"Then you can just sit there while I'm drying myself near this bonfire!" Yang Zhang said. "You'll probably catch a cold soon."
"Hah! The cold never bothers me anyway!"
"Oh well, then you'll be there for a while."
The blue-haired girl insisted that she wouldn't cease her hostility towards Yang Zhang, so Yang Zhang didn't release her from Little Ivy's vines.
One hour…
Two hours…
Three hours…
Yang Zhang's jacket had dried up, so did his jeans. He went behind a tree, took off his wet boxer, and wore his jeans. He returned to dry his boxer near the bonfire. He also added more branches.
He glanced at the blue-haired girl whose body started paling and shivering, "You sure you don't want to give up?"
"Never!" The blue-haired girl denied. But her teeth started rattling due to the cold. She knew that she was at her limit.
"So… you're not going to drop the hostility? The bonfire is still warm," Yang Zhang said.
"Squeak!" Chestnut gave Yang Zhang and Lt. Spicy Wing chestnuts for a snack. "And my pet has a warm snack for me."
…
"Ugh, fine! I won't attack you, just release me now!"
"Hmmm?"
"… please," the blue-haired girl mumbled.
"Ivy, release her and come here, warm yourself with me!" Yang Zhang ordered.
"Vii!"
Little Ivy released the blue-haired girl and returned to Yang Zhang. The girl grabbed on the tree bark to get up. Her legs were shaking because she sat for too long and too cold. She stared at Yang Zhang, and Yang Zhang did the same.
Their eyes were finding each others' intentions, the girl could've just run away back to her hut, but for some reason, she felt like a coward if she did too.
So she bravely advanced towards the bonfire and sat across Yang Zhang, warming herself with the fire.
…
…
They were in silence for a while before Chestnut suddenly offered the blue-haired girl a roasted chestnut.
"Huh? For me?"
"Squeak!"
"T—Thank you," the girl bashfully accepted the chestnut, and the squirrel returned to Yang Zhang's side.
The girl observed the weird animals around Yang Zhang, a squirrel with blue stripes, a little chick with spiky yellow hair, and an alive plant. Of course, she knew those were mutated animals and plants. It wasn't rare to find them in the forest after the apocalypse. But it's her first time to see them serving a human.
Yang Zhang noticed how the girl was observing him, and he stroke a conversation first, "So, um… care to introduce yourself?"
"… I can't tell you my real name, but you can call me Katarang."
"So, Katara?"
"Katarang or I will get copyrighted," the girl said without emotion.
"O—Okay."
"What's your name then?"
"Um…" Yang Zhang didn't want to tell his real name as well. At first, he thought there was no problem with it. But since the girl wanted to go mysterious and stealthy, he also had to pick a good alias.
"A—Ash…"
"Ash who?"
"Ash Ketchup."
…
…
"Okay, Ash Ketchup, let's make this clear. Why are you peeking at me in the first place?" Katarang asked, full of suspicion.
"I told you before, I found the lake and wanted to check. Then you suddenly came, and I hid first. I thought it was another mutated animal or trees," Yang Zhang said. "B—But it's also your fault, I tried to explain it to you, but you suddenly attacked me!"
"W—Well, I was just scared. You know, you can't really trust humans in the apocalypse era…." Katarang said. From what she said, Yang Zhang guessed that Katarang must've been similar to him, getting kicked out or escaping from other humans and building herself a home in the forest.
"Do you live here? In the middle of the forest?"
"Yeah, I do. I live alone because it's much safer that way," Katarang said. She looked at the pets around Yang Zhang and got curious. "So, your ability is animal whisperer or something?"
"Ah…" Yang Zhang wouldn't say that he had no power and was just a regular human with immunity that happened to know the secret behind Brain bead and Mana bead.
So he just nodded hesitatingly, "Y—Yeah, I can control mutated animals and plants, but only for a certain size."
"I see…" Katarang watched how the pets around Yang Zhang seemed to be comfortable around him and even willingly snuggled to get more warmth.
So she guessed that Yang Zhang at least had a redeemable quality, but she still hadn't lowered her guard.
"How about you, Katarang? You're an ability user, too, right? Water bender like Katara?"
"Yes and no at the same time. I can control a huge amount of water, but I have to be submerged under the water to do it. So I can't just use some cool water trick."
"I saw you turning the dark lake into a clear one, like a pool."
"Yeah, this small lake is my source of water in the middle of this forest, so I have to mask it to make it look intimidating, just in case any human or strange animal discovered it and took a dip. It's like my private bathroom."
'Aish, so egoistic!' Yang Zhang cursed in his heart. But he dared not offend the girl again because he was tired of fighting for the second time.
"I see," Yang Zhang nodded. "So, you live around here? You're an ability user. Why wouldn't you live with other ability users in a shelter?"
Katarang's eased expression turned stern again, her eyes darkened, and she shook her head, "There is something happened in the past. But let's just say that I'm a forest girl now. I refuse to live with those crazy ability users."
From the tone of her voice, it seemed that Katarang had a deep hatred towards ability users, even though she was one of them. But Yang Zhang didn't want to inquire more about that one. It seemed to be a very sensitive topic for her.
"How about you, Ash Ketchup? Why are you alone in the forest? You're not here to kill me, aren't you?"