"Ehrmm!" Tris managed to clear her throat, attracting the attention of the two lovebirds who were holding each other in an embrace right in front of her. Clearly, she felt a modicum of jealousy but she didn’t dare blatantly express it. After all, doing so would just expose her feelings towards Kazuichi.

"Right! I-I brought some supplies. Also, some Hybrid Blood... Hound Blood." Arisu muttered. Honestly, she had no idea what Kazuichi’s type was as a Hybrid, but she figured that he was probably a Hound, considering that he was bitten by a Hound.

"Thanks, I’ll need it. I still do have some supplies though." Kazuichi unhesitantly brought out the vials of blood he had with him. He didn’t say which blood it was, but Arisu immediately realized that it was fresh blood.

Which meant that the blood was only recently harvested. Moreover! It had the scent of a girl, a fresh scent that meant— that!

Arisu’s eyebrows twitched when she saw the blood. She couldn’t pinpoint what type of Hybrid Blood it was, but she was most certainly sure that it came from a girl. "Who’d it come from... Kazuichi?" She asked. A hint of animosity could be heard in her voice.

"The blood? Ah, well, it came from the Scarlet Blood Stronghold.... r-r-right, Tris?" There was no way Kazuichi would tell her that the blood came from the stronghold leader herself, Ayaka.

"Uhn~" Tris nodded. She had no idea what’s the deal with the blood, but she remembered the stronghold leader handing a bag of it to Kazuichi. In a sense, she could tell that Kazuichi wasn’t lying so she confirmed what he just said.

"Hmmm~" Arisu’s gaze narrowed as she suspiciously eyed Kazuichi. She was fairly certain that Kazuichi was hiding something from her, she just couldn’t quite put her finger around it since Kazuichi’s weird scent was overpowering her sense of smell.

Before she could say another word, Arisu suddenly caught a whiff of Amaya’s scent, causing her to step backward. It was certainly an overpowering smell that could ward off a lot of infected, as expected of a Canary. "You’er Amaya, right? Nice to meet you, I’m Kamagawa Arisu."

"Since when?" Amaya asked out of nowhere after she swallowed the spoonful of canned food she stuffed in her mouth.

"Since when what?" Arisu asked,

"Since when have you known big brother?" Amaya called out, her eyes getting narrower by the second. Amaya wouldn’t lose on a stare-down, not if she could help it.

"Hmm... about three months?" Arisu responded, even though it was longer than that. Besides, Kazuichi had been with Amaya and Tris for more than two months so clearly, they spent more time with him than her.

"Hmmm," Amaya trailed off, putting another spoonful of meatloaf in her mouth.

...

Over the course of a meal, the party, now with the inclusion of Arisu, talked about their journey up to now. Arisu was especially curious about Kazuichi’s experiences. Ever since they were separated, that was the only worry at the forefront of her mind.

It didn’t take long before Arisu was updated about everything, including the knowledge about the Scarlet Blood Stronghold and Icy Wing Stronghold.

She was already aware of Omega Zombies since a couple had tried to attack the Kazuichi Stronghold, that’s why Kazuichi didn’t bother telling her about it.

"Still, I can’t believe that our place had become a stronghold." Kazuichi still couldn’t wrap his head around it. Whenever Arisu described his place as a heavy fortress with his house by the center of it, he would have this confused expression on his face that would prompt Arisu to stop speaking.

Nevertheless, Kazuichi was looking forward to seeing his place. It seemed that Arisu worked diligently to keep his house no matter what. And while it may have resulted in becoming a stronghold, she kept her unsaid promise to take care of the place.

"..."

"..."

"In any case, we’ve received the news, Kazuichi..." Arisu finally brought up the crucial topic. "Trouble’s brewing in Kanagawa. A couple of strongholds are fighting amongst each other. Tokyo might be included in the fight so we have to prepare as much as we could."

"If it continues like this... there may be an upcoming war that would decide which strongholds get to live or die." Arisu continued. "We hoped that Tokyo won’t be part of the trouble... but with all these strongholds all over the place, I’m sure that the scale of power would tip to one side sooner or later."

"But mankind had a common enemy, right? The infected. Why would there be a war between strongholds?" Tris asked. She had been to many strongholds before and there was no way a stronghold could survive a war. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Well, there’s the Icy Wing Strongholds, but that was just because they have a number of Hybrids on their side—

"Wait... so that’s it." The moment Tris thought about the Hybrids, she finally realized why a war between strongholds was inevitable. It all roots down to the power of Hybrids.

In other words, the strongholds’ battle for power was greatly affected by the existence of Hybrids. Then again, the only reason why strongholds could survive this long was due to the alliance of Hybrids with their respective strongholds. They were the ultimate line of defense if ever there was a breach.

Nevertheless, the number one threat to any strongholds is Hybrids, so it was only acceptable that everyone has mixed feelings regarding their existence.

"Arisu, did you accept Hybrids into the shelter as well? Did you make sure that they won’t turn their backs on the shelter no matter what?" Kazuichi concernedly asked since he had no way of knowing the internals of the newly-built stronghold.

Nodding her head, Arisu tried to convince Kazuichi that she did her utmost when it comes to picking out Hybrids as well as additional survivors to the stronghold. "Jurou helped me out as well. Besides, my sense of smell never failed me. Not even once." She confidently stated, puffing her chest up.