HOTD: Tōshiro Nagi - Chapter 3: Survivors

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(A/N: Is that a Power Stone I’m sensing? You should leave it here for safekeeping. Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of it.)

Word Count: 2473

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~1 Hour Later~

Suddenly, the blaring sound of the fire alarm echoed through the halls of the school. Nagi jolted awake, the adrenaline from his recent encounter still pumping through his veins. He looked around, still disoriented, before realizing the source of the noise.

Yawning in a lazy manner, he got up from the couch and walked towards the door, his cleaver still in hand. Upon opening the door, the sound of the alarm grew louder, and Nagi noticed that there was no sight or smell of smoke.

The zombies had already cleared out of the area, leaving behind only lifeless corpses and blood stains that desecrated the empty halls. Nagi closed the door and stretched before entering the bathroom to wash his hands and face.

He rummaged through the food bag, grabbing a granola bar and some grapes to snack on. Looking out the window, he noticed the sun had set, and he had no intention of staying in a zombie-infested school for the night. As he surveyed the outside, he spotted a trail of running water coming from the building’s rooftop.

‘Someone must be up there,’ Nagi thought, popping a grape in his mouth. ‘There’s an emergency fire hose in the storage room. It’s likely they’re using it to either gain attention or push the horde back.’

Returning to the couch, Nagi sat down and concentrated, listening intently for any sign of human activity in the vicinity. After a few moments of silence, he heard a muffled sound coming from a distance.

Nagi paused, his ears perked up, trying to identify the source of the noise. A few moments later, he heard it again: a dull “thud” that echoed through the quiet school. Opening his full eyes, he stuffed the rest of the grapes in his mouth like a chipmunk and prepared his gear.

‘If I’m correct, then that weapon could possibly be a high-quality makeshift gun. The sound it makes resembles that of a staple gun, and if someone is using it repeatedly to kill zombies, they must be talented in using weapons and are not scared of killing off the undead,’ Nagi thought to himself.

However, he sighed at the thought of having to interact with another person, muttering to himself, “Though, talking to people is a pain sometimes.” After finishing his food, he strapped his quiver over his back and picked up his bow.

Unfortunately, he had failed to retrieve all of his arrows, so he only had twelve left from the original twenty he had procured at the beginning of the apocalypse. Nagi also grabbed his blade and cleaver, slipping the blade through his belt loops and holding the cleaver in his right hand, while keeping his bow hung around his torso.

After stashing his food bag under the tables, Nagi covered it up with numerous rolling chairs and a blanket he found lying around the room. Once satisfied with his handiwork, he carefully opened the door and peered outside.

Observing nothing but the lifeless corpses, severed limbs, and bloodstains, Nagi exited the room and shut the door behind him. He then proceeded towards the noise he had heard earlier, which seemed to be coming from a location only two or three corridors down the hall – likely close to the faculty room.

As he made his way towards the source of the noise, Nagi pondered how he should handle the situation once he arrived. Should he put on a smile and be optimistic, or perhaps cry in joy? He quickly dismissed these thoughts, realizing that his only motivation for seeking out the person was pure curiosity.

Nagi knew that surviving in this world alone had its limitations, but he also didn’t want to be grouped with incompetent teenagers who let their emotions and hormones cloud their judgment. They would only be liabilities and eventually meet a pathetic demise, which was not worth Nagi’s time or effort.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

A sudden shriek echoed through the corridors, causing Nagi to rush towards the scene. As he approached, he heard a couple of footsteps coming from the other corridors that connected from the sky bridge.

Peering out the window, he saw a student and a teacher in the distance, but the sound of another pair of footprints caught his attention. They seemed to be coming from within the building to his left. ‘There seems to be more survivors than I initially thought,’ Nagi commented to himself.

As Nagi arrived at the scene, he saw a pink-haired girl crying in fear while she drilled a zombie’s skull in. As footsteps closed in on him, he quickly glanced from both sides to see the pairs that rushed there.

“I can’t take it anymore! SOMEONE PLEASE!!!!” The girl pleaded as tears rolled down her cheeks. Nagi and the pairs nodded at each other before he spoke calmly. “I’ll take the left side.” Before the others could comment, Nagi rushed towards the group of zombies, his cleaver at the ready.

Nagi charged forward and swung his cleaver in a swift, uppercut motion that cleaved straight through the zombie’s head, its flesh sliding off its skull. He continued his killing spree, pulling out his knife from his belt loops and spinning around to avoid the grasp of an approaching zombie, before plunging the blade deep into its forehead.

As he dispatched the undead, Nagi noticed the other survivors watching him in awe. Without a word, he retrieved his bow from his torso and loaded an arrow, quickly firing it at a zombie that was creeping up on a brown-haired girl who stood there frozen in shock. The arrow whizzed past her, impaling the zombie’s head and saving her from a gruesome fate.

“You should pay attention to your surroundings,’ Nagi commented. The girl nodded, her face turning slightly red with embarrassment, before she proceeded to clear her own area. Nagi observed as the rest of the group eliminated the remaining zombies.

‘Their skills are impressive, and they seem to have no qualms about killing the zombies. Especially the black-haired boy and the purple-haired girl. The boy adapted to the situation much quicker, while the girl appears to relish in it,’ Nagi analyzed.

He didn’t miss the small smirk and glint in the girl’s eyes, but to be honest, he didn’t care. She seemed capable enough, and if she could contribute to his survival, then he was all for it. ‘Besides, worrying about things outside of my control is a waste of energy.’

After retrieving his arrows, Nagi closed the doors to avoid attracting any nearby zombies with the noise. When he turned to look at the pink haired girl, he noticed her eyes were wide and dilated, her face contorted with fear. The orange haired girl and blonde haired teacher rushed over to comfort her, seeing her distress.

As the orange-haired girl and the blonde teacher comforted the pink-haired girl, the purple-haired girl introduced herself to the others. “Some of you may already know Nurse Marikawa, don’t you? I’m Saeko Busujima. Senior, Class A.”

Saeko was tall, with long limbs that provided leverage for her sword use. Her straight and shiny thigh-length purple hair had a triangular fringe at the front that barely touched the side of her nose. Her calm charisma elicited the others to relax and introduce themselves too.

The black haired boy introduced himself as “Komuro Takashi. Sophomore, Class B.” He had spiky black hair, brown eyes, and a reasonably powerful build that contributed to his agility, as demonstrated earlier.

Upon hearing Saeko’s name, the orange haired girl perked up and stood from her crouching position, turning away from the pink haired girl. “You won the national tournament last year, didn’t you? I’m Miyamoto Rei from the Sojutsu Club.”

Rei had long, orangy-brown hair with bangs hanging over her face, with two strands sticking out above the rest of her hair. She also had a small, single ponytail on the back of her head which left the rest of her hair long. Her eyes were reddish-brown, and she had a slender figure, as expected of an athlete.

“Ah, um, I’m Hirano Kohta from Class B.” Hirano was short and overweight, which presumably hindered his endurance. He had a shoulder-length hairstyle with bangs reaching down from the side of his temples and stretching outwards, obscuring the sides of his face.

Despite his apparent liability, Nagi felt like he could get along with the guy. However, he hoped that Hirano wouldn’t eat all the food or touch his sweets, otherwise there would be war.

Saeko adorned a small smile and said, “It’s nice to meet you.” Kohta’s mouth gaped slightly as he lightly blushed. Suddenly, the pink haired girl, whom Nagi found out was called Saya when Rei rushed over to help, spoke up.

“What with all you guys acting so friendly…” Saya started as she stood up. Confused, Takashi asked, “What are you talking about, Saya?”

“Stop being an idiot! I’m a genius!” she continued in an agitated tone as she began to glare and shout at everyone. “If we start acting like this we’ll lose next time!”

Approaching her, Saeko placed her hand over her shoulder, “All right. I’ve heard enough.” Looking into the mirror, Saya muttered something to herself before breaking down crying once more. Nagi watched with his stoic expression never changing; however, he unconsciously muttered, “Annoying.”

The quiet atmosphere, brought about by Saya’s whining, made Nagi’s mutter audible, earning him disapproving glances from the girls. It seemed like Takashi was about to confront him, but amidst the tension, Nagi ignored it and spoke up.

“If you’re done with introductions and outbursts, you can follow me if you’d like. I’ve secured the faculty room and am planning to escape the school. I’m not going to pretend to be someone I’m not for you all so if you dislike my attitude then deal with it. This will only be temporary until we get into the city,” Nagi informed the group, as he strode past them, making his way to the faculty room.

As Nagi walked down the corridor towards the faculty room, the group stayed behind staring at his back, each with their own expressions and thoughts. Takashi was the first to speak up.

“I don’t like him,” he said, drawing the attention of the others who listened intently. Realizing they were waiting for him to elaborate, he continued, “His intentions seem selfish, and he clearly doesn’t care about others. He even called Saya’s breakdown ‘annoying’.”

Nodding in agreement, Rei added, “I agree. However, he has a plan to escape the school and also knows a safe place within the school. Don’t you think it’s safer to be grouped with him? Besides, he also saved me earlier. If he was truly uncaring, he would have left me to die just then.”

Takashi was feeling a sense of betrayal. While he acknowledged that Nagi was their best chance to escape the school and stay safe, he didn’t want Rei to be around him. Seeing Rei agree with him but also defend Nagi created a sense of conflict within Takashi.

As Takashi dealt with his internal conflict, Shizuka chimed in, “Although I disagree with what he commented, he seems to mean well, don’t you think? Why would he invite us to his base if he didn’t?”

“I believe we should go,” Saya suddenly announced. Everyone turned a bit wide-eyed as she was the victim of Nagi’s comment.

“While I dislike his personality and comment, he was right. What I did was a bit annoying. Having a breakdown when I should be focused on surviving and escaping this place. Truly pathetic, huh?” She said in a slight depreciating tone.

Saeko nodded in agreement, her smile slight. “She’s right,” she said. “As of right now, we don’t know much about the situation outside or inside the school. And Nagi seems confident. He may know even more than us. It would be beneficial for us to follow him for now.”

After agreeing to follow Nagi, the group left the area and proceeded down the corridor. As they walked, their nerves began to mount as they noticed the eerie silence around them. Saya spoke up, “Where could Nagi have gone? He hasn’t been gone for that long, has he?”

Rei, however, remained vigilant and pointed out the unsettling lack of noise. “You should be more concerned with the lack of noise,” she warned. “I don’t hear any groans or moans of ‘them’ anywhere nearby.”

“I agree,” Saeko commented, her tone serious. “Those things are scattered throughout the school, and it’s alarming that we haven’t heard or seen any signs of them. It could mean that they’ve left the building or are grouped elsewhere within the school.”

As they turned the corner, an unsettling sight greeted them – the aftermath of Nagi’s escape to the faculty room. Even for those who had already witnessed the horrors of the zombie apocalypse, the sheer amount of gore was almost too much to bear.

The walls and floors were stained crimson with blood, and in some places, there were even pools of it scattered around. The remains of severed limbs and decapitated heads of zombies littered the area, making it seem like a battlefield of the undead.

Saya and Shizuka, who were usually light-hearted, couldn’t help but feel nauseous at the sight. Their stomachs churned as they took in the gruesome scene before them. The others were also disturbed, with the exception of Saeko, who appeared to be flushed and excited. It made her wonder if Nagi was the one who caused all of this.

“Are you just going to stand there or are you going to come in?” a voice suddenly asked. The group quickly turned towards the direction of the voice and realized it was Nagi standing near the entrance of the faculty room. In a stuttering voice, Kohta asked, “Were you the cause of all this?”

It was a question that had been on everyone’s mind since they had stumbled upon the gruesome scene. Nagi examined their expressions for a few moments before finally speaking. The anticipation in the air was palpable.

“Who knows?” he answered, his tone emotionless.

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Author Words:

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