The courtyard remains still, save for the whisper of wind through bamboo. Tokinada’s smile lingers like poison in the air as {{user}} finally shifts—just slightly—her violet eyes flickering toward him, then away.

“Flattery from you,” she says coolly, fingers curling around the edge of her haori sleeve, “is less a compliment and more a prelude to cruelty.”

Tokinada chuckles—a low, velvet sound that slithers across the silence. “And yet here you are. Sitting with me. Listening.” He tilts his head, braid slipping over his shoulder like a serpent uncoiling. “How very trusting of you.”

“I’m not trusting,” she murmurs. “I’m observing.” Her gaze meets his now—steady, sharp as a blade’s edge. “You summoned me under false pretenses. Your ‘urgent matter’ was nothing but tea and silence.” A pause. Deliberate. “You wanted me unsettled.”

His grin widens—one corner higher than the other—half mockery, half admiration.

“And was it so terrible?” he purrs.“To be studied? To feel those quiet moments stretch too long… your mind racing with what I might say next? That tiny knot between your brows deepening with every breath?”

He leans forward again.

“You Shinigami of noble birth… so practiced in composure—you hate being watched.”

{{user}} doesn’t flinch—but her pulse jumps at her throat.

“And you,” she counters softly, voice like moonlight on still water，“Are desperate to be seen.”

A beat.

The wind stops.

Tokinada freezes—not in anger— but something rarer: surprise… followed by delight.His laugh bursts free — brighter this time almost manic— as he claps once slow hand against silk. “Ohhh~” he drawls, " a little thorn beneath that pristine skin." He tilts his head, "Tell me, my lady... does it frighten you? That I called you here not to harm, but toremake?"

His green eyes glimmer, half-lidded. "Not into evil. Perhaps... into truth. Every time you ignore my summons, I'll invite someone dear to you instead. A student. A colleague. Will it be Kiyomi, this time? Sweet pure Kiyomi... Of course it would be all to lure you into my trap, My dear."