COTE : Parasite in Love.

Chapter 7 : This Wormy World

“That’s one horrifying phrase.” Ayanokouji furrowed his brow.

“Incidentally, even over half a decade later, the situation is almost unchanged. People all around the world unconsciously have many types of parasites in their bodies. And Japan’s no exception. Certainly well-known parasitic diseases like ascariasis, schistosomiasis, and malaria have gone away, but parasites naturally lurk in many places in our bodies, waiting for a chance to infect. Or maybe they’ve already infected, but the person never even realizes it.”

Ayanokouji sighed. “Sounds like the mind of a clean freak will never know rest.”

“Unfortunately.”

Hiyori said she’d go dry her hair and left the living room.

Since that day they told each other about their disorders, Hiyori had begun taking showers before she entered the living room. Ayanokouji said she didn’t have to show that much forethought, but Hiyori said “It’s my prerogative, right?” Once she’d washed, she’d put on a fresh change of clothes she brought, enter the living room, lie on the bed, and read, and talk to Ayanokouji if she felt like it.

After returning from the bathroom, it seemed Hiyori still wanted to talk, so rather than lie on the bed, she sat across from Ayanokouji.

Then Ayanokouji asked her. “It looks like you’re always reading books about parasites. What is it about parasites that captivates you so much?”

“…I could tell you, but you might feel sick and faint, okay, Mr. Ayanokouji?”

“If I hear it in this room, I think I’ll be okay.”

“Let’s see…” Hiyori put her hand to her chin and pondered. “Mr. Ayanokouji, have you heard of Diplozoon paradoxum?”

When Ayanokouji shook his head no, Hiyori began explaining the ecology of that parasite. Their lifelong copulation, their appearance coming to resemble a butterfly, their fated love at first sight, the blindness of love, worms that were two peas in a pod.

After talking for a while, Hiyori suddenly became aware of how talkative she was being and her face reddened, but Ayanokouji said “Keep talking,” so she talked a little more.( Chapter 0).

“This earring.” Hiyori parted her hair to show Ayanokouji. “This is modeled after a parasite too.”

“It just looked like a blue flower to me. So there’s a parasite shaped like that?”

“Right. It’s called Kudoa septempunctata, and it belongs to the Myxozoa. These parasites use both fish and annelids as alternating hosts, and each of their spores has six to seven flower-petal-shaped structures called polar capsules, so it looks like a full flower from above. The D. paradoxum keychain is a little exaggerated, but if you dye K. septempunctata blue, it really does look exactly like this earring. Look it up.”

As instructed, Ayanokouji did an image search for “Kudoa septempunctata” with his smartphone. And indeed, many images came up of tiny organisms under a microscope that looked just like Hiyori’s earring.

“The spitting image, right?”

“I’m surprised there’s a parasite this pretty.”

“Well, it causes food poisoning, so it’s a harmful one to humans.”

Ayanokouji put down his phone. “Are there any more interesting parasites like this?”

“Hmm, well, let’s change course a little for the next one.” Hiyori folded her arms and thought for a while. “Since you’re such a clean freak, even without studying parasites, I’m sure you know Toxoplasma gondii?”