Change and Pace

The next morning they reached Saya's home, the journey was not exactly easy... for everyone except Saeko, Rika, and Kohta as that Otherworlder refused to deal with undeads.

But with there being two long-range shooters, obviously, no lives were lost.

And this time Arthur also provided everyone with proper weapons like swords and spears, to get the undeads off the way.

Ah, he also gave a tesseract-powered gun to Rika.

Kazu preferred using spears as he got used to using the cane he brought from the school's nurse's office, and Rei being proficient in using the same weapon, gave him a 'really' good tutorial on how to use them well as they made their way to the Takagi estate. It seemed she was using this opportunity to get closer to him quite well...

Takashi on the other hand used his baseball and tried to be as useful as he could.

But his expressions...

By the time they reached Saya's home, the Takagi's Estate, there was no one in the group whose hands weren't red by the undead's blood. Well, with the exception of cute little Alice and her pup.

The Takagi Estate, a grand estate owned by Souichiro Takagi and Yuriko Takagi, contained their huge mansion, a garage, hundreds of tents to house survivors. And also that opulent garden.

After reaching the mansion, a typical happy family reunion scene transpired, Yuriko Takagi, Saya's mother, enveloped Saya in a tight hug as soon as she saw her, while Saya's father, Souichiro Takagi, was also present, though he didn't hug Saya like her mother.

Souichiro remained stern as usual as he eyed everyone in the group.

The group of teenagers was then led into the mansion to get comfortable after the long tiring journey.

.

.

.

Arthur was strolling around the huge estate, impressed by the sheer wealth of the Takagi.

All this wealth was mostly because of Souichiro's woman, Yuriko. Saya had told them that her mother was once a wall street broker and when she was returning home from a vacation overseas, she met Souichiro at a party. They got married the next day.

'Since then, she then she's only used her talents for my papa!... after getting married the family's total fortune increased 100 times. Were the words Saya used...'

A bit fishy... An independent and open minded girl becomes the ideal obedient wife overnight. And after that she's happily confined in the walls of her husband's house and works only and only for the benefit of her in-laws and husband...

Arthur shrugged, she and her husband were going to be the backbone of the shelter he was going to build, their personal life was none of his business.

Arthur was in his own world, thinking about various things when he reached the central water fountain...

And spotted Takashi there...

"Sup, Takashi!" Arthur raised his chin as he stood beside Takashi and leaned on the fountain's wall.

"Just looking around, this is the first time I've come here," Takashi replied, without turning to him.

Up above, dark clouds were spreading in the sky as if they were going to weep soon. The sky was turning gloomy.

"Huh... I thought you came here often, I was sure some of your good memories are associated with this place. You are childhood friends with Saya and also Rei, aren't you?" Arthur swiped his hand on the surface of the blue water and then dipped his hand in it, enjoying its coldness.

"Well," Takashi smiled, pain leaking from his face, but he bore it.

It was the mention of being 'childhood friends' that scratched his wound, a memory of Rei holding his hand while chirping around, saying that she would marry him when they grew up, pops up in his mind whenever someone mentions the word childhood friend...

"Never really got the chance to come here that's all," Takashi replied, knitting his brows as he saw a small whirlpool around Arthur's hand.

'Hm,' Arthur glanced at Takashi, noticing his 'smile...'

If it was any other day, Takashi would be most likely brooding or at least wouldn't have made any effort to hide his grief.

Heck, just before the outbreak, everyone was easily able to guess that something was up with him, like some girl dumped him or something, most even guessed correctly. It was written all over his face, after all. Honestly, then he was unknowingly asking for sympathy...

'But his reasons for sadness now... whatever they are... maybe they disgust him... is that why he's trying to hide it behind his smile?'

Arthur sighed, "Takashi, I know that you don't like me much... probably for what I did on the bu—"

"No," Takashi interrupted, "It had bugged me when you did it, yes, but after thinking about it, it doesn't anymore... Well... it troubled me mostly because....." Takashi took a long pause before continuing, "Hey, Arthur, can I ask you something."

Arthur turned to him with concern in his eyes, "Yes, what is it?"

The sky rumbled.

"What is... my worth in this world..." Realizing how pathetic his words sounded, his eyes widened, "No, what I mean to ask is that... what is my significance in our group. Everyone has a special trait in them. Marikawa Sensei is our doctor, Saya is a genius, Kohta is an excellent shooter, Kazu is a calm and quick decision maker, he's also the one who keeps the whole group together.... and so on."

Arthur paused, he was forming a suitable response.

He sighed, many steps have been skipped... this conversation was supposed to happen, yes, but not now and not even with him.

'Something definitely happened... something that wasn't supposed to happen yet... but what...?'

'At this rate... The World's Will...'

'Fuck!'

After contemplating a bit more, all of which only took a few moments. Hiding all his internal agitation with a scoff, Arthur spoke, "You observed well, they all are special people, they are... the main cast, after all."

Takashi felt a tinge in his heart — 'What did he mean by 'they' are the main cast... Am 'I' not one of them... I guess 'She' was right, after all...'

Arthur continued, "It doesn't mean you're not special, just like you observed the 'special' in everyone else, observe and discover the 'special' in you, that's all I can say."

Takashi nodded, his strained smile twitched to become a frown, "Yes, I-I'll try." He nodded again before leaving.

Arthur's gaze followed Takashi's back as he left off to somewhere.

Arthur pursed his lips and scrunched his nose... He turned back to stare at the grand water fountain.

The trickling sound of water from the stone woman's palm filled the surroundings and the crackling sky joined in to make a terrifying melody.

Arthur's heart started beating fast in his chest, he slammed his palm on his face, the frustration he felt...

He looked up at the sky, the cloudy weather... this thunder... If bad omen had a weather then this is how it'd look.

He gritted his teeth.

'The World's Will will come at 'her'...'

'I'm gonna need to prepare... and 'She' needs to be away from Takashi... at least till my prep's done.'

Arthur took a sharp breath to calm his mind.

'Panic is worthless, I did consider this possibility. All I have to do is to pick up the pace'

He needs to act faster than the world does.

Arthur agrees, he is afraid of experiencing the world's wrath again. It's too unpredictable. And he's just a mortal after all.

But...

It was not entirely unpredictable.

And... it's not like he's entirely powerless this time.

But he knows the truth, at present he alone is nearly not enough to face the wrath of the World's Will.

He needs comrades...

=============

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