When Kei mentioned "lesson," a brief flicker of unease passed through Shisui's chest. He suppressed it almost immediately, forcing himself to steady his breathing and straighten his posture. This time was different, he told himself.
He had observed for days. He had searched nearly every alley in the slum district. And no matter how many times he retraced his reasoning, no one appeared more likely to be the culprit than Kei.
So this wasn't a mistake.
It couldn't be.
If anything, it meant Kei was simply too good at hiding behind that calm exterior. And if that was the case, then pressing harder, refusing to retreat, was the only way to tear the mask away.
The thought of finally reversing the humiliation from that night hardened his resolve.
"Stop trying to manipulate me with psychology," Shisui said, his voice firm though still carrying a faint strain. "I've already seen through your tricks."
Kei shrugged lightly, as if the accusation hardly concerned him.
"Then I suppose there's no need for me to explain anything," he replied evenly, "because even if I did, you've already decided you wouldn't believe it."
His tone was not mocking, merely observant.
"Once someone like you fixes their view on a person, it becomes nearly impossible to adjust. Evidence stops mattering. Interpretation takes over."
A faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
"Let me ask you something. If I admitted right now that I was the murderer, wouldn't you feel relieved? You would finally have confirmation that your instincts were correct."
His voice remained calm, almost conversational.
"But if I deny it, you grow irritated. Not because the denial disproves you, but because it refuses to validate what you've already labeled as truth."
Shisui's grip tightened around the hilt of his blade.
"Enough," he said sharply. "This time, I won't let you twist the situation."
He stepped forward and drew his short sword in one smooth motion.
"I don't want to raise my weapon against a comrade. But I am certain of one thing, you are not my comrade."
He attacked without hesitation, directing his strikes toward Kei's limbs with the clear intent to restrain rather than kill.
Yet when the blade met its target, there was no resistance.
No blood.
The figure before him dissolved like mist.
"You possess the ability to overwhelm me in raw combat," Kei's voice sounded from behind him, "yet you couldn't even distinguish illusion from substance. With judgment like that, how can you claim certainty?"
Shisui turned sharply.
Kei stood there.
Then another voice came from his left.
"You never realized when your perception of me became fixed. It was the moment I spoke of destruction."
He turned again.
Another Kei.
"And that night," a voice continued from the right, "you were dissatisfied, weren't you? You expected to find a scroll concealing corpses, not a bag of banknotes."
Shisui no longer needed to turn his head.
He could feel it now.
Every direction.
Encircled.
"You can tell yourself you underestimated me," the layered voices continued calmly. "You can claim you were deceived by a simple trick."
"But if this were a true enemy, how many misjudgments could you afford?"
The pressure did not come from shouting or aggression. It came from measured inevitability.
"Perhaps once would be enough to destroy everything."
Shisui's jaw tightened.
He had indeed been careless. He had assumed Kei lacked the will to counterattack, and that assumption had led him to hold back. What unsettled him most, however, was the technique itself. It mirrored his own Phantom Body Flicker so closely that the resemblance could not be dismissed as coincidence.
"How did you learn that?" he demanded.
"You may consider me a genius," Kei answered lightly.
Shisui frowned. "Is that the only explanation you ever give?"
"It isn't an explanation," Kei replied calmly. "It's a fact you refuse to accept. Much like how you refused to accept any possibility other than my guilt from the very beginning."
He did not wait for a rebuttal.
"Instead of focusing on me, you should focus on what is actually abducting the villagers."
As he spoke, every illusion lifted its cane in unison, pointing toward a distant alley.
Shisui activated his three-tomoe Sharingan, the crimson pupils narrowing as he studied Kei. Suspicion warred with instinct.
"If you hesitate much longer," Kei added softly, "you may miss it entirely."
For a brief moment, Shisui stood still.
Then he moved.
He rushed toward the indicated alley just in time to see a white snake burst from a villager's home and dive toward the sewer entrance. There was no time for elaborate techniques. He threw his blade with precise force, severing a portion of the snake's tail.
The creature's vitality proved astonishing. The remaining body vanished into the narrow drainage channel before he could react further.
Shisui retrieved the bloodied tail, brows furrowing as realization slowly settled in.
Kei approached at an unhurried pace, cane tapping lightly against the wet stone.
"Well," he asked, "do you still believe I am the murderer?"
Shisui's fingers tightened slightly around the severed tail. Doubt flickered within him, but pride prevented it from surfacing openly.
"Someone is controlling snakes," he said carefully. "As for who controls them, that remains uncertain."
"Is it uncertainty," Kei asked quietly, "or reluctance?"
Shisui did not answer. Instead, he shifted the topic.
"How did you know it would appear there?"
"My combat ability may not surpass yours," Kei replied, "but my perception does. I see what you overlook."
"If you could sense it, why didn't you speak sooner?"
Kei's tone remained steady.
"You might as well accuse me directly of commanding the snake."
"Is that impossible?" Shisui pressed.
"No," Kei admitted calmly. "It's possible. But possibility is not proof."
He continued without raising his voice.
"I have asked you repeatedly for evidence. You ignore the question each time. Even now, if I offered an explanation, would you accept it?"
Shisui instinctively began to shake his head before catching himself.
It was another trap.
"Reasonable explanations are accepted," he insisted.
Kei tilted his head slightly.
"And the Uchiha? When your clan attempts to explain its position to the village, are those explanations accepted?"
The words landed more heavily than any strike.
"What you've done to me tonight is no different from what the village has done to your clan," Kei continued. "The difference is that they were guided into suspicion. You arrived at yours alone."
"That's not-" Shisui began, only to stop.
Because the denial felt hollow.
"It seems," Kei said quietly, "that you already understand. Even if your mouth refuses to admit it."
He tapped the snake tail gently with his cane.
"You may argue. You may threaten. You may even use force. But you will not find the answer in me, because I am not the culprit."
He gestured toward the severed tail.
"The truth is already in your hand. Follow it, and you'll find who you're truly looking for."
Shisui stood motionless.
He had come here prepared to expose Kei.
Instead, he found himself once again guided by him.
And whether he liked it or not, that meant he had lost again.
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