Determination Between The Dead (1)  

On the other hand, Kuroda Riku and Takeda Nao witnessed a horrifying scene. With their own eyes, Riku and Nao watched as their friends were brutally devoured. No help came. The three boys outside were utterly overwhelmed by the savagery of the transformed students. 

They lay sprawled in the middle of the schoolyard, unable to move or escape. They could do nothing but flail in suffering and scream. One of them reached out a hand as if begging for help, spewing blood as the undead fed on his intestines. Riku and Nao were transfixed, observing the scene in horror. They could do nothing but silently gaze, paralyzed with fear.

"Damn it. damn it!" Riku cursed, his emotions a jumbled mix. His fists were tightly clenched.

There was nothing more Riku could do for them. It was too late. Their window of opportunity for escaping this school of death was gone in seconds. Nobody was able to fend off the assault of the undead.

Nao's eyes teared up. The girl crouched on the storage room floor, hand over her mouth. Her mind was seized with fear. Her small hands spasmodically trembled while she witnessed the horror unfold.

Riku and Nao stood frozen in the doorway. 

Amid their stunned terror, someone crawled toward Nao. Two dirty, worn hands reached out, trying to grab her. 

"Kyaa!" Nao screamed as a student from Koryo High School, with both legs severed, approached her. 

"Nao!" 

Riku finally snapped out of his daze, realizing Nao was being grabbed by one of the undead. He immediately pulled the girl back, distancing her from the student trying to bite her. 

Nao's face was pale with fear. Her body trembled violently, and her chest heaved as she struggled to breathe in the thinning air. 

Riku kicked the legless students, sending them tumbling back. Nao had almost been bitten. However, the commotion had drawn the undead's attention in the schoolyard. Most of them turned their gaze toward Riku and Nao. 

"Damn it, they've seen us..." Riku muttered, slowly backing away. 

As if they had found fresh prey, the undead students immediately began running toward the two of them. One by one, they approached, with others following closely behind. Riku quickly tried to close the storage room door. But before it could shut completely, the undead outside slammed into it. 

The impact jolted Riku, but he had to close the door, or they would all get in. He pushed to shut the door with all his might while the hungry students outside pushed back from the opposite side. 

"Riku, close the door! Hurry, close the door!" Nao shouted frantically. 

"I-I'm trying," Riku replied, still struggling to push the door shut. 

The noise only attracted more of the undead in the school area. More and more of them began gathering toward the storage room, where Riku and Nao took shelter. 

Realizing Riku struggled to hold the door, Nao tried to help him. But as she tried to stand, she collapsed onto the dusty floor. Half-sobbing, she looked down at her legs. Her gaze seemed to reflect deep regret as if questioning why she had been born into this world. 

"Go away, you damn bastards!" Riku yelled at the zombies, trying to break in.

Riku growled, his muscles tensing across his arms. Outnumbered, he couldn't push the door shut completely. All he could do was hold it to keep it from opening wider. 

Suddenly, from the floor, Riku noticed Nao crawling over to help hold the door. "Nao—what are you doing here? Get back!" Riku exclaimed in surprise. 

The girl didn't budge from her spot. Sobbing in fear, she continued to help Riku hold the door against the pounding from outside. Riku was confused. Nao wasn't following his instructions. 

"Nao, get back! Move away from here!" Riku ordered again. But the girl with bangs shook her head quickly in response. 

The growls of the undead echoed throughout the storage room. Each slam against the door shook Riku and Nao violently. They were outnumbered. Dozens of students outside were pushing to get in, while only one and a half—Riku and Nao—were holding the door from the inside. 

Nao realized her efforts were futile. She didn't have the strength to match Riku. Her presence wasn't making a difference. The door still wouldn't close completely. 

Finally, Nao's gaze scanned the storage room, hoping to find something she could use. She left the door and dragged herself across the floor toward a pile of old chairs. 

Nao toppled the dusty chairs that were neatly stacked. One by one, she threw them near the door. Riku remained silent, holding the door while glancing at what Nao was doing. 

The girl crawled back to Riku and placed a chair before the storage room door. Then she grabbed another old school chair and put it behind the first one. She kept grabbing chairs, arranging them like a line of shopping carts. 

Riku wondered what the girl was trying to do. Before he could think further, he felt his strength draining. Riku was starting to tire. Sweat dripped from his chin. 

Once the old chairs were lined up, Nao pushed them toward a large cabinet near the door. She looked at Riku as if signalling that she was done. Riku's eyes followed the line of old chairs, tracing where they ended. 

Finally, Riku realized Nao had created a door brace using the old chairs. Exhausted, Riku tried to ease his body away from the door slightly. To his surprise, it worked. The storage room door was now braced by the chairs Nao had arranged. The end of the chair line was propped against a large, heavy teak cabinet. The chairs formed a diagonal line from the door to the cabinet. 

"...Damn it," Riku muttered, bowing his head and panting heavily. He wiped the sweat pouring down his chin. 

"Great idea, Nao!" Riku gave the girl a thumbs-up. 

Nao didn't respond. Her eyes were fixed on the gap in the door. The undead outside were still trying to get in. Each slam made the chair brace tremble. 

Riku walked back, passing Nao, who was kneeling on the floor. After gaining some distance, the messy-haired young man turned around. He took a deep breath, preparing to run as fast as possible. Nao watched her friend's gesture, guessing what he was about to do. 

"Riku, wait!" Nao shouted. 

But Riku, already in position, dashed toward the door as fast as he could. He planned to slam the gap shut in one go. However, the dusty tiled floor caused his shoes to slip.

"Whoaa—" 

Riku slipped. He fell, crashing into the chairs and the door. A loud bang echoed, accompanied by the old chairs scattering everywhere. Nao could only close her eyes and turn her face away. 

"Riku, are you okay?" the girl asked, opening her eyes. Old chairs were scattered everywhere. The storage room door was tightly shut, with Riku curled beneath it. 

"My back feels like it's about to break," Riku said, grimacing in pain. 

Nao let out a sigh of relief. Her tiny fingers wiped away the tears that had fallen moments ago. They had succeeded. The storage room door now stood as a barrier between life and death for Riku and Nao. They had managed to close it. 

. 

. 

. 

"W-What... is this..." Ryuji murmured, his voice trembling. 

"Hm? What's wrong, Ryuji?" Emi asked her blond-haired friend. Noticing Ryuji's strange behaviour, Emi decided to stop what she was doing and approach him. Takeshi also walked over to Ryuji, just like Emi. 

"...?!" 

They were shocked when they stood beside Ryuji. Seeing what Ryuji had been staring at made their eyes tremble. From here, they could see all over Tokyo, as Koryo High School was located in the southern part of the city. Smoke billowed everywhere, and the streets were in chaos, with cars scattered about. Not far from where they were, the road near the school's bicycle parking lot was filled with walking corpses. The city they lived in had become a city of the dead. 

"T-This can't be... this can't be happening..." Emi muttered, covering her mouth with both hands. She still couldn't believe what she was seeing. 

"Tokyo... is destroyed," Takeshi said bluntly, summarizing what he saw as far as the eye could see. 

Not long after their shock, the sound of banging from outside was replaced by the voice of someone they had known since they started school here. 

"Kobayashi-san, Matsumoto-san, stay behind me!" 

"Yes, Sensei." 

Ryuji, Emi, and Takeshi realized the voice was coming from outside, not far from their room. And the owner of that voice was... 

"Aya-sensei!" they all shouted in unison. 

Swing by swing, Aya's blows fell directly onto the heads of the beasts attempting to get to her and the two teenagers behind her. Again, the ground was stained with blood from their heads. Mina and Daiki could only stare in wonder at Aya-sensei's dexterity and quickness as she forged a path.

Daiki, in particular, was staring at Aya-sensei's movements with intense enthusiasm. The chubby boy couldn't stop his nosebleed as his perverted gaze fixated on the teacher's well-proportioned chest, bouncing up and down beneath her jacket and shirt. 

Mina, seeing the perverted look on the boy's face next to her, could only sweatdrop while preparing a shoe to wake up his perverted brain. The sole of the shoe left a clear mark across Daiki's face. 

"At a time like this... you're an idiot," Mina grumbled as she put her shoe back on. The boy slapped with the shoe and smiled vaguely, his face a complete mess. 

"They must know we're here. We need to help them now!" Ryuji said with a serious expression. 

"That's what I've been thinking all along," Takeshi replied, his face no longer stoic.

"I remember! The teachers store some sports equipment in the cabinet. Maybe there's something you can use," Emi quickly chimed in, hoping the two of them could act fast to help Aya-sensei. 

Ryuji didn't take long to rummage through the blue metal cabinet in the corner. Soon, he threw something toward Takeshi. With quick reflexes, Takeshi caught the object the blond boy had tossed. 

"Let's use this... come on, Takeshi," Ryuji said, gripping a baseball bat tightly and handing another to Takeshi. He then left the still-open cabinet behind. 

Emi didn't want to stay idle after seeing the two most important people ready to smash some heads. She pulled the table, blocked the door with all her strength, and quickly opened the door to the room. 

"There are too many of them..." Aya-sensei said, looking overwhelmed as she faced the horde of creatures. Her breath was ragged as she danced around, dodging their attacks. But when she let her guard down, one of them managed to grab her. As if locking the young teacher in place, Aya seemed unable to move. 

"Aya-sensei!" Mina and Daiki shouted in worry, seeing Aya-sensei trapped in the grasp of that cursed creature. Aside from her stamina being drained, the grip of the undead was firm. But before the ugly creature could sink its teeth into Aya-sensei's smooth shoulder... 

Slam! 

A deadly strike from a bat snapped the zombie's neck first, freeing Aya-sensei from its fatal embrace. 

"Need some help, Sensei?" Ryuji asked in a teasing tone. It turned out Ryuji was the one who had broken the creature's neck! 

"Nakamura!" 

"Nakamura-kun!" 

Daiki and Mina shouted joyfully in unison. Mina, in particular, showed a happy expression upon seeing Ryuji after so long since the horrifying incident began. She knew that even though Ryuji could be a bit of an idiot, she believed that the young man named Nakamura Ryuji could always pull off the unexpected. 

"With pleasure, Nakamura-kun," Aya replied in an equally teasing tone, while Mina could only sweatdrop at the exchange. Takeshi, meanwhile, was busy protecting Emi. Swing after swing, he aimed for their heads with the baseball bat.

…