I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

From the 31st minute onwards, Terasaka Juheiji became increasingly incoherent and his mental state became more and more unstable—he seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

Do you like Kabuki?

"dislike……"

Do you like Jingli Puppet Theater?

"dislike……"

"You participated in the murder of Kanazawa Tadatsugu and Miss Kanazawa Koto, didn't you?"

"right……"

Terasaka had barely uttered half a syllable of his "yes" when he suddenly widened his eyes as if waking from a dream.

"No, no, no! That's not right... uh, no... it's... that, this... um... I meant 'right'... no, no, no! I meant 'right'... no! I meant 'wrong'..."

Like a bug, Terasaka's speech was incoherent, illogical, and nonsensical. He seemed to be "fighting" with himself, repeatedly muttering incoherent phrases.

She would cover her face with her hands one moment and then hug her head the next.

In no time, his back bones seemed to have been removed, and his entire upper body collapsed, his two large, fan-like hands tightly covering his face.

"Aa ...

The cries were so shrill and mournful.

"Please, I beg you! Stop asking! Stop asking!"

"I really don't know anything! I really don't know anything!"

"Waaaaaaah..."

A tall, burly man suddenly started crying like a child.

Upon seeing this, Nishino smiled slightly.

Terasaka's psychological defenses had been completely broken down, and he knew it was time to move on to the next stage.

Nishino gave a wink to the subordinate next to him.

The subordinate immediately understood and quickly left the interrogation room.

A short while later, the subordinate returned to Nishino with two cups of hot tea and a plate of wagashi (Japanese sweets).

Nishino took the hot tea and wagashi (Japanese sweets), placed the wagashi between himself and Terasaka, kept one cup of tea for himself, and handed the other cup to Terasaka.

"Here, drink it while it's hot."

As he served the tea, Nishino spoke in a gentle tone.

"what……"

Terasaka looked up, staring at the tea in front of him with a look of surprise and uncertainty, and then at Nishino.

"This tea...it shouldn't be poisoned, right?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Nishino snorted with a "humph" through his nostrils.

"Leaving aside what benefit we would gain from poisoning you, if we wanted to kill you, why would we need to resort to such a troublesome method?"

"That's true..."

Terasaka nodded slightly, then, without suspecting anything, raised his glass and drank heartily.

The tea was at just the right temperature, neither too hot nor too cold, and it was refreshing and invigorating.

Terasaka never thought tea tasted so good before...

Recently, Nishino and others have not only prevented him from sleeping and resting, but have also provided him with extremely poor food.

They drank ice-cold well water.

They ate cold plain porridge.

It's fair to say that Terasaka hasn't had a single hot meal in the past two days.

He was so happy to drink the fragrant hot tea after so long, and felt the warm current sliding down his esophagus. It was so comforting that he almost cried.

However, at that moment, a cold male voice suddenly rang out:

"Alright, let's continue answering our questions."

The speaker was the subordinate who had just helped Nishino get tea and snacks.

Upon hearing this, Terasaka's hands trembled violently, and he almost dropped the teacup in his palm.

Terasaka quickly raised his pitiful, pleading eyes, and just as his words of pleas were about to spill out, Nishino interrupted:

"Alright, let's stop for now, don't proceed with the trial."

Upon hearing this, the subordinate hurriedly said:

"Master Nishino, but..."

"There's no 'but,' you can go and rest now."

Nishino waved his hand.

"Yes... I understand..."

Despite his resentment, the subordinate obediently agreed and then turned and walked out of the interrogation room.

With the subordinate gone, only Nishino and Terasaka remained in the dimly lit interrogation room.

"Terasaka, have something to eat. You haven't had anything proper to eat for the past two days, you must be starving!"

Nishino pushed the plate of wagashi (Japanese sweets) towards Terasaka.

An incredulous look flashed in Terasaka's eyes.

He asked cautiously:

"Can I really...eat this...?"

"of course."

Nishino smiled slightly.

Eat as much as you want.

Since the other party had said so, Terasaka no longer hesitated.

He opened his arms wide, holding a wagashi in each hand, and began to devour it with gusto.

Every wagashi he stuffed into his mouth was barely chewed before he swallowed it impatiently—it's easy to imagine how inhumane the treatment Terasaka had been receiving over the past two days had been.

As Terasaka devoured the wagashi on his plate with the speed and ferocity of a glutton, he secretly raised his eyes to sized up Nishino across from him.

If we were to describe Terasaka's recent opinion of Nishino, it would undoubtedly be one of deep-seated hatred.

It was because of this bastard that he ended up in prison and suffered so much torment.

However, at this moment, for some reason, Terasaka's hatred for Nishino has diminished by more than half.

—This person… doesn’t seem so unpleasant.

While thinking this to himself, Terasaka even thought that Nishino was quite handsome... A strange flutter rose in his heart.

"Terasaka, if we could, we wouldn't want to use such cruel methods to interrogate you."

Nishino let out a long sigh.

"But there's no other way... it's my duty, my mission."

Terasaka lowered his head and said softly:

"...I can understand."

Nishino continued the conversation:

“We interrogated you day and night, and not only were you tortured, but we were also exhausted.”

"So... if you know anything, please speak freely and without reservation."

"Even if you have committed a serious crime, as long as you confess voluntarily, you will not only be spared further torture, but you will also receive a significant reduction in your sentence."

"What do you think?"

After saying that, Nishino Okijisaka gave a calm and serene smile.

Looking at Nishino's smile, Terasaka unconsciously looked away.

The fear of relentless, day-and-night interrogations...

Because of her gratitude for Nishino's gentleness, her hostility towards him diminished significantly...

As his hostility towards Nishino lessened, a strange unease suddenly arose in his heart...

These various emotions combined caused a dramatic change in Terasaka's state of mind.

Suddenly, Terasaka lowered his gaze and head—

"I did not kill Kanazawa Tadashi and Kanazawa Koto..."

"But...I was there when Kanazawa Tadatsugu and Kanazawa Koto were killed..."

Nishino narrowed his eyes slightly.

Beneath his lowered eyelids, glints of light shot out.

Please provide a detailed explanation.

"I'm a henchman under Shimizu Eiichi... specializing in handling... dirty work for the Shimizu clan..."

Eiichi Shimizu – the leader of the Shimizu clan.

"What an incredible name I've heard..." Nishino thought to himself. He quickly focused his attention, listening even more intently, not missing a single word Terasaka uttered.

"On the night of January 17, I received a summons, saying that I was to go and kill someone."

"I didn't know until after the operation was over that the person we killed that night was 'Fire Dog' Kanazawa Tadatsugu."

"The person who led us to kill Kanazawa Tadatsugu... was a young man who called himself 'Rakshasa'."

"We don't know his real name, we only know that he is a master swordsman, proficient in swordsmanship, especially the art of drawing the sword, which is incredibly strong."