The fangs came down slowly.
Raizen watched them fall. Curved, sharp, close enough that he could see his own reflection in the slick white surface.
Every single one of his breaths scraped against the old rib fracture.
Somewhere at the edge of the circle world, a voice cut through.
"Show me"
Mina's voice.
"Show me, Raizen... How strong you really are."
She didn't shout.
She didn't sound worried.
It was a simple request.
She knew the truth.
Raizen's lips moved before anything else did.
A small breath slipped out of him, almost a laugh.
He just smiled.
It was tiny. Wrong for the situation.
The wolf didn't understand smiles.
It understood motion.
Its jaws dropped lower.
Raizen moved his right hand.
His fingers slid off the wood floor and found the hilt at his hip.
But he didn't yank the sword free.
Pinned under the beast's weight, ribs screaming, the breath barely in his lungs, he pushed with his thumb and drew the blade a palm's width out of its sheath.
