"When you give up, that's when the game is over"

  — Guts, Berserk

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  "A worldwide zombie outbreak? How could this happen? Everything was fine when I checked the i this m!"

  Even the usually carefree Shizuka Marikawa couldn't hide her worry in the face of this apocalyptic sario.

  "Unbelievable! In just a few hours, the whole world has ged!" Saya Takagi excimed in disbelief.

  "It's quite simir to the Bck Death ih tury. A third of Europe's popution perished," Saeko Busujima calmly analyzed.

  "How did the iion stop back then?" Shizuka asked, turning to Saeko with a worried expression, hoping for some good news.

  "There are many theories, but the most likely expnation is that it simply ran out of people to i," Saeko replied.

  Shizuka and Saya fell silent.

  "But the dead are walking around, attag people!" Shizuka murmured, looking at the scattered zombies outside the window.

  "So there's no way to stop it from spreading?" Saya added, breaking the silence.

  "Well... Summer is ing soon. Ohe flesh rots away, leaving only bohey might not be able to move anymore!" Shizuka suddenly excimed, a hopeful glint in her eyes.

  "How long will that take?" Saeko asked, despite her doubts.

  Shizuka ted on her fingers. "In summer, it takes about twenty days for a body to depose to bones! In winter, it might take several months. Either way, it won't be too long." She finished with a naive smile, as if the problem were already solved.

  "We don't know if they *will* depose. Corpses that walk around and attack people arely within the realm of normal medie. This could go on indefinitely," Saya tered, bluntly shattering Shizuka's optimistic theory.

  "Oh no..." Shizuka sighed again.

  Saeko, notig that Roy had been silent, asked curiously, "Roy-kun, is something wrong?"

  Her question drew Shizuka and Saya's attention to him as well.

  "Huh? I'm fine. Just thinking about where we should go ," Roy replied. He hadn't been ed about their worries, so he had remained quiet.

  The three girls' eyes lit up. They hadn't even sidered that yet! Roy's fht made him seem incredibly dependable.

  "So, Roy-kun, have you decided?" Saeko asked.

  "Well... It's getting dark. We o find a safe pce to rest for the night," Roy expined. "Then we o firm our families' safety, and finally, find a secure location. That's my pn, in short."

  He had simply voiced the most logical course of a. His actual goal was to make them his servants and then find a way to leave this world.

  The three girls readily agreed with his pn. There wasn't a better alternative.

  "So where should we go first?" Saya asked, adjusting her gsses.

  "Whose home is closest?" Roy asked, gng at the two girls through the rearview mirror as he drove.

  "My only family is my father, but he's currently at a dojo overseas. I don't really have ao go," Saeko answered calmly.

  "My house is iy just ahead. I... I want to go bad chey mother," Saya said, her expression a mix of longing and fear.

  "Oh dear... My parents are gone, and my retives live quite far away. I don't have ao go either," Shizuka chimed in. "But if we're looking for a pce to rest, a friend of mine has a house nearby." She held up her index finger excitedly.

  "Is it your boyfriend's house?" Saya asked suspiciously.

  "N-No, it's not!" Shizuka quickly waved her hands, flustered by the misuanding. "It's a female friend's house. Because of her special job, she asked me to help it. And there's a venieore nearby, and a car parked there that's as big as a tank!" She gestured to emphasize the size.

  Roy gnced over; Shizuka's ample bosom jiggled with her movements.

  *Quite bouncy* he thought.

  "Alright, we'll rest at Shizuka-sensei's friend's house tonight ao Takagi's home tomorrow," Roy decided.

  "Indeed. I'm exhausted. I'd love a shower while we still have electricity," Saya added, looking at the bloodstains on her clothes with disfort.

  "Roy-kun, you haven't told us about your family," Saeko noticed, realizing that while they had all shared their family situations, Roy hadn't.

  "Ah... My family doesn't live here, so there's o worry about them," Roy said casually.

  *Is that true?* Saeko wondered, his rexed demeanor with a hint of skepticism.

  They drove in silence.

  As dusk settled, they finally arrived at the house Shizuka had mentioned.

  "See? It's like a tank, isn't it?" Shizuka said proudly, pointing to a modified Hummer parked in the courtyard.

  The massive vehicle exuded an aura of power and dominance.

  "Just who is your friend?" Saya asked, impressed.

  "Anyway, we should clear out the surrounding zombies first," Saeko said, notig the undead gathering, drawn by their arrival.

  "Indeed, Saeko-senpai. Please protect Takagi-san and Marikawa-sensei. I'll take care of these zombies." Roy grabbed his wooden sword and headed towards the scattered undead.

  "Wait, Roy-kun..." Saeko called out.

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