Chapter 43: The Doomsday Virus Outbreak
Takashi Komuro stood on the rooftop, gazing up at the white clouds drifting lazily across the sky. He sighed, a deep feeling of discontent washing over him.
Everyone else seemed to have exciting, colorful high school lives, but his? His had become a dull, lifeless routine.
His childhood best friend had just confirmed her relationship—with none other than his best friend, the guy he'd grown up with. And now the two of them had teamed up to leave him in the dust.
Not that he could say he'd truly been betrayed or cuckolded. After all, he and Rei Miyamoto had never even kissed. Their so-called relationship from junior high had been more of a joke than anything serious.
So, when Rei and Hisashi Igou stood together in front of him, he didn't even have the right to accuse them. What could he say? It would just sound like the pitiful whining of a sore loser. Keeping his mouth shut was the only way to preserve a shred of dignity.
Da-da-da!
Just as Takashi was standing on the rooftop, considering whether he should jump down to calm down, the sharp sound of footsteps snapped him out of his thoughts.
"B-Busujima-senpai!"
Seeing that the person walking up to the rooftop was Saeko Busujima, a popular figure in the school, Takashi quickly said hello.
Saeko wasn't just popular, she was almost legendary.
She was not only the head of the kendo club and vice president of the student union, but also the winner of the All-Japan High School Kendo Championship. Not to mention, her beauty and perfect figure were enough to make any guy in Oda Academy stop and stare.
But no one dared to think about her that way for long. Any boy with inappropriate thoughts about her would end up meeting her blade—or rather, fists—and landing in the nurse's office.
As a result, there were no boys in the entire school who were not scared of her.
"What are you doing here? Are you planning to jump off the building?" Saeko glanced sideways at Takashi and asked in an indifferent tone.
Takashi stiffened, caught off guard by her bluntness.
"S-Senpai, you're joking! I wouldn't..." He forced an awkward smile. How could someone discuss jumping off a building in such a casual manner?
"Your childhood sweetheart has become your best friend's girlfriend. In a situation like this, your chance of jumping off the building is about 70%."
Saeko's voice was unnervingly calm, and her purple hair flowed slightly in the breeze.
Takashi winced.
The saying was true—good deeds never go out, and bad deeds travel thousands of miles.
He thought his personal drama was under wraps, but in reality, the whole school was buzzing with it.
Japanese high school students were often way too precocious for their age.
Love affairs, paid dating—none of that was shocking news to them anymore.
But what if your childhood sweetheart cheated on you with your best friend?
That kind of scandal was explosive, and in a school setting, it spread like wildfire, possibly reaching every student within two hours.
There was no way, everyone was idle anyway, and people needed entertainment, and apparently, Takashi became their latest spectacle.
"Ahhh—even Busujima-senpai knows about it!" Takashi scratched his head in frustration. All he wanted was to be left alone, but instead, he had become the talk of the entire academy.
"If you're not planning to jump, then come down already," Saeko ordered, completely disregarding his flustered expression. Her tone was as cold and commanding as ever.
She didn't know why her father had told her to go to the rooftop if she had free time, but since he gave an order, Saeko, his most beloved daughter, followed it without question.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming dow—wait, what's that?" Takashi was about to climb down from the rooftop when he saw a person leaning against the college's gate.
"What do you mean?"
Saeko's sharp eyes followed his gaze, narrowing as she noticed the unusual sight. The school security guard approached the man leaning against the gate, but before he could pull him away, the man suddenly lunged and bit into him.
"Ahh—!"
The guard's scream echoed, followed by the sight of hundreds of grotesque, corpse-like creatures swarming toward the school.
"W-What the hell is that...?" Takashi's body froze. Though he was supposed to be the protagonist of this chaotic world, no one could face such a horrifying scene without being momentarily stunned.
"Busujima-senpai, is that...?"
He quickly asked Saeko, but when he turned his head, he realized that the purple-haired girl was no longer around!
The moment Saeko saw those creatures, her father's cryptic words echoed in her mind.
Enzo had revealed a little bit of news to her three days ago, when the news reported that a new virus had emerged in Africa.
Of course, Enzo said that he seemed to have seen the future when he understood the way of swordsmanship. Anyway, there were so many legends in ancient Japan, and it was not too much to say that the True Sword Master had a super-powerful ability to peek into the future!
After all, he could even unleash the legendary Sword Qi, which was a borderline fantasy concept. Seeing scattered futures while dreaming was nothing, right?
But even with all her respect and reverence for her father, the idea of a global civilization collapse? A virus that would turn the dead into rampaging monsters?
It sounded like something straight out of a fantasy novel.
Yet here she was.
'Did Father really receive a revelation from the gods?'
Saeko flipped her sword skillfully into her hand before sprinting toward the infirmary. Her mind was racing just as fast as her feet.
Meanwhile at the Busujima Dojo...
"This invitation concerns Kotonoha's future," Enzo stated, sitting calmly in his chair.
Below him, kneeling on the tatami, was the Katsura family—Manami, her husband, and their daughter, Kotonoha's younger sister, Kokoro Katsura.
Earlier that morning, Enzo had received insider information. The Japanese Cabinet was planning a transfer. He knew what that meant—the doomsday virus outbreak.
Of course, even if others heard about the Cabinet's movement, they wouldn't understand the gravity of the situation. The clueless plutocrats and politicians still ran in circles, frantic and lost, trying to figure out what was happening.
To be honest, he still couldn't figure out what the governments of this world were thinking. They could easily solve the problem, but they were on the verge of escalating it into a full-blown apocalypse.
He wondered if those in power had gone senile.
But none of that mattered to him. Enzo's mission wasn't to save the world from destruction. Why should he care if humanity plunged into chaos?
'Searching for logic in this mad world is a fool's errand,' he thought. 'Instead of focusing on what can't be changed, it's better to decide what you should do next!'
He wasn't concerned about Saeko's fate. Not only was she blessed with extraordinary luck, but her skills and mental fortitude were far superior to those rotting corpses. Nothing could stand in her way.
Kotonoha's mother, Manami, on the other hand, would be nothing more than a victim in this apocalypse. It was inevitable. After all, what could she offer? Aside from her voluptuous body, her enormous breasts, and her perfectly round ass, she had nothing.
The dead would feast on her without a second thought.
So when he saw that it was almost time, he directly sent a message to invite Manami to the dojo, saying that he wanted to discuss Kotonoha with her.
What he hadn't anticipated was that the entire Katsura family would show up.
'Now this will be fun, hehe.'
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