Chapter 12: [Chapter:12][Amidst a chaotic escape.]
"What?", asked the white haired and red eyed youth as he knocks on the staff room's door, and becomes the object of several stares the moment Saeko opens it and he enters inside.
"That…was that you?", Rei asked, slightly unsure.
"The announcement? Yes, that was me."
And all those in the room looked at him strangely when he admitted it.
"What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"
While Grace certainly didn't let the stares bother him, that didn't mean he didn't mind them.
Dea-chan, who was atop his head, rolled her sapphire eyes.
(The announcement is like one of those cheap door-to-door salesman advertisementS. And you asked for a can of coke of all things! Why do you think they're looking at you like that?)
Grace blinked at that, before answering,
"I like coke, and I feel like I won't be getting another chance to drink it for a long time. Got a problem?"
Rei, Misuzu, Toshimi, and the boys present quickly shake their heads, while Kyoko looked like she wanted to say something but held herself back. Saeko was simply looking at him with her usual smile, though her eyes flashed with interest as she noted that he had gone all the way to the announcements room and back without even a weapon.
This was something which was missed by those in the room due to the absurdity of the announcement itself, by everyone other than herself as well as the observant and self proclaimed genius Saya.
Which is why Saya looked at him with the strangest and most conflicted expression in the lot as she recalled a small part of his message she was sure most had ignored at the prospect at running to the bus and escaping from the school.
'…seem to react only to sound, huh.'
Saya felt a little conflicted in her heart.
Even though it had been nothing more than a few short minutes, she had mostly realised the general situation of the group she was currently a part of.
Including her, and the hateable man before her who actually dared call her a self proclaimed genius, the group consisted of 12 people.
Well, 13 if adorable little Dea-chan is included in the count.
Of the twelve 'visible' people, however, nearly all of them had a role, so to speak.
The main roles, were of her childhood crush Takashi, Rei, Hisashi, Saeko, and of course, Grace, who kept them safe.
They were the combatants of the group.
Then there's the fat nerd Kohta, who had a nail gun modified into one that could easily penetrate the skull and kill, not to mention the fatty's aim wasn't bad at all. Although he had little ammunition, he was still their only long range fighter after all, so he is given credit where it is due.
After that, is the school nurse Shizuka, who is practically their medic. While she wasn't sure if she could treat scratches from 'them', Shizuka was, after all, the only one among them with the slightest medical knowledge, and Saya didn't feel like not knowing what to do when you get a fever during the zombie apocalypse was a good idea.
During their discussion, they got to know that, before becoming a teacher, Kyoko was in fact a racer, not only of cars, but also raced busses, vans, bikes, and even bulldozers. So she would obviously take care of the group's transport.
The two girls, Misuzu and Toshimi, along with the last guy, Eei Bee, carried bags of medicine, seven bags worth to be precise, and by the looks of it, other than being a coward, Eei Bee had quite a strong body, as the size of the bags he was carrying implied that they were at least 7~8 kilograms in weight, and that's enough to get you killed if it weighs you down while running.
And finally, there is her, the genius and the think tank of the group. She was the one who told them that 'they' only seem to react to sounds when the group, other than Grace, was chatting in the staff room after he went out. She was the one that revealed the situation outside, crushing any false hopes of being saved, as she couldn't have them isolate themselves in the school like idiots. She was also the one that…Well, that was all she did, really.
But she believed that was plenty enough. For now, at least.
Yet, now, it seemed that the hateable guy before her, our dearest MC, Grace, had known about the weaknesses of 'them' from the very beginning, or at least since before she figured it out. And it was clear he was more than sure of it, as otherwise, even as strong as he was, he would have surely gone out with at least a weapon of some sort.
Thus, she felt rather…uncomfortable, as her job, or rather, the 'only' job she could do, the only way she could contribute to the group, was being taken away from her…
Or at least, that was how she felt.
No wonder she felt conflicted about Grace.
Grace himself, however, had no idea what she thought of. And even if he knew, he would merely tease her about it a little and then completely forget it.
After all, unknown to her, while he was certainly quite smart, his brain was still burdened by the large amount of information that his mental capacity simply couldn't easily contain, even with his F- 'Mind Palace', not to mention, he only knew of the 'their' weakness from the anime.
But well, that's enough of that.
This isn't a story about how a self proclaimed genius feels at being outdone and having her purpose taken from her, after all.
And now, going back to our MC Grace,
"Well? Are we going or what?"
"Of course we are."
With a unanimous answer, the group of twelve plus one, the non-combatants in the middle of the combatants, with Grace and Saeko, their best fighters, taking the vanguard, rushed through the corridors, their aim the minibus out in the parking lot.
...
"Run! Faster!"
"Go go go! We're almost there!"
"Come on! Don't fall behind!"
Screams and shouts resounded as tens of survivors, far more than shown in the original, ran out of the school, a hoard of hundreds nearly reaching a thousand of 'them' on their heels, most walking slowly, some crawling, and some that were in better state running, even if not as fast as the survivors.
Alas, even if they were slow, they were much more spread around, as nearly forty of 'them' that were already present in the fields began to corner the survivors, and try as they might, a mere second's delay is all it took for 'them' to push you down and rip your flesh apart, gobbling you up like the fresh prey 'they' see you as.
And amidst the chaos, it wasn't an odd sight to see many survivors trip and fall, their former friends and classmates giving them little regard as they trampled over them in hopes of getting lucky, only for it all to be in vain as they, too, fall prey to 'them'.
"Come on! Just a little more! We can d-"
"Shut up, idiot! Stop shouting! Don't you see they are attracted to sound!"
Takashi's inspirational shout was cut short as Saya interrupted him, reprimanding her, though shouting as well, making the rest of the group look at her strangely for a moment before focusing back on running.
The members of the group, main cast or not, were, after all, students in the end, so they couldn't afford even a moment of distraction lest they find themselves lagging behind, making an opening and letting 'them' reach the non-combatants, or worse, getting scratched or bit.
Grace, however, was far more comfortable as compared to the others, like a fish in water in fact, as he weaved through 'them' while the bloody rod in his hand constantly drilled through 'their' eyes and mouths, instantly making 'them' turn to stringless puppets, falling down and permanently unmoving.
And the same for Saeko, who was practically 'dancing' her way through the hoard, her wooden sword constantly and near-effortlessly smashing and, the weirdest of all, 'slicing' 'cleanly' 'their' heads off.
In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that they were in a particularly precarious situation, not to mention the fact that she was making heads fly like a kid blowing bubbles during a festival, and held something like ribbons instead of a bloodied wooden sword, the group, including Grace himself, would have stopped just to watch and appreciate Saeko's dance.
'Even if I know shit about cold weapons, she looks hella skilled.'
Grace chuckled softly at the thought, though that soft chuckle combined with blood splattering over his body and dripping down his arm as he made moving corpses unmoving permanently made a shiver run down the spines of all those that saw and heard it, though for a rather different reason for a certain purple haired sword lover.
"Run!!"
A particularly loud shout, signified by the double exclamations marks used, caught Grace's attention as he turned around, his body still moving and fighting on auto pilot.
"Hmm? Isn't that one of those two idiot lovers? That towel guy?", he muttered, piercing though another one of 'them', as he sees Takuzo push a girl away just as he is dragged back and drowned by 'them'.
But Grace felt rather speechless because…
'Who the fuck is that girl?'
Yes! The girl he pushed, sacrificing his life for, wasn't Naomi! Instead, it was some random mob girl who froze in place before shouting loudly.
"Takuzo!"
And then she ran back, right into the horde of 'them', disappearing from view almost instantly.
'What the actual fuck?'
Even with his usually calm and carefree personality, Grace felt rather dumbfounded when he saw that scene.
Especially since, at another glance, he saw the actual lover of the towel guy, the black haired Naomi, stare at the hoard in shock before she grit her teeth, and what appeared to be hatred and anger flashing past her eyes, before she decisively turned and dashed towards the minibus.
'Like what the hell!?'
Grace felt speechless. Surely, the butterfly effects of his action couldn't possibly sever the love of a couple that literally sacrificed their lives for the other, right?
Dea-chan, who was busy swatting away the drops of blood splattering around threatening to paint her soft white bed a bright crimson, looked at the scene curiously.
(Well that's…odd.)
She muttered as she knew for a fact that the reality they were in wasn't an AU, but an exact copy of the original. So why did that small event change so drastically?
Unable to hold her curiosity, she lifted a small part of her seal, peeking into the past and the truth of what happened, and…
(Pff! Hahahahaha!)
She burst out laughing.
'What's wrong? What did you see?'
Even if Grace didn't know what she did, he could guess. An hour or so was enough for him to get a basic grasp over his little passenger's personality, and from what he knew, if the Supreme Goddess had one weakness, that would be curiosity.
Dea-chan simply couldn't hold her curiosity back, especially as a formerly 'All-knowing' being that had quite recently sealed her omniscience. She was simply a slave to her curiosity, more so when it was something that was a mystery or random like the Gacha or clearly different from the original, like what had just happened!
Thus, Grace guessed correctly that she had used her 'Abracadabra' powers to know what actually happened.
If Dea-chan comes to know what Grace called her Omnipotence and Omniscience, who knows what her reaction would be?
Luckily, she didn't, and instead somehow managed to spit out amidst her crazed laughter,
(Haha! Ahahaha! Hehe! She! Haha! He! Ha! The kisser! That's her! And your! Plot! HAHAHA!)
'…'
Grace felt rather speechless.
'How am I supposed to understand that mumbo-jumbo?'
(Haha! Wheeze! Give me! Hahaha! A minute!)
Dea-chan took deep and long breaths to calm herself down from the fit of laughter that Grace's 'Plot Armour : EX++' ability had caused.
Just as she was about to open her mouth to answer properly, however, she paused, seemingly recalling something, before snorting lightly.
(Humph! Didn't you keep me in the dark about the announcement all this time?)
Grace blinked at that.
'What?'
(Heh! Wrack your brain thinking over it!)
Dea-chan huffed cutely while turning her head to the side, making Grace speechless.
'How petty!'
At that moment, however, he decided to ignore the smug smirk the little loli gave him, as he stopped running and fighting.
Why? Because,
"We're here!"
Yes! After an entire chapter worth of bullshit that Author-san managed to come up with during the short one hour break he took for exercise to maintain his fat body, the group had finally managed to reach the minibus!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone