Recognizance

[Rei's POV]

I can't believe we survived... my arms are mauled, I can hardly even move from so much running and I'm getting cramps. Moreover. we're all covered in blood... I'm not the only one.

Everyone in the rather small room was completely tired; my gaze fixed on Brand-kun who just allowed himself to finally fall at the edge of the window, panting horribly... we all contributed to our survival, but he's without a doubt the leader here, giving orders and keeping the group together.

There was utter silence from all of us, our gazes merely interlinking with the other members as if to finally catch a breath and see who were the ones that were forming this group.

"To think Yuuki-san would do that to us..." Hirano-kun was the first to talk dragging yet another row of silence from us, silence and deeply disappointed expressions. I knew that bitch was bad, but I never expected her to be so bad.

"It can't be helped... they got what they deserved... thankfully we made it through," Takashi said, scratching his head.

To the side I saw with jealousy how Brand-kun took Saya-chan in his arms and began whispering things to her, she looked reluctant to even listen to what he was saying. I don't need to hear the conversation to imagine what it is about; Yuuki Miku had taken the gun from Saya-chan, but we could hardly blame her for that. none of us expected Miku to suddenly betray us at such a junction.

"Alright, Rei... come with me, we need to inspect the rest of the house" Lucy-chan suddenly said as she stood up; seemingly having rested enough, making me raise my eyebrows in confusion, why me?

I only thought Saeko-san would have been a better companion just in case anything disturbing concealed up the stairs, but upon seeing Saeko-san, I realised that she was too tired to do anything.

I nodded and heed my friend's instructions.

"W-Wait, Rei is tired so... I can go instead," Takashi-kun said all of the sudden, making me even more suspicious, even after what I said to him, he's still treating me kindly?

I bit my lips and remained silent.

Lucy shrugged her shoulders and took Brand-kun's katana... Takashi took his bat and they went up the stairs. Shizuka-sensei and Kyoko-sensei then began investigating the floor we were on it was connected through a small hallway to the kitchen. As with any Japanese apartment, everything was quite cramped.

"They have a washing machine and dryer, and all services are working normally... we can clean our clothes here" Kyoko-sensei's voice resonated from the kitchen as I hugged my knees, my gaze fixed on Brand-kun who was still speaking with Saya-chan.

"There isn't a lot of food... the loaves of bread are expired... whoever lives here hasn't been here in a while" Shizuka-sensei then said.

I staggered up, intending to help them somehow rather than to get consumed in jealousy... we will be able to sleep plentifully later, but right now we should all cooperate. One of the people that definitely won't be able to make a lot of movement tonight is Hirano-kun. Despite his weight; he still managed to run all this distance, and that must be the most he has run in his whole life.

That said, he also killed a lot of zombies with that nailer.

"Let me help you... I feel like I didn't do much" the senpai that had also been resting, approached me with an awkward expression.

"Higuchi-senpai..." I had my reservations towards this boy, he had come to us together with that bitch Miku and the other guy who had the hots on her, those two were from the same class, but clearly different kinds of people.

I decided to keep trusting him as we have done for this whole while and we began ruminating through the kitchen, all the food that we found was expired.

"There is no one upstairs... the house is empty; four bedrooms, there are plenty of clothes but that's about it... I found some pictures that indicate a family lives here but they must be on holiday or simply moved out of Japan, leaving this house desolate" Lucy-chan and Takashi-kun finished, thankfully having found nothing dangerous upstairs, she merely had what looked like the picture of a family in her hand.

"I see... washing facilities?" Brand-kun stated while yawning.

"There is one small bathroom... I don't think more than three or four people will fit inside it" Takashi scratched his head, likely thinking about how this arrangement would be.

"Then this is what we're going to do... I have got food for all of us" Brand-kun said all out of nowhere, making us all look at him in disbelief; asking ourselves where that food was. Then I recalled his 'power' and realised we had been leaving this topic out of place due to the harsh circumstances we were going through, nevertheless... it was something I wanted to ask him so badly.

"Heh?!" They all exclaimed, about to start raising a barrage of questions only for him to flash us all a cold disinterested glare.

"Don't ask questions! The ladies bathe together first... they get some clothes from upstairs and settle themselves; then the boys bathe together as well and get some clothes... Kyoko, put all of our clothes in the washing machine and dryer, please..."

"I will do it, Brand-kun".

"Takashi and Higuchi, you two clean all the weapons that you and Rei used, you can throw away that piece of stick, Higuchi... I'll get you something better".

"I see," the senpai said, effectively throwing the bloodied piece of the stick through the window. We had to close it since the sulfur smell was going through as the fire was still ranging outside, weaker than before but still quite strong.

Brand-kun then said something that made me clench my hands.

"After you're all done, Saya and I will take a shower together~"

"B-Bastard..." The pinkette grits her teeth, but being clutched in his embrace like that, she didn't have much of a choice.

"I hope you're not thinking of leaving me to the side" Saeko-san then said followed by a smirking Lucy.

"Mou, Brand-chan you pervert... there are other people here you know..." Shizuka-sensei pouted while she and Kyoko-sensei stood up defiantly in front of him, stopping him from executing any 'mischievousness'.

As if I don't know that bastard well enough to know that he's up to something, we have been training together and he won't lose any chance to fondle his girls regardless of who is close by, just look at how he's fondling Saya-chan.

"Stop thinking dirty things, Shizuka... I'm merely having a chat with Saya... if you want you can join us, Saeko".

We all began to sweat when Lucy-chan suddenly pointed the crossbow at him with a smirk.

"You too, Lucy... stop pointing guns at me or I'll point something else at you"

"You're more than welcome to do it~"

The atmosphere grew tense as we all wondered what Brand-kun was going to 'point' at her... but it was Shizuka-sensei who took us both me and Kyoko-sensei first... we were supposed to be the first group to have a shower.

"I'll take a shower with Kyoko-sensei and Rei-chan, first then~"

"To make sure no one sees anyone in an inappropriate position, we will all stay in this room," Brand-kun said, waving his hand at us.

I sighed and stood up together with Kyoko-sensei and Shizuka-sensei... my gaze looked at Brand and his girls with reluctance... I hoped to be included there as well.