Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment.
Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.
The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.
"Speech"
Time*
Arc 1: Mental Illness - Chapter 7
"Logically, it would be best for me to stay across the street in a building that no one lives in, since that would give me more space to work with. However, there are advantages to sticking with you guys, especially when it comes to numbers." I rub my chin thoughtfully, letting my gaze drift over everyone in the room as I weigh the situation.
After thinking it over for a few more minutes, I finally nod my head, causing nearly everyone around me to let out sighs of relief.
"The important thing to do now is sleep. All the girls can go upstairs, while the guys stay on the ground floor." I said before anyone else could come up with a different idea.
"Not that I'm complaining, since I slept on a couch just recently, but why?" Saya asked, raising an eyebrow at me while the others stared as well.
"Because at least we won't have to worry about any men outside seeing you girls if they try to peek inside." I said calmly. "That would make it easier for them to come right in and strike while you girls are asleep."
"Are you sure it isn't because it would make it easier for you to get to us when we can't escape, since we'd be upstairs?" Rei frowned as she wrapped her arms around herself, giving me a disgusted look while the room fell momentarily quiet.
"He would have had an easier time with Shizuka-sensei, yet he didn't do anything and simply placed her near Saya so she could sleep." Saeko spoke up on my behalf, her calm voice cutting through the tension in the room.
Shizuka blushed as she glanced around, giggling to herself, almost as if she had unintentionally proven that if I had really wanted to make a move, it would not have been difficult to have sex with the school nurse.
"Wrong place, wrong timing. Trying to have sex while zombies are outside is basically a death sentence." I said bluntly, voicing exactly what was on my mind. My words made almost everyone blush, clearly caught off guard by how bold and shamelessly direct I was being.
"Alright, but who's going to be on watch duty? Because I'm not doing it. I barely slept." Saya said to everyone, though it was obvious from the way she was staring at me that she expected the answer to come from me and no one else.
"I will. I already have trouble sleeping in general, so I can stay awake and notify everyone if anything happens that I can't deal with on my own." I said calmly. Then I frowned as I shifted slightly in my seat, feeling something wedged between the cushions. Reaching down, I pulled out a belt fitted with a handgun holster and a magazine pouch. I stared at it for a moment in confusion. "The heck?"
"Ah! That's Rika's! She's been looking for that for months now." Shizuka gasped in disbelief, her eyes widening as she pointed at the belt in my hand. "No wonder the couch has been feeling off whenever I use it."
"I'm going to use it. Anyway, ladies… and you two." I said, giving Takashi and Kohta a sidelong glance. "It's time to get some sleep. Morning will be here in just a couple of hours, so it's best to take this chance to rest while we can." I then placed the belt neatly on top of my briefcase.
Takashi winced in pain, shooting me one last glare before moving to the corner of the living room. He stayed silent, his frustration obvious, while Rei quietly followed after him.
"Nope. You're coming upstairs with us." Saya grabbed Rei's left arm just as Rei was about to pull away and lash out, but Saeko was already standing at her other side, silently staring her down. Forced into a corner, Rei frowned deeply and shot Takashi an apologetic look before being ushered upstairs with the others.
Shizuka winked at me before heading upstairs, and I answered with only a slight nod. That small response somehow made her giggle even more as she disappeared from view.
Kohta looked torn between coming over to talk to me about guns and staying by Takashi's side, leaving him standing awkwardly near the front door for a while. In the end, he seemed to give up on deciding. He walked over to me, awkwardly handed me 4 magazines for the sniper rifle, then quickly retreated to Takashi's side to get some sleep.
I took the 4 magazines and placed them inside the briefcase, then grabbed a loaded magazine along with the handgun and slipped them into the holster and magazine pouch on the belt.
Afterward, I put on the belt and found that it barely fit around my waist, though it was still good enough to use for the time being. It sat a little tight, but not enough to stop me from wearing it through the night.
I paused for a second, then reached into the seat cushions again to see if there was anything else hidden inside. Sure enough, I found a shoulder strap sling that happened to go with the sniper rifle, making the discovery feel even more absurdly convenient.
I quickly attached the sling to the sniper rifle, making sure it was secure and ready for me to use later. With that done, the weapon became much easier to carry, especially if I needed to move in a hurry.
Once again, I tried my luck to see if I could find anything else inside the couch, and after a few more seconds of searching, I ended up pulling out a pair of pink panties. For a brief moment, I just stared at them in silence, not sure how the couch kept producing more surprises.
My right eyebrow twitched, and I awkwardly shoved it right back into the couch. That was more than enough of a sign for me to stop digging before I ended up finding something even crazier hidden in there.
I moved to the kitchen counter and sat down on the same stool I had used before. Opening my briefcase, I took out one of the journals and began to write.
It seemed like I had a few guesses about what kind of ability insomnia might give me. However, I still needed to stay awake longer to test a few of my theories and see if any of them were actually correct.
I stopped writing for a moment, thinking hard as I stared at the page. After gathering my thoughts, I resumed writing.
So far, I have enough to survive this zombie apocalypse, and I even have the power to help others without needing to put my own life on the line. However, because of my existence, my actions, and some of the things I have said recently, there is a high chance the main group will not stay together as it is now, especially given how hardheaded Takashi can be.
On top of that, I need to figure out whether I should establish more official rules for myself or simply get another mental illness instead, maybe even replacing depression with something else entirely. The problem is that I do not know enough about the many different mental illnesses in the world to make that decision properly. I should probably find a computer, look up as much information as I can, and print everything out while I am at it.
For most people, mental illnesses are among the worst things imaginable. For me, though, they are a source of superpowers.
I continued writing, adding a few more notes to the page as my thoughts slowly became more organized. Each new line helped me sort through the mess in my head, even if the answers still felt far from clear.
If possible, getting a book that covers many different mental illnesses would be ideal. Hopefully, I can find a bookstore in the morning and gather something useful before the day gets any worse.
Actually, could it be possible to suppress my mental illnesses with drugs? Or would that not work because the ones I have are not naturally formed, meaning they would most likely get even worse if I tried taking medication under the assumption that it would help me like it helps everyone else? Then again, other people do not gain superpowers from their mental illnesses the way I do, so my case is far from normal.
Either way, I should not even think about getting a new mental illness until I learn what else is out there and what those conditions actually do to people. Not to mention, I have already been getting slight headaches that randomly appear and disappear throughout the day. Of course, that could also just be the result of my anxiety disorder, which makes it even harder to tell what is really causing what.
I stopped writing, closed the journal, and placed it back into my briefcase before taking out the other one. As I opened it, I began thinking over what other official rules I should create, my mind already turning toward how to keep this fragile mind of mine from breaking further.
Just the 2nd Official Rule alone had already helped me a lot. In more ways than one, it had made things easier to manage than I had first expected.
I tapped the pen against my chin, thinking hard about what the 4th Official Rule should be. It had to be something that would remain useful in the long run, just like the previous official rules, rather than something made only for the moment.
4th Official Rule: It is perfectly normal for someone like me to have exceptional luck, to the point of surviving nearly anything within reason, all because I can always rely on that unbelievable luck to carry me through.
I blinked as I suddenly found myself far more relaxed after creating the 4th Official Rule. The feeling left me confused for a few seconds until a possible reason began to form in my mind.
It seemed that OCD's influence had come into play the moment I created an even number of official rules. If that were true, making a 5th Official Rule might actually harm me unless I created the 6th one immediately afterward. From the looks of it, I'm going to need a lot more testing before I can be certain.
I closed the journal and slipped it back into the briefcase along with the pen. As I turned my head to check on Takashi and Kohta, I saw that both of them had apparently fallen asleep at some point, their earlier tension and unease finally giving way to exhaustion.
I focused on my sense of hearing, checking whether the girls upstairs had fallen asleep as well. Somehow, I could make out the faint sound of their breathing even from where I was, enough to tell that they were asleep. That only made me think even more about the superpower tied to insomnia and what it might truly be capable of.
I got up from my seat, picking up the briefcase along with the sniper rifle, and headed toward the front of the house. Glancing out through the windows, I spotted the shadowy figures of zombies wandering outside beneath the dim glow of the streetlamps. Luckily, the lights on the lamp posts were still working, casting just enough light to make their slow, aimless movements visible in the darkness.
I grabbed a chair, placed it in front of the windows, and sat down, remaining completely motionless as I stared out into the night. As long as I did not move for 8 straight hours, the 1st Official Rule would take effect, making stillness itself part of my strategy for surviving the night.