Editing City Series:Volume1 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 7===

The small interrogation room was surrounded by white walls with no windows. It only contained a metal door, a large table, and chairs.

On one side, the interrogator sat with his arms crossed.

On the other side, Walter and Paul sat in their chairs. The ropes binding them to the chairs had been removed once the dp-XXX had vanished into the darkness and not returned.

“Hmm.”

Walter groaned and looked up at the ceiling with his usual expression.

“Ahh… It’s almost the 24th, isn’t it?”

To add to the mental pressure, the interrogation room had no clock.

Paul looked at Walter.

“You can tell the time?”

The question was relatively meaningless, but Walter nodded.

“I inherited my father’s sense of time, so it’s perfect. Want me to tell you the time down to the seconds?”

“Fine. What time is it now?”

“December 23, 11:32 PM and 18 seconds. There’s no mistaking it.”

The interrogator pulled a pocket watch from his uniform pocket.

“That’s not even close, you fool. It’s 11:11 and 27 seconds.”

Walter turned to Paul with a serious look.

“See, professor? I got the time for you.”

“Yes. Well done.”

“Idiots really are easy to trick.”

Walter’s tone seemed to finally clue the interrogator into what had happened.

“What!?”

He briefly grew pale, but his face was red with rage a moment alter.

“Do you have any idea what position you are in here!?”

“Do you? It would probably be a good idea to let us go sooner rather than later.”

“That’s right. If you go home, you can help prepare for ''Weihnachts'' with your wife, whose personality is her only decent quality, and your kid, who excels in athletic ability and nothing else. A happy family sure is nice.”

“ ‘Sure is nice’!? I could be living that kind of life if ''you two'' would hurry up and confess everything!”

“Confess everything, you say?” Walter sighed. “Well, okay. Here’s everything about me: my height is 187 cm, my weight is 72 kg, my hobby is astronomy, my favorite food is ''rippchen'', my favorite drink is ''moselwein'', on Sundays I visit used book stores-…”

“No one asked for any of that!”

“But you did just now.”

“That’s right. You’re contradicting yourself.”

The two crossed their arms and nodded.

The interrogator held his head and collapsed onto the table.

“Are you okay? If you want someone to deliver the finishing blow, just ask.”

“…I do not need that.”

His voice was low and he slowly sat back up.

“Oh, he can still move. Maybe we should’ve messed with him some more.”

“Silence!”

“…”

“Not completely silent!”

“You really are contradicting yourself.”

“This guy really isn’t very smart. And he’s surprisingly weak-willed for an interrogator.”

“This would happen to anyone who has to deal with you two!”

After slowly standing up, the interrogator glared at the other two men.

“I’m going to use the truth serum.”

“On yourself? I suppose everyone is aware on some level of what they’ve done wrong. I’m willing to lend you my ear as you confess it all. But I will ask that you draw up a receipt.”

“Walter, this guy has no sense of humor, so just stop.”

“It’s cute when a woman does it. When she shouts ‘I can’t allow that!’ and beats you softly on the chest, it just makes you want to at least rub her head.”

“ ‘At least’? Where else are you planning to rub her?”

“We can leave that unsaid.”

“Shut up!”

The interrogator shouted and slammed his fist against the table. He glared at the other two with his face so red it looked like steam was going to rise from it.

“You two!”

“Yes?”

“Don’t think you’ll get away with this! I’ll use truth serum, torture, or whatever it takes to get all the information you have!”

“Don’t you think guys with too powerful a sense of duty are hard to deal with, Walter?”

“I know what you mean. They shouldn’t get so heated up. And besides, if you’re announcing you’re going to do those things ahead of time, wouldn’t that mean you aren’t confident they’ll actually work?”

“You two had better remember this.”

“I wouldn’t have gone to university if I had a bad memory.”

“Shut up! I’ll show you what I can do! Just you wait!”

“Um, if this is going to take long, can you bring us some books or something to kill the time?”

Before Walter had even finished speaking, the interrogator had vanished through the metal door. The door slammed shut behind him and they heard the lock click.

Walter and Paul exchanged a glance.

“He sure is short-tempered.”

“We’ve been surrounded by people like that lately.”

“Else’s probably having a hard time down below. Her father looked pretty stubborn.”

“Her, hm?”

Paul looked Walter in the eye.

“What do you think?”

“Are you asking if she’s my type?’

“No.”

“I know, I know.” Walter nodded. “She will definitely return here with almost 100% certainty. I wouldn’t have left the Kaiserburg with her if I thought otherwise.”

“You sound certain.”

“Honest people like her…”

He hesitated because he was unsure how to put it.

“I guess you could say they’re never satisfied until they return what they’ve borrowed.”

“Tell me what you really think.”

Walter smiled at the hint of harshness in Paul’s voice.

“Do I really have to when it’s so obvious? She’s the same as us. Once she takes the first step, she’ll break into a run, leap, and end up here.”

His eyes faced straight forward as he said that.

The look in them was filled with confidence.