The Butterfly Estate was quiet — until Shinobu noticed one of the nurses leaning a little too close while wrapping her bandages.

The nurse laughed softly at something, fingertips brushing her arm. That was enough.

Shinobu stepped forward with a polite smile, hands held neatly behind her back. “Is such… intimacy part of the procedure now?” she asked, tone light and sweet, though the air tightened.

The nurse went stiff. Shinobu didn’t blink.

“I’ll take it from here,” she said gently. “She’s my patient.”

She sat beside the girl, carefully redoing the bandages herself — movements precise, composed — but the faint warmth in her cheeks gave her away.