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The air hung heavy for awhile after that as I, Ayame, and Hikari came to terms with Kamida\'s words. Even so, the three strangers marched on.

"What\'d you think of their story?" Mizuno asked Suda, nodding in our direction.

Suda cleared her throat briefly and took a breath. "Though I\'m not sure what to think \'bout the fact they stole the coach that easy, I can guarantee ya they ain\'t lyin\'."

Mizuno stopped, placed a hand against her lips, and stared into the crackling fire. Time stood still for several moments, only resuming once she looked at me and finalized her decision.

"So now all of you know why you were brought here, right? To be served up as food on a golden platter for demons?" she thoroughly eyed each of us, specifically our reactions.

\'Food? Demons? What the hell?!\' I was hesitant to believe it, to say the least.

\'He wouldn\'t lie about that, right?\' I glanced at Kamida. He seemed to know what they were talking about, and I trusted him, so my one option was to believe him. To think that not only were our summoners trying to kill us, but go as far as eating us?!

"Could you tell us what the HELL is going on?" Ayame said from behind me. She rose from her seat, but Mizuno waved her back down.

"We\'ll disclose everything," Mizuno affirmed. "But first, eat," she motioned to several squirrel carcasses impaled on sticks around the firepit. They were stripped of their skins and organs, leaving nothing but a husk of crispy browned muscle.

Setting aside the fact that the flesh was squirrel, the food was exquisitely charred, barring a few ruined pieces of blackened streaks running alongside the meat.

Mizuno, Suda, and Shrug each took a skewer and promptly munched away. Ravenously, they tore off and wolfed down caramelized tendons like they hadn\'t eaten in days.

"Whaddya waitin\' for?" Suda motioned to the rest of us. "Grab one and eat!"

Ayame and I hesitantly laughed, stalling for time to think about our options. Meanwhile, Kamida had an expression of obvious curiosity fixed on his face.

\'I hate to admit it, but it does smell good,\' I thought as the tantalizing, salty aroma wafted about, filling our hovel, and my nose, completely. \'Still, I really don\'t want to eat the food given by someone that already threatened us once...\'

We looked on at their small feast with growling stomachs but fearful minds, traumatized by what happened in the manor.

Even Takagi was no exception to hunger\'s temptations. Though he still blankly stared at Nakamura\'s flask, his gut rumbled and stuttered like a small engine waiting to be filled with fuel.

Eventually, Kamida once again took the lead. "Would you mind?" he asked, moving toward one of the skewers.

"Absolutely! Help yerself; that\'s what they\'re there fer!" Suda cheerily smiled.

After returning her smile and bowing, Kamida stepped forward and took hold of a skewer. Then, before backing away, he tore off a shred of flesh and offered it to Suda. "Would...you care to eat some?"

"Say what?" Suda looked at him quizzically. "Is there somethin\' wrong with it?"

"No, no, no, it\'s just..." he laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

What Kamida wanted must\'ve clicked with Suda, given how her expression lit up with an epiphany. She swallowed another chunk of meat before saying, "Ohhhhhh, I see. Yup, I guess the bloodsuckers like to drug ya, huh?" Then, laughing, she leaned forward and, like a wild animal, viciously snapped the strip of squirrel flesh from his hand.

As if to emphasize her point, Suda made very vocal humming noises of satisfaction and chewed as dramatically as possible. "Mmmmmm, yum, yum, very delicious!"

The first to succumb to her tactics was Ayame. Her stomach rumbled and growled as she salivated at the thought of food. "That\'s it; I can\'t take it anymore!" she exclaimed, reaching for a skewer for herself and Hikari. "I don\'t care if it\'s rat meat; I\'m starving!"

Ayame took a crisp crunch from the meat and handed one skewer to her sister.

"Uhh, n-no, I\'m okay, Sis," Hikari waved her hands in refusal. "I\'m not very hungry right now." Following her meek declaration was an even meeker laugh.

"Eat!" Ayame practically shoved the squirrel meat into Hikari\'s mouth. "I think it\'s gross too, but we don\'t know when we\'ll get to eat again. So eat!"

It took a bit of force, but Ayame eventually convinced Hikari to take hers. Hikari\'s expression forced a grimace as she took a chunk from the squirrel, but that soon faded to odd satisfaction.

"It isn\'t bad?" Hikari mumbled with a stunned expression.

"Nope! Meat is meat!" Suda laughed. "Plus, if yer travelin\' with us, ya should..." she paused and donned a look of distress, "ya should get used to eating squirrels."

I reached for a second helping of food to offer Takagi, but Mizuno stopped me with a gentle hand on mine. "He\'ll eat when he\'s ready," she firmly asserted.

I opened my mouth to protest, but when I looked into her azure eyes, lit up with orange reflections from the fire, I felt reassured. It was as if she could see the future and knew everything would be alright. Her calm and sincere demeanor washed away my unease, and I obediently returned to my spot on the ground.

Looking at my own skewer, I resolved to take a bite. \'Just pretend it\'s chicken,\' I nervously giggled and closed my eyes. I brought the skewer close and clamped my teeth down on it, tearing off a piece.

\'Hikari\'s right! It\'s not disgusting!\' After chewing off and gnawing at the slightly burnt flesh, I nearly wept a tear of joy. I was happy to finally fill my belly.

"I\'m not sure who coined the term \'hunger makes the best seasoning,\' but they\'re absolutely right!" Kamida exclaimed with a look of flushed satisfaction.

Following his assertion, we all shared a mutual, quiet laugh.

He was right, though! Despite the fact I was eating unseasoned and dried tidbits of rodent from a stick, it was like a five-star meal!

"Now that we all have food, Miss Mizuno, Miss Suda," Kamida spoke again, breaking the uniform sound of crunching meat and smacking lips, "would you mind filling us in on what you know?"

Suda looked toward Mizuno with unsure eyes, seemingly asking for permission. When Mizuno nodded back, Suda returned her gaze back to Kamida.

"Welp, looks like Yuu\'s okay with it! Sure thing!" she gulped the last piece of meat from her skewer and threw it into the fire. It speedily blackened before incinerating into darkened ash.

She cleared her throat and beckoned us all to move in closer. "So, first, lemme con-"

"Could you tell me where you\'re all from?!" I hastily interjected. I desperately wanted to ask the question but hadn\'t had a chance until now. I was beyond doubt they were from Japan, but I had to be sure.

Suda giggled and returned my curious gaze in kind. "Figures that\'d be yer first question. I thought our names made it obvious, though."

"I just wanted to hear you say it," I affirmed.

"Makes sense," Suda replied. Then, motioning toward a disinterested Mizuno, Suda gave me a charming, almost luminous grin. "Meet Lt. Mizuno Yuki! She\'s the icy flower of Tokyo PD! Oh, and of planet Earth, Japan. Kinda ridiculous that I gotta specify that, but you know."

Mizuno refrained from saying anything, but a distinct eye-roll was made upon hearing the "icy flower" title.

\'I guess she\'s not fond of the title,\' I snickered.

"As fer me," Suda mischievously grinned, " I\'m Corporal Suda Asuka! Of the same place! Feel free to call me whatever!"

"And him?" I pointed toward the giant in the room. The one that was blankly picking his teeth free from squirrel bits with his empty skewer.

Suda glanced at the man, clasped her hands excitedly, and exclaimed, "no idea! We call him Shrug!"

I was taken aback by her response. \'Isn\'t \'Shrug\' her ally? How could she not even know his name?! She\'s joking right?\' I figured there was no way you could trust a stranger to have your back, especially in a world like this.

I shakily raised my hand and asked, "Uhhmm, what do you mean \'no idea?\'"

Suda returned my question with a quizzical stare and tilted her head. "Exactly what I said? He don\'t talk much, and he never talks about himself. In fact, he mostly just shrugs at everything," she pointed to Shrug, to which he shrugged in response. "See? So we named \'im Shrug!"

"Huuhhhh," I was too tired to question anything anymore. I had no idea what the time was, but it was time for this hellish day to finally come to a close.

"Yup! That\'s Shruggie! We found him hammering away at some bloodsuckers while traveling, so we had \'im join us!" she let out a charming laugh.

Finally, while the conscious members of our group officially introduced themselves, the last cinders of our campfire died out to darkness, symbolizing our day\'s end.

My eyes became heavy, and my sight blurred. The ache in my muscles and joints were just as impairing. My entire body felt like it was shutting down, even to the point where I\'d consider hibernating for weeks to recover my strength.

\'I\'m too tired to think of escaping anymore,\' I sighed. Besides, hearing concretely those two were of my world, police officers no less, I felt I could finally rest easy. Like I could finally wake up from my nightmare.

Right before sleep took me, I overheard a hushed exchange between the three.

Suda\'s bright demeanor faded to a serious tone devoid of humor. "What should we do?" she asked Mizuno. "Do you wanna trust \'em?"

Mizuno took a breath and paused. Then, a few moments later, she said, "We\'re taking them with us... We\'re going to Freehaven."