----------------------------------------I'm placing this here because most people don't read the author's note: This is my first attempt at writing with group dialogues. I hope you enjoy it. Please share your opinions, whether it feels too 'empty' or 'forced' so that I can make corrections. That said, if anyone has any questions, curiosity, or wants to suggest an idea, just comment. I'm reading them all. Good evening, everyone. Until next time.----------------------------------------
She seemed surprised, but before she could think of introducing the rest of the group, the brown-haired boy took a step forward and spoke with a normal tone, but without hiding the suspicion in his eyes.
"Takashi Komuro, I would extend my hand for a handshake, but I don't think it's a good idea, pleasure," he said, pointing at my blood-stained gloves.
I nodded in acceptance. "Indeed, I'll need to wash up later. For now, pleasure, as you may have heard, I'm Devas Asura, or Asura Devas here in Japan. Call me whatever you like; both are fine with me."
Turning my head, I looked at the girl beside him, the one who had been angry at the teacher. She seemed to understand and gave me a small smile.
"Miyamoto Rei, nice to meet you, Asura-san."
I couldn't help but shiver up my spine. How embarrassing. "On second thought, just call me Devas and drop the -san. Actually, drop all the suffixes; it doesn't fit, it just makes it sound more ridiculous."
She nodded in agreement but seemed not to fully understand. Next was the chubby boy who hadn't taken his finger off the trigger of his makeshift weapon since I entered the bus.
"K..k.Kohta, Hirano Kohta, nice to meet you, sir." I could practically feel his nervousness oozing from his body, but in this situation, I suppose it was understandable.
I simply nodded to him in respect, glancing slightly at the improvised weapon in his hand. He seemed to understand as he straightened up a bit. I wondered if he mistook me for someone from the military to act this way. Well, it doesn't matter.
Shrugging, I looked at the last member of the group, who was sitting a bit behind everyone, and I must say, Saeko was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen in my life. Her samurai demeanor only made her seem more elegant.
She looked me in the eyes; I didn't know what she saw, but she nodded and bowed her head slightly in respect.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Devas, I'm Busijima Saeko. You can call me Saeko if you prefer, whatever is easier for you."
Before I could respond to her, one of the boys with dyed yellow hair at the back of the bus stood up practically shouting.
"Look! It's dangerous to continue!" Seeing that no one seemed to respond negatively, he continued, leaning forward as he stood.
"First, why do we have to do everything they planned?" With each word, he seemed to get more agitated. "You decided to return to the city without asking us! Couldn't we have found a safe place in the school?"
I just sat back in the bus seat; none of this was my concern. I wasn't even in the school. Let them sort it out; I'll just watch from the sidelines.
Seeing that the yellow-haired boy had taken the lead, another boy, one who seemed not to have eaten for at least a month, man, he was thin and short, gathered his courage and spoke up.
"He's right! We should look for a place to hide, like that convenience store."
Looking out the window and back, there indeed was a store, but I didn't think it was a good idea; an open store by the roadside would only be a problem in the long run.
Before the boy could continue, the crazy woman at the wheel slammed on the brakes, making me hold onto the seat. Damn! How did they let this woman drive?
She turned around, still seated, and let her body dangle as she spoke. Stark's reaction summed up my feelings pretty well.
[GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: My dear lord! What is this! (Iron Man emote with wide eyes).
[TechTycoonStane]: (Iron Monk emote with wide eyes).
Seriously, I pity this woman's spine. I don't know how she can walk with those things; they are by far the biggest pair of breasts I've ever seen in my life. Well, not that I'm complaining.
[WhiteHuntressLive]: Urk... Mens... why aren't you like Wizard, he didn't say anything.
[YellowHuntressLive]: Don't even try that, I saw you looking too! Look at the size of those things! (Yellow bear emote in awe).
[BlakeHuntressLive]: The possibilities...
[RedHuntressLive]: Yang! Blake's making a weird face here! (Startled Little Red Riding Hood emote).
"Enough!" She shouted, which only made her breasts sway even more. "I can't drive with you all screaming!"
The boy with yellow hair seemed even more stressed but didn't continue. I remember now, she was the school nurse, if I'm not mistaken.
Still seated, Saeko asked the boy, "So, what do you want to do?" It was a simple question, but the boy seemed even more stressed; I could see his eyebrows trembling from here, and something unexpected happened.
"I can't stand it!"
He pointed at me.
"I can't stand this guy!"
What?! Come on, dude, I don't even know you, isn't this the part where you're supposed to antagonize the protagonist or something? Go bother him and leave me alone here.
The boy continued, "Look at him! He's covered from head to toe in blood, still wearing armor! What is he? Some kind of maniac?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kohta tense up and raise his weapon, ready to shoot, but Saya raised her arm, stopping him. I sighed. I'd better handle this before it escalates too much.
Standing up, I positioned myself in the center of the bus aisle and then took a few steps closer to him. "What's the matter, man? Got a problem with me being like this? I've got some bad news for you, it's the apocalypse, genius!"
No doubt, this guy had some kind of mental issue. He didn't even bother to respond, just yelled "Dammit!" like an angry animal and came at me to throw a punch.
Even in my current exhausted state, I could see that punch coming from miles away. The guy was slow. I wasn't any kind of professional boxer or anything, but even the way he was about to punch me looked lousy.
I didn't even retaliate, just raised my left arm and let him punch the gauntlets of my armor. Funny, I heard a snap of something breaking, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't from my armor, especially because right afterward, he fell to the ground, holding his hand in pain.
What a dumb guy.
Turning around, I was about to return to my seat, but the sound of clapping stopped me. Looking back, I could see it was the teacher in the suit applauding.
"Good job," he said as he walked towards me, stepping over the fallen student writhing in pain on the ground.
"Excellent defense, it was good that you resolved the conflict as soon as it arose, I applaud you for that." Seriously, dude, don't look at me, I'm trying hard not to punch your face.
"But this conflict arising like this is proof of what I said earlier." The jerk continued, ignoring the disgusted looks I gave him.
He turned and waved at the bus, especially at Rei, who had a look that, if looks could kill, this idiot would have turned to dust long ago.
He leaned in a bit and gave me a smile that only made me want to punch him even more. "We need a leader, understood?"
I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. What did he want? To use me as an example? I wasn't even part of this group.
Saya seemed to find the idea ridiculous. "And there's only one person who can do the job?" the girl with blonde hair and glasses said as she adjusted her glasses.
The teacher leaned in, resting on the seat where Saya was sitting, and said, leaning his face close to hers, which only made her move to the side to avoid contact.
"Takagi, I'm a teacher, and all of you are students." He stood up and opened his arms again, the guy was too theatrical.
"That in itself should be enough to determine who is most qualified."
Saeko disagreed: "And him?" She pointed at me. "He's an adult too, and he seems more reliable than you."
I appreciate your faith, Saeko, but I was kind of covered in blood, what part of that seemed reliable? Plus, I didn't want to be the leader of anything; it would just give me unnecessary trouble.
His only reaction to this was to click his tongue, then he ignored it as if she hadn't said anything and turned around, with one arm bent and his hand on his chest, the other he left extended in a pose.
"As a leader, I would avoid conflicts, what do you say?"
The rest of the male and female students stood up and started clapping, even the boy on the ground stopped whimpering and looked at the actor, I mean, teacher with acceptance.
What was this shit? A circus? A cult? Did the zombie virus affect the brains of the living too? I feel like my IQ is dropping just from watching this scene. The guy even took a bow, as if he were really on a stage, what the hell, man?
He turned and looked at me with an arrogant, superior look and opened his arms again. "That's right, now I'm the leader by majority vote."
I raised an eyebrow at him and said in the most sarcastic tone I could muster.
"Wow, amazing, leader by majority vote, what will become of us now? Will we finally be saved?" I mocked. "Well done comedian, have you finished your theater?"
I could see a vein on his forehead bulge, and he clenched his fists, was everyone here so short-tempered? I didn't even say anything that bad for him to react like this.
Before the clown in the suit could say anything, Rei, who must have been upset enough, turned around. As she passed by me, I could see that she was biting her lips in anger, almost to the point of drawing blood, then she forcefully opened the bus door and stepped outside.
The protagonist, whose name I had just learned recently, stood up and went after her.
"Rei!"
She stopped walking, turned around, and said still angrily, "Screw this! I'll never stay near him!"
The clown behind me had already recovered from the little verbal jab I gave him and struck a dramatic pose while placing his hand on his forehead.
"What a shame. If you can't stay with us, then we'll have to part ways."
This only seemed to make Takashi angry and prompted Rei to turn and start walking away from the bus, with the protagonist following her.
They began to argue, and I couldn't hear anything due to the distance, but it seemed serious because Rei appeared even more irritated. Before they could finish their discussion, I heard a horn honking from the street above.
Looking in the direction of the noise, it was an out-of-control bus heading in our direction, or rather, towards the couple who were standing like two idiots watching the bus approach closer and closer.
With an annoyed sigh, I stood up. I knew these two wouldn't die, but this was a good opportunity to change the anime's canon. I might not know how side missions worked, but I was pretty sure it had something to do with changing the canon.
Walking to the bus door, I extended my right hand, the one with the slime hook shaped like a bracelet beneath the armor, and mentally wished for it to work. It was almost instantaneous.
The bracelet expanded and covered almost my entire forearm, then a thick gel rope shot out from the bracelet and attached to Rei's waist, before she could react, another one shot out and attached to Takashi's back. Look at that, I caught two protagonists!
Holding my right arm with my left, I anchored myself to the ground and pulled them both with force, causing them to move out of the path of the bus, which closed the gap right behind where they were. It was a good thing since the bus practically exploded in flames.
Looking at the two fools who alternated their gaze between the flaming bus, me, and the hook in my hand, I waved. "Now isn't a good time to argue, you know, with the apocalypse and all."
Retracting the hook and returning to the bracelet, I re-entered the bus, not paying attention to the pair on the ground.
"Well, Rei and, by extension, Takashi seem to disagree with this election and are leaving, and since Rei is leaving, Takashi is following." I pointed my thumb at the imbecile who was looking at me in surprise, or rather, my hand with the hook.
"I'm not really keen on hanging around that guy either, so I'm leaving too. Does anyone else want to come?" I said, pointing to the group of protagonists, as the rest of the students seemed to have converted into some kind of cult.
The first to recover from the shock was Saeko, who undoubtedly agreed. "I don't get along well with large groups anyway, I'll go with you." She got up and passed by me, leaving the bus and waiting outside.
Next was Saya, who still seemed surprised but nodded her head. "I'll go with you too, I don't feel safe here." Like Saeko before her, she stood up, but when she passed by me, she gave me a strange look and quickly left the bus. Strange.
Kohta just got up and followed Saya without saying a word, just nodding his head at me, a nod I returned.
Finally, I looked at the driver. "And you? Are you staying here or going-"
The imbecile interrupted me in the middle of my sentence.
"It's a shame you guys are leaving, but I understand, not everyone can get along in a peaceful group." He resumed his little act.
"But Nurse Shizuka can't go; we have students here who need a doctor. In case something happens, she's essential to the group." He walked over to her. "I ask that you stay, Nurse Shizuka, please."
The imbecile wasn't even hiding the lustful look he was giving her and her breasts, which only made the woman feel uncomfortable. When he reached out to put his hand on her shoulder, I decided I'd had enough and grabbed his wrist tightly, causing him to tremble in pain.
"Let's do this, 'buddy'." I said as I let him pull his hand out of my grip. "Let her decide, how about that? Free will and all, you know?"
So, I turned my head, never letting the snake out of the corner of my eye, and looked at Shizuka.
"Do you want to come with us? Or stay here, don't worry, if you want to come, no one will stop you." I held the short copper sword in my right hand, just to make a point. I could see the worm squirming in the corner of my eye when I did that.
The woman quickly nodded and got up, heading outside the bus. As she passed by me, she thanked me quietly. "Thank you."
I didn't bother to respond; I needed to see if the snake would do something. And he did. He came closer to me, practically steaming, and looked me in the eyes.
"How can you do this? And these students, what if someone gets hurt? Without the nurse, we won't have anyone qualified to take care of them. Don't you have any compassion?" The students behind him nodded in agreement, some even stood up to support the cult leader.
At that very moment, I read the messages from the (CHAT) out of the corner of my eye.
[YellowHuntressLive]: Seriously dude, just punch this idiot in the face already, what are you waiting for?!
[WhiteHuntressLive]: I agree with Yang, this guy gets on my nerves!
[BlakeHuntressLive]: I agree x2
[RedHuntressLive]: x3
[GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: x4
[TechTycoonStane]: A well-deserved punch in the face, x5
[StarkAssistant]: x6
[GryffinHouseMatron]: Just do it, x7
[HalfBloodPrince]: x8…
[WiseWizardGleam]: Violence is wrong, we should never resort to physical confrontation, that being said, x9.
Fascinating, he had mentioned majority vote, hadn't he?
"So go outside and tell the nurse to-" Before he could fill the air with his foul mouth, I twisted my body, throwing my arm back and delivering what I can only describe as the best punch of my life to his face.
It was cathartic to hear the sound of his nose, and possibly the bones and teeth in his face, breaking. He fell into one of the bus seats unconscious.
Before the shouting could start, I raised my voice: "Silence!" I went to the driver's seat and grabbed the keys, tossing them to one of the girls. "Here, you chose to stay with this imbecile, so figure it out. Lock the door and sleep here, or leave, I don't care."
Having said that, I left the bus and headed toward the group that was waiting for me on the corner with their mouths hanging open.
"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"