck. "So-"

Before Takemichi could continue, he was cut off by a panic Baji who was looking down at him from the back of the truck. "It's damaged?! wh-"

Baji was cut off when a knife was put close to his neck "Baji-kun, I don't think I need to repeat myself. You know what I mean, right?" If anyone looked at Takemichi, shivers would run down their spine seeing the cold eyes, none of the usual brightness they adored.

Gulping down his saliva, Baji nodded slowly, sweat rolling down his forehead. Nodding approvingly, Takemichi put the knife back on the strip on his hips. The others were watching the whole thing wide-eyed, terror in their eyes.

"Everything is fine though" Everyone's attention went to Takemichi once again, his eyes already turned to normal. "If anyone noticed, we encountered a bus earlier. Unfortunately, we need to go back a little and I planned to take only two of you"

Everyone waited for Takemichi to say their name. They watched intensely as Takemichi opened his mouth. Everything turned into slow-motion as they wanted their name to come out of Takemichi's mouth.

"Tachibana"

Takemichi raised his eyebrow when they got quiet as if waiting for him to say more. Draken was the one to ask, "Which Tachibana?"

Takemcihu's mout mouth formed into a small 'o' before he said, "Both Tachibana"

They groaned in frustration, even the ones who looked pretty much did not have any care when their names didn't get called. Meanwhile, the name that was mentioned, brightened, pumping their fist lowly as to cheer quietly. The girl Tachibana looked at Emma with a comforting smile when the latter gripped her arm a little too tight because of worry. She pried the hand away gently before moving to get off the truck.

"But, she's a girl" One of the many in the crowd muttered.

Takemichi's eyes immediately sharpened when he heard it. "Make sure none of that nonsense ever comes out of your mouth again. The girls are pretty much as strong as us, boys. They might be stronger than us but we never knew"

"But-" Mikey wanted to say something when he was cut off by a glare from Takemichi.

"No buts baby boy. All of you," Takemichi seized all of their worried faces. Although he was concerned a little seeing Mikey's redden face "Will listen to me no matter what. We discussed that beforehand"

"Oh, but of course, you can go by yourself anytime any of you want. I will not stop you. And I will make sure no one will"

"But isn't it better for more people to accompany you?"

Takemichi didn't even look at the one who asked him when he said, "No 3, the bigger the circle, the more danger will come. Just wait, it will not take too long"

Before anyone could say anything else, Takemichi took Naoto's hand and beckoned for Hinata to follow them. No one dared to say anything, afraid that they would unintentionally make Takemichi angry.

.

Naoto was looking at the way Takemichi's hand wrapped around his hand, his ears redden while his older sister was looking at him grinning. Takemichi might be older and a little taller than him but he noticed that Takemichi's hands were smaller and softer than his. They felt warm too.

It didn't take long for them to see the bus from afar. Naoto and Hinata thought they would immediately go to the bus so they were confused when they stopped behind an abandoned car, a little too far from the bus.

Before they could say anything, Takemichi turned to them, reattaching his hand from Naoto's. Naoto whimpered internally at the loss of the warmth.

"I have my reasons to choose you two among the others" Hinata and Naoto looked at each other in wonder before looking at Takemichi once again, waiting for him to continue what he was going to say.

"First of all," Takemichi reached for the bow on his back, giving it to the wide-eyed Naoto. Giving him a bag of arrows too, Takemichi said, "I need you to help me, buddy. You remember what we learned in those days, right?"

Naoto didn't reply to him immediately, instead, he looked at the bow wide-eyed. He couldn't believe what just happened. Among all of them, Takemichi leave this task to him. Takemichi leave his back to him.

Tightening his fist on the bow gently, Naoto looked at Takemichi with determination burning in his eyes, nodding confidently. The looks Naoto had definitely made Takemichi smirk proudly.

"And Hina-chan" The girl mentioned straightened her posture when she was called while Takemichi reached for his bag, taking out something before giving it to Hinata. Hinata looked down on her hand, seeing the item given. It was quite heavy but nothing she couldn't handle after the training Takemichi put her through.

An axe. He was running the heavy axe on his back all this time?

"Take care of our archer while he focuses. Careful not to swing it carelessly"

Naoto looked at his stunned-looking sister, confused. "Why her?"

Takemichi turned to Naoto, smirking. His smirk showed his little fang, making him look more attractive than usual. "You never know the strength of the older siblings to protect the younger ones"

When he said that, Takemichi remembered a certain someone. Someone who cherished him like he was the only person in the world. The thought of that someone made him smile sadly.

Both of the others noticed the change in his emotion but didn't have the chance to say anything when Takemichi addressed the girl.

"You can do it Hina-chan?"

As on cue, a stray undead that was wandering aimlessly around them had its skull crushed with the axe. The determined-looking Tachibana Hinata stood over the unmoving undead, grinning while giving a thumb up to the smirking Takemichi.

Nodding, Takemichi started to take his first step to conquer the bus. The way the undead were not too much made him feel reassured to leave them. He didn't want to take them with him yet as he was afraid something that was more dangerous than the undead would appear there. He couldn't endanger them. It was weird for a still good-looking bus to be abandoned in the first place. Especially in this apocalypse.

Nothing hurt to be careful.

Walking around the bus, Takemichi looked around it to see if there was anything unusual. When he saw none, he slowly headed to the entrance and entered it, vigilantly looking around. He sensed an undead behind him but he paid it no mind. Not long after, the undead dropped dead, an arrow exactly pierced through his skull. Without looking at the black-haired Tachibana, Takemichi raised a thumb up, getting a sweet smile from Naoto. He got the feeling the younger had a talent for a long-ranged weapon and he was right.

Takemichi instantly checked the bus after he saw the key hanging on the key slot. He looked at every inch to make sure there was nothing unusual. Something that could hurt them. Fortunately or unfortunately, Takemichi was not sure if it was a good or bad thing when he saw nothing that looked unusual. The bus truly had no owner at the moment.

Popping his head out from the door, Takemichi beckoned both Tachibana to come to the bus quietly. When both of them get on the bus, Takemichi took a seat in the driver seat. He muttered a silent prayer, hoping for the bus would still be able to use. Before he twist the key, he told the other to get ready to run if the bus was not able to be used. It would make a loud noise if it were to fail.

This time, surely fortunate when the engine came alive without any problem. He couldn't stop a relieved sigh from coming out of his smiling lips. Before the roar of the engine could attract too much attention, he heated the engine up for a while before stepping on the gas pedal. Takemichi was glad that someone from his past life taught him to drive diverse vehicles. He wondered if he would ever meet that someone in this life. He had a lot to thank that man for as he didn't have the opportunity to thank him before. The thought of meeting him once again put a smile on his soft lips.

Both Tachibana were smiling when they saw the way Takemichi smiled in relief.

Stopping the bus exactly beside the truck where the others were waiting for the three of them, Takemichi beckoned the others to get on the bus.

"Hurry, let's go!"

The others were smiling brightly when they were sure that the three of them were alright. They hurried to get on the bus with Draken and Mitsuya were the last to get on the bus to look around them and the others. They were making sure there was none of the undead could attack them while they were getting on the bus.

Takemichi could praise them for that.

When Takemichi made sure every one of them got on the bus, he gripped the wheel tightly, smiling.

"Hold on tight." A smirk appeared on Takemichi's lips when he had a clear vision of the place they should head to. "We have a long journey awaiting us"

The ride was silent.

Everyone had something on their head. The same thing. But no one wanted to voice out their thought. No one until the older cotton candy-looking hair guy said it.

"Takemichi, do you know where are we going?" Smiley asked, still looking out of the window. "It's just... you said it before that no place is ever safe"

Nothing answered Smiley's question but he didn't mind. He didn't expect any answer in the first place as Takemichi still needed to focus on his driving. That was why he was taken aback when Takemichi replied to him.

"I do" His short answer made all of the passengers turn to look at him. "I do and I am quite confident that it was a safe place for at least a few months. I never got the chance to go there back then as I still didn't know how to drive and it would take days for me to go there walking. Back then, when I arrived, the place had already got swarmed by the undead"

They were confused by what was Takemichi saying. But they were smart enough to know that Takemichi was sure the place was safe. Takemichi always said something cryptic that it would not phase them anymore.

Takemichi knew he was talking about his past life but he didn't care. It was not a secret to begin with.

Takemichi's thought was currently filled with the first day when he arrived at the place in his mind. He remembered how broken and tired he was seeing the condition of the place. The tragedy seemed to happen days before his arrival and that should be for about another year. If only he could arrive sooner. He might be able to save one of the people he loved.

Now that he knew how to drive, he could go there sooner.

Looking at the rear-sight mirror, Takemichi could see how the others were staring outside blankly, no one speaking. He could see that they were all kind of tired already. Not good.

"Please-"

Everyone's attention went to Takemichi when he cut himself off, waiting for him to continue but he never did. Takemichi looked ahead of the road and his eyes grew impossibly wide at what he saw. Before anyone could ask him anything, Takemichi stomped on the gas pedal, accelerating to the front and causing the others to hold on to their seats for dear life. When they saw what had happened, their eyes also widened as they saw too many undead lurking around a building. Not just any building but a gas station.

"Since when was this place got a gas station?" Takemichi cursed under his breath as he tried to accelerate past the place.

'Was this one of the reasons the place where the bus was abandoned had so less undead?' He thought, biting his bottom lip anxiously. From the corner of his eyes, he saw a few people fighting for their life. All of them were holding some kind of pipe, hitting the undead left and right.

Seeing them, Takemichi saw some familiar faces and by his better judgement, he opened the door of the bus. Suddenly stomping on the brake made the tyres on the back of the bus shift unbeautifully on the road before coming to a stop exactly beside the people that were fighting, who were currently looking at the bus wide-eyed.

"Get on, hurry!" The loud voice of Takemichi snapped out of their shock, immediately sending them into a panic to get on the bus.

As the last person stepped onto the bus, takemichi immediately hit the gas pedal as hard as he could to get out of there. There were a few undead that were hanging onto the door frame but the newcomers who were still at the stairs kicked them out as Takemichi closed the door.

The four, Takemichi counted, of the newcomers slumped onto the floor of the bus, releasing a relief breath. The others looked at the four wide-eyed as if recognizing the faces.

Before Takemichi could say anything, two of them with familiar faces rushed up to him and hug his side as Takemichi struggled to keep his focus on driving.

"Michi-chan! Thank you!" One of the two, the one with black hair said, his voice sounding wet. Takemichi fought the urge to scrunch his nose or wince when the hug was pressing against his wound. The two were holding onto him as if their life would end if they let go, their bodies were shaking uncomfortably. Takemichi could hear small sobs as his shirt felt a little dampened "I never thought I would see you again. I miss you"

"I would love to celebrate the reunion but can you go take a seat at any of the empty seats at the back" Takemichi released one of his hands from the steering to caress the head of the person he couldn't deny he missed too. "In case you didn't realize, I'm driving...

...Shinichiro-san, Wakasa-san"

Notes:

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-To Be Continued-

Listen... I almost died. Lol. Got into a car accident. I spent the last two months in a comatose state and just woke up one and a half weeks ago, regretfully not writing anything because of the condition I was in. I needed to postpone or retake my exams because of it.

It feels nice when I finally can write a new chapter. I really want to finish one of my stories. So much. 'cause I have a new story idea. But I wouldn't start writing on them if I didn't finish the current ones first. These already took a toll on me as many bad things happened to me in real life. It felt like trouble always follow me.

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who stays. Let's just wish I have the time to write more.

The kind comments too. All of you are warm and sweet. Well, some of you might think I am dead but sorry, not yet. Also, some of you really do miss me. Thank you. Although, you might miss my work not me.

Want to say I love you guys but it would feel weird.

Thanks and take care mates

Chapter 13: Chapter XIII

Summary:

He should have known that there is no way a perfectly working bus was going to get abandoned.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"In case you didn't realize, I'm driving, Shinichiro-san, Wakasa-san"

As a chuckle passed his lips, Shinichiro wiped the tears clean from his face before pulling himself away from takemichi, followed by Wakasa. Shinichiro sent a soft smile to Takemichi. Even if Takemichi was focused on driving, he knew takemichi saw his smile from the corner of his eyes when takemichi smile softly in return.

Standing up on his feet, he offered his hand to his friend, Wakasa, ruffling Takemichi's hair before turning to the others on the passenger side of the bus. He halted in his steps when he saw two very familiar faces among them. Their teary eyes pointed straight at him, lips wobbling.

"...Shin-nii?" The younger among the two called out to him softly, tears already sprung out of her pretty eyes. While the other one took a hesitant step, hand reaching toward the older.

Smiling widely, Shinichiro opened his arms wide before the two dived into his arms, hugging him tightly. The hugs were definitely too tight for him, but it was fine. He found his siblings. If only his grandpa were with them, but he knew better. He knew better when he witnessed the last breath his grandfather spent shouting at him to run. The tears came out profusely even if Shinichiro were trying his hardest to hold them in.

While driving, takemichi adopted a soft smile. He was holding the tears from flowing out of his eyes, and he succeeded, having used to do it. He was jealous of them. Like, so much.

Glancing at the bus entrance, he saw two teenagers who were about the same age as the currents him staring at him. It was not uncomfortable, but it felt weird to say the least.

One of them had gorgeous light blonde hair and had undeniably mesmerizing eyes. The most notable feature of him was the burn scar adorning the left side of his face. despite the scar, Takemichi couldn't deny that the boy was still pretty. Ah, also, the boy definitely reminded Takemichi of a golden retriever dog.

On the other hand, the other person had silky wavy black hair that was brushed to the right. If takemichi could be honest, the hairstyle looked funny, but it definitely suited the boy. His sharp cat-like eyes were looking at him and his friend repeatedly, looking confused. It was not long before he pushed his blonde friend to the back as Takemichi seemed like he was focused on the road.

Well, Takemichi was not an amateur in driving. He still could drive expertly even if he glanced at the other things too much.

But he got to be honest, driving while people burning holes onto the back of his head was uncomfortable. Nevertheless, he ignored them.

He focused on driving, tuning out the conversation the others had with one another. Although, he admitted he was too focused when he was startled out of his mind when someone spoke beside him.

"Aren't you too young to be driving, Michi-chan?"

Takemichi rolled his eyes playfully before replying, "I know how to, also who else can drive? These delinquents only knew how to ride a bike"

"That's fair. Where are we? It's mostly forest here."

Glancing at the person beside him, Takemichi said, "I used a shortcut. Before you say anything, yes, I know where I'm going, Wakasa-san." Takemichi cut the other off

"Oh, how the time passed. Where is our sweetie pie Michi-chan." Wakasa playfully rolled his eyes with a gentle smile on his lips, pulling a cute giggle from Takemichi. Wakasa bent his body forward to the front glass a little, looking up at the sky. "The night is approaching. It was pretty dark already."

Takemichi hummed, also looking up at the dark sky. Reaching for the bus's light switch, his eyes widened when he turned the light on, but nothing happened. He kept turning it off and on repeatedly, hoping for something to happen. However, none. Cursing under his breath, he stepped onto the break gently causing the bus to gradually come to stop. As the bus completely came to stop, Takemichi looked at nothing in front of us, eyes blank.

Wakasa looked at Takemichi worried seeing the blank look in the younger's eyes. Wakasa was about to ask what was wrong when Takemichi hit his own head on the steering hard and stay leaning against it, muttering under his breath.

"Is this why the bus is abandoned just like that?"

Wakasa heard him, but he legit didn't know what Takemichi meant. "You're okay there, buddy?"

"Great" Takemichi grunted. Standing up from the seat after he turned off the engine, Takemichi walked to the others with Wakasa following close behind him. The others were looking around the forest through the window, confusions clear on their faces.

"Bad news, and it's not surprising," Takemichi announced, causing all of them immediately looking at him confused and concerned. "The bus lights are not working, so I can't drive in the dark because it is obviously dangerous. Unless we want to get into accidents"

"What should we do then?" The boy with the scar asked.

"That's Inui Seishu and the other one is Kokonoi Hajime. They are in Black Dragon" Explained Shinichiro when Takemichi turned to the kid questioningly.

Takemichi nodded before speaking again, "There's nothing we can do except wait for the sun to come back because as I said earlier, I can't drive in the dark because it is obviously dangerous. We don't pack any flashlights too and that is absolutely our mistake."

Opening the bus door he turned to the others once again before getting out of the bus. "Fortunately, we are in a forest. A private one. There's not gonna be any undead here so you can roam around but don't wander too far, please"

Takemichi got off the bus before any of them could say anything. Looking around the place, it was filled with a lot of tall trees. He didn't want to stay in this kind of place in the dark long, so he needed a source of light. And the least he could get in this situation was a self-made fire. Deciding to light up a fire, he proceeded to search for woods before the day turned completely dark.

Before he could go far, the expected two small bodies bumped onto his legs. Looking down, he saw Mana and Luna were clinging to his legs while the brother was following close behind them.

He didn't hear their footsteps much earlier, so they were improving. Although, Mana must had felt restricted seeing as her body looked sluggish still, struggling to keep standing. When she tripped, Takemichi was there to stop her from planting her face on the ground.

"Are you okay, Mana-chan?" Takemichi lifted his hand to Mana's forehead, checking her temperature. It was still warm, but not as hot as before.

Takemichi smiled softly when Mana nodded, a small 'un' came from her throat.

"We want to help!" Luna said cheerily with Mana nodding along. They were looking at Takemichi in so much determination that Takemichi didn't have the heart to refuse them. Look at those big adorable eyes too. ughh.

Takemichi lifted his eyebrow up, amused. Looking at the red-face Mana, Takemichi crouched down to their level. He patted their head while looking into their eyes before saying, "Sure. But stay close to me and your brother, okay?"

Takemichi soft smile stay when the kids cheered, making eye-contact with the oldest Mitsuya.

Mitsuya blushed slightly when his eyes connected to Takemichi.

"And make sure the woods you get are the dry ones."

Some of the others, the good ones, decided to follow and help Takemichi. There were also some who decided to stay on the bus and there were absolutely some wild teens who decided to wander around, looking everywhere curiously as if it was their first time in a forest.

Takemichi didn't care. As long as they didn't cause any problems.

Oh, how could Takemichi underestimate them?

It was not long after that Mikey, Baji, and Smiley were coming with leaves stuck in their hair, some dirt on their hands and face, also clothes. They were coming to the others with big smiles plastered on their faces, and Takemichi's eyes zeroed at what was in their arms.

It looked awfully familiar. And Takemichi didn't like the feeling one bit.

"Guys, look! We found some berries" Baji said, waving some berries in the air causing the others to look at the berries drooling.

When everyone gathered around the trio, it clicked to Takemichi. His eyes widened and his hand immediately slapped Kokonoi's hand that held the berries close to his mouth, as Kokonoi stood the closest to him.

"don't anyone dare eat it!"

Everyone stopped in their track, turning to Takemichi questioningly.

Speaking up for others, Shinichiro said gently, "What's wrong? A little number of berries would not hurt anyone"

"Throw them away. Now" Takemichi demanded, looking straight into those trio's eyes, ignoring Shinichiro. His hands were gripped tightly beside him. Walking closer to the trio, Takemichi got a good look at those berries and he immediately confirmed his suspicion.

The three who brought the berries held the berries closer to themselves, narrowing their eyes at Takemichi accusingly.

"We found it. If you don't want it, you can just let us eat it" Smiley exclaimed, holding the berries closer to his chest.

"Don't make me repeat it"

Angry immediately ran to his twin, squeezing his arms gently to warn the other to not offend Takemichi further. The blue-haired twin was looking at Takemichi and Smiley repeatedly. While he looked at Takemichi worried, he looked at his twin disapprovingly. Angry just thought that maybe they should have just listened to Takemichi since so far they knew Takemichi, Takemichi was a lot more skilled than any of them here, a lot more knowledgeable.

Takemichi looked at the trio intensely, not saying anything. The tension in the air made everyone who has not involved hold their breath, stepping a little farther from them. Takemichi's glare alone made all of the presence feel a shiver running down their spines, causing them to put up their guard.

Seeing how Takemichi's eyes got cold, Mana and Luna were scared. Despite that, they hesitantly approached Takemichi and tugged on his pant. Takemichi snapped his cold and calculating eyes toward the two kids, causing both of them to flinch violently, not used to those eyes on them. When Takemichi saw the kids flinch, he snapped out of his trance and looked around him. Seeing how everyone was tensed around him, Takemichi softened his eyes, muttering a soft sorry to the kids.

"Eat it then," Takemichi sighed, rubbing his temples frustratingly. Everyone wanted to rejoice but before they could, Takemichi said something that made their blood run cold. "If any of you wanted to die then go on. I will bury you here in this forest."

The silence was suffocating, especially when they are in a forest with the sun gradually hiding from them. The sounds of bushes rustling or the caw of the crows are enough to make the hair the back of their neck stand.

"W-what do you mean?" Hakkai asked, looking a little pale.

"Those are not edible berries," Takemichi said while putting the woods he picked on a spot, looking around for anything he could use to make some fire. He continued talking but he didn't make any eye contact. "If I'm not mistaken, those berries are horse nettle, pokeberries, wild cherry, and... how many leaves did the other berry tree have?"

"...F-five..." Mikey said hesitantly.

"Virginia Creeper it is" Takemichi flicked his fingers when he remembered the name, finger gunning at Mikey.

"I-... I don't understand?" Shinichiro said, scratching his head in confusion. "How are they not edible? They look like... well, berries"

"Horse nettle is often mistaken for a small green tomato but eating them can lead to abdominal pain and possible circulatory and respiratory depression. We don't want that to happen especially in this type of situation. While Pokeberries, the animals have no problem eating them, but a mere handful can kill a child a little more can kill an adult." Everyone's hold on the berries slowly loosened the more Takemichi spoke. "The green turning red berry is wild cherry. It is called cherry, but wild cherries contain cyanide in their pits and leaves. It can cause death. While the last one is the said virginia creeper. I asked you the number of leaves because it can easily be confused with Poison Ivy. Virginia creeper are so toxic to the point of confirmed human fatalities."

As Takemichi was finished, all of the berries were dropped to the ground. Feets stepped farther from the berries as if being near them alone could kill them.

"T-that's a lot to take in" Wakasa rubbed his temples, feeling a little dizzy from all the information he absorbed in a short time.

Takemichi shrugged his shoulder, turning to his work back. "In short, the so-called berries could kill. So throw them away and eat the foods I packed in the bag if you're hungry"

The others brightened when they finally got to eat after a long day. However, as they were cheering silently, Takemichi turned to them once again with an intense glare.

"Don't any of you ever eat too much. We never know when we require to do lots of movements. Got it?"

"Y-yeah, we got it"

The night fell rather quicker than they thought. It was not long before the sky was completely dark, leaving no trace of light surrounding them. If it wasn't for Takemichi making the fire, they would live in a scary dark place for a whole night. They had nothing to do in this situation, instead they were just sitting around the fire, chattering lightly with one another.

Takemichi was playing with the kids with Peke J hanging onto his shoulder. His smile was so warm that it brought a smile to everyone's face.

"It's hard to know the time when all around you was this dark" Chifuyu sighed out, bringing his knees under his chin. He used a long stick to play with the ember. He threw the wood stick into the fire when Peke J jumped onto him, wanting to sit onto his lap.

The others were looking up onto the sky. Even if they night was so dark, they were in awe as they witnessed the shining moon that was accompanied by the stars. It was their first time seeing so many stars in the sky as they all knew that the more technologies improved, the more the stars gradually vanished from the sky. Maybe not all of them knew, but some of them.

Seeing the kids yawned while talking, Takemichi ruffled their hair before standing up, stretch his arms up to stretch his body.

"Please go rest and sleep on the bus, I will keep a watch tonight" Looking down onto each of their faces, Takemichi smiled reassuringly. "I'm sorry we didn't have much blankets. Please do hold out if it's cold"

"We can-"

"No, go rest. No arguing"

All of Toman's members and the others spent another worried glance at Takemichi before they hesitantly walked away towards the bus.

Takemichi crouched down when he saw Mana and Luna tug onto his pant. Each of his arms wrapped around each of the kids when they wrapped their arms around his neck.

"What's wrong, princesses?"

When they refused to answer him and keep burying their heads in between Takemichi's head and shoulders, Takemichi caressed the head gently. The things the kids had witnessed that day must have been a lot to take in. He kissed their temples before speaking in the gentlest tone anyone ever heard.

"Won't you talk to me, princesses? I'm here"

Takemichi didn't say anything after Luna and Mana tiredly shook their head in protest. Instead, he kept caressing their back and humming a soft song for them. He figured that they must have just needed comfort and he could give them that.

A few others were watching the trio in distance, a soft smile on their lips. It was a wholesome scene to see when all they had seen before now was a disaster.

After a few moments, the kids reattached themselves from Takemichi, looking up with their teary tired eyes.

"Are you leaving?"

"Are you going to be okay?"

Mana and Luna asked at the same time. Takemichi warmly smiles, ruffling their hair before booping both of their noses.

"No, I'm not leaving and yes, I will be okay. Get some rest, please. When you woke up, I will be there by your side"

That caused a smile broke out from the kids. They nodded in contentment, kissing Takemichi's cheeks before running to the awaiting oldest Mitsuya, Hinata and Emma at the bus door. Takemichi returned the waves when those tiny hands waved to him.

Takemichi watched as everyone got on the bus to get their well-deserved rest. Glaring at the ones who refused to do so. He was not going to drag some tired humans with him when the day came. It was going to be a hassle.

He patted Naoto's head when the younger came to give him a good night hug. What a good kid.

As everyone got on the bus, Takemichi sat beside the fire, throwing some dry tree branches into the fire to keep it smolder.

The night became serene with only the sounds of wind and something burning could be heard. Staring into the fire, Takemichi couldn't help but smile slightly when he remembered the time when he spent a day or two in this very forest in his past life. Along with one of the people he held dear.

He already lost his partner and Mana at the time. Maybe it was fate, that brought that man to help him. A fortunate fate.

He wondered how was that man currently. Would he meet that man again in this life? He sure hoped so. He missed him, his father figure.

"You're not going to sleep?"

Takemichi cussed under his breath after he flinched slightly. Slight enough to not have anyone noticing the movement. He really should keep his guard up more. He couldn't keep getting distracted if he wanted to survive.

He looked up just to be greeted by four people walking toward him. The tallest black-haired waving to him while smiling.

"Shinichiro-san, Wakasa-san, Inui-kun, Kokonoi-kun," Takemichi sighed tiredly, rubbing his tired eyes. "What are you doing up at this time? I told you guys to leave the night watch to me and go to sleep."

Takemichi felt the grass beside him shift. He looked to the side just to be greeted by Inui and Kokonoi on both of his sides. Takemichi wondered why both of them were looking at him curiously.

"Just Inupi, or Seishu," Inui said softly, a small smile painted on his lips.

The three others looked at him ridiculously, they sure as hell Inui didn't treat them that gentle when they first met. However, Hanagaki Takemichi just got talk to him with the softest tone they ever heard from him, along with a smile. A smile? Yes, a smile. Not to mention on their first day meeting. They oldest two scoffed, staring at one Inui Seishu in disbelief. So much for being senpais.

"Koko for me, or Hajime" Kokonoi exclaimed, nodding at Takemichi as a greeting.

Takemichi smiled at both of them gently, raising one of his eyebrows and thought, 'Well, they are good kids'

"We can't sleep" Wakasa answered Takemichi's last question as he sat in front of Takemichi on the other side of the fire.

Takemichi rolled his eyes, knowing how hard it was to sleep after any tragedy had occurred. Instead of questioning them even further, he turned his attention to Shinichiro.

"I'm surprised your younger siblings did not come with you" Takemichi put his elbow on his knee, chin in his palm while smiling, eyebrow raised a little. "Considering how you talk about them in the past, especially in this apocalypse after being away for who knows how long"

Shinichiro rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, chuckling "They both fell asleep after they talked my ears off. Thanks for saving them by the way, I heard from them. I appreciate it. Also, seemed like I owe you once again"

The others decided to just observed and listened, not wanting to butt in the conversations.

Takemichi rolled his eyes playfully, a smile still on his lips. "I told you, you owe me nothing"

Shinichiro was about to retaliate when Takemichi let out a pained groan as he accidently brushed against his bandaged wounds roughly, gaining the attention of the others who heard it.

Takemichi realized that it had been a long time since he applied the bandage. He needed to change it or the wound would be infected.

Proceeding to remove his shirt without paying the others any attention, he uttered a curse when he saw the blood was already leaking through the bandage, wetting his shirt. Fortunately, he wore the black one at the time, so the blood was not visible. He figured maybe that was why he felt his shirt so wet and sticky.

Turning to the four wide-eyed companions of his, he asked, "U-umm, can any of you help me get my bag from the bus. I kind of need that at the moment" Takemichi rubbed the back of his neck timidly, refusing to make any eye-contact knowing how shock they were.

Being the fastest to respond, Shinichiro hastily got up from his spot to run to the bus. He was accelerating to Takemichi after he took Takemichi's bag at the driver's seat, not stopping even for a second.

"Thanks..." Reaching for the bag, Takemichi warmly said with a soft smile on his lips.

"Y-you need help with that?" Kokonoi, who was still looking at the bloodied bandage wide eyed, asked shakily. His hands were reaching to Takemichi but didn't dare to touch the latter as he was afraid he would make it worse.

Takemichi shook his head in denial, refusing the help with a smile. All the while, his hands removed the bloodied bandage, feeling uncomfortable with the eyes watching his every movements. When the wound made a full appearance to the other four, their eyes became so wide as if the eyeballs would come out of their sockets.

"The sewing look neat. Who did it?" Being the first one to snap out of his shock, Wakasa voiced out, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Although, his voice still sound shaky which Takemichi smiled reassuringly at.

Takemichi took wet tissues from his bag, wiping the blood on his skin except the part where his wound was located. Applying the alcohol on the tiny cloth, Takemichi wiped the excessive blood off of the wound. He nodded in contentment when he saw the sewing still look fine. "I did. I was stabbed but no one among us is a doctor. I think my skill was enough to prevent me dying though."

'a stab?!' They thought.

The others were speechless. That was not something someone could talk about as if they were breathing.

They couldn't say anything as they watched Takemichi nimbly wipe the blood off cleanly before applying medicine and new bandages. They watched as Takemichi finished attending to his wound and slipped on his previous bloodied shirt over his head.

The silence was stretched over, but Takemichi didn't mind. He knew that it was a lot for them to take in for a day after all of the things that had happened that day. Especially after knowing a teen like him sew his own wound. Inui and Kokonoi strangely gradually sit closer to him, confusing Takemichi greatly.

Their silence was broken when Shinichiro asked with his gentle voice.

"Hey, you sure you want to be on watch tonight? You need rest more than any of us. It's midnight, well, probably close to two in the morning already. Who knows, but nothing is going to happen"

Takemichi was about to reply when he sensed something. His head jerked to the side, staring, glaring into the dark forest intensely.

The other four looked at Takemichi confused before looking at each other as if asking what was wrong.

"Michi-chan?" Shinichiro called out hesitantly.

Takemichi grinned wickedly before he faced the concerned new companions of him. Remembering the words said to him earlier, Takemichi scoffed, smirking ridiculously.

"Yeah, who knows. Keep up with that set of mind and you're not gonna survive"

"Wha-" Before they could get anything wrong, Takemichi cut them off.

"Let me ask you. In this calamity, what do we need to watch out for the most?" Takemichi glanced into the forest once again, the smirk not leaving his face. His hands looked tensed as if he tried to not grab something immediately,. Instead, he asked Kokonoi to move a bit who complied with no complaints despite the confusion he experienced. "I will give you guys extra food if you answer it correctly"

The four looked at each other before they turned to Takemichi again.

"Clearly the zombies, right?" Wakasa said, sounding unsure beacuse of the sudden question. The other three nodded, seeming to agree but also looked unsure.

"Right, but also wrong. Do you know? Something we need to be careful of the most is..." Takemichi took a knife out of the stripe around his hips so fast, twirling it around his hands before throwing the knife farther into the darkness of the forest, among the many trees. The other four jerked at the sudden action, especially Kokonoi who just witnessed the knife passed accurately in front of his eyes.

Kokonoi was scared shitless.

Although, as Takemichi threw the knife, a bloody scream echoed around the forest. The scream was loud enough to alert the others on the bus, but not loud enough to alert the undead in the city. Takemichi's companions were all standing up hurriedly, looking around wide-eyed, getting on edge while looking for the source of the scream.

Meanwhile, a wicked smile appeared on Takemichi's face, looking into the dark directly into his victim's eyes.

"... humans"