Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 466 Living Until Dawn
The wooden floorboards in the attic creaked, and that dark, oppressive, and stale feeling swept over us once again.

When Yuan Yuzi returned to the attic, she felt extremely uncomfortable. The ever-present malice gave her goosebumps.

She stood in front of the mirror, looking around, momentarily at a loss: "What should I do next?"

After dropping off the child, the sunny boy planned to go back. He didn't want to linger in this awful place. After all, he was the happiest and most carefree child in the world; how could he be involved in such dark things? It was just too unfriendly to children. If it were on TV, parents would definitely file a complaint and have it taken down!
“Ask him,” the sunny boy said, pointing a thumb at the gloomy boy. “He knows more about the situation than I do.”

Seeing that he was about to slip away, Yuan Yuzi quickly grabbed the sunny boy's arm, indicating that she couldn't speak the language here and couldn't move an inch, and that she absolutely needed the sunny boy to be her translator.

The sunny boy had no choice; he didn't want to continue the stalemate. So, he simply put his hand in his mouth, pulled out his tongue, and handed it to Yuan Yuzi, saying indistinctly, "Here, the translation konjac. Eat it, and everyone will be able to understand you."

"……what?"

"Take this! This thing is like a language center. It can't make you speak Chinese, but it can make other 'me's' automatically translate what you say." The sunny boy didn't care whether she understood or not, and directly shoved his tongue into her hand before turning back into the mirror.

Yuan Yuzi pinched the slippery tongue in her small hands, feeling nauseous, but she couldn't care less about such trivial matters now. Time was of the essence, and there was no time for being coy. She pinched her nose and stuffed the tongue into her mouth.

Hmm, does this count as a French kiss?

Strange thoughts popped into her mind, then a wet, slippery sensation entered her mouth, interrupting her reverie.

"Bah! Bah! Bah!"

Yuan Yuzi noticed a whitish taste in her mouth. Wasn't the sunny boy eating a birthday cake just now? Could the cake have been filled with whitish filling?
She spat for a while, and the strange smell slowly faded away. Then she heard the gloomy boy's questioning voice: "How much longer are you going to dawdle?"

Huh? I understand now!
Yuan Yuzi was overjoyed. She didn't care about her tongue and asked the gloomy boy what to do next—she was still completely confused and didn't know what to do.

"It's simple, just make me happy."

As he spoke, the gloomy boy snapped his fingers, and something resembling an experience bar appeared above his head, flashing red light as it hovered above his forehead. It seemed to be at its limit and was issuing a warning: "This is my mood index. The requirements aren't high. You just need to bring it to the passing grade to advance to the next level and continue the challenge."

"Huh? Do you think I can understand you like this?" Minamoto Tamako rested her chin on her hand, staring at the top of his head with a serious expression.

“That’s right, it can also help me resolve my inner conflicts.” The gloomy boy nodded.

"It doesn't sound difficult!"

Yuan Yuzi thought to herself, "Isn't it just about making the little deer happy? This is a piece of cake! She's best at this kind of thing!"

The gloomy boy didn't know where she got her confidence from. He stood there, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, looking like a disheartened robot. Unless someone asked him, he didn't seem to have the mood to speak.

Genji rubbed his hands together like a fly, and asked with an awkward smile, "Should I call you Fushimi-kun or Hiro-kun?"

The gloomy boy said expressionlessly, "Anything is fine. A name is just a label."

“Then let’s just call him Fushimi-kun, it’s easier to say,” Minamoto Tamako went behind the gloomy boy and carefully massaged his shoulders. “Fushimi-kun, would you like a foot massage? Try to relax a bit…”

“I’m only eight years old, I don’t have that kind of fetish,” the gloomy boy said.

Minamoto no Tamako hadn't expected her trump card to be banned right away, a case of failing before it even began. She was filled with anxiety, and her earlier confidence vanished—she only knew about the adult Fushimi Shika, and it seemed like they had nothing to do with the young Fushimi Shika.

"So... what are your hobbies and interests?" she pressed.

“I like playing with cats,” the gloomy boy said.

"Where's the cat?" Gen Tamako subconsciously looked left and right, searching for the cat's shadow, when suddenly she remembered something.

The gloomy boy pointed at her nose and said, "Now you are that cat, otherwise you wouldn't be able to enter my heart... Outsiders need an identity to get in."

Gen Tamako understood. She was now an illegal immigrant. If she were in a romance manga, she would be a heart thief, barging into Fushimi-kun's heart. Naturally, she had to pretend to be a local so that his heart wouldn't be too crowded and there wouldn't be room for her.

Well, that makes sense.

Gen Tamako rested her chin on her index finger and thumb and said, "But I'm a human now, how can I get you a cat?"

The gloomy boy replied nonchalantly, "That's your problem."

Minamoto no Tamako thought to herself, "Okay, although it sounds a bit difficult, there's still hope of success. It's just getting a kitten for him to play with, it doesn't seem that hard... I didn't expect Fushimi-kun to be a cat lover when he was a child, tidbit +1."

She's a woman of action; whatever comes to mind, she acts on it immediately. She immediately crouched down by the door and peered out, planning to sneak out and wander around the streets, hoping to catch one or two docile kittens.

"You can't get out," the gloomy boy warned.

"Huh? Why?" Gen Tamako was taken aback.

“There are many ‘unbreakable rules’ here, and if you break them, you will die,” the gloomy boy said.

Yuan Yuzi had guessed it before, and now that it has been confirmed, she was a little annoyed that Xiaoluzi hadn't said so sooner.

However, it's not too late to talk about it now. After all, they couldn't communicate before. Before she dies a fourth time, let's get the gloomy boy to start talking.

The latter didn't hold back, listing out all the rules of the family. Yuan Yuzi listened, stunned. Living in 1990s Japan, she had never heard of strange rules and found them somewhat eerie.

First, you must not touch the food in the refrigerator, or you will die.

Second, you must not approach the door if someone knocks, or you will die.

Third, you must run away as soon as you hear footsteps, or you will die.

Fourth, it cannot be seen by 'Mom' or 'Dad', otherwise it will die.

Fifth, be wary of insects and tiny lights in your home, or you will die.

Sixth, you must not sit on the sofa, or you will die.

Seventh, you must not run back and forth at night, or you will die.

……

After listening to him finish speaking in one breath, Yuan Yuzi vaguely realized something and couldn't help but ask, "Don't your parents allow you to keep a cat?"

"Yes, they say cats have a lot of yin energy, and staying with them will bring bad luck." The gloomy boy nodded.

All the rules are based on the cat's perspective. As a cat, to survive in this house, one must carefully hide oneself; being discovered means death. Yuan Yuzi had never heard of this before. She felt sorry for Xiaoluzi. When she was a child, at least she had a Shiba Inu to keep her company and could run around freely in the yard. But Xiaoluzi had to be careful even with a cat in the attic. It was truly an unfortunate situation for her family.

"What's the name of your cat?" Gen Tamako asked.

“Zhou Yuanbao, he’s usually called Yuanbao.” The gloomy boy said, “I heard that cats take their owner’s surname, which brings them good luck.”

Minamoto Tamako thought to herself, "They really are a family, they're all a bit superstitious!" But then she thought again, "Fushimi-kun, whom I know, scoffs at things like ghosts and spirits. The two of them are quite different in personality."

"If we can't go out, how am I supposed to find you a cat?"

Yuan Yuzi was in a bit of a dilemma. Normally, Xiaoluzi's requirements weren't high, but she just couldn't meet them, which was a bit frustrating.

"All you need to do is live until dawn."

The gloomy boy paused, then continued, "If you live until dawn, you'll turn back into a kitten."

Hearing this, Minamoto Tamako felt a little strange. Not only had she failed to pet the little deer, but she was about to be petted by it instead—her dignity wouldn't allow it. As a future famous detective and police inspector, being petted like a cat by an eight-year-old brat was simply too humiliating.

But then again, since she had already chosen this path, she couldn't go back on her word. Let alone letting Xiao Luzi pet her, even if Xiao Luzi asked her to sleep with him, she would have no choice but to bite the bullet and do it.

"It doesn't seem difficult to survive until dawn, the key is not knowing if there's still time left outside..."

Gen Tamako began to worry about the situation outside again, and this time her worries were justified.

In the basement, Fushimi Shika was still pacing back and forth, whispering to Minamoto Tamako; while he wasn't paying attention, Miyazaki Yuko leaned against the wall and slowly made her way to the stairs, intending to sneak out.

Unexpectedly, the stairs were in disrepair, and when Miyazaki Yuko stepped on them, they creaked loudly. Startled, she turned around and saw a pair of eyes shining in the darkness; Fushimi Shika was staring straight at her.

Miyazaki Yuko swallowed hard, as if she had stepped on a landmine, and dared not move. If Fushimi Shika next to her moved even slightly, she would bristle.

The two sides remained deadlocked.

One minute passed, three minutes passed, ten minutes passed... Miyazaki Yuko's nerves were stretched to the limit. She was about to give up and wanted to stretch her body and loosen up her muscles.

Just then, Minamoto no Tamako's pink flip phone suddenly rang, drawing Fushimi Shika's attention again, and she turned to stare at the phone.

good chance!
Miyazaki Yuko quickly ran up the stairs, relieved that Fushimi Shika did not chase after her.

As long as she can get out of the basement, there will be many more things she can do.

Miyazaki Yuko went into the kitchen, checked the gas cylinder, and found it was empty. She cursed her bad luck, guessing that the Nishino siblings had used up the gas while they were hiding at home.

Actually, she didn't want to do this; she was forced to. Otherwise, she wouldn't have sent back the cassette tapes of Fujiwara Homare and Yoshikawa Rio.

Her research was just one step away from completion. Lacking clinical cases, she could only experiment in this way... But as she continued, things got a little out of control. She achieved deep hypnosis but didn't know how to break free.

She couldn't control those "patients," yet she was obsessed with figuring out how to break free from deep hypnosis, thus falling into a vicious cycle and repeatedly conducting experiments in an attempt to find a breakthrough.

As for that newspaper reporter, it was purely because he talked nonsense and tarnished the sanctity of academic research that she made him experience what it's like to be a "drug addict".

She never expected things to develop this way...

What to do now?

Poisoning? She couldn't get poison gas anytime soon, and moving a gas cylinder from the city would leave a record, so she had to abandon the poison gas plan for the time being.

Then let's use crossbows?
No, that detective named Fushimi is a monster. If she uses a crossbow again, she'll probably be the one who gets killed.

Why not lock the floor door and leave them to fend for themselves?
Generally speaking, people who fall into deep hypnosis cannot wake up on their own, no matter how strong the external stimuli are. Miyazaki Yuko could only let it go on its own. The problem is that the last time she experimented with deep hypnosis, Fushimi Shika woke up on his own.

She didn't know how Fushimi Shika had done it, which is why she became so interested in this unusual case. After entering the basement, she applied stronger hypnotic commands, causing Fushimi Shika and Minamoto Tamako to influence each other and become trapped in a deeper dream.

But Fushimi Shika might wake up again this time, so we must be careful.

After much deliberation, Miyazaki Yuko decided to take a risk and return to the basement. If she could steal Minamoto Tamako's pink flip phone and lock the basement door, even if Fushimi Shika woke up, he would be helpless and would die of thirst in the basement within three days.

If they drink each other's urine, they can probably survive for a few more days, but no more than a week at most.

Miyazaki Yuko took a deep breath, steeled herself, and returned. The stairs creaked, and she walked with trepidation with every step.

The basement remained dimly lit, with faint whispers emanating from it. Fushimi Shika and Minamoto Tamako were influencing each other, talking strangely in their sleep, which looked particularly eerie.

Miyazaki Yuko knew that they were subtly influencing each other and that they probably wouldn't be able to pay attention to her.

However, she was not clear about Fushimi Shika's specific condition. Comforting a mental patient is not easy; in most cases, it involves physical restraint and medication. She didn't have much confidence relying solely on her words.

Things that need to be done must be done. "If you hear the truth in the morning, you may die happy in the evening." She hadn't found the results yet and didn't want to go to jail.

Miyazaki Yuko moved closer step by step, whispering comforting words and repeatedly emphasizing that she meant no harm, subtly hinting at Fushimi Shika's intentions.

As she approached, she could vaguely hear Fushimi Shika talking to herself:

"Should we just kill them? Leaving them around will only cause endless trouble..."

"No, if we kill her, what will happen to Tamako? What if Tamako doesn't wake up?"

"Here, translate konjac..."

"I'm only eight years old, I don't have that kind of fetish..."

……

Miyazaki Yuko felt a chill run down her spine just listening to this. In all her years of practice, she had seen countless patients, some extreme, some abnormal, some insane... but she had never seen someone like Fushimi Shika, who was so ill yet still managed to remain normal.

How on earth did this guy do it?
Is he also a psychologist?
Without a second thought, Miyazaki Yuko reached out her wicked hand and touched Minamoto Tamako's small cell phone.

Neither Fushimi Shika nor Minamoto Tamako reacted, and she felt a sense of relief, pulling away the ringing phone.

Become!

(End of this chapter)