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Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.
The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.
"Speech"
Time*
Arc 1: Mental Illness - Chapter 12
"That's some good hearing you have there." Saeko praises Shizuka with a faint smile, causing the latter to grin smugly and puff out her chest a little.
"I was told it's very important to have a good sense of hearing in the medical field, so I trained myself with the help of my friend, Rika." Shizuka explains, smiling proudly at the end as she taps a finger lightly against her ear.
I endure the pain and move to the side of the entrance, bracing myself against the nearby wall. This makes the others look at me in confusion, clearly unsure of what I'm doing.
"Um, are we not going in?" Alice asks me nervously as she holds Zeke up to her face, hiding everything but her eyes from view.
"As Shizuka mentioned before, I pointed a gun at Saya's father. Furthermore, the plan was—and still is—to check whether Saya's parents are alive, which they are. So, we'll restock on whatever supplies we need and leave afterward. There's no point sticking around if we might end up butting heads with the people here." I close my eyes for the time being as I lean against the wall, giving myself a chance to endure the lingering pain.
"Don't we need to go inside to get food and water before leaving?" Alice asks in a small voice, peeking at me from behind Zeke as she holds him close to her face.
"That would be ideal if Saya manages to persuade her parents to hand some over to us, but if not, it won't matter much. We can always scavenge for food and water later once we leave here." I answer.
Alice doesn't say anything else, and an awkward silence settles over us. She lowers Zeke slightly but continues holding him close, clearly unsure of what else to say.
I open both eyes slightly before closing them again. Then, I pull out my handgun, causing the others to tense up immediately. I open my right eye and fire at a guard who had been sneaking up behind me with a police revolver raised. Before he can even pull the trigger, my shot knocks the revolver clean out of his hand.
The guard shouts in pain, immediately drawing everyone's attention toward him. I take advantage of the distraction and move closer, kicking the police revolver across the ground toward Kohta. He eagerly picks it up, barely able to hide his excitement, while I press the barrel of my handgun directly against the guard's forehead.
His screaming stops immediately.
"You should really think twice about trying to get on Saya's father's good side by taking me out like I'm some easy target just because you have a gun." I say slowly, deepening my voice slightly as I stare directly into the guard's eyes with my right eye. "In fact, with the way the world is now, it's only the second day, and you're already willing to kill a fellow human being." I press the barrel a little more firmly against his forehead. "I wonder how long it'll be before you decide it's time for you to take over this place once you think Saya's father is no longer worthy of being the leader."
The guard opens his mouth to argue, but with the handgun pressed so close to his forehead, the words catch in his throat. He struggles to say anything, his eyes flicking between me and the firearm.
The other guards finally move, raising their weapons and preparing to deal with me. Before any of them can take another step, Saya and her parents return just in time to see everything unfolding. The guards who are halfway through stepping forward stop dead in their tracks the moment they notice them.
"So?" I put away my handgun, causing the guard to sigh in relief as he takes a few steps away from me. I look over at Saya and her parents, or more precisely, I focus only on Saya while allowing my right eye's power to continue acting freely. For the time being, I ignore the pain in my left eye, having finally started to adjust to the constant ache.
"Shouldn't you be asking my parents instead of me?" Saya raises an eyebrow at me, then glances over at her parents with a smug look on her face. "I'm pretty sure they'd rather you speak with them instead of me about the things you want, Touhou."
"No thanks." I feel like I'm starting to tear up from the pain, but I hold my ground and continue ignoring Saya's parents, especially her father giving me the stink eye while her mother looks at me with what seems like approval. "Also, are you planning to stay here with your parents, or are you continuing on with the rest of us?" I point behind me toward Saeko, Shizuka, Kohta, and Alice. I have no idea about the last two, but still.
"Of course I'm tagging along. You guys wouldn't be able to do anything without my intelligence." Saya raises her nose proudly, completely ignoring the fact that her parents are standing right beside her.
"Alright, I'll leave it up to you to figure out what we can possibly get from your parents before we leave. It's fine if we get nothing. After all, it's not that hard to find more supplies with the whole zombie apocalypse only being on its second day." I nearly snort when I notice Saya's father frown at the mention of the word zombie.
Saya doesn't say anything at first as she glances toward her parents in silence. Her father lets out a long sigh before slowly nodding to her, then turns and walks back into the estate. Her mother follows close behind him, giving Saya a smile before sending me a quick wink at the end.
"We'll stay out here in the meantime." I say to Saya before lowering my voice slightly so only she can easily hear me. "In case there's even a chance they try to keep you inside against your will, I'll barge in and rescue you."
That catches Saya off guard, causing her to suddenly blush and stutter for a moment before quickly turning away and running inside without another word.
The others stare at me, and I stare right back at them. Before long, the silence turns awkward once again, with no one seeming willing to speak first.
I walk over to the wall and set down my sniper rifle along with the suitcase. Opening it, I take out several boxes of bullets and fresh magazines, placing the loaded ones into my pockets, gun holster, and magazine pouch. I then refill the empty magazines with bullets one by one before neatly putting them back into the suitcase.
I do the same with the magazines for the sniper rifle until I finish loading all of them. Once I'm done, I eye the remaining boxes of ammunition and make a mental note that I'll need to restock soon.
I pick up the loaded sniper rifle along with my suitcase, slinging the rifle over my shoulder as I look over at Saeko. She stands closer to Shizuka, silently watching the guards with a wary expression. Kohta, meanwhile, looks both nervous and excited as he grips the police revolver, standing protectively in front of Alice.
Just as I was about to enter the estate, I heard people complaining as they drew closer. Soon, I saw Saya and her parents approaching with two men, each carrying a large hiking backpack packed with food and other supplies. That alone must have set off the crowd, as they didn't even bother lowering their voices, pointing at Saya and making rude comments.
I didn't pay much attention to what they were saying. Instead, I focused on Saya's face, watching to see if she felt guilty or hesitant about any of this. But all I saw was determination.
"Ready to leave." Saya smirks at me as she snaps her fingers, prompting the two men to set the large hiking backpacks down in front of me. "These should last us at least a week, maybe longer if we ration everything properly."
I simply nod, then give Saya's parents a polite nod of acknowledgment before picking up both large hiking backpacks with one hand as if they weigh nothing. The casual display of strength causes more than a few people nearby to stare at me in shock.
"Farewell. Hopefully, we'll see each other again." Saya looks at her parents one last time before turning to follow me toward the Humvee. She pauses briefly, then gives them a confident smile over her shoulder. "Don't worry. I won't be dying anytime soon."
That's a red flag if I've ever heard one. Still, I keep that thought to myself and make a mental note to make sure Saya doesn't end up as zombie food if I can help it.
"Oh, right. Do you two plan to stick with us or stay here?" I look over at Kohta and Alice, both of whom have been following along without a word. "You do realize you don't have to come with us, right?"
"Haha…" Kohta lets out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "I think it's better if I stick with you guys. After all, my odds of keeping these firearms if I stay here are pretty low. I'd rather take my chances with all of you."
Alice stays silent, looking at me nervously as if she thinks I'm about to force her to stay behind with Saya's parents' group. Seeing that, I simply look away and give her some space before she starts panicking.
"Out of curiosity, what happened to Takashi and Rei?" Shizuka asks Saya as she reaches into one of the two large hiking backpacks, pulls out a candy bar, and casually unwraps it to snack on.
"Those two decided to stay here. In fact, my father had some of his men carry Takashi somewhere safe so they could treat his ankles." Saya answers before looking over at me. "By the way, Touhou, what exactly is our goal here? Besides constantly searching for supplies, I mean."
"We could search for everyone's family members, assuming they're still somewhere in Japan." I look around at the others to gauge their reactions.
"None of their family members are in Japan." Saya said briefly glancing toward Alice before looking back at me. "For obvious reasons."
"We could go check the hospital. I think, in the long term, it would be very important." Shizuka offered, raising a finger as the idea came to her. "And it would be great if we could find Rika. She could help Kohta a lot with his shooting. She's an amazing police officer."
"Can't you just call her?" I ask Shizuka as we reach the Humvee, watching a group of men pull aside a section of the barbed wire so we can slip through and reach the vehicle.
"Ah…" Shizuka opens her mouth slightly and stares blankly into space, clearly realizing she hadn't thought of that. Most of us let out a collective sigh at the same time.
"Looks like our first task is to find a working phone." Saya said to everyone as she helps Alice climb into the Humvee, making sure she gets settled before stepping back.
"It would be best if we search for a working phone while making our way toward the hospital at the same time." Saeko nodded in agreement with Saya's suggestion.