Two seconds later, the mirror sank back into darkness. Ripples spread across its surface, and blood-red words sprang into view: "My turn to ask a question."
"Even knowing that the woman you like will wear the dress you gave her, put on the accessories you bought her, and use the cosmetics you gave her to meet men of different ages and styles in a lively, passionate bar—
and that the next morning, she'll eat the breakfast for two you sent over at the first opportunity, then ride home in the carriage you're driving—
you still like her and are willing to keep doing these things for her, right?"
The Machinery Hivemind team captain, who looked fairly young but had a receding hairline, suddenly froze. His face seemed to have been smeared with cracked, ashen plaster.
"I, I... No, that can't be."
"She clearly said they were just ordinary friends..."
"I don't believe it. You made that up, you must have!"
He grew more and more agitated as he spoke, oblivious to the strange looks from those around him and the words that had reappeared on the mirror in front of him: "Time's up. Failure to answer counts as giving up. Punishment selected."
The next second, a thick bolt of green lightning appeared out of nowhere in the meeting room and struck the still-agitated captain.
Immediately, his hair turned curly and wild like Ikanser's, and shone with a greenish light.
Uneven, irregular patches of soot-black char appeared on his neat clothes and face. His body swayed from side to side as if he were drunk, and he twitched every so often.
A few Machinery Hivemind officers nearby watched as the captain's throat bobbed. One of them murmured, "Does anyone else think Arrodes has been more temperamental than usual these past couple