Turn Into Pickles and Die!

Smack!

Under the strain of Kiyohiko's "high-emotional-intelligence" remarks, the pen in Shinobu Kocho's hand finally gave out, snapping in her grip.

She looked up with that familiar, benevolent smile on her face and a prominent cross-shaped vein bulging on her forehead.

"Mr. Demon, it seems my explanation wasn't clear enough. Shall I use my Nichirin Blade to help refresh your memory?"

"No, no, no! That's not necessary!"

Kiyohiko sprang back to the doorway, waving his hands and grinning foolishly.

"Then I'll get going! Get back to work! Don't wear yourself out! Remember to eat on time!"

With that, he pulled the door open and fled.

All he left behind was a roomful of silence and Shinobu Kocho sitting at her desk, staring blankly at the broken pen.

A long while passed.

Shinobu covered her burning face and let out a long, helpless sigh.

"That idiot demon."

Steam filled the Butterfly Mansion's kitchen, and the rhythmic sound of chopping brought with it an air of ordinary, peaceful daily life.

Aoi Kanzaki wore a white apron and stood with her back to the doorway, chopping a radish with force. Her movements were quick, but on closer inspection, her shoulders seemed a little tense, and she was muttering something under her breath.

"Aoi."

A voice as soft as a feather landing, yet carrying a chill that made one's spine tingle, suddenly sounded from the kitchen doorway.

"Aaaah!!"

Aoi Kanzaki jumped on the spot, nearly sending the kitchen knife flying from her hand. She turned around in a panic and saw Shinobu Kocho standing in the doorway, her hands tucked into her sleeves and her trademark, flawless smile on her face.

"L-Lady Shinobu!"

Aoi Kanzaki immediately stood up straight, clutching the hem of her apron as cold sweat broke out in an instant. "Wh-what brings you here? Was breakfast not to your liking? Or did that demon... I mean, did Kiyohiko-kun cause trouble again?"

Shinobu Kocho didn't answer immediately.

She walked slowly into the kitchen with graceful steps. Her shoes made little sound against the wooden floor, but to Aoi, each step felt like it was landing on her chest.

Shinobu stopped in front of Aoi and tilted her head slightly. "It's nothing. There are just a few things... I'd like to ask you."

Shinobu's voice was as gentle as ever, but there was a barely perceptible hint of pressure at the end of her words.

"About yesterday... you have something you want to tell me, don't you? After all, once you've seen certain things, keeping them bottled up inside must be uncomfortable, right?"

But when Aoi heard that, her face went deathly pale.

Yesterday?

Something I want to say?

Uncomfortable keeping it bottled up?

It's over. It's all over. Lady Shinobu must know everything. She knows I gave him the pickled ginger myself.

"I'm sorry!!!"

Aoi bent sharply at the waist in a perfect ninety-degree bow, her voice loud enough to shake dust from the rafters. "I was wrong, Lady Shinobu! I shouldn't have lied! He didn't snatch it away at all! It was me! I gave it to him myself!"

Shinobu Kocho's smile stiffened slightly.

Snatched it away? Gave it to him herself?

What strange ways to describe it.

"Hmm..."

Shinobu Kocho frowned slightly, sensing that things were heading in the wrong direction. "Aoi, what are you talking about? What did you give him?"

"The pickled ginger!"

Aoi squeezed her eyes shut, looking ready to face death as she shouted,

"The pickled ginger you came looking for yesterday afternoon! I saw that he was in a bad mood at the time... and he kept asking me about you, so to get him to quiet down, I had a moment of stupidity and gave him your favorite jar of pickles to eat!"

"Then I was afraid you'd be angry, so I lied and said he'd snatched it away! Boo-hoo... I really didn't mean to lie to you! Please punish me!"

A deathly silence fell over the kitchen.

Shinobu stood there, her face going through a spectacular series of changes.

From the initial "mysterious and inscrutable," to "stunned and bewildered," and finally to "sudden realization," followed by... a deep, helpless facepalm.

Pickled ginger.

So it was the pickled ginger.

After all that, what this child felt guilty about wasn't "peeking at the rooftop" at all, but that jar of pickles?

"So..."

Shinobu Kocho took a deep breath, feeling her temples throb. She tried to keep her voice steady. "Aside from the pickles... didn't you see anything else last night? For example... on the roof?"

"The roof?"

Aoi raised her head, thick streams of tears running down her face as she looked at Shinobu in confusion.

"What about the roof? I went back to my room and slept after making dinner last night... Did he go up on the roof to steal the tiles? That bastard demon! I knew he couldn't behave himself!"

Shinobu Kocho seemed to hear the sound of her own reason snapping.

Aoi hadn't seen anything. She had no idea what had happened on the roof. She didn't even know Shinobu had spent so long up there last night.

Then... back in the office just now.

That idiot demon had come charging in and said, "Aoi knows everything."

She had panicked and accepted that "Aoi knows everything."

She had even blushed and said something like, "Since she saw us, it can't be helped."

Every last bit of it.

All of it-was-her own wishful thinking!!!

An unprecedented heat rushed to the top of Shinobu's head like an erupting volcano.

If what she'd felt in the office had been shame and anger, what she felt now was pure embarrassment that made her want to crawl into a crack in the ground.

She had actually... acted so flustered, so concerned in front of that demon because of a "witness" who didn't even exist!

"Lady Shinobu?"

Aoi watched Shinobu's face turn red, then pale, before settling into an eerie calm. She grew even more frightened. "A-aren't you angry? About the pickles..."

"The pickles?"

Shinobu came back to herself and looked at the trembling Aoi before her. Suddenly, she felt so tired.

"It's all right." Shinobu Kocho waved a hand, her voice airy, as if she were sleepwalking. "If he wanted to eat them... then let him. Anyway... I'm not that hungry."

"Huh?" Aoi froze. Had she been forgiven so easily? Those were Lady Shinobu's favorite pickled ginger.

"But, Aoi."

Shinobu turned her back to Aoi, and the sunlight stretched her shadow, giving it a somewhat forlorn look. "From now on... be clear when you speak. Don't keep saying things that lead to misunderstandings. Like 'what happened last night'... understand?"

"Yes! Understood!"

Although she had no idea why, Aoi answered loudly anyway.

A moment later, the flimsy paper door to Kiyohiko's room was kicked clean off by a tremendous force.

Shinobu Kocho stood in the doorway with her arms folded, visibly radiating black resentment. There wasn't a trace of a smile in her purple eyes, only a cold glint that sent a chill down his spine.

"Shinobu... Miss Shinobu?"

"W-wait, why are you holding your Nichirin Blade? I didn't do anything!"

"Shut up!" Shinobu snapped in a low voice, and with a flicker, she vanished from where she stood.

The next second, Kiyohiko's vision blurred, and pain shot through his abdomen.

"You idiot demon!"

Holding her Nichirin Blade in its sheath, Shinobu rained blows down on Kiyohiko's body, head, and backside as though beating a wooden fish. Although every strike avoided his vital spots and she hadn't drawn the blade, there was definitely a personal grudge behind that force.

"That's for only telling me half the story! For misleading me! For... for making me look like a fool!"

"Die, die, die! Turn into pickles and die!"