Interrogation

 “…”

“…”

“Uhm, Miss Siti…”

“Just Siti is fine. Actually it’s mandatory. Call me anything else, and I’ll hurt you.”

“Hurt me?”

“Yup! Like this~”

My arms started to twist behind my back on their own! I tripped myself and smashed my own face into the ground and then just kept doing it!

“Aaaah! Stopstopstopstopit! You can control the suit?! Control me?!?!”

“Well of course! I’m the one who made it after all.”

“If I take a dump, that doesn’t mean I can control it like some possessed doll!!”

“That’s a good point, but I don’t like my genius idea being compared to poop so…”

“Gaaah! Stop! Stop making me eat rocks! Or whatever these are! What even are these!? Please! They’re so gross!!”

      As soon as I was able to move on my own, I was spitting out fragments of bone, horn, and shell. I’m at least thankful my taste buds were suppressed or that rotting taste would’ve made me vomit.

“I can infect and control anything that’s alive. Well, I can kinda also do it to dead things too. That suit you’re wearing is made of a unique living plant that’s woven itself with that demon so that you can move his body and control his mind. I’m actually amazed it works so well, since demons aren’t really alive!”

“Not alive? What do you mean?”

“Well, they aren’t made of molecules, cells, and organs like you and I are. They’re kind of more like...mush...that’s just pretending to be alive. They can move their arms because that’s what an arm would do, not because their brain is sending nerve signals to their muscles causing them to contract. They can use magic not because they understand formulas, but because that’s what demons do.”

“Magic!? They can use magic?! Can they shoot fireballs and raise the dead? W-will I be able to use magic?!”

“Maybe some of them. Are you not able to use magic already?”

“No! Where I came from, nobody could use magic! I mean, probably. I think there were fortune tellers and mind-readers, but I’m pretty sure they were all con artists and using some kind of trick.”

      As I stopped talking, I noticed that both Siti and Libero were staring at me dumbstruck.

“Isn’t that...normal?”

“All the humans where I come from can use magic. Even babies who don’t know any formulas can at least sense the Flow. I’ve only met one person who couldn’t use any kind of magic, and he’s the one I’m looking for.”

“Yeah. Even some a’ the rocks ‘round here can use magic. Yer pretty pathetic.”

“Say, James. Where are you from? Does your world have a name?”

     I paused in silence for a moment, unsure if I should answer. It’s true that Siti saved me from dying, but they’re both demons, right? Bad creatures? Are they trying to deceive me? She said she’s looking for someone who can’t use magic, but what for? I don’t know if I should trust them and just tell them. I-

“I feel like now would be a good time to mention that I can hear your thoughts.”

“Eh?”

“The suit. It’s not just on you, it’s integrated with you. So, on top of knowing your physical condition and controlling your body, I can hear your thoughts to some extent.”

“S-so even when I-”

Siti smirked, “You’re far from the first person to have those kinds of thoughts about me~”

     At this point I much preferred burying my face in the ground than feeling this embarrassment.

“I’ll also tell you that I’m not from around here either. I may be part demon, but that’s because I was created in a laboratory that used part of a demon to create me. The reason why I’m here is because I’m looking for someone, that human who can’t use magic who used everything he had to protect me and the world we called home. I’m not really sure how, but according to...someone...he was sent to a different Great Realm, to a world called ‘Earth.’ The Demon Realm is connected to both of our Great Realms, so I’m trying to get there from here.”

“Oh, Earth? That’s where I’m from!”

     Ah. I said that without thinking. And once I did, both Siti and Libero just paused and stared at me. Then, suddenly, Siti jumped at me and started shaking me.

“Where is it?! How do we get there?!? Can you take me with you?!?”

“I-if I knew, I would’ve gone back already!”

     She paused and let me go, letting me drop onto my butt, just looking at her as she wore a more serious expression than I’d ever seen. Man, she was really pretty when she was thinking hard. Ah, right, she can hear my thoughts.

“Right...And you can’t use magic, no one from your world can. Which means you weren’t thrown here, you were pulled here. Which means there’s likely to be a demon down here that can connect to Earth.”

“That’s dangerous.” Libero added, “The kind of power needed to connect from here to one of the Great Realms? It’d have to be a Demon King or a Demon God. I guess it could be a bunch of Lords, but they’d have to be organized, let alone cooperative. Good luck getting that many demons to agree with no leader to call the shots.”

“But we’ve finally got a lead! Finally, after so long down here, we’ve finally got a clue!”

“Yeah, and it’ll lead us right into some faces that I owe a beating!”

“And I think I have an idea of how we can find the next clue~”

     Siti looked at me with a wicked grin. I was lost already! Demon Kings? Gods and Lords?? What does any of that even mean? I’m trying hard just to follow and make sense of it enough already!

“WHADDA YA WANT?!? YOU WANNA DIE?!? I’LL KILL YOU!!!”

      Ah, it’s this guy again. Siti had me standing still and stiff like a statue, I couldn’t move at all as she grabbed me and started punching me in the face. Why? Shouldn’t she be asking questions first? Why is she punching first?? And Libero’s hitting me too! He’s kneeing me! Is this an interrogation or just a beating!?

“You and all those other demons were gathered here for a reason, right!? You were here to abduct this human once he was summoned!”

“Taking orders from some other demon huh?! Who was it?! Talk or I’m going to kick you to death!”

You started kicking already. I’m gonna die.

“I’LL NEVER TELL!! I’LL STAIN THE BOTTOM OF YOUR FOOT BEFORE I TELL YOU ANYTHING!!”

Please tell him, he’s really gonna kick me to death.

“Who was it?! Where are they?!? You were probably told to bring the human somewhere, so where?! Talk, or I’ll make you suffer!”

I’m already suffering, please stop.

“HA! WHAT DOES AN IDIOT LIKE YOU THINK YOU CAN DOAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!??!?”

My EVERYTHING is twisting?! My arms and legs aren’t supposed to go that way! Why does it feel like I’m getting pinched and twisted EVERYWHERE?! I didn’t even know you could twist those places!!

“If you don’t talk, I’ll consume your whole territory for myself! Then you won’t even EXIST to mouth off again!”

“Don’t think we can’t find it! We’ve got you, alive, we can just MAKE you lead us to it and gobble it all up~!”

“W-why don’t you just do that from the start?!?!?!”

“Ah.”

“I’m gonna keep kicking him.”

“WHY?!?/WHY!?!”