Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner

The wooden floor of the attic creaked, and that dark, oppressive, and stale feeling swept over once more.

Minamoto Tamako returned to the attic, feeling uneasy all over, as the malice that clung like a shadow gave her goosebumps.

She stood in front of the mirror, looking around, feeling a bit lost for a moment, "What should I do next?"

The sunny boy planned to leave right after seeing people off; he didn't like staying in this ghostly place for long. After all, he was the happiest child in the world. How could he let himself get involved with these dark matters? It was truly unfriendly to children—if it were on TV, parents would unite to get it banned for sure!

"Ask him." The sunny boy pointed his thumb toward the gloomy boy, "He knows the situation better than I do."

Seeing him about to slip away, Minamoto Tamako quickly grabbed the sunny boy's arm, expressing that without a translator, she couldn't move an inch here; the sunny boy had to act as her interpreter.

The sunny boy couldn't help it; he didn't want to keep on arguing, so he quickly and neatly put his hand into his mouth, pulled out his tongue, and handed it to Minamoto Tamako, speaking unclearly, "Here, Translation Konjac, eat it, and everyone will understand what you say."

"...Huh?"

"Take it quickly! This thing is akin to a language center; it can't make you speak Chinese, but it allows other versions of 'me' to automatically translate what you say." Not caring if she understood, the sunny boy stuffed the tongue into her hand and turned back into the mirror.

Minamoto Tamako held the slimy tongue in her small hand, feeling utterly disgusted, but there was no time for trivialities. Time was tight, and there was no room for fussiness. She pinched her nose and stuffed the tongue into her mouth.

Hmm, does this count as a French kiss?

As this strange thought popped into her head, a slick sensation slid into her mouth, interrupting her idle musings.

"Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!"

Minamoto Tamako tasted chives in her mouth. Wasn't the sunny boy eating birthday cake earlier? Could the cake have been chive-flavored?

After spitting for a while, the strange taste slowly faded, and the gloomy boy's questioning voice came to her ears, "How long are you going to dawdle?"

Eh? I can understand him now!

Minamoto Tamako felt a thrill in her heart; she had no time to dwell on the tongue issue and asked the gloomy boy what to do next—she was completely clueless about what to do.

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

Speaking, the gloomy boy snapped his fingers, and a status bar-like thing appeared above his head, flashing red light above his forehead, seemingly bottoming out and issuing a warning, "This is my mood index. It's a low bar; you just need to bring it up to the passing line to enter the next layer of challenges."

"Eh? That's all it takes to get to know you?" Minamoto Tamako propped her chin with one hand, staring seriously at the top of his head.

"That's right, it can also help me unlock emotional knots." The gloomy boy nodded.

"Sounds not too hard!"

Minamoto Tamako thought, isn't it just about amusing little Roku? This kind of thing is a piece of cake for her! She's great at this!

The gloomy boy didn't know where her confidence came from. He stood still, seemingly indifferent, like a demotivated AI, with no intention of speaking unless prompted.

Minamoto Tamako rubbed her hands together, laughed awkwardly, then asked, "Should I call you Fushimi-kun or Hiro-kun?"

The gloomy boy was expressionless, "Either is fine, it's just a label."

"Then Fushimi-kun it is; it rolls off the tongue better," Minamoto Tamako said, circling behind the gloomy boy and gingerly kneading his shoulders, "Fushimi-kun, want a foot rub? Relax your mind a bit..."

"I'm only eight; I don't have that fetish," the gloomy boy said.

Minamoto Tamako hadn't expected her trump card to be banned right off the bat; it seemed her initial confidence was groundless, realizing she knew the grown-up Fushimi Roku, who was apparently different from the young version.

"Then... what do you usually like to do?" she pressed on.

"I like playing with cats," the gloomy boy said.

"Where's the cat?" Minamoto Tamako instinctively looked around for signs of a cat, but then she suddenly remembered something.

The gloomy boy pointed at her nose, saying, "Now you're the cat; otherwise, you can't enter my Heart Acupoint... outsiders need a role to get in."

Minamoto Tamako understood that she was now a stowaway; if this were a romantic manga for girls, she'd be the little thief sneaking into Fushimi-kun's heart. Naturally, she had to disguise as a local to avoid overcrowding that would leave no room for her.

Hmm, makes sense.

Minamoto Tamako propped her chin with her thumb and forefinger, "But I'm a person now; how can I make a cat appear for you?"

The gloomy boy had a dismissive look, "That's your problem."

Minamoto Tamako thought, alright, it might sound challenging, but there's hope for success. Just bringing a little cat for him to play with doesn't seem that hard... who knew Fushimi-kun was a cat person when he was little. Nice trivia point!

She's a woman of action; whatever comes to her mind, she acts on immediately. She lay on the floor door, poking her head out, planning to sneak out and wander the streets — maybe she'd catch one or two docile cats.

"You can't go out," the gloomy boy reminded.

"Eh? Why?" Minamoto Tamako was stunned.

"There are many 'immutable rules' here, and breaking them means death," the gloomy boy said.

Minamoto Tamako had suspected this before; now it was confirmed, and she felt a bit miffed that little Roku hadn't mentioned it earlier.