The iron gate was on the inside of the main entrance. It wasn't a roller shutter but a sliding gate that could be locked with a chain in the middle.
There was also a glass door on the outside, but this glass would be useless against zombies; the iron gate was much more effective.
After the iron gate closed, the zombies outside rushed forward, but the iron gate kept them out, preventing them from entering.
Inaba Tsukiyo and Kurumi took a few steps back, watching the constantly roaring horde of zombies in front of them, and both let out a heavy sigh of relief.
All the visible zombies inside the teaching building had been dealt with. As long as these zombies didn't climb in through the classroom windows, essentially no more zombies would enter the teaching building.
Inaba Tsukiyo leaned tiredly against Kurumi. Although she still had stamina, this high-intensity activity made her feel very tired, and she couldn't help but find a place to lean.
Kurumi nervously supported Inaba Tsukiyo, not minding the blood on her, and anxiously checked her for injuries.
Finding no scratches on her body, only fatigue, Kurumi breathed a sigh of relief, stroking Inaba Tsukiyo and letting her lean against her.
"We succeeded, Kurumi. If we just try a little harder, we won't have to stay on the Rooftop all the time. We can go to other places too."
She wanted to turn this school into a safe zone, at least making the second and third floors free-roaming areas.
"Hmm, but you need to rest. You've done so much already. We still have plenty of time; there's no need to rush."
"No need to rush… huh? Alright, let's deal with the situation on the third and second floors first. We still don't know what the situation is like outside. Before rescue arrives, let's protect ourselves well."
As for whether rescue would come, Inaba Tsukiyo didn't know. She had a premonition that this incident was likely caused by humans.
Every world crisis is caused by humans, whether it's the mutation of bacteria or the discovery of dormant viruses in ancient ice layers; these are all human actions.
However, this was just her conjecture. Although humans are creatures who enjoy courting disaster, they probably wouldn't court disaster to the extent of endangering their own lives, right?
She just couldn't voice this conjecture yet, at least not until everyone had gotten used to their current predicament, otherwise, despair would crush them.
After a brief rest, Inaba Tsukiyo and Kurumi checked the other floors before returning, to prevent any straggling zombies from remaining.
"Hey… Kurumi, I want to train everyone so they have the power to protect themselves. What do you think?"
"…Can't you and I protect everyone?"
Kurumi didn't know how to answer. She felt that with her and Inaba Tsukiyo's combined combat strength, they should be able to protect everyone else.
The disaster had just broken out, and everyone hadn't yet recovered. Training them now seemed a bit too forceful.
"I know what you're thinking. I just want them to be able to deal with zombies when they're alone. After all, we can't always stay by everyone's side. At the very least, everyone should have the ability to protect themselves."
There were no traces of zombies in the men's and women's restrooms on the second floor, but the bloodstains here told them that someone had been attacked.
Even such a place could be attacked. Kurumi thought of the sea of zombies she had just faced and somewhat understood Inaba Tsukiyo's words.
"Let's discuss it with Sister Megumi. Everyone doesn't want you to have too much pressure, and it's only the second day. Let everyone calm down first."
"Alright."
At least let everyone calm down first. Haste makes waste. It was just about giving them the ability to protect themselves, not turning them into sword-fighting geniuses, so there was no rush.
[Bang! Bang! Bang!]
Gently knocking on the iron door of the Rooftop, this was their secret signal, and also to prevent any hidden zombies nearby from hearing the knocking sound.
The iron door opened, and Sakura Megumi looked at Inaba Tsukiyo and Kurumi with a nervous expression, reaching out to pull them in.
After re-closing and locking the iron door, Sakura Megumi finally breathed a sigh of relief, then turned and looked sternly at Inaba Tsukiyo.
"Really… This time was far too dangerous! Running out alone like that, it's very dangerous!"
They had truly been terrified just now. When Inaba Tsukiyo disappeared from their sight, they were all very worried that something might happen to her and had been praying constantly.
"This was for Kurumi's safety, Sister Megumi. The security guard had too many keys, and I couldn't see which key opened the iron gate. To buy her time, I could only distract the zombies."
Inaba Tsukiyo briefly recounted what had happened downstairs to Sakura Megumi. Understanding the general situation, Sakura Megumi opened her mouth, sighed deeply, and reached out to pat Inaba Tsukiyo's head.
"Promise the teacher you won't do such dangerous things again. Even if it doesn't succeed this time, we still have a chance, don't we?"
"...No."
"Huh?"
At a time like this, shouldn't she agree to my request? Why isn't she playing by the rules?
Not only was Sakura Megumi stunned, but everyone else also stared blankly at Inaba Tsukiyo, not understanding why she was so insistent.
"I already said before we set off that this operation would not accept any objections. Anyway, nothing bad happened this time, and this is already the best outcome."
"I don't know how long I'd have to wait for an opportunity like today. Rather than relying on luck, it's better to complete the task now."
"If it were Sister Megumi, wouldn't you face those guys alone to protect everyone?"
"..."
This was an unanswerable question. Given her personality, she would never abandon her students and leave.
It wasn't because of a teacher's sense of responsibility that she would expose her students, but because she deeply loved everyone and didn't want them to face danger.
Looking at the large areas of blood on Inaba Tsukiyo and Kurumi, Sakura Megumi's eyes were filled with worry.
Wakasa Yuri took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from Inaba Tsukiyo's face, and Takenouchi Yuki mimicked her.
After a simple cleanup of the blood on her body, Inaba Tsukiyo sat back on the cushion she had slept on last night.
She was a little tired and wanted to sleep, but the sticky feeling on her body made her very uncomfortable.
"I want to take a bath... but I'd have to go to the third floor. And... does the school still have electricity, Sister Megumi?"
"Yes, we saw that there are solar panels here. Bear with it tonight, and tomorrow we'll clean up the third floor, then we can take a bath."
"Solar panels... Why would the school have something like that?"
Inaba Tsukiyo remembered that Kyonohoka Academy was just an ordinary high school, so the existence of solar panels was a bit strange.
While solar panels in modern buildings weren't uncommon, the current situation didn't allow Inaba Tsukiyo to dwell on such thoughts.
'No way... Is this it? It seems this school isn't that simple. Could this really be a man-made disaster?'
Although she had previously considered whether this disaster might be human-induced, it was only a conjecture. If humans truly knew the terrifying power of this virus, they shouldn't have courted death like this.
But the solar panels, the food on the Rooftop, and the rainwater collection tank and purification system discovered during inspection this morning—these were clearly prepared for living in the school long-term.
If these things existed individually, it wouldn't be strange, but their combined presence was too suspicious.
"It seems the reason for this disaster's outbreak has been clarified, Tsukiyo. Hehe~ As the consciousness of humanity, humans are indeed the source of all disasters."
alaya, who was observing everything in secret, muttered to herself. As the consciousness of humanity, she had seen too many similar scenarios.
This incident was like the end of the world, or the Incineration of Human History.
In fact, gaia didn't care about the Incineration of Human History, or rather, the Incineration of Human History could actually prolong the planet's death.
But as the consciousness of humanity, she couldn't do that. To prevent the Incineration of Human History from spreading, she had to intervene before things became serious.
The crisis occurring in this world was actually the original trajectory of events. Even if the Demon God's energy hadn't come to this world, this world would still face a crisis of destruction.
But what was different was that with the Demon God's energy, the zombies would only become stronger. If Inaba Tsukiyo couldn't solve the problem before it became uncontrollable, then this world would be doomed.
"And, Okita Souji, you are not allowed to tell anyone else about what happened this time. Otherwise, you should know what kind of fate awaits you, right?"
alaya came before the trembling Okita Souji, kicked her knee, making her kneel before her, and looked down at her.
"I don't want her existence to be known by anyone in the Throne of Heroes. Even if you are the foolish gaia's Heroic Spirit, I can still control you. After all, the foolish gaia is currently in Gensokyo and hasn't returned, so even if I lock you up, no one will find out."
"How... how could that be? I will absolutely not tell anyone about my master, lord alaya. But... why is there another master? Didn't Lord gaia say that one had already been found?"
Okita Souji readily agreed to alaya's demand. Anyway, only she knew about Inaba Tsukiyo's situation now, and lending her power only to Inaba Tsukiyo gave her an advantage over others.
But what she found strange was that gaia had already told them that a master had been found, so why was there a new master now?
"That's not something you should be concerned about. You'll know why it turned out this way later. Just return to standby."
"If you dare to speak of today's events, I will raise your 'Weak Constitution' from A to EX. You should know what that means, right?"
"No way! You can't do that, lord alaya! Doing that will kill people!"
Okita Souji said, somewhat breaking down. Raising her 'Weak Constitution' from A to EX?
She already failed to use her noble phantasm sometimes because of this 'Weak Constitution' skill.
Raising it from A to EX? Was this a death sentence?
"Death? You Heroic Spirits are already dead anyway. At most, it will just make you spit a little more blood, lie in bed for a while, and eat fewer of your favorite things. It's fine."
"..."
It was absolutely not fine! It was terrifying! Why didn't she know that the expressionless alaya's personality was actually so terrifying?
Okita Souji was panicking. She always felt that being the sole insider was not a good thing.
However, to prevent alaya from turning [Weak Constitution: A] into [Weak Constitution: EX], she could only swallow this secret.