Shinobu Kocho's eyes gleamed like those of a scientist discovering a new continent.
That naked desire to take him apart and study him was barely concealed.
Sasuke's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
He was not a trophy, much less a frog on a laboratory table.
"Not interested."
Those icy words doused Shinobu Kocho's enthusiasm like a bucket of cold water.
He gave her no further chance to speak. With a flicker, he slipped past her, leaving only his cold retreating figure.
Shinobu Kocho looked in the direction he had disappeared. The smile on her face did not fade; instead, it deepened.
"Oh my, you really are difficult to approach. But the more you are like that... the more worthwhile the challenge, isn't it?"
A few days later.
The mental exhaustion caused by using Kirin finally dissipated completely.
Restored to his peak condition, Sasuke wandered around the Butterfly Mansion and, for some inexplicable reason, found himself at the training ground in the backyard.
Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke were doing rehabilitation training there.
Their training consisted of blowing into a huge, specially made gourd until it burst.
Zenitsu hugged his gourd, sobbing and sniffling as he complained that his lungs were about to explode.
Inosuke had abandoned using his mouth in favor of his prized headbutt, only for the gourd's rebound to leave him seeing stars as he shouted, "What a hard pig!"
Only Tanjiro remained alone in a corner, utterly focused, repeating the process of inhaling and exhaling over and over.
His cheeks were flushed scarlet from exertion, and sweat had long since soaked his uniform, but he still did not give up.
Very persistent.
In Sasuke's eyes, very foolish, too.
He stood beneath the covered walkway a short distance away and activated his Sharingan without expression.
In his field of vision,