lNineteen Hours Before of Dead (2)  

***Riku arrived at the door of a classroom labeled XII-1, breathing heavily after running through the long school hallway to get there. He tried to catch his breath as he slid open the classroom door. Walking past several students who were noisily discussing what was happening, Riku stopped in front of the desk of a girl sitting neatly in her wheelchair.

The beautiful girl with black bangs looked up in confusion at the spiky-haired boy who was now standing before her, staring intently while taking deep breaths. Nao wanted to ask what Riku was trying to say, but Riku beat her to it. 

"Nao, I came here to—" 

"It's chaos out there...! All the students in the schoolyard have turned into cannibals...! We need to get out of here right now...!" Riku's words were cut off as a student suddenly burst into the room, shouting hysterically at the doorway. His breathing was just as ragged as Riku's had been. 

"That's what I was trying to tell you, Nao," Riku said to the girl with bangs as the shouting student finally stopped. Nao just stared at Riku, confused. She had been sitting quietly in the classroom reading a book, so she had no idea what was happening. 

"Riku, what's really going on?" asked a girl standing not far from Riku. 

"I don't know... everything happened so fast. Come on, Nao, let's get out of this classroom." 

The person he was talking to remained silent, not responding to Riku's request. Nao was truly confused. Just moments ago, someone had said that the students had turned into cannibals, and now Riku was asking her to leave the classroom. Wouldn't it be safer to stay inside the classroom if it was dangerous outside? 

"Are you stupid, Riku? It's clearly chaos out there. We can use this classroom as a shelter and hide here until the teachers come," a student quickly retorted, disagreeing with Riku's suggestion. 

"Yeah, that's right..." 

"True..." 

"We should stay here until the teachers arrive..." Others chimed in one after another, voicing their opinions. 

"Do whatever you want... Come on, Nao, we don't have much time," Riku said without waiting for Nao's approval. He immediately picked her up in a bridal carry, causing Nao to panic. Riku quickly left the classroom, but he was shocked to see blood oozing from a wound on the back of the student who had been shouting hysterically earlier. Riku became even more convinced that heading to the school storage room was the best option, just as Ryuji had suggested earlier. 

'Tch... I owe you one, Ryuji.' 

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"If what you said is true, then we need weapons to arm ourselves," Takeshi said, standing with Ryuji and Emi in front of the restroom door. 

"What weapons can we even use, Takeshi? There's nothing we can use to arm ourselves. Besides, even if there were, we're not allowed to carry firearms—it's against the law, you know?!" Ryuji quickly shot back at Takeshi. Ryuji didn't see any weapons they could use at the moment. 

"You're really an idiot, Ryuji," Takeshi replied, breaking off the head of a broom and taking just the stick. 

"We can use anything in the school, you fool," he added, slapping the stick against his palm, resembling someone about to join a gang fight. Meanwhile, Ryuji awkwardly scratched his cheek, thinking about how foolish he had been. Emi, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up. 

"We can call the police. Lend me your phone, Ryuji." 

"Huh? You have a phone too, don't you? Why do you need mine?" Ryuji replied, confused. 

"My phone can't be used to make calls right now..." Emi answered softly, embarrassed to admit that she had a phone but no credit. 

"You're unbelievable, Emi. Just say you don't have any credit—" 

"Stop talking and just give me your phone now!" 

A sharp elbow jab landed squarely on Ryuji's head, making him clutch his head as Emi demanded his phone. Her face turned red, cheeks puffed up, a clear sign that she was embarrassed. Don't even ask why Emi was borrowing Ryuji's phone instead of her boyfriend's. Ryuji reluctantly handed over the phone from his pocket while rubbing the sore spot from Emi's jab. Emi quickly pressed a few buttons before holding the phone to her ear. The atmosphere grew quiet as they waited for Emi to get a response, but the result was... 

"Impossible..." 

"What's wrong, Emi?!" Ryuji asked quickly, noticing the shocked expression on Emi's face. However, there was no response from the shoulder-length-haired girl. But before Ryuji could ask again, a voice came through the school's announcement speaker, catching the attention of Ryuji, Emi, and Takeshi. 

"Attention, please... This announcement is for all students of Koryo High School. There is currently an outbreak of violence in the school..." 

"That's..." 

"The teachers seem to have realized what's happening," Takeshi interjected, cutting off Ryuji. 

"Please evacuate immediately according to your teachers' instructions. We repeat, please evacuate immediately according to your teachers' instructions. Thank you." The speaker's buzzing stopped along with the teacher's voice. 

"So, what do we do now?" Emi asked the two boys in front of her. 

"We'll go to the teachers' room..." Ryuji answered since Takeshi had been silent the whole time. 

"We'll go to the teachers' room to ask for an explanation of what's really happening. But before that..." Ryuji didn't finish his sentence and instead walked off quickly, leaving his two friends behind. Reluctantly, Takeshi and Emi followed Ryuji as he headed toward the classroom hallway. 

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Riku ran down the stairs while carefully balancing Nao in his arms to prevent her from falling. He had dodged several attacks from students who had already turned. He also saw a few students who still seemed human, running around aimlessly, trying to avoid being caught by the transformed ones. 

When one of them tried to attack Riku, he mercilessly kicked the creature, sending it tumbling down the stairs until it reached the bottom headfirst. Fresh blood poured from the creature's head. Riku and Nao stared at the scene in horror, but Riku didn't want to waste any more time. He had no choice but to keep running toward the storage room, passing by several of the transformed students feasting on the lifeless bodies of their peers on the floor. 

"Please..." Riku muttered unconsciously, the words audible to Nao. Riku desperately hoped he could make it to the storage room without getting injured, which could lead to him turning into one of them. 

If he transformed while inside the storage room with Nao, he would lose consciousness and attack her, wouldn't he? Riku truly didn't want that to happen. More accurately, he didn't want to hurt Nao. Riku couldn't bear the thought and didn't want such a thing to happen under any circumstances. 

Having successfully descended the stairs and exited through the main building's door, this was the difficult part for him. To reach the storage room, which wasn't far from the main building, he had to pass through a large number of hungry creatures roaming the schoolyard. Riku had no choice but to run as fast as he could if he didn't want to be caught by them. 

Without hesitation, Riku immediately ran to the left toward the storage room, his primary destination. The sound of his irregular breathing was clearly audible to Nao, who was being carried in his arms. With her body weak from fear, Nao tried not to move too much so as not to disrupt Riku's concentration as he leaped over creatures brutally feasting on their prey. 

"Ri-Riku... W-will we... make it..?" Nao asked softly. 

"... We'll make it, Nao. We'll definitely make it," Riku replied firmly, though his breathing was growing shallow. Riku also noticed four students not far behind him struggling to escape the clutches of the creatures. 

"You guys...! Follow me into the storage room!" Riku shouted to the four boys behind him. In a situation like this, helping others didn't seem like a bad idea. When Riku finally arrived in front of the storage room door, he quickly opened it and went inside to place Nao in the middle of the room. 

After gently setting Nao down, Riku hurried back to the storage room door to wait for the four students. However, luck wasn't on the side of one of them. 

A creature managed to grab the uniform of one of the students, slowing him down. Before he could try to break free, three other creatures caught up and bit into his body, causing blood to splatter everywhere. 

"Over here...! Hurry...!" Riku shouted to the remaining students. Since the distance wasn't too far, the three students quickly followed Riku's instructions and entered the storage room. Riku watched in horror as he heard the muffled screams of the student being swarmed by five hungry creatures. 

They relentlessly tore into the lifeless body of the student. Riku let out a short sigh and then quickly but quietly closed the door to the storage room, making sure it didn't make any noise that might attract the creatures. 

'What... are those things, really?'

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Ryuji walked quickly down the stairs, followed by Takeshi and Emi behind him. On the second floor, Ryuji could see several female students running around with panicked expressions. Ryuji arrived in front of a classroom labeled XII-1. 

"So, you came here to pick up Karin," Takeshi said, breaking his silence as he followed Ryuji. Emi also seemed to realize this only after Takeshi mentioned it. However, Ryuji didn't respond. He slid open the door in front of him, only to find a desk blocking the entrance, clearly placed there to hold the door shut. 

Scanning the room, Ryuji saw that everyone inside had turned into one of them. His eyes searched for someone with blood-red hair and glasses, but he couldn't find the girl he was looking for. 

Suddenly, one of the creatures rushed toward Ryuji. Still, its movement was halted as its body collided with the desk blocking the door. Quickly, Ryuji slid the door shut and stepped back, startled by the attack. Although Ryuji didn't see Karin, he felt a slight relief knowing that Nao wasn't among the transformed students. 

'Riku must have... gotten her out...' Ryuji thought to himself, smiling slightly. 

"That's Karin...!" Emi exclaimed, startling Ryuji out of his thoughts as she pointed toward a bespectacled girl being supported by another student. 

"Karin..." Ryuji was stunned to see Karin her left arm covered in blood. Emi ran over to Karin and tried to support her. 

"Thank you," Ryuji said to the female student who had helped his cousin, offering a slight smile. 

"You're welco—... aaahhh...!" 

Ryuji, Emi, and Takeshi jumped in shock as the girl suddenly let out a scream. It turned out that one of the creatures had bitten her ankle from below. 

"Emi, get away from there, Ryuji!" Takeshi shouted, throwing his stick toward Ryuji. Emi quickly moved behind Takeshi, and Ryuji successfully caught the stick Takeshi had thrown. Seeing this, Ryuji couldn't just stand by, especially since this girl had helped his cousin. 

Without hesitation, he swung the stick he was holding hard at the creature's head, causing it to release its grip on the girl's ankle. However, a chunk of flesh from her leg was torn off by the creature's bite. Ryuji clicked his tongue in frustration. Moments later, the girl collapsed to the ground, screaming in pain and crying as she clutched her leg, which was bleeding profusely. 

Her screams attracted more creatures not far away. They immediately rushed over and viciously attacked the girl. Despite her struggles, she couldn't break free from the six students tearing into her body with their teeth. Ryuji wanted to help, but Takeshi stopped him. 

"We can't save her, Ryuji. There are too many of them," Takeshi said quietly, pulling Ryuji back by the shoulder. Realizing the growing number of creatures, Ryuji had no choice but to retreat and leave the girl behind. 

The three of them, plus Karin, quickly moved toward the route leading to the teachers' room. However, unexpectedly, Karin collapsed unconscious from Emi's support. 

"Kariin...!" 

"That's enough, Emi..." Takeshi said as he watched Emi patting Karin's cheeks, trying to wake her up. 

"But Takeshi-kun, we can't just leave Karin here—" Emi's words were cut off as Ryuji suddenly spoke up beside her. 

"Her pulse has stopped... There's nothing we can do for her now." Ryuji's eyes closed tightly for a moment. 

His right hand was holding Karin's neck. The words that came out of Ryuji's mouth beside her truly broke Emi's heart. Her eyes grew teary as she realized she couldn't save her best friend's life. Was this how cruel their new world had become? Who knew... 

"What Ryuji said is true. We can't save her." 

Kageyama Takeshi also tried to convince Emi. In desperate times like this, she had to act quickly so they wouldn't waste any more time. She knew Ryuji's words were true. 

Even though Karin was Ryuji's cousin, the young man remained realistic about their current situation. Since everyone agreed, Emi had no choice but to nod briefly, accepting the opinions of the two boys near her. Seeing that she couldn't do anything to help Karin, Emi nodded. 

"Tch... Damn it!" Ryuji muttered under his breath. 

Glaring down the hallway they had just passed, Ryuji couldn't hide the sound of his teeth grinding together. His expression clearly showed a mix of frustration and tension. His eyes were now in a state of constant alert, aware of the danger that was getting closer and closer to them. 

"Let's go! We don't have much time left. We need to get to the teachers' room as fast as possible." 

Ryuji reminded them of their initial plan to seek an explanation from the teachers about what was really happening. Unconsciously, his grip on the wooden stick he was using as a weapon tightened. An incident like this definitely needed further explanation, as what was happening now had already taken his cousin's life—and it could very well take theirs, too. 

Takeshi, who also saw what Ryuji was looking at, furrowed his brows. His expression hardened instantly. Not wanting to waste any more time, Takeshi immediately grabbed Emi's wrist and pulled her to her feet. Emi complied as her boyfriend took her hand—or rather, dragged her—toward the route they needed to take to reach the teachers' room. Running was the best way to cut down on time and reach their destination as quickly as possible. 

Not long after Takeshi and Emi left, Karin, lying on the floor near the school lockers, suddenly seemed to stir. Her hand reached out and grabbed Ryuji's leg, which was close by. Ryuji looked at Karin with a completely unreadable expression. 

His teeth clenched tightly, a clear sign of his anger. Yet, there was also a hint of sadness in his eyes as Karin tried to approach him, her breathing ragged, like someone struggling for air. Ryuji closed his eyes tightly and then muttered something. 

"Forgive me... forgive me, Karin..." Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, ready to fall at any moment. 

Not long after, he raised the wooden stick he was holding to the side of his head. Then, with force, he drove the stick into Karin's head. The words "Forgive me" repeatedly escaped his lips as Ryuji struck Karin with the stick. He didn't stop until Karin ceased moving after more than a dozen blows landed on her head. Fresh red blood splattered everywhere, and the floor was soon flooded with the blood pouring from Karin's head. 

"Damn it..." Ryuji muttered softly. 

"What the hell is this..." he mumbled again, unsure who he was addressing, as he stared at what was happening in the hallway not far from where he stood. His eyes were filled with horror as he looked in that direction. 

"...What the hell is really happening?!" ***

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Ryuji snapped out of his thoughts when someone stirred on his shoulder. The girl with bangs, whom he had carried the night before, was still fast asleep, likely exhausted—that's what Ryuji thought at the moment. However, without Ryuji realizing it, there was a disapproving gaze directed at him. 

Yes, Riku was glaring at Ryuji through the corner of his eye, clearly unhappy to see Nao sleeping soundly on Ryuji's shoulder. Ryuji shifted his gaze to the left and saw Emi also sleeping in Takeshi's embrace. Ryuji smiled bitterly as he looked at the two of them. 

Yet, Ryuji chose to focus on the positive. The fact that his two childhood friends were still by his side was more than enough for him at this moment. He was thankful to God that he was able to be present with all of them on this bus—it truly was a blessing for Ryuji.

The bus moved slowly, passing through the desolate and ruined streets of Tokyo. The minibus's fuel gauge had been blinking for a while now, suggesting it was searching for a place to refuel. Their real journey and adventure were just beginning. Could they survive in the midst of a destroyed city? 

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