I slid down the makeshift rope I had fashioned from curtains and landed on the ground below. After ensuring that my surroundings were clear of any infected, I looked up and gave Hayato a thumbs-up. He nodded and began to descend the rope as well. Following him was the last member of our small three-man search team, Yamato—the bastard who had punched me.
Yukino had wanted to join us, but I quickly shut down that idea when she mentioned she would be the first to rappel down. Although she had told me she received some martial arts training—having taken karate classes alongside Haruno during their childhood—Yukino's lack of stamina, as demonstrated in our past tennis match, could pose a risk if things went south.
Yukino argued that she wouldn't stay back in the safety of the room while asking others to risk their lives to save her sister. However, after a lot of convincing from Hayato and me, she ultimately agreed to stay behind.
This left an open spot in our three-person team, and to my surprise, Yamato volunteered to join us. It was puzzling since Yamato had never interacted with Haruno. What could motivate him to help?
"It's what Tobe would have done," Yamato said with a fierce look of determination on his face. It seemed that he and Tobe were closer than I had ever known if he was acting like this.
While I normally would have been irritated to be working with someone who had punched me in the face, I had to admit that his physicality and martial arts skills would be very helpful if we encountered any infected. Alongside Hayato, who had high stamina from all his soccer training, the two of them made quite the physical pair. Although I had decent stamina from riding my bike to school, I was primarily there to provide, as Hayato put it, my sharp instincts.
I quickly set aside my irritation toward Yamato and focused on the task at hand: finding Haruno.
Or at least, her body.
Once the three of us were on the ground, I looked up and nodded at Yukino, Yui, Iroha, and Saki. Yumiko, Hina, and Oka wore worried expressions as they scanned the area for any infected. After receiving two thumbs up from Yumiko, the three of us moved.
Acting quickly, we carefully made our way to the nearest window. Slowly, Hayama slid the window open just wide enough for me to hop inside the room.
Once inside, my breathing quickened as I moved silently, scanning the room for any infected. Seeing none, I sighed in relief.
"It's clear," I said.
"Looks like this room is where they stored all the sports equipment for the center," Hayato said after he and Yamato jumped inside. Now that I wasn't worried about an infected eating my face off, I finally noticed that there was a wide range of sports equipment everywhere.
"We should find something to use as a weapon," Hayato whispered as he grabbed one of the wooden bats from the rack containing the baseball gear. Yamato walked off and picked up a wooden shinai. After examining it, he took a few swings, demonstrating his apparent knowledge of kenjutsu. It seemed that Yamato was a man of many talents.
If I knew the apocalypse was going to happen, I would have taken up a martial art, too.
I looked down at the magazines and books taped to my forearms and legs. These were added to offer us a layer of protection in case any infected tried to bite us. This particular idea had been a suggestion from Yui. While not foolproof, they were better than nothing. They also offered me a better sense of confidence as well, a fact for which I was grateful to Yui.
Similar to me, Hayato and Yamato were strapped with protective gear as well. While the two familiarized themselves with their chosen weapons, I moved through the dimly lit room, my gaze sweeping across the assortment of potential sports gear scattered around the room. I needed to find something that wouldn't feel awkward in my hands.
My eyes landed on a tarp that was crumpled in the corner, its fabric dusty and faded. Curiosity piqued, I approached it and gently pulled back the tarp, revealing a gleaming metal bat beneath. Its surface was cool and smooth to the touch, reflecting the faint light in the room. The bat felt solid and comforting in my grip.
This should do.
"Okay. We'll use these as weapons. Or at least, they should help us maintain our distance in case we run into any of them," Hayato said as he walked up to the door. "Are you two ready?"
"Yeah," I whispered
"Ready," Yamato said, gripping his shinai.
Hayato nodded and slowly opened the door. He glanced left and right, frowning as he took in the scene before us. After a moment, he closed the door quietly and turned to face us. "There are two of them in the hallway. They're… they're eating. We should avoid confrontation if possible. Let's try to find a way around."
We nodded in agreement and left the room. Hayato took the lead as we silently searched the first floor.
Throughout our lengthy search, whenever we spotted an infected individual, we did our best to avoid them.
However, when that approach didn't work, I used one of the utensils I had picked up from the workstation earlier and threw it as far down the hall as I could to work as a distraction.
Seeing an infected blocking the path to the next room in our search, I grabbed one of my forks and threw it. The sound of the fork hitting the ground wasn't loud, but it was enough to catch the attention of the undead in our path. Once the infected was out of the way, I cautiously walked up to the room and slid the door open.
"Nothing," I said after looking through the empty room. Hayato sighed in disappointment and nodded.
"Let's take a break," Hayato said.
Yamato and I nodded as we stepped inside. We had been searching the first floor for about twenty minutes now, and the constant sneaking around while crouched, along with several close calls, had begun to weigh heavily on us.
"Hikigaya," Yamato said from where he sat. I looked over at him, a bottle of water in my hand. He sighed heavily as he met my gaze. "I'm... sorry for hitting you."
"It's fine... Don't worry about it," I replied, not really meaning it.
"No, it's not fine. You did what you had to do to keep us all safe. I may not have liked Tobe at first; hell, I only hung out with him because of Hayama. But over time, I came to see him as a good friend. He always knew how to make everyone laugh." Yamato continued, "He didn't deserve to die. So when I thought you let him turn into one of those things intentionally, I… snapped. I shouldn't have reacted that way. So, I'm sorry, Hikigaya. Truly."
I remained silent, trying to process what he was saying. "It's okay, Yamato. I understand."
Yamato smiled slightly and walked up to me, holding out his hand. "No hard feelings?"
"Yeah... We're square," I said as I shook his hand. It felt like the right thing to do at that moment, even though it was a very Western gesture.
I turned and saw Hayato smiling at us. Seemingly happy to see us make up. He nodded and rose to his feet. "Is everyone ready? Okay. Let's keep going."
As we continued to progress through the community center, we saw only a few infected on the first floor. The most we've seen so far was twelve in total. Exactly as planned.
They're all on the second floor.
It was Yukino's idea for the people left behind in the workstation room to make as much noise as possible. This way, all the infected would be drawn to that area while we searched elsewhere. Although Tamanawa and his fellow student council members opposed the plan, stating it would put them all in danger, that was when Saki pointed her makeshift spear at him; he reluctantly agreed to go along with it.
"Stop," Hayato whispered as he held a hand out. We stopped moving and saw him grip his bat tightly.
We inched closer and saw two of the undead eating away at the corpse of a teenage girl around our age. She was dressed in a different high school uniform. Her upper chest was ripped to shreds, revealing a gruesome sight of ruined organs and a broken ribcage. Yamato's breath hitched at the sight. I couldn't blame him; the only reason I hadn't made a sound was that I had covered my mouth with my hand. Hayato looked away at the sight, his fists tightening.
It was then that a loud bang echoed behind us. Our eyes grew wide at the sound as terror gripped our throats. I turned back slowly and saw the source of the sound. An infected down the hall had fallen face-first into a door.
One of the feasting undead suddenly jerked upright, its head snapping in our direction. My heart raced, pounding violently against my ribcage as it began to lumber toward us. I could make out that it was a man, perhaps in his late twenties, but the bite marks and shredded patches of flesh made it almost impossible to tell. Beside me, Hayato's grip on his bat tightened to the point where his knuckles turned white, his eyes never leaving the infected. Yamato stood rigid, his teeth clenched, the shinai raised as a barrier between us and the undead approaching.
We were paralyzed, caught in a suffocating grip of uncertainty. Had it heard us? Or was it heading down the hall? It was impossible to know. If we engaged too early, the noise of our fight would surely draw more infected, even amid the chaos reverberating from upstairs.
Time elongated, stretching agonizingly as the infected inched closer, each deliberate step amplifying the tension in the air.
It felt like hours before it finally moved past us, drawn toward the end of the hall. Only then did we exhale, our breaths quiet but fervent, tension slowly uncoiling from our muscles like a tight coil.
That was too close.
Hayato turned to us, his face covered in sweat. "C-can you two move?"
We nodded silently at each other, a shared understanding passing between the three of us as we pressed forward. Stealthily, we crouch-walked through the dimly lit corridor, navigating around the remaining infected hunched over, ravenously feasting on the remains of the student. My stomach twisted at the sight of the girl. The only reason she hadn't joined the slowly growing army of the undead was due to the fact that her head had been ripped off. I lingered in that moment longer than I intended, a lump forming in my throat.
Entering the next hallway, we fanned out, meticulously searching each room as we had been for the past forty-five minutes, hoping to uncover any signs of Haruno. Time ticked by slowly, and after what felt like an eternity, we were growing weary, our spirits beginning to falter as we continued to find empty room after empty room.
Just as we prepared to shift our focus to the west side of the building, a hushed voice cut through the hallway. The sound, no, the voice, was small yet familiar, sending a jolt of adrenaline coursing through me.
"Hikigaya-kun!"
Our heads snapped toward the voice, and we saw Haruno's face peeking out from a half-opened door. She wore a wide smile as she waved us over.
She's alive.
The three of us quickly but quietly made our way to her and stepped inside the room. Once we were inside, Haruno silently closed the door and turned to face us. I quickly assessed her appearance; there were specks of blood on her clothes, and a long tear ran down her skirt, but otherwise, she seemed unhurt.
Before I could say anything, Haruno wrapped me in a tight hug. Her body was trembling slightly. From behind me, Hayato frowned but remained silent. After a moment, Haruno let me go but kept her hands on my shoulders.
"How's Yukino-chan?" Haruno asked.
"She's fine. She's safe," I said. Haruno smiled in relief before her brows furrowed, and she gently examined my bruised cheek.
"What happened?" Haruno asked. Yamato squirmed in the background.
"It's nothing. How are you? Are you okay? Have you been... bit?" I asked slowly. Haruno looked confused but shook her head negatively.
"Bit? No, I'm fine." Haruno said, looking over to Hayato and Yamato. "But why are you three down here? I told you not to leave the room. Don't you understand how dangerous that is with all those crazy people out there?!" She hissed in a whisper.
"We came to look for you," Hayato said as I looked around the arts and crafts room we were in.
The space was modest in size, yet it overflowed with supplies. Colorful paints lined the shelves, their vibrant hues a feast for the eyes. Various bins were filled with beads, glitter, and ribbons, each waiting to inspire creativity. Tables were dotted with tools and equipment, from scissors and glue guns to spools of yarn and stacks of paper. Seeing a box of metal bent scissors, I made a mental note to grab them before leaving the room.
"With all these things running around, we got worried that something might have happened to you. So we came looking for you." Hayato said.
Haruno looked surprised by that. She glanced at all of us and smiled. "I see," she said. "Thank you."
From there, we began to share everything we had seen and theorized about the infected with Haruno. She listened attentively, nodding along as we spoke. When I recounted what had happened to Tobe, she frowned sadly and offered her condolences to Hayato and Yamato for the loss of their friend.
Once we finished explaining, I noticed that Haruno appeared tense and worried. She then told us what she had gone through when she went downstairs to check on the bus crash...