March 4th 2018

The subtle sound of footsteps on the dirt, the chilly air and the smell and sensation of humidity were nothing compared to the soft feeling of that girl's lap.

Natsuki's subconscious made her nuzzle her face against it as her body warmed up by Yuri's sweater, curled up, which thankfully wouldn't leave her clothes dirty as a black canvas extended under them prevented anyone from getting dirt on their clothes of bodies.

"Kyah!", a sudden squeak then made the pink girl sit up freaked out. "What?!", she asked, allowing everyone there to see her twirly pink hair on the right side of her head.

"Sorry, there was an insect hehe...", Sayori said smiling awkwardly. "Ugh... What time is it?", Natsuki asked a bit sleepy now that her body relaxed again at the sight of no danger.

"Umm... 11:31 am", Yuri replied as she grabbed Natsuki's left hand and checked on her wrist watch. "Eleven... ELEVEN?!!", Natsuki's gears soon clicked.

"W-What's wrong love?", Yuri asked concerned as Natsuki stood up quickly. "How did I end up oversleeping??", Natsuki asked as she looked around.

"W-Well... Around 5 I woke up and I saw you were dozing off, trying to write something on your diary so I made you lay down a bit on my lap and from there the rest is history", Yuri explained blushing lightly.

"Dammit... I was killing time until the sunrise so I could start right ahead... Stupid tiredness!", Natsuki grunted. "S-Start what?", Yuri asked confused.

"Where's that idiot of the cap??", Natsuki asked, still looking around. All she could see in that cave with the daylight now there was Sayori trying to push an insect outside of the cave with her shoe, Monika, Haru and Emerson cleaning up the remains of the bonfire, Ryona and Mayu discussing something and of course her purple girl sitting there.

"A-Ah, you mean Gensai-san... I think he's outside doing something", Yuri replied. "Thanks babe!", Natsuki rushed to put on her shoes and ran outside the cave. Yuri tilted her head curious, to then calmly stand up, put on her sweater again and follow her girl.

Natsuki's eyes were blinded by the sunlight a bit, but she soon adjusted to it and kept looking around to finally find that school cap boy talking to Omiko while chopping some logs with a small axe. The pink girl approached them quietly.

"B-But what if they...", Omiko tried to to say, unable to speak what her mind pictured. "I don't think so... She's useless for them if she's dead. They want Natsuki, Yuri, Sayori and Monika mainly, from what I've heard, any other person related to them will at least be offered a chance to join the New World", Gensai replied.

"W-Why would they do that?", Omiko asked. "I'm not sure but if I had to make something out of that... Maybe making their friends and family turn on them? Sounds like a classic villainous move to torment an enemy", Gensai explained.

"But... What if she refuses...?", Omiko asked fearful, she already knew the answer. "... I'm afraid what you're thinking is the most likely possibility if that's the case", Gensai replied serious. Omiko covered her mouth and began shaking again.

"It's okay, we'll get her back, I promise", immersed too much on her thoughts and feelings, Omiko hadn't noticed the pink girl quietly approaching her from behind until she spoke those words and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"N-Natsuki-senpai?", Omiko asked a bit surprised, removing her glasses and wiping off the couple of tears that had begun coming out of her eyes.
Natsuki had listened already what happened to Erika when Gensai came back and before she started dozing off.

Gensai had gone back to the where the shelter was thanks to Monika's indications so he could track the two knights that had caught Erika. He had been looking for them almost all night but all he found was traces and marks of wheels nearby, most likely from the vehicle those knights had come by.

Gensai's conclusions were that those two probably saw what had happened to their comrades and decided to escape and take at least that girl with them to not come back empty handed. After that and making sure the other knights were still unconscious, he came back to asses the situation with Monika and the others.

"Is there a way to enter the New World like undercover or something?", Natsuki asked Gensai serious. "Hmmm... The only time I went there, the security was fairly good. You're thoroughly revised at the entrance and you must show your face clearly, no glasses, no caps, no hoods, and all that... There's only one entrance and the huge wall surrounds the entire place...", Gensai explained. Natsuki frowned upset and looked at the ground.

"But", Gensai suddenly said and made her lift her head with magenta eyes full of expectation. "Like any other city, it has a sewer system... That surely is connected to the sewer system outside", Gensai said with a grin.

"We just have to come up with a good plan and infiltrate! Don't you worry mint lesbian! We'll save your girlfriend and get her back, I promise!", Natsuki said determined, looking into her eyes and grabbing her hands between hers.

Omiko had never seen that look in Natsuki's eyes or anyone's really but the intensity, sincerity and compassion it transmitted her was no lie. Somehow, she felt in her heart she could trust those words.
Omiko cried tears of relief and hope.

"Now go and get something to eat, we need all of us healthy and full of energy", Natsuki said and slapped her shoulder, putting on her ever so friendly and cute grin. "Yes, thank you so much, senpai", Omiko replied with a smile she finally was able to pull out and ran back to the cave.

"That was really sweet of you", Yuri said with a sweet smile of her own, wrapping her arms around her girl's neck from behind. "Ye, now you go back too and make sure she eats", Natsuki said rubbing her hand tenderly. She had already noticed Yuri followed her but she didn't mind.

"W-What are you going to do?", Yuri asked curious. "I gotta talk to this guy", Natsuki replied looking at Gensai who had resumed his log chop activity.

Yuri nodded and after a quick kiss on her girlfriend's cheek, she returned inside the cave to look after the mint haired girl as Natsuki asked her to.
Natsuki just watched her go, her chest still felt tingly everytime she looked at that purple girl.

"So? What can I do for you, pink girl?", Gensai asked. "Pause that, I need your full attention now", Natsuki said serious, arms crossed. Gensai did so and noticed Natsuki looking around a bit anxious.

"Seems like something important but that at the same time you don't want your friends to hear", Gensai said. Natsuki looked at him frowny but didn't reply. "Follow me", Gensai said and began walking into the forest.

Natsuki quietly followed him, not asking where he was going. It took them a couple of minutes but as the height of those tall and slender trees began decreasing and shorter trees started becoming more common to see, Natsuki's eyes caught an impressive landscape.

The greeny mountains extended further in the distance under a clear blue sky, in the surroundings, a few short trees were scattered to allow an open area covered by grass to be seen and where they now had arrived to.

"I don't think anyone can hear us here, so what did you want to talk to me about?", Gensai asked, sitting on the grass in the lotus position and looking at the landscape ahead. "For the record, this isn't something I don't want my friends to hear but I'd rather... Not have Yuri hear it yet. She's quite the worry worm and I'm sure she'd freak out if she heard me saying this... So I want to prove her there's nothing to worry about first and for that, I need your help", Natsuki said and stood up in front of him, blocking the view.

"I want to become strong, the strongest if I have to. I don't get why this New World rejects us but I don't care anymore... There used to be happiness in our literature club, in our little world and I'll be damned if I let this world tell me what to do!", Natsuki spoke with a determination that only raised with every word.

"Those girls are the only family I have left... Yuri is the one I love the most in this world and with all these dangers threatening us, I want to be able to protect them myself and fight through any obstacle until we can be happy even in this rotten world", Natsuki gripped her fists, her slender arms trembled from how hard she was doing it.

"I want to be strong. Strong enough to defeat any of those knights, to defeat any of those adventurers, to defeat any of those corrupted and to defeat even you or the entire kingdom if I had to!", Natsuki exclaimed and pointed at him defiant to then surprise Gensai as she kneeled and put her hands and head on the grass when she finished.

"So please! Help me become strong enough so not even the flames of hell can take the ones I love away from me anymore!!", Natsuki exclaimed and with those words, a bitter smile appeared on the school cap man's face, a bitter smile that despite everything, brought back joyful memories to his heart.

"Get up", Gensai said as he did so too. Natsuki looked at his dead serious expression before standing up, feeling a bit nervous but gritting her teeth, she pushed through any feeling of hesitation that could come her way and stood up, small fists gripped again.

"True warriors think not of themselves but of others", Gensai said and put his hand on Natsuki's head. "In those words you spoke, you never asked to become strong because you thought you'd be cool or because you wanted revenge or impress anyone. The sole reason you want to become strong is to protect those around you", Gensai said serious.

"You've got the heart and soul of a true warrior, pink girl", Gensai put on that friendly crooked teeth smile again and messed Natsuki's hair playfully. "Tch! Don't treat me like a kid though", Natsuki slapped his hand off her head but still smiled.

"So, you gonna help me or not?", Natsuki asked feisty with hands on hips. "To be honest, I was already planning to teach you girls some moves so you could defend yourselves in this harsh world and I'll still do it but the difference between you and them now is that I will mold you into the ultimate warrior", Gensai grinned confident.

"Alright! Let's not waste any time then, how do we start??", Natsuki asked putting her guard up, ready to fight the world. "We start by being healthy, go back and get some breakfast, it should be ready by now", Gensai replied.

"Later, I'm not that hungry yet", Natsuki said punching the air to warm up. "I'll need your friends at 100% but I'll need you at 300% at least and for that I'll need you well fed and well rested from now on. Go and get some food and when you're done, bring everyone here, we'll use this open area", Gensai explained.

Natsuki pouted upset but she understood what he meant and to be quite honest, she was hungry. Eating one meal a day was something common for her even before the apocalypse but her body seemed to never get used to it.

"Fine... Aren't you gonna eat though?", Natsuki asked. "I already ate something, besides, I'll stay here to prepare everything for you girls to start your training", Gensai replied.

Natsuki had no more ways to object and soon went back to the cave, excited and eager to start her road to become a strong warrior who could protect those she loved.

===================

Around an hour and a half later, Natsuki came back to that open area followed by her 9 friends who got practically the same reaction of fascination at the sight before them, Sayori having her mouth open for so long that Natsuki thought she'd eat a fly eventually.

Natsuki noticed nothing really had changed since last time. Gensai was just there sitting in that lotus position and looking at the landscape again. She simply wondered if by preparing everything he meant thinking of what their training would consist of.

"Woaaaah! This place is so pretty! It's like a park weeeee!!", Sayori started running around with her arms open like a plane's wings. "I think the sunset here must look adorbs~ perfect for a romantic moment right, Emmy?", Haru asked and tried to lean on Emerson's shoulder who simple stepped back, letting her fall.

"What did you need us for, Gensai?", Monika asked with her ever so nice smile. "Listen up, everyone", Gensai shouted, making all girls look at him with curious eyes.

"There are many dangers in this New World. From the corrupted who caused the fall of the previous world to the knights and adventurers that are after you in this new one and while I don't mind giving you a hand every now and then, I believe it's better if you all learn how to defend yourselves", Gensai explained loud and clear as he paced around the place.

The girls began looking at each other and at him, some nervous, some excited, some still processing his words but all attentively at that.

"So starting now, I will train you all so you can kick the ass of any knight next time you run into one because believe me, you will", Gensai said serious, looking at them in the eyes one by one. Some gulped, some remained calm, some even determined, some confused but they all nodded.

"Question!", Sayori raised her hand. "Yes, Sayori-dono?", Gensai replied.

"Are we gonna learn how to do that thing you did yesterday where you used your stick like thingy and flew over the bad guys heads?", Sayori asked genuinely intrigued. "Wahahaha! That'll be a piece of cake for any of you once were done", Gensai said confident.

"Woohoo!", Sayori jumped excited. "So we're gonna learn how to use the staff too?", Monika asked. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, I need you all to get in shape first and learn the basics of hand to hand combat before that", Gensai replied.

"With that said, Ryona-dono, Mayu-dono, it seems you're the two with the most experience in this aspect of your group, am I right? Please come to the front, I'll need your help to train them in the basics", Gensai said, looking at both dark blue and white haired girls who looked at each other and nodded.

"The rest of you, I need to know how much experience you have with any kind of physical activities, it could be a martial art, sports or even jobs that require physical skill. This will help me awake and exploit that dormant skill you may have acquired in the past and forgot about", Gensai explained and then started one by one.

"Monika-dono, let's start with you", he said. "Okay, umm... I used to do yoga every now and then... I also did some basic calisthenics some times", Monika replied.

"Emerson-dono", Gensai said looking at the messy ponytail girl next to her. "I used to play volleyball in middle school! Soccer sometimes too", Emerson replied cheerfully.

"Haru-dono", Gensai looked at the blond gyaru next to her next. "Not much really, just some jogging to stay in shape sometimes hehe", Haru replied awkwardly.

"Omiko-dono", Gensai said to the glasses girl there. "Nothing really...", Omiko lowered her ashamed.

"Sayori-dono", Gensai spoke to the seemingly excited red bow girl, already bouncing to reply. "I used to play Minecraft!", She exclaimed proud.

"Sayori that's not a physical activity", Natsuki said unimpressed. "It is! Your learn survival stuff and you use a sword and a shield and all that!", Sayori replied puffing her cheeks.

"Yeah but you do it while you lazy ass is flat on the couch", Natsuki replied chuckling. "My butt is not flat! Look, it's squishy!", Sayori said as gripped her butt cheek.

"You alright?", Mayu asked Ryona whose nose was bleeding already despite her serious and tough facade. "Yes", Ryona simply turned around to clean her nose.

"Anyways, Natsuki-dono", Gensai said to the pink girl. "Eh... Well... Nothing really", Natsuki twitched her mouth and looked to the side ashamed of her previously lazy life.

"Yuri-dono", Gensai said to the purple one finally. "Zero...", Yuri hid her face behind her long hair which she had begun fiddling with.

"At least you, Sayori and mint lesbian were lazy too, I'm glad I'm not the only one!", Natsuki thought as she hugged her girlfriend thankful for that. Yuri didn't understand why but was thankful she did it and hugged her back.

"I think I have a better idea of what to do with you now. Let's begin with the basics though, 20 minutes of jogging will be enough to start the warm up. Follow me and remember two important things. One, breath through your nose no matter what and two, you may feel you can go faster while we jog but don't try to get ahead of others, you shouldn't burn yourselves out with something like the warm up of the warm up, save all that energy you'll feel stored for later when we get real", Gensai explained. The girls listened attentively and nodded.

"Osu! Then all get behind me and let's go!", Gensai shouted loud and finally started running back into the forest, the girls immediately followed him, forming a big worm made of people that now slithered around the forest.

20 minutes passed, slow for some, fast for others and the girls finally returned to the open area where Gensai finally stopped.

"Holy... Cows...!", Sayori almost out of breath exclaimed as she dropped on the grass, panting heavily. "Come on... Sayori, that was... nothing!", Natsuki exclaimed but her heavy breathing told a different story.

"I-I think... We were going slightly uphill so... It was more difficult...", Yuri said, resting her hands on her knees and catching her breath. "Y-You are right, senpai...", Omiko also panting agreed.

"You bunch of... Lazy dummies... Come on! We are just getting started!", Natsuki exclaimed, unexpectedly enthusiastic. "Walk around the place, one minute and we'll continue", Gensai indicated.

"Come on!", Natsuki grabbed Yuri's hand and started walking around, doing her best to breath through her nose while Yuri still tried to recover some air. At least holding hands with her motivated Yuri to keep moving.

From there, the literature girls continued to endure the training Gensai prepared for them who with the assistance of Mayu and Ryona, was able to make the most of the time having them correcting and showing them how to do the respective moves simultaneously.

Although everyone did their best to endure, the one who remarkably pushed through everything that came her way was none other than the pink girl.

From the stretching exercises, agility training, strength building exercises such as push ups, sit ups or squads, to the actual fighting techniques, Natsuki poured her all in each and every one of them.

And so two hours passed and Gensai finally called it a day for them.

"It's finally over!", Sayori exclaimed but had zero energy left to bounce, only dropping to her fours and catching her breath. "I'm so tired... But I feel we made some good progress", Monika said satisfied.

"You all did great, fellas! You can go back now and rest all you want, don't worry about the food, take all you want from my reserve, you earned it today", Gensai said smiley. "Even the cookies?", Sayori asked joining the tips of her index fingers.

"Yeah, even the Chocolate cookies", Gensai replied. "Yay!!", Sayori, pulling out some strength from out of nowhere, jumped back to her feet excited and drooling.

"Ry! Let's go back and give me a piggy back ride because I just used all the energy I had left!", Sayori exclaimed, her body shaking like a sand tower about to crumble. Ryona rushed to put her on her back.

"Let's goooooooooooo!", Sayori shouted bubbly as ever as Ryona and her lead the way back. The rest of the girls followed them chuckling and walking more calmly, taking their time to regain some energy as they walked.

And at the end of the line, the pink and purple girls also started walking but not for long as Natsuki suddenly stopped at the sound of that deep yet friendly voice.

"Natsuki-dono", Gensai had said, making her turn around. "What?", Natsuki asked confused. Yuri had turned around too.

"Where do you think you're going?", Gensai asked. "Uh... To the cave? You said we could go now", she replied.

"Yeah, they can, you however...", Gensai paused and looked at her in the eye deadly serious that she got chills. "Yuri... Go back with the others", Natsuki said.

"E-Eh? You won't come?", Yuri asked concerned. "Later, I gotta help Gen with some stuff... Umm we're gonna gather some fruita from the trees", Natsuki said but Yuri wasn't really convinced.

"I-I can help you too then", Yuri said. "Nah, it'll just take a minute, besides, your legs are all wobbly from so much exercise", Natsuki chuckled as she pointed at Yuri's indeed wobbly legs, that shook like jello during an earthquake.

"Come on, go back and take it easy, I'll catch up with you soon, save some cookies for me before Sayori sucks them all into the bottomless hole that's her stomach", Natsuki said as she rubbed Yuri's cheek and pinched it playfully. "A-Alright... Don't take too long, okay?", Yuri sighed and decided to trust her girlfriend. She knew Natsuki wouldn't do anything bad.

Once again, Natsuki just watched her go, with that tingly feeling in her chest and a warm smile on her face.

"So... Why do I have to stay? Something you need to talk to me about?", Natsuki asked with crossed arms. "Not really. Now that you're done with the warm up, let's get to the real training", Gensai said with a grin.

Natsuki gulped and understood she got what she had asked for, nothing more, nothing less.

×××××××××××××××××××××

March 5th 2017

Fuck.

That's all I got to say.

No but seriously though, I think today I did all the exercise I didn't do in my entire life so far.

After the "warm up" with my friends as he called it, we really got real.
First, he made me fight him for almost an hour, I could barely stand half way through but hey, it's true the power of love exists!

Thinking about Yuri and imagine I was fighting for her honor really gave me some strength I didn't know I had to keep going.
Thanks purple bud, love ya~
(~￣³￣)~

After he evaluated my fighting abilities, he told me some of my strengths and weakness while I rested a bit and gave me advice on how to make the most of them.

After that, he taught me more basic techniques including kicks and some counters, so I guess I'm starting to get ahead of my friends because in the time we trained together we only learned how to throw a basic straight punch correctly.

Gen says and it still bothers me a little, that due to my size and body complexion my greatest strength is my speed but like, not only speed as I could run very fast, it's more of speed in general.

For example, the speed which you can move your limbs with, which could allow me to punch and kick at an insane speed and move around my opponent so fast they could barely see me! Can you imagine that?

Anyways, we finished with more basic exercises for strength, agility and cardio in general and around 7 we finally called it a day.
So like... Damn, I trained for around 6 hours...

Welp, I asked for this and I don't regret it, even though my body is probably gonna hurt like hell tomorrow and right now I can barely hold this pen still haha...

I feel I got a bit stronger and I feel I'll become the strongest very soon.

Anyhow...

After that, we came back and thankfully no one questioned me why we took so long. Apparently Gen had already told Monika we would take a while to come back because we would go look if there was a better place for us to move, which of course we didn't find haha.

Weird thing though was my purple gf... I mean she's always cheesy and sweet but when I came back she was like extra cheesy and extra sweet cause she immediately welcomed me with a big hug, served me dinner and even tried to feed me herself.

Which of course I didn't allow.
Gotta show who's boss here (눈‸눈)

Anyways, she kept doing her best to spoil me and all that but eventually, we went back to business as Gen continued his briefing on this New World so I'mma do a summary now.

Todays main topic was the corrupted.

We didn't get to learn about it before the catastrophe but apparently now it makes sense, specially what happened to my dad.
The way the virus spreads.

The Libitina virus basically spreads through your saliva and body fluids in general, similar to your favorite zombie virus I guess but the issue here is that the corrupted would rarely bite you.

The most common way and like the standard one is a kiss or something like that. The basically press their mouth against yours and pass you on their saliva with the virus which has a very high speed rate as the symptoms start to show around the next 24 hours.

The red eyes don't show immediately after apparently as they are like the last stage of the infection.

First you'll just have some episodes with whatever bad trait you have, difficulty to stay focused and headaches.

Next you'll get really tired, barely able to stay awake and this is speculation but some people online had claimed they got constant nightmares during that stage.

Finally, you'll lose control of that bad trait and become a corrupted with red eyes and the worst part of all, increased physical abilities or even mental abilities, it'll depend on your trait.

People whose bad trait require them to use violence such as murderers, rapists, bullies, thieves and so on will most likely gain an increase in physical abilities necessary for them to satisfy their necessity, some form of adaption basically.

People whose bad trait require them to use their head such as liars, scammers, manipulators, cheaters and so on, will most likely gain in increase in their mental capacity, allowing them to learn faster, memorize better or process information quicker than most people.

Others such as depressive people, schizophrenics, anxious people, fearful people and such on the contrary, will lose something, for example, depressive people tend to lose health with symptoms such as lost of appetite, difficulty to sleep and decadence of their health in general.

Overall, the virus has different effects for everyone and it depends entirely on your bad trait and personality in general.

Next topic: The corrupted now have organized.

Apparently, the corrupted who share the same interests have started joining forces. This was a post war thing apparently due to the knights and adventurers having them as targets too and he thinks probably some of the smart corrupted made them see they were stronger together rather than by themselves.

According to Gen, the most common and bigger groups are rapists, murderers, thieves and scammers, there are more but their number is quite smaller compared to the others.

Final topic today: how to deal with them?

Gen says it's very simple.
Kill them.

Just thinking about it makes me shiver... I've never killed anyone of course and I don't know if I'll be able to do it so easily but I have to right?

He says there's no other way around since there's no cure, the vaccine only prevents you from turning into one but once you're a corrupted, there's no turning back.

There's one more reason but he didn't tell us yet, he says it'll be better if he shows us eventually and well, that was about it.

Some important notes:
- The virus can also be transmitted if they bite you but it's rare for them to do that.

- The corrupted thankfully work like humans in certain aspects as they need food and sleep too.

- Adventurers are paid for getting rid of them so the New World can be cleaned little by little from them but it seems to be a really long term plan, not exactly a priority now.

And well, that's about it.

What else...

I should-

Gotta go!

Natsuki♪

×××××××××××××××××××××

"Hey! Where are you going??", Natsuki asked in whispers after getting up as quick as she could, catching up to the school cap man in the entrance who without her noticing for being too immersed in her diary, had already got a huge backpack ready on his back.

"To the town, we need more food and I gotta get some blankets and clothes for you fellas, you're all still in those stinky pajamas wahaha!", Gensai laughed quietly. "I'll go with you", Natsuki said without hesitation.

Gensai looked at her determined magenta eyes, she was frowning and had her small fists gripped. "Even if I said no, you'd still follow me so come on, we'll get you a backpack or something there", he sighed and turned around to walk away from there.

Natsuki looked over her shoulder at her literature club girls, all sound asleep already. They all had fallen asleep quiet early most likely due to the training they went through earlier.

The pink girl dedicated one last glance to her purple girl, she quickly removed her hoodie and went to cover her body with it, she quickly kneeled next to her and landed a soft kiss on her head to then rush out of the cave and follow the school cap man.

==================

"You sure you're not cold?", Gensai asked trying to contain a laugh at the expense of the trembling pink girl whose arms were wrapped around herself and her teeth kept clattering. "I-I'm not... T-This ain't n-nothing! Achoo!!", Natsuki sneezed greatly but feisty as ever.

"Last thing we need is you catching a cold", Gensai sighed and stopped walking. He took off his long coat and then took off his black t-shirt, handing it to the pink girl. "Use it as a blanket or something to keep yourself warm, if you put it on it'll probably look like a long dress on you anyway wahaha- ouch!", Gensai laughed but not for long as Natsuki kicked his shin and then accepted the shirt.

After putting on his coat again and resume their walk, both soon stepped out of the forest and into a small town ahead.

It was the first glance Natsuki had at the remains of the old world.
The light poles erratically flickered but somehow still worked, the windows of almost every building broken, a lot of those buildings also were almost pitch black as the remains of fire that didn't finish the job on them showed in the form of ashes painting the walls and the streets, once proudly one of the cleanest in the world now full of trash of all kinds scattered everywhere, from food remains, empty cans and ripped bags, to broken glass and blood red stains.

Natsuki couldn't help but gulp at the eerie atmosphere that small town emitted and that sight pulled out of Yuri's favorite zombie movies that she certainly couldn't appreciate yet.

"This is one of the less bad towns, big cities are the ones who got the worst of it, there are barely any buildings standing there", Gensai commented in whispers, somehow trying to ease Natsuki's nervousness but didn't quite succeed at it.

"Why are you whispering now?", Natsuki asked nervous. "Shh! Come on", Gensai then stuck to the wall of what once was a pawn shop around the corner, indicating Natsuki to do the same and stay behind.

"Look", Gensai whispered and pointed at the end of the street to their right. Natsuki carefully snuck her head to see and catch the glance of three individuals there. "T-Those are...", Natsuki could feel now more than ever, how the fearsome reality was catching up to her.

They were 3 men wearing fairly normal clothes, jeans and jackets to withstand the cold night but the flickering light of the pole next to them allowed Natsuki to see the red shine in their eyes, that at the moment she believed to be supernatural but would eventually learn it was due to the effects of light refraction.

"W-What are we gonna do now??", Natsuki asked nervous. "Nothing, let's go other way, we can't risk getting into a fight with them", Gensai replied and went back to through that street they came from.

"Why don't you try taking them down like the knights? Are they too strong for just you or something?", Natsuki asked. "I don't know for sure, each corrupted are different in that aspect, for example, some were former salary men who after the increase in strength may have just got as skillful as an average delinquent but others could have been martial arts practitioners and that enhanced physical ability could make them extremely dangerous", Gensai explained.

"I see... Any idea of what kind of corrupted were they?", Natsuki asked, constantly looking over her shoulder as she followed Gensai. "It's hard to tell just from a quick glance really... But they were outside the supermarket we were going to go to, considering corrupted still have some sort of reasoning, there are two possibilities", Gensai paused a bit, looking around to then head to a smaller street that looked as empty as the others.

"One, they're just there looking for food or two and the worst case scenario, they're there because those kind of places are were most survivors go to look for food and supplies in general and if they're looking for survivors they could be rapists or murderers at worst", Gensai explained and Natsuki felt chills down her spine as her mind couldn't help but come up with the worst scenario.

"The most dangerous aspect of the corrupted is not their violent behavior or their enhanced abilities but the fact that they can still think and reason to different extents we still have yet to fully comprehend", Gensai said. They had stopped at a small house of just one floor.

As she feared, the lights didn't work when Gensai tried flipping the switch. "You don't seem to keen on the dark haha, here, take this and stay here watching out in case the corrupted may come this way, I doubt it but still, I'll go inside and look for some of the stuff we need", Gensai said as he handed her a black pocket knife.

"N-No, I'll go with you", Natsuki replied, to his surprise she had refused. "I need to overcome these stupid phobias, like imagine I become super strong but as soon as the lights go out I chicken out... That'd be embarrassing", Natsuki huffed.

"Fair point, then come on, stay close to me", Gensai said as he pulled out another flashlight and handed it to the pink girl. "It's okay... It's okay...", Natsuki mumbled to herself as the door behind them closed, leaving them inside an even darker house.

"Kyah!", Natsuki squeaked at a sudden knocking sound. "Oy, chill, that was me haha, I'm just checking if someone else is in here", Gensai said and thanks to the lack of light, Natsuki's embarrassed face couldn't be seen.

Luckily for the pink girl, there was not much to worry about. They soon got to one of the bedrooms of that house and to their relief, the lights did work there as Natsuki curiously tried flipping the switch.

"Oh! So the lights do work here! I guess it was just the light bulb of the entrance corridor haha", Gensai grinned. "You may seem smart sometimes but you're actually quite dumb", Natsuki said surprised.

"Let's see the closet......... Ah! Here's what we needed! Catch!", Gensai went to check the closet and after rummaging through it a bit, he finally found a good camping backpack that he then threw to the pink haired girl. "Heh... I guess it's normal for people who live near the forest to have something like this?", Natsuki commented.

"Excellent, we got three more blankets here and... You come and pick some clothes for your pals or I could end up picking terrible outfits wahaha", Gensai laughed and stepped aside to start packing the blankets and futon into his huge backpack.

"Geh... Whoever lived here, they didn't have much style...", Natsuki commented as she inspected the clothes in there. "I don't understand but hey, girls know their stuff", Gensai chuckled.

Eventually, Natsuki picked the less awful clothes in her opinion and packed them inside her backpack, while Gensai continued to pack some other useful stuff he found in there.

"Let's go check the kitchen for some food and other stuff", Gensai said. "Okay", Natsuki simply replied and followed him. The light of that room greatly helping her withstand the darkness in the other side of the house and thanks to it and the light that came out of the kitchen when he turned on the lights there, her eyes caught something in the room across.

"I'll go check that other room", Natsuki said. "Careful then", Gensai said and continued doing his stuff.

"A bit nervous at first, Natsuki soon turned on the lights to have a better look at that room which revealed to be what he expected, a studio. Two standard bookshelves to the left and right of the desk in the far middle and one large enough to cover the entire wall behind it, all stacked with books.

"Jackpot", Natsuki mumbled with a smile and proceeded to check the bookshelves to see what she could find for a certain someone there. The large bookshelf mostly stored books about law and other stuff Natsuki found boring but the ones on the right one had what she was looking for.

Natsuki didn't take long to recognize the name on the spine of some of the books there as she had seen it multiple times in that neatly organized bookshelf her girlfriend had in her room during one of her many visits there.

"I wanna see Yuri's face when I show her these", Natsuki couldn't help but chuckle at the image of her purple girlfriend probably blushing, opening her violet eyes widely and stuttering trying to ask where had she got those from.

Natsuki shoved inside her backpack all the books with the name "Stephen King" on the spine, then she proceeded to pack a few others with different titles that seemed to be romance novels, sci-fi novels and others she didn't quite guess but seemed interesting enough.

Eventually, they finished exploring that house and gathering anything useful without complications.
They went outside again, careful to not run into those red eyed individuals which were nowhere to be seen anymore, or at least that's what it seemed.

For precaution, they didn't go to that supermarket and continued looting a few other small shops, mostly for food or blankets and futons until it seemed they were almost done.

"Alright, last stop for tonight... The hardware store", Gensai said as they stood in front of a small shop with the metal curtain down and a vertical sign that read in Kanji "Edogawa Hardware store".

"This has been quite easier than expected... Although my backpack feels like I'm carrying Yuri on my back", Natsuki said, standing hunched. "It'll be a good training to get there eventually, don't you think?", Gensai chuckled.

"How are we gonna get in there though?", Natsuki asked, seeing no padlock at the bottom of the curtain or something of the sort. "Let's see...", Gensai crouched in front of the curtain and tried pulling it up but it wouldn't budge.

"Just like I thought, it's locked from inside... Well, that's the negatives of this but...", Gensai said pointing at a window above. "But what?", Natsuki tilted her head confused.

"The positives of people in towns like this have their homes and businesses combined in one place is that there's more than one way to get in", Gensai said. "So we gonna get a ladder or...?", Natsuki asked.

"Nah", Gensai simply pulled out a black rod the size of a notebook out of his coats inner pocket. "Huh?... Woah!", Natsuki cocked an eyebrow confused but soon stepped backwards startled as the rod extended and turned into that Bo staff she had seen him beat those knights with.

"Don't tell me...", Natsuki asked afraid of knowing the answer. "Oh yeah", Gensai took some distance and prepared to do that move of a pole vault athlete but Natsuki to his luck, was the voice of reason that night.

"Stop!", She exclaimed, getting in his way. "The window is closed, you were gonna break through it, weren't you? That'll make a lot of noise and attract attention you idiot!", Natsuki exclaimed exasperated.

"Oh, you're right", Gensai put down his staff and scratched his head. "Geez, you really are dumb...", She said and sighed.

"What do we need from this shop anyway? Ah! Weapons right??", Natsuki asked but quickly realized or so she thought. "Not exactly, I just need some tools", Gensai replied.

"Tools for what?", Natsuki asked curious. "Hehe, you'll see. Anyways, guess I'll have to do this the boring way", Gensai sighed and contracted his staff to then put it inside his coat again and approach the entrance.

"What the frick are you doing?", Natsuki asked greatly confused as he began doing squats. "Warming up a bit... Osu!", Gensai replied and suddenly, along with one last squat he did, he jumped quite high, enough for him grab onto the edge of the window.

"Okay, now what you idiot?", Natsuki asked as he was just there hanging from the window frame. "God bless sliding windows", Gensai said and with one hand, pulled out his contracted staff again and reached out for the grip at the far right of the window and with the tip of it, began sliding the window open and pull himself up and in afterwards.

"I did it!", Gensai exclaimed happy as he popped up on the window giving a double thumbs up. "Congrats, guess I'll keep watch in the meantime", Natsuki sighed with a smile.

"Yeah do that! I'll try opening the curtain so you can get in too, hold on", Gensai said and turned around to then disappear into the darkness of that room. "I wonder if I'll be able to do something like that eventually... Of course I will!", Natsuki muttered to herself and huffed.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Well, the lights here won't work... I choose you trusty flashlight!", Gensai exclaimed and pulled out his flashlight after turning on the lights seemed to be of no use neither in that room nor in the corridor outside.

The school cap man illuminated his path and saw a door at the end of the corridor and to its right, what seemed to be the stairs that lead to the hardware shop below. He calmly walked there but as soon as he was turning around to head downstairs, that door suddenly opened violently and hit him in the head.

Gensai stumbled backwards a bit rocked only to then see first the bloodshot eyes of the individual that emerged from that room that just opened. He noticed the butcher knife in his left hand coming at him and quickly grabbed his wrists to stop him.

The school cap man could feel the ridiculous strength of that red eyed man of now visible brown hair but thankfully, he too had pride in his own, twisting his arms and making him turn around with a straight jacket lock to then kick him in the back and send him back to that room he came out of.

"Ngh!", Gensai however immediately felt the hard impact of steel against the back of his head, which hadn't been for his rigorous training and previous line of work, would've split his head in two like a watermelon.

Rocked, he turned around and saw another red eyed man of black short hair, visible thanks to his flashlight on the floor providing some light to that corridor. The black haired corrupted was already swinging his crowbar at him, aiming for his head again but Gensai was quick to get down and wrap his arms around his waist, and like a mad bull, drive him all the way through the corridor until they bumped on the wall.

With the bounce provided by that bump, Gensai turned that into a northern lights suplex, flipping backwards his way back to his feet. He had already heard the rushed steps of that man on the other side so he quickly turned around and stopped his knife coming at him again with one hand grabbing his left wrist.

Gensai twisted it and forced him to drop the blade. The corrupted tried punching him immediately but Gensai took that head on, almost unfaced and pulled him into a fireman's carry position, ready to slam him into the ground however, the other corrupted was already up, or almost up.

Gensai felt the impact on the back of his knee courtesy of a chop block by that corrupted who was still getting up from that suplex, taking advantage of the situation, which combined with weight of the other monster on his shoulders, made him drop to one knee.

Both immediately started ganging up on him as the other got off his shoulders. "Coming to the hardware store is so obvious hahaha", one of them said as he wrapped his arm around Gensai's neck, putting him in the sleeper hold.

"Now we can have our kill of the day!", the other said as he kicked Gensai in the crotch hard and took his time to pick up his butcher knife. "I'm gonna slowly rip your guts out of your body!", He added as he licked his knife with a sadistic look on his face.

"These two are those corrupted we saw earlier... Wait a second... We saw 3... Where's the other-?!", Gensai thought as he forced his way back to his feet, no intention of going down yet but realization struck him in the form of a scream of pain.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"... of course I will!", the pink girl had exclaimed and huffed, confident in her bright future. "Hum...", Natsuki was curious however, she knew there was no one around so she put down her backpack and calmly approached the same spot where Gensai had stood to jump onto the window above.

Natsuki did a few squats and as she looked above, she prepared to jump in the next one. "Just to see how high I can get now... Sei!", Natsuki exclaimed and jumped as high as she could, raising her arms and always looking above, smiling as she saw that window edge not so far from her hands as she did, at least from that perspective to then feel gravity do its job as her body started to go down.

But gravity seemed to have glitched that night.

The feeling was somewhat familiar. Her body remembered it from a happier time, when she was young and both were there for her. He used to do it a lot. Now however, it felt quite rough and whoever these hands belonged to, they hurt her armpits.

It didn't last too long as she felt her body being thrown backwards. "Gah!", Natsuki's voice barely found its way out as the impact of her body against the concrete of the road shook everything inside of her.

Although she was dealing with great pain, Natsuki didn't hit her head thankfully which allowed her to see clearly the cause of it.

A man of brown jacket and jeans, slightly skinny, dyed blond hair on the top his head and his natural dark brown on the sides and of course those bloodshot red eyes above a sadistic toothy smile.

Natsuki fought through the pain and got up as quick as she could, stepping back as the corrupted calmly walked towards her. She hurried to pull out the pocket knife from her pants pocket but as she tried to clumsily unfold it, the man kicked it off her hands and away.

The pink girl could feel her blood freezing, her throat getting dry and her body shaky and yet she put up her tiny fists, not backing down yet.

"How cute", the red eyed man giggled deviously. "Fuck you!", Natsuki certainly needed that and threw a quick hook to his jaw but that wide smile hadn't changed a bit as it just pushed his cheek a bit deep.

Natsuki didn't even see when but that familiar pain told her her stomach had been punched hard as she gasped for air, wrapping her arms around it. Another merciless fist then struck her jaw and knocked her down.

"You good for nothing brat!".

The shorter girl tried to reincorporate and get some air back to her body along, getting on her fours but a vicious kick to her side made her body roll over and yet another familiar pain on her ribs to strike her immediately afterwards.

"It's all your fault!".

"I don't get why my clubmates like to use weapons to kill someone... It's much more fun using your own hands!", the corrupted exclaimed and laughed manically as he stomped Natsuki's stomach, digging his foot into it.

"You're just a waste of time!".

"AAAAGH!!", Natsuki screamed in pain, feeling her guts being crushed inside of her. "Gahahaha! Your little guts are getting squishy squishy!", he exclaimed in ecstasy, digging his foot harder to then lift it and grab Natsuki by the hair, roughly pulling her back up.

"You've always been a burden".

"Eat my knee!", the corrupted exclaimed, having Natsuki by the hair and shooting his knee to her face. Somehow Natsuki turned her head to the side to avoid a broken nose, but the impact wasn't any less worse. "I think it's time for the grand finale!", he let go of her hair. Natsuki bluntly dropped on the ground, barely but conscious still, thanks to all the thoughts going through her mind and most likely what was her life flashing before her very eyes.

"It's always been like this...".

The corrupted got on top of her and punched her face a few times.

"I thought just because it was him I couldn't bring myself to do anything... But that I could certainly do it if it was anyone else...".

Natsuki felt his rough and cold hands wrap around her neck, his fingertips digging into her skin, pressing the muscle and nerves there and her arteries blocked by the pressure, stopping the blood flow to her brain.

"No matter how tough I act... I really can't do shit in real life... I just... Shake scared, have panic attacks or just cry like the pathetic cute girl I am...".

Her eyes began seeing everything blurry for two reasons, her life fading and her lasts tears coming out of them.

"How frustrating... I hate this feeling... In the end, I couldn't do anything... I'm just crying again... And if Yuri were the one in danger... I really couldn't have done anything...".

Natsuki wanted to scream, but she couldn't.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"What?!", the corrupted exclaimed shocked. It didn't even take a second.
As Gensai was trying to get up, his partner still clinged to his neck, he had gripped her butcher knife hard and drove it into his stomach to rip a nice line through it which he planned to use to get his hand into his flesh and pull his intestines out of his body.

However, as that scream of pain reached the ears of everyone up there, Gensai before he noticed, gripped the arm of his partner around his neck and pulled him over his shoulder to the front making that butcher knife dig deep into his back.

Still trying to comprehend what happened, the corrupted just saw his knife slide out of his body as he dropped to the floor and then a furious grip on his jaw put an end to all.

Gensai grabbed him by the jaw and smashed his head onto the wall. The red eyed man didn't even have time to try and fight back as Gensai wrapped his other hand around his neck, adjusted his palm on his chin and with one quick push, snapped his head backwards almost 180 degrees. The corrupted saw the world turned upside down in his last seconds in that world.

Gensai quickly stomped the head of the one being stabbed to make sure he wouldn't get up again, his boot digging into his skull splattering his brains on the walls around to then rush back to the room he had come from.

The school cap man arrived at that window just in time to see a man of dyed blond hair choking the pink girl with his hands, both on the ground.

Gensai quickly jumped off the window and quickly walked behind the man to twist his head 180 degrees making him look at him as he put an end to his life for good and shoved him off the smaller girl.

"Nats-! Oh thank God!", Gensai quickly kneeled next to her, calling her name and the pink girl quickly and thankfully replied with some coughing as the flow of blood and air to her head resumed at last.

Gensai helped her sit up and checked there were no major wounds or any bleeding. Natsuki eventually functioned normally again, although she could feel the bruises and throbbing pain on her ribs, stomach and neck mostly, something she was quite used to but had hoped never would have to feel again.

"Can you walk?", Gensai said offering her his hand to get up. "Yeah", Natsuki stood up herself.

"Let's go back then", Gensai said as he went to pick his huge backpack up. "What about those tools?", Natsuki asked without looking at him. She was looking away, arms crossed and expression almost absent.

"I'll come back for them tomorrow or something, we already have the store spotted anyway", He said. "We're here already, just go get them", Natsuki replied.

Gensai was about to protest but the sorrow in Natsuki's voice was something he could recognize and arguing was not an option now. "I'll hurry then", he said and put his backpack down again.

In a matter of 2 minutes or less, Gensai jumped onto the window above and rushed downstairs to unlock the curtain which had no padlock luckily, it had been stuck using a metal pipe most likely by those corrupted in an attempt of leading them into a trap.

When he opened the metal curtain, Natsuki was still there, absently looking away and he could only imagine how much was going through her mind now.

The school cap man soon found a bag specially made to carry around heavy tools such as wrenches or hammers, he shoved everything he needed in there and swung it around his shoulder to then carry his huge backpack on his back.

"Let's go", Gensai simply said and without saying a word, Natsuki just picked up hers and followed him.

The way back to their cave in the forest was quiet to say the least. Natsuki had nothing to say and he knew nothing he could say now would make things better.
Sometimes we just need some time alone with our thoughts.

They arrived at the cave around 4 am. To his surprise, Natsuki quickly put down her backpack and pulled out all the blankets she had brought, proceeding to cover their friends curled up bodies with them as they all were deep asleep. Gensai quietly watched her do so to then finish with her purple girl.

Natsuki took her hoodie off her and put the blanket over her body. She then laid down next to her, pulled the blanket over herself too and careful to not wake her up, she snuggled closer to her.

The pink girl gripped Yuri's sweater as she buried her face on her chest and as quiet as she could, began professing some words into Yuri's heart.

"This will be the last time I cry, I want my last tears to remain within your heart. In truth, I'm weak, you've seen that true self of mine and yet you stayed with me, you didn't make fun of me, you didn't stop loving me".

"Please just tell me I'm the best.
I don't care if it's not true.
Just please tell me I'm the best.
I just... I just really need to hear that from someone.
I know I sound stupid.
But...".

"You're the best".

Natsuki didn't notice.
Yuri had woken up by the time she snuggled closer. Her warmth had pulled her out of the land of dreams.

She didn't understand much at the moment. She didn't know where that blanket had come from or why Natsuki was crying on her chest that late at night but one thing was for sure.

Natsuki almost never showed this side of hers to others. She was just as insecure as her in her own way but whenever she did, Yuri would always be there for her.

"Nightmares?", Yuri asked what was her best guess. Natsuki nodded and she didn't care how much she had heard so far, she was just glad to hear those words from the person she loved the most.

Yuri pulled her closer and began running her hand through Natsuki's hair tenderly and kissed the top of her head while the smaller girl quietly sobbed on her chest and hugged her like it would be the last time.

The pain those bruises on her body gave her paled in comparison to the one frustration and the insecurities this caused and revived but Natsuki was not alone to face it anymore and even if she had no intention of going through them again, for this warmth and tenderness to be there again just in case, she had her path clear as day.

In each other arms yet again, they fell asleep soon as Natsuki's eyes got tired of ultimately letting all those feelings out and that night, Yuri wouldn't leave her side until she could see her smile in the morning once again.

"I must protect this... This pure and unrequited form of love, I will protect it with my life if I have to", that was the sole thought Gensai had as the only witness of their love that night.

====================

The following morning, Gensai had overslept a bit. He woke up around 1 pm and looked around to see the girls up and working hard once again.

Yuri in particular was finishing washing one of the new plates and spoons they brought last night using a water bucket Ryona had carried there from the nearest river.

The pink girl was nowhere to be seen there but the school cap man had a good idea of where she could be by then.

He greeted everyone and after a quick breakfast, headed to the open area they now used as training field and to no surprise, he found her there.

The image of that short pink haired girl and the determination in those magenta eyes as she practiced her roundhouse kicks the best she could made him smile proud.

And so one month passed.