April, cherry blossom season!
Morning, 9:47 AM.
The sun had already risen high, its rays, penetrating through the foliage, brought a light warmth. A breeze swayed the branches, and sakura petals fell, covering every corner of the school yard.
Many students were doing physical education on the sports ground.
Some played basketball, others ran around the court, and others just had fun, relieving the stress and fatigue from their lessons.
— Hr-r-r... hr...
At this time, a staggering figure appeared at the school gate, not far from the sports ground. The man slowly approached, grabbed the gate with his hands and unconsciously emitted a low, hoarse growl.
Several teachers conducting a physical education lesson noticed what was happening.
"Hey! Who are you?" one called out.
"This is a school, classes are in session now. If you want to see the grounds, come during lunch break," another added, frowning. They didn't notice that the face of the man holding the gate looked unnatural - with a bluish-black tint, giving him a fierce and cruel look.
Soon, a middle-aged teacher came closer, intending to drive the stranger away.
But the next moment the man suddenly bit the teacher's hand. Blood spurted out and the teacher fell on his back with a scream.
The sudden incident greatly frightened the other teachers.
They all rushed to help.
But at that moment, the middle-aged teacher's face twisted, he opened his bloody mouth and pounced on the young teacher who was closest, knocking her to the ground. Then he sank his teeth into her neck.
"A-a-a-a!" she shrieked.
The infection had begun!
Soon the rest of the teachers and the security guards who arrived in time - no one escaped the infection, everyone turned into zombies.
On the sports ground.
The students doing physical education noticed the commotion. Some came closer out of curiosity.
And then...
Nothing good happened next!
The speed at which the zombie virus spread was truly terrifying.
Especially when people gathered in groups, it was absolutely merciless, like a drop of ink falling into a bowl of water, leaving no chance for a reaction.
In the school medical office!
"So this is how the end of the world begins..." Tsubasa murmured.
From the window, Tsubasa could clearly see everything that was happening at the school gate, and his lips involuntarily twitched.
He had also thought that before the apocalypse began, he would have time to meet the girls from the group of main characters, establish relationships, collect supplies in advance, and prepare.
And so, it all started like this suddenly?
"From the ship to the ball!" he thought wryly.
"Tsubasa-kun, what... what's going on?" Shizuka Marikawa, holding two bottles of medicine, walked towards the window, slightly unsteady. Perhaps because of her impressive size, she had difficulty stopping, and she crashed right into Tsubasa.
The impact was not weak, even her shape shifted!
Looking at the playground, where terrified students ran screaming, and bloody zombies with distorted faces knocked them to the ground, bit them, and turned them into new infected, even such an absent-minded woman as she realized that something was wrong. She covered her wet lips with her hand, and her wide-open eyes reflected horror.
"Sensei, a new world has begun," Tsubasa said, his voice low. "Now we'll have to try hard to survive in it!"
He seemed to be talking to himself, but at the same time he was addressing Shizuka, who was standing next to him.
Tsubasa had seen a lot of zombie apocalypse movies, but they were just movies.
Only when you found yourself at the real end of the world, personally watching living people turn into zombies before your eyes, could you truly understand how deeply such scenes shake the soul!
Even though he was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but twitch his eye nervously.
However, Tsubasa soon cast aside these emotions.
Not because he was heartless!
But because he clearly understood: in order to survive in this world, and survive comfortably, such scenes would become his everyday life, a part of his existence.
— Attention, students! Monsters that look like walking dead have suddenly appeared in the school. Please find a safe place on your own... Aaaah!
A panicked female voice came over the school radio.
Halfway through her speech, her voice turned into a piercing cry of pain.
Then the sounds of chewing, crunching, and desperate pleas for help came from the speakers, gradually becoming weaker and weaker...
There was a loudspeaker in the medical office too!
Hearing the hissing and crackling sounds coming from the speaker, Shizuka became even more frightened and instinctively grabbed Tsubasa's arm tightly.
This feeling...
Tsubasa glanced at Shizuka, who was clinging to him. Who would have thought that even this absent-minded woman could be scared!
Unfortunately, now was not the time to enjoy such delights!
"Sensei, it's time for us to go!"
With that, he gently released his left arm from her embrace, took Shizuka's hand, and walked towards the door of the medical room. At the same time, he took out the Kuyo Knife from the system with his right hand.
The weapon felt pleasantly heavy in his grasp!
Kuyo's knife was a typical katana with an overall blue-gray hue. The handle was long enough for a two-handed grip, the blade was two fingers wide and about 1.1 meters long. Although the blade remained in its sheath, Tsubasa could feel the coldness emanating from it while holding it.
No wonder it was considered an elite entry-level weapon in DNF - impressive!
"Tsubasa-kun, it seems like there are a lot of those monsters down there. Are we really going to go down there?" Shizuka had already regained some composure and, overcoming her fear and nervousness, carefully opened the door of the medical room, assessed the situation outside, then turned and, blinking her wet eyes, looked at Tsubasa.
"Sensei, we are too high up here. While there aren't too many of them outside yet, we need to go down and find a safer place to hide."
Fujimi High School had many classroom buildings, more than twenty in total, all connected to each other. This layout made it easy to move between buildings.
However, this convenient feature had also contributed to the incredibly rapid spread of the infection.
In a short time, the classrooms below were completely overrun by the zombie wave. Most of the students were already infected, and only a lucky few were still trying to escape in panic.
Judging by the situation outside, these lucky ones would soon turn into losers.
The medical office where they were located was on the fifth floor of the academic building.
Not too high, but not too low either.
Tsubasa wasn't going to sit around and wait for death. His plan was simple: first go down to the lower floors, then find a way to leave this building, and finally reunite with Saeko Busujima and the other girls from the main characters' group.
It was a real apocalyptic world!
Although he had received an initial bonus, improving his physical attributes and strength, he wasn't so arrogant as to think that he could handle a hundred zombies.
If the situation became dangerous, you needed to run!
It didn't hurt to be careful!
First earn points, develop, and then act!
"Okay, Tsubasa-kun, I'll follow your advice," Shizuka said, looking at him with wide, blinking eyes. At that moment, even a woman as absent-minded as she felt a strong sense of security next to Tsubasa.
"Sensei, stay close to me!"
Without wasting any more words, Tsubasa opened the door to the medical room and walked out, holding Shizuka's hand firmly.