"I see," Kazuichi just had to confirm if the rain also affected her sense of smell since he too felt like someone had put a towel on his nose. His sense of smell was dampened, but it wasn’t as affected compared to Tris.

After all, Arisu’s olfactory modality was more sensitive than Kazuichi’s so she was more affected by the rain. That’s why Kazuichi had to be more aware of their surroundings since currently, Arisu was crippled.

The steady crackle of fire soon played a chorus with the pattering of the rain. It was almost nighttime, and the gray clouds shifted into a darker shade. The night was about to descend on the city, and it was clear that they’d have to spend the night in the makeshift shelter.

A portion of the floor was wet since the roof didn’t even cover the entire shelter. Then again, there was nothing they could do but stay around the fire. Hopefully, the rain was enough to cover their scent and the sight of their fire.

Creak~!

"What was that?"

From a distance, the group saw a huge entity making its way through the city. From the looks of it, the entity was moving toward the general direction of the Ice Wing Stronghold. For some reason, Kazuichi heaved a sigh of relief since he knew that the Ice Wing Stronghold could deal with the Omega Zombie.

Then again, the Omega Zombie they saw was twice as big as a regular Omega Zombie. And an Omega Zombie was already monumental enough as it is.

Due to the rain, the Omega Zombie’s form couldn’t be seen clearly. Adding to that, it was probably due to the rain that the Omega Zombie appeared larger than normal. That’s why Kazuichi and the others put it out of their mind.

Besides, the Ice Wing Stronghold had a clear record of defeating Omega Zombies. There was no way they won’t be able to defend themselves against one Omega Zombie. Also, since every Omega Zombie contain a huge meteorite ore, the entire Ice Wing Stronghold benefits from killing one. Ultimately, the death of the Omega Zombie is an additional strength to the stronghold.

While Kazuichi was thinking about the Ice Wing Stronghold and the Omega Zombie, Amaya and Tris already fell asleep. They weren’t even able to take out a couple of canned goods to cook. They simply leaned on each other and started sleeping, exhausted for the day.

Kazuichi’s gaze then landed on Arisu who forced a smile on her face. She was smiling, and yet he could tell that something was wrong. As a Hybrid, he was more attuned to his instincts, and he instantly realized what was wrong.

Arisu’s leg was cramping up. Her calves were pulsating as her entire foot bent forward. She was wincing in pain, but she didn’t tell Kazuichi about it.

"Look, you don’t have to keep up the pretense." Kazuichi heaved a sigh, grabbing her by the leg as he started massaging and stretching her muscles out. The cramps were severe, and he could tell from one touch that Arisu was more exhausted than she deemed.

"You ran all the way here, didn’t you?" Kazuichi asked. "You don’t have to lie about that part."

Surprised, Arisu shook her head at first. But when she noticed that she wasn’t fooling Kazuichi any time soon, she finally nodded along, admitting to his claims. "I... as soon as I heard from Jurou, I ran all the way here. It took me a day to get here." She finally said.

"Did you take any breaks? Did you eat? How about blood? Did you consume blood?" Kazuichi softly asked. To his relief, the muscle finally relaxed, and Arisu wasn’t wincing anymore.

"I did." She responded curtly as if she was hiding something.

"You’re lying, you saved up the blood so you could give it to me. I told you, I’m fine. I have plenty of packs with me so you don’t have to worry about me biting someone in the night." Kazuichi said.

"No way, how did you know I was lying?" Arisu asked, wondering if Kazuichi’s smell was as sensitive as hers.

"You’re wearing your expressions on your sleeves, how could I not? Besides, you look anemic." He continued, not that looking anemic was affiliated with not consuming blood or anything.

Since she couldn’t go around it, she decided to take up Kazuichi on his offer and she started drinking blood.

"In any case, how were you able to escape? Back then, I thought those Zombie Hunters killed you." She asked out of nowhere before Kazuichi pressed on her calf and she let out a sexy moan.

"Just... I escaped before they could sell me in the auction. I got Amaya on that auction, she was about to be sold off as a Canary." He narrated, grabbing Arisu by the ankle and stretching out her entire leg.

Arisu finally relaxed. It’s as if she was on vacation, sipping on Hound blood while someone massaged her leg. "Wait... so you... you bought that little girl, Amaya? Yikes~" Arisu teased.

"A— I, I rescued her!" Kazuichi guiltily responded. "Besides, she wanted to come with me." He continued.

Chuckling, Arisu remembered the time when Kazuichi disappeared. It’s as if all those were just painful memory for her since Kazuichi was right there. She still couldn’t believe it, and yet there she was.

"How was it?" Kazuichi asked a couple of minutes later after massaging Arisu’s right leg. For some reason, Arisu requested him to massage her other leg as well and Kazuichi obliged.

If it were Tris, she wouldn’t have allowed Kazuichi to touch her just like that so it was a breath of fresh air for Kazuichi. Besides, the two of them were close enough to massage each other’s cramps, it was a mutual friendship.

"It’s passable." Arisu joked. Honestly, it was pretty soothing. She wanted Kazuichi to keep on going but she already felt weird so they had to cut the massage short.

"Can you stay awake for a couple of minutes?" Kazuichi asked as he stood up, scouring the area before he headed to the doorway. He didn’t even wait for Arisu’s answer. "I’ll be hunting for a couple of minutes. Fortunately, we’d have fresh meat before those two wake up." He called out.

"Kazuichi!" Arisu called out but before she could say anything, Kazuichi interrupted her.

"Just get some rest. I’ll be back in a flash." He confidently said as he headed into the rain.