The Found

I want to use this few words at the beginning to say thank you for all of your support. Never would I have thought that in just a week I would jump so high into the rankings. Of course I know the reason I am where I am is the effort I put into writing so much and trying to keep the story entertaining for you, the readers. But if it wasn't for your support, comments, positivity and, of course, power stones, this wouldn't be were it is. I only have two things to say.

Thank you and I hope you continue supporting me from here onwards. And Let's shoot for an even higher ranking!

--------------------------------

With nothing left to do in the mall, Ryo prepared his team to leave. Of course they took as many supplies as they could, but Ryo decided not to use the blessing of Prosperity. He needed to keep his energy as intact as possible. The mall group decided to leave with them, since they knew that they wouldn't last long on their own.

As much as Matsushima and the other adults hated to admit it, Ryo was more suited as a leader than any of them. Asami was the most conflicted about it, but after Kouta told her all the things they had been through in the past week, she quickly calmed down. She realized that, hadn't it been for Ryo, they would've been turned or killed by the zombies. Matsushima had also told them how Ryo had stopped for her and faced a "huge" horde -though for Ryo and his group it was average. She understood that he was actually a kind person, who did what he had to do for his people.

Even if she didn't like his methods, she learned to respect him for the reason behind them.

*

After loading everything on the bus, the gang was driving towards Rei's neighbourhood. It was only about an hour away, so around the evening turning into night -around 8 PM, Ryo calculated- they arrived to the area. The first thing that caught their attention was how nice the hood looked, but they remembered that Rei's parents were policemen, so it was to be expected.

Ryo decided to drive slowly through the narrow street, since a bad bump into one of them could make the bus turn slightly and crashing wasn't something he wanted to do. As such, the group was able to hear the sound of someone banging onto something and yelling. As they left the bus to check the sound, rain started to fall.

"Fuck! Now I'm gonna have to dry my clothes!" Hiratsuka cursed. Ryo looked at her with a smirk. Hiratsuka instantly caught the meaning of it, so she tried to hit him. Unluckily for her, Ryo could easily cope with her while moving towards the sound. To their surprise, Rei jumped in front of them and ran towards the sound, leaving a few words behind. "That's my mom's voice!"

Ryo instantly turned serious, running after Rei hurriedly. The girl was too excited, so he had to look out for her. They found a woman banging on a barricade of sorts and yelling for people to let her in. She was about to be surrounded by zombies, but Rei -who barely had seen any action since they left the school-grounds a week ago, made quick work of them. The woman noticed she had company, but when she turned around she was hugged by her daughter.

Upon realizing who it was, the pair of mother and daughter both cried in relief and happiness. Ryo and the rest of the group smiled warmly when they got to see that scene. After all, even if it wasn't their family, they couldn't help but get happy for Rei. They knew how worried she had been. Between them all, she was the only one who felt a need to see if they were alive. The rest preferred to not know.

"I get you two being happy, but we need to move" Ryo said, interrupting the beautiful moment. Rei let go of her mother and walked up to Ryo. She knew that he was already dating Yuriko, but she couldn't help herself.

She had seen the way Saya acted towards him and knew that the girl was making moves on him. She understood from Yuriko's reaction that Saya had permission. Then she had seen Miku's actions towards him after the episode of Shizuka's attempted rape. She looked even more obedient and submissive towards him than she already did, and Rei had even caught with her own ears how Miku had called him Master.

Of course she didn't believe it was something normal, but she understood and accepted it if Miku liked it. She had seen Ryo's wry smile, he clearly wasn't used to being called that way, so she assumed it was the girl's idea.

Then there were Hiratsuka and Shizuka, both of which Rei knew had interest in Ryo, one openly showing it while the other huffed and grunted in jealousy when other girl approached him. And Saeko, who seemed to be robotic after she had seen him with Yuriko, had recovered some hope when she saw him being openly surrounded by other females. As if she still had hope.

Rei didn't like the idea of sharing, but in the moment of happiness, she stopped caring. Ryo had been so kind to her at all times, so considerate. He was the man who terminated her nemesis. He was the man who didn't allow her to fight when she didn't want to. He was the one who did his best to fulfill a promise he didn't even have to fulfill in the first place.

Rei jumped on Ryo's arms and kissed him, passion oozing out of her. Ryo was shocked at first, but quickly hugged her by the waist, deepening the kiss.

"Ara ara... my daughter is bold enough to kiss a boy in front of her mother..." Rei's mother said as she put a hand on her cheek. Rei immediately let go of Ryo as soon as she heard her mother, her face as red as a tomato.

Ryo just chuckled and looked at Rei's mother more carefully. She was a pale-skinned woman with brown hair and olive-ish green eyes. She had a black backpack and a green jacket over a black shirt with common tight jeans. Ryo was surprised by how similar yet different from Rei she looked. Of course, like any other woman in this world, she had an amazing figure that didn't lose at all to Yuriko's.

"Hashimoto Ryo. I promised Rei to help her find her parents and apparently I'm also her boyfriend now" he said with no sign of embarrassment, but a warm smile present on his face at all times. Rei's mother soon answered. "Miyamoto Kiriko. Rei's mother, as you already guessed"

Ryo just pointed towards the bus. It was safer there. Kiriko nodded and soon, they began heading there. Chie had already prepared a quick snack for everyone, so they had a conversation among the group of the mall, Rei's mother and the original gang, all the while munching on some crackers and coffee.

"So the group you had been living with sent you for supplies and didn't allow you back in?" Ryo asked Rei's mother while the rest listened intently. Most of the people present had already told their stories. The group traveling in the bus was now composed of Ryo's original group, counting eight people, the people from the mall, counting seven, and Rei's mother. In total, they filled half the bus with sixteen people. Kiriko confirmed the story. "Basically, yes. By the way, are we leaving them there?"

Ryo didn't even doubt his answer for a second. After all, he had already made up his mind about that kind of people.

"People like them can only ruin a settlement" he said as he lit a cigarette. Every time he had to explain why he did things made him stressed. "We are better off without that kind, and I for one care about my people more than someone I don't know and can easily stab us in the back"

While everyone was talking, Matsushima remembered something important. She had left the mall to check the police station and ask for help! But she had totally forgotten!

"Hashimoto-kun! We have to check the police station!" she said, clearly agitated. Ryo leaned back a bit with his eyes wide open, clearly shocked by the police officer's sudden outburst. "Ok, ok. Calm down please, we'll go there straight away"

Since checking on a police station wasn't really a bad idea, as they could find potential weapons, they made their way there quickly. While Ryo was driving, he was completely oblivious to the kind of conversation that was taking place in the back of the bus.

*

"Miku, you and Ryo are a thing, right?" Rei asked to Ryo's most loyal follower. They had called a meeting amongst all the girls in the bus, but when Niki and Asami realized it was about Ryo they substracted themselves. Miku answered with total happiness in her face. "Yes! He accepted me when we were at the mall... ah~... how he ravaged my mouth~"

Ignoring the strange way the girl behaved, Rei kept asking questions. Kiriko, her mother, had already heard how the boy already had a lover. She asked her daughter, but since she was just as ignorant on the topic, they decided to talk with everyone. They didn't know why Matsushima was present though.

"Anyways... isn't Yuriko his lover?" Rei asked once again. Her asnwer didn't come from Miku though. She was too busy imagining Ryo doing too many things to her. But the one to answer was Shizuka. "Umm... I know it is hard to take in but... why not share him?"

Everyone opened their eyes wide when they heard her words, bar Miku who had already accepted the fact and Saeko who didn't react at all. Before they could deny the idea, Shizuka continued.

"I mean... Ryo is such a good man... and he treats everyone well... I know for a fact he would be the most hurt if one of us was sad... so why not just share him and be all happy together?"

For the first time since the beginning of the apocalypse, everyone thought that Shizuka's words made sense. Of course, some of them had a harder time accepting such a thing, like Hiratsuka who was prideful in herself. But even she knew that Ryo wouldn't abandon other's for her and she knew that, if she put him in such a situation were he had to choose, she would be in the wrong.

"*sigh*... I can't believe I'm saying this as your mother..." Kiriko said as she looked at Rei. She really couldn't believe what she was about to say, since it went against everything she knew. But she still said it. "But I agree with Marikawa-san"

*

It was already nighttime when they reached the police station. Since Kiriko used to work there before she retired, she checked the lockers and storage for guns and ammo, but found nothing. They had clearly cleaned the place before leaving. Ryo, meanwhile, kept checking everything in the place in search for something useful.

"Is that what I think it is?" he said as he looked at one computer in the place. Ryo went to check and, just as he thought, it was an emergency computer that ran on batteries. The moment the screen turned on, the first thing shown was a "J-Alert".

Reading the message slowly, Ryo's eyes opened wide.

"Guys! Look at this!" he yelled excitedly. When everyone arrived, their eyes lit up in hope. Perhaps there could be another group of survivors somewhere else!

The message on the computer was clear. The civilians and police officers were to recede back to Shintoko Third Elementary School. It was very close to the police station!

"We'll check the illegal possession's room and sleep here. Tomorrow morning we part to Shintoko Third Elementary School!"

-----------------------

I will erase the names of those who no longer travel with the gang from the Aux chapter and I will add the new characters that need to be added.

Sorry Rei hater's out there... but not sorry. I'm happy I did what I did this chapter.