Chapter 7 - The Scheming of a Self-Centered Girl

“Do something already!”

“Seriously!? Then how about you start thinking for once too!”

In the classroom of Class 2-3, a boy and a girl were arguing.

The boy’s name was Kiba Kaito, and the girl’s name was Yamashita Sakura.

The two of them were not a couple or anything like that.

Kaito, with a hero complex typical of high school boys, had helped Sakura—who was considered one of the most beautiful girls in class—and Sakura had naively taken that to mean, “As long as I stay with him, I’ll be fine.”

As a result, the two of them had barricaded themselves inside the classroom.

But now, zombies were banging on the door hard enough to break it down.

That’s when Sakura threw a tantrum, and Kaito lost his temper as well.

“They’re about to break in! Aren’t you supposed to be a man!?”

"What the hell does being a guy have to do with it!? That’s got nothing to do with this! If you’ve got time to complain, do something!"

It had devolved into a truly pathetic shouting match.

And then, at that moment, the door finally gave way—zombies burst into the room.

"Shit—!"

Kaito threw a chair at them.

But the zombies didn’t stop moving.

"Graaahhh… nnnghhhhh…"

"D-Don’t come any closer… AAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

One of the zombies grabbed Kaito’s arm and pushed him to the floor.

"AaaaAAAAAHHHHH! It hurts it hurts it hurts it HUUUURTS!!"

In moments, more zombies swarmed in, and Kaito’s screams were swallowed by the noise.

Without even a glance back, Sakura took off running.

(Like hell I’m dying here! No way… There’s no way I’m going out like this…)

And then, just like that, she tripped—hard.

(Wh-What did I trip on…?)

At her feet was Kaito’s bag.

Its strap had snagged her leg.

"How far are you planning to get in my way!?"

She stood up, seething with frustration.

Sakura had originally lived in a rural village.

But when her father was transferred for work, they moved to the city.

What awaited her there were days filled with bullying.

She was laughed at and looked down on as a country bumpkin.

Sakura made a decision.

She would become more beautiful than anyone and make them all eat their words.

She did whatever it took to be popular.

Her looks weren’t all that bad to begin with, so she went on a bit of a diet, did facial massages to slim her face, and even learned how to speak in a way that matched her appearance.

Then, she enrolled in a high school where no one knew her.

From there, life was a bed of roses.

When she walked down the hallway, everyone turned to look.

The boys were captivated by her, and the girls gazed at her with envy.

Yes.

This was the real me.

The path I was always meant to walk.

Those thoughts only grew stronger.

Sakura hadn’t realized that, in exchange for her charm, she had lost her “heart.”

And it was likely she never would.

Zombies began to close in, surrounding her.

There was no escape.

(This can’t be happening! There’s no way this is real!)

A zombie’s hand grabbed Sakura’s arm.

“Eek!?”

The zombie’s mouth closed in right before her eyes.

“Aaaaaah!”

Sakura screamed and shut her eyes.

But the sharp pain she had imagined never came.

Instead, there was a thud sound, and the grip on her hand weakened.

“Huh...?”

She looked up.

A metal baseball bat was embedded in the head of the zombie that had been grabbing her.

“Are you okay?”

A strange, out-of-place voice called out.

Sakura quickly put on her mask as “the envy of everyone.”

“Th-thank you!”

“I’ll expect plenty of thanks later! But right now, getting out of here is the priority, alright?”

The man holding the metal bat.

She recognized him.

(If I’m not mistaken… he used to be the captain of the baseball team, right?)

“Raaah!”

The man in front of her let out a battle cry and swung the bat.

The zombies were being swept away one after another.

“Follow me! Even if the zombies here are girls, there’s no way I can take them all on!”

“Y-Yes!”

A part of the zombies’ encirclement opened up.

If we’re going to break through, that’s the only way.

“Run!”

The man held out his hand.

Grasping that hand, Sakura thought:

(No doubt about it… If I stay with this person, at least I can survive this place. If I can somehow win him over and have him protect me from now on…!)

Her lips naturally curled into a smile.

But the man didn’t notice.

They left the classroom and stepped into the hallway.

“I’m Kazuma Asō from Class 3-2. And you?”

“I-I'm Sakura Yamashita from Class 1-4.”

The two introduced themselves.

“What should we do now?”

Sakura tilted her head in thought.

As cutely as possible, yet without seeming rehearsed, she calmly performed actions carefully calculated to win the man over.

And the man showed no sign of suspicion.

“This is the karate club’s dojo. I probably have some buddies there.”

Saying that, Kazuma started walking.