[Itou hates himself for asking that question. But he's polite, so he listens, and grows increasingly doubtful of this budding professional relationship the more he listens to the story.

First of all, why did he swallow it instead of throwing it back up...]

The lesson there is to not use pepper for your food, right? It's a very good thing that this tea isn't made of real gunpowder, then, and that I don't use guns. [pouring the water in the pot, and a bunch of the leaves.]