Chapter 2, Temporary Separation and Some Relaxation

We sat in silence with each other for what felt like hours, we actually managed to get out of that overrun high school with little to no problems, it was almost a miracle that no one had been bitten when we bolted for the bus. The bus was deathly quiet as we just continued forwards, no one saying a word for a long time, longer than what I thought possible. After a few turns throughout the roads we were driving on, someone finally managed to speak up. "Can't believe we did it…" Takashi said quietly, likely in shock over such a daring escape while Khota nodded in agreement. "Yeah." I could only stay focused on the road as we continued forward. "Thank God we did." Shido stated as he walked up the aisles himself, stopping near Saeko. "I take it you have been appointed leader?" He asked her, Saeko shook her head. "No, I wasn't." She stated while I decided to speak up myself. "We never thought about it to be honest, we just let each other do each others thing. Each of us is nothing more than an individual influence upon one another as we work in tandem, something akin to cogs in a machine I guess you could say." I said, trying to make sense with Shido. "That's not good… in order to survive we definitely need a leader." I didn't like where Shido was going with this. "A leader who bears everything, with valor, with confidence." I really was not liking him at this point; I heard something in his voice, an underlying madness that I couldn't explain.

"Look! The city!" One of the kids on board said as we went past the tree line and came upon a view of an abandoned town, there was smoke rising from several buildings, many of which had collapsed from what looked like not too long ago. Even creepier, there were no bodies of any kind on the street, dead or otherwise. 'They all must have evacuated long ago.' I thought; the sight of the empty streets were a little unsettling, but it was a somewhat nice change of pace compared to a zombie infested one. It was depressing at the same time, seeing no one for miles can make one loose hope for humanity, in this situation; it's for the survival really more than anything else. It's like you're the only one left, against every other force in the universe, hoping to live one more day, that's what it felt like.

When we came upon our first zed for a while I just ran the stupid thing over, not even slowing down in the slightest. "You keep coming, I'll keep killing!" I stated as I tried to make certain it was mostly for me. Little did I know that I was about to witness the first piece of evidence of infighting within a group that would be inevitable. The boy with a bit of golden hair stood up as he seemed to voice his own opinion in his own special way. "Shit! It's like I said, it will only be dangerous if we keep going! First of all, why do we have to go with Komuro and the others? You guys are the ones who decided to go back to the city! Maybe we should have just looked for a safe place inside the school! If you ask me, we're better off where we were." I was really seething at this guy's rant taking place! Couldn't he see that when the world's ending, they have bigger things to worry about than who they are going with? The others seemed to agree as they glared at the blond haired teen with disdain. "He's right." Another teen, the one with dilated pupils, said in response. "I kind of agree with Tsunoda we should barricade ourselves-" I decided to stop this at once and I slammed on the brakes to the limit they could go, sending everyone forwards. I unbuckled myself from my seat grabbed my RPK and pointed it directly at Tsunoda and began to rant myself.

"Okay! I have had enough of your whining, if you want to run away and hide, then fine! But I will not tolerate anyone forcing that upon others and being cowards while doing so! You want to mess with someone like this?! Man up in this world or I will kick you out of here; because I am done!" I put the RPK back beside me and slowly turned away from him and sat back down in silence. I turned to look back at the shocked teen, expecting him to respond. "Well?" I demanded as he nodded quickly in understanding. "Alright, now will you let me get my bearings back, please?" I asked as he nodded again. I stayed still, partially to calm myself down, and partially because I wanted to watch to see how things play out before we went on the move again.

"Why don't you tell us what you want to do?" Saeko asked Tsunoda, he looked to be seething in rage over something. "I just can't stand this guy!" He stated as he pointed directly at Takashi, who looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. "I hate him!" Khota looked like he was going to shoot Tsunoda, but Takagi held him back. "Why?" Takashi asked, getting up from his seat and having a confused look on his face. "What the hell did I ever do to you? I don't even know you!" That was something I wanted to know myself, there was no reason to be mad at him and I only knew him for a few hours. Tsunoda was only even angrier at Takashi's statement. "You know!" He said as he ran towards Takashi only to be struck full force in the gut by Rei's spear shaft. His spit went everywhere as he fell to the ground, writhing in pain. "Asshole." She stated simply in satisfaction as Shido started to clap!

"Bravo! Simply outstanding teamwork. I'm impressed! I commend both of you. At any rate, a conflict like that only proves my point, we need a leader. We do." I narrowed my eyes at the quite possibly demented man. "Surely neither of you wants such a difficult responsibility on your shoulders." I was really not liking him; he truly was a person mad with power! "So, you're going to run for the position then?" Takagi inquired, Shido smiled smugly. "I'm a teacher miss Takagi; and while mature, all of you except that man-" I interrupted him mid sentence. "The name is Alex you dumb-ass!" Shido looked like he had to physically restrain himself from something, most likely being insulted by my own insult. "-Alex over there, you're all barely in your teens. That alone makes it very clear who is more qualified to take such a role! I have experience, why, just moments ago, I saved all of these brave students. What do you say guys?"

I decided to stop him right then and there. "What about the one you might as well have tried to kill yourself?" I asked as Shido whipped around and glared at me… hard. "What. Did. You. Just. Say?" He demanded slowly as I slowly stood up, a glare on my own face. "You heard me, I saw you kick that kid next to Shizuka!" I turned to the kid who was still sitting next to Shizuka, who had managed to repair his nose with some good old fashioned medical care. "You can testify can't you?" I asked him as he nodded eagerly. "Yeah, Shido didn't help me when I was down; he left me for zombie chow! Only Alex seemed to want to save me, no one else did! I think he is more of a leader than you Shido!" That testimony was quite good I have to admit, it also made Shido's eye twitch, I took it as a sign that he was running out of options. "You can't… I did not… You can't prove…!" He stuttered as I went over to the kid and examined his beaten face. It definitely had a shoe mark as I had expected, comparable to higher sizes of shoes I had seen. And if I knew the teenage mind, they would have accepted just about any kind of evidence. "Well, let's see… size 11 shoe mark it looks like, and what shoe size are you Shido?" Shido laughed. "Don't you know it's personal?" I had enough and pulled out a Desert Eagle pistol from my jacket and pointed it at Shido's head. "I won't ask again!" Everyone's eyes widened as they stared at me in complete shock, Shido tried to find a different way out of this; I saw his eyes go in several directions before he seemed to come up with something. "Size… 10?" He said with a forced smile while I scowled. "Wrong answer!" I shot him in the right knee; he collapsed almost instantly and screamed in pain.

"What are you doing?!" Takagi demanded as I paid no kind of attention to her. "Now, let's see." I pulled one of Shido's shoes off, him being in too much pain to bother stopping me, and I looked at the size tag. "Size 11…" I smirked, turning my attention back to the downed man. "Looks like your campaign has just been sunk Mr. Shido, because you've been exposed." I stated harshly while Shido glared up at me. "You can't get away with this!" Shido shot back, but I shook my head. "If anything going on in this world is any indication, I believe I can. The police are too focused on controlling the zombie plague and the military only wishes to do the same thing. No one is going to have any time to help a single citizen; therefore, we can only look out for ourselves. I don't think you are fit for such a role Shido. You care about no one but yourself, you're worse than a sadist, you're a monster. I cannot allow you to infect the minds of such a group with such potential with your lies! You won't get a chance you know. If you don't care about anyone but yourself, I think you're the one who has relinquished your right to lead!" Everyone was wide eyed at my speech, while Shido was just a little bit… absolutely livid!

One of the girls that Shido had 'saved', Kawamoto, actually stood up and began clapping. "You're amazing Alex!" She said, Kokunsa, who was sitting beside her, stood up and did the same thing, soon the entire bus was clapping at my usurping of Shido. I admit that I was embarrassed at the praise, but I took it all in. I looked down at Shido, who at that point was in the middle of one of the most Ace Attorney-like breakdowns I had ever seen. "So… everything was leading to this… of course… right…" At first he tried to be logical it seemed, but that was before he began to really lose it. I guess the destruction of everything, coupled with seeing so much death and his loss of power before he could get it must have made him finally snap! "Alex… Alex…" He muttered before frightening me with one of the loudest screams I had ever heard in my life.

"AAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!" When he was finished, he began frantically thrashing around the floor and ruffling his hair, just like a stereotypical madman! He was also crazily babbling things like: "I won't accept… I can't accept! This is no man!" He said the last one, pointing an accusing finger at me. "Me! I am everything! I, Koichi Shido, am absolute! You'd let this… this… ignorant swine, soil our new society?!" He demanded to the group of teens he had saved, who looked at him as though he were the exact thing I had described. A girl from Shido's group, the dark blue haired one with glasses, stepped forward. "I agree with him Mr. Shido, it's over." Shido looked at her with the most hateful glare I had ever seen on him yet.

"Taniuchi!?" Shido spat. "You are absolute? You can't be serious." Taniuchi said back, Shido's glare hardened. "Wh-what?!" Taniuchi shook her head. "How odd, I always saw you as one who had potential to be a nice person, but I don't see that any more. You are done for Shido; you've served your purpose." She explained before she continued.

"Now that the world is no more, we have to adapt, to change; it is this responsibility that we have now." She closed her eyes as she continued, everyone in the bus listening to her words. "Whether that is destiny or an accident that was put under our care, is unknown to me, but I won't stop changing to adapt…" She then opened her eyes to look down at Shido once more. "However, you, you aren't changing anymore Shido; you've stopped. You're not needed anymore." I was extremely impressed by her stating the truth to Shido, being so open and sincere, I was so awestruck, I couldn't think of anything to say or to add to that! Shido reminded me a lot of a few people who I recalled meeting. I didn't want to think about it for that long, so I looked back down at Shido with one of the darkest looks I had ever given anyone in my life. "Now. Get. Out!" I demanded, teeth gritted and pointing to the door of the bus with my finger, Shido glared, but complied nonetheless, barely managing to get to his feet and limped out a defeated man. I then turned to Rei and Takashi, who were more than impressed of me.

"Go and make sure he doesn't come back alright?" They nodded and began escorting Shido out. A sense of calm came over me as I watched Shido limp off the bus, I knew he would have only caused trouble for us, I wondered briefly if it was right however, leaving him on his own with this injury I had caused, but I just watched his form grow smaller and smaller as he was escorted away by Rei and Takashi, the sense of the feeling as though it was right was overpowering. It felt so right to put such a man in his place.

A minute later, Saeko pointed something out to me. "Alex, you need to punch it!" I turned in multiple directions, wondering what she was talking about and I saw what I still consider one of, if not, the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen! A Metro Transit bus, full of zombies, was barreling towards us, driven by a zombie! I still get headaches wondering how it got like that in the first place! I then however, realized that if we didn't move, we were gonna be little more than broken pieces!

I stomped as hard as I could onto the gas pedal and moved the bus out of the way, the zombie driver didn't seem to notice as the bus continued in the exact same direction as before. It then hit a car and flipped the bus, sending it skidding several feet, leading the gas tank to rupture and burst into flames as it hit the tunnel entrance that Shido was being led down, making it blocked off completely. I got out of the bus and ran to the in-flames bus, stopping a few feet from it, the flames so intense that I swear that the heat burnt my eyebrows off! "Takashi, Rei! Are you both alright?" I yelled over the roaring flames, noting the zombies didn't seem to care that they were on fire; they smashed their way out and continued moving as normal. "The police station! Meet us at the east police station!" Takagi instructed to me from behind the burning bus. "What time?!" I yelled back as I shot all the zombies in front of me in the head, dropping a few moments later. "7:00, if not today, then tomorrow at the same time!" Takashi specified. "Understood!" I yelled in finality, I then noticed the other zombies that were on fire were dropping on their own, meaning they weren't invulnerable to fire! I noted this in my head and headed back to the bus we were driving.

"Looks like this way is closed off! I'll try to find another way; all of you just sit tight, okay?" I explained to the others as I turned the bus around and tried to find a different path. I then heard a loud 'BOOM' behind us and we all looked and saw a massive fireball erupting from where the bus once was. 'Thank god we weren't there!' I thought as we continued to try and find another way to a possible safe location.

Several hours later at 11:45, we were held up by authorities at a road that would take us east, it was frustrating to go so slow! "Any slower, we'll go in reverse!" I stated in exasperation and anger. "At this rate? I wouldn't be surprised if we don't cross the bridge before dawn." Said Saeko, sounding just as exasperated as I was. A loud groan filled the air; the sound of a stomach requiring food, it was enough to set Takagi off, I didn't blame her. Mostly because of how stressful everything was to us. "Shut up! You're so disgusting!" I heard Takagi yell. "I can't help it; I've been so hungry… ever since I started PX-90…" I could only look back in sympathy, having once gone through the same thing as he was. We then heard gunshots as several zeds were put down by law enforcement officials. A couple of the girls, Kokunsa and Kawamoto, ducked in terror, I felt as though I had to do something to keep morality up. I got up after I put the E-brake on and headed over to comfort the two. "Hey, girls, there's no need for worry you know." I said as I placed a hand on each of their shoulders, they both looked at me incredulously.

"Alex?" Kawamoto asked, I merely continued. "They're doing their jobs of making certain your safe, as am I." Kokunsa raised her eyebrow at me. "What do you mean?" I chuckled. "You should know; I am a member of the military after all." The two girls smiled at me and both hugged me, catching me off guard. "Thank you, Alex." Kokunsa thanked as she and Kawamoto sat back down in their seats. I went back to the driver seat, still kind of exasperated that that had happened and continued waiting for the line of cars to move, pondering if what I was doing was making any better difference.

The next day, we were still stuck in traffic, I had driven the bus most of the time so Shizuka offered to take the wheel instead, I let her and explained how to operate the bus, once she got it down, I told everyone that I was going to have a nap and that if anyone has any sort of argument or disagreement while I'm asleep, they can wake me up and we could sort it out. Several hours later, I woke up on my own and headed further up the aisle, sitting right behind Shizuka and next to the boy I had saved with my own two hands. "Hey." He said to me, grabbing my attention. "What is it kid?" I asked as he smiled at me. "Thank you, for saving me; you're more amazing than anyone I've ever seen." He praised as I smiled back. "It was just the right thing to do, along with getting rid of Shido. I think I just might do more good here than I ever had to be honest." The boy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" I sighed, not truly wanting to explain it. "When I was in Afghanistan, I never felt as though I was making any difference, just small blips here and there and that was it. I wanted to do good in the special forces, but I never felt as though I was. Now I have that chance, right here, right now." The boy smiled again. "I'm thankful for that. By the way, the name's Gokori Soroko." I smiled back at him. "Glad to be of service Gokori." We then sat in more silence, waiting to see if the line would move at all.

"Wait a minute; cars are not the only way out of here!" Takagi spoke up, I looked back at her. "Are you saying that we should take a plane?" I asked her, she nodded. "Yeah, it's far too dangerous to be anywhere in the city. I'll bet a lot of people are trying to get someplace isolated, someplace with a strong military presence or something." She explained. "Like Okinawa?" Khota asked. "But the American military stationed there isn't there to fight-" He cut himself off at a new apparent revelation. "Oh! But there's Self Defense Forces." He noted as Takagi nodded. "If the military has taken appropriate measures, then I'm betting Hokido or Kyushu should be okay too." She noted. "If planes are leaving, then all the flights are heading to those areas." Khota nodded. "So you think maybe we should head that way too?" He asked as Takagi shook her head.

"It's too late! The areas with heavy presence of self defense forces and American military may be managing to keep the zombies under control, but I'm sure they've already started to adopt a stern policy towards letting anybody else in! No, sooner or later it's going to be that way everywhere in the world! I mean, what would you do in the same situation?" Khota was in thought for a moment before he said his answer. "I'd seclude myself!" He said, probably imagining something stupid! "Actually, I think I would head somewhere isolated and do the same thing now that I think about it." I said in response, Takagi nodded. "Well, what would happen if everyone in this world starts thinking that way?" Takagi demanded, continuing without so much as a response. "What if they start focusing only on keeping their community as small as possible in order to survive?" Khota gulped at the mere thought of it. "You really ask some pretty relevant questions you know that?" He said nervously, Takagi shook her head in disbelief. "What are you talking about? Just recall Shido, you could already see it in him! Though I doubt if he knew it himself! As you recall, this all happened overnight."

Khota nodded, looking determined and looking like he was ready to shoot something! "Should I interrupt someone if that happens?" His tone was icy, cold and malicious even, Takagi rolled her eyes. "Forget them for now; I should consult with somebody I can trust! Jeez, I could have talked to Komuro if he were here." I smirked, mischievous thoughts entering my mind. "Yeah, you like him don'tcha?" I said smugly, making Takagi turn red in the face. "Don't be ridiculous!" She then noticed that we were not alone any more, as quite literally everyone was listening in a few minutes into the conversation. I was laughing at Takagi's face, it was absolutely priceless. To be honest, I only embarrassed Takagi purely for a good laugh. "What?!" Takagi demanded to them all as they stared at her with raised eyebrows, Saeko looked out one of the windows. "I'm getting worried; about Komuro and Rei as well." She stated, I also admitted that I was as well, as Rei and Takashi could be anywhere at this point, I wondered precisely where we could find them anyway. "I just hope they can hold out until we are able to meet up." I stated.

A few more hours later, we were stuck; I couldn't see any car that moved for miles! Eventually I had enough, there was no way we were going anywhere in this stupid thing! "I hate to say it, but we're going to have to abandon our vehicle!" I said to everyone, they all looked at me like I was crazy. "Are you nuts?!" Tsunoda demanded as I shook my head. "Listen, I hate to admit it, but this thing is useless now! All motion of the cars has stopped as well, we can't keep going like this, we have to get out if we want to have any chance of surviving now; we're sitting ducks if we remain here!" I reasoned as they all nodded in understanding. "I'm also putting forward the notion of leaving by choice, I'm not forcing any one of you to stay within the group, if you wish to leave… so be it. I can only wish you good fortune upon doing so however… So what's your choice?" I asked them all, silence reigned for a few minutes, and then Tsunoda spoke up. "I'm leaving." I looked at him, not surprised at him being the first one to leave. "Before you go, may I ask why?" I asked as he spat on the floor with disdain. "It's because you're with Takashi, I am not following anyone with any connection to him!" He opened the door and left just like he said a few seconds later. "Does anyone else want to leave?" I asked, everyone shook their heads no, I smiled.

"You all made the right choice then, now we walk." We all got off the bus and looked around, trying to find a way across and a bridge that wasn't blocked. While doing so, I decided to ask everyone about their families, starting with Khota. "Tell me Khota, about your family, it might help moral or something." He nodded, smiling shyly. "My father is a jewelry merchant, so he's gone to Amsterdam to buy stones. My mother on the other hand is a fashion designer, so she's been staying in Paris to-" Khota was cut off by Takagi. "Christ! Do you expect us to believe all that crap?!" She demanded while we all laughed or smiled at her reaction. "You know, if this were a manga, your daddy would probably be the captain of a cruise ship, a giant luxury liner!" Shizuka stated as Khota rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "My grandpa actually was and my grandmother was a concert Violinist!" He then laughed as we all shook our heads at his ridiculous family job claims. Takagi on the other hand had her head down low, probably muttering to herself about why Khota was so stupid or something. I honestly couldn't blame her. "Well, both of my parents passed away years ago, and my relatives live far away to be honest." Shizuka explained before she thought about something.

"You know, I probably shouldn't be saying this but, remember Mr. Shido?" We all shivered. "How could we not?" One of the boys, Yamada I was told his name was, stated. "Well, I don't think we should stick around for him to come back, because in my opinion, I think he's kind of a douche-bag." We all laughed, snickered or smiled at Shizuka's placing of what Shido was, seeing an adult openly call someone of roughly the same age that was quite hilarious to us. "I admit, that's quite accurate!" I said, smiling to Shizuka in response, she smiled as well. "Where are we going anyway? I'm not very familiar with this area." Saeko asked when we all calmed down a bit from the humorous moment. "Well, we should check on Obetsu Bridge first of all." Takagi stated, I nodded and found a sign leading us to it. "Come on, let's go!" Everyone nodded and we all headed for the bridge.

A few more hours later, we got surrounded by zombies that I swear came out of nowhere! Everyone had some kind of self defense weapon, all melee, and all provided by me, each and every one of them killed every zed that got close to them. "You know, I think we were better off staying on the bus, just throwing that out there!" Shizuka stated while staying back with Takagi, to prevent herself from being in danger. "Wait a minute; didn't you say that you didn't want to stick around for Shido to come back because he was a Douche-bag?" I asked, raising an eyebrow while looking back at Shizuka, who put a finger to her chin in thought. "As a matter of fact, I did, but he wasn't the first douche-bag I was stuck with." I stopped her right then and there. "Okay! The less we know about that stuff, the better!" I exclaimed as we continued dropping the zombies around us. "Just to let ya know, I'm running out of the nails!" Khota informed. Saeko piped up from somewhere nearby. "Would you prefer this?" She asked, showing her kendo practice sword, Khota looked nervous.

"I really don't do hand to hand combat." He stated, I understood him completely, while I was proficient in it, being a top level black belt in the military, I did not want to get in too close in general, out of pure preference, something Saeko smirked at. "I can't say the same. I'm actually quite fond of it." She stated while I nodded and reached into my jacket and threw a few packets full of cartridges, filled with nails, close to Khota. "Here, that should buy you a little bit of time!" I said while I threw the nails to him. Khota gratefully reloaded and continued firing. A few moments later, we all noticed Takagi and Shizuka both under attack by zombies, but we couldn't do anything in time. I then heard the loud engine of a dirt bike of some kind and turned just in time to see Takashi and Rei both jump several feet into the air from underneath the bridge and sail right over us. "Holy shit!" We all said simultaneously upon seeing the scene unfold. Takashi landed the bike on the bridge and hit several zombies, knocking them over, Rei jumped off the bike and brought her spear down upon an unsuspecting zombie, and she then spun on the ball of her foot and whacked a couple zombies away.

Takashi drove over to Khota and threw a pistol at him, a revolver too. Khota caught the gun perfectly when he saw it coming for him and grinned and laughed almost maniacally when he realized what it was. He then pointed it at a zombie, with precision I didn't know he had, and opened fire upon it. The zombie fell like a stone; Khota grinned and held the gun close to his face.

"Double tap baby!" I heard him say, Takashi spun the wheel of the bike and knocked two zombies off the bridge completely and sped towards Saeko. "Give me your hand!" I heard him yell as he stretched his arm out to the left and Saeko grabbed it, and upon doing so, I witnessed what was quite possibly the coolest thing I had ever seen in front of my eyes! Saeko, upon grabbing Takashi's arm, got spun around as Takashi spun the bike around in the same manner as he did when he knocked two zombies off with the bike before. She spun with extreme ferocity towards the zeds and hit them so hard in the heads, they just about exploded! "Amazing!" Shizuka commented as I nodded. "Indeed! I have never seen anything like that!" I said, praising the two for such a great maneuver. "Looks like it's all clear for now." Saeko noted. "They were sure tough to beat." Shizuka stated. "Tough for everybody but you maybe." Takagi said quietly, Rei suddenly ran up to Shizuka and outright hugged her! "Miss Shizuka!" She said in relief as she threw her arms around the busty nurse. "Oh Miyamoto, what a coincident!" Shizuka said in surprise, I cringed at her bad use of grammar.

"That's: 'What a coincidence'." I heard Rei state flatly as she spoke directly into Shizuka's chest. "You too, Takashi." Shizuka said to Takashi obliviously, Takashi was then approached by Saeko. "This must mean Tokonusu Bridge is also blocked." She noted as Takashi nodded. "You're right, there's no way out." He said sadly. "I have to confess, I'm really glad you're okay Takashi." Saeko said with a smile. "Glad you're alright too." Takashi said back with a smile, I noticed Takagi and Rei were glaring at him. "What about me?!" Takagi demanded; her face a hard glare, Takashi looked around nervously. "I'm glad you're okay too; all of you." He then noticed Khota was missing from the reunion and found him several feet away, gawking over the gun that was thrown to him earlier. "What are you doing!?" Takashi demanded while Khota was completely oblivious to him. "Takashi! What is this?! How'd you get it?! Where are the extra bullets?!" He yelled excitedly, I was a little shocked to see him so excited over a gun as the only other person I saw act like him was my friend Danny Forgo; when he first got his hands on an M16, he was positively ecstatic! "This is a Smith and Wesson Air-weight that the police use right?!" We all collectively ignored him as he continued fan-boying over his new toy. "I'll explain later." Takashi said awkwardly as we all nodded in agreement.

Later, we were standing next to a river that was running like crazy, while we explained to Takashi what had happened while he and Rei were separated from us. "We then left the bus behind due to the roads being completely sealed off; we haven't found a way to cross the river since." I explained, recounting the events when they unfolded. "The water's also risen, so going farther upriver won't help much." Takagi informed, making me sigh. "Then, what should we do?" Another girl, Naomi, asked, hoping for a good answer. "I have a thought; it's been such a stressful day, why don't we just call it quits for now?" Shizuka suggested as Khota looked at her in disbelief. "Call it a day?" He questioned, Shizuka nodded. "Why yes, my friend's flat is nearby; it's just a short walk from here." Takagi raised an eyebrow. "Your boyfriend's place?" She asked, making Shizuka blush hard. "Oh, no, no, no, no, it's nothing like that; it's just my girlfriend's apartment! She's always busy working and traveling with her job, so she gave me a key so I could go there and look after the place when she's away." She explained quickly while I honestly could not help but imagine her in an extremely revealing maid outfit for unknown reasons. Trying to clear those thoughts out of my head, (and to try and get rid of the blush on my face) I decided to ask about the place.

"Is it a high rise; does it have a good view of the surroundings, that sort of thing?" Shizuka smiled at me. "Oh, yeah! It's a duplex standing along the river, there's a convenience store nearby too. Oh! And a car! You know; the one that looks like a tank? The thing that drinks gas? Big! The really big one!" She explained as she threw her arms out to the sides rather quickly, making her enormous breasts bounce in probably an accident, but I could not help but ask: "A Humvee?" Shizuka nodded. "Yeah, that thing!" Takagi looked herself over as she reeled away in disgust of herself. "I don't care about a Humvee as much as a shower; I don't think I've ever felt dirtier in my life." She said, brushing one of her hair tails back a bit, Khota watching the whole thing with what I could only describe as hearts in his eyes. "I couldn't agree with you more." I honestly could not believe that he said that in front of Takagi! Same as Takagi herself, as she kicked him right in the face, man that had to hurt! "What do you mean by that?!" Takagi demanded, I sweat-dropped a bit myself. "I think he meant that you looked better clean." I said nervously as she huffed. "At least someone is straightforward!" She noted loudly. "I'll go check on it with her." Takashi piped up. "Come on, let's go." he said, waving Shizuka over. "Oh! Okay." She said in response as she and Takagi both got on the bike and sped in the direction that Shizuka pointed Takashi in. "Now, all we do for now, is wait." I stated as everyone started to get comfortable as time passed.

Once we got the report from Takashi and Shizuka that the apartment was clear, we headed to it, and once inside, we let the girls have showers and cleaning facilities first. Oddly enough, they did something I never expected! They invited me to bathe with them but no one else was to enter! In shock, I asked them as to why, they said that since I was so helpful to them, they would allow it. I just didn't quite understand it, but I wasn't one to say no. I also stated that if they really wanted to, I would leave if things got too awkward. They agreed and I went in first, placing my clothes outside the door, jacket and underwear included, and I looked over at a mirror and saw myself. I was by no means puny, no, no. I was comparable by many to fictional and huge, muscle bound figures such as the Hulk, Juggernaut, The T-800 model 101 series Terminators, The Thing and the Legendary Super Saiyan Broly! I didn't think I was that big as it was all part of my military routine, to get stronger than anyone there, I succeeded and now, I looked like this! My biceps alone were about the width of the average male's waist and my legs were comparable to the Golden Gate Bridge's cables, my 6 pack was rock hard (no innuendo intended), most likely no punch from any living thing would able to punch through.

I even was able to fight with the likes of Sharks and massive Bears! No joke, I was able to fight them off like a pro could! There was also the presence of scars all over my body, each one in various size and shape as well as impact, some were just on the surface, but others were cut deep. I didn't think too hard about it and just settled into the tub that was present in the bathroom. "Alright, are you coming in or not?" I asked with my voiced raised, the girls all soon came in, each of them completely naked, making me blush hard. "H-hot…" I said under my breath, looking them all over, especially Shizuka! Holy hell, she is massive! I didn't get much time to look as they all clamored in to various parts of the bathroom, even the second tub; I was sitting with Shizuka beside me and Rei on the opposite end. The other tub had Taniuchi, Naomi and Kokunsa in opposite ends while everyone else was washing themselves in the showers. Only then did I realize how massive this bathroom was, it was a good 40ft long × 50ft wide! I wondered exactly how Shizuka's roommate was able to afford this, but I decided not to question it.

Rei sighed in pleasure as she settled in opposite me. "Ah, that feels nice!" She said in what sounded almost like ecstasy or something. "It feels like I'm melting away." Shizuka sighed in just as much pleasure as Rei. "This always makes me want to just stay in the tub forever, ya know?" I asked, they nodded, understanding the feeling. I noted Takagi looking over a bottle of something and wondering if it was shampoo or not. I waved her over and confirmed that it was in less than a second. Rei then noticed something about Shizuka that made me red for an odd reason. "Good god you're gigantic!" She said, referring to Shizuka's massive bust size! Shizuka cupped her breasts gently. "I know; I get that a lot." She responded with what sounded almost like pride in her voice! "Huh… almost impossibly gigantic…" Rei said with some jealousy. I tapped Shizuka on the shoulder and asked her: "Do you mind if I… touch them? I won't if you don't want me to-" I was cut off by Shizuka. "No, it's alright, I can trust you, but why do you want to?" She asked, I blushed so hard, I hoped I wasn't as red as I felt! "Uh, well, it's mostly out of curiosity but, I want to know if they're fake; I usually can tell if they are or not, provided I can feel them." Shizuka looked surprised. "You can feel which ones are fake and which ones aren't?" She asked as I nodded. "Just by feeling them." I assured, she looked unsure, but she nodded, a sign that I could go ahead. I gently reached to and held one of her massive breasts and squeezed, Shizuka yelped and I continued to feel her, not bothering to respond. A few moments later, I had checked and re-checked all parts of Shizuka's breast and found absolutely no evidence of false breast implants. "Just as I suspected, I can't feel any sort of plastic in there, and the other one is just as likely to be real as well." I told Rei, she seemed miffed. "Come on! They can't be real!" What she did next however, shocked me to my core! She reached out and placed both hands on Shizuka's breasts, squeezing them hard in the process! Shizuka let out a cry of what almost seemed to be pleasure. "I gotta feel those myself!" Rei stated, probably determined to find out just what was in those breasts of Shizuka! "Hey, let her go, Rei!" I demanded as I grabbed her hard and tried pulling her off, but she wouldn't let go! The three of us then heard a loud cry as we all stopped instantly and looked over and saw something that made us all freeze in our tracks; Saeko had used one of the shower heads to spray Takagi in the back with ice cold water! "That voice is better than I thought it would be." Saeko complimented, though I'm not certain whether or not it was a compliment or a jab at something. Either way, I'm not sure. "Boys must love your sexy voice." Saeko continued as she washed herself further. Takagi got a smirk on her face as she filled a bowl with the same ice cold water and dumped it all onto Saeko's back! Saeko let out a gasp as I winced a bit at the girl's antics. I knew just how uncomfortable that kind of cold water makes one feel! Saeko glared playfully at Takagi, who glared right back! "Don't look at me like that; you're the one who started it!" We all laughed as we continued washing ourselves for several minutes, which was until Rei noticed Saeko's own large breasts, not as large as Shizuka's, but still large in their own right, Rei clamored out of the tub and grabbed them both in a similar manner that she grabbed Shizuka's, who was still sore from Rei's grabbing. "God! More big ones?!" Rei demanded as Saeko cried out, partially in pleasure, partially in pain as I got out of the tub after making sure Shizuka's breasts weren't sore anymore and pulled Rei away from Saeko. "Alright, that's it! I am throwing you out of here, if you don't cut that out now!" I threatened, to which, Rei complied. The rest of the bathing time was had without any further incident, thank god! But we did have a bit more fun, splashing around on each other, even Shizuka's breasts made for effective water throwers! As we splashed around and generally had a good time in what seemed like forever.

Later on, I got out of the tub myself, leaving the girls to themselves as I dried myself off as best I could, I was barely even dented in the stamina department from all the antics and fun I had. When the girls saw my pecks and massive body, they all turned red, somehow only noticing how muscular I was right then and there. I then headed out and put my clothes back on, starting with my underwear, then the socks and boots, then the black jeans, then the black shirt and finally, the 'magical jacket' as I decided called it. I went upstairs to talk with the boys to find them loading up several guns' clips with ammunition. "Looks like we found the jackpot!" I noted as I walked in, grabbing their attention. "Oh, hey there Alex, how was the bath?" Khota asked as I blushed heavily, looking away in some embarrassment. "The only thing I'm saying is that things got… grabby between the girls at one point… nothing more." Every male person present blushed heavily as I did. "Well, we were loading these guns, want to help?" Khota asked quickly, I looked down and recognized the guns they had laid out, I motioned to one. "Isn't that a Springfield M1A1 Super Match?" I asked as Khota's eyes lit up excitedly. "Yeah, it's semi automatic, but the M14 series fully automatic is nothing but a waste of ammo anyway." Takashi sighed. "Here we go again!" He said shaking his head. "You can put 20 bullets in the magazine, that's illegal in Japan!" Khota continued, he then giggled madly muttering: "Illegal." like it was a joke, I smiled widely. "I like illegal stuff when it comes to guns too you know." I put my fist out for a fist bump and he bumped it as I expected him to. "Next up, the Sr-25 r-" He cut himself off as he corrected himself. "No wait, you can't get that in Japan." I spoke up again. "Yeah, they instead completely modified an M-110!" Khota nodded. "Precisely! Last but not least is a crossbow, a descendant to the one Robin Hood used! A Barnett Wildcat C-5! Made in Britain; you could even kill a Bear with it!" He pointed out, I then noticed the last one. "This baby I recognize." I said, Khota grinned even wider. "My favorite out of the whole bunch! An Ithica-37 riot shotgun! A super Shotgun made by Americans!" I grinned wildly. "This baby was always at my side when I was in Afghanistan, helped me out a lot!" I said excitedly. "Yeah, just remember one thing, when I get bit, don't hesitate to pull the trigger!" Khota said seriously as I smiled at him. "Same here." Khota smiled back. "It's a deal then!" We clasped our hands together in a brotherhood-like fashion, sealing the deal permanently. I helped for several minutes to load the clips of the guns; turns out there were more than what was mentioned. There was also an AK-47, as well as what follows: an AR15; the civilian version of the M16, a Stakeout shotgun, an M1 Carbine made in the 40's, an MP5, even more surprising was the presence of an MP-40! There was also several CZ-75s, a Desert Eagle, a Colt Python, a Double Barrel Shotgun, a set of 10 Bowie Knives and several universal attachments, wow! I was surprised that whoever had this place had this many weapons! I still loaded their clips though. "You know, it's a pain in the butt to load the clips right?" I asked Khota, he nodded. "Yeah, it always is." I raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant. "Any practice with Airsoft Guns?" I asked as Khota smirked devilishly, making me somewhat uncomfortable. "No way, with the real ones!" He stated, making my jaw drop! "What are you saying?! You've done this before?!" Takashi demanded as Khota nodded in affirmative. "When I went to America, I was trained by this instructor, he used to work for a private military company; Blackwater, for a month. He's an ex-captain of Delta Force!" I was impressed, though the description clicked something in my head. "I think I met him at one point, at a gathering for retired soldiers. We talked about war stories and everything." I smirked, impressed with Khota's resume. "I have to say, I'm impressed; the class nerd is also a card holding member of the NRA." Takashi smiled uneasily. "I'm really glad we're on the same side." Khota smiled right back. "Yeah." He said back as I then had a thought. "Wait a second, why didn't you say you had gun experience yourself?" I asked as Khota became nervous. "Look, I just… I don't know I just… I didn't think about it at the time." He said as I just dropped it. "Never mind..." I then stared at the guns in front of all of us for a few seconds. "If that's your secret life, then what's this girl's deal? I'm pretty certain it's illegal to even have military grade weaponry in your home, much less in this quantity, isn't it?" I asked as Khota nodded. "Yeah, but it's perfectly legal to purchase the guns in various parts, but it's illegal to put them together in this configuration." Khota explained, continuing to load the clips. "Whoever lives here definitely knows what they're doing. And that makes sense to me as Shizuka stated that her roommate used to be in the military." I shrugged. "Just like Canada and America apparently." They both raised an eyebrow at me. "The fact that you can get away with anything, provided you a; know how to use a gun and b; are in law enforcement/military." I explained as everyone else nodded in understanding. "It's plainly obvious that whoever lives here is not your average citizen. An unmarried police officer usually lives in the dormitory. But to think that someone is renting a room like this… either her parents are rich, or the man she's dating is rich, or she's involved in some… funny business." Khota theorized and I nodded at the theories. "Each one would make sense in one way or another you know." Takashi went over to the balcony and looked through the area with a pair of binoculars. I also noticed that the girls were still playing down in the bathroom, something that Miura, the one with the reddish-orange shirt underneath his jacket, was somewhat annoyed by. "They should probably hold it down in there." He stated as Takashi shook his head. "It's all right." Miura raised an eyebrow while Takashi explained. "I know they respond to what they hear, but they're not hearing the girls…" He trailed off as the guys and I all understood what he meant; he was talking about the bridges, where the most people were congregated. I could only pray for their poor souls that whatever fate that falls upon them, would be an act of mercy.