Chapter 40 Sumiko Sumire

Sumiko Sumire hails from a long lineage of assassins that specializes in poison. Be it a simple poison obtained from a mushroom or a poisonous toad, or a complicated poison brewed by the experts, Sumiko Sumire knew all about them even though she didn't like it. Even when she was a kid, she had already been trained in all things poison against her will. She really didn't want to study poison but her lineage gave her no choice. Now, assassins aren't really a thing anymore so her family doesn't involve themselves in dangerous stuff or crimes but it was a tradition to pass the knowledge of poison to their descendants because it would be useful one day.

And just when all hope seemed lost, Sumire heard something about a school called the United Superheroes Academy. It was then that she came upon the term superheroes and that children in her generation have a huge chance of awakening a superpower. Of course, it is highly unlikely for her though since her mom and dad didn't have superpowers, to begin with. However, she didn't lose all hope. She was hoping that one day she would awaken a superpower that would enable her to enter the aforementioned school. She knew that that was her only way out of her misery of living with poison.

Unexpectedly, right before the school's deadline for registration, Sumire awakened a superpower. She had mixed feelings about her superpower however since it was something that she never thought of awakening. In fact, it's the very thing that she hated the most and the reason why she's applying to the United Superheroes Academy was because of that very thing— poison.

She wanted to scream and throw a fit back then... but then again, she can't really do anything to change her superpower. All that she could do was wholly accept it since it's a part of her now, just like her appendages.

Her superpower is much more complicated than normal, and it's pretty much a lottery when it comes to her everyday life. The moment she wakes up, her eyes turn into a weird color as if she puts on contact lenses. These colors correspond to certain status effects just like in video games. Red would mean that she could inflict bleeding on her enemy, yellow means paralysis, violet means an intense fever, and black means death. There are more status effects corresponding to her eye color on that day so she had to test it out on animals. And not only that, her saliva is ever poisonous and it won't go off even though her eyes turn a different color. In short, kissing is out of the question because it would be pretty much the kiss of death or something iconic as that.

...

During the attack of the Slime Alien wherein Kuroe was impaled through her stomach, Sumiko Sumire hit her head hard on the ground but she was still conscious. However, her eyes were of clear black color that day so she couldn't really help anyone with her superpower. That's why she pretended to be lying unconscious until the entire ordeal comes to a close. She felt absolutely horrible since she could have done something had it been any other day. And unfortunately, it's not like his superpower has a schedule of some sort, or maybe she just wasn't aware of how the schedule works. The reason why she managed to get into the USA was by a stroke of luck since her eyes turned yellow that day. One touch from her and her enemy was frozen to the ground, immobile.

...

Back to the present,

Cold sweat ran through Sumire's wavy violet hair as she stood in front of the hospital. She was careful not to touch anyone today so she wore some gloves for extra protection. Of course, she can touch anyone with her bare hands without killing that said person but honestly, she didn't want to risk it. She doesn't know when her powers would spiral out of control and so she always carries a pair of gloves in her hand. In her mind, she debated whether it was the right move to visit her classmate and thank her for what she did. And as she did so, she hovered in front of the hospital like an indecisive mouse. People going back and forth Kamakura Hospital glanced at her out of curiosity since she'd been in front of the hospital entrance for quite some time now.

"Miss, are you all right? What are you doing here outside?" An old lady asked out of concern for her, to which she responded by shaking her head and heading inside the hospital.

That's when she saw a glimpse of Satoshi and Shiroi walking down the hallway and without a second thought, followed them to Kuroe's room. However, she was a pace too late and before she knew it, the two of them were already inside Kuroe's room and she couldn't bring herself to go inside. The basket of fruits she was carrying was getting rather heavy on her arms but she held onto it in hopes that she'd get the chance to give it to her classmate. Once everything was said and done, she told herself that she would visit Satoshi next. After all, if he weren't present, all of them would've died in the hands of the alien in a snap of a finger. She figured she'd have to do that once she overcomes the hurdle in front of her.

And then, Satoshi and Shiroi suddenly bolted out the door, all excited. It was so out of nowhere that Sumire faced the wall and tried not to attract attention to herself while the two of them passed her by. Once they were gone, she heaved a sigh of relief as her knees collapsed to the floor.

Kuroe's alone right now. Now's her chance to give her the basket of fruits and run away.

Suddenly, Sumire heard a voice from behind her, making her flinch in the process. "You're Sumire, right? Why aren't you coming in?" It was Kuroe, standing right by the door to the VIP room.

...

Sumire was surprised since she never would've expected Kuro to know that she was there. Her pupils dilated as she examined Kuroe from head to toe, trying to figure out what her secret was. Then again, she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary so she just quietly nodded her head and meekly walked towards her room. Obviously, this was her first time visiting someone in a hospital so she doesn't really know what to say to Kuroe.

Upon entrance, she eased herself on one of the seats adjacent to the bed where Kuroe was spending her idle hours on. Her eyes darted from here and there since she couldn't look at Kuroe straight in the eyes. While clenching on the fruit basket in hand, she lifted it up and gave it to Kuroe. "I-it's for you. Thank you for what you did back then." She continued. Well, she couldn't really specify what Kuroe did but she had hoped that she got her message across.

"Oh, thanks. You're Sumire, right? Why didn't you just come in? You didn't have to hover around the hallway like a stalker." Kuroe continued, opening the basket of fruits and grabbing an orange. After peeling it, she offered a piece to Sumire who ate it without question.

When Sumire reached out for the piece of orange, Kuroe noticed that she was wearing thick gloves even though it wasn't that cold. She didn't ask about it though since she already knew what she was thinking. In fact, even her superpower is already evident to Kuroe way back then.

"I... I didn't know what to— this is my first time visiting someone in the hospital. " Sumire said.

"You don't have to think about it. Next time, you can just come without doing anything. Thank you for the visit, I really appreciate it. Oh, and are you feeling all right after what happened? I'm sure you hurt yourself somewhere. You should get a check-up first before leaving."

"I... I actually have nosocomephobia. So I'm a bit nervous right now. This is my first time entering the hospital and I only did so because I was panicking by the entrance. I hope you feel better soon. See you tomorrow." Sumire then stood up and bowed after briefly smiling towards Kuroe. And before Kuroe could respond, she already bolted out the door.

A smile formed on Kuroe's face as she read the thoughts of Sumire just when she was running through the halls of the hospital. A few minutes later, Satoshi and Shiroi arrived back at the hospital with all the snacks on hand, clueless about Sumire's visit but they did notice the basket of fruit lying around and figured that a relative must have sent it to Kuroe.

As for Sumire, the reason why Kuroe didn't stop her was that she was already satisfied with her visit. She managed to achieve the impossible even though she had a phobia of hospitals. And also, because of the visit, she felt even more confident expressing her thanks to Satoshi. She had always kept it in her mind to give thanks when a thank you is due. And that's exactly what she intended to do.

But not today, she'd had enough excitement for today.