"You're really going out there to find Mizuru?" Kurizu asked, watching Luel pick up an improvised weapon from the gymnasium equipment—a wooden pole used in combat practice as a makeshift spear.
"That's a dumb question. Of course I am, dumb bastard," Luel replied as he grabbed another wooden katana and strapped it to his belt, even though his swordsmanship was lousy.
"We're going too, obviously," Kasumi added, choosing a wooden sword as her weapon.
"Mhm!" Yhuna hummed in agreement while eagerly nodding. She carried a composite bow and a quiver of arrows that had been handed to her by a girl from the archery club who knew about her impressive skill in archery, despite her not being a member.
Kasumi and Yhuna had already recovered from the shock of the explosion caused by the plane that had crashed into the fourth-year school building.
Luel, however, still refused to let them come with him.
"Just stay here, both of you."
"And why is that?!" Kasumi retorted, shouting twice as loudly, as if Yhuna's complaint had been added to her voice. "We won't slow you down if that's what you're worried about—"
Luel suddenly embraced Kasumi and Yhuna, ending the argument before they could complain any further.
It wasn't that Luel was worried about slowing down to match their pace. What concerned him more was the possibility that the situation outside might worsen and that he might end up cornered by the undead, unable to protect both of them.
Leaving Kasumi and Yhuna in the gymnasium with Kurizu, Kanae, and Hanae to look after them—as well as their teacher, Nacht—was the most logical choice, even though Luel understood that the gymnasium wasn't exactly a safe place either.
From Kurizu's recap, girls eventually turned undead after being bitten, while boys only turned after they actually died.
Or perhaps it simply took longer for boys to turn after being bitten.
Right now, among the growing number of survivors inside the gymnasium—both those who had originally been there and those rescued from outside—a few dozen boys had already been bitten, including the ball-less and rod-less Henri.
But the bitten boys weren't Luel's only concern.
Among the survivors were bastards he wished had been devoured by the undead first, like Kazuto, who had just woken up and was now glaring at their group.
There were also Kasumi's, Yhuna's, and Mizuru's ex-boyfriends, as well as some of their stalkers whom Luel had confronted before.
Even so, weighing the risks, it was still far better for Kasumi and Yhuna to remain inside the gymnasium.
"Be careful of those bastards while I'm gone for a bit," Luel said, warning them about his concerns.
"You reap what you sow, idiot bastard—ouch!" Kurizu said, mocking Luel for the consequences of everything he had done to get Kasumi, Yhuna, and Mizuru—only to get punched on either side by Kanae and Hanae.
"Just take Kurizu with you, Luel," Hanae said, pointing out that the two of them could fight without slowing each other down.
"You can leave disposing of the trash to us if they mess with Kasumi and Yhuna," Kanae added, reassuring Luel that they had the skills to back up their claim.
Not only had they received training in their Self-Defense Force curriculum, but Kanae and Hanae were also top athletes in tennis and volleyball—just like Kurizu, who was the ace of the baseball team.
The infamous delinquent twins had enough combat skill and stamina to fight even boys—"Ouch!"
Another pair of punches from Kanae and Hanae ended Kurizu's explanation.
***
"Are you sure about coming with me?"
"That's an idiotic question. Of course I am, idiot bastard. Mizuru is our friend too."
"Try to find a smartphone or anything that could get us news about what's happening outside the academy," Nacht said, interrupting the childish argument between Luel and Kurizu.
Personally, Nacht wanted to go outside and rescue more students, but the two P.E. teachers who had been bitten were unable to calmly organize the growing number of survivors, which was nearing two hundred students.
"And take this as well," Nacht added, handing Luel a spare key to the vault in his office that contained emergency supplies and equipment accessible only to a Self-Defense Force instructor.
"Don't die, and come back unharmed, both of you."
At Nacht's remark, Luel and Kurizu jumped from the second-floor window of the gymnasium, landing safely on the ground without even performing a safety roll to soften the impact—or a full superhero landing that would only hurt their knees.
Quickly regaining their footing, they rushed forward before the undead horde slowly swarming around the gymnasium could gather and corner them.
Both of them were running faster than the academy's top sprinters.
With a single swing of his baseball bat—one he was far more accustomed to than his previous wooden sword—Kurizu smashed the head of another undead male student.
Luel did the same. Each swing of his makeshift spear knocked aside the undead blocking their path, sending them stumbling to the ground.
"So you're feeling horny too," Kurizu said, surprising and confusing Luel enough to make him trip, stumble, and roll across the ground before smoothly getting back on his feet and continuing to run.
"I'm not into BL stuff like you, dumb bastard!" Luel shouted back, loud enough to attract more undead toward them, still creeped out by the memory of how Kasumi had once forced him, Yhuna, and Mizuru to watch some really intense BL.
"I'm not either, you idiot!" Kurizu retorted before clarifying what he meant. "You can feel it too, right? That heat that's making your body feel so horny but somehow incredibly strong."
"For the goddess' sake, stop using the word horny."
Despite his retort, Luel understood what Kurizu meant. The lustful heat had been coursing through his body ever since his foursome with Kasumi, Yhuna, and Mizuru the previous night.
Whatever mysterious power it was, both of them were certain it was making them physically stronger and faster—almost like some kind of Marvel super soldiers.
Still, they couldn't help but worry.
"Think we might be infected somehow?" Kurizu said before decapitating another male undead student with a strike to the neck.
"If it helps us survive, I don't mind if we are," Luel replied as he dodged a female undead student who lunged at him, intentionally avoiding hitting the familiar-looking girl.
"Showing sympathy to those girls won't help you survive, idiot."
"As if you haven't been doing the same since earlier, dumb bastard."
Luel and Kurizu kept running, taking the route along the back of the campus near the perimeter metal fence, where they assumed there would be fewer undead students.
Looking out at the street beyond the fence, they saw nothing. There was no sign of the undead, but there were no people either—not even a passing car or a random pedestrian, something that had been common earlier that morning before the first class started.
Passing the area where they could see the still-crumbling and burning fourth-year building, Luel and Kurizu were reminded just how lucky they had been—especially Luel's group. Even a few seconds' delay in escaping might have made them among the students who died not from being devoured by the undead, but from the plane that crashed into the building.
"That plane… it probably came from the airport near the Capital City," Luel murmured, making Kurizu realize the same grim thought.
If the plane had come from near the capital—and if the passengers and pilots had turned undead, causing the crash—then the outbreak wasn't limited to their city.
It might have spread across the entire country.
"Did Rhiyu come to school today?" Luel asked, shifting his thoughts to another concern.
"Didn't that moron say he was going to his idol meet-and-greet today?" Kurizu replied, hoping that at least one of their friends might still be alive if the city's downtown was already swarming with undead.
They still had their families to worry about.
But for now, Luel and Kurizu needed to figure out how to get inside the academy's main building—which was already swarming with undead first-year and second-year students—and reach the student council office on the seventh floor, where Mizuru might be.