...
After the meeting with his defense attorney, Raiden Ryoma was escorted back to his cell—no, more accurately, his confinement room—by two guards, one in front and one behind.
The reason for the two-guard escort was easy to understand. This was Nagazora City's highest-level detention center, housing either the most dangerous criminals or those of high status.
Naturally, they couldn't afford any mistakes. To prevent any issues, all the walkways were only one and a half people wide.
While this was indeed "safe," it would likely cause chaos if an emergency evacuation was ever needed.
Raiden Ryoma shook his head. Chaos... chaos...
From anyone else's perspective, what kind of chaos could possibly happen here?
Considering the Far East's geography, would an earthquake count?
But that was fine; the internal structures of the detention center were built with the latest special alloy steel, capable of withstanding earthquakes up to magnitude seven.
So, what other chaos could there be?
"Heh..." Raiden Ryoma let out a cold chuckle.
He behaved impeccably all the way back to his confinement room. The two guards locked his cell door and then asked softly, "The conditions here are limited, Mr. Ryoma. Please let us know if you need anything."
"Hmm?"
Raiden Ryoma looked up in surprise. He had been here for nearly a month and a half. The few guards he had interacted with had been diligent, neither mistreating nor fawning over him.
The one thing they had in common was that they never spoke to him. At one point, he had even suspected they were all deaf-mutes...
But he was a self-made man, after all. He figured out the situation almost immediately. Compared to the jailers in stories who would kick a man when he was down, these guards were sharp.
For a suspect like Raiden Ryoma, it was pointless to either offend or flatter him. No one could say for sure if he would get through this ordeal unscathed. It was better to just do their jobs by the book, avoid contact, and wait.
When the defense attorney came to visit, it usually meant the trial and his fate were imminent. Being a little more polite at this stage might forge a small but useful connection if things turned around for him, right?
Of course, what Raiden Ryoma didn't know was that the two guards were also wondering about something. To be honest, they had worked here for nearly ten years and had seen many high-profile suspects like him. But even among them, Raiden Ryoma was exceptionally special.
To be precise, he was the only one who could be so calm and detached so close to his trial, as if the whole affair had nothing to do with him. That was the polite way of putting it. The impolite way was... a psycho!
But what was even stranger than Ryoma's own reaction was... how did he manage to make his defense attorney leave in tears?
It couldn't be that there was some hidden truth behind the case that moved the lawyer to tears, could it?
Raiden Ryoma didn't have the Authority of Sentience, so he had no way of knowing what the two guards were thinking. He thought for a moment and said, "I don't have much of an appetite today. Is it okay if I skip dinner?"
"Yes, yes, of course. No problem at all."
It wasn't an unreasonable request; it was barely even an inconvenience. The two guards readily agreed.
"Well then, Mr. Ryoma, if there's nothing else, we'll return to our posts... We wish you the best of luck."
The two guards gave him a slight bow. Raiden Ryoma politely returned the gesture and watched them disappear from sight.
"By now, Mei should have already told him what I said, right?"
Raiden Ryoma chuckled coldly again, glanced at the surveillance camera in the corner, and feigned a casual stroll toward the door. He peeked in the direction the guards had left, confirming they were truly gone.
"Looks like you're having a good time in here."
A slightly mocking voice sounded from behind him. Raiden Ryoma wasn't surprised.
The first thing he did upon turning around wasn't to look at the figure that had suddenly appeared, but to glance up at the camera. The red indicator light signifying it was recording was still on, which did surprise him a little.
"Relax. You don't know what I'm capable of?" Michael spread his hands in an exaggerated gesture.
"It's precisely because I know that I'm not relaxed." Raiden Ryoma pushed up his glasses and sat primly on his bed.
Michael shrugged. The confinement room was actually quite nice, with a bed and a desk. Since Ryoma had chosen the bed, Michael naturally sat on the desk, leaning against the wall with his feet propped up on the back of the chair.
"That posture of yours... Heh, why are you getting more and more arrogant?"
"Hmph."
Michael grunted. How was he supposed to respond to that?
"Just say what you want to say, Raiden Ryoma. What do you need me for?"
"It's nothing major, really."
Raiden Ryoma habitually reached for his pocket, but froze mid-motion. This was a detention center, after all. He was a criminal suspect; cigarettes and lighters were not allowed.
"Tsk! It's been over a month, and you still can't kick this little habit. Raiden Ryoma, oh Raiden Ryoma, how have you fallen so low?"
Michael mocked him for a moment before casually pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his own pocket and tossing them to him.
Without a second thought, Ryoma lit a cigarette, took a long, hard drag, and immediately relaxed.
Only then did he belatedly remember something and look up at the unresponsive smoke detector.
"Relax. When it comes to my abilities, you can at least trust me on that, right?"
Hearing this, Raiden Ryoma's eyes narrowed unconsciously. After a good ten seconds, he finally nodded slowly, exhaling a puff of white smoke.
Michael smiled along with him, then added without mercy, "But as for the lingering smoke and the cigarette butts, you can explain those to the guards yourself during the evening inspection."
"Shit!"
Raiden Ryoma wasn't a humorless man. Normally, he might have been in the mood to joke about it, but now he just cursed under his breath and fell silent, quietly smoking.
One cigarette wasn't enough. After holding back for over a month, he had to chain-smoke half a pack, each one smoked down until the butt burned his fingers.
Michael didn't rush him, just closed his eyes and breathed deeply and slowly, as if he had fallen asleep.
A dozen minutes later, Raiden Ryoma tossed the cigarette butt to the floor, stamped it out, and propped up his dizzy head with his other hand, which still held the lighter. He was about to speak when he was suddenly hit by a violent coughing fit, two clouds of grayish-white smoke erupting from his mouth. Anyone who didn't know better would think he'd just inhaled a mouthful of flour.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Was that really necessary?"
"What necessary or not... cough, cough, cough!"
Raiden Ryoma covered his mouth, trying to suppress his coughs, afraid of attracting the guards.
Seeing his pathetic state, Michael stopped laughing. A bottle of mineral water materialized in his hand. He was about to offer it when Ryoma slapped it away.
"Why?"
He covered his face with his calloused hands, his regret palpable. His voice was calm and cold, but it was just a facade. From nearly two arm's lengths away, Michael could still feel his fury...
And his current curled-up posture was just part of the act. Michael wouldn't forget that this man was Mei's kendo master. Alright, that wasn't very convincing. How about this: he was a badass who could tear Honkai Beasts apart with a sword?
Okay, still not much in front of Michael. So Michael naturally didn't need to be nervous. Instead, he just chuckled softly and asked, feigning ignorance, "Why? Why what?"
Raiden Ryoma took a deep breath, and a series of cold laughs escaped his throat, raspy from too much smoking.
He didn't answer Michael's question. It was unclear if he simply didn't want to, or if he didn't want to fall into Michael's rhythm.
It was just like his current display of dejection and despair. Michael could see through it all with his Authority of Sentience. Of course Raiden Ryoma felt despair, but for someone like him, would it be difficult to suppress and hide it? He was just putting on an act.
"From the day Cocolia left Siberia and came to the Far East, I knew I would fall at her hands sooner or later. That woman has always been ruthless and will stop at nothing to achieve her goals. My best choice back then would have been to kill her directly. Unfortunately, I have too much pride, especially after she took in those girls and set up the orphanage..."
Raiden Ryoma didn't want to follow Michael's lead. He started his own narrative, but his very first sentence nearly made Michael burst out laughing.
From the day Cocolia came to the Far East? If Michael remembered correctly, on that night a month and a half ago, his first night as Mei's driver, Raiden Ryoma had worn a "I know nothing" expression.
It was only after Michael's well-reasoned analysis and guidance that he finally confirmed Cocolia was the enemy...
Now he was done pretending. The cards were on the table. He actually knew everything.
When did Cocolia come to the Far East? Her preparations had started at least a year ago. Perhaps Ryoma had known everything since then, and later deliberately put on an act of "entrusting his daughter" to draw Michael into the game.
Michael genuinely hadn't known beforehand. He didn't use the Authority of Sentience to pry into everyone's thoughts all the time. It wasn't because of any moral hang-ups, but simply because it was annoying.
Being able to see into others' hearts wasn't a good thing. Not everyone—no, no one in this world could have a heart of pure light anymore.
Darkness, depression, violence... since everyone wore smiles as masks, it was no surprise they kept these dark emotions locked away in their hearts.
To use the Authority of Sentience to see all that? What was that but asking for trouble?
But even though he hadn't known before, Michael wasn't surprised.
That's just how this world was. Everyone was just acting. Sometimes to achieve their own goals, and sometimes... they were just used to acting, and couldn't even stand to see others not acting.
That was about it.
Of course, none of this mattered. Michael was just grumbling to himself. In reality, Raiden Ryoma's monologue continued.
"To be honest, before Cocolia showed up, you were the one I was always wary of, always on guard against. But for the past year or so, for some reason, all my attention was drawn to Cocolia. In the end, I was foolish enough to entrust Mei to you..."
"Pfft... Don't look at me like that, Ryoma. Did I do something wrong?"
"You—"
Raiden Ryoma started breathing heavily. After a few minutes, his condition didn't improve. Instead, he clutched his chest, his expression becoming visibly pained.
"Did he get so angry he's having a heart attack?"
Michael smiled. He did nothing, just watched Raiden Ryoma motionlessly. Half an hour later, Ryoma's breathing finally steadied.
"You know it perfectly well in your heart, Michael—the so-called evidence of my financial fraud was all fabricated by you, wasn't it?"
Michael shrugged, not denying it. He considered himself quite honest. Since he'd been found out, why bother denying it?
"So, how did you figure it out? Even Cocolia probably only had suspicions and couldn't be sure. Hmm... does that mean I was really that obvious?"
Seeing Michael not only unashamed but even looking pleased with himself, Raiden Ryoma's anger flared up again.
But it was only for a moment. He knew... he knew he had no right to be angry. At least, not now.
"Heh, yes," he said with a bitter smile. "Perhaps your power is so great that you don't care about these details. ME Corp did sign that document for the development of the overclocked electromagnetic field confinement. But the entire process was flawless, including the flow of funds and the project's progress. If it were really Cocolia, if she had really chosen that as her point of attack, she would have had no way to proceed, no loophole to exploit."
"So?"
"Altering the original contract, changing the flow of funds, and even making the entire project team and its experimental results disappear into thin air. I don't think that's something a human can do. Of course, I don't know how you did it, but if there's anyone in this world who could, it could only be you."
"So after all this, it was just a guess." Michael idly traced his fingers over the smooth tabletop, the corner of his mouth inexplicably curling up.
"But if all the guesses can form a logically closed loop, and there are no other more convincing explanations, then I think it's safe to assume it's a fact."
"I've said it before, Michael. I've considered you a potential enemy for a long time. Don't you find it strange yourself? You appeared out of nowhere eight years ago, and I couldn't find any record of you no matter what resources I used. And the payment you asked for to cure Mei was just my signature?"
"I'm not some big celebrity. My public identity is a businessman. Do you think I'm really unaware of the importance of a signature? I just didn't expect that I gave you a stylized signature, and you could actually replicate my formal handwriting... Heh, I've been wary of you all these years, but I was afraid of being too obvious and tipping you off... I don't know what happened this past year, to have been so careless..."
"Hehehe, looks like I need to clear things up for you. First, I would never be foolish enough to think you would leave a formal signature. My focus from start to finish was on you yourself. Once I learned your writing style and combined it with some of your daily handwriting, was it really that hard to deduce your signature?"
Michael spread his hands and continued, "But you're right. Because I'm so omnipotent, I sometimes don't place much importance on schemes. For example, why did you let your guard down around me in the last year and a half? Because I wanted you to."
"What... What do you mean?"
"Sigh..."
Michael sighed helplessly. Talking to people with insufficient intelligence was just so troublesome.
"Let's use another example—the financial fraud case. Want to know how I did it?"
Before Ryoma could reply, he went on, "It's actually very simple, Raiden Ryoma. Don't even think about making a comeback, because all the evidence of the financial fraud case wasn't altered or forged by me."
He tapped his temple with his index finger.
"It's simple, really simple. Because I just altered everyone's memories. What you thought were legal procedures, legal fund flows, including the research personnel and results, only existed in your memories. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Raiden Ryoma was shocked, but maybe not that shocked. To be honest, it wasn't a possibility he hadn't considered, but...
But Michael didn't seem to be done talking.
"Oh, right, did Mei tell you? I'm her legal guardian now."
"Mhm... Hmm? You—"
"That's right. The financial fraud case didn't require forging any documents, so naturally, it didn't require forging your signature. So, where do you think I used that signature of yours that I imitated?"
"Bastard!"
Raiden Ryoma suddenly exploded, punching Michael in the stomach. He grabbed Michael's neck with his left hand and smashed his head against the wall again and again.
Michael let him vent for a good ten minutes. When he finally calmed down and stopped, Michael delivered the final blow, a sentence that almost completely broke Raiden Ryoma:
"Mr. Raiden Ryoma, you wouldn't want Mei to lose a second father, would you?"