Justin heaved his way towards the glowing gym, maintaining a clear distance away from me. Whether it was suspicion or shock, I didn't have the energy to care. Not like I wanted to be next to him anyway.
Pira… I started to feel more guilty than ever. Why didn't I appreciate the limited time we had together? I should've made plans, hung out, and been less annoying…
The gym lights pulsed faintly, illuminating the handful of survivors who staggered inside. A few sophomores. A couple seniors. Yet no freshmen or juniors.
If no freshmen or juniors made it, their events must've been brutal.
I kept glancing at the double doors, hoping someone—anyone—I knew would walk through. Ava? Cara?
"Welcome to those alive. You made it to phase two of the tutorial." System Neo monotonously showed us a new screen. "Introducing the second type of event: character events. Character events are events specialized towards individuals. Some character events can overlap with others, so be mindful of who you work with or not."
Another phase… if this is just the tutorial, I don't want to know what comes next.
[ Phase Two: Uniqueness
Classification: CHARACTER EVENT
Description: ALL ABOARD THE EXPRESS. You and a girl called Cara Rodriguez have been chosen to board the limitless train, located in front of the school. Work together, invade monsters, and reach the first cabin to stop the conductor.
Time Duration: 60 minutes
Consequence of incompletion: ???
Reward: 5% of gaining a special power (SP can only be met under special, unique conditions) ]
"Cara?" I looked up from the system to check where Cara was. She noticed me and started limping in my direction.
"Lily! You're alive!" She hobbled my way, her now frizzy, messy hair bouncing with every step she took.
"Cara! Your leg! What happened?" I grimaced while looking at the bloodied sight of her gushing calf, which was somewhat bandaged up.
"... Uhm, it happened while I was fighting someone." She definitely killed one of our mutual friends. But I won't judge. "But hey, look at yourself. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought all that blood on you was yours, not someone else's."
I slightly chuckled with little energy left, "Yeah… don't worry, I didn't get injured."
"Hey, where's Pira…?" Cara's face fell once she noticed the expression I was making. "Sorry for asking…"
"No, no, you're good. Pira didn't make it…"
"Ava?"
"She wasn't in first period."
We both uncomfortably shifted in silence, unable to speak or cry. I broke the silence not too soon afterwards, "We should start going to the front of the school, right? Phase two won't wait for us."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
"..."
"Here, lean on my body for support." I offered my arm. She wrapped her thin arm around my shoulder as we both slowly made our way towards the school's front foyer.
"...This… this situation is crazy, isn't it?" Cara gasped for air while walking.
"I know. But it's our new reality, so there's nothing we can do about it."
"… You're right. It's best to do our best to survive right now, figure out complications later."
***
in the gym area, a little after Lily and Cara left…
"Seems like our character events paired us up together, Zi." Mr. Smith awkwardly ruffled his messy hair, trying for a smile to lighten the mood.
"Thanks, Mister Captain Obvious." The young physics teacher only sighed at the angry boy's bite.
"... Listen ZiChuang… we should work together. As a teacher, it's my duty to protect my students. I promise I'll protect you, we'll pass the tutorial phase two safely, okay?"
"I wasn't asking for your incessant yapping, was I now?" Zi didn't bother looking at the tall teacher, only focusing on the double-edged scissors he was twirling around one finger. "You don't need to protect me, I can protect myself fine. You should already know that, shouldn't you?"
Mr. Smith only sighed again at the somewhat edgy teenager. He couldn't exactly refute what ZiChuang was saying, after all, Zi was covered in dried blood from head to toe. Since Mr. Smith had an off-period as his first period, his main event was to turn the electricity generator back on (specifically only for the gym area). That simple event had been nothing compared to Zi's spree event. He didn't know what Zi did, but then again, he didn't think he wanted to know based on his own theories and guesses.
"Sigh … At least let me tend to your wounds and help clean you up. Just like before…"
ZiChuang made a scornful noise similar to laughter. "You? Tend to my wounds? Uh, no thanks."
Mr. Smith only furrowed his eyebrows. "Zi, I'm trying to help you. You can trust me."
"... Fine, but only after this phase. Don't get me wrong, I'm only letting you help because I don't want to listen to your whining. I'm barely hurt. Let's get a move on."
…