(extra chapter)
After the meal,
Kiyokawa Izumi sneakily made his way outside Kochou Shinobu's room. What he was currently troubled by was where exactly the Flame Hashira's home was.
As a mere ordinary Team Member, Kanzaki Aoi clearly didn't know.
In his helplessness, he could only ask Kochou Shinobu.
Before he even got close, he heard a light and pleasant melody ringing in his ears—Kochou Shinobu, humming a song, seemed to be in a pretty good mood at the moment.
Peeking in, he saw Kochou Shinobu's fingertips pinching fish food, her sleeves sliding down to reveal her slender wrists.
With her arm resting halfway on the edge of a ceramic bowl, the goldfish she called "Pufferfish" slowly floated up, its round mouth opening and closing with a "ba-da ba-da" sound.
She lightly flicked the surface of the water; the startled goldfish flicked its tail, splashing droplets of water onto her delicate face.
"Mr. Kiyokawa Izumi, does your eye still hurt?"
Having noticed him long ago, Kochou Shinobu asked with a smile.
"..."
Kiyokawa Izumi's mouth twitched slightly, and he silently rolled his eyes.
Even if she hadn't struck hard, it still hurt a little.
It was just a minor superficial injury that would likely recover by tomorrow morning... Kiyokawa Izumi didn't really care about it, so he just asked casually.
"You call a goldfish 'Pufferfish'?"
"Is that not allowed?"
"No, I just think your naming skills are quite high... You want this goldfish to grow up healthy, right?"
Kiyokawa Izumi said, speaking against his heart.
This woman's naming skills were actually quite terrible.
For example, she had once prepared names like Suzume, Hakobe, Kamasu, and Tobiko for Kanao.
They sounded unique, but they weren't practical.
Unfortunately, the current Butterfly Mansion had no room for honest people, so Kiyokawa Izumi could only praise her for choosing a very good name.
Then again, she wasn't like ordinary young girls; she didn't like fluffy animals, preferring goldfish instead.
Kiyokawa Izumi was different; he quite liked cats and dogs, he just didn't like raising them—because they shed fur, he preferred raising turtles.
"Is there something you need?"
Kochou Shinobu turned her head slightly and patted the space beside her twice, gesturing for Kiyokawa Izumi to sit down.
Truth be told, she didn't have any feelings of dissatisfaction toward Kiyokawa Izumi; on the contrary, she was quite looking forward to things.
"It's cute, isn't it?"
Kiyokawa Izumi sat down beside Kochou Shinobu, watching the goldfish swimming freely in the ceramic bowl with her.
"Yeah."
Kiyokawa Izumi, whose mind wasn't on the fish, just nodded perfunctorily and asked seriously.
"Do you know where the Flame Hashira's home is?"
After he explained his reason, Kochou Shinobu, who was listening with a smile, showed a thoughtful expression and readily told him the specific address... Just as Kiyokawa Izumi was about to get up and take his leave, he suddenly heard Kochou Shinobu call out.
"Wait a moment!"
"Hmm?"
Somewhat confused, Kiyokawa Izumi instinctively looked over.
Kochou Shinobu picked up a tin of ointment from a nearby table, pushed it in front of Kiyokawa Izumi, and asked with a smile, "Will you apply it yourself, or should I help you?"
"?"
Taking the ointment cautiously, Kiyokawa Izumi looked at her with some suspicion.
"What's this?"
"Don't worry, it's not some kind of poison."
"Is that so? Then how about you help me apply it?"
Slightly touched, Kiyokawa Izumi quickly realized—beating me up and then giving me medicine, she's really... I'm crying my eyes out.
I'm not Zenitsu; this little trick won't work on me!
"Sit still!"
Sitting on her knees on a cushion, Kochou Shinobu opened the medicine box, the air filling with a faint scent of herbs. Without looking up, she said casually to Kiyokawa Izumi.
"Your Moves are too one-dimensional and lack explosive power. Also, what's going on with your eyes?"
"Take a guess."
Before Kiyokawa Izumi could finish, he felt the cool little hand stroking his face apply a bit of pressure, causing him to hiss in pain.
"Oops, I accidentally used a bit too much force. Mr. Kiyokawa Izumi, what were you saying just now?"
"I said, it's natural! I don't know what's going on either; my eyes just turn red whenever I fight. Don't even think about researching it, it's natural!"
Kiyokawa Izumi said with a hint of wariness, feeling like he was being completely toyed with by this wicked woman today.
At this moment, the distance between the two was extremely close.
"I see."
_______
A new bonus chapter at 500 energy stones... the number might seem large, but I swear it's very easy for you