The apartment was fairly close. Although it was not exactly as Shizuka Marikawa described, it wasn't too different.
The night was getting darker, and it took them more than ten minutes to run to the Shizuka Marikawa's "female friend's" apartment. A two-story building came into view.
The tall wall and the black painted steel gate looked very safe.
They spent some time cleaning up the surrounding zombie before entering the apartment. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and their tense spirits finally relaxed.
...
By the time Kohta arrived at the hall on the second floor, he had collapsed onto the ground. He was exhausted. Although he had trained in "Black Water," it was still a long time ago. Now, he usually holed up at home playing games and watching anime all day.
Even physical education classes tired him, so it was difficult for him to hold on until now. If not for the goddess beside him, he wouldn't even want to move. He would just lie like this until he died.
...
"Ah, my body is so dirty. I'm going to take a shower." Kurumi pulled at her skirt before turning to look at Takashi Komuro, asking slyly, "Junior, do you want to come together?"
"Gulp ---" Looking at Kurumi's alluring body, her delicate and pretty face with its stunning smile, Takashi's mind instantly started to drift. Just imagining the scene almost made his nose bleed.
Rei Miyamoto's eyes flashed slightly."If you agree, I will kill you." Takashi couldn't help but swallow hard and say dryly, "Senior Sister Tokisaki, you must be joking. I should go to the balcony to watch for zombies."
Just as he turned around and began to walk towards the balcony, he saw Kurumi pounce on Saeko Busujima with a wronged expression, "Aiya, is it because we don't have any charm? Takashi has a house full of beautiful girls, yet he wants to go and watch the scenery! What should we do?"
Her charming voice reached Takashi Komuro's ears as his eyes reflected Kurumi's aggrieved expression. In a trance, he almost opened his mouth to admit his mistake.
Kurumi's wine-red eyes narrowed slightly. She saw the "Charm Mark" on her status panel emitting a faint pink light.
(If I become Transcendent and this advances to the level of "Alpha", the Charm Mark will be able to completely control ordinary people... You'll have to specialize in this to control higher-level creatures, but should I do that? After all, it is a completely unfamiliar route...)
Although she was thinking about other things in her heart, the expression on her face still changed to astonishment. She acted surprised, "Could it be that Takashi is gay?" After that, she looked at Kohta Hirano, who was confused, "Then Junior Brother Kohta, you must be careful ---You are the only boy here ---"
Kohta Hirano looked at Takashi Komuro in panic, just in time to meet his gaze. Thinking back to the time they spent cooperating to kill zombies, Kohta remembered Takashi's "ambiguous" smile, and his body suddenly shivered.
His fat and short body directly bounced up like a spring. When he looked at Takashi Komuro again, his eyes were filled with fear, and there was a guarded look to it. He took a few steps back as if he wanted to be far away from Takashi Komuro. Only then could he feel at ease.
"I said, even if I am a gay, I will not take a fancy to someone like you!" Takashi Komuro's head was full of black lines as he blurted out without thinking. After he finished speaking, he realized something seemed to be a little... wrong?
Kohta Hirano was squatting in a corner. From behind, he looked like a round and plump ball. To Kurumi, it looked like he had an aura of depression around him.
She could vaguely hear, "Am I really that bad? So what if I'm a fat otaku? I didn't do anything to you. Even a man looks down on me..."
Ai ai ai! ---Young man, your thoughts are very dangerous. Do you want to abandon your goddess and open the door to a new world?
This time, even Rei Miyamoto became suspicious. (Takashi... Is he really gay? Was I not by his side during that time?)
When he was in puberty, his hormones were agitated, and there was nowhere to vent his feelings, so he fell in love with a boy! This is all my fault...
The more Rei Miyamoto thought about it, the more likely it was. She looked at Takashi Komuro with eyes full of resentment. She had already thought about it. After taking a bath today, she would wear some tempting clothes. She wanted to see if he really was.
"Hehe, Junior Brother, are you really not coming? We have to go in ---"
Kurumi's charming voice echoed in her ears. Takashi Komuro felt like she was like a succubus who seduced human souls from those fantasy stories.
If she really wanted to seduce a man, even the purest Holy Son would not be able to control their heart!
If Kurumi knew that Takashi Komuro envisioned her as a low-level succubus, she would probably trick Takashi Komuro to death and make him die without knowing how he died.
People who insult his goddess should die!
"Alright, alright. Kurumi, stop joking." Saeko Busujima gently rapped Kurumi's little head with her hand.
"If you don't want to come in, then stay on the balcony."
Hearing this, Takashi Komuro finally breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, he found that fighting zombies was not so tiring, but the following sentence made him nervous again!
"Oh, right, I will leave the bathroom door unlocked for you ---However, don't sneak a peek ---Otherwise..."
There was still a slight smile on Kurumi's delicate face, but her eyes had become ice cold!
"Heee!" Takashi shivered and instinctively stood up straight, his hand raising into a salute.
Seeing Kurumi slowly approaching the bathroom, Takashi Komuro turned around and walked directly to the balcony, pulling Kohta Hirano with him.
Outside on the second floor, the cold night wind blew. Takashi Komuro touched his back with lingering fear. His shirt was soaked in cold sweat.
Walking to the railing, he looked into the distance.
Even if it were a small city, it was normally fairly brightly lit at night
Moreover, it was late at night. Every house would be lit up. Wives would have started warm baths and cooked food. Children would have returned home after school. Husbands would be making their way back on the crowded subway...
But now, everything had changed. It had become so strange, and this was only the first day. There is no rescue reaction from the ZF. The police and the Self-Defense Forces had blocked the bridge that led to other areas. What should they do?
Where should humans go?
As he thought about it, he laughed at himself. When had he become so sentimental? Or had he risen to the level of a "human"? What he usually worried about was his relationship with Rei. Sometimes it was his school report and sometimes which university he should enter.
( Humans, who had ruled the earth for nearly ten thousand years, would never be defeated by this disaster! After all, humans are known as the strongest creatures in terms of adaptability!)
The night wind was still blowing, bringing with it the cry of zombies in the distance. They had probably found "prey" again.
The TV in the hall was still playing the news. Everyone was talking about the rescue, explaining the reason, and working hard, but what was the use of that?
The human heart is unpredictable, and there is an endless dispute over personal interests. In order to get more, they would do anything.
The TV reported on the scene via a drone, revealing the bridge they had just passed.
At this point, it was flooded by zombies again. Each "person" was dressed in rags, with meat and blood around their mouths and pupils rolled up. Their gray skin was intimidating, and some "people" were even gnawing at corpses.
And the ZF called this disease [Frenzy]!