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"You're more like a mosquito, small and irritating"
Shinobu Kochou still remembers the vile words of Tomioka Giyuu. The ones he said when she claimed to be like a butterfly. And she couldn't forget it. How could she? Yes, the Water Pillar told the other Pillars that she was a mosquito. She didn't like being called a mosquito! Even if it was indirectly! It's true that she would poke him with her finger in an attempt to get his attention. But that didn't mean she was that annoying insect.
That's why she wanted to set things straight when she met him alone.
"Did you tell them I was a mosquito?" It sounded like a question, but it was more of a complaint, since she was there and had heard it perfectly.
"Would you have preferred if I had said it was you?"
Her pupils dilated.
"Of course not, Tomioka-san," she snapped and forced a smile. "But you could have said something else."
"Like what?" he asked innocently.
"A butterfly."
"Impossible," The girl already had a throbbing vein on her forehead. For her, it was as if he was emphasizing that she was not like a butterfly, but a mosquito.
"I think you need to fix that perspective problem you have," she said cordially, though inside, she was burning with fury. "I'm not a mosquito."
"You resemble one," he spoke after a pause of a few seconds.
"I don't resemble one!" she exclaimed, and upon losing her composure, she ordered herself to smile. In a gesture that didn't last long when she noticed that Giyuu remained silent and looked at her as if she were a mere insect.
She got even angrier, but still smiled.
"It's not like I'm buzzing around you all day," she claimed with a dancing smile on her lips, stopping the dance when she heard what the boy had said.
"Aren't you?"
She restrained herself and smiled docilely again.
"I'm not buzzing around you!" she declared. "Anyway, Tomioka-san, I'm not a mosquito. I'm more like a butterfly." within a few seconds, they sank back into that hateful silence. "Why are you staying silent?" the insect Pillar retorted, offended.
"You're more like a mosquito," he refuted impassively.
Shinobu already felt the desire to disturb his river of tranquility. He was driving her crazy.
"You're the mosquito, Tomioka-san," she snapped, and as if she were spitting venom, she added, "You're irritating."
"But not small."
Shinobu opened her mouth in outrage. She couldn't believe Giyuu was attacking her. He was the mosquito!
"You're the mosquito," she said again, trying to smile back as if nothing bad was happening. But it was, and that's why the smile now looked sinister. "No one likes you."
"Kochou," he called in a soft voice.
"What?" she said irritably, her teeth clenched. Without taking her eyes off the Water Pillar, who was exposing his neck and showing the red marks scattered over that area. Seeing them, the girl's face flushed as if the blood had rushed to her cheeks.
"A butterfly wouldn't do this every night," he said. "But a mosquito would."