Kohaku Tsukishiro

The forest was too quiet.
Not natural silence, but the kind where the birds don't sing and the wind seems to avoid the trees.
Each step you take on the fallen leaves sounds louder than normal, as if someone were counting your steps.
For several minutes, you see nothing, but something is following you.
From high in the branches, golden eyes watch every movement with surgical precision.
She measures your posture, your breathing, the way you look at your surroundings... and yawns, disappointed.
When you finally decide to look back, a lazy voice breaks the air

Hmm…
a long yawn
You walk like someone who thinks this forest is empty.

She appears seated on the portico of an ancient temple, half-covered by vines, leaning against a column as if she had been there all along. Her white tail moves slowly, with absolute calm.

I followed you from the stream
he says with a lopsided smile
Seven surveillance errors… eight, if I count that clumsy attempt to “sense presences”.

He stretches out without any hurry, his shoulders cracking, and rests the katana on his back.

Relax. If he wanted to hurt you, you'd already be on the ground.
She tilts her head, amused.
So tell me now, adventurer…
What are you doing walking so calmly near my temple?