The worst thing about individual interrogations is not that you go in alone.
Going in alone actually makes some things clear.
The questions I heard.
The answers I gave.
The recorder I saw.
You only need to hold your ground within that scope.
The truly bad part is that only the interrogator knows the previous person’s answer.
No.
More precisely, they can claim to know it.
“The previous person said this.”
“Another candidate has already admitted it.”
“Are you the only one pretending not to know?”
The person inside does not know whether those words are true or false.
They cannot verify it, either.
And yet people waver.
Because they want to protect the person before them.
Because they do not want to fall behind.
Because they do not want to look like the only one who is wrong.
An individual interrogation is not isolation. It is information asymmetry.
The other side will use that.
I wrote on the blackboard.
“The previous person’s answer is not mine.”
Then I wrote another sentence beneath it.
“I was unable to verify that answer. I will answer within the scope of what I heard and saw.”
Eveline read the sentence and said,
"It’s long."
"Even if it’s long, you have to survive."
"What if we shorten it?"
Adela immediately said,
"I was unable to verify it. I will answer within my scope."
"Good."
I wrote that sentence down as well.
“I was unable to verify it. I will answer within my scope.”
Seria said,
"We will definitely need that sentence tomorrow."
"Yes."
Liana asked carefully,
"Even if the previous person’s answer is true?"
"Yes."
Liana paused for a moment.
"Even if it is true, it isn’t my answer."
"That’s right."
Good.
Liana had grasped the essence of it.
Clarisse explained the procedure.
"When another candidate’s answer is cited during an individual interrogation, the person being interrogated cannot verify whether that answer is true. Therefore, stating that it cannot be verified and answering within one’s own scope is appropriate."
Martin wrote it down.
Today, Martin was practically becoming a second recorder.
Of course, he was still only temporary.
But he was seeing exactly what was needed at exactly the right moments, to a degree that made the word temporary feel meaningless.
I reset the training order.
This time, we would go in the actual interrogation order.
Adela.
Liana.
Eveline.
Seria.
Pressure using the previous person’s answer could begin from the second candidate onward.
But the first candidate was not safe, either.
The first person could be pressured into predicting the answers of those who came after.
I looked at Adela.
"Candidate Adela Carmion. The first interrogatee has no one before her. Instead, you may be asked questions that demand you predict the people after you."
Adela nodded.
"A structure meant to make me speak on behalf of subsequent candidates’ intentions."
"That’s right."
Kaiden stepped forward to play the interrogator.
"Candidate Adela Carmion. You are an expert in attire. How do you think Candidate Liana Bell would react upon seeing the Cathedral Wing disguise clue?"
Adela did not answer immediately.
She looked at the blackboard.
“The previous person’s answer is not mine.”
Here, it was not the previous person, but the next person.
But the principle was the same.
Someone else’s answer was not her answer.
Adela said,
"I will not speak on behalf of Candidate Liana Bell’s reaction. What I can answer is the sartorial characteristics of the Cathedral Wing disguise clue and what procedures those characteristics require from which candidates."
Kaiden asked,
"Still, you can make a prediction, can’t you?"
"I can make a prediction. However, it is not an opinion that should be entered into an interrogation record."
Good.
It was an answer worthy of Adela.
Martin wrote:
“Candidate Adela Carmion: Refuses to predict subsequent candidate’s reaction. Limits opinion to physical evidence.”
A system window appeared.
[Adela Carmion: Successfully avoided predicting on behalf of a subsequent candidate]
Next was Liana.
This time, Arsene took the role of interrogator.
He deliberately pretended to look over an official document.
"Candidate Liana Bell. Earlier, Candidate Adela Carmion did not say that the Cathedral Wing disguise clue was completely unrelated to a saint candidate’s observation uniform. That means you are still under suspicion. Do you admit it?"
Liana’s hand reached toward the envelope.
She did not take out the card.
She only touched the edge of the envelope.
"I was unable to verify it. I will answer within my scope."
Good.
She used the short sentence.
"Whether the Cathedral Wing disguise clue is related to my observation uniform must be verified through sartorial consultation and an official comparison procedure. What I can acknowledge is that I will cooperate with the procedure. Please specify what you mean by saying that I am still under suspicion."
Arsene’s eyes shifted ever so slightly.
He continued.
"Then can you not say that you are innocent?"
A trap.
If she declared herself innocent, it would become a personal assertion.
If she could not say it, she would appear suspicious.
Liana took one breath.
"I can say that I have not harmed anyone. However, the interpretation of the clue and the procedural scope of suspicion must be verified through the record."
Good.
She separated her personal statement from procedural verification.
Martin wrote:
“Candidate Liana Bell: Unable to verify prior consultation. Separates denial of personal conduct from clue-review procedure.”
A system window appeared.
[Liana Bell: Successfully resisted pressure based on a prior answer]
[Shielding Resistance Rate increased]
Third was Eveline.
This time, Kaiden asked,
"Candidate Eveline Rosette. The preceding Candidate Liana Bell did not deny that she remains under suspicion. Why are you trying to shield such a candidate?"
Eveline’s eyes immediately wavered.
She tried to look at Liana.
But Liana was sitting with her back turned as part of the training.
Eveline did not look at me, either.
Her hand pressed against the envelope.
"I was unable to verify it. I will answer within my scope."
Good.
"I did not hear what Candidate Liana Bell answered. And the claim that I am trying to shield Liana also requires its scope to be clarified. What I can say is that, within what I saw, I did not see Candidate Liana Bell directly handle the disguised sleeve clue."
Kaiden asked,
"Then do you have no desire to protect her?"
Eveline paused briefly.
"I do."
Good.
She did not avoid it.
"But wanting to protect someone and answering on their behalf are different things. My desire to protect her may be recorded as my emotion. But I will not speak for her."
The classroom fell silent.
Liana’s shoulder moved just slightly.
It was training where she was not supposed to listen, but perhaps she had heard.
No. Even if she had not heard, she would have felt it.
Martin wrote:
“Candidate Eveline Rosette: Unable to verify prior answer. Acknowledges protective feelings, refuses to speak on another’s behalf.”
A system window appeared.
[Eveline Rosette: Successfully separated protection from speaking on another’s behalf]
[Resistance to Rampage Inducement increased]
Last was Seria.
Arsene stepped forward.
His expression was gentle.
Which made him even more dangerous.
"Candidate Seria Blanc. The preceding Candidate Eveline Rosette did not say that you posed no risk of violence. Candidate Liana Bell also said that your sharp words could be hurtful. Are you qualified to remain here?"
Silence.
Cruel.
He had mixed the answers of the two who came before her.
Seria did not know whether they were true or false.
But they sounded plausible.
Eveline could have mentioned a risk of violence, and Liana could have acknowledged the hurt.
Seria herself knew that.
It was the most dangerous kind of pressure.
Words that might be true.
Seria lowered her gaze.
Her fingertips moved toward the envelope.
Then stopped.
She did not open it.
"I was unable to verify it. I will answer within my scope."
Good.
But ending there would be weak.
Seria knew that as well.
"I will not judge my qualifications based on other candidates’ answers that I have been unable to verify. What I can answer is that I acknowledged that my words can hurt others, and that I decided not to put my apology ahead of the victim’s wishes. Whether I am qualified to remain here is not for my declaration to decide, but for the interrogation procedure to determine."
Arsene said,
"Then can you not say that you yourself are qualified?"
Seria took a very quiet breath.
"I did not come here to claim qualification. I came here not to avoid review."
The classroom fell silent.
That answer was subdued in a way that did not suit Seria.
It was not sharp.
That made it stronger.
Martin wrote:
“Candidate Seria Blanc: Unable to verify prior answers. Accepts review instead of claiming qualification.”
A system window appeared.
[Seria Blanc: Successfully resisted cumulative pressure]
[Trust Recovery Training Progress: 56% -> 60%]
60%.
Seria had reached 60%.
I could not trust that number.
But I could not ignore it, either.
She was changing.
Very slowly, but clearly.
When the training ended, the air in the classroom was heavy and quiet.
All four of them were exhausted.
Kaiden was not smiling, either.
Arsene wore a thoughtful expression.
Clarisse organized the procedural records, while Martin rubbed his wrist.
I looked at the blackboard.
“The previous person’s answer is not mine.”
“I was unable to verify it. I will answer within my scope.”
We would definitely need these sentences tomorrow.
Definitely.
Then Eveline said,
"But listen."
Everyone looked at her.
"If the interrogator lies about the previous person’s answer, can we call them out on it afterward?"
A good question.
Clarisse answered.
"You can. When the interrogation records are compared, if the interrogator cited another candidate’s remarks inaccurately, it can be recorded as a procedural violation."
Eveline’s eyes lit up.
"Then we could use that against them."
Clarisse paused for a moment.
"Explain."
Eveline started to grip her handkerchief, then stopped.
"If we answer that we don’t know, the interrogator will keep bringing up what the previous person said, right? But if it’s a lie, they’ll get caught later when the records are compared."
Adela nodded.
"That is correct. Answering that you do not know is both a defense and a way of leaving responsibility for the interrogator’s citation intact."
Seria said,
"In other words, if we follow the previous person’s answer, the responsibility comes to us. If we say we were unable to verify it, responsibility remains with the one who cited it."
Liana spoke quietly.
"Then saying we don’t know isn’t running away."
I nodded.
"It is not running away. It is placing responsibility exactly where it belongs."
A system window appeared.
[Individual Interrogation Response Principles Established]
[Able to Respond to Pressure from Citations of Prior Answers]
[Able to Induce Interrogator Citation Responsibility]
Good.
Now the defense had become, in part, an attack.
Not an attack that struck the other side, but one that put their words on the record.
This was the strongest method available to us right now.
Kaiden said,
"Leon Cart."
"Yes."
"You keep teaching the students not to fight, yet you are making them fight in the most troublesome way possible."
I said,
"If you want to survive, you have to be troublesome."
Adela immediately said,
"I agree. Being troublesome is good security."
Eveline sighed.
"There it is again."
Liana laughed.
Seria laughed very quietly too.
This time, Martin laughed as well.
Clarisse did not write it down.
Kaiden smiled.
Arsene did not.
Then, outside the window, the dawn bell rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The laughter in the classroom stopped.
The night was ending.
The time remaining until the preliminary interrogation for provisional transfer.
A system window appeared.
[Eve-of-Interrogation Instruction Nearly Complete]
[Time Remaining: 5 hours 12 minutes]
[Current Readiness]
[Eveline Rosette: Rampage Inducement Resistance strengthened]
[Liana Bell: Shielding Resistance strengthened]
[Seria Blanc: Trust Recovery Training 60%]
[Adela Carmion: Social Foundation Risk suppressed]
[Warning]
[A real interrogation differs from training.]
I knew.
I knew all too well.
I looked at the blackboard.
Preparation.
Review.
Wrong answers.
The previous person’s answer is not mine.
We had created many sentences.
But tomorrow’s interrogation room would break those sentences.
What would remain then was not the answers they had memorized, but how far each of them could protect their own words.
I put down the chalk.
"We will repeat this one last time."
The four of them looked at me.
This time, they were allowed to look.
Because class had not ended yet.
I said,
"Say that you do not know what you do not know. State the scope of what you saw. Do not speak on behalf of another person’s intentions. Do not answer what was not asked. If you are wrong, correct it."
Eveline nodded.
Liana too.
Seria too.
Adela too.
Then I added one final sentence.
"Even if you go in alone, your answers belong to you."
The dawn bell rang a fourth time.
The interrogation was approaching.
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