Making Friends

After Kururu calmed down she came back to being inexpressive, but with one major change. Her eyes had recovered the life in them. The funny thing was that, after she calmed down, Ryo had to calm down Shouko, who had having a hard time processing the violence of the situation. If she hadn't seen them kill zombies a few times before, she woud've probably vomited.

Once everything was done, Ryo went ahead to gather all the bodied in the first floor. He lit a cigarette and went to check everything Masao had gathered. Unluckily, they didn't have any weapons they could take from them, but Ryo did find something useful for any and every time.

"How come this bastard had this?" Ryo said while staring at the object in his hands. It ammo. At least three or four boxes full of nothing but ammo. "So he had been keeping it in case he found a gun, huh? Funny"

The rest of the place was mostly empty, bar a few packages of potato chips and other unhealthy snacks that Ryo refused to take with them.

[Rewards for killing an evolved human (partially)

All Stats +2 - <Learning (Beginner)>]

When he saw the System's notification, Ryo felt glad. He almost chuckled when he saw how specific the System was about him not actually being the one to kill Masao, but he didn't really care. Even if he knew there would've been rewards for killing him, he would've allowed Kururu to do it.

What he did feel very happy to see was the <Learning> Skill. After all, it would benefit him greatly, stacking with <Immesurable Talent>.

'I guess now I am the ultimate genius crusher' Ryo thought jokingly, amusing himself with his own chinese style joke.

Once he was done checking the place, Ryo went back to were the corpsed where. He had gathered every single on in one spot on his own, not wanting the girls to do such a gruesome task.

"I hope that those of you who deserve it can rest in peace" he said as he turned the pile of bodies on fire. "Let's go"

*

After driving for a few hours, Ryo realized night was creeping upon them. He looked around them and found a house that looked good enough.

"We'll spend the night here" Ryo informed the girls as he stopped the bus. Hiratsuka went up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, exhaling smoke from her cigarette. "Can we speak later?"

"Sure, Kitsu" he said with a heavy smile. He understood what she wanted to talk about and, honestly, he didn't want to. But he couldn't avoid it either. He got a short reply "Good"

After that, they all got down. Shizuka took a few of their medical supplies to treat as best as she could most of the hematomas she had. The scars had already healed, leaving only small blemishes on her skin. They weren't too noticeable, luckily.

"Wait" Ryo said as they got closer to the house. "There are people there"

He had caught them with <Presence Sensing>. There were two adults and he was pretty sure they were a couple, since it was a man and a woman. Ryo wanted to be polite, so he decided to knock on the door. He was totally oblivious to how his Skill was becoming more accurate and the range increased.

*knock-knock*

"Who is it! What do you want?!" a scream was heard from inside. Ryo wasn't really surprised by such a reaction. After all, it was to be expected. "We're eleven people and just want to spend the night. If it bothers you we can go somewhere else"

"If you wanted to do something you would've already done... I just had to make sure you weren't with that motherfucker, Masao" the voice from inside said. When the door opened, Ryo saw two people and he could tell they were a couple by how the girl was grabbing on to the guy's hand.

"The name's Hashimoto Ryo, these are..." Ryo introduced everyone, but when Kururu's turn came, the man suddenly got surprised. "That girl! She was with Masao, but, how is she here with you now?!"

"Well, Masao doesn't exist anymore" Ryo said coldly. It was sudden shift. One that showed that he was not someone to play with. Still, the man just sighed in relief. "That is such a good thing to hear... I hope he suffered"

Ryo just smirked when he heard those words. He wanted to make the man suffer even more, but alas, he couldn't. After all, if he had really tortured him in depth, Shouko would've likely vomited.

"Ah! Where are my manners" said the man as he presented his hand for a handshake. "I'm Yugo Hachiken!"

Ryo accepted the handshake and was surprised by how friendly and energetic it was. He then turned and saw the other girl was already talking with the others.

"I'm Aki Mikage" he heard while the females shared what he knew as "girls talk".

A few minutes later, everyone knew each other and were perfectly acquainted. Yugo Hachiken, a young man who had just graduated high-school the previous year. He had short brown hair dyed blond on the top and looked like a Yakuza when his black eyes turned serious, something he said he got from his father. Aki Mikage, Yugo's girlfriend, graduated from his same high-school. She had short violet hair, that matched the color of her eyes, styled in a bob cut.

What surprised Ryo was what they heard afterwards.

"We both majored in Dairy Science" Yugo explained as they talked through the night, everyone enjoying some hot coffee that Shouko had prepared on the bus. "I especialized more in the business aspect of it, but am still good with manual labor"

"And I know my way with animals mostly" Aki took over once her boyfriend was done talking. "Since my parents owned a farm, I know a lot about how to raise and maintain them"

Ryo, Yuriko, Saya and Hiratsuka looked at each other and had the same thought.

'We need them'

"What about you, Hashimoto-kun?" Yugo asked as he took a sip of his coffee. Ryo took a cigarette and was about to lit it, but decided to be polite with the couple. "Do you mind?"

Seeing them shake thier heads from side to side, Ryo offered a cig to Hiratsuka too. After he lit them, he began telling the tale.

"... now we were exploring this area to see if we could find anything useful" Ryo said as he finished his explanation, together with his cig, which he put out against the underside of his shoes. Aki asked agitatedly when he was finished. "Wait! There is a settlement a few hours from here?!"

"Yup" Ryo said nonchalantly. Seeing their eager expressions, he decided against teasing them. "Wanna come with us back there?"

"Please take us with you!" the coupe asked in perfect synchronization. Ryo and the girls shared a few wry side smiles before chuckling. The one to answer was Yuriko. "Sure, sure. But it's already late, we better sleep"

"Ah... that certainly is"

*

Ryo was standing outside of the house, smoking a cigarette. He hadn't gone to sleep since he hadn't forgotten he had to talk with Hiratsuka.

"So you were out here" he heard her voice after the door opened. He offered her a cig, which she accepted. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Hiratsuka took a moment to answer, lighting her cig up and taking a puff out of it.

"How are you feeling Ryo?" she asked seriously. She knew how to detect people's mental state very well, since she had been a teacher for a few good years. And she knew how much what he did weighed on him. His answer didn't really come a surprise. "Not as bad as you think"

And she really believed him. After all, Ryo was living the best of one world. He had beatiful women left and right, was loved and respected and had many people under him. But at the same time, he lived the worse of the other world. He had to make decisions for many people, try and keep order, make hard choices, take lives and act as if nothing wrong was happening.

"It is heavy..." he said with a not-so-interested tone to his voice. "But I cope with it. Spending time with you guys really helps me a lot. You know, like the circle of the flashlight in a dark tunnel"

Hiratsuka kissed him, passionately, but still slowly and tenderly.

"Remember that we love you, Ryo" she said when they separated. "And when you hurt, it hurts us too"

Ryo thought of her words seriously. She was right, but he couldn't help but want to protect them from everything he could. He wanted to carry all of the darkness so they could live in the light. They were his light.

"So please, let us share your burden"

After those words, Hiratsuka went back into the house. Ryo couldn't help but release a heavy sigh.

"You guys... I'm stubborn, but you are all so unfair" he said before entering the house himself.

He really needed to sleep.

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Guys, I think I have never said this before but... Give me your Power Stones! Let's not allow that scammer GhostyZ to stay in the top of the rankings!