On a height of hundreds and thousands of kilometers.
Space Station.
"Damn it!" The man slapped the metal lightly, looking at the monitor screen. "Again! And it's not just the USA and China, but Russia has joined in too!"
"Russia?" A girl in uniform, her face worried, floated toward him in the zero gravity space. "I didn't think they'd get involved in this..."
"I thought so too! But this..." The man replied, looking at another spot on the screen.
"Pakistan and India, damn... it seems like everyone and everything decided to go insane on the same day." They could do nothing but watch as the Earth was torn apart by its own inhabitants, launching Nuclear and non-nuclear bombs at each other; everything was being used: Nuclear bombs, Ballistic missiles, EMP bombs, anything that could inflict massive damage, all to destroy one another.
"A few more bombs flew from Japan towards China, and China is answering with something else..."
A few seconds later, a massive explosion flashed over Japan, glowing for several more seconds before slowly fading.
"What the hell..."
"It seems these are humanity's final days..."
They exchanged a look and nodded, deciding something for themselves, and began moving away from the sector, taking off their uniforms as they went.
POV Shizuka Marikawa
Shizuka was in shock, a silent, utterly paralyzing shock, just like the rest of the people.
And the reason for everyone sitting in the dojo was the same person, Isao Tsumugi, a guy who was finishing his third year of high school, and was supposed to graduate this year. Right now, he stood over the body of a man twice his age, and at the same time, dozens of times more influential in the pre-apocalypse world—the very man with whom Isao had made an all-or-nothing wager.
With a slight, excited tremor, she watched as Isao smirked and ordered everyone to leave.
And everyone obeyed him; men and women older than him listened to the command of a barely adult guy who had playfully defeated a man who had served in the army and was a student of Saeko Busujima's father. What did this say about Isao himself?
"That was... incredible." Kyoko next to her let out a deep sigh, which showed how deeply impressed she was by this "duel."
"I agree, Hayashi-sensei!" She concurred with her, waving her hand lightly in front of her face, trying to dismiss a slight blush. This caught Hayashi-san's attention.
"Shizuka-chan, there's no need to call me sensei, after all, we're colleagues... former colleagues, at least." She smiled slightly at her and walked forward, toward the room on the second floor where they had been accommodated. She saw that most of the young people whom Isao had been commanding all yesterday and today were also heading toward that room.
"But, I'm younger than you."
"Even so, we were still colleagues, and it would be awkward if you called me Sensei," She looked ahead into a kind of void. "But still... how much this boy has grown over the years..."
"Oh, you knew Isao?" This interested her; it seemed like there was a story here.
"Of course, I've known Isao since he entered elementary school. Back then, he was an incredibly quiet boy. There was something about him that told everyone who tried to approach him, 'go away from me.'" Kyoko-san's smile became more nostalgic. "And even then, his grades were very good; he was always in first or second place on tests. But even so, the aloofness I mentioned earlier was incredibly strong, and I, back then a young teacher burning with the desire to help all my students, tried to stir him up and helped him try to make friends with the other children, as I thought that would be better for him."
"Oh-o..." It was surprising to learn that Kyoko-san had known Isao since elementary school, meaning she had seen him grow up. "But... why was he so aloof?"
"Rather, he was indifferent, which was the root of his being withdrawn from everyone and everything. At school, he didn't even talk to his little sister very often, let alone the other children..." Kyoko-san slightly pursed her lips. "Until one event. You might not know because you only came from the institute last year to gain experience, but... when Isao was a little over ten, his little sister was being bullied by some kids in her class, all because of her hair color."
"Hmm..." Shizuka frowned slightly and clenched her fists, getting a little angry. "And... what happened next?" She hated such vile kids who learned about cruelty and used it on others from childhood.
"Nothing happened that day, but the next day, when Isao found out about it? Isao came in with his hair dyed blonde, with eyes that were incredibly clear, not cloudy like glass as the day before, or ever before that event, and his eyes were not only clear but burning with the flame of revenge." Kyoko-san looked ahead, and following her gaze, she saw Kotobuki, Isao's little sister, walking next to Rei, talking to her. "He waited for the teacher to leave Kotobuki's classroom, and he beat up most of the boys. When the other teachers arrived and separated them, some of the children already had broken noses or simply dislocated arms."
"What...?" She looked at Kyoko-san with wide eyes, who looked back and nodded. The anger she had felt earlier was instantly replaced by slight pity. Such children were bad, of course, but beating them up so badly? Well... she didn't support it, but she didn't condemn it either.
"Yes, Isao was especially harsh on those who had bullied his little sister. We somehow managed to avoid a scandal, but the thing is... starting from that day, Isao's aloofness completely disappeared. He began spending more time with his little sister, talking a little with classmates who were still slightly afraid of him. You could say that event was the starting point for the Isao we know today, and... who knows what he would be like if not for that event that completely changed him."
"That's... quite strange," Children... most children were strange, of course, but almost complete aloofness and indifference were beyond the ordinary. "Does he not have any diagnoses or anything?"
"That's the point, no, he was just a smart but very reserved boy for his age..." Kyoko smiled, seeing how Shizuka put her finger to her lips, realizing that the gears in her head were turning, and very strongly, since she had been silent for a whole minute.
"Oh!" Shizuka raised her finger after a minute. "He's just a genius! Geniuses have always been like that, unusual! Most likely, he realized that his indifference to everything was very bad for his family, and he decided to become more active!" This made Kyoko smile even wider and slightly chuckle at Shizuka's conclusion.
"Heh, maybe, Shizuka, everything is possible in the current world." She nodded and walked on, but Shizuka froze because her phone was ringing, and she had set that ringtone for only one person. She happily grabbed the phone and answered the call.
"Hi, Rika! You're alive-e!" She was practically jumping for joy—who was she kidding, she was jumping for joy.
"Shizu! Are you okay?!" A slightly hoarse but still feminine voice, full of relief, answered her from the other end.
"Yep, you won't believe what I'm about to tell you! We're at the Takagi Estate right now! And guess what? I met a student who can create and control any metal!" She squealed happily, recalling how cool Isao looked when he concentrated on controlling his metal, how his eyes became focused, how he moved his hand—everything looked awesome!
"What? What are you talking about? Did you hit your head, Shizu-chan?!" The voice on the other end replied in a slightly confused and worried tone.
"No, no! I didn't hit it, Baka-Rika, I'm telling the truth! But that's not the main thing, putting all that aside, where are you?!" Shizuka was slightly indignant at what Rika said and even stomped her foot.
"I... wait, if what you're saying is true, then what the hell is even happening to the world... Get away, Tajima, don't eavesdrop! Sorry, dear, it's just an idiot here trying to find out who I'm talking to." A slight laugh could be heard, and the sound of a cigarette drag, as if the person on the phone was simultaneously smoking a cigarette. "So, we're at Tokonosu Airport now. You remember the one slightly outside the city, the International one."
"Yes, yes! I'll tell Isao and we'll come to you!" Shizuka happily nodded, learning her friend's location, as she was sure Isao would definitely save her.
"Hmm, Isao is that guy who can... create and control metal?" Rika's voice was slightly interested and intrigued at the same time, because she didn't doubt the words of her close friend, especially if she was fighting for them so directly.
"Yep, he's very cool. If you see him, you'll immediately realize he's special! He's very, very kind! Not to mention he's very tall and muscular!" Shizuka started praising Isao so that Rika would only think good things about him in advance. After all, Isao really was cool, and if Rika made friends with him, everything would be very awesome.
"I see... does he create metal practically out of thin air? Doesn't that violate some rules of existence, physics, and so on?"
"Well... I don't know how it works, but he can also throw lightning, and those lightning bolts are very cold... he froze a lot of zombies with them!" She remembered how Isao blasted that very scary and big zombie in the hospital and slightly shivered. She wouldn't want to be hit by that kind of lightning; she'd be cold!
"God, Shizu... I'm talking to you right now and I don't understand anything, but I'll say one thing: I'm at the Airport now and we were told to keep this place safe, so... don't stray from this Isao. From what you're saying, he seems like a good guy and..." The sound was cut off midway, making Shizuka look at her phone in confusion, its screen blackened by something.
"Rika? Hello? Rika-a! H-hey!" She called her closest friend a few more times but received no answer and slightly panicked. "God... I broke my phone again, the fourth one this year. Rika won't pat me on the head for this... ugh-h..." She walked disappointedly toward the room where they had all been placed earlier, slumping with frustration.
Tokonosu International Airport
POV Rika Minami
"What the hell..." Rika Minami, an attractive woman with chocolate skin, dark purple hair, and a seductive figure, looked at her phone, then looked around, realizing that the power in the entire Airport had somehow gone out.
"Hey, Rika, did the phone die?" Not far from her, her partner, a Japanese man of medium height with short hair and a cap, smirked at her.
"Yeah, for some reason it just turned off, completely. It seems Shizu's anti-talent for phone care has rubbed off on me." She sighed in frustration, recalling how every season she had to buy her close friend, who was also her lover, a new phone because each of hers broke for one reason or another.
"Ah, I don't think your friend is to blame here. Look up, at the sky..." He pointed somewhere up through the window, and turning slightly, she saw a huge glowing flash in the sky that was slowly fading.
"That's..." She quickly put two and two together and realized what kind of bomb had just exploded.
"An EMP, yeah, it seems they couldn't shoot it down, and now the difficulty level has gone up... it was 'hard,' now it's 'break your ass just to survive.'" The man sighed tiredly and sat next to her, and she offered him a cigarette.
A few seconds later, they were both smoking, staring at the wall, realizing that things were about to get screwed, especially because they had been informed that some mutated zombies had started appearing.
"Well... this is fucked." That was the only thing Rika Minami, Shizuka's friend and lover, could say.