Chapter Text
The grayish sky covered by buildings in a deplorable state, representative of the occurring events was analyzed by those red and sharp eyes with sighs added in between. His face maintained a serious expression, trying to avoid the presence of the feeling known as loneliness.
An abandoned alleyway without an ending was what Nayuta managed to consider as his current home, shielded from the entry of zombies by things that their low human-flesh-seeking intelligence considered barely capable of understanding how to remove to gain further access inside. Having a vending machine next to him, there was food... Though forcibly taking things out of there might be considered stealing, the morality of that didn't matter with these conditions. Absolutely everyone stole something at this point.
His cat gave him enough companionship, but still he often wondered how his life would be if he did not decide to part ways from the rest of GYRO impulsively; dead in a pathetic way, or living how now together with 4 other people?
In an attempt to push his thoughts away, he shook his head and grabbed his backpack, opening it in search of his notebook- Today would be another day where Nayuta was looking for food, being that the one he had decreased even if he didn't eat too much... As most of the meat was given to Nyankotarou.
Doing some exploration at the same time wasn't bad either as long as he could stay safe, even if his only option to not get lost in these deserted districts was to use the map he had made himself inside the notebook, his phone didn't have much use for a while now; it had lost signal completely and there was no ability to use a GPS.
—Nyankotarou, stay here.— He demanded gently even if his words were incomprehensible to the animal. The only answer he got was a silly "meow" that brought a faint smile to his face, something rare.
He put on the hood of his coat, grabbed his backpack and set off in search of food, keeping his vigilance at all times. Even though he had a somewhat poor physical condition, there was nothing to stop him from kicking the occasional zombies asses when necessary, it was that or attacking them with a knife, it was all good to keep them long away from him, his worst worst nightmare was to become an undead as well or food for them.
Looking at the notebook to avoid getting lost, he scanned any part of his surroundings but could only see a depressing scenario; putrid smells that made him feel uncomfortable, dried blood and bodies in some hidden places that he wanted to avoid observing, it was basically impossible not to feel disgusted. When was the last time he had interacted with a human face to face? When was the last time he had seen a living human? Why was he having to live through all of this? He pretended to be strong to everything, but weakness was the truth.
Nerves were growing at the realization that he began to approach an area that was not registered on his drawn map, he immediately turned the page and tried to sketch it for future reference, recognizing part of the area but it was all so devastated that his memory felt fuzzy.
"No way these wrecks were only caused by zombies, humans must have contributed in their own too." He thought, walking past what were previously described as shopping districts, somewhat desperate, those were the parts that caught his attention the most. The problem being it was normal for them to be filled with zombies or bodies and he needed to be prepared for that- and of fucking course he wasn't.
Although the area he had passed through just now was one that was more desolate than any he had witnessed lately, he figured it would not be so bad to keep checking here and there, stepping into any place that had an open or easy-to-open door.
He entered one specific establishment and his surprise was clear as he checked it out more closely. The majority of what he saw were instant noodles, which although he didn't really care much about himself, he knew would come in handy on occasionaly. And he grabbed in a bag whatever kind of meat there was for Nyankotarou mostly, as it would be rare to find cat food in this kind of condition... But even leaving aside his concern for his beloved cat, maybe he was going to get the urge to eat those at some point.
Hearing footsteps and strange sounds that were obviously zombies, he fled the shop without a second thought with everything he had grabbed.
...Now it was time to return to his "home", but curiosity had gotten the better of him and he wanted to see more of this part he had not investigated before of the unrecognizable city if it could even be called that. Cautiously he walked around, his mind pleading for the safety of his cat.
It was still like a slightly grotesque scenario similar to the previous one but somewhat softer, with zombies more common to find than bodies... Which didn't make him feel much at ease either.
Nayuta's brow furrowed almost immediately as he passed by an abandoned livehouse and his body filled with a sour emotion- Damn, how much did Nayuta want to get back to continuing his music? It was the only thing he'd ever had and really cared about, the idea of anything intruding in the way of it had always pissed him off and now he couldn't even avoid it, being in literally an apocalypse in which he couldn't talk to anyone nor communicate, was it even worth for him continuing to live in a world where his voice would never ever be heard?
The same notebook in which he stored his map was full of writings on some pages regarding lyrics for songs, despite being in a situation like a zombie apocalypse he wanted just to keep going.
And his impulse won him over by wanting to take a closer look, almost entering the establishment. There were half-broken posters on the walls of bands he didn't know or care about and others he might recognize.
What shattered him down was seeing a poster of what had once been his own band: GYROAXIA. The feeling Nayuta felt could not be described as more than an undeniable inner emptiness, he just stared at it for a few minutes as if he had nothing to do. And though he didn't like it, a tear ran down his cheek . Nayuta missed his band and it was an unpleasant feeling- wasn't it that he didn't really care about the rest? He only looked like a hypocritical jerk whose stability had been lowered by something as minimal as seeing one thing. Immobile and as if he didn't care about losing his own life in the hands of a zombie attacking by surprise, he was stuck for what felt like hours.
When he came back to reality, he looked down and sighed, returning to walk down the desolate street without any real direction, as if it was an instinct not to return to the alley where he lived at
And indeed, it was an instinct.
Nayuta's blood-red eyes snapped open at a sudden distant but still fully audible sound: the sound of a human scream.
His heart beat got slightly faster as the newfound curiosity increased in peak. Due to the distance, he was not so able to recognize well where it came from and the only thing he was able to do was to run quickly just following his heart, that indicated him the probable origin. He did not care about how tired he was, and the more that male voice shouted for salvation, the more encouraged he felt.
A sudden doubt went through his head as he continued at that pace... Why was he so relieved to know that there was one more human alive? He knew there were definitely many but he didn't expect to see someone with his own eyes again, this was one of the most desolate areas, and again, he wasn't supposed to care about anyone else- but still, he was only focused on one thing, saving whoever that person was .
After what felt like several hours of running, Nayuta made it to the destination he had been looking for, clutching his chest in search of air but trying not to waste any more sacred time. It was a simple street like most he had seen, just with a dead end. What he had seen was a guy was being cornered by zombies trying to attack him, rather than eat him.
—Stop it, stop it!— He struggled against them in vain, Nayuta couldn't see his face as he was almost covered by the undead but he was sure that voice was damn familiar.
What really made Nayuta feel strange was that he almost instantly felt intimidated by those freaks. They seemed stronger than most he had seen lately and Nayuta was already used to the zombies he saw being just assholes who only wanted meat or to turn others into zombies, not to focus on attacking- Maybe the victim wasn't weak, if not the undead were the strong ones. Was attacking a person then eating their flesh a new technique for those bastards, now?
He grabbed his knife and attacked a zombie from behind with it, kicking it- it was a tough task, but at least he got one out of the fight. And it was joined by another, and then another, and finally: the last one.
The unknown boy could only watch in amazement at how fluid and fast every move Nayuta was making, he was smashing with style, and upon noticing that finally all of them were deader than they already were, the praise was almost immediate.
He was extremely grateful to the one who had saved his life. —Aaah! You... Thank you very much, very very much!— He looked at him with the sweetest eyes he could give.
Nayuta who was still not paying attention to the appearance of the one he had just saved nor trying to analyze his voice once again, just looked to the side proud of himself. -It doesn't matter,- he said, taking off his hood and revealing his face.
Right after that, it was as if the world had gone silent.
The stranger wanted to speak but it was as if he had been forbidden from any speech for a few seconds, he just kept his mouth half open while staring directly at Nayuta, who still had no idea of the boy's appearance.
!—Na...Nayuta!!— He exclaimed as if he was about to burst into tears, using all the strength he had and impulsively clung to him in a hug-like manner.
Nayuta became frozen at finally recognizing that voice and face, feeling the embrace without even resisting it but not yet returning it either, but oh god how much he really wanted to . As if it was fate that they finally crossed paths again, the one who was saved from almost certain death all this time was one of his own bandmates: Ryo Akebono.
Desperately he looked him in the face and what came out of his mouth was a trembling voice —Akebono?!
Overwhelmed by his emotions, he protested at the attempted hug even though it didn't actually bother him —...Get off me.
—Sorry, I got a bit carried away there.— Laughing in an awkward way, Ryo did as asked to —It's just... There's been a lot going on lately.
—H...Hmm.— Still trying to understand how quickly everyone went, his tone was awkward too.
—Hey, Nayuta, can we go somewhere a little nicer? The rooftops of abandoned buildings tend to be safe.
—What? Are you serious?
—I really want to talk with you, even if it is just a little bit.
Nayuta put his hand on his chin contemplating the idea, just to let out a click of tongue accompanied by an "okay", not even being able to react, his hand was almost immediately already grabbed by Ryo who had started to lead the way, it was a soft touch but strong enough.
The twilight illuminated them along the route, making Nayuta aware of how long he had already been out exploring. Even without any conversation at all, it was as if the other's mere presence calmed the heavy mental atmosphere- They couldn't change what was really going on with the world at all, but they could distract each other.
After minutes of walking down the street and then walking up stairs, they finally settled on the rooftop of a building they randomly choose. Sitting on the ground and watching the slowly darkening sky, Nayuta surprisingly was the first to speak... Although it was more of a complaint.
—Ugh, crap... I'm thirsty.— He grabbed his head with one hand and tried to grab his backpack with the other to take out the water he was carrying in it, but was interrupted quickly.
—Here, you can take some of my water— Ryo held up his water bottle. Nayuta was hesitant at first to accept, but then decided to actually accept the water and take a sip.
—Thank you.— he thanked him, returning the bottle to his hand, Nayuta's own expression somewhat calm. —Now, tell me. What the hell were you doing in that place?
-— was expecting that question from you... It's a complicated thing to tell, personally." Ryo sounded a bit melancholic, fidgeting with his hands. -I'm still teaming up with Kenken, Miyuki-kun and Reon-kun. But a few days ago, Reon-kun disappeared from searching for food for us. Kenken and Miyuki-kun then started arguing with each other about what had happened, so I volunteered to go look for him. That is exactly why I am here. I hope the stars will guide me to find him again, since it would not be ok if something bad happened...
—Misono is lost and those two are fighting... Huh.— Nayuta didn't have much to say about Ryo's story, but the sad face he had wasn't a very nice sight.
—Yep, just like you heard... Hopefully Kenken and Miyuki-kun make up soon, but about Reon... everything is very dangerous and the zombies around this part seem to be strong, so that's very worrying. I can just wish for him to not have gotten lost here.
—Right... it was noticeable that those bastards weren't really weak, it just didn't get complicated because it was a sudden attack from me. I recognize that... you wouldn't give up so easily.
—So you trust me with not giving up, huh?— he replied teasingly, annoying Nayuta somewhat. Ryo was quick to notice how his brow became frowny. -Hehe, but... Again, thank you so much for saving me.
Ryo's smile was warm as he thanked him in a sweeter way than how it had been like originally.
He then raised his head and gazed up at the sky that had finally darkened completely; at that moment it was just them, the moon and the stars.
It was the perfect spectacle in the midst of the chaotic world in which he lived, unquestionably calming him and making him lose awareness of the reality because of how immersed and so fixed he felt, just as if he were right there. He sighed and hugged Nayuta's arm, who gasped at the unexpected touch.
—Fate must have brought us together for this meeting, right? I have spoken to very few people recently, just three. Seeing you is almost like the biggest relief of my life. - Ryo's soft voice represented his genuine appreciation, only the moon illuminated part of his face but still his happy expression was obvious.
—Hey, don't talk nonsense, but... Gah, I wasn't planning to see a living human either...
—But I'm an alien.
—...Hmph.
Ryo chuckled hearing the very minimal response, Nayuta being always the himself. Momentarily silence filled the area, but the self-proclaimed alien soon opened his mouth. —Nyankotarou... How is she?
—I take care of her as much as possible, she seems to have already gotten used to this way of life... I usually feed her with the meat I have. She's in the alley I call home in these circumstances, and doesn't come out of there hardly ever.
—Hehe, the meat thing… I can tell you spoil her quite a bit then, she's just like your daughter~!
—..Agh, shut up!— Nayuta crossed her arms and tried to look at Ryo in an intimidating way, but the observed one just couldn't take it seriously, it was funny to him.
—Nayuta is still the same star.— Ryo said with a face that expressed how amused he was. —Ah! if you need to live somewhere else, though kinda different from what you said... I think you could come with me to where I'm settled with the rest of the gyro, it's a surprisingly decent place and everyone would be happy to see you! It’s like, camp-ish but not actually. The only similar thing is that we got tents and is close to the forest but overall it’s also kinda close to the city? Mhm, that’s a way to put it.
For a few seconds, there was really no response at all; Ryo's invitation perplexed Nayuta, accepting it didn't sound so bad but at the same time the idea of becoming familiar with a new location puzzled him- Still, he didn't have much stuff in his current "home" and maybe he could carry it all in his backpack or with Ryo's help, and he might find out how to move Nyankotarou... Why was he having a hard time answering? He looked up at the starry sky for a few moments, letting out a sigh as he finished.
—I mean, if you don't want to, then that's fine. My wish is to accompany you to most parts from now on. I want to be by your side .— he warned in case of a negative answer, curious about the reaction of the white-haired man he was accompanying.
Still, it was an unnecessary clarification; Nayuta's answer was decided. —...Not bad. I'll go with you.