1/2

Battery Park Hotel stood by the sea; you could even hear the seagulls. Looking out, you could see the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor.

The view was breathtaking.

Yet Kate merely clutched her head and trembled. "What's going on? Who are you? What the hell is happening? My head hurts so much!"

"Relax. The hypnosis is fading now that the hypnotist is dead," Hayato said.

The three women kneeling on the floor were in just as much pain, writhing on the ground.

Hayato tapped them with his fingers, knocking them unconscious, then lifted the carpet and covered their bare, alluring bodies.

"There are still fifteen minutes. I can answer some of your questions. One at a time. Take it slow." Hayato sighed and sat down.

Kate looked around the familiar room in confusion. She had been here two or three times before, but now it felt utterly foreign.

"Who is that man?"

After calming down somewhat, Kate pointed at the bound man.

"He's the old man in your memories who kept you as his mistress. You know about mutants, right?"

Kate nodded. The Mutant Registration Act had once dominated every news headline and caused a huge uproar for a long time.

"He should be a mutant with hypnotic powers. He fabricated memories for you."

"Then why fabricate an old man with lousy sexual ability when he himself..."

"When he himself was pretty good-looking, right? Who knows? Maybe he was abused as a child, or perhaps impotence made him psychologically twisted. He harbored immense hatred toward women, so he deliberately made himself into an old man in your memories to humiliate you. But... even as an old man, didn't you accept him?"

Kate lowered her eyes. Yes, even if it had been a scene created through hypnosis, she had