When Kazuichi came to, his body felt heavy, his muscles aching from the strain of battle. Sunlight filtered in through the window, casting long beams across his room. It was the same light he'd woken to so many times before, yet today it felt different—distant, foreign, as if the warmth it carried didn't belong to him anymore. He blinked, disoriented, trying to piece together the fragments of the previous night's events. His body still trembled, the sensation of that near-death encounter with the Omega Zombie and the sinister presence of his former bully fresh in his mind.
Gritting his teeth, Kazuichi pushed himself up in bed. Every movement sent a sharp sting through his limbs, a reminder of just how close he had come to death. He clutched his side, feeling the bandages wrapped tightly around his ribs. Someone had tended to his wounds, probably Arisu or Ayaka, but even their care couldn't heal the deep sense of helplessness gnawing at his chest.
