Ignoring her face of apparent fearful disgust, I signalled Sophie to co over.
"Eesh..."
Awkwardly stepping around Atsuko's legs on the floor, she glanced at with a look of concern. I knew what she wanted to ask, but my answer is as I've said many tis before.
"Why are you worried? It's not like he's going to find out until tomorrow. I told you, Saburou only cos ho on the weekends to visit. We also confird the effectiveness of the cell, yet what makes you hesitant?"
Seemingly reluctant, she took off and unzipped the backpack she wore and took out a large, folded black bag as she mumbled, "It's not about that... I'm just thinking, like... Ha, no, nevermind. Sorry. Let's just get it over with. Please."
Pausing montarily, I cast her a cold glance before snatching the body bag from her hands.
"Sophie."
...No thoughts to betray or disregard orders. Let's hope it stays that way. Still, for issues like this, it's better to nip it in the bud while I can.
"What?"
Unfolding the body bag and beginning to put Atsuko inside of it, I spoke to her calmly.
"Do you rember the reason we have a relationship?"
"Wh-what?"
It was for a simple reason.
So simple that even I could recall her exact words at the ti.
"You wanted to avenge your mother."
You wanted to kill Saburou, or Space; the one who mutilated your only loving family.
"..."
"Don't tell you forgot?"
And although you didn't ntion it at the ti, you held a deep resentnt towards your father, who was the one to both allow contact between Space and your mother as well as forcibly bestow upon you a power derived from that sa murderer.
"...Of course not. How the hell could I? Forgetting sothing like that... It's impossible."
You wanted revenge.
"Then why are you acting like this?"
To that end, you ca to .
"..."
"Do you understand?"
There is a bigger aning behind doing this than to simply gain an advantage over Saburou.
"This is not just for , but to fulfil the contractual obligation I made with you."
Surely you realise that truth, right?
"So, don't go pussyfooting around when I'm doing exactly as you asked to."
We've been acting together for a while now.
"You're a smart girl. I shouldn't have to spell it out for you."
You know I don't act kindly to people who go back on their words.
"This is not a warning or a threat, but a reminder."
"..."
"Sophie Asanami."
I like you.
"Listen to ."
So I'll tell you this with full honesty.
"You are soone I would hope that I would not have to discard."
Zip-!
"So."
Having stuffed Atsuko's entire unconscious body into the body bag, I turned and gazed into Sophie's eyes.
"―Don't act in a way that'll make inclined to do so."
Because that would be a waste.
"..."
A great waste indeed.
❖─────❖─────❖
An hour later, Atsuko finally woke up.
"―What... Do you want from ?"
Staring down at her with my arms crossed, I calmly listened to her tensed voice that contained within it a subtle trembling.
"When did I say I wanted sothing from you?"
"...Don't talk nonsense."
The clinking of the shackles that bound her wrists and ankles resounded in this small and dim room with no innate source of light.
"Nonsense? What do you an? Fushigimi sister, why, what could I possibly want with the likes of you?"
"..."
"You, who lied, betrayed and abandoned your very own dearest triplet brother for nigh-on a decade? My, what a tr--"
"Shut up! You know damn well I had no choice...!"
Suddenly lashing out at , I watched as the chains linking her arms and feet to the sturdy wall of this underground cell restrained her movent just as she tried to jump at .
Disregarding her argunt, which was obviously fuelled by false logic, I didn't bother reprimanding her for interrupting .
"...Is it uncomfortable?"
"If I say yes, will you remove them?"
"Of course not. After all, if it makes you uncomfortable, it's miles more effective in riling him up."
She muttered at my words, "'Him'...?" And then, her eyes widened.
"N-no, you...!"
The edges of my lips curled up.
"Do you finally understand?"
Her eyes―staring at with an amalgamation of violent emotions swirling within―quickly narrowed.
"...Son of a bi--"
"Saburou Fushigimi."
Calling the na of her brother... Or well, the one whose side she seed to have taken, I continued as she froze her words in order to clearly hear mine.
"Do you perhaps think he will be able to save you here?"
My voice was the only noise to be heard.
In this place, utterly isolated from the rest of the world, one could hear the lody of their own heartbeat or even the crawling of the ants on the ground.
"Let give you a piece of advice."
"..."
"You had better discard such notions while the hope is thin."
I was being genuine.
The confirmation given to by the asurent of Truth was that Space could not infiltrate this place no matter how hard he tried. In the first place, he was only able to penetrate places he had a solid ntal image of inside his head.
That was why, aside from places he had already visited, he had to look at images or recordings of an area before he could warp there.
The anti-Space material this prison is constructed from is simply a precaution, as I have ntioned before.
Of course, I didn't explain any of this to Atsuko, and as the co-creator, Sophie was the only person aside from myself who knew of this material's existence.
In any case, where is he currently? It's about getting to the ti where he returns ho for the weekends, so has he realised what has happened yet?
「The individual known as Saburou Fushigimi, or Space, has just found himself coming back to an empty ho; his thoughts are that no one being ho is strange, but is justifying it in such a way that his parents are at work and his sister is in town」
Ah, perfect.
"Atsuko Fushigimi."
"..."
Perhaps mistaking her eyes for daggers, she glared at without a reply.
"Your other dearest brother has returned ho. Would you like to be the one to notify him of your vacation, or should I?"
"Motherfucker... Let do it."
Then, let us give him a call.
Dududu~
Taking out a smartphone that wasn't my own, I tapped on the number with the contact na 'Saburou' next to it and let it ring.
Dududu~
Atsuko looked at expectantly, but I didn't hand her the phone, however.
Dudud--ttk-!
[Hey, Atusko? Where are you right now?]
Since the phone was on speaker mode, both I and the girl in question could hear Saburou's voice.
Her eyes widened once more as she heard her brother's innocent tone as soone who was yet to have an idea of what was going on.
That was, until I spoke.
"Surprise~"
[...]
The other side of the phone ran cold.
"Say, what was that? 'Atsuko, where are you'? Huh. Now, why would you ask sothing like that, I wonder... Oh. Perhaps, is she not at ho?"
Klink-clang-!
"Hey, you said you'd let answer it, bastard...!"
Worrying if Atsuko's wild thrashing and yelling might detract from the mood, I covered the phone's microphone before replying to her.
"I don't recall saying sothing like that, though?"
"What?! Yes, you did, you lying--!"
"Didn't I only ask if you wanted to answer it or not? I never ntioned anything like actually letting you do so, did I?"
"You...!"
Ignoring the rest of whatever she wanted, I removed my hand from the microphone and waited for the recipient of my call to respond.
[...Hey.]
Even from the other side of the phone, I could tell how frozen his atmosphere was. Did it take this long just to thaw out enough to say one word?
[Tell if what I heard was correct.]
Glad that he was finally starting to talk, I asked him with an invisible smile.
"Oh, my. You sound so cold. What's wrong...?"
[Did I just hear her voice?]
"What...? Saburou, my friend, why on Earth would you have heard her voice from my phone? Ah..."
I put on an act that pretended not to know, but I think he saw through it quite quickly.
Of course, that might have sothing to do with the fact I called him through Atsuko's phone.
[...You fucking piece of shit.]
A harrowing voice, it was a curse that seed to arise from the very depths of his heart.
"Haha. That's rude. What's wrong with you, huh? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed or sothing?"
[Tell where she is right now, fucker.]
"Tell you... No way, did what I guess really happen?"
[I'm not fucking around! You bastard, tell what you did to her!]
Since he appeared to have caught on well, I thought it was about ti to end my shenanigans.
"Ahhh... Do you an the abduction?"
Not giving him ti to respond, I gave Saburou one final ssage―the main reason I decided to contact him here.
"I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if you try sothing funny, but just in case you're foolish enough to believe I might not do sothing before you're able to rescue her..."
Adding a montary pause to my sentence, I dragged out the length of my last words to pile on as much tension as I could.
"Well. You really don't want to test the limits of my spitefulness, is all."
Leaving it at that, I ended the call.
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