The welcome wasn’t that notable since the shelter was actually pretty small. It wasn’t a close-knit community either, that’s why the people didn’t bat an eye at each other. Unlike the other shelters, the residents here knew their boundaries. That’s why even though they were aware of each other’s identities, they didn’t pry into each other’s private lives.

"We live right by the edge of the shelter, let’s head over here." Shig beckoned.

Somehow, Kazuichi felt a little bit hesitant when it came to entering Shig’s property. It wasn’t because he was uneasy about what Shig was up to. But rather, because he had no idea what his younger sister’s state was right now. All they knew about her was that she was sick, but as to how worse her sickness was, they could only wonder.

As such, Kazuichi stopped for a moment when Shig propped the door open. Based on Shig’s confidence, Kazuichi could tell that he didn’t want to hide anything. He was relaxed, but that didn’t explain what his sister was in at the moment.

"Come on in," Shig amicably said, bringing his hand up and swaying it back ad forth.

"Wah~! I’m beat. Pardon my intrusion." Arisu let out a sigh as she acted in an uncharacteristic manner. She wanted to remove the awkwardness between Kazuichi and Shig since she could smell that the two of them still have their guards up in front of each other.

Before Kazuichi could utter a single comment, Arisu was already inside the house. Amaya and Trus promptly followed as well, leaving Kazuichi with little to no space to tell them otherwise. Now that he was left with only one choice, Kazuichi conceded and headed inside as well, muttering a soft ’pardon my intrusion’ as he sheepishly stepped in.

"No worries, it’s just a small ramshackle shack and you could hardly call it a home. But this is where we live. I’ll prepare some food." Shig generously offered before heading to one side of their place and lighting up a fire on his coal burner.

On the corner of the kitchen were dried rabbit and deer meat, and Shig didn’t think twice about grabbing a hefty portion and cooking it. There wasn’t even a shred of unsureness in his eyes. To him, he was willing to cook for the group even though all they’d do was accompany him to the auction.

’It certainly was weird. No, weird was an understatement. There’s no way someone’s haphazardly kind like that. Whenever this happens, there is always an ulterior motive.’ Kazuichi said to himself.

Even Arisu found it weird that Shig was treating them like old-time friends when they’d just met. She sort of understood his unwavering determination for his sister, but even then, he didn’t have to go that far just to appease them.

"Here eat up! Oh, and we have the magic food right here! Help yourselves." Shig lit up when he mentioned something about the magic food. Compared to before, he was basically letting his joyful emotion out, and it gave Arisu and Kazuichi some sort of suspicion that he was up to something.

"Here yer go! See? Told yer we ’ave the magic food in town." Shig puffed his chest and gave himself a pat on the back. Somehow, he changed his accent when he handed out the food in question, but that was beside the point.

The bowls which Shig handed were made of ceramic, and unlike the usual bowls, all of them had ceramic lids on top of them. Smoke seemed to rise up from the edges of the lid, and one whiff of that smoke was enough to sweep Kazuichi off his feet.

"No way, are you kidding me?"

"You really have this? Where did you get this?!"

"Whoaaaahhhh!!!"

They didn’t even have to confirm what was inside the bowl. Before they knew it, the four of them were eating more than their fair share of the meal. In the past few months, they’ve only ever eaten meat and canned goods. But now, it felt like a dream that they were eating something that they’d craved ever since the apocalypse began.

White rice.

"We actually have contact with one of the rural farms that didn’t get run over by zombies, and that farm’s secretly providing us with rice. In return, we pay them a crazy amount of money. I don’t really care about the money so I buy from them from time to time."

"It’s just a secret transaction between us though since I was close friends with the owner of the farm. If you were to try and get your hands on the ingredient, you’d have to buy it at an even crazier price in the auction. Then again, it’s not advisable to carry rice around, especially when you’re traveling on foot."

"That’s right. Still, thank you for the meal. It had been an eternity since we get to taste rice." Kazuichi gratuitously said after finishing his third bowl. He was still hungry, but he didn’t want to impose on Shig since they haven’t done anything that would warrant the good meal he gave them.

"Here you go, you want another bowl, right?" Shig offered Kazuichi another bowl, and he willingly accepted it.

"Wah~! That hits the spot." Kazuichi heaved a sigh in a laidback manner as a smile appeared on his face. The rice was worth it. Even if they were to go through a needle during the auction later on, Kazuichi didn’t mind at all. It’s as if one of his wishes came true when he took a mouthful of that magic food.

Hmmmm~?

On the other end of the house, right at the opposite side of the kitchen, was a small bed that didn’t stir at all while they were there. Arisu and Kazuichi actually felt the faint presence of a Hybrid there, and they instantly assumed that it was Shig’s younger sister.

"Onii~? Do we have visitors?" The girl weakly asked, lifting the blanket off her face before facing the group. A split second later, her expression changed, and a hint of bloodlust and anger leaked out from her aura.