The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs had many interrogation rooms.
This wasn't one of them.
Not anymore.
The room was quiet. Clean. Warm light spilled gently from the ceiling, replacing the cold metallic glare of Chamber Twelve.
No restraints. No Grave Lens. No weapons aimed across the table.
Only silence.
Zekai sat quietly in a chair.
Fresh white bandages wrapped around both forearms, his shoulder, and across part of his chest beneath a clean Bureau-issued shirt.
His injuries had been treated properly.
For the first time since arriving at Headquarters... no one looked at him like a monster.
Across the table sat Sebastian.
His own condition wasn't much better.
A rigid neck brace supported his injured spine, fresh stitches disappeared beneath the collar of his uniform, and faint bruises darkened the side of his face.
Between them—a small metal stand rested quietly on the table. Inside it stood a crystal pendant.
Within the crystal... a tiny Aldric Marune sat cross-legged upon the transparent floor.
Miniature. Imprisoned. And somehow... still carrying more authority than either man sitting outside.
...
Several long minutes passed. No one disturbed the silence.
The only sound was the quiet ticking of the wall clock.
Eventually—Aldric opened his eyes.
"...Let's start again."
Zekai slowly lifted his gaze toward the crystal.
The miniature Investigation Head rose calmly to his feet. He folded both hands behind his back.
"This time..." His eyes shifted briefly toward Sebastian.
"...without Captain Sebastian attempting to put anything inside you."
Sebastian sighed.
"...Fair enough."
Zekai looked at him.
"...That would be preferable."
Sebastian accepted the remark without argument.
"I deserved that."
Silence settled once more. Then Aldric spoke.
"Tell me... what kind of reality did the forty-five of you enter?"
The question lingered. Zekai lowered his eyes.
The moment he tried to answer—the memories returned. Not gently. Like broken glass scraping across old wounds.
"...There was fog." His voice was quiet.
"It came out of nowhere. We were standing at the intersection... then suddenly we couldn't see each other."
His fingers slowly tightened.
"The fog became thicker. Everything disappeared. A second later... there was white light."
Not bright. Absolute.
"So bright... that I couldn't even tell if my eyes were open or closed."
For a brief instant—the room disappeared. White. Nothing but white.
Then—darkness swallowed everything.
"When I opened my eyes... we weren't in Greyhaven anymore."
He swallowed.
"It looked..." He searched for the words.
"...wrong. The sky wasn't broken... it simply wasn't there anymore."
His breathing slowed.
"The buildings were still standing... but they looked abandoned by reality itself. There wasn't any life. No wind. No birds. No sound. It didn't feel like another world."
A pause.
"...It felt like the place where worlds go after they die."
Neither Aldric nor Sebastian interrupted Zekai.
"We wandered. We were trying to understand where we'd ended up. Then..." His expression hardened.
"...we encountered something."
A memory flashed. A colossal silhouette. Eyes older than civilization. A body that refused to make sense. Its presence alone distorted thought.
"It wasn't human. It wasn't an animal. It wasn't..." He stopped.
"...anything I have ever known."
Its presence alone distorted thought.
Sebastian quietly observed him.
"You fought it?"
"...Yes. We had no choice." His voice lowered.
"It wasn't trying to kill us. It wanted something else."
Aldric spoke.
"What?"
Zekai's jaw tightened.
"It stole..." He hesitated.
"...something important. What both of us treasured."
Aldric's gaze sharpened.
"What treasure?"
"It stole our memories."
Silence.
"My brother... Aron. He..." Zekai looked away. "...forgot me."
The words felt heavier spoken aloud.
"He looked at me... like we'd never met." For the first time—his voice almost broke.
"I watched someone important... forget I ever existed."
Silence reclaimed the room.
Neither Sebastian nor Aldric reacted emotionally.
Not because they lacked sympathy. Because in their profession—they had seen too many impossible tragedies.
Aldric simply continued.
"Did this creature identify itself?"
"No."
"Did it possess Grave Energy?"
"I don't know. It didn't feel like yours."
Aldric nodded slowly.
Then—
"Before that incident... had you ever encountered Grave Energy?"
"No." The answer came immediately.
Sebastian finally entered the conversation.
"That's what doesn't make sense."
He leaned back carefully, one hand unconsciously touching his neck brace.
"Without Grave Resonance... nobody should've crossed into a Reality Layer."
He looked toward Aldric.
"Our personnel understand the risks. They carry resonance. They're trained."
"But the remaining forty-three... they were ordinary civilians. They had no Grave Energy. You didn't either."
"So how did forty-five people transition together?"
The ticking wall clock suddenly became noticeable.
No one had an answer.
Aldric folded his arms.
"When the return occurred... forty-three bodies fell from the sky." His voice remained perfectly level.
"They weren't intact. They had been reduced to pieces."
His eyes remained fixed on Zekai.
"Did you encounter anything capable of doing that?"
Silence.
"...Zekai?"
Zekai stared at the table.
"I..."
His thoughts searched desperately. Nothing.
"I don't know." He closed his eyes.
"The next thing I remember... was everyone falling from the sky. ...I never saw what happened."
Silence.
Aldric studied him. Too quickly. Too naturally. Not a rehearsed lie.
But... not the whole truth either.
"...Something triggered."
Sebastian looked toward him.
"What?"
"The transition," Aldric answered quietly.
"It wasn't random. Something happened. It forced reality to reconnect."
A black cube.
Jagged. Cracked. Cold.
For the briefest moment—it flashed through Zekai's mind.
His hand instinctively twitched. Then he buried the memory.
'I can't tell them...'
Sebastian frowned.
"...No."
He shook his head.
"Impossible. We can stabilize existing fractures. Enter active layers. Track residual openings."
He leaned back. "But create a forced transition for forty-five people... with zero Grave Resonance?"
He slowly shook his head again.
"No. Nobody can trigger something like that."
Silence.
Then—
"...Maybe."
Sebastian looked toward the pendant.
Aldric's tiny figure stood motionless.
"Maybe... there's a chance."
Sebastian frowned.
"Based on what?"
Aldric answered immediately.
"Our entire profession."
Silence.
"We spend every day documenting things that shouldn't exist."
"Creatures that violate biology."
"Places that violate space. Events that violate time."
His gaze slowly settled upon Zekai.
"And now... a man who survived something forty-three others didn't."
He folded his hands once more.
"I stopped calling things impossible... a long time ago."
"That's exactly why this Bureau exists."
Sebastian didn't respond. He couldn't. Because despite everything he knew—a single thought had already begun growing inside him.
Could something really force a transition...?
No. Even the Bureau couldn't. ...But neither should Zekai have survived.
His jaw tightened.
Aldric never looked away. He wasn't accusing. He wasn't trusting. He was investigating.
Then—he asked the question Zekai had feared since entering Headquarters.
"...Aron."
Everything inside Zekai froze.
Aldric noticed immediately.
"Tell me exactly what happened between you and Aron."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Zekai's heartbeat became painfully loud.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Aldric continued calmly.
"You said the creature stole memories. Connections. You returned. ...Aron didn't."
Silence. The tiny Investigation Head stepped closer to the crystal wall.
"I don't believe you did."
Pause.
"But belief isn't evidence." His eyes never left Zekai.
"Did you kill Aron?"
Zekai's chair shifted. Only slightly. His breathing became uneven.
The room waited. Even the ticking clock seemed louder.
The answer came before he could stop it.
"No." His voice hardened. "I didn't kill him."
The room remained silent.
"I am sure..." Zekai swallowed.
For the first time since the questioning began—his control cracked.
"...I'm sure he's still alive." His voice carried absolute certainty.
"I can feel it."
The memories returned.
Aron looking at him through the collapsing layer.
Why are you crying? The question still hurt. Somewhere—he was still alive.
"We were separated. I don't know how. I don't know where." His fists slowly clenched.
"But whatever happened... I'm bringing him back."
"Even if I have to cross that world again."
No hesitation. No uncertainty. Only conviction.
"I don't know what I did." The final sentence barely escaped him.
Aldric saw it. The guilt. Not guilt for murder. Something else.
The guilt of someone who believed he had failed.
Aldric remained silent for several long seconds. He was about to ask another question.
Sebastian quietly raised a hand.
"...Chief." Aldric looked toward him.
"...That's enough. He won't answer anything else today."
The crystal remained silent. Eventually—Aldric nodded once.
"...Very well."
The questioning ended.
A soft knock echoed through the room. The door opened.
A Bureau officer stepped inside.
"Mr. Zekai." He bowed politely.
"If you'll come with me."
Zekai stood. Before leaving—he looked once toward the pendant. Tiny Aldric merely watched him.
Without another word—Zekai followed the officer out. The door quietly closed.
Silence. Sebastian exhaled slowly.
"...We both know he isn't that kind of person."
Aldric didn't respond.
Sebastian looked toward the pendant.
"He isn't guilty. Not of killing them. Not when he talks about Aron."
Aldric didn't answer immediately. Instead—he watched the closed door.
"He knows more about the transition than he's telling us." A pause.
"...And he's hiding it."
Sebastian rubbed his forehead.
"Yeah. He knows more about his own abilities. Definitely." Sebastian leaned forward.
"And whatever happened to Aron... he's hiding part of that too."
Aldric remained silent. Sebastian looked toward the sealed door.
"We can't just let him walk away." His voice became colder.
"This case is already national news. We can't gamble."
Aldric slowly folded his arms.
"...I have another option."
Sebastian's eyes widened.
For a moment—he thought he had misheard.
"...Chief..." His voice lowered.
"...What are you planning?"
Inside the crystal prison—Aldric smiled. Only slightly.
"Something...
the Bureau has never done before."
...because we've never encountered someone like him before.
Silence settled over the room once more.
Outside—Greyhaven continued living as though nothing had happened.
Inside the Bureau—the real investigation into the Fool had only just begun.
✦ End of Chapter 43 — The Questions That Remained ✦