A gloomy silence reigned in the bus; all eyes, except for Shizuka's, were on the sleeping Isao Tsumugi.
To half the people here, he was literally a savior who had saved them from death, and they were grateful for it, but they still felt a certain fear—a fear that, deep down, was full of respect, admiration, and other positive feelings.
And to the other half, namely about 3-4 students, he was someone they knew as some kind of delinquent, one who could easily spit on teachers and adults in general, not to mention that he had killed a man right in front of them by creating metal from thin air.
"N-nobody wants to talk about what the hell kind of creature he is!" That same guy from the group of four, a dyed-blond significantly shorter than Isao, stood up, pointing at the sleeping guy. "What the hell did he do back there?! Created some iron rings out of nothing and killed a whole crowd of zombies in just a few seconds!" His words made everyone tense up, especially Kotobuki, who pulled her brother's head closer to her. "And then he killed Shido-sensei, who was protecting us all this time! He's a monster! A murderer!"
"Who the hell are you to talk about Isao like that, you bastard!" Takashi stood up from his seat with an enraged expression, followed by Hisashi and Takuzo, both holding their bats tightly. "Isao must have had a reason to do something like that, he's been protecting us this whole time and saved us from death more than once!"
Takashi's words made many remember how they were saved. Hisashi and Rei remembered how he saved them when they couldn't even understand what was happening; Saya remembered how Isao appeared at the last second and saved her like a hero from some manga; Takuzo and his friends remembered how Isao extended a helping hand when they were stuck on the stairs; and the people saved in the parking lot remembered how their friends had abandoned them like trash, and only Isao Tsumugi saved them.
And there was one girl whom Isao had saved without even realizing it, a girl named Saki Yoshida. He had killed Shido, he had killed her tormentor, the one who had abused her, and she... she just felt such profound relief that she was ready to burst into tears right there.
"I... agree with Takashi-kun. We don't know what Isao-kun's motives were for killing Shido-san." Kyoko Hayashi stepped forward, crossing her arms with an expressionless face.
"So, he can just kill people if he has a motive and a reason?! What are you going to do if he decides to kill all of you?!" He waved his arms like a madman, but it was justified; it wasn't every day you saw someone create metal from thin air and control it with the power of their mind, easily killing everything and everyone. "He's not even human! What if this all started because of him?!"
His words found an echo in the minds of some people. One pair of students began to look down doubtfully, as did two guys from Takuzo's team.
"We don't know anything, which means we can't judge Isao beforehand, not to mention Shido was a bastard!" Rei said, her face full of obvious anger, gripping the handle of her homemade spear until her knuckles turned white. "Because of him, I was held back for the summer semester, which nearly ruined my future! Not to mention, I heard Shido drove some female students to suicide. He deserved what happened to him!"
"So you'll be just like him, killing people left and right if they 'deserve' it?" He stared at them in shock, then flinched at the decisive voice of Saeko Busujima.
"Yes." One calm answer, just a few letters formed into a single word, caused the atmosphere in the bus to shift from a quarrel to a chilling horror. "If a person deserves to die, then we will have to kill them. In our current situation, we don't need rapists, blackmailers, and other trash like that." She looked at Saki, who was sitting next to her, trembling. "Isao-san mentioned something related to you. Do you wish to share it yourself, or will I have to extract this information from you myself?"
"N-no... I'll do it." Saki's spirit had already been broken by Shido, and for a long time, she hadn't cared if he was killed or tortured to death; she just wanted him to stop doing those disgusting things to her without her consent. "Sh-Shido Koichi was a rapist. He made me fall in love with him, and then he took pictures of me when I was in an indecent state and used that material to rape me for half a year..." Her voice was tearful. "Not to mention, he often fantasized about many of the girls while he was raping me, including you Saeko-san, Rei-san, Saya-san, you Kyoko-sensei, and Shizuka-sensei. He loved to gloat, talking about what he would do to others..."
The words Saki spoke were horrific, and the mentioned women turned green with disgust, except for Saeko, whose face remained impassive. They also felt immense pity for this girl, but...
"How do we know this bitch isn't lying! She said herself that she fell in love with him! She probably jumped into his bed herself as soon as Shido-sensei accepted her love!"
"Shut up, you bastard!" Rei jabbed the dyed blond straight in the stomach with her wooden homemade spear, and he vomited right on the floor. "Don't you dare blame the victim!" She took deep breaths, trying to calm down, but only got angrier understanding what Shido had wanted to do to her.
Unnoticed by anyone, Miku Yuuki went to the back of the bus and sat down, watching the whole situation with interest.
Of course, she was scared of what Isao Tsumugi could do, but she believed that as long as she was useful to him, at least with her body, he would protect her from all hardships. Therefore, in this argument, she quietly and vicariously took the side of the sleeping beauty. Noticing his little sister's gaze on her, she winked at her and continued to watch the circus.
"I'm not going to judge Isao-sama." One of the two guys Isao had saved in the parking lot stood up. Kotobuki looked at him in surprise, as did the others. "Yes, maybe he did kill Shido, but that man was a rotten bastard. You were just a blind fool, Kosaku. You liked how he praised you, not to mention what he promised us guys when we were hiding in the cafeteria."
"What are you talking about?" Hisashi looked at him questioningly.
"Don't you dare tell them, Hosaki! As Shido's right-hand, I order you!" The look in the dyed-blond's eyes was becoming even more insane.
"Shido said his father was a big shot, and that he had some private security business, and if we obeyed him, we'd get power, women, and much more." The guy frowned. "I was planning to leave Shido at the first opportunity, but thanks to Isao-sama, we don't even have to worry about that rotten bastard."
"Is that true?" Saeko looked at the second guy sitting next to the one named Hosaki with narrowed eyes.
"Y-yes..." He just nodded, trembling. Everyone ignored the screams of the dyed bastard who was yelling that it was all lies and slander. "He said it when all the girls were in the other corner of the cafeteria... and said that if we didn't obey him, we'd face the consequences..." This guy was almost crying, clearly worried not about himself, but about someone else, most likely his family or other people close to him.
The girls standing behind the dyed blond screamed, shoved him away, and quickly moved over to Isao's team. Only thanks to his friend Miura did he avoid hitting his head on the vehicle's floor.
The bus was moving at high speed, swerving from side to side and jerking sharply, causing those inside to rock back and forth.
"So what?! Shido-sensei was strong, smart, and cunning! In the new world like our right now, only people like Shido-sensei could survive! And by being with Shido-sensei, I could have thrived, I could have gotten any pussy I wanted! Women would lie down and bark like dogs for me to fuck them! I would have been Shido-sensei's right-hand man! Nobody could have done anything to me!" His voice was loud, full of mad glee.
"Then what's the point of keeping you, or even Shido if that worthless man were still alive? We already have someone who is far stronger and ten times better than Shido." Saeko looked down on him.
"Do you really think that monster can protect you from Shido-sensei's father? Ha-ha-ha!" He burst into insane laughter. "He can't do shit under a hail of bullets! And as soon as we kill him, you'll all have to obey us, and then I'll get my revenge on all of you...!" He noticed everyone was looking behind him and fell silent. Fear gripped him; it felt as if something terrible was standing behind him, a monster that would disembowel him and chew him up like meat.
His knees began to tremble, his teeth chattered as if he were standing naked outside in winter. He felt something wet flowing between his legs.
"What was that you were saying?" The voice behind him belonged to Isao Tsumugi, but it was filled only with a deadly cold that promised death.
Turning around, he saw him, the monster! A monster hungry for blood that would kill him without a second thought!
"Aaaaa...!" The dyed blond fainted.
Isao had woken up around the middle of that motherfucker's insane speech, and by the end, he was furious.
Revenge? Revenge on whom? On him? For saving his ungrateful ass from the dead? He wanted to throw him off the bus, but in his current state, this weakling would be an even easier target than he was before.
And he wasn't a cruel maniac, so he'd kick him out as soon as this waste of space came to.
"Isao!" "Isao-kun!" "Isao-san!" Everyone looked at me with varying levels of surprise.
"Don't shout, my head hurts!" He looked at all these people with feigned anger, although his head really did hurt. He realized he couldn't create too much metal and control it in a short time; it would take a toll on his head. "Alright, listen up. You can rest and whatever right now, but we're going to stop at some store, and during the break, I'll tell you the rough plan."
I looked at their faces and realized they wanted to know where I got my powers from.
"Alright, if you have questions, ask them. I'll answer everything with all honesty I can."
Their faces were expectant, judging by how quickly they went from shouting to silent anticipation.
It was as if they had forgotten that just a minute ago, they were ready to tear that dyed bastard's throat out in anger, and they calmed down as if nothing had happened.
"Isao-sempai, where did you get your power to create and control metal?" Takuzo was the first to ask his question with an overly interested face.
"Honestly, I don't know myself. It woke up around the start of this whole shitshow. It was with this power that I created these bats." I pointed to the bats that Takashi and Hisashi were holding.
"Do you have any other powers?" One guy looked at me with respect and admiration; I think he was one of the ones I saved in the parking lot.
"Hold on..." I mentally summoned my raven to the roof of the bus, and it flew in through the open window and landed right on my head under the interested gazes of the people.
Feeling the interested gazes on her, she fluffed up and spread her wings.
"This crow is my familiar. She's quite smart, on a level very close to human, so you shouldn't piss her off, or she'll come back after subjugating other crows and bombard you from the air with their droppings." I smirked, and everyone else smiled, relaxing.
"Hmm, I wanted to ask, Isao..." A girl at the back of the bus spoke up, drawing my attention to her. She was a very attractive girl; girls with her looks were called 'gyaru.' "How many centimeters do you have?" And she smiled slyly. All the members of the fairer sex blushed, as did some of the males.
"I won't brag, but 21 centimeters when in combat mode." What? I said I'd answer any questions, even ones like that.
The girl who asked the question coughed, as did most people on the bus, but she started looking at me with even greater interest and fascination.
"Pervert-Isao!" Saya shouted, looking at me with reddened cheeks.
"Anii, you're a pervert." K-imoto's voice was quiet, but I could have heard her voice anyway, even in a crowd.
"What the hell, Tsumugi!" Takashi pointed at me with flushed cheeks.
Saeko, however, just smiled with something resembling satisfaction.
"Alright, alright, that's enough! Do you have any more questions?" Everyone instantly calmed down, but now they were looking at me with flushed cheeks.
Kyoko Hayashi, the Christmas cake, stepped forward, and she was just an extremely attractive MILF.
"Isao-kun..." Kyoko Hayashi looked at me with something unreadable in her eyes and still-red cheeks, but her voice was serious. "I'd like to know, why did you kill Shido?"
My cheerful face became an impenetrable mask of indifference in a split second, and I looked at the back of the bus, where K-imoto was sitting, clenching her fists. Her cute gaze and innocent appearance changed to anger, but only a small part of it showed on her face, and I was glad about that. My innocent flower must remain innocent.
"That bastard tried to molest my little sister, so I called an acquaintance of mine whose acquaintances were much more powerful than that bastard's father." I remembered K-imoto coming to me crying, saying Shido was stroking her back, her waist, and wanted to reach for her ass, which belongs to me. My blood began to boil again, but I calmed down. The Aura of Fear I received feeds on my negative emotions. "That's why I killed him. No one ever dares to touch my loved ones, ever, and if they try, I will kill them just like I did Shido."
My words hit them like a truck going full speed, but instead of fear, respect and adoration were growing in their eyes, and in the case of that nerdy girl, Kyoko Hayashi, and the others I saved in the parking lot, loyalty and submission were growing.
Saeko-san closed her eyes with a smile. Saya, blushing and covering her mouth, stared at me, just like Rei. Takashi, Hisashi, Kouta, and Takuzo with his girlfriend also began to look at me with greater respect and loyalty than before.
And I intend to justify their respect, and I will protect them and their families.
Screeeee!
The bus lurched from a sudden stop next to a convenience store, and because I was standing right in the middle, I flew almost halfway down the bus and hit my head on the floor.
"Ow-ow-ow!" I started rubbing the back of my head, trying to ease the pain, curled up in the fetal position.
"Isao-sama!" "Isao-san!" "Isao!"
"Ah, sorry Isao-kun, let me help you!" Shizuka was already up from the driver's seat and, pressing her breasts against my right arm, started rubbing the spot too.
"G-get off the bus... fuck, that hurts..."