Original Source: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n0383ht/2/ 

A few meters away from me, there is a girl being attacked by a zombie.

It’s not a distance I can cover in time with my normal physical abilities.

But now is different.

My body felt light, as if it weren't my own, and I closed the distance with quick movements.

I could definitely feel the sensation of kicking off the ground.

There was also a sensation of cutting through the wind.

Whether this was a dream or reality, the boundary was becoming increasingly blurred.

In that moment, the feel of the knife handle I was gripping had also changed.

Glancing at it, the blood-stained silver blade was writhing like liquid.

Haha, this really must be a dream.

Since I realized that I’d wake up anyway—I decided to get carried away to my heart’s content.

I thought, why not try acting like a hero?

The zombie was about to bite the girl.

I leapt at it and slashed at its neck with the knife in my hand.

"Hraaaah!"

Swoosh—far lighter than I imagined, the transformed blade "passed through" the zombie's neck.

...Did it cut?

A sensation so light I doubted it myself.

But with a slight delay, the head fell to the ground.

And then, the voice came from my smartphone again.

"Monster [Zombie] killed. Congratulations, you have leveled up to 2!"

 Leveled up again.

Glad things are going smoothly.

"Ah..."

The girl's gaze followed the rolling severed head.

The zombie's body collapsed, and muddy blood began to flow from the wound.

The smell of rotting flesh mixed with stagnant blood made me feel a little sick.

The girl was in a daze for a moment, frozen in front of the fallen zombie, but suddenly tears spilled from her eyes.

Triggered by that, she cried out as if a dam had broken.

"Ah... aaah, aaaah...! Waaaaaaaaah!"

And while crying and screaming, to my surprise she hugged me.

Not ready to catch her, I let out a pathetic "Uwah, wah" and stumbled back, hitting the wall with my back.

"U, uuu... I was scared, I was so scaaaaared..."

Just like that, the girl buried her face in my stomach and started crying.

Even though that spot is also stained with Shudou kun's blood.

I have absolutely no idea what to do in times like this.

I was stiff, still gripping the knife that finished off the zombie.

Ah, come to think of it, the knife change it's shaped just now, what was it exactly?

Looking down while still being hugged, I saw the ominously distorted blade of the knife.

The handle part had also changed from its original plain black to a color like deep blue or purple, suggestive of evil.

In fact, the size of the knife itself had grown several times larger, and it was no longer something I could pass off as being for self-defense.

The weight I felt on my chest and the sensation of the knife in my hand—it's strange, it feels too vivid for a dream, and above all, it's not ending.

"Um..."

As I floated a question mark above my head, the girl looked up.

It was a charming, cute face that looked exactly like the type people would love.

If she showed a crying face like this to a guy, he’d probably fall for her instantly.

Her long hair is dyed blonde; she looks like a human living in the light, a type I have no connection with.

"Thank you. If you hadn't been here, I, I..."

"I-It's nothing... I just happened to be nearby."

"No, defeating that monster so easily is really amazing! I, uh, just blurted out 'help me', but to think you really saved me... I was surprised."

"I'm surprised about that too."

"Eh?"

"Ah... no, I mean, I'm not that athletic..."

"That's not true! It was like a manga, it was so cool!"

She grabbed both my hands and praised me.

Then, seeing the knife I was holding, she startled.

"Wow, what is this knife?"

"I don't know... I just had it when I realized. and also my body feels lighter just a moment ago."

"Does that mean you suddenly got strong?"

"Maybe...? I don't know for now."

I'm not lying.

Even if the cause is probably that I killed Shudou kun, I have no proof of that.

"I see... weird things are happening elsewhere too, so maybe that's possible. Besides, the fact that you're amazing doesn't change!"

She squeezed my hands tightly again.

Her positive way of thinking was so dazzling that I involuntarily narrowed my eyes.

"Ah... yeah..."

"But we probably can't relax yet. It seems there are other monsters too."

"Monsters... what was that thing earlier?"

"Eh, you don't know?"

A face that practically said, Even though you're covered in blood?

She probably thought that being covered in blood meant I had been fighting those monsters.

It seems this isn't a convenient plot hole where no one comments on the blood spatter just because it's a dream.

"I don't know everything either. But I was taking a class on the first floor when suddenly a monster came into the classroom and started attacking people. Everyone panicked and ran away, but there were lots of monsters in the hallway too, and before I knew it, I was separated from everyone..."

She glanced at the corpse on the ground, squeezed her eyes shut in pain, and bit her lip.

Her face went pale, and she buried her face in my chest again.

Separated, it means the girl killed by the zombie isn't her acquaintance—but it is normal to react like this when people die.

My hands were idle as usual, but I thought doing nothing would be bad, so I patted her back with my left hand.

Then she relaxed her body, and at the same time, the weight leaning on me increased.

"Uuh, sorry... hugging you even though we just met."

"No, um, it's fine, but... uh..."

It's hard to return words that won't hurt the other person at times like this.

I couldn't think of the right words and mumbled.

Then, suddenly, the door of a nearby classroom opened.

The teacher who had been teaching poked his head out.

"Hey, you're being noisy, what are you doing during cla—"

His words stopped the moment he saw the two corpses on the floor.

His face went pale in an instant, and his mouth is opening and closing like a fish.

I had a feeling it would get troublesome, so I took the girl and moved toward the stairs.

It was a position hidden from the classroom by a wall.

Right after moving, I heard the teacher's pathetic scream: "C-Corpse, auwaaaaah!"

A moment later, students by the windows poked their heads out, and their commotion echoed through the hallway.

"Only the people on the first floor have noticed yet... We should let everyone know!"

"Shouldn't we check the situation on the first floor first? I haven't grasped the situation at all either."

"Right, that... might be best. Ah, come to think of it, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm 'Rea'."

"Rea? Your name?"

"Yup, Oogi Rea."

Oogi, huh.

Still, Rea is a rather unusual name.

"I see... Oogi san, huh. Nice to meet you."

"Rea is fine. Drop the honorifics."

Hmm, She's the type of person who close the distance easily.

"Rea..."

"Yeah, yeah."

"san."

"..."

Ah, awkward silence.

"S-Sorry, I'm not used to calling people by their first names... um..."

"It's okay, don't force yourself."

"Ah, wait. Re, Re... Rea! Rea... is this okay?"

"Hehe... yep, I'm totally satisfied."

When I mustered up my courage, Rea smiled slightly.

She’s looks cuter than her crying face... wait, what am I getting desperate about?

Ah, my face feels hot.

"What's your name?"

"I am Kuragane Erika."

"Nice to meet you, Erika."

"Y-Yeah."

Dropping honorifics without hesitation, I feel an overwhelming difference in power.

In my case, even with my few past friends, I used "chan".

Well, it'll probably be a short relationship, so I shouldn't think too deeply about it.

"Well then, Erika, shall we go? Though, I'll be the one being protected."

"P-Protect... it's not that big a deal."

Protect.

Protect, huh.

Haha, me protecting someone.

Basically, my existence itself was like trash, an incompetent person who just caused harm to those around me by being there.

To think something like this would happen before I die; I guess life is full of surprises.

No, in this case, I should probably say "killing is full of surprises."

I smirked a little as I went down the stairs.

Rea followed right behind me, close enough to stick to me.

"I hope the monsters haven't increased."

"It looked... like a zombie from the movies, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but that wasn't the only one. While I was running, I saw others. One look like a dwarfs and other look like a dogs ."

"So there's not just one type."

"I don't know how many there are, and I don't know if things will be better outside. What if outside is more dangerous than inside the building?"

I looked out the window on the landing of the stair.

The scenery behind the school building was unchanged, an ordinary view of lined-up houses.

"From what I saw, outside looks safer."

"I guess so... we won't know until we go, anyway."

With me leading the way, I went down the stairs to the first floor.

In contrast to the eerily quiet second floor, I could hear noisy voices as we approached the first floor.

I don't know what's going to happen at school or what's going to happen in the future.

However, there is one thing I understood.

It seems this isn't a dream.

And if this isn't a dream—it means luck has finally come my way.

A stroke of luck so great that it might just obscure the fact that I killed Shudou kun.

Only I have the power to fight monsters, and I'm being relied upon by someone—luck of cataclysmic proportions has descended upon me!

This is the first time in my life something so "convenient" has happened—It feels like something is going to change