Rika's place was spacious—to a luxurious degree, even. It stood on high ground, fenced, and as of now, barricaded as well.
All of the girls immediately dropped their stuff and headed for the bathroom.
Tysone couldn't blame them. He was dying for a relaxing bath and clean clothes himself. Thankfully, Rika's apartment was furnished with all the appliances and amenities necessary.
With the women getting first dibs on the bathroom, the men explored the rest of the house. That led them to what they believed to be Rika's bedroom. And that belief wasn't due to the incredible view from the balcony or the expensive decor.
Instead, it was due to a cabinet-like safe.
A safe that Kohta was attempting to crack open with a crowbar. Funnily enough, his attempt was being continuously thwarted by the erotic noises coming from the bathroom. The giggles, moans, and yelps coming from the girls inside were too distracting.
A slight blush colored Takashi's cheeks. "Sounds like they're having fun..." He muttered.
"Wanna go peek at them like real men should?"
Tysone, who lingered behind them, frowned. "Don't even think about it. Or I'll bash both of your heads open."
Takashi shook his head with a wry smile. "Wouldn't dream of it. I don't wanna die yet..."
"I was just joking, haha..." Kohta laughed awkwardly.
Tysone shook his head. "Just open the damn thing."
"Yes, sir!"
Kohta pushed the tip of the crowbar through the thin gap between the frame of the safe and its door. Tysone helped as well. The three of them each hold onto a piece of the crowbar. "One! Two! Three!"
And then they pulled.
The lid snapped with a satisfying click, but the momentum sent Kohta and Takashi tumbling to the floor. Tysone would've as well if he didn't already know what'd happen.
Still, the double doors of the safe were flung wide-open.
"How in the—! This is—" Kohta exclaimed in astonishment, unable to finish his sentence, nor grasp how in the world Rika had managed to obtain all the stuff inside the safe. Naturally, the surprise on his face morphed into something vastly more sinister as he hastily stood up before it. "I knew it!"
Tysone eyed the rifles inside with interest. "Sweet." He commented, bending over to retrieve one.
It wasn't enough to equip everyone in the group, but it'd definitely provide a greater variety of options than simply resorting to baseball bats or sticks.
Kohta took a rifle as well, his glasses obfuscating his eyes. "Springfield M1A1 Super Match, eh? It's a semi-auto, which is fine, because—"
Tysone largely ignored Kohta's nerdy explanation.
Meanwhile, the sounds coming from the bathroom had become louder and obnoxious. Typical bathroom scene in anime. It wouldn't be one without tits flying left and right, water sloshing everywhere, and girls unabashedly groping and commenting on each other's sizes.
A tick mark appeared on his forehead as he exhaustedly stomped his way to the bathroom door and banged on it repeatedly. There was a pang of silence, followed by a boisterous response.
"Sorry, this bathroom is currently booked~" Saya answered cheerily.
"There's a bunch of shit I'd love to get done. First off is showering. So hurry the hell up!" He yelled, annoyed. "You can molest each other's tits as much as you like afterward, just save me some damn hot water."
There was some splashing, followed by light commotion. Then silence once again.
"Yeah! Fuck yeah!" Shizuka roared excitedly.
"Damn, he really went there..." Mai deadpanned, rinsing herself with a basin full of warm water.
Miku chuckled lewdly, rising her voice an octave. "Leader~ were you peeking at us?"
"W-Wait... he can do that?" Yui stammered, unable to determine whether or not she's fine with that possibility.
"He'd lose a testicle if he even attempted that." Mai said seriously. Rei nodded vigorously from the side.
A heavy sigh echoed from the other side of the door. "Don't you lot get tired of talking shit? And Miku, I don't wanna hear none of that crap. Not from you. We both know you weren't exactly some innocent little lamb back at my place."
There was a brief silence, followed by a splash.
"Oh my~ Tysone, are you implying something happened between us?" Miku cooed, voice dripping with mischief.
Tysone pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, something happened. Like you practically gluing your eyeball to the keyhole every damn time I showered."
The statement seemed to stun everyone on the inside to an awkward silence.
Saeko chuckled softly in the background.
Shizuka covered her mouth. "Oh my."
"I knew it..." Mai muttered under her breath.
Saya glared at Miku, annoyed.
And Miku, noticing all of her friends' stares, sweatdropped. "Ahaha, I think the hot shower's making me act weird..."
"So shameless." Shizuka continued, snickering. "Oh my! Even now I can picture it. Tysone, standing there all muscled and wet."
Saya waved her hands furiously in front of Shizuka's face, as if to dispel whatever bubble of imagination involving a naked Tysone she was conjuring at that moment.
"S-Stop fantasizing!"
"But I'm serious! Ah~ he might even be big and veiny down there—"
"SHUT! UP!!!" Saya screamed, embarrassed. She didn't bother arguing with someone like Shizuka any further.
"..."
Tysone, who was still outside, naturally heard everything. It made him shake his head and laugh weakly. "Glad to know you enjoy discussing my balls so much." He muttered. "When are you finished? I wanna take a bath..."
"Almost done!" Saeko said.
"Yeah, give us a min!" Mai followed.
Tysone walked off, throwing his hands in the air. He just wanted some hot water, food, and sleep.
...
When Tysone returned to Rika's room. The TV was on, and both Takashi and Kohta seemed distraught by the news.
Tysone turned towards it as well.
The news station was broadcasting what appeared to be a protest by the populace, further exacerbated by one rat-faced man at the front demeaning the lockdown implemented by the government and the police's brutality in handling such a situation.
Then it cut back to a reporter who further explained the situation in detail, mentioning some conspiracy theories to make the case even worse. The one that garnered more outrage was that Japan and America were behind it, weaponizing some sort of bio-chemical agent and subsequently deploying it against its own citizens.
"This isn't going to end well." Tysone's expression darkened.
"I don't believe it!" Takashi didn't believe it. "There's no way science can explain how corpses are able to move and attack people!"
Tysone wished he knew the root cause of the apocalypse. He watched the anime, but it had never been explained why. As far as he knew, the manga was left unfinished due to the author's passing, and as such he didn't have access to the full, real story. No one did.
Meanwhile, in the news. The police began shooting the zombies, which caused even more outrage. The rat-faced man was good at stirring up the crowd.
Not even a minute later, the crowd fell into an unsettling silence when one of the police officers pulled up to the rioter, aimed, and shot.
The camera recording everything panned and zoomed in on the bleeding body before the transmission was cut off.
"Takashi. Kohta. Please do me a favor and double-check the barricade outside. Zombies might not be the only threat." Tysone spoke solemnly, deep in contemplation. "With the city on lockdown, and zombies everywhere, rioting and chaos is only inevitable. The people will grow hungry and desperate. Desperation breeds greed."
Takashi and Kohta exchanged a glance and nodded.
With their new guns in hand, they strolled toward the front doors and did as asked.
As they departed, Tysone sat on the bed, contemplating.
'I wonder... in this world, what caused the virus? Despite the author of the story not ever finishing it, he might have had an idea in mind...'
The problem was that even if there was a concrete answer, this world might work differently, regardless if it was inspired from the anime. The ending the author had imagined might have been altered with the addition of crossover elements.
That tall zombie, feasting on its own kin, flashed across his mind.
For all he knew, it could have been an unusually tall human-turned-zombie, but it could have easily been something else. A mutation, perhaps.
Tysone really didn't want to think what a mutation would mean. It'd mean that all of his plans wouldn't necessarily stand strong against such a variable. He didn't want to go down that rabbit hole, but he saw that motherfucker grab one of its own and eat it.
"..."
He exhaled.
It was then that a pair of fair, slender arms stretched out of the darkness and enveloped around Tysone. A refreshing scent, akin to that of a recently-showered woman, assaulted his senses.
Oh, right. There was a scene like that as well.
"Someone's looking a bit too glum for my tastes~" Shizuka whispered in her usual seductive, playful tone. One of her hands reached for Tysone's groin, where it remained lightly rubbing. She planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "So let me try making you smile~"
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at P@treon.com/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.