Chapter Four: Black Knight Answers and Gets into Trouble
It seems my mental state has become somewhat warped.
While I have no self-awareness of it, considering that I tried to self-destruct after losing to Red and the words that unconsciously come out of my mouth, it may not be mistaken to think so.
“I heard we’re doing some kind of questionnaire today, is it a mental check or something like that…?”
While wondering, I sit down in the chair in my cell.
I’ve been informed a question and answer style questionnaire will be conducted today.
Starting at the designated time, the questionnaire with responses from the attending doctor will be carried out through the speakers in my cell.
“Oh, you’re seated. Kat-tsun.”
As soon as I sit down I hear the voice of the attending doctor.
“It’s not Kat-tsun, Shirakawa.”
“I told you to call me Hakuo, not Shirakawa.”
“Oh right, my bad, Shirakawa.”
Shirakawa Hakuo.
The doctor who claims to be my attending physician, a weird guy who looks obviously around the same age as me.
“So I’ll be giving a questionnaire in Q&A format, but your conversation and video from now will be recorded, okay?”
“Yeah, I don’t mind.”
It’s just a questionnaire.
It’s not like there’s anything troubling he could ask.
“Then please answer my questions as honestly as possible, but if you start feeling unwell or don’t understand the intent of the question, you don’t have to force yourself to answer, got it?”
“Understood.”
“Okay. Let’s start.”
I hear the sound of him flipping papers over the speaker.
“Question 1, do you have any dissatisfaction with your current life?”
“My current life huh…”
I’m not dissatisfied.
At most it would be Red and the others barging in here almost every day, but that’s not bad either.
“While I have endless dissatisfaction with my position, I have none regarding life in this room.”
“No dissatisfaction with life…I see. Then, Question 2, what do the Justice Crusaders represent to you?”
“They’re my worthy rivals. I have no intention of becoming their ‘additional warrior’ or whatever.”
I’ve said it countless times but that’s the one thing I won’t compromise on.
“Question 3, what do you mean when you refer to yourself as a ‘villain’?”
There’s no need to answer honestly and lying is fine too, but I should give a proper answer here.
It would be troubling to keep being misunderstood.
“Someone with power that can’t be robbed from them, who lives freely as they wish. At least for me, there was no such thing as freedom in the reality I was living, which is why I became the Black Knight. I have no regrets.”
“…………”
“Hey, what’s the next question?”
“O-oh, sorry.”
Maybe that was too honest and I seemed strange.
I’m starting to sort of realize my senses are out of alignment with normal people when I say things like this.
“Question 4, did you experience any abnormalities when wearing the Proto Suit?”
“No, nothing in particular.”
“Eh…really?”
I answered honestly but he strangely went silent.
After a short pause Hakuo resumed and threw out the next question.
“Since Question 5 is for if there were abnormalities…next is Question 6. Let’s see, besides ‘Omega’ who was the strongest monster you’ve fought?”
“If we’re excluding Omega…the slug monster that endlessly ate electricity. Fighting that guy was pretty annoying.”
Found him late at night by a power plant eating electricity. Things turned into a fight when he attacked me saying “Gotta kill the witness!”. But damn was he strong.
“The more electricity he stored in his body the more he could regenerate, and his power was bottomless.”
He happened to have sucked up quite a lot from the plant so his condition was pretty much maxed.
Luckily the suit’s armor doesn’t conduct electricity so…
“When he’s healed just keep pounding him until the electricity runs out! He’ll go down!!”
“Squeeee!?”
So I just kept beating on him until he went down.
And the slug monster who turned pitch black after being completely drained collapsed, never to stand up again.
“Heh, though thanks to that monster’s actions, a large scale blackout occurred.”
In a sense you could call it a miraculous combination between me and the monster.
“Truly the worst crime in my history…”
“Oh, after investigating the slug monster’s ecology, suspicions of worse things came out, so you aren’t thought of as the bad guy.”
“Why not!?”
I’m disturbed by the unexpected fact.
What could possibly be worse than that chikusho…
“Apparently there was some kind of extra-dimensional space inside him that stored electricity, and you defeated him before it got out of hand…”
“That damn slug! What a pain in the ass ability!!”
It’s an unbelievable power far beyond what I imagined.
So it was good I defeated him early huh…even though I’m not great at all!!
“Were there any other strong monsters?”
“Haah…the ghost monster with no physical form was annoying. The psychic ability ones weren’t a threat if I didn’t get in range. The magma monster…ah, and the one that forcibly made you laugh if you touched it was bad. It’s no laughing matter.”
Well, that’s about it for the ones I defeated before Justice Crusader appeared.
…And speaking of which, I couldn’t properly be active because those guys kept coming after me, monsters really were troublesome existences.
“And Alpha I guess.”
“…I don’t know them but what kind of monster were they?”
“It wasn’t a big deal monster. I’m the one who beat them after all.”
Because that guy tried to harm humans, I defeated them with these hands…
“Kat-tsun? What’s wrong?”
“Hm…what do you mean?”
Looks like I spaced out.
The doctor sounds worried as he tells me we’ll move to the next question and I take a drink of water by my hand.
“Question 7, have you been scouted or contacted by any organization besides the Justice Crusaders? If you have been contacted, please tell me what organization it was.”
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Scouting huh…when I was active as the Black Knight I was called out to by various shady guys, but they were all just curious spectators and TV stations.
But to say whether there was any or not…
“There was.”
“I see there was…”
“Yeah, when I was running through back alleys a man in a pitch black coat called out to me.”
At the time I thought it was suspicious scouting so I ignored him, but looking back now maybe that’s what it was.
Hearing that, Hakuo sounds a little surprised as he speaks through the speaker.
“A bit unexpected. I thought you were ignorant Kat-tsun so you’d be unguarded.”
“While ignorant of the ways of the world I do have an ordinary amount of caution, hey.”
Isn’t that a bit rude? Is this guy really my counselor?
But yeah, it did feel creepy.
“Evil lurks beneath the earth, justice descends from the sky…”
I mutter the phrase the man in black was murmuring.
Thinking back now, those words are too pretentious for a normal person to say.
“Well then, please move to the next question.”
“Got it. Let’s move on then. Umm, Question 8, what’s your favorite food?”
…Hnn?
What, did I mishear?
I feel like the level of questioning suddenly dropped.
“Sorry, say that again.”
“Tell me your favorite food please.”
“…What’s the next question?”
I had a bad feeling so I asked about the next question without answering.
“Question 9 is your favorite book. Question 10 is who in the Justice Crusaders has the best impression on you. Question 11 is do you want to join the Justice Crusaders? That’s it.”
“Isn’t it weird…? Hey, it’s weird right? Oi Shirakawa! This definitely got interfered with by Red and the others halfway!!”
The previous questions were serious but now they suddenly give away those girls’ ulterior motives!
Hakuo gives an unabashed reaction to my outrage.
“It’s not weird – it’s a top secret questionnaire.”
I see, so it’s top secret huh.
If that’s so then it can’t be helped!
“Don’t think you can fool me with that! I’ll have you know I’m not so stupid!”
I properly studied and my grades weren’t bad. Also I did things like self-taught suit repairs.
“If you don’t want to answer you can leave it blank you know-“
“Tch…then I’ll do that.”
In my mind’s eye I see them – the Justice girls.
I must not let them make even the conjecture that I’m embarrassed to answer.
“Oh my, even though he was so grumpy, he’s shy isn’t he.”
“Well, if you don’t wanna say that much I get it ya know? Ehehe.”
“Absolutely stubborn. But in a sense, that’s characteristic of him.”
I can’t stand this humiliation…!!
My position is already miserable enough, I won’t let them whittle away my dignity any further…!
“I-I’ll do it!! Bring it on from anywhere!!”
“Oh goody~”
I can’t let them presume I’m embarrassed even in their imaginations!
“So tell me your favorite food.”
“Curry, hamburg steak, oKoSa…!”
“Hm?”
No good, at my age that one’s no good.
I’d definitely be made fun of.
“…Omelet rice.”
“You have the taste buds of a kid! Cute!!”
“I can’t help what I like can I!?”
I regret not saying sushi or ramen as I’m scolded, but have no choice but to answer the next question from hell.
The day after taking that foolish questionnaire.
While spending boring time as usual studying and training, Red and the others who had become familiar faces came to see me.
Seemingly used to it, they make tea in five cups and sit in the usual spots, taking out items from bundles they brought in high spirits.
“Oh, Katsumi, I just happened to have hamburg steak today so want to eat it?”
Red holds out a hamburg steak on a plate.
“Whaa, no way, what a coincidence. For some reason I brought curry so eat up!”
Yellow carries in a large pot of curry.
“And I just happened to bring a mystery novel so want to eat it?”
Then Blue tries to make me eat a book, caught up in the momentum of the other two.
Seeing them take those kinds of expected yet unexpected actions, I twist my face.
“I knew it but you guys are way too obvious!”
At least try harder to hide it!
It’s getting scary now in a different way!
“Huh, what do you mean? What?”
“Going out of your way to bring my favorites and reacting like that is too damn obvious!”
“Eh, no way, those were your favorites!? Akane, this is that thing right? Telepathy…right!?”
“Our hearts are linked it seems.”
“You guys…”
No good, they’re invincible.
Will I never be able to win against them in my whole life?
Shaking like a leaf, I watch Red and Yellow nonchalantly preparing dinner.
Meanwhile Blue who had at some point sat down beside me showed me the mystery novel she brought.
“Katsumi, Katsumi, mystery novel. Eat up.”
“I’ll read it normally, not eat it!!”
And you were the one who tried to make me eat a book!
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