In the backyard of the Butterfly Mansion, the evening breeze brushed through the wisteria trellises, producing a soft rustling sound.
Rin naturally withdrew his hand from Shinobu Kocho's head, picked up the last cup of sake on the table, and drained it in a single gulp.
"Isn't it tiring watching from behind the pillar for so long? Come out."
Rin did not even turn his head. He simply placed the empty sake cup back on the tray and spoke calmly.
Hidden behind the wooden pillar, Kanao Tsuyuri's slender body trembled slightly as she realized she had been discovered.
Lowering her head like a child who had done something wrong, she stepped out of the shadows with small, hurried steps.
"Kanao? Since... since when were you there?"
Shinobu Kocho, who had been blushing furiously just a moment earlier, sprang to her feet as if shocked by electricity.
She hurriedly adjusted the slightly disheveled collar of her yukata, trying to recover the dignity of her usual older-sister demeanor, but her ears, flushed so red they looked ready to bleed, gave her away.
Kanao did not flip a coin. She simply opened her clear purple eyes, looking at her embarrassed and flustered master, then at the calm Rin.
"From... from when Shinobu-nee-san's hair was being touched..."
Kanao's voice was very soft, yet it was perfectly audible in the quiet corridor.
"Aaaah! You girl, go to sleep right now!"
Shinobu Kocho was mortified. She grabbed the tray from the ground and quickly fled the scene, leaving only Rin and Kanao behind.
Watching the Insect Hashira retreat in embarrassment, Rin could not help but chuckle.
He stood up, walked over to Kanao, and looked down at the girl who always seemed like a doll.
"Your eyes. What did they see?" Rin suddenly asked.
Kanao paused for a moment, subconsciously clutching the coin in her pocket.
"I saw... Shinobu-nee-san smile. Not like the smiles before, but a real smile."
"Since you saw it clearly, stop using a coin to measure the world." Rin put his hands in his pockets and brushed past her, his tone calm. "A true swordsman must learn to see with their own eyes and strike with their own heart. Get some rest, little girl."
Watching Rin's back gradually disappear into the night, Kanao stood there in a daze for a long time.
Finally, she took out the copper coin she had been clutching tightly and solemnly placed it deep back into her pocket, never intending to take it out again.
...
Late at night, inside the Insect Hashira's private medical room and bedroom.
Shinobu Kocho leaned against the door, breathing heavily.
Her heart was still pounding, and Rin's domineering words, "Doma's living in borrowed time," kept replaying in her mind.
After a moment, she took a deep breath, and her eyes gradually became clear and resolute.
She walked to a locked cold-storage cabinet hidden in the corner of the room and took out a black metal box.
When she opened it, more than a dozen syringes filled with a high-concentration purple liquid were neatly arranged inside.
This was the potent poison she had spent countless days and nights refining from wisteria flowers.
According to her original, desperate plan, since her strength and physique could never sever the head of an Upper Rank demon, she would spend an entire year or even longer continuously injecting this Wisteria toxin into her body.
She intended to turn her internal organs, blood, and even her fingernails into a deadly poison.
When she encountered her sister's murderer again, she would deliberately allow the demon to devour her, using her own flesh and blood as a bomb to perish together with Upper Rank Two.
It was a plan of self-destruction that could only be described as cruel.
Over the past half month, she had already begun trying micro-injections. Each time, the pain of the toxin spreading through her veins felt like ten thousand arrows piercing her heart.
But now...
Shinobu Kocho looked at the purple liquid that carried the scent of death, and the image of Rin in the courtyard earlier that day appeared in her mind. The peerless, godlike figure who had released violent lightning with one hand and trampled all the Hashira beneath his feet.
"He could defeat all the Hashira together with a single move... If it's that arrogant idiot, perhaps... no, he can definitely kill that demon."
Shinobu Kocho murmured to herself.
Her heart, which had long been frozen by hatred and the desire for death, finally began to melt.
She no longer wanted to die.
Since someone had arrogantly taken the burden of revenge upon himself for her, she wanted to live. She wanted to witness the destruction of that demon with her own eyes, and she also wanted to... see more of that bastard's arrogant expression.
Crack!
Without hesitation, Shinobu Kocho threw the syringe in her hand straight into the nearby medical incinerator.
Then she poured all the remaining Wisteria toxin from the metal box into the high-temperature incinerator.
Watching the eerie purple poison burn away into ash, Shinobu Kocho let out a long breath.
The heavy mountain pressing on her soul had finally shattered.
She looked into the mirror and revealed a bright, beautiful smile.
"Rin, you arrogant bastard, you had better do as you said. Otherwise, even if I turn into a demon, I will never forgive you. Hmph!"
...
The next morning.
"Caw! Caw! Urgent orders! Urgent orders!"
Just as dawn broke, the sharp cries of several Kasugai Crows shattered the quiet of the Butterfly Mansion.
"A large number of demon sightings have appeared on Natagumo Mountain! Dozens of swordsmen sent there have been nearly wiped out! Caw! Heavy casualties!"
"The Master has ordered! Immediately dispatch Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka and Insect Hashira Shinobu Kocho to provide support! Act immediately!"
Rin, who was washing up in the backyard, keenly caught the Kasugai Crows' broadcast.
"Natagumo Mountain... Lower Rank Five, Rui."
Rin spat out the mouthwash and casually wiped his face.
Just then, a sharp system notification sounded in his mind.
[Ding! Detected that the host has completely changed the inevitable death ending of key character 'Shinobu Kocho'!]
[Shinobu Kocho took the initiative to destroy all the Wisteria toxin intended for self-detonation last night, completely abandoning the plan to perish together. The trajectory of fate has undergone an epic shift!]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining an extremely generous Fate Point reward: 8,000 points!]
"Oh?"
Rin's hand paused slightly as he wiped his face, and a trace of pleasant surprise flashed in his eyes.
Last night he had only casually given her some reassurance. He had not expected this sharp-tongued butterfly to act so decisively and destroy the suicide plan she had prepared for so long.
Eight thousand points. That was far more than what he would gain from killing a Lower Rank demon.
In an excellent mood, Rin put on his pure black haori, tucked the thunder-patterned Kusanagi Sword at his waist, and slowly walked toward the main gate of the Butterfly Mansion.
Outside the gate.
Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka was already waiting there.
He still wore the same expressionless face, but when he saw Rin walk out, a clear look of respect immediately appeared in his calm eyes, and he even bowed slightly in greeting.
"...Rin-san." Giyu spoke first, which was rare.
"Morning, Giyu-san." Rin waved casually. "No need to be so stiff. With that gloomy look on your face, anyone who doesn't know better would think I owe you money."
Not long after, Shinobu Kocho also walked over along the path.
Today, she no longer wore that false, gentle smile.
Although she still carried some of her former cold-fake-smile when facing Giyu, when her gaze met Rin's, a very obvious softness and hint of reproach flashed in her deep purple eyes.
"You even brought your sword. What are you planning to do? The Master's orders didn't mention that you, the 'Special Executive Officer,' needed to get involved." Shinobu Kocho walked up to Rin with her hands on her hips, her tone somewhat willful.
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