[Chapter:7][Meeting the main cast (III) .]

"Hmm?"

Grace, and Saeko, both, looked back at the source of the cheerful voice that didn't belong in a post zombie apocalypse world, more so in a Highschool that had turned into a slaughterhouse.

And standing there with her trademark clueless yet bubbly smile, is the airheaded nurse Shizuka. She was empty handed, unlike the other two girls and one nameless guy that were carrying two, two, and three bags of medicine respectively, but just a look at her huge 'weapons' made Grace unable to comment.

'Forget it, she must be working hard enough already.'

Taking another glance at those gravity defying melons, something which made the tiny little loli hit his head while wondering if she should take on a mature figure as well (Don't!), Grace looked at Shizuka.

"Do you have keys for the school bus?"

Of course, he knew they would be in the staff room, but then again, he mustn't know that as according to his story this would be his first time in this school.

"No. But they should be in the staff room~~"

Grace nodded his head.

"Then we-"

Yet that was as far as he got before he was interrupted.

*typical girly scream*

((A/N : No offence to girls.))

Grace paused. He blinked as he looked at Saeko for a moment, before rushing towards the source of the sound with his superior speed.

Saeko, who had caught on to the unspoken message, looked back at the startled group with her own trademark gentle and elegant smile.

"Let's catch up, follow me please."

Misuzu and Toshimi, who had, within those short few minutes alone, gotten used to Grace's presence as he 'protected' them from, well, 'them', though they themselves didn't know that Grace was beyond happy at farming as many Points as he could, felt rather uncomfortable and vulnerable all of a sudden.

Before they could say anything, however, one of 'them' appears from behind the group.

"Ah-"

Yet before the nameless male student, now officially 'Student A', could even scream or alert the others, whichever he was about to do, Saeko had practically teleported over and with a single clean slice, beheaded the walking corpse.

With. A. Wooden. Sword.

"Don't fall behind alright?"

The three, other than the seemingly clueless nurse who remained smiling, gulped hard as they quickly nodded at the smile she gave them, which, along with the drops of blood that splattered on her face, made her look just a tiny weeny bit scarier. Just a little.

…

Nah, who are they kidding, they could barely stop themselves from screaming in fright.

Back to Grace, and the tiny little loli Dea-chan who was having the time of her life riding her personal roller coaster with fluffy white cushions and silky white seat belts, the two, the latter on top of the former's head, quickly ran through the corridors and were welcomed by a rather…eerie and bizarre sight.

"Ah, yeah, I guess this still happened."

Grace couldn't help but say so unconsciously as he and the loli atop his head stared, in amazement, as one self proclaimed pink haired genius, Saya Takagi, screamed her lungs out, while her hands held fast a drill that was turning a rather unfortunate male student's, now one of 'them's' brain to mush.

She neither stopped her screams nor dropped the drill even as blood mixed with brain matter and splintered skull pieces sprayed all over her uniform, and only when the zombie's head became entirely unrecognisable and it fell on top of her body, unmoving, did she stop to open her eyes.

And the very next moment, though she, to Grace's great surprise, didn't puke, paled and began to retch lightly.

"Wow, you're pretty good girl."

Grace couldn't help but comment as he finished off the last of 'them' that had been attracted by the girl's scream.

What, you thought he would stand there frozen and look at the sight before him in a daze, like the fat gun nerd or the group of three including the former MC, the guy that was supposed to have died, and the orange head Rei, or even his own group of five that had somehow managed to catch up just in time to see brain matter fly like cotton candy in a cotton candy machine?

Granted, such gore was a first to him too, but he wasn't going to gawk like an idiot while there were walking corpses around that could potentially end him with a single scratch.

His comment seemed to have brought all the people there out of their daze, as Saya jolted and sprang back, quickly yet in vain trying to wipe the blood and gore from her clothing.

"You're just making it worse, girl."

Grace chuckled as he handed her his shirt. Gentleman much?

(Ara~ What a gentleman~~)

Even Dea-chan agrees.

Of course, he wasn't going to run around half naked, and still had his tank top on, which made the eyes of some girls there light up as his trained yet compact muscles came to sight. Priorities, you know?

As for why he did such a thing, while the possible increase in affection Points was certainly a part of the reason, the major one would be that he simply didn't feel like looking at a beautiful girl covered in gore.

A beautiful pink head with her body and clothes covered in fresh blood and gooey brain and bone fragments standing amidst a crowd of walking corpses as she looked at him with a prideful and condescending smile…

Yeah, no, he'd much rather part with his shirt.

Saya, still in a panicking daze, unconsciously took the shirt and draped it over her, and with Grace's stature being much taller and broader than the pink head, it covered most of the gore easily. Although, it would still be rather uncomfortable.

"Now, while I don't mind introducing myself, can we go to a place where we can take a break?"

Seeing the rest of survivors, clearly still stunned at what they had just seen, nod their heads, Grace looked at the nurse who had promptly hidden the flash of concern in her eyes as she looked at Saya with her usual airheaded bubbly cheerfulness.

"Nurse, to the staff room if you would."

"Mou~ Don't call me nurse. My name is Shizuka Marikawa~~ Call me Shizuka!"

She pouted cutely as she protested, though she still lead the way.

And after encountering a few more of 'them', and with the group being rather shocked at how quickly both Saeko and Grace, who seemed to have unanimously agreed upon competing, took care of them, as well as a little weirded out at the faint smiles on their faces even as they cleaved former students and occasional teachers apart, the group of ten plus one plus one, the two plus ones being Grace and the little loli, reached the staff room.

Grace walked forward to open the door, in case one of 'them' was inside, while Saeko looked around alertly.

"It's locked."

Grace blinked as he said out loud, before knocking the door.

"Anyone in? Open the door, please."

Grace wondered if whoever was inside would try to kill him the same way the poor adorable loli Alice's father was killed, but it seems his worries were unfounded as the door opened slightly to reveal a certain single and hot teacher peeking her head out.

"Yo-you all! You're alive! Qu-quickly come insi-"

As she was about to say something, however, a certain bubbly airhead practically leaped forward.

"Kyoko-senpai!"

And the rest of the group followed and entered inside to witness that scene of a Busty Nurse hugging, nay, wrestling with a hot teacher while rolling on the ground.

And all the males, including the healthy and straight Grace, felt blood rush to their lower halves, though unlike them, Grace was able to control himself, or rather his not-so-little brother.

"Wha-! M-Marikawa-sensei! Please behave! Leave me!"

"Kyoko-senpai! It's so good that you're alive!"

Despite somehow getting up, Shizuka refused to leave as she happily hung on to Kyoko's embarrassed body.

'Huh, who knew the two were so close?'

It, however, brought a smile to his face as Grace realised he was the reason for this duo to be happy at the moment.

'Huh…who knew seeing happiness you bring could feel so…satisfying?'

Dea-chan, who read these thoughts, merely smiled as she decided not to disturb a rare moment of satisfaction that Grace was feeling.

"Wait, you…"

Kyoko's eyes widen as she caught a glance of our MC.

"You're the one on the rooftop aren't you? The one that saved me."

Grace merely smiled, though that was enough of an answer to her.

Kyoko quickly shook off Shizuka's grip and bowed lightly.

"Thank you for that. If not for you, I would have…"

She didn't finish her sentence, but no one present in the room needed to hear anything more.

They all had, after all, fought through tens, perhaps even hundreds of 'them' already, so they mostly knew what would happen should they be captured by 'them'.

"It's alright, I just did what anyone would do."

Grace waved off her thanks with a small smile, before saying,

"Right, why don't we introduce ourselves? Since we will probably stick together for a while now, considering what happened and all."

Seeing as he got their attention, Grace smiled as he said,

"My name…well, you all can call me Grace. I'm nineteen, which means I'm not much older than most of you and even younger than a few, and I technically would have been your new as well as youngest Japanese Teacher, if your principal didn't mind employing a very young adult."

Grace flashed the best smile he could since, why not? They say the first impression is the best impression, no?

And it indeed seems so, as quite a few, even the self proclaimed genius and usually haughty pink head Saya, blushed lightly.

And Grace was rather satisfied when he saw the usually never changing expression of Saeko fall as she, too, sported a very small and nearly unnoticeable blush.

'Heh, whoever said good looks aren't the only thing that matter clearly doesn't know how good it is to have them.'

(Narcissist.), quipped the little loli as she thought that she was being given too little screen time nowadays.

(Oi! Author-san! Give me more screen time!)

Grace smiled as he heard her. He thought she was pretty cute and funny, though the same couldn't be said about what a certain sweaty fatty who was cursing out loud while looking around for his rolls of duct tape.

"I am…"

......

*Beyond the fourth wall*

Yo! Howdy folks?

Don't you think I'm progressing quite well in the understanding and comprehension of the Dao of Cliffhangers?

Well, it took 6, no, 7 whole chapters before our dearest MC finally met the entire main cast. Oh, wait, there's still the adorable loli Alice-chan isn't there? Can't forget the loli…!

Hey! Wait! Officer! It isn't me! I swear!

*cough* *cough*

Well then, now that I managed to somehow divert the FBI's focus away from me, let's talk about what we're going to discuss in this episode of 'Beyond the fourth wall'.

Which is…

…

…

…

Honestly? I have no fucking clue.

I just realised I haven't introduced anything new to discuss the entire chapter!

Damn man, what do I do now? I still have like 300 words to fill for reaching the word count!

Hmm…should I just write some nonsense?

…

…

…

Nah, let's not.

If there's nothing in the present to discuss about, why not discuss the future?

Genius! No?

So, then, *cough*, it's spoiler time folks!

And to begin, let's start with possible worlds that Grace might just visit in the future.

Well, right after the HOTD Arc, I'm planning to make a sub-arc, so to speak. The specifics of the sub-arc will remain a secret, but after that, I'm planning on sending him to the…

…

…

…

CLIFF HANGER DA!

Ha! So long suckers!

Wait, I'm getting a serious sense of déjà vu…did I do this once before already?

*blink* *blink*

I did, didn't I? Well, since I don't want to make you all suffer for no reason (Lies!) I'll give you a hint.

It'll be a place which he'll often go to and have the chance to rest in between world travels and conquests.

Well, anyways, adios!