Why Can't We Interrogate?!

“W-where am I?” the professor croaked. His face was tense and worried, his eyes darting from wall to wall like a cornered animal desperately trying to make sense of his surroundings.

We had him tied to a chair with my Runed Chains and Tsubaki’s roots twisted tightly around his body. The bindings were designed to disrupt his mana as much as possible, making it nearly impossible for him to escape or blow himself up. On top of that, Akiko stood by with her ability ready to suppress his mana if needed. It was a foolproof plan to keep him locked down. The only issue now was actually getting the information out of him.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tsubaki said. “Just tell us—”

The professor cut her off with a sharp laugh. “Why am I still alive? Why didn’t you just kill me?”

“We need answers from you,” she replied, her voice firm. “What did you do to all the people who disappeared? And…” She turned back to the rest of us, her eyes searching for direction. “What else do we need to know?”

“Ask about their hideout, if they have one,” Akiko suggested, her hand still hovering near the prisoner.

“And ask about all their members too,” Hinabi added from behind.

“Yeah, you heard them,” Tsubaki said, facing the professor again.

His jaw tightened, and his face hardened. “And why would I tell you any of this?”

“Because…” Tsubaki hesitated for a second. “If you don’t, then we’ll hurt you?”

I raised an eyebrow. “That sounded more like a question than a threat.”

“I’m not very experienced in interrogation, alright,” she said. “Feel free to step in if you can do better, please.”

“Let me try something,” Yuno said, stepping forward, cracking his knuckles.

Tsubaki crossed her arms and took a step back. “He’s all yours.”

Without hesitation, Yuno wound up a punch and slammed it into the professor’s face. The man’s head snapped back, and he slumped unconscious in the chair.

“What the hell was that?!” Kenta barked, his voice filled with disbelief. “How are we supposed to get information out of him while he’s knocked out?”

“I thought we were supposed to hurt him,” Yuno muttered, scratching the back of his neck, looking almost sheepish.

“Yeah, but he needs to be conscious to talk!” Kenta growled. “Now we have to wait until he wakes up again.”

“Oh…” Yuno said, deflating slightly.

We waited, thirty long minutes ticked by before the professor stirred back to life, groaning and lifting his head.

“So,” Tsubaki leaned in close, her eyes narrowing, “do you want to tell us now?”

“N-no,” he stammered, blood still trickling from his lip.

Tsubaki sighed in frustration and glanced back at the rest of us. “Do you guys have any ideas on how to torture the information out of him?”

“Ooh, let me try!” Yuno said, raising his hand enthusiastically.

“No way,” she snapped. “You’re just going to knock him out again.”

“Don’t worry,” Yuno smirked, flexing his fists. “I can control my strength enough to keep him awake this time.”

“Should we let him do it?” Tsubaki asked, looking around the room.

“If no one else has a better idea for a torture method that could get this information out of him…” Kenta shrugged. Then he started wailing on him. A barrage of punches hammered down, each one thudding into flesh and bone. Blood splattered across the floor. With every swing, the cocky smile on Yuno’s face slowly faded until at last he stopped with a saddened look.

We all exchanged glances, but no one spoke up. Finally, we shook our heads. Yuno grinned proudly and stepped up to the professor.

“Guys,” he said, turning back to us, his tone oddly flat. “This isn’t as fun as I thought. He’s not even trying to fight back or struggle. This feels… pathetic.” He walked away, shaking his head.

Tsubaki stepped forward again, wiping her expression back into something steely. “So how about now? You still feel like keeping that secret?”

The professor spat a mouthful of blood straight into her face. “Yeah, I do.”

Tsubaki froze for a second, then slowly turned toward us, annoyance flashing across her eyes. “So… anyone else have any ideas?”

We weren’t exactly experienced at torture. Out of desperation, we took turns punching him, hoping something would break. But Yuno was right, it felt pathetic. Just throwing fists and hoping he’d spill secrets was clumsy and, honestly, a little humiliating.

“We’re getting nowhere!” Tsubaki snapped, her patience thinning. “We have to find another way of hurting him.”

“We can skin him alive,” Yuno suggested.

“Definitely not!” Tsubaki barked, her voice cracking with disgust.

“What about cutting off his finers?” Yuno said.

“No way,” she said firmly. “I doubt anyone here wants to do that. Would you even want to?”

“Eh, not really,” Yuno admitted, shrugging.

“Then suggest something you actually want to do,” Tsubaki retorted.

While they bickered, I thought back to the most painful experience I’d ever had. It wasn’t fists, blades, or even abilities; it was when an overwhelming surge of negative mana tore through my body. That pain was indescribable. Then it clicked.

“Hey Akiko,” I called out, “how confident are you at controlling his mana?”

“I think I can do it pretty well,” she said cautiously. “Why do you ask?”

“I have an idea on how we can torture him.”

“Okay?”

I walked over to her and whispered. “I was thinking… You could force all the negative mana into his body, but stop it just before he explodes. That way, he’ll suffer through all that pain without actually dying.”

Akiko’s lips tightened, but she nodded. “Okay. I’ll give it a shot.”

She pressed her hand to his back, focusing hard. The professor’s veins began to glow a deep purple.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Tsubaki demanded, stepping forward.

“Shh, let Akiko focus,” I said quickly.

“He’s going to blow up! Stop whatever this is!” she shouted.

“No, he’s not,” I insisted. “She can control his mana to prevent it.”

Tsubaki exhaled sharply through her nose. “Fine. So what’s the plan?”

“I figured we push his negative mana right up to the breaking point, but hold it there. That way, he’ll feel the pain without exploding.”

“Do you think that’ll be enough to make him talk?” she asked.

“Hopefully. I’ve felt it before, and it was the worst pain of my life.”

The professor’s scream erupted, low and raw. He shrieked like he was burning alive, his body convulsing under Akiko’s control.

Tsubaki lunged toward him, her voice cutting through his cries. “Now talk, or else this will keep going!”

“N-never,” he gasped, gritting his teeth so hard his jaw trembled.

“Alright, then we won’t stop,” she said coldly.

We kept him locked in that agony for nearly twenty minutes, until suddenly one of his fingers glowed brighter than the rest of his body.

“Uh, guys…” Hinabi said nervously. “His finger is glowing way brighter than the rest.”

“T-there’s too much mana,” Akiko struggled to say.

“Is he going to blow up?!” Hinabi asked, panic rising.

“I’m trying to stop it right now,” she said through clenched teeth. But then his whole body lit up like a beacon.

“Defuse it!” Tsubaki shouted.

“I-I’m trying!” Akiko cried, her voice breaking with strain.

The glowing finger suddenly burst apart in a violent pop, blood spraying. His whole body still pulsed with unstable light.

“C’mon, Akiko, I know you can do it!” I urged desperately.

Finally, the glow dimmed. The professor slumped forward, and Akiko collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. “Keeping my ability active for that long is… exhausting. I had to tap into my malif for more mana, but that made it so much harder to control…”

Tsubaki sighed, rubbing at her temples. “Well, looks like we lost that method.” She turned back to the prisoner. “How about you tell us now, just make it easier for everyone.”

The man coughed, spitting more blood. “N-never.”

“What?! You’re literally missing a finger! Why are you being so stubborn?!” Tsubaki demanded, her voice rising.

“Because,” he said, smirking faintly through the pain, “I know that whatever you do is nothing compared to what’ll happen when I escape this place if I talk. Your punishment is child’s play.”

“You think you’re getting out of here alive?” she snapped.

“I don’t intend on telling you anything,” he said smugly. “So you’ll have to keep me alive. And with this blessing, it’s only a matter of time before you slip up and I’m free.”

Tsubaki gritted her teeth, her hands trembling. As much as I hated to admit it, he wasn’t wrong. We were getting nowhere, and killing him wasn’t an option, not if we wanted the information.

“How about I just kill him?” Yuno said casually.

“Do you not understand the situation?” Tsubaki barked. “We can’t kill him.”

“Why not? If I kill him, I can just go through his memories and get the information we need.”

The room froze as we stared at him in shock. “What?! You can access his memories?” Tsubaki demanded. Just go through his memories and get the information we need.”

“Yeah.”

“And you didn’t think to tell us this earlier?!” she yelled, her eyes blazing.

“You never asked,” Yuno said with a shrug.

“How the hell would we know to ask if you never told us anything about your abilities?!”

“Well, my blessing deals with minds,” Yuno explained casually. “I can create illusions by accessing someone’s mind, but only when they look at me or whatever has my mana imbued into it. I can also materialize—”

“We don’t need to know now!”

“Oh. Okay.” Yuno shrugged again, unfazed.

“You guys heard him?” she asked the rest of us.

“Yeah,” we all said.

“Alright, go ahead then, Yuno.”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” he said, stepping toward the professor with a smirk.

The prisoner sneered. “You’re bluffing. You’re not actually going to kill me.”

“Just keep thinking that.” Yuno’s eyes darkened. He thrust his hand forward, piercing into the man’s chest with brutal precision. The professor gasped in shock, his face twisting with pain.

“You think I’m bluffing now?” Yuno whispered. Closing his eyes, he then focused, his body going unnaturally still. We stood in silence, the air heavy with tension. After a few minutes, Yuno pulled his hand free from the man’s body and turned back to us. A wide grin spread across his face.

“I know their hideout,” he announced. “They’re meeting there tonight. Let’s go. I want to fight them.”