"Oh... this looks like dishes actually meant for humans." With sun right above their heads, a dark shadow seemed to have hidden the upper region of Shinobu's face as her exposed cold smile sent shivers down the already quivering Mitsuri while Obanai had long receded into the sidelines due to Mitsuri's arrival, allowing Nik to happily interact with the two of them without any interruption.

"What's going on, Mitsuri?"

Shinobu tilted her head slightly, the locks of her hair gliding down her face as Shinobu's glimmering eyes made Mitsuri sweat even quicker.

"I- I- I-" Clearly rattled, Mitsuri's teeth clacked against each other while she gripped on her thighs and trying to avert her gaze, but Shinobu's absolutely scary eyes petrified Mitsuri gloriously. 

"You? What? Did you maybe think that I am not a human?" This time, even Nik scooched a little outwards, unwilling to earn the ire of the mindbogglingly crazy Shinobu as Mitsuri gulped, her green eyes finally shifting towards Nik, desperate for his help.

"Or maybe..." The silent rage hidden within Shinobu's words made both of them shiver into a stop, "Did you think that I am not qualified to eat what humans do..."

"It should be one of the two things, right?"

Shinobu whispered, the delicious dishes presented in front of them failed to suppress Shinobu's indignation as her large round pupils bore into Mitsuri's large bosom, this time properly covered under her chef's uniform.

Finally, a Mitsuri also burst into a furious ball of indignation, "It was all your fault!!"

By now, the busy villagers couldn't care less about the drama happening around the table, but that didn't mean that Shinobu didn't. Mitsuri finally took a deep breath to gather her bearings before looking straight into Shinobu's eyes while her cheeks inflating into a furious pout while her eyes widened in righteous rage.

She was going to curse!

"Shinobu, you are a meanie!"

"Eh?"

This time, everybody stopped and looked at the kind pinkette that only knew how to smile. With two pearly globules of tears forming around the corner of her eyes, Mitsuri's cheeks remained flared, "Yesh, you are a meanie!"

Mitsuri repeated herself with glaring indignation as Nik couldn't help but widen his eyes and catch an eyeful of the scene. No matter how he looked, he simply got positive vibes from Mitsuri even when she was definitely angry. 

"You don't get it, you are the one who served me the soup of eyeballs, remember?"

Shinobu regained herself from the stupor. Mitsuri was no chiseled hung who could attract her attention and make Shinobu speechless through her beauty. Nik could achieve that feat, but not Mitsuri.

"That's why I said! You are a meanie! Bleh!"

As if to justify her act, Mitsuri finally took it up a notch and stuck her tongue out while slamming her palms on the table rather lightly. A soft tap.

"Didn't you feed me goat's foot?"

Shinobu pursued. This wasn't even funny!

"But you are the meanie! Always teasing me! I don't like it!"

Mitsuri continued herself, finally unable to keep her cheeks inflated all the time, but finally, a serious expression took over her face as Shinobu groaned.

"If you have some problem, then speak! Why would you even feed me all those things? Did I ever poison you?"

Shinobu countered while Mitsuri bit her lips and floundered.

"B-but... I don't like to fight..."

"So... you just tried new cooking techniques on Shinobu, no biggie~"

Nik couldn't help but snicker as Shinobu turned her glare towards Nik, "You, hush!"

"And you," Shinobu eyes Mitsuri with a hard expression, "I respected you and if I took my teasing to an inappropriate level, then I apologize.

But you know me enough that I will never use my professional expertise on you for inappropriate matters. I guess I took you for something else."

Shinobu huffed and then looked at Nik, "Come with me!"

Looking back at Mitsuri, Nik sighed softly and stood up, but not before grabbing a plate for himself and then tapping on the top of Mitsuri's head, bringing out of her dazed stupor. Her face spoke that she was almost ready to burst into tears as she gazed at Nik with an apologetic expression.

"I'm not going to lie, Mitsuri, as much as the bowl of eyes projected an evil finesse, maybe, you two should talk it out...

Shinobu likes you, after all, it is a fit of momentary anger.

All of this will pass."

"Nik... I- I'm the *hic* worst..."

Mitsuri lowered her head and before Nik could part with a few words of wisdom to take advantage of the vulnerable Mitsuri, he was pulled back an angry Shinobu, making Mitsuri slightly desperate as Nik flashed a smile before covering Mitsuri with his Pheromones to help her calm down.

***

"Well, your plan worked out after all."

Nik chomped on the meat with a comfortable expression as he accompanied Shinobu through the village.

"What makes you say that?"

Shinobu eyed Nik carefully with a hint of a smile on her lips.

"Here, take this."

Nik passed on the plate over to Shinobu, who curiously took it and waited for Nik's explanation when suddenly, Nik leaned downwards and caught her and her lips in a surprise, leaving a soft and gentle peck on her lips, eliciting her lips to burn crimson.

"You like to take advantage of vulnerability... just like me. Maybe, it was well within your plan to make Mitsuri feel guilty by bulldozing through her inexistent arguments and hiding away your own mistakes."

Nik took back the plate as Shinobu hissed while punching his chest, "What do you think you are doing?!"

"Taking your advantage, of course. But that is not the point." Nik commented as Shinobu wondered how kissing her in the daylight after having multiple partners wasn't already the— point—

"Mitsuri is sad... probably, sadder than what you and I can imagine.

Maybe, this wasn't what you intended, and maybe, your pride may restrict you from going back and admitting your own faults..."

Nik smiled and licked his lips, "Mitsuri really is a good cook, huh...

It would be a shame if she just stopped cooking all together just due to some pointless argument."

"It isn't pointless!"

Shinobu argued.

"Sure it is. Siblings always argue pointlessly, not that I have any..."

For a brief moment, images of a few people passed across his vision as Nik smiled at Shinobu while his gaze matched hers.

"Believe me. It's always better to talk things out instead of leaving one crying while waiting for your apology just to feel victorious..."

'I would probably wait for the apology though...'

Before Nik could continue, Shinobu turned on her heels and Nik waved behind her, "When Rei and Aoi get there, send them to Elizabeth's place! I need to instruct them further..."

Shinobu simply waved her hand to point out her acceptances of the task before making her way towards the cooking area.

***

"Is that it?"

Elizabeth still had the ease to speak calmly while kicking Shigure right in her abdomen and shooting her back with enough force to send an elephant a hundred paces back while adjusting her shades and looking at the defeated Saeko and Shigure without any hint of her usual compassion.

"I guess, that is it."

Elizabeth answered her own question and sat on a squared down rock while waiting for the duo to catch their breaths. As expected, the moment the duo caught their breaths, neither of them wasted their time to pose elaborate question on why were they getting beaten for the past few hours relentlessly or the fact that why Elizabeth's first disciple was still missing or the fact that Elizabeth might just be trying to vent her frustration for the time the duo hogged Nik for themselves.

But after years of training with the beautiful brunette, the duo knew well that this was just the form of training that Cultivation of War inflicted on her students, all except Nik.

Shigure's and Saeko's flickered into existence around Elizabeth time and again but none dared to attack Elizabeth thoughtlessly once again.

The first two hours of training made the duo realise that by how much of a margin did they slack in their own training. The other two hours of beatdown was necessary to warm themselves up and finally, it is only from the last four hours did the duo finally get into the mood of pushing their bodies through their limits and actually learn from Elizabeth once again.

"Saeko, you still push in too deep."

Elizabeth extended her leg and instantly, Saeko came to a sudden stop, stumbling forward with her body rolling until slamming into the nearby tree while Elizabeth raised her right hand and easily caught Shigure's wrist.

"And once emotional, it is easy to read your movements and predict you, Shigure."

Elizabeth continued grimly and instantly, her body backflipped and slammed Shigure into the ground, creating a small crater.

"Shizuka's body has reached equal to mine." Elizabeth landed and whispered the startling news to the duo, instantly making them bite their pain and grit their teeth.

"Now get up, little girls... show these old bones that they haven't instilled all those skills into you for nothing."

***

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