episode_0166

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‘…….’

‘……? Where is this… where am I….’

Number 13 opens his heavy eyelids and cautiously examines his surroundings.

Under the dim fluorescent light, he saw a narrow room without windows and iron bars dividing the space.

He seemed to be still waking up, so it took him some time to recognize what it was.

This was the detention facility located in the basement of Squad 7.

Number 13 was sitting in a chair, his arms restrained behind him.

His wrists were handcuffed with a clinking sound, and his legs were also tied to the chair legs with rope.

He tries to recall how he ended up in this state.

The last thing he remembered was Apple’s strange transformation.

Not only did she suddenly change, but she also seemed to exude some kind of dark force and say something. To be honest, he didn’t quite remember what it was.

And….

As Number 13 was still trying to think with his head not fully working, he suddenly heard a clank, and the door to the room where he was imprisoned opened.

Seeing the person entering through the open door, Number 13 was finally able to recall several things.

Who he had last seen before he fainted.

And what kind of person that was.

“You’re awake. I was ‘seeing’ that you would wake up around this time.”

Mint green hair, peach-colored eyes.

This was the first time seeing her in person. But he had already seen her in pictures.

The last member of Squad 7, a Hero who had been away from the unit for a long time due to a long-term dispatch.

Prophecy ability user Aria. Yes. He knew her.

“Leader Rahel, I’d like to have a private conversation with the Administrator for a moment. Could you wait upstairs? …Yes, yes. Judging by his current state, it seems to be okay. I didn’t see a future where he would harm me. Yes, then….”

It seems Aria didn’t come alone.

But for some reason, she didn’t let Rahel enter and said a few words to her through the door before closing it.

“Good. Now we can finally talk alone.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? Being alone with me. Are you good at fighting?”

“I’m not. All I can do is foresee the future. But, do you see this here? If something happens, I’ll send a signal with this. Then Leader Rahel will rush over right away. If you value your life, don’t think useless thoughts.”

Aria shook the walkie-talkie in her hand.

Even if Number 13 tried to attack her, sending a signal with the walkie-talkie would definitely be faster. In the first place, he can’t even move his bound limbs right now. Even if he was released, there would still be iron bars in front of him.

Aria pulled up a chair and sat in front of the iron bars, facing Number 13.

Her expression is listless and blank, so it’s impossible to read what she’s thinking from her face.

“Okay. Then where should we start our story….”

“…Hey, what about Apple?”

“Oh my. Is that side asking questions?”

Certainly. Number 13 is not in a position to ask questions.

But Aria surprisingly answered Number 13’s question obediently.

“That woman ran away. I knew that would happen. But it’s a shame to have let her go here.”

“She escaped even with Rahel there?”

“One of her companions had a warp ability. She must have been waiting all along. As soon as she saw Leader Rahel, she disappeared without hesitation through warp. Spade was with her too.”

Even Spade.

As expected, Spade seemed to have fallen into Apple’s hands.

‘Apple also brainwashed… no, is it hypnosis on that side. Either way.’

‘Without even using drugs….’

It’s not an ability or magic as an Awakened.

It’s just a skill. The skill of hypnosis.

And not only Spade, but Number 13 may also be under her control.

“A companion… you mean she’s not alone, even without Spade?”

“That person was a spy. She came here to infiltrate and extract information from the Hero side. …And more than anything, wasn’t she planning to win people over from the inside with that hypnosis? After all, she’s got a strong Hero in her hands, so she’s achieved her goal to some extent.”

A spy.

He had only thought of her as a simple, modest administrative staff member.

All of that was acting. All of that was a lie.

“Maybe that woman’s goal was to get you. Because if she gets you, Number 13, she can take over Squad 7 entirely.”

“…That’s right. That’s right.”

Apple had always been by Number 13’s side, helping him brainwash the Squad 7 members.

The method of brainwashing was new to him, so she taught him various know-hows like a manual, pointed out problems, and even supplemented them.

Number 13 had taken that action lightly, thinking that Dorothy had taught her well.

But now that he thinks about it, Apple had been helping Number 13 all this time because she had other intentions.

Number 13 bears all the risks, and even if he fails, only Number 13’s life will disappear, and Apple will suffer no disadvantages.

That way, when Number 13 has everyone under his control, he can control all of Squad 7 through him.

In other words, Number 13 has been played by Apple all this time.

What has Apple been thinking while helping Number 13 by his side?

Wouldn’t he have looked like a commendable and pathetic slave or puppet doll, preparing tributes to offer to her without being told to do so, and laughing and mocking him like he was a clown?

In many ways, he feels betrayed.

Thinking that she had been smiling and serving him in a polite manner every day, but inside, she had been laughing and mocking him as if she were watching a clown, he felt something hot welling up inside.

But the shock wasn’t over yet.

Regardless of Number 13’s shocked appearance, Aria continued.

“Even though she failed, she won’t give up on her plan now. That woman will declare war on the Hero Association along with 『Lesserat』, and she will target our weaknesses based on the information she has obtained through her spy activities. We won’t lose, but the damage will be significant.”

“Wait. Wait, wait. 『Lesserat』? Why is that name coming up here?”

“That’s because that woman is a spy belonging to 『Lesserat』. No, in the first place, that woman is the hidden boss of 『Lesserat』. The woman whom Spade chased and missed the other day is just a temporary boss set up as a proxy.”

A series of shocks, as if he had been hit on the head.

No, she’s not brainwashed, she controls people with hypnosis, and on top of that, she’s a spy hiding in Squad 7, and even the boss of a newly emerging villain organization…?

* * *

As Number 13 was still unable to recover from the shock in many ways, Aria got up from her seat as if this story was over.

“Let’s stop talking about Apple. Now is not the time to be talking about that.”

“…What are you going to do now?”

“What should I do? What do you think I should do, Number 13 of the villain organization 『Abyss』?”

She already knew his identity.

Unlike the Squad 7 members, there’s no way she would recognize him as the Administrator.

Moreover, judging from the conversation a moment ago and the look she’s giving him now, it seems like she knows everything Number 13 has done.

Prophecy ability user Aria.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t been wary of her ability.

But if she could really see all the future, there’s no way she would have stayed still while Number 13 was occupying Squad 7. So he deliberately shook off that anxiety, thinking that there would be no need to worry about it for now.

But unlike what he had expected, she seems to know everything.

Moreover, she even returned here arbitrarily, despite the planned dispatch period still being a year away.

What should he say.

He has no countermeasures against her at all.

‘…Should I somehow break free and make her call Rahel?’

‘If it’s a do-or-die situation, if it’s possible to persuade Rahel….’

He desperately tries to think, but he sees no hope in either this or that, and the future is bleak.

In the end, Number 13 sighed in a self-deprecating mood.

“So what are you going to do now? I know I’m a bad guy, so I can’t possibly be spared, but I hope you’ll at least let me go without pain.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to kill you.”

“…It’s no use even if you try to torture me. No matter what you do, I have no intention of betraying the organization or the boss.”

He says that, but it’s a bluff. He’s a man who can’t even stand stubbing his toe on the corner of the bed.

He’s never even done any training to endure torture, and he already feels like he’s going to pee his pants just from imagining it. Really.

Still, he tries to put on as much of a bluff as possible so as not to reveal those inner thoughts.

Come on, here I am. I’m not afraid. Go ahead and roast me or boil me, do whatever you want, Hero! He glared at Aria with that kind of feeling.

And Aria, who received that gaze.

“Pfft, what kind of face are you making?”

She slightly relaxed her expressionless face, chuckled, and took something out of her pocket.

What she took out was a familiar medicine bottle. And seeing that, Number 13 felt his heart drop.

The spare brainwashing drug he had.

That woman had that medicine bottle.

That’s right. If she has that, there’s no need for torture.

Regardless of his will, he will be forced to spit out all the information she wants.

Not only that, but he will end up undoing all the brainwashing that was done on the Squad 7 members as Aria tells him to.

It’s over.

Number 13 felt like he was seeing the end of the world, and in the end, he decided to give up on everything.

Now any more bluffing or struggling is meaningless….

“Well, I’ll do this. I’ll leave the rest to you, so please do as you wish.”

In front of the resigned Number 13, Aria.

She opened the lid of the medicine bottle──and poured the contents into her own mouth.

“Huh?”

Number 13 made a dumbfounded sound.

Aria, standing in front of the iron bars, just grinned at him with the brainwashing drug still in her system.

Then, after some time passed and the drug started to take effect, her eyes began to glaze over.

Her legs also gave way, and she collapsed as if leaning against the iron bars.

The rest of her body also seemed to have run out of strength, and Aria fell down like a doll with its strings cut, and stopped moving.

And Number 13 just stared at that scene questioningly, still not understanding.