CHAPTER 426: CHAPTER 325: THE GENPEI CONFLICT

Hearing the yelling, Taira Sakurako could sense the murderous aura through the room door.

She poked her head out from the box and saw Minamoto Tamako push open the door, her face showing an ironic smile borne from anger. Clenching her fists, she asked, "Why is the ice cream in the fridge missing?"

In an instant, Taira Sakurako’s brain went into overdrive.

Her first thought was to lie, to cover up the matter first and think of a plan to make up for it later; but she immediately realized it was a defensive behavior triggered by fear, a worst-case option among worst-case options—Minamoto Tamako clearly already knew she ate the ice cream, and was just asking with the answer in hand, so trying to wriggle out now was a dead end!

She pondered further, how in the world did this get exposed? Logically, Minamoto Tamako should have suspected Fushimi Roku first; the more Fushimi Roku argues, the more it’s likely she’s suspicious... maybe Fushimi Roku was the one who ratted her out, complained to Minamoto Tamako and thus brought trouble her way.

In this case, she actually had room to argue, but the risks were very high, because her opponent was Fushimi Roku, and she didn’t believe she could win against Fushimi Roku.

Taira Sakurako quickly weighed the pros and cons and finally decided on a tactical confession.

"I ate it," she said calmly.

"How could you steal—"

Before Minamoto Tamako could finish her sentence, Taira Sakurako quickly corrected, "I didn’t steal, you said I could eat it."

"When did I say that?" Minamoto Tamako was stunned.

"Just last night, I asked if I could have more dessert, you said no, it would affect my appetite for dinner, then I promised not a bite of dinner would be left, and you nodded in agreement," Taira Sakurako recited quickly.

"I was talking about dessert! You didn’t eat your own dessert, how could you eat my ice cream?" Minamoto Tamako thought Taira Sakurako was arguing, and this reasoning sounded quite familiar, like a lower version of Mr. Fu Jian’s sophistry.

"It’s your fault for not being clear, doesn’t ice cream count as dessert?" Taira Sakurako countered. "I thought you meant ice cream."

"Then why didn’t you just say ice cream, why use ’dessert’? This behavior is really terrible!"

"How is it terrible? You left it in the fridge, if you don’t eat it, it’ll expire and go to waste!"

"Today, the teacher was praising you as a good kid who knows how to correct mistakes, I think you’re just a bad kid!"

...

The argument between the two sped up, their gestures grew bigger, and their voices even drowned out Fushimi Roku’s video game sounds. He simply paused the game, stretched his neck, leaned out from the couch, and watched their epic showdown.

Minamoto Tamako got angrier as she spoke, seeing that Taira Sakurako wasn’t repentant, she couldn’t bear it any longer and aimed at Taira Sakurako’s forehead, flicking it with her fingers.

Taira Sakurako went "ouch," her head snapped back in disbelief, and when she came back to her senses, she covered her forehead, looking shocked.

Seeing her expression, Minamoto Tamako realized she shouldn’t have hit her, feeling a bit panicked inside, she stammered, trying to apologize and comfort Taira Sakurako.

But before she could complete a full sentence, Taira Sakurako suddenly reached out, flicking her forehead in return.

Minamoto Tamako was also dumbfounded, thinking Sakurako dared to hit her, she actually learned to hit back! Every time her mom flicked her forehead, she never dared say a word, but Sakurako actually fought back!

Unbelievable!!

Minamoto Tamako’s anger surged again, she reached out, flicking back at Sakurako’s forehead, loudly scolding, "You’re not allowed to hit people!"

Taira Sakurako got flicked again, her flattened bangs bounced up, she refused to show weakness, retaliating and shouting, "You hit first!"

"I hit you to teach you a lesson! Stop flicking! Don’t flick!"

"I’ll flick! Why are you allowed to hit but I can’t flick?!"

"Stop!"

Minamoto Tamako covered her forehead and pushed Taira Sakurako; Taira Sakurako pouted, pushed Tamako’s arm.

The two pushed each other back and forth, refusing to relent, pushing and starting to attack each other.

Minamoto Tamako leaned back, closing her eyes, turning her face, her hands flapping up and down like a dinosaur digging dirt, blindly swatting the air, luckily hitting Taira Sakurako’s little hands;

Taira Sakurako faced the fear like a Grandmaster, striking like Ip Man, throwing shadow punches, due to size and build differences, her small fists occasionally hit Minamoto Tamako’s palms.

Seeing the scene unfold, Fushimi Roku didn’t step in to stop them, he opened a bag of chips, leaning by the edge of the couch, eating and watching intently.

Their skills evenly matched, like Ip Man sparring with Zhang Tianzhi, moving while fighting, fighting from inside to the living room, switching from shadow punches to separating the wild horses.

Master Taira cut Minamoto Tamako from below, stepped on her toe and tried to escape; Minamoto Tamako lunged like a hungry tiger, tackled Master Taira onto the couch.

Taira Sakurako flipped agilely, sitting between Minamoto Tamako’s legs, took hold of Tamako’s legs, tried to drag her off the couch in a camel cart pulling pose.

Minamoto Tamako kept struggling, thinking she was going to die from the fall. She shouted, "Help! Help!" With her right hand, she grabbed Fushimi Roku’s waistband, and with her left hand, she grabbed a sofa cushion and used it to hit Taira Sakurako’s head.

"Let go! My pants are going to fall off!" Fushimi Roku never liked wearing belts; he felt belts were constricting, and he usually preferred wearing elastic sports pants, so he suffered for it.

Minamoto Tamako held on firmly; Taira Sakurako was like a stubborn mule, just pulling Tamako like a rickshaw... Fushimi Roku couldn’t stay out of it. He could only shout and tell the two to stop fighting, but they still ignored him.

When people are angry, they don’t listen to advice.

Minamoto Tamako slid down, landing in a gym’s hip bridge position, with her bottom firmly on the floor, uninjured. Before she could catch her breath, Taira Sakurako seized her weakness again, grabbing her socks off her ankles.

"Stinky attack!"

Taira Sakurako swung her fists like a windmill, smacking the socks against Minamoto Tamako. Minamoto Tamako was unable to defend herself, trying to block with her hands, curling up her legs, and shouting, "My socks don’t stink! They don’t stink!"

Fushimi Roku could no longer stand it, thinking that if he let them continue, the whole house would be torn down. Atsushi was already curled up in the corner without a sound.

"Alright... Stop fighting..."

He tried to persuade them, but with little effect.

Taira Sakurako, holding the Divine Weapon, felt invincible, pinning Minamoto Tamako down and hitting her with the sock, even knocking the chips off the coffee table, and accidentally slapping Fushimi Roku’s face a few times. Minamoto Tamako fought back, grabbing chips off the floor and throwing them at Taira Sakurako like projectiles.

The living room was in chaos, but both sides suffered no real losses.

Fushimi Roku couldn’t take it anymore. He squeezed in and grabbed both of their ears, twisting them upward sharply. Taira Sakurako and Minamoto Tamako yelped in pain, standing up straight like cats caught by their necks.

"Ow! Ow! It hurts!"

"Let go! Let go!"

Fushimi Roku sat between them, looking around, seeing they both looked unsatisfied, he said, "Ceasefire, and I’ll let go."

"I’ll even give it a Stamp!" Minamoto Tamako immediately used her trump card, trying to be the first to break free and teach Taira Sakurako a lesson.

"I can’t guarantee what I might say!" Taira Sakurako knew many of Fushimi Roku’s secrets that couldn’t see the light, and if pushed, she might go down together.

Minamoto Tamako reacted quickly, giving a sideways glance and questioning, "What do you mean? What are you hiding from me?"

Fushimi Roku felt a headache, putting on an anguished expression, he said, "Both the palm and back of the hand are flesh, it hurts my heart to hit either!"

At these words, both were stunned for a moment.

Fushimi Roku seized the opportunity to continue, "Stop fighting, isn’t it better for everyone to be harmonious? What’s wrong that can’t be solved with communication? Is violence the only solution?"

Seeing they remained silent, Fushimi Roku relaxed a bit and decided to lecture both equally: "Especially you, Tamako. You’re a grown-up, still bickering with a seven-year-old? With such little magnanimity, you want to be a famous detective and police chief? Where have your past values gone?"

"Yeah, exactly!" Taira Sakurako agreed.

"Exactly what? Haven’t you done anything wrong?" Fushimi Roku turned, continuing to criticize, "Who taught you to steal? You don’t admit it after taking someone’s things, isn’t that worth a spanking? Daring to talk back to teachers at school—when I was your age, I would have been spanked into thirds!"

Seeing them both lower their heads, Fushimi Roku f inally let go, patting their heads, and earnestly said, "Alright, since you’re good friends, apologize to each other!"

Taira Sakurako was very unhappy, but she knew it was indeed her fault, and mumbled, "Sorry..."

Minamoto Tamako also felt heavy-hearted; she had really lost control. Mr. Fu Jian was right, she shouldn’t have bickered with Sakurako: "It’s okay, I forgive you, but don’t do it again next time..."

Taira Sakurako responded with an "Hmm."

"That’s more like it!" Fushimi Roku smiled, holding their little hands, saying, "Now shake hands, you’re still good friends!"

Minamoto Tamako realized, and quickly released Fushimi Roku’s hand, telling him not to treat her like a child.

Then, she led Taira Sakurako back to the room to whisper sweet nothings, which finally eased Taira Sakurako, and the two reconciled over dinner.

After dinner, Fushimi Roku taught Taira Sakurako to play video games, and she was immediately hooked, playing with great concentration. By eleven o’clock, it was time for bed, but Taira Sakurako still refused to put down the controller.

Fushimi Roku saved the game for her and then forcibly unplugged the console, only then did she reluctantly go to bed.

Tomorrow was the trial day, and Minamoto Tamako lay in bed, tossing and turning, her mind occupied with thoughts of Fujiwara Homare and Yoshikawa Ritsuo.

She didn’t know how to face Fujiwara Homare in the defendant’s seat, or how to untie this unsolvable knot.

Sigh, if I had known earlier, I would’ve dragged it out a bit longer...