บท 493: Introduction of the Dead

As his metal bat impacted the strange man's head with a dull thud, Takashi couldn't believe how hard it was as the shock of the impact traveled up his bat and into his arms.

'What the hell!?! Even They aren't this hard!' He mentally exclaimed in shock, before tightening his grip on the bat as he shouted,

"You bastard! GET AWAY FROM REI!" This time however he aimed at something that seemed more vulnerable, the thing that had gone soft between his legs that had violated Rei.

Right as he was in mid swing though, a dainty little hand grabbed his bat with enough force that the metal warped instantly. His eyes traveling up the arm attached to the hand, Takashi saw the doll-like girl that had arrived with the man staring at him.

Meanwhile on the other side, Alex waved his hand to immediately clean Rei of his cum while Yuna went to try and calm her down. Deciding to leave the two teens to his reliable wives, Alex focused on trying to determine where and when they were.

It wasn't too difficult to figure out with Igou's dead body nearby and them being on a rooftop, BUT, Alex had told Saya to inform them when the apocalypse broke out, which it had within the school for roughly an hour now, at least. So why hadn't Saya alerted them to the apocalypse starting?

'I can probably answer that.' Lauren said within his mind suddenly. She then continued,

'I'm sure you noticed by now that the Chatroom didn't exactly follow the rules of time, right?' Alex nodded as he recalled bringing up that very topic with Kuroka due to the discrepancy in time between Chatroom members, as regardless of if Alex was inside or outside the space-time orb the time of everyone seemed to match up with his.

Kuroka however had told him that if she answered his question without him having a higher mastery of Time, his brain was liable to melt into goo. Though Alex had brushed it off as her just not wanting to explain it to him, Lauren supported the Nekomata as she explained,

'I won't go into the specifics, but the Chatroom alters the perception of time for its users when they are different flows to ensure a smooth experience. When the apocalypse began in this world, it entered a different flow of time for your emergency quest, and as such Saya couldn't communicate with anyone outside this world. The same applies to the rest of you as well, though you can still add and chat to members that are currently in this world.'

Checking immediately after Lauren's explanation, Alex saw that the only available members of the Chatroom right now were himself, Yami, Yuna, and Saya.

Seeing that Saya was ok, which he was also able to check through his Domain, Alex decided to wait on meeting up with her until they resolved the current situation with Takashi and Rei.

Turning his attention back to the duo, Alex saw Yami crush Takashi's metal bat into a small ball, while Yuna had been forced to take Rei's makeshift spear, a broom handle with a twisted piece of metal on the tip, and throw it over the railing to the ground below. It was no real loss though, as Alex could use Creation magic to make far superior weapons for the duo if they could reach an understanding.

Currently though, they were both on the ground and backed away while glaring at Alex hatefully, which was somewhat understandable after what happened. Two things Alex couldn't help but to notice was that, while he was obviously trying protect her from the mysterious man, Rei was alternating from shooting wary looks at Alex, and giving dirty looks to Takashi due to their proximity.

The second thing Alex noticed was that Rei was sitting in a way that gave him a clear view of her pure white panties, as well the lovely camel toe as they wedged into her lower lips.

Alex couldn't help but to issue a wry smile as he recalled the amount of 'fanservice' in this world, which angered Takashi as he snarled,

"What are you smirking at pervert!?!" Looking back to him Alex shook his head as he spoke properly for the first time since arriving.

"Sorry about earlier miss, but I was in the middle of having some intense and amazing sex with one of my wives, when I was forcibly transported here right as I was about to shoot the money shot." Both Takashi and Rei blinked in surprise at Alex's bluntness, before both developed a light shade of pink on their cheeks.

Despite that though, both still regarded Alex and the two girls with open hostility, making him shake his head in exasperation.

It was at that point that Alex noticed the body of Igou laying nearby, and decided to do something for the poor guy.

"!!!"

Seeing him approaching Igou's body, Rei shot up as she darted past the two girls, who didn't even try to stop her, and rushed in front of the man as she spread her arms protectively.

"Stay away from Hisashi!" She cried out with fury in her eyes, only for the man to disappear from her sight entirely.

Whirling around with her hair whipping in the wind, Rei saw the man kneeling beside Hisashi's head as he was pulling the cloth off of it.

"STOP!" She shrieked as she grabbed fistfuls of his brilliant red fur to stop whatever he was doing to Hisashi's body, but before she could do anymore Rei paused.

Laying there before her, as if he was simply asleep, was Hisashi. Not the undead thing he had turned into with a caved in skull, but the man she loved.

Rei fell to her knees in shock as he hands hesitantly went to Hisashi's chest, though unfortunately there was no warmth or heartbeat.

"While I can actually revive the dead under the right circumstances-"

"Do it!" Rei demanded as the man started speaking, not caring about anything else but seeing Hisashi alive again.

Unfortunately it wasn't that simple, as a massive sympathetic hand landed on her shoulder, and the man continued,

"If I could then he'd already be up and walking. While I could return his body to a state of living, it would be useless without his spirit. And unfortunately, it appears Hisashi's spirit has already moved on out of my reach."

Rei's body shook with emotion as she listened to the man speak, wanting to shout at him for giving her hope, and demand what he intended by fixing Hisashi up the way he had. Before she could utter anything though, he continued,

"However I was able to make him presentable, enough for a proper goodbye that is. Allowing you to see him one last time, not as one of Them, but as Hisashi Igou."

Silent tears rolled down Rei's cheeks as she stared down at Hisashi's face, before she knelt down and softly planted her lips upon his for one last kiss.

"Goodbye Hisashi." She breathed out after the kiss, the man's hand moving from her shoulder to her back to rub it comfortingly.

As she righted herself and stood along with the man, Rei surprised him by leaning into his embrace somewhat, not caring who it was, merely NEEDING to feel some kind of warmth right now. And after a second of thought, she felt his arm move from her back across her shoulders to hold her comfortingly.

Rei then started slightly as Hisashi's body began to slowly float up into the air, before it began to drift over the railing on the side of the building. Before she could ask him what he was doing, as it had to have been the man doing it, Rei jumped as golden flames erupted around Hisashi's body, swiftly engulfing it as the man spoke in explanation,

"You can't bury him, and the only other option would be to leave him up here to rot for scavengers. At least this way you'll know nothing more will happen to him after we leave."

Though she wanted to protest, Rei's words caught in her throat as she pictured birds pecking apart Hisashi, and decided not to as her focus shifted to not losing her lunch.

Instead no one said a thing as they watched Hisashi's body burn, until the last of his ashes scattered in the wind, and Takashi broke the silence as he demanded in a harsh tone,"So who are you anyways?!"

Rei also looked up at the man, just now seemingly realizing she was snuggled up to a man who's name she didn't even know, who had also essentially sexually assaulted her, as they burned her boyfriend's body. And as if he had just realized that they hadn't introduced themselves, the man said,

"Well firstly they are two of my wives, Golden Darkness and Yuna." As he said that the two girls that had been standing by watching introduced themselves.

"You can call me Yami." Yami said softly as she slightly inclined her head, while Yuna bowed politely at the waist and said,

"I am Yuna, it's a pleasure to meet you."

As the two girls made their introductions, Alex turned to the two teens and said,

"And I am Alexander Morningstar, otherwise known as the Dragon Emperor."

***

*A couple hours earlier*

Takagi Saya was completely bored.

Ever since she learned about the impending doom of her world, so much of it just seemed so tedious and idiotic. Attending school for example.

Saya already knew everything the teacher was teaching them, so every single minute she was sitting at her desk was a moment she could be preparing that was wasted. BUT, she had to keep up appearances at least a little bit, as if she tried skipping class on the grounds of the impending apocalypse, she'd quickly find herself in a padded cell.

The wait however was borderline torturous though, as Alex hadn't been able to give her an exact time to go off of. So it could kick off at literally any moment.

As she thought of that Saya opened the Chatroom to see if anyone was doing anything interesting, as the tournament wouldn't continued for another 'week' from her perspective.

When she opened it though, Saya was surprised to find that she couldn't chat with anyone on it, and wasn't receiving any messages from them either. A quick check showed her the shop and the quests were still working, but that was it.

"That's odd...." Saya muttered to herself, but before she could try and think on why that was the case the door to the classroom slammed open suddenly.

Saya jumped at the sudden noise, and looked over to see the face of her childhood friend, and crush, Komuro Takashi. She thought she felt her heart skip a beat at his appearance, his unkempt black hair, and his sharp eyes that scanned the classroom urgently until they located their quarry, Miyamoto Rei.

"Mister Komuro. It's not enough for you to skip my class, but you need to disrupt it as well?" The teacher asked sarcastically, ignoring the alarm on Takashi's face.

"Let's go. We need to get out of here!" Takashi said as he grabbed Rei's arm, prompting a series of wolf whistles and muttering as every thought this was his attempt to get his ex girlfriend back.

Saya however saw what was happening now differently. If she put together the problems with the Chatroom, and the Takashi was acting, then there was one major scenario that she could think of.

Rushing to her feet and over towards him as Takashi whispered something to Hisashi, Saya tried to interject.

"Komuro, what's going on?!" She demanded with authority in her tone, authority that Takashi didn't even hear as he slapped the face of the still struggling Rei, shocking her into obedience.

"Please excuse us!" Hisashi said to the teacher, Takashi leading the two of them out of the room, and none of them even giving her a backwards glance.

"D-did he just leave me!?!" Saya sputtered incredulously, deaf to the snickers around her as people got the wrong idea.

Fury like she never felt before rose up within Saya's chest at what just happened.

If she was reading the situation correctly, which she knew she was, then the apocalypse was starting and Takashi already got a glimpse of it. It was completely understandable for someone to immediately try to ensure that the people they cared about were secure, but what pissed Saya off was that even though they were childhood friends too, Takashi hadn't even glanced in her direction or registered her AT ALL!

Instead he only cared about the girl who dumped his ass, and basically left her to be torn apart by zombies!

"I HOPE THEY BITE YOUR DICK OFF, YOU BASTAAAAAAAAAAARD!!!"

Saya screamed at the trio as they raced down the hall, before slamming the sliding door shut with as much force as she could muster.

"Miss Takagi!" The teacher exclaimed, apparently having had enough of the disruptions in his class. "I don't care how smart you are or if your father is a politician, you WILL return to your seat NOW!"

Even as the teacher tried to chastise her, Saya slowly turned to look at him before screaming,

"SHUT THE FUCK UUUUUUUUUUP!!!"

Never having expected such a response from a model student, the teacher and the entire class was stunned into silence. Which was just as well, as the principles voice suddenly came through over the PA.

"Attention faculty and students. There has been a situation on campus.

"Faculty please lead the students the evacuation procedure. I repeat, there has been an incident on campus, and faculty- NO WAIT!

"PLEASE STOP! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"

The announcement was all that anyone over the school could hear, as the principle sounded as if he were being torn apart. For a moment after the mic finally cut off there was no reaction, than all at the same time.

"""KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"""

*RUMBLE!*

The entire school seemed to shake as EVERYONE within it tried to escape in a mass panic. People were screaming, friends were shoving each other out of their way as they tried to escape, and furniture was being upended as chaos ensued.

*KABOOM!*

A deafening blast silenced the panicking students in Saya's class, as they all slowly turned to see her standing in the middle, holding a shotgun that was pointed at the ceiling.

"SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" Saya ordered them at the top of her voice, cocking her weapon as she did so. Needless to say everyone obeyed, even if they had no clue what was going on, and the same questions were echoing in their heads.

Why did Saya have a gun?

What was going on?

How did Saya get a gun?

Were they safe in there with her?

WHERE had Saya been keeping the gun?

Even the teacher, who had been increasingly irritated with the numerous interruptions in his class, was completely cowed in the face of the dangerous firearm as Saya moved to the front of the classroom. She then turned to face them at the front desk, a victorious smirk on her face that showed off her snaggletooth, a feature many of the boys used to find endearing, but now terrified them.

*clunk*

Saya set the shotgun down onto the desk at the front of the class, which produced a heavy sound before she stated,

"You boys over there!" The guys of the class closest to the doors jumped as she singled them out, before Saya commanded, "get up and find some way to barricade the doors to the hallway. I don't care how you do it, just make sure nothing can get in."

With each passing second the classroom grew increasingly worried that Saya was taking them hostage with her gun, and as she had a few of the students barricade the doors. Saya herself however just ignored them, as she instead focused her attention on the numerous notifications in front of her.

[DING!]

[MAJOR QUEST: SURVIVE!

Objective: survive the zombie apocalypse until Alexander Morningstar arrives to help you.

Bonus objective: help keep as many other people alive as possible until then as well]

[MINOR QUEST: KILLER

Objective: slay five zombies]

[MINOR QUEST...]

The smile on Saya's face widened as two important facts were revealed to her, Alex was coming to get her, and her quests had suddenly taken a massive boost in their usefulness.

Up until now all of Saya's available quests were basic things that had been easy for her, but rewarded too little. With the apocalypse in full swing now, she was receiving numerous quests that would actually give her decent rewards in a much shorter amount of time.

Not knowing all of this though, the rest of her class thought there was a more sinister reason for Saya's smile.

"U-um..... We're finished miss Takagi..." One of the boys she'd ordered to barricade the door said sheepishly, startling Saya away from the Chatroom as she looked over their handiwork.

"Not the best.... But it'll do until we begin to move." Saya said, making her classmates even more uneasy since they didn't know what was going on.

"Now then!" Saya declared, startling her classmates as they looked to her attentively.

"I'll make this quick, so shut up and don't ask questions unless I say you can.

"We are currently facing a zombie apocalypse. How and why it started, I don't know. All I do know is that if any of us act carelessly, then we can die like them!"

Pointing out the window as she said that, Saya drew everyone's attention to carnage taking place out there. People attacking and eating each other, pillars of smoke rising up above the city, and vehicles crashing due to, and adding to, the chaos.

As everyone was looking outside, Saya proceeded to reach into her voluptuous chest to grab something she had hidden there. Ignoring the looks she was receiving from the boys, despite nothing actually showing, Saya produced a cellphone that she had bought shorty after learning about the apocalypse from Alex. They were against school rules, so she had to keep it with her in a way that didn't make it obvious.

Flipping the phone open, Saya began tapping certain keys in it that sent prepared messages to her parents, along with emailing them the numerous plans she'd drafted to protect their manor, and turn it into a haven for any refugees they'd take in. By the time she finished with that, Saya looked back up to see numerous pale and anxious faces amongst her class, who she admittedly would've left behind already if she didn't think they might be useful in some way, along with the bonus objective of her new quest.

"Now that we've got that out of the way," she began, drawing every eye back to her. "You all need to figure out what you're going to do. I'll be making my way to the nurses office, and then taking a vehicle to try and reach my house. Feel free to join me if you want, but I'm not going to slow down or risk myself for any of you."

Saya's goal now was to make her way home with the belief that her parents would do something about the situation, while also collecting the people Alex told her she could trust along the way. The list included the school nurse, Shizuka Marikawa, the captain of the kendo club, Saeko Busujima, and surprisingly someone from her own class, a certain fatass that was staring up at her reverently right now. The list also included Takashi and Rei, but after they left her for dead she was doubting those two.

"I need a manservant fatass, interested?" She asked the fatty in front of her, an otaku who asked her out in the past only to be cruelly rejected, Hirano Kouta.

Rather than the usual reluctance someone in his position would show, Kouta's eyes lit up as he excitedly squealed,

"You want me!?!?!? I'LL FOLLOW YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH MY LADY!" The fatty then even went so far as to start kissing the top of her feet to show his fealty, making Saya suppress a shudder as she waited for him to stand.

Then, though she was reluctant to do so, Saya produced an assault rifle from the numerous weapons she had stored in her storage ring, surprising everyone who saw it appear from thin air as she casually gave it to him.

"Here, at least try to protect me with this." Saya said to Kouta cooly, but what she didn't expect was for his eyes to instantly sharpen the moment the weapon touched his hand.

He then looked it over like an expert as he scrutinized every single nook and cranny of the firearm. The rest of their classmates began back in away from the two of them slightly as Kouta also began to mutter the specifics of the weapon to himself. If the class felt threatened when Saya showed off her gun, then they were downright terrified about Kouta getting his hands on one.

Producing and handing him several prepared clips of ammo to go with it, Kouta immediately grabbed one and clicked it into place before chambering a bullet while making sure the safety was on.

"Bitchin." He said with and uncharacteristically sinister smirk, shocking everyone around him, but none more than those who used to pick on him.

"Let's go." Saya said as she grabbed her own shotgun, and made her way to the barricade as a couple boys went to remove it.

By this point already the school had grown eerily silent, all of the panic and urgency from before gone, and only shambling corpses were left in its wake.

The second the door to the classroom opened, a female student with her guts hanging out and dragging across the ground tried to rush in, but before she could step across the door frame a sharp bark rang out, and she fell to the ground dead with a bullet hole in the middle of her forehead.

And as the sound of a shell casing hitting the ground rang out in the silence, every single head turned towards Kouta, who gun was producing a slight amount of smoke.

"Excellent."

That was all he said to what happened. Wether he was talking about killing the girl, his gun, or some other thing, no one knew. All they DID know, was that none of them would've been able to reproduce Kouta's feat just then.

And as if to prove it wasn't a fluke, Kouta immediately stepped out into the hallway before pulling the trigger of his new gun a few more times, making it bark with each squeeze, which was then followed by a body hitting the floor.

A few seconds of silence later, and Kouta stuck his head back into the classroom with a sickly sweet expression on his face as he cheerfully said,

"All clear my lady!"

Stepping out with her shotgun at the ready, Saya was pleasantly surprised to see that the entire hall was clear of moving corpses, making her smirk as she said,

"So you can be useful after all."

Though her words were more insult than praise, Kouta replied with a goofy smile while going "heehee..." His serious expression soon returned though as more of Them entered the hallway, drawn in by the noise.

As Kouta eliminated the next threat, Saya turned her attention back to the classroom as she told the rest of the class,

"This is it. We're leaving, and I have no intention of coming back for anybody. If you're coming with then let's go, if not then stay out of our way." With that said, Saya turned and left her classmates behind, prompting them to look at each other, before half of them stood up and followed the duo out.

With the entire female portion of the class following Saya and Kouta, the boys also wanted to go but ultimately stayed put. Just about every single one of them had picked on Kouta at some point in the past, and none of them wanted to be around him with a gun in his hands if he was bearing a grudge.

"Hey! We can do this! Who needs that stupid Takagi and her guns?!" One boy cried out, rallying the others as they too got fired up.

Meanwhile, Saya's entourage was making their way through the halls of the school as they slowly but surely made their way to the nurses office.

"How's it looking up there fatty?" Saya asked as she watched over the rear, making sure none of Them snuck up on them.

"All clear up here my lady!" Kota replied lightly, though the occasional gunshot that came from him didn't help them stay quiet at all.

Between them, the girls of the class were anxiously looking around and wringing their hands, but thanks to Saya and Kouta, none of them had to worry.

Kouta had spent a month in America learning under a civilian militia known as the Black Hawks, giving him the training needed to expertly handle firearms, as well as the knowledge to check every room they passed to avoid ambushes. Saya meanwhile had only a few days of practice with firearms, but with her intellect she picked up everything she needed within a few hours, and even if she wasn't as accurate as Kouta yet the scatter of the shotgun she used covered her accuracy for her.

"We got a group ahead!" Kouta cried out after a while, making Saya and her shotgun switch places with him, before she pointed it at the group of living corpses.

"Eat shit." She growled at them while bracing herself, before pulling the trigger and creating a shower of gore and bone as the bodies exploded.

Saya smirked at the destruction she caused, but it swiftly turned into a frown as several more corpses started lumbering towards her.

"Persistent cockroaches." She muttered while loading the next shell, before letting the shotgun bark two more times.

By this point all of Them that had been a part of the group had been completely destroyed, casting an eerie silence on the hallway before the door that They had been gathered at slowly opened. Saya quickly brought her shotgun up to aim it at whatever was coming through the door, but caught herself just before pulling the trigger when she saw a group of girls coming out.

"Is it safe?" One of them asked cautiously, before they all eyed the gun in Saya's hands. And though she lowered it slightly, Saya never took her finger off the trigger as she barked at them,

"Were any of you bitten?" All of the girls in the group quickly shook their heads as one of them stated,

"No! None of us were bitten, we ran into the bathrooms to hide from the crowds when everyone stampeded!" With the rest of the girls behind her nodding in affirmation, Saya was inclined to believe them. But she recalled from zombie movies that she had watched in the past that people were prone to lying about being bitten, despite knowing that there was no hope for them.

"Strip." She ordered them, making the group look at her dumbly, before Saya cocked her gun and repeated, "I said strip!"

Flinching in the face of the gun, tears formed in the girls eyes as they slowly started undoing the top part of their uniforms.

"U-um Takagi-San..... Is this necessary?" One of the girls behind her asked warily, to which Saya replied without taking her eyes off of the group ahead of them,

"Of course. People are prone to lying if they think it'll help them, even if they're obviously doomed. I'm not going to blindly believe them just to have someone take a bite out of me." Saya's logic, combined with the gun in her hands, made it impossible to argue with her. Though the girls also wished she had more understanding, as Kouta was unable to peel his eyes away from the strip show taking place before him.

Soon enough the girls were standing there in just their bras and panties, not a single scratch on their smooth skin. It was only then that Saya relaxed the tension in her body as she said,

"I'm sorry, but I had to be sure. Get dressed and we'll keep moving." The group of girls sighed with relief as they quickly put their clothes back on, and soon they were on their way once more to the nurses office.

As the group traveled they encountered numerous groups of Them, though they were eliminated in short order by the guns says and Kouta were using, the narrow halls making it like shooting fish in a barrel for them. They also encountered a few more groups of survivors, who had taken refuge during the mass panic that got the majority of the students killed.

Curiously enough, all the survivors they encountered were girls, but Saya couldn't think about that just now as a commotion up ahead drew her attention.

"That's the nurses office!" She exclaimed as they all rushed forward, about thirty girls and Kouta in all, only to find that the fighting had ended right before they could arrive.

"Oh? Reinforcements?" One of the two women in the room asked coolly, her straight and long dark purple hair flowing to her thighs. Standing nearly half a foot shorter than her, Saya recognized the girl as the captain of the kendo club, and one of the people Alex told her to find, Busujima Saeko.

Behind her was the school nurse, doing justice to the ditzy blond archetype, Shizuka Marikawa, another one of the people Alex told her of. But beside her, on the ground, was one of their male classmates who was covered in bite marks.

Kneeling next to him, Saeko said,

"I'm captain of the kendo club, Busujima Saeko. What is your name?" The man looked at her confusedly for a second before saying,

"K-Kazu Ishii." Nodding in affirmation, Saeko continued,

"Ishii-Kun. You showed great courage in protecting Marikawa-Sensei, but you've also seen what happens to those who are bitten. Do you want your family to see you that way?" Ishia shook his head at her, making Saeko nod her head slowly in affirmation, before standing and readying her wooden Bokken sword.

"I have never killed someone before, but I will help you."

"Wait! What are you doing!?" Shizuka demanded as Saeko prepared to kill the boy, while several of the girls behind Saya gasped and averted their eyes.

"Marikawa-Sensei, I'll have to ask you not to interfere. Protecting a man's honor, is the very source of pride for a woman." Saeko said with finality, Ishii smiling up at her with gratitude in his eyes that he wouldn't turn into one of Them.

Her sword raised, Saeko swung to deliver the killing blow only to stop short of killing Ishii. Or rather, something made her stop.

"Well put." A man's voice said, drawing everyone's attention to the source. Standing there to the side was a hulking man covered in red fur with a wild mane of pitch black hair.

The second she laid eyes on him the edge of Saeko's mouth curled up in a half grin, her sadistic instincts sounding the alarms as she felt a killer's energy radiating from him.

'What a man...' Was all she thought, as she unconsciously licked her lips.

Someone else however was having a notably different reaction.

When she saw Takashi earlier Saya thought her heart had skipped a beat or two, but this time she KNEW it did, while a fluttery sensation filled her belly. The next thing Saya knew she was rushing towards him and crying out,

"ALEX!"

If that had surprised them, nothing would've prepared the group to see the large man suddenly move faster than any of them could follow, meeting Saya halfway as he leaned down to her level, and kissed her.

Jaws dropped and eyes were as wide as dinner plates, though Kouta was sobbing, as Saya and the man, Alex, made out like lovers reunited after years apart, when in fact this was their first time meeting. And even though he had been the one to kiss her, Saya surprised even herself as she reciprocated it entirely, not even once thinking about Takashi.

"Ha...." Saya gasped when they finally separated, her face flushed from her first kiss even as she uttered in a small voice, "you came for me..."

Alex smile warmly at her, before his entire demeanor shifted as he held her close, one of his hands shamelessly grabbing her ass in front of everybody as he did so, before he told her,

"Of course. I told you already, I was coming for this booty. And now I intend to collect."