"You ate already" noticed Noburo.

"Chimeras need a lot of food" explained Arase. "I remember times, when my mother still lived. She has always eaten more than me and my dad."

"But you are a dumpling" Junku looked at him, confused.

">>Dumpling<<" repeated Arase.

He needed some time to get over this.

"My legs hurt" said Riina once again. "And my back too. And I'm hungry. Let's stop and eat something before I eat someone or eat my shoes. As long as I take them off, because maybe they got stuck to my legs because of this long walking. How much can you walk around?"

"You can always come home" Juniru pointed out.

Riina frowned and sat down on the ground.

"I'm staying here" she said.

The others looked at each other, then Arase slung the chimera over his shoulder and started walking.

"What are you doing, Arase?!" cried Riina, trying to break free. "Hey, let me go! I'm afraid of heights! Yyy!"

"But at least you don't strain your feet~!" Junku laughed.

Riina sighed and closed her eyes. She had had enough of them all. All in all, what did she expect from four guys and this elf woman?

The group circled Aoumi several times and entered one of the taverns. Everyone had had enough.

"Pretty good fish" said Junku, eating cod in tomatoes. "My mum cooks practically the same, but hers is tastier. Well, my mother cooks great."

"Unless she think it'll be fun to poison me" muttered Juniru, rocking his glass of wine.

"Mum didn't know you were allergic to mushrooms."

"Three times in a row?"

"...mum has memory lapses?"

"No, she just doesn't like me" Juniru shrugged and finished his wine. "Hmm...?"

"Is something wrong, Juniru?" Noburo asked as he pounded his dish with his chopsticks.

"Look at those guys" whispered Juniru. "They don't look familiar for you?"

"No" Noburo chewed on a piece of fish. "Ordinary men in the inn. Nothing special."

Arase, with his back to the people Juniru and Noburo had spoken about, turned to study the situation.

"Guys?"

"Me and Ryoku too?" Riina said indignantly, irritated that someone interrupted her meal.

"Yes. But you know what?" Arase put down his beer mug as the men got up. "They're hunters."

"Hunters?" Ryoku looked at them.

"Run" Noburo decided, dropping the chopsticks onto his plate and lunged for the exit, followed by the rest of the group.

The hunters realized they had been recognized and ran after them. Arase stepped back for Riina whining about her hypertension, threw her over his shoulders and on his long legs was back in the front.

They ran into the forest and half of them almost collided with trees. Well, Noburo and Ryoku avoided it at the last minute, but Junku had a beautiful encounter with birch bark, which had slightly skinned his forehead.

"Jun, really?" Juniru tossed him over his shoulder and kept running, with the hunters on their heels.

Eventually they found themselves in a clearing. Noburo stopped, turned and threw off his human form.

"By what right do you interrupt our rest?!" he shouted, then blew fire at hunters.

They froze at instant and a moment later they ran away in panic.

Juniru also threw off his human form and he extinguished Noburo's flame with an icy breath.

"You couldn't do that before?!" Arase laid down on the ground and gasped like a dog on a hot day.

"We were in the village before" said Noburo. "We could kill innocents."

"And it would be better" Arase fell face down into the grass and stayed there.

"I agree with you" said Junku, who just woken up.

"Hey, guys..." Ryoku started.

"Ehem" Riina looked at her.

"Okay, guys and Riina" sighed Ryoku "We're in the woods again."

There was a dead silence.

"And I guess no one knows where we are, right?" Ryoku asked.

Silence again.

...

...

...

"NOOO!" the whole group moaned.

Well... Things like that happen sometimes.