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Chapter 1, H.O.T.D
Plot - "Want to know the meaning of life? Want to live... A real life?"
The world changes when you click YES.
In God's dimension, you have to keep getting stronger, keep evolving to survive one horror movie after another. Do you kill everyone in your way to reach the end as a lone king? Or fight along with your comrades and survive through the support of friends?
Everything was just for staying alive. Until you find the secret of God's dimension. Who is the real enemy?
In a new experiment to push mankind to evolve, God has decided to send people into the worlds of manga, anime, light novels, visual novels and video games.
Compared to horror movies, such worlds shouldn't be as terrifying and should be easy to return from, but... You would be very, very mistaken
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A summary of High School of the Dead -
It's the end of the world: a virus that turns people into the walking dead who feast on the flesh of the living has been unleashed and things are rapidly going to hell. The plague strikes Fujimi High School, where unlikely hero Takashi Komuro, genius Saya, estranged love interest Rei, sword-wielding Busujima, Hirano the gun otaku, and a busty blonde school nurse of below-average intelligence need to escape the school and head for the city, where their parents might still be alive.
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Go to school, come home, eat meals, go to bed and wake up...Go to school, come home, eat meals, go to bed and wake up...Go to school, come home, eat meals, go to bed and wake up...Go to school, come home, eat meals, go to bed and wake up...Go to school, come home, eat meals, go to bed and wake up...Go to school, come home, eat meals, go to bed and wake up, AND IT ALL STARTS ALL OVER AGAIN.
Shin Kazami no longer knew what the meaning of life was, if he ever did. He thought he knew what it was when he was a kid, but now as he is about to graduate high school in just one more year, just as an average student with no prospects, no motivation for higher learning and with no real idea what he wants to do with his life, he finds himself realizing that his life is empty in every sense of the world.
Shin: Is this all that there is to life? School was just one day after the other and now that is almost over. What's next? College? Find a job, but what kind of job can a guy without a college degree or any motivation find?
I want something to change for the better. Something just has to change. If not, then I will just become another face in the crowd till the day I die without leaving a name or a mark on this world. Heck, I haven't even gotten a girlfriend, though I don't want some whiny girl on my arm or some loose woman who will cheat on me the first chance that she get and thinks she can get away with it. Still, I don't have one and I want one, but who would want to date me?
- Want to know the meaning of life? Want to live... a real life?
After school I came straight home since I wasn't a part of any clubs and I had no part time jobs either. I turned on the computer in my room to check this weeks release of my favorite manga since I forgot to buy the magazine, and a message popped up. My first thought was that this was some kind of virus I accidentally download from the web. Just thinking that this was the third virus to infect my computer this year, and how I would have to later beg my uncle for another repair or antivirus to fix this, my already foul mood from before became worse.
I was about to immediately exit out of it rather than click either yes or no since either option infects the computer even worse... yet my heart skipped a beat when my finger stopped from clicking the X.
- Want to know the meaning of life? Want to live... a real life?
Zoning out for who knows how long, I just kept staring at the message on my computer.
An indescribable, unknown force compelled me to put my finger on the mouse and move it away from the X icon. I clicked on the YES button...Then immediately afterwards I lost consciousness. I, I think I said something right before, but I don't rememberwhat it was. It probably wasn't important.
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??????????
Cold, shaking... The moment that I realized that something was off, that I was in a foreign place without even needing to open my eyes, I shot up from the ground. I looked around in a panic and found that I was lying down on the floor somewhere, a classroom of some kind, not in my room sitting in front of computer how I remember. A bizarre anxiety overcame me as I realized that I had no idea where I was or how I came to be here, but within a few seconds I had calmed down.
I had no idea where I was or how I arrived here, but panicking pointlessly and worrying that I have been kidnapped from my home won't do me any good. I have seen in tv shows and other literature that when this type of unreal situation occurs it is best to stay calm and collected. It should be only after acquiring more information about my situation...I can then decide to be scared out of my mind.
Aqua: Not bad, and it could alway be worse, I guess. You look to have the best quality of the bunch this time.
The cold, yet seductive adult voice came from a corner of the room. I turned my head around, and saw a red head woman in her early twenties looking down at me. Both literally since she was standing and I was on the floor, and figuratively since you can just hear the superiority in her voice. The young woman was beautiful and was young enough to be a college student, yet her face showed experience that is uncommon for her age. There was a small scar running down her neck that looked like it was a very deep wound at the time it occurred. It was very unlikely to ever heal and disappear without plastic surgery.
The intense red haired woman took a cigarette and began to smoke without a care in the world. It made her look even more mature, although it was bad for her health and looks. The woman then looked past me with calm and judging eyes. I turned around and realized that I wasn't alone in this, and thank god since despite her great looks that woman was scaring me even before she took out a cigarette.
Behind me, lying on the ground like I was there were six other people. Four men and two woman, half of which were already waking up like I was and the other half still groggy and collecting themselves. We were in a classroom, not from my school, but it felt vaguely familiar. Not like I have been here in person before, but that I have seen it somewhere before. Oddly, even though I just felt cold when I woke up and that it should still be winter outside, I felt incredibly hot in my school winter uniform as if it was summer. The others around me felt just as uncomfortable as I was. They began taking off the heavy clothing they had on as well as loosening their clothes in an attempt to cool down..
Shin: Where is this place? Who are you? Why am I here? Also, why is it so damn hot in this classroom? Did someone over do it with the heater? It is killing me.
I said as much as I stood up to take off my jacket and tying it around my waist. I just meant to ask some questions, yet I ended up complaining, especially about the heat which shouldn't have been the main issue here. The woman chuckled to her self before looking over at me mockingly.
Aqua: I thought you had the most potential here, but aren't you too relaxed to be worrying about the temperature? Interesting if nothing else, but think carefully, it should had already inserted everything to your head. Where you are and why you are here and all of that good stuff.
Think carefully?
What kind of fortune cookie advise is that? Still, I tried to recall everything just for the heck of it. I only remembered when the pop up on the screen showed up which read, "Want to know the meaning of life? Want to live... a real life?", and clicked YES. Afterwards, I fell unconscious. Wait... there really was something. There's something in my head, something about survival and life.
This is a game.
Whoever created this game is not known, maybe it's god, maybe it's the devil, or maybe it's the aliens or humans in the future. Now I have become a player of this game, or maybe part of this game.
A game that brought together those who were lost in life, but have yet to become a rotten person. When they choose this game, they will be transported to various scenes in horror movies... Or that is how it should have been.
In a new project to test the limits and potential of man, it was decided to expand the range of missions that the players will embark on. Specifically, the works of manga, anime, books, and games that meet God's criteria.
The criteria is horror and high casualty rate.
Aqua: It is unlucky for you all that God changed the rules on you, but since we all come from Japan we may be more fortunate than others. This times the mission is High School of the Dead. Your luck isn't bad, you newbie bastards! You're getting such an easy mission on the first time around. Even when you die it will be an easy death. You just get bitten and become zombies in the end. So lucky, haaaaa!
The red haired woman began to laugh like crazy person. It was scary and I wasn't the only one here who tensed up and backed away a little. I was getting closer and closer to deciding that it was fine to be scared out of my mind for many reasons, but about what she just said kept me from panicking as much as I should have been.
High School of the Dead.
It is the name of one of my favorite ( former if I now have to live through it if what she said was true about this being that world ) manga/anime. An action, adventure and horror story of a post apocalyptic world quickly overrun by zombies. The story follows a small group of highschool students, along with a school nurse and little girl as they fight their way through the streets of a zombie overrun Japan, to find a way to survive. The zombies are referred to as THEM, a form of mental protection against the cold act of killing former humans who have been turned.
Zombies, social collapse, deadly human survivors taking advantage of the situation to commit crimes and above all, and the slow decay of the main cast's own moral code. It is an amazing manga/anime that quickly became popular thanks to its amazing story, art, setting and character ( More often than not the females are stacked, having large breast so plentiful that you would have to question if the setting really is in japan, if you set aside all the other horror and gore ). It is an incomplete work as it has been on hiatus for years, yet it is still something that I would regularly read/watch again.
Fat Man: A mission? So are you saying only our conscience has come inside the computer? Just like in novels? And when we complete this game our conscience will go back to our bodies?
The one who asked this was a chubby man in his twenties who was next to me. I too thought that it was a valid question to ask, but the red haired woman gave him a death glare that was far to unbecoming of her first class face, which somehow made her look all the more frightening.
What is wrong with me to be so afraid of... never mind. She just took out a gun from a pack behind her back and shoved it into the mouth of the fat man so quickly that none of us could even react to stop her, if the gun didn't deter us already.
The gun was to my best knowledge a Beretta, similar to the Auto 9 once used by a certain robot cop, and it was pushed further into the fat man's mouth. Red hair woman looked down at the fat man with a look of disgust.
Aqua: I don't know or care if it's conscience or whatever, but in this world you will feel pain, you will get injured, and you will die. Also, you were wrong. When you finish this mission, you will go to the next one. Maybe you have seen or read it or maybe not. Everytime, God will bring in new members to replace those that died in the last movie, or just mission now as it were. Every mission consists of seven to twenty people, and the number of players will increase the difficulty of the mission. In other words this is a very easy mission, we only have eight people here, one difficulty level higher than if we had seven the lowest level of difficulty.
Then with a sneer, the fat man began to tell the red hair woman off.
Fat Man: How do you know those who died didn't go back to their body? Perhaps they chose to die willingly. You can't scare me so easily!
What the hell is this guy saying?
We could all see a vein appear on the red haired woman and I could swear that her finger on the trigger of her gun was becoming itchy, further proof that you shouldn't get on the wrong side of the woman with a gun who doesn't hesitate to place a gun in a man's mouth. Also, that guy must be fearless and talented to speak clearly with a gun in his mouth.
Aqua: Then do you want to try dying? Huh, can you imagine that unending terror? I lived through five missions so far. The first one was Halloween 1. There were 17 newbies in that movie and three experienced veterans. A full 20 man difficulty. And do you want to know how it all ended? They all died. Killed by Michael Myers. I was the only survivor. Because it was a full 20 player difficulty, God fucked with the plot so much that even heavy weaponry didn't even slow him down as he walked slowly towards you and no matter how far, or how fast you run, you turned a corner and there the fucker was? Can you imagine being followed around by the world's worst stalker with a teleport ability and seeing your comrades die before your eyes? You piece of fat ass shit! You want to die, huh!?
Red haired woman was shouting like a madman. Her intent to kill was so clear and obvious in her eyes for all of us to see. The fat man finally realized the situation he was in and looked like he was about to piss his pants in fear. Then the gun in her hands was shoved so down his throat that he couldn't even plead for his pitifull life.
Aqua: The point here is that death is death. Dying in a horror movie or anime is death in the real world even if our minds are in computers or whatever. Furthermore, I want to add that when you die here you will be tortured by the devils in these missions that will take all sorts of shapes and forms, so if you don't have the determination to live through this world of infinite terror, I advise you to suicide now. It will be a much more pleasant death than if you continue on.
It really looked like the red haired woman was about to kill the fat man and the seven of us new players tried to persuade her otherwise, but interrupting them was one of the two woman newbies here. A petite looking girl with glasses who could very well still be in middle school, yet her ability to remain calm in this situation made others believe that she was older than she really was, in a total different way than the red haired woman.
Hikari: Then we don't have a way to return to the real world or our bodies?
The red haired woman went back to her corner in the classroom and lit another smoke.
Aqua: Look, I am telling you that it's not your conscience that came into the computer. Do you honestly believe that humans have to technology to create this game? No way in hell. This is the work of a god and we are nothing more than bugs, worthless specks in his eyes. We were thrown here to struggle just to entertain him or them. Both our body and conscience have been brought to this world, and can't go back. At least I don't think we can go back that easily.
The glasses girl has a sense of calmness, obviously the type to think before she acts, and she thought about what to say next.
Hikari: By the sound of it, there should still be a way to go back to our world right? You never said that it was impossible, just unlikely.
This girl was smart.
Just like me, or even better than me she has been observing our situation and our conversations to find out what she should be doing. The red haired woman seemed to have come to a similar conclusion as I had and looked at the glasses girl impressed.
Aqua: Not bad, not bad at all. The quality of this time's newbies are not bad, and unlike a certain someone you aren't complaining right off the bat. You're right, there is hope to go back.
Then after she was done insulting me, the one who complained about the heat, the red haired woman began to explain ways we go about getting home, and once that topic came up we all paid attention.
Aqua: Everytime you finish a mission, that is you lived through the mission in one piece, you will obtain a fixed base reward of 1000 points. You can exchange these points for a lot of things, such as the right to live in a Mission World for 100 days. That is one way to get back home or escape the horrors of this world.
Then another player, a middle aged guy then asked an obvious, yet stupid question if you gave it any thought.
Middle Aged Man: Who would want to live in a horror movie or some anime where you can die? That's asking us to die.
Hikari: Don't you understand what she meant? There are many genres of horror movies, manga and anime like High school of the Dead. H.O.T.D is a bad example since the entire world has been overrun with zombies which makes it closer to the later Bio Hazard movies and games, but in some works, everything can be explained with science somewhat and are isolated events. You just have to go outside where the main events are happening and the rest of the world is normal.
The red Haired woman gave the glasses girl an impressed look.
Aqua: You are exactly right. You can indeed live in another part of this world normally for those days. Just think about it a second. After experiencing a couple of these dreadful life and death trials, the chance to live normally in this or some other world is a blessing.
I think I am beginning to understand how this world works. For a long time I have felt incredible boredom and have been living life aimlessly, so I am looking forward to being a player in this world and adventuring just like the main characters in manga, but this isn't a game. This is real life without any save points.
Here you risk your life over and over again and no matter how exciting it is, it will all eventually get to you. I always thought what are the characters in manga and anime complaining about, wanting to go back to a normal life so badly, instead of living a magical and adventuring life for as long as possible, but that was only one just one sides opinion. Once you experience life and death missions here in this different and dangerous world, then the mundane and peaceful life is what you begin to wish for.
Aqua: Other than exchanging for time, there are many other things. Such as this beretta used by RoboCop. A sci-fi weapon, and this is its unlimited ammo version. It took a whole 1500 points and some rewards. If you wanted to use those points to live in a movie or manga world, that would be almost an entire year with 150 days of peace. There is more. You can also use points to improve yourself, including intelligence, mental capacity, reaction time, cell vitality, muscle density, and immunization strength which are quantified as stats like in video games. In other words, if you survive through this mission you can double your strength. If you lived through a hundred missions, you can become a superman.
Hikari: This is all imformative and all, but we are getting off track here. Let's get back to the main point. How many points does it take to get back to our world? With no more life and death missions to haunt us?
The red haired woman raised a hand with five fingers. The a few of the others that had yet to speak made their own assumptions about that gesture.
Man A: 50 points?
Woman B: 500 points?
Man B: 5000 points?
They all gave their own thoughts, but before the red haired woman could confirm or deny, the only other male close to my age spoke up. Maybe a year older than me or so, but he looked completely different from me, your average youth that you could find anywhere. Unkempt hair, messy clothing and a face that could scare children ( Not ugly, just tough looking ).
Misaki: It obviously isn't going to be so easy to get out of this hell hole if what she said about this place is true? 50? 500? 5000? Give me a break! If no more then five missions was enough to get out of here than that lady wouldn't have spent 1,500 points for a weapon.
Aqua: Another good one in this batch. How lucky am I, and you are right tough looking kid. Those aren't nearly enough points to truly escape this place alive. 50,000 points. You need 50,000 points to return to the real world.
Shin: 50,000!
Red haired woman took out another cigarette.
Aqua: Did the number go over your head kid? Yes it is true. If you don't use any points, you just have to live through fifty missions then you can go back... Like that could happen.
Everyone quieted down. According to her, if you don't use your points, it isn't possible to live through fifty missions without using your points for one thing or another.
Aqua: Of course, 1000 points is the base reward of every mission, so it is possible to get more than the base 1000 points just for surviving. You can do side quests in missions to earn points. For example; when I explained everything to you about this world, according to God's rules, explaining to newbies will be rewarded 100 points.
Misaki: Then what are the main and side quest for these missions? I want to know the best and fastest away to get out of this place.
Aqua: Then just look at your watches. You should have a special watch on your hand given to you by god when you arrived here.
Then we all realized that we had black metal watches on are wrist. I noticed the watch beforehand, yet I wanted for it to come out in conversation naturally just now. I had already drawn attention, and negative attention at that. The red hair woman who is my best chance at surviving this place, so I didn't want to slip up like the fat man and say something stupid and have her impression of me worsen. The watch was on everyone's left wrist and we looked at the screen together. There was data on the screen of the watch. It was in small print and was constantly revolving, so it took a minute to understand what was the message... possibly from God itself.
God's Mission
High School of the Dead, 8 Man Mission
Story Plot.
Main Quest: 1000 Points.
Objective 1. Escape the school and reach the apartment of Rika Minami with the Main characters at the school by tomorrow midnight.
Objective 2. Survive till sun rise of the following day after reaching the apartment.
Main Characters:
Takashi Komuro - Negative 1000
Rei Miyamoto - Negative 100
Saeko Busujima - Negative 100
Saya Takagi - Negative 100
Kohta Hirano - Negative 100
Shizuka Marikawa - Negative 100
Alice Maresato - Not Included.
Side Quest: Bonus Points.
1. Kill the Zombies - 1 Point = 20 Zombies.
2. Kill the Rioter - 5 Points = 1 Rioter.
3. Orientation - The first player to explain to the New Players the inner workings of Missions, Exchanges and how to return home. 100 Points.
Penalties: Negative Points/Death.
1. New Players - Negative 1000 points for killing a New Player.
2. Spoiler - Negative 10 points per Sentence.
3. Main Character Deaths - The death of Takashi Negative 1000 Points. Any other main character with the exception Alice is Negative 100 Points.
Total Score: Pending.
Aqua: You will get one point for every twenty zombies you kill, 5 point for killing those who have gone mad in the apocalypse, and 1000 points for every newbie...
She looked at everyone with a wicked face. Only glasses girl and I looked back calmly at her. We both understood the rules of this game just now, and so we weren't afraid like the others. To the contrary, we didn't get why they were afraid. The rules were right there.
Aqua: And that is negative 1000. Killing a newbie like you guys would be negative 1000 points to your killer. Ok then, if you have any other questions hurry up and ask. This mission is about to start.
Glasses girl looked at me for some reason and then back to the red haired woman. She obviously had more to ask.
Hikari: Sorry, and I am not to familiar with this manga since it is more aimed at men who like big breast and panties, so I don't know the plot too well, but this world should or should soon be overrun with zombies. If it is the latter and the outbreak hasn't happened yet, can't we ignore the plot and just kidnap the main characters and take them to this apartment?
Shin: She makes a good point. You and your gun there look intimidating to say the least. We could even find a way to explain the situation and...
Aqua: Good idea, but God's world isn't that easy. Do you think it is easy to just kidnap seven people and transport them across the city? Just in a normal situation we would have to deal with the cops and eyewitnesses, but now we are in this world's apocalypse. Also, messing with the plot to that extent would definitely change the difficulty of the mission and I mean for the worse. If any of them die at the very least you will lose 100 points and one mistake could wipe us out. If you end in the negative by the end of the mission then you will be killed by God. Still, this is a good opportunity to get points outside the main mission.
Shin: You mean killing zombies?
Aqua: Yeah. Using one of my previous mission before god made the change to manga and anime, Bio Hazard ( Resident Evil ), you could get 1 point for every 10 zombies, but there were only so many zombies even if you had the means to kill them all, but look here.
The red haired woman then pointed towards the windows of the classroom. We could see the city out the windows and anyone who knows about H.O.T.D, then you would know that soon the the city will burn and chaos will break out because of the zombies.
Aqua: Look, there are millions of people out there who will soon be turned into zombies. 1 point for twenty zombies is a bargain in this world. With this infinite ammo gun can you imagine how many points I can get? Too bad I have to protect the main characters and only have till tomorrow midnight and to the evening to stay here. Really, what a shame!
Everyone, including the young glasses girl and the unkempt youth looked at the red haired woman frightened. More so than her gun, it was her mind set. Even if this world was just fake, not the real world but a game world of some kind it was asking too much of us to just see the people here as fake and not worth worrying about. Our mind set and morality is the result of the society we lived in till now. But this woman was different.
It was obvious that she didn't care about shooting and killing zombies, and we could easily believe that if it was in the mission to kill normal people she wouldn't hesitate to do so. The others were scared of her, didn't agree with her, I was the same, but I still knew that she wasn't wrong.
Manga, anime, books and games... I would have given anything to live such an interesting life, yet as with stories with high mortality rates, if you are not the main character then you are screwed. It is the same here. If you are not Takashi Komuro or a main character of H.O.T.D you are going to die a horrible death. Probably all mission given by God are the same, so in the end we are all side characters who are trying to live in stories where god ( The author ) doesn't care if we die or not, no, he will use our death to make the story better... As is the fate of a side character.
Shin: I don't like it, but to do everything we need to survive isn't wrong. Points are just as important as food or water here, definitely more important than money.
Aqua: Well, aren't you a smart one. Still not an adult, but you might just have what it takes to survive here.
Shin: Th-thank you.
Then the red haired woman offered me one of her cigarettes, and I reluctantly took it.
Shin: I don't really smoke.
Aqua: So? Having a vice or two or three won't kill you. Well, I thought the same way, bad for your lungs and all, until I came to God's world that is. Too many things here have tried to kill me to care anymore.
Shin: You know you still haven't told us your name.
Aqua: Right back at you. It is only polite to tell your name first, but I hate those kinds of formalities the most. The name I went by when I was working was Aqua.
Shin: The name is Shin. What kind of job did you have that got you that name?
Aqua: It was a name that carried on from my days as a swimmer, and seemed to match my new occupation in the JM-SDF. Any other questions?
Shin: Who is this God that you have been mentioning?
Aqua: God is the thing that manages our entrance to the missions. It gives us points and you also exchange through it. God is a ball of light. I don't really know what it is either. It only talks when spoken to and it is pretty mechanical. Sorry, but any more questions will have to wait.
Then as she said that school broadcasting network turned on and although we never really checked, we heard the door of the classroom unlock. The following announcement was just like it was in the manga.
- Attention all students and teachers!
Attention all students and teachers!
At the present time there is a violent struggle occurring within the premises.
Students, stay with your teachers and follow their instructions.
Repeat.
Attention all students and teachers!
Attention all students and teachers!
At the present time there is a violent struggle occurring within the premises.
Students, stay with your teachers and follow their instructions.
Repeat.
Attention all students and teachers!
Attention all students and teachers!
At the present time there is a violent struggle occurring within the premises.
Students, stay with your teachers and follow their instructions.
Repeat...
The message was about to play again, but just like in the story a zombie should have broken into the broadcasting room and well... You can imagine the rest. Aqua finished her cigarette, took out her beretta once more ( Scared the shit out of the fat man as she did so ) and walked over and opened the classroom door.
Aqua: Alright folks the plot is starting.The difficulty of this mission is not high, so it is unlikely God changed the plot by much. The main characters probably won't die too easy, but just in case I am going to clear this place up and make it easier on everyone. Also, remember that others can hear and see us as we are now apart of this world. If they hear anything not belonging to this world or spoilers, 10 points will be deducted for every sentence. Well newbies, try your best to survive. I'm out.
Aqua was already walking down the halls without a care in the world as the halls were quickly being filled with other students in a panic to escape. We all ran out as well and tried to follow her.
Man A: Where are you going?
Aqua: Where? To do do my part and get some points. What else?
Woman B: What about us.
Aqua: How is that my problem? The thing I forgot to mention was that I have three rules. 1. Don't interrupt me, 2. Don't point a weapon at me, and 3. I won't carry worthless men with me. I have no obligation or need to help you guys stay alive. This is a baptism. If you can live through this one mission then you are worthy to become my comrades and if you can't do that then you can die for all I care... Though that will mean that you have already died.
Fat Man: You bitch! Your're abandoning us!
Aqua turned back around and although the halls were filled with hundreds of students yelling in loudly in a panic, we still heard her reply in the coldest voice that I have ever heard in my life.
Aqua: It isn't abandonment if we were never comrades to start with. If you want be to acknowledged as such then live. Live and survive!
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