Butterfly Mansion, High-level Infirmary.
Upon pushing the door open, a thick scent of disinfectant mixed with wisteria flowers wafted toward Yamada.
Shinobu was wearing a white medical coat over her black Demon Slayer Corps uniform. She was standing in front of a workbench filled with various glassware and test tubes, concentrating on preparing a certain pale purple liquid.
Hearing footsteps, Shinobu turned around, her face immediately lighting up with her signature gentle smile.
"Ara, Tanaka-san, have you had breakfast? Aoi was just complaining to me that you're going to eat up a whole week's worth of the Butterfly Mansion's rations."
"Can't help it, I consume a lot of energy." Yamada sat down unceremoniously. "I heard from her that you have something for me?"
"Yes." Shinobu put down the test tube and walked over to Yamada, looking at him with a smile.
"I'm curious about that power of yours called 'Chakra.' Not only does it give you physical strength that crushes demons, but it also allows you to release lightning. As the medical head of the Butterfly Mansion, may I perform a small physical examination on you?"
As she said this, a fanatical desire for research flickered in Shinobu's deep purple eyes.
If she could analyze this power, perhaps she could develop more potent poisons, or even allow ordinary swordsmen to possess strength rivaling a Lower Moon or even an Upper Moon.
"An examination is fine." Yamada straightforwardly extended his right arm and rolled up his sleeve, revealing his firm and well-proportioned forearm.
"But let's be clear beforehand: no blood draws, no slicing, only pulse-taking and routine checks."
"How stingy, not even a small tube of blood?" Shinobu complained, but her body leaned in.
She extended her fingers and lightly rested them on Yamada's wrist pulse. The moment her fingertips touched Yamada's skin, Shinobu's brow twitched slightly.
What a strong pulse!
Steady and calm, yet containing a terrifying life force like a dormant volcano.
She could even faintly feel a massive, completely different energy flowing through Yamada's meridians, unlike the way Breathing Styles forcibly strain the physical body.
"Truly incredible..." Shinobu couldn't help but lean in closer.
The two were very close now. Yamada could even clearly smell the soothing scent of wisteria flowers from her hair and see her thick eyelashes trembling slightly from surprise.
"Your physical fitness is even better than the Hashiras who train all year round. This energy is nourishing your cells every second." Shinobu sighed, looking up with her gentle smile.
"Tanaka-san, if I dissected you, it might advance human medicine by fifty years."
This somewhat playful yet dark remark would have given anyone else goosebumps. But Yamada just looked at her quietly, his gaze calm.
Vroom—
Without warning, his originally black eyes instantly turned into an eerie crimson, with three tomoe spinning rapidly in his pupils.
At such close range, Shinobu directly met the gaze of the Sharingan. The smile on her face suddenly froze. She instinctively tried to retreat, but found that Yamada had grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to her original position.
"W-What are you trying to do?" A hint of panic finally entered Shinobu's tone.
The pressure from those red eyes was too strong, as if they could see through her soul.
"Don't be nervous, I just want to see a bit more clearly."
Yamada leaned forward slightly, his crimson Sharingan staring directly into Shinobu's eyes, his gaze like he was sizing up a piece of porcelain full of cracks.
Under the microscopic insight of the Sharingan, the minute tension in Shinobu's facial muscles, the suppressed anger in her breathing frequency, and even her deliberately feigned gentle tone were all laid bare before Yamada.
"Kochō Shinobu."
Yamada's voice became unusually serious as he said word by word, "Living behind this mask, don't you feel tired?"
Boom!
These words caused a massive surge of emotion in Shinobu.
The smile at the corner of her lips froze instantly, her pupils contracted uncontrollably, and the fingers originally resting on Yamada's wrist suddenly clenched.
"I... I don't understand what you're talking about. I'm always like this—"
"Stop pretending." Yamada interrupted her mercilessly, his gaze extremely aggressive.
"Before these eyes of mine, all your disguises have nowhere to hide. Your muscle memory, the irritability and killing intent deep in your eyes, they all tell me that you are not as gentle as you appear on the surface."
"Your current smile, your tone of voice—you're all just imitating someone else, aren't you? A relative who was extremely important to you but was killed by a demon."
Crack.
The glass in Shinobu's heart named 'Pretense' shattered under Yamada's spoiler-like blow.
Her breathing instantly became rapid, and a layer of mist gathered uncontrollably in her eyes, but following closely behind was extremely suppressed anger and pain.
"Shut up..." Shinobu's voice trembled slightly, and the face that always wore a smile finally turned completely dark.
"You don't understand anything! How dare you—"
"I indeed don't know what kind of person your sister was."
Yamada released her wrist, the Sharingan in his eyes fading back into gentle black pupils.
He reached out and, under Shinobu's utter astonishment, made an extremely bold move—lightly ruffling her black hair tied back in a bun.
"But I know one thing. A girl who forces herself to smile all day cannot swing a truly lethal blade."
Yamada looked at the stunned Shinobu, his tone softening a bit. "If you're angry, be angry. If you want to kill demons, show your killing intent. Imitating the gentleness of the deceased has no meaning other than constantly torturing yourself."
Yamada smiled at her. "I don't care how you pretend in front of others, but in front of me, you can freely be the real Shinobu."
"As for that Upper Moon demon you can't kill, as a reward for your hospitality these past few days, I'll slay it for you."
Deathly silence filled the entire infirmary.
Shinobu stared blankly at the arrogant, domineering, yet inexplicably reassuring young man before her.
For years, ever since her sister Kanae died, she had forced herself to wear a gentle mask, suppressing her nature to accommodate everyone, to develop poisons, and to take her sister's place as a Hashira.
No one... not even Master, had ever so arrogantly yet gently torn open her disguise and told her, 'You can be yourself, I'll hold up the sky if it falls.'
A hot tear slid down from the corner of her eye uncontrollably.
But soon, Shinobu snapped her head to the side and wiped her eyes vigorously with her sleeve.
When she turned back to look at Yamada again, although her eyes were still slightly red, the fake mask-like smile at the corner of her lips had vanished.
Replacing it was a cold sneer belonging to her original personality, tinged with a bit of tsundere and sharpness.
"What a boastful guy."
Shinobu snorted coldly, her tone no longer that ethereal, soft voice, but restored to her original cool and crisp sound.
"The terror of an Upper Moon is not something you can imagine. However... if you can avoid being beaten to the ground by those short-tempered guys at the Hashira Meeting in fifteen days, I'll reluctantly acknowledge your boasting."
Seeing Shinobu's teeth-gritting yet vivid appearance after dropping her pretense, Yamada smiled with satisfaction. "This is the real sharp-tongued Insect Hashira."
[Ding! Host violently tore through the psychological defenses of the key character Kochō Shinobu, successfully making her drop her disguise and reveal her true self to the host!]
[Kochō Shinobu's favorability increased! Major breakthrough in the conquest progress!]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining dimension points: 1200!]
"The Hashira Meeting, huh..."
Yamada stood up and slowly stretched his muscles. "I'm looking forward to those guys' performance."