Sup guys, sorry for late post, was busy w writing new chaps.
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POV: Saeko Busujima
She felt that something was wrong long before everything spiraled out of control. No… "felt" was the wrong word; rather, she noticed something amiss by the sudden change in the behavior of the living dead, who froze for several long seconds.
Their lifeless eyes turned toward the front of the vehicle convoy. They stood there for a few moments while she watched them, her expression filled with confusion.
Only then did she experience the same sensation as before—a slight tremor in the ground, as if something massive and heavy was hurtling toward them at immense speed.
In that instant, she leaped out of the car despite the shouts of Takashi and the others. Ignoring them, she sprinted toward the front of the convoy at full speed. Isao's mother and sister were at the head of the column, and if something happened to them…
"Damn it…" She ran with everything she had, reaching her destination in just a dozen seconds. She was surprised by her own speed but quickly shoved that amazement to the back of her mind, remembering her own Trait; right now, that didn't matter.
What mattered was the creature holding a car above itself with four limbs. A quick scan showed it wasn't the vehicle carrying Kyoko-san and Kotobuki-chan, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
She heard the door of a nearby, untouched car open. Looking over, she saw Yuriko-san step out, her pupils dilated with fear and panic.
Saeko turned away from her and, with a swift motion, drew her sword. She was just about to strike at the monster when she stopped—the creature had shifted its gaze from them to the opening door of the car it held...
Loud pops echoed from inside the vehicle. The mutated zombie let out a deafening howl and dropped the car it had been holding over three meters in the air.
Saeko heard Yuriko-san's sharp intake of breath. She herself tensed up; if the car hit the ground from that height, the occupants could be severely injured, especially their spines.
But instead of crashing down, the car remained suspended in the air. Saeko felt someone stand beside her—it was Isao's mother, both arms outstretched toward the vehicle, her face strained with concentration.
A thin trail of blood ran from her nose, and her face was flushed from the sheer effort.
Saeko took a sharp breath and focused her attention back on the Creature. It was slowly recovering, but not fast enough.
Wind blades would likely be ineffective against it—this mutant looked nothing like the one they had encountered at the hospital—but it was still worth a try.
Taking a deep breath, she swung her sword in several vertical and diagonal arcs, pushing her ability to sharpen anything to its absolute limit. She watched with grim satisfaction as the wind blades struck the creature's black hide, carving several deep gashes. The beast roared.
Gunshots began to ring out around them. No one was clearing the regular zombies, and they were still closing in, but the men who had surrounded the vehicles were handling them, picking them off with rifles or using swords and bats in close quarters.
Meanwhile, Yuriko-san, standing nearby, prepared herself. The moment Kyoko-san moved the car a few meters away to relative safety, Yuriko immediately hurled several coins toward the mutant.
The flight of those coins seemed to take an eternity. But as soon as they landed near the creature, they detonated.
The explosion occurred over five meters away, yet the resulting shockwave nearly knocked them back. They managed to stay on their feet, though Kyoko-san almost flew backwards; Saeko caught the weakened woman in her arms and pulled her behind the cover of a car.
"Are you alright?" Kyoko-san's safety was her highest priority right now. If anything happened to her or Kotobuki, it would cause Isao immense grief, and she didn't want that.
She liked seeing his smirk, his occasionally serious and thoughtful expressions, and his ever-present care.
While she was lost in thought, Kyoko-san stepped out of her embrace, wiped the drying blood from her nose with her sleeve, and looked at her gratefully.
"Thank you, Saeko-chan." She nodded and stood up, looking worriedly at the pillar of smoke where the mutant had been. They then walked toward the one who had caused the blast.
Yuriko-san stood exactly where she had been, staring at her hand in fascination. As they approached, she turned to them at the sound of their footsteps.
"T-this… is incredible!" Yuriko-san's expression was one of pure excitement. Naturally—not everyone can cause explosions with a mere thought. It truly was incredible.
Yuriko-san and Kyoko-san began to talk, while Saeko kept her eyes fixed on the smoke. She wasn't entirely convinced that deep cuts and a few explosions were enough to kill such a mutant.
She held her sword ready. Seconds ticked by. The number of zombies around them began to dwindle as the smoke cleared. When it finally dissipated, she let out a sigh of relief.
"Yuriko-san's explosions are definitely top-tier," she heard Kotobuki's voice beside her. Saeko glanced at her, her eyes momentarily drawn to the girl's swaying tail, before returning her gaze to the mutant. It was nothing more than a charred mess.
"I agree, Kotobuki."
Whatever damage her wind blades had done was nothing compared to Yuriko-san's explosions.
A shallow crater about half a meter deep had formed in the road. As for the mutated zombie? Three of its four arms were missing, its legs were stripped to the bone, its torso was smoldering, and half of its head and neck were gone entirely.
She was glad. Because if it hadn't ended like this...
"Don't call me by my name, you cow." She turned toward Kotobuki, who was glaring at her. "Just because my brother and mom like you doesn't mean I do. You're just a cow with a big rack, and my brother fell for them like any other boy."
Kotobuki's words were harsh. If it had been any other girl, Saeko would have snapped back, but since this was the jealous younger sister of her "husband," she simply gave a tired sigh.
Most girls at school envied her for being more "gifted" in the chest area. It was exhausting, often leading to pointless, draining conflicts she had no desire to deal with.
And now her chest was a point of contention again. She didn't understand why Kotobuki, of all people, was jealous; Isao clearly loved his sister more than anyone else besides his mother.
"..." Kotobuki watched her, expecting a sharp retort, but received only a silent look. Not wanting to escalate things, Saeko simply turned away and headed toward the zombies, whose numbers were increasing again.
"Hey, where are you going?" she heard Kotobuki shout behind her, but she ignored it and began swinging her sword, sending wind blades through the dead and cutting them down with ease.
POV: Yuriko Takagi
Yuriko looked at her hand with excitement because… God! She had easily killed a mutant—one that looked like it could tear through a military squad—using her superpower!
It was exhilarating and, at the same time, a bit nerve-wracking. To realize such power was in her hands… it was wonderful!
She shifted her gaze to the mother of the one who had given her these powers and saw her leaning exhaustedly against the trunk of a car, trying to recover.
"Are you alright, Kyoko-san?" Damn, she should have asked that sooner. Kyoko was dripping with sweat and breathing heavily.
Yuriko approached her with concern; Kyoko looked utterly drained by what she had done.
"B-been better… I don't understand how Isao-chan makes it look s-so easy..." Kyoko sighed heavily, watching the zombies die from bullets and blades, then looked at Yuriko. "You were incredible, Yuriko… a few explosions and that mutant practically vanished." Yuriko felt a bit embarrassed by the praise. After all, if Isao hadn't awakened these powers in her... who knows. But she was grateful.
"Thank you. You were quite good yourself. If you hadn't moved the car to a safe distance, I wouldn't have dared to do it." Yuriko leaned against the trunk, mimicking the other woman's posture. "It seems this was much harder than it looked." She said this because it was true; while Kyoko was holding the car telepathically, she had looked focused but only slightly strained. Now, she looked like someone who had collapsed after a marathon.
"Y-yes… God, it was just awful!" Kyoko sighed, looking up at the sky. Yuriko scanned the surroundings: people were killing zombies, her daughter was standing near Kotobuki (both staring each other down), and her… husband was helping others with his sword. "When I grabbed the car with my power, I felt just a slight pressure in my head. Well… how do I explain it," Kyoko clicked her tongue.
"Like something is leaving you?" Yuriko raised an eyebrow, confirming her theory as Kyoko's eyes lit up.
"Yes, exactly! How did you know?" The woman looked surprised, making Yuriko smirk playfully.
"I felt the same thing when I was charging my coins with some kind of internal energy, though I didn't need to use that mysterious energy to actually detonate them." She had to raise her voice over the sound of gunfire, which made Kyoko wince.
"Ugh, i-it's just not fair! When I was holding the car, the energy inside me was flowing out like a river. I thought I was fine until I let go… as soon as I did, I felt this sudden crash and—ugh… it was disgusting, like all the juice had been squeezed out of me!" She fanned her face with her hand.
Yuriko was about to respond when she noticed a Crow land on the trunk. It looked intensely worried. She nearly jumped at the sudden arrival but remembered her daughter, Saya, mentioning that Isao had a Crow he called a familiar.
Could this Crow be a Shikigami? Like in the myths? Just like the wolves he summoned after his duel with her husband.
"Oh! Isao-chan!" Isao's mother reached out to pet the bird, but it hopped away, tilting its head toward the charred remains of the mutant. "Ah, you want to know what happened?" Kyoko smiled as if nothing was wrong and began explaining while fixing her hair. "Well, we were driving along, and then this mutant appeared. It lifted the car into the air, and thanks to my ability, I pulled it from its grip. Then Saeko-chan came, cut it with some invisible wind blades, and then," she pointed at Yuriko, making her blush. "Yuriko-san blew it up! There's almost nothing left of it! The main thing is the mutant is dead and it was v-e-ery~ easy!"
Yuriko noticed how Kyoko was trying to hide how much the power had drained her. She said nothing, realizing the mother was likely trying to keep her son from worrying while he was far away.
The Crow watched Kyoko for a moment, nodded, and then… it spoke.
"I-I hope everyone is okay?!" Yuriko's eyes widened. Kyoko looked equally shocked. Nearby people who weren't busy fighting turned to stare in disbelief.
"Ah!" Kyoko covered her mouth. Yuriko stepped in.
"Yes, Isao-sama," after all, since her husband had lost the duel, she was technically this boy's servant… god, how ridiculous that sounded. "We will continue moving in ten minutes. No one was seriously hurt thanks to your mother's timely assistance, and with the power you gave us, destroying the mutant wasn't too difficult." Flattering the ego always worked, especially on young men, though she was truly grateful. "I hope you can rejoin the convoy soon."
The Crow stared at her intently without blinking before speaking again.
"Don't worry. The raven will watch over you from above. I will catch up." The bird, controlled by Isao, turned back to Kyoko. "Be careful, Mom. And tell K-imoto to stay alert too." The intelligence faded from the bird's eyes, and it took to the sky, circling above them.
"That… was cool," a quiet voice said. Yuriko turned to see Isao's mother still standing there with wide eyes.
"You… didn't know he could do that?"
"What? No! To be honest, everything is so amazing right now I can hardly believe it. I keep thinking I might be dreaming. Zombies and superpowers…?" She looked exhausted but quickly forced a smile. "I'd be happy if it were a dream, but I realize every time that this is our new reality. Terrible, ridiculous, but completely real."
Sighing, she headed back to the car. Yuriko followed. Her husband would handle coordinating the men—they were his subordinates until a few hours ago, after all. Her daughter and Kotobuki joined them in the car a few minutes later.
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