Departure

Well, gotta thank the moon that I'm still able to see where I'm going, what with the lights being dead and all. But, to be totally honest, I would rather be walking blind right now...

After my little chat with Saeko, things have been 'a bit' awkward. Even though I and Saeko were walking right next to each other, neither of us had said a thing. Not out loud at least…

(I'm here if you need me? When the fuck did I even. Ughhh, I must be stupid. Nahh scratch that, I am stupid, not to mention that I've probably just triggered every single death flag in existence. But hey, it could have been much worse. At least she didn't respond with a 'Don't worry I have Komuro' or something like that..

Yep, definitely could have been much worse…

Huh, here I am, preparing to dive headfirst into a giant ass horde, and what keeps replaying in my head is the chat I had with Saeko a couple of minutes ago. Priorities still anything but straight I see, ey self?)

As we arrived at the estate's front gate, I saw the yard illuminated by the same liquid candles that Souichiro's men used in the anime.

(Hopefully, they ain't gonna start a forest fire this time around.)

"So, where do we go from here?" Saeko asks after we stopped by the estate's entrance.

"They must keep all the firepower around here, somewhere. Sooo, maybe an armory? I got no idea where it might be though. Hmmm, give me a second" I say. as I turn away from her, and walk up to the guard that was standing next to the front gate.

"Excuse me! Does the estate have an armory or a building used to store ammo inside? A friend of mine should be there, waiting for us with an, uh, order." The guard turns to look at me, and grins?

"We got no armory. But we do have a warehouse with most of our ammo and guns inside. Keep walking straight and you will see it, it's the only building that isn't connected to the main house. It's straight and slightly to the left from here." He points behind him, though the metal bars of the open main gate...

After the guard was done speaking I turned around to return to Saeko, only to see her standing right behind me. Before I could speak, she nodded at me, it seemed she heard the guard as well.

I turn to the guard again and nod to him as well…

And the moment we passed the gates

"Oh, and good luck!" The guard shouted. I turned to the guy without stopping, only to see him trying to hold himself off from laughing, as he slightly hunched his head forward. All the while, keeping one hand over his mouth.

(I have a bad feeling about this.)

After that, it did not take too long for us to find the building that the guard mentioned, and found out 'why' he found the whole situation so, funny.

As we got nearer, I could see Kohta waving at us energetically. A giant pile of multi-colored wooden crates next to him, stacked up in the form of a pyramid.

(You gotta be kidding me… )

And I do mean GIANT. I could easily fit inside the pyramid along with two or three more people if the insides of the pile were hollow.

(Why did I leave our resident gun nut unsupervised in an ammo warehouse again? And how the hell did he even manage to stack the boxes like that?)

We didn't even manage to get close before our gun opened his mouth...

"Hey so, what are we going to move first Naier? The shotgun shells you asked for are in the red boxes. We also have slugs but the crates are the same color as the normal buckshot so I don't know exactly which box has what. What I do know is that we have five crates of buckshot and two crates of slugs, we can start with them if you want. Though I do recommend that we start with the 7.62 mm's in the green boxes, or maybe you want to get the 5.56mm's first? They are in the green boxes that have a darker shade of green. We have only one gun that uses that type of ammo, so I took only four crates. The orange ones have all types of handgun ammo, though only the more common calibers, but have at least two boxes filled with 9 x 19mm parabellum rounds. The blue ones have 50 bmg rounds." Kohta was practically drooling as he barraged us with words...

"Kohta, we don't have..."

"Oh right! And the yellow ones have rockets, I almost forgot." He cuts me off.

(Rockets? Seriously? Souichiro has, rockets? How the hell did he, uhh, forget it. Not the time for that...)

"Kohta, just for the sake of demonstration. In relative size, describe to me how big the Humvee is." I say as I stare at the piles of crates.

"Ohh no worries, we can just tie them up outside of the car, I have it all calculated. No need to worry." Kohta raises one hand in a 'it's all cool' motion.

(Ok, letting Kohta do anything relating to guns without supervision, was a definitely bad idea.)

"Kohta we're not going to tie anything on the outside of the car, be it crates, or people. Also, three crates of 5.56?"

"Four" Saeko corrects me...

"How many bullets can a crate fit in anyway?" I ask right after Saeko.

Kohta puts his hand under his chin, seemingly to think...

"As these are the old type of wooden boxes, I would say. Hmmm, about one thousand two hundred rounds if they're full? They are bigger than the normal metal ammo boxes and those usually can hold up to about eight hundred rounds of 5.56 if I remember correctly." Kohta nods as he finishes speaking. I, just tilt my head slightly…

"So, you're telling me. You want to take about four thousand eight hundred bullets with us. For one, weapon… " I just kept staring at Kohta as I folded my arms...

"Hmm. Yea, you're right." Kohta nods, seemingly agreeing with me on just how ridiculous he's being. I was about to take a breath of relief, when he continued...

"Might not be enough." And I ended up choking instead.

"Ghhh. N… no stap, Kohta just, ughh." I take a deep breath as I clear my throat.

"Three boxes." I say as I look at him.

"Hmm, are you sure? I mean, you're a relatively good shot. As long as you fire on semi-auto, then I guess three of each is..."

"No Kohta, we are taking three boxes, in total. Everything to a total of three." Kohta looked at me like I just said a bad joke, until he realized. I was not joking.

"What! You can't be serious! We'll run out of ammo in no time!" He shouts back at me.

"We're not aiming to start a war here Kohta. Rockets? 50 cals? Where are we even going to find weapons that use that kind of firepower?" I respond as I raise my arms slightly.

"But, we need to be prepared! You never know, we might find some weapons, out… there… " Judging by how he stopped shouting and looked towards the ground in the middle of his sentence, I guess even he knew how ridiculous that sounded.

(Where's 'boss man' when you need him. Uhh, then again, Kohta might have been able to actually convince Takashi that we need to take the whole armory with us. So better if I take care of this.)

"Uh, we will take. One box of handgun ammo, one box of rifle ammo, and one box of shotgun ammo. The handgun ammo box will be for the 9×19mm Parabellum bullets, as we have two guns that use that. The only gun we have that uses another type of handgun caliber is the Smith & Wesson M37, which uses .38 caliber ammo. So we either leave that gun with whatever bullets it still has inside, or see if we can change it for another p220 that uses 9x19mm's. That's..."

Before I could finish, a man in a white tank top that had several black stains on it, along with overalls that he was wearing like normal pants, came up to us. While not as bad as his shirt, his face also had several black stains on it. Other than that, he was shaved and his hair was tied up to a small bun on the back of his head.

"I can do exactly that if you want. We have several p220's in the warehouse, and I don't see the trouble trading you one for the M37, as we have ammo for that one as well." The man spoke as he cleaned his hands with a rag, before stuffing the rag into his back pocket. I just nodded at the man, agreeing to the trade. And then, I looked back at Kohta. He just sighed as he let his shoulders drop.

"Just, let me go get it." He says with a dejected tone as he starts dragging his feet towards the armory…

"It's alright, once you're ready to pick all your weapons for good I'll have it there with the rest for ya." The man in the tank top turns to Kohta as he speaks.

I just looked at him while tilting my head. The man then turned to me, and upon noticing that I was looking at him with my head being almost sideways, he chuckled.

"Your friend brought a couple of guns here some time ago. Figured he was going to give them to me to put them in the warehouse, but he instead asked me for several cleaning kits along with all these boxes you see here." The man turns to Kohta once again.

"I have to admit, after seeing him work, your friend over here knows his shit. Especially for a kid." He then turns back to me for what must have been the third time. I just nod at him before speaking up...

"Alright. Then, take this as well." I take off the type 89 rifle and toss it to the man. Much to Kohta's dismay...

"All of our guns use 7.62 mm, no reason to cut our ammo supply in half just for one gun." I say as I glance at Kohta, who just frowned as he stared at the gun that was now in the man's hands. I think, I could see tears? Forming in his eyes?...

The man then glances at Kohta, who looked like a car collector that just had his brand new car stolen right in front of him...

"Uhh, wait here for a sec." The man quips as he walks back to the building with the rifle in his hands.

"Do we really have to give it away Naier? We could have used it you know. Or at the very least keep it just in case." Kohta says as he stares at me with a sad frown.

"I got the shotgun and p220, you have the AR-10, Saya has the Luger, I can give the new P220 to Takashi, and with this trade, we can give a gun to Saeko as well." I say as I point at Saeko with my thumb.

"That would be unnecessary Naier, I do not need a gun, as I do not even know how to use one." Saeko adds right after me.

"I don't mean to look down on your skill as a swordsman Saeko, after all, I personally know how good you are with a sword. But you always need to have a plan B, the gun, is your plan B. Just have it on you even if you won't use it, if need be, I or Kohta will show you how to shoot later." I say as I turn to look at her, only to see her staring blankly at me...

"Uhh,fine. I'll hold on to your gun for now. At least until you change your mind." I respond with a silent sigh, Saeko nods, before shifting her eyes towards the warehouse ahead of us. As it would seem that something caught her attention. So, I turned around to see what she was looking at.

The, uhh, what's his name again? I don't think he ever introduced himself actually. Anyway, the Tank Top man was walking towards us with 'something' in his hands…

"Holy shit, is that a Scar-H?! I know that the JGSDF uses them, but how did even manage to get one?!" Kohta, being himself. Instantly comes out of his temporary depression the moment he saw the new gun.

"Naier right? I heard what you did for us at the barricade. I also heard that you all are leaving. So take this as thank you. As for where I got it? Should you really be wondering that when we have enough weapons to fit a small army here? Let's just say that Mister Souichiro is a very 'well-connected' man." He extends the arm that was holding the gun, offering it to me. I just nod in response and take the Scar-H…

The moment I got in my hands, I started checking it out. As much as I 'could' check anyway.

(Hmm, other than the fact that it has an 'aimpoint' type scope, rather than just normal iron sights, the gun looks 'normal'. It also has the same three-way sling I had on the Type 89. So, other than the sights, the rest of the gun looks unmodified, at least as far as I can tell.)

I tried looking through the sights, only for the man to speak up.

"It didn't have any batteries in it. Could be its saving grace though, as it might work if you find new ones. Before you ask, I don't have any, I would have tested it myself otherwise." I lift my head as the man speaks and nod at him.

"Nonetheless, thank you. This cuts our ammo procurement to a simple three boxes with three different types of ammo. One for shotgun shells, one for 9x 19 mm, and one last box for 7.62 mm rifle ammo." I turn to Kohta as I speak to make sure he got the message.

Kohta, was just nodding while he kept staring at my new gun. I shake my head and look back at the Tank topped man.

"Sorry sir, but it looks like you pulled this mountain of ammo out here for no reason. We will be taking only one red crate with the buckshot, along with one green crate and one orange crate." I point at the crate pyramid as I speak.

"And, well. Mister Souichiro needs us to be ready as fast as we can, but seeing as this is partly my fault. Want us to help gather them for a short while?" I add as I turn to look at the man. Only to see him shake his head.

"Ughh, I won't lie. It will take me a lot of time to put everything back inside. But I'll probably just wait for somebody to come over and drag him into helping me, then blame you if he asks why he has to help." The man snickers as he speaks, then continues.

"Because as you said, the big Boss is waiting for you, and if you end up being late because of me, he's going to have my ass on a plate, and for good reason too. So it's fine, I appreciate the gesture, but take your boxes and go." I nod at the man, and move to the colorful heap of crates. After going to where the red crates were stacked, I kneel down and open a random one. Shotgun shells neatly organized inside. And, honestly, I don't think I have ever seen so much ammo in one place...

I pick one shell and look at it.

(Hmm slugs usually have the top part of the shell open right? These here have a plastic cover on the top, so I guess they are buckshot ammo. Though it makes me wonder, if buckshot can do so much damage here, what can a slug do? Demolish a whole building just by touching it?)

I closed the crate, and then opened another red one next to it, picking one of the shells from inside. This one did indeed have the top part open, so it was probably a slug.

"I will take one slug just in case somebody, or something, pisses me off beyond belief." I say with a snicker as I pocket it. Then, I turned around to face the group.

"Alright, so how are we doing this? One person carrying a crate full of ammo is as retarded as it sounds, so. all three of us carry one?" I ask. Kohta nods as he moves to me.

"We take the shotgun one first?" He asks.

"Fine by me." I respond as I get up and grab the rope handle. Before Kohta could react, Saeko moved next to me and grasped the same handle I was holding.

(Should I be this happy because she just did something so mundane as deciding to pick the same handle? I need to stop getting excited over every single little thing… )

Kohta moves to the other side and takes hold of the other handle, and with the count of three, we lift the crate.

With the way we picked it up, Saeko and I would be moving backward, while Kohta would move forward. Not wanting to walk blindly while carrying a heavy load. I, while still holding the crate's handle with one hand, turned around. That way I could walk facing forward as well. Saeko glanced at me before doing the same thing.

"Alright, let's get this over with." I say as I start moving.

"Just don't go too fast guys!" Kohta shouts from behind.

Saeko turns to look at Kohta with one eye while she keeps walking.

"And girls… " He adds right after with a slightly meeker voice.

And so, our first trip began. We walked past the estate's yard and into the street, following the same road we used to come here. Not that there were many roads to pick from in the first place though.

And again, nobody was saying a thing as we walked. Not that it bothered me, because I would probably not respond if they did, as there was something else on my mind right now.

(You know, I wonder. Did Saya's dad have all this firepower in the anime too? He did use a lot of dynamites, so I guess he could have decided to use that instead of rockets. And most of the 'guards' in the anime did have guns, and were using them very liberally. Yet, I don't remember them ever saying anything about conserving ammo. So I guess, they might have had a lot of it stocked?

Also, uhh. I expected carrying the crate to be a lot 'harder'. Is it because Saeko is unnaturally strong? Or am I just putting in a lot more effort, not wanting to end up looking like a loser next to her? Heh, guess even I ain't immune to that kind of bullcrap...)

By the time we reached the Humvee, Saya was there with Rei and Takashi, their backs turned to us.

"Hey! Are you all done here?" I shout, causing them to turn around. Saya says something to Takashi before he nods and runs up to us grabbing the box from Kohta's side.

"Thanks man." Kohta replied to the gesture.

"Don't mention it, and no Naier, we still have one more box to go." Takashi replies.

"I see, we have two more left." I say as I look at the two metal boxes next to Saya's feet.

And no, I was looking at the boxes, not Saya's legs… Mostly.

"Alright, I'll go along with you guys for the next ammo crate, I need to ask the guy that manages the armory something anyway." While I spoke we reached the Humvee and loaded the crate inside. Then, the group that was here gathered a few meters away from the Humvee.

"And that question would be?" Saeko asks.

"Whether or not he has a camouflage net to spare." I answer as I turn to Saeko.

"Huh, why would we need that? Also, did your gun change color? I'm pretty sure it was not that orange before." Rei, asks as she joins in.

"No, I exchanged the gun I had for this one. This one has the same type of ammo as our other rifles. And concerning the net, think about it. We have a military-grade, and more importantly, working vehicle, packed to the brim with things that a lot of people would now kill for, the last thing we want is to have it out in the open for every single idiot to see. For example, we would be better off hiding the car if we have the camo net inside a small cluster of woods when we need to stop somewhere." I say as I point at our car. Kohta, who was still staring at my gun, spoke up next.

"I think I saw some camo nets inside the building they use as an armory, in multiple colors too. Sooo, ehh. If you're going back to the armory anyway. Do you want me to eheheh… make sure the Scar is in working order?" To be honest, Kohta's smile was way too creepy right now, not to mention the fact that he was slowly creeping up WAY too close.

"Please don't do anything weird to my gun." I say as I sigh and undo the sling before giving the Scar-H to Kohta. Who upon taking it in his hands, runs off to the back seats of the Humvee. Hugging it like a golum that just found its precious.

(And he just bailed on carrying more ammo crates. Uhh, whatever.)

I turn around and start walking away, back towards the 'armory'.

"If somebody else is coming to the armory, then come along. I'm not crazy enough to try and carry these things by myself." I say as I stop a few meters away and look back. Saeko nods and starts moving towards me.

"I'll go for the last dynamite box in a bit, I want to take a short break first." Takashi answers as he moves towards the nearest door that leads into a random house's front yard. Rei followed behind him shortly after without saying a word.

(Hmm, I should change Rei's name to Zeke number two the way she just follows Takashi around. Also, did they just walk into the house, by themselves? Are they? Nah, I probably just have a fucked up mind.)

Saya was now the only one by the car.

"Keep Kohta away from the handbrake, please. Don't want to find this place overrun when we return." I say as I look at Saya. She nods at me, with a surprisingly serious expression before moving towards the Humvee's back seats.

(Huh, does she really believe Kohta can be that clumsy? I understand if it was Shizuka but, ehh… Whatever, better safe than sorry.)

And so, I start walking towards the armory with Saeko next to me. And again, guess what, dead silence. So, about midway through our trip, I decided to change that.

"Hey, mind if I ask you something?" Saeko turned to me with a questioning 'Hmm'.

"Where exactly did you get that sword?" I ask as turn to her and point at the Katana on her hips. She looks at the hilt of the blade before returning her gaze back to me.

"Mister Takagi gifted it to me. From what he informed me, my own father used to train him, so he gave me the sword as payment, of sorts, for my father's lessons." I just kept nodding as she spoke.

(Seems the reasoning stayed the same from the anime. Well, at least from what she told me that is.)

"I see, Heh, I'm starting to feel sorry for whoever or whatever would be stupid enough to get in your way now." I chuckle as I point at the blade with an arched eyebrow. Saeko moved her hand over her mouth as she giggled.

"I am pretty sure you would be as fearsome with a blade Naier." She responds.

"Really?" I tilt my head slightly.

"Yes. And I would like to believe that my judgment on the matter has some weight to it too." She says as she grabs the katana by the hilt and shakes it lightly.

"Well, for now. I guess I will have to stick, to the stick." I say as I point at the bokken on the side of my bag with my thumb. Saeko looks at the bokken before looking back at me.

"I would rather you not call it a 'stick' Naier. It is more than just a 'stick'. The process of crafting a bokken is..."

(Ohh crap, she's about to go Kohta mode on me?)

"I know, my bad, didn't mean to sound disrespectful to whoever spent the time and skill crafting this. Let's just say, wrong wording used to try and lighten the mood." I cut her off. Saeko stops talking, and stares at me for a few seconds...

"Why would you need to lighten the mood? Do you feel, uneasy around me?" She leans slightly towards me as she asks. And well, even with no street lights, the full moon was bright enough for me to 'see' clearly. Especially when she was so close. And...

(Purple lace bra...ughh. Eyes on the face Naier.)

I lifted my eyes, to see Saeko staring at me with a slight smile.

(I swear, this girl… )

"That is a trap question, and I refrain from answering." I fold my arms as I speak, Saeko just leans back to a normal posture and laughs through her nose.

"A trap? How?" She asks.

"Because no matter what I answer, we would still end up with an embarrassing moment for me. And I had enough of these moments for today." I say as I turn to look forward. Saeko just giggled before turning to look ahead as well...

With that episode over, we kept moving towards the estate. And as we knew where the armory was this time around, we arrived there way faster compared to last time.

Once there, I asked Saeko to wait for me by the pile of crates while I spoke with, uhh, Tank Top guy.

(What's this guy's name away, I keep calling him Tank Top guy in my head.)

Upon entering the front door of the armory, I got greeted by a relatively narrow room. Relative, because the 'room' was small as there was a very large fenced-in area straight ahead of me. Without the fence, the 'room' would actually be the whole structure. The inside of the warehouse, as I mentioned, was enclosed by a large metal fence that surrounded the insides like a second structure. The fence itself starting a meter or so away from the actual walls of the warehouse, allowing people to walk around without really entering the fenced-in area.

Our guns were also in the room I was in right now, on a table to my right. Next to several open cleaning kits.

(Hmm all of our guns are here. Huh, didn't expect Kohta to just leave 'em lying around unattended. Does he trust this dude so much? Or did his brain get filled with dancing Scar-Hs and forgot all about them?)

I entered the main building to find the tank top guy looking inside some orange-colored boxes, straight ahead and to my left in a metal shelve row that had a big '2' painted on its side.

The building itself looked like a normal warehouse… except for, you know, it was full of military stuff. I also spotted a couple of the nets that I needed to my right, hanging on the side of the row that had a '5' painted on it. The nets were right under the number itself.

(Seriously, where did Souichiro find all this crap? I won't be surprised if they have a god-dam World War II tank stashed in here somewhere. Still, looking at all this equipment, is leaving really such a good idea? Well, it's not like there's anything I can do about that now, we need to deal with that horde, and fast.)

I shake my head and walk up to the tank top guy.

"Mind if I bother ya for a second?" The man turns his head to me and motions me to continue with his head.

"We will start taking our weapons on the next two crate runs, and I also have to ask whether we can take a camouflage net for the Humvee." I point at the shelf holding the rolled-up nets that I saw earlier.

The man closes the box and moves away from the shelves as he comes up to me and leans to see where I'm pointing at.

"Huh good thinking, you will be like a walking candy bag out there with all that stuff in your Humvee. Take the ones you need, I also took the liberty and exchanged the gun you mentioned. Left the p220 on the desk with the other guns if you didn't notice." With that, he turns around and goes back to the orange crates. I nod and move towards the nets.

Once there, I went 'curtains' shopping.

(Let's see, one with shades of gray, and one with shades of green and brown. I would prefer to go under some trees as they provide additional cover if we were to park the Humvee, but it won't hurt to have an extra urban camouflage just in case.)

I grab the two nets and move back to the 'corridor' room. I then headed to the table and picked the two 'cleaned' rifles before strapping them on me. Then took the p220, making sure the safety was on before shoving it in my pocket.

I also grabbed two cleaning kits that looked to have the most stuff inside before going outside.

Saeko was still waiting by the boxes, her arms folded under her chest as she looked at the people in the distance.

"Orange or green!" I shout as I walk towards her. She turns to me with a confused look.

"...Green?" She replies with some confusion.

"Alright, grab one of the light green crates and open it up for a sec!" I shout back.

Saeko just nodded and did what I asked. After I walk up to her I look at the bullets inside the box, then take off the magazine of the Ar-10 with one hand and look at the bullets inside the magazine, making sure that they were the same ones.

"Alright, we're good. Let's take this to the Humvee." Saeko nods and moves to the front of the crate before picking it up.

I left the cleaning kits on top of the box and grabbed the other side after pushing the shotgun along with the other two guns that I had strapped on me to my back. I must have looked ridiculous, carrying three long guns on me. And once again, we headed towards the Humvee...

The trip was relatively uneventful once again, at least until we were halfway on the road, again. Where we saw Takashi, Rei and Kohta walking towards us.

(I guess Takashi's and Rei's business is done? And Kohta has 'molested' my gun enou… Oh, nevermind. The Scar-H still in his hands.)

Once they got close, Kohta started talking.

"Only the orange one left?" He asks.

"Yeah, the one with 9x19 mm's." I answer.

"Alright we'll get the last crate then. Oh, and the dynamites are all loaded up." Takashi speaks up right after.

I just nodded at him before Saeko and I started moving again.

(Did I really take that long inside the warehouse for them to pass us?)

Reaching the Humvee, Saya was there along with Shizuka and Alice…

They then helped us put the crate inside the trunk, Saya and Shizuka that is, as I don't think Alice was really 'that' much help. Though she did try to help, so she got a cookie for that...

I then took off the guns and left them in the trunk as well. So I could finally stop looking like a gun hoarder with all that guns strapped to me, not that I'm really bothered about it mind you. You can never have 'too many' guns, at least until you need to run that is. And well, I still had the shotgun and the two handguns on me…

And,as I backed off the car…

"Are you all set?" I hear a new voice behind me. Turning to the voice, I saw Saya's mother.

"No, we still have one last crate to pack. After that, we'll leave." Saya replies a bit coldly.

"I, see… " Yuriko glanced at her daughter before turning around to 'look' for something. I just shifted my sight between Saya and her mother a few times before letting out a sigh under my breath...

(I'm never taking that frigging break huh… )

I shake my head and walk up to our resident tsundere.

"Saya." I whisper to her.

"Go talk to your mother properly… " I add as I motion towards her mom with my head.

She turns to me and starts staring. Yet, she does nothing, she just averts her eyes as she starts looking around as well.

(Ohh for fuck's sake, this is not the time to be acting like this ya stupid idiot.)

I took a deep breath, and decided to momentarily 'embrace' my inner stupidity...

"...You can thank me later." I said in a low tone. ignoring all the red flags that were going off in my head…

"Huh, wha… "

Ok, to be honest, I was not really thinking anymore. I just didn't want to see these two split up like this. While I managed to 'save' the estate, it might still be the last time these two could speak with each other for a long time, as we are probably not going to make it back here in time..

So, I ended up carrying Saya to her mother. After picking her up bridal style that is...

"WHA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING! PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN YOU PERVBRT… Ow..." Saya, amidst her own shouting, ended up biting her own tongue, putting her hands over her mouth as she finally stopped screaming. So, I carried Saya over to her mother, then put her down on her feet. Before turning around to walk away.

"Ohh, and one last thing." I say to Yuriko and Saya as I stop and turn my head slightly to the left.

"This is a, 'A see you soon', not a goodbye..."

And I start walking again. I guess, my words must have carried more weight than I thought, as seconds later, I could hear sniffling. Don't know if it was Saya, her mother or maybe even both of them. But by the time I returned to the Humvee and turned around, they were already hugging.

(And mission complete. I guess?)

I then glance around, to see Shizuka staring at me, looking all smug...

"Not. A. Word. Out of you, Ai?" I say as I stare at her. She just gave me a wide smile as she tilted her head and closed her eyes. Mollified by her silence, I nod and sit on the open trunk, then just watched the whole event unfold.

The horde that was growling an arm's length away from me, I honestly could not even hear it right now. And then, I felt something tugging my pants.

(God damn it dog, way to ruin the mo...ohh?)

I looked down, but there was no dog there. Instead, it was Alice that was tugging my pants.

"I'm, sorry for calling you evil… " She said the moment she saw me looking at her. I just patted her head as she spoke.

"And what makes you think I ain't evil shorty?" I ask as I look at her.

"Because, Saya is happy now… " She answers bluntly as she stares at my face...

(Oh, crud. Uhhh nope, hold it in. You are an evil overlord, think of guts, blood and shiny meat bicycles. You do NOT get emotional.)

I just kept looking around without speaking. Until my eyes fell on Saeko, who had moved away from the group and was standing by herself on the far right corner of the barricade.

The moment she saw me looking at her, she just looked down on the street by her feet. And while she was no longer looking at me. Her facial expression was pretty clear.

(Huh? Why does she look so, sad? I would understand if she was jealous if she did indeed 'like me'. But sad? No, something is, not right here.)

While I was thinking about this, Takashi, Rei and Kohta arrived as well. Along with Souichiro.

While Saya and her mother did not seem to really give a single fuck about what was going on around them, everybody was pretty much staring at them now. Hell, even Souichiro was staring.

At least before he turned to look at, me? And then, Rei, Takashi and Kohta also turned to stare at me...

(Huh, what gives?)

I darted my head around, to see Shizuka, who was now sitting right next to me. Pointing her fingers at me, with both hands…

(Ohh, fer fucks sake...)

I grab both her hands and lower them, only for her to lift them again the moment I let her go. I just shook my head and turned to look at the four that were staring at me.

You know, I do know that Souichiro does indeed love his daughter, but seeing him smile like that as he watched them. I knew it was something I would never get to see again…

Souichiro then loudly 'clears' his throat.

"Are we ready?" He asks quite loudly. Saya and Yuriko finally let go after getting the very obvious hint.

"Yes, once we get the crate that these three have over there in the car, we will be ready to start." I say as I get off the trunk of the Humvee. And point at the crate that Takashi Rei and Kohta were holding. Souichiro just nods affirmatively.

The three then walked up to the Humvee and loaded the last crate, while Saya walked up to her father. I saw him moving his mouth, but I could not really hear what he was saying. Saya responded with a nod and turned toward the Humvee.

(Ok so. All this stuff is, in reality, his. So I should at the very least thank him for letting us bring it with us.)

I walked up to Souichiro as Saya turned around to look at me.

"Thank you for all your help. Until we meet again, good luck, Mr. Takagi." I say as I bow slightly.

"This was not a favor Naier. This is a forward payment." He said as he looked at me all stoic like.

(Jeez, even now you gotta act like a total hardass?)

I just nodded before turning to Saya.

"You got the notebook? God knows we're going to need it from now on. Oh, and a lighter…" I say as I point at the Humvee.

"The textbook is in the car. And no, I don't have a lighter. Why would I even have a lighter?" She replies as she frowns slightly.

(For the dynamites?)

Souichiro then extended his arm towards me, an expensive-looking Zippo lighter in his hand. I nod at the silent agreement and take the lighter.

"Alright, let's go. No more time left to waste." I turned and headed towards the Humvee. By the time I was ready to enter it, the whole group, other than Saya, were already inside it. Saya herself entering a few seconds after me.

I then look at the group as I open up a box of dynamite after taking a seat next in the center.

"You all ready to see how it feels to be part of a really stupid plan?" I say as I wave a dynamite stick at their faces. They all just, stared.

"Not a very good pep talk right before we dive into a horde Naier." Takashi responds. I just chuckled as I moved to the roof by climbing out the open hatch.

"Story of my life." I say under my breath. And a few seconds later...

"Throw the dynamites!" I hear Souichiro shout. At first, I thought he was talking to me. But then, I saw a couple of guards appear in the house to our left. The men then tossed a couple of dynamites to the left part of the street where the horde was located at.

(Huh? When did these guys get there?)

And seconds later, a loud explosion, followed by a chain of other, equally loud explosions. Each one lighting up the dark road while bodies were sent flying, flames swallowing whole parts of the horde.

And soon, after the horde started gathering to the left, the right part of the road slowly started to clear out. But, as more of the horde gathered to the left, they also started pushing up against the left side of the barricade.

(We got to hurry before the barricade collapses.)

"Again!" Souichiro shouts, and moments later, a second batch of dynamites gets sent flying towards the amassing horde.

Frankly speaking, with the number of corpses that got sent flying by the explosion, I thought about getting back inside the Humvee, lest a flying corpse ended up in my face.

(How retarded would it be if I got bitten by a flying head?)

Yet my thoughts got interrupted shortly after, as the Humvee roared to life.

"GO! GO!" Takashi started shouting as he pointed to the right. I turn to look at the right part of the street to see that it was now clear from corpses. And seconds later, the wheels of the Humvee screeched. And with a violent shake, the Humvee moved forward, grinding its sides against the barricade blocks.

I grab the open hatch door to keep myself steady. And the moment I regained my balance, I let go of the hatch's door and flip the lighter open. With a flick of the wrist, I light up the dynamite before pulling my arm back.

(I got a mask, I got a boomstick. All I need is a psycho attitude and I'm ready for Pandora.)

"YOU DON'T DIE TODAY! YOU DIE EVERYDAY!" I shout as I throw the dynamite to my left. Seconds later, a loud explosion sends even more corpses flying. I turned back to see that the corpses by the barricade were also starting to slowly turn around and crawl towards us.

(It's working.)

I look back inside the Humvee to get another dynamite.

"Don't mean to bother but..." Before I could finish, Kohta had already shoved a dynamite to my face.

"You just got promoted." I say as I grab the dynamite and lift my body back out of the hatch. I light the dynamite up and throw it to the left again.

Seconds later, another explosion. I turn to pick another dynamite. Yet, the moment I got it in my hands…

"Slow down!" I hear Saya shout, and seconds later, Shizuka hits on the brakes. Hard. And, guess who was not holding on to something, yeah. Me…

I ended up sliding over the roof and onto the car's hood, almost tripping over to the asphalt, or more importantly, almost ended falling right into the horde that was right next to us.

While I was on my little sliding trip, I looked over the hood, and over Shizuka's deer in the headlights like expression. To see that part of the horde had moved back to the right side of the road, moving towards the opened blockade once again...

The moment my boots touched the hood, I lit up the dynamite, took a step forward, and tossed it forward and slightly to the left. Then, I jump back on to the roof and see Kohta, who had almost climbed up on the roof himself.

"Are you ok!?" He shouts.

"We need a second person to throw dynamites behind us to make the horde follow us." I say as I kneel down on the roof.

"I got the backside!" He shouts, right to my face as he tosses me another dynamite. I nod and turn to see the horde that was still blocking the road ahead.

"Now, would you kindly, MOVE THE FUCK out of my way!" I light up the dynamite in my hand, and once again, toss it forward and to my left.

The explosion that followed some seconds later caused the horde that blocked the way to thin out even more. Seconds later, I heard a second explosion to my back. I turn around to see Kohta ducked down in the car. He pop-ups a second later and passes me another dynamite.

The moment it was in my hands, I lit it up and threw it to the same spot I threw the last two. And finally, after the following explosion, I could see the road ahead. I slap my arm on the roof and shout.

"Step on it! We are getting out of here, now!" The Humvee roars as it starts picking up speed, heading straight towards the opening. Kohta threw one more dynamite before we finally managed to break through the horde, he then ducked back inside the car again.

The moment he got out AGAIN I waved at him to get his attention.

"After this one tells Shizuka not to drive too fast and use the horn, we still need to bait the horde away from the estate. We will use the sticks of dynamite again when we want to get rid of the horde." I say as I look back at the corpses, Kohta nods before turning to throw the last dynamite with a grin.

I then turn to look at the road ahead. Needless to say, every single corpse in the surrounding area was walking towards us.

(Hmm the corpses that are heading towards us will probably end up bumping into the horde that's following us. I suspect the moment they do that, they will turn around and become part of it. But, just to be safe.)

I slide to the center of the roof and look inside through the open hatch, it seems Kohta was telling Shizuka to use the horn.

"On the first chance you got, take a turn away from the road that leads to the barricade. That way we won't make the corpses that are in front of us walk towards the barricade. They would probably just assimilate to the horde and change direction, but I don't want to take any chances." I speak up as I point at the upcoming intersection.

Shizuka just nods as she keeps looking at the corpse-filled road ahead. I nod back and pull myself up to the roof again. I then turned to look at the horde that was following us, I could also see several light sources behind the horde itself, right where the barricade was at.

I could see some kind of structure being erected where the hole used to be at.

(We, did it. I, did it. The estate still stands and we are driving away, luring the hordes with us…)

I found myself smiling as I looked at the barricade that started to fade away, behind all the corpses that were slowly taking the street back. I then turn around and stare ahead at the road that was illuminated by the Humvee's front lights.

(It doesn't look like it will get much darker than this.)

I nod to myself as I slide towards the hatch.

(Still, there's something else that is bothering me now. If I know anything about this world, it's that it will use whatever reason it has to follow the anime. All those explosions would be the perfect excuse to end up blocked off while we try to reach the mall. Then again, we got the Humvee, and not that flimsy ass six-wheeled, thing. And dynamite. Lots of dynamite.)

With that out of my mind, I enter the car. After taking a seat next to the left-back door window, I turn to the group.

"Everybody still in one piece?" I ask jokingly.

"Yea we are all fine." Takashi replies. I nod and turn to look out of the window.

(From now on, all I can do is hope that the estate won't fall while we are not present. Huh, I hope I haven't jinxed myself by thinking that. Still, it took a god damn 'surprise' E.M.P blast along with a bus crashing into the barricade to make the estate fall, now that we are past the initial E.M.P, the chance of the estate surviving is much higher, as it won't be caught with its pants down.)

And, so, the moment I accepted that whatever happens to the estate is now beyond my reach and that we left it in a much better state considering the anime and manga. I felt all the energy drain out of me.

"If you all don't mind… I think I will take that break now… "

I say as I lean my head against the window frame and close my eyes.

(Because we are far from done, and I need that god damn break...)