Bloom and Scatter [Free! Zombie AU]

Dead Drop - Part 1

It was somewhat surreal to see the message on the wall. It wasn't signed and mentioned no names, but as far as Rin was concerned, it could only have been intended for them. He was starting to get a headache. Why was everything so needlessly complicated? What was wrong with just approaching them and talking? Surely it would have taken less time and effort to do so. And how the hell could the person have spray painted this message so quickly, anyway? They had been right there, the entire incident with the blues had taken no longer than five minutes.

"Who wrote this?" Rin asked warily, "Your friend?"

Makoto was silent, his words slow and deliberate, "I... don't know."

"You said 'him', so you must have seen what he looked like, right?"

Makoto was biting his lip, "I did see something, but..."

"Yeah?"

"His silhouette, it just seemed familiar and I thought... maybe it was... but I don't know for sure."

"Well, he left something behind," Rin slipped Makoto's arm off him and picked up the satchel that had been chucked below the graffiti. It was large and made of canvas and seemed mostly empty, given how limp it was in his grip. Its corner was stained yellow with dried spray paint. He dug around inside. There was an empty bottle of spray paint (white), a stick of CalorieMate, a broken pencil and something rolled up.

... More papers. Great. "Swear to god every single survivor in this stupid plague exchange diaries or something," Rin muttered, unrolling it and angling it towards the clearing for light, sun already starting to set. It was a faded poster for a school cultural festival, but what drew his attention was what had been scrawled over it hurriedly in dark ink, most likely with a calligraphy brush.

THEY KEEP FEEDING IT

I HAVE TO STOP IT

THEY'RE ON TO ME

Honestly. What the hell was the deal? Everyone was just leaving papers and CDs and graffiti behind with shitty cryptic messages about some bigger conspiracy, but no one had bothered to actually approach them in a civil manner to discuss things. No one had bothered outlining just exactly what the damned conspiracy was. And 'it'. What the hell was 'it'? Some prototype zombie? A robot maid? A gluttonous high schooler finishing off everyone's supplies? Rin was tempted to set the stupid note on fire, but he noticed there was an indentation in the paper. He flipped it over. They were pencil marks from a previous note that had most likely been written on the sheet above this piece of paper. The note had been written forcefully enough that Rin didn't need to lightly shade over it with graphite. He tilted it further, squinting at the shadows on the note.

YAMAZAKI KNOWS

Rin sighed.

"What is it, Rin?"