As soon as Kazuichi handcuffed himself to one of the bunk beds, his vision dimmed, and his mouth frothed with saliva as he felt like his guts were being wrenched from the inside out. His muscles started spasming as the virus worked its way to his brain. This was the same effect he had experienced when he was bitten by the Hound but the toll his body took was more potent than usual.
He was burning up— a fever that easily climbed past fifty degrees celsius. Nevertheless, that was the least of his concern, his mouth was beginning to crave meat. Human meat. And behind the froth on his mouth were his salivating glands which encouraged him to bite an uninfected.
There was only one uninfected in the room, and his sense of smell was focused on it. His eyes turned bloodshot as his body desired Tris— or rather, the virus in his body desired Tris as another host. He flailed around, trying to get out of the handcuffs, but Kazuichi still had some humanity left in him so he didn't unlock the handcuffs at all.
It would've been easy for Kazuichi to break his wrist and get out of the handcuffs, but he didn't do so. He was still sensible enough to not let the virus get the better of him. Despite the unsated desire he felt, coupled with the constant voice in his head telling him to bite Tris, he held on. He had to suppress everything no matter what, otherwise there was no going back to humanity for him.
To be fair, this wasn't the first time Tris saw Kazuichi in this state. During their trip from the next city over, she had watched firsthand how Kazuichi got bitten and how he survived the bite without harming her. That's why Tris didn't get out of the room at all. She was confident that Kazuichi will be able to fight out the voices in his head. And on the off-chance that he couldn't— well, Tris had not contemplated that far on the matter.
"What's going on, what happened?" Ayaka asked in her high-pitched tone, grabbing Tris by the shoulders.
"K-Kazuichi... he-he injected Yamishiro's blood on himself," Tris answered, on the verge of tears.
"That crazy little— what was he thinking?!" Ayaka almost lost her composure as she grabbed her hair in slight frustration. She couldn't believe that Kazuichi was crazy enough to inject some other person's blood into his system, and it was infected to boot!
Furthermore, Kazuichi had no idea what blood type Yamishiro was. How could he do something so reckless?!
Ayaka approached Kazuichi while tapping into her innate ability as a Hybrid. With a nod, she instructed the guard who was with her to transfuse some of his blood to Yamishiro. It was a lucky strike since the guard had the same blood type as Yamishiro, and he's also a Merc Hybrid.
"Triciana, I want you to get out of here. I can't guarantee your safety, not when Kazuichi is like this." Ayaka commanded, waving her hand at Tris in a futile attempt to keep her behind her.
Fortunately, Tris was sound enough to heed his warning. With a silent prayer, she left the underground room and headed up. She was hoping that Kazuichi would be able to survive this predicament. Even though he did something so foolish, Tris still wanted him to live.
"You really did something out of this world just now, huh, you show-off." Ayaka flashed her fangs at Kazuichi who could barely recognize her.
Wincing, Kazuichi forced a smile on his face. Beads of sweat poured from his forehead, dripping down his neck like a trickling river. "If my intuition is right, I'm not going to die here," Kazuichi said something so chuuni~ that Ayaka couldn't help but chuckle.
Of course, she also believed that Kazuichi would be able to survive his current predicament. "Just fight it out for a couple of minutes. Once the urge dies down, we're going to dump an ice bucket on you. That should perk you right up and help you rein in your senses."
"I-if you say so." Kazuichi panted, his mouth still frothing.
While Kazuichi was squirming and writhing in excruciating pain, Ayaka decided to check up on Yamishiro who seemed to have calmed down a bit. It was a good sign, but it wasn't enough. Ayaka knew that there are mindless infected who could remain unmoving for extended periods of time, that's why she waited for something else. She waited for Yamishiro to speak. That would be a clear sign that he had become a Hybrid instead of a mindless infected.
"Can you get a bucket filled with ice for me? We have to get ready." Ayaka called out to the Merc Hybrid who saluted to her before running off.
Once again, Ayaka checked up on Kazuichi to see how he was doing. She carefully scooted over to him, trying hard not to agitate him since he was in the most sensitive of phases. "How are you holding up?" She asked, keeping her distance from Kazuichi since she wasn't sure whether he had completely turned or not.
"I'm still alive, for the most part," Kazuichi grunted with a low growl in his voice.
Ayaka softened as she heaved a sigh of relief. It was a good sign that Kazuichi could still talk. And judging from the way he was acting, Ayaka could tell that the virus was more manageable for him. "Just wait right there," Ayaka called out.
"..."
Letting out an exhale, Kazuichi relaxed on the bunk bed. His head had cleared up a bit, and he didn't feel like he was on the verge of turning. For some reason, his craziness bore fruit, and he finally had a rough idea of what kind of Hybrid he was. 'To think that I'm like that, huh? I shouldn't tell anyone about this, should I?' Kazuichi pondered.
SPLASH!
Distracted by his thoughts, Kazuichi didn't realize that Ayaka had already sneaked up on him, dumping a bucket of ice water on his body. He gasped as his body instantly dropped in temperature, and he bolted upright, revitalized.
"Welcome back, how are you feeling?" Ayaka asked. It was evident on her countenance that she enjoyed every bit of dumping ice on him.
"Cold. What else?" Kazuichi shivered. He had gotten back to his senses.