Ichinose's Unforgettable Day

July 20th, Saturday. Kouiku was once the most famous university in Japan, but after today... it no longer will be. Because... on this day, a zombie virus broke out, and the apocalypse... had arrived!

"Haa, haa...!"

On the streets of Kouiku, Ying dragged Ichinose along as they sprinted.

"Ichinose! Can you still run!?" Ying looked back at Ichinose, who was following behind with a flushed face, gasping for air.

"I... I'm fine!"

Ying slowed his pace and said to Ichinose, "Don't push yourself! There are no infected in the immediate vicinity for now, so we can save our strength!"

"Mm... Byakuya-kun... is right!" Ichinose replied, breathing heavily.

"Ying! Look out!" Hearing the shout, Ying hurriedly turned his head. A zombie was lunging at him, jaws snapping.

Ying instinctively used his backpack to block it. The zombie bit into the bag, its arms flailing in the air.

"Ying! Ichinose! Are you two alright?" Shibata came running over, holding a wooden club.

"Shibata-kun! Go help Byakuya-kun!" Ichinose exclaimed upon seeing him.

"Ying! Hold on! I'm coming to help!" Shibata swung the club at the zombie but missed.

"Sata! Are you trying to hit me or the zombie?" If Ying hadn't dodged just in time, the club would have struck him instead.

"Hah!" With a surge of strength, Ying shoved the backpack, along with the zombie, ten meters back. The zombie fell to the ground, then slowly crawled back up, and everyone realized a heartbreaking truth.

"Is... is that Watanabe-kun?" Ichinose covered her mouth and gasped.

Ying and Shibata also wore expressions of profound grief.

"Ichinose, Watanabe is already..." Shibata said sadly.

"There's no time to mourn! Run!" Seeing the Watanabe-zombie lunging toward them, Ying shouted urgently.

"I know a place where some Class B students are hiding! We can take shelter there and wait for the government to rescue us!" After saying this, Shibata took the lead.

"Ying! Ichinose! Why are you running?" Ichinose followed the voice and saw Himeno Yuki resting on a bench by the side of the road.

"Himeno! Run!" Ying shouted, and Shibata and Ichinose also cried out for her to flee. However, she remained unmoved, merely standing up and looking at them with a confused expression.

"Uwaa!"

The Watanabe-zombie behind Himeno tackled her to the ground.

"Aaaaaah!"

The scene was incredibly bloody, with sprays of blood splashing right in front of them.

"Himeno!"

Ichinose screamed and tried to rush over, but Ying held her back.

"Ichinose! Don't do anything foolish; we can barely save ourselves right now!"

Ying and Shibata then dragged Ichinose away as they continued to flee. They encountered a few more zombies along the way, but Ying fended them off with his expert staff techniques.

"We're here! It's in the Special Teaching Building ahead!" Shibata shouted.

Arriving at the entrance of the Special Teaching Building, the students inside saw Ying and the others and hurriedly opened the locked doors, bolting them shut again as soon as they were inside.

"Ichinose, are you okay?" Once things had settled down, Ying asked Ichinose.

Ichinose looked around and realized there were nearly thirty Class B students here. Her initial anxiety began to subside, and she started to process the events of the day.

But the more she thought about it, the more desperate the reality became.

"It's alright, Ichinose, don't overthink it." Seeing Ichinose's pale complexion, Ying spoke up to comfort her.

"Ying, maybe we should..." Hamaguchi, another survivor, also noticed Ichinose's condition and said to Ying.

"Yaaaaah!"

Hearing the scream, the hearts that had just begun to relax tightened once more.

"No, this is bad! Amikura has been bitten by a zombie!" Shiroba exclaimed.

"No, I haven't! I wasn't bitten!" Amikura covered her left hand as if trying to hide something.

"It's okay, Amikura-san is still rational. Let me check the wound first." Kanzaki said, walking up to Amikura and asking her to reveal the injury.

Ichinose, Ying, and the others also leaned in to take a look. The wound was gruesome; the tooth marks looked like two rusty iron pincers branded into the skin. The edges of the skin were torn into jagged shapes, with dark purple blood scabs and fresh blood forming sticky, hardened clumps around the wound.

"Kanzaki! Watch out!" Ying shouted.

Before Kanzaki could react, his right hand was bitten by Amikura.

Seeing this, the students of Class B scattered in a panic, and Ying grabbed Ichinose, fleeing with Shibata and the others toward the depths of the Special Teaching Building.

They entered a classroom, and the decor inside left them stunned.

Warm yellow string lights were wrapped around the floor-to-ceiling windows, bathing the entire space in a soft, bright glow. Off-white sheer curtains were gently lifted by the breeze, and the twilight outside intertwined with the warm light inside, perfectly illuminating the pink, light blue, and pale yellow balloons floating near the ceiling.

"This place really doesn't fit the current situation," Beppu remarked dryly.

"But, today just happens to be Ichinose's birthday." Ying picked up a card that had fallen to the floor; it read "Happy Birthday."

"Yeah, actually, the reason so many Class B students were here today was to prepare a birthday party for Ichinose. Though, I suppose it's true that you can never predict what life will throw at you," Hamaguchi said.

"Everyone, don't lose heart. There must be a way to save everyone!" Ichinose seemed to have accepted the situation and pulled herself together.

"Hahaha! If Ichinose says so, what do we guys have to be afraid of?" Shibata said, feeling relieved.

"No, this is bad. You guys, you have to leave, now!" Beppu suddenly said.

The group looked at Beppu in confusion, only to see him clutching his right foot, where a clear bite mark was visible.

"No! Ryota! You have to hold on!" Ying hurriedly ran over, sliding on his knees until he reached Beppu.

"What are you doing! Ying! Baka yarou! (Idiot) Get out of here! While I still have my consciousness, you guys need to leave this room, and then I'll lock myself inside!" Beppu said in great pain.

"Are you kidding me! What kind of stupid things are you saying! How could I ever abandon a brother!?" Ying wiped away his tears and shouted.

"Ying! Go!" Shibata pulled Ying toward the exit, while Hamaguchi and Ichinose stood ready to close the door.

"In this life, I don't regret having you as a brother," Beppu smiled with resignation.

"What's this about this life or the next! I will definitely save you!" Ying still didn't want to give up.

"Actually, the reason you became the top of the Abstract Ranking is because I secretly posted your abstract videos on the school network."

"Huh?"

"The reason there were so many cockroaches in your room is because I secretly put rotting fruit under your bed."

"Wait, the script didn't say that?"

"And the gummies you hid in your drawer were all eaten by me."

"A person like this deserves to die!" In a fit of rage, Ying locked Beppu inside the room.

"Hey! Why did you actually lock it! I was just joking!"

"You're about to turn into a zombie. Once we find a way to save you, we'll let you out. Just stay in there and wait for us, heh heh heh~." After saying this, Ying left with the others, ignoring Beppu who kept knocking on the door.

In the hallway, a staggering zombie walked toward them.

"This is... Zombie Kanzaki!" Ying exclaimed.

"Wait, ahhhhh. My head hurts!" Ying suddenly clutched his head and crouched down. When he stood back up, his eyes had turned a pale blue.

"I can see it..."

"Ying! What's wrong with you!?" Shibata asked worriedly.

"I feel an abnormal power in my body now, as if I'm omnipotent. I can see clearly now that there is a lump of yellow stuff in Kanzaki's abdomen. My intuition tells me that is Zombie Energy. As long as I can use the power within me to neutralize that energy, Kanzaki will return to normal."

After speaking, Ying approached Kanzaki with unusual speed and pressed down on his abdomen.

"Ugh... take it easy..." Kanzaki whispered.

"Sorry, I did that on purpose," Ying whispered back.

"Urghhhhh!"

Kanzaki screamed and crouched down in front of everyone, though he was actually just wiping his face with a wet wipe...

"What... happened to me?" When Kanzaki stood up again, the color of flesh had returned to his face.

"Welcome back, Kanzaki," Ying said, giving Kanzaki a hug.

The group continued forward, and another zombie came staggering toward them.

"Heh hahaha! I've awakened too!" Hamaguchi covered his right eye and said.

"Let me see, what!? The Zombie Energy of Zombie Amikura is actually in her chest!"

Upon hearing Hamaguchi's words, Ying gave him an elbow strike.

"Byakuya-kun, that thing you guys were talking about, I think I've awakened it too," Ichinose said.

Everyone: ???

"Is the Zombie Energy you guys mentioned a yellow lump?" Ichinose asked.

"I, I didn't expect even Ichinose to have awakened it? As you can see, that green thing is the Zombie Energy," Ying said, crossing his arms and pretending to be calm.

"It's yellow," Hamaguchi whispered a reminder.

"Then, can you let me try the method to turn our classmates back?" Ichinose asked.

"Of course, let us become the saviors of Kouiku for once and save our classmates from fire and water!" Although we were the ones who set the fire and water. Ying thought to himself.

Afterward, the Savior Squad began their adventure in the Special Teaching Building... and the number of people in the rescue team grew larger and larger. In the end, all the students of Class B returned to their original state.

In fact, Ichinose had vaguely discovered days ago that the students of Class B were hiding something from her, preparing a birthday party for her. Ichinose was very happy, but also felt it was a pity she had found out so early.

However, what Ichinose didn't expect was that the surprise would be this big! If she hadn't noticed that the zombies were all Class B students and the bitten students were also from Class B, she might have really been fooled by Ying and the others.

Not wanting to let the efforts of the Class B students go to waste, she could only pretend she knew nothing, and now it was finally over.

"Yay! Let's celebrate the rebirth of the world, and Ichinose's birthday together!" Ying announced loudly. The students of Class B had now entered the room where Beppu had been locked, officially celebrating Ichinose's birthday.

The members of Class B chatted happily, and those with talents performed them.

"The Class B Boys Group is back for a limited time! Woohoo!" Hamaguchi pulled a microphone out of nowhere and started singing.

"Welcome everyone to watch the program <First-Person Perspective Fighting a Perverted Stalker>!" Ying began to play his recording from that day. After that incident ended, he had uploaded the video to the school network, and it had actually gone viral.

"Come watch the live stream of the saviors, everyone!" Beppu was on the side, promoting his secret footage of the zombie siege on the school.

Looking at everyone like this, Ichinose felt a lump in her throat, and tears of emotion couldn't stop flowing.

I love everyone in Class B the most! I must lead everyone like this to graduate from Class A together!