"Alright, everyone understand?" I once again reaffirmed to make sure, "Then, let us commence the operation!"

"You botched the final shout..." Issei chuckled as everyone ran out the cell.

"No, you don't understand. I'd take the money you're offering, I really would, but you're gonna have to ask Cochère first and..." Happy still busied himself talking to Javi and Kevin as we all ran by them, "Oh, hey guys, could you help me explain to your friends here why... Huh, you guys!?"

"We'll come back, don't worry!" Lune stuck his tongue out as he flipped the officer's cap from his head, "Just as soon as we get Rotriko!"

"The inspector! I gotta warn-!" Happy went to sound the alarm, but Kevin stopped him.

"Nuh uh, you're not going anywhere, fatty." Kevin smashed the alarm as Javi snuck up to tie Happy up.

"Yeah, ugh. No hard... oof, feelings! Oh my God."

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked.

"This guy's too fat, I can't tie him up." Javi explained.

"Stop calling me fat!" Happy whimpered, "At least say big-boned or plus-sized or whatever!"

"Sorry bud, ain't gonna sugarcoat it." Kevin shook his head as he somehow forced the rope to extend unimaginably around the fat officer's waist, "Alright, tuck your tum-tum in."

"Ow! Stop that!"

"Now now, if you want to be set free, you're gonna need to exercise a bit." Kevin kindly helped him to lie on his back, "Alright, try for 10 sit-ups, that might get the ropes loose enough for the pain to stop."

"Gasp, exercise!?" The poor officer laid petrified in the face of minute adversity, "I'd rather you killed me right here and now!"

"No killing." I smiled, "You two take care of Happy. We'll deal with Rotriko, so meet up at the abandoned warehouse in half an hour."

"Aye aye, captain!" They saluted back.

Great, that's step one done. If you're wondering how Kevin and Javi got the rope as well as the memo about using it on Happy, that's because we had Lune Materialize it and hand it over to Nelly, who walked around to the front entrance and secretly handed it to them. With this, we don't have to worry about Happy calling for reinforcements, and thus our chances of negotiating with Rotriko have surely improved!

"Next up, Lune and Issei!" I continued onto step two, "You are our most capable combatants, since Issei has his gadgets, and Lune can freely Materialize extra weaponry. Stop at the main gates after we've passed through and make as big of a ruckus as you can to alert Rotriko."

"Tl;dr is basically beat up as many officers as you can." Issei smiled, "Hey Lune, Materialize us some masks, I wanna look cool for our decisive battle!"

"Don't make it sound so ominous, we're just gonna break a few of their bones..." Lune ominously replied as he Materialized a pair of masks for them, "That ought to do it. No one can recognize us in this!"

"That's way too scary!" Issei shot back, "Seriously, diving helmets? We'll look like we're straight out of a horror movie in that!"

"Yeah, but they're surprisingly penetration proof." Ed added, "Plus you'd do well to intimidate the enemy."

"Oooh..."

Separating from the gates of the campus, the rest of us thus continued on as we left the diver duo to beat up as many oncoming officers as they can. The second piece of the puzzle is in place, and with that our remaining team members are Edward, me and Lee.

"Lee and Edward, you two will need to point Rotriko in the right direction when he does eventually run after us." I explained further, "I made sure to tell Issei and Lune to only let Rotriko through unscathed, but he'll definitely think we're luring him into a trap like that, so your job is to definitely convince him that we mean no harm."

"Thank goodness that fatass officer took our weapons, in that case." Ed glanced back through the thickets, "He won't have any reason to not believe us if we kneel and wait for him with emptied pockets."

"But how do we know he won't use that to his advantage and attack us when we have nothing?" Lee replied.

"No, he is weakened from the treflip combo we did on him. He will not attack you guys, rather, he will be unable to."

"Treflip?" Edward furrowed his brows.

"I'll tell you while we wait, now stand there." Lee smirked, "Man, it was crazy. So Meil..."

And so, I alone remain. Though, I can't really call myself alone anymore. Everyone is with me, they're just in position to make sure this plan goes as smoothly as possible. Thanks to Nelly, the rope and keys were delivered. Thanks to Javi and Kevin, we managed to slip by without any trouble. Thanks to Lune and Issei, we can filter out everyone that will come running after us but Rotriko. And when he does come running, Edward and Lee will calmly tell him to lower his weapons and peacefully hear me out. Everything comes down to this very moment, where him and I meet up to finally put an end to every single one of my problems.

"You just don't give up, do you, killer?" Rotriko warily approached the entrance as he saw me proudly sitting atop the mountain of terabytes I had transported from the basement.

"I apologize for inconveniencing you this entire day." I chuckled before pointing to his own little pile, "Please have a seat."

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***

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"Love what you did with the place." He feigned a friendly attitude, "Not."

"Calm down. As I am sure you have already been informed, I did not come here with the intent to fight you." I pointed down, "Rather, it is to deliver this."

"The money? Hah! So in all your jail time spent contemplating the perfect plan, bribery is the best thing you could come up with?!"

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"Indeed."

"...Okay, I'll hear you out. But only because I'm interested in learning the psyche of a crazed murderer."

"As I suspected, you are tight on cash." I smiled.

"Wrong, I'm the best inspector on the continent, don't you remember?"

"I do, hence why I called you broke." I elaborated, "Despite what many may think, the job of an inspector is paid out in mere fractions of what a standard officer would be paid. Being the best at something, whilst indeed an incredible feat, ultimately means nothing if you do not get anything out of it."

"Mhm..."

"But that was only the start of the puzzle's resolution." I pointed with my finger, "You, Rotriko Cochère, said it yourself - You are not affiliated with the police force in any way. This happened when you threatened to kill us."

"Yeah, I remember."

"Good, because this will be important for my next point - Your clothes!"

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Rotriko chuckled a bit at my curveball question, "First you mock my pay, then you mock my attire. I see you're as blunt as a metal pipe and as sharp as a knife. As to be expected of a murderer."

He's been reminding me of my crimes by calling names all this time. He's trying to get a reaction out of me so that he can reach for his gun without repercussions. He wants me to get mad and attack him so that he can shoot me "in self-defense". But I will not let words hurt me. The old Meil didn't, so as older and wiser as I am, why should I?

"Your clothes are the finest brand there is." I pointed out, "I would know, since I have a whole closet of that very same brand."

"An entire closet of Barbani?" His Eyebrows shot up, "Geez, what the hell are you wasting all that money on..."

"I have bought stuff worth hundreds of times more in the past, and yet it barely even made a dent in the entirety of just this pile I am sitting on." I patted the terabytes as if they were my pet, "In other words, enough for an infamous inspector to continue on with the job he loves and adores without ever having to worry about ends meet."

"I see, so that's your logic." He grinned before getting up, "Well, that certainly is a tantalizing offer. Especially the closet full of Barbanis."

"I hear you can even get your house made out of Barbani bricks." I added, "Though I believe the current price of one brick is close to 5 gigabytes."

"Who'd wanna buy a labeled clothes brand brick?" He frowned, "In any case, I at least commend you for being fair on your end and not jumping me with any more surprise buddies."

"As do I you." I smiled, "Just so you know, money is one of, if not THE most powerful tool in this world. You can decline the offer and cuff me right here and now, but know that I will be out in a matter of hours. It is a rather despicable and flawed system, but so long as we give these hexagonal coins value, breaking a law or few is nothing more than a fine I will happily pay to get out of scot-free. You on the other hand, will be left with paying for each and every legal procedure."

"...You're smart. I didn't expect that." He commended me, "Y'know, murderers always seemed so dumb to me as a whole. Each and every human life is valued the same, so how come one person gets to think themselves above another as they stick a knife in their chest?"

"Aguilar and his posse were not killed because of tha-"

"Let me finish."

"....."

"So rude, anyways..." He scoffed, "Tell me, Meil Deram, what was the thought process you went through as you had each and every one of those guys back in the yard buried? Did you find comfort in their departure from this world? Elation? Perhaps arousal?"

"None of the above." I went to explain, "I just wanted to protec-"

"Let me finish!" He shouted, "Geez, see this is why I hate murderers! You keep talking over me when I'm just trying to get a normal conversation started!"

Why is he asking me a whole slew of questions that I know for a fact weren't rhetorical, then? He definitely phrased it and emphasized it to make it sound like he was genuinely asking to hear my opinion on it.

"...It is a bit hypocritical of you to say that as you constantly interrupt me."

"Actually, I'm not interrupting you." He snarkily replied, "You know, there's an order to how a conversation should pan out, though I guess someone as idiotic as you wouldn't know that. Usually, both parties take turns talking, and I still haven't finished mine when you began yours."

"But you paused, indicating you waited to hear my response to your query."

"Tell me then, is a pause the same as a stop?" He asked, "Or a question mark? Or an exclamation mark, for that matter? Hmm? Hmm?"

His tone kept bugging me, his arguments made no sense, and his words served only the purpose to critique me for something he himself has been doing this entire time. Thus, not paying attention to my footing for just a split second, I had come tumbling down the money pile and ultimately fell on him.

"Ow... You alri-?" I realized the moment I caught a glance of his deviously smug smile, "Oh no!"

"Oh dear, attacking me even though you promised not to?" He pointed the gun he had kept readily on him into my heart, "That means I'm free to shoot, right? No legal issues to be had, plus I get to just take the money anyways, right?"

"No, I would not have even hit you had you not moved to stand under me!" I desperately explained, "Rotrik-!"

"Shut up and let me finish!" He pressed the gun practically through my chest, "I missed last time and hit your shoulder, and though I'm interested to hear how it managed to heal so quickly, I believe I should instead use this God-given opportunity to fix my mistake. Goodbye, Meil Deram, the killer of campus."

"No-!"

The gun fired off, and I was left paralyzed.