The first thing Ira was met with when they returned to the base and exited the tank was Amanda's glare. Furrowing his eyebrows together in confusion, he followed her gaze to something behind him and caught sight of his Host.

His shoulders dropped a little in disappointment.

He sighed and leaned back against Silas who was standing behind him. Ira couldn't resist mumbling, "I had really hoped she'd be dead by now."

"Is that so?" Silas asked and hummed above him. 

Ira stretched his head back to catch sight of his eyes and saw them pleasantly darkened. Silas smiled down at him. "I'll go get a gun."

For a second, Ira was unsure what Silas was talking about, having lost interested in the conversation for some reason. Then he realized what he meant and burst out laughing.

"You–? Y-you want to kill her?"

He couldn't stop himself from laughing. The idea of Silas killing was hilarious, mostly because he hadn't ever seen it before. He knew that Silas had killed before, many times in fact, but somehow he still couldn't imagine it. After all, whenever Ira went on a killing spree, Silas would never join in. He'd just lurk around in the background.

He waved away Silas' concern. "It's fine, it's fine! It's not like she's going to last long in a world like this anyway."

A sense of vicious satisfaction curled in his belly.

Silas patted him on his shoulder and said, "If you say so."

Ira spun around to stare at him. That sounded suspiciously sarcastic. Silas wasn't really planning on killing his Host right? If so than that would be blamed on Ira for egging him on and his salary would be cut.

"You can't kill her." Ira order abruptly.

"Don't worry." Silas smiled a smile so fake that it made Ira shiver in disgust. "I have no plans on allowing her to die."

Ira's confusion was interrupted by the arrival of Amanda. He saw her approaching on his map and turned around just in time.

"Ira." Amanda smiled brightly at him. "Silas." she frowned and glared at the other man.

"Amanda." Silas sounded annoyed. "How was your trip? Any losses?"

Amanda glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "We lost out captain to a horde of zombies and a few of the grunts died as well. Nobody got turned, luckily."

"Luckily." Silas said flatly.

Ira stared between them with wide eyes, having no idea what was going on.

Were they... fighting?

...That was hilarious.

"Pfft!" he didn't manage to turn away in time to hide his laughter so he just laughed out loud instead.

"Ira!" Silas protested.

Ira just kept laughing. When he finally calmed down he found that both of them were staring at him with indulging looks on their faces. The familiarity of it irked him and so he decided that it was time for his payment. "Silas, my cupcakes."

"Right, right." Silas nodded at him and smiled brightly. "They're at my place."

Just as they were leaving to finally get to the main point of this whole thing, a disturbance on the map made Ira sigh in disappointment once more. He rolled his eyes and turned around just as his Host reached them. With a blatantly faked smile, he asked her, "How can I be of assistance?"

There was no point in trying to pretend that he wasn't who he was. Just like a System could always recognize their Host, a Host could always recognize their System.

It was a safety measure to ensure they didn't go about babbling about their world-traveling to someone native.

Or another Host.

Granted, two Hosts ending up in the same world at once, much less in the same location, was nearly unheard of it. That wasn't to say that it hadn't happened before, but it hadn't gone well. Now, most Systems actively avoided it, by use of a list that announced which missions and worlds were currently occupied. Another Host only entered the world if it literally had nothing to do with the original mission and only if it couldn't be avoided or put off until the first mission succeeded.

His Host was staring at him with infuriated eyes and demanded, "Where have you been?!"

At least it was a valid question.

"I apologize. The body I ended up in proved to be quite a distance from you and travel isn't easy in this world." Ira insincerely explained.

She frowned at him. "Well just... don't do it again."

Do what again? Ira honestly had no idea what she was talking about. The whole being on the other side of the country thing? What? Couldn't she explain it in more detail?

"I promise." 

She nodded. "Good. Then will you help me now?"

"Of course." Ira smiled. At least she had asked. That was more than most Hosts ever bothered to do. Of course, he could tell by her tone that it was a rhetorical question, by the point was that she had manners. Most nobody did these days. Too many transmigration novels making them think they were entitled to everything.

Ira turned briefly back toward Silas and stated. "You go back first. I'll come home as soon as I can."

Ira didn't see his response. He had already turned back to his Host and was following her as she lead him somewhere he hadn't been before. To be fair, he had spent most of his time in Silas' lab, learning the most fascinating things.

In comparison, the rest of the base was annoyingly dull.

After about ten minutes of walking they finally stopped in front of a door. His Host knocked on it and the male protagonist opened it. Ira followed her into the building and into a room where it seemed like her whole group was gathered. No, that was wrong. It was the whole group that she had managed to drag kicking and screaming to her side.

And the male protagonist, of course.

What had she said to convince them all to come here and seemingly obey her orders?

Ira settled down on a stiff chair and wriggled a little in an attempt to find a more comfortable position. But the metal chair wasn't cooperating.

"Now, System." his Host put her hands on her hips and glowered down at him. "Tell us everything you know about the zombie vaccine."

...Did she just say what he thought she said?

A pin could have been heard dropping in the resulting silence. It seemed as if everybody here were staring at him with ruthless gazes and for a couple of seconds, Ira didn't know what was going on. Then his mind caught up with her words and he had to forcefully stop himself from cackling at her.

"I'm sorry, what?" he blurted out.

She crossed her arms and tried staring him down. Ira had to swallow down his urge to laugh in her face.

"You are going to tell us everything you know about the vaccine." she repeated in what she probably thought was a strong and demanding voice but really, it was just whining. He saw the male protagonist wincing behind her and for once, he was feeling compassion for a protagonist. What was the world coming to? 

So this was what she had used to get everybody on her side, then?

He sighed. "You know I can't do that."

"You have to."

Ira rolled his eyes and drawled out, "As your System, it is my duty to inform you that by continuing on this path, you will–"

"Shut up! Just tell me!" she yelled in desperation.

Mission Failure blazed across his vision and Ira groaned with disgust. He threw his head back and it hit the metal chair with a heavy thud. He didn't even wince at the pain.

His cupcakes. 

No, you know what, she was not ruining this for him. He was getting those cupcakes if it was the last thing he did in this world.

"You've failed. Your soul will be collected automatically." he informed her and stood up from the chair. It wasn't like he was tied down or something, so there was really nothing stopping him from getting those damn cupcakes. It was bad enough that his Host had to insist on getting him involved and having him solve the whole mission, thus automatically failing the whole mission, but now she was going to be standing in the way of his cupcakes? No, no way. He wouldn't allow it.

"Move." he ordered the male protagonist. Proving that he had more braincells than most, the protagonist did as Ira ordered.

Ira hurried down the hallway and out the building. His map informed him the precise moment when his Host's soul was collected and dragged away, but he didn't pay it any attention. His time in a failed world wasn't indefinite, though ti was better than a successful one.

And he wanted those cupcakes damn it!

His Host had really gone around the bend. Ira frowned as he ran down the streets toward Silas' apartment and thought of her. She hadn't seemed like the sort of person who would suddenly demand this, but he supposed that zombies really weren't for everyone.

Some people just couldn't handle it, he guessed.

It was just bad luck that his Host was one of them.

He threw open the door to Silas' place and didn't even bother closing it behind him. Veering straight for the kitchen, Ira ignored Silas' worried questions and grabbed the plate of chocolate cupcakes already prepared on the kitchen counter. He opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk and settled down by the kitchen table.

"Ira!" Silas snagged a hold of one of his hands and held it tightly. "What is going on?"

Ira frowned and shook his hand loose. "I'm leaving this world, but I am going to eat my cupcakes first, damn it."

"Leaving? What do you mean?" Silas stared at him with desperate eyes and reached out to him again.

Okay fine, so the time limit wasn't as dire as Ira had made it seem. He could, technically, stay in a failed world as long as a whole mortal year. It would be counted automatically as part of his vacation, but Ira had things going on at home.

He had manga and anime waiting for him and he wasn't passing them up just a for a few more moments in this world, okay?

Even if he really did enjoy killing zombies.

Ira had eaten two whole cupcakes by the time that he finally deigned to respond. "My soul will be leaving this world soon and then this body will die."

"Why? I gave you the vaccine for the zombie virus." Silas appeared to be searching Ira's face for some sort of explanation. Ira just shrugged in response and ate another cupcake.

Silas was a surprisingly talented baker.

He heard the chair screeching across form him and then Silas walked around the table to hug Ira from behind. Ira tilted his head to side when he felt Silas' head land on his shoulder. Pain sparked across it and made him hiss slightly when he felt Silas biting his neck so hard that he broke the skin and made Ira bleed.

Ira ate another cupcake and finally found that he was so full that couldn't eat another one. He sighed and tilted his head further to the side as he felt Silas licking up the blood.

"What are you, a zombie?" Ira muttered.

"I had to test the vaccine on somebody." Silas answered and pressed a kiss to Ira's neck.

Ira rolled his eyes and drank some milk. "I'm sure the government was more than happy to provide you with test subjects."

"Only after the virus had broken out." Silas mumbled into Ira's skin. Ira felt a shudder run through him. 

So that was it then?

Ira smiled. "You know, my experiment isn't over yet."

The next world would reveal if it was a coincidence or not. The presence of Silas' soul, that was. With nothing but a thought, the last through threads tying his soul to this body snapped, and he was gone.

He thought he would try a BL world next time. It sounded interesting.