lets grind to the bone

*Vroom

The sound of the school bus echoed along the deserted and chaotic road.

The surviving students looked out and witnessed a horrifying scene.

Vehicles were scattered, and pieces of human bodies were strewn about, with bloodstains still fresh.

They now realized that their peaceful world had ended.

Everything had collapsed within a matter of hours.

"Kaoru-kun, are you sure it's okay for you to drive? Aren't you too young?"

Among the survivors, only three people could drive: Shizuka, Hirotaka, and Kaoru.

Hirotaka was assigned to drive the second vehicle, while Kaoru drove the first one.

Initially, Shizuka confidently volunteered herself, but Kaoru firmly refused, as Shizuka was more useful for calming the female students still traumatized by being enslaved by Shidou.

"No problem, besides, the law no longer applies now, and no police officer will arrest me just for driving underage."

Although Kaoru knew that there were still some law-abiding police officers trying to enforce the law at this time, their numbers were not many.

After successfully convincing Shizuka that it was okay for him to drive, he asked Shizuka to show him the direction to her friend's house.

Kaoru also knew that Shizuka's friend had various firearms, and if they found one gun, it wouldn't be an issue if Kaoru suddenly found two, three, or even more weapons there.

On the way, they sometimes stopped at a few stores that were still intact to search for supplies.

Occasionally, they also stopped to kill zombies.

Kaoru reasoned that the fewer zombies there were, the greater the chances someone would survive.

Their journey lasted several hours because Kaoru and Saeko frequently stopped to kill zombies.

After reaching Shizuka's friend's house, they all rested, but not Kaoru and Kohta.

"Wow, Kaoru-kun, look at this, these guns are illegal in many countries, including ours, and Shizuka-sensei's friend can easily own various illegal weapons like these."

Seeing various firearms made Kohta very excited.

His eyes even seemed to sparkle because he himself was a gun otaku and had even participated in shooting training.

"Well, if purchased separately, they can't be considered illegal, but once assembled, they can be categorized as illegal, right?"

"You seem to understand the plot holes in that rule... don't tell me you also collect illegal firearms."

For Kohta, only people with guns would think about how to manipulate loopholes in rules regulating gun ownership and use.

And Kaoru might be one of them.

Kohta wasn't entirely wrong, as Kaoru could easily buy firearms from the guild shop.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Kaoru also secretly bought several weapons for Kohta to use.

Upon seeing the weapons given by Kaoru, Kohta couldn't contain his surprise and had to take a deep breath.

"L115A3, modified... then FN P90, also modified... if you indeed found these weapons in this house, it's highly likely that Shizuka-sensei's friend is a significant figure in the military."

"And a person like that must also have various emergency supplies that we really need."

"Kaoru-kun, could you help me find some military knives, because it's impossible there are no such weapons in this house."

Kohta might be fat and sometimes cowardly.

But for Kaoru, Kohta's usefulness far exceeded that of Takashi, the protagonist who was useless other than being an outlet for the heroines' desires.

He even indirectly understood that firearms need ammunition, and that ammunition can run out quickly.

While knives or sharp weapons are much more economical than firearms because they have a much longer usage period.

Because it was late, Kaoru invited Kohta to patrol until at some point they heard gunshots and the howling of dogs.

"Kaoru-kun, over there!!"

Kohta pointed to a house where the lights were still on.

Kaoru immediately jumped from the balcony, followed by Saeko, who apparently hadn't slept either.

Kaoru took out his large axe and unleashed a vertical slash that instantly split one of the zombies and turned it to ash in an instant.

As if having a tacit understanding, Saeko immediately dashed ahead of Kaoru, then slashed another zombie that was about to surround Kaoru.

The two of them quickly cleared out the zombies that kept appearing because of the gunshots.

Thanks to the commotion, Kaoru's group, who were still asleep, also started to wake up and provide whatever assistance they could.

Hirotaka and Zhuge Liang rushed to the house from where the gunshots came and successfully evacuated a father and daughter along with their dog.

Because the father was injured by gunfire, they were a bit delayed in their evacuation.

Fortunately, there were no significant problems, as Kaoru and Saeko held the zombies at the front line.

Meanwhile, Kohta helped them from the back line by shooting any zombies that slipped past the two close-combat fighters.

"Kaoru, the evacuation is successful, time to retreat!!"

Zhuge Liang signaled for Kaoru to retreat.

Upon hearing the signal, Kaoru immediately pulled Saeko and fled, leaving the zombies behind.

But Kaoru wasn't that kind-hearted; he glanced at Kohta, who immediately understood what the look meant.

Kohta took a specially modified sniper rifle, designed to suppress the sound to the maximum.

Kohta aimed and pulled the trigger, and a metallic sound was heard.

*Clang

Kohta's target was the hinges of the gate of the house that attacked the father and daughter earlier.

Because of the shot, the iron gate of the house immediately fell, and the noise attracted the attention of the zombies, who immediately swarmed the house.

It didn't take long for screams to be heard from inside the house.

Meanwhile, Kaoru successfully brought Saeko safely away from the chasing zombies.

"Um.. Kaoru-kun, could you put me down?"

Hearing the voice, Kaoru realized he was still carrying Saeko like a sack of sand.

Kaoru quickly put Saeko down, then checked on the two people they had saved.

Thanks to Shizuka's help and the medicines Kaoru brought, the middle-aged man was saved.

They introduced themselves as Mr. Maresato and his daughter Alice.

They also introduced their dog named Zeke.

From that incident, they also learned that Alice's father was a skilled mechanic, so they didn't need to worry if their bus broke down.

After going through such a tense incident, they all decided to continue their rest before heading to Saya's house.

The next morning, they all hurriedly prepared to head to the Takagi residence, which was one of the evacuation sites.

And their journey was uneventful, also because Kaoru chose the path with the fewest zombies.

They also didn't forget to save people who were still sane and could be saved.

But when they reached the border guarded by Saya's family, Kaoru decided to leave because he still had a mission to kill the zombies.

And Saeko and Kohta decided to join Kaoru, which Kaoru accepted because he intended to invite both of them to join the guild.

Saeko wanted to join because she didn't feel suited to staying in the shelter; as a fighter, she preferred the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Kohta, realizing that the world had changed, decided to keep surviving by continuing to fight on the front lines.

The other guild members needed to stay at Saya's house and help protect the refugees.

And if possible, ensure Saya's parents stayed alive if the accident happened.

After parting ways, Kaoru started his trick by showing some of his power to Saeko and Kohta.

The three of them stopped in front of a convenience store filled with zombies.

Kaoru got out of their vehicle and, with a wave of his hand, activated his power.

The ground shook, and a giant portal appeared and swallowed the convenience store along with everything in it, and Kaoru didn't need to worry because the store was only filled with zombies, not even animals like dogs or cats were there.

Meanwhile, Saeko and Kohta, who witnessed the event, were very surprised.

Kohta's eyes widened, and if they were in the One Piece world, Kaoru might see the same expression as Enel's when facing Luffy.

As for Saeko, fortunately, because she was a woman and very beautiful, for some reason, it seemed the laws of their world didn't want to make her a joke.

Though surprised, there was nothing strange or funny about Saeko's expression, which slightly disappointed Kaoru.

"Wh- what- was that just now!!!!"

Kohta immediately grabbed Kaoru's shoulders and shook him with all his might.

On the other hand, Saeko, who somewhat understood Kaoru's intentions, chose to remain silent and wait.

Because Kaoru must have a special reason for showing such a magic-like power.

And as Saeko expected, Kaoru slowly explained his power, who he was, and what his mission was.

"Wow... so other worlds really exist... then Kaoru, is there a world so modern where weapons like railguns, laser beams, and so on are common?"

Kohta's eyes sparkled when he learned about the existence of other worlds.

Being a gun fanatic, he immediately accepted the reality, forgetting all the strange things Kaoru had said.

"Yes, such a world does exist, only I and the others have never been to such a world."

Kaoru then continued his explanation, from why he invited the two of them to hunt zombies.

Why he showed his power to the two of them.

Which turned out to be because Kaoru had an invitation quota to invite anyone to become guild members.

And for Kaoru, in their world, Saeko and Kohta were the best candidates so far.

Hearing Kaoru's offer, both of them accepted without hesitation, even Kohta, who was usually cowardly, became brave upon learning that he could tinker with modern and advanced weapons.

On the other hand, Saeko only cared about fighting, and by joining the guild, she could choose missions to fight or hunt as she pleased, which was very ideal for her.

After joining, Saeko and Kohta immediately received some bonuses as beginner members, though not very beneficial because the gifts given were usually mundane items that weren't very valuable in an omniversal context.

The three of them continued their journey, killing various zombies they encountered.

Saeko acted as the front-line attacker, Kohta as the backline support, and Kaoru in the middle, able to take on either role whenever needed.

Their journey lasted several hours and they only returned to the Takagi residence as the sun was about to rise again.