"Ah you dummy... Why do you always do reckless things by yourself?"
As Haru killed the beast with his daring and somewhat dangerous move, Aki wearily leaned against the wall near an open window. Her heart had been pounding since they encountered the beast, nearly giving out when she saw Haru's near-fatal encounter. But thankfully for her nothing bad happened and Haru emerged victorious.
Feeling a sense of relief that the threat was finally gone, Aki found her face covered in sweat despite the chill in the air. Exhausted from the encounter with the terrifying beast, she struggled to find the energy to move.
As Aki was resting briefly to regain her strength, she was startled by a sudden shout that reached her ears.
"AKI-CHAN!!! WATCH OUT!!!!" Orimura's urgent shout made Aki alert, only to feel a chilling presence behind her.
"Growl..."
"!!" A small growl confirmed her fears, freezing her in place for a moment.
With a surge of panic, she attempted to move away, but the Zombie, incredibly swift, closed in on her from the other side of the window.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!!!!" Orimura's voice rang out as she swung her rod at the Zombie's head, barely away from Aki's neck.
Bang!
The force of Orimura's swing cracked the Zombie's head open, quickly killing it.
But despite the swift action, she was late by a second.
"A-Aki..." Orimura's eyes widened in disbelief as she gazed at Aki, more precisely at her neck.
"E-Eh? W-What?" Aki stammered, unable to believe what had transpired in the mere seconds after Orimura's warning.
"T-This..." Aki's hands trembled as she touched the burning spot on her neck, then brought her hand in front of her, finding it wet with something warm.
"!!" Her entire body quivered as she stared at her hand, noticing drops of her blood tinged with something black.
She attempted to speak, but no words escaped her lips as her body froze.
"Aki!" The people around her looked on in shock and concern, but they took an involuntary step back from her.
Aki felt a mix of shock, despair, and helplessness at the looks they were giving her. But then she turned her frightened gaze toward the one person who mattered most to her.
"H-Haru..." Aki finally opened her mouth, fear and nervousness evident in her eyes as she found him looking at her.
No words emerged from Haru, but his expression was more than enough to convey the shock he was experiencing.
He stood there, his face reflecting the feeling that his world was collapsing around him.
Aki opened her mouth, as if to say something to him in her helplessness, but then she covered it, stopping herself.
'H-Haru... h-help m-me,' Instead she pleaded within her heart.
'I-I don't want to d-die.' Tears leaked from her golden eyes as she thought about the fate that awaited her.
She wanted to cry out for help, but she knew how selfish and hopeless it would be.
"A-Aki/F-Fujiwara," Orimura and Kuga Yoshida looked at her in worry, but the panic and fear hidden in their eyes were visible to Aki.
'T-They are giving me the same look which I gave to Maemura...' Aki bit her lip, feeling all sorts of emotion. But instead of crying for help or despairing at her situation, she did something no one expected.
Giving one last apologetic look toward Haru, whose mind still couldn't process the situation, she decided to run away from them.
She did not want to burden them, and most of all, definitely not him. Just the thought of Haru trying to stop her in a mindless state pained her heart so much that she'd rather die alone, away from them.
"AKI!!! STOP!!!" Haru shouted, as if awakened from a trance, when Aki started sprinting in the direction they had come from.
"I'm sorry, Haru! But I can't…" Aki replied with tears in her eyes.
But the thing she wanted to do didn't happen.
Just a few seconds after she ran away, her body temperature rose sharply, and she felt incredibly weak, causing her to tumble to the ground.
"AKIIII!!!!" Haru's shout came from behind her.
'Why… just why? Why don't things go the way we want them to, Haru?' Aki thought as she felt her eyelids grow heavy and soon fell into slumber. She didn't want to burden him with finishing her off as a Zombie, yet the situation wouldn't allow for anything else.
Haru quickly reached and squatted beside Aki, calling out, "Aki! Wake up! Aki!"
He then looked back with a pale face and urgently asked, "Sensei! Aki is bleeding! She needs help!"
Everyone moved closer toward the duo, but no one said a word.
They just silently stood there feeling helpless and sad.
"Why aren't you helping her? Sensei!" Haru's voice tinged with panic as he raised his voice, seeing Orimura not doing anything.
"Haru-kun... Aki... she..." Orimura had trouble speaking about it. She was truly distressed about Aki's fate, and just looking at Haru's pained expression made it even worse for her.
"W-Why... aren't you saying anything?" Haru once again asked, his quivered voice filled with desperation.
"You bas****!!!" As if he had enough, Kuga Yoshida lifted Haru in anger, regret, and helplessness as he continued, "Can't you understand the situation!? She is bitten! SHE CAN'T BE SAVED!!!"
A light in Haru's eyes seemed lost as he heard him. It wasn't that he did not know what was happening to her. He just wanted to deny the truth.
"Y-Yoshida-kun... I don't think you should..."
"No, Sensei! He has to accept the truth and move on!" Kuga Yoshida turned toward her and spoke.
It was then that Haru spoke up, "Let go of me."
Kuga Yoshida didn't say anything further and let go, noticing a change in Haru's demeanor.
But observing what Haru did next, Kuga couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"
Haru did not reply back, and instead he gently lifted the unconscious Aki from the ground and secured her in a piggyback position.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Kuga Yoshida asked again in shock and grasped Haru's shoulder to stop him from leaving.
Haru slowly turned his head back, with his hallow-looking eyes, he replied, "I am leaving with Aki."