Chapter 289: We can only rely on ourselves.

--Thursday, July 9, 2172

“How did you manage to build this place in secret…?”

Under Kai's guidance, Nemuri and Keiko entered Kai's underground facilities, a place that left Nemuri asking in amazement. Kai, walking with Nemuri and Keiko clinging to his arms, explained calmly.

“Well, with every construction project I did on the house, I simply bought extra materials and 'stole' them little by little at night. Since Sage helped misplace invoices, it wasn't very obvious, and anyone who noticed anything assumed it was contractor corruption. Then I secretly built machinery for Sage to operate and helped with the digging myself. Although it took a couple of years to finish all this.”

“…”

Nemuri fell into a contemplative silence as she looked at the place, which was far from looking improvised. Meanwhile, Keiko looked at Kai with a hint of pride and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

After a while, the group arrived at a door at the end of a long, well-lit hallway, which opened automatically, revealing on the other side a spacious room with some sofas, desks, and computers. But what was most striking was a huge window on one of the walls, showing on the other side a dark, empty room with only a table and two chairs, somewhat similar to an interrogation room from a movie.

“This interrogation room looks quite 'official'... Is the window one-way glass?” Keiko asked while looking at the room curiously. Kai, who had separated from his girlfriends and started typing on one of the computers, nodded calmly and explained.

“Yes, it helps set the mood for the interrogation. Although I haven't had much chance to experiment, only four people, those I interrogated here, talked more easily than the others.”

“I see.”

Keiko remarked calmly as she walked to a wall, where several identical masks could be seen. The masks were black kitsune masks with red details, somewhat similar to the helmet Kai used the second time he went to the spider island. With a somewhat nostalgic expression, Keiko reached out to take one of the masks, only to bump hands with Nemuri, who was trying to do the same.

The pair of beautiful women turned to look at each other, seeing on the other's face the same expression, nostalgia mixed with a bit of pain. After all, both could remember a very similar mask from a few years ago. Just before Alisa and Jiro's wake, Kai asked to buy a mask from a street vendor, which turned out to be a kitsune mask, and he attended the wake wearing it.

Although at the time they assumed Kai's desire for the mask was simply a childish thing, now they could see that Kai wanted that mask to hide his tears. After all, from that day on, they never saw Kai cry again; even in the face of death on that cursed island, Kai didn't cry; he laughed.

From that moment, that mask seemed to have been deeply etched into Kai's subconscious, to the point that whenever he used something to cover his face, it ended up with that design. That was the case with the suit he wore on the spider island. Even the helmet of the armor he used in the fight with AFO, although more subtle, if you looked closely, also had features of a kitsune mask.

In a way, it was as if Kai refused to forget that moment, as if it were an essential part of his being. As if that uncontrollable crying from that time, which had scared them so much, held deep meaning for him. Perhaps Kai refused to forget that moment when he showed his weakness, or perhaps, he refused to let go of his last connection to his parents.

…

After looking at each other, the pair of beautiful women turned to look at the focused Kai and walked over to him before hugging him tightly. Confused, Kai hugged Keiko's and Nemuri's waists, then asked, somewhat bewildered.

“Is something wrong? If it's too much, I can take you back upstairs; you don't have to force yourselves.”

“No, it's not that…” Keiko said in a melancholic voice a moment before Nemuri commented in a sad voice, looking directly into Kai's eyes.

“If you ever want to cry, don't hold back… Your Nemuri will always be here to hug you and cry with you…”

“Cry? What do you mean?” Genuinely confused, Kai wondered while looking at the sad Nemuri. Keiko quickly took Kai's face in her hands and spoke in a soft, melancholic voice.

“We just want to tell you that with us, you don't have to act strong… We will always be here for you and support you no matter what.”

“…”

Though confused, Kai quickly suppressed the mocking smile that wanted to form on his face. Cry in front of a woman? He wasn't foolish enough to do that; he had already made that mistake in his life as Daniel and suffered the consequences, so he had no intention of repeating it. Human instinct guides one to value strength and success; showing weakness only invited disaster, even with loved ones. No words or feelings could change that reality.

“… Why are you saying all this now?”

While gently stroking the backs of his melancholic girlfriends, Kai asked in a soft, calm voice, without revealing a hint of his true thoughts. After all, he was fully aware that there are truths that, no matter how much they are spoken, people would be unable to understand them until they experienced them for themselves. Therefore, he preferred to avoid a pointless confrontation.

““…””

Upon hearing the question, Keiko and Nemuri fell silent and looked at each other with complex expressions. No matter how good Kai was at hiding his emotions, they had watched him grow up since he was a baby. Therefore, although extremely subtle, both could still notice the faint hint of disdain in their beloved's expression.

“… It's nothing… It's just that those masks brought back some memories.” After a heavy sigh, Nemuri hugged Kai and said in a complex voice. Curious, Kai turned to look at the masks on the wall, immediately realizing what they were referring to.

“Ah, that's why. But don't worry, there's nothing special about it; I just like the design. It reminds me of a certain character that inspired me at the time.”

“I see, but still, don't forget, we're here for you. But for now, let's focus on what's important…”

Keiko shook her head and said in a serious tone before looking at Nemuri seriously. Nemuri, who immediately understood the message—they needed to pay attention to that mentality—soon looked at Kai and said seriously.

“Are we going to the adjoining room?”

“No, you two will wait here. I haven't updated your Accomplices yet, so you don't have my latest escape and defense methods, so it's better to avoid risks.” Kai shook his head and explained, to which the pair of women nodded. But at that moment, Nemuri looked at Kai and said seriously.

“Kai, lately, thanks to the [Vital Reactor] and the Accomplice, I can do many things with my sleep scent, including helping with interrogations. I can control my scent to lower the mental defenses of targets and give them simple orders when I put them to sleep.”

“Then we'll use it later; first, I want to do it my way. I want to see what they say under ordinary interrogation. We might get some things from the differences.” Kai said with a calm smile, to which Nemuri and Keiko nodded before stepping back a few paces.

After separating from Nemuri and Keiko, Kai took one of the masks and a black robe, which hid almost all of his physical features except for his height. Then, Kai took some small metal boxes from one of the desk drawers and walked to the adjoining room, where he communicated with his reliable assistant through their mental connection.

[Sage, release one of the captives, but let's leave the time-control guy for last.]

[Immediately, master.]

Sage immediately responded, and a ghostly, old-fashioned prison cell appeared in the room, soon disappearing. In its place was a kneeling man with a vacant stare, who had a human appearance, tanned skin, and short hair, and was dressed in tactical gear. After placing the dazed man in the chair, Kai ordered calmly.

[Sage, wake him up.]

With Kai's order, the man slowly began to regain the light in his eyes, a moment when he started looking around visibly confused. Soon, the man looked at his arms and legs, which were chained to the metal chair he was sitting in. At that instant, Kai emerged from the shadows of the dark room and asked in a flat tone with a distorted, eerie voice in English.

“What is your name?”

“…”

Upon seeing Kai with the mask, the man opened his eyes in surprise but remained silent. Without bothering to say anything else, Kai walked over to the man and placed his gloved hand on his head. At that instant, the man let out a scream of pain and soon began convulsing, which lasted several seconds, a moment when Kai asked again.

“What is your name?”

“…”

The man remained silent again, so Kai repeated the therapy, something that was repeated several times until the man started banging his head against the table, seeking death. But with calm movements, Kai took the man's head and healed any damage, causing the man to turn and look at him with evident horror in his eyes. He had understood there was no escape.

“What is your name?” Once more, Kai asked in the same flat tone and eerie voice, which finally made the man slowly open his mouth.

“…George… George Harris…” The man responded in a heavy, almost guttural voice, a moment when Kai asked while reaching his hand toward his head.

“Who do you work for?”

“F-for the Cerberus Group, I'm just a mercenary!”

(Yeah, right. Since when do mercenaries try to kill themselves before talking?)

The man replied somewhat panicked while trying to move his head away from Kai's hand. Hearing the response, Kai withdrew his hand, though under his mask, a mocking smile formed on his face. Even so, Kai refrained from commenting and asked again in a flat tone.

“What was your mission?”

“…” The man hesitated for a few seconds, but upon seeing Kai raise his hand again, he trembled slightly and quickly spoke.

“The mission was to escort a big shot to a cruise ship in our area of operations.”

[Master, Mrs. Yoshiko sent a small report and explained that these guys 'died' several times and were 'revived' by the time-control guy. Also, they never showed surprise or disorientation.] Sage quickly added through the mental connection in a calm tone. Kai asked again in a calm voice.

“Had you worked with that 'big shot' before?”

“…Y-yes, on a couple of occasions in the past.” The man hesitated for an instant before replying fearfully, so Kai continued asking questions.

…

In the adjoining room, Keiko and Nemuri watched the entire process through the glass with solemn expressions, seeing how three men were subjected to the same torture until they broke and talked. Then, Kai opened one of the metal boxes he had brought, from which he took out a syringe and a strange medication, which he injected into the fourth man before starting to ask questions.

“I still have a hard time believing that's my Kai…” Nemuri commented in a complex voice while watching Kai interrogate the man, to which Keiko replied seriously.

“Certainly, hearing about it and seeing it are two totally different things, but let me tell you something, Nemuri. Kai is opening his heart to us and letting us see his most private parts, so I hope you are up to it. He does all this to protect us; he himself is strong enough and has many means to survive.”

“I know… But I also won't allow my Kai to get lost in this darkness; there are other ways to do this, and little by little, I will guide him toward them.” Nemuri replied in a serious and resolute tone. But that statement caused a mocking smile to form on Keiko's face, who replied with evident disdain.

“What ways? Hand these guys over to the authorities for questioning? Please, don't expect my Kai to be that naive. Politics and the police have already failed us, or have you forgotten? A bastard captured by Jiro was released, and they even helped him attack Alisa and Kai.

“Besides, who would we hand them over to? The Japanese police? They're foreign mercenaries; the only thing we'd achieve is revealing Kai's abilities and getting him into trouble while these guys walk free in a couple of days.”

“…” Nemuri couldn't help but fall silent, a moment when Keiko commented in a cold tone.

“The people after my Kai are dangerous and well-connected; using official means against them is, at the very least, stupid. Don't forget that a damn sniper attacked Kai in broad daylight on the street. To this day, neither the police nor the government has done anything apart from trying to give us a pathetic escort to keep us under surveillance. Kai is doing the right thing; in this, we can only rely on ourselves.”

***

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