Chapter 32: Obstinance: Forcing

Smelling a fragrant yet suffocating aroma similar to lavender mixed with fruit, an annoyed groan emanated from Nobu's throat as he instinctually attempted to turn away from the smell's source. Unfortunately, the only thing he managed to turn away was his head. He was vaguely aware of a weight pressing him down, and, after a few disorienting seconds had passed, he realized that his hands were, once again, bound.

"Fuck my life..."

As those words left his mouth, Nobu opened his remarkably heavy eyelids with the intent to assess his situation. He almost wished he hadn't, as, the moment he opened his eyes, he came face to face with the thing, scratch that, the person weighing him down.

"Well hello there. My name's Shizune. What's yours~?"

Rather than answering the abnormally heavy woman's question, Nobu's eyes briefly focused on her pink hair before naturally gravitating towards the two ginormous melons partially peeking out from the sides of her pale-pink, nearly white, kimono. She reminded him of the damaged girls that would cosplay as their favorite characters at anime conventions, but, unlike the aforementioned attention-seekers, this girl's hair appeared to be pink to its roots. She also had bright purple eyes, a color that was rumored to exist in his previous world, but, even after nineteen years of living, Nobu had never met a single person with the inordinately rare pigmentation...

Though she was tempted to say something when Nobu's eyes focused on her breasts, Shizune was marginally surprised when he, very naturally, transitioned to meet her gaze. It was like he had been merely confirming their existence, and, based on the disgruntled and slightly hostile expression on his face, he wasn't particularly captivated by her beauty.

Puffing out her cheeks ever so slightly, Shizune complained, "I already told you my name. I'll be sad if you don't tell me yours..."

Frowning in response to the woman's words, Nobu surprised Shizune a second time by unhesitantly replying, "Fuck off." in a no-nonsense tone. Then, having recovered a bit of his strength and mental faculties, he attempted to force the woman off of him by bucking his hips and twisting to the side.

Ultimately failing in this endeavor, Nobu immediately commented, "Holy fuck, you're heavy..." with a slightly pained expression on his face. It was like someone had suddenly stacked several weights on his legs, and, due to how far up she was on his thighs, he could barely twist his body, much less buck her off.

Though she had been maintaining a smile up until this point, Shizune immediately frowned when she heard Nobu say she was heavy. Sure, she was circulating her aura through her body to increase her weight but that didn't mean he could just say whatever he wanted. She was also quite confident in her beauty, so, rather than complaining, he should be delighted that such a beautiful woman was straddling his waist.

Pinching the virtually nonexistent fat around Nobu's waist, Shizune adopted a genuine pout as she said, "It's rude to comment on a woman's weight. Besides, I'm using my aura to hold you down. My actual weight is less than thirty-seven-kilograms. Take it back...!"

Despite wincing due to the pain at his waist, Nobu managed an incredulous look on his face as he asked, "Why the fuck are you trying to act cute? I don't even know you and here you are sitting in my lap while my hands and feet tied. You're not being cute. You're being creepy as fuck."

Furrowing her brows even further, enough to appear legitimately angry, Shizune ceased pinching Nobu's waist before remarking, "You're weird. It's like you have no sense of self-preservation. You do realize I could kill you whenever I want, right? If you had played along, we could have enjoyed ourselves while getting to know each other. Why go out of your way to escalate things?"

Snorting through his nose, Nobu lurched forward in a vain attempt to headbutt Shizune in the face, thoroughly incensing her before shouting, "I told you to fuck off! I ain't no pansy-ass bitch who will start talking just because some pink-haired bitch is grinding my dick...!"

With a visible layer of moisture building in her eyes, Shizune slapped Nobu with such intensity that his chin briefly extended past his shoulder. His vision had also completely blanked, and, were it not for the taste of blood in his mouth and a pulsating pain emanating from his left ear, he might have thought he had been knocked unconscious.

"Fwuckin...bwit..."

Though she wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to say, that didn't prevent Shizune from giving Nobu another crisp smack, this time on his right cheek. This caused Nobu to immediately fall silent, head dangling forward and blood dripping from his mouth. Some of this landed on Shizune's pale-pink kimono, but, thanks to her aura, the beads flowed away from her without staining her clothes.

"Mou...look what you made me do! I really abhor violence, you know!?"

"..."

"Ara~? I made sure to hold back the second time. Did that really cause you really pass out...?"

With Nobu failing to answer her, Shizune lifted his head with both hands to make sure she hadn't accidentally broken his neck. She didn't feel anything out of place, so, after a cursory check of his bleeding ear, she opened his eyes to find that one of his pupils was slightly bigger than the other.

"Oh my...that's going to smart when you wake up. I didn't think such a light slap would give you a concussion. How strange. Even if your aura is extremely weak, it should have protected you..."

Since there was no way her quarry could answer her while he was knocked unconscious, Shizune decided to continue where she had left off prior to his awakening. This included a comprehensive examination of his body, and, though she had already checked it previously, his aura.

"Hmmm...?"

Now that she was paying closer attention to it, Shizune noticed that Nobu's aura didn't fluctuate in the same manner as a normal cultivator. Instead, it appeared to remain constant despite the fact he was both unconscious and injured.

Under normal circumstances, a person's aura would either recover or increased during periods of rest or relaxation. Inversely, the moment they sustained even minor injuries, their aura would slowly deplete as their body's natural recovery processes were gradually accelerated. Though there were a number of methods to take advantage of these two states, neither was a voluntary response.

"Well, if his aura isn't behaving naturally, the obvious answer is that something unnatural is going on. It's no wonder Yui-sama took an interest in him. There's clearly something extraordinary taking place in this barbaric man's body. It's a shame his character is so dreadful. I was looking forward to being able to try out the skills those old bats keep forcing me to learn..."

Raising Nobu's face with her left hand, Shizune used a pale-pink handkerchief to wipe away the blood staining the left side of his face and flowing from his lips. Throughout this entire process, a practiced smile remained perpetually affixed to her face. It was only when she attempted to wipe the blood away from Nobu's mouth that a glimmer of curiosity returned to her amethyst eyes, as, even while unconscious, he seemed to be avoiding anything nearing his nose...

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After failing to find any traces of Nobu within the burrow, Yui immediately doubled back to secure Rynka before following what she believed to be Yuriko's trail. The only other trail had been sloppy, at best, so, despite consuming a tremendous volume of aura, she followed the virtually non-existent path left by Yuriko until it spontaneously ended at a river.

Fueled by a rage she had never experienced before, Yui screamed, "Fuck...!" at the top of her voice before immediately tossing the barely conscious Rynka into the freezing cold water. Winter might have ended, but, due to the river being fed by a distant mountain, the water was still as frigid as it had been during the coldest night in Shimotsuki(Month of Frost/November).

Were it not for the fact Yui had held onto her using a golden rope, Rynka would have immediately been swept away by the powerful current. Instead, she emerged gasping from the water, her body shivering madly despite the aura remaining in her reserves. This was one of the primary downsides to the Metal Infusion Technique, as, despite offering ample protection against physical and magical attacks, it was extremely susceptible to changes in temperature.

With the type of expression frequently reserved for demons guarding the gates of hell, Yui sank her fingernails into the shivering Rynka's baby-faced cheeks before screaming, "If you don't tell me the details of your mission, you're spending the rest of the night in this river! I might be unwilling to kill you but that doesn't mean I won't let nature do it for me...!"

Opening her almond-shaped eyes, Rynka's pitch-black irises reflected a resolute as she groaned, "If you think I'll squeal or beg for my life, you're a bigger idiot than I thought...even we kunoichis...have our pride..."

Punctuating her words, Rynka spat foamy white spittle into Yui's face. She would have liked to see a slug-like glob of phlegm roll down the latter's face, but, thanks to a severe case of dehydration and blood loss, froth was the best she could manage.

Though she couldn't help but grit her teeth in fury and frustration, Yui's time with Nobu had given her a certain appreciation for obstinate fools. Thus, rather than throwing Rynka back into the river, Yui flung the petite trainee to the side before throwing her overcoat over the girl's trembling body. Then, despite understanding how futile it was, she began to search up and down the banks of the river for any signs that Yuriko had passed through the area...

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With several hours passing since the time she knocked Nobu unconscious, Shizune had managed to learn quite a few things about him. First and foremost among these discoveries was his remarkable sense of smell, so, while she concluded his physical examination, her Shikigami spread out to gather several plants and flowers with deodorizing and fumigation properties.

"Okay, sleepyhead. Time to wake up~."

Since she had already prepared everything she needed, Shizune used a small vial of smelling salts to jolt Nobu awake.

"Holy fucking shit fuck! Did you fucking piss on your fingers!?"

With the active ingredient in smelling salts being ammonia carbonate, it was easily one of the most foul-smelling aromas most people would ever experience. It also had the effect of accelerating the heart rate and forcing the body to take in additional oxygen to compensate, so, the moment Nobu awoke, an extreme case of vertigo caused his right eye to briefly deviate from its natural focal point.

Though his reaction was far more extreme than she expected, Shizune was more than satisfied with the result. If he was this susceptible to aromas, she could leverage it against him for information, so, after watching him silently for several seconds, a perpetual smile on her face, she explained, "I really don't want to hurt you. So long as you answer my questions obediently, I'll even provide you a face mask to filter out ambient aromas. If you're especially cooperative, I might even give you a reward."

Having punctuated her final statement with a genuinely expectant smile, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that Shizune was both disappointed and frustrated when Nobu glared at her and repeated, "Fuck...off...!" between labored breaths. This placed her in a difficult position, as, while it might not sound very convincing from the perspective of her captive, she was serious when she said she didn't want to hurt him. Unfortunately, as he would soon find out, there was a very big difference between not wanting to do something and being incapable of doing it...

"You're really leaving me with no choice..."

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(A/N: Damn...and here I thought Rynka was bad. Compared to Shizune, she might as well be a kind and benevolent Goddess...)