CHAPTER 541: CHAPTER 378: SUCCESSFULLY REDEEMING THE RED REDEMPTION COUPON! (PART 2)

"..."

Fushimi Rokukyo squinted, stayed silent for a while, then lowered his head to continue fiddling with his phone.

Minamoto Tamako snapped out of it, wiped the drool from her mouth, and awkwardly asked, "What do you think?"

"Think about what?" Fushimi Rokukyo pretended not to understand, playing dumb.

Minamoto Tamako decided to be straightforward: "If I make such a request, would you use a stamp to cancel it with me?"

Fushimi Rokukyo returned a mysterious smile: "Take a guess."

Minamoto Tamako stared at his face, trying to glean some clue from this handsome but oddly expressive face: "Could it be?"

"Guess again."

"So it’s a no then..."

"One more guess."

"Oh? Could it really be?" Minamoto Tamako rekindled her hope.

Fushimi Rokukyo, unwilling to engage with her, lowered his head to continue dealing with messages, casually saying, "You can try."

"..."

Minamoto Tamako could tell, Fushimi was probably reluctant.

She could only clear her throat and opt for a backup plan, saying, "But bringing the conversation back, actually, there was another idea I had before..."

"What?" Fushimi Rokukyo still didn’t look up, feeling Minamoto Tamako still hadn’t come up with anything decent.

Minamoto Tamako divulged her Plan B: "Um, logically speaking, I’m the founder of the detective team and also the captain, but while solving cases, I feel I don’t get the respect I deserve..."

"So you want to use a Red Redemption Coupon to make me a good team member?" Fushimi Rokukyo stroked his chin, feeling that this condition wasn’t entirely unacceptable.

"Pretty much..." Minamoto Tamako repeated.

"How much is ’pretty much’?" Fushimi Rokukyo knew her tendencies very well.

"Kind of like in detective TV shows, a smart famous detective and her foolish assistant, every time the famous detective makes a brilliant deduction, the assistant has to clap and say ’Splendid’; and when the famous detective apprehends an unexpected culprit, the assistant would look shocked and say ’Genius’; whenever the famous detective calls the assistant’s name, they would reply ’Present!’ and immediately run to the famous detective’s side to await orders..."

"Oh."

Fushimi Rokukyo flashed a mysterious smile again, much like Uncle Yajima’s annoying fake grin.

Seeing this, Minamoto Tamako knew right away that Fushimi was unwilling, puffing out her small lips in discontent, crossing her arms and sulking at the window, muttering, "This won’t do, that won’t do, big liar, loves deceiving, never believing your crappy words again..."

"When did I ever lie to you?" Fushimi Rokukyo countered.

"Saying that using a Red Redemption Coupon can make you do anything... clearly false advertising!"

Minamoto Tamako didn’t want to wrong herself, painstakingly accumulating Redemption Vouchers was all for release, wasn’t it?

"I never said I couldn’t, do you want to redeem it?" Fushimi Rokukyo feigned oblivion once more.

"If I redeem it, will you use a stamp to annul my redemption?" Minamoto Tamako countered.

"Hehe, you guess." Fushimi Rokukyo replied.

"Guess your big watermelon head!!"

Minamoto Tamako cursed inwardly; her Plan B was her lowest offer, if Fushimi couldn’t even accept that, she’d rather go down with him!

All the way there, she didn’t speak to Fushimi Rokukyo out of anger.

After returning home, Fushimi Rokukyo started cooking, not because he had become diligent but wanting to slack off and avoid solving more cases— he had been investigating all morning, taking a break that afternoon couldn’t hurt, right? He pottered about preparing ingredients, mixing sauces, heating oil... wrestling for over three hours to make four dishes and a soup, calling Minamoto Tamako to eat.

Minamoto Tamako was still upset, but when Fushimi called her for food, she couldn’t pretend not to hear, plus her stomach had long since been rumbling, so she very willingly sat at the table, scooping rice for herself with a spoon.

During the meal, Fushimi Rokukyo casually brought up again how Minamoto Tamako planned to handle the Redemption Voucher.

Minamoto Tamako was just angry, thinking if Fushimi couldn’t accept even this small request, what good was the reward for redemption anyway? Better to cancel it out with Fushimi’s stamp to prevent him from thinking up more weird ways to mess with her!

Under Fushimi Rokukyo’s surprised gaze, she slammed her chopsticks onto the table, got up to fetch her piggy bank, placed it on the kitchen counter, then took out an egg beater, mourning silently for a few seconds for the piggy bank:

’Goodbye, my most loyal guardian.’

Raising the egg beater high, Minamoto Tamako smashed the piggy bank, counted the Redemption Vouchers to confirm, then handed them to Fushimi Rokukyo and loudly declared:

"I want to redeem the Red Redemption Coupon!"

Fushimi Rokukyo raised an eyebrow, biting into a tempura, he returned to his room to fetch the previously prepared Red Redemption Coupon, intricately designed, its portrait was Fushimi Rokukyo’s own profile striking Fukuzawa Yukichi’s iconic pose.

"Here," he tossed the Red Redemption Coupon lightly onto the table, "for you."

Minamoto Tamako accepted the Redemption Coupon, lifted it high, examined it for a while, savoring the lingering power, and when she had stared at it enough, she forcefully slapped the Redemption Coupon back onto the table as if playing Yu-Gi-Oh to play a comeback move, loudly announcing: "I want to redeem it!!"

Not waiting for Fushimi Rokukyo to speak, she quickly said: "You better think it through, if you use a stamp to annul my redemption, you’ve wasted all these days working for nothing... all those stamps you painstakingly gathered amount to nothing, just wasted, are you content with that?"

Fushimi Rokukyo remained silent. Minamoto Tamako sensed hope, so she seized the opportunity to persuade further: "Besides, the Redemption Voucher, as the name implies, is meant for atonement... do you understand? It’s you using your actions to earn my forgiveness, making up for past wrongs. If it gets canceled, the Redemption Voucher becomes meaningless, and won’t you miss the chance to correct your past mistakes?"

"Therefore, consider the positives, if you let me redeem the Redemption Voucher, your errors get corrected and the stamps you gathered find their purpose, isn’t that the best of both worlds?"

Fushimi Rokukyo wavered, having to admit, Minamoto Tamako’s eloquence had improved significantly, perhaps from surreptitiously learning from him — she always had a knack for picking up the bad things.

Though it sounded quite convincing, he wasn’t ready to agree impulsively, instead, he rubbed his chin and said: "Makes sense..."

"So that means you agree?!" Minamoto Tamako’s eyes sparkled.

"First, tell me, what do you want to redeem with this Redemption Voucher?" Fushimi Rokukyo didn’t conclusively commit.

Minamoto Tamako frowned, she had spent so much effort talking, yet still couldn’t sway Fushimi, this guy was as stubborn as a stone in a pit. Things had reached this stage, yet he still hesitated, truly infuriating!

Forget it, let’s go down together!

Minamoto Tamako reiterated her demands, firstly Fushimi must fully acknowledge the captain’s position, when seeing Minamoto Tamako, he couldn’t call her by name but must say ’Captain Tamako’ or ’Officer Tamako’; whenever Minamoto Tamako speaks, he must bend down, lowering to her height, and carefully listen to her instructions; during normal case work, he can’t talk back to the captain, whatever the captain says must be echoed, even when deducing clues, he can’t show off his intellect, nor can he look down on the captain...

She detailed a long list; so long her mouth went dry, feeling somewhat still unsatisfied, she sipped some miso soup to moisten her throat, and added: "For now, let’s just keep it at this, supplements can follow when needed."

Fushimi Rokukyo pondered for a while, feeling that compared to what he wanted to redeem, Minamoto Tamako’s requests weren’t unacceptable.

As they say, good steel should be used for the blade, canceling out the stamp felt unwise.

"These demands of yours... how long would they last?" Fushimi Rokukyo asked: "It can’t be indefinitely, can it?"

"Until we catch the real culprit behind Heavenly Punishment!" Minamoto Tamako declared proudly.

"Then forget it." Fushimi Rokukyo refused outright, for him, this proposal just wasn’t realistic.

Minamoto Tamako quickly adjusted: "Then until we get to the bottom of the random assaults case... would that work?"

"What if it remains unresolved?" Fushimi Rokukyo challenged.

"With the entire detective team on it, how could there be any case we can’t crack?" Minamoto Tamako felt uncomfortable seeing his reluctancy as if he expected her to beg him for the redemption, which only added fuel to her anger, prompting her to regain her composure and assert: "If we can’t find the original perpetrator, we might as well take Fushimi down with us!"

Fushimi Rokukyo felt some swaying; he had to admit, Minamoto Tamako’s persuasion had improved significantly, perhaps she learned from him slyly— this girl always picked up the bad habits.

Though it seemed a very fair deal, he decided not to hastily consent and instead rubbed his chin, "There’s some logic..."

"So are you agreeing?!" Minamoto Tamako’s eyes shone brightly.

"First, tell me, how long do you want this Redemption Voucher to last?" Fushimi Rokukyo asked, "It can’t be endless, right?"

"Then forget it." Minamoto Tamako immediately rejected it again, for her, it felt like begging Fushimi to redeem, which was not the case. The way he was dilly-dallying while she was being serious— it was infuriating!

Let’s explode together then!

In the end, Fushimi Rokukyo agreed.

He thought this case wouldn’t be difficult to solve; better to let Minamoto Tamako have her way for a few days, let her gloat a bit.

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