[Prompt, Apocalyptic Fantasy World AU] Takashi has to deal with zombie versions of fantasy creatures, like goblins and the like. He saved an older woman in Shizuka from them and now she travels with him. He claims that they are mainly platonic, but she claims otherwise.
The goblin came crawling through the pharmacy window with half its jaw missing and a butcher knife still lodged in its shoulder.
Takashi Komuro drove the end of his spear through its skull before it could shriek.
It dropped with a wet thud.
Behind him, Shizuka Marikawa clutched her medical bag to her chest, blonde hair messy beneath a borrowed hooded cloak. “Takashi-kun,” she whispered, “was that a goblin?”
“Zombie goblin,” Takashi corrected, yanking the spear free. “Regular goblins run when you stab them.”
“Oh,” Shizuka said, blinking. “That makes me feel so much better.”
Outside, the ruined town looked like something from a fairy tale after the bad ending. Burned cottages. Broken wagons. Dead horses twitching in the mud. And in the distance, a corpse-ogre dragged a rusted club through the street, its belly split open and leaking black rot.
Takashi grimaced. “We need to move before more show up.”
Shizuka nodded quickly and hurried after him. She had been trapped in the pharmacy two days ago, surrounded by undead goblins scratching at the doors and windows. Takashi had only gone inside looking for bandages.
Instead, he found Shizuka, a stack of healing herbs, and the strangest traveling companion the apocalypse could have given him.
Since then, she had followed him everywhere.
Mostly because she had no weapon training.
Partly because she kept getting lost.
And apparently, according to her, because they were “fated companions.”
Takashi pushed open the back door and checked the alley. “Clear.”
Shizuka smiled brightly. “See? You’re so dependable. Like a knight.”
Takashi nearly tripped over a broken shield. “That’s not what this is.”
“Really?” Shizuka tilted her head. “You saved me from monsters, escort me through dangerous lands, and protect me while I heal people. That sounds very knightly.”
“It’s romantic survival.”
Shizuka hummed as if considering this. “Platonic survival?”
“Platonic survival with emotional tension?”
A rasping growl cut through the alley.
Takashi spun as three undead goblins dropped from the roof, their gray-green bodies twisted and broken, eyes glowing with rotten yellow light. One landed on all fours. Another snapped its teeth together like a rabid dog.
Shizuka squeaked and ducked behind him.
Takashi tightened his grip. “Stay close.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
The first goblin lunged. Takashi stepped in and cracked its skull with the spear shaft, then drove the blade down through its head. The second came low, clawing for his legs, but Shizuka swung her medical bag with both hands.
The bag hit the goblin square in the face.
Glass bottles shattered inside.
The creature toppled backward, stunned.
Shizuka stared too. “I helped!”
The third goblin shrieked and rushed them.
Takashi kicked it into the wall, pinned it with his boot, and finished it with one clean thrust.
For a moment, the alley was silent except for Shizuka’s nervous breathing.
Then she looked at the crushed goblin, then at her ruined medical bag.
“Oh no,” she said softly. “My painkillers.”
Takashi sighed. “We’ll find more.”
Shizuka smiled at him. “Together?”
“Until we reach the next safe settlement.”
Takashi looked away, scanning the rooftops. “We’ll see.”
Shizuka’s smile widened. “That means yes.”
“That’s a very knightly answer.”
Takashi started walking before she could see his face warm. “Come on.”
Shizuka hurried after him, stepping carefully around the bodies. “Takashi-kun?”
“If we find armor, you should wear black. It would look very heroic.”
“I’m not wearing fantasy armor.”
“But you’d look so cool.”
“And I could wear a healer’s robe.”
“You already look like a healer.”
Takashi looked back at her, exhausted, annoyed, and somehow grateful she was still smiling in a world that had forgotten how.
Above them, the corpse-ogre groaned somewhere down the street.
Takashi raised his spear.
Shizuka stepped behind him again, close enough that her shoulder brushed his back.
“Platonic?” she asked sweetly.
Then the ogre turned the corner, and the world became dangerous again.