Ch.138138. Interrogation

Ugh…

It’s so bright.

…I’m tied up.

Why?

…Ah.

Well… so that’s how it is.

…I can sense someone’s presence.

Who could it be?

I carefully open my eyes.

The bright light makes it hard to open them properly.

…At least I can tell there’s a table and someone sitting across from me.

And they’ve gone and tied me to this chair.

…So they’ve already put on the sealing device.

Heavy, it’s so heavy.

“Ah, you’re awake.”

A woman’s voice I’ve heard many times.

“…Blanc.”

“We have a lot to talk about, don’t we? I have many questions too.”

“…Are you a vampire? That bite must hurt.”

“What are you talking about… If you’re trying to deflect like that, you should know it won’t work with me.”

“…No fun at all.”

“This is hardly the time for fun… Things have gotten quite serious, haven’t they?”

“Well… let’s just say what was bound to happen, happened.”

“…Right. Well, anyway. It’s been a while.”

“Just untie me. My arms are starting to feel stiff.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible.”

“Why? Afraid I’ll run away? Well… does it matter? Isn’t it better to get rid of a prisoner who just wastes food and won’t give you any information?”

“If you keep this up, we’ll have no choice but to get rough too.”

“What… pull out my fingernails? Or maybe crush my hands in a press? Dunk me in water and pull me out just before I drown? Hmm… electricity too, I guess. Well, my life is already in your hands. I’ve given up now. Rather than handing over information and living pathetically, I’d rather die.”

“Your life?”

“That thing. On the table. That’s my core. Hmm… I don’t want to end up as a grenade though. If you’re going to detonate it, why not use it for terrorism somewhere? It’s quite a large core, so if it explodes, it might not be nuclear but it could cause significant damage to an entire city.”

“…I knew it was important, but a core?”

“Well… to be precise, how would you magical girls know? The doctor made it and gave it to me.”

“…Then we should put it back quickly.”

“I don’t want to. And I don’t know how. If you put that back in my body… the contract magic will activate again, right? Then you’ll search through my mind for the headquarters location? Then… the reason I worked so hard to protect Vine would disappear.”

“…Ugh.”

“I have no intention of telling you anything or revealing anything. Just kill me quickly. Or keep me locked up here and watch as Vine raids the association again. This time, the building might collapse.”

“Haah…”

Sighing, Blanc fiddles with a file folder, then starts fiddling with her mobile phone.

“By the way, I’m bored. Can’t I play a game or something before I die? That chairman guy is going to come anyway, right? Just tell him to come play with me. What interrogation.”

“Games… sigh. Fine. I’ll call the others.”

With those words, Blanc leaves the interrogation room.

…These restraints are too tight.

It feels kind of numb.

Maybe it’s just my imagination.

Well… Vine escaped, so it doesn’t matter.

It’s okay if they don’t come to rescue me.

My only worry is that damn doctor.

I don’t know what he did to Vine, but he messed with her mind.

Her memories, arbitrarily.

But when Vine was living with the magical girls…

To manipulate those memories.

Haah…

Lost in these thoughts, I was just keeping my eyes closed.

A knock on the door.

Why bother… they could just come in.

Isn’t that too courteous for a captured villain?

…Though I am a traitor.

Even if they tear me limb from limb… well, I’d understand.

The door swings open with a bang.

Magical girls pour in.

“…Is today execution day? My core is on that table, just destroy that. Send me off painlessly in one go.”

“What are you talking about?”

*Thwack*

Citrus approaches and gives me a light knock on the head.

That’s unfair.

“Ow?! That hurts. I asked you to send me off painlessly, but you’re planning to turn my brain to mush with minor damage?”

“You haven’t been hit enough. Why won’t this habit of yours change…?”

“Hyewon unnie, leave it. I’m the one who really wants to hit her.”

“…Garnet.”

“Hey. That really hurt, didn’t it?”

“What do you mean, hurt.”

“Damn… I don’t usually swear, but did you really think that wouldn’t hurt?”

“Not swearing? High school kids these days swear all the time.”

“Still have to manage my image, don’t you think? Don’t you know that?”

“Know what? If you have nothing to say, just kill me. Why waste time?”

“Kill you? Kill youuu?”

I said it so nonchalantly, and now she’s charging at me with a face as red as her hair color.

Citrus and Plum grab Garnet as she tries to lunge at me.

Really, now.

It’s like watching a comedy.

“Unnie…! J-just let me go for a second! Ah seriously, how could I…!”

“Calm down.”

“Hyewon is right. Calm dowwwn. Now’s the time to ask questions carefullyyy.”

And when I turn my gaze.

The blue-haired girl still sunk in despair.

“Arin. Won’t you at least kill me? Just take that core and make it go berserk, and it’ll all be over simply.”

“…You’ve lost your mind.”

“Not using formal speech even in front of your unnies? Did you drop that concept?”

“You… you really… you…”

“So what? I have nothing to say, nothing to tell you. Nothing to give, nothing I want. Well, there is something, but I don’t want to tell you.”

“You. You…”

“Oh, right. You were incredibly weak. Well, I couldn’t use my full strength as an Eden villain either. But still, you shouldn’t have been knocked down by me, right?”

“…You. Do you think we won’t be able to find the headquarters that way?”

“…What?”

“There’s one thing I’m really good at, you know? Reading people.”

“So what? All magical girls say things like ‘this person has a good soul’ or ‘that one has an evil soul~’ What difference does it make?”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

“Well, even if you say that, I have nothing to tell you.”

“Elise. This is my final offer. Cooperate and… let’s go back to how things were. We can still turn back.”

“A rookie like you wouldn’t know, but this is how things originally were. We’re villains, you’re magical girls.”

“No. That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Rookies should act like rookies. If you don’t want to get hurt. Didn’t you see? Vine could make it so you never get up again if she wanted to.”

That’s how I answered Arin.

But her response was:

“That wasn’t Vine unnie’s true self.”

“What are you talking about?”

“…Sigh. Even if I explain, you’ll insist it’s not true. A strange patchwork of good and evil that belongs neither to a corrupted person nor an evil one… Watching from a distance made it clear.”

“…It must be the doctor. So what? Do you think that will make me talk?”

“…And what I found really strange was the faint lingering feeling in that clean energy of unnie. At first I didn’t know what it was… but after spending time together, I figured it out.”

“…?”

“I begged Yunseul unnie to let me go down there. Well… actually I was going to tell Vine unnie, but now I’m telling you instead. Anyway, that’s not what I was going to say.”

“What is it?”

“The faint malicious energy I felt from Vine unnie was entirely from the person called Boss.”

“…What?”

“Eden’s boss is a complete villain. Pure evil. Endless darkness… what did they call it… ah, abyss. Yes. They called it an abyss, that person.”

“…From your standards, it would look evil. Realizing our ideals is ultimately for humanity, for the world, for the earth…”

“I’m telling you it was a soul too dark to be explained by such talk! Just for fun, they committed evil acts because they enjoyed it, even darker than villains who got locked up in Marina. That person is dangerous. Dangerous, I tell you.”

“…That’s impossible. Take that back, Arin.”

I clenched my fist as I spoke, unable to agree with Arin’s words.

My nails dig painfully into my palm, but I can’t believe what Arin is saying.

“Take it back…? I’m telling you it doesn’t make sense to believe in that person! Even now… from you.”

“Boss has always worked for humanity. Someone like you can’t judge them. Of course, the doctor ruined Vine with his own greed, but if Boss returns, surely…”

“…Elise. Then shall we make a bet?”

“…What.”

“Let’s see together if this person called Boss is really a good person.”

“Are you trying to extract the headquarters location from me that way?”

“Well… whether you find out later or now. It’s the same, isn’t it?”

“…How would you even find out.”

“I told you, I’m good at reading people.”

“So what.”

“If I use my tracking… I can tell where a lot of magical power is being used. It’ll be a bit of a strain, but…”

“That’s… if we place decoys, it won’t matter.”

“Even with decoys. We can just check each location one by one.”

“…Decoys are just scattered around.”

“Well… I just need to push myself a little harder. Last time… I said I would step up, but Yunseul unnie.”

“I don’t know. I have nothing more to say. Can you go away? The necklace you put on me hurts, and being tied up is uncomfortable.”

“Then, it’s settled we’ll make the bet.”

After Arin’s meaningful words, Blanc returns.

“What.”

“So… this is your core.”

“Yes.”

“…I think I can open it.”

“Go ahead. Touch it all you want. If you touch it wrong and the core goes berserk and explodes, at least this entire association site would be blown away, wouldn’t it?”

“It doesn’t even have a lock.”

“The doctor must have made it with my betrayal in mind. If I had known he was going to mess with Vine, I wouldn’t have cooperated.”

“Weren’t you united in trying to save Boss?”

“…I don’t know. I don’t want to tell you.”

“Well… you’ll tell me that later?”

“Either untie me or kill me.”

“It seems like you’re less sincere about that ‘kill me’ talk now.”

“…Why don’t you just destroy it?”

I spoke indifferently.

“First, let’s analyze it. But what’s this button…?”

Blanc pressed a button on the device.

“Hey…! Don’t press it carelessly!”

*Click*

*Whoosh…*

With the sound of air escaping, disappointingly.

The device… opens?

“Oh, it opened.”

“What?!”

Without hesitation, Blanc put the sphere that was inside into my body.

“Gaak?!”

“…How is it?”

The core that was in the device returned to my body.

And with that… I feel bound again.

Nothing happened.

So anticlimactically.