Shinobu Kocho instinctively started to argue, then realized what Tetsu no Sosuke meant.
She snorted and shook her head. "It's none of your business."
"I'm just looking out for you," Tetsu no Sosuke said. "You've gone to a lot of trouble for me. I can't turn a blind eye to your affairs. I know being pushed into marriage is irritating, but you're not getting any younger. By now, you must know how hard it is to shoulder everything yourself. If a dependable man helped you share the burden, life would be a little easier."
"I don't need one." Shinobu Kocho shook her head.
"Everyone needs someone." Tetsu no Sosuke looked up at the ceiling. "No one is born to spend their life alone. You have parents when you're born, make friends as you grow, and eventually find someone you love and build a family. That's how you live out your days. Few people go through life entirely on their own. It's too lonely. When you're old, your youth and beauty gone, with no one beside you even to talk to... that would be a bleak existence."
Shinobu Kocho pictured the life he described and fell silent.
Tetsu no Sosuke gave a rueful laugh. "I'm telling you all this. At least say something."
"No." Shinobu Kocho snorted. "I'm still young."
"You are, really." By the standards of the world Tetsu no Sosuke had come from, Shinobu Kocho was young. At her age, even dating would have been considered a teenage romance.
But this era was different.
While Tetsu no Sosuke was reflecting on how times differed, Shinobu Kocho grew angry. "What part of me is small?"
"Aren't you the one who said it?"
"I never said that."
Tetsu no Sosuke stared at her, dumbfounded, then slapped his forehead. "Women really are