At such close distance, Shinobu Kocho met the gaze of the Sharingan directly.
The smile on her face suddenly froze. She instinctively tried to step back, but found that Rin had already grasped her wrist, pulling her back to where she had been.
"W-What are you trying to do?" A hint of panic finally entered Shinobu Kocho's voice. The pressure from those red eyes was overwhelming, as if they could see straight through her soul.
"Don't be nervous. I just want to take a closer look."
Rin leaned forward slightly. His crimson Sharingan stared directly into Shinobu Kocho's eyes, his gaze like someone inspecting a piece of porcelain full of cracks.
Under the microscopic insight of the Sharingan, the slightest tension in Shinobu Kocho's facial muscles, the suppressed anger in her breathing rhythm, and even the deliberately gentle tone she maintained were all laid bare before him.
"Kochou Shinobu."
Rin's voice became unusually serious as he spoke, each word deliberate.
"Living behind that mask, don't you feel tired?"
Boom.
Those words stirred a violent surge of emotion within Shinobu Kocho.
The smile at the corner of her lips froze instantly. Her pupils contracted uncontrollably, and the fingers resting on Rin's wrist suddenly tightened.
"I... I don't understand what you're talking about. I'm always like this."
"Stop pretending." Rin interrupted her mercilessly, his gaze sharp. "Before these eyes of mine, none of your disguises can hide. Your muscle memory, the irritability and killing intent buried deep in your eyes, all of it tells me that you are not as gentle as you appear on the surface."
"Your smile, your tone of voice, everything about it. You're imitating someone else, aren't you? A relative who was extremely important to you, but who was killed by a demon."
Crack.
The glass in Shinobu Kocho's heart called Pretense shattered under Rin's blunt words.
Her breathing instantly became rapid. A thin mist gathered in her eyes uncontrollably, followed by suppressed anger and pain.
"Shut up..." Shinobu Kocho's voice trembled slightly. The face that always wore a smile finally darkened completely. "You don't understand anything! How dare you..."
"I indeed don't know what kind of person your sister was."
Rin released her wrist, and the Sharingan in his eyes faded back into their calm black color.
He reached out and, to Shinobu Kocho's complete astonishment, made an extremely bold move. He lightly ruffled the black hair tied up in her bun.
"But I do know one thing. A girl who forces herself to smile all day cannot swing a truly lethal blade."
Rin looked at the stunned Shinobu Kocho, his tone softening slightly.
"If you're angry, then be angry. If you want to kill demons, then show your killing intent. Imitating the gentleness of the deceased serves no purpose other than torturing yourself."
"I do not care how you pretend in front of others, but in front of me..." Rin smiled at her. "You can freely be the real Shinobu Kocho."
"As for that Upper Moon demon you cannot kill, consider it a reward for your hospitality these past few days. I will slay it for you."
Silence.
A deathly silence filled the entire infirmary.
Shinobu Kocho stared blankly at the arrogant, domineering, yet strangely reassuring young man before her.
For years, ever since her sister Kanae died, she had forced herself to wear a gentle mask. She suppressed her true nature, accommodated everyone around her, devoted herself to developing poisons, and took her sister's place as a Hashira.
No one, not even Oyakata-sama, had ever so arrogantly yet gently torn apart her disguise and told her, "You can be yourself. If the sky falls, I will hold it up."
A hot tear slipped uncontrollably from the corner of her eye.
But soon, Shinobu Kocho quickly turned her head to the side and wiped her eyes forcefully with her sleeve.
When she turned back to look at Rin again, although her eyes were still slightly red, the mask-like smile that used to sit at the corner of her lips had disappeared.
In its place was a cold sneer belonging to her true personality, mixed with a hint of sharpness and pride.
"What an arrogant man."
Shinobu Kocho snorted coldly. Her voice was no longer that gentle, ethereal tone, but had returned to its original cool and crisp sound.
"The terror of an Upper Moon is far beyond what you can imagine. However... if you can avoid being beaten to the ground by those short-tempered people at the Hashira Meeting in fifteen days, I might reluctantly admit that your boasting has some substance."
Seeing Shinobu Kocho's vivid, teeth-gritting expression after dropping her pretense, Rin smiled in satisfaction.
"Heh~ So this is the real sharp-tongued Insect Hashira, huh? I quite like this self- more."
[Ding! The host has forcefully broken through the psychological defenses of the key character "Shinobu Kocho," successfully causing her to drop her disguise and reveal her true self to the host!]
[Shinobu Kocho's favorability increased! Major breakthrough in conquest progress!]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining dimension points: 1200!]
"The Hashira Meeting, huh..."
Rin stood up and slowly stretched his muscles.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how those guys perform."
...
The door to the medical room closed softly, and the sound of Rin's footsteps gradually faded down the corridor.
In the large room, only Shinobu Kocho remained, standing there in a daze.
She subconsciously raised her hand and touched the hair Rin had just ruffled. The warmth from that man seemed to linger there.
"He said... I can be my true self without restraint..."
Shinobu Kocho murmured to herself, her heart beating faster than ever before.
Over the past few years, she had held herself to extremely strict standards. She forced herself to always smile and forced herself to treat every swordsman gently, just as her sister Kanae had done.
As time passed, even she almost forgot that the original Shinobu Kocho had been a girl with a quick temper, a sharp tongue, and a competitive spirit.
Yet this man named Rin had only known her for a few days.
How could he know about her sister? How could he know she was imitating her sister?
He had even clearly sensed the suppressed irritability deep within her heart and the hatred for the Upper Rank demons buried in her bones.
Shinobu Kocho leaned against the workstation. A faint blush suddenly appeared on her fair cheeks as her thoughts began racing uncontrollably.
"He only just received his Kasugai Crow, so he has no information network at all."
"And he is so powerful that he could even kill the mutated demon on Fujikasane Mountain in an instant. How could such a proud powerhouse waste his energy on meaningless gossip?"
"The only explanation is... before he came to the Butterfly Mansion, even before he met me on Fujikasane Mountain, he had already been secretly investigating me."
Shinobu Kocho suddenly covered her burning cheeks, panic and embarrassment flashing through her purple eyes.
That had to be it.
He must have used some method to thoroughly investigate her past, her sister's death, and even the personality she usually pretended to have.
Otherwise, how could he have torn through her defenses so precisely?
Otherwise, why would he suddenly say something so arrogant yet strangely protective like, "I will slay that Upper Rank demon for you"?
"To spend so much effort learning about a girl's painful past, and even risk angering me just to pull me out of my sister's shadow..."
Shinobu Kocho bit her lower lip, a trace of bashful annoyance appearing in her usually cold eyes.
"That idiot... if he likes me, why can't he just say it? He has to use such a crude and overbearing method. What an arrogant and self-centered man."
Although she was scolding him, a strange warmth quietly spread through Shinobu Kocho's heart, which had long been wrapped in hatred and coldness.
At that moment, the door to the medical room opened.
Kanao Tsuyuri leaned halfway inside. She had originally come to get some gauze, but she saw Shinobu Kocho standing there with flushed cheeks and her hands covering her face.
"Shinobu-nee... do you have a fever?" Kanao asked, speaking on her own for once without flipping a coin.
"Ah? N-no!"
Shinobu Kocho was startled and quickly straightened up.
She instinctively tried to put on her usual gentle smile, but Rin's crimson eyes that seemed to see through everything, along with his words "stop pretending," suddenly flashed through her mind.
The muscles on her face twitched slightly, and Shinobu Kocho finally gave up on forcing that artificial smile.
She sighed. The clarity and sharpness returned to her eyes. Walking over to Kanao, she reached out and straightened the girl's collar before speaking in her original crisp and efficient voice.
"I'm fine. I was just... annoyed by a self-righteous guy. The gauze is in the second row of cabinets. Go get it yourself."
Hearing this voice, which was completely different from the gentle and ethereal tone she used before and instead full of vitality, Kanao froze in place.
She looked at her master's vivid expression, no longer like a lifeless mannequin, and subconsciously gripped the coin in her pocket.
That man named Rin had not only interfered with her coin. Had he even removed Shinobu-nee's mask?
_____
Damn.. hide your mum, Rin the Rizzler is here.