"Alright, open wide."
I followed the instruction and opened my mouth.
"Hm? It's swollen? See, I told you so."
The doctor's diagnosis came with a slight grumble.
"Welcome, and thank you for coming today. My name is Toki Umino, the director of this clinic."
She greeted me with excessive politeness.
"Oh, no, the pleasure is mine," I instinctively replied in kind.
"By the way, is 'Umino' a common surname?"
I asked without thinking.
"I'm Misago's grandmother."
"Huh?"
A dumbfounded sound escaped me.
Let's say she had a child at 18, and that child also had a baby at 18—that would make her 36?
No, wait, Misago looks like she's already an adult, so maybe add another 18?
That would put her over 50.
My mind spun in confusion, but I stopped myself from asking—it wouldn't be polite.
The woman in front of me, Toki, looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties at most. Her hair was white, but she was strikingly beautiful. Another case of misleading appearances, like Yata?
"Wait… Yata-chan?"
She also calls her 'grandma,' doesn't she…?
"That's my mother."
Toki answered my unspoken question without hesitation.
"Wow…"
I unintentionally let out a strange noise.
"I appreciate you looking after Misago."
She bowed her head slightly.
"No, no, if anything, I should be the one thanking her for helping me out of a tough spot."
I didn't feel like I had done anything that warranted gratitude.
"Even so, there are things only a man can do. Things only you can provide. That's very important."
She put it in a somewhat roundabout way, but it sounded like she was thanking me for, well… spending time with Misago.
It still felt weird.
"Is it really that big of a deal?"
"Yes. So, please continue to take good care of her—within reason, of course."
I had just been encouraged.
"For the sample… can you produce any mucus or phlegm? If not, I'll have to shove this deep into your nose."
She held up a cotton swab with a wicked smile.
I had no choice but to comply, feeling oddly threatened.
The sample was placed on a slide under a tabletop microscope.
The microscope's image appeared on a monitor, zooming in, adjusting focus, and automatically analyzing the sample in real time.
A list of possible diagnoses popped up. Was this machine running a live search?
"This one looks like a rhinovirus strain. That's a relatively safe bet."
"Yeah, not too bad, I guess."
I matched her casual tone. It wasn't as scary as COVID, the flu, or strep throat.
Wait… just how powerful was this microscope?
It could see viruses directly—was this some high-end electron microscope? That must've cost a fortune.
"There's no perfect medication for this, so all I can prescribe is pain relief. Sorry, but you'll have to tough it out."
She gave me an apologetic nod.
That seemed a little dramatic.
"Well, at least I'll build some immunity, right?"
I joked.
"You'll probably recover on your own in two or three days. But for someone like you—an outsider—your acquired immunity might not work as well, so it could get a little worse. Get plenty of rest."
"Got it."
I briefly wondered what to do about my plans with Hachikuma tonight.
"Hachikuma can wait, can't she?"
The conversation suddenly shifted to her.
"Yes, of course!"
She responded immediately with a crisp answer.
"Oh, and what about Misago…?"
Wouldn't kissing her spread it?
"Misago and Tsuburi should be fine. Their immune systems are strong enough to resist something as weak as rhinovirus. No need to worry."
She said it with full confidence.
Wait… does that mean she already knows about everything? That's kind of scary.
"Hold on, then wouldn't that mean—"
Hachikuma should be fine too, right?
"This is about your body's strain!"
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
She shot me a sharp glare, and I reflexively straightened my posture.
Getting glared at by a beauty carried a different kind of weight.
"You'll be under observation. And once you recover, you're getting a full round of vaccinations."
It sounded like a lot of shots were in my future.
By the time I got home, just as expected, I developed a fever and had to rest for a while.