Chapter 44: Incorrect feeling
Upper Sector – Interrogation Wing
They reached a heavy metal door.
Cold, thick, and sealed.
Cassian was about to step forward—
STEP...
When suddenly—
BOOM!
The door burst open from the inside.
Guards stumbled out—
TRUDGE! TRUDGE!
Dragging someone, bruised and exhausted.
Barely conscious.
Daito's eyes widened slightly.
"…!"
It was.....Champagne.
Champagne's body hung between the guards.
Breathing heavy and barely holding himself up.
His eyes lifted—
Fwoosh....
Locked onto Daito.
"…Da…i…"
His voice cracked.
"…don't—"
Before he could finish—
THUD!
A guard slammed him hard to the ground.
"Shut up, dog!"
Another strike—
POW!
Brutal and unnecessary.
Daito stepped forward—
Fwoosh.....
Instinctively.
"…!"
But before he could move—
GRAB!
Hands grabbed him rough and firm.
SWOOSH!
They lifted him clean off the ground.
Dragged him forward.
GLANG!
He was thrown into a chair inside the interrogation room.
Restrictively.
Cassian walked in casually behind him, still chewing and relaxed.
Wipe....
He wiped his hands badly, both sticky and messy.
Then, he reached over and adjusted Daito's posture like he was fixing furniture.
"…There we go."
He pressed his shoulders back into the chair.
"…Sit properly."
He chuckled.
"…Sorry about the sticky hands."
He glanced at him.
"…So…"
A pause.
"…What would you like?"
Another bite.
"…Water? Juice? Trauma?"
Silence.
Daito didn't respond, but he understood.
This wasn't random. This was definitely planned, and to top it all dangerous.
TWISSH!
The door behind them opened again.
Soft and controlled.
STEP.....
STEP.....
Heels clicking.
Shinsei Voss stepped inside.
Calm, composed with tablet in hand.
She didn't even look surprised. She never did.
Her eyes landed on Daito.
Then briefly.....On the blood trail outside.
"…He's stable."
She said, referring to Champagne.
Then she looked at Cassian.
"…For now."
Cassian smiled slightly.
"…Good."
He took one last bite of the burger—
MUNCH!
FWOOSH!
He then tossed the rest aside carelessly.
His full attention now....On Daito.
The room grew heavier, quieter, and tighter.
Cassian leaned forward slightly.
Eyes locked.
Smile faint.
"…Let's talk."
Daito's expression hardened.
Because deep down he knew that this wasn't just an interrogation.
This was the beginning of something he wasn't sure even he could break.
The room felt smaller...Not physically but mentally.
Like the walls were inching closer, tightening around through the thought itself.
* * *
The only thing echoing in Daito Greyhell's mind was the inmate's warning.
"After this week… you'll be bound."
At the time, it sounded vague.
Now, It felt like a prophecy unfolding in slow motion.
Cassian stood in front of him.
Not like a man observing another.
But like a predator studying the rhythm of a wounded animal's breathing.
"…You know…"
Said Director Cassian Vanderbi, tilting his head slightly,
"…if I were you…"
He stepped closer.
"…right about now…"
Another step.
"…I'd be building a way out."
His eyes sharpened.
"…A Plan B."
A faint smirk stretched across his face.
"…Maybe even a Plan C."
Daito said nothing.
Not a word nor a twitch, only his eyes moved, calculating and measuring.
Breaking the room apart piece by piece like a puzzle that refused to be solved.
Behind them—
Fwoosh...
Shinsei Voss exhaled softly.
"…You should stop wasting your time."
Her voice was calm but heavy like a verdict already written.
"…If there was ever a moment in your life, you should regret existing…"
She looked directly at him.
"…it's now."
Cassian began pacing, slow and circular.
Like a shark that had already decided to bite but was savouring the anticipation.
"…Daito…"
A pause.
"…Daito…"
Another step.
"…Daito…"
Each repetition felt heavier.
Like nails being hammered into silence as he stopped behind him, leaning slightly forward.
"…You've got the whole world fooled."
Silence.
But it wasn't empty instead it was thick and dense like fog before a storm.
Cassian continued, his tone shifting less playful, more surgical.
"…I just can't wrap my head around one thing."
He walked back into Daito's line of sight.
"…Why would someone like you…"
A pause.
"…stoop this low?"
His eyes narrowed.
"…It's embarrassing."
Shinsei stepped forward with tablet in hand.
"…We ran a background check."
Swipe.
ZWIING!
Images flickered faintly across the screen.
"…Your family."
Another swipe.
"…Your hometown."
Her eyes didn't leave him.
"…Once respected."
Another swipe.
"…Admired."
Another.
"…A name that meant something."
She tilted her head slightly.
"…And now?"
A pause.
"…Reduced."
Her voice sharpened.
"…To this."
Cassian raised a hand slightly.
"…Enough."
He didn't even look at her.
"…Words are cheap."
A smirk returned.
"…Let's show him."
Shinsei nodded.
Tap....Tap
Tapped the screen and turned it toward Daito.
For a moment...Images showed clear, precise, and unforgiving.
The palms of his teammates were marked and carved.
Not wounds...Signatures.
Symbols etched into flesh like contracts written in blood.
Cassian crouched slightly in front of him voice lower now.
Almost amused.
"…These marks…"
He tapped the screen lightly.
"…don't just happen."
A pause.
"…They're carved."
Another.
"…By something very specific."
His eyes locked onto Daito's.
"…The Sword of Mischief."
A faint grin.
"…Or…"
He leaned closer.
"…what the natives call…"
Heavy with weight.
"…the Gi-man-ui geom…"
A breath.
"…the Yo-sa-han geom."
The room seemed to tilt just slightly.
"…A blade…"
Cassian continued,
"…that doesn't cut flesh…"
He tapped Daito's chest lightly.
"…it cuts reality."
Fwoo....
Daito's eyes, for the first time, betrayed him.
Just for a fraction of a second.
A flicker, a slight ripple. Like a stone disturbing perfectly still water and that was enough.
Both Cassian and Shinsei saw it.
They didn't need confirmation they felt it.
Cassian's smile deepened, not wider but darker and more certain.
"…There it is."
He whispered.
Like a man who had just found treasure buried beneath lies.
He leaned in.....Close enough for Daito to feel his breath.
Close enough to erase the space between thought and fear.
"…You're not just some reckless kid."
A pause.
"…You're a variable."
Another.
"…An anomaly."
He tilted his head.
Eyes glowing with curiosity and something far more dangerous.
"…A boy holding a blade…"
A faint chuckle.
"…that bends the rules of existence…"
The air grew heavier as each second stretched longer than the last.
"…And do you know what I do…"
Cassian whispered,
"…with things that break rules?"
Silence answered.
But it wasn't needed, voice now a blade itself, sharp and precise.
Unavoidable.
"…I own them."
A long pause.
Then softly almost kindly.
"…So…"
His eyes locked deeper into Daito's relentlessly
"…Do you want to tell me the truth…"
A breath.
"…or should we keep peeling you apart…"
"…layer…"
"…by layer?"
The tension in the room thickened like the air itself had weight.
Heavy.
Daito finally spoke, low and controlled, but sharp enough to cut through everything.
"…Then why ask…"
His eyes locked onto them.
"…if you already know?"
Shinsei Voss didn't hesitate.
"…Because truth sounds different…"
She stepped forward slightly.
"…when it comes from the mouth of the one hiding it."
Her gaze was clinical detached.
Like she wasn't speaking to a person, but to a case file.
Behind Daito.....Director Cassian Vanderbi sighed softly.
"…I don't like repeating myself."
His tone dropped not louder, just colder.
"…So I'll ask you one last time."
A pause.
"…What do you want?"
Daito didn't even blink.
"…Nothing."
Silence.
Then—
"Heh.."
A quiet chuckle.
Fwoo...
Cassian walked past him slowly.
Hands in pockets voice drifting through the room like smoke.
"…Nothing?"
He stopped.
"…Not even…"
A slight turn of his head.
"…finding the creator of Disorder?"
Daito's eyes narrowed.....But he said nothing.
"…Becoming the strongest?"
Another step.
"…Finding a cure?"
Another.
"…Saving humanity?"
Another.
"…Uniting the Rebels?"
Each word hit like a hammer that was striking places Daito didn't even know were exposed.
STEP...STEP
Cassian kept walking.
Casually.
Like none of it mattered.... no, actually, like all of it mattered.
"…Oh…"
He stopped at the door.
"…Before I forget…"
A smirk crept onto his face.
"…How about…"
A pause.
"…defeating Project A.B.I.G.A.I.L…"
Daito stood up instantly.
SWOOSH!
SKREETCH!
Chair scraped violently against the floor.
"…How do you know all of that—"
CRACK!
Shinsei's kick landed clean across his face.
Fast, precise, and brutal.
GLANG!
He dropped back into the chair.
Drip.....Drip
Blood spilling from his nose.
Vision shaking.
"…Sit."
She said coldly.
Before Daito could react—
Fwoo....
Cassian's hand was already on his shoulder.
GRAB!
Forcing him down like gravity itself had decided to take form.
"…Careful."
Cassian said quietly.
"…You're lucky."
He leaned closer.
"…If you had taken even one proper step toward me…"
A pause.
"…you'd already be dead."
Daito wiped the blood slowly.
His hand trembling, not from fear but from restraint.
When he looked up, his eyes had changed.
FWOOSH!
The killing intent was pure and unfiltered.
"…I don't know anything."
He said flat, cold, and final.
Silence.
Cassian exhaled slowly.
"…I'm getting tired of this."
He straightened up.
"…Shinsei."
A slight nod.
"…Bring it."
Shinsei didn't ask.....Didn't hesitate.
She simply turned—
Fwoosh...
And left.
CLISSH!
The door shut behind her.
Cassian pulled out a cigarette.
CLICK!
Lit it.
The flame flickered small, fragile but temporary.
He stared at it.....Watching it burn.
"…You know…"
He said casually.
"…I don't usually play dirty."
A drag.
Smoke curled upward.
Lazy.
Unbothered.
"…But I was elected Director."
He glanced at Daito.
"…Of the defence force of Gregor Naught."
Another drag.
"…So this…"
He gestured lightly around the room.
"…is just procedure."
The match burned down to his fingers.
He didn't drop it and didn't flinch.
"…Every prisoner…"
He continued quietly.
"…goes through this."
The flame died.
TWISSH!
The door opened and Shinsei returned.
And behind her was something else, a figure, covered and wrapped in a robe.
Silent.
The air changed.....Immediately.
Cassian didn't even look.
"…Take it off."
The figure moved.
Fwoosh.....
Slowly.
The robe fell.
And the moment it did...Daito's body reacted before his mind could understand.
His hair stood on end.
Every nerve.....Screamed.
His blood.....Shifted.
Pulled backwards like his own body was trying to retreat from within.
He pushed against the chair, trying to move....to get away.
GRRIP!
But Cassian's grip tightened.
Effortless and absolute.
"…Relax."
Cassian muttered.
Daito struggled, his eyes locked onto her.
She looked…Human.
A girl with messy hair which was falling unevenly across her face.
Hollow eyes.
Not empty, just…wrong.
Her fingers were stained black.
Like something had seeped into her skin and refused to leave.
Her clothes were were torn and dirty.
Hanging off her like she had forgotten what comfort even felt like.
She didn't move much, speak, and didn't even fully look at him.
And yet.....everything about her felt incorrect.
Like the room was rejecting her presence....but couldn't erase her.
Daito's breathing changed, sharper and more uneven it was not fear..... But Instinct.
The kind that exists before thought, before logic nor reason.
The kind that only appears when something is deeply, unnaturally wrong.
Cassian leaned slightly closer to Daito's ear.
Voice calm and almost gentle.
"…You feel it, don't you?"
A pause.
"…Good."
He straightened.
"…Then let's not waste time."
He looked at Daito.
Eyes unreadable now.
"…Talk."
A beat.
"…Because if you don't…"
He nodded slightly toward the girl.
"…we'll have to use that."
to be continued...