Ryuji looked in the direction of the voice and saw Rei and Saya's worried gazes. He also noticed the two fake yuri girls he'd spotted earlier were showing childlike expressions.
"I'm in the Sōjutsu Club — I'm going too!"
Seeing Rei's resolute eyes, Ryuji thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
Saya showed an unwilling expression but didn't say much. She knew that aside from her brain, she had no combat ability. Going would only make her a burden, so she could only watch unwillingly as Ryuji rushed out of the vehicle with Rei.
Saeko closed the vehicle door at the right moment, gripping her wooden sword tightly, vowing to defend it.
"Grrr!!!"
Stepping outside, they immediately heard the groaning of the undead. Several had already wandered to this area, and upon hearing the sound, they ran in this direction.
Seeing this, Ryuji retrieved a spear from his Personal Space — a sturdy wooden stick with one end deliberately sharpened, perfect for Rei.
'What a pity I didn't find a Japanese sword last night, otherwise Saeko's combat power would have increased significantly.' Thinking this, Ryuji handed the spear to Rei, "Attack the head and cervical spine of the undead. Whatever you do, don't let them scratch or bite you!"
"Mm! Mm!" Rei nodded and took the spear.
However, facing the charging undead, her hand gripping the spear trembled slightly.
Seeing this, Ryuji immediately smashed the head of the undead at the front with his baseball bat, while simultaneously hearing the system's voice.
〖 Ding! Energy Points +10! 〗
Although the undead were faster than in the anime, they weren't that much faster. Ryuji easily smashed the heads of several undead, leaving only one in the distance.
〖 Ding! Energy Points +10! 〗
After smashing each undead's head and gaining 80 Energy Points, Ryuji shook the blood off his baseball bat.
"Rei, don't worry. Although these undead look terrifying, as long as you don't let your guard down, taking out a few is quite easy." He pointed at the last undead running toward them.
"Mm!!!"
Encouraged by his ease in dealing with the undead, Rei immediately charged forward.
As she got closer, she saw the undead's face clearly. Pale white eyes, blackish-yellow teeth, and that ferocious, iron-blue face.
Fear made Rei instinctively stop. She closed her eyes tightly and thrust the spear upward and forward. Such clumsy movements could be easily dodged by any normal person.
However, the undead had no consciousness and would only bite and tear based on instinct. When the two approached, the undead ignored the sharp spear and crashed straight into it.
Bang!!!
Squelch!!
The heavy force of the undead colliding with the spear transmitted to Rei's hands, causing her to fall on her bottom.
Her short skirt was lifted by gravity, and Ryuji looked over.
"Uh, black safety shorts… As expected, the fanservice shown in anime to attract viewers doesn't necessarily appear in reality."
Since there was no glimpse of the beautiful girl's spring scenery to see, Ryuji needed to remind Rei.
"Rei, attack the head or neck of the undead!"
Hearing his call from behind, Rei felt a surge of courage. She lifted her head and stared directly at the undead — its neck still impaled by the spear, its hands desperately reaching forward.
She pushed forward with both hands. The spear pierced through the corpse's neck until the tip emerged from the back. The undead immediately stopped moving, and as she pulled the spear out, it collapsed softly.
After killing an undead for the first time, Rei's heart was racing, and her hands gripping the spear trembled slightly.
"It's okay, it's over…" Ryuji embraced her from behind, comforting her with gentle words.
This made Saya, who was still on the school bus, grit her teeth secretly.
Except for Saeko, who remained calm, the other girls looked enviously at Rei being embraced by Ryuji.
"Oh my… Ryuji-kun and Miyamoto-san seem to have quite a good relationship…" Shizuka supported her bosom with one arm and stroked her cheek with the other, showing a smile of someone who had spotted gossip.
Black lines appeared on Saya's forehead, and she secretly vowed that she absolutely couldn't let Rei take the lead.
Ryuji brought Rei along, and they arrived at the outdoor storage room without much incident. Most of the undead had been attracted by sounds from the teaching building and playground, so the more remote storage room didn't have many.
Along the way, he killed about twenty undead, bringing his Energy Points to 300.
Although Rei didn't kill many, her courage grew. When it came to killing the undead, she had lost most of her fear and could better use her spear skills.
Upon reaching the iron door of the outdoor storage room, they found a small lock securing the gate. Ryuji grabbed the lock with his bare hands and pulled it outward.
Click!!!
The small lock couldn't withstand his strength — far exceeding that of ordinary people — and immediately broke.
Rei, watching from the side, opened her mouth in surprise, looking completely adorable. She was so cute that Ryuji couldn't help but reach out and pinch her cheek.
"Mmph…" His affectionate gesture made Rei's face flush red.
Earlier, because of fear, Ryuji's embrace had given her a sense of security. Now, being treated affectionately by him, she immediately felt shy.
Ryuji smiled, withdrew his hand, then opened the iron door and began searching for gasoline. They didn't encounter the situation from novels where the male and female leads enter a room only to have a mini-boss rush in through the door to challenge them.
He smoothly found the gasoline canister and stored it in his Personal Space. Fortunately, there was still space left — otherwise he would have had to carry the fuel canister back to the parking lot.
Although Rei was curious about how Ryuji made such a large fuel canister disappear, she knew this wasn't the time to discuss it, so she immediately followed him back to the parking lot.
Since they had already cleared the area, the return trip was easy. They encountered only four undead, all of which became Ryuji's Energy Points.
〖 Ding! Energy Points +10! 〗
〖 Total Energy Points: 340! 〗
Soon, the girls on the school bus saw Ryuji and Rei returning.
Seeing their empty hands, they thought there was no gasoline in the storage room. But when they saw Ryuji conjure a fuel barrel over a meter tall out of thin air, they were all stunned.
It wasn't until he poured all the gasoline into the school bus's fuel tank and boarded the vehicle with Rei that the girls stared at him with curious gazes.
This made Ryuji feel a chill down his spine, as if he were being watched by more than a dozen hungry wolves.
"You worked hard, husband…"
Saeko didn't ask many questions. Instead, she came before Ryuji and straightened his wrinkled school uniform, looking like a devoted wife welcoming her husband home from work.
This made Rei a bit jealous. As if to assert her claim, she immediately wrapped her arms around Ryuji's arm, not caring at all that her softness enveloped it.
Sensing another gaze full of anger from Saya, Ryuji had no mind to enjoy the soft sensation on his arm. Right now, he was very nervous.
The other girls fell silent. Some watched with interest, while others — like Saya — simmered with resentment. The inside of the vehicle grew quiet.
'Could this be the legendary battlefield of carnage?'
Just as Ryuji was thinking about how to avoid being struck down, a voice called from the distance, breaking the tense atmosphere.
"Wait!!! Save us!"
The girls looked toward the voice and saw about ten males running toward them from the teaching building.
Among the group, Ryuji spotted an acquaintance.
"Should we drive off?" Shizuka, who had already started the school bus, turned back to look at him.
The other girls also looked at Ryuji. The group of sixteen had subtly begun to regard him as their leader.
Ryuji revealed an eerie smile, "Wait a moment."
His words made Rei's heart skip a beat. She'd seen that Kōichi was among that group.
'Could Ryuji-kun be planning to save that bastard?'
Rei felt upset, but after seeing the eerie smile Ryuji wore while watching the group, she felt inexplicably relieved.
"Saeko, guard the door. Don't let those people in."
Ryuji opened the vehicle door, baseball bat in hand, and stepped outside to watch quietly.
"Yes, husband." Saeko gripped her wooden sword and stood at the door.
The noise from Kōichi's group attracted several nearby undead.
Perhaps because they weren't athletic, the undead surrounding them from all sides were getting closer.
Kōichi had been only slightly behind the others. When he saw the school bus in the distance and noticed the undead hadn't surrounded them yet, he began guiding the students behind him toward it.
But when an undead rushed out from a nearby flower bed, he immediately kicked the last male student — a bespectacled boy holding books — buying himself time.
"Ahhh!!!"
The bespectacled student wailed and was kicked to the ground, successfully drawing the undead's attention.
"The world as we knew it is over. People without power have no value in surviving."
Leaving behind these words, Kōichi continued running toward the school bus.
Ryuji had long known of that man's viciousness. But that sensual cry you made after being kicked — are you sure you're not joking?
Mentally complaining, he positioned himself in front of the school bus.
"Move! Hey, get the hell out of the way!"
The one running at the front was a tall male student with bleached blonde hair (Tsunoda). Perhaps because he was a delinquent, he ordered Ryuji in a commanding tone, which made all the girls inside feel displeased.
"Idiot! Bastard, I told you to move!"
Seeing that Ryuji remained unmoved, Tsunoda raised his fist and charged at him.
Kōichi, who had run near the school bus, discovered that the one blocking the door was none other than the youth who had made him lose all face yesterday. He stopped and watched how events would unfold.
The other male students looked around anxiously, afraid that undead would suddenly appear.
However, because of the male student who had cried out earlier, the undead were still enjoying their meal and hadn't surrounded them yet.
"I hate bleached blondes the most, especially delinquent punks with bleached hair."
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T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)