"Saeko-senpai, you're here."
Shuya lifted his clear eyes and greeted her like nothing was weird.
If you ignored the current seating arrangement in the infirmary, that is.
Rei was perched on Shuya's lap while he casually played with the two little ash-brown ahoge on her head. Her face stayed blank, but the way those two tufts looked kinda wilted told you everything about how she was feeling right now.
Behind Shuya stood Shizuka, arms wrapped around his neck, mashing her massive chest against the back of his head and putting all her weight on him. Two strands of golden hair had slipped down in front of him, and Shuya was happily twirling them between his fingers along with Rei's ahoge.
Compared to Rei's reluctant silence, Shizuka looked like she was having the time of her life, eyes half-closed in bliss.
"Ahem."
Noticing Saeko, Shuya cleared his throat twice, lifted Rei off his lap, and gently pushed Shizuka's face away from his neck.
He stood up and glanced at the pink-haired girl Saeko had brought with her. "Saeko-senpai, why'd you bring someone else? Is she a friend of yours?"
Wait… isn't that Saya Takagi?
One of the main heroines—third or fourth girl? She had decent screen time but somehow zero presence. People probably remembered Rika and her mom Yuriko more than her.
"Hm?"
Saeko blinked, then looked back at Saya.
She had assumed the girl was someone Shuya had called over, especially after seeing her hesitating outside the door. So she wasn't one of his?
Still, Saeko didn't expose her.
She was already inside. The school was crawling with man-eating monsters. If Saeko hadn't misunderstood earlier, she never would've dragged the girl in. But now that she had… kicking her back out would basically be the same as killing her herself.
She wasn't about to do that.
Maybe it was fate.
Saeko nodded. "Yes, she's my friend."
"Really?"
Shuya didn't press. His opinion of Saya was pretty neutral anyway.
He'd felt the same way about Rei at first because of how she acted in the anime. With Saya it was mostly because of her father—Takashi's dad ran the biggest right-wing group in Bedmaster City, the kind of trash that denied history and pushed shrine visits.
That was why, even though they'd been in the same class the whole time, Shuya had never bothered getting close to her.
His history test scores probably gave that away too.
In his eyes, Japan's garbage history textbooks were less useful than the toilet-paper light novels otaku loved.
But if Saeko said Saya was her friend, then fine. He wasn't going to kick her out.
"Go sit with Shizuka-nee for now," he said, gesturing.
"Saeko, come here~ Sit next to your Shizuka-nee!" Shizuka patted the spot beside her on the bed.
Saeko nodded and led the slightly awkward Saya over.
"Busujima-senpai… thank you," Saya whispered, head lowered.
She had heard the broadcast too. She knew something terrible was happening at school. And after hearing Saeko mention man-eating monsters outside… if the older girl hadn't lied, then claiming Saya as a friend and bringing her inside had basically saved her life.
Saeko just patted the back of her hand and gave her a gentle smile. No words needed.
This damn sense of security.
If Saeko had been a guy, Saya probably would've fallen for her right then and there.
Saeko turned back to Shuya, a little confused why he was standing by the door with his hand on it.
"Done."
Shuya looked at the ordinary wooden door, then pulled his hand back.
Just now he had poured a special Nen technique into it—one that showed up in the anime but was never really explained. He'd only figured it out after tons of trial and error.
It was the same trick used on Gon's red string during the Heaven's Arena arc, and later on the metal box his dad left him. Normal people had zero chance of breaking it, even with ridiculous strength.
Now the infirmary door was the same. As long as none of them used Nen on it themselves, you could hit it with a rocket launcher and the wall might blow up before the door even cracked.
No one was getting in to bother them.
Don't get the wrong idea—Shuya wasn't planning anything shady.
He just hated trouble.
Sometimes humans were way more annoying than zombies.
If he went out to clear monsters, even if he wasn't trying to play hero, he'd still end up saving people by accident. And some of them would probably complain, "Why didn't you come sooner?!" like they'd been possessed by some demonic cultivator.
Shuya didn't care about those people. He'd just chop them up with the rest of the zombies. But getting disgusted was still disgusting.
So to avoid all that mess, his plan was simple:
Gather the people he actually cared about in the infirmary first. Let everyone else outside die or run away until only zombies were left.
Then he and Saeko could go out and have their fun.
Time to test how sharp her new weapon Reizan really was.
As for everyone else?
Respect other people's fates. Let go of the urge to help.
"Alright, we're good. Let's rest for now."
Shuya clapped his hands once, then plopped down right between Shizuka and Saeko.
He leaned back and stretched out on the infirmary bed.