CH2 - You and I

[3rd POV]

A pair of footsteps and the voice of Lyon could be heard in the hallway as Lyon and Alyssa continue their tour of the school. Whenever they arrived in certain locations like the canteens or the various clubrooms, Lyon would give Alyssa a short rundown on details about said rooms only for Alyssa to then nod as she rarely if ever actually tried to even strike up a conversation which made Lyon have troubled look he kept to himself with this one-sided conversation of theirs.

"Since this is our first day, it only took us around six hours for it to end but this won't always be the case. You should already know this though as we were given a higher amount of flexibility in choosing our classes in contrast to how high school class schedules work" stated Lyon as they continue on their way towards the canteen.

They reach the canteen and see it mostly empty aside from a few students that chose to stay behind, possibly already forming cliques or friends who were already familiar with each other long before they even got into the university of Yoime. The school had a very diverse population as there are students from other countries who would even move to Japan to get into this university as successfully graduating from this university might just get you accepted into a high-paying job quite easily.

"The university gives us freedom in where or what we want to eat so they allow students to roam around outside the campus itself during lunchtime. Most students still prefer eating in this canteen though as they offer a wide array of dishes to accommodate the students from other countries who still prefer the taste of food that they have long been familiar with, that and the prices are quite cheap." Lyon tells Alyssa as he faces her only for her to then nod and walk towards the glass pane that showed the various dishes they could choose from before moving on to the pane that showed various desserts like cake slices, ice cream and other pastries.

'Heh still the same Alyssa I remembered, she has a very quiet and serious temperament and yet in the face of sweets she becomes like a cat with catnip or fish right in front of her' Lyon thinks to himself as he walks towards Alyssa who was still staring at the various desserts.

"As you can see, this is the various dishes and desserts to choose from as well as how much they cost. Once you have decided on what you want to order, you will just have to head toward that cashier near the tables" stated Lyon as he points towards the cashier where one of the employees remained standing, having already been made aware of the prospect of future customers, those customers being Lyon and Alyssa who from the perspective of the employee, was still deciding on what they wanted to order.

While Alyssa was still having a dilemma on what desert she should first partake in, Lyon was already looking around the canteen, what for? Well, he was particularly focusing on the various entryways and hallways that all branched off to other parts of their building. He was also looking towards the doorway located opposite to where they earlier came from, which would lead to the other buildings of their campus if exited from.

Z-day occurred on August 12 around the afternoon, it all happened so fast that everyone was clueless about what was happening just outside their school campus as no news reached them that could indicate what was unfolding worldwide. By the time Lyon and the other students knew what was happening, the zombies were already right outside their campus gates with some of them already having gotten inside which severely stumped the time they had to get to safety. Lyon is brought out of memory lane though as he finally notices Alyssa with her purple eyes staring right at him as she had already noticed Lyon's dazed look.

"Have you chosen what you wanted to order yet?" asked Lyon only to get a nod from her as his answer. They both walk towards the cashier to place their order with Lyon just choosing to have a cold can of cola while Alyssa chose to have a Neapolitan ice cream cone which from my memories, was her favorite choice when it came to ice cream as it allowed her to taste three different flavors in one cone.

They continued onwards with their tour having reached the various club rooms and gymnasiums that housed each club's sports equipment, neatly organized into box containers that had labels like a basketball or a soccer ball to indicate which contained what gear. They also came by the gym which had an indoor locker and shower and contained various gym equipment like treadmills and weights which were left available for usage to any of the university's students that chose to exercise during their free time here at campus.

The University of Yoime also had a dorm inside the campus that was offered to students who live far away, though the number of occupants they accepted was quite limited though as their University was quite gracious with the cost and amenities offered by those dorms so the demand was quite high.

Time passed by quite quickly as Lyon finished his tour of the school with Alyssa. Alyssa for the most part barely gave any reactions to the various places shown to her by Lyon. 'Aside from the canteen, it seems nothing else managed to catch her eye huh' Lyon thinks to himself as they rested on a bench near the exit of their school campus.

A comfortable silence lingered between the two as they remained seated on the bench, only for that silence to be unexpectedly broken by a question from Alyssa. "Which of the clubs were you interested in?" Alyssa asks Lyon with a voice that wouldn't even have been heard had Lyon not been focused on Alyssa.

"Well I'll probably choose to join the kendo club as I am no longer interested in sports like basketball or soccer, neither am I interested in debating with other people anymore" Lyon answers while looking at Alyssa who had a look of surprise printed on her face because of Lyon's answer before returning to her usual uncaring expression.

"I see... I will also be joining the kendo club" replied Alyssa as she began to stand up which caused Lyon to follow in pursuit as Lyon took it as her being ready to finish the last legs of their tour which was mainly focused on showing her the subway, bust stop, restaurants, shopping centers and food stands that could be found outside of their school campus.

The rest of their tour went past them in a blur as, just the same as earlier in their school campus tour, nothing really interested her enough to cause them a few minutes of pause... well aside from the bakeries and food stands that sold various sweets but that was to be expected already. Unknowingly, their final destination became the crepe shop that Alyssa mentioned to Lyon before she finally died in Lyon's arms from his memories of the future.

Lyon began to walk towards the cashier of the crepe shop which somewhat surprised Alyssa, the reason being that Lyon didn't buy anything from all of the previous bakeries and stands that they went past earlier during their tour. 'What's so special about this crepe stand?' Alyssa thinks to herself as she sees Lyon carrying two crepes to where she was standing, one strawberry and one blueberry in his hands.

"I don't know what flavor you preferred so I just bought one each of the iconic flavors people usually choose from" Lyon states with both of his hands outstretched towards Alyssa's hand. This gesture of kindness surprised her though as from her perspective, they don't even know each other very well nor did they ever have a conversation that lasted longer than a few seconds with each other.

"Don't think about the reason I'm doing this too much. So, which of the two crepes do you prefer?" Lyon asks while looking at Alyssa's face which had a troubled expression on it. If someone were to look at her face, all they will see would be a strained expression that seemed as if the wrong choice would cause the world to implode in on itself.

"Heh fine, how about this? I'll hold on to the blueberry crepe while you hold onto the strawberry one. Just tell me when you want to switch crepes so you can also try the blueberry crepe. Does that sound fair to you?" Lyon asks with a smile plastered on his face as he finds their situation comically funny with how serious Alyssa is.

She nods in response to Lyon's offer as she reaches out her hand to grab the strawberry crepe allotted to her, as she took the crepe, their fingers slightly brushed against one another which earned Lyon an unexpected blush from Alyssa for reasons unknown to even him. Lyon however, was not as flustered as Alyssa just because of mere skin contact rather him glancing at Alyssa's blushing face caused him to blush as well because of how different the Alyssa he was seeing right now from the face she usually showed to other people.

This cute sight was mistakenly thought of by the cashier of the crepe stand and the other random passersby around them to think of the two as a shy couple that just started dating. The two left the crepe stand as they began to feel slightly uncomfortable with the atmosphere brought upon them by the other people who saw them so they decided to just eat their crepes near the bus stop. They finished their crepes without any further disturbance, not without switching halfway through though as Alyssa wanted to also try the blueberry crepe.

'You blushed when our hands merely touched and yet you don't even mind eating the same crepe I was eating earlier huh' Lyon laughs to himself as he sees Alyssa's face which was entirely focused on deciding whether or not she should choose blueberry or strawberry the next time she comes by the crepe stand.

They don't stay for long however as it only took a few minutes before Alyssa and Lyon finished eating their crepes. "Well, that concludes our tour of the school and the area outside of it Ms. Kaede, if you have any questions, you should ask them now" Lyon asks as he glances to the side and sees a bus starting to slow down near them.

"There is none to ask." Alyssa replies to Lyon's questioning before also seeing the same bus Lyon glanced at earlier. Alyssa begins walking towards the bus that stopped in front of them before stopping all of a sudden and turning towards Lyon.

"You may call me Alyssa and I shall call you Lyon as well, that is if you are fine with doing so of course. If you don't mind, may I also have your number so that I can ask you a question if I were to have any in the future?" Alyssa stated while feeling slightly nervous inside which was hidden behind an uncaring expression while still looking towards Lyon's face as if she was trying to decipher his decision on the matter by looking at his facial expressions.

Lyon was slightly flabbergasted by her inquiry which was quite evident on his face, it did not last long though as his surprised face was quickly replaced with a smile. " I would like that as well... Alyssa, here's my phone number and I hope that you have a safe ride back home. I do not mind having conversations with you while we are on campus as well" Lyon replies back to her request as he hands her a small slip of paper that had his number on it before waving goodbye to Alyssa who felt quite happy inside with her great achievement.

Having finally heard Lyon's acceptance of her request she nods to him before boarding the bus. The bus leaves after she gets inside as there was no one else outside the bus stop who made a move of standing up which meant that they were waiting for something else. As the bus starts to leave Lyon's field of vision, he can't help but sigh happily before finally deciding to start heading back home himself after this long yet fulfilling day of his.

[Lyon's POV]

'Well that was fun and quite rewarding' I think to myself as I started my journey home. Not only was I able to form an impression on Alyssa but I was also able to make a mental map of our school campus. Details like exits aside from the main gate would be important in our escape from the school. The reason is that if my memory serves me correctly, the main entrance to our school campus was breached by the zombies quite quickly. I was also able to take note of where stuff like sports equipment and possible food caches can be found as each club and canteen had a storage room inside it which meant that it is bound to have at least a few useful items we can bring with us right?

'Still, I did not expect her to let me start calling her using her first name, let alone giving me her phone number but then again she wasn't really cold and uncaring, rather she just didn't know how to interact with others and since friendships are formed from having similar interest or need, being unable to even get to know what interest those are would be detrimental to forming any form of relationship let alone friendships. I guess that shared interest of ours is the same club I only decided to join out of necessity huh' I think to myself as I remember how I originally met and grew closer to Alyssa.

I am already slightly deviating from the original timeline though as I was never late on the first day thus it was the teacher who gave her the school tour and not me or any other student. The way we originally met was through the formation of groups for projects wherein the teacher chose the group you will be a part of for you but at the time even though we became groupmates sometimes, we would still refrain from talking to each other any further than what was necessary.

It was already 1:50 PM by the time I got home only to then be greeted with an empty home devoid of life as my mother won't be home for a few days and as for my father well... yeah his situation is quite special so there's no telling when he will be home. I lock the door behind me before heading straight to my room to put down my bag on my desk chair and just lay down on my bed.

'Two months to prepare for Z-day huh, what exactly can a 20-year-old college student even do to prepare for something like this. Let's list down the preparations I should begin with and what my spending power is in the first place. I actually have quite a huge sum of money I managed to save from birthday cash presents, daily allowance and Otoshidama which is Japanese year-end money I used to receive from my adult relatives back when I was still a child. Add into that loans I can apply for as a student which amounts to a total of 393,000 yen, that's if I don't take into account money I could ask from my parents as well but asking them for money all of a sudden might raise interest on what I could be spending it on so I might just do it bit by bit.' I think to myself while still staring at the light blue ceiling of my room.

'Well with the budget out of the way, I guess I should start listing what preparations I should begin with. Weapons, long-distance radios, medical supplies, consumables and beverages should be stockpiled in a place safe and hidden enough to not be found by any unknown factors. As for a place to stay, well my family is quite well off with my father being a well-known inventor and my mother, a member of the board of trustees for one of the bigger hospitals here in the Tohoku region called the Yoime City Medical Center.' I think to myself, remembering how busy they were every day which lessened the time we could spend together.

"Though we preferred a quiet life, it did not stop my parents from building a vacation cabin two hours away from the city in Aoya forest. It was a two-story-tall wooden cabin surrounded by a 54-inch wire mesh fence meant to keep animals out. It even had a dual generator that was functional, except that the house was quite empty as all it had inside was an empty generator and furniture, it was also far from any sources of water so while we can indeed hunt for food, water would be a big problem." I voice out my thoughts to no one in particular.

"Yes, that place should be a good spot to keep stockpiles of supplies but I should keep a portion of it here as well, I guess" I conclude only to then hear a buzzing sound coming from my phone which was still in my pocket. I take out my phone and push the on button only to see a notification that states that I had received a message from Alyssa, I lay back down and start smiling to myself as I reply back to her with my own message.