*Peeks around corner*

After all the shouting and tears the previous cliffhanger caused, I'm not sure it's safe for me to come out... on the other hand, if I hide and don't give you the next chapter, I will only fear more for my health...

So, without further ado, here's chapter 29!

~'0'~

Accidental Reverse Arc 3

~'0'~

Tenma wakes up to pounding in his head and coldness in his bones.

He's lying on something hard, freezing, and it makes his whole body hurt. Grey eyes open slowly, blinking a few times, and the brunet stares, uncomprehending, at the metal blue floor next to his face.

Then the memories come rushing back and he bites back a curse.

This is bad.

'I've driven Fifth Sector into a corner.'

This is very, very bad.

'I've driven Senguuji into a corner, and a cornered animal is an unpredictable one.'

He should've realized, should've thought it through – showing off his Soul powers early is one thing, but with the involvement of Soar, the Resistance and Raimon, there's no way Fifth Sector – Senguuji – wouldn't have lashed out the way he did.

And with Soar and the Fifth Sector hiding in the shadows and Raimon practically untouchable, they went for the one variable Tenma hadn't planned on.

Himself.

Dammit.

''He's awake.''

Tenma looks up sharply at the voice – too late to hide now – and locks eyes with a Fifth's agent. It's one of the agents who escorted him to the meeting with Senguuji, and the brunet is pretty sure the other one is somewhere out of his line of sight.

His words are proven correct when hands are suddenly grabbing his arms and pulling him up, forcing him in a sitting position.

He grits his teeth against the wave of pain and nausea that crashes over him, belatedly remembering the hit against his head that knocked him out, and clenches his eyes shut.

Footsteps echo through the metal room and he doesn't need to open his eyes to know who it is.

''What do you want with me?''

''Why, just to talk,'' answers Senguuji, voice velvety and smooth. ''Now, we can do this the easy way... or the hard way. It's your choice.''

Tenma snorts and finally looks at the man. ''Tell me, are you trying to sound like a cliché cartoon villain?''

Senguuji's eyes widen slightly.

''Show some respect!'' The agent still restraining the brunet tightens his grip and yanks Tenma's arms further backwards. The time traveler hisses in pain, but doesn't react any other way.

The pink-haired man holds up a hand. ''That's enough, I think Matsukaze-kun will watch his words a little better now.'' He smiles condescendingly at the boy. ''Won't you?''

''Not particularly, no.''

He grins cheekily at the glare shot his way, but it seems Senguuji isn't ticked off enough to do something drastic. Instead he snaps his fingers and the second agent, who was previously waiting by the wall, quickly disappears out of the brunet's line of sight. A few moments later, he returns, carrying a chair. He places it down and his master sits down gracefully, crossing one leg over the other, while the agent returns to the wall.

Tenma raises a single, unimpressed eyebrow at the little display.

Senguuji ignores it and instead smiles pleasantly. ''Now, where were we?'' he drawls.

''You were acting like a cartoon bad guy,'' chirps the brunet, grinning at the narrowing of cold eyes. ''I'd recommend a cat, they do wonders for your image!''

If Senguuji wants to play this game, Tenma's going to give him what he came for.

''Enough with the jokes. Tell me about your Soul.''

There's a threat in his voice, a threat the time traveler recognizes. He narrows his eyes, meeting the man's sharp gaze head-on. ''What about it?'' his mind is going a mile a minute, trying to find a way out of this situation.

So far, no such luck.

There is no way out. Senguuji wants answers and right now, he's the one who holds all the cards. Tenma can try to distract him, but without a doubt, he knows he won't be allowed to go free until the former Emperor gets what he wants.

The way those cruel grey eyes shine with amusement tells the brunet more than enough.

''No tricks this time?'' taunts the man, his polite smile threatening to turn into a wide grin. ''No word games? You leave me disappointed, Matsukaze-kun.''

Raimon's time traveler grits his teeth and glares, but he knows the older male is right.

''Well, it seems this will be easier than expected.'' Senguuji lets his elbow lean on his knee and rests his chin on his hand. ''Your Soul,'' he repeats again. ''Tell me what I want to know and I will let you go.''

Grey eyes flare blue. ''You can't keep me here. Not forever.''

''That's true,'' concedes the former Emperor, but he doesn't seem put out by that fact. In fact, it almost looks as if the amusement in his eyes increases. ''But I don't need forever. I just need enough time to... convince you, so to say, that working with us will be in your best interest.''

Tenma can't help but shiver.

''You- you don't mean that,'' he says and hates the way his voice breaks, the only sign of his fear. ''The Holy Emperor-''

''-doesn't know,'' finishes Senguuji and this time he does grin, wild and just the slightest bit mad. ''Before he finds out you're here, you will already have told us everything.''

Ishido- Gouenji doesn't know. That's what Tenma was afraid of.

He forces himself to take a few steadying breaths. He can't get out of this, not on his own, so there's only one way to deal with this.

Face it.

There are four days left until the match – maybe three, depending on how long he was unconscious. If he isn't back by then, Soar will find a way to get him out.

Until then, he just has to make sure he doesn't reveal anything.

So he sets his jaw and locks eyes with Senguuji. ''Do your worst.''

A smirk is the only answer.

~'0'~

It's hours later that someone – one of Senguuji's men – brings him dinner. It's not anything impressive, but it's hot and Tenma is starving, so he wolfs it down, all the while hoping they won't see any use in poisoning him.

His arms and shoulders are sore from being restrained during his 'interrogation', as Senguuji so nicely put it, and the way the agent twisted his arms in ways they shouldn't go whenever he said something cheeky doesn't exactly help with his discomfort.

But it's worth it.

Senguuji's frustration after two hours of silence, sarcasm and about every random fact Tenma could think of was way more satisfying than it has any right to be.

Once the brunet has finished his meal, he leans against one of the walls and once again looks at the room he's stuck in. Dark blue metal walls, floor and ceiling, and one of the walls is entirely taken up by a mirror. A bed, a desk, a chair and a small coffee table. There's one window, which looks out over Tokyo. There's a closet in the wall and a door that leads to a small bathroom.

It's not even close to the luxury suite Ishido appointed him during his first 'visit', but Tenma's already glad it's not a cell, so he doesn't complain much.

He's also thankful for Aki's insight when she packed his bag. Enough clothes to last a few days, pajamas, toiletry and some things to help him pass the time. The brunet has to pause when he noticed a small flash drive and- is that a hairpin -and then fights a smile – this could be very interesting indeed.

He hasn't found any cameras, for which he's grateful.

Now, since no one seems to be about to disturb him...

He raises a hand to the radio in his ear and presses down on it. ''HQ, you there?'' he asks, speaking quietly in case there's a guard outside.

''Shimo here,'' comes Yukimura's voice. ''Are you alright?''

There's concern there, definitely, and the brunet hides a smile at that – seems like he has a chance to grow into his friendship with the other boy earlier, this time around.

''Expect being exposed to the worst host imaginable, I'm alright,'' Tenma jokes as he moves to the window and looks down at the streets of Tokyo. ''Listen, the Holy Emperor doesn't seem to be behind this.''

He can hear the confusion Yukimura no doubt feels. ''What?''

''It's one of the Councilmen,'' he doesn't bother to tell them which one – Senguuji believes he still holds some hidden cards, but, honestly, the brunet knows enough about him. ''He pretty much stated he's not working with Ishido. But nevermind that, how're things there?''

''Under control,'' comes the immediate answer and the surety behind it has the time traveler relax. ''Emiko-san and Motoo-san have secured a secondary location for us and, due to your absence, we've had a meeting about it. We'll be moving our main base there since this place is on everyone's radar now. Other than that, Jiro's managed to recruit some of her reporter buddies and they're now being ''trained'' at the news agency she works for – Motoo-san has a meeting with the boss tomorrow for a closer collaboration, so we'll keep you updated.''

Well.

That's not nothing.

Tenma says as much and Yukimura laughs. ''It seems that, with our success, Jiro's agency is taking more interest in us,'' he explains. ''Since they're our first media contact, they seem to be taking the chance to get more out of it. Jiro furthering our network only strengthens that belief.''

That makes sense.

''Alright,'' starts Tenma, thinking over the entire situation. ''Is the new location secure?''

''Absolutely.''

The brunet nods even though they other can't see him. ''Great,'' he says, because honestly, the swimming pool is a pretty big target. ''How's our network, anyway?''

One of the first things he ordered Soar to do was gather people and although it was slow going at first, he's hoping that, with their continued growth, they'll have more success now.

And it seems his prayers have been answered. ''Good, actually. The News Section is growing, like I already said, and Emiko-san and Maiko-san have been contacted by a lawyer company. Their influence is growing there as we speak. Motoo-san's being approached by people every day and he has recruited a few teens to help him in the Information Initiative. He's acting as manager there.''

Tenma raises an eyebrow at that as he stares at the slowly darkening sky. ''Teens?'' he repeats, a creeping suspicion forming in the back of his mind.

''Yeah,'' says Yukimura and there's a grin in his voice. ''Minamisawa's been doing a great job of gathering players from other teams.''

Another point – Minamisawa and Yukimura have both been making contact amongst the soccer teams of the Holy Road tournament, trying to recruit them for their cause.

The time traveler hums thoughtfully and the freelancer seems to take that as a sign to continue. ''Eito is especially interested in the Control Squad and although Seiji is being careful, he's testing them. The nerd team really knows their way around a computer,'' he quips, and Tenma's sure he would be able to see the other grin if he was there now. ''Teikoku is out of reach, they're completely taken over by the Resistance. No surprise there. I've been hinting at Hakuren and they're turning in Soar's favor, so hopefully I can introduce them more... actively, soon. Gassan Kunimitsu is in the same boat. Minamisawa actually wants to include them but he's waiting for your opinion. Then there's Mannouzaka and Tengawara and here is where it gets really interesting – they've both openly stated their support of our cause.''

Did they, now?

The first time 'round, they were some of the first ones to openly rebel too.

''What did they do?''

''Both their captains, Isozaki and Kita, came to the pool and said they wanted in,'' responds Yukimura. ''Motoo-san directed them to Kogure and they're still talking. You have anything to add?''

Tenma already has an answer ready, although he takes a few more moments to think. Honestly, though, it's clear to him. ''They're trustworthy. They fought for Fifth Sector, yes, but after their defeat, they were all but abandoned. They'll be a good support amongst the other teams. See if any of their teammates have useful skills. I want you to work with Isozaki and Kita, to be our link to the other teams but only if you can be sure those teams won't sell us out. Let it be known you're part of Soar. If other players want to help, they'll only have to come to you,'' he orders. ''Don't let them know about Minamisawa-san, though.''

The forward might just end up to be a trump card.

''Understood. Anything else?''

The brunet chews absentmindedly on his lip as he thinks it over. ''Tell the News Section to do some digging once they've been properly introduced to our workings and keep an eye on Eito, maybe let them do some small tasks until they've proven trustworthy. And set a location up for the News Section specifically.''

''Got it.''

They finish their conversation soon after that and when the sky turns black, Tenma lowers his hand from his earpiece and stares down at the lights of the city. As far as he can tell, from the city far below, he's on one of the highest levels.

(After Fifth Sector was defeated, he visited their headquarters once, for some kind of issue the Resistance wanted to talk to Raimon about. It was only one time, but Tenma knows enough to remember that the offices of the higher ups were on the higher levels – including Senguuji's.)

(How very interesting.)

The brunet hides a smile and moves away from the window, instead turning off the light in the room and crawling into the bed. He doesn't bother changing into his pajamas and forces himself to stay awake, waiting silently as the minutes tick by.

His patience is rewarded over an hour later, when he hears the click of an opening lock.

The brunet slows his breathing and relaxes, opening his eyes just enough to be able to watch through his eyelashes. The door to his room opens slowly, silently, a small beam of light falling onto the floor. He can barely make out the uniform of the Fifth Sector agent who has come to check on him.

After a few moments, the door is closed and locked again. Tenma doesn't move and instead waits. An undetermined period of time passes, and eventually, the brunet sits up and pushes the blanket off.

He grabs his phone and turns on the flash light, grabbing both the hairpin and the flash drive and hiding them in his pocket. He doesn't bother with his shoes and instead moves towards the door.

He shoots a silent prayer to any deity that will listen, hoping the door is only manually locked and Senguuji didn't want to draw attention by using some kind of flashy modern cell, and then he starts to work on the lock.

(When Kariya offered to teach Tenma how to pick locks, he really wasn't sure what to think. Now, however, he's more than grateful – both for the tealhead's very questionable hobbies and his own insight to accept the offer.)

It takes a while, but the time traveler doesn't rush it. He's never actually had to use this particular skill before and only learned it for fun, so he takes it slow. Rather safe than sorry, after all.

Finally, finally the locks clicks open and Tenma takes a moment to sigh in relief. Then he carefully opens the door and peeks into the hallway beyond.

It's dark, like his room – not surprising, considering his phone tells him it's almost two in the morning – and there don't seem to be any guards, or cameras, for that matter. Whether the lack of security is from arrogance or because the lower levels are impenetrable, he doesn't know, but it doesn't really matter either.

'Now, which way?'

Tenma is almost completely certain that he's at least close to Senguuji's office, but that still leaves him with quite a few floors to search, and even if he had more time, that would still take too long.

Time to use some logic.

'Alright, so first things first. Ishido doesn't know I'm here. Senguuji would get in trouble if Ishido found out I'm here. Which means he can't be seen doing anything suspicious.'

Which results in Senguuji locking him up close to his office.

'Hm... I suppose it would still be strange if he was seen on a floor not even close to the one he usually works at. What's more, if he's seen far from his office, it would also be weird.'

Same floor? Most likely.

'Close to his office, probably. The agents here would be more inclined to do Senguuji's bidding and they wouldn't question him if he's in his own 'territory', while other important higher ups might become suspicious to see Senguuji sneaking around their offices.'

Same floor, close to his office. Tenma really, really hopes he's right about this.

'So where would his office be?'

Not in the middle of the building, that's for sure. The huge window in the office narrows it down by a lot.

'My room also had a window, so it should be close. Really close.'

Tenma takes a good look at the hallway around him. It's small, and bland.

'What's more, Senguuji is an important figurehead of Fifth Sector. He'd have to receive important guests, too, in his office. And knowing Fifth Sector, they'd want to show off their luxury as much as possible. Which means that the hallway Senguuji's office is located in is much more impressive than this one.'

Well, there's only one thing left for him to do.

Tenma looks around again, committing it to memory, and then starts walking in a random direction.

After more or less ten minutes, he still hasn't found anything interesting. The brunet pauses and frowns – the corridors are still small and bland, and if Senguuji really wants to hide this, he wouldn't throw Tenma in a cell so far away from his office.

Mind made up, the brunet retraces his steps, passing the door to his room and this time going the other way. Soon enough, this decision pays off, for he finds himself in a hallway different from the ones he passed through before.

The walls are a pristine white, large windows on one side and smooth wooden doors on another. The floor is covered with a carpet – he can't make out the color in the dark of night – and there are a few paintings hanging on the walls.

His lips curl into a smile.

'Checkmate.'

The time traveler makes his way down the hall, watching the wooden doors carefully, and it's only after a few minutes that he finds what he's looking for.

Senguuji Daigo is written in the elegant golden letters and Tenma takes out the hairpin again. It takes him a while to pick the lock, but eventually it clicks open and he slips through the door, making sure to close it behind him.

He moves to the desk and searches through the drawers. There are only two that are unlocked, and a quick look at the contents show only official things. Tenma quells the urge to grumble in annoyance and instead sets to picking the locks on the other drawers, four, to be exact.

The first drawer doesn't give him much either, some old documents with important information, but not the kind he's looking for. The same goes for the second one.

By the time he reaches the third, it gets really interesting.

The Keshin Initiative reports from the past six months.

Tenma can't help but grin and grabs the first report, from this month, snapping pictures of whatever seems interesting. He continues with the second report, then the third, fourth, fifth and sixth. He'd rather take all the reports with him, but there's no way he can get away with that.

Instead he hides the reports again, making sure they seem to be untouched, and moves to the fourth drawer. He starts picking the lock, and soon enough there's a soft click.

But when he tries to pull it open, it won't budge.

The brunet frowns. All the other drawers opened immediately after he managed to unlock them and he doubts this one is stuck, if he thinks of how easily the other drawers opened. He leans closer to inspect the drawer, but can't find anything out of the ordinary.

''What?'' he mutters to himself, feeling around the edges for a clue. Nothing.

The brunet frowns. He'd rather keep trying to open it, but he's been here for a long time already and he still isn't finished, so with reluctance he relocks all four of the drawers. He then finally turns his attention to the desk, feeling along the underside until-

''Aha.''

A small smile graces his lips as he pushes on the hidden button and the upper layer of the desk slides away to reveal a build-in keyboard, previously hidden. From there on, it's too easy for the time traveler to start up the holograms and search through them.

'They really need to work on their security.'

Files upon files of information. Tenma doesn't bother with looking through it, instead inserting the flash drive into the keyboard and starting to copy all of the folders onto the small stick.

It's a lot, but Fifth Sector makes up for their lack of security with their efficient technology. The entire transcription takes less than half an hour and before he knows it, the brunet is already shoving the flash drive in his pocket and turning off the hologram computer. Another push on the hidden button and the desk slides back together, hiding the keyboard again.

Not sure how much time he has left until the first workers come in, Tenma doesn't wait with leaving the room and relocking it. It's barely ten minutes later when he finds himself walking through the corridor that connects to his room, and soon enough, he's closing the door behind him and locking it again.

He hides both the flash drive and the hairpin as best as he can, meaning in the small inner pocket of one of the jackets Aki packed for him, and then checks his phone for the time as he quickly changes into his pajamas and crawls into bed – for real, this time.

03:24.

Well, let's hope he won't be woken up early.

~'0'~

Tenma's lounging on his bed, reading a book, when the door to his room is opened again. It's somewhere in the late afternoon – he's already had breakfast, hours ago, and he's starting to get hungry again – but one look at his new visitor tells him that no, it's not his lunch.

Instead the two by now familiar agents enter the room, followed by Senguuji himself.

For a short, terrifying second, Tenma thinks his actions from the night before have been found out.

Then he shakes that thought away.

He closes his book and it's not a second too soon, for only a moment later he's dragged from the bed and forced to his knees by one of the agents. Much like the day before, the other agent grabs the only chair and places it in the middle of the room, where Senguuji gracefully sits down.

''You certainly have a way with your entrances. Not even a 'hello, how are you?' Rude.''

The former Emperor seems more amused than anything by the brunet's words. ''Hello, how are you?'' he concedes, smiling as if he's talking to a particularly stubborn child.

''I'm doing quite well, thank you for asking,'' responds the time traveler, glancing at the agent restraining him. ''Though I have to wonder, do you have to be this drastic? It's not like I can actually attack you. And this just makes you seem all the more like a classic cartoon villain. Really, you should think about getting a cat.''

''You,'' starts Senguuji and Tenma can almost swear his eye is twitching, ''are very, very annoying.''

''Well, I guess not everybody has good taste.''

Yep, Tenma is definitely having way too much fun with this.

And Senguuji's eye is definitely twitching, now. ''Enough of these games,'' he says, his eyes flickering to the agent restraining the brunet. The underling responds by twisting the teen's arms further behind his bag and Tenma grunts in pain. ''We're not here to listen to your jokes, boy. I want answers.''

The brunet watches him warily, but doesn't say anything. Senguuji seems to take it as his cue to continue talking. ''Your Soul. When did you first learn of its existence?''

These are the same questions he asked yesterday and the time traveler's answer is the same – silence.

The former Emperor growls when it becomes clear he's not going to answer. ''Listen here, child,'' he hisses, leaning forward and glaring coldly. ''You seem to think you're safe. You seem to think that I care about this 'protection' the Holy Emperor has given you so far. I don't. Ogata,'' the agent previously waiting by the wall moves to stand next to Senguuji, ''if you would give our guest here a... demonstration, please.''

''Yes, sir.'' The agent – Ogata – crosses the little distance that separates him from the brunet and before Tenma can even prepare himself, the man's fist flies into his stomach. All the air is knocked out of him and the teen gasps, gritting his teeth against the pain.

Ogata didn't hold back at all, and it shows.

Ouch.

But Tenma has been fighting against his own Keshin for almost two months, and a mere fist to the stomach isn't going to stop him.

(It hurts so much more when someone shoots a ball with all the force they can muster. This is nothing.)

He glares at Senguuji, but the former Emperor merely returns his look with a pleased smile. ''So, have you changed your mind yet?''

His only answer is a flash of glowing blue eyes and the man's smile melts from his face, leaving an indifferent mask. ''Very well, it's your choice.''

The next two hours pass much the same. Senguuji asks a question and whenever the answer displeases him – which means, most of the time – either Ogata punches him or the other agent (Tenma has learned his name is Yamaoka) twists his arms roughly. By the end of it, the brunet is utterly exhausted, but Senguuji isn't any closer to his goal either.

''Very well,'' hisses the man eventually, standing up from his chair. ''You better have changed your mind tomorrow, or there will be consequences. And I won't be as nice as I was today.'' And with that, he leaves, Ogata and Yamaoka leaving and locking the door again.

It's only a small reprieve.

~'0'~

That night, hours after dinner, Tenma fakes sleeping again.

And again, one of the agents comes to check, and again, the brunet waits at least an hour before finally getting up and escaping his room again.

This time, he reaches his destination a lot faster, now that he already knows the way. Once he picks the lock, he slips inside the office and closes the door behind him. He immediately makes his way to the desk again and kneels down in front of the drawers.

Instead of trying to unlock the drawer, like he did the night before, he uses the flashlight on his phone to take a closer look. There's the obvious lock, exactly the same like the locks on the other drawers, but it's already clear that that's not working.

He takes his time checking the wooden structure, looking for anything that might stand out, and finally he sees it.

There's a small, hidden keyhole on the left side of the drawer. The brunet grins and starts working on the lock. A few minutes later, it clicks open.

He then focuses on the first lock. It doesn't take long for that one to unlock as well, and Tenma quickly opens the drawer. A blank report is the only thing there, resting at the very bottom, and he carefully takes it out. Standing up and placing it gently on the desk, he flips through the pages and grey eyes widen.

Endou Mamoru.

Kidou Yuuto.

Hibiki Seigou.

Kudou Michiya.

Raimon Souichirou.

''This is...''

Even though he already knows what he'll find, the brunet looks for a date. It takes him a while to find one, but when he does, he mentally curses.

'Only three weeks ago. He's- he's onto the Resistance, and only since a little while. This didn't happen the first time 'round.'

This is bad.

'This is, without a doubt, because of Soar's appearance. Senguuji's been investigating the Resistance and I bet Ishido doesn't know about it.'

But why?

Why would Senguuji suddenly focus on them now? Fifth Sector knew about the Resistance before, that much had been clear, so why would they suddenly pay more attention to them after Soar's appearance? If anything, they should've left them alone in favor of getting rid of Soar.

The Resistance had existed for years and Senguuji had never acted out against them. ''So why now...?''

Could it be that Senguuji believes Soar and the Resistance to be connected, somehow? Believes them to be working together?

Hibiki Seigou... Raimon Souichirou... Kudou Michiya... Why did none of them stop Fifth Sector...? The reality of the situation is that they did. Influential people in the soccer world formed an organization to oppose Fifth Sector... undercover and called themselves the Resistance... Fifth Sector could've used their authority to undermine them and thus take them down ...since the Resistance is a secret group, Fifth Sector could not bring them to light without admitting that there was a reason for their existence and that Fifth Sector was flawed...

The pieces from Jiro's article pop up in his mind and Tenma curses under his breath.

'Is it because Soar put so much attention on the Resistance? Because we named their leaders?'

''But they already knew about them,'' mutters the brunet. ''Senguuji already knew they were the leaders of the Resistance, and he already knew their purpose. So why? Is it because they got more support, once their cause was revealed? It can't be, right now, Soar is the one everyone is watching.''

Whatever the reason, Senguuji has his eyes on the Resistance and even though Tenma doesn't completely agree with them, he would be damned if he allowed someone to harm them.

He snaps pictures of pretty much everything in the report, making sure not to leave anything out – he doesn't have time to read it now, but he will definitely do so later.

Once he has finished, he places the folder back and relocks the drawer. Less than twenty minutes later, he finds himself in his room, slipping under the covers and trying to get some sleep.

It takes a very long time for his hyper-active mind to finally settle down.

~'0'~

Tenma is taken by surprise when his first visitors of the day, instead of an agent bringing him breakfast, are actually Senguuji's personal guard dogs, Ogata and Yamaoka.

Before he can react, one of them – Yamaoka – drags him to the middle of the room and throws him on the ground roughly. The brunet grits his teeth against the harsh treatment and glances up at the two agents. Ogata has locked the door again, so that means Senguuji isn't going to show up anytime soon.

''What is this?'' he spats out, but instead of an answer, Yamaoka delivers a harsh kick to the teen's abdomen.

Tenma coughs and curls in on himself, wincing at the pain. He glares up at both of the agents, their threatening silhouettes standing over him. It takes him only a second to make the connection and he can barely bring up his arms to protect his head in time for the first kick to land.

It's worse than the punches the two agents have delivered the previous days, not even giving him a short reprieve. Kicks and strikes rain down on every part the two can reach, his arms, his legs, his chest and stomach if they get lucky.

It ends sooner than he would've expected, and while it certainly hurt a lot, it still holds nothing in comparison to being hit by a soccer ball at full force, multiple times.

He barely gets a few seconds to breathe in relief, and then Yamaoka drags him up again, locking his arms behind his back painfully. ''What are you- what are you doing?'' Tenma gasps out, gritting his teeth.

It might not be the worst he's ever had, but it's still painful.

The agent holding him pulls roughly on his arms and the brunet yelps. ''Senguuji-sama's orders,'' states Ogata simply.

''Indeed.'' Tenma's eyes move to the door when he hears the now familiar voice. Senguuji turns back to him after closing the door and smiles pleasantly. ''I thought you might need some more... motivation.''

The time traveler glares at him.

Senguuji merely seems amused by it. ''Come now, no need to be so aggressive, Matsukaze-kun.'' His entire demeanor is pleasant, but the teen doesn't fall for it and merely narrows his eyes even more. ''I wish to ask you some questions and today, I expect answers. Otherwise there will be consequences.''

He snaps his fingers and Ogata drags the chair to the middle of the room again, just like the last two days. The former Holy Emperor sits down gracefully, crossing one leg over the other and resting his chin on his hand.

''You've been saying that since I arrived here,'' spats Tenma furiously. ''But I haven't seen any 'consequences' so far. Either tell me outright or I'm going to stay silent, even if your cute little lapdogs keep hitting me. You know I can do it.''

Senguuji seems strangely relaxed. ''Yes, you have proven your will to me multiple times now,'' he concedes, and his smile is entirely too genuine. ''Very well. If you happened to displease me even more today... there might be some, ah, trouble in getting you to the stadium in time for the Raimon-Genei match tomorrow.''

''Wha-'' Grey eyes widen in disbelief. ''You can't do that! That's sabotage!''

Finally does he realize why the man is so calm, but if Senguuji is bothered by his words, he doesn't show it. ''Ah, perhaps it would be, but who would know? Who would believe you, a mere child, if you told them I kept you from getting to your match on purpose?''

He's right.

Tenma grits his teeth.

'People might believe it, but no one would do anything about it. I'm not important enough for that- what's more, Soar can't interfere here either, Senguuji would immediately know I'm in contact with them.'

Senguuji smiles.

''It seems you understand my point. Now, perhaps it is time to start.'' He leans forward eagerly. ''Tell me, when did you first learn of your Soul?''

The time traveler stays silent, but much like the day before, they aren't accepting that. Ogata fluently steps forward and buries his fist in the brunet's abdomen, and Tenma cries out when the ache in his stomach flares up.

''Perhaps you would mind to reconsider your answer?''

Tenma keeps his eyes on the floor, his head hanging low, and grits his teeth. He doesn't have a choice, he knows it, so he clenches his eyes shut and swallows.

''...three years ago.''

Senguuji's pleased tone is impossible to miss. ''I see. Who told you?''

The brunet balls his fists, but Yamaoka respond to that by twisting his arms a little further behind his back and the teen winces.

''Kuro Ryuu,'' he whispers. 'I wish I could've come up with something better, but this will have to do. It's far enough from Kuroiwa Ryuusei for now.'

''Kuro Ryuu? Who is that?''

Tenma hangs his head just a little more, faking submission. ''He's from Italy – I'm not sure. He was looking for people with Soul potential. I happened to be one of them.''

He risks a glance at the man in front of him. Senguuji is frowning, but at least he doesn't seem angry. ''How did he encounter you?''

''No idea, a friend of mine introduced me to him.''

Well, Gouenji isn't exactly a friend, but close enough. Besides, the best lies are half-truths, right?

''Who is this friend?''

Tenma pretends the grimace on his face is from pain. This is going to be a long day.

~'0'~

The sadists among you are going to love the next chapters. Everyone else... not so much XD

So, Senguuji's goal is revealed: getting information from Tenma. What's more, he's acting against the Holy Emperor... what does that mean for Fifth Sector? And what will happen to Soar?

And maybe, most importantly... what will happen to Tenma himself?

MUHAHAHAHAHA- um, I mean- I have test week next week, so expect at least ten to twelve days before the next update.

See you next chapter!

- Yara Meijer