Heng.
A few days were enough for a wild grass bent by heavy rain to quietly straighten its back once more.
Rina had transformed back into that seemingly flamboyant, fearless version of herself.
Only because she had no path of retreat left.
That question she had asked Hisaki in the bathtub that day was still lodged in her heart, heavy and suffocating.
‘If I became a bedridden invalid for life, would you imprison me forever?’
The other’s final silence had sealed shut the last sliver of hope in her heart.
She clearly understood two things.
Hisaki would not let her go out of softness, and the System would not relax its mission restrictions one bit just because she was injured and weak.
Every direction was a dead end, so she had to hack open a path to survival herself.
The injured fingernails from before had already been properly treated.
Hisaki had personally taken care of them.
She had meticulously wiped the delicate nail beds with disinfectant cotton, applied soothing ointment, and wrapped them layer by layer in clean bandages.
The entire process was quiet, without extra words, only extreme patience bordering on obsessive care.
And new nails were slowly growing in, little by little.
Just like the dormant Rina at this moment, appearing to have recovered to normal, yet in truth, she was secretly building up strength and re-planning her escape.
Going head-on was absolutely out of the question.
Not to mention Hisaki’s far-superhuman strength and eerily precise tracking ability, just her unfathomable depth of thought alone was something she could never contend with.
She had to completely change tactics.
Through these days of interaction, Rina had long since figured out Hisaki’s obsessive nature.
She saw through all the other’s abnormal fixations, the excessive attention, the extreme possessiveness, the everywhere-present concern.
At the root of it all, what Hisaki wanted was everything about “Shiraze Rina.”
She wanted her to be obedient, to be exclusive, to rely on her completely, to belong solely to one person.
So what if she took the initiative to offer a way out?
No longer covered in thorns and on guard everywhere, but proactively shedding her disguise to show acceptance and docility, proactively drawing close, proactively submitting.
If she let Hisaki believe she had completely given up on escaping and was willing to stay by her side willingly, would she then lower her guard?
Would she stop watching her?
The more Rina thought about it, the more feasible this plan seemed.
Risks certainly existed, but it was already the safest choice at present.
Besides, the other was a woman too; no matter how obsessive, she still had a sense of boundaries, which was far safer than a head-on confrontation.
Rina silently cheered herself on in her heart and finalized her new plan to turn things around.
Feign weakness and submission, pretend to be close, and bide time to escape.
She had actually also harbored another impulsive and dangerous thought.
She had once seen Hisaki’s treasured red wine and briefly considered whether shattering all of it would provoke her enough to make her utterly disgusted and drive her away.
But the moment she recalled Hisaki’s obsessive, deep-set expression, she immediately extinguished that thought.
She couldn’t forget the obsessive desire churning in Hisaki’s eyes; that was a dangerous state that absolutely must not be provoked.
That plan gambled too much on her life, so it was scrapped outright.
In comparison, the strategy of feigning compliance and showing gentle goodwill still left the initiative in her own hands.
Rina’s “submission and weakness plan” officially took root in her heart.
And the opportunity to execute it came faster than she had expected.
That night after finishing her bath, Rina didn’t dawdle in the bathroom for a long time like before, wrapping herself up tightly and defensively before daring to come out.
She stood barefoot on the bath mat, wet droplets dripping from the tips of her silver-white hair, dampening her slender shoulders.
In the mirror, the young girl’s skin was flushed a faint pink from the hot water, her lips soft and warm, her features clean and obediently demure.
Rina adjusted herself in front of the mirror, concealing all the fear in her eyes and putting on a gentle, submissive demeanor.
Good, obedient enough, enough to lower one’s guard.
She took a deep breath, tightened the towel around herself, and reached out to push open the bathroom door.
The master bedroom door was slightly ajar, with warm orange light spilling through the gap, gentle and tranquil.
Rina raised her uninjured left hand and quietly pushed the door open.
***
Inside the room, Hisaki was sitting quietly in the armchair. Hearing the sound, she looked up.
Her gaze landed on the young girl at the doorway.
With wet silver hair falling over her shoulders, wrapped only in a soft towel, revealing delicate collarbones and smooth calves, she had shed all her sharpness, standing quietly and docilely at the door.
Hisaki’s dark red eyes moved slowly, tracing from her damp hair tips, her flushed cheeks, her slender shoulder line, sweeping over her bit by bit, before finally settling firmly back into her slightly flustered light blue eyes.
Her gaze still held that gentle, composed smile, so calm it was impossible to read her thoughts.
Rina walked over barefoot, step by step, quietly.
All the fear, anxiety, and unease in her heart were firmly suppressed deep within, hidden away together with the not-yet-fully-healed wound on her fingertip.
She circled around to Hisaki’s front, turned her back to the other, and gently sat down in her lap.
The towel securely wrapped her form as she angled her body slightly, allowing the other’s arms to naturally encircle her waist.
Her tone carried her usual matter-of-fact assertiveness, but it had lost all its sharpness and resistance.
“Help me dry my hair.”
So soft.
She knew clearly that her body was trembling uncontrollably.
But Hisaki didn’t ask anything, didn’t expose anything.
She merely took the hair dryer from the side and plugged it in.
Warm, gentle air flowed down, enveloping her damp strands.
Hisaki’s fingertips passed tenderly through her silver hair, lifting each strand carefully, drying it from root to tip with patient, meticulous care, her movements gentle and light.
“Little Shiro worked very hard.”
Amid the faint hum of the hair dryer, Hisaki’s soft voice drifted out, both muffled and clear.
Rina’s heart froze for a moment; she didn’t understand what the other meant by “worked hard.”
But she didn’t look up. She followed the rhythm and advanced to the core step of her plan.
Rina slowly closed her eyes, deliberately slowing her breathing to let her entire body relax completely.
Her back pressed gently against the person before her, her head resting securely on the other’s shoulder, her whole body going limp as she nestled softly into the embrace, feigning the obedient look of someone completely at ease and about to fall asleep.
Her fingers, which had been clutching the edge of the towel, slowly, bit by bit, loosened.
Without its anchor, the towel began to slide down her slender form, extremely slowly and gently.
The movement was slight, slow and subtle, carrying just the right sense of relaxation.
This was Rina’s carefully calculated two-step move.
To voluntarily shed all defenses, pressing close to her in the most docile, well-behaved manner, satisfying her possessiveness and desire for control.
Don’t you want me to stay obediently by your side?
Then I’ll take the initiative to submit and depend on you.
Completely dispel her wariness.
She wanted Hisaki to see and feel with her own eyes…
That the current her had completely trusted and relied on her, without the slightest thought of escape, willingly remaining under her protection.
Yet her heartbeat had long since spiraled out of control, racing wildly.
Rina kept her eyes closed, her heart in complete chaos, countless thoughts surging endlessly.
The towel was still slowly sliding down, already at the most delicate, critical point.
She pressed her lips tightly together, forcing herself to stay steady, maintaining the facade of docility while unable to stop her frantic thoughts.
What will Hisaki do next?
Will she see through all her disguises? Will she sense all her schemes?
Tension, anxiety, and the terror of the unknown wrapped tightly around her heart.
But she had no way back now. She could only steel herself and continue acting out this charade of feigned gentleness to the very end.