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It didn't take an observant person to realize that Tomioka Giyuu was not very expressive. However, it took an observant person to realize that they had never seen him smile.
"Tomioka-san," Shinobu called one day, smiling warmly, ready to quench her curiosity.
The Insect Pillar wanted to see how the Water Pillar would look with a smile formed on his face. She tilted her head to the side to look at the expressionless young man more intently.
He was like calm and undisturbed water. However, Shinobu wanted to throw a stone.
"Have you ever smiled?" she asked curiously. "It seems you've never flexed your facial muscles."
He stared at her without changing his expression. Shinobu continued to look at him for a long time, waiting for his response or at least a facial gesture.
She kept smiling.
"That's why everyone hates you," Shinobu expressed, fluttering around him.
"No one hates me..."
"They do," she refuted. "And more because you don't smile," she said. "Come on, smile, no one will make fun of you if you're missing a tooth."
"I'm not missing a tooth," he replied calmly.
"Is that so?" she asked, maintaining that smile that seemed to have been drawn on her face. "Then show me. Let me see!"
"And why don't you smile, Kochou?"
"I am smiling," she said without letting that smile leave her face.
"I mean, sincerely."
Those words dilated her pupils.
"It's a courtesy smile," she replied, averting her gaze so that he would stop detecting more things about her. "Let me tell you, Tomioka-san, that you are not a particularly amusing person."
Saying that, they lapsed into silence again.
"Tomioka-san," she addressed him. "Why don't you smile?" she questioned. "Or is it that you don't know how to do it?"
"I don't feel like it."
"And why don't you feel like it?" she interrogated. "A smile would make you more pleasant. That would prevent everyone from hating you."
"No one hates me..."
"And if you smile, everyone would love you."
Again, the blessed silence as their gazes crossed. However, Shinobu was surprised when she suddenly noticed the corners of his lips trembling. Was he going to smile?! Had it worked?! Did he want everyone to love him?!
Indeed, he had done it, he had not shown his teeth, but his lips had curved upwards. It lasted a brief second, his eyes blinked like the fluttering of a butterfly and the smile had disappeared from his face.
She couldn't speak for a long time, her palm was placed on her mouth, shocked by what her violet eyes had seen. Until she could speak and let out words that Giyuu did not expect.
"You know, Tomioka-san," she began. "I suggest you better not smile."
"Why?" he asked in his calm voice and his expressionless face as always. Although inside, a whirlwind had formed from the anxiety that made him want to know the reason for her suggestion.
"They would hate you even more," she blurted out brutally. "As for me, I'll pretend this never happened, see you!"
After declaring that, she left, leaving Giyuu in the same place, immobilized by her harsh words.
On the other hand, Shinobu had left because if she stayed, it was possible that he would notice the accelerated heartbeat and maybe even the butterflies in her stomach. She brought a hand to her face, covering the blush that suddenly appeared on her face as she remembered what her eyes had to forget they had seen.
Simply, that smile was a lethal weapon.