Chapter 622: Chapter 418: Things Couples Should Do
"Ugh!"
Minamoto Tamako’s nasal cavity was burning, she pulled out the chopsticks, and a trickle of nosebleed flowed from her right nostril.
"..."
Seeing this scene, Fushimi Roku felt that Minamoto Tamako still had a long way to go before becoming a super assassin.
However, he thought it was a bit strange, why was the real Tamako so different from the Tamako in his dreams? Was it just because he had become a murderer in the dream?
Fushimi Roku, resting his chin on his hand, was feeling a bit cautious, as if he had inadvertently foreseen the exposure of the "Heavenly Punishment" identity.
Minamoto Tamako felt embarrassed and quickly used a tissue to block one nostril: "Hurry up and tell me, what did I do in the dream?"
By the look of it, there was no way to get past this unless it was clarified.
Fushimi Roku stood up, left the dining table, and plopped down on the living room sofa: "You tell me first, and after you’re done, I’ll tell you."
Minamoto Tamako’s curiosity overpowered her shame, and she spilled the beans like a bamboo tube pouring out beans, telling every detail.
Including but not limited to Fushimi tutoring her in completing homework, Fushimi lying about her not studying seriously, Fushimi getting his leg broken by Mom Jam, Fushimi holding a family meeting...
Fushimi Roku quietly listened to it all, thinking that these were things he might actually do.
"Okay, I’ve finished speaking."
Minamoto Tamako, having talked herself dry, gulped down a big mouthful of water to moisten her throat.
"What are your thoughts?" Fushimi Roku asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Thoughts on what?" Minamoto Tamako was taken aback.
"The thing about not having friends when you were little, and your parents fighting frequently," Fushimi Roku sat up, patting the cushion beside him, signaling Minamoto Tamako to sit over: "Are those things still bothering you now?"
Minamoto Tamako had thought he was going to confess what happened in the dream, so she obediently sat down next to him, thought carefully, and said: "Not at all concerned."
"Really?" Fushimi Roku asked: "Someone insisted on paying me partner fees back then, it sounded like hiring me to be a friend..."
Minamoto Tamako’s face turned red at being poked at her dark history, and she argued, "That was hiring a consultant! Do you understand what a consultant is? I wasn’t insisting on paying you partner fees!"
She didn’t feel anything about it before, but now, being familiar with Fushimi-kun, she feels ashamed thinking back.
"I see," Fushimi Roku continued to expose Minamoto Tamako’s shortcomings: "Then your parents fighting didn’t affect you? It didn’t give you any psychological shadows about relationships?"
"Absolutely not!"
Minamoto Tamako waved both her little hands, just like Trump giving a speech, with a bit of guilty conscience, some blind faith, and ninety-four percent confidence: "I will never be like Mom Jam, arguing over every little thing... hmph hmph, back then I thought if I were to have a romantic relationship in the future, I would absolutely be tolerant of my boyfriend, forgiving all his flaws, and guiding him to correct them."
Fushimi Roku felt the last sentence was a bit redundant.
But it didn’t matter; he didn’t plan to nitpick, and followed Minamoto Tamako’s words to continue asking: "I see, then why didn’t you mention what things couples should do earlier?"
He paused and added a jab: "Is it because you have some grievances?"
Minamoto Tamako really wanted to say that was completely different, but she also felt like she might have been influenced by Mom Jam.
She never saw her parents being loving from when she was little, probably because their passion was exhausted before she was born.
Minamoto Tamako didn’t want to become that boring kind of adult, and deep down, she was actually very grateful to Fushimi-kun—for what he did for her in the dream, filling the deficits of her childhood.
It’s just that she was embarrassed to say thank you.
So, Minamoto Tamako decided to express it differently.
She bowed her head, her hair falling to cover her eyes, and said softly: "It’s not... I don’t have any grievances towards you."
Fushimi Roku couldn’t see her expression, only her profile and neck, which were turning red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Then what are the things couples should do?" Fushimi Roku said with a straight face: "I’ll make a list, and we can do them step by step later."
He decided to play it safe first, just in case the things Minamoto Tamako referred to as "things couples should do" were different from what he imagined, it wouldn’t be socially lethal.
"Ju-just... dates and stuff."
Minamoto Tamako’s voice was getting smaller and smaller, she crouched, holding her water cup, shrinking into a ball, staring at her toes: "A-also holding hands... kissing... watching movies... changing nicknames..."
"..."
Fushimi Roku thought it was a good thing he played it safe.
Though going step by step might not be bad either, as normal couples’ way of deepening relationships follows the process of "dating," "mutual understanding," "deepening feelings" one step at a time until finally reaching "intimacy."
Of course, some may do it completely the other way around, beginning with "intimacy," followed by "deepening feelings," "mutually understanding," and "starting to date"... If the intimacy doesn’t satisfy, or they find incompatibility throughout mutual understanding, the remaining steps might not even happen.
However, the way he and Minamoto Tamako got to know each other was peculiar, first achieving "mutual understanding," knowing each other thoroughly (Minamoto Tamako had even seen his past life), having no secrets between them (except for matters of principle), then starting to "deepen feelings," tentatively pushing the other to confess.
As for dating, in Fushimi Roku’s impression, it seems like there hasn’t been even once...
But, in fact, there was. When Fushimi Roku first joined the police station, and to slack off, he wandered around with Minamoto Tamako under the pretext of investigating a case, which Minamoto Tamako saw as a date.
Later, they took Taira Sakurako to find her mom, wandered around Izu Town, intending to go on a date, but it didn’t go smoothly. Both inexplicably entered a phase of harsh words, one claiming to have three potential girlfriends, and the other claiming to have twelve potential boyfriends, saying they needed to evaluate each other, which eventually came to nothing.