Itsy Bitsy Spider

19. Testing the Waters

"As I mentioned yesterday, I have questions I would like answers for. You could struggle, or you could cooperate." The leader gave a smile, far too sweet for his intent. "As you cannot leave unless we permit you to, I suggest you do the latter."

Lucky set his jaw in an attempt to hide his nerves. It was a threat, hidden under a soft tone and a perfect, practiced smile. Even then, it was undoubtedly clear. His gaze shot to his right arm for a brief moment. He should have gotten used to the pain by now, but it still throbbed every time his heart pulsed. Still red and swollen, aching, but not broken. Fractured at most. But from the realness of the threat, Lucky knew they could do far worse to him.

The leader spotted him inspecting his injured arm. "Rest assured, we will not hurt you unless need be."

Oh yes, that made him feel a lot better.

Lucky's blood pressure increased, and he struggled to lower it. A distant crash, followed by a high-pitched and frustrated "Why are all the auction items breaking?"

The leader sucked in a patient breath. "How long has your..." He paused, searching for a word. "How long has your condition lasted?"

Lucky was tempted to give a sarcastic response, but he refrained. He valued his life more than his dry sense of humor as any normal person would. "My bad luck? A while. I was born with it, I think." He thought back to all the stories his family had told him about the day of his birth. He'd gotten various accounts, but the full picture was just as convoluted as the individual point of views. First, his dad fainted, unhooking the tube his mother was using for oxygen, which caused her to panic which caused the doctor to panic. Then the lights flickered and the computer malfunctioned, and then the whole fish tank incident happened... He'd entered the world with a big bang, no joke. "Yeah, I was definitely born with it."

"You're quite an interesting kid," someone said, alarmingly close to his ear.

Lucky jolted, scrambling back. It was the woman with the revealing office outfit, the... he searched for the word. Blazer. While he had been furiously thinking, the woman with the blazer had snuck up on him without his realizing. Her fingertip hovered in the air where his elbow had been.

"He's not lying for now, Danchou, but he's starting to feel threatened again." Blazer stood. "My Nen keeps flickering on and off. I can get some snippets of information, but not a lot."

"I see." The leader, or Danchou, pondered for a moment before raising his voice to Lucky. "If we wait on you to be comfortable, it will take a long time for us to get the information we want."

At a nod, Emo Loser was behind him again, an iron grip connecting his wrists. His foot was firmly planted on Lucky's back so his arms were pulled back into a strained, painful position.

Lucky tried to level his breathing, he did. His heart beat at the bars of his rib cage as he inhaled deeply. He could hardly hear anything against his pounding head and his frantic thoughts, but the Danchou's voice rang loud and clear through his panic and pain:

"So tell the truth, alright?"

As if on cue, the woman put a hand to his arm, her expression stoic and unreadable.

Lucky gulped. He knew it was cliché, but he couldn't stop himself from thinking: What did they want with him? That Danchou asked about his bad luck. Did they want to know more about that? Why were they so concerned whether he was telling the truth? Lucky just wanted to sleep, stay home, maybe study for the advanced physics test coming up next Monday. Which he realized was now this Monday... which was tomorrow. Crud.