Next, I stuck my own finger in my mouth. Using my left hand, since this was my right cheek. It didn’t take long to come upon what I was looking for. Although I could guess from the sharp pain, which neither vanished nor receded, this did away with my peaceful line of thinking that maybe the first staple actually hadn’t been loaded, that it had been no more than a threat designed to threaten… To be honest, I’d gotten my hopes up for that one. But it was fine. If the staple hadn’t punched through, that meant it was not overly deformed…and close to its original shape, a rectangle with a missing side. It wasn’t hooked in, so to speak, which meant I’d be able to rip it out without meeting too much resistance. I pinched it between my thumb and index finger, and yanked. The sharp pain was joined by a dull, metallic taste. I seemed to be spurting blood. “Kh…ahh…” I was fine. This much─I could take fine. Licking the two puncture wounds that had formed on the inside of my cheek, I bent the staple I’d taken out and placed it in the pocket of my school-issued jacket. I also picked up the staple Senjogahara had dropped and did the same. It’d be dangerous if someone stepped on it with bare feet. Staples looked like magnum ammo to me now.