[...let the game begin!]
"Just what did you do to that girl… for her to hate you so much… Yukki-san?" Yui said, mumbling her words each time Nach skipped a step and jumped as he climbed the stairs while carrying her over his left shoulder.
"I didn't do anything to her!" Miku retorted, denying Yui's accusation. But when Nach glanced over his right shoulder toward her, Miku promptly admitted her connection with Saki while looking at Nach with a pleading expression, begging him not to hate her.
"I just used her boyfriend one time and let her use one of my toys in exchange. But her boyfriend then broke up with her and wanted to be my new toy. I don't have a use for something as small as a pencil, so I just trashed him. And when he tried to get back to Saki, she was already hooked on using my toys and kept asking me to lend her a new one."
There were a lot of misleading parts in Miku's story, obviously, but Nach was particularly interested in one thing.
"What happened to her boyfriend in the end?" he asked, already foreseeing the bad ending of the story.
Sensing neither displeasure nor disgust in Nach's voice, Miku excitedly continued her story as their group kept climbing the stairs.
"The rumor of his pencil-sized stick spread through the school, so he threw himself off the school building," Miku said, ending her story with a cheerful smile.
So he killed himself, Nach thought.
Yui, meanwhile, tried to recall any suicide incident at Fujimi Academy until Saeko told them what actually happened.
"That guy, Koji, miraculously survived by accidentally landing on top of a tree first before hitting the ground. That's why there was no news about it," Saeko said, smiling at Yui to ease her worries.
"I told you, Yui, I didn't do anything wrong. That loser was probably still with those bastards who left me behind. But if he's still alive, if their are still alive, I'll kill them myself the next time I see them."
It would be exciting to watch Miku get her revenge—at least for Nach. Regardless, they still needed to survive, find a way to escape the hotel, and run away from Saki.
But right now, Nach needed to dodge the aggressive undead that jumped from the eleventh floor down toward their group.
Nach sidestepped, leaning to his right—not only to dodge the incoming undead, but to give space for Saeko to advance and draw her katana, swiftly beheading the undead mid-air before leaning down to let its headless body pass above and land behind them.
More aggressive undead appeared up the stairs, intercepting their climb.
"Get out of Nach-sama's way!" Miku shouted as she rushed forward, instantly smashing the head of the undead at the front with her sledgehammer and using its body as a rotten meat shield to push back the others and clear the way.
"There's surely something odd about her, Nach-sensei," Saeko said, noticing how incredibly fast and strong Miku had become.
"Miku's on our side. That's what matters, Saeko," Nach said, reassuring her.
"Ehh?… What's happening in there?"
Answering Yui's question, Nach put her down the instant they reached the eleventh floor.
"Ekk~!" Yui shrieked in shock upon seeing all the undead with smashed heads lying on the floor.
"Die! You worthless piece of shit! Die for Nach-sama!"
What was even more shocking was that Miku kept smashing not only the heads of the undead, but also the other head on their lower half.
"Keep giving them the blow job, Miku," Nach said, praising her while also making fun of the way she was double-tapping the undead.
"Thank you, Nach-sama~"
"Don't praise her for that behavior, Nach!"
"They're catching up to us, Nach-sensei," Saeko said, interrupting their bickering.
From downstairs, they could already hear the sounds of the undead growling and stumbling over one another as they climbed the stairs like a rising flood.
If their group continued climbing the main stairway, they would soon be cornered by the swarm of undead below and the dozen undead Saki was sending up each floor through the main elevator beside the stairs.
"We'll climb through the emergency stair," Nach said, ushering everyone to follow closely behind him.
"Can't we just hide and wait for the undead to pass this floor?" Yui said, not wanting Nach to exhaust himself by carrying her again, since she was much slower than the others.
"That girl is probably watching us through the hotel cameras. She'll flood the entire floor with hundreds of undead if she doesn't see us climbing to the next floor. We'll try to lose her and the undead in the emergency stair—get down!"
—Bang!—
A loud gunshot echoed throughout the eleventh floor as a group of four men emerged from a room and fired a shot from a short double-barrel shotgun the instant they saw Nach—with two girls in high school uniforms—and recognized Yui as a news reporter.
Despite the slug spreading through the hallway, no one in their group was hit as they dove to the floor.
"Shoot him again, idiot!" shouted a fake-blond, dark-skinned playboy.
"But we need him alive for the four of us," answered the policeman who fired the gun.
"He wouldn't die with just a few holes in his body," said a skinny-looking nerd salaryman.
"But don't kill the girls. I want to hear them scream and cry while fu—UGH!"
Before the fat man could finish his blabbering, Nach threw his axe and plunged its blade into the man's chest—right through his heart—killing him instantly before his body hit the floor.
Nach expected Miku to charge ahead, but instead it was Saeko who rushed forward without hesitation, her killing intent and malicious leer fully exposed toward the men who had sealed their fate the moment they aimed their gun at Nach.
Saeko drew her katana and threw it, impaling the policeman's neck and killing him before he could fire another shot.
"EKK!"
The skinny salaryman stumbled backward, his legs losing strength at the sight of his two dead companions.
The fake-blond playboy, however, quickly crouched down to grab the gun.
"Don't mess with me, bitch!" he shouted as he raised the gun—Bam!
Saeko landed a kick straight into his face, then pulled her katana from the policeman's neck and cleanly severed the playboy's right hand holding the gun.
"EKK!"
"ARGH!!!"
"Saeko!"
While the salaryman trembled in fear, wetting his pants, and the playboy writhed in agony from losing his right hand, Miku cheerfully rushed forward—not to help Saeko, but to hug her.
"I knew I could leave these guys to you! Cut and chop them all you want, Saeko!"
"You're too close, Yukki-san," Saeko said, flustered by how Miku clung to her, despite the malicious leer still on her lips.
"Now it looks like something is wrong with Busujima-san as well," Yui said as Nach helped her up.
"We have to leave. That gunshot and their screams have probably drawn the attention of the undead and other survivors," Nach said, picking up the short double-barrel shotgun, which still had one slug inside the barrel and three more spares strapped to the handle.
"Wait… don't leave me…" the salaryman begged. However, leaving him behind or taking him along wasn't what Nach was debating.
"Aren't you going to cut him down, Saeko?" Miku said, making it clear she'd be more than happy to finish off anyone who dared harm Nach.
Saeko looked at Nach, seeking his opinion—or rather, his approval.
"I already accept you for who you are, so you don't have to hold back anymore, Saeko."
"Thank you, Nach-sensei," Saeko said with her usual sweet smile as she casually swung her katana, not killing the salaryman—only severing his right leg, leaving him to bleed out slowly in pain and despair, knowing he would likely be devoured by the undead before death claimed him.
"You're not going to ask me to suddenly change and go on a rampage too, right, Nach?" Yui asked as they resumed running toward the emergency stairwell.
"Only if you want to, Yui."