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"Yawn~"
Kael yawned, the sound echoing through the quiet halls of the Butterfly Mansion. Even after splashing cold water on his face, he couldn't shake the heavy cloud of sleepiness; he had never suffered the indignity of waking up this early in his life.
Shinobu Kocho, seeing his state, felt a flicker of guilt. Since Kael had traveled all this way to help her, she decided to prepare breakfast as a small gesture of compensation.
"What is this?" Kael asked, tilting his head as he stared at the charred, half-raw roasted sweet potato in his hand.
"Breakfast," Shinobu replied simply.
"Are you feeding me like livestock, or is this some kind of culinary assassination attempt?"
Shinobu's eye twitched. Indignation flared in her chest. I really shouldn't have bothered with the extra work.
"It's... it's edible," she insisted. She took a small bite herself, forced it down her throat, and nearly turned blue. Cooking was not a skill she possessed; usually, the other girls in the Butterfly Mansion handled the kitchen. This whim had turned into a tactical disaster.
"Move aside, Kael-kun. Let a professional handle the hardware."
Kael took the sweet potato from her, rolled up his sleeves, and set to work. His movements were fluid, clinical, and strangely pleasant to watch—reminiscent of a master craftsman assembling a high-end cyberdeck. Shinobu stood by, awkward and useless in her own home, watching as the sweet potato porridge began to bubble, releasing a genuine aroma of rice and comfort. He even managed to stir-fry a few side dishes with practiced ease.
"Sit down, Miss Kocho," Kael said casually, as if he were the master of the house, serving two steaming bowls.
Shinobu sat, picking up her chopsticks before suddenly remembering she was supposed to be the one hosting him.
"Do you want sugar?"
"...Yes, thank you."
As the hot porridge warmed her system, Shinobu realized she had never tasted anything quite so perfectly balanced. It was a brief moment of peace before the "Calculating Survivor" shifted back into technical mode.
They moved to the pharmacy—the heart of the Butterfly Mansion where Shinobu refined her wisteria toxins. Kael quickly understood why Kagaya hadn't made the poison widespread. The extraction process was a nightmare of manual labor and low yields, and the stability of the compound was abysmal; it degraded almost as fast as a burnt-out neural link.
"Decapitation is a harsh win-condition for humans," Kael mused, scanning the laboratory. "Demons can ignore internal organ failure, but humans are fragile 'ganics.' If we can make this toxin a standardized weapon, we level the playing field."
Kagaya had spared no expense. The lab was filled with imported Western equipment that would have looked like alien tech to a commoner.
"Miss Kocho, perform an extraction. I need to see the baseline process."
Shinobu stepped forward, her focus absolute as she navigated the vessels and tubes. When she finished, she handed Kael a few milligrams of the final product.
"Is this the wisteria toxin? Why does it zero demons so effectively?" Kael asked.
"It contains the power of the sun," Shinobu answered, giving the standard, idealistic response of this world.
"Then let's isolate exactly which chemical 'daemon' is carrying that sunlight payload."
Kael didn't dismiss her answer, but his mind operated on a different frequency. He needed to translate this world's "magic" into biological data. He began replicating her process with a speed and precision that made her years of medical study feel insignificant. It was that same feeling from the day before—as if he were a "Glitch" in the system of her life.
"Don't just stand there, assist me. We need a quantitative surplus for the next phase."
"Oh... right." Shinobu instinctively moved to help. The question of who was in charge popped into her head again, but it was quickly drowned out by Kael's clinical directions. It felt like being a child again, learning at her father's side.
By the afternoon, the lab work was paused. Kael had a promise to keep: refining Shinobu's Insect Breathing.
At the training ground, they found a girl with pink pupils practicing her forms. Her blade bloomed like a digital flower garden—precise, beautiful, and haunting.
"Who's the kid?" Kael asked.
"My younger sister, Kanao Tsuyuri," Shinobu said, her smile finally reaching her eyes.
"A sister? You look nothing alike. Picked her up from a Scavenger nest?"
Shinobu glared at him. He was poking at the truth again. She briefly recounted Kanao's past—the abuse, the traffickers, and the emotional shutdown that had left the girl an empty vessel. Before she could finish, Kael walked up to Kanao and began teasing her nose with a piece of foxtail grass.
"Kael!" Shinobu strode forward and pulled him away. "Stop bullying her!"
"Bullying? I'm initiating sensory recalibration," Kael said with a straight face. "External stimulation is the only way to bypass an emotional firewall. If you leave her in a loop, she'll never recover."
"Really?" Shinobu asked, skeptical but wavering.
"Trust me, I'm a professional," Kael said, gently patting the back of her hand. She let go, momentarily flustered.
"This is Mr. Kael," Shinobu introduced him to the blank-faced girl.
"You can just call me Onii-chan," Kael added.
Shinobu's anger flared. She made a silent vow: Kael and Kanao were never to be left alone. She didn't trust his character—or rather, she trusted his "Calculating Survivor" magnetism far too much.
"Demonstrate the full style, Sensei Shinobu," Kael said, his attitude suddenly switching to that of a dedicated student.
Shinobu demonstrated the four forms of Insect Breathing. Kael watched with his Kiroshi-level perception. He saw the gaps. Because Insect Breathing was a derivative of a derivative—Flower Breathing from Water Breathing—it was fragmented. It lacked the seamless cycle of Sun Breathing. It was a compromise built around her lack of physical torque.
"Beautiful. Worthy of a reward!" Kael applauded.
Shinobu threw her sword hilt-first into the grass at his feet. "Your turn, Choomba."
Kael picked up the slender Nichirin blade—a needle-like tool made for stabbing. He initiated the first form. Shinobu's eyes widened. He was more proficient after one viewing than most Slayers were after a year. He glided through the first three forms with the grace of a high-end combat script. He only stumbled on the fourth—the Hundred-Legged Zigzag.
Shinobu stepped in to correct his footwork. Before long, the residents of the Butterfly Mansion were treated to a surreal sight: two "butterflies" dancing in a lethal, synchronized rhythm through the flower garden.
The sun was setting. Kael's bio-rhythm was overclocked, his mind merging Shinobu's speed with his own raw power. He wasn't just learning a style; he was optimizing it.
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