CH 18

Chapter 18 – For Now, Farewell

“Yeah! I can be a hero!” Rintarou jumped up and down on the spot while saying that.

“I’ll be sure to meet your expectations, senpai!” Asuka said. Even though she’s usually quite laidback, she seems to be somewhat tense right now.

I smiled at her and said, “We’re the same age, please don’t call me senpai.”

She was a surprised for a moment, but then she giggled, “But senpai is senpai.” and said that. I’m glad she could relax a bit with this.

… Let’s hope this is not the last time we can have this exchange.

“Senpai…” Kousuke, who was quite disheartened, started saying, “I want to-”

I didn’t let him finish, “Foot.” I pointed to his foot, “It hasn’t healed yet.”

He didn’t hide his surprise, “It’s not-”

I didn’t let him finish this one either, “Don’t try hiding it.” It has just been one week since he had sprained his ankle, and he kept on doing unreasonable self-training during the time he should rest… And even if he hadn’t done that, his ankle would probably still take a while longer to heal.

Moreover, Rika herself told me directly that he has been overworking himself. He pushes himself to the limit because he blames himself for the loss of his two friends that died when trying to close the school’s main gate… Because apparently, their deaths were not unrelated to him spraining his ankle.

This kind of pattern, following someone that carries a heavy burden with them… It would totally be a death flag, wouldn’t it? Therefore, we had no choice but to exclude Kousuke from the operation. He will have to stay here and see us off.

“Senpai is right. You should stay, Kousuke.” Ritsuko, the girl from the track and field club, told him. Her words carry a lot of weight because she doesn’t speak much. It was hard for him to keep trying to go even after she told him to stay.

“Ritsuko, I’ll leave the rest to you.” I told her.

“… Alright.” She replied.

I felt a bit more comfortable going when knowing that she would be here. After all, if it wasn’t for my paranormal help, she’d definitely be a lot stronger than me.

“Though before that, senpai…” Ritsuko started saying this as she approached me.

“What is it?” I asked her.

“May I hug you?” She asked back.

… Huh?

Before I could answer, she was already hugging me tightly. She was a head taller than me and quite strong… I didn’t feel like I had much way of resisting.

“Come back to us, alive.” She whispered.

I looked at her face, and she was blushing a bit… Eh? Could she be… On the yuri side? I’m confused.

“Ah! No fair!” Asuka complained… Is she… Also on that side? This isn’t a yuri character bargain sale now, is it?

As I wondered what was happening, Rintarou seemed to be extremely excited while looking at us for some reason.

***

After leaving the school, we could hardly see any zombie in the nearby area. Probably because we had been clearing them up on training and on my solo leveling. Because of that, we could head straight to ‘Captain’ as soon as the gate was closed behind us.

The journey was mostly peaceful, but the number of zombies surrounding ‘Captain’ was quite high.

“This is giving me the shivers…” Asuka commented as she saw the zombie horde.

I did feel quite nervous too, but we had no time to waste, “Please follow the plan, alright?” I told them.

“Got it.” Rintarou said.

“Senpai… Is it really okay for you to be by yourself?” Asuka asked me.

It’s not okay at all.

But well, it’s not like the odds of winning are zero either.

I tried giving her a reassuring smile and said, “It’s no problem, I have divine aid on my side.”

She didn’t seem to get it, but she seemed to be reassured by my falsely confident statement.

And like that, we kept on moving. It wasn’t long before we got close enough to ‘Captain’ to the point that we could be in real danger… And as such, we started our plan.

“Everyone, please hide and wait until my signal.” I told them.

“Understood.” Rintarou said.

“… Okay.” Asuka said.

I took a deep breath and quickly went through my knowledge on zombies once more. Their attack priority is first on the ones that harm them, then on people that they can see, then on people that they can smell, then noises.

It will be fine. As long as I can attract their attention and make them see me, they won’t go after Rintarou and Asuka even if they happen to be in their smelling range. As long as they’re hiding, they should be safe.

By now, Rintarou and Asuka already finished hiding, so I rushed towards ‘Captain’.

As I got closer, I finally found the surrounded truck. I was wondering why it had stopped where it did, but I understood it now. There were zombie remains smashed on the tires… The truck most likely became unable to keep turning its wheel around due to excessive dead zombies stuck to its tires. Escaping to the top of the truck seems to basically be their last stand now.

I thought it would be nice if we were able to search the truck to get some weapons, but that is definitely impossible right now. Moreover, I don’t even know how to wield a gun, so my katana is definitely ideal for this situation.

By now, I could hear the gunshots from the member of the self-defense forces. He really is doing his best to hold them back… I gotta hurry.