A circular canal on top of us extended above the below parameter for countless kilometers in terms of altitude. Regardless, at the very bottom of the destination, though we could see a blink of light, a single small hole of lightning, very tinny nonetheless, it was clear that our way above was abolished. What gave us such confidence was the streaming water crashing down violently.

Although our destination was filled with darkness, it wasn't completely invisible and I could come across with my vision an upward path that was shaped like a cross, with three other ways to go. Noticeably, there was a dual stairway and a linear path filled with a bottomless gap. So, I issued the path of action.

"Get on the stairs as high as possible! We'll drown otherwise!"

To our left side, we climbed the stairs that contained about twenty degrees as fast as we could and then we beheld the sight of watching all the explosive raging tide of water being absorbed into the bottomless abysmal gap.

As we did that, we finally caught our breaths with fear running through our spines.

"Holy shit! What the hell was that?! And did we just make it?!"

"I think so, Rayazaki! We just have to wait in here until the whole water comes down, right?!"

"I hope so..."

Never before did we witness such a strong water tide. If it wasn't for the endless gap in the bottom of this path, we would be dead by now. Towards that, I made a comment.

"Convinient... It's almost as if the gap is there just so it can absorb a tremendous amount of water..."

Because of the fast movements we had to make, we swiftly had to clean up our sweat droplets from our foreheads. For now, it would be safe to see when the water stopped.

As I tried to catch my breaths among Takeshi and Saitou's collected efforts in doing so, I, by no means, would expect someone else here. No, the correct assumption would be that someone here, would be beyond impossible. Such event was only capable because this tsunami was abruptly formed in the heat of the moment. Having in consideration all this, a evacuation device option was made, as if it programmed by someone to act in such way.

For a second, Takeshi thought he was seeing things, as he peeked through the small window of his right hand to the back of the wall where we have our backs against. Saitou blinked his eyes, not three times consequentively, but four times. As for me, seeing the unbelievable figure erupt out of the wall was enough to make me doubt what I was seeing, but seeing its digital particles and lack of human anatomy made it clear.

"Test, test--- It's working."

The humanoid figure of a digital resemblance holding a technological affinity to it moved its arms and twisted them accordingly. It also attempted to reach its jaw with its hands, but instead of grasping it like a normal human being would, the hand went through it. In addition to that, it tried to step on itself but to no result.

"Like this, sentience is impossible to achieve. Physical immunity at last."

It was so busy testing what it could or couldn't do in its digital form, that it didn't pay any heed to Saitou's punch incoming in my direction.

"SAGASUGA, YOU BASTARD!!"

That's right. We surely thought we wouldn't be seeing Sagasuga in a while, but the humanoid figure in digital shape is Sagasuga in shape. His particles are white blueish and more importantly, though he's standing there, as he commented previously, he is physically immune to anything physical.

Or, simply put, anything physical that doesn't meet a physical object will not have a destructive result. That's why Saitou's punch was stopped by my right hand, as he surely wondered why his entire body just went through Sagasuga. His punch packed brutal physical strength and I daresay that if that was the real Sagasuga, he would be in a lot of pain.

Recoiling Saitou, I observed alongside Takeshi, Sagasuga laughing in a digital way. His voice is entirely robotic and contains a triple echo.

"Hahaha!! This is brilliant! As I thought, with time, the development of virtual flexibility far outwits the limits of a human body fully restricted by its own vessel's limitations! Physical impact holds no remote utility against something virtual."

Almost falling down, Saitou looked up and met my eyes, then turned around and analyzed Sagasuga, who was standing in the middle of us. Purposedly, Sagasuga went in my direction and walked right through me. Unconsciously, I had to blink my eyes twice, but I felt nothing. Just like that, Sagasuga went through me. Next, he went towards Saitou, but this time around, Saitou didn't flintch but looked absolutely mad towards Sagasuga. Ultimately, Takeshi was the last and he got the creeps once Sagasuga was done.

"What do you want from us?!"

Already on the upper north edge of the cross-shaped path ahead, Sagasuga spoke through us from afar. Despite being a few meters away, his voice felt the same as it would, should he be very close to us.

"Is that really your first question, Rayazaki? You're not going to question my current form? Where I am? How this is possible? No?"

"It's not like you'd answer truthfully, you bastard!"

"I don't mind, for the record. I mean, what are you going to do exactly? You can't hit me and I am free to move wherever I go."

To demonstrate even further his virtual supremacy, Sagasuga began to climb the air as if there was a staircase for him to climb, but since there wasn't, all he was doing was exhibiting that he could essentially defy gravity. He wasn't floating nor flying, he was simply conducting himself in a form where gravity holds no significance.

"...Damn it..."

But that wasn't all. In response to Saitou's frustration, Sagasuga, at will, began to deform his digital form into multiple pieces. If a human body were to dissemble itself it would be lethal or at least close to lethal, but what we saw was nothing alike. His head was going in between both of his hands which were separated from their own wrists. It was tossing Sagasuga's head from left to right like it was nothing.

"Sagasuga, what do you want?"

Not Saitou, but I, spoke. Calmly and somewhat defeated. There was no use in being surprised. It's pretty clear that somehow, Sagasuga is the mastermind here and we are nothing but visitors to his own lair.

"That isn't true. This isn't my "lair", Kawahara."

...............

"Huh?" x2.

Saitou and Takeshi were confused by Sagasuga's words. Sagasuga was now closer to us and he amplifyied his size, to the point of getting into ten meters. However, I wasn't quite sure of what just happened yet Sagasuga made sure to explain it right away.

"It only works if within the timespawn of five seconds or less my name was mentioned. Any thoughts will be instantly acknowledged. Amazing, is it not?"

"You can seriously read minds? Are you for real right now? How absurd can this situation get?"

"Wait, what?"

Saitou was shocked by my proclamation, but the truth is, he read my thoughts completely and claimed that this wasn't in fact his own lair. I explained what had happened to Saitou.

"He read my mind."

This time now, Sagasuga shrinked into the size of a child and sat on the right side of my shoulder while explaining.

"More accurately spoken, this technology can capture brain waves and their contents. Otherwise traditionally known as reading someone's mind. By the way, you mentioned how absurd can this get, but are you sure you want to know?"

"I'll pass. It's pretty clear what you are capable of, Sagasuga. I'll ask again, what do you want?"

Subsequently, Sagasuga's size went to his normal height and posture as he firmly met my eyesight.

"Cooperation, what else? I will get what I want, or you three will stay here exiled until you die out, just like the rest."

Sagasuga further emphasized his point by pointing out our current weaknesses.

"Your physical strength is withered. I daresay you three should be at your physical limit but still standing nonetheless. Though for how long? Not much, I am sure. Furthermore, you have not the components of the exam. No food either. Admit it, you are cornered. No quantity of pride will deny this reality."

Cleverly, Sagasuga most likely orchestrated this whole thing and created a situation where we would have to throw our resources away. All because we didn't want to cooperate with him.

Of course, this infuriated Saitou.

"You sanctimonious evil piece of shit! You're gonna make us your hostages like this?! Over a fucking choice of matter?!"

"I am beyond shocked you know that word, Rayazaki! But, yes. You three are my hostages. Unless, of course, you want to die."

"So you'd kill us?!"

"No, Kuzan. I am implying that your lack of resources will be your downfall. That, however, can be arranged."

Saitou wasn't happy at all and threatened Sagasuga with something he had on his mind perhaps for the longest time now.

"You do realize that you are fucked even if we let you cooperate with us, right?! The teachers will know and you'll be done for!"

Sagasuga then, upon hearing that, began to walk towards the wall and just like that, we lost sight of his form, but his voice echoed throughout the area nonetheless.

"They have no power here. After all, our exam is being taken place in the deserted island. Not here."

.......!!!

"It was fairly obvious, but the very fact that little to no human life is present within these environments is a clear signal that something is wrong. The truth is, to our school staff, to the ones who are being taken care of the responsibility of keeping an eye on us, we are just playing hide and seek."

"W-Wait, what?! But that's weird! All the passwords that we obtained were..."

"Inside the environments outside of the deserted island? Of course. Each section is encrypted by such words. You might be wondering how the exam's words coincidentally collide with the ones that are the passwords here. I'll be brief, I altered the passwords into those words. That way, no one would suspect. Now, I'm not saying I'm a genius, but you must admit that I am capable of thinking up ahead quite a lot, don't you think?"

Just like a snap of fingers, it all clicked. Everything thus far had nothing to do with the actual exam. And even though I had a prominent question about the exam, it started to all become clear.

"Sagasuga, there's just one thing that doesn't make sense. Why do all this? Why waste so much time if the true exam is in the deserted island and not here? What's the point?"

He finally emerged from within the wall, however, through my back side, which shocked me a bit. His unpredictability is somewhat... frightening...

"I agree so much! In the first place, these environments weren't for show! But he wouldn't listen. He kept saying that we had to test human life and to see if they could survive within the environments. I opposed because there wasn't such a necessity at the moment. Eventually, it would have to be tested, but I regressed. Regardless, what we witnessed was beyond our expectations! On your way towards Vega, you somehow managed to decipher the pattern behind the elevator's heat meltdown! That elevator is highly disfunctional and it is massively sensitive towards the number of people riding it."

"...Who is "he"?"

Sagasuga threw himself into the water stream and stood in the middle of it, being highly unaffected by it. Plus, even though the water tide was creating a musical mixture of loud sounds, it didn't have an effect on his voice volume.

"It doesn't matter who that someone is. What matters is the plan. It's always about the plan and I like it that way. With that said, I hope you didn't mind the fact that I used you three as lab rats to see if human life was capable of working here."

"Man, fuck you! I'm gonna tell everyone about this!"

With a sleeping form, Sagasuga pretended to take a nap while floating in the air, in Saitou's direction. He then spoke his countermeasure to the possibility of we telling someone about what is currently happening.

"First of all, there's no way someone would believe you. Absurdism is a great way to escape from trouble, isn't it? What would you even tell them anyways? On second thought, don't tell me. I want to keep guessing. Secondly, there is no way for you three to make it out here whilst holding this much knowledge. It's just not an option. It would be troublesome if unrealistic rumours regarding us would start spreading. I want everything to go back to the way it was before the exam. Again, I really dislike the idea here. It's logical to test out human life here, but then there's the dark side of the task. With that said, what is the dark side of the task, exactly?"

We gulped and profoundly began to sweat. We had nothing to our advantage here. As already established, we are the hostages here and unless we comply to Sagasuga, he is bound to leave us here to die on our own. The lift from where we came from is destroyed by the remaining water of the tsunami and...

Of course...

"It shouldn't come as a surprise since I can read the brain waves, but even if you explore the parameter, there isn't a way out. You are free to venture through the parameter, but here is something that I haven't tried yet. It should be done in three seconds, please wait."

He did nothing. Instead, we received information to our brains three seconds later, however, our heads started to heat up for some reason.

"I advice you three to not think about what you just absorbed right now. It's still a prototype, but it's mutual brain wave reading. Essentially--- the act of one or two more people reading the exact information at the same time. Fascinating, is it not? There isn't a single need to lie, if such thing exists, right? It's all so clear. However, because it's a prototype, it's somewhat unstable and your brain could overheat if you produce too many brain waves on the topic. Alas, that's the map of this parameter. There is not a way out, as you can see, Rayazaki."

Instantly, I attempted to not think about the plant at all. Although, in conclusion, there are three more floors below this one. This parameter is fairly subterranean. Furthermore, Sagasuga was talking to Saitou just now because he most likely read Saitou's mind and saw that Saitou was thinking that there was a way out.

"This doesn't mean that nothing can be achieved. As a matter of fact, if you follow me, I can save you from this prejudice. You'll not need to starve. You'll be able to get a good rest. Plus, you'll be able to return to the actual exam. After a quick memory erasure, that is."

No...

"You're a psychopath, Sagasuga! What have we done to deserve this?!"

"Daku, don't be like that. I already told you that I objected the idea, however, I am satisfied with the result, I must say. Still, too much was seen. This is the end of the line. Now, let's move along and return to the original plotline here, what do you say?"

Not only was he aware this whole time, but there's nothing we can do. Not even Saitou is objecting like usual. He sounds utterly defeated and Takeshi isn't even bothering.

Cornered, we were faced to accept the reality of the situation. We are stripped off our resources and we have no way to fight back.

"I am so glad you finally acknowledge it. Not to worry! Once your memories of these events are cleaned out, it'll be like nothing happened. I'll go back to being the good old simple Sagasuga every knows me for and Daku, you'll return to being the hyper Kawahara we all know. A fine ending, wouldn't you say?"

"My ass this is a fine ending... You're garbage, Sagasuga."

Saitou looked extremely empty as he said that. His words were hollow and contained not a drop of spirit at all.

Takeshi began to silently cry as he couldn't bear to accept the current situation.

Flying around from left to right, Sagasuga begged to differ on something.

"I am not the villain here, come on. What's wrong with reverting the timeline of the events? A few days will go by but nothing will be different. Although... I'm afraid that he might have some other ideas. It's a bit troublesome right now. I suppose I could tell you a bit along the way. Follow me, defeated soldiers!"

Unable to resist or create any sort of resistance towards Sagasuga, we accepted our fate. We didn't want to, but I would rather much have Takeshi and Saitou be alive than dying over something prideful. This isn't the end of the line. There's more to it...... Even if we have been living a lie, these past days...

It stings. A lot... This feeling of being utterly dominated.

There was a variety of cross-shaped sections along the way, but Sagasuga kept on levitating towards North. Midst the way, he spoke to us, though we were quite lacking in spirit from our current state of being.

"His idea is that after this test is done, more human life will have to be tested. He is impatient, but he's still Class III. Surely, I am too, but he's one rank above mine, so his orders take priority. For the record, although stability was shown in the environments, that was my work. By multiple applications of environmental regulations, I was able to modify it to a point where it was possible to co-exist in a peaceful atmosphere aligned with natural balance. However, the moment I had to move away and get to the Lighthouse, thirty minutes later, it began to show instability. That's how the tsunami was formed. This area is vulnerable to what the environment has to offer. All of them are. The truth is that our environments are so unstable that without perfect regulations, it's not habitable for humans to be in. Regardless, despite knowing all this, he demands to test the limits of the environments."

"Why not us though?"

"You see, Rayazaki, we both agreed that disposing of the elements of this exam would bring further controversy and, after all, we want to keep the essence in check. If there's a sudden change, then everything's ruined."

Yet another lift just like the one from where we came from stood at the end of the first floor as it began to take us down. The entire lore of this place has already been exposed in our minds, but the brief summary is this---corpses of unknown origins remain buried here in tombs placed upon the walls henceforth its emptiness throughout the area. Though the three floors contain a variety in numbers when it comes to the cross-shaped paths, they are there to be at the center and all the other paths along their sides will ultimately connect back, so there is not another way to go. It is extremely self-explanatory and straight forward.

Aside from tombs everywhere, there is a significant difference in some tombs. There are some tombs, though only a small quantity of them, with a gigantic comprehensive eye in the surface of the coffin. That eye...

Then, once again interrupting my thought process, Sagasuga spoke in order to clear my doubt.

"Eye of providence. Though, I believe the torch of reason is more to my liking. Only our true leader possesses the eye of providence. His understanding will guide us towards an illuminated age. Soon, it will all be done. But well, I am saying all this, because your memories will be partially erased."

"Yet despite that, you refuse to tell us everything you know... Great..."

"Kuzan, don't be like that! I already told you three so many things with my words that it would take a fool to not realize what's going on. In addition, I am forbidden to tell someone these types of things. We are getting bolder and bolder. I am thinking of slowing down for a while in the upcoming months. Our power is not a demonstration of superiority; it's a retaliation method. Thus far, it's all been according to the plan."

"You must feel fucking great, you bastard. How does it feel to abuse your power on someone like us?"

Although we were heading towards the second floor, even though we passed through it, the lift kept heading down towards the third floor.

Clarity was more disperse than usual.

"But I am not abusing my power. I am demonstrating it, right now. What it could be. Imagine, a world where human beings can be like this..."

"It would be catastrophic. Irrational people would abuse it for their own greed."

"I agree, Daku. However, not everyone can just use this. So, it's necessary to eliminate. I shouldn't tell you this, but I think he's opting for 500 people."

We were all puzzled at this, but Sagasuga wasn't abiding to our responsive greed.

"500 people for what?"

"Tests, again. Though, that's all I can say. And, we are here! Come on, let's journey towards our end!"

With the lift stopping, we gazed upon the distant collection of endless machines all algined, line after line. There were about twenty horizontal rows and sixty vertical ones. They were located right about the center of the third floor in the middle of the cross-shaped area. No water could reach here, so that would be the end of the line.

"T-This many...?! Is this how you're gonna erase our memories?!"

"Of course, Kuzan. But, relax. I'll only be erasing your memories after you've discovered the secret environments. Anything before that will remain untouched. I solemnly vow to keep my word. I think I already mentioned my reasons for doing so."

"Anything that comes out of your mouth is trash, Sagasuga. If you were here right now, in front of me, with your real body, I would crack you to pieces."

"But I am more physically healthy than you are at the moment, Rayazaki. Statistically speaking, I have a higher chance of succeeding in a physical fight."

"Fuck you."

As we entered the parameter, strong artificial lights from above rained upon us without a warning. A light so strong, that we had no choice but to shield the potency of it with our arms.

"Oh, my bad. I am still not used to adjusting the regulations while in this virtual form. How about now?"

Now less stronger, it was enough for us to adjust to the environment.

"As for the number of machines, don't think about it too much. This is essentially a restore point. If something goes wrong, all I have to do is erase a part of the person's memory and it's all good."

Frustrated, Saitou and Takeshi looked at me. They didn't want to go through this but I had to give them the realistic answer, even if I didn't want to.

Before that, however, I talked to Sagasuga, who was not floating around and instead was right in front of us three. He was, in one of the chairs that had a head scanner on top of it, standing on its edge. The composition of the machine revolved around its white scanner that held the ultimate purpose of supposedly cleaning someone's memories.

If Sagasuga really wanted to, he----

"I could what? Erase Kawahara's complete memory? Or maybe a certain portion of his memory? Relax, I have no interest in whatever you are thinking about. Don't overthink and just commit to what you want to ask, Daku."

Full exposed to the end, I took a deep breath of shame. Then, I focused my eyesight supremely and spoke with my utmost seriousness.

"Sagasuga, if you harm Takeshi and Saitou, I will kill you. I and Kawahara are different, but we were once one and the same."

"Are you done?"

To the very end, I couldn't even get a shred of respect out of him.

"I disagree. I respect you three a lot. You were the first survivors in this particular secret part of our world. I consider you three above the average human being any day of the week. Don't feel faulty. It just has to be done."

"Sagasuga... Those are my thoughts... Do... you even feel respect towards someone? Does someone's privacy even matter to you? Do you even feel at all...?"

Perhaps he thought that it was time that he answered me truthfully. He erupted his posture from the memory erosure chair and met my height. Finally, he put his right digital hand on top of my shoulder.

"Sentiency is highly unnecessary. Logical thinking holds the reigns of efficiency. Say goodbye to one another now."

"I see... Sagasuga, I think that even if we spent an eternity together, we could never come to a mutual agreement."

"So it seems."

That would be the last time I would see Sagasuga's virtual form as he dispearsed everywhere; his voice becoming the only thing resonating within the area where we stood.

I turned around and saw how dispirited they were. Saitou still refused to believe this was happening and Takeshi continued to cry, this time more emotionally. He was gulping constantly and could barely look up.

Lightly, I went to meet Takeshi's height and patted him on the head. None of us wanted to admit that the time we spent together was going down the drain like this.

If we could enjoy our brotherhood for only so long why couldn't it have lasted longer? What about those memories that we were supposed to create? Are we forced to acknowledge that there is nowhere to go but the end?

I thought about all these things as I felt a physical weakness to strong that my voice no longer had its primal vitality behind it. My words sounded incredibly weak and even making a vocal effort felt like hell.

"Takeshi, don't cry. You're a man. Before I go... I... would like you to reconsider life a bit. We previously had an argument about what your crimes revolved around. It's true, I might not understand what you see in necrophilia, but that doesn't mean that I dislike you nor do I hold anything against you. I am simply worried because if you keep committing crimes like that, you are going to end up isolated from society... And then........ Nobody will see the kind guy you truly are deep down. The Takeshi I see is the one the whole world should see......."

A fading strength in my voice was reaching its wit's end.

I embraced Takeshi with a warm hug and felt his trembling body as he was unsure of how to feel, but deep down, I know that he has what it takes to be a great man.

Being demoralized by a negative event will soon demoralize your entire life, Takeshi. That's why...

"That's why you can't let this event bring you down.... So what if we get our memories erased....?"

"It won't be the same! It just won't! I don't wanna have to forget all that! Damn it, I know it wasn't for long but this is too soon! I'm not ready for this! I don't want to go!!"

Without looking in my direction, because he couldn't bring himself to allow others to see himself cry this deeply, he softly punched my chest and I didn't resist. They were the hits of a child who doesn't want to let go of his father and would want his father to just stay with him a little while longer.

One last time, I hugged Takeshi with all my strength and said my final words, while dropping a tear from my right eye.

"We won't be separated, brother. Surely, someday, a factor will reunite us. Until that day, we will await. Trust me, brother..."

Selfishly, deep down, a thought began to run rampant. The desire to maintain our brotherhood which would be through the solution of our collective deaths. Yet, I could never bring myself to do something like that.

It's not right and I won't do it. And, they deserve better. Yes, someone who can give them a better perspective in life instead of their own perspective of life.

Painfully, I let go of Takeshi, who closed his eyes whilst crying and then, I went to Saitou.

Though he wasn't crying, he was lost in spirit.

"Sucks, doesn't it, Saitou?"

"I just hope this is some bad nightmare. That I am going to wake up and then walk to my classroom. I'll attend the classes that I once thought were boring but for some reason, I sorta began to like them. It's strange... Because I never had any emotional affinity to them, but you see... How do I say this..."

My eyes brightened as Saitou's mood increased as he realized something.

"I am always in a bad mood, but the world doesn't stop regardless, right? So, I've been thinking that maybe I need to let go of my comfort zone and commit. I think I'm looking for change!"

His smile at last appeared.

"It's true that I don't want to hear what I should do or I shouldn't do. If someone tells me something negative, then I will dismiss that person, but this year, I might do something different. Like, talking to God! It's crazy because I never believed in God, but now I am so committed to changing myself that I am willing to commit to thoughts I never thought I would be capable of admitting I have! There's this girl in my class and it's weird because she says she remembers me but I don't remember her at all..."

I advanced and hugged Saitou slowly, though he continued to talk until he broke down in silent tears.

"I.... am human trash. I shoot up a school because of a mood swing. I seriously thought that someone would be impressed by what I did, but I gained complete isolation. But seeing that girl, interested in someone like me---she said I was kind and I didn't want to believe it, because I always sit around and complain that I'm never getting out of this place. I could snap any minute, but lately, you told me the type of person that I am and I'm starting to think that I might have a chance............."

He tightly hugged my back while lowly telling me the rest of his thoughts.

"If there is just one person.... I don't care about others... All I need is one person who can acknowledge me so I can dedicate myself into this one person only because the truth is I hate myself so much that it's painful having to do something completely dedicated to myself only........ then I know I can change....!"

"Saitou.... You're already an amazing person."

".....Isn't there always room for improvement....? I can't do it on my own. I need someone to guide me and to tell me that I can do it... My inner low-self-esteem destroys me in every aspect. I need too many moments of silence and.... I need you there, Daku... You're the only brother I have..."

".............."

Feeling tremendous grief with a painful mixture of sadness, I hugged Saitou as tightly as I could. I know for a fact that he was hurting, but he took it all in, as he knew that now was not the time to complain.

"But... there isn't another way, is there....?!"

".....I'm so sorry."

Defiantly, my open eyes widened themselves so hard that I wanted to cock a gun to my head for not being able to do something in a situation like this.

Hearing his voice, his uncaring tone, with no emotion behind it, made me hate this apathetic bastard way beyond of what I thought I could possibly hate.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but could you hurry up? This is taking too long and it's not like you're going to be separated in actuality."

I moved away from Saitou and stoicly looked at the ground. Then, I collected all my lung strength and took a deep breath and inhaled all the air out.

One last time, I gave my orders as a leader, to my brothers, right here and now.

"Saitou! Takeshi! We lost! But that doesn't mean we are weak. It means that we are frightening and there was no other choice for us to be put down. So, instead of standing in tears and regretting everything, be glad it happened and don't look back. Precious moments in life will always come! However, the moment you decide to preach something or someone in your lifetime, you have to promise me, you will not let go!"

In synergy, they bumped their fists backwards towards their chest and vowed to comply to my request.

"I promise!" x2.

"...Amazing. Never forget that even if you aren't the wielder of your destiny, you are the arbiter of your life."

".....Yes...!"

No longer being tied to anything, we moved onto the machines ahead of us. As the leader, I took the first step and placed myself on it as if I was lying on a bed but with an upward curved top. Needless to say, it wasn't comfortable.

Then, Saitou lied down on the machine to my right while Takeshi did the same on the left.

Ultimately, Sagasuga appeared in front of us, in his virtual form, in the middle where we three could see him clearly.

"Does anyone volunteer or do I get to pick?"

We all thought the same, but Saitou was the one who spoke faster.

"I volunteer! Not because I want to, but because I want this to be over with. You ruined everything, Sagasuga. And I will always hate you for it, even.... if I don't remember it..."

"That doesn't make sense, but alright. Close your eyes, please."

Acting out of spite one last time, Saitou spat on Sagasuga's figure though not making a landing onto it, obviously.

"I seriously don't deserve this hate that I am getting..."

"Apathetic bastard. Anyone with a sane mind would put themselves in our position and realize the wronghood here, but you're something else, Sagasuga. You're so bad that I really think that I am good person deep down. That's how screwed up you are."

"A rational person can't be screwed up."

"Just do it already, I didn't ask for your opin--"

Without doing anything at all, Sagasuga made Saitou's consciousness fade away in a heartbeat. Takeshi and I began to worry if Saitou had died or not, but...

"This doesn't work if there's too much brain activity going on, so it goes without saying that he has to enter a subconscious state before applying the memory erasure scanner."

Done, Sagasuga moved onto Takeshi, saving me for last.

Unlike Saitou, he didn't curse Sagasuga but just regretted one thing.

"It's sad that you don't even feel remorse for what you are doing, Sagasuga... Are you alright?"

Instead of being spiteful, Takeshi is genuinely looking out for Sagasuga as he thinks that Sagasuga is hurt deep down and that he is doing something like this in a manner of venting his hidden sentiments.

However, Takeshi, this human garbage doesn't deserve any consideration.

"I am extremely alright. I had my beauty sleep earlier and I've eaten both breakfast and lunch. I don't like to eat dinner, it's unbalanced. Plus, I can't possibly feel bad while in this virtual form."

"Haha... Please, do it."

Just like Saitou, Takeshi went through the same process. Which ultimately left Sagasuga and I.

Nevertheless, he looked at me coldly despite the fact that I wasn't being spiteful towards him at all. In circles, he flew while looking at me.

"What's wrong? Had a change of mind? Is this some sort of evil torture where you erase their memories but not mine?"

"No way I'm doing that. I've told you too much. An outsider shouldn't even know about this."

"What are you and Hajime planning exactly?"

"You really didn't let go of that thought, did you?"

"I earlier said that even if we spent an eternity together, we wouldn't agree on anything, but Hajime sounded the type of person who would agree with you. You two are extremely emotionally absent. Your vision of a world without sentiments won't come true."

".............."

I thought I had him there, but what he said afterwards, really left me wondering...

"What good are the eyes, if it doesn't have its own limbs to support it?"

As soon as I acknowledged the pattern in his words, I sighed and closed my eyes transiently while sardonically smiling.

"I am tired of your riddles."

"It's not a riddle. I am a limb. Hyunda's no different. And, there will be as many limbs as necessary, if the eyes can operate."

The question that I would subsequently make would be the last words I would speak as Sagasuga would shut my consciousness down the moment he would answer my question.

"Hah, whose eyes though?"

His monochromatic expression vanished as I saw a glimpse of infinite faith onto the person in Sagasuga's mind. It was then that I thought to myself that I could be wrong about Sagasuga not having emotions. He simply places all of them onto something that he can't lose.

Something, that can only be accomplished by...

"Our undying leader."