13 | Interrogation

Being ostracized by my peers wasn't a new thing to me. My parents were very important people in society, my brother was recognized as a heroic figure when he was only ten, it was no surprise that people would expect me to be like the rest of my family.

I had a lot of friends when I first started school. If I could remember clearly, it was nice having friends. People to look out for you, people to welcome you with a smile plastered on their face, people who had no problem going along with whatever you wanted to do and never judging.

Nah, I lied.

I've never really liked having friends. The only reason why I actually had friends when I was younger was because of my last name. Every kid my age wanted to befriend someone from the powerful Anderson family. My entire childhood got destroyed after I discovered that fact.

I shut out all my friends and decided to be an Inquisitor — best decision I've ever made in my life. If I had chosen to live in obliviousness and swim along with the crowd who only liked me for my name, my life would have been pathetic.

I chose this path. I promised myself that I would never regret it.

Me and some other students were sitting outside the Inquisitor HQ waiting room to be interrogated soon. I never thought I'd ever be one of the people who would be answering questions instead of asking them.

I knew the two people who were in charge of interrogating the students. I knew that my mother was in her office, watching the interrogations and giving instructions to the Inquisitors on duty. That made me feel even more uncomfortable.

But it was obvious no one could tell how much this situation was a first for me. The students were all not-so discreetly glaring at me, blaming me for their current situation. They all thought I was the culprit but was going to get away with the crime because my parents were the head of this division.

I didn't bother clearing my name anymore. They could all think what they wanted to. Just then, someone stepped out of the interrogation room. It was Lumina Voss and he had a bright smile on his face. Someone would think he was walking out of a party with that attitude of his.

I squeezed my fists tightly.

[Gain Lumina Voss's trust and stop him from destroying the world.]

That guy… I had to remind myself over and over again that he was not a good person. The system person was not pranking me. They were serious and real. I didn't exactly know what business he had with destroying the world, but I had to do something before the time I had elapsed.

Lumina waved at the students around and reassured them that so long as they were innocent, nothing bad would happen to them. I scoffed at his words of encouragement. Even if it wasn't loud enough for anyone other than myself to hear, Lumina glanced at me.

It was only for half a second but I saw him narrow his eyes at me before shifting his gaze elsewhere. Okay, rude much?

He never acted like the perfect savior everyone knew him as to me. I began wondering if he actually hated me or something. He was awfully mean and rude to me on the second floor of the Tower Test. He almost killed me yesterday for something I didn't do. And now, he was publicly glaring at me.

What have I done to get myself on his hate list? I didn't remember ever doing anything bad to him in the past. I haven't personally fought with him or ruined something of his. Did he hate me because every other person hated me? That could be it.

Oh well, I shouldn't dwell on his perception of me for a long time. I should just focus on the interrogation for now.

* * *

The interrogation was over. Of course, I was found innocent. Unfortunately, everyone else in the dorm was also found innocent. If someone knew something about the murder and was interrogated today, there was no way the Inquisitors on duty wouldn't have found out.

One of them had a mind reading skill. The only way someone other than me could slip past that was if they had a very strong mind barrier. My Special Skill, [Mental Control], was effective against skills like mind reading.

Though I've had the skill for almost three years now, I couldn't explain its function properly. If I wanted to give a summary of it, I would say it was like a strong impenetrable wall around my mind that regulated my emotions, mental state, and anything that had to do with the intangible part of myself.

I couldn't control the skill though. It was a fixed one. It was always on stand by and automatically activated itself whenever the situation called for it. I've never faced trouble and had it not come through for me… except one time.

That time when that system person invoked consequences on me. The skill had been dormant and didn't activate itself. That was what made me believe that the system person had to be a superior being to cancel out such a powerful Special Skill.

While on the topic of the system person, I've been trying to reach out to them and get them to explain this entire thing about the world getting destroyed and Lumina having something to do with it, but it's been giving me vague and useless answers.

"How does earning the trust of someone stop the world from ending?!" I cried out loud to the ceiling in my empty dorm room.

A message window popped in front of my face, carrying a response.

[You gaining Lumina Voss's trust is all the world needs.]

My goodness… What was so special about Lumina? What was so special about me? Were we some kind of holy duo ordained by the gods to create some miracle?

"Look here, system. Of all the people you could've chosen to gain Lumina Voss's trust, why did it have to be me? The most unlikable person on this entire planet? I don't have any friends. I don't have any redeeming qualities. I don't have a good heart or a pure soul or whatever crap is needed to be a savior or a hero. I see no reason why I should be the one to 'save the world.' Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" I reasoned with the system person.

[The system wants you to know that saving your world is your destiny.]

I groaned out loud in frustration.

"Okay, even if what you're saying is true, why did it have to be now? Couldn't you have told me to gain Lumina's trust and save the world when I was younger? Why'd it have to be now when there's only one year left?"

[The system wants you to know that the time allotted to you is sufficient.]

This entire thing was pointless. Utterly pointless.

"Can you at least tell me the reason why Lumina is going to destroy the world? You can do that much, can't you?"

It took a while before a response came in.

[The system wants you to know that it is his destiny to play a significant part in destroying the world.]

"Fuck destiny!" I kicked the leg of my working chair in a fit of rage. "So you're trying to tell me that because of some stupid destiny, I have to force myself to work hard and gain the trust of some fucking goober who hates me for apparently no reason?"

[The system wants you to know that you are correct.]

I ran my hand through my hair. This entire thing was so sudden and suspicious.

"So, how do you suggest I gain the trust of the person who's destined to destroy the world?" I sighed in defeat, plopping down on my bed.

I might as well go along with this thing since there's no way around it. If I refused to do a thing, that fucking consequence would be invoked on me once again. And that thing was the most painful thing ever.

Thanks to [Mental Control], over the past few years, I've gotten myself to forget how pain felt. But after that stigma was activated on my arm, I remembered… I remembered what it was like feeling true pain and not being able to do a single thing about it.

[The system wants you to start by having a conversation with Lumina Voss.]

[The system also suggests that you wiggle your way into his friend group to get to his heart.]

What the…

"System person, reply to me honestly. Are you high on Purification Power?"

The message window I got after asking that question was different from the others I've been receiving. This one had two eyes and its mouth was pouting to show that it was angry.

"Hold on a sec, you can make faces too?"

[The system isn't limited to just sending messages.]

"Really? In that case, why don't you show yourself? Talking to thin air is getting weird."

No reply came in after that. With this system person, I was always taking one step forward and ten steps backward. Whenever it seemed like I was making progress in understanding it, it would back away and increase the mysteries floating around it.

[The system wants you to know that it cannot reveal its true form to you.]

I guessed that much. Perhaps it was some kind of god. Or a god's assistant. I decided not to ask anymore questions about its identity and focused on the mission I was given.

"Alright then. Like I asked earlier. Seriously, tell me how I can get Lumina to trust me and not destroy the world."

[The system suggests you become friends with him.]

"You keep saying that like it's some easy—"

[The system also wants to remind you of your weekly quest.]

[If you fail to complete it, consequences will be invoked on you for two weeks.]

[The system won't be lenient and give you another chance.]

[The system wishes you good luck.]

I frowned at the consecutive stream of messages. For a moment, I'd totally forgotten about the dead kid and the existence of the Respondents. I guess I'd have to put this gaining Lumina's trust thing on hold for now and focus on the murder case.

I was motivated by the fear of the pain of the stigma on my wrist. I still didn't know what it was and how it worked but I never wanted to experience such pain ever again. In order to do that, I'd have to work hard to find the murderer behind that kid's death.