Drug Immunity

At his apartment, three and a half hours later.

Sumire insisted that he gets permission to leave, and that's why it took much longer than it should have to return home. Because she made him ask permission, he had to sit through the rest of the selection process.

The remaining models were all instructed to try and please him; even the ones who didn't want to join his team had no choice. Toh sighed deeply at the memory.

No matter how desperate they were, did they have to go that far? Some were just straight out trying to seduce him, girls, who practically threw themselves at his feet.

By that point, he was disgusted and threatened to leave if they didn't take it seriously. After that warning, there were a few serious individuals, but he had already made his mind up on Sumire. However, the decision was abrupt, after he did it. All sorts of ideas popped in his mind.

The other judges must have sensed that since they seemed to give up towards the end. His gaze fell on the girl who had taken some meat out of a plastic bag and placed it in the bowl on the table.

"Isn't that a ragout rabbit meat?"

"Mm, Futaba got it for me. But my cooking skills were very bad, so I asked her if there was a simple meal I could make with it. So she suggested stew. I have been practicing the last few days, and the end result was this morning's breakfast. So it should be good."

'It should be.' That phrase should worry anybody, but it felt like he could trust her with it. He watched her for the next few minutes; she had already butchered the rabbit and cut out the heart and liver. She put the rabbit in salt water to sit for around half an hour.

She used that time to cut up other ingredients, and when it finished, she put some heat and oil in the huge pot she was using.

So far, it doesn't seem like she is doing anything wrong. Although he has seen plenty of people follow instructions well, only to butcher up the taste later on.

He looked over and saw her lay out the rabbit on a paper towel to dry the water before putting the rabbit in.

"You're doing better than I thought."

"Fu, maybe cooking is secretly a skill of mine," Sumire said happily.

"That would be more convincing if your hands weren't covered in cuts."

Sumire laughed nervously.

"Well, it wasn't easy, that's for sure. But despite failing so many times, I had a lot of fun. I guess it's because I was making it with a purpose in mind."

"A purpose?"

For a moment, she didn't reply, and Sumire looked away.

"It was so I could make it up to you."

At those words, his eyes widened. He felt a light sensation appear in his chest. What is this? What is she doing to him? Ever since he first met this girl, he has been experiencing emotions he has never felt.

"I mean, you have done a lot for me, and you didn't judge me even when you saw me in that state. I figured I should drop my guard down a little now and, at the very least treat you like a friend."

Oh, she is rambling. Is she doing that because she is nervous? Toh leaned down and kissed her lips softly this time.

Sumire pushed him away, flustered. "W-what now?"

"You have too many openings. I am surprised nobody tried to hit on you when I left you alone yesterday."

"Ah, there was someone."

"Akira Kenji?" Toh guessed.

"Right, that man! He was the first one to leave during the negotiations."

"So, you negotiated?"

"It was more like he did, that guy even had the nerve to point out who I was." Sumire sighed. "Naturally, they couldn't trust his words so easily, so they had half of us stay behind."

So it was like that.

"You looked a bit flushed when I saw you."

"It's because he spiked my drink." Sumire sighed. "It's a good thing I have immunity to drugs; otherwise, I would have been in serious danger."

Huh? Toh looked at her, surprised. She also has drug immunity? That's not uncommon for anybody who belongs to the underworld. But, normally, they have to undergo training for that. If he can recall how his one went, he can't even begin to imagine how it would be for a woman. Normally, drug immunity training is restricted to men only.

It must have been Aki; he heard the rumors. But, that man is crueler than he thought.

"D-don't look at me like that," Sumire mumbled. "It happened a long time ago. I am fine now."

Toh raised his eyebrow. "Are you sure? You're acting suspicious about it."

"I mean, back when it happened. I was a bit clueless about relationships between men and women. So, I had no idea what he was doing was strange-"

So that's why she is acting suspiciously.

"Since he is older than you, he should have known better,"

Toh glanced at her cooking progress and saw that the rabbit meat had gradually turned brown. Sumire removed it from the pot and added onions and salt to the pot before she cooked it for about ten minutes.

"That is true, but I haven't been taken advantage of because of the training despite doing dangerous jobs. So, I suppose it happened for a reason."

Indeed if she didn't receive that training, Kenji would have taken advantage of her. But recalling the procedure for drug immunity made him cringe, especially considering how old she is now. When exactly did she have it done? To achieve perfect immunity it would take roughly three years.

If she is sixteen now, it would mean she did that procedure when she was thirteen. The more he thought about it, the more he frowned. What other stuff has he made her do?

It isn't hard to imagine. That is the age where it would be easy to fall for an older man's sweet words.