Chương 12: Predator And Prey

"That's a sweet scent... an uninfected? What's an uninfected doing here in the middle of the forest?" Yoshiyuki asked himself, confused. There's no way that a lone uninfected would risk going into the forest alone. That's just plain suicidal.

Unless...

In an instant, Yoshiyuki's face turned pale as he glanced toward the Izanagi siblings. There was only one reason why one person was walking towards them— a pincer attack! There's a good chance that the lone person might just be suicidal, but they also shouldn't rule out the fact that that person was there to hunt them down. For all they know, his teammates might be approaching them as well from the other side.

"Sano, Lina, we have to get out of here right now," Yoshiyuki muttered under his breath as he handed both of them thick robes.

"You're right, we have to go." Sano agreed, grabbing all their belongings. Yoshiyuki was already done dressing the deer meat so they didn't hesitate to leave the deer hide and everything else behind.

.....

The sun continued to dip downwards towards the horizon like a ticking time bomb that Kazuichi anxiously monitored. A few moments ago, Arisu pointed out that she smelled a group of humans up ahead and she volunteered to check up on them and report to him. This gave Kazuichi some time for himself as he remembered the unbecoming impression he displayed a few moments ago.

With embarrassment in his eyes, he gritted his teeth while the memories of him getting out of his shell repeated in his mind.

...

A few moments ago,

Kazuichi's face turned a nice shade of green as he felt like throwing up. That one step that separated him from the interior of his house to the veranda made him panic. He wanted to scream and cry at the same time but Arisu was right there, staring at him. In order to not embarrass himself any further, and to make Arisu believe that he was actually more capable than she thought.

The veranda was traumatizing enough as it is. And when Kazuichi stepped out of the veranda onto the grass, he felt as if his mind lurched forward. Adding to that, his intestines felt like they were knotting themselves together.

And then, the inevitable happened— Kazuichi puked the eggs and toast he ate. Everything in his stomach was emptied out in less than ten seconds.

By the time he realized that Arisu saw one side of him that he never wanted to show, his face lost its colors altogether... then he slipped into unconsciousness.

A few minutes later, KLazuichi woke up with his head comfortably resting on Arisu's lap. The two of them were by the small stairs that led to the veranda. Kazuichi could still taste the puke in his mouth, and he shamefully averted his gaze from Arisu.

'ARRGHAGRAHGRGHAHH!' He screamed in his mind, not because he was embarrassed by disgustingly emptying his stomach in front of Arisu (well, that was one of two reasons but the other reason weighed more heavily) but because he felt her thighs directly touching his cheeks. 'What's this?! It's so soft!!! Am I going to die? What's going on right now?!' He inwardly hysterically overreacted in his mind.

"Are you all right? You shouldn't have forced yourself to go out if you weren't feeling well." Arisu gently muttered, brushing Kazuichi's hair from his forehead to see if he had a fever or not.

"Eghhh~~~" Kazuichi let out a weird sound from his mouth. For the first time that day, Kazuichi's mind once again short-circuited as blood leaked out of his nose. He fell unconscious soon after, much to Arisu's bewilderment.

...

Back to the present time,

Kazuichi shook his head as the memories of Arisu's lap replayed in his mind, causing him to blank out for a couple of seconds before he returned to reality. By the time his mind returned to the present and he had regained his composure, he saw Arisu running towards him with a concerned look on her face. Even though she was just running normally, Kazuichi couldn't help but remember the scene by the veranda again, and his nose almost leaked blood for the second time that day.

"I lost them," Arisu informed. "I thought I was getting hot on their trail, but when I felt like I finally caught up to them, they were gone. Only the carcass of deer could be seen where they stayed."

"Ehrmm~" Kazuichi cleared his throat, slowly avoiding Arisu's gaze so he could maintain his inner peace. "Are they hybrids?" He simply asked.

Arisu nodded without a shred of doubt in her expression. "Their blood smells funny, unlike yours. And also, I could tell that they were able to sense my presence even though I walked in the direction of the breeze. I think they're experienced hybrids." Arisu pointed out.

"I see, we have to be careful from now on. Who knows how many hybrids lurk around these parts of the mountain." Kazuichi spoke with a tense tone. Quite frankly, he was more frightened than he seemed, but that's beside the point. He did feel a tad bit safer now that Arisu had rejoined them. Nevertheless, the information regarding the hybrids roaming the area didn't help with his anxiousness.

'We just have to check what's blocking the waterway, and then we'll head back home, that's it.' Kazuichi said to himself as he stepped forward. He liked to imagine everything as a virtual reality game and that calmed his nerves somewhat. In his mind, he tricked himself into that he was still inside the safety of his own mansion and that everything that he could see right now was just the scenic view of a hyperrealistic game he was playing.

"Let's go," Kazuichi spoke to Arisu. And for the first time that day, his voice didn't tremble at all.

Arisu nodded.

However, just before they could continue on with their mission, a figure suddenly sprang out of nowhere. Kazuichi didn't even notice the figure before he was shoved out of the way by Arisu. His body flew a couple of dozen feet before he hit a tree stump with a thud.

"Ouch, what was that for?!" Kazuichi called out, but he immediately fell into silence the moment he noticed the other figure right in front of Arisu.

"Heh~ another hound, this is going to be hard." The figure spoke as he crouched down low, his chin touching the ground as he stared lecherously at Arisu.