Chapter 6: The Beginning of Legend

"Ha... ha... ha..."

Hibiya Kosuke was panting as he ran.

He thought he couldn't go on anymore. He might as well be dead.

Four... no, four creatures were closing in on him.

They were no longer human. They couldn't possibly be human.

You don't call something human if it walks around calmly while its organs are dragged out, its heart pierced, its jaw shattered, its arms torn off...

They are beings who do not die.

The pack of four was not particularly fast.

If he ran at full speed, he could have escaped.

But they possessed—

—“Never tiring”

—“Never giving up”

―"Never forgiving"

was a terrifying trait they possessed.

No matter how fast he ran, no matter how long he ran.

No matter how much he fled, no matter how far he ran.

Eventually, they would catch up to him.

It was like a bad dream he'd seen as a child.

He thought the world was ending.

▼

The world had shattered three days ago.

At a crossroads in Shibuya.

Everyone seemed to have initially thought the first "thing" they saw was just a drunk or something similar.

It ambled over and bit a nearby man.

Even a brave young man who tried to pull them apart was bitten.

The outbreak had begun.

After that, infected individuals appeared in cities all around the world.

No one knows exactly when, where, or how this illness—commonly called "zombie disease"—originated.

Some say it was God’s way of wiping out humanity. That the trumpet of the apocalypse has been blown.

Though Kōsuke, a Buddhist, doesn’t believe a word of it, he couldn’t help but feel, no matter who blew the trumpet, that the world was heading straight toward its "end."

And ahead of the world’s “end,” he could already sense his own death drawing near—just a meter behind him.

His right ankle was broken.

Indeed, it was a fatal mistake.

He realized, too late, that their fingers had brushed against his own hair at the back of his head.

"……ugh!"

He had seen countless people killed by them.

Being eaten alive—alive.

That primal fear.

He didn’t like zombie movies. Once, he’d briefly watched a single scene on TV before quickly changing the channel.

A scene where a person surrounded by zombies shoots himself in the head with a pistol.

I remember thinking, "What nonsense."

There's a gun. One should strive to live until the very end. One should resist.

That's what I thought.

Now, I understand that was a huge mistake.

It would be far easier to press the reset button on life straight to the head before feeling pain, rather than being eaten alive by another creature.

If a gun were within reach, I’d gladly pull the trigger myself.

Unfortunately, in a country like Japan, where guns aren’t common, such a weapon would never be accessible.

Kosuke tumbled dramatically onto the ground of the sports field, his face a mess of tears and snot.

A warm sensation gradually spreads across his groin.

They were incontinent.

At the very least, kill me quickly.

That's what I wished for, in the next instant.

"Hey, hey!"

And with a casual mumble, a girl appeared.

Wearing a red jersey. Third-year student.

On their chest, the school emblem of our 'Sakagahara High School' can be seen.

The way she fought...

...it's hard to put into words,

but it felt like, "The pest control specialist has arrived."

With nearly mechanical precision, she drove the tip of her katana into the head of the "zombie."

That was all it took.

Just that single action caused the "zombies" to drop dead like insects.

"……Huh? A-ah?"

A blank, stunned voice escapes her lips.

Her hand reaches straight out toward me.

The girl smiles,

That was close! Are you okay?

That was the beginning of the legend.