The heavy wooden door swung open, and Rokuya walked in carrying a steaming bowl of udon. Looking at the petite figure hunched over a microscope, with heavy dark circles beneath her eyes, he couldn't help shaking his head.
"Even if you're doing research, you don't have to work yourself into a demon, do you?" Rokuya set the bowl down hard on the table with a soft thud. "Eat. Kanae saved this especially for you. If she finds out you've been skipping meals and sleep for your research again, she'll give you that smile that makes your skin crawl."
Only at the sound of Rokuya's voice did Shinobu Kocho snap out of her thoughts. She rubbed her sore eyes and turned around. Though her face was exhausted, an unusually bright light shone in her purple eyes.
"Rokuya, you're just in time!"
Ignoring the bowl of noodles, Shinobu carefully took an exquisitely crafted glass test tube from a locked iron box beside her. Inside, the purplish-red Medicine, radiating an uncanny vitality, flowed quietly.
"This is the Medicine Miss Tamayo developed." Shinobu handed the test tube to Rokuya. "I'm returning it. Sorry. In these two weeks, I managed to identify most of its ingredients, but I couldn't develop an identical substitute."
Rokuya took the Medicine and tucked it securely inside his clothes, unsurprised. "It was a lifesaving trump card cooked up by a demon who's lived for centuries, after all, and it has my blood mixed into it. Just identifying its ingredients is already incredible."
"But..." Shinobu Kocho suddenly changed her tone, her lips curving into a somewhat proud smile.
She turned toward another workbench and picked up a bottle of pale blue liquid. It looked clear and transparent, but beneath the light, a faint dark blue glow swirled within it, carrying an