Chapter 5: The Debacle
As he reached the rooftop, Ryo was mildly surprised when he realized that Hisashi and Rei were there, much like in the original story. They didn't look like they were dating, but they did seem to be close, surely friends. Wanting to introduce himself, Ryo walked up to them and with a slightly apologetical tone, began talking.
"Sorry to intrude, but do you mind if I join you two here?" he said while smiling softly. Rei looked at Hisashi, who just smiled slightly before answering. "I don't see why not. I'm Hisashi Igou, a second year student, by the way. This is Miyamoto Rei, also second year"
Ryo smiled at them and climbed to the uppermost roof, sitting there and dangling his legs while feeling the wind. Rei and Hisashi were a bit surprised at his show of athleticism and the lack of introduction. Ryo, once he felt completely comfrotable in his position, looked at them and smiled widely. "I'm Hashimoto Ryo, third year transfer student. First day in Fujimi High"
Rei blushed slightly, seeing the beautiful smile that adorned Ryo's already handsome face, making him look almost angelic. Hisashi on the other hand, noticed the rosary hanging from his neck. He wanted to ask if Ryo was religious, but when he saw Ryo take a picture from his wallet and stare at it intently, he decided against it. Unluckily for him, Rei wasn't as sensitive.
"Are you religious? Sorry for asking, I couldn't help but notice the rosary on your neck" she said, immediately apologizing when he realized how personal the question was. Ryo, on the other hand, didn't feel bothered at all. After all, he had already gotten over it. "No I'm not. It's used to be my father's, I keep it to remember him"
Hisashi and Rei immediately understood the meaning behind Ryo's words. His father had passed away. Neither of them knew how painful that could be, so they immediately apologized for that. Ryo just chuckled and said there was no need, since he had already gotten over it. Jumping down from the roof and landing perfectly, he got closer to them and showed the picture he was looking at.
"That was my dad with the rosary, the one besides him was my mother. The tallest one at the back is me and the little girl up front was my little sister" Ryo explained while pointing at each person in the picture. Rei and Hisashi smiled warmly looking at the happy faces of each person, but they soon noticed something wrong in Ryo's speech. He talked about them in... past tense.
"Ryo... are they..." Rei asked with dread in her tone. Hisashi was looking at her judgingly, clearly against asking more personal things to someone they barely met for a few minutes. Ryo himself smiled wryly and answered her doubt. "Mom and dad died in a car accident. My little sister died in a fire in the hospital she was interned in after the accident"
Rei had a hand on her mouth, trying to cover the gasp of shock that left her mouth. Hisashi had a dreadful look on his face, his brows tightly furrowed. They were probably thinking about how hard my life was and how I was able to smile so brightly... I of course wasn't going to delve deeper into how I had spiraled down in depression and loathing. They didn't need to know that yet and besides, I had already told a lot of information to two unknown people.
I was somewhat shocked when Rei bowed and said she was really sorry for asking such insensitive questions. I just smiled and patted her head, something I used to do to my little sister when she apologized for something. "*sigh* No need to worry about it, Miyamoto-san. I'm used to it already"
"Rei... please c-call me Rei" she said with a small stutter. She probably felt closer to me after learning of my past. I was surprised at how fast that developed, but didn't act against it. "Sure. But you have to call me Ryo. You too, Hisashi, just call me Ryo"
Rei nodded, albeit shyly. Hisashi was much more confident, something I already expected. Talking about Hisashi and Rei, I didn't know how good they were stats wise, so I decided to check them. I decided to compare with Hisashi, who I thought to be more fit than Rei.
[Name: Hisashi Igou
Level: 1
Strength: 9
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 11
Dexterity: 10
Charisma: 12
Skills: -]
Realizing we weren't that far apart in stats, I could tell I was still ways away from being extremely strong. But I was above him in general, bar Inteligence. He also lacked skills, something I was sure Rei, Saeko and perhaps even Saya had. I personally didn't mind Hisashi, so I wanted to save him if I could, but I didn't expect him to act differently than what I expected.
"Ok guys, I have to help our teacher with something, so I'm leaving first" Hisashi informed as he left me and Rei alone. I wanted to stop him, but I couldn't. I needed a reason to and I didn't have one. I also couldn't tell them that I knew a zombie apocalypse was coming because they would not only not believe me, but it would be trouble for later when it DID happen. I could only curse destiny. It would seem like Hisashi had to die, wether I wanted him to or not.
"So, do you have any hobbies, Ryo-kun?" Rei asked, now a lot more comfortable around me. It would seem she was only shy because someone else was looking at her talking to a boy. Swallowing the bad taste on my mouth, I answered. "Hmm... I like learning new things, I guess that counts as a hobby"
We stayed talking for a few more minutes, looking down to the main gate while watching people walk by. That was when it happened. Kyoko together with two other teachers left the building to investigate a "weird man". When Teshima, the P.E teacher got closer to him, he was attacked and bitten. Kyoko panicked but when she saw Teshima move, she calmed down.
While all of this was happening, Rei was panicking. Ryo had gone towards the wall and, pulling with all his strength managed, to tear off a piece of metal tube. He knew what he had to do.
"Ok Ryo, calm down, you've played darts before and your damn good at it" he said to himself, psyching himself up for what he was about to do.
When Rei noticed his action, she began asking what he was doing, but Ryo didn't give her an answer. He was focusing with everything he had. Teshima had grabbed Kyoko and was about to pounce on her. Ryo had only one shot. Narrowing his eyes, he tensed his arm and tightened his grasp on the tube. With all his strength, he threw it as if it was a spear in Teshima's direction.
Not knowing if it was luck or not, he hit him on the shoulder, pushing him away from Kyoko just on time. Sighing in relief, he relaxed his tense body. When he saw Kyoko with a panic-stricken face, he waved at her. Kyoko immediately knew who had thrown the tube.
"What is going on?!" she screamed in desperation. A moment ago things where regular and the next moment a man attacked Teshima, Teshima attacked her and a student attacked Teshima to save her. Above all else, it was the handsome transfer student she had met this morning. When Ryo realized the state her mind was in, he yelled at her.
"Get a safe place to hide! We're going down!" he half told halk ordered her. Kyoko, now knowing any better, simply did as he said. She didn't know what was happening, but Ryo seemed to know better than her. Running away, she went into the school building. Meanwhile, Ryo got a notification from his System.
[Rewards for unexpected actions by the Host.
Dexterity +2 - Strength +1]
Ryo didn't have much time to be happy about it though. He heard hurried footsteps going up the stairs and, when he checked, it was none other than Hisashi, with his arm already bandaged and running away from three zombies.
"Guys! Things went to shit! We need to get out of here!" he screamed as soon as he arrived. Rei was worried seeing his injury, but there were more important things to ask first. And she did ask. "What do you mean? We just saw a man attack Teshima-sensei and he attacked Kyoko-sensei! Ryo saved her but, what is going on?!"
She was getting more an more winded because of her agitated state so Ryo did what had to be done.
*SLAP*
"Calm down! Breathe deeply and exhale slowly. You can't panic now!" he yelled at her. Rei and Hisashi were shocked by his actions, but she thanked him in spite of having just slapped her. Of course Ryo didn't slap her so hard it would hurt too much, but it was enough for a wake-up call. "Thanks, I needed that"
They didn't have time to be calm though, as Hisashi began coughing blood in huge amounts. Rei helped him sit by the railing, where Hisashi expained the hell that was going on downstairs. He had locked the rooftop door with the key so they wouldn't get here, but they had to go down at some point. He then threw up even more blood.
"It's like a... fucking zombie apocalypse *cough*" he said with a lot of effort. He was already turning. Then he looked at Ryo, whose face distorted as if I was in pain. He already knew what he was going to say.
Ryo couldn't help but curse at fate for being such a bitch. It made sure that Hisashi got bitten and then brought him back to them so that they would see how he desperately asked for death. It was just so fucking twisted. He heard Hisashi's words with full focus. "Hey Ryo... I know we just barely met but... could you help me?"
Rei had a dreadful feeling when she heard those words. She didn't want to accept it. She asked what he meant with that. She insisted that he would survive, that nothing bad would happen. But Hisashi was having none of it.
"I don't wanna turn into one of them dammit!!"
Rei remained silent after his outburst and then she began crying. She didn't want to accept it. Why did hisashi have to get bitten, of all people? "No! *sob* This isn't a movie *sob*, you won't turn, you..."
"It looks like a goddamn *cough* movie everywhere around us" Hisashi interrupted her. Then he looked at Ryo with a pleading face. "Please Ryo, make it quick"
Rei began crying even louder, but no one could blame her. Ryo just closed his eyes and, when he opened them again, walked up to Hisashi and lifted him up, putting his arm around his shoulder. With a lot of difficulty, they walked towards the railing and stood there, looking down to the floor.
"Well... *cough*... goodbye Rei" he said shortly before looking at Ryo. "It was a pleasure meeting you Ryo. Please take care of her, she is too kind for this kind of thing"
On his surname, Ryo promised Hisashi that he wouldn't allow anything to happen to Rei. Then the white haired boy leaned over the railing and, with a little push that took away all of Ryo's strength, fell straight down to the floor. Ryo turned around, not wanting to see him crashing in the pavement.
"Why... why did you do it?!" Rei screamed at the black haired model while walking towards the railing. Ryo had slumped down and was sitting against it. She wanted to blame him for Hisashi's death, but just couldn't. When she grabbed him by the collar, she saw that Ryo was crying too.
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And another lengthy one!
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