Chapter 13 - The Meeting of the Survivors

All of the survivors from this school, or so it seemed, had gathered in the conference room.

Tooru gave a somewhat theatrical cough, drawing everyone's attention.

“Since it looks like everyone is here, let's begin.”

At Tooru's voice, the conference room fell silent.

Though, it wasn’t complete silence.

The sound of rock music could be heard coming from the hallway.

Still, the tense expressions on everyone’s faces were more than enough to drown out any sound except for Tooru's voice.

“Once again, hello. I’m Tooru Saejima from Class 1-4.”

He gave a small bow.

Some, seeing him do so, bowed their heads as well.

But most seemed too preoccupied with whatever Tooru was going to say next to remember their manners.

And so—

“Um, for now, how about we start with some introductions?”

At Tooru’s somewhat clueless tone, nearly everyone in the room toppled over in surprise.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, puzzled, looking around at the fallen group.

“W-Well, I guess it is important… yeah,” said Daiki as he adjusted himself back into his chair.

The others followed suit.

“Well then, shall we begin? …Starting with Daiki and going clockwise.”

No one raised any objections to that proposal.

Daiki stood up.

“Yo! I’m Daiki Oota, Class 1-4, basketball club. Nice to meet ya!”

Next, Miu stood up.

“…Miu Shimizu, Class 2-5. I hope we’ll get along.”

Are you some kind of noble lady?

Surely everyone must have thought the same question that flashed through Tooru’s mind.

But he didn’t say it out loud.

If he did, he’d definitely get that scornful look from her again.

And he wasn’t the kind of pervert who enjoyed that sort of thing.

With that in mind, he started writing down the self-introductions on the whiteboard.

“...Alright, it’s done.”

Muttering this, Tooru moved the whiteboard to face everyone.

3rd Year, Class 5: Shinji Shouda

3rd Year, Class 4: Sayo Haiga, Jun Haiga

3rd Year, Class 2: Takumi Toudou, Kazuma Aso

2nd Year, Class 5: Miu Shimizu, Yuuki Miyoshi

2nd Year, Class 3: Tsubasa Honma

2nd Year, Class 2: Seiji Honda

1st Year, Class 4: Tooru Saejima, Daiki Oota, Sakura Yamashita

1st Year, Class 3: Hazuki Asagiri, Ryu Kamata, Rei Shimoura

Tooru uncapped his marker and began to speak.

“Now then, I’d like to start the meeting. First of all, I believe the top priority is to eliminate the zombies inside the school building. But before we can do that, we need to make sure no more zombies can enter from the outside.”

Pausing there, Tooru began drawing a rough floor plan of the school building on the whiteboard.

It was distorted and barely resembled the real thing, but it was good enough to understand the layout.

“We need to make sure this gate is securely shut. I tried to close it when I got here, but I couldn’t do it alone. I have the key, so that’s not an issue. What we need now is about three people to close the gate. If we send too many, it might actually attract more zombies, so three should be the limit.”

“Three people, huh…”

Kazuma put a hand to his chin, deep in thought.

Naturally, closing the gate would make noise.

Which meant the group would likely attract zombies until the task was finished.

But given how messed up the town is now...

There was no telling when or where the power lines might go down and cause a blackout.

If the power went out, the music that was currently distracting the zombies would stop—and they’d head straight for the gate.

So the key would be to move quickly and quietly.

Ideally, the team would consist of two people with physical strength and one person capable of holding off multiple zombies for a while.

“In that case, maybe I should go?” said Takumi, who had been sitting with his arms crossed.

He was probably the strongest and most combat-capable person in the group.

“That would be great. Thank you. Now we need two more... Daiki, how about you?”

When it came to physical strength, Daiki seemed like a solid choice too.

Tooru glanced at him.

Daiki’s shoulders flinched dramatically.

“N-No thanks, I’ll pass...”

He looked up at an odd angle and started whistling.

It was hard to tell whether he wanted someone to call him out or not.

But if the person himself said no, then there was no helping it.

As Tooru turned to ask someone else, Miu raised her hand.

“Uh... Shimizu-senpai?”

Miu stood and looked toward Daiki.

“I think Oota-kun is a good choice. Among us, he fits the current needs the best.”

No doubt about that.

But if the person himself was against it...

“I’ll do it.”

(Daiki… your eyes just turned into hearts...)

Nothing more needed to be said.

Or rather, could be said.

“Alright, that makes the third person...”

Tooru glanced around the remaining members.

Among them, the one who looked strongest was probably Seiji

“Honda-senpai, could I ask you—”

“HUH!?”

He snapped back with a response before Tooru could even finish.

His fierce, glaring eyes locked onto Tooru and didn’t let go.

(Scary scary scary scary scary!!!)

Tooru nearly collapsed from fear.

But Tsubasa came to the rescue.

“Seiji-kun, can I ask you to go?”

“…Tch.”

Seiji leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and legs, and closed his eyes.

Was that a yes?

As Tooru hesitated, Tsubasa gave him an “OK” sign.

“Then I’ll leave it to the three of you. Everyone else, please remain in the conference room.”

Takumi, Daiki, and Seiji stood up.

“What about weapons?” Seiji asked the group.

“Right. Everyone, please lay out whatever weapons or food you have on the table.”

From the collection of gear on the table, Daiki picked a metal bat, Seiji chose a knife.

Takumi, it seemed, would go unarmed.

He started stretching his body.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Naturally, Takumi took the lead, and the three left the conference room.

No one could say how this would turn out—but their lives were now in those three’s hands.

With that thought, it was impossible not to pray for their safety.