"H-Hey... Huff... Can you just listen to what I have to say?!"

"Die...!"

"Hey, you!"

Aries shouted, utterly exhausted. The guy was relentlessly chasing her, throwing more and more shurikens.

"Stop right there!"

"If you were me... would you stop?!"

'Damn it!', Aries thought to herself. Whether she stopped or not, she was going to be killed by this guy in the end. And this guy was no joke either.

'Doesn't he get tired?!' Well, yeah. She's been running this whole time, while he's been flying.

Cheating, that's total cheating!

'So tired...' No, she's about to collapse. Aries tried to run a little further and turned into a ruined house. Now she had to find a place to hide. Aries scanned her surroundings.

A rock. Big enough for her to hide behind. Aries quickly hid behind it. She covered her mouth, holding her breath...

"Tch... where did she go?"

Aries heard the guy's voice. She tried not to breathe too heavily and make any noise.

1... 2... 3...

Aries slowly peeked out. The guy was gone. She leaned against the rock, breathing a sigh of relief. Her whole body was tired and drenched in sweat. Before Aries could calm down, she suddenly noticed something next to her.

A young man was sitting silently in the corner of the rock, his right arm was injured and bleeding. He looked at her wearily, saying nothing.

"Ah... I'm sorry...!"

Aries startled and backed away. She quickly covered her mouth, avoiding making a loud noise.

If that guy who keeps throwing shurikens finds out, it'll be bad news, he might even kill this guy too.

Aries backed away a little more. If this guy was bitten by a monster, she would definitely be in trouble because she would have to deal with another freakish monster.

"...It's just a wound... not a bite..."

The man looked at her, as if he understood what she was thinking. Aries was skeptical, she looked closely at the wound. Not a bite mark, but a stab wound. Aries sighed, feeling a little relieved.

"Sorry, I'm just a little cautious."

"It's okay—ugh..."

The man grimaced, his hand tightly covering the bleeding wound on his arm. Aries fidgeted, worriedly looking at the wound on his arm. The wound was neither too big nor too small. She looked around, seeing if there was anything that could stop the bleeding.

...Not even a single green color of grass or trees to be found. Aries suddenly saw a shuriken stuck in the ground. Probably from the guy who was chasing her just now. She crawled out to grab the shuriken, quickly using it to tear off a sleeve from her shirt.

She used the piece of cloth to tie the wound on his arm. Once she was sure the wound was no longer bleeding, Aries leaned back against the rock, trying to rest a little.

"...Thank you..."

"You're welcome..."

Aries said softly. She glanced at the young man sitting next to her. Blonde hair, blue eyes. He looks quite handsome. But he looks familiar. She frowned, looking at him, as if trying to remember where she had met him before.

The man looked at her. He seemed to be thinking the same thing as her, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes. When he saw her looking, Aries blinked and quickly turned away.

"...I'm sorry..."

"Ah... no..."

She must be experiencing déjà vu.

"...Can I ask you something?"

Aries turned to look at him, showing surprise. She nodded slightly.

"What's your name?"

Aries stared at him in surprise. Why does he want to know her name? He looked at her and then turned away, seemingly regretting asking. She was surprised and felt a little guilty, and quickly said.

"Ah... my name is Aries, what's your name?"

"...I'm Victor."

Victor looked up at her. Aries nodded slightly. 'Victor', huh? That name sounds familiar too... Aries shrugged, deciding not to think about it anymore, she was probably just experiencing déjà vu.

"Do you want to ask me anything?"

"Um... How did you get hurt?"

"...I don't remember... I was stabbed in the arm by an arrow, but I don't know who shot it."

Aries nodded. But if there were only freakish monsters, it wouldn't be so devastated like this. There are probably other creatures or something else, more terrifying than that.

"Were you being chased by a monster earlier?"

"No, I was being chased by some jerk."

Victor was surprised.

"Why?"

"That guy killed a woman and her child right in front of me, and told me that I should worry about myself, I kinda... let's say I pissed him off, and then he chased me to kill me."

"Well... But I think what that guy said was right."

Aries glared at Victor, frowning and looking annoyed.

"You mean I should have left you here and let you die of blood loss?"

"No, just in this situation, what if I was bitten by a monster?"

"I can still keep running or just finish you off as soon as you start transforming, but at least I can still do something useful before I die."

Aries glanced at Victor, seeing him smile slightly.

"Is it that funny?"

"No... you're more optimistic than I thought."

"It's not always like that."

Victor smiled. Aries also slightly curved her lips into a smile.

"Aren't you afraid of dying?"

"A little."

Victor nodded, brushing his blonde hair to the sides.

"Have you been to the base yet?"

"The base?"

Aries looked surprised. It seems that she has been running from monsters for too long that she has not paid attention to the time or her surroundings.

"So you haven't been there yet? It's okay, do you want to come with me?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Aries nodded, she stood up and helped Victor up.

"Does your arm still hurt a lot?"

"It's not bleeding anymore."

Victor nodded in thanks. Aries nodded back and followed him to the base.