[ it sounds like literal, actual magic, but, once again, magic might as well be real, at this point. There's a guy with horns here, and he's a dead man walking - though thankfully not in the sense more familiar to him. Josuke's suggestion seems to worry him more than comfort him, judging by the tightening of his expression. ]

You can't do that. If it goes back to how it was, I might... [ he shakes his head. ] Whatever - that's not what I was asking. I mean -- what do you do? You're not gonna open me up, are you?

[ getting infected was not a pleasant process, and he's leery of how removing it - or trying to - would go. ]