"What are you doing?" Fushimi Roku frowned.
Taira Sakurako, without allowing any room for discussion, suddenly attacked, pretending to lift the corner of Fushimi Roku’s clothes.
The latter was very vigilant. The elementary school student’s sudden leap couldn’t get close to him at all. With a push of his legs, using the power of his heels, his whole body bounced like a spring, leaping into the air, and Sakurako the assassin couldn’t even touch the hem of his clothes.
But Taira Sakurako had her own tricks; she knew very well that she couldn’t catch Fushimi Roku, yet she deliberately pounced forward, just to make him jump.
While Roku was momentarily airborne, his clothes puffing up, Taira Sakurako raised her little head, peering from the bottom of the hem upwards, getting a clear view of Fushimi Roku’s upper body.
Taira Sakurako hit the sofa with both hands forcefully.
Fushimi Roku landed steadily in front of her, one hand propping him up on the ground, in a pose reminiscent of a ninja parkour landing from a height: "What do you think you know? This is so absurd..."
"The ghost claw mark on your body is fake! You aren’t poisoned at all!"
Taira Sakurako was very angry; she hadn’t been this emotional for a long time. Now she could fully understand Minamoto Tamako’s anger, yet further baffled as to why Minamoto Tamako would take a liking to someone like Fushimi Roku.
"How is that possible? Real gold is never afraid of fire; the Nue Poison on my body is as pure as it gets!"
Fushimi Roku could guarantee it, as he wasn’t lying; he really was poisoned.
"The ghost claw mark on your body has faded! It’s almost invisible! I asked, the deeper the ghost claw mark, the closer you are to your death... It must’ve been drawn on and now it’s faded!"
Taira Sakurako felt that the evil ghost mask wasn’t enough to express her anger; she needed to come up with a new term to both convey her anger and curse Fushimi Roku.
It was really stupid of her to resort to theft for this guy!
Thinking of that, she snatched back the meteorite fragment, planning to find a chance to return it to the museum—even if it’s likely a counterfeit, given that the museum didn’t react at all to the theft, making it ninety percent a fake, she still had to figure out how to return it.
Because Minamoto Tamako said repeatedly not to steal other people’s belongings.
"That’s really not it."
Fushimi Roku thought he had revealed some other flaw. After hearing Taira Sakurako’s accusation, he perked up once more, immediately lifting his shirt for her to see clearly: "Does this look drawn?"
Taira Sakurako thought this guy still had the nerve to argue. She took off her mask, took a deep breath, and spat a bit on Fushimi Roku’s side waist, stretching out her small hand to rub repeatedly, trying to erase the ink from Fushimi Roku’s body with the enzymes in her saliva.
She rubbed and rubbed for a long time, the skin on Fushimi Roku’s waist was red from the rubbing, yet the black ghost claw mark remained as clear as ever, without fading one bit.
Taira Sakurako began to doubt her own judgment.
But when she looked up, Fushimi Roku’s face was full of smugness, making her feel she certainly hadn’t guessed wrong, she just hadn’t figured out what trickery Fushimi Roku was using!
"Could it be tattooed?" Taira Sakurako subconsciously smelled her little hands, which were covered in the scent of saliva.
"Can a tattoo fade?" Fushimi Roku wiped his waist with a tissue, his smug face turning into one of disdain.
Taira Sakurako couldn’t refute; she always felt there was something fishy, but she couldn’t grab hold of it, so she questioned, "Then how is it fading?"
"How would I know..."
Fushimi Roku was about to argue further when Taira Sakurako ran to the landline, threatening, "If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll go tell Tamako and see what she thinks then!"
Fushimi Roku immediately pressed down on her little hand. After a quick mental calculation, he came up with a more reasonable lie: "Actually, I already have a way to detoxify."
"Why didn’t you say so earlier? Making us... making Tamako worry unnecessarily!" Taira Sakurako thought this guy was purposely hiding it from them.
"But this method might not work! I thought, if it works, it’ll be a surprise for you all; if it doesn’t, you won’t have your hopes dashed. Isn’t that great?" Fushimi Roku sat back on the sofa.
"Haha, so with that reasoning, we should thank you for your consideration." Taira Sakurako had learned to be sarcastic.
Indeed, when people are extremely angry, they can learn anything and do anything.
"What else could I do? You have to appreciate my good intentions!" Fushimi Roku clutched his chest, looking helpless, as if his goodwill had been misunderstood: "If Minamoto Tamako knew, she would be worrying every day, wouldn’t she? If I can’t cure the poison, she’d have to be sad again, wouldn’t she?"
That did seem reasonable.
Taira Sakurako reluctantly accepted it, but was still feeling angry, continuing to question, "Isn’t it effective? The ghost claw mark on you is almost gone!"
"It’s only temporary; in a few days, it might rebound even more severely." Fushimi Roku put on a grief-stricken face: "So you have to keep this a secret for me, absolutely do not tell Minamoto Tamako."
"Really?" Taira Sakurako expressed her doubts.
"Absolutely true. Would I joke with my own life?" Fushimi Roku said, half-truthfully.
"Then tell me, what exactly is the detoxifying method?" Taira Sakurako pressed further.
Fushimi Roku felt like she was possessed by Minamoto Tamako, relentlessly asking until she got to the bottom of it. In the past, he would have lost his patience long ago.
But he needed to keep this under wraps; Fushimi Roku still planned to continue collecting stamps by playing the sympathy card, and he was almost finished. If Minamoto Tamako found out he had been using the poisoning as an excuse to slack off, she’d likely zero out his stamps in a fit of anger.
"It’s very cruel; kids shouldn’t know." Fushimi Roku waved his hand, turning his face away.
"It’s okay, just tell me." Taira Sakurako walked to the other side of the sofa. Fushimi Roku immediately put on an anguished expression to prove that he was really having a miserable time every day.
"First, I need to wrap my spine, lumbar spine, and tailbone area with soft leather for five to six hours daily to prevent the toxin from spreading further to the bone marrow nerves..."
Fushimi Roku rephrased lying on the sofa.
Seizing the moment before Taira Sakurako could respond, he continued, "Additionally, I need to supplement my body daily with large amounts of chemical substances C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁ and (C₆H₁₀O₅)ₙ, which cause significant adverse effects like obesity, arteriosclerosis, elevated blood uric acid levels..."
He rephrased eating sweets.
"Lastly, I also have to engage in foot-high-temperature sterilization, massage specific acupoints for about thirty minutes daily, to prevent the toxin from descending and affecting my physical functions. You wouldn’t understand the specifics if I explained..."
After mentioning foot soaks, Fushimi Roku felt like he’d already described enough suffering for one day, and any more would seem too tragic, so he stopped making things up: "In conclusion, I’m actually enduring all this suffering silently where you can’t see."
Taira Sakurako still wore an expressionless face.
But inside, she was very conflicted because she didn’t know whether Fushimi Roku was telling the truth or not, so she didn’t know what feelings to have.
"Do you need my help?"
Taira Sakurako felt she should do something: "I can help you buy medicine or something, to avoid Minamoto Tamako finding out..."
Fushimi Roku nodded, he was actually a bit hungry: "Go to the handmade store and buy me a battleship sushi, and on the way back, pick up a pineapple-flavored GariGari-kun from the convenience store. If they have it in stock, also grab a bag of kappa shrimp snacks..."
"Is this medicine?" Taira Sakurako clenched her little fists.
"It is. Haven’t you noticed my appetite has been getting bigger lately? Plus, I mentioned a long time ago that I hate sweets, I don’t like these greasy things at all... If it weren’t for curing the illness, why would I force myself to eat them?"
Fushimi Roku shook his head and sighed.
Taira Sakurako stood still, lingering by the sofa for a moment. She couldn’t hold it in any longer and said, "Then you might as well just die."