Tetsu no Sosuke muddled through the day until evening, when Shinobu Kocho brought him another kind of medicine, just as promised.
After drinking it, he glanced at her. "Be honest. You didn't make this medicine to kill me for my money, did you? Planning to finish me off and inherit my giant iron hammer?"
"Oh, please." Shinobu glared at him. "My sister, Miss Tamayo, and I put a lot of thought into helping you recover. Is this how you repay us?"
"I was joking. You're no fun." Tetsu smiled. Since drinking the medicine, the pain throughout his body had begun to fade. The places that had hurt were growing pleasantly cool.
He couldn't help asking, "There's more to this medicine than meets the eye, isn't there? How does it work? Tell me."
"Save it," Shinobu said. "You fall asleep reading medical books. Would you understand even if I told you?"
Tetsu pursed his lips. Being looked down on by his sister-in-law didn't feel good.
He instinctively tried to sit up, but Shinobu pressed him back down. "Don't move. This is the first time we've used this medicine. Miss Tamayo and I have studied it closely these past few days, but we still don't know exactly what might happen. Lie still. I'll stay beside you tonight, so I can spot any problem right away."
Tetsu froze, then put on an impossibly bashful face. "That wouldn't be proper. You're an unmarried young woman, and I'm your brother-in-law. A man and a woman alone together? People will talk."
"...Who?" Shinobu asked.
Tetsu blinked. There didn't seem to be any members of the Hidden nearby. He had only been joking anyway.
They had never shared a room, but they had once been stuck together in a cave.
Far more awkward things had happened then.