Ignoring Roman’s door, Ed went in to check on the others. Some of them were still fiddling around with the creation menu, completing their task with some reluctance. The others had already finished their work and were now waiting for Buddie to finish things on his end. Mathew was enjoying a meal, a succulent medium rare ribeye steak, as he waited.

Masami hadn’t eaten anything. Instead, she was slumped over in her chair, contemplating everything. He mind was in a constant state of war and panic, fighting against itself. Morality and self-preservation stood on opposing sides, tussling with each other as she lost herself in her thoughts.

She heard the door open behind her and turned to look at Ed. Her thoughts about Ed were just as complex. She was absolutely terrified of him, not only because of what he forced her to do, but also because he wasn’t human. He was something her brain couldn’t comprehend. Something her brain didn’t want to comprehend.

But he was also nice to her. He was calm and helpful. He guided her through everything that she needed to know. And it didn’t seem like he would try and eat her.

She didn’t know how to feel.

“Have you eaten?” Ed asked, forming a chair beneath him to sit down on. Just another thing that confirmed he wasn’t human.

She was startled by his question, but didn’t detect any malice in his voice or his eyes. It was just like when a friend asked her that question. “No, not yet.”

“I’d recommend eating something. You don’t want to miss out on any opportunities to eat. You can have whatever you want, you just have to ask,” Ed said.

After contemplating for a bit, she followed his advice and began eating. She was pretty absentminded, so she didn’t think much about ordering anything spectacular. She ordered a bowl of egg fried rice, and was momentarily stunned when it appeared in front of her in an instant.

Her stomach rumbled, snapping her out of it as she began eating. But it was clear that her mind didn’t stay on the food for long, and she was just eating for the sake of eating. She was looking at the computer, reading through the file. “What’s going to happen to him?”

“Going off my experience, he will probably die. That of course, is dependent both on what you made, and the choices he decides to make while in there,” Ed answered honestly. He sighed when he saw her biting her lip so hard it bled, only for the blood to be immediately wiped away and the wound healed.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“You’ll get used to it.” Ed placed his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. It didn’t do much, but he couldn’t expect her to be calm after everything she was going through. After that, he decided to leave, wanting to give her some alone time.

He opened the door to Roman’s room, only to close it again. Might have to get Buddie to step in, otherwise he won’t be able to sleep at all tonight. Thank god we’re limited to only one file a day.

Ed was sure that, if given the opportunity, Roman would happily stay awake for the rest of his life, spending every second available designing traps and torturing countless people. Among all of the employees he had met, there was no doubt in his mind that Roman was the craziest.

Or, at least, the most outwardly crazy. Clearly, years in prison and his current situation were not good for his already abysmal mental health. Maybe he’ll get better in the future.

With there still being some time left until Buddie called him back, Ed was unsure of what to do. He had already checked in on everyone, and most of them were waiting as well. He needed to find something to kill time.

For a second, he thought about paying Elizabeth a visit, but decided to leave that for another day. Same with Urdhuri. There was no need for him to visit Urdhuri in the near future, and it was also dangerous to do so.

Feeling peckish, he decided to follow his own advice and went to go find something to eat. He could have gone back home to spend time with Zara, but there wasn’t much work left for him to do, so he decided to wait so that his time with her wouldn’t be interrupted.

Wandering into the cafeteria, he found an empty table to sit down at. After ordering himself a steak of his own, he began fiddling with his powers by observing the other people in the room with him.

The red strings of sin were as densely packed as they were in Hell, clearly visible amongst the vibrancy of the strings of fate. No one in the room was innocent. In fact, a lot of them had even more red strings than some denizens of Hell.

He didn’t want to mess around and pry too deeply into things, just in case there was someone that could sense what he was doing. So he kept everything to a surface level observation for now.

It was fascinating. The ability to observe and find out almost everything about a person’s past gave him the feeling of an omniscient and omnipresent observer. The amount of information showing itself to him was not something many would be able to handle. A lot of it was also stuff nobody would want others to find out.

It was a truly wonderful feeling, having access to all of this information.

“Please return to the office. The trap has been set,” Buddie said, pulling Ed out of his thoughts.

Shaking his head, the strings of fate and sin faded into the background, disappearing but able to come back at his beck and call. Finishing off the last bit of his food, he wiped his mouth clean and returned to the office, waiting to see it unfold.