Chapter 7: Time limit to the end.
It's been 3 days; time passes quickly when all you can think about is how you will survive this time too. We managed to seize a classroom for ourselves, but there are still a lot of zombies around, but now it's manageable. The real problem comes from the fact that we certainly didn't finish off many of them; all we could do was run away, and considering all we have are students here, this is quite an achievement already.
Everyone is tired, hungry, thirsty, and overall miserable. There was still some food from bento boxes in this classroom, but that is already gone. This is why we made the decision to go outside our safe zone once again. Obviously, not everyone will leave; this is more of a search for supplies, so bringing too many people could turn things for the worse, and most are not even responding to anything. I will lead; being the one who actually killed most of those things made them trust me, and with 2 others, it should be enough. And yes, *most of them*, Akari, the girl with glasses from my class, did help me in a pinch when 2 zombies came at the same time and killed one of them using my shovel, which is another reason we must go out: weapons. While we still have the cleaning tools from before, only my shovel was able to actually do fatal damage; the other things were only useful to trip them or keep them away for some time.
The other two that will leave with me are still getting ready, but I'm set to go. Since I still have some time to waste, I call the system up. While it's useless to rely on it in a lot of situations, that doesn't mean there is nothing they can help with. One example would be the *story sense*, which is the feeling I get when close to something the original story is about. There is no way I can discern between the really small changes in this feeling, like the difference one of the classes makes to another one; the same can't be said using the system.
[This class has a higher fate connection than any other in this school.]
The message does not change even after 3 days; this means that either someone here will indirectly affect the plot, or a protagonist or someone involved in the plot will simply interact with this place briefly. The correct answer is impossible to know until it happens.
Another thing I can check is the card I used before entering this world. With a small amount of concentration, a duel disk appears on my left arm. The fantastical scene doesn't change the expression of anyone else in the class; this is because the duel disk materializes the same way the system message box does, so in a way, it's not even here. I look at the only card summoned on it.
Aromage Jasmine, the only real advantage I hold in this world. Trying to draw another card doesn't work; the deck is kind of like a ghost, which means I can't interact with it, so for now I am stuck with only this card. Its effects are not really strong, but it has already saved my life. In those moments when I was attacked, the rush of adrenaline that happened in both cases was caused by this card. It seems the reason for that is that Jasmine has high defense. Unlike what anyone would first think, defense is not simply about how tough someone is; it's more about the power something has to protect an area, so you could say that attack and defense are the same thing but in different situations.
This is not everything the card does, but most of it either has unknown details or is only speculation. Like my weapon, every time I hold the shovel, the card shines slightly. All me and the system can suppose from it is that, since Jasmine is a plant-type monster, the only way the card could gain anything in this world without magic would be from something related to gardening... So maybe the best weapon I could use right now is this shovel.
"Is everything okay?" While thinking about the advantages this card gives, Akari comes to talk to me. She wears glasses and has black hair in a ponytail, but it's kind of messy since there's no way to properly fix her appearance right now. I can see that she is nervous, we are going onto a place full of the monsters that nearly killed us so no one can blame her for that, leaving the safety of this class is hard even for me. I unsummon my duel disk and talk with her.
"I'm fine, just preparing myself... Mentally." This is true in more ways than one. Slowly realizing what this body can do, fighting the fear of dying, getting ready once again to kill... All of this is a lot to take in. I couldn't get much sleep after dreaming about the faces of all of the ones I killed; even now, it feels like my hands are soaked in blood.
Akari looks down; since she is also someone who killed, I guess she understands what I am feeling. They were monsters; you had no choice, and all of that is easier said than done. After a while, one boy came to us, ready to leave, or at least as ready as anyone can be in this situation. He is one of the bigger guys in the class, and he'll be the one to accompany us out there. He greets us while appearing highly nervous.
"H-Hello, I'm... ready to go." The second part of that sentence was so low, it was pretty much a whisper. Unlike how he looks, he seems quite shy. Since we are all here, we shouldn't delay any longer, but the state both of them are in is not good. The boy has their legs shaking like crazy, and Akari has their eyes unfocused. I was about to put my hand on the door but stopped after looking at my shaky hand. This isn't good; we are all too emotional, and leaving right now is just asking for one of us to freeze up at the worst time. Clenching my hands, I make a suggestion, and both of them are confused by it.
""You want us to introduce ourselves?"" They ask at the same time. It might seem weird to try and get something like this right now, but I can't think of a better way to get us to calm down. If we know our companions are with us, then we can at least get focused on the task at hand. I try to explain this, and while they are still not sure why it is needed, they agree. Akari is the first to try to say something.
"I'm Hamasaki Akari. You can just call me Akari... Hm... What should I say after this?" She looks at us for help. I ended up saying that what she said was already enough, and she nodded her head in understanding. I look at the boy, and he freezes for a second before talking.
"...I'm Kimura Jito. Pleased to meet you!" He gets rather loud at the end and strongly bows his head. For a moment, I thought he was going for a headbutt with the power behind it. Akari pats his back, and he calms down for a second before getting agitated once more, except now his red face shows why he got surprised. I smile at the wholesome scene. After he actually calms himself, they both look at me. Since it was my idea, I guess there is no escape.
"I'm Senzaki Yuu. Call me whatever name you want; I don't mind." At last, with all of us having said what was needed, what came after was a somewhat heavy silence. This is awkward, but I try to smile and continue to talk.
"Akari, Jito-san. Just remember that you are not alone. No matter what, we will come back." Without looking at them, I wait for their response. Maybe there was a better way to get our minds off the bad thoughts, but this was the only thing I could think of. While I start to get caught in another type of bad spiral of thoughts, Akari comes up and talks to me.
"We are with you too, be it outside... Or when you do something embarrassing like this." I was happy until she said the last part... Jito is just doing the ok sign while holding back his laughter. Where did that shy boy go? Even though that was the first thing that came to mind, these are some pretty good results; both of them are already on the same page. I sigh and exclaim that I will never try to get people's spirits up again; they laugh. I ask if they are ready to go, and the smiles they had disappear, replaced by a face full of determination. Right before we leave, we hear a small commotion at the back of the class. Some of the kids who had stopped talking until now were trying to introduce themselves to the others around them. Were they trying to copy me?
"No matter what you think about it, you gave them some hope." I look at Jito, who just said that, and smile before immediately trying to make fun of him since that was an embarrassing thing to say, and Akari joins in too. He hides his face with his hand while grumbling. 'That's what you get.'
With the feeling of dread in the class dissipating, we leave. Our objective is to gather food, water, and anything that can be a weapon. Everything so they can survive without me for a while. No matter how hard we try, the best chance all of us have is with the protagonist of this world. Not only because of this but also because of the *end*. I called the system once more, looking at the hidden time limit we are in.
[The fate connected to you in this world will reach its conclusion in approximately 4 months.]
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AN: Hey guys, it's been a while. The world conspired to make sure this chapter did not come out, but I said it would, and so here we go. Between losing pretty much more than half of this chapter TWICE, my motivation to write was pretty much gone. Not only that, everyone I know wanted me to solve some kind of problem; it was to the point where I thought the president would come over to ask me to solve something that probably just needed whatever was not working plugged in... Anyway, the chapter's out. It's nowhere near being over, and I try to get one chapter out every week. See you in the next one.
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Dante_Hellscythe Since no one even looks at the actual author note here, I put the author note in the actual chapter.
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