Yui nodded, a small smile playing on her lips.
Kohta, meanwhile, was having a meltdown. He was trying to talk to Asami, but every time he opened his mouth, only a strangled squeak came out.
"S-S-So..." Asami began, a shy smile on her face. "I see you're making good progress."
"Y-Y-Yeah!" Kohta managed to say. "W-We are!"
Asami laughed. "You're funny."
Kohta's face turned beet red. He was so flustered he didn't even know what to say.
Tysone, seeing the poor boy's struggle, decided to intervene. "Hey, Kohta, why don't you show Officer Nakaoka the schematic for the new gun turret you designed?"
Kohta's eyes lit up. "O-Oh! Right! The turret!"
He grabbed Asami's hand and dragged her over to a table covered in blueprints, a new spring in his step. Asami looked a little surprised, but she didn't pull away.
Tysone watched them go, a small smile on his face. It was good to see them like this. Happy. Normal.
He turned back to Marin and Yui.
"So..." Marin began, leaning in a little closer. "We were thinking... maybe you could give us a tour of your work?"
"A tour?" Tysone raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. You know, show us what you've been working on. I'm sure it's all very... manly."
She batted her eyelashes at him.
Tysone couldn't help but laugh. This girl...
"Alright." He said, playing along. "Follow me."
He led them over to the Apocalypse Mule, and began pointing out the various upgrades they had made, were making, and were planning to make. Of course, neither Marin nor Yui could understand half of the technical jargon, but that wasn't really the point. They just wanted to be close to him.
Marin listened with rapt attention, her eyes sparkling as Tysone explained how the reinforced plating worked, or how the new turbocharger would boost the engine's power.
Yui, on the other hand, was more focused on Tysone himself. A little blatantly so, as the young himself was quite exposed, and it was undeniable that Tysone, already a handsome guy to begin with, had only gotten more attractive as he got stronger. She watched the way his muscles moved under his skin as he gestured, the way his face lit up when he talked about something he was passionate about. It was... captivating.
When the impromptu tour was over, Tysone turned to them.
"Anything else you want to see?" He asked with a playful smile.
Marin bit her lip, her eyes darting to his bare chest, then back to his face. "Well..." She started. 'I can think of one or two things...' She thought, but didn't voice it out. She wasn't that shameless; she was just window-shopping for the moment. Anything more, and she didn't know how he'd react. Or worse, how the other women would react.
"...I think that's enough for now." Yui said quickly, sensing Marin's boldness. "We should let you get back to work, hehe~"
Marin pouted, but didn't protest. "Can we watch?"
Tysone shrugged. "Sure."
He went back to work, diving into the guts of the truck with Kohta and Kenji.
Marin and Yui sat down on a nearby bench, watching them. Asami soon joined them, a dreamy look on her face.
"He's so amazing, isn't he?" She sighed, looking at Kohta.
Marin and Yui exchanged a glance. They were clearly not talking about the same person, but they didn't say anything. They just nodded in agreement.
For a while, they just sat there, basking in the sun and watching the boys work. Kohta, under officer Nakaoka's admiring gaze, was more energetic than ever, showing off his knowledge with a newfound confidence. As for Kenji, he was just happy to be useful.
It was a rare moment of peace. No thunderstorms. Even the Aurora was barely visible in the sky. Just the sound of tools clanking and laughter.
Marin leaned back on her hands, her eyes on Tysone's back. She wondered if he knew how much he meant to all of them.
She soaked everything in, wishing this moment would stretch forever.
But in this crazy world, nothing good ever lasts.
Tysone suddenly stiffened. He straightened up, his head tilting slightly, as if he was listening to something far away.
"Tysone?" Yui asked.
He held up a hand, silencing her.
"What is it?" Kenji asked, his voice low.
Tysone's eyes snapped towards the gates of the mansion, where, within seconds of Tysone's sudden odd behavior, the gates started rattling as if someone was trying to break in from the outside. "We have company." Tysone grunted, grabbing a rag to wipe the oil from his hands.
A sense of unease settled over the group. Marin and Yui stood up, their hearts pounding.
Kohta and Kenji's playful expressions straightened out into something more serious.
The gates rattled louder.
Haruto emerged from the corner, sprinting with a panic-stricken expression, his rifle in hand.
"Trouble." Tysone sighed.
"T-T-Tysone!" Haruto called out, forgoing the use of honorifics; but that was something Tysone himself instilled in all of them. He wanted them to act quickly in case of emergencies, and that included skipping the formalities if they wasted precious seconds. "S-Survivors! T-They're begging to be let in!"
Haruto panted.
Tysone's brow furrowed. He had a strict policy about outsiders. After all, desperate people were dangerous people.
"How many?" He asked, walking towards the gates.
"Three." Haruto said, catching his breath. "A woman, and two men."
Tysone held a hand up to stop Kohta and Kenji who were already reaching for their weapons. "Are they infected?"
"I-I don't know, o-one of them is injured..."
"Kohta, go tell everyone that we have... 'guests'. I'll go see what the fuss is about."
"Roger!" Kohta saluted and ran inside, while Asami, Yui and Marin started to head inside as well. Marin turned to him before she did, her eyes filled with a mixture of worry and trust. Tysone gave her a reassuring nod.
He then turned to Kenji and Haruto. "You two, stay here. Keep your weapons ready. If anything goes wrong, you know what to do."
"Yes." Kenji and Haruto gave a firm nod.
Tysone approached the gate. Takashi and Miku were already there, trying to calm the survivors down.
"Please! Let us in! Please! W-W-We're being hunted!" A woman's voice cried out, laced with raw fear. Tysone couldn't quite see her face clearly. The gates were tall, and the bars obscured the view.
"Who's hunting you?" Takashi's calm yet strained voice asked from the other side of the gate.
The woman's hands clutched the gate bars, her knuckles white. Her face was streaked with grime and tears, eyes wide with terror. The two men with her looked equally desperate, one clutching his side, his shirt stained with blood.
"A gang." The injured man gasped, leaning against the gate for support. "They've taken over one of the old mansions down the road."
"They're not normal." The other man added, his voice shaking. "We saw them... what they did to the others who tried to fight back."
Tysone finally got close enough to see them.
A woman, probably in her late twenties, with short, cropped blonde hair and a determined look on her face. She was holding a baseball bat, ready to swing. Next to her was a tall, lanky man, with glasses and a nervous twitch. And lastly, another man, this one slightly doubled over in pain while holding onto a bleeding wound.
He approached. Takashi and Miku, who had been communicating with the survivors, saw him coming and stepped back.
Tysone's eyes narrowed. "Not normal how?"
The woman shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. "They're... strong. Unnaturally strong. Stronger than even the z-zombies. We barely escaped with our lives."
Tysone got even closer now, and the survivor's eyes widened in surprise when they saw a mountain of a black man standing before them.
The man was shirtless, showcasing a physique that could've been meticulously carved from marble and steel, giving the impression that nothing could possibly harm him. The sunlight glinted off the sweat on his skin. He stood tall and confident, his eyes, despite their dark color, held an unnatural luminosity with the faintest of crimson specks.
The woman for a moment was too stunned to speak properly. Tysone's presence was so... overwhelming. She didn't know how to describe it properly.
It pressed down on her chest even harder than those gang bastards did.
"You said they settled down nearby?" Tysone asked, his tone even but with a hint of sharpness.
The lanky man nodded. "Yeah. The old Aikawa estate. About two kilometers away from here, I t-think..."
Tysone's jaw tightened. The Aikawa estate. He knew of it. That was too close for comfort.
He looked past the trio, scanning the empty street behind them, then he turned towards Takashi. "Let them in for the moment." And then he turned towards the group. "If you have any weapons, put them down right now. Trust me that if this is a ruse to attack us, you won't even be able to see who's killing you."
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at [email protected]/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.