Gakkou Gurashi: The Perfect Friend

Chapter Nine, Vol 1

Day Five

Going through the lines of drawers across the room, I stashed whatever I could get my hands on. There was never a moment of doubt if a piece of rope or an expired can be left in the corner gathering dust would be useless to carry over.

I looked back at the door, the blurry window obscuring a figure scanning the hallway in an almost robotic way before continuing down. Must've lost him for good. Or else I would've been unable to enjoy the small can of peaches.

Hugging close to the door while bearing the enormous weight of the bag, I pressed my ear onto the glass. Almost nothing but the faint sound of moans nearby. By the sound of it, way too far to even get to me from here.

I pushed the door open, scanning down the hallway. The same figure that had passed by the window had stared outside the window, his mouth wide open as if he had found his next prey just outside.

Taking the risk, I reached up the stairs, narrowly avoiding him as he swung his hand towards me. As I reached the first flight of stairs, a shadowy figure walked over, causing me to flinch.

"What are you doing here Ryu-kun?" Kurumi whispered in my ear, placing her shovel over her shoulder.

"Didn't I tell you I was going to make a quick scavenging run to the Storage Room?"

"Uh... no"

"I mentioned it to you during breakfast..."

She held a blank stare for a moment, before slowly nodding at me. She seemed skeptical but accepted it.

I dug into my bag for a brief moment while Kurumi looked down at the stairs, gripping onto the shovel. The brief and distant moan slowly turned into silence as she lowered her shovel and looked over at my bag.

"Ooh! What's this?" She crouched down, grabbing a small steel can with the lid slightly bent open.

"Hard-tack. Tastes good despite the can taking up dust"

"Mm... tasty"

"There's more but of a different brand. Somewhere in this section" I placed my finger over the front pouch of the bag.

"Can I have some of them please?"

"Go ahead"

I passed a can over to Kurumi before sitting down close to the end of the stairs, keeping watch of the distant group of zombies swarming the nearby lockers. Despite being in plain sight, they didn't notice us.

"This one is way better" Kurumi mumbled while digging herself into the hardtack.

"While you're eating, I'd like to ask you something, Ebisuzawa-san"

"Hmph?"

"I haven't been outside of my room lately, so I wanted to ask you this. Has Yuki been doing fine lately?"

"Huh? Are you obsessed with her or something?" Kurumi stared at me, materializing a smug face.

"No" I responded with a steady and clear voice, maintaining eye contact.

I've always been asked if I had a crush on anyone, to which I said no. Although, compared to others, I found it easy to control whatever impulse of smiling which can sabotage your statement.

"Admit it... you like her, do you?" She said, pressing her smug face closer to me.

Keeping my composure, I continued to maintain eye contact with her, while placing my bag over my back.

"Can you not?"

"Alright alright" Kurumi moved away from me.

"You can try to prove it, Ebisuzawa-san" I smiled again, this time in amusement, before sliding the bag close to the wall.