Chapter Text
For Shinobu, tranquility was originally her last line of defense for maintaining her inner balance.
However, the appearance of that man tore a hole in this defense.
The matter could be traced back to half a month ago.
That day, Oyakata-sama summoned her to the Ubuyashiki mansion. Shinobu thought it was just a routine mission assignment or talk, but upon entering the mansion, she saw a figure that made her freeze. Giyuu was standing under the veranda, talking with Oyakata-sama.
This in itself was nothing strange. Giyuu was the Water Pillar, and appearing at the Ubuyashiki mansion was as normal as could be. But the problem was, there were actually two Giyuus right in front of her at that moment.
'Who is this?'
Shinobu stopped at the door, her gaze sweeping back and forth between the two Giyuus. The same deep blue eyes, the same handsome face, the same posture.
Her first thought was a Blood Demon Art—a demon disguised as the Water Pillar had infiltrated the mansion. Her fingers were already pressed against the hilt of her blade, her breathing instantly adjusting to a combat state as she calculated the angle of attack and the dosage of poison.
But Oyakata-sama's next words interrupted her.
"Shinobu, this is Giyuu from another world."
Oyakata-sama's voice was as gentle and calm as always. "Although the situation over there is slightly different from ours, he's also the Water Pillar. From today onward, he will fight alongside us."
'Another world?'
Shinobu's fingers loosened from the hilt of her blade. She didn't immediately lower her guard, her gaze still locked onto the unfamiliar Giyuu.
His facial features were exactly like Giyuu's—deep blue eyes, a cold profile, and even his posture was seventy to eighty percent identical. But when he turned his head and his gaze fell upon her, she immediately noticed the difference.
Unlike Giyuu's expressionless stare, his eyes held an undisguised scrutiny. He looked her up and down from head to toe, his gaze pausing for a moment on her butterfly hair clip, and then the corner of his mouth curved slightly into a smile.
"Kochou Shinobu?" His voice was as deep as Giyuu's, but his tone was completely different, with a slight upward inflection. "Nice to meet you."
For a moment, Shinobu unexpectedly didn't know how to respond, and could only maintain her smile and nod gently. "Nice to meet you, Tomioka-san."
After a brief meeting, Oyakata-sama arranged for this Giyuu from another world to live in the Butterfly Mansion. The reason was that the Butterfly Mansion had plenty of staff and space, making it convenient to observe his physical condition and see if he could adapt to the environment of this world.
After all, he came from another world, and no one could predict whether there might be any potential anomalies.
Shinobu felt this reasoning was perfectly sound. But when the room for that Giyuu was cleared out, a vague, indescribable unease surfaced in the depths of her heart.
Peacock Giyuu.
This was the nickname the people in the Butterfly Mansion gave him, because he possessed a face exactly identical to the Water Pillar, Giyuu, yet his actions were as flamboyant as a peacock spreading its tail, so dazzling that one couldn't ignore him.
From the first day he moved into the Butterfly Mansion, he didn't rest for a single moment.
He would suddenly appear behind Shinobu while she was organizing the medicine cabinet, his arm propped against the cabinet door above her head as he looked down at her sorting the ingredients.
"What's the difference between this and this?" He pointed to two bottles of extracts with similar colors, looking as if he were asking for advice, yet his deep blue eyes were fixed tightly on Shinobu's slightly stiffened nape.
Shinobu didn't turn around, nor did her hands pause, still busy with her work.
"The left one's extracted from the stamens of wisteria flowers and is more toxic. The right one's extracted from the petals, mainly used for anesthesia. Tomioka-san, if you have nothing else to do, please don't linger here."
"Thank you, Shinobu."
?
'Why did he suddenly start calling me by my name?'
Shinobu rolled her eyes hard in her heart.
At meal times, this peacock Giyuu would hold his bowl and sit opposite her, eating quietly, then stand up to say, "Thank you for the meal," before leaving.
After this had continued for seven days, Shinobu finally couldn't help putting down her chopsticks, looking at him with a stiff smile.
"Tomioka-san, do you absolutely have to eat with me?"
"Food tastes better when eaten with you, Shinobu." He was completely matter-of-fact.
Shinobu's smile remained unchanged, but veins bulged on her face. She pretended to be calm as she raised her teacup to take a sip, her fingers trembling uncontrollably with anger.
'Why is this guy constantly pestering me?!'
These things might not have seemed like much on their own, but when piled together, they were just like water dripping through stone.
Shinobu began to get used to his presence—used to him nodding to her when they crossed paths in the corridor, used to him poking his head into the pharmacy, used to him sitting opposite her at meals, eating quietly.
She even began to get used to him calling her 'Shinobu'.
This change made her feel uneasy. What made her even more uneasy was that she found she didn't dislike it.
One afternoon, Shinobu was leaning over, intently grinding wisteria flower extract, when a teasing voice suddenly echoed right next to her.
"These hands have to deal with demons every day and take care of the wounded as well. It's really too much hard work."
Before Shinobu even had time to raise her head, a warm wall of flesh pressed up from behind.
Peacock Giyuu didn't maintain a polite social distance. His chest pressed directly against her slender back, his arms wrapping around to naturally cover the back of her hand holding the medicine pestle.
"Tomioka-san, please have some self-respect." Shinobu's voice carried a stiff smile, and her fingers gripping the pestle tightened slightly.
"I'm not that blockhead who can't even speak clearly."
Peacock Giyuu laughed softly, the resonance of his chest making Shinobu's back feel numb. He lowered his head slightly, burying his straight nose into the strands of hair at the side of her neck, greedily inhaling her fragrance.
His hands weren't well-behaved. His arms wrapped around her from the sides, his hands covering the back of her hand holding the pestle, affectionately stroking her fingers.
He lifted Shinobu's hand, placing a kiss upon her slender fingertip, then slid toward her palm, his tongue gently brushing across it. A sensation like an electric current rushed straight up her spine, and her fingers curled uncontrollably.
"Please don't be like this!"
Shinobu abruptly pulled her hand back, staggering out of his embrace, her chest heaving violently. The smile on her face had long since frozen, and panic surged in her eyes.
"You—"
She took a deep breath, doing her level best to keep her voice steady.
"Tomioka-san, since you look exactly like the Water Pillar, please don't make such frivolous moves, otherwise it'll cause unnecessary misunderstandings."
Peacock Giyuu leaned against the medicine cabinet with his arms crossed, tilting his head to look at her, his deep blue eyes full of laughter.
"Don't you like Tomioka Giyuu?" he asked softly, his tone full of playfulness.
'He figured it out?'
'...He actually figured it out??'
She thought she had hidden it well. Those thoughts that shouldn't have appeared, which only surfaced late at night, and those feelings deliberately pressed into the deepest part of her heart that she was unwilling to admit, were all spoken of by the person in front of her with complete nonchalance.
Shinobu bit her lip, her tone carrying a barely perceptible tension. "Please watch your boundaries."
"Boundaries?" He laughed softly, slowly stepping toward her.
"No one has ever told me what boundaries are. All I know is that for the person I like, I must fight hard to win them over."
Shinobu was left speechless by his words, and the two could only look at each other, staring wide-eyed.
He was completely different from Giyuu.
The person she truly cared about would never express his feelings so directly. He was always silent and aloof, making it impossible to guess the emotions in his eyes. Yet the person before her laid his emotions completely bare, requiring no careful speculation on her part.
This gave her a sense of peace she had never felt before.
Even though his actions made her flustered, and his approach made her heart race chaotically, deep down there was a strange sense of stability.
Peacock Giyuu pressed forward step by step, and she instinctively retreated until her back hit the cold wall, leaving her with nowhere left to go.
He stopped and leaned down slightly. That face, exactly identical to Giyuu's, was less than a fist's distance away from her. His warm breath brushed across her cheek, making it burn hot.
"Shinobu." He called her name in a low, husky voice that carried an irresistible allure.
Shinobu instinctively turned her face away, not daring to look at him, yet the heat at the tips of her ears already betrayed the panic in her heart.
"Looking at this face, can you really find the heart to push me away?" His voice was right by her ear, his breath brushing over her earlobe, making her whole body shudder. "Can that person manage to be as proactive with you as I am?"
Shinobu's breathing abruptly hitched, all her secrets laid bare by his single remark.
Yes, his face, so identical to Giyuu's, made it impossible for her subconscious to ever form true resistance. Every time he made a move that crossed the line, the image of that taciturn Giyuu, who would never take the initiative to approach her, would flash through her mind.
She knew perfectly well that the person in front of her wasn't that Giyuu, yet she couldn't help but look for the shadow of that blockhead in the man before her.
When he approached her, was her racing heartbeat for the person in front of her, or for the other person with the exact same face?
When she rejected him, was she rejecting this frivolous intruder, or was she rejecting the Giyuu whom she subconsciously wished would approach her, but who never took the initiative?
She didn't know. Her heart was a tangled mess.
Peacock Giyuu keenly caught her momentary hesitation, and with a sweep of his long arm, he pulled her tightly into his embrace. His arms tightened around her, his chin resting gently on the top of her head.
"Let go..." Shinobu's struggles were light, exceptionally soft and powerless within his firm embrace, and the resistance in her tone faded a bit.
Peacock Giyuu didn't speak, lowering his head to capture her lips.
At first, Shinobu kept her lips tightly pursed, her hands pounding against his shoulders, but a thrill she had never experienced before made her body tremble with involuntary shudders.
At some point, she slowly stopped struggling.
Peacock Giyuu finally raised his head slowly, looking intently at her. His eyes were brighter than usual, his breathing unsteady, and his chest heaved violently, yet his face carried a satisfied, gentle smile.
"Shinobu."
Shinobu didn't answer, lowering her head slightly and burying her face deep into his chest. She didn't want him to see her flushed cheeks, or the panic and thrill in her eyes.
Her fingertips were still tightly gripping his clothes, neither letting go nor struggling anymore.
She couldn't explain the emotions surging within her heart.
Perhaps it was because the kiss had come so unexpectedly, or perhaps because the person kissing her ultimately wasn't the blockhead she cared about.
Or perhaps it was because she finally admitted that the secret expectations deep within her heart were never just about a face that looked like Giyuu, but also about the man before her who would take the initiative to approach her and call her 'Shinobu'.
But the moment this tenderness surfaced in her heart, another voice rang out from the deepest part of her soul.
'Nee-san's revenge is still unavenged.'
The pain woke her up like a bucket of cold water.
Just what was she doing?
What right did she have to waver like this? How could she allow herself to have such thoughts?
On the day Kanae collapsed, she had held her sister's cooling hand. She silently swore then that revenge was her only goal in this life. Everything else was meaningless.
Shinobu took a deep breath and slowly released her grip on Peacock Giyuu's haori.
Her determination for revenge pulled her straight out of the quagmire of ambiguity.
After that day, Shinobu began to deliberately adjust her schedule to avoid him. She moved his guest room to the most remote part of the Butterfly Mansion, ate meals half an hour later than usual, quickened her pace when passing the pharmacy, and turned down a side corridor whenever she heard his footsteps.
Peacock Giyuu seemed completely oblivious to her avoidance. He would still appear at the pharmacy door on time, leaning against the doorframe and watching her with a smile. He would still suddenly pop out from some corner as she passed by, whispering low murmurs in her ear.
Every time she heard him call out, her heart would skip a beat.
She hated her own wavering heart, yet she also gradually stopped resisting the feeling. Even though she was clearly avoiding him, she couldn't help but look forward to their next encounter.
With demons still running rampant in the world, how dare she harbor such thoughts?
Shinobu tightly gripped the hilt of the Nichirin Blade at her waist. The icy touch was the best answer.
