The bailout

Do you know how it feels when the Tv is on, and there's a random chump talking nonstop, yet the only thing you hear is static?

That would be the perfect example of what is going on with me right now.

Shido, after being 'elected' leader, has been on a killing spree. He won't shut his goddamn mouth up, not even for a minute. And to add even more fuel to this retarded flame, his group is now giving me the stink eye, while Shido keeps trying to fan the flames.

"We must protect ourselves from whatever threat will try to tear us apart. Monsters! Do not always look like monsters. We need to act like a group, help each other, and weed out the ones that would try to harm us." Shido kept on spouting shit, while the idiots on the back with mouths agape were looking at him like they just met a god-damn superhero.

(Luckily for me we are stuck in traffic. Otherwise, they would probably try to throw me out in the first group of corpses they could see. So I could just let the whole thing play out as it did in the anime. But the idea of staying in this bus with Shido and his group of lunatics any longer is a big no no.)

I then turn my attention back to the map.

(After getting away from the crashed bus, it didn't take us too long to get stuck in traffic. Even if we were not trying to go over the bridge this time around, we still ended up funneled here. As most roads were not in a condition for the bus to pass through in order for us to go where we wanted to. Being it, crashed cars or police blockades, we ended up forced to come here along with every other escaping citizen and their cars.)

I turn my head away from the map and look outside.

"Miss Marikawa, I don't think we'll be able to change routes like this. All the exits are blocked and the only way to go is towards the bridge. And by the speed we're going now, we won't be over that bridge even by tomorrow noon." I say to Shizuka before turning my head back to the map.

Shizuka herself was pretty much falling asleep on the wheel as I spoke up. She sighs before taking her hands off the steering wheel, stretching her body.

"And it's not even night yet." She complained lazily.

(That's not the problem here you natural blond. I need to figure out a way to make 'my' group bail the bus. I'm NOT spending my night right next to the Shidobear. There's also something else I want to do, and if I can do it during or right before night time, all the better. So, guess it is time to try and persuade my new friends.)

I get off my seat and walk up to Kohta and Saya. Both of them turned their heads to me, Saeko who was only a seat away also turned to look at me.

"I think now it's a good time I tell you all why I looked like total crap when I got on the bus." Turning my sight to Saeko she nodded and leaned towards my direction. I motion with my head for them to come to the front of the bus.

"Not here. Also, do not come all at once. That would turn Shido's attention to us, I don't need to deal with his crap right now."

I head back to my chair and start packing my stuff. One by one, the rest of the group walked to the front of the bus and took a seat close to me.

Thankfully, Shido was too busy drowning in the admiration of his fans to realize that all four of us had gathered in the front of the bus.

"So what happened?" Saeko asks.

"Shido happened, while we were still inside the school." I say as I turn my sight to the back of the bus.

"You met with Shido before you decided to ram into him?" Saya asks as she tilts her head and raises an eyebrow.

"Yes… and the slimy bastard tried to kill me." I respond as I fold my arms.

Other than Shizuka the rest of the group, while they did react somewhat to my statement. They didn't look 'that' surprised? I guess Shido's reputation precedes him.

"Naier, are you one hundred percent sure he actually tried to do such a thing? While I do admit that I don't like mister Shido too much, and his reputation with the staff isn't exactly the best...maybe you just misunderstood something?"

Shizuka spoke with surprise and some disbelief written all over her face.

I sigh as I shake my head slightly.

"While I was 'stuck' with his group, we got attacked. A student in his group got bit while we were trying to find a way out of the school. I should've known better than to turn my back on that snake. But that's what I did, and he in turn tried to knock me out… or just kill me outright with my own bat while I was trying to help the fallen student. I'm lucky that he swings like a retard, otherwise I'd probably not be here right now."

Shizuka had her hands over her mouth now, guess there's not much to misunderstand in my story now.

"So this leads us to right now. With the speed we're going right now, we'll never reach the park. Whatsmore, most roads seem to be blocked by cop cars or overall be in a very sorry state. I don't think we'll reach the meeting place anytime soon if we stay in the bus. I can also bet whatever sanity I have left, that Shido will only become more unreasonable in his actions as time goes by. He's given some power, and he's already drowning in it."

After that, the group stayed silent for some time, until.

"You are right about the park, we will never make it like this." Saeko looked out the window as she spoke up.

"But what should we do then? Would you rather go on foot?" She asks as she turns to look at me

(Thank you, my dear sadistic samurai.)

I smile slightly.

"Yes, I would rather, and will go on foot. Hell knows I'm not spending my night here with mister 'leader' around. And the more time I waste on this bus the less time I will have to find a place that is safe to stay in for the upcoming night."

(Truth be told though, I don't even want to think how it would be to pass a night alone while being surrounded on all sides by walking corpses. That is some frigging nightmare fuel right there.)

"We." Saeko cuts in while I was thinking.

"Uhhh 'we'?" I tilt my head.

"Yes we, I agree that staying here won't do us any good. So I think that we should leave the bus as well." Saeko turns to the other two as she finishes speaking.

"Yea, I would rather take my chances out there as well." Kohta adds up after Saeko.

"It's decided then, we're leaving." Saya seals the deal as we all nod together.

Before we get up from our seats we hear a meek voice coming from the driver seat.

"Ummm, can I come too? I do not want to be left all alone here with Mister Shido." I turn to the front to see Shizuka staring at us. I smile and give her a thumbs up. She claps her hands together and with a smile, she pulls the handbrake before getting up.

I was about to fully secure my bag, when the commotion we made finally attracted Shido's attention, causing him to turn his attention to the front of the bus.

"Is there something wrong? As a group we need to stay together. If there's something to be said, all of us should hear it, secrets can lead to infighting after all. And for that reason, as your leader, I believe we should not be keeping secrets from one another don't you agree?"

He spreads his arms like the sun just shone out from his ass after finishing his pompous as fuck speech, his groupies clapping behind him, blinded by his glorious asshine.

(God, are those idiots going to clap at everything he says?)

"Thanks but no thanks Shido, we have our own agenda. We got no reason to stay here with you." Saya answers with a sharp tone. Shido's grin then, gets even wider.

"Well Takagi, this is a free country after all, you can do as you wish. But."

Shido then starts licking his lips..

(What the hell… I really, Really want to deck his face right now.)

"Miss Marikawa stays behind. It would be really bad if we lost our driver and medic in our current situation."

Shido then started walking towards us…

(What's that idiot doing? Does he really expect that 'he' will be able to intimidate us after we literally just dealt with fucking zombies? Maybe I should just indeed deck...No, wait, I remember this scene.)

Knowing what was coming next, I passed my bag over my shoulder and then walked backwards, until I felt the steering wheel with my hands. And then…

I heard the air being ripped. Kohta had just fired his nail-gun.

(Ok, this is my chance.)

While Kohta was keeping Shido occupied, I ignored the scene in front of me and turned my sight to the bus's steering wheel, looking for the keys.

And the moment Kohta started shouting, I turned the engine off, hoping that everybody was too focused on Kohta to realize that the bus had gone silent.

"Busujima, exit first, I'll guard the rear!" I hear Kohta shout.

(Alright, it's time to leave.)

I take the keys off and pocket them.

"You have proven you are a man, Kohta." Saeko speaks up, smiling at Kohta before getting off the bus, followed by Saya and Shizuka. With only me and Kohta left in the bus now, I speak up.

"Let's go Kohta. The only thing these guys are going to be good for now. Is live bait" I say with a smirk on my face while staring at Tsunoda.

Kohta nods, and without taking his eyes off Shido, he starts walking backwards towards the door. His nail-gun pointed at Shido the whole time.

The moment Kohta got off, I started walking towards the stairs, staring at the stripped suited worm the whole time. My mouth then curved up to a smirk.

"Next time I see you" I stop smirking mid-sentence.

"I will feed you and your little parade to the corpses. Hope you like walking."

I get off the bus, slam the door and start running towards the group.

(If all goes well, this is going to be the last time I see Shido and his cult. Huh, Here's to wishful thinking.)

After reaching the group that was now waiting for Kohta to catch his breath, I slowed down and walked up next to them.

"That could have gone a lot worse, good job." I say as I lightly tap Kohta on the back.

"Th… thanks." Kohta tried to speak as he took deep breaths, hands on his knees.

Saya, upon hearing my voice, turns to look at me and folds her arms.

(Ohhh boi, toxic projectile incoming.)

"Well, we're now on foot with no protection, now what?"

(Wait, she is not throwing any toxic waste at me? I call this 'progress'..)

Following Saya's question, I take off my bag and pull out the map.

"Now, we become tourists." I say as I wave the map.

"Huh!?" Saya frowns loudly.

"I don't know this part of town very well. So we'll have to use the map to figure out where we are and where we need to go." I say while looking at a road sign, so I could pinpoint our current location.

"We're still in a police protected location, so we should be relatively safe from any surprise attacks by corpses. Though if we somehow 'are' caught by surprise in this packed location, it won't end well for us." Finishing my explanation I returned my attention back to the map.

A couple of minutes later the whole group had formed a circle around me.

"There are multiple roads we can take that lead to the park, our meeting location." Saya speaks up first.

"Yes but we first need to find a way out of the evacuation route, or at least the area secured by the police." Saeko adds.

"The Police have already blocked most of the roads though." Kohta continues.

"So we have to backtrack until we find an opening to the cordon and then go from there." I continued after Kohta.

"The further away we go from the bridge the easier it will be to find an open road to slip through… so I think your logic stands." Saeko finishes before we all nod to each other and get ready to start walking.

As the group started walking. I began to dig my hand in my pocket, and then took out the bus keys. I then lifted my hand in front of my face with the keys dangling under my fingers.

"Wait, are those… the bus keys?" Shizuka, who was next to me, points at the keys as she keeps blinking, her eyes wide open.

"Yiap." I answer while looking at the keys.

The rest of the group then turns to me

"You stole, the bus keys?" Saya asks incredulously, but I could see a slight smirk on her face nonetheless.

"Yiap" I replied once more, still looking at the keys as they glittered in the sunset.

"When did you even… ?"

"When you shot at Shido." I cut off Kohta as I keep looking at the keys.

I spin the keys on my finger before throwing them to my left. Over a makeshift fence that blocked off a rather dark alleyway.

"They wanted to throw their weight around, it's about time they lose some by walking." I say with a shrug before I start moving forward.

"That joke was awful." Saya rolls her eyes as she shakes her head, though she was, smiling.

"Ehh." I shrug as I keep walking.

(Bad joke or not, the whole thing did put a smile on the whole group, so it was worth it. And to add to that, with no bus, there is a chance that Takagi's house will not fall. Two birds, one stone.)

We decided to go from a different path down the road, so we wouldn't end up returning to the bus. And other than the occasional cop telling us that we should be going in the opposite direction, nobody really tried to stop us.

And as we kept going, I could slowly see fewer and fewer people around. In the end, it didn't take too long for us to move away from the mass of escaping citizens.

"I have stopped seeing the police for some time now." Kohta says as he looks around the road we were on.

"Most of them are probably concentrated near the bridge and along the main roads leading there. But this also means that there should be an opening for us soon. And corpses are going to become a threat again." I say as I keep walking.

And, I was right. It did not take too long after that for us to start seeing corpses that were headed towards the bridge, along with several unbarricaded roads.

"It seems we can change directions from here and start going towards the park." Saya speaks up.

"Alright. Thing is, we can't walk through corpse infested streets like we're going for a picnic. We need to change our positions. Takagi and Miss Marikawa, both of you stay in the center of the group. Uhhh, Kohta you can take the back. You have limited ammo so you shouldn't waste it on corpses that are no threat to us, fire only if they have a chance to surround us, okay? Busujima, I trust that you don't have a problem being on the front?"

"Remind me who made you leader again, that you can order me around?" Saya butts in before Saeko can respond, the glare on her eyes ever so obvious.

(Of course, if it's not Takashi ordering her around then she gets like this… ughh, I want protagonist privileges. Or at least a Takashi ray.)

Just as I was about to open my mouth.

"Takagi, Sepfier is right. We can't move around carelessly now, what if we get ambushed and you are the one in the front or back, can you fight in close quarters?" Saeko speaks up

Saya just glares at Saeko before turning her head away and going to the center of the group, obviously annoyed.

"And I'm nobody's leader Takagi. Mostly because I don't want to be responsible for other people's lives. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to keep us alive… All of us."

With that, I positioned myself behind Saeko.

"With that said, I'll be checking the map to scout different routes while we're on the move, in case we find a dead end. But you can count me in, in case things go south. "

Saeko answers me with a nod.

"Alright everybody, lets gooo!" Shizuka pumps her fist in the air while trying to make an... angry? expression...

(Aaaand the tension just dropped to zero.)

"Alright everybody, noise to the minimum from now on." After saying that, I turn my attention to the map and we start walking down the corpse infested streets…

(Ok, focus. No pressure, I'm just responsible for our route, what's the worst that can happen? Drive us headfirst into a dead end with a horde on our tail?...Me, you're horrible at pep talks)

Walking down the street, I simultaneously kept an eye on the map and to the front, while Saeko dealt with any corpses that got too close by going all ninja on their ass. Which was mostly her sliding behind them and cracking their collarbones/heads with a sideways slash.

(Damn… she's as good as shown in the anime. Gotta have to ask her to teach me how to do that.)

Reaching the first intersection, we find our initial planned route blocked. Crashed cars had pretty much cut off the road we wanted to take.

Saeko stops and turns to me.

I nod and look around the road we're on, along with our position in the map. The park is to the northeast, in other words, we need to go straight and then left. The most direct route to it, being going east, which was straight ahead, was blocked. So we could only go left to the north or, take a detour and go right to the south.

Problem is, the road leading North had a truck blocking most of the road, leaving either a small space to squeeze through or forcing us to go under it. Saeko turns to me and points at the North road and I negatively shake my head, pointing to the southern one.

"Too risky, too large of a chance that we'll get trapped." I whisper to her. She nods and turns back around. Then we take a right turn and head down the road.

The corpses here did not even notice us. Most of em' were either clustered in one side of the road or were shambling towards the loudest nearby sound, that usually being a running car engine. Thanks to that, we reached the next intersection with no problems. And once more, Saeko stopped and turned to me for directions.

This time we did not have much of a choice, we needed to go left or we would be moving even farther away from the park. Thing is, the corpses on that road were moving towards us, or towards our direction at least. Even so, we start heading towards that road after I point Saeko to our left. Thankfully, the road didn't have many corpses so we could somewhat safely pass through. The only real problem was that they were scattered around in the street and not gathered on one side like in the last road. Nothing that Saeko couldn't handle though.

Once we safely passed the corpses and reached the next intersection it was my turn once more.

(We are doing pretty well on staying undetected so far, but something is bothering me.)

I lift my head from the map and look behind Saeko, who was looking at me, to the road ahead.

(The road ahead seemed to have progressively more corpses the further I see, all walking towards us. Towards the west.)

I then walked to the middle of the intersection with Saeko following close behind me and looked at the two other roads.

(The corpses that are on the left and right part of the intersection have both crowded onto one side of the road. If the walls were not there, they would be heading west too.)

I then walk back to the group.

"There is something important we need to check. " I speak up to the group.

"Is there a problem?" Kohta asks.

"We need to go straight, but I'm getting some really bad vibes with how all the corpses are actually shambling towards us when we try to go on the road that heads east." I say as I point at the road ahead of us.

"Yea on the road we passed by, had all of them gathered on one side, wonder why?" Kohta scratches his head…

And after a few seconds of silence...

"...The mass of civilians on the bridge!" Saya suddenly speaks up, as if receiving an epiphany.

(Shit, she's right. How could I frigging forget that? The noise produced from all the annoyed drivers honking their horns, plus the cops that were using megaphones or opened fire at the stray oncoming corpses. And you have yourself one loud ass dinnerbell.)

"They are all being attracted towards the commotion the people are making back there. With the rest of the island's source of noise not being so strong. The bridge, with such a large number of people and vehicles, is one of the loudest sources of sound left." Saya says calmly while folding her arms.

I take a deep breath as I internalize the really, REALLY bad news.

"Ok… we will head straight, for now. But be ready to fall back if things get out of control." I say as I point at the road ahead, before focusing on the map again.

The group nods, and we start moving straight ahead, through another group of corpses.

It sadly also didn't take too long to verify that the corpses only increased in number as we started going down that road.

So much so, that I decided to put my 'class' on hold. As I turned around and gave the map to Shizuka, then took the bat out from the side straps of my bag.

(I can see even more of them coming, we need to get off this street fast. Can't waste time being sneaky about it.)

"We can't waste time on this road. We'll run down the road, after we reach the intersection, we'll go left, the corpses should hypothetically be all clogged to one side of the road there. Kohta, keep an eye for any corpses that might surround us." I finished speaking and moved next to Saeko.

"I can see even more of them shambling our way, we need to get off this street fast. We are going to take the right part of the street as it has less of them and carve a road. Kill em' or knock them down, whatever floats your boat. As long as they are disabled or at least unable to grab the ones running behind us, do whatever you want. I got your back on this one" I say, turning my head to Saeko.

She doesn't even take her eyes off the incoming corpses as she nods… and smirks.

(Oh, sadist alert.)

With a silent dash, Saeko ran forward to the nearest corpse. I start sprinting, not far behind her.

(They are not clogged together so we should be able to make a path.)

Saeko ignores the first one in front of her and goes for the second nearest corpse. Landing her bokken right on its head, the corpse collapses on the spot. The sound of the body hitting the ground causing the corpses around her to turn their attention towards her. Which in turn caused the corpse that she ignored to turn its back to me.

Not wasting time, I run behind the corpse. And before it could turn around, the side of its head met the wrong end of my bat, sending the corpse in a violent trajectory towards the floor to my left.

Saeko takes a quick glance at me before she then again charges to a distant lone corpse on her right.

Repeating the process, I ran towards the closest corpse to the left as they started to turn towards Saeko. I close in to the nearest one and swing smack-dab on the thing's mouth, the impact causes the corpse to stumble backwards and fall while its teeth went flying left and right. The corpse next to it did not manage to get too far either, as it got a nail on the face before it could even get close to me.

With these corpses out of the way, there were only two of them left blocking our way.

I saw Saeko running towards the one on the right so I, again, went after the one on the left. Right as Saeko closed in and swung down on the right one's head, I charged into the left one, taking a running swing at its head.

As both corpses fell, I took a quick look behind me to see the rest of the group running, following our path religiously.

With the way now looking clear enough for a straight run, the whole group dashed past the stumbling corpses, making it to the middle of the intersection.

Looking to my left, I see that that the road had indeed corpses that were all gathered on one side. Theory confirmed, I continued running to that road until I was out of the intersection that had us face the corpses head-on. After we all made it out of that street, I turned to the group and made the universal gesture for 'silence' with my hand, then started walking down the road. Picking up distance from whatever corpse might have heard us.

Once we were relatively away from any corpse that caught a whiff of us, I stopped walking and took a few deep breaths.

Shizuka comes up next to me and extends her arm, the map in her hand. I nod and take my map back. Looking at it, I put my finger on the intersection we were now on.

(All of this, just to move two blocks towards the correct direction...)

I take my eyes off the map and look at the sky.

(And it's starting to get dark. All the while, we still have like fourteen blocks to go.)

I turned my sight back to the map as we started moving down the road, towards the next intersection.

Reaching the next turn was pretty easy this time around, with all the corpses being on one side once more. Once there, I turned to look to my right.

And...

"You gotta be joking" I slightly dropped my shoulder as I stared at what lay ahead.

"Too...many" Kohta speaks up after me.

The rest of the group just stared.

Many, was an understatement. A thousand might also be an understatement too.

The road ahead was not just clogged, It looked like a sea of walking corpses.

All walking towards, Us.

"We need to find a place to hide by the wayside. Right fucking now." I say, as I turn to the group.

"One of the houses nearby?" Kohta asks.

"A house won't do, too large of a chance that it'll be locked. Furthermore, we don't have the time to check each house with 'that' approaching." Saya answers to Kohta, pointing at the horde coming towards our direction.

"Then what do we do?" Kohta asks again.

Saya clenched her fists and lowered her head, her eyebrow twitching.

(Seriously? Is she going to start shouting here? NOW?!) I darted my head around, looking for a place we could hide.

"The store, we can go to that store. Stay on the top floor and just barricade the stairs" I say pointing my arm towards a two-story sports store that was near the corner of the street.

"That store has walls made of glass. You do understand how risky it is to stay there, right?" Saeko adds after me.

"I'm open to suggestions. I would stay on a roof right now if need be." I say back to Saeko in a joking manner.

"That might not be a bad idea actually." Saeko responds, causing me to raise my eyebrow.

"Yeah if you want to freeze to death." I say as an answer to that statement.

"OH, oh! I know! If we stick close together we won't be cold." Shizuka pops in and says something ridiculous with a beaming face.

Causing Kohta to have the oh so famous nosebleed after he started staring at Saya. Something which she answered by punching Kohta in the face before turning her face to me. Only to realize that I was also looking at her.

"What! You want one too?!" Saya puts her hands on her hips and leans her upper body towards me.

Trying to keep a poker face, I speak up.

"No time left… To the sports store it is." I start running towards the store without waiting for the rest. Saeko giggles as she runs behind me, Saya following Saeko while she kept on fuming, Kohta following with a stupid expression of bliss on his face and Shizuka with her finger on her mouth, ever oblivious...

(Perfect time for some comic relief universe. It's not like we are five minutes away from certain death!)

I kept grumbling in my head until I made it to the store. Looking through the glass wall, the place looked deserted. Getting near the door also caused it to automatically open up.

(Not good, this door will open wide the moment a corpse walks by. Even if it's rather silent, the corpse might hear it and stroll into the store.)

I turn to the group.

"The insides look clear but we can't be sure what lurks in the corners. Stay on guard until we make sure this place is safe." I say while looking at the oncoming sea of corpses.

"The door will attract a lot of the corpses if it keeps opening every time something walks by it." Saeko points at the door that was now wide open.

"Yeah, we will need to find the circuit breaker and shut down the power on the first floor or at least bring down the shutters. Otherwise we'll have to make the door stay open… At least with it stuck open it won't make any noise." I say as I turn my attention back to the store and head into it, with the rest of the group following suit.

We quickly search the first floor for corpses, and find it empty. Saeko, Kohta and I then spread out to search for the circuit board.

Mid search, I went to the glass wall to check how close we were from being ripped apart.

(Shit we're cutting this way to close. No way we can risk closing the shutters now.)

And then, the lights went out, I also think I heard one of the girls yelp?

As the sun was almost out, the first floor turned eerily dark now. Not to mention the moaning from all the corpses outside did not help with the eeriness at all. Not wasting time, I move away from the brittle glass wall and start heading towards the second floor.

The rest of the group did not wait much as well. Either because they did not like the dark floor, or because the corpses were starting to flood the streets in front of the store.

We silently go to the second floor and start checking for any unwelcome guests.

(Finding a corpse now will be really bad. We could end up attracting a whole shitstorm from the outside if we fail to kill it silently.)

Thankfully my fear was unfounded as we found the second floor empty as well.

"Alright… look for stuff you can carry to barricade the stairs. No heavy stuff that needs to be pushed, the screeching would actively kill us." After I finish my sentence the group nods and starts looking around the second floor.

A couple of minutes later. We had erected a pretty lame barrier of chairs, boxes and duct tape.

(Using that duct tape was a nightmare. Pull it too fast and it would make a sound like a goddamn siren… Or I'm just that much on edge.)

Leaving the duct tape on a nearby counter, I look back at the group before we all headed deeper into the store's second floor. Away from that poor excuse of a barrier…

We grabbed some chairs and gathered in the far end of the store, near the glass wall of the second floor, and looked at the sea of corpses below us.

(Ok a thousand might have been an overstatement, but there are still way too many of them.) I think as I looked down at the passing horde.

I then get up from my chair.

"I'm going to take a look around the second floor. It might have some sleeping bags or something. Also… uh, turn down the lights. That glass window will make this room shine like a beacon right now. We can't afford to pick up more survivors, not right now at least." I say as I leave the group behind, giving a last glance at Saeko who simply nodded at me.

I could feel the group staring at me as I walked away.

(I know Saeko agrees with me, she says the exact same thing later. But the rest of them did not seem too keen on trying to avoid helping others. No matter, we still need to keep a low profile. I don't want to risk attracting any crazy chainsaw-wielding clown here.)

Walking around the store's second floor I stop by the ski section.

(Winter sports should have something worth of use.)

I kept looking around until I stopped by something that caught my eye. And just stayed there… Staring.

(I am… In love.)

I move to the hangers and pick up… a black ski mask.

(Carbon fiber frame, polycarbonate visor, it even has its own balaclava.)

I grab the mask and balaclava pair, along with a second balaclava and go to the bathroom.

I always liked masks and helmets. Maybe because of their faceless visage. Or well, maybe they just look cool in my eyes.

Opening the sink, I toss the second balaclava in the running water before using it as a towel to clean my face of whatever crap might have been stuck on it. I then put on the balaclava that came with the mask and then put on the mask itself.

Mask in place, I look at myself in the mirror.

(I feel like the coolest kid in town now. Or the biggest tacticool tryhard.)

Leaving the bathroom, mask still on, I return to the ski section of the store.

(The visor does not hinder my sight, I can still hear normally. Nice.)

I kept looking around the ski section as the mask gave me another idea.

(Forearm guards, leg guards, knee guards. This place is a frigging treasure trove.)

Grabbing some equipment, I start gearing myself up.

(I would rather wear something completely black. But carbonfiber is tougher and lighter than whatever else is in here. Also, judging from the price tag on these things, I have to guess that it is high-quality carbon fiber too. Whoever owned this place either had cash to bet on products, or just didn't care about profits that much.)

After I geared myself up, I looked at a nearby full body mirror.

(Got to check that these things don't make me sound like a dinner bell before getting hyped… On second thought, risking making any sounds while a sea of corpses is nearby might not be the brightest idea.)

With the usual 'ninja test' not available. I started gyrating in place and did some stretches as silently and slowly as possible to see if any parts would get in the way. This way, any parts that could potentially make any sounds as I move can be ascertained without actually risking everybody's life…

Several minutes later, tests done, I concluded that the knee pads had to go, as they seemed to restrict my movement too much while also moving the most as I stretched.

After getting rid of the knee pads, I did some stretches again until I finally could say that my range of movements was the same as before and my new gear didn't slide all over the place.

(As silent as I was before getting the new gear. Now, sleeping bags.)

I kept looking around at the ski section until I found a map that displayed the whole second floor floor plan from a top-down view.

(No sleeping bags in the ski section so far… Let's see, the ski section is where I'm at. Hmm, what section would contain what I'm looking for? Could be… hmmm, hiking?)

Before leaving, I grab an extra pair of knee and arm guards.

(For Saeko.)

Nodding to myself, I turn around and start heading to the hiking section. After getting there, it didn't take too long for me to find some sleeping bags.

(Let's see I need five, seven if we count the other two, eight if we add Alice. But good luck explaining that to the group.)

I picked the seven most expensive sleeping bags and tied them together, making a weird-looking caterpillar 'thing' in the process. Then I grab the new 'lifeform' and start moving back towards the group.

Returning to the group I see Kohta looking dejected, Saeko smiling, Saya being beet red and Shizuka being... herself.

(I get the feeling that I just missed something that would make me really REALLY salty.)

Getting near the group caused them to turn their heads, first to the sleeping bags… And then to me.

"Oh… hey Naier, found anyth...ehhh?" Kohta forgot whatever reason made him dejected in the first place and just stared at me, mouth gaping like a fish.

"Sleeping bags… and the thing I'm gonna be buried with." I say giving a few knocks to the mask.

"Ohh?" Saeko turns to me. I could see an ever slight smirk on her face.

(Wait, do I also look like a sadistic psychopath now?)

Saya just stared at me in silence, not speaking at all.

"What… did it leave you speechless?" I say to Saya while tilting my head to the side. I was actually smirking but nobody could see that.

She jerks her head seemingly snapping out of whatever it is she was thinking about.

"Idiot." Is all she said as she turned her face to the window.

I could also hear a subtle, yet constant 'ummmm' coming from Shizuka, so I turned my head to her. She was staring at me...intensely.

(This is not awkward at all.)

"Power ranger." She says, clapping her hands softly together, causing me to facepalm.

I could hear the girls chuckling, even Saya. Kohta for some reason seemed to be stuck in 'fish mouth' mode though.

And then his stomach growled… hard.

"What, so hungry to the point that you're lagging?" I asked as I walked towards my bag.

"Well I haven't eaten all day, I can't help it." Kohta says, looking dejected once more.

Opening my bag, I looked over at the food I packed. A disappointed sigh came out my mouth as I realized that most of it was. Not in that good of a condition anymore, at least they're still edible?

"Pork, cheese curry, pizza, plain cheese, shrimp or cod roe?" I say while rummaging in my bag.

While I was actually asking Kohta, I know that the rest would probably be hungry as well.

And I was right, as they all leaned towards my bag.

"Huh… what?" Kohta asks, still looking like a fish.

"Choose one of them, commando. C'mon chop chop, you're holding the line and I have Post Op packages to deliver.." I say trying to act like an employee in a packed fast food store.

"Uhhh P...pizza." He responds with a slight stutter.

I take the bun that had 'Pizza' written on the label and throw it at him. He awkwardly catches it before realizing what was happening.

"Ohh… ehh, thanks Naier" He says, opening the plastic wrap and taking a bite into the bread, his face turning into one of pure bliss.

"Next." I say.

"Can I have the shrimp one please?" Saeko asks, still leaning slightly towards me.

"Here ya go." I give the shrimp bun to Saeko and she gives me a slight bow before taking the bread.

Then I turn to the two that were left. Shizuka was seemingly in deep thought. And Saya also seemed to be thinking. Not the most similar of people to be deep in thought.

"UMMMM, Cheese curry." Shizuka finally speaks up and I hand her the one she asked for, she takes it with a giggle.

Saya was the only one left now.

(I guess our princess is also a picky eater?)

"...Cheese..." she says in a low tone of voice.

(Hmm I expected that she would take the more expensive one...)

I take the plain cheese bun and hand it to Saya

"...Thanks" she then turns her attention back towards the window.

I shrug and grab one of the two buns that remained without looking. I lifted my mask and pulled my balaclava down until it was under my chin, opened the packaging and took a bite.

(Hmmm, pork.)

As I kept eating though I noticed something strange.

Saeko was staring at me, and so was Saya, and Kohta… and even Shizuka,

This went on for a couple of minutes until.

"The Ninja Penguin."

I didn't even realize who said that before the whole group was trying their best not to spit their food out of their noses.

(Oh come on! I don't even have anything remotely white on me!)

I slowly lower my mask while still chewing

"You're all just jealous of my cool new mask." I say to the group while they were trying to regain their bearings.

I think I saw some tears running down Saeko's cheek during all this, which honestly is a first. Even if I were to add the whole anime in there.

After we're finished 'eating' we start preparing the sleeping bags so we can spend the night.

We decided that we will go with three shifts of single person guard duty while the others slept. Just in case something happens. I was to be the first one on guard so I grabbed a chair and took a seat.

As everybody started getting ready for bed, I saw the extra equipment I picked up for Saeko, tossed to the side.

(Must have fallen there when I dropped the 'sleeping bag entity'.)

I get up and grab the equipment, then head to Saeko, who was sitting alone by the window.

"Hey, Busujima." Reacting to my voice, Saeko turns towards me.

"Since you are gonna be close and personal out there I think you could put these to good use."

I say as I hand her the stuff I picked for her.

"Hope you don't mind the color though. I don't rank very high in fashion sense."

"Ohh, thank you Sepfier." Saeko bows after putting the equipment on her lap and smiles at me.

"And now I'm not going to be the only power ranger here. Goodnight Busujima."" I say as I let out a small chuckle and turn around.

"Goodnight...ninja-pe."

"Naier...just… Naier." I turned around and cut Saeko off before she could throw me that last side jab, then turned back to walk towards my chair...I could hear muffled giggling behind me now.

"All of you are just jelly of my cool mask."