"What's going on? Why are there other zombies besides students coming to the school?"
Sakura Megumi, standing near the fence, looked at the playground in horror. Besides the students who had turned into zombies, there were even zombies from outside the school.
Zombies act according to their subconscious habits, so why would these outside zombies appear here? This shouldn't be happening.
Even if they were teachers, the number of these outside zombies was simply too high.
Yesterday, she thought that if they just dealt with all the zombies in the school, it would be basically safe, but now the situation was getting worse and worse.
"Is the school holding a parent-teacher conference? Are these outside zombies here for a parent-teacher conference?"
"Please don't joke at a time like this, Classmate Inaba. Although parent-teacher conferences are held at the end of the semester and after midterms, those are later. And do these people subconsciously consider coming to school for a parent-teacher conference a habit?"
What kind of parent would make coming to school for a parent-teacher conference a habit? What kind of strange parents are those?
Besides the zombies appearing on the playground, zombies were also gathering around the school.
The others also got up one after another, looking at the increasing number of zombies, and everyone's expression was not good.
The number of zombies gathered on the playground was even more than yesterday. According to last night's plan, trying to find the security guards among these zombies and then finding the key to the iron gate was simply impossible.
Moreover, the class bell hasn't rung yet. The school's class bells ring automatically. If the class bell rings, even more zombies will flood in.
"What should we do now? Should we abandon yesterday's plan?"
Given the current situation, the idea of going down to close the iron gate is undoubtedly impossible.
Although closing the iron gate could ensure their safety, this method was very likely to cause casualties among them, which was absolutely to be avoided.
"No, we'll proceed with the original plan. We can't stay here forever; at the very least, we need to return to the Third Floor."
Inaba Tsukiyo rejected Sakura Megumi's suggestion; staying on the Rooftop was definitely not the right choice.
Roughly calculating by sound, there were at least a hundred zombies gathered on the playground, but even with so many, it had to be done.
"We also want to go to the Third Floor, but it's too dangerous. I won't allow you to do this, Classmate Inaba!"
Sakura Megumi was very serious; she disagreed with this matter.
Not only her, but the other three's attitudes were also very firm, not allowing Inaba Tsukiyo to do this.
Inaba Tsukiyo was well aware that this was basically the time when the most zombies appeared, and the danger of trying to do this was very high.
But so what? Should she not do it just because it's dangerous?
If she just let the zombies enter the school building, even if these zombies left the school at night, who could guarantee that these zombies' unconscious behavior would continue?
She had to find the key to that iron gate and close the main door while clearing out all the zombies in the school building before these zombies started their unconscious action mode.
'Although I don't want to do this, it's the only way.'
Having made up her mind, Inaba Tsukiyo slowly opened her eyes. This time, unlike with Kurumi, as Inaba Tsukiyo moved, Kurumi and the others felt the surrounding temperature rapidly drop.
Although the morning temperature was low, they felt as if they were standing in the snow in thin clothes, the cold biting to the bone.
Although they felt very cold, cold sweat uncontrollably flowed out. Just her aura pressured the four of them, making them breathless.
"I've decided. I will go to the First floor and close the iron gate. I will not accept any negative opinions; you only need to nod."
Saying that, Inaba Tsukiyo stood up and walked towards the entrance of the Rooftop.
Watching Inaba Tsukiyo's departing back, Kurumi bit her lower lip tightly, enduring the pressure, and shouted.
"Why...why, Inaba Tsukiyo, even at such great risk, do you insist on doing such a dangerous thing! Why? Even if you're very strong! Can you really deal with so many people at once?"
Kurumi's voice rose several decibels. Without considering whether her voice would be heard by the zombies downstairs, Kurumi's purple pupils burned with anger, showing how angry she was.
Calling her by her full name showed that Kurumi was truly angry this time.
She didn't understand why Inaba Tsukiyo had to go to such lengths; clearly knowing how dangerous this was, why did she still do it?
Inaba Tsukiyo turned to look at her, somewhat surprised. Even the others were chilled by Kurumi's shout, focusing their gaze on Kurumi.
Looking closely, one could see Kurumi's eyes were red, but Inaba Tsukiyo couldn't see this, only shaking her head.
"Even if I don't take risks, there's no other way. I don't want to gamble, and I can't gamble. This isn't a game; there's no SAVE and no LOAD. Once a mistake occurs, it could lead to everyone's death."
Inaba Tsukiyo pointed downstairs and continued.
"The Rooftop is indeed a safe place, but what about when it rains? We can't stay here forever; we must go down. If we go down, then we will face many problems. Those zombies hiding in unseen corners, those guys could take your lives at any moment."
"Although I can hear those hiding zombies, what about you all? I can't always be by your side. If you're accidentally attacked when separated, what will you do? Plus, with unclear visibility at night, what will you do? Luck runs out; I don't want everyone to entrust their lives to luck. I...want you all to take control of your own future."
"I...want everyone to survive."
Since she came to this world and met them, Inaba Tsukiyo had to protect them and let them survive in this chaotic world.
She had to make them clearly understand how dangerous the current world was; sometimes, just a slight lack of attention could lead to death.
She didn't want to see this; she didn't want to see tragedy happen. Even if she couldn't prevent tragedy, she would protect the important people and let them live well.
"And...why I'm doing this, don't you understand, Kurumi?"
Suddenly, Inaba Tsukiyo's lips curved, her serious expression vanished, and she smiled at the somewhat flustered Kurumi.
"Because...we are friends. Isn't it natural for friends to protect friends?"
The Rooftop suddenly fell silent. Besides the sound of the breeze, almost no other sound could be heard.
Kurumi and the others stared blankly at the smiling Inaba Tsukiyo. Their originally anxious mood was replaced only by emotion.
Friends... In their student days, to become classmates in the same class among so many people and then become friends, this was incredibly lucky.
However, just being friends, yet considering so many things, made Kurumi and the others begin to change their perception of Inaba Tsukiyo.
"I... I'll go with you."
Kurumi looked at Inaba Tsukiyo seriously. Even knowing how dangerous this was, Kurumi wanted to go with Inaba Tsukiyo.
"...Can I refuse?"
"No! Even if you refuse, I will follow. Besides dealing with those guys, don't you also need to close the iron gate? This task, it's best if I do it!"
"...I understand. But you can only stay behind. Even if I'm surrounded, you cannot rush in. Otherwise, I will end myself first. Do you understand?"
If she really failed and was accidentally surrounded by these zombies, she would not allow Kurumi to help.
"I understand. However, I will absolutely not let something like that happen. And... I believe in you."
Tsukiyo-chan is so amazing, something like that will definitely not happen. Kurumi firmly believed it, she believed that Inaba Tsukiyo would definitely not do anything she wasn't sure of.
There was still some time before going to close the iron gate, and the most important thing was to find the location of the security guard who might have the key.
Although she didn't know if that security guard had also turned into a zombie, the key to success this time was on him, so there couldn't be any mistakes.
Just like that, the four of them, except for Inaba Tsukiyo, were all lying on the fence, checking if there was a shadow of the security guard among the zombies on the playground.
Inaba Tsukiyo actually wanted to help too, but she could only see an outline through her radar-like vision, and she didn't even know what the security guard of this school looked like.
After everyone's efforts, they finally found the security guard's location in the zombie crowd. As expected, this guy had also turned into a zombie.
After determining the security guard's location, it was time to formulate a battle plan.
Simply running out would only get them into bigger trouble, so they needed to think of a better method.
Although it wasn't impossible to go on a rampage, it had to be done while ensuring Kurumi's safety.
The best way was to restrict these zombies, not letting them all pounce at once. They needed to find a relatively narrow space, allowing these guys to appear little by little.
Assassinating them one by one from behind was one method, but Inaba Tsukiyo was a swordsman and not an assassin. She was not some assassin master.
Despite needing to deal with the immediate problem, Inaba Tsukiyo was more worried about the future.
No one knew what this world would become, whether this crisis only happened in Megurigaoka City or whether it had happened in other places as well.
Not only the school, but in the future, they would also need to go outside the school to investigate the secrets of this world, as well as the inside story of this virus outbreak.
Moreover, Inaba Tsukiyo was even more worried about Kurumi and the others' safety, after all, it was impossible for her to always be by their side, she would leave them sooner or later.
What would happen to their safety then? At the very least, they had to gain some ability to protect themselves.
Thinking of this, a figure suddenly appeared in Inaba Tsukiyo's mind, a very familiar, yet very unfamiliar figure.
This person could be considered her disciple, but also couldn't be considered her disciple, because she had never even met him.
"It seems I need to properly arrange the training plan. Although it's impossible for them to master the level of [fuhai] all at once, they should at least have the level of self-protection."