Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner

No, could it be that Fujimura-kun wants to continue what happened yesterday...

She felt a bit nervous, her heart began to race again, unsure if she should refuse; but thinking about how Fujimura-kun didn't have much time left, the poison already deep in his viscera, even unable to sleep well at night, her heart softened, and she couldn't help but close her eyes.

Fushimi Roku understood what she meant.

Their hearts were close, their lips about to touch.

At this critical moment, there was a sudden rapid knock at the door from the entrance. Minamoto Tamako was startled, quickly turning her head to look: "Someone's knocking..."

"Ignore it."

Fushimi Roku wanted to continue, but the knocking became more urgent, the ambiguous atmosphere vanished without a trace. Minamoto Tamako opened her eyes, looked up at him, the meaning was clear. He couldn't just kiss her directly, so he got up to open the door.

Who is ruining the good moment again...

Fushimi Roku suppressed his anger, opened the door, only to find the person standing there was the middle-aged maid. She was panting, clearly having run back, her hands in a polite gesture of apology, saying, "Sorry, I forgot to take out the trash."

"...Come in then."

Fushimi Roku stared at the maid, and after she took the trash out of the apartment, he asked another question: "Was there anything else you forgot to take?"

"No," the maid said with an awkward smile.

"Are you sure?" Fushimi Roku sized her up and down.

"Sure, sure... absolutely nothing else." The maid waved goodbye: "Sorry to disturb you..."

Before she finished speaking, Fushimi Roku shut the door with a backhanded motion.

With this interruption, it's unlikely to happen tonight either.

Minamoto Tamako speculated that Fujimura-kun would be upset, being interrupted twice surely didn't feel good. But she was too embarrassed to continue, so she returned to the previous topic, asking: "So, how many years did you live in your hometown? Do you have any childhood memories..."

"No," Fushimi Roku replied perfunctorily.

Minamoto Tamako noticed that Fujimura-kun's eyes were roaming around the house, like he was looking for something, she couldn't help but ask: "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing... just moving my eyes around because they're uncomfortable."

Fushimi Roku suspected Kujo Yua had installed a bug in his house.

The timing of Kujo Yua's call last night was too coincidental, and calling twice in a row, as if afraid he wouldn't pick up; tonight the maid returned just because she forgot the trash, knocking so loudly felt suspicious.

Once could be a coincidence, but twice clearly indicated a problem.

"What's wrong? Do you have something in your eye? Do you want me to blow on it for you?" Minamoto Tamako asked.

"Okay."

Fushimi Roku reluctantly let Minamoto Tamako blow on his eyes a few times to avoid revealing anything. Afterward, he blinked a few times, falsely claiming it felt much better, and continued the previous topic, lest Kujo Yua be suspicious—if there really was a bug in the house, he didn't want to alert them.

Minamoto Tamako wanted to know more about Fujimura-kun and continued asking about his childhood, wanting to know what Fujimura-kun's parents were like.

Fushimi Roku didn't want to talk much about this topic, he brushed it off with a couple of vague phrases before changing the topic: "There's nothing much to say about my childhood... let's not talk about me, what were you like when you were a kid?"

"My mom has photos of me from when I was little, I can show them to you later."

Minamoto Tamako wasn't as easy to brush off now, persisting in questioning Fushimi Roku's past. But he couldn't admit he wasn't from around there, saying so would likely make Minamoto Tamako suspect he had lost his mind, so he stretched lazily and exaggeratedly yawned: "I'm sleepy... let's talk tomorrow."

"Huh? Didn't you say you couldn't sleep..."

Minamoto Tamako lay on the side of the sofa to avoid her butt hurting from sitting for too long, implying recovery: "Let's chat for a bit longer, I want to hear about your high school days."

"My high school huh..."

Fushimi Roku thought for a moment. His previous life's high school was dull, just studying and more studying, waking up at six or seven in the morning for morning studies and lights out at ten or eleven at night, really nothing noteworthy;

But in this life, the original's high school experience was rich, once the captain of the baseball club, had a pair of girl fans due to his outstanding looks, he was the popular kid among popular kids in high school...

The former was the real him, but not something he could show off;

The latter indeed was worth boasting about; but it wasn't his story.

Fushimi Roku looked back to see Minamoto Tamako staring at him, eyes full of sincerity.

He hesitated for a moment, subconsciously asking: "If I wasn't Fushimi Roku..."

The latter half of the sentence stuck in his throat.

"Hmm?"

Minamoto Tamako, having not heard the continuation, blinked and asked: "What?"

"Nothing." Fushimi Roku turned and walked away.

"Come on, say it!" Minamoto Tamako jumped up, grabbing Fushimi Roku.

Seeing Fujimura-kun's rare moment of sincerity, how could she let this chance slip! She had always felt Fujimura-kun hadn't opened up, and now that she found a crack in his emotional armor, she must leap in at once!

"If I turned into a caterpillar, would you still love me?" Fushimi Roku forced the continuation of his earlier words.

"..."

Minamoto Tamako was stunned for three seconds, feeling that Fujimura-kun's tone was noticeably different.

"Of course, I would love you."

Minamoto Tamako deceitfully appeased, thinking perhaps Fujimura-kun lacked a sense of security, and thus he asked such a silly question.

"Forget it."

Fushimi Roku sighed, returned to the room, and locked the door behind him, leaving Minamoto Tamako standing there dazed.

Was there a hidden meaning behind this question?

Minamoto Tamako couldn't figure it out, she pondered deeply back in her room. Taira Sakurako, seeing this, asked what she was thinking, with a hint of gossip about their progress.

Minamoto Tamako repeated Fushimi Roku's question: "If I turned into a caterpillar, would you still love me?"

"I would not." Taira Sakurako answered.

Minamoto Tamako pouted a bit, lay on the bed, turned her head, and asked: "Why?"

"Because you're a caterpillar." Taira Sakurako had not dealt with pestering women before, she only answered logically.

"I mean if, if I turned into a caterpillar," Minamoto Tamako was earnest: "And, even if my body became a caterpillar, my soul would still be Minamoto Tamako! Do you only care about my physical form?"

"Caterpillars don't have brains, only nerve ganglia, so they can't bear human consciousness, if you turned into a caterpillar, Minamoto Tamako would no longer exist, a caterpillar would just be a caterpillar."

Taira Sakurako answered reasonably.

Minamoto Tamako propped her chin with two fingers, faced serious, feeling Taira Sakurako made a good point, but it wasn't the answer she wanted; switching thoughts, outright saying 'love' seemed wrong too, after all, who would love a caterpillar? That's clearly a lie! No wonder Fujimura-kun sighed...

Indeed, there's something deeper in this question!

Minamoto Tamako lay on her bed, closed her eyes, intending to sleep early tonight and try her luck at the Uesugi family tomorrow morning, maybe Uesugi Shion would improve and could tell her how to detox the Ye Tea.

Taira Sakurako watched her lie down, let out a breath, relieved not to be tortured by the caterpillar question anymore, turned over and covered herself with the quilt, ready to sleep early.

The two closed their eyes and fell asleep.

Minamoto Tamako dreamt that night, truly dreaming of herself turning into a caterpillar, munching on a leaf, inching along a branch, only to be blocked by a snail.

As a caterpillar queen, how could she allow a snail to block her path? She had to push that pesky snail away!

Unexpectedly, the snail shell was as hard as a wall, no matter how she pushed, she only ended up with a sore head.

Stubborn by nature, even in her dreams Minamoto Tamako was no different, she wouldn't stop until she hit a wall, simply using all her strength, head aimed at the snail shell, she rammed!

—Bang!

Minamoto Tamako, lying in bed, kicked forward, her head smashing against the bed board, the pain causing her ears to ring, clutching her head and curling up, she instantly woke up.

"..."