Fufufu⁠♪ Now Izumi-chin's as good as a rat in the bag!

yes! it'll be as easy as cheezumi~⁠1

Yeah? Uh... Yeah, I guess?

fufufu. looks like "oceans" scored the "first goal".

That's not in the rules! We're not having a pun competition~!

Idol of the Dead is a full-scale war between Animals and Oceans!

Whichever side wins gets to decide how to split the next Creature Club budget!

that's right. it was "unproductive" to "argue" about it endlessly, after all~

the more time we "waste" arguing, the longer the creatures go "hungry".

that's why we're going to decide this with a one-off "competition".

The rules are simple! Whoever catches Izumi-chin first, wins!

yes, so we're basically playing a game of "tag"~⁠♪

although it feels more like an "activity" for the "asobi club" rather than the "creature club", doesn't it?

That's fine! We'll deal with this while everyone thinks we're just playing a game! That's why I went and got permission from ES management to make that broadcast just now!

"An unprecedented zombie hazard has broken out in the ES building...!"

"Can the sole survivors, Tomoya Mashiro and Izumi Sena, successfully escape from the approaching zombie horde?!"

—That's the setting we're going with for this elaborate game of tag! We'll film it, edit it, and stream it online or something!

That's "Idol of the Dead"! This way, no one will think we're being weird even if we make a big scene chasing them!

mhm. it's in the "building" and not "seisou hall", after all. there are people working as usual here, too, so we needed an "excuse".

Yeah. We're gonna settle this privately before the cops show up to investigat\e~ After all, we still don't know if Izumi-chin's really committed a crime.

but, why "zombies"? our "circles" were formed to take care of "living creatures", so aren't they the "complete opposite" of what the "creature clubs" are for?

It's just 'cause I watched a movie like that last night. It's not like I could've come up with a great idea like this at such short notice, y'know~...?

Besides, do you know why zombies attack humans, Kanata-chin?

huh? isn't it because they're hungry?

Nope! Zombies don't seem to die naturally from starvation, but they still target humans relentlessly! Why's that?

It's because they're jealous of the living! They have a maddening desire to extend their own lives!

Zombies' obsession with the concept of living corresponds exactly to what the Creature Clubs stand for! You think so too, don't you Kanata-chin...?!

nazuna, you haven't "slept" much, have you? you're acting strangely. and you say you watched a scary "movie", huh...?

if that's the case, then it's "reasonable" that you couldn't sleep. could it be that you're being extra aggressive today because you didn't get enough "sleep" and don't have "room to breathe"? ♪

Well, that too, but I just couldn't stop worrying about Tomo-chin~! Hang in there Tomo-chin, I'm gonna use every last ounce of strength I possibly can to getcha oudda dere~!

Urrrrrgh⁠♪ Raaaargh⁠☆

Dammit! I thought Yumenosaki was bad, but ES is just as insane!

When I was looking on from a distance, I thought, "Huh, looks like they're working pretty seriously lately, aren't they?"

But this is what it actually looks like! Just because the wrapping paper's changed doesn't mean what's inside the box is any different, huh! These idols are just as unhinged as I remember them!

Every single one of you are sooo annoying~!

Ow ow ow, I told you not to yank on me like that! You're gonna rip my wrist off!

...If I rip To-mo-ya-kun's wrist off, I'll get the chance to escape on my own, huh?

Wait, don't say that, that's scary! You're joking, right?!

O-Of course I am. The announcement said something about zombies and stuff, but it's not as bad as an actual disaster film scenario.

The zombies chasing us are just the usual crew, and you can tell they're definitely not rotting or anything. We can't waste our time actually being scared of them, got it?

That's true... They keep saying "urrrgh" and try to bite us, though, so it's still a bit creepy. They can't even hold a conversation.

But even if they did manage to bite us, we wouldn't get infected.

Infected...?

In zombie movies, people who get bit by zombies get infected by a virus or something and turn into zombies themselves. That's how zombies multiply.

What th⁠— That's so gross... That's a no from me, I'm not interested in becoming an ugly rotting corpse, you hear? If I'm gonna die, I want to die pretty!

Ahaha. I don't think it'll actually escalate to become life-threatening, though. The zombies don't seem to listen to anything we say to them⁠—

And we don't wanna get bitten, either, so let's just look out for incoming zombies, and look for the key at the same time.

That'll solve all our problems. After we escape, we can explain to everyone what happened, and go back to our ordinary lives.