It's quiet. Did the zombies give up and head off somewhere else?

Maybe they went home to go to bed.

No way! Where could they live?

Maybe a grave?

Do not let your guard down! Just because they are quiet does not mean they are not nearby.

She's right. The moment you step outside thinking you're safe is exactly when they might get you.

Speaking of sleeping, Kana, aren't you tired? Normally you'd be pretty drowsy right about now.

Not even I can sleep when we're surrounded by zombies.

Yeah, I can understand that. Your drowsiness would run for the hills in a situation like this.

Yep, I'm wide awake. No falling asleep for me.

Umm…

Hm? What's the matter, Ayumu?

Well, you see, I know we should be focusing on the zombie issue right now, but… Umm…

Ayumu, Setsuna, and I haven't been following at all about what's been going on this whole time…

Honoka is…alive. Right? She's the real Honoka, right?

Oh yeeeaaah!

Th-That's right! I'm so sorry. You three must be so confused right now!

Oops, sorry! We totally forgot!

I'm so sorry! It was all an act!

I'm sorry too! We thought pulling a prank like that would be a lot of fun when we had the meeting. Then we got ahead of ourselves.

It's my fault! It was all my idea! I'm the one who found that ghost story and I thought using it as the basis for the prank would be fun.

We didn't think anything like this would happen. We planned to have Honoka jump out to prove she was okay once the tension peaked.

We got a little too into it. We are so very sorry.

So that means nobody was actually hurt? Everyone is still alive and well?

Yes, we're all fine. This was all just an elaborate prank.

Thank goodness!

I'm glad everyone is safe. Watching our fun training camp take such a dark turn had me close to tears.

I have no problems as long as it was a prank!

You're allowed to get angrier than that, you know!

That's all right. As long as everyone is safe, I don't need to get angry. More importantly, let's focus on the zombie issue right now.

Ugh, this is a serious matter.

For the time being, the zombies seem to have left.

Ideally, now would've been a good time for us to at least get a bit of sleep to recharge, but if even Kanata is saying she's not tired, then I don't think any of us can sleep.

Um, if you actually think about it, aren't zombies, like, a piece of cake to deal with?

Kasumi, there you go again saying weird things.

Don't make it sound like I'm always saying weird things!

Now, now, so what do you mean by piece of cake?

Ghosts can go through walls and stuff, so you never know where they'll appear. That makes them terrifying. While zombies can't attack us if the locks are all secure, right?

When you put it that way, I guess you're right. Zombies don't really seem that strong either.

Other than how they look, what makes zombies so scary anyway?

Probably their ability to multiply? The usual M.O. is that people turn into zombies if they get bitten by one.

So you're saying that we will be okay as long as we don't get bitten?

Then we just have to keep our distance from them.

See? What did I say? Piece of cake, right?

But you know there's been something that's always bothered me. Why do people always trip over when they're being chased by a zombie?

Ah, you mean in movies? In general, zombies are fairly slow, so you can get away easily if you run as fast as you can.

Horror movies are all about tension, so the writers make characters fall over to give zombies the chance to catch up.

I suppose that's part of the movie magic.

But, recently there are a lot of movies that break that pattern.

How so?

There are zombies that run these days. Some can even chase after you at monster speeds like pro sprinters.

Enough!

That's terrifying. Even zombies are evolving.

I think that's probably more to do with movie magic than actual evolution.

Also, aren't zombies actually physically weaker than you'd expect?

They might seem immortal since they're undead corpses, but they stop moving if you hit them in the head, so maybe they're not exactly invincible.

I'm starting to feel like we'll be okay now that we've thought this through calmly.

It feels like we'll be able to survive against those zombies after all.

D-Don't do anything dangerous.

After collecting myself and thinking this through properly, I really don't think there's any way zombies or the sort really exist.

That could have been a wild animal that pounced towards the window trying to come into the house. Perhaps we misheard the sound it made?

Should we go outside and check?

I said don't do anything dangerous!

What if we just take a look outside through the windows?

That should be fine. Kotori, can you pull back the curtain?

Okay…

EEEEEK!

Wh-What's wrong?

There's… There's writing on the window…in blood!

Be…low?

Ah! Did anyone check the basement?! They might break in from there!

I checked already and it's fine.

Th-That's a relief.

There's nothing relieving about that at all! How long will this nonsense go on?!

I don't know, maybe you should ask the zombies about that.

No way!