2 Act 2: Return to the School of the Dead

Day 1

Time: 1:07 P.M

Location: Convenience Store; Namba Area

Kato is sweating heavily while looking at the bloody mess that Kyosei made outside. His eyes keep on darting at the corpse outside and his friend who is bloodied all over after repeatedly punching the woman until she dies.

"F*ck, dude. What are we going to say to the authorities if they find out about this?! Whatever happens, don't drag me into this mess, I didn't ask you to beat up someone to death just like that!"

Despite Kato being too nervous about what is happening, Kyosei is still frowning while opening and closing his bloody palm.

"It's too soft..."

"Hah? What the f*ck man? What kind of indecent thing are you thinking? Are you perhaps into guro?"

"Moron, what the f*ck are you even thinking to reach that conclusion?! I am talking about the head of that woman. For some reason, it was too soft when I beat her head up. My strength might be really strong for people but I am not that strong to literally break someone's head to pieces just like that. Also, are you blind? That woman is not normal anymore."

"Even if they are no longer normal, why would you kill them?!"

Before Kyosei can answer his question of Kato, the FM station blaring inside the convenience store stopped the music and changes into a news flash.

"News Flash! Reports of attacks from "crazed people" have risen significantly and reports from those attacks have been escalating on the various streets of Osaka and Kyoto. Moreover, these "crazed people" started biting people and eating the flesh of the victims. It is recommended to avoid crowded places and stay at your home for the time being. Police have been deployed and firemen are also stationed to help detain and stop the "crazed people" from attacking. In the meantime, stay inside at all costs and don't interact with the people who exhibit weird and unusual behavior that is no longer normal."

"Additional news, it has been reported that this is not just happening in Osaka and Kyoto but in various places around Japan as well. Currently, military personnel have been deployed in Tokyo's boundaries and are currently erecting a wall to stop the "crazed people" from entering. For now, further news about the situation has yet to be delivered and we have no updates regarding the situation so please stay tuned to our channel or the local news channel for additional and hot updates on the news."

"I knew it..." Kyosei flicked off the blood on his hands grabbed the nearest tissue paper and ripped it open to wipe off the blood on his hands.

"Wait... so the woman you attacked just now is one of those "crazed people" the news you have been telling about?"

"I have a hunch that something is wrong but I didn't know that woman was part of them. However, based on the behaviors described on the news and the ones that we have seen so far, I can easily tell that what we are facing right now are zombies like those in the movies and games."

"For real? Isn't that supposed to be impossible as corpses are no longer capable of moving and if they do, they would just rot?"

"I don't know about that. It's happening right now so whatever caused them to become like that, we have no idea why it is happening. But since this is what was going on right now, it's best we immediately adapt to the situation."

Kato fell into deep thought. As for Kyosei, he keeps his eyes peeled outside the convenience store. He has been seeing some movements from the opposite side of the streets but not near the convenience store which means they are safe at the moment.

"Kyosei..." Kato called.

"What?"

"Help me block the door."

"Wait, what? What the f*ck are you saying? Are you suggesting we lock ourselves here?" Kyosei frowned.

"Idiot. We will not use that way to exit. Seeing that there is someone else who has wandered here means they are also somewhere nearby as well, we will use a special passage to escape instead. That is why you need to help me block the freaking door. Compared to the walls that are made of plastic glass, the door is made of real glass and is brittle enough that will not hold any zombies if they see us here. Now, stop complaining and help me before those guys spot us!"

Once Kyosei understood what Kato wanted to do, he decided to help and blocked the door. The shelves were heavy so unless someone forced the door open, they wouldn't be able to get in at all.

Kato went to the changing room grabbed a backpack and handed it to Kyosei.

"Here, grab some necessities here and there that you might need. Prioritize canned food and water. But don't stuff too much. Don't worry about me and worry about what you will get instead."

Kyosei nodded without a word and started to grab food, water, and some other items as well like candy and soda. Just like what Kato said, he only stuffs enough that the bag still has enough space for more stuff.

"Are you good to go? Then follow me, I have something to show you."

Kato then entered the storage room where the food and other things sold were being stored. He pulled a lever and one of the shutters opened with a "click" sound.

"Is this what you mean to be the passage you were talking about?"

"No, this is a secret place that my stepdad entrusted me. You know that he is a retired soldier right?"

"Yeah, so? Are you saying that place has weapons?"

"Ding ding! You get 10 points! Anyways, we needed weapons to fight zombies, right? I don't think punching zombies would work that well especially if you are going to fight against multiple of them. You need weapons!"

Kyosei agrees that his keys are insufficient in a battle against a group which is why he decided to follow. Kyosei thought he would only see minor weapons there as Japan has a law that forbids guns and all but what he saw there is something he didn't even expect to see.

"What the f*ck, Kato? Are you guys smuggling guns secretly?! What's with these high caliber guns doing in a convenience store?!"

"Haha, well, I can't disclose the information to you so you can just go and have your imagination run wild. Anyways, pick a handgun you will be bringing. I could hand you a rifle but I doubt you needed a high-caliber gun right off the bat and my dad would be scolding me if some of the high-caliber guns were gone. Just choose the one you think would pack a punch."

Kyosei scratches his head. Although he has played games that handle guns as weapons, he has never been in a situation where he managed to hold or handle a real gun ever before. Not only that but he is not that much of a gun nut that would know what guns he was currently using. However, he wanted a gun that held a punch compared to real guns. Instead of looking at the normal pistols, his eyes landed on the .357 Magnum.

"I will take this one then," Kyosei grabbed the gun on the table. It's heavy but not heavy enough that lifting it is impossible.

"Eh? Are you sure? That gun is pretty loud and there is no way you can attach a suppressor to lessen the noise it makes every fire. Not only that but it's hard to reload this gun and although it packs quite a punch when used, the recoil is also quite strong and you might not be able to handle it!"

"This is fine. It's not like I have to keep on using it in every battle. I only plan to use this one for emergency purposes. And since it packs a punch, this is good enough I guess."

Kato scratched his head but he didn't stop Kyosei from picking it up. He then handed him a fanny bag that contained bullets for the .357 magnum and a secure holster for the gun.

"Bring these tripwires, C4 charges, and grenades as well. I don't know if these will be useful but it should help you use them. I added some instructions on how to use them as well so use them as you will."

"Wait, wait. Why are like talking like you won't be coming along?"

"Because I won't be coming along indeed. I needed to contact my father and until he asked me to vacate this place, I would stay here until the very end. I know you are good at fighting so I am not worried about you. Anyway, that should be good enough for you, I guess. Though I am sorry as I cannot give you any melee weapons. I have guns but I don't handle melee weapons here, so you do you," Kato patted me on the back.

Kyosei sighed but he nodded after. "Fine. But make sure you won't kick the bucket so early, alright? With all these guns with you, you will look pathetic if you die immediately."

"Bro, stop jinxing, alright? You should be the one who needed to be careful. I don't know what you will be doing later but whatever it is, make sure to survive. If both of us are still alive until then, we might be able to even meet each other once more in the future," Kato raised his fist.

"Hmph. Just make sure to survive first before you say something like that. Because for me, I am gonna make sure I will."

Kyosei raised his fist as well and bumped it into Kato who was grinning.

"Alright. It's time for you to leave. Use this passage and follow it to reach the end of the tunnel. You just needed to walk straight without going to any fork in the path. You will reach the nearest ladder that will lead you to the surface."

Kato's passageway that he is talking about was actually the sewers. Kyosei didn't expect that a passageway for the sewers would be present here as well.

"Let me guess, this pathway is what you guys are using to smuggle guns huh?"

"Shh, that should be top secret. Anyways, good luck out there."

Kyosei sighed and climbed up the ladder. Now he needed to learn his next move once he reached the surface.

...

...

Day 1

Time: 1:58 P.M

Location: Across Kirishima High School's Road

Time until Nighttime: 4 hours and 2 minutes left

After pushing the cover off, Kyosei peeks his head out to see whether there are zombies around. He turned around and realized that there were indeed a few of them walking around the place. He looked around and soon realized that he was peeking into the manhole not too far from the Kirishima High School.

"Damn, so Kato is already pushing me to do the thing huh?"

Although hesitant, he is indeed worried about Miyuki. He might have been ignoring her but there is something left in him that is saying that he shouldn't ignore the plea for help from Miyuki. Although it is risky, Kyosei is sure that Miyuki is still alive. For him, Miyuki is the personification of perseverance and she is not dumb enough to not know what a zombie is and how to kill it.

Based on her last message, it seems that Miyuki is currently stuck inside the school grounds, and with the gate still closed, it means no one else has left the place. The only mystery is how did the zombies enter the place with the gates being closed. Perhaps someone entered while they were infected? Or did someone get bitten while interacting with the zombie outside the gates? Either way, he does not care how, but it is clear that panic has overtaken the whole school. He can hear the screams of the students inside and if bites are contagious, the zombies have already spread far inside.

Kyosei observed the surroundings for a while, waiting for the opportunity for him to emerge and slip away from the attention of the zombies. Once he is sure that all of the zombies nearby are not facing the direction of the manhole, he climbs up from the manhole and closes it up once more since there is a chance he will use it again in the future if necessary.

Now that he is back on the surface, he crouches and starts sneaking near the entrance of the wall. Now he can just go ahead and ignore Miyuki and move on his own but there are two reasons he needed to go back in. One is to secure a car. Since the teachers have yet to leave the school, the keys to their cars should still be inside the faculty room. He could also use the School Bus as well since the key should also be there as well. He won't have any problems looking for the keys as they are inside the school premises. The second is to pick up his bag. The key to his apartment is attached there and in case he wants to return, he can use the key to open it up without the need of breaking down the door. Though people find it weird that Kyosei has a key chain but his apartment keys are not in his key chain, he actually has a reason for it and that is because the keys on the key chain were customized keys that don't open anything except for the lockpick that was attached to the key chain itself. These keys were specifically sharp and acted as sharp points that Kyosei uses as makeshift brass knuckles and it proved quite useful for him. And because the keys were customized, normal keys wouldn't even be a good choice to be added as that would potentially hurt his hands if he used them in a fight.

Due to these two objectives, he has a reason why he wanted to get back in, despite the reasoning wasn't that big of a change as he can just grab a vehicle on the road and go off and he can just go and forget about his apartment as well. It's just something that Kyosei convinced himself just to go back into the school premises and search for Miyuki.

Once he managed to bypass the eyes of the zombies, he sneaked into the usual location he used to climb back up to the wall of the school. He can't just use just any other wall, this wall is the one he needs to use just to get back in. He stealthily climbed back up and stayed at the top of the wall to survey whether it was safe for him to go down or not.

The moment he stood at the top of the wall, he soon saw the students who had yet to be eaten running away in panic. However, there are just those people who seem to always fall down from an invisible rock and cry for help, immediately drawing attention to the nearby zombies. And because they somehow had trouble going back up to their knees, they ended up dying for it which made Kyosei somehow shake his head. After all, the things in the movies seem to happen in real life too.

It is safe to go down the wall so he stealthily slid back into the school premises, returning to the school which has been converted into the school of the dead.

Day 1

Time: 2:13 P.M

Location: Kirishima High School: School Grounds

Time until Nighttime: 3 hours and 47 minutes left

Compared to when he was outside the school premises where only a few were walking around, the school grounds are now a battlefield with the players being the surviving students and the zombies pit to each other, eliminating each other. With Kyosei adding himself into the fray, the first thing he needed to do was to get himself armed with a weapon.

The keys in his hands are only viable if he can fight a zombie in one situation and there are no zombies around to interfere as well, so it's not a good option. As for the guns, he is not too familiar with them and it draw a lot of noise so instead of using them, he decided that he would only use them if very necessary. As for the grenades and trip mines, those are not viable weapons and they are only good for clearing out a horde or a group. For Kyosei, this is only a good option for the finale or when he needs to use it to blow up something. Having a limited number of it with him, he would rather save it up for the last until a good opportunity arises.

He looked around for a bit until he saw a little metal pipe dangling nearby from the old building that was adjacent to the wall he climbed from. It's a little rusty and it's not looking good but it is looking decent for a weapon as the hardness of the pipe still retains. However, the hardness of this pipe won't be the same once he bashes a few heads using it. It won't last long but this should be a good weapon for a bit until he gets the better alternative that he is seeking which is the baseball bat.

Since a few students practice baseball regularly, baseball bats are also one of the pieces of equipment stored in the storage room, not too far from the field. It's not that far from his location but he will have to traverse an open field so he cannot just go and sneak his way to the storage room and grab it. That is why he needed to be quick about it and he needed to pick the fights he needed to reach there before the rusty pipe reached its little limit.

Kyosei surveyed the open field and mentally took note of all the obstacles along the way before he could reach there. He also mentally made a little map that would allow him to reach there with at least minimal combat involved to preserve the durability of the pipe.

With the pre-planning on his head, he quickly bolted through the field and started evading the zombies. Since the zombies walked, he easily dodged their lunges and despite chasing him, he easily just evaded them. For those zombies he can't evade, he just swings the rusty pipe while running full speed, releasing the impact of the momentum to the attack, defeating the zombies that block his way.

But there is one thing that Kyosei noticed the moment he swung the pipe to that zombie just now. It's unbelievably soft to the point that the moment he swings the metal pipe to the head, the zombie's head immediately shatters to pieces, making it like he is smashing melons on the beach instead of heads. He would have understood it if he used a baseball bat or a sharp weapon to do the deed but he was just using a terrible rusty pipe in its last legs. Using this to completely smash a head is something he never would think would happen.

Although he seemed confused about it, he never stopped and thought about it, he only wondered about it while still running. He repeated the same move again to a zombie he could not evade and just like before, the head exploded which made Kyosei perplexed as something was definitely wrong but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Due to this, he arrived at the storage room fairly quickly. There are some zombies not too far from him, still chasing him but they are a little bit far from him as he managed to outrun them. But they didn't forget him and continued to follow him. The rusty pipe is no longer good enough for fighting as it is now bent and broken so once the pipe served its purpose, he immediately ditched it. Kyosei didn't waste his time and despite the exhaustion taking over his body after running, he immediately went to the door to open the storage room only to find it locked.

"Ah sh*t, I remembered that the PE teacher locks this place unless someone borrowed a key from him to open it up or he opens it up himself. It's too much trouble looking for the keys so I would rather go and pick the lock instead, that's much faster," Kyosei muttered to himself.

He quickly went to action and started picking the locks, a few seconds later, the sound of the lock opening can be heard and Kyosei immediately opened the storage shed. There is a lot of equipment stored in there especially balls used for basketball, baseball, volleyball, and football stored there. Some pieces of equipment are stored there that can only see the light if used for class or during sports festivals. But right now, those are not important, nope, they are never gonna be important anymore.

The baseball bats in a basket contained multiple of them, from aluminum to wooden, from old to new, used and unused. Both bats can hurt pretty badly if used against someone, but Kyosei needed something that would last long enough to hit heads. He used an aluminum bat before during one of the fights he had in the past and it honestly allowed him to knock a few down. However, according to some people, wooden bats are much more capable of dishing out more damage than aluminum ones. And since he does not need it for baseball but for assaulting zombies, what he needs to get is something that can easily kill, and hit hard enough.

He didn't decide and instead, picked up two new baseball bats. One made of wood and one of aluminum. He put the aluminum one at holstered on the backpack as an extra weapon and equipped the wooden bat. He swung it around a few times and found the wooden bat a bit heavier than the aluminum one which favored him more.

Exiting the shed, the zombies that followed him are also near as well.

"Hmm, how about we test this baby out?"

THUMP!