Aka avoided the route of 'handling' the hare's corpse in her own house. The reason for this was because of her mother.
If any mistake was made in secretly drawing out the blood from the corpse, she would be in an unfavourable situation of being confronted about it.
Then what was she supposed to say? She was butchering the animal in the bathroom? What nonsense was that?
She travelled from the northern side of the village, purchasing a cheap wooden tankard from a random shop inconspicuously along the way, to the south eastern side.
Here were the slums of the village. Away from the cleaner and better built rest of the village, here laid shacks and muddy streets.
When Ao, Aka's sister, had declared her oath to protect this village, it wasn't only the wealthy and well-off families who had come to reside here soon after. Many who were poor with nothing to claim as their own also came to live here, hoping that the developments of the village will allow them to survive here.
Their hopes were accurate. It has been two years since the capital's government started to fund this village, and a major part of what used to be the slums became a part of the standard areas of the village.
Still, it was hard to keep up with the number of newcomers settling into the village every month. A lot of the slums still existed.
Aka felt a small shiver down her spine as passed through the streets. The slums had always given her this feeling of being watched, like there were eyes and ears on the walls of the shacks and roads.
But whenever she looked around, there was nobody around. At least, no one concentrated on her. It was odd.
Red Lotus heard this line of thinking and gave an explanation, "It is likely that due to a strong bias towards this location, you slowly developed feelings of vigilance and self-consciousness while in this area."
Aka translated Red Lotus' explanation and responded, "...So you're pretty much saying it's all in my head?"
Red Lotus snickered, "Isn't everything you sense inside your head? Regardless, your bias isn't unfounded. These sorts of communities are usually tightly knitted, and can notice when someone isn't part of the community. We should conduct our business and leave as fast as possible."
Aka agreed as she increased her speed from a natural walking pace to a power walk before reaching the public latrine area.
Rows of wooden outhouses lined the street. On each were a locking mechanism and a sign that showed whether or not a person was in one.
The housing in the slums didn't even contain toilets. Those living here had to use these public outhouses to excrete their waste from their bodies.
Aka frowned before entering and locking an unoccupied outhouse, where her frown deepened from the smell.
It was as hygienic as one could expect. The smell of urine and faeces invaded Aka's nostrils.
Light seeped in through the gaps in the wooden boards of the walls, allowing Aka to navigate her sights down into the toilet hole.
An endless abyss entered her view. It was not possible to tell how deep the hole was, but she knew that if something was… disposed of in here, it would never get to see the light of day again.
First, she pulled out the tankard she bought earlier and set it on the ground.
Next, she took out the hare corpse from its bag, held it with one hand by the back of its neck and slit its neck with a hunting knife, opening up an artery.
She held the hare just above the tankard as fresh blood from its neck flowed out and dripped into the cup, allowing gravity to do its work.
She used the other hand to pinch and grab around the hare towards the neck wound. This caused major spurts of blood to enter the cup, draining the lifeless body faster.
Once the hare's neck wound started to produce minute levels of blood, she apologised silently to the late hare in her hand as she carefully dropped the body into the pit.
A small 'thud' echoed down the pit, signifying the ungraceful resting place of the hare.
As for Aka, she stared at the half filled tankard that contained dark red blood which made her heart uneasy. Was she really going to drink this?
"Red Lotus, how much do I have to drink?", Aka asked wearily.
"Strictly speaking, it is your choice. But you cannot gain many benefits from me if you decide to hold back.", Red Lotus replied definitively.
Aka understood. She had to drink all of it if she wished to gain the most benefit from today's outing.
She lifted up the heavy tankard by the handle, and hesitated as she held it. She stood there motionless. She tried to convince herself that she could do this.
The endless hesitation was finally destroyed when she recalled the words of Red Lotus earlier:
"Do you wish to be inferior to your blood sibling, Ao, forever?"
That question resounded in Aka's head, and out of the rising anger from her heart, she brought the tankard to her lips and began to down it!
Honestly, she wasn't sure about the whole thing about ruling the world and whatnot. That was just a fun dream, something that she'll probably never experience.
But when it came to surpassing Ao and getting back at that disgusting wretch of a thief, that goal was well within reach. As long as she traded with Red Lotus living on the side of her cranium, Aka had hope that she could achieve that goal, and finally be able to make her own shadow onto the world!
If what stood between her and that goal was drinking this blood, and she still continued to hesitate, she'd rather jump headfirst into the toilet pit and smother herself to death. This was what brought up her intense anger.
Red Lotus laughed to itself in its thoughts, "Emotions are such a funny thing in humans. One does not convince a human with ice cold logic and facts, but rather searing hot and fiery emotions. Entire wars were fought between countries because they felt like they absolutely had to, even if they knew that their strength was weak and many would die in the process. A human's emotions are not to be underestimated."
"My host is also fighting her own war. Even if, at the end of the day, it is merely an asinine goal driven by her own envy."
Aka drank the fresh, metallic and salty tasting blood as it drained down her throat.
Immediate regret flooded her thoughts. Her face contorted as she quickly felt a strong urge to vomit, but desperately fought back this reaction as hard as she could.
A few seconds passed by like years for Aka, and all the hare's blood from the tankard disappeared into her stomach. The disgusting aftertaste lingered in her mouth.
"Fuck, I think I'm gonna puke.", Aka held her mouth and continued to try and settle her stomach from erupting. Unfortunately, it wouldn't stop letting up.
Though strangely, in the next moment, the feelings of puking rising from her stomach vanished instantly. The taste buds on her tongue could no longer feel the aftertaste of blood, as if she had never drank it in the first place.
"Good, good. It's the lowest of the low, but scraps are better than nothing.", Red lotus sounded in Aka's head, with a hint of joy in its tone.
Aka couldn't see it, but in the dimly lit latrine, the red lotus on her head wiggled and stretched strangely. This resulted in the size of it becoming vaguely larger and more 'alive' than before.
"I have taken the liberty to block the vomiting centre of the medulla oblongata[1] to prevent the vomiting reflex. I'll take a miniscule portion of the blood as payment for that, since otherwise you would've vomited all of it out."
Upon hearing Red Lotus, Aka was relieved. Exempting the memories of drinking blood, she felt totally fine.
To finish up the job, she dropped the inwardly-bloody tankard down the toilet hole, never to be seen again… No, that's not right, perhaps in the next aeon when archaeologists dig up this toilet and they question why a hare's skeleton and a tankard rested side by side in the shitter.
With the deed done, Aka inquired of Red Lotus, "So I can trade for my magic abilities opening up now, right?", she thought with greater excitement and anticipation than before. There were almost stars in her eyes.
As if to stab that enthusiasm in the neck, Red Lotus flatly replied, "I cannot do that just yet."
"...What?"
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Author's notes:
[1] Medulla Oblongata: the region at the lowest part of the brainstem, which is responsible for the most basic functions like heart function, breathing, swallowing, and so on. One of these functions controls vomiting.