"What... what?"
Fang Li's words left Mumei utterly frozen in place.
Yet at the same time, a wave of panic surged through her heart.
It was the reaction of someone whose deepest thoughts had been exposed.
Seeing Mumei like this, Fang Li's eyes flickered slightly.
Then, Fang Li mercilessly exposed the deepest desire in Mumei's heart.
"You want me to help you become human again?"
At that moment, Mumei's heart trembled.
Yes.
That was why Mumei had come looking for Fang Li.
Perhaps even Mumei herself had not realized it.
In truth, just like Ikoma, this girl also longed to become human again.
So, after personally witnessing Ikoma return to being human because of Fang Li, the deepest desire in the girl known as Mumei had surfaced.
Though Mumei had once suppressed that desire, it had never disappeared.
It drove her to seek out Fang Li without even realizing it.
It was simply that Mumei had never been willing to admit it.
It was not that she did not want to admit it, but that she could not.
"No!"
Mumei almost instinctively took a step away from Fang Li, her gaze fixed tightly on him.
"I can't become human again!"
Rather than telling Fang Li, those words sounded more like a warning to herself.
"If I become human again, my strength will definitely drop by a lot. I might not even be able to fight Kabane anymore!"
"If I can't fight Kabane, I'll lose my usefulness!"
"Then I'll definitely be abandoned!"
Mumei's voice rang throughout the area.
Only then did Mumei realize something.
Without noticing, she had actually started shouting at Fang Li.
"Um..."
Mumei immediately became flustered.
Fang Li, on the other hand, had not shown the slightest surprise from beginning to end. As he watched the flustered Mumei, his eyes were filled with thought.
Then Fang Li spoke.
"To be honest, I know you didn't willingly become a Kabaneri."
Fang Li's words stunned Mumei again. Once she recovered, she immediately shook her head and said, "No. I became a Kabaneri willingly."
Mumei herself knew it.
She had not become a Kabaneri like Ikoma had, suddenly bitten and forced to suppress the Kabane virus before it reached his brain in order to survive.
In fact, Mumei had never been bitten by a Kabane.
So, she had done it willingly.
But Fang Li said this.
"Can that really be called willing?" Fang Li smirked. "You only became a Kabaneri because of someone else's wishes, because you followed someone else's expectations. That doesn't count as doing it willingly at all."
Mumei's fists clenched tightly.
"You don't know anything..." Mumei stared intently at Fang Li and spoke in a low voice. "You don't know anything, so don't talk as though you understand me so well."
"...I don't know anything?" Fang Li met Mumei's gaze and replied.
"How do you know I don't know anything? Maybe I know more than you do."
Leaving those words behind, Fang Li walked toward the cave ahead as though he no longer wanted to pay Mumei any attention.
Seeing this, Mumei's delicate, adorable face filled with conflict. After a while, as though she had given up, she followed behind Fang Li toward the cave.
The cave Fang Li and Mumei found seemed to be a mine.
Therefore, not only were there rails for transport inside, but there were also lamps for illumination.
However, perhaps because of the Kabane, the mine had been abandoned. Every tool bore the marks of time, while only the lamps seemed as though they could still function.
So Fang Li lit the lamps, filling the cave with a faint glow and warmth.
Then Fang Li and Mumei casually found a place to sit.
Perhaps because she was sulking, Mumei sat opposite Fang Li without saying a word, looking like a child throwing a tantrum.
Fang Li could not help but laugh at the sight. He took out water and biscuits from his leg pouch and asked Mumei, "Want some?"
"No." Mumei answered without thinking, but immediately realized something and glared at Fang Li. "You clearly know I'm a Kabaneri. I only need blood."
"But I wasn't asking a pointless question." Fang Li leisurely tore open a biscuit package and ate with some water as he said, "Even if you know the other person doesn't need it, you should still ask at a time like this. That's what manners are."
"I don't understand that sort of thing." Mumei spoke gloomily. "I was only taught how to fight Kabane."
"Is that so?" Fang Li asked as though he did not care. "Didn't your parents teach you?"
Mumei fell silent.
The atmosphere around them suddenly became oppressive.
In this era, where man-eating monsters roamed freely, asking about someone's family and receiving such a reaction made it obvious even to an idiot that the other person's family was long gone.
Fang Li was neither an idiot nor ignorant of Mumei's family circumstances, since he was familiar with the original story. He should not have touched upon this taboo.
Yet Fang Li continued as though deliberately provoking her. "What? Did your parents really not teach you?"
"...Maybe they did, but I've forgotten." Mumei buried her head between her bent knees, hiding her expression. Only her voice continued to sound. "That was a long time ago."
"Is that so?" Fang Li shrugged and suddenly said, "So you don't have any family now?"
"That's not true." Mumei immediately denied it and replied firmly, "I still have my older brother."
Mumei, who gave that answer, did not know something.
When she mentioned this so-called "older brother," there was no curiosity in Fang Li's eyes, only mockery.
"An older brother, huh?" Fang Li bit into a biscuit and said casually, "I assume he isn't your biological brother either?"
"It doesn't matter whether we're related by blood." Mumei raised her head slightly and looked at Fang Li, her eyes full of life. "My older brother treats me well. That's enough."
"He treats you well?" Fang Li could not help but laugh.
This time, even his smile was filled with mockery.
Even Mumei, who did not understand human relationships very well, could see the ridicule in it.
Under such circumstances, an unprecedentedly strong emotion welled up in Mumei's heart.
"What are you laughing at?"
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