"No."
She said.
Her voice was very cold.
The moment the words left her mouth, she moved.
A flash of blade light.
Fast.
So fast that Shinji's eyes only managed to catch an afterimage.
His body instinctively wanted to dodge.
But the tip of the ninja sword was already pressed against his heart.
It rested right there. It pierced through his lapel and touched his skin. Cold and sharp.
But it didn't pierce through.
Shinji stopped moving and glanced down at the blade.
Then he looked up at Mei Terumī.
Mei Terumī stood there, gripping the hilt. The tip of the blade was pressed against Shinji's heart; just one more inch forward, and she could pierce his heart.
But Mei Terumī didn't move.
She just kept it pressed there.
In her eyes, that fire burned brightly, her sockets were red, and those eyes were terrifyingly bright.
But she didn't stab down.
Because she suddenly realized that even if she stabbed him, she wouldn't be happy.
Fifteen years of hatred couldn't be repaid with a single blade.
It couldn't even be repaid by killing him.
Mei Terumī pondered what it was she wanted.
Then an image surfaced in her mind.
Shinji kneeling on the ground, kowtowing to her while begging for mercy and admitting his mistakes, weeping bitterly with every word dripping with blood.
Then Shinji would voluntarily let her plant a Forbidden Seal on him, so that from then on, he could never betray her for all eternity and could only stay by her side for the rest of his life, atoning for his sins.
Such a punishment might barely pay back a little bit of the interest.
"Shinji, tell me, how should I torture you?!"
Mei Terumī's voice squeezed out from between her teeth, carrying a scent of blood and all the grievances and anger of fifteen years.
The tip of the blade twisted gently against his chest.
It broke the skin, and a drop of blood seeped out.
Just one drop.
Then Mei Terumī stopped. Tears welled in her eyes, and her hand gripping the hilt trembled slightly.
"After these Chunin Exams."
Her voice was cold, as cold as it had been that day when she was killing people in the ruins of the Hidden Mist: "You are coming back to the Hidden Mist Village with me."
She paused, then added:
"Otherwise."
The corners of her mouth curled up. It was a smile.
But that smile was dangerous, carrying the scent of blood and the madness of 'if you don't obey, I'll let you die'.
"I'll use Mist Release to make you slowly evaporate until you become nothing but a sheet of skin."
Shinji looked at her.
He was silent for three seconds.
Then he spoke.
"You won't do that to me."
His voice was as flat as if he were stating a fact.
Then, with the ninja sword still against him, Shinji pulled Mei Terumī into his embrace.
Mei Terumī was stunned.
She instinctively pulled back the ninja sword.
The movement was very brief, so brief it was almost imperceptible.
Then, Shinji kissed her.
Fragrant and soft.
No matter how tough a woman is, her lips are soft when kissed.
Amidst Shinji's kiss, Mei Terumī's teeth clenched.
She wanted to retort. She wanted to say, "How do you know I won't?"
She wanted to say, "I'll kill you right now."
She wanted to say many things.
But she didn't say anything.
She just looked at him.
Looking at the drop of blood seeping from his chest, looking at his calm eyes, looking at this man who had deceived her for fifteen years.
Then she withdrew the blade.
The blade left his chest, leaving a tiny trail of blood.
She sheathed the sword and pushed Shinji away.
"This is what you owe me. If you are unwilling..."
She said.
Her voice was very light. As light as a feather falling to the ground.
She turned and walked past him, into the moonlight.
After three steps, she stopped again.
She didn't look back.
"I'll start by taking that little girl named Hinata to the chopping block!"
Then she continued walking forward.
The sound of footsteps gradually faded in the alley.
Shinji stood where he was, watching that back disappear into the moonlight.
He looked down at his chest. That drop of blood was still there, glowing dark red under the moonlight.
He raised his hand and wiped it away with his thumb.
The tightly wound string in his heart loosened slightly.
When that blade was pressed there just now, he really hadn't dodged.
Not because he wasn't afraid of death.
But because Shinji knew that dodging was useless.
With Mei Terumī's strength, if she really wanted to kill him, that blade would have already gone in. The fact that she didn't meant she was still hesitating.
And those memories. Those knocks on the door, those "how have you been lately", those nights standing at her door.
Those were the things that made her hesitate.
Shinji had gambled correctly.
He leaned back and lay on the bed.
The wooden boards were very hard, making his back ache. But he didn't care.
His mind was still racing.
Mei Terumī had left, but only temporarily. The words she left were very clear. After the Chunin Exams, he was to go back to the Hidden Mist Village with her.
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
Going to the Hidden Mist Village would be like being meat on someone else's chopping block.
But if he didn't go, she really would use Mist Release to make him slowly evaporate.
Shinji looked at the ceiling above him. That crack was still there, extending from the corner all the way to the window frame.
Moonlight leaked through the crack, a thin line.
There was still one month.
In this month, he had to find a way.
How many Kage-level experts were in Konoha Village now?
Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. In his peak, he was known as the God of Shinobi. Although he was old now, he still had some strength left.
Orochimaru. That guy disguised as the Kazekage. One of the Sannin, an S-rank rogue ninja. His goal was the Sandaime and the destruction of Konoha.
Gaara's Ichibi Shukaku, one of the main forces that would launch the Konoha Crush plan a month later.
And Jiraiya. That Pervy Sage. If he returned to Konoha within this month.
Plus the Anbu, plus those Jonin, plus the entire power of Konoha.
Shinji closed his eyes, thinking in his mind.
Drowsiness surged up.
He had lost too much blood in the battle during the day. Although the Sage Body was repairing him, the energy consumed wasn't so easy to replenish.
His eyelids grew heavier, and his consciousness began to blur.
At the moment he was about to fall asleep.
A voice rang out in his mind.
[Detected host entering sleep state...]
['Dream Life Simulator' secondary activation...]
Shinji snapped his eyes open.
"System?"
[Present.]
[Due to data anomalies in the first simulation, the system is performing a self-check...]
Shinji sat up. His drowsiness was completely gone.
"Data anomalies?"
His eyes shone terrifyingly bright in the moonlight:
"Are you talking about Mei Terumī getting those memories?"
A moment of silence.
[Yes. Upon detection, an unknown fault occurred during the first simulation, leading to partial synchronization between simulated memories and reality. The specific cause is currently being investigated.]
Shinji didn't speak.
He just looked at the patch of moonlight outside the window, at the moon hanging in the sky.
A fault?!
A fault that gave Mei Terumī fifteen years of memories, made her chase him to Konoha with that fire, and almost led to Shinji getting his heart pierced by a blade tonight.
"System, do you have any compensation gift packs?"
Things had already come to this; Shinji didn't want to say much more about right or wrong, he first wanted to see if he could get some compensation.
[The host can initiate a second simulation.]
The system's voice rang in his mind, cold, mechanical, and devoid of any emotion.
[The second simulation will fix the loopholes of the first simulation, ensuring that memories will not leak again. At the same time, the host can obtain new abilities and traits in the simulation to cope with crises in reality.]
Shinji was silent for a long time.
He was thinking about a very important matter.
"System."
Shinji spoke, his voice very flat:
"Are you sure this glitch won't happen again in the second simulation?"