After getting off the bus, Kazuki's group began heading towards the convenience store. The people on the bus, after closing the door, looked in the direction they were going, worried.

After a few seconds, Miku, who had been relatively quiet since they left the school, focused her attention on Kyoko, who continued to look in Kazuki's direction, and in a low voice so that her sound wouldn't serve as bait, she called out.

"Hayashi-sensei."

"Yes, Yuuki-chan?"

"Can you explain to me what happened between you and Shido-sensei that made you not say anything to try to save him?"

The other people on the bus became attentive with this question, as much as it was a situation where they didn't have much time, they still condemned two people to their death.

Kyoko sighed as if she had expected this question at some point, and seeing how most of them were girls, and also Takashi, who she knew still had this weighing on his mind, she understood that an explanation was necessary.

"Well, I'll have to talk about that matter of yours, okay?"

"Go ahead, I already told Kazuki-senpai."

"Okay, then, some of you must remember Midorikawa-sensei, who was arrested last year, right?" Kyoko asked, and seeing that everyone confirmed, she continued. "You must know that he was arrested for sexual harassment and attempted rape. The accusations were not for something he did outside of school, but because he tried to rape a student from our school."

The girls gasped in understanding, given the conversation between Kyoko and Miku, the conclusion was obvious.

"As you probably are thinking, the girl he tried to rape was Miku Yuuki-chan, during the attempt, he even broke some of her ribs. He only failed to consummate the act because luckily I arrived in time and prevented it from happening. But the problem starts there." She paused so that everyone could absorb her words before continuing. "Even though I had taken photos and even recorded a video of the situation, the School didn't want to make a formal complaint to the police so that the incident wouldn't tarnish its reputation. And after a month of suspension, they were even going to accept Midorikawa back."

"This is madness! How can they let a rapist return to teaching?!" Takashi expressed indignation, a sentiment echoed by all present.

"Yeah, Komuro-kun, I had the same reaction, and I threatened to report it myself, but the board said that due to Yuuki-san's fame, no one would believe she was a victim and it wasn't worth making such a fuss because according to Midorikawa's testimony, she had provoked him herself."

Takashi clenched his fists furiously at the situation. But understanding that this still wasn't the main point, he decided to remain silent and wait for Kyoko to finish the story.

"I fought a lot with the School's management and almost lost my job because of it," Kyoko said with a rueful smile. "But then when I didn't know what else to do to help Yuuki-chan, Shido came to me and said he would ask his father, who was a politician, to try to do something. I was very happy and asked how I could repay him for that. He was very generous and said, 'Don't worry about it, it's just what I should do, but if it's not too much trouble, I would love to have dinner with you sometime.'" Kyoko explained, and when she repeated Shido's words, she had disgust in her voice.

"At the time, I didn't know the things he had already done, and my family was putting a lot of pressure on me to get married soon, he was rich and spoke well, I thought I wouldn't have any problems going out with him to get to know him better. So I accepted, and in less than a week, Midorikawa was arrested."

"Wow, that's quite a story," Saya commented, surprised at the turn of events.

"Yeah, and things only got worse from there," Kyoko continued. "During our dinner, he kept talking about how powerful his family was, how he would take me to various expensive places, and a bunch of frivolous and arrogant things. It was horrible, but the problem came after a few glasses of wine. I started feeling dizzy, much more than I should have after only 2 glasses of wine, I sent a message to my cousin, Kazuki's mother who was in town, to come pick me up. Shido and I were in a private room that he boasted about having gotten, and the dizzier I got, the closer he got to me, and when I couldn't feel strength in my arms anymore, he started touching my breasts and trying to take off my clothes." Kyoko stopped when she heard Miku Yuuki's gasp as she looked at her with wide eyes. "My luck was that my cousin arrived soon after and took me home, I passed out as soon as she arrived, and I don't know what she said to Shido, but since that day he didn't try to get close to me anymore... At least... Until he found out that she had died."

"Well, that's the long and complete story of why I despised that guy and didn't care that we left him to die. His sharp tongue would only create problems among us, do you guys think I'm an horrible person?" Kyoko concluded with a slight smile, but she was interrupted by the tight hug of a crying Miku.

"OF COURSE NOT! All this time... I... I respected him... As if he had saved me... I... Idolized someone... Who tried to do to you exactly what they tried to do to me... Forgive me, Kyoko-sensei."

The other people on the bus were surprised by Miku's vulnerability at this moment, as far as everyone understood, nothing ever shook her, even with the worst rumors and comments circulating, she never lost her composure. But at this moment, they saw her crying like a child in Kyoko's arms. And many of them, for the first time, looked at her not as a slut, but as a person like anyone else.

...

While the group on the bus began to get to know each other as people beyond the stereotypes built in high school, Kazuki's group was close to the convenience store, none of them said anything since they left the bus, not because they were terrified, but purely because they were focused on the mission ahead.

The store's parking lot fortunately wasn't crowded, there were only a dozen cars. Half of them showed clear signs of accidents, some had crashed into poles and now that they were close enough, they noticed that a car had entered the store breaking the front entrance door.

As they approached within 50 meters of the place, Kazuki handed binoculars to Kohta, "Take a look, I believe you have the best view among us. Try to see if you can catch something."

Grateful for the trust, Kohta saluted and took the binoculars. Observing, he began to speak softly, "From here, I can see a body in the car inside the store, and another 5 in the store. That's all I saw, there may be more hidden behind the shelves. These 5 are in easy-to-see locations, take a look..."

Rei took the binoculars to look as well and was surprised because she could only see two of them, and she couldn't see what was inside the car. Saeko also tried to look and only saw two of them as well. Kazuki managed to see what was in the car, counting three zombies.

"Kohta, you're the man. Although from here we can't be sure if what's in the car is one of them or if it's dead for real, but it's better to assume it's a zombie. Better safe than sorry. We're not going in; we're going to lure them out. It's too risky to enter anyway. Looking around, none of the cars are occupied, and looking underneath, there are no crawlers. Our formation will be as follows: me, Rei, and Saeko will form a spearhead with Kohta behind us as a shaft to provide cover. Any questions?"

[Affinity with Saeko Busujima +3]
[Affinity with Rei Miyamoto +1]

The two girls shook their heads in denial.

The group then approached calmly to the store's entrance, and at seven meters from the door, Kazuki picked up a fallen woman's bag from the ground and threw it at the rear window of the car at the entrance.

BAM, CRASH

"URRRGH"

CRASH, THUD, THUD, CRASH!

"GRRRR"

"Kohta, keep an eye on the surroundings, we don't know if any stragglers outside heard that," Kazuki said.

A few seconds later, three bodies came out of the store through the broken door, breaking more glass as they passed.

"They are really strong, aren't they?" Saeko said, and only Kazuki noticed the smile on the corner of her mouth and the gleam in her eyes.

Rei was the first to attack given her range advantage, aiming directly at the zombie's face, she took a step forward, put force into her stride, and with a sway of her hips distributed the force to the spear which entered through the cheeks until it pierced the brain with such ease that even she was surprised and ended up using too much force losing her balance for a moment.

While lost her balance for a moment, the second zombie, who was closer, was already preparing to jump on her, but at that moment, Kazuki and Saeko acted. Kazuki swung his war hammer horizontally from left to right.

SWOOOSH, BLAM!

[EXP +]

Gray matter, blood, and bone fragments flew towards the third zombie, which didn't last more than a second, as Saeko hit it over the head with such force that it turned the skull into a U-shape.

'Meu Deus, essa mulher não tá pura!' (My God, this woman is on steroids) Kazuki thought.

After dealing with the three zombies, the next three tried to leave the store, giving them time to reposition.

Kazuki offered his hand to Rei, who accepted, "Are you alright, Miyamoto?"

"Oh, thanks for the help, I'm fine, I just didn't count on the spear's quality. I ended up putting too much force and lost my balance; if you two weren't here, it would have been a very pathetic death," she replied with a shy smile.

"Relax, we're here to help... Oh, wait, recess is over, guys. Kohta was right; there are over 6 more inside, there's at least half a dozen more besides the three that just came out."

"GRRRRRRGH"
"AARRRGHHH"
"UURRRRRRH"

The three that came out made enough room for the others to come out more easily, and from then on, there were no chances for rest.

The formation this time worked well; Rei began the attack, followed by Kazuki and Saeko.

BLAM, THUD.

The sound of Kazuki's war hammer and Saeko's wooden sword echoed in the parking lot.

[EXP +]

[EXP +]

At the end of one group, another arrived, and the process repeated itself. When the 10th zombie fell, Kohta spoke to the group, "Guys, a small horde is approaching, probably they were after the convenience store. 5 Zombies."

"Great, can you knock down at least 3 in time, Kohta?" Kazuki asked while knocking down zombie number 11 and Saeko knocked down the 12th.

FWIP, FWIP, FWIP, FWIP, FWIP, FWIP, FWIP.

"Done," Kohta replied seriously.

Three of the zombies were knocked down, leaving only two coming towards the group, and Rei and Saeko ran towards them and with quick strikes, finished them off.

"Kohta, we need to stop at a hardware store to get gas for your machine there, and nails, it's extremely powerful in your hands."

"It would be good, except for this one, I only have two more gas canisters and 4 clips of nails."

"Maybe, unless it's an emergency situation, you should use the crossbow for now to save, what do you think?"

While Kazuki and Kohta talked, Saeko and Rei checked the surroundings of the store to confirm if there were any other stragglers.

"Saeko-senpai, you and Kazuki-senpai are quite close, aren't you?" Rei asked in a low voice.

"Well, we've known each other for just over two days, but we we've gotten along very well. He's an interesting man. But why do you ask?"

Rei was surprised by the frankness.

"Well, I noticed that he calls everyone by their first name, but he calls me by my last name. Do you know why?"

C19.

"Oh, that? Maybe because he still doesn't know you very well. But we'll have time together, so he should open up a bit more to you."

"Hmm. AH, the back door is open. That's why there were so many people inside. Let's close it and go back to senpai," Rei said.

When the two returned, Kazuki asked, "Huh, why the delay? Did something happen?"

"We found the back door open, we locked it so we wouldn't have any more surprises," Saeko said.

"Ah, okay, great idea, let's go in now."

As they passed by the car, the sound of glass being crushed under their feet echoed; everyone was on high alert to catch any suspicious sounds. Kazuki had a long hunting knife in his hand since his war hammer would have problems being used in enclosed spaces.

As he passed by the passenger window, Kazuki quickly plunged the hunting knife into the eye of the body in the passenger seat. After noticing an involuntary spasm in the body and the message that appeared, he was sure it was the right choice.

[EXP +]

[LEVEL UP+]

 

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