The man nodded, then slowly bent down and picked up the belt. First, he buckled it into a loop, then slipped his hand inside.
Although it looked safe, I
still wasn't entirely reassured.
"Lie down, with your back to me..."
The man nodded and lay down. Then I walked over and pressed the muzzle of the silenced gun against the back of his head,
before promptly shoving the small grenade I'd taken from that boss
into his mouth.
"Don't move. If you move... I'll... pull the pin."
"Mmmph!"
The man nodded rapidly. Only then did I tighten the belt and bind his wrists. Next, I tied one end of the rope hanging from the hook
around his neck and yanked it up!
"Uuugh!"
The man stood up in pain and leaned against the window. Then I taped the grenade to the highest point of his wrists behind his back,
and tied the rope around his neck, which ran over the hook on the wall,
to the grenade's safety pin.
That left the man with no choice but to keep his arms raised behind him. He couldn't turn his neck freely, either. Without a belt, his pants were
tied around his knees, so he was completely unable to move. If he turned his neck or lowered his arms, the grenade would go off.
The grenade was taped to his arms behind his back.
There was no way he could get free easily.
I'd found the tape in his backpack.
Now I could ask him what I wanted to know.
As I gathered up the weapons and hung them on myself, I glanced at the man.
"Tell me, just now... in the room, what did that person want to do to me?"
I asked in a clumsy voice. The man, contorted in