The Lying Counselor’s Eloquent Reasoning - Chapter 56
That day, Ayasaki Tomomi finally received a job as an assistant to the counselor, Takahiko Uroma. It was an errand. In other words, she was simply an errand girl.
Yes, right after school, she was unusually contacted by Uroma, who ordered her to buy a large quantity of mint tablets and a Chinese herbal medicine called “Tokishakuyakusan” before showing up at the counseling room today. Aside from the regular medicinal pills, she wondered what the Chinese medicine was. Although uncertain, she headed to the drugstore on her route to buy them as she was told, and then proceeded to Uroma’s counseling room.
Once she opened the door and walked in, she heard Uroma sneezing heavily. His nose was runny and he was blowing it with a tissue.
“Is it a cold, by any chance?”
It would be a terrible thing if I were to be exposed to his cold. Tomomi placed the plastic bag containing her purchases on the desk and maintained a sufficient distance from Uroma.
“A cold? Don’t be silly, Tomomi. Do you really expect me to be defeated by a cold virus?”
“Am I wrong? Your nose is runny.”
“This is what’s known as vasomotor rhinitis, or cold allergy.”
“Allergy? Is it like hay fever?”
“Haha, you’re trying to brand me as a man who is defeated by pollen. Please don’t misunderstand this. Vasomotor rhinitis is a minor physical disorder caused by the drastic difference in temperature between day and night, such as this time of year. By no means am I defeated in any way.”
“No, according to your theory, you are defeated by the temperature change, aren’t you?”
“No, it’s just that my autonomic nervous system is a bit delicate. Please don’t put me in the same category as those who are defeated by a cold virus or pollen.”
“Well, even viruses and pollen have the right to choose their victims, don’t they?”
Although it was unclear to her, it didn’t seem to be a major sickness. In the meantime, she searched on her phone to determine whether or not cold temperature allergy was indeed true from Uroma’s mouth. The results proved that it was an actual thing. Apparently, it’s a nasal cold-like condition that tends to occur when the temperature changes dramatically from one day to the next, such as during seasonal changes. It is also said to be more common in women than in men, and the reason is that women have less muscle mass… Tomomi then glanced at Uroma. There, was a skinny man with no muscles at all. So that’s why. It made sense and she involuntarily laughed. His body was too fragile to be considered a man. No wonder he was defeated by the temperature change.
“What are you smirking about? Are you really that amused by the sight of me sniffling?”
His eyebrows furrowed, his cloudy eyes half-opened, and he glared at her. “It’s nothing,” Tomomi said, holding back a laugh.
“Oh, could it be that the Chinese herb called Tokishakuyakusan was for your runny nose?”
“Of course it was. That is a superb major Chinese herbal medicine, you see. Here is a man with a runny nose and vasomotor rhinitis, what else would it be used for? Please don’t bother mentioning things that are obvious to anyone.”
Uroma replied sarcastically, then rummaged through the plastic bag that Tomomi had left on his desk and pulled out a box of Chinese medicines. He threw the powdered medicine directly into his mouth and… choked. Tomomi wondered why he was forcing himself to drink the powdered medicine without water. She laughed again.
“For nasal inflammation medicine, there are tablets and capsules. Shouldn’t I have bought some of those instead?”
“You don’t know anything at all, do you, Tomomi? Those non-Kampo medicines would make people sleepy. That’s what I don’t like. Therefore, I dared to choose Chinese medicine. How can you not understand that? Please understand my thoughts a little.”
“Oh, is that right?”
Speaking of this, I do get sleepy when I take cold medicine. I guess Chinese medicine doesn’t have that problem. I see.
“Oh, but when it comes to medicines for nasal inflammation, there are also sprays that you just spray into your nostrils??”
“Please don’t be silly again. The mucous membrane of the nose is directly connected to the brain, okay? Spraying a drug directly into it? That would be horrifying. Absolutely not!”
“Huh? I mean, there’s nothing dangerous about it. It’s a common product sold as medicine.”
“It’s not a question of danger or non-danger! It’s about my mood!”
“Y-Your mood?”
There you go again. What a complicated guy. Tomomi felt exasperated. It’s always like this everyday.
“Excuse me, is this place open today?” said someone knocking on the door of this room from outside. It sounded like a man’s voice.
“Yes, it’s open. Come in.”
The man quickly opened the door and walked in. He was about forty years old, dressed in a crisp, expensive suit. Tall and well-toned with a well-proportioned body, he kept his shiny black hair all back. His face was somewhat deep and well-defined, and he was a handsome man with the sex appeal of a grown man.
However, he was currently wearing a white gauze eye patch over his face, which obscured his left eye.
“Um, this is a counseling room, is it correct to say that this is a place where people can have their problems addressed?” The man with the eye patch asked Uroma as he sat down on a folding chair that had materialized out of nowhere.
“Yes. There are many people here who are distressed by their problems. I’ve been working diligently as a counselor here, hoping to bring a smile to the faces of those people.” Uroma answered simply.
Again, what a bland statement. Tomomi was dumbfounded. The main job of a counselor is to make people’s faces turn cloudy.
“I understand. Do you specialize in psychological concerns here?”
The man swept his right eye as if he was confused about something, and covered the eye patch on his left eye with his hand.