With Kazuichi getting his first prey, it was time for Arisu to show off her skills as a rabbit hunter. There was another rabbit, hopping peacefully from afar as it darted its fluffy head here and there, cautiously scanning its surrounding for potential dangers.

Arisu instantly positioned herself downwind, utilizing her extremely sensitive olfactory sense to the best of her ability. Because of that, the rabbit couldn’t smell her at all, even though she was sneaking unusually near it already.

In an instant, Arisu tapped into her Hybrid self and accelerated even faster. As a Hound, she could swiftly move through space without making much of a sound. After all, this was her specialty, and there was no way she’d make a mistake since it was inherently established in her instinct.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The steady tip tap of Arisu’s footsteps was inaudible. Even Kazuichi who had sensitive hearing, could barely hear Arisu’s footsteps. Her fluid movement was just too impeccable. Obviously, she was already an expert when it came to sneaking up on someone.

And just like what Kazuichi did, she snatched the rabbit by the ears and aimed at its throat. Kazuichi wanted to stop her since he wanted to drink the rabbit’s blood with her. Fortunately, she didn’t let her instincts get the better of her and she stopped short before her claw-like hands touched the rabbit’s skin.

A sigh of relief escaped Kazuichi’s mouth as he held his rabbit in front of Arisu. However, Arisu’s rabbit was actually already dead! Apparently, it had frozen in place when it saw the looming death in front of her. In short, it had a heart attack and died.

"Poor rabbit. You should’ve just gone with the decapitation." Kazuichi teased as the two of them beheaded their rabbits at the same time. Muttering soft ’cheers’, the two of them drank straight from the rabbit’s main artery and drained them of their blood.

"This would be our meal, for tonight, I guess. Still, isn’t it weird that there are still rabbits around?" Kazuichi commented. "I mean, even the wildlife have the possibility of getting infected."

"It’s the thing with nature. It always finds a way to preserve life." Arisu chimed in response. "Take the zombies, for example, if it weren’t for nature’s law of inevitable decay, these zombies would’ve been unstoppable. They are going to roam the world for an indeterminate amount of time. That would be literal hell." She added.

"I guess... wait, that means... since we were bitten... are we going to die and decay along with the zombies? Man." Kazuichi exhaled an exclamation, his expression shifting into a troubled one as the two of them walked together.

"You’re wondering about that? I also asked that question too when I was first bitten. However, I knew that that won’t happen. Instead of explaining it to you, you should know it firsthand." With her usual calm demeanor, Arisu touched her chest and smiled. "Touch here." She said out of nowhere. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Seeing Arisu touching her chest and telling him to touch it made Kazuichi back down a little bit. "What are you talking about?"

"Just touch it!" She forcefully ordered. It didn’t even occur to her that her orders were pretty vague, considering that she meant something else.

Since Kazuichi didn’t want Arisu to force him a second time, he hesitantly lifted his right hand before grabbing her by her right breast.

"E-eh?!" Arisu let out a soft exhale as she looked at her chest, then back at Kazuichi who was closing his eyes as he squeezed it once, then twice.

"Kyaa~! I meant! Touch your chest! Not mine!" She exclaimed, taking a step backward as Kazuichi retracted his hands in surprise.

"If you meant that, then say it clearly! You were touching yours and you told me to touch here." Kazuichi snapped back, but he didn’t raise his voice whatsoever since they might attract Hybrids. Honestly, though, he was just explaining all that to defend himself.

"You know what?" Kazuichi then added before grabbing Arisu by the hand and putting it on his chest. Now that he was the one to do it, he felt a little embarrassed.

Turning away, his face reddened a little bit as Arisu touched his chest. His beating heart went even faster as the embarrassment kicked in. "Now we’re even." Kazuichi called out in a light breath.

"S-s-see? Your heart’s beating. That means y-your still alive." Arisu tried not to panic but her heart was racing as well when she touched Kazuichi’s chest. It was well-chiseled and comfortably hard to the touch. Of course, the fabric was there when she touched it, but that excited her even more— she didn’t blatantly show what she felt though, since that would be weird considering that Kazuichi might not feel the same way.

A warm smile lit up Kazuichi’s face as he calmed down (he was just acting it all out though since he still felt flustered after what he did a moment ago). Nodding his head, he let go of Arisu’s hand and turned away once again. "S-sorry for... misunderstanding you and touching your b-boo— that! For touching that suddenly."

"I-i-it’s fine! I don’t mind it! I was just surprised, that’s all." Arisu forced a chuckle as she picked up her pace and walked beside Kazuichi. It was true that she didn’t mind it at the very least. After all, Kazuichi was her savior, and she had liked him for the longest time.

"What do you mean you don’t mind it? That’s dangerous, you know. You shouldn’t just let anyone t-t-touch you." Kazuichi stammered. After saying all that, he found it weird and he felt embarrassed once again.

"If it’s you! I don’t mind if it’s you... why do I have to explicitly say that for you to understand." Arisu heaved a sigh, but then again, it was not like she was mad at Kazuichi for that. She knew that this was just his way of expressing his protectiveness.

As they returned to camp, Amaya and Tris were already opening up the canned goods. A couple of hours later, they would continue their travel through the city.

Their next stop— Yamanashi Prefecture.