Awakening

Hayashi finally woke up, this time, very early, he looked at his phone.

"It's 13:00 right now...a lot of places are closed...Hnnnnggg.."

He stretched as he got out of bed and looked up as he saw his dorm mate sleeping peacefully, he smiled.

"Just like you...Tadashi"

The silver-haired boy picked up a black hoodie, shirt, and sweatpants going out to walk on campus looking out and he saw a crew of boys most of them had large builds but the one in the middle was a nerd, a scrawny kid, noticed this Tetsu followed but not close behind now as he followed them to a tree, a sakura tree surrounded by thousands of petals as he sees the kid getting beat up by at least 6 people as Tetsu watched this he grits his teeth and found a place to hide then spoke up

"Oi, you scum bags!"

"Huh!? who said that?"

"Dunno dude.." one of the lackeys replies

Tetsu smiled and laughed loudly

"I'm everywhere and nowhere you scum, get out of here! or I'll become your worst nightmare!"

"Who are you!? Come out, you coward!"

The ring leader yelled out

"Yeah...keep screaming...you'll only get the staff members out here.."

He saw a rock on the ground and picks it up then laughed "Still not out of here? Fine! I'll play with you!"

He threw the rock at one of the lackeys

"AGH!" he got down on his knees as he started bleeding from the back of his head

"Still don't feel like getting out of here?"

The scrawny kid was trembling in fear as he got on his knees and screamed

"P-Please spare me, I'll never come here again!" The kid started crying.

"Yes you may leave, you are the only one who may visit my resting place. I was once like you."

The kid leaves as the rest tried to follow behind him, then another rock flies hitting the leader right in the head

"You may not leave!" he sounded aggravated but was snickering

"So, you have been picking on those who are weaker and disturbed my rest now you have to pay for it." Tetsu came out from his hiding place with his hands in his pockets

"So you're the one who hit us with rocks! Get 'em boys!"

The five boys rushed at him trying to attack him with fists

"You're all so...slow"

Hayashi caught one of their fists and pulled one of them in using their arm to block the rest of the attackers, it had enough force to hurt the attacker's arm but not break it as one of them fell on their knees.

"GUH! GAH! AHHHH" Tears of pain streamed down their cheeks.

"That's it?" Hayashi kicked him to the side, now his grey eyes glowed like shining silver as the moonlight shined on his face making his eyes look as if they glowed a neon, metallic grey

"Bastard!"

Another attacker chose to charge Hayashi head-on he only smiled softly

"At least you were a man about it...you chose to attack me alone, next time, lean into your punch..."

Tetsu grinned as he dodged and pulled a cross counter on the other boy, giving him a solid punch to the face and sending him to the ground now only two boys and their leader remained

"How about we call it a night...also tell me your name"

"Why should I tell you anything!?"

The other male snarled as he backed away slowly

"Then you rather let me knock you and your buddies out?"

"T-Tch! F-fine..My name is...Beppu..Akira Beppu..."

"Mhm..mhm" He took out a small notebook and wrote down his name

"And them?" Tetsu pointed to the ones basically unconscious from the punch in the face and the one who was crying after having his arm go through an attack equal to 4 other people at his strength level, he was kneeling over unconscious.

"T-they're-" He said while trying to think of a way out of this situation and was thinking.

"Wait why am I answering this idiot...?"

Tetsu sighed "Don't try to lie or try anything funny, I'll leave your ass sleeping where you stand."

The moment Tetsu issued that warning, his target stood up "Those two are...Eiji Kiyama and Eriko Aoki!"

"B-Boss what are you doing!?" a lackey on his left asked his boss wide-eyed

"Shut it you!" Tetsu wrote down the names and just left

As soon as Tetsu left the leader got on his knees, and a feeling of defeat spread all around the atmosphere as Tetsu thought to himself

"Perhaps it was wrong of me to do that to you, so I'll spare you this time around."

He returned to the residence and just did simple stretches and home workouts, then prison workouts, and at last military workouts.

while trying to push his body to its limits once the sun comes up, he went from scrawny to fairly fit. His roommate, Tadashi, was now waking up and stretching

"Hayashi-san wake up what the- are you, ok dude?"

"I-what do you mean?" Tetsu once again feigned ignorance

"Dude your steaming-" Tadashi looked at him, dumbfounded

"Oh...and so I am...oh well, I'll go shower"

"Yeah you do that-" He decided to just sit on the bed and jumped off landing on the floor

Tetsu finally got into the shower, while in there he was only thinking

"I don't have much time left...the apocalypse starts tomorrow...I'll be out of school by then, no, I'll be within the school, right? Tch..ok, I'll sharpen the marbles at the forgery with the belt grinder before then...I've got hundreds so I mean I'll have enough...speaking of marbles...the rubber bands I got I only need about 5 since I don't have any professional supplies...I best get mine today with Tadashi's bag..."

He talked to himself trying to strategize the entire day if no one sees him and his plan runs smoothly.

After getting out Tetsu was only wearing a towel and he looked decently fit but not bulky and muscular but rather lean, his grey hair was just wet and covered his eyes, as he went to his roommate.

"Take a shower.."

"Will do, sir!" Tadashi replied sarcastically while smiling

"Hurry up ya goof today's our free day I plan on going out!"

Tetsu said as he got dressed in a light blue shirt and some jeans, grey socks, and his normal black shoes, he slicked his wet hair back as he grabbed his towel and ruffled his hair trying to get rid of as much water as possible then grabbing a black book bag and pouring the marbles be brought the other night along with the jumbo bag of rubber bands.

"I dunno why but I feel...excited," Tetsu said as he zipped up the bag, a soft, warm smile was plastered on his face, and his eyes had a sharp gaze

"I'm gonna leave for a bit! If you need me, feel free to call me!" Tetsu yelled towards the dorm bathroom

"Yeah Yeah alright!" Tadashi replied before hearing the slam of a door

Tetsu was ready as he walked towards the forgery, it was a bit far from his school dorms but nonetheless, he walked there, he wasn't so deep in thought this time but it felt like he had a fire lit under him.

"I will survive this time. I'll be damned if I don't !!"

He rushed this time, no longer walking but running "well I better walk instead of rushing hehe..." He managed to run all the way to the hospital that he thought of as a landmark

"Halfway there..." He grinned he kept walking until he passed by a corner store, went in, bought a soda then got out and chugged it, and burped loudly before walking over to the garbage and throwing it out then clasping his hands.

"We mustn't harm the environment" in a comical moment before leaving and once again running towards the Forgery to get his slingshot frame running through blocks of people and even traffic when he could he finally made it to the Forgery.

"Ah...goddamn...I know it's far from the dorms but still...goddamn..."

Tetsu looked at the shop door, it was open for business as he smiled.

"I hope he got my slingshot..." Tetsu smiled as he shook his book bag only to hear the clacking of marbles and the rustle of the bag of rubber bands and smiled as he entered the shop, the new bell ringing as the door opens

"Ah welcome, welcome!" the old man who ran the shop greeted Tetsu

"Oh hello Nishiwaka-ojisan." Tetsu bowed respectfully to the senior "Is my order ready?"

The old man nods his head.

"Yes sir, it is ready, I looked over at my grandson as he forged you this...I must say you must be a pretty good person for him to put so much effort into the shape..."

The old Nishiwaka grabbed the frame from a drawer as the frame was covered by a hanker chief

Tetsu whistled "he must have put in a lot of effort...just for me.." he smiled a bit, and with a grateful tone he gave another bow to the grandfather

"If you can, please tell your grandson not to go out for the next 2 days...after that I'll invite him to eat"

The old man seemed confused as Tetsu opened the stained handkerchief, the slingshot looked unnaturally like the first steel one he used in practical training he got goosebumps and recalled a past memory, smiling.

"Alright then ill tell him not to go out for the two days, you have fun now!"

"Wait! before I go, did he give this creation...a name?"

"Heh of course not!" the old man began to laugh "Until he becomes a master smith, he's left his creations unnamed as per the rules of our family"

"Figures. Heh heh" Tetsu looked at the frame again, a thick needle made up the bottom structure of the slingshot's handle, it looked almost like a stake

"Ah the kid also made these for you too, per the order from last time" He handed Tetsu the steel rings he ordered to complete the string

"Wow, so much?" He shook the small bag managing to count at least 10 in there

"Mhm, he said he wanted to make backups in case you would need them"

"I gotta thank him, he's outdone himself this time, I gotta go Nishiwaka-ojisan!"

Tetsu ran out of the store and went towards another place, one with a grinding belt along with other equipment, The place always seemed to be open so he just entered and spent the rest of the hour on the belt grinder creating special rounds for his slingshot, both lethal and non-lethal rounds, some had the shape of a lance, others were domes on a stick which would go through the metal ring in order to be loaded.

-2 HOURS LATER-

"About time...dear God. It took so much time just to grind away parts of marbles on that grinder...how long have I been in here?"

He finally went outside "What the, The sun's up that's for sure...ill assemble the rest at my dorm.."

He ran towards the dorm since the place he went wasn't as far from his school here he took a shortcut and cut through the alleyway behind the library getting to the school again a bit late.

"If the same event I think will go down from last time I'm prepared with the shattering dome rounds, but first when it starts, it'll be the zombies outside...I know Suzuki and his lackeys will be there with the ones I beat up last time...I've got no time to waste!"

He started to dead sprint to the school building as there was now a person closing the gate, that person was a security guard, he saw him, but continued to close the gate

"Damned guard, if I see you again, I'm locking you out!"

As the guard locked the door, Tetsu steeled himself, remembering he was a soldier in his past life

"AHHHH!!!" He jumped and managed to get his hands on the top of the gate which he climbed over, jumping and landing in front of the guard

"Tch..you think that was funny..?" Tetsu gave him the death stare

"Well it's your own fault kid, blame yourself, got any ID?"

"Sigh... Yeah, I do, here..."

He unzipped the bag and took out his ID card, after having it checked the guard just let him go and returned to his post afterward Tetsu went to his dorm, falling asleep from noon to late at night, waking up and going to the sakura tree from where the kid got beat up from last time

"They're not here today...I guess they learned their lesson. Good, I've saved as many lives as I can now...The Zombie apocalypse starts early in the morning. Best get some sleep."

Tetsu rushed to his dorm, getting there and closing the door quietly as he sat down on his bed, Tadashi soundly slept again as Tetsu smiled, then opened the bag of rubber bands and snapped them so they were just strings of rubber as he would continue to do this 6 more times before tying the makeshift string on to the slingshot, his face beamed with happiness as he smiled uncontrollably.

"I'll call you...The Emperor of Hornets."

Tetsu smiled, however as soon as he gave this weapon a name, he looked towards the window, the slingshot gave off an eerie glow as now he could hear 2 people screaming, The scrawny kid he saved last time along with a girl from the kendo team, the girl was holding her wooden sword trying to fend off the zombie and keep it from them, it had begun. The Zombie Apocalypse Tetsu was preparing for was finally here. With no time to waste he instantly took out a sharpened marble bullet and loaded it into the slingshot then he fired it. The marble had grazed the girl's sword and hit the zombie in the head, an apparent hole was in its skull as it slumped onto the floor, dead for the second time the girl lets her guard down and looked Tetsu in the eye and waved over to him

"Thank you!!". Tetsu nodded to the girl and looked at the scrawny kid "Yeah no problem!", he replied while smiling

"PING!" He once again heard that familiar sound from the last time as he looked around as and saw a glowing, floating window. He stared at it, then jumped back and tried to aim at it.

"What the-" Tetsu looked at the window

"PING!" The Window seemed to have a message written on it as he read it closely

"Congratulations...you are the first to defeat the Other World's...undead...You have been granted...The Survival System...Would you like to see your stats and role..? hm...Alright. Yes."

"PING!" The system showed his current stats and would give him a role roulette which he tapped open

Another "ping" noise followed again as he got the Archer role then another pinging noise as the window went from a blue bamboo scroll window to a red one Tetsu tried to find out what was wrong as he read the red screen

"Stats not high enough to obtain Profession: Archer...WHAT!?. Now the system wants to mock me huh? "

The window turned blue again as it gave him another notification

"PING!" the system made its sound as Tetsu was getting irritated by it as he growled

"Silence! Huh? Re-rolling...Subclass..?". He kept looking at the window as it gave him a new role

"New class, subclass bonus, production class roll. I like that, now what's my profession?",

He continued to read the window's information.

"My profession is Hunter now huh? Alright, it's not bad... Let's see the skills..."

As Tetsu was prepared to hear another sound effect instead the system closed like a bamboo scroll and then opened again.

"Well that's new"

Now his skills were displayed as he had 5 skill slots as well as a passive skill as he read off the information

"Passive skill: Hunter's Physique: [The Hunter]'s reflexes, speed speed, agility, strength, and durability are all increased beyond human level... so no strength buff, oh well, it also level one",

the silver-haired kid shrugged.

"Active skill: Eye of the Hunter-[The Hunter]'s [Eye of the Hunter] locks onto a target, tracks them within 30 meters..and makes [The Hunter]'s attacks more accurate. Not a bad skill, it could be useful" the boy tilted his head

"Active Skill: Harvest-[The Hunter] is able to harvest materials useful to them and others. This ability gives the user a subspace to carry around 40 items maximum at their current level of proficiency. This is already a god-tier class...and this ability alone makes me a walking cash crop..."

He just facepalmed and sighed.

"Last skill...Strong Shot...is this my only offensive skill at level one?"

The boy questioned himself and read the system description

"Strong Shot-Strengthens ranged weapons and abilities of [The Hunter] to super-human levels in range, accuracy, and attack power. This is nice...But...all these skills require me to use my stamina...The stamina of the user will be consumed to make these skills manifest..." he read off the list before going to the production class roulette and pushing the "OPEN" button as it spins and lands on a rather unknown class.

"Munitionist...? What on Earth is a Munionist? sigh... lets at least check the skills"

He seemed to be getting used to the system as he looked up the skills.

"Only two skills. That makes things simple.", He rubbed his hands as he looked at the skills

"Munitions crafting-Craft munitions so long as the user knows what their crafting and has the materials to do so. Cool!"

A smile beamed across his face as he heard another scream that sent him into high gear as he stuffed a few of the sharpened marbles into his pocket from the book bag before he zipped it up again, put it on again and got dressed his signature black hoodie, black sweatpants and shoes along with a dark blue shirt under the hoodie then putting on a surgical mask to cover his face before he jumped out his window and landed on the ground, closing one eye in slight pain as he ran into the lower levels through the front entrance and became wide-eyed as he feared, some of the people in the building became zombies there were about 10 zombies on the lowest floor, possibly more on the upper floor as he saw students trying to keep the zombies at bay and stop them from infecting any more of the student, one girl managed to make eye contact with Tetsu, before she could yell out to him for his help, he looked back at her and placed his finger over his lips to prevent her from making noise before shooting two zombies in the head as they fell dead on the barricade the other students made as he loaded his slingshot again wanting to test out his new powers.

"[Eye of the Hunter]! [Strong Shot]!" His two abilities activated the moment he called the names out, a cross-hair was locked onto one of the zombies as his body seemed to move by itself, a combination of his days as a soldier and the effect of [Eye of the Hunter] made him incredibly accurate as the strong shot covered the sharpened marbles in some sort of strange energy that let it pierce through one of the heads at that exact time the rest of the zombies aimed their attacks at Tetsu. He was afraid at first but his experiences as a soldier prepared him for this moment as he rushed at them, flipping his slingshot upside down as he pressed the sharp end to the temples of the undead killing them instantly so he could help the other students.

"PING!" "Hm?" Tetsu looked at 2 more windows that appeared at the side of his eye that read "Ranged Weapons proficiency up,1 Handed Weapons proficiency up" for now he looked at them and closed the notifications by thinking about it before going over to them.

"Good job, all of you." Tetsu smiled at them so they wouldn't feel threatened however one boy pointed the handle of a broom at him.

"S-Stay back! Get away!" The guy seemed angry with him now.

"Why should I?" He grabs the broomstick.

"You could be infected! Just like the rest!" He tried to wrestle the broomstick out of Tetsu's hand

"Well I'm not, I'm here to rescue you and bring you to the dorms, we're going to use there as a base, there weren't many zombies outside this place, there was only one that I encountered." He talked with a serious tone but one girl couldn't seem to hold it in much longer as she started crying and rushed into Tetsu's arms and cried into his chest, tears rapidly flowing down her face

"I-I t-thought I w-would d-d-i-ie!" she kept crying into his chest until she fell asleep as the rest would thank him for his help, all except for the one guy who tried to spear him with a broomstick.

"Can I get your names?" Tetsu once again takes out the notebook, as they would each state their names.

"I'm Hagimoto" a green-haired girl with glasses introduced herself.

"The guy that tried to attack you with a broomstick is Doi" The green-haired girl pointed to the boy with brown hair.

"Fueki."

Another girl from the kendo club, another green-haired girl stated her name as Tetsu wrote it down.

"Baisho Enkai! Hiya!" a navy-blue-haired boy with a pep in his step jumped onto the barricade.

"Ishioka." girl in glasses and a green uniform stated her name, Tetsu noticed she was part of the school debate team as well as part of the student council.

"Okazaki."

This girl seemed quiet, she had red hair and she gave him a bow.

"Thank you for saving us. I'll be sure to repay the favor, my family is one in the tailoring business if you should need me ill gladly be of assistance" The girl looked as if she had a fiery spirit as he gazed into her eyes.

"Saito is the one sleeping in your arms."

Ozaki mentioned as he had written all their names.

"Sato..." the last boy mumbled, he mumbled, He had jet-black hair and black eyes, and he looked like he lacked a lot of sleep as he yawned.

"I'm Hayashi, and I've got a way out of here to get to the main building, will you follow me to safety?" Tetsu held out his hand as his steel-grey eyes gave them a piercing gaze as he extended his hand towards them as they all began to hesitate but slowly reach for his hand.

TO BE CONTINUED...