Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 441 Can you blow on it for me?
Pharmaceutical companies in Japan are giant oligopolies, and the medical problems they create remain unresolved even 30 years later. Every year, various medical issues are exposed, with the most serious being the "drug production" link.

For example, in 1955, Morinaga Milk Industry used industrial sodium phosphate containing arsenic as an additive in its milk powder, resulting in the poisoning of 1.3 infants and young children nationwide.
For example, in 1960, a pharmaceutical company knowingly concealed the risk of neurotoxicity by selling the antidiarrheal drug clopidogrel openly, resulting in more than 1.1 people becoming blind, paralyzed, or even dying.
There are also issues such as the abuse of amphetamine-based weight-loss drugs, the thalidomide incident, and antibiotic abuse and resistance...

Gen Tamako recalls that just last year, the average price of medicines across Japan dropped by 45%. To survive, pharmaceutical companies reduced production costs by using inferior raw materials or simplifying production processes, resulting in problems with almost all domestically produced medicines.

This is why a large number of Japanese people boycotted domestically produced drugs, and the FDA once planned to stop new drug applications from Japan. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare eventually apologized and erected a pledge monument, barely salvaging some of its reputation.

Genji has ample reason to suspect that the disorderly violence that has occurred in Tokyo recently stems from problems with the psychotropic drugs produced by pharmaceutical companies.

Almost every drug addict has seen a psychiatrist and may have taken psychiatric medications on the doctor's advice. These days, doctors and pharmaceutical companies are basically tied together. Pharmaceutical companies will promote drugs to doctors and even share the profits with doctors. As a result, some doctors will abuse prescription drugs.

Many patients become addicted to prescription drugs by overdosing on sedatives as prescribed by their doctors.

Genjiro talked on and on, but Fushimi Shika didn't hear a word. He kept an eye on the nanny, and after she left, he finished his noodles in a few bites, got up and said, "I'm going to take a shower."

Hira Sakurako was playing video games in the living room, coolly grinding monsters in "Demon World Tower". As Fushimi Shika passed by the sofa, he gave her a look, and the latter understood, reluctantly sighed, saved her game, put down the controller, and went back to her room to rest.

As Minamoto no Tamako watched Fushimi-kun's retreating figure, she sensed that he was distracted. When she tried to discuss the case with him, he only gave perfunctory "uh-huhs" and "yeahs."

After closing the door, she turned back dejectedly, lay on the table slurping noodles, and pondered where her reasoning was flawed.

In the past, Fushimi-kun would at least look down on her intelligence, but now he doesn't even bother to comment... Has her intelligence declined since she fell in love? Or has she not had a foot massage lately, causing the intelligence gap between her and Fushimi-kun to become more and more obvious?

After eating and drinking her fill, she cleaned up the dishes and prepared to go back to her room to rest.

Just then, Fushimi Shika had finished showering, his hair still wet. He deliberately didn't wear a half-length pajama top, and while drying his hair, he imitated a handsome man emerging from a bath in an idol drama, before plopping down on the sofa.

"bring it on."

He waved to Yuan Yuzi and said seriously, "Let's continue discussing the case."

Minamoto no Tamako felt something was off. Fushimi-kun was indeed pleasing to the eye without clothes, but who talks about serious business without clothes?

Moreover, the ghost claw marks on his body seem to have faded considerably...

Gentamako moved closer and sat down next to Fushimi Shika, carefully observing the black marks on Fushimi Shika's body: "Is it just my imagination? I feel like the marks on your body seem to have faded a lot compared to before."

“This means my days are numbered,” Fushimi Shika shook his head and sighed. “Before, the poison was only in the skin and flesh, so the demon claw marks were obvious; now the poison has invaded my internal organs, and I can’t even sleep well at night…”

Minamoto no Tamako was shocked. She believed it to be true and was filled with anxiety and sadness. She had no mood to talk about the case and just wanted to sit with Fushimi-kun.

But aside from the case, she didn't know what else she and Fushimi-kun talked about. It seemed that they had no common interests or hobbies, and their life experiences didn't overlap much, except for solving cases.

Genjiro pretended to observe the black claw marks, but secretly glanced at Fushimi-kun, who indeed looked worried and exhausted.

...How about I give Fushimi-kun a foot massage?

That's not a good idea. Fushimi-kun just finished showering, so he probably isn't in the mood for a foot massage. If he wanted a foot massage, he would have asked for it himself.

With just one stamp, she can provide Fushimi with a foot massage service.

No, what time is it? Why am I still being so petty?
Yuan Yuzi pouted, her face resolute. There was no time for her to recuperate now. Starting tomorrow, she would continue to investigate the antidote for Nue Tea!
She wanted to get to know Fushimi better, since she still had time to spend with him tonight.

"Then, let's not talk about the case anymore..."

Genji racked his brains and came up with a topic: "Fushimi-kun, where were you born?"

Fushimi Shika was hoping she wouldn't talk about the case, so she followed up by saying, "It's a small place in Hokkaido, you probably haven't heard of it."

"Tell me, how am I supposed to know if you don't tell me?" Yuan Yuzi pressed.

“In Otokofu Village,” Fushimi Shika said.

“Oh! I know!” Minamoto Tamako raised her hand. She had indeed heard of that place, because the village is considered one of the origins of the name “Hokkaido”, derived from the Ainu word “Oiwake”, which means “forked river”.

Besides that, she didn't know much else; it was said that there weren't many tourists at all in that place.

Fushimi Shika remained silent. He sized up Genji Tamako, leaned closer, and pretended to wait for her to continue, but was actually ready to make his move at any moment.

After telling her what she knew, Fushimi Shika took the opportunity to get closer and closer until he pinned her against the sofa. Only then did she realize that something was wrong.

Could it be that Mr. Fushimi intends to continue what happened yesterday...?

She was a little nervous, her heart started pounding again, and she didn't know whether to refuse; but when she thought of Fushimi-kun's short time, how the poison had penetrated deep into his internal organs and how he couldn't even sleep well all night, her heart softened and she couldn't help but close her eyes.

Fushimi Shika understood what she meant.

Two hearts pressed together, two lips about to touch.

At this crucial moment, a rapid knocking sound came from the entrance hall. Startled, Yuan Yuzi turned around quickly: "Someone's knocking..."

"Leave it alone."

Fushimi Shika wanted to continue, but the knocking became more and more urgent, and the ambiguous atmosphere vanished. Minamoto no Tamako opened her eyes and looked up at him, her meaning self-evident. He couldn't just kiss her directly, so he could only get up and open the door.

Who's ruining someone's plans again...?

Fushimi Shika, suppressing his anger, opened the door, only to find the middle-aged housekeeper standing there. She was panting, clearly having run all the way back, and said apologetically with her hands clasped together, "Sorry, I forgot to help take out the trash."

"……come in."

Fushimi Shika stared at the nanny, and after she left the apartment with the trash bag, he asked, "Did you forget anything else?"

"That's all," the nanny said with an embarrassed smile.

"Are you sure?" Fushimi Shika looked her up and down.

"Yes, yes... absolutely none more." The nanny waved goodbye, "Sorry to have bothered you..."

Before she could finish speaking, Fushimi Shika slammed the door shut behind her.

With this mess, tonight's probably ruined again.

Minamoto no Tamako guessed that Fushimi-kun must be unhappy, having been interrupted twice in a row, which must have been very uncomfortable. But she was too embarrassed to continue, so she could only continue the previous topic and asked, "So, how many years did you live in your hometown? Do you have any childhood memories...?"

"No," Fushimi Shika replied casually.

Minamoto no Tamako noticed that Fushimi-kun's eyes were scanning around the house, as if searching for something. She couldn't help but ask, "What are you looking at?" "Nothing... my eyes are uncomfortable, so I'm just moving them around to stretch them out."

Fushimi Shika suspected that Kujo Yui had installed a listening device in his house.

The timing of Kujo's call last night was too suspicious, and she called twice in a row, as if she was afraid he wouldn't answer; tonight the nanny came back again, just because she forgot to take out the trash, and she banged on the door loudly, which was obviously suspicious.

Once could be considered a coincidence, but twice is clearly suspicious.

"What's wrong? Did you get dusty? Should I blow it out for you?" Yuan Yuzi asked.

"it is good."

To avoid giving himself away, Fushimi Shika reluctantly let Minamoto Tamako blow on it a few times. Afterward, he blinked, pretended to feel much better, and continued the conversation to avoid arousing Kujo Yui's suspicion—he didn't want to alert the culprit if there really was a bug in the house.

Minamoto no Tamako wanted to know more about Fushimi-kun, so she continued to ask him about his childhood and wanted to know what kind of people his parents were.

Fushimi Shika didn't really want to talk about this topic, so he casually made a couple of excuses and changed the subject: "There's nothing to say about my childhood... Let's not talk about me, what were you like as a child?"

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

Minamoto no Tamako wasn't so easily fooled now, and kept pressing Fushimi Shika about his past. But the latter couldn't say he wasn't a local, because if he did, Minamoto no Tamako would probably think he'd lost his mind. So he stretched and yawned rather dramatically: "I'm sleepy... let's talk tomorrow."

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

Yuan Yuzi lay on her side on the sofa to avoid sitting for too long and affecting her recovery: "Let's chat a little longer. I want to hear about your high school days."

"I'm in high school..."

Fushimi Shika reminisced for a while. His high school years in his previous life were really unremarkable. All he did was study. He got up at six or seven o'clock every day to study and turned off the lights to go to bed at ten or eleven o'clock at night. There was really nothing to say about it.

The original owner of this body certainly had a rich high school experience. He was once the president of the baseball club and had two female admirers because of his outstanding looks. He was the epitome of a "real person" during his high school years...

The former is the real him, but it's not presentable;
The latter is indeed something to boast about; but it has nothing to do with him.

Fushimi Shika turned around and saw Minamoto no Tamako staring intently at him with an exceptionally sincere gaze.

He hesitated for a moment, then subconsciously asked, "What if I weren't Fushimi Shika..."

The second half of the sentence got stuck in his throat.

"Ok?"

Yuan Yuzi blinked, not waiting for further explanation, and asked, "What?"

"It's nothing." Fushimi Shika turned and left.

"Say it, say it!" Minamoto no Tamako jumped up and grabbed Fushimi Shika.

It was rare to see Fushimi-kun so genuinely open, how could she possibly let this opportunity slip by! She had always felt that Fushimi-kun hadn't opened his heart, and now that she had finally found a crack in his defenses, she was determined to take advantage of it!

"If I turned into a caterpillar, would you still love me?" Fushimi Shika forced himself to continue the question from before.

"..."

Gen Tamako paused for three seconds, sensing a clear difference in Fushimi-kun's tone.

"Of course I love it."

Genjiro coaxed him against her will, thinking that Fushimi-kun might be insecure, which was why he asked such a stupid question.

"never mind."

Fushimi Shika sighed, returned to his room, and locked the door behind him, leaving Genji Tamako standing there in a daze.

Is there some hidden meaning in this question?

Unable to figure it out, Minamoto no Tamako returned to her room and pondered deeply. Seeing this, Hiraoko asked her what she was thinking about, and also inquired about the progress of their relationship.

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

“I don’t love it,” Hira Sakurako said.

Yuan Yuzi was a little unhappy. She lay on the bed, turned her head and asked, "Why?"

"Because you are a caterpillar." Ping Yingzi had never encountered a woman who would argue unreasonably; she could only answer questions rationally.

“I mean, what if I turned into a caterpillar,” Minamoto Tamako insisted, “and even if my body turned into a caterpillar, my soul would still be Minamoto Tamako! Do you value my physical body more than anything else?”

"Caterpillars don't have brains, they only have ganglia, and they can't carry human consciousness. So if you become a caterpillar, then Minamoto no Tamako will cease to exist, and a caterpillar will just be a caterpillar."

Ping Yingzi's words were reasonable and well-founded.

Genjiro rested her chin on two fingers, her face serious. She thought Hiraoko's words made a lot of sense, but this wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. Then she thought again, and realized that directly saying 'love' wasn't right either—after all, who would like a caterpillar? It was clearly a lie! No wonder Fushimi sighed…

Sure enough, there's more to this question than meets the eye!

Gen Tamako lay on the bed, closed her eyes, and planned to go to bed early tonight and try her luck at the Uesugi family tomorrow morning. Maybe Uesugi Shion would be better and she could find out how to detoxify Nue tea.

When Ping Yingzi saw her lie down, she breathed a sigh of relief. Not wanting to be tormented by the caterpillar problem any longer, she turned over, covered herself with the blanket, and prepared to go to sleep early.

The two closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Yuan Yuzi had a dream that night, in which she really dreamed that she had turned into a caterpillar. She was crawling on a leaf and nibbling away, and arching along the branches, but unexpectedly a snail blocked her way.

As the queen of caterpillars, how could she tolerate a snail blocking her way? She had to push this stinky snail aside!

Unexpectedly, the snail shell was as hard as a wall, and the more she tried to push it against, the more her head ached.

Yuan Yuzi has always been stubborn and indecisive, even in her dreams. She won't give up until she hits a wall, so she simply uses all her strength to smash her head against the snail shell!
--boom!

Yuan Yuzi lay on the bed, kicked forward, and slammed her head hard against the bed board. The pain made her ears ring, and she curled up, clutching her head, instantly waking up.

"..."

(End of this chapter)