Survive.

[The fate connected to you in this world will reach its conclusion in approximately 4 months.]

4 months to the end... Considering we must survive for this amount of time, it can be said this is a rather short duration for all to go back to normal, if it was only surviving this. But this is only one possibility; it isn't something I like to think about, but a story doesn't need to have a happy ending. Counting on the story to reach its conclusion and hoping the results are good, but I can't bet everyone's lives on it.

But denying the advantages being with the main characters of this world would give is not smart. Even if it is small, the chance to find some hint to a cure for this nightmare is too precious to ignore, which is why I thought of a solution. If we can gather enough supplies for everyone to not need to leave and good enough weapons for protection, they will be able to hold on until I come back with help... If they help...

Akari and Jito are behind me as we run as quietly as possible until we reach the bathroom, where we hear banging sounds inside. Just by hearing, there is probably only one of those there. Quickly entering, I smell a rotten smell coming from it. I do my best to ignore it and take a cautious look inside. I can hear the sounds coming from one of the stalls. I tell them we need to kill it. Jito quickly nods and enters, but it's not the same with the other one.

"Why? They aren't in the way... And it's dangerous." Akari objects from outside; she is wary of entering the bathroom, it seems. I understand that it seems like an unnecessary risk, but this could be a lot worse if we leave it alone.

"The problem is the sounds it makes; if a lot of those things are attracted to it, we can get cut off from our safe zone." The realization on her face tells me everything she is feeling right now. With a sigh of resignation, she slowly enters while quietly complaining... About having to enter the boys bathroom...

'...Is that the reason she is upset?' The rather inconsequential trouble she had made me chuckle. She glares at me, and I try to hold it in.

The lighthearted mood instantly disappears as we reach the source of the noise; with the door being locked from the inside, we can't reach the zombie. I open the stall next to it and climb the toilet to try and find some way to unlock it, but a small problem presents itself to me. Going down, I call Jito over.

"...Jito, You go up there... I can't reach..." I forgot about it since everyone around me was roughly the same size, but my body is that of an elementary student. It's my last year in it, which means my body is that of a 13-year-old, so it's normal... But Jito is a year younger and has already overtaken me by a lot... Anyway, there is probably some reason for it, like Jasmine influencing my body type or something; when I asked the system, it did say it was possible.

"Oh... Ok. Then get ready." Jito goes up and can pretty much see everything inside the stall, but attacking from there is impossible. But he does say that reaching the lock with his broom can be done. I get in position in front of the door as Jito fiddles with the lock. The movement inside gets more intense, with the zombie going even crazier. And with a *click*, the door opens wildly.

The zombie comes out fast, but before it could even realize it was free, my shovel meets its neck. The swing was fast and strong enough to make the zombie instantly reach the ground. Its neck was cut, and with some more strength, decapitating it straight up could be possible. Something to think about, but even though such extensive damage was done, it was still alive, and one more hit is needed to end it. Which is why I grab Akari's broom from her hand and give her my shovel. I don't wait for her to stop being surprised as I put my foot down on the back of the zombie while using the broom to keep its head in the ground. Akari understands what I want her to do, but she stays still.

"Take your time. It's better to lose your hesitation right now when there is no danger than to wait until it's too late." As I continue to keep the zombie in place, Akari comes up, takes a deep breath while holding the shovel up, and finally brings it down with all her strength. The bloody sight is still rather disturbing... I try to ask if she is alright, but she makes a rather disgusted face while holding her nose.

"... I shouldn't have taken a deep breath; this place stinks..." Another rather funny comment from her, but this time I don't laugh. Looking into her eyes, I say she did a good job. She gives a weak smile before we exchange weapons.

"Thanks, Yuu." She was trying to make it look like she was fine, but I could see through her, and affirming she did the right thing will at least give her some peace of mind. Although receiving sincere thanks like this is a bit embarrassing, we start to leave. Jito's eyes stay fixed on the blood on the ground for a moment more before following us.

As we reach the cafeteria, we can see 4 zombies around. We come together to plan something. Our options are limited to 2: either we pass by undetected or we kill them all without alerting others somewhere else.

"Do any of you have something to throw away?" Jito comes up with something. Akari picks up a pen from her pocket and gives it to him. As he tells us to get ready, he quickly throws the pen to the other side of the cafeteria, and the zombies that were scattered slowly move towards the noise. We take that chance and run behind them directly to the kitchen. However, Akari stops while looking at another hallway. I tried to look at what she saw, only for my mind to freeze as well. There is no need to count; we can't deal with all of those. That hallway is full of zombies. I give Akari a small push in order to get her mind back in order, and we continue to see that Jito is standing still up ahead near our objective. I thought he was also scared after seeing the hallway, but...

"Another one?!" One more appears from the kitchen; it probably heard the sound of the pen and came. We can't bypass this one, and attempting to attack could bring attention to the others. But we can't give up. Quickly telling them that I will deal with it and for them to deal with any other that comes, I run towards the zombie.

I can't attack him head-on like this. The only reason my attacks are powerful is because of my 'Aromage Jasmine' stats (100 ATK/1900 DEF). This is why I stayed still before attacking; it would make it so I was protecting the area around me, which allowed me to use the strongest stat I have, but by running towards it, I'm using the other one.

This isn't me simply becoming stronger depending on the situation; on the contrary, I didn't gain more strength. The card gave me knowledge on how to best use my body to create such an effect. Just like a boxer knows how to best give out a punch, I know how to bring them down while I am standing still. But since it's only knowing how to use my body, then...

The moment I reach the zone I was looking for, I stop and prepare to attack. I am right in front of it, but I can understand that the power still didn't activate properly, so this leaves me no choice but to try something else; to remember every time I attacked and replicate that. The zombie lunges at me; it surprises me how fast it feels without the bonus the card gives. But I stand my ground and strike. The attack is slow and not precise; it seems like it will miss, but I don't stop. My grip on the shovel tightened, and for a second, my attack got sharper. It hits the head, and for a bit, it wobbles before finally falling. I can feel that I used some of the card's strength; it wasn't as strong or fast as I thought it would be, but it was enough. I quickly finished him before looking back.

Akari and Jito are keeping their distance from a zombie that is walking towards them; it was one of the four from before. I guess this one heard me, and both of them decided to keep it busy. But since there is only one, there is no problem. I prepare my shovel, but Jito extends his hand towards me. I understand what he wants. Without asking why we exchanged weapons, and before I could get ready to help, both of them gave each other a glance and quickly moved towards the zombie. Jito hits the zombie in the head with the shovel, and Akari hits their legs with the broom. The combination of attacks brings the monster to the ground, and without missing a beat, Akari uses her broom to hold them in place while Jito goes for the kill. Blood splattered all around.

'... System... Are you sure they aren't the protagonists of this story?'

[Negative.]

Fortunately, only one of them was alerted, so I called for both of them to quietly run to safety. With no more obstacles, we enter the kitchen easily. We check around so there aren't any other surprises until we make sure the area is clear, and when we do, like puppets with their strings cut, we sit on the ground. We survived...