I've been back to class for a while now. It's been an hour since we saw Dojima Sensei at the main entrance.

He was taken to the infirmary and took his last breath.

All of us here have seen a movie or at least heard of Zombie once. In terms of Zombie's principle, although the heart of the dead person has stopped beating, the brain, due to the mutation of the Virus, still functions in a different way and transforms the dead person into a Zombie. So after Dojima Sensei passed away, all the teachers met together and agreed to use a scalpel to stab him in the head again, destroying his brain to prevent him from reanimating.

Poor Dojima Sensei, although I had never been interested in his lectures, I was sure he never deserved it. I suddenly felt extremely ashamed and guilty about all the times I had tried to act like I knew more than him in math class before.

We were all silent. What had just happened was so sudden that we finally had to accept that what was happening now was reality.

Airi burst into tears in her boyfriend's arms. Miyu and our friends hugged each other in fear and prayed. Only Katashi was still calmly listening to music at the back of the class. Maybe for that guy, every day was the end of the world.

Down in the main hall, the PE teachers and the strongest, bravest boys used everything they could to reinforce the entrance and all the glass doors on the first floor. We were forbidden to go down there and believe me, no one wanted to go back there.

I called my parents and Toru, but there was no signal, the phone service had been down since the power went out that afternoon. It seemed that until the storm passed, or whatever was out there, the safest and only option was to spend the night at school.

I sat down and looked at family photos on my phone. I remembered the time I went to the beach with my parents and Toru after graduating from middle school. Toru refused to change into a swimsuit because she didn't want anyone there to know she was a girl. Mom and Toru got into a huge argument and Toru won out. Even though I had been looking forward to going to the beach for the past week, seeing her alone on the sand made me feel bad for leaving her there.

At that time, I was 15 years old and Toru was only 9 years old, our relationship had not yet broken down to the extent it is now. The two of us sat on the beach building a sand castle, forgetting about time. Although I was stubborn and forced her to build the sand castle the way I wanted, Toru's expression at that time showed that she was extremely happy, she smiled. She was always like Katashi, someone who always worried about others, but never showed happiness, she rarely smiled. So, even though we went to the beach without touching any sea water, I will always remember that trip, cherish that moment, as well as Toru's bright smile.

“Toru looks happy, doesn't she?”

Miyu approached me from behind, she was staring at my phone screen.

“I'm so jealous, Hana's breasts had already developed this much in middle school…”

Miyu leaned forward and pointed at me in the photo.

“Hey! Stop it…”

I shyly put my hand up to cover my chest, luckily at that time no boy was paying attention to us.

But I bet they're not in the mood to notice my breasts right now.

…

Miyu stayed by my side that night, she also showed me pictures of her family, of Yuuki, and confided in me about her life memories. And then, Miyu also fell asleep.

Just yesterday, I was worried about my future in Tokyo for the next few months, but now, it doesn’t matter anymore. I miss my cozy home, my room and my soft bed, I miss the flickering streetlights outside the window and the stars in the night sky that lulled me to sleep. I miss my computer and my unfinished projects… I had more than I should have… and only when I no longer have them do I realize how precious they were.

We were each given a blanket. Hibiki Sensei, our homeroom teacher, divided our sleeping areas into two sides of the classroom, with all the desks and chairs placed in the middle, separating the boys' and girls' areas. He sat in the middle, nodding off as he kept watch, and by midnight, Hibiki Sensei had succumbed to sleep and put his head down.

I looked towards the classroom window. The storm had not yet passed, and beyond the curtain of rain, there was only cold blackness.

Today was a terrible day, a lot of things happened and it ended up being an apocalypse. Worst of all, I still don't have Katashi's answer.

Even though I was just at school today and my whole body was clean, my body would feel very uncomfortable if I didn't shower for a day. So I tossed and turned but still couldn't sleep.

I sat up and looked around. Everyone was sleeping, including Hibiki Sensei.

This was my chance. My school had a bathroom on the ground floor, in the pool area, and we had an elevator that went straight down from here so we didn’t have to worry about going through the first floor. Even though the whole school had lost power, the elevator had its own backup generator. If I was lucky, the elevator would still work.

I immediately took my school bag and sneaked out of the classroom.

I used the flash on my phone as a flashlight. In the middle of a stormy night like this, the hallway felt really creepy with the sound of wind and thunder from outside, just like a horror movie. But I am the type of person who is used to being active at night and the stinging feeling of not being able to shower was more uncomfortable than anything else at the moment, which became the motivation for me to courageously move forward.

It was easier than I thought, everyone was asleep, the ones who were awake were all on the first floor and there was no one guarding the hallway. As I thought, the elevator was still working. I made it down to the pool without any problems.

I was alone on the G floor and that didn't scare me. I always stayed at school to swim alone so I was used to it and I swear it was much more pleasant than upstairs because it was soundproof so I didn't have to worry about thunder.

Having been here so many times, I knew pretty much everything by heart down by the pool area. I quickly changed and headed to the bathroom. Things went pretty smoothly now that I didn’t have to worry about making any noise.

God doesn’t hate me, really. No electricity, no light, but still has most of the hot water from the day. Luckily, there’s no swimming class today and the hot water is still heated on a daily basis. I leave the water pouring, letting the water splash on the floor.

Even though I know it's not good to take a bath at night, I still stay in the shower for a long long time. After a tiring day, there's nothing more wonderful than letting the gentle water wash away your thoughts.

I took a shower before leaving. I dried myself thoroughly and quickly put on my school uniform, ready to return to class.

But just as I finished putting on my underwear, a rustling sound came from behind the row of lockers.

I quickly grabbed my phone and shined the flashlight in the direction of the sound. Damn, this was the second night in a row I got scared like this.

If last night, I was only worried about robbers and perverts, then tonight, it was a different story. I was really scared. Most importantly, I wasn't at home, and there were hundreds of cannibal zombies outside. Right now, if I was going to die, I'd rather die fully clothed.

I shined the light for a while, but there was nothing there. Coming to my senses, I told myself it was just a mouse or a hallucination caused by my anxiety.

But when I turned around to continue putting on my shirt and started buttoning it, a dark shadow appeared from somewhere, suddenly grabbed my wrists, and pushed me against the locker.

My phone fell to the ground, the light from the Flash shining straight into my attacker's face.

I could clearly see in front of me, two crimson male school blazers. The one attacking me, was clearly not a zombie, but a human.

And I knew immediately who it was.

There were two people attacking me from both sides. On the right side, the one holding my right arm down was a boy with slightly spiky chestnut hair, Daisuke. On the left side, the one with a bowlcut and an earring, half Korean, holding my left arm down was Hari. Both of these guys were students in my class.

“Whoa! Look Daisuke, I caught this lost lady!”

“And look what she's wearing, Hari.”

They looked down at my cleavage and licked their lips. I remembered that these two were also among the ones who confessed to me, but failed miserably and never dared to talk to me again.

“Let me go! What do you want?”

“What do you want?” – Hari used his other hand to lift my chin up – “Hana, guess what, in the middle of the night like this, a beautiful girl in a provocative outfit and two guys? So what do we want?”

I gritted my teeth and glared at them.

“Filthy!”

“Let me tell you. You are beautiful, talented, and arrogant… A perfect girl like you, have you ever wondered why there are hundreds of guys lining up to confess their love to you every day?”

Then he stuck out his dirty tongue and licked my face.

“Because we all want to FUCK you.”

“You guys are crazy! I'll tell the teacher! You guys will be dead.”

Hari turned to look at Daisuke, both of them burst out laughing.

“The world is ending, princess… Tomorrow when those monsters get in here, we will all be finished… we simply want to enjoy today to the fullest.”

“No way! I'll scream right now! The people on the first floor will hear and come rescue me! You two will be dead today!”

“I thought you were smart, you can scream here freely, I don't think anyone will hear.”

“Daisuke! Let's strip her and get to the work!”

“No!” – I screamed, trying to struggle, but they were much stronger than me. This was it, so a beautiful and perfect girl like me would end up here? Being raped by two piece of garbarge trash and then eaten alive by cannibal corpses…

Hari used all his strength to tear my shirt off.

Oh mom, I don't want it to end like this…

“Someone save me…”

I burst into tears. But Hari and Daisuke still wouldn't let me go.

“Look Hari, the bitch who rejected us looks so pathetic now!”

“Hey, why the struggle, we haven't touched you yet.”

No, I can't give up here yet. If someone finds me here tomorrow, in this miserable state, I'll have nowhere to hide.

“Anyone there! Help me!”

“Hibiki Sensei! Save me!”

I kept screaming, but no one responded.

It’s over, it seems like this is my fate. Seeing Hari and Daisuke mocking me… I just want to die. If I had just stayed in class, things wouldn’t have turned out like this.

I sobbed.

“Katashi… save me…”

“Huh? Did I hear wrong?”

“Did she just mention Katashi?”

“That autistic guy? Wow, he's your bodyguard?”

I gritted my teeth and refused to answer them. I was ready to accept my fate.

Katashi, I'm so sorry that the last person I thought of was you.

That was until Hari started touching his dirty hands to my chest when a voice I never thought I would hear came from the back of the room.

The deep voice I heard all my childhood.

I'm not wrong, I'm definitely not wrong. I told myself.

“You two bastards! Let her go!”

At the end of the room, the figure of a male student in a black shirt appeared.

“Katashi!!!” – I shouted happily.

I've never felt like I needed him more in my life than I do now. In Katashi's usually lifeless eyes, a fire of anger flashed.

“Oh…” – Hari turned to look at Katashi, he used his sarcastic tone again – “Just in time, you idiot, we are about to smash this girl? Do you want to join?”

Katashi clenched his fists.

“Don't make me say it twice! Let her go!”

“Calm down man… we're just having a little fun, no bloodshed today, okay?”

Daisuke whispered into Hari's ear.

“Unless she's a virgin.”

“Damn it!” – Katashi fiercely rushed towards Hari, throwing his fist at his face. Hari immediately let go of me to counterattack, but his reflexes were too slow so he was punched again by Katashi.

Daisuke also let go of me and rushed into the fight with Katashi, he threw a punch to the back of the head that knocked Katashi forward. Hari took the lead and kneed him in the stomach. One against two. The result was Katashi curled up on the ground.

“You bastard! How dare you hit me!”

"Die!"

Daisuke and Hari stomped on Katashi repeatedly. He could only curl up to minimize the pain.

“Get up! katashi, get up!” – I shouted from behind.

“You guys… stop fighting!”

Hari and Daisuke turned to look at me. At this moment, Katashi took the opportunity to sweep his foot across the ground, knocking the two thugs down. Hari jumped up and threw a punch, but Katashi blocked it once again and countered it. Daisuke came from behind and prepared to chop Katashi's neck, continuing to sneak attack him, but Katashi didn't let his trick happen a second time. He quickly dodged to the side and kicked him in the stomach. Daisuke was kicked away and rolled on the ground.

Katashi grabbed Hari by the collar, raising his fist.

“Okay! Okay! Stop it! We know we were wrong…”

Looking at Daisuke writhing in pain, holding his stomach, and Hari trembling, he had taken three punches from Katashi, and they no longer looked harmful.

Katashi looked at me. I shook my head. He let Hari fall to the ground.

Katashi glared at the other two, then jerked his chin toward me.

Hari also knew what to do, looked at Daisuke, both looked at each other, then nodded.

He came forward to pick up the shirt and return it to me, then bowed his head and apologized.

“Sorry Hana… A lot happened today, we got a little carried away.”

Then he stepped back to make room for Daisuke, he just bowed his head and picked up the phone and returned it to me.

I just took the things back without looking them in the eye. Those pieces of trash wasn't worth talking to.

“Now get out, and don't let anyone know what you did tonight.”

Katashi threatened. Hari and Daisuke didn't dare to say anything, just silently backed away and left.

Wow, since when did you become so cool?

Katashi didn't turn to look at me, he just spoke softly.

“Put your clothes on, I don't like seeing you like this.”

“Uhm. – I don’t know what else to do but listen to him. Katashi just saved my life. If he hadn’t shown up in time, even if I survived, I wouldn’t have the face to face my parents anymore.

After packing up my things, I asked Katashi if he could return to class with me. He didn't turn to look at me but nodded slightly.

All along the way, I didn't dare say a word to Katashi. I just lowered my head and followed him shyly. There were so many things I wanted to ask Katashi, but looking at his mood, it seemed like he wasn't ready to answer.

Fortunately, after leaving the changing room, no male student dared to attack me again. The rain continued to pour down and I still couldn't stand the thunder in the third floor corridor.

Just as Katashi was about to step into the classroom, I suddenly grabbed his wrist.

Katashi looked at me. That's right, Katashi, there's something I have to ask you.

But before I could do anything, Katashi spoke first.

“Hana… please…”

I listened quietly. He was awake now, and I was ready to listen to whatever he had to say.

But what I got was just a cold sentence, and I was extremely hurt, because that was my own sentence.

“Please, Hana, get out of my life…”

Then, I let go of Katashi's hand and let him in. Katashi didn't say anything more, nor did he look back. Maybe he really hated me that much. I was the evil person who had come in and ruined his life. After all, how could someone like Katashi like a girl like me?

I shook my head. It seemed I had the answer I needed for today. Maybe I had treated Katashi badly, and he no longer considered me a friend. But what I got was still his concern. Katashi was like that, no matter who he hated, he would still be willing to do anything to protect person close to him, because that was how he was, not a selfish and arrogant person like me. What I wanted to ask Katashi today, was not a plea for forgiveness.

I smiled.

“Thank you, Katashi, for not changing.”

…

By the time I got back, it was almost two in the morning, and Hari and Daisuke hadn't returned. I was so tired that I immediately crawled under the blankets and slept until morning.