Tears For The Lost

The following day, the group got up and went into the bus, with Kiriko carrying her own gun now. They found several weapons, but most were not functional. Besides, their current loadout was, overall, more efficient. According to Kouta, who Ryo put in charge of anything related to firearms, it was better to take whatever would be useful and the ammo. Ryo and Kouta, with help from Asami and Niki, immediately took every useless weapon apart and kept the components in a box.

"Ok everyone. We'll leave towards Shintoko Elementary now" Ryo said as he opened the door of the bus. He really wanted to reach the place so he could go back to the Estate. Ryo was already missing Yuriko.

The trip to Shintoko was a bit roudy because of the absurd amount of zombies on the road leaving Rei's neighbourhood. Ryo, seeing so many zombies, had a dreadful feeling, foreboding something terrible. He wanted to tell Rei that everything would be alright as soon as he saw her worried face, probably thinking the same thing he was, but he couldn't. He couldn't get her hopes up just to see them tear later. So he remained quiet, and silently prayed that his feeling was nothing but that, a simple omen.

"We've arrived..." he said softly, but his tone lacked warmth. His voice was helpless, tired and sad. In just a matter of minutes, everything they had feared while on the road became reality.

Shintoko Third Elementary School, was taken over by the zombies. He was sure that everything inside that place would now be dead... but Ryo had to see it for himself. After all, he had promised Rei to take her to her parents... however that was. As he took his weapon and headed towards the Elementary School, he heard Kiriko.

"Tadashi... please be alright..."

It was nothing but a whisper, but it carried more feeling than anything he had ever heard before. If he had to compare, it was as strong as his own love for his family. Ryo frowned. He didn't like that feeling of helplessness, of loss. As such, he drowned it the only way he could currently. He lit a cigarette and, not caring if the other's could keep up with him, began slaying the undead left and right, taking enough time to check their appearance and clothing.

Even in such a situation, he was still hoping he wouldn't find Rei's father.

*

For half an hour, they kept killing zombies in the area. Ryo had gone into the school with the Rei, Kiriko and Miku, leaving Hiratsuka in charge while he was gone. As soon as they entered the building, Rei vomited because of the foul smell of dry, rotting blood. Nobody said anything. After all, she had never been exposed to such a level of carnage. At most she had seen from the bus, but not participated directly.

The amount of zombies inside the building seemed to be less, but Ryo found something strangely odd. The few zombies they could see were all moving in the same direction. He knew that zombies answered to sound so, if they were moving somewhere...

He tapped Rei and Kiriko in the shoulder and shushed with his finger. With a soft and slow step, they followed the zombies through the school building. At some point they had left the main building and where going towards what Ryo knew to be a locker room for P.E. As soon as they got a bit closer to it, they could hear a man screaming.

"Someone! Can anybody help us!" Ryo immediately ran towards the place and began killing zombies, quickly followed by Rei who was using a staff she had taken from the Estate as a weapon. Kiriko took a broom she found nearby and broke it in two, rushing to help her daughter. They had recognized the voice. Miyamoto Tadashi was alive.

Once all the zombies were taken care of, Ryo knocked on the door and said it was safe already. As soon as the door opened, Rei and Kiriko rushed to the man on the other side.

"Dad!" "Tadashi!" they shouted in unison.

Immediately after, mother and daughter began crying tears of happiness. Tadashi hugged them both with relief in his face. Ryo smiled, glad that he was able to keep his promise to Rei. He hated seeing families split apart, since he didn't wish that kind of pain he had gone through to anyone in the world, not even the people who deserved it.

While the tear-wringing reunion developped, Ryo looked inside the room. There was only one other person inside and she was looking at him with a face full of curiosity. Ryo looked at her and realized she was an extremely beautiful girl. She looked young, probably Saya's age.

Her brown eyes were staring at him with innocence and curiosity, but above all, hope. She had fair skin that still looked healthy, in spite of the full week without proper care. Her hair, that reached about her chest, was a pinkish brown in colour and it was loose, bar the bangs framing her face and falling over the bridge of her nose. She had a rather petite build but somehow managed to remain loyal to the characteristics of every female in that world. She was top and bottom heavy, but it was just enough to be logical with her build, unlike the rest.

After a long stare contest, the girl began moving her hands. Ryo didn't understand until he paid attention to the movements themselves. It was sign language. He had learned it to communicate with the nurse that took care of his sister, since she was deaf. As such, he understood what she was saying.

"Did you see a woman with my same hair?" the girl asked Ryo in sign language. He immediately remembered who the girl was referring to. After all, that woman was now beheaded right outside. He lowered his head and signed back. "Follow me"

As soon as he turned around and lifted his head, the now reunited family could tell exactly what had happened. As police officers they knew sign language, so they knew what the girl had asked. And Ryo, biting his lips with pure pain in his eyes, could mean only one thing.

'He's so young... but he takes responsibility for everyone' thought Kiriko, who knew he was in charge of an entire settlement. Tadashi, Rei's father, had a similar thought. 'He deals with things how a man does... even if it hurts'

The girl stood up and followed Ryo, a bit scared of the amount of bodies outside. When she saw he had stopped beside a head, she realized what had happened. It was the same pinkish brown hair as her and, even if it was contorted, she recognized the face of her mother. She fell on her knees and, with broken sounds that couldn't even be called crying, she mourned over her loss.

The sound of her wailing only increased the amount of pain Ryo was feeling. He knew that he wasn't at fault. He had to kill her. If anything, he had granted her rest, a release from a cursed "life" as one of the undead. But he couldn't help but ignore the logical side of his mind. In his heart and mind, every tears that fell from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks felt heavier than the rain that had poured the previous day.

The girl continued crying for a long time, and they just allowed her to. When she finally stopped, she looked at Ryo once again, but there was no sign of blaiming him in her face. Instead, what she did shocked them and, for the first time since he had to kill Hisashi, Ryo cried. The girl, who looked like an angel in his eyes, had tapped her right hand on her left wrist and lifted it. It was the sign for a combination of words that meant many things, but only one at the same time. "Thank you".

Pressing his thumb and index together and bringind them in between his eyebrows, Ryo turned his hand and did a weird military salute. After that he did a dogeza and pressed his forehead on the ground, exclaiming in the process. "I'm sorry!"

He didn't remain like that for long, since the girl had tapped his shoulder. Looking up at her, Ryo saw a beautiful smile decorating her face. In spite of her puffy eyes and the trail left by the tears in her cheeks, it didn't look out of place. In fact, it looked like the only thing that did belong to that face was the smile. The girl began signing.

"I understand that this is better, so thank you" she said at first, stopping to clean her eyes and signed in Kansai dialect. "What's your name?"

"I'm Hashimoto Ryo" he signed, before asking back. "And yours?"

The girl just looked at him for a while, until she stood up and, grabbing him bit the shoulders, made him stand up too. Of course, Ryo was the one to stand up. There was no way she could lift him off the ground. When they were both standing, Ryo realized the girls head just reached his chest. She tackled him into a hug.

Everyone in the scene was shocked, Ryo himself more than ever. After all, the girl whose mother -even if a zombie- he had killed, was now hugging him. When they separated, before he could speak, she began signing.

"Nishimiya Shouko" she signed. Her warm smile grew wider than before, if that was even possible, before she continued "You shouldn't be so sad Ryo, you're making me sad"

Then, in a barely audible voice that everyone managed to here, she spoke as she signed.

"Ba-ka"

-------------------------------------

Those who thought I was killing Rei's father, leave your paragraph comments here.

This was one of my favorite chapters to write. I felt a rollercoaster of emotions myself as I wrote it, going from the dread to the relief and then happiness before jumping into the guilt and then the sadness and finally the shock. I wanted Shouko's introduction to be impactful and I think I managed it properly.