Previously…
Fujimi Academy. The corridor outside the main building.
"Sigh…"
Takashi leaned on the railing and let the breath out slowly.
"Takashi, what's wrong? In a bad mood?"
Hisashi stepped out of the side door and rested a hand on Takashi's shoulder.
It should have been class time, but both of them had skipped. A transfer student had shown up out of nowhere and, in a single day, stolen the attention of the girl they both admired. The frustration sat heavy in their chests.
"Haha, it's nothing. Just—"
Bang! Bang!
The sentence broke apart under a series of violent crashes.
They turned toward the front gate and saw a man in a suit slamming his body into the iron bars.
A security guard arrived with several male teachers.
Too far away to make out the words, Takashi and Hisashi could only watch the gestures grow sharper.
"Ahh!!!"
A scream tore through the air.
The teacher who had tried to restrain the suited man staggered back and collapsed. Moments later, the group fell into chaos. Teachers turned on one another, and blood hit the pavement.
Something was horribly wrong.
They sprinted for their classroom, only to find Rei missing.
There was no time to search. After a few rushed words, they chose the rooftop. If panic spread through the school, the halls would become a stampede. Staying above the crowd was the only chance.
Working together, they reached the rooftop and shoved desks and chairs into a barricade to keep "them" out. Only then did they collapse onto the concrete.
"Huff… Takashi, are you okay?" Hisashi panted, eyes fixed on Takashi.
"I'm… huff… I'm fine."
"I never thought movie stuff would happen for real." Hisashi stared at the blood-smeared baseball bat in his hands, fear still clinging to him.
"Yeah… what do we do now?" Takashi held his own bat, looking up at the clear sky like it belonged to another world.
Vroom Vroom!!
An engine roared from the parking lot.
They rushed to the railing and saw the school bus lurching into motion.
Rei was inside. And so was Ryuji.
"Damn it… They didn't wait for us!" Takashi slammed his bat against the railing.
The sharp clang echoed across the rooftop. At once, the dead bodies outside the barricade thrashed against the stacked desks and chairs, drawn by the noise. Takashi went pale and froze, then quickly pulled back.
Beside him, a cold glint flickered in Hisashi's eyes. He felt the same simmering anger.
He had swallowed his pride, acted considerate, even tried to win Rei over little by little. Yet none of it mattered. A transfer student who had been here less than a day had taken everything with a smile. The imbalance twisted in Hisashi's chest, and the violence he usually kept buried began to stir.
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After a few tense tests, Hisashi realized something: as long as they stayed quiet, the dead bodies did not react.
Using that rule, the two slipped out of the school.
They decided to search for their families first. Hisashi reached home and found only dead bodies. When Takashi made it back, the result was the same.
Grief crushed them. They clung to each other and, exhausted, spent the first night of the apocalypse in a shallow, uneasy sleep.
At dawn, while scavenging for food, they ran into a bald man named Ota carrying a gun. With no better option, they joined his group.
Later, Hisashi went out with Ota's men to gather supplies. By sheer luck, he spotted the girls returning after their grinding session.
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"You're telling me there's more than a dozen insanely beautiful girls all in one place?"
Ota lounged shirtless, tattoos crawling over his skin, the smug confidence in his posture unmistakable.
"Yeah. All gorgeous high school girls. And there are two female teachers with them. One of those teachers is—" Hisashi spread his hands wide.
Ota's eyes lit up.
"Good. Good. Good." He laughed, satisfied, "If we grab them tonight, aside from the two teachers, you can pick whichever one you want."
The men around him broke into eager grins.
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After lunch, Ryuji sprawled on the sofa, intending to rest for a while before heading out again. He would grind more points in the afternoon and, while he was at it, play the "good Samaritan" by rescuing beautiful women struggling through the apocalypse.
The moment he sat down, two small figures squeezed in beside him.
"Mmm… staying by big brother's side makes me feel safe."
Alice perched on one of his legs, relief plain on her face. Myu, pressed against his other side, nodded earnestly.
Ryuji understood why they clung to him. During lunch, the girls had fed them bite by bite, and the two had kept stealing timid glances at him, looking so pitiful that he had almost wanted to pull them away from the surrounding "aunties" on the spot.
He wrapped an arm around each of their waists and let them lean into him. The faint, milky scent of their hair drifted up. Relaxed, he closed his eyes, and sleep took him.
When he woke again, an hour had already passed.
He carefully carried the two little girls to a bedroom on the third floor, tucked them in, and then prepared to head out to level up.
That afternoon, Saeko and the others planned to stay at the villa. Some of the girls had pushed themselves too hard in the morning and did not want to risk overexertion, so they rested.
Saeko and a few of the higher-level members remained on guard, just in case.
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〖 Ding! Energy Points +10! 〗
〖 Total Energy Points: 8600! 〗
After an entire afternoon of grinding, the system's Energy Points finally broke past eight thousand.
Five women followed at Ryuji's side, all tall and curvy.
Two were nurses, one was a police officer, and two were office workers. His [Chastity Perception] told him they were all "pure".
As he started to turn back toward home, the policewoman hurried ahead of him, her voice careful and pleading.
"Um… Lord Ryuji, there's something I'd like to ask for your help with."
She could not help it. Along the way, his strength had been undeniable, and respect slipped into her tone.
"Hmm? Tell me what it is first. Then I'll decide whether I'm helping."
At that, she released a quiet breath of relief.
"Also, I saved you from the horde. Now you're going to help me with something. Have you decided what you'll offer as compensation?"
The words made her heart tighten.
She looked up at the handsome young man, bit her lip, and nodded.
Only then did Ryuji learn what she needed.
Her name was Himari Matsushima, a patrol officer from Tokonosu City's East Precinct. When the apocalypse began, she and a junior colleague from the traffic division had been shopping at a mall in the city center.
{T/N: This character exists in canon under the surname Matsushima. I assigned a given name while keeping the canon surname.}
In the hope of finding rescue, she had her junior stay behind at the mall to protect the survivors while she ran out alone.
Now that he had the full story, Ryuji couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen this scenario before. He decided that after locating Rei's and Saya's mothers, he would head to the mall tomorrow.
"Alright. It's getting late. Whatever it is, we'll handle it tomorrow."
When they returned to the villa, dinner was already ready.
After brief introductions, everyone ate in the dining room and the living room.
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[The so-called killing disease spreading across the world is expanding at an unimaginable speed. Starting from our country, governments of various nations are bungling their measures, collapsing one after another…]
After seven, the television was nothing but reports of the dead bodies. Ryuji felt it with grim clarity: the social order was about to collapse.
Woof!!! Woof Woof!
Sharp, frantic barks erupted outside the villa.
Ryuji went to the window at once. About a hundred meters away, a small white puppy was barking furiously at a group of men.
They had the nerve to show themselves only because Ryuji and the girls had cleared the area during the day. The dead bodies nearby were, for the most part, already dealt with.
Annoyed by the barking, one of the men lunged at the puppy, trying to run it down.
The puppy darted aside with surprising agility and sprinted straight for the villa, stopping at the base of the wall like it was sounding an alarm.
The others burst into laughter at their companion's failure.
Woof!!! Woof Woof!
Ryuji watched the little dog, eyes narrowing.
"What a perceptive pup."
He recognized it immediately. It was Zeke, the unusually intelligent white dog from the original anime.
"What is it, husband?" Saeko stepped up beside him and followed his gaze.
"Ants looking to provoke a dragon." Ryuji turned from the window and headed for the door. "I'll deal with them."
"I'm coming too!" ×3
He glanced back. Saeko, Rei, and Saya stood behind him in modest dresses, simple weapons in hand.
He nodded and stepped outside.
When the men reached the villa, they saw a handsome young man emerging with three beautiful girls at his side.
"Whistle~ Whistle~… Not bad. Not bad. Truly beautiful."
The bald, burly man in front let out a long whistle as his gaze crawled over Saeko and the other two. Lust gleamed openly in his eyes.
The men behind him wore the same hungry expressions, as if they might pounce at any moment.
Further back, Hisashi and Takashi watched from hiding.
Hisashi spotted Rei through the crowd, and resentment flickered across his face, followed by the smug certainty that she would soon be his.
Takashi, meanwhile, was still reeling. He had only known they were coming to seize a group of women. He had not expected Rei and the others.
And seeing how close the girls stood to Ryuji made something ugly twist in his chest.
'Why does a transfer student who arrived yesterday get their affection, while I've been in the same class for years and can't earn a single glance?'
Ryuji swept his eyes over the leader and recognized the tattooed man from earlier, the one who had fired wildly into the crowd. His voice turned cold.
"Leave none alive."
He did not spare them another look, bending instead to the white puppy at his feet.
"Yes, husband…"
Saeko surged forward first, her wooden sword flashing with a silver sheen.
It was the Warrior's [Weapon Enhancement] Skill, hardening and sharpening the weapon in her hands until even wood could cut like steel.
Ota sneered as she charged, "Hah? Letting a woman take the lead? Is that even a man? What trash, hahaha…"
He jabbed a finger at Ryuji.
"Kill the man. Capture the women alive."
Several heavyset men lunged forward, eyes burning with desire.
Saeko's gaze chilled, "Insult my husband… and I'll make you taste the deepest pain."
The moment they closed in, she pivoted and swept her sword in a wide arc. The first man was cut cleanly in half at the waist.
The second split from shoulder to hip.
The rest fell the same way, each strike taking limbs and torsos apart without granting the mercy of an instant death.
In barely ten seconds, the attackers lay scattered around her.
Saeko stood in a dark gray dress, legs held tightly together, her usually composed face flushed with heat. Blood soaked the ground like crimson blossoms around her, lending her a beauty that was both intoxicating and eerie.
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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! (-‿◦)