John made his way up the steps of the apartment, sword drawn in case there were surprises waiting for them. He looked around the compound the wall made as he was moving, looking for zombies or other survivors. He could see there were zombies down the street further, but the immediate area looked clear.

  The apartment looked more like a row of townhouses to John, with three units in this building. Shizuka's friends pce was on the end, with the other two having their own entrances. He walked to the door and jiggled the handle, confirming it was still locked from when Shizuka left that morning.

  It should be empty then. Still, I will remain on guard, zombie shows always had jump scares, I can't imagine this pce is any different.

  "Here, I have the key" Shizuka said behind him, keys in hand.

  He stepped to the side, letting her open the door. "Tsunoda, Mr. Hirano, Miss Miyamoto, guard everyone out here. Once we clear the pce, start bringing things inside. Miss Busujima, you're with me."

  "Yes Sensei." They said, the two boys looking eager to fight while Rei was already moving to check the back of the property, making sure no one snuck up on them again.

  Shizuka opened the door and Saeko stepped in, her bokken raised at chest level. For some reason, John thought of his other sword still in the truck.

  She shouldn't be fighting with a stick when we have actual weapons.

  That was something for ter. John followed her in, with Shizuka close on his heels.

  The apartment was fairly nice looking, a rge open concept kitchen/dinning room leading to the living room. There were a couple couches and chairs around a TV, an eight seat dining table, and a patio door leading to a balcony.

  Upstairs there was a spacious bedroom with another balcony, a bathroom, and another bedroom that appeared to be just used for the storage of extra stuff her friend owned, much of it looking like various types of military gear.

  There was a side garage that was converted to a gym, full length mirrors covering one wall with various machines and free weights around the room.

  There wasn't any sign of zombies, so John sheathed his sword.

  "Miss Busujima, thank you. Can you go bring everyone in please." He asked her, giving himself a moment to think. There were thirteen of them, and only a bed and two couches. Even if they slept in shifts, with a couple people awake on watch, that wasn't a lot of room. He looked at the wall next to the stairs that adjoined the next apartment.

  "In for a penny..." He said and smiled.

  "What do you mean John-San?" Shizuka said beside him, her head tilted to the side. She reminded him a lot of Nanael looking like that.

  "Oh, just showing you another one of the weird things I can do. DIG!"

  "What... what is this Sensei?"

  "Why are there blocks on the floor like that?"

  "How are you doing that?"

  "Is this magic?"

  It didn't take the students long to get in the apartment, dropping their bags in the dinning room. They all gathered around him as he was making the opening into the next apartment, various states of shock on their faces.

  "Tsunoda, Kohta, move these blocks out of the way, we are going to need more space. Be careful, they are heavy and the edges are somewhat sharp."

  "Umm... Sensei can you answer the question?" Kohta said, pcing John's bag on the floor.

  "Yes. After I was bit, I spoke with a higher being, a god like figure. Long story short, I now have magic, real magic. Dig." He said, condensing the story as much as he could. He saw no reason to mention DEN, or the other worlds. This was going to be hard enough for them to swallow.

  No one said anything for a few moments, digesting what he said. He would be called crazy if they literally didn't watch him do it, making blocks out of the wall between the apartments.

  Finally, Saya spoke up. "Are you saying God is real? Like you spoke with them?"

  "Well, I don't know if he was like God, but he was powerful enough to give me the ability to use magic." He replied.

  "Did he say anything about these zombies? Is he punishing us for some reason?"

  "No, just that I should live my life and kill as many of them as I can."

  "Hah! You are saying some being gave you freaking magic then told you to kill as many zombies as you can?" Tsunoda said, ughing a bit. "That is... fucking amazing! I always wanted to be a Wizard! Hell, I even py one in our Dungeons and Dragons group... ahhh." The jock stopped, blushing a bit at admitting that he was a closet nerd.

  That broke open the floodgates for questions, which John answered the best he could. He finished the impromptu doorway while talking, sending Tsunoda and Saeko in to clear the pce while he continued to answer the others questions. And there were quite a few of them.

  They wanted him to teach them magic.They wanted to know if he could cure the zombies.They they wanted to know if he could rescue their families too.They wanted to know what he pnned to do next and if they could stay with him. They wanted to know if he was single.

  That st one was Shizuka, a big smile on her face and a bottle of booze in her hand that she pulled out of a nearby cabinet.

  John was going to say he was engaged but paused for a moment.

  You should change that. If you need to live out your life in each of these pces, you should make an effort to be happy in each one. Still, it is good to know I am the first.

  Nanael's words came unbidden to his mind, reminding him that his soon to be wife was into sharing him.

  "I... Yeah, I am single." He said, smiling back at her.

  "Miss Marikawa!"

  "Shizuka!"

  Saya and Rei both tackled the nurse, the three of them crashing to the ground. They nding in a tangle of limbs, their breasts pushing up and jiggling in ways that defied physics. John just shook his head, the absurd situation amusing despite the apocalypse happening outside.

  Once Sakeo and Tsunoda returned, John started divvying out tasks to the students. They barricaded the doors, and windows on any of the lower floors. He got Saya to take three of them to start sorting the food stuffs. He sent Kohta and Tsunoda to check the room upstairs to look over the room with military equipment in it. The rest of them were sent to search the other apartment for things they might be able to use.

  That left him and Shizuka in the kitchen, trying to put a meal together for thirteen people.

  "We don't keep a lot here. I am only here on weekends and she is gone a lot for work." She said, looking in the mostly empty freezer.

  "It's fine, between this kitchen and the other, I am sure we can put something together before we need to dig into the junk food." He replied, gesturing to the kitchen table where Saya and her team were sorting out the bags of convivence store loot.

  "Maybe. I'll start some rice anyways. Can you check to see if the other kitchen has any meat or vegetables?" She said, pulling a rge bag of rice out of one of the cabinets.

  "Sure." He said, closing the cabinet he was looking it. It was full of canned goods, but he had no idea what some of these things were.

  What is canned daikon? Shoga powder? Just because I can read the nguage now doesn't necessarily mean I understand it all.

  "Hey John-San..." She said, pausing for a moment until he turned around. She continued in a more serious tone "I know I am being a bit forward, but I was really worried about you today. You came for me at the school, then led us out of there safely. You have been decisive, making decisions to keep us safe. I just wanted to say that I was really looking forward to going out to lunch with you today, and now... I really am happy to be making you dinner in my ho- my friends home."

  She approached him, touching his exposed chest of the only half zipped up jacket. (He forgot) "And I really liked our kiss earlier." She said standing up on her toes and giving him a kiss on the lips. He leaned into her, wrapping his arms around her, returning the kiss with some vigor.

  She tasted fruity, the wine she was drinking making the kiss even sweeter.

  "Sensei's! There are other people present!" Saya said, raising her voice slightly from the kitchen table. The rest of the students were watching as well.

  They broke away then, John looking slightly embarrassed. Shizuka just smiled at Saya, giving her a little head tilt.

  Why does she look like she just won something?

  He made his way to the other apartment, which was id out almost exactly the same way. In the kitchen he found Saeko who was digging around the cabinets pulling out different types of food.

  "Miss Busujima. Find anything good?" He said, acknowledging her.

  "Sensei. Do you need something?" She said, her voice emotionless.

  "Just looking for some meat and veggies for dinner. There wasn't much over there."

  She nodded, then pulled a couple packs of pork cutlets out of the freezer, and some green lettuce looking vegetables out of the fridge. "Will this do?"

  "I guess. I don't know what these are, but I am sure I can make a sad easy enough with them." He said, being honest. He knew his way around a kitchen, but he didn't have a varied palette.

  "Here let me help. I... I love cooking." She said grabbing some of the supplies she was sorting out. She had a small smile on her face.

  They returned to the other kitchen with armloads of food. She and Shizuka started pnning out the meal, leaving John with nothing to do.

  He moved to the living room and turned on the TV. It was showing a news broadcast, the reporter on the scene at a police checkpoint somewhere in the city.

  "With the riots increasing in intensity throughout the city, police are urging the public to move to the designated safe areas as long as you are safe to do so. Otherwise, they are requesting the public to remain indoors, barricade your doors and windows and await rescue." The reporter said, standing calmly beside a chain link barrier, groups of people moving behind it.

  "In other news, the evacuation of the peninsu is still proceeding slowly, the police unable to man both bridges while trying to maintain public order amidst the riots. If you are still on the peninsu, be aware there is no remaining police presence in that part of the city, so you are warned to proceed with caution to the Onbetsu bridge to evacuate. "

  "Well, I guess that tells me where we need to go tomorrow." John said, turning away from the TV and walking out on the balcony. Night had fallen, and other than the street mps, the neighbourhood was dark.

  He stood there, thinking about their next steps. This apartment had some potential to be defensible, but it's location was horrible for a long term stay. They could try and join up with government rescue operation, in fact that made some sense to him. Something told him it might be a bad idea though, and going with his own group was a better idea.

  Hey, that was the canon trying to influence me wasn't it?

  He suspected things before, but this time he had a clear feeling that was foreign to him. He had a healthy distrust of the government like any sane person should have, but he wouldn't normally avoid government assistance during a disaster just for the sake of his pride. Of course, that was before he could use magic.

  'Some of the canon could be really good for you in some of these worlds. I won't give you examples so as not to change your way of thinking, but if you feel it drawing you somewhere, you can follow it. It might present you opportunities to break it further, or have rewards for you that will be useful down the line'

  Alec's words swayed him. Yes, he could go to the government, but that felt almost the same as giving up, letting someone else have control of his life.

  He would rather die.

  Whoa, yeah it is obvious when I am paying attention.

  He was interrupted from his contemptions when Rei joined him on the balcony.

  "Sensei, we are done all the tasks you assigned us." She said, bowing her head slightly with her hands crossed in front of her.

  She seems different

  "Very good. Thank you Miss Miyamoto." He said, watching the feisty girl acting demure.

  "It's Rei, please Sensei." She said, not looking up.

  "Pardon?"

  "Rei, please call me Rei Sensei. You saved me today, more than once." She said embarrassment on her face. "I think you should call me by my name is all."

  "Well Rei-San? Call me John then. I am not sure about the honorifics. Shizuka adds a San to my name, and I have a friend who calls me John-Sama, whatever that means."

  "Just Rei is fine. John-Sama, it would loosely mean 'honoured one' or someone superior to the speaker. So John-Sama, thank you."

  "Your welcome Rei." he said, scratching his beard for a moment.

  After that Rei gave him a rundown of what they found, which honestly wasn't much more than some clean clothes for a few of them. She suggested he "Dig" another hole to the third apartment, which he agreed with. They moved to the middle apartment, letting Saeko and Shizuka know where they were going.

  Saeko put down her knife and picked up her bokken. "I am coming with you Sensei."

  "Sure."

  With that he started to open up the next wall. After the second brick was removed, a loud growl was heard.

  GRAAAHH!

  Saeko was in front of him in a heartbeat, thrusting her bokken through the gap, spearing a zombie on the other side. Her cool gaze remained focused on the room beyond the gap as she withdrew her thrust.

  "That is the only one I see." She said, her voice calm and composed. She then stepped back, shifting her gaze to John, a very small smile on her lips.

  That was kind of...

  "That was so cool!" Rei said, finishing John's thought. Well, close enough.

  "Thank you Miss Busujima." He said. She probably didn't hold a candle to his party in The Great Cleric in combat prowess, but for someone without assistance from a leveling system, she was really good.

  Damn, those systems are such bullshit.

  The irony was not lost on him at that thought. Here he was at eighty three, feeling about thirty years younger now. His own system was bullshit in it's own unique way.

  He continued to dig out the new doorway to the apartment. Saeko and Rei then went in and cleared it out, dispatching another zombie. They dragged the corpses out the back door, then made sure everything was locked up before sending in a team of students to go through everything.

  Now with enough beds and couches that everyone would have somewhere to sleep that wasn't a floor, he made sure they all got cleaned up before dinner would be served. Hot water wasn't something they might have for much longer.

  God, this world is going to become like The Great Cleric in so many ways, isn't it.

  He noticed Kohta and Tsunoda hadn't come down since he sent them up to dig through the military equipment. He decided he would go check on them before grabbing a shower.

  I wonder what they found that kept them so busy?