[Chapter:26][Dropped.]

The sky is blue, the clouds are white, and the city is full of peace and quiet.

Save for the occasional growl from one of 'them', of course.

The city where the events of HOTD took place, whatever it's name is, was as peaceful as was the rest of the world currently facing a zombie apocalypse.

Yup, nothing strange here.

And within a certain corner(not really) of this peaceful city, lies the apartment of one Rika Minami, currently being used by the Group of 12 girls, 6 guys, 1 pup, 1 MC and 1 invisible tiny loli.

And at the moment, the apartment was quite lively, with over 18 people plus 1 pup chatting (also barking) with each other while eating.

Grace, himself, who had taken the liberty of 'borrowing' Saeko's 'Cooking : E+' skill, since he had gotten his 'Card Extraction' all the way up to D+ with the GP from Yamada, was busy cooking up dishes after dishes of delectable delicacies.

And within a short few minutes, all 18 + 2 members of the group that need food were lying down, either on couches or on the floor itself, with bloated stomachs.

"Delicious…"

Grace smiled at the praise, even if it was technically from Saeko's skill. Well, it was his too now, not to mention his current skill was already better than Saeko's due to the System, so he could be allowed to be proud right?

As for the little pup, Grace sneakily took out a bag of 'Pedigree' from his inventory and gave the little white fur ball a bowl full of it.

Saya, who noticed this, looked at him strangely.

"Why did you bring dog food with you?"

Grace glanced at her as though looking at an idiot.

"Obviously because she's going to live with us from now on. What else should I feed her, oatmeal?"

Before Saya could say anything else, the little bundle of joy that Alice had turned into the moment she woke up exclaimed,

"Wait, Zeke is a boy!"

Grace, who was petting the little pup, paused as he turned to look at the illegal loli.

"Uh, no, actually, she's a 'she'."

He lifted the pup up, much to her dismay as she protested at being interrupted during her meal, but Grace just scratched her ear to console her as he turned her around.

"See? Female."

Alice blinked.

"Eh!? Ze-kun is actually Ze-chan!?"

She scooted over.

"Really? No way! But papa said…!"

'Ah, shit.'

Grace sighed when Alice suddenly felt silent. Her eyes watered up as she recalled her father.

'This is why I immediately stuffed food into her mouth the moment she woke up.'

Grace knew that papa Maresato, whatever his actual name was, has died. After all, in the original, the guy practically used his own body as a distraction to prevent his daughter from getting bitten and eaten.

So the only reason Alice could be alone, even if Zeke was included, would be because he had either died or they separated. And Grace bet on the former.

"Papa…"

Alice's little body shock as tears began to stream down her face. With a sigh, Grace crouched down and let Zeke down before pulling the little pink head into a gentle hug.

"It's alright…you're okay here…everything's fine…"

"Uh…ah…uwaaa!"

Alice burst into tears as the lively mood dampened almost instantly. Grace kept stroking her head as he whispered 'it's ok' and 'everything's alright' into her ears.

The rest of the Group also sobered up from their previous joyful mood. Moments ago, they had been competing on who ate more and quarrelling over the last pudding, yet only now they recalled once more that their world was facing a calamity.

The apocalypse. 'Them'. The school.

And their families.

And they suddenly realised.

Because of Grace, Saeko, and a few others, they could live and act, even if only for a few minutes, as though nothing had ever happened. But that's not true, is it?

The world was ending, and they, perhaps their days were already numbered?

...

"I'm not good at consoling people…"

Grace sighed softly as his fingers gently caressed the little pink head's hair, Alice hugging him tightly as she slept in his embrace.

It was several tens of minutes later that Alice cried herself to sleep, and Grace, who realised he couldn't pry her off without hurting her, sighed as he picked her up and sat on a sofa with the little girl on his lap leaning against and hugging his waist while sleeping peacefully.

Well, it would have looked better if her eyes weren't red and swollen from crying too much.

"You looked like you were pretty experienced though."

Naomi quipped from her seat, speaking to Grace for the first time which she noted as the rest of the Group agreed with her by nodding their heads collectively.

"Experienced, yes. I had a big sister…even if I was usually the one who took care of her…"

"Where is s-"

Hisashi quickly closed Takashi's mouth as he scowled at him.

'He obviously used past tense! How much of an idiot are you!?'

Takashi's swallowed back his words as he realised the meaning of the glares he received and looked at Grace apologetically, but our MC only chuckled softly.

"It's fine, she's just in a far away place, somewhere I can't reach at the moment…but I'm sure I'll see her again. Someday. Hopefully soon. But someday, for sure."

A look of longing appeared in his face as Grace glanced at the ceiling and smiled gently.

And for a moment, he looked neither like a bloodthirsty warrior who rushed through crowds of 'them', leaving behind blood and gore and severed limbs, nor like a professional chef as he focused on cooking, elegantly moving inside the kitchen.

Instead, he looked like a loving older brother who recalled fondly the memories of his beloved little sister.

Even if, for some strange reason, the girls in the Group felt like there was something 'more' than just 'sibling love' in those brilliant red eyes of his.

"Speaking of which…"

Grace glanced down at his feet, where a little white fur ball was curled up and sleeping.

"I guess we need a better name for you, eh? Little guy?"

Zeke's ears twitched as she looked up at him, and as though he could actually understand what he said, shook her head and barked softly.

"Eh? You're ok with being called Zeke?"

*woof!*

She woofed softly, so as to not wake up Alice, as her tail swished behind her.

"Well, guess I'll call you Ze-chan just as Alice-chan did then."

*woof!*

Grace chuckled at the sight of the up's tail increase in speed as he leaned down and scooped her up. Letting her rest on his lap, he smiles as he looked at Alice who slept with a smile on her face and Ze-chan who plopped down and curled up, also taking a nap.

'Well, I can't forget my little firefly…'

Grace glanced up, and though he couldn't see her, he knew Dea was sleeping on his head, with his soft and silky hair as both a bed and a blanket.

"How beautiful…"

Yuuki, who had been silent from the day before, when she revealed her past, albeit just a tad bit less reserved and fearful, muttered unconsciously as she looked at this scene.

And the rest of the Group, especially the girls, couldn't help but agree.

Indeed, within this zombie infested post apocalyptic world, where blood and gore was commonplace and the safety of their families and friends and even their own lives were all but unknown, the sight before them, of a handsome man, an adorable little girl, and a young little fur ball was a rare scene of peace.

And they had to agree, it was quite beautiful too.

...

"What are you doing, onii-chan?"

Grace blinked as he looked back, and saw his new 'little sister' who had begun calling him 'onii-chan' looking at him curiously.

He gestured her to come closer as he focused back on his work.

"I'm taking the humvee apart, since we all won't fit in there."

Indeed, he had unexpectedly obtained a 'Mechanical Mastery : D+' skill Card from the Gacha when Dea-chan, who had woken up a few minutes ago, begged him to let her spin the wheel.

So he was using his now peak mortal expertise in all kinds of vehicles and mechanical contraptions in general to take the humvee, which cannot hold more than eight or nine people, apart, and instead use it to reinforce the mini bus.

"Hee~~ Can I help?"

He looked at the adorable little creature that stared at him with her big violet eyes and smiled.

"Sure you can! See that spanner there? Can you bring it to onii-chan?"

"Yes~~!", she exclaimed as she saluted comically and ran to the one tool box before picking spanner up.

...

"Here you go."

"Hm? Ah Yuuki-chan, thank you."

Grace smiled as he received the glass of cold juice from Yuuki, who flinched when his hand brushed past her, just as he was stretching his body, finished taking nearly two thirds of the heavy 2 tonne mechanical monster apart.

Even if he had peak mortal skills and peak human physique, work was work after all. He imagined it would take around two more days to completely take the humvee apart, especially since he was done with the outer parts and was now moving on to the more complicated structure.

Looking to his side, Grace smiles at the sight of Alice, sweating at having done all the errands he had asked of her, sitting on Saeko's lap while cutely sipping her glass of orange juice as Saeko gently stroked her hair.

The rest of the Group, well, more like Takashi, Hisashi, Kohta, Eei Bee, Cee Bee, and Eee Bee had all gone out to try and gather some more supplies when Saya reminded them all that, without freezers, what they had would barely last them half a month before they will have to throw them away.

Shizuka also raised the point of safe water, as she noted that the water from the taps would run out soon enough, whether it be from lack of power, or damage to water pipes.

Thus, the boys took it upon themselves to try and gather as much food and packaged water as they could while it was still bright outside. And the three Bee siblings accompanied them for the heavy work.

Though they were pretty slow on their feet, which was because all three of them were apparently born with their right legs weaker than their left, the three had enough muscle to lift tens of kgs easily and stamina to last quite a while carrying them too.

As for the girls, Shizuka and Kyoko somehow managed to find some beer and got themselves drunk, so the to 'adults' were currently sleeping. And while Saya and Naomi, who unexpectedly turned out to be pretty sharp, were discussing Author knows what, and Kawamoto and Taniuchi were spending some quality time together while also discussing something, Misuzu and Toshimi had asked Rei to teach them how to fight.

Apparently, the duo that Grace had saved at the very beginning were feeling rather useless, thus they decided to learn how to be more useful.

Thus, Saeko and Yuuki volunteered to help Grace, who had been working from breakfast till now, and also take care of Alice.

Although the little pink Head was technically mature enough to be by herself, not to mention she was with her 'onii-chan', the girls still felt their maternal instincts awaken when they recalled how she had cried just that morning.

"Here. And thank you, Yuuki-chan."

"Y-Yes."

Yuuki stuttered lightly as she forced a smile onto her face.

Her act had all but fallen apart the moment she revealed her past to the girls, so she didn't even bother trying to act like she was ok with being near boys. Though, that was also the reason why she volunteered to help Grace.

He was the one that saved her, that killed those trash, and she felt like Yamada leaving was also partly due to him. And she felt like, if she was going to start overcoming her trauma, she would have it easier by starting with Grace.

"C-can I help in anything?"

"Sure."

Grace smiled at her, being able to guess her thoughts through 'Psychology : D-', and began to direct her, and Alice and Saeko who had joined them too.

'Maybe I'll be done a day earlier with the additional help…'

*clang!*

"A-ah! I-I'm sorry! I-I!"

Yuuki stiffened before bowing down, her body trembling, as she apologised for dropping the wheel.

Grace chuckled.

"It's alright, mistakes happen. This should be your first time right? Don't worry about it."

He instinctively patted her head as he picked the wheel up.

"Besides, see? Not even a dent. This big guy isn't soft enough to break from just getting 'dropped'."

Grace stressed on 'dropped' for some reason. He himself didn't know why, but he felt like Author-san was telling him to, so he did.

'Dropped.'