"In your eyes, aren't they all twisted lumps of flesh? How can you tell if they're lying?" Natsume Chikage asked, puzzled. Mido Orihime explained, "All humans really are twisted lumps of flesh to me. But precisely because they look that way, their color changes when they lie. If they turn black, they're lying."
"Seriously?" Chikage stared at her, then quickly followed up. "Then that rumor I heard about the Mido family—that each head isn't chosen from the direct bloodline, but at random... Is it actually that only people with Shore of the Afterlife Syndrome can become head of the family?"
"Yes, you guessed right." Orihime didn't deny it. A hint of coldness showed in her strange eyes. "Medicine can neither explain nor treat this condition. But the intelligence and ability to see through lies that it grants us have helped our family profit in all sorts of fields since ancient times.
"That's why the family established an ironclad rule: only someone with Shore of the Afterlife Syndrome can become head of the Mido family."
"So that's the truth." Chikage was stunned. He had never expected Orihime's condition to give her such an ability. Still, he couldn't help asking, "If you really had a chance to recover, would you want to become normal?"
"If that ever happens, I'll think about it." Orihime sounded casual, as though she was certain it never would.
She knew her condition could not be treated. It was a matter of her brain twisting her five senses.
Hearing that, Chikage let the subject drop.
Still, he wanted to find a treatment if he could. Whether she chose to recover would be up to her. "Wait. Does that mean you can tell whether I'm lying when I speak?" he asked suddenly.
"No. I can tell whether anyone else