“Ah… I finally feel alive again.”
Kiyohiko braced one hand against the wooden box behind him and pushed himself to his feet.
Before he could properly regain his balance, however, a faint fragrance suddenly drifted beneath his nose.
At some point, Shinobu had already risen and moved directly in front of him.
She was considerably shorter than Kiyohiko in his adult form, yet the calm, unhurried pressure she exuded still made him instinctively take a step backward.
“Your recovery was faster than I expected.
Even after enduring such severe hunger, your muscles haven’t lost much of their firmness.”
Shinobu tilted her head back slightly and examined his face from close range.
Kiyohiko’s uneasy expression was clearly reflected within her violet pupils, and she was near enough to count every trembling eyelash.
“Your endurance truly has considerable research value.
That expression you wore before Master Ubuyashiki—looking as though you were about to cry while desperately turning your head away—was…”
Her smile deepened.
“Quite the flamboyant performance.”
“Hey, I’m pretty sure that isn’t supposed to be your line.”
Kiyohiko protested with a flushed face, attempting to conceal the awkwardness of his accelerating heartbeat.
“And Miss Shinobu, I may be a demon, but there should still be some boundaries between men and women.
You’re standing far too close…”
“My, are you embarrassed?”
Shinobu looked as though she had discovered something entirely new, the amusement in her eyes growing even stronger.
Rather than stepping back, she reached out and lightly caught the crooked edge of Kiyohiko’s collar between her fingertips, slowly straightening it for him.
“Now that you’ve become my subject under supervision, you should prepare yourself to be thoroughly studied.”
Her fingertips accidentally brushed across the skin of his neck, leaving behind a faint, electric tingling sensation.
Kiyohiko froze where he stood.
As he stared at the smiling woman before him, every alarm in his mind labeled Danger began ringing at once.
She really is a wicked woman.
“All right.
Stop standing there like a block of wood.”
Shinobu withdrew her hand and turned gracefully, her butterfly-patterned haori tracing an elegant arc through the air.
Then she reached into her sleeve and produced a long, slender syringe, its needle gleaming coldly beneath the light.
“Come along, Mr.
Demon.
Since you’ve returned to your adult form, let us do something adults ought to do.”
She lifted the syringe between two fingers.
“For example—draw some blood.”
“W-Wait!
Isn’t this moving a little too quickly?
And isn’t that needle far too thick?!”
“Moshi moshi?
Are you listening?”
Shinobu approached with a cheerful smile.
“Mr.
Demon does not possess the right to refuse.”
“Fine. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Go ahead and stick me.
Just be gentle.”
Kiyohiko sighed in resignation, rolled up his sleeve, and extended his firm forearm.
The cold needle pierced his skin, followed by a faint sting.
Normally, Kiyohiko would already have begun retching from the wisteria stench filling the examination room, which to him was comparable to fermented herring boiled together with durian.
At that moment, however, his thoughts broke free like wild horses and galloped far beyond the horizon.
The Master may have accepted me, but given that I’m still a demon, I probably can’t wander around by myself.
I doubt I’ll be seeing Tanjiro or Zenitsu again anytime soon either.
If I want to raise more Bond Values, I’ll have to start with the people living at the Butterfly Mansion.
Who was here again?
Kanao… that strange child.
Improving my relationship with her sounds difficult.
I could say ten things to her and still might not receive a single answer.
“Moshi moshi?”
There was another girl at the Butterfly Mansion too.
Her name was… Hmm… I can’t quite remember.
Something Aoi?
“Mr.
Demon?”
As for this wicked woman… forget it.
I don’t even want to think about her.
With my exceptional emotional intelligence, sooner or later I’ll have this wicked woman beneath my heel.
Hahahaha.
Inside the examination room, Shinobu silently observed the demon sitting before her.
The syringe was already half full, dark-red blood steadily rising inside the glass tube.
Normally, whether human or demon, anyone watching their own blood being drawn would experience at least some instinctive discomfort or nervousness.
Yet this foolish demon had not so much as furrowed his brow.
Instead, the light had completely vanished from his previously bright eyes as he stared blankly toward the corner of the room.
Even more inexplicably, his vacant expression would occasionally twist into an exceedingly strange smile—one that somehow combined idiotic delight with unbearable smugness.
“…”
The curve of Shinobu’s lips stiffened for an instant, and a tiny vein once again appeared upon her forehead.
He was ignoring her.
“Moshi moshi?”
She called to him once more, her voice twice as sweet and twice as dangerous.
Kiyohiko did not react.
“It appears Mr.
Demon’s brain may require an examination as well.”
Shinobu continued smiling, though the expression had taken on an unmistakably nuclear warmth.
Rather than removing the needle, she raised her free hand, curled her slender index finger, and aimed directly at Kiyohiko’s smooth forehead.
Flick!
A crisp sound rang through the room.
Who attacked me?!”
“Have you finally returned to us?”
Shinobu withdrew the needle and neatly pressed a cotton ball against the puncture, a dangerous gleam flickering within her violet eyes.
“This is the first time I’ve seen someone become so distracted while having their blood drawn.
Were you thinking about how to escape?”
She deliberately leaned closer.
“Or were you wondering… how delicious my blood might taste?”
The scent of wisteria surrounding her immediately intensified.
“Ugh—cough, cough!
Stop coming so close!”
Kiyohiko’s expression changed.
This time, the nausea was entirely genuine.
Pinching his nose, he leaned backward and stared at her with open disgust.
“Who would want to drink your blood?
It reeks of wisteria.”
“I was contemplating an extremely important matter concerning my future.
Could you please stop interrupting my inspiration?”
Shinobu froze briefly before narrowing her eyes.
She already knew he disliked wisteria, but the way he continued blurting out these infuriating remarks with complete honesty somehow made her want to laugh and strangle him at the same time.
Kiyohiko loosened the hand pinching his nose, though his brows remained tightly furrowed.
“Actually, I’ve wanted to ask this for a while.
Why is the scent of wisteria around you so concentrated?”
“This is far beyond anything a perfume or scented pouch could produce, isn’t it?”
He looked Shinobu up and down.
Some of his earlier playfulness faded from his eyes, replaced by confusion and a strange trace of concern that even Kiyohiko himself could not quite identify.
“Do you roll around in piles of those flowers every day?
Or do you eat wisteria with every meal?”
“I know it repels demons, but turning yourself into a walking cloud of poison gas can’t possibly be comfortable for you.”
The hands Shinobu had been using to organize her medical instruments paused.
For the briefest moment, her back appeared unusually stiff.
She recovered almost immediately, however, and when she turned around, the same perfect, impenetrable smile had already returned to her face.
“My, this is merely a method of protecting myself.”
Her voice remained gentle, as though she were discussing the weather.
“After all, unlike the other Hashira, I don’t possess the physical strength necessary to cut off a demon’s head.
I have no choice but to rely on these little tricks to protect myself.”
She tilted her head, her smile deepening.
“What’s wrong?
Does Mr.
Demon find the smell unpleasant?”
“This happens to be something very useful for making naughty children like you behave.”
…
TL: “Yes, Mommy” — we yes WE ALL say whenever Shinobu asks for something.