Closing shop

(3,2,1)

"Now." I whisper as I open the door, handgun raised. While in the meantime, a single gunshot echoed from the outside.

I look around the room as I stood by the door frame. A bed on the left corner of the room, ahead of me, a desk. And in the wall after the bed, wardrobe doors.

(Clear. Or?)

I walk up to the wardrobe door, and after a quick check under the bed, I bring my hand close to the wardrobe.

"Any itchy, tasty's in here?" I whisper as I knock on the door, then step sideways as I open it.

"Clear." I nod as I step back, looking at the almost empty wardrobe. Only a single kimono hanging inside.

"That's six bedrooms and one bathroom." I holster my gun as I walk back into the hallway, now being relatively bright as each and every door was left open.

Essentially, both hallways that had the doors towards the central storage room had bedrooms of the same size and layout, the layout being a double bed and a desk, along with a medium-sized wardrobe. The one door by the staircase that led downstairs had a larger-than-average room. And the last two doors by the staircase that led to the third floor. One was a bathroom, the other the bedroom I just checked.

Now out of all of them, three were empty. The big room and the room next to the bathroom along with the bathroom itself. And out of the other four, one had a single corpse stuck under the bed, the other three had no corpses, but dead people. One of which had bled all over the bed. So yea, Saya jinxed it.

Speaking of Saya. She, along with Rika and Saeko when to check the Dojo and warehouse as Rika said.

Now the warehouse, turned out to be locked. The dojo, well. It had a mini horde inside. Thankfully three people going ham in it was enough to clear it. Though the dojo probably looks like total shit now.

"The house is clear." I let out a small sigh as press the talk button on my radio.

"Looks clear on this side too." The radio responds.

"Alright, let's meet up on the first floor." I nod as I throw a last glance towards the window. The sky a deep orange.

"We won't be able to lock this place down today..." I whisper as I head to the staircase, then to the first floor.

Upon reaching the first floor I walk up to the table in the main room, the one that had the corpse under it. Then grab the corpse by the leg, and start to drag it towards the front porch of the house, walking down to the stone pathway that led towards the front gate, the humvee now parked under the gate's doorframe.

"We need to see if we can close the gate too." I wisper as I let go of the corpse. Then return to the house and sit on the table.

Not long after, the trio of Rika, Saya and Saeko appeared from the back porch of the house, the one that led to the garden.

"Ey there commando!" Rika raises her arms to wave at me as they all walked up to me.

"Any problems on your side?" I ask as I take off my helmet and lift my mask.

"Ehh, there are probably some stragglers left inside the dojo, don't think they'll be going anywhere. We closed the doors for good measure." Rika shrugs as she looks behind her.

"You two Ok?" I ask as I get up, glancing at Saya and Saeko.

"I'm fine..." Saya responds as she keeps staring at me. Saeko nodded slightly.

"Alright. Let's head back to the car. We need to figure out our next step." I motion with my head as I start walking towards the car, leaving my helmet on the table.

-A few minutes later-

"So the door has a panel huh." I nod as I look towards a small console next to the open gate.

"Yea, the gate doors are on rails. Sliding-type, obviously the panel does not work now though. But we can probably close them manually, as long as they are not locked in place. Though that means that anybody with half a brain cell can slide them open too." Khota nods back.

"Hmm well let's see if we can close them first. I'd like to actually clean the place from corpses first, but we need to find the snow plower, as dragging all the corpses out of the courtyard will take way too long..." I turn to look at the dead corpse mass on the left side of the courtyard. I then exit the car and walk up to the gate's sliding door. Though calling it a door might have been an understatement, it looked more like a giant brick slab, part of it seemingly digging into the ground, as there was a gap into the ground that let the slab move back or forth.

I walk to the back edge of it and give it a push. Much to my surprise, the giant door slab started to slide, relatively easy too.

(Huh? Guess the on-rails part means that this thing has wheels to slide onto too? The thing looks and feels too heavy to be able to move this easy)

In the meantime, the Humvee entered the premise as Rika run to the other sliding door, closing the gate completely.

"And we're closed shop~" Rika chimes as she wipes her hands.

"With like ten thousand corpse bodies still on our side." I add as I stop next to her.

"Wouldn't it be freaky if they all got up again the moment the sun set?" She asks with a chuckle as she turns to me.

"...I'm holding you responsible if they start going all re-dead on us." I let out a breath from my nose as I drop my shoulders.

"Umm, where should I park!" Shizuka then asks as she opens the driver's door, peeking at us from inside.

"That garage over there!" I point towards the garage on the left side of the main building.

"Take note that there are three corpses in there, dead ones!" I add. Shizuka nods and closes the door, then starts driving again.

"Think we might be able to take a bath before sleeping?" Rika asks as she turns to me.

"The bathroom on the second floor was clear of corpses and blood, but also had no running water. Best we can do is use some of our drinking water from the car..." I respond as I fold my arms.

"We should have gathered some water from the river..." Rika sighs.

"Yep. But we still have to clean up anyway. If we make the beds filthy we'll have to clean them too. Which will be much harder and resource-consuming" I start walking towards the garage, the Humvee now parked right outside as Saeko dragged a corpse out of the garage by the arms.

"Pull 'em by the legs! Safer if they decide to stop being dead!" I shout as I raise my hand. Saeko turns to me, nods, and lets go of the corpse, then runs up to the corpse's legs, grabs it, and starts dragging it again, followed by Asami and Khota, who were dragging another one.

"Oh Naier! The plower is in here!" Khota then shouts as he and Asami drop the corpse outside. Then points toward the garage.

"Hmm..." I look at the dead horde to my left.

"Well, let's see if we can at least hook it up on the car." I nod.

"I'll check it up." Rika answers as she starts to jog towards the car. Me following behind her.

(If we could at least get some of these corpses out for now it'd be better than nothing. Or you know, knowing we can plow them out)

"Where is the plower?" Rika asks as we reach the car.

"There." Khota points at an orange piece of curved plastic that was up against a wall in the side of the garage, next to a tire pump and a table with some tools.

"Aight, I'll check if we can use it to get rid of the uglys in here." Rika nods as she walks up to the plower.

"Ah Rika let me help! You are still injured!" Shizuka shouts as she runs up to Rika.

"What about the ones inside the building?" Saya asks as she also exits the car.

"We'll have to drag em out." I answer flatly as I turn towards the pinkette.

"How meany?" Saya asks again.

"Uhh, two in the first floor's bath, like five in the kitchen, including the fridge..."

"There's a corpse in the fridge?" Saya tilts her head with a frown.

(Or right, they don't know.)

"Yea, this house has an actual room for a fridge." I answer as I nod.

"Oh, makes sense then. What else." Saya casually shrugs.

(...Too common for your rich tastes huh...)

Holding back that thought I point at the second floor.

"Second floor has one, three, four dead corpses, and like another four 'non-corpse' bodies. Oh and giblets." I continue.

"Giblets?" Asami asks as she stops next to me with Khota.

"Some dude went ham with an axe on, two people I think? Before turning into a brain muncher himself" I shrug.

"Oh..." Asami just hugs herself as she looks away.

(Queasy?)

"I did find cleaning tools in the same room though so we could probably clean all the..." I then turn to see Alice staring at me.

"Piniatta parts." I continiue.

"And finally, third floor has seven, five corpses I dealt with, one body of a probable dead survivor inside the radio room, one outside." I add as I turn to look towards the third floor.

"We could probably clean the house before the sun sets." I add as I then look at the sky.

"Then there is no time to waste." Saya answers as she starts to walk toward the house.

"Anybody else wants to come?" I ask as I also start to walk, turning to look at the group. Saeko nods and walks up towards me.

And so, me, along with Saeko and Saya walk into the building.

"Alright, where we start from?" Saya asks as we stop in the main room, glancing at my helmet.

"Bathroom has two." I point to the left.

"Kitchen has five or six." Then point to the right.

"Also. Before we start. I'd like to apologize to both of you.." I then continue, Saya arching an eyebrow questionably, slightly tilting her head.

"Apologise?" Saeko asks back.

"For leaving both of you to dry." I reply as I grab my helmet and wear it.

"You do not have to apologize to me Naier. As long as you are fine I..." Saeko responds as she glances away.

"Now's not the time for this. We're fine." Saya turns to look towards the bathroom, folding her arms as she lowers her head slightly.

"Something tells me this is 'the' time for this. Say it." I respond as I fold my arms.

"What are you talking about." Saya turns to look at me with a perplexed expression.

"I know your body language and the way you speak enough to know that you are 'not' fine." I answer. Saya keeps staring at me, then glances at Saeko, then back at me. Before letting out a small sigh

"...How could I be fine..." She mumbles as she looks away.

"I nearly got raped Naier. Do you expect me to just shake it off? I keep seeing that bastard's face each time I close my eyes." She responds as she turns to stare at me, her brows turning into an angry frown.

"I'm not going to complain that you're ignoring me. I know what we're trying to do here is more important for our survival..." She adds as her face calms down, lowering her head slightly.

(You just complained...)

"I just..." She take a deep breath.

"...No, never mind." She shakes her head and turns to face the bathroom.

"We should clean the house. Let's start with the bathroom." She adds as she starts to walk.

"So it would have been better if I let us go down with a sinking ship, as long as we went down embraced?" I silently 'ask' as I fold my arms, tilting my head slightly.

I just sigh and start walking, heading towards the bathroom door that Saya was standing over.

"Should we drain the water?" Saya asks as I stop next to her.

"After we drag em out, yea. Don't think there is a point in using that water to clean as it's already crimson red. Plus it might even be infectious. We don't know if this, virus, or whatever it is, can survive in stagnant water." I nod.

"Let's get the corpses out first." Saeko then walks up to the first, female corpse on the ground, grabs it by its feet and starts to drag it out of the bathroom, before throwing it over the broken part of the outer wall right outside of the bathroom, next to the garage that the Humvee was now parked at.

Without saying anything else, I walk up to the male corpse in the bathtub and drag it out of the bathtub...

(Huh. Sir-long-dong is here...)

"W, what the?! Why is he?! Why are perverts still perverts even after they die!?" Saya shouts as she turns to look away.

"Don't ask me." I shrug.

"Just get that freak out of here already!" Saya turns to walk towards the bathtub, covering her face to look away from the 'happy guy'

"Is something wro...oh..." And Saeko walks in as I drag the corpse out and throw it over the broken wall as well...

"Ughh, my arm feels all icky now..." Saya mumbles as she also walks out of the bathroom. Trying to wipe her wet arm as she shuddered with a disgusted look...

And with that, we headed to the kitchen.

"Huh, is this the fridge 'room'?" Saya asks as she points at the open metal door at the end of the hallway-like room.

"Yea." I nod as I walk to grab the first corpse.

"...Huh. Figured it'd be bigger with how amazed you sounded." Saya responds as she also walks up to grab a corpse. I just chuckled in response.

After making a total of three runs, we managed to drag all the corpses out, and it was on to the second floor.

We first went to the central room with the axe corpse.

"Hmm, we could use the axe to chop trees if need be." I say as I pick the two-handed axe. While Saya walked to the shelves with cleaning supplies.

"There's bleach here." Saya folds her arms before turning to look at the mess on the ground.

"We're going to need it." She adds as she turns to walk towards the pack of brooms set against the wall next to the shelves.

"How are we going to clean the body parts?" She asks as she picks the broom to feel the bristles.

"What do you mean?" Saeko asks as she casually picks a severed arm from the ground. Causing Saya to glance at Saeko, taking a deep breath and sighing from her nose.

While the girls spoke I started to drag the axe-wielding corpse, going back down the stairs before walking out the back porch and dropping the corpse.

(Now we need to do this for all the corpses in the second floor)

As I start to walk back towards the second floor.

"Ah, commando! Come here a sec!" I hear Rika shout, finding her looking at me through the broken wall next to the bathroom.

I walk up to the broken wall and fold my arms.

"I'm gonna need your manliness to keep the plower steady, Khota is unable to hold it because he's an arm short, and us weak girls can't do it~" Rika chuckles as she motions with her head.

I nod and jump down through the broken wall.

"Hmm where are the two corpses we dropped here?" I ask as I look around.

"Oh, you mean the guy with the boner and the other one?" We dragged em to the mass in the front part of the building. Why, needed em for anything?" Rika casually asks as she arks an eyebrow.

"Not really, just making sure they didn't get up and started strolling around." I shrug as we reach the front of the garage.

The humvee was still parked out of the garage, with the hood facing the gate, the orange plower bearly hanging on the pull bar of the car.

"Alright, grab the thing and..."

-SPLAT-

And a single, severed leg landed unceremoniously on the car's hood, causing Alice, who was by the passenger's seat to let out a short yelp.

"Oi! Who's tossing legs on my Humvee!" Rika shouts.

"Arg! Sorry! I did not realize the garage was under here!" A female voice shouts back, sounding a lot like Saya's.

"Just go a little more your left ah, Alice just had the scare of her life!" Rika responds as she starts laughing.

"...They'll throw everything out of the window?" I ask as I lift my head to look at the slopped roof that obstructed the second floor.

"If it works. Anyway! As I said, hold this thing up for me pretty please." Rika continues as she walks in front of the plower, lying on a mat that went under the car's pull bar.

"Don't push yourself Rika, you're still injured..." Shizuka mumbled as she kept looking over her friend.

-20 minutes or so later-

"Hmmm, this should do it, I can do the rest myself." Rika nods as she wipes her forehead as she stood next to me, the plower now firmly attached to the car's front.

I nod and turn to return to Saya and Saeko...

And by the time I got back up. Saeko and Saya were already waiting for me...

"The second floor should be clear." Saeko speaks up as I walk up to them.

"We checked all the rooms and cleared them." Saya adds.

"Third floor then?" I ask as I fold my arms, and the two girls nod back.

Upon reaching the third floor, Saeko turns to look towards the smashed window.

"We shouldn't throw these ones from this far up, they'll end up breaking the pavement if they fall on it, and the wind up here is not exactly friendly." I speak up as I grab a corpse.

"Yet you still walked out there like a complete moron." Saya groans as she also grabbed a corpse..

"Had to unlock the door to the radio someway." I shrug.

-30 minutes later-

The whole group was now by the garage.

"Give me that water bottle please." Shizuka, who was holding a cleaning bucket pointed at one of the bottles inside the Humvee.

"We really need to get river water for this." Saya sighs as she looks at the bottled drinking water.

"We'll go get tomorrow, right now, we'll just clean the rooms we'll stay in. Too late for expeditions today." Rika nods.

"Oh, by the way, the snow plower is ready to go. Should we drag some corpses out before the sun has snuffed out completely?" Rika continues as she turns to me.

"Yea, more to see if the thing actually works as we want it to." I nod.

"I'll go open the gate, get in the car." I add as I start to walk towards the gate.

"I'll come too." Saya continues as she walks up behind me.

And so, the two of us head to the gate...

"Wait a sec." I raise my hand and walk up to the door, give it a few slaps, then take off my headgear and put my ear on the door...

(Nothing...)

"Should be clear." I nod as wear my headgear on my shoulder, grabbing one of the sliding doors. Saya nods and grabs the other.

"Alright, pull." And with that, we open the doors. Then both me and Saya head to the center of the gate's gateframe. The outsides prooving to be as 'alive' corpse empty as the insides.

While still standing by the gate and looking outside, I pat Saya on the back.

"What?" She asks with a flat tone as she turns to look at me with her arms folded. A serious, if not, uninterested expression on her face.

"Still mad huh..." I respond. Saya blinks at me, before letting out a small sigh, turning to look towards the fading sun.

"I'm, not mad Naier. I just..." She lowers her head...

"I, need you by my side, ok? But I'm not stupid, I know that I can't demand that you drop everything for me. Not when you are trying to make sure we don't wake up dead tomorrow..." She adds as she lifts her head.

"But, I still need you. And it pisses me off that I can't stop myself from being like this. It's like my own self does not want to listen to what I'm telling it..." She whispers as she lowers her head again.

"Look, once this shit is done and we can finally relax. I'll give you all the time you need." I respond as I stroke her shoulder.

"You'd better do. Or then I'll really get mad." Saya turns to glance at me with a frown, a slight blush visible on her face.

-BEEEEEP-

"EEEP!" And Saya jumped in place with a yelp as she quickly turned to stare behind us, her eyes wide open, her hands over her chest.

Only to find a smirking Rika behind the wheel of the Humvee, a pile of corpses getting 'plowed' towards us.

"We should head back." I sigh as I shake my head.

"Y, yea." Saya nods before sticking her tongue out at Rika with an annoyed frown.

"Oh and umm. Naier..." She mumbles as she starts walking next to me.

"I, umm. I, really like you..." She keeps mumbling as she keeps her head lowered. I respond by ruffling her hair. Causing her to raise her blushing face with an annoyed expresion.

"Don't pat my head you idiot. Say it back." She whines as she narrows her eyes at me.

"I like you?" I respond as I tilt my head. Saya keeps frowning before letting out a 'hummf', turning to look down at her feet again with her arms folded.

"Idiot..." She mumbles as she keeps walking this time with a small smile on her lips...

-30 minutes later-

The sun had given up on trying to stay up in the sky for some time now. And the whole group was on the second floor, by the stairs that led to the first floor. In front of the door of the big room that overlooked the storage and dojo.

"We need two people on guard by the staircase, I'd also say one person on guard inside the rooms people will sleep. But we essentially scoured the rooms to the point of insanity, and corpses are not exactly small." I say as I fold my arms.

"Since we have yet to scout the whole location inside the walls, I agree. So, how do we split? Each room has a double bed, and we can fit say, three to four people in each room, any more and we'll have a hard time resting." Rika then speaks up.

"Which means we need at least two rooms. Since there are eight of us. And I think it would be better we don't split too thin yet" She continues.

"Yea, but out of the eight of us one can't hold guard." I fold my arms as I motion toward Alice with my head, Rika nods.

"Hmm, so we're left with an extra." Rika scratches her forehead as she looks at the rest of the group.

"No, I can, help..." Alice tries to protest, only to let out a big yawn and close her eyes...

"We'll handle this munchkin, don't worry." Saya pats Alice on the head with a smile. Pushing the sleepy kid on her side.

"So, if we split into three-hour shifts, that's three teams and a total of six hours of sleep." She continues.

"I am willing to take the middle shift." Khota then raises his hand.

"I know it's the worst shift you can have since you essentially sleep three hours twice instead of six straight." He adds.

"Asami will go with Khota, she did nothing up until now, she wants to help." Asami nods.

"And how will the other teams split?" Rika asks as she tilts her head. At that moment, both Saya and Saeko turned to look at me.

"We'll have to split based on how efficient we are at keeping guard." I respond as I fold my arms.

"You mean?" Saya asks as she arks an eyebrow.

"Example, you and Shizuka team up and a corpse walks up the stairs in the middle of the night. How will you deal with it?" I ask.

"I'll shoot it." Saya answers flatly.

"And if you miss? It's going to be pitch black, the only thing you'll have is a flashlight." I shake my head.

"I uhhh..." Saya narrows her eyes and glances away.

"Rika can go with Shizuka, I will go with Saya. You and Alice can sleep." Saeko then speaks up. Saya glances at Saeko, then turns to me.

"Yea, you did most of the work so far, so you should rest." Saya nods.

"I agree with the duo. We can handle it." Rika adds.

"Khohta, you and Asami can handle it too?" I ask as I turn to the duo.

"Asami has been training at shooting with Khota. She will be able to protect evrybody, do not worry!" Asami responds, as she salutes at me?

"Fine by me then." I answer with a nod.

"What? No ' Hur-hur-hur, I'm a munly-mun, got' t do the hard stuff!'" Rika chuckles as she tries to impersonate a, drunk truck driver?

"I'm a tired 'mun'. So no, I don't want to do the hard stuff." I sigh.

"Alright, what rooms should we use?" Saya asks right after.

"Umm, the room behind us and the room on the other side of the house are clean. I also mopped them." Shizuka responds as she points at the big room next to us, then towards the opposite side.

"Hmm. Unless corpses learn how to fly, the only spot of danger is the staircase right here. So I don't see a problem splitting like that." Rika taps her cheek as she speaks.

"So we'll split like that then~" Shizuka nods.

"Who'll sleep where then?" Rika asks.

"Asami thinks Alice should be on the further side." Asami then speaks up. The rest of the group nods.

"Naier, you should sleep in the room near the staircase, in case we need extra muscle." Rika then adds, I nod back.

"What about the rest?" Saya asks as she folds her arms.

"Hmm, well I and Shizuka can sleep in the same room with Alice. Or you want me to sleep with Naier?" Rika 'asks' back as she leans toward Saya with a smirk.

"I'll kick you." Saya flatly declares with a frown.

"A, Asami and Khota will sleep with Alice after Shizuka and Rika take their turn." Asami responds.

"What about when Saya and Saeko will be on guard?" Rika asks with a tilted head.

"Oh, then, um...uhhhh..." And Asami was out of ideas.

"Just wake me up with Saya and Saeko. I'll just go to sleep during the day if it's that much of a problem." I lift my hands to shoulder height as I shrug.

"Ha, planning to skip digging day huh? But fine by me." Rika laughs through her nose as she folds her arms.

And after a few seconds...

"...So, umm. Who is going to shower first?" Shizuka then asks.

"I am, I shoved my arm in a bathtub full of corpse blood, and, whatever other crap I don't want to know about. I can feel the ickiness growing on my arm. I'm going first." Saya declares.

"Well, we got a one-liter bottle of water for every person. I think the ones that are not very dirty, like Khota and Asami should go first, I don't mind using their water again to save a bottle or two." Rika shakes her head.

"Ughh, I can't stay like this..." Saya mumbles.

"Then strip?" Rika casually shrugs.

"You strip!" Saya shouts back with a frown.

"I intend to. But if you want me to take em off right now, who am I to argue~" Rika responds as she starts to unzip her overalls. Khota's eyes glued towards Rika's white undershirt. Much to Asami's dismay.

"Ughh! Fine! I'll go later! Go shower already!" Saya turns to look towards the opposite side with an exaggerated groan as she starts tapping her foot.

"What about clothes? I know I got some for me in the car but..." I add as I fold my arms.

"I probably have some spares we could use." Saeko responds.

"Uhhh, don't think this is going to work." I tilt my head as I turn to look at Shizuka, who just tilts her head as well with an questionable, unaware expression.

"Pervert..." Saya mumbles right after.

"Actually, it won't work for you either." I add as I turn to Saya, who just darts her sight at me, with her eyes wide open.

"S, shut up!" Saya mumbles as she turns to face her upper body away from me.

"Now now Naier, keep the sexy talk for when you two, sorry. Three are alone~" Rika chuckles.

"W, what sexy talk!" Saya shouts back as she glares at Rika, who just backs as she keeps chuckling, lifting her hands in a surrendering motion, Saya just lets out a haunty 'hummf' as she turns to look away again.

Saeko just kept glancing at her chest, or was she looking at the ground?

"...You are all, very mean..." Asumi mumbles as she keeps looking away.

"I still like you as you are..." Khota responds, causing the petite cop to turn towards Khota with a deep blush. Hell, I could almost see the sparkly pink flower background appearing behind them with how they were staring at each other now...

"Damn, think these two just overthrew you in the lovely-dovely level." Rika folds her arms as she keeps looking at the short cop.

"I was never much for sugar talking so, sure, I guess." I shrug.

"Besides, we also have some loose-fitting clothes in the Humvee as well. I'm sure nobody would mind wearing a size or two bigger than normal right now." Rika continues.

"I have brought some clothes too! They are a really good brands too!" Shizuka adds excitedly. The girls just turn to look at Shizuka, then look back at each other.

"So who goes first." Saya asks.

"Muuu! Don't ignore me!" Shizuka pouts as she lightly stomps her foot on the floor, bringing her hands next to her hips.

"Me and Khota will go first, we can take Alice too." Asami responds.

"Then I'll go after them with Shizuka, since we're really not that dirty either." Rika adds, Shizuka just kept looking away with an 'angry' pout.

"That leaves us three." I respond as I turn to look at Saeko and Saya.

"Other than my arm I'm not dirty..." Saya mumbles.

"Uhh, on my side, I'm actually covered in gear from head to toe. My clothes probably need a good wash, but me myself, shouldn't be all 'that' dirty. Blood and guts side." I add as I shrug.

"So I should go last then." Saeko then adds, glancing at her hip. And yea, considering she went up close and personal with her, usual attire, she looked a lot like a certain blood-soaked, zombie-slaying bikini-tooting demon samurai...

A few seconds later, Asami and Khota left.

"We should actually block the stairs with some furniture, for good measure." I point at the staircase next to me as I speak.

"Let's put a desk or something then." Rika nods.

"There should be a relatively heavy one on my father's quarters." Saeko adds as she turns to walk towards the big room.

And so, me and the girls walked into the room.

Thanks to the windows, visibility was still pretty good, and the view from said windows had the garden in full view, along with the dojo and warehouse.

Inside the room, on the right side, was a big double bed pushed against the upper corner. The windows over the headrest of the bed, a nightstand next to it, and a wardrobe in the gap between the bed and the wall opposite to the windows.

Ahead of us was a mat with what I think was a tea kettle. Or well, considering how boiling hot that man wanted his tea, a mini volcano.

And on the left side, the desk Saeko mentioned, some papers scattered on it, along with a comfy-looking office chair.

(...This room can't be called mine till there's a gaming pc in it...)

Holding that though, we head to the table and drag it back out, thankfully it fitted through the door.

"Before we block it, keys, need to get our clothes no?" I turn to Rika as I extend my arm.

"Oh right. Can't be walking around topless now can we." Rika chuckles as she hands me the keys.

I just shake my head and start going down the stairs.

"Naier wait, I will come as well." Saeko speaks up as she follows behind me. The rest pushing the desk against the handrails of the stairs as we went down...

And so, me and Saeko walked towards the garage in silence.

The moment we reached it...

"Naier, wait." Saeko speaks up again, then walks past me and though only checks the whole garage by herself, then lies down flat and checks under the car...

I walk up to her as she gets up.

"There is nothing here. It is safe." She says as she turns to look at me.

"Yea..." I nod as I head to the trunk, and open it.

I then check the bags, turning to glance at Saeko a few seconds later. To find that she was still restlessly throwing glances around the garage.

(...She's being way too jumpy...)

"Something bothering you?" I ask as pick two bags with clothes. Saeko turns to look at me with a hit of surprise, before she lowers her head slightly.

"Sorry, I, can not seem to calm myself down..." She responds as she turns to glance at me again with a slight smile.

"Come on, a good night's sleep and you'll be as good as new." I walk up to her as I pass both bags over my shoulder. Then pat her shoulder.

"Am I though?..." She mumbles back.

"I still can not shake that feeling of dread over me, from when I saw you get bit." She adds as she turns to look at me with a worried, almost distraught expression.

I move my hand to the lower side of her cheek.

"Saeko, I'm not going anywhere." I whisper as run my thumb on her cheek.

Saeko shakes her head. Closing her eyes and lowering her head.

"Forgive me, I, I never felt this anxious before." She mumbles as she keeps her head lowered.

"I nearly lost you right in front of my eyes. Now just thinking that you might have to go outside alone, it scares me so much that I start to feel sick..." She adds as she lifts her head to look at me and an anxious look, gripping the ribbon on her shirt.

"I, do not know what to do Naier. I feel like I am going to go crazy the more I try to think about it, I, I, can not..." She continues as tightens her grip on her shirt even more, fighting to keep her eyes open as tears started to form in their corners.

I, didn't speak back, I just slid my hand from her cheek to the back of her neck, and pushed her on me.

Saeko kept gripping her ribbon with one hand, letting her sword fall on the ground, digging her fingers in the side of my vest with her other hand. Nuzzling her face against my neck...

This, must have been the very first time. I ever heard Saeko sob...

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