Heroes to Hunted

As I considered Suda's words, I realized that, despite their flashy fighting style, these three preferred to remain inconspicuous whenever possible.

After a moment of reflection, I turned to Suda and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I understand."

Suda returned my nod with a smile, and we traveled inside. When we entered, I examined Sato and Takahashi's bodies.

'Wow, they're actually pretty well taken care of!' It appeared that every effort was made to ensure their comfort. They were set up with makeshift beds made from interwoven grass and sliced-off bear fur. Adding warmth to the makeshift bed was a modest firepit near a well-ventilated hole.

'That explains the light,' I thought with a slight smile, happy to see my injured companions resting so comfortably.

Though I thought that, I couldn't be sure how much warmth the fire emitted. Considering it was barely past a state of embers. 'Makes sense; it'd suck if we burned this place down,' I sighed.

Takagi obviously wasn't the culprit of such nice treatment, so I stole a glance at the only person who could've been responsible. 'Is it possible? Did Shrug take care of them?! Is this monstrous, hammer-swinging, seemingly apathetic guy actually considerate toward others?!' I was flabbergasted.

After us, Mizuno and the sisters entered our makeshift shelter.

"Good work, everyone," Mizuno said flatly.

"Good work tah ya too!" Suda smiled cheerily while humming to herself.

Mizuno smiled, then she and the sisters stashed the brown leather rucksacks in the corner of the room. After that, The sisters opted to sit near Takahashi and Sato while Mizuno rummaged through her rucksack.

It was apparent what the sisters were doing. Aside from sitting as far away as possible, they kept casting uneasy glances at the spot where Nakamura died.

Looking toward where he died myself, I noticed a thick but dried red stain on the tree's base. Tied to that stain were constant reminders of our time together. Our meeting in the dungeons of that mansion, our escape...his death.

"He's really gone..." I muttered, clutching a fist tight to my chest. The memories of him were a chain, shackling and dispiriting my sinking heart. However, I still wouldn't want to forget him or what he did for us.

"What happened to..." I paused, feeling the words choke in my throat. I took a deep breath and regained my composure. "What happened to Nakamura's body?" I finally asked, gazing at Kamida, who rested near the fire.

"We buried him outside," Kamida replied with a weary voice. "A man of his stature deserved that much, at least."

'That explains his muddied hands,' I thought to myself.

Kamida's expression was as tired as his voice as he leaned backward and mumbled. "I...I can't believe he's..." he stopped himself from going any further, resolving to shake his head in disbelief.

"We?" I took a glance at Takagi, who was still practically non-existent. With a better glimpse of him, I saw numerous bloodstained bandages snaking across his injuries.

'They look so painful.' A fact Takagi hid well, given his reactionless demeanor. His state was almost vegetative. Seeing him so...broken...and now that I had a chance, I knew what to do.

"Are you okay, Takagi?" I called out, taking steps to him and kneeling. I reached out, trying to grasp his hand with mine, fully expecting him to pull away as you'd expect from a rebellious punk. But he didn't; instead, he only sat there, unresponsive to me.

"Takagi?" I crouched low to the floor, trying to meet his gaze. "Are you okay?"

Our eyes met, but I knew he wasn't seeing me, not really. Takagi was lost in his own thoughts, seemingly tuning out the world around him.

"I'm worried about you," I muttered, feeling a creeping unease filling my body. Seeing him so quiet and docile was unnerving, especially when comparing it to the reckless confidence he'd always had before.

"Did he really help you?" I asked Kamida with hopeful optimism. Knowing that Takagi moved, even just to help bury the one he mourned, would've put my mind at ease.

To my sadness, Kamida solemnly shook his head and gestured toward Shrug. He was sitting near our den's doorway, acting as a natural door and barricading us from the outside.

"I see," I responded woefully. Sighing, I took a last look at Takagi and grimaced. 'There's nothing I can do for him...' My heart seized up as I realized that fact and backed away.

Turning away, I took several steps before reaching my standing spot near the door. From there, I caught a closer glimpse of Shrug's body. His stature, even while sitting, was huge and imposing.

The bulging mass of muscles that hid underneath his apron was more visible from where I was. They were honed to the point of having steel-like durability, and his hands appeared capable of grinding a stone to dust.

'It makes sense,' I laughed, 'the guy went toe to toe with a mutant grizzly, a quillbeast, after all. So naturally, he'd be a monster too.' Speaking of monsters, I couldn't keep my eyes off the outdoors after today's events.

Though I kept glancing back at Suda and the other two, just in case they'd try anything, my attention was drawn to the outdoors like a moth to a flame.

'What could be out there? Hiding? Waiting to kill us?' I felt that behind every tree and every bush and every rock was an intruder. 'Someone could be out there right now. Waiting for their chance,' I bit my bottom lip in anxiety.

In my mind, aside from the people I escaped with, everyone was an enemy. Everyone else was out to kill us.

I reflexively inched my hand toward the knife hidden underneath my shirt. The steel was warm as it rested against my thigh and bare belly for the day.

After several minutes of rummaging, Mizuno pulled an item from one of the rucksacks. Her movements prompted me to be on my guard, but that deflated when I saw a small slice of stale, golden bread in her hand. She then moved to the fireplace and sat herself down.

Following Mizuno's lead, Suda walked to the tree's base, stashed her gear,  and sat cross-legged opposite her. She hummed pleasantly while rocking her head from side to side as she started butchering the game we'd killed for dinner.

"Anythin' bad?" Suda asked, leaning in toward Mizuno.

"No..." Mizuno replied, staring at the fire's orange-yellow ashes, "but we're leaving before dawn." She pulled down the hood of her cloak, exposing more of her face's features.

Mizuno's combat prowess was impressive, but it was her fair, milky-white skin and deep purple hair that caught my attention. Her hair cascaded down just below her neck, and her full pink lips gleamed in the dim light of the embers from the fireplace. Even though her hair was slightly disheveled, likely from wearing a hood, it only added to her allure. Mizuno was undeniably beautiful, a true knockout.

"What'd ya see?" Suda asked while nonchalantly removing a squirrel's heart.

'That's disgustingly amazingly disgusting...' I cringed. I was torn between being impressed at how casual Suda was about the gore and smell or being plain disturbed by it. For me, the sight of red and pink entrails wasn't a welcome one, so I felt the intense urge to avert my gaze.

'I can't... I can't look away. They might do something to the food if I do!' I doubled my efforts and locked my eyes on the gutting.

But then Suda dipped her hand into the entrails, causing the organs to squelch between her fingers.

'Nope, I can't do this,' I turned away, feeling the onset of nausea. Seeing her fingers squirming inside what used to be a living animal's chest cavity was still too much for me.

I peeked at Mizuno to see she wasn't affected by the grotesque display. She just crunched away and swallowed a chunk of bread. After clearing her throat, she responded, "a wrecked rune-coach on the side of an open road. We can't stay here for long."

"You guys stole a rune-coach?!" Suda exclaimed from behind me.

Without turning back, I replied, "Are you talking about the carriage? If you are, then yeah. We did.."

On my back and neck, I could feel the burning admiration of a country girl archer. I turned to see her frozen in place, a squirrel's heart in her hand and staring at me wide-eyed with excitement.

"Man! I had all 'o' ya pegged for incompetence, but to steal something like that is no easy task!" she loudly giggled while skewering a squirrel on a sharpened stick to roast.

Setting aside her blatant insult, I was surprised at her assertion about it "not being easy." Considering how we acquired it, beating up a few drunks, I couldn't think of it as any easier than that.

"So, these 'rune-coaches'..." I questioned, "are they typically heavily guarded?"

Suda boisterously laughed. Her excitement was so much that she had to pull away her knife for fear of cutting herself. "Whaaat?! You stole one! Obviously, you should know they are!"

"But...it wasn't guarded?" I replied with a puzzled look. "I mean, it was practically given to us."

The deceivingly warm atmosphere turned cold after what I said.

It wasn't just Suda who shifted to a suspicious glare, but Mizuno also shot me a look of disbelief while Shrug latched a hand to his hammer.

'Did I say something wrong?' I wondered in shock. Given their immediate looks of hostility and surprise, I must've.

"Hey..." Suda spoke in a low tone and tightened her grip on her knife. "Could you tell us how exactly you escaped again?" Though she smiled, I could feel the animosity and intent to kill brewing underneath.

"Huh?" was my only reply. 'Are they showing their true colors? Are they going to kill us?!'