[Chapter:28][The other side.]

*bang!*

The crisp sound of gunshots echoed throughout the vicinity.

*bang!* *bang!* *bang!*

And with the first, came tens, then hundreds of shots.

"I can't believe it…they…"

"What are they doing…"

"Oh my God…"

The Group stared in disbelief as the army, soldiers who had made oaths to protect the people from all harm…shoot at living humans as though they were nothing but cattle.

"Why?"

It was the question that nearly all the members of the Group asked themselves.

"Why?"

Rei, with her hand trembling in fear and shock, nudged Saya.

"Why, huh?", the genius muttered as she, too, looked at the scene in disbelief, yet it slowly changed to understanding.

Though, just because she understood the reason for this horrifying sight, as men, women and children running on the bridge away from 'them' were shot down like birds and animals, didn't make it any less unbelievable.

"It's because they abandoned this part of the city."

Her sentence rang through the Group members' ears, hitting them like hammers.

"…abandoned?"

Naomi gulped as she repeated the word.

"What…what does that mean?"

Of course, it's not that the smart young beauty didn't know what the word meant. No, she knew quite well what it meant, after all, she believed that she, too, was abandoned by her boyfriend.

She, however, simply didn't want to believe it. What that could imply.

Nor did the rest of the Group.

"Abandoned, as in, they gave up. Gave up on saving the city, gave up on any survivors that could still be alive in this part of the city. Instead, they decided to quarantine the other side completely, cleansing it of 'them' and making it a safe haven."

Grace's apathetic voice resounded in their minds despite them not wanting to accept it.

Yet reality is as such.

"They abandoned the city…"

"They…abandoned us…!"

For a moment, they imagined it, what their state would be without the modified minibus.

Having struggled against hoards of 'them', having barely made past the school, having survived after bitter struggles…

Boarding the bus, making their way towards the bridge, all but hoping for safety from the army's protection…

And yet, at the finally moment…

*bang!* *bang!* *bang!*

Modern firearms from one side…

*growl!*

Creatures from horror films on the other…

"…let's go, we're crossing the river."

Grace's voice snapped them out of their thoughts before they could ponder more, and they silently walked back to the minibus, entering it one by one.

...

*bang!* *bang!*

"Hey! You! What do you think you're doing!?"

"Stop! That van over there! Stop!"

"Don't move! Or we'll shoot!"

"Stop! Damnit! Fire! Stop that vehicle!"

*bang!* *bang!* *bang!*

*bang!* *bang!*

"Those bastards…!"

"They're actually firing at us…"

Kyoko gnashed her teeth in anger as the minibus continued to vibrate from the bullets bouncing off the armour and windows.

The Group sat with bated breaths as the minibus rushed through the river, uncaring of the water level, and within mere seconds, crossed half to the other side.

*bang!* *bang!*

The shots, however, didn't stop. Or rather, the gun fire only intensified more and more.

"That's…!"

Kohta, who had been looking outside from the missile proof glass window, exclaimed in surprise at the sight that entered his eyes.

"Kyoko-sensei! Quickly! They're moving the machine gun towards us!"

The Group's hearts jumped as they recalled the sight of the machine gun atop the APC culling through hundreds of humans and 'them' alike. It was a chilling sight, and they couldn't help but become nervous when they thought of its aim locking onto them.

"Onii-chan, why are they all shooting at us?"

The little loli Alice asked in confusion as she looked at the soldiers on the bridge, half of whom aimed their guns at them and continued to fire even as it proved useless.

"Because they are idiots. They don't know Onii-chan is inside, so they think they can actually stop us with just some guns and bullets."

Grace smiled as he pulled the adorable girl into his embrace, setting her on his lap.

"Look, that big gun is going to shoot at us too."

He pointed at the heavy machine gun mounted on the APC that slowly yet surely turned towards them.

"Hee~~"

Alice looked at the gun with sparkling eyes, before she turned her large violet eyes and looked right into Grace's scarlet red ones.

"Onii-chan, are we going to die?"

The entire Group suddenly descended into silence.

But Grace just chuckled.

"Of course not.", he said with a laugh as he ruffled the loli's hair.

"Nothing will happen to you as long as Onii-chan is here."

"Ah, not my hair!"

Alice pouted as she struggled to pull her head away from his grasp.

"Not my hair! Onii-chan! I spent the whole morning combing it!"

"Oho? Then let me see how well you did that job~~"

He chuckled before raising both his hands and making a complete mess out of the loli's hair, making her pout at him with a glare.

"Onii-chan! I hate you!"

"Hahahahaha!"

The sight of the white haired Super Soldier and the pink haired little loli playing around like nothing was wrong made the tension decrease…

*bang!*

Until a much louder gunshot and a much greater vibration shook their hearts, almost making them jump in fright.

*Ta* *Ta* *Ta* *Ta* *Ta* *Ta* *Ta*

"Shit! The machine gun!"

"Everyone! Crouch down!"

Takashi and Kohta shouted in surprise before they dragged themselves down, and the others in the Group, despite being shocked, crouched on the floor as well.

All but Kyoko, who continued to drive away quickly, Grace and Alice, who were still quarrelling with each other, and surprisingly, Kawamoto and Taniuchi whose hand the former held as she looked at her reassuringly.

"Wh-what are you all doing!? Quickly! Get down!"

Kawamoto, who knew exactly what kind of monster Grace had turned the minibus into, well, the outside anyway since she wasn't that good with electronic parts, smiled softly.

"It doesn't matter, the chassis would barely dent even under that kind of gunfire."

And indeed, to the crouching Group members' surprise, the minibus was actually unaffected!

"Finally…!"

Kyoko sighed in relief as she steered the minibus out of the open field, and the incessant gunfire finally ended. She couldn't help but grin, imagining the faces of those soldiers at the sight of the heavy machine gun not even making a scratch on the glass windows.

At the same time, however, she felt rather speechless recalling how Grace had said he'd found all these incredible materials lying around wherever.

'Not even a ghost would believe you!'

Since he didn't want to say the truth, however she didn't bother asking either.

Everyone's got their own secrets, after all. So does she, and she isn't ready to share them yet either. So how could she expect him to?

"I can't believe this thing actually held up…"

Hisashi, who got up from his crouching position, looked at the glass windows that didn't even get scratched and felt his jaw drop.

"Indeed, Grace-san did an incredible job…!"

Kawamoto, a vehicle enthusiast, looked at him with sparkling eyes, making Taniuchi chuckle as she could feel the excitement of her 'friend' through her hand that felt like it was being held by a vice.

"Well, enough about that, who here knows a place we can settle in for a few days?"

Grace glanced at Saya, whose family had a huge mansion in this part of the city. And so did those close to her.

The pink head in question bit her lips, anger flashing past her eyes, before a trace of worry appeared in them as well, a trace that won out in the end as she sighed.

"I'll show the way."

She walked forward, not before glaring at Grace who blinked at her 'innocently' with a smirk that said otherwise, and sat beside Kyoko.

*vroom*

(Talk about childish.)

Grace chuckled at Dea-chan's comment about the SFX used to denote the engine roaring.

((A/N : Oh shut up! You think writing's easy!?))

(Sure~~Whatever you say, Author-san~)

'You're the Boss, Author-san.'

Grace joined in too, feeling like it's been too long since he last broke the fourth wall.

'Now that I think about it, I haven't been doing this as often since my junior began his journey huh?'

He recalled his junior in another omniverse, in another plane of reality that cannot be trespassed by any being, not even Author-san himself even though he was the one who created it.

(Ah, my junior is there too, and her name rhymes with mine.)

'Dia right?'

(Its not Dia (Dee-ah) you dumbass, it's pronounced Dia (Dye-ah), Dia from Diamond.)

'Right…and my junior named himself White…a lame name if you ask me.'

(Meh, at least it doesn't sound feminine. Grace, heh.)

Grace rolled his eyes.

'Why are you on his side anyway?'

(Cause he's such a pure and innocent child…! I mean, look at him! He says he doesn't even know what it feels like to love someone or something or how it feels like to be loved…!)

Grace blinked at the iPad in Dea-chan's hands that showed a screen from webnovel.

It was a rather strange iPad, clearly quite old. Nearly a third of the screen appeared cracked, and a small portion was even crumbling lightly. The top portion of the iPad, the one where the front camera and even the back camera are present, was wrapped with brown duct tape, so as to not let the brittle and shattered glass fall.

And the iPad itself was bent, no longer shaped like a plane cuboid but appeared curved, like one of those fancy new 3D smart TVs.

'Wait, did you…?'

Right then, a small, nearly imperceptible crack appeared next to Dea-chan, and from within that crack, Grace caught sight of a fat and sweaty young man huffing in anger while holding a board with something written on it.

'Give me back my iPad bastards! I can't even finish the chapter's word count without it!'