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Without a doubt, everyone here would undergo thorough investigation and questioning to find out what happened that led to my death. And once they found the answer, none of these Professors, even the Head Professor, would be able to escape punitive judgement.

It would be worse than simply losing their job; they would be stripped of all possessions and forbidden to continue working in this profession for the rest of their lives.

At best, they would start from scratch in a new line of work, and at best, they would be jailed for their crimes of having driven not just a kid, but the Concept of Truth, to suicide.

"S-stop...!"

"Please... Put the knife down..."

Of course, I had no real intention to cause grievous harm to myself, let alone take my own life.

But, the Professors, staring into my eyes that probably appeared to contain less emotion than those of a doll or a dead fish, couldn\'t know if I was serious or not.

However...

"...Cipher. You can\'t fool me. I know you aren\'t going to take your life here."

Head Professor Marcus Lynton looked at me and spoke. His mouth was smirking, but I could see the faint worry in his eyes as well as the glistening beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead.

Sorry. Who was the one trying to fool who?

I stared back at him, unfaltering, and slowly pressed the blade harder against my skin. It stung; a light trail of blood flowed down my neck onto my collarbone.

"Would you bet all the knowledge in the world on it?"

"..."

The knife was only made of red plastic from a children\'s toy, but that didn\'t make it any less sharper than a steel knife. It was sharpened to a degree that I was satisfied with, and I had already confirmed that it could cut through tough fabric like butter, so it was a genuine weapon just as much as one manufactured in a factory or forged by a smith.

I watched the Head Professor\'s expression turn grave as I shed my own blood without hesitation, and the other Professors surrounding him were even more in chaos,

"This is a warning."

Without breaking eye contact, I slightly tilted my head to the right. The knife was pressed against the left side of my neck, so it caused some of the pressure to be relieved. At the same time, however, it also meant the cut expanded as my skin stretched.

"If Ruti is taken away from me, say goodbye to your precious Concept of Truth."

As a result of my actions, the shallow cut gradually grew into a gash, and my neck continued to sting painfully, but it wasn\'t too much to endure. More blood spilt down my front and dripped down, staining my clothes and the carpeted floor beneath my feet.

"I told you before, Professor."

It was an intentional exacerbation of my self-inflicted injury, designed to put pressure on the Professors.

"I won\'t stand still and let you take what\'s mine away from me."

Of course, as I said, I don\'t intend to harm myself irreparably, but this pain I am experiencing and the blood I am losing is a small price to pay to get what I want.

So long as I avoid the two carotid arteries on the sides of my neck, there will be no real danger or lasting damage to my body, and with the kind of technology possessed by the Wardens, recovering some lost blood isn\'t an issue.

In reality, all it is, is a simple scare tactic.

"\'What\'s yours\'...?"

Repeating my words, the Head Professor let loose a laugh half-coated with tension. Then, he jutted his chin towards Ruti, still unconscious in the metal cage.

"You don\'t mean this girl, do you, Cipher?"

It wasn\'t possible to see her face from this angle, but I looked at her body, lying there like a corpse. Naturally, I knew she wasn\'t dead, but the fact alone that she had been taken like this whilst I had been sleeping awakened something strange within me.

"Don\'t make me laugh. She was never "yours", and she never will be. The Playground\'s policy is that all kids have free will to do what they desire, within reason, as a fundamental human right. Nobody belongs to anyone, Cipher, but even if this girl did belong to someone, it certainly wouldn\'t be you."

I didn\'t think the Head Professor was a person in a position to lecture about morals or human rights, but either way, he misunderstood my words.

"She has free will, yes. I never said Ruti belongs to me."

Otherwise, that would make her a slave, but that\'s not how it is at all.

No, what I said was clear.

"Ruti doesn\'t belong to anyone."

But.

"But, Ruti is mine."

She said she would stay with me forever.

She said that with her own mouth, her own free will.

Ruti entrusted herself to me like that.

So, what would she be if not mine?

"...Huh. When did this kid become so infatuated...?"

The Head Professor let out an uncharacteristic grunt as if he truly didn\'t understand.

I wasn\'t particularly surprised that someone so one-sidedly obsessed with something pointless couldn\'t understand simple logic, although, it\'s not like I need him to understand.

People like the Head Professor.

People obsessed with a single goal, and who will stop at nothing to achieve it.

Isn\'t it all pointless in the end?

I know the truth of the world.

Everything will come to an end eventually.

Nothing anyone does, nothing they leave behind will remain.

Human life is short, and in the grand scheme of things, so is the lifespan of the world. Why bother pushing yourself to such extremes just for momentary gratification?

Having never experienced something like that, I couldn\'t understand it before.

But, now.

Now, I think it\'s a little different.

I\'m not sure when, but I feel like I may have caught a glimpse as to why so many people might strive for such temporary things. A hint of understanding, no matter how infinitesimal.

And so, having become able to realise and understand even a pinch of that desire.

I think I can create a satisfying way to resolve this situation.

"...Professor. You know that all I want is for Ruti not to be taken away, right?"

To have what is mine be at my side, and not leave.

"Indeed. However, as was mentioned previously, I--"

"And, what you want is for your questions to be answered. Right?"

To sate his thirst for understanding, a craving for knowledge.

"That\'s correct..."

I could see that the Head Professor knew what I was getting at, but he still didn\'t seem convinced. Well, it\'s obvious why.

"I want to make a deal, Professor. And this offer is extended to all of you, too."

I included the rest of the Professors who were present because I didn\'t want to risk them becoming an additional factor I would have to take into account later on, or more curtly put, a thorn in my side.

They appeared to have regained their composure since earlier, realising that I most likely wasn\'t actually going to off myself. After hearing my offer, they were even more intrigued.

"...You want to keep you and Ruti together in exchange for knowledge?"

"Yes."

That was the fundamental deal: I would answer any questions from the Professors here, and in return, they would find a way to use their authority to guarantee my and Ruti\'s pairing by keeping us in the same Playground.

For these people, who couldn\'t suppress their greedy hunger for answers, it was something they couldn\'t refuse―and for me, it was an easy way to protect Ruti, and vastly more effective than trying to do it myself.

Of course, the Head Professor did say before that he had no influence on the higher-ups\' decision, but he was still a Head Professor who oversaw an entire branch of the Playground, and the decision being made was directly affecting the plot he managed.

Because of that, he was in a position with more say in the matter than he ordinarily would. Additionally, if he uses my name as a Concept, claiming I threatened to kill myself if Ruti was transferred, then even the Wardens officials wouldn\'t dare take the risk.

Because, at the end of the day, the whole reason for the Playgrounds\' existence was for the purpose of having a secure place to hold kids with dangerous powers, with the Concepts under maximum surveillance. experience-MVLeMpYr

It wouldn\'t just be the Head Professor who\'d be severely punished for being so negligent in his duties as to let a Concept commit suicide; countless other Professors and even higher-ups in the organisation\'s food chain would have their lives ruined.

By accepting my deal, they prevent all that from happening.

It\'s also impossible for them to go back on it because, well, if they do, and Ruti gets taken away from me because of that, then we\'ll be back to square one because I\'ll just threaten them with my own life as a hostage again.

Oh, right, there was also the fact that I killed a Professor to stop it. If need be, I\'ll do that again, too.

In any case, after accepting the deal, it was clear that the Professors all seemed relieved as they exhaled deep sighs and wiped the sweat off their brows, including the Head Professor, whose worn face contained only a smile.

Ruti also woke up around the time the deal was finalised. Seeing my wounded neck oozing blood, she was immediately up in arms about what happened.

After hearing the explanation that I was here to prevent them from taking her away, she seemed to be feeling a mix of emotions.

It made sense, considering that she didn\'t even know that she was supposed to be transferred to another Playground until now, but that wasn\'t going to happen anymore anyway, so it was fine.

"Cipher. How about we celebrate the occasion with a few questions, hm?"

The Head Professor\'s greed was visible from a mile away, but I didn\'t care much. If it were another time, it would have certainly irritated me, but because I managed to protect Ruti, I was able to tolerate it.

"...What do you want to know?"

Hearing my response, he grinned slyly.

"Well. Shouldn\'t it be something suitable for the occasion? Let\'s make it something picante."

"..."

He really knew how to take advantage of the situation, I thought.

It was appalling, but there was no real reason to deny his request; in fact, accepting it might even make him work harder to prevent Ruti from being transferred, so I thought I might as well.

Everyone gathered around and observed in silence the exchange between me and the Head Professor, including Ruti who sat by my side, holding onto my arm and leaning on my shoulder.

Because he was the Head Professor, Professor Marcus Lynton had the "privilege" of asking me whatever one \'big question\' he wanted the answer to.

"Hehe, oh, what should I ask, I wonder...?"

More than excited, he looked giddier than a kid on Christmas morning. It was an uncanny and somewhat incongruous sight.

I just wanted him to get it over with, but he went at his own pace. Soon, he seemed to have figured out what he wanted to ask.

"Truth. What I want to ask you is a simple, yet unfathomably large question; one asked innumerable times throughout the ages."

His eyes containing some kind of unrestrained hunger, Marcus Lynton asked.

"What is God?"

Some of the other Professors gasped when he spoke, while I and Ruti remained silent. No one here was religious, of course, but it was a question of such scale, after all.

I never particularly cared about religious or supernatural things, so I never thought to ask about the existence of God, if there is one.

My eyes flickered between each of their faces; it was evident that they doubted if I could even answer a question like that, so ambiguous and incomprehensible.

But, I had no doubts that my Truth could get the job done.

The Head Professor\'s question wasn\'t worded very well, as his language wasn\'t specific at all and quite vague, but I never said I would properly interpret before asking.

I only said I would answer his question, and so that\'s exactly what I will do.

Thinking of Truth, I repeated the question in my mind.

What is God?

In the next moment, words appeared in front of me.

「You do not have access to this information」

My eyebrows scrunched and the ends of my lips curled downwards, forming a slight frown.

I mentioned it before, but I had only received this response once from Truth in the past.

...Annoying.

Just like last time, I reiterated with a bit more force.

What is God?

I don\'t care if you think I don\'t have access or whatever. You will tell me the answer.

I commanded Truth like so, and then--

"...!"

Feeling a bizarre sensation in my core, my back suddenly hunched over and I found myself staring at the ground, barely holding myself up with my hands.

"Cee...!"

Ruti exclaimed, but her words didn\'t enter my ears.

My entire body was drenched in sweat, and I found it difficult to breathe.

My vision blurred as a message from Truth slowly appeared in front of me.

It was something that didn\'t usually happen when he answered a question, but my mind was already too hazy to feel confused.

"..."

Only managing to weakly raise my head and move my eyes, I "read" Truth\'s answer.

「God is――∆∎∎❂∏∂∎∆∏∂❖∎∎∇❂∎∇∇―」