Chapter 90 - Random Interrogation

Aikawa, Kanagawa 

*SPLASH*

"*GASP*" Minoru is waken up with a bucket of water splashing on his face.

He finds himself chained up on a wall, just like how the demons his clan keep captive when they are freshly caught.

With his head down, he sees a pair of legs in front of him and the familiar looking white concrete floor of his clan's demon prison, and, "Heh…", he chuckles bitterly. 'I've been caught.' He realizes.

Someone then grabs his hair, forcing his head up, and he sees a familiar face.

"Minoru, Minoru, Minoru… You still have the nerve to laugh." A man, who looks to be in his 40s, growls at Minoru.

"Ah. Shou-senpai. How are you doing?" Minoru smirks at Shou.

*SLAP* Shou gives Minoru a huge slap.

"Call me senpai again, you traitor and I might not control myself." He growls, and Minoru can feel the sincerity in his words.

"Force of habit. Heh." Minoru chuckles.

*Slap* Shou gives Minoru a slap once again.

"AH…" Minoru groans.

"What was that for?"

"Your smirks. Your smug chuckles always irked me." Shou this time, smirks.

"And as long as you're alive, I can do whatever I want with you… Why don't I start with your face? Hm?"

He then pulls out a blade and brushes it on Minoru's cheek.

"You know what? Let's skip all this shit and just kill me already." Minoru sneers.

Shou is taken aback. He had seen the look on Minoru's face plenty of times in the faces of demons who are proud to die. He frowns and unsheathes his tanto engraved with demon-killing runes.

*snip* He cuts a small wound on Minoru's arm and waits.

"Hehehehhh. I'm the good ol' human Minoru, baby." Minoru gives out a prolonged chuckle, finding amusement in Shou's expression.

This makes Shou look at him in annoyance.

"Then what did you steal it for? Hm?" Shou sheathes his tanto.

"Steal what?" Minoru plays innocent.

"YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT…" Shou grab's Minoru's neck.

"So what if you do? Did you find it? Do you even know what it is?" Minoru asks.

"I don't care what it is, but we found it. It was very stupid of you to carry it in your pockets." Shou smugly taunts Minoru.

Minoru winces.

"Yeah… That's right. What'd you think was gonna happen?" A 80 something year old man, wearing a nice quality tailored suit, enters the 'interrogation room'.

"Gentarou-sama. You didn't have to be here for this." Shou is taken aback that Oonishi Gentarou, a high-tier A-Class Superioris and the Head of their Oonishi Clan, makes a personal visit.

"You don't tell me where and where not to be, boy. Go feed our livestock." Gentarou orders Shou.

"As you wish, Gentarou-sama." Shou bails out, afraid of offending the clan head any further.

"Oohh.. The big boss showed up." Minoru taunts.

"You seem to really want to go out with a bang, don't you, traitor?" Gentarou's interest is piqued at the unusual attitude from a junior.

"I don't know where you got your balls, boy, but mind how you speak." Gentarou takes a chair on the side and sits himself in front of Minoru.

"Yeah? Why should I? Because you don't dare speak like this to that S-Class geezer Yamada like I can to you? Wait… Doesn't that mean I got bigger balls than you, the mighty Gentarou? HAH!" Minoru scoffs.

Gentarou, despite knowing that Minoru is simply provoking him, winces at the insult.

"I've no patience for this." He can only swallow it for now, however.

"You have no leverage. So, speak up now. Why don't you tell me why you did it and you'll go painlessly?" He asks.

"Jog my memory, will you?" Minoru asks.

The rude tone used by Minoru is starting to get to Gentarou. He is wishing he did not send Shou away. But asking Shou back in, and in case Shou tells the others about his failure, he is afraid of the embarrassment it may cause.

"I heard from my buddy Sora that his demon facility was broken into eleven days ago. Do you know something about that?" Gentarou asks.

"Huh? Sora? Nagano Sora? They had a demon facility too?" Minoru is surprised.

His surprise however is misinterpreted by Gentarou as mockery.

"Twelve of his demons were stolen away, and you steal 'the thing' just a couple of days later? Don't play dumb with me, boy."

"Huh. Do they have also a piece of that wood like the one I stole? Damn. I should have robbed theirs instead. Wouldn't that have caused friction?" Minoru plays a character for now and decides to get more information.

"Heh. They don't. This?..." Gentarou pulls out a small, slightly tinted glass tube containing a piece of wood the size of a toddler's pinkie, out of his suit jacket's inner pocket.

"It's one of a kind. Maybe only I have it in Japan." He starts caressing it like the most precious thing in the world.

"I guess that's the only consolation for your stunt." He then sneers at Minoru, but suddenly realizes that Minoru might be distracting him.

"Now. It just occurred to me. This thing is so rare and looks very unassuming. Out of all the things you could have stolen, why this?" He continues questioning as he pockets the glass tube.

"I don't know. For fun?" Minoru smirks.

"Hmmm… That so?" Gentarou goes to pick up a huge syringe on a surgical tray.

"You know… The old clan head didn't really give me this job when I was younger. What he didn't know is that I had ideas myself." He approaches Minoru as he unscrews the needle from the syringe, and tosses the syringe to the side.

Minoru's eyes widen in fear at what Gentarou is about to do.

The next moment, he almost pisses himself as Gentarou pulls his lower eyelid down, exposing his conjunctiva.

"I read somewhere that the tear ducts is one of the most sensitive parts of the human body. How painful could it be if I stabbed it?" He hears Gentarou's intimidation right next to his ear.

The imagery alone makes Minoru's heart palpitate.

Thankfully for him, "But that's for later." Gentarou retreats the needle and lets go of the eyelid.

"I stubbed my toe once, and it hurt. When one of my toenails was ripped off, that hurt even more. So, there must be a lot of nerves under the nails. Hmmm… Would it hurt as much if I stabbed it with a needle? You have ten nails, meaning plenty of attempts to find out."

Gentarou's anecdote and musings pull Minoru's fear back in the surface.

"Just kill me!" Minoru yells out subconsciously.

"Oh? What happened to your balls? They shriveled up?" Gentarou mocks, feeling victorious, now confident that he can make Minoru sing.

"Heh. Now, talk. Why'd you do it?"

"Because I can't take it anymore. What you're doing." Minoru says through gritted teeth. He knows that he will die anyway, and is prepared for it, so he figures he would rather be honest, and make things quicker.

"What I'm doing?" Gentarou is taken aback, strangely feeling the sincerity of Minoru's words.

"Hah. You're a good actor. But, answer the same question earlier. Out of all the things you could have stolen, why this?" He asks patting the pocket where the piece of wood is in.

"Because the thing's evil... Wait… no. Now that I think about it. YOU'RE evil. You're no longer human, Gentarou." Minoru growls.

"Evil?" Gentarou scoffs.

"You must be working for some interesting people." He then raises the needle again.

"Thousands! THOUSANDS!" Minoru yells, not caring about Gentarou's intimidation anymore.

"You have sacrificed thousands of lives to feed your demon sl*ves. You must have been the greatest sinner in humanity since the Great War." Gentarou's face freezes.

Not because of being called the greatest sinner, or being reminded of the number of lives he sacrificed, but by, "Demon Sl*ves? How do you know about that?"

"Because I saw how you did it, you son of a bitch. I thought it was funny at first. Holding a piece of wood to the demon, and chanting some funny spell. I couldn't believe my eyes when you actually made the demon dance." Minoru starts breathing heavy out of anger.

"How many of them are there now, huh?"

"Not enough… But I'm doing this for the clan, boy. I'm doing this for the clan's elevation. NO. For survival." Gentarou gets a bit irritated by what he sees as naivety in Minoru.

"So, what if I sacrificed thousands? Those useless, faceless nobodies that no one will ever remember, should be glad, NO, HONORED to have contributed to the making of A-Class level beings. Our clan will forever have their never-ending gratitude." He smirks conceitedly.

"And those A-Class level beings. What are you gonna do with them? Unleash them on more innocent people? Like what you did with the so-called 'Villain' Rock Stampede in Itabashi 10 years ago? " Minoru smirks back conceitedly.

His anger is a bit relieved seeing Gentarou's smug face freeze.

"Yeah. Knowing what I know, it won't take a genius to connect that the demon we once trapped in here, suddenly became a villain." 

Seeing Gentarou's face morph into suppressed anger, he takes it as a chance for another slight.

"Wow. It really is, huh? Well, that's really f*ckin dumb. That's your ultimate plan to 'ELEVATE' the clan? Sounds idiotic to me."

"Enough!" Gentarou yells out, his pride hurt.

"That was merely an experiment that went out of control. And it was ten years ago. I've learned my lesson. I-" As he is explaining himself, he catches himself doing so.

"I don't have anything to explain to you, boy." He feels bitter. 

"HAH… Accident or not, doesn't change anything… I thought at first you were just using people in death row, pedophiles and sexual predators, but to use innocent people? No. Even if the clan dies out, no leader in their right mind or right morals would do what you're doing. *Pew*!" Minoru spits at Minoru, successfully landing it on the clan head's face.

"Listen here boy." Gentarou simply takes a handkerchief out and wipes Minoru's spit.

"It's because of people like me who make tough decisions that allows people like you to live in comfort."

"Bullshit. There's a difference between making tough decisions and doing something evil. When I saw you submit that one demon to your bidding? When I saw you watch that demon swallow its first meal? I didn't see the face of someone making a tough decision. I saw the face of evil."

Despite Minoru's passionate speech, Gentarou is unaffected.

He coldly analyzed that Minoru is being sincere.

"So. You really weren't under anyone's orders?" He asks.

"I'm not." Minoru admits in defiance.

"Heh. Well, then. You only have one use left." Gentarou chuckles and materializes a seven-foot-tall mud golem beside him.

The mud golem then undoes Minoru's chains, and before Minoru can struggle, the mud golem engulfs his body, only leaving his head exposed.

"*mmm**mmm*!" Minoru's mouth is also sealed by mud.

Then Gentarou leads the way out, with the golem containing Minoru in it.

<>

*creak*

*Slam*

Gentarou and the mud-wrapped Minoru arrive at the deepest floor of the demon prison.

Minoru then sees a familiar looking figure chained on the wall, which he remembers is one of the most recently caught demons.

"Hey. Wake up." Gentarou slaps the demon awake.

"Just you wait, kid. I will gut you once I get out of here." The demon can only threaten Gentarou with words.

The golem then brings Minoru next to the demon.

"*hh* *hh* *hh* *hh* *hh*" Gentarou suddenly hears Minoru chuckle, despite the mud sealing the 'traitor's mouth.

Knowing that no one will not hear anything even if Minoru screams, Gentarou decides to uncover Minoru's mouth.

"What's so funny?" He asks.

"So… This is how you deal with the scandal? Make me the host of your new demon bitch?" Minoru chuckles.

"At least you're not stupid." Gentarou smirks.

"And you seem oddly relaxed for someone who's about to be demon food." He adds.

"I don't know. Maybe a miracle will happen. Maybe I eat the demon's soul instead." Minoru smirks.

"Are you so scared that you've lost your mind?" Gentarou is amused.

"What? Are you so disappointed and mindblown that I'm not begging for my life that your emotions got inverted?" Minoru asks back.

"You got balls, boy. I give you that.. Be honored that I'll remember you for a long, long time after your enter the demon's stomach… or whatever organ demons use to digest souls."