It did not take long for Haruto to figure out just where he was. In fact, he and the two women were heading down the exact same hallway that Hisashi had led them before, except now it was littered with the bodies of the dead, dying and undead. Haruto was able to walk on through the horrid mess of bodies but Saeko and Marikawa, which he had learned her first name as Shizuka, were not faring as well as he was.
While Saeko was able to hold her horrification inside, she could not keep the slight shiver of fear from creeping up her spine. As she watched Haruto step over the bodies without so much as giving them a second glance, she could not help but begin to think to herself. How is he able to do this? It's almost as if he has either been through this or been through worse. No matter how much she thought about it, she could not com up with an answer that satisfied her.
Shizuka, on the other hand, was not faring anywhere near as well as the other two were. Her squeaks of terror and fear could be heard every few seconds as they walked over newer and fresher corpses. No matter how many times she saw the bodies, she could not work up the courage to do anything but force herself on with her medical bag.
As they soon neared the staircase that led to the rooftop, Haruto heard another sound as did Saeko and Shizuka. It was something that sounded oddly like something motorized pounding into something and a girl screaming. Immediately, Haruto was running again down the hallway with Saeko and the nurse in close tow.
Things weren't going exactly as Saya Takagi had planned. As a matter of fact, they were going in the exact opposite direction that she had intended. Not only was she stuck with the otaku freshman gun freak, but now she was cornered by an infected thing with nothing to defend herself with. Looking around frantically, she had begun to toss the trophies from the case that she had been backed up against. Realizing that it was a fruitless effort, she then reached for the thing that she saw on the ground, which happened to be a motorized drill, and immediately turned it on and slammed it into the thing's skull.
Blood flew everywhere as a clean hole was drilled into its skull and she screamed. She couldn't bear it any longer. For the moment she indulged her darker side. When it was over… she was silent as she stood with a dead yet quivering look in her eyes. The boy she was with, Hirano Kohta, did his best to fend off the things as they responded to the sound of her scream. He was starting to run dangerously low on his nails, though. He cringed as he fired off his final shot and was met with the sound of clicking and the hissing of gas. Damn it…
It was at this time that he felt as if the things had begun to multiply. There definitely seemed to be more of them than there were before in the small hallway. He wanted to fight them… but he knew that he did not have the power to do so. He back up to a corner, close to Saya and felt the fear slither its way into his eyes. Is this it? Is this the feeling of fear? Is this what it feels like when you know you'll die?'As he thought to himself, though, a voice echoed throughout the hallway, cold and emotionless, and the two could not tell where it came from.
"Sōdoāto: Reitō-en…"
The thin line of fire cut cleanly through the heads of the advancing creatures and they stopped dead, as if frozen in time. Kohta was stunned and Saya was too buried in her knees and crying to notice. The flame dissipated and the creatures were left standing, but now before them stood the man dressed in black. He carried a blade in his right hand and Kohta could not see his face.
The man sheathed his blade to the blade collar and stopped momentarily. He turned and looked at Kohta, his icy blue eyes seeming to pierce his soul… and he spoke. "Your name." Kohta could barely breathe in the sight of the man. "K-Kohta!" The man spoke again. "Calm her, Kohta-san. It does a woman well to know that she is being protected in times of danger." Kohta followed the order immediately and knelt down to try and calm her down. He then turned his head back and saw the man clash the Tsuba with the sheath and watched as the creature's head began to slowly slide off of their necks. Some came off at angles while others simply fell off.
As the man stood to his full height, Kohta heard footsteps coming from down the hallway. When he looked, he saw Saeko and Shizuka run the corner and his jaw dropped at the sight of them. The man saw this and unsheathed his blade and promptly bopped him on the head with the pommel. While Kohta aided his bumped head with the help of Shizuka, the man helped up Saya and tried to do what Kohta failed to. "Hush, girl. There is no need for such tears on such a lovely face."
Saya heard his soft yet rough voice and looked up with her eyes shimmering as her tears continued to pour. Haruto did his best to smile at her, but it was hard through the mask and it turned out like his old sensei's smiles did. "There… now then… what is your name?" She stuttered, still fearful of what had nearly happened. "S-S-Saya…"
Haruto chuckled and turned to walk over to the middle of the hallway, in between where Rei and Takashi had just showed up and the others. "It is very nice to meet you, Saya. I must say that it is very nice to meet you all. Now… as a few of you already know… my name is Haruto Uzumaki." Takashi looked at him as he was now. His coat was now open and it revealed the blade that hung at his side. The fact that all Haruto wore was black made him look all the more intimidating.
Finally getting over his dark form, Takashi spoke. "Well… I for one definitely have questions. First off… how in the Hell did you just disappear like that?" Haruto peered over his shoulder and stared at him and then sighed. "I had hoped that I could avoid such a question like that for a while. If my emotions didn't control me as they had… not only would it still be a mystery but Shizuka-san would probably be dead."
Takashi sighed back. "I understand… but that still doesn't answer my question." Haruto turned his whole body and looked at him. "I will explain later when we have the time to rest. For now we must focus on getting away from this school." Takashi nodded and accepted his explanation for the moment, knowing that he was right.
When Haruto knew that Takashi was satisfied for the moment, he began to think. 'Hmmm… this isn't going to be easy. Back in Konoha they had us split up into two-man teams when we went out on our extermination excursions. We have seven people when counting me… that is a definite handicap in this situation. I hope I can get everyone to safety… Haruto stopped thinking and looked to everyone who had now collected on one side of the hallway to converse.
He coughed to get their attention and they all looked up to him. He could tell already that they were talking about him. Nice to know that I'm such a popular guy. Haruto simply spoke. "Now, from what I am used to, we will have to do things slightly differently than what we did where I came from. Since we have seven people, I included, we will have to remain relatively close to each other. If one person is pulled away from the group for any reason, they should have a safe buddy to make sure that they have both company and a second combat hand. Get your buddy now before we move out."
Everyone was immediately shot into a little soldier-type mode from the way that he spoke. He spoke with an authority that spoke of nothing less than true experience with the situation, though they did not know where one would get experience with these things. Everyone discarding the thought, they quickly got their buddies. From the way Haruto saw it, the groups were rather predictable.
Saeko and Shizuka had both paired together. Haruto saw this as a good choice because from the bokken that she carried, he could tell that she was well versed for close-quarters combat so having the nurse with her would benefit her greatly. Saya had taken Kohta and once more, Haruto thought the idea to be good. He saw Kohta to be a kind soul from what he had seen and he figured Saya to be an emotional wreck with the situation. Putting the two together would keep them sane for the time being. He was not surprised when he saw that Rei and Takashi had taken each other as partners. They were together on the way here and they seemed to fare well on their way.
Haruto was about ready to speak until Saeko spoke before him. "Um… what about you, Haruto-san?" Haruto looked at her and chuckled until he caught his words. "You see, Saeko-san, there are not enough people for everyone to have a partner." Saeko nodded. "I see that, but what will you do? With only you, you're bound to get overrun by them." Haruto could only continue to chuckle as she spoke. "What is so funny?"
Haruto quelled his laughter slowly and looked at her with a dead stare. "It is rather simple. I have far… far more experience than any of you with these types of situations. I do not need anyone's help." Takashi scoffed slightly. "You sound pretty cocky." Haruto cocked his head lazily towards the teenager and spoke in a monotonous droll. "Do not mistake my confidence in my abilities for cockiness, child."
Takashi jumped at Haruto's comment. "Who the Hell are you calling a child? You can't be that much older than any of us!" Haruto put his hands behind his back and straightened. "I call you as your society has labeled you. You come from a place that wants to simply keep to itself and not deal with the outside. I, on the other hand, come from a place that was willing to do whatever it took to kill, maim and destroy any threat to our village. I come from a place that trains its children to kill… to become cold… for there is nothing more important than a nation needing to protect its people… no matter the cost."
Takashi was getting annoyed with his attitude. "So you're saying that we are weak because we were not trained to kill?" Haruto nodded his head. "I am not meaning to put you down, Takashi-san. I am simply wishing to tell you that at this point, I am superior in this situation due to my past experience in dealing with this. Do you accept my answer and my leadership?"
Takashi had to admit, Haruto was obviously skilled enough to make it through this. Breaking away from him would be detrimental to their combined goal of staying alive. He sighed and nodded his head. "I'm sorry, Haruto-san. I guess I'm just a little bit shaken by this whole thing..." Haruto nodded his head. "That is understandable, Takashi-san. It is not easy having your whole world turned upside-down. Now then, we have wasted too much time with this. We must move now!"
Everyone began to move down the hallways, covering each other and killing the things that tried to eat them and turn them. Takashi and Rei had taken the front and were bashing away the creatures as they came at them. Saeko and Kohta were on either side whacking and firing at any that came from the rooms while their partners were on this inside alerting them to their blind spots. Haruto had taken the rear and was looking out for any that may sneak up behind them.
After they traveled through numerous halls, they finally came to a door that led outside. Haruto then moved to the front, crouched at the door and checked outside. Many of them were out there but they were relatively spread out. Haruto began to try and formulate a plan. Hmmm… there are quite a few of those bastards out there. But… if they are anything like the ones that I fought then they are sensitive to sound far more than they are any other thing. If we are generally quiet then they shouldn't bother us.
Haruto nodded to himself and turned to the group. "Okay, we're going outside." Takashi's eyes widened and everyone else's jaws dropped. Shizuka was the one to speak. "Um… wouldn't that be a bad idea? There are a lot of them out there..." Takagi quickly spoke up in defense of Haruto. "I think he already knows what Kohta and I do. These things are sensitive to sound. If we are quiet then we should be okay."
Haruto smirked underneath his facemask. So there are people who are willing to use their brains as well to survive, eh? She has my congratulations for figuring that out. I would like to know how… though that is for another time. Haruto stood from his crouch and turned to look at them. "She is correct. If we are quiet then we will be okay. Does anyone object to this plan? This is not a dictatorship."
One hand was raised and Haruto looked to see that it was Shizuka's hand. "What is it that makes you not want to go, Shizuka-san?" Her golden eyes turned away as she felt shaken underneath his gaze. "I'm… I'm scared..." Haruto sighed and walked calmly over to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder as he looked down into her eyes when she turned her head back to him. With a deep sincerity, he spoke. "If it makes you feel any better then I will remain beside you until you overcome your fear."
Shizuka looked up with a small smile and glossy eyes before she hugged him softly. Haruto simply draped a single arm over her back until she broke the hug. Haruto walked to the front again with Shizuka and Saeko following. He placed his hand on the door handle and looked back. Everyone gave a nod that they were ready. Haruto looked forward and took a deep breath. Time for the real fight to begin…
Haruto pushed with a great force… and they were off…