Shinobu considered the question for a moment, then chose to answer honestly. "If you mean whether I was involved in turning the pond into this, then yes. But if you're asking whether I was the one who cut them down like this, then no."
Akaza silently repeated her words to himself and understood. There was someone else who had reduced those demons to their current half-dead state.
He also noticed the discarded Demon Slayer Corps uniform and Nichirin blade by the edge of the pond. That further confirmed someone else was present.
But Akaza did not underestimate Shinobu simply because she was a woman. Through his eyes, he could see her long-honed fighting spirit.
Even if she had not yet reached the highest realm, for a human body to have achieved this level no longer placed her in the category of weakling that Akaza despised, regardless of her gender.
"In that case, have the one responsible come out and face me."
Having only seen the uniform and the blade, it never occurred to Akaza to connect them with bathing. Even a demon would not look at discarded clothes on the ground and a pond filled with blood and immediately think of taking a bath.
Shinobu wished she could summon Sukuna immediately. But what she had learned about him told her never to try anything like that lightly.
After spending so much time with Sukuna, she had concluded that the most critical rule for staying alive around him was this: never attempt anything that might displease him, and never act on your own initiative regarding things he had not mentioned. The fewer actions, the fewer mistakes. Do less, err less.
"That won't work. But you can wait here. He will appear after a while."
This was Shinobu's carefully considered response. There was a world of difference between Akaza realizing on his own that Sukuna was in the pond and Shinobu telling him Sukuna was in the pond.
If Sukuna did not mind being interrupted, then fine. But if an Upper Rank's arrival and interruption ruined something Sukuna was in the middle of, that would be stepping directly on a landmine. Shinobu dared not take that risk.
She had already prepared herself to fight this Upper Rank. Dying at the hands of a Twelve Kizuki might at least grant her a quick death. Falling into Sukuna's clutches might mean being tortured half to death and back, in the most literal sense.
Akaza could hear the awkwardness in Shinobu's words. It sounded like an honest answer, yet it seemed to be hiding something. More like she was stalling for time.
"So you're the type who won't talk honestly. You're a Hashira, aren't you?" Akaza confirmed.
"Insect Hashira. Shinobu Kocho." Shinobu kept her introduction brief as she tightened her grip on her Nichirin blade, ready for battle.
"A Hashira indeed. Then I have a wonderful proposal," Akaza said with a smile.
Shinobu did not relax at his smile. If anything, she tensed up more.
"How about becoming a demon too?"
Akaza extended an invitation to one of the Demon Slayer Corps' finest.
Shinobu smiled as well and asked in a gentle tone, "Inviting me to become a demon? What an unpleasant suggestion. Are you insulting me, Upper Rank Three?"
Akaza had thought that once Shinobu accepted his invitation, she would stop hiding things and he could find the one who had brutalized Lower Rank Five.
But since she was being so difficult, there was no choice. He would have to use his fists to make her talk.
Even though he considered Shinobu a strong person, he did not start the fight with his Destruction Kill: Compass Needle. He simply accelerated and charged at her.
Shinobu moved at the same time. Her figure blurred.
Insect Breathing: Butterfly Dance: Caprice.
Relying on her butterfly-light movements, Shinobu dodged Akaza's fierce, powerful fists while finding openings to thrust with her poison-coated blade.
In an instant, they had separated. Shinobu had no visible injuries, but sweat beaded heavily on her brow.
Only she understood just how grim things truly were beneath the surface.
She had felt the terror of Akaza's fists. One clean hit from those fists would likely mean her death.
Even if by some miracle she survived, the severe injuries would only bury her already disadvantaged position even deeper.
And even leveraging her speed advantage, she could not gain much ground. Against another opponent, this attack would have landed at least four thrusts. But this time, she had only managed two successful attacks. One angle had been lost due to needing to dodge simultaneously. And on her first thrust against Akaza, his hardened body had prevented the blade from reaching the expected depth, leaving her only enough opening for two more stabs.
What those two thrusts would accomplish, Shinobu herself did not know.
This was not her custom Nichirin blade. The poison coating on this standard-issue sword was far weaker. And her opponent was Upper Rank Three. Ordinary poison would likely have little effect.
Akaza raised his hand and looked at the stab wound on his wrist. He praised her. "Excellent speed. But dealing only this much damage, no matter how many times you try, is useless. For a demon, this is merely a scratch. You used poison?"
Just then, Sukuna finished his bath. He rose from the blood pool.
He took a deep, greedy breath. With Tanjiro's soul completely dismantled, Sukuna could feel that the faint sense of wrongness he had experienced before was now completely gone.
Sukuna swept his hair back with one hand. The thought that the kind of accident that had once happened with Fushiguro Megumi would never occur again made him throw his head back and laugh with unrestrained joy.
"HAHAHAHAHA——!!"
Shinobu and Akaza's attention was instantly drawn to the sudden appearance of Sukuna.
Akaza stared blankly at Sukuna. The naked body drenched in blood, illuminated by the moonlight. The black curse marks covering his entire body, so similar to his own, only added to his sinister air.
Sukuna radiated a pressure Akaza had never felt before.
Sukuna noticed Akaza as well. Six eyes met. He saw that this was Upper Rank Three. Sukuna smiled and asked, "So, have you come to celebrate with me?"
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