Outside, the sun finally rose above the horizon, light spilling across the empty streets of the shopping district.
It filtered through the glass windows of a sporting goods store.
A narrow beam of light cut through the windows and landed directly on the sleeping face of Kohta Hirano.
Kohta's eyes opened slowly, his mind still halfway lost in dreams of rifles and scopes.
"Right," he muttered. "Not a dream"
He shifted, pushing off the pile of sports gear he had used as a makeshift blanket.
Something metal clattered softly beside him.
Kohta froze.
A basketball shot out from his far left, hitting him straight in the back of the head.
A sharp whisper cut through the shop.
"Don't make any loud noise, you idiot."
Saya Takagi stood near the front counter, her arm still slightly extended from the throw.
Kohta blinked, still rubbing the back of his head.
"…You threw a basketball at me."
"And you were about to start clattering around like a walking alarm," Saya shot back quietly. "So yes, I did."
"…That's fair," he muttered.
From the center of the store, Takashi Komuro pushed himself up from where he had been resting, one hand already gripping his baseball bat.
"What happened?" Takashi asked, his voice low but alert.
"Hirano forgot the world ended," Saya replied flatly.
A quiet breath escaped from near the back.
Saeko Busujima stepped forward with Rei Miyamoto to her side.
Takashi stepped closer to the front windows, careful not to expose himself too much as he looked outside.
"I don't like this," he said.
"You shouldn't," Saya replied. "Places like this don't stay quiet. It either means everything's already been picked clean…or something's about to show up."
From behind them, Rei stepped forward, her voice quieter as she spoke to Takashi.
"So what do we do?"
Takashi didn't answer immediately.
"We don't rush anything," he said. "We don't have any sort of transportation, so if something goes wrong out there, we're not getting away fast."
He glanced back at them over his shoulder.
"So instead of running out blind…we use what's here."
Saya nodded at his words.
"That's the first sensible thing you've said since we got here," she said.
Takashi ignored her words.
"We check the surrounding stores," he continued. "Food, tools, anything we can carry. We stay close, we don't spread out too far, and we keep noise down."
Kohta adjusted his glasses, looking around at the shelves again.
"There's definitely stuff here we can use," he said. "Bats, knives…even some protective gear if we look hard enough."
From the side, Saeko stepped forward, her gaze drifting briefly over the racks of equipment.
"Weapons that require little skill to use will be the most efficient," she said calmly. "In close quarters, hesitation is more dangerous than lack of strength."
Rei exhaled quietly, "And we don't stay long," she added. "Right?"
Takashi nodded.
"Yeah, we take what we need and move before this place turns into a problem," he said. "Okay, let's move."
....
A bit away from the shopping district, the bus drove steadily along an almost empty road.
Inside, the atmosphere was quieter now.
The adrenaline had burned out, leaving only exhaustion in its place.
Ren sat up slightly, his gaze sharpening as he adjusted to the light now filtering through the windows.
He had just recently woken up from his earlier nap.
His hand moved instinctively to the revolver at his side before looking to the front of the bus.
"You think we're close?" Hina's voice.
"We should be," Shizuka replied. "The roads are starting to look familiar."
Ren stood.
Looking outside the windows, he could see various commercial buildings around them.
That meant that they were getting closer to the shopping district.
He stepped forward, moving up the aisle as the light grew stronger through the windows.
"How long was I out?" he asked.
Ryuji glanced back at him.
"Not long," he said. "About half an hour."
Ren nodded slightly. "Good," he said. "We're getting close."
The bus kept driving before Ren looked down at himself.
His black shirt was stained with blood.
It made his shirt even darker than it already was.
Even his hands were mostly covered in dried blood.
Ryuji followed his gaze down to Ren's clothes.
"It looks like you just got out of a boss fight," he said.
Ren turned his attention back outside.
The streets were opening up now with more stores.
He saw it in the distance...A clothing shop.
"Guess it's time for a change of clothes," Ren tugged at his shirt before muttering to himself. "Yeah, this shit is not staying on me."
Miyu leaned over, took one look, and immediately looked away.
"You look disgusting," she said.
Ren glanced at her before looking back to the front.
"Pull over," he said to Shizuka.
Shizuka didn't argue as she slowed the bus and brought it to a stop.
Ren looked over his shoulder at the rest of the group.
"You ladies ready for a shopping spree?"
Hina's eyes lit up immediately.
"Wait...really?" she said as she started to shake Miyu in excitement.
Shizuka smiled, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Well, I have been wearing the same thing all day."
Then, an excited "YES" came from the back of the bus.
Both Ren and the girls turned.
Ryuji was already on his feet, a little bit too excited.
Ren stared at him for a second.
"You good?" he asked.
Ryuji silently and awkwardly started nodding.
Hina let out a small laugh while Miyu shook her head slightly.
"He's more excited than we are," Miyu said.
Ren smirked faintly as he turned back toward the door.
Shizuka opened the doors before Ren stepped out.
The others quickly followed behind him.
Stepping to the front doors of the store, Ren pushed the doors open.
A soft chime rang out.
Everyone froze at the noise.
Multiple low groaning sounds came from inside the store.
Stepping further inside, Ren took a closer look.
Zombies lingered between the racks, moving slowly and aimlessly.
One bumped into a clothing display, knocking a hanger loose.
Another dragged its foot across the floor, head twitching at the sound of the door.
Ren looked back at the group.
No words were exchanged as they all knew what they had to do.
Ren, Ryuji, and Miyu moved closer in before they split as they all moved to their individual target.
Ryuji was the first to reach his zombie by crouching down low, avoiding making noise.
He raised his pipe before he drove it into the side of the zombie's head.
At the same time, Miyu swung her crowbar into the side of another zombie.
After the two zombies were dealt with, Ren calmly walked towards the final zombie.
It was an old lady.
Ren felt a bit of guilt for what he was about to do.
The grandma zombie lunged at him.
Ren quickly lowered himself, letting the grandma zombie go a bit past him.
He wrapped his arms around her waist as he lifted her up and supplexed her on the back of her head.
Hina looked between them, clearly unsure how to process what she just saw.
"I don't think I've ever seen someone do that before."
Ryuji let out a small laugh.
"Yeah, no, that's definitely a first."
Ren stood, dusting off his hands like nothing had happened.
"Okay, let's shop," he said as they all split.
The store was bigger than it looked from the outside.
Racks stretched across the floor.
Rows of casual wear, darker tones, lighter fabrics, even a few sections that looked almost untouched.
It hadn't been picked clean.
Ren moved first, scanning rather than browsing.
A dark blue fitted long sleeve caught his eye.
It looked exactly like the one Leon wore in RE9.
He grabbed it without hesitation, pairing it with a set of dark pants nearby.
That was enough.
A couple of minutes passed before they all regrouped near the front.
Ren now wore a fitted dark blue long sleeve, his sleeves slightly pushed up, paired with dark pants that didn't restrict his movement.
Ryuji stood beside him in a dark hoodie and simple shirt, pipe still in hand.
Miyu kept it clean and neutral, red long-sleeve, practical pants, nothing extra.
Hina wore a soft, beige oversized hoodie and jeans, sleeves slightly covering her hands.
Shizuka had changed from her ripped skirt into leggings, easier to move in, still carrying her usual presence.
Ren adjusted his sleeves slightly.
"Now that we're not covered in blood," he said. "Let's move."
Stepping back into the bus, they moved through the district carefully, checking store after store.
They were mainly trying to find the others who had split, but they were also searching for anything of value they could use.
Minutes quickly turned to hours.
Hours of nothing, just mostly empty buildings and scattered bodies.
Inside another store, it was larger than the others.
Two stores connected into one, the dividing wall partially knocked through, leaving a wide opening that led deeper inside.
Ryuji checked the front shelves while Miyu scanned the layout.
Hina stayed close, carrying what she could.
Shizuka quietly checked a small medical section near the counter.
Ren didn't say anything as he walked towards the back.
Walking through the opening that connected the two stores, Ren was lost in thought before something snapped his attention back to reality.
A wooden blade cut through the air straight for his head.
Ren dropped instantly.
The strike missed by inches, slicing through empty air where his head had been.
Rens body twisted as the revolver in his hand came up.
The barrel stopped just short of a forehead.
Ren didn't pull the trigger as he recognized the face of his attacker.
"Saeko?" he whispered.
Saeko's stance held as her wooden blade was still raised.
They just stared at each other as neither of them moved.
Ren lowered the gun.
Saeko eased her stance, lowering the blade just enough.
"You're fast," she said.
Ren exhaled once.
"Well, I like my head on my shoulders," Ren said.
Footsteps came from behind both of them.
Voices echoed around them at the same time.
"Ren!?"
"Saeko!?"
They both turned.
From behind Ren, Ryuji came in first, pipe raised with Shizuka behind him.
Behind them, Hina and Miyu followed, stopping a bit back.
Behind Saeko, Takashi rushed forward, Baseball Bat in hand, with Rei right behind him.
Saya and Kohta quickly followed, stopping as they saw the standoff between the two groups.
No one moved.
Ryuji was the first to lower his pipe slightly.
"Well," he muttered, glancing between them. "This is awkward."
Kohta let out a quiet breath.
"That's one way to put it," he said.
Takashi's grip tightened on the bat for a second before loosening.
"…You're alive," Takashi said.
Ren finally lowered the revolver the rest of the way.
"Took you long enough," he said. "You have no idea how long we've been searching for you guys."
Takashi let out a breath.
"…We didn't exactly have it easy either."
From behind him, Rei Miyamoto stepped forward slightly, her eyes moving across Ren's group.
"You're all okay," she said quietly.
Miyu gave a small shrug.
"More or less."
A faint smile tugged at Saeko's lips as she stepped slightly forward, her eyes resting on Ren for a brief moment
"Still," she said softly, "It's good to see you."
Ren didn't say anything as he looked at her with a small smile appearing on his face.
Saeko lowered her blade completely.
"It seems," she said calmly, "We've found each other."
.....
End of Chapter 12