A few minutes later...

A tall brown fur, short auburn-haired, blue-eyed anthropomorphic male mobian squirrel wearing a long sleeve black and red turtleneck shirt with a long sleeve black blazer suit over it, long black and red pants, black socks and shoes on his feet is currently walking by himself down the hallway past the other closed doors of the empty interrogation rooms on either side of him toward the final interrogation room where the criminal leader of the notorious Freedom Fighters group that terrorizes Japan is finally caught and being confined in, which is guarded by a burly-looking male mobian dingo policeman and a stern-looking black-suited Echidna detective standing outside before the detective heard and saw the male squrriel approaching and he stepped in front of him while holding out his right hand to stopped him in his tracks.

"Excuse me, but this area's off-" the detective began telling the male squirrel.

"I'm Elias Acorn from the Public Prosecutors Office." said the male squirrel named Elias Acorn calmly and swiftly to the detective, cutting off the rest of his words.

"The Prosecutors Office? What business do you have here?" asked the detective as he raised an eyebrow at Elias.

"Just let me through; it's urgent. There's something I need to confirm with the suspect." replied Elias more calmly to the detective as he raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Acorn-san, I believe this case is no longer in your jurisdiction. Besides…" the detective said and reminded Elias with a cold indifference look on his face before his words got cut off by another person.

"Are you Prosecutor Elias Acorn?" said the voice of another person suddenly from behind Elias, which make him turned around and he saw another older and stern-looking black-suited male Echidna walking toward and stopped near him with his arms crossed over his chest. "There's a call from your director. Hurry and get it over with. To be frank, you're being an inconvenience." the second black-suited male Echidna added to Elias (which make him scowled at the older Echidna) before Elias take his phone out of his pants pocket when it started ringing and pressed it to his left ear.

"I thought I ordered you to stand by." said the slightly exasperated voice of Elias director to him from his phone.

"I'm responsible for this case, yet I'm not even being allowed an interrogation with the suspect!?" snapped Elias coolly yet angrily at his director.

"I'm calling because I knew that you'd bring it up." said the director.

"I will not be convinced unless I confirm it myself. This is MY case, sir." Elias stated clearly and firmly to his director (which make him let out a sigh sound at Elias).

"Good luck to you then. I won't be expecting much, though…" said the director to Elias before he ended the call and Elias put his phone back into his pants pocket with a slightly relief look on his face since his director sort of allowed him to speak and interrogate the suspect.

"Ah, Prosecutor Acorn. I forgot to mention something important. Your time with the hedgehog suspect will be cut short. We can't permit you to talk with him for long." the second black-suited Echidna told Elias (which make him fell silent before he grudgingly nodded at him). "It's for your own sake. His methods are unknown. After all, we don't know if it's safe for you to simply meet and speak with him in the room." the second black-suited Echidna added in a feigned worry tone of voice to Elias.

"… I understand." said Elias as he gave another grudging nod to him before he turned around and walked toward the interrogation room door. The police officer who stood guard outside the door step aside and opened the door for him before he stepped into the room and he closed the door behind Elias.

Right after Elias stepped into the room and the policeman closed the door behind him, he then glance at Shadow with sad and disbelief looks on his face before Elias sat himself down on the chair near the table opposite Shadow while not taking his eyes off him.

"… Hello, Elias…" said Shadow weakly to Elias after he heard him came into the room before he raised his head to look up and his tired and hazy-looking eyes widened slightly in recognition at seeing Elias.

"… Of all the mobians that I initially thought to be the leader of such a dangerous group, I didn't expect that it'd be you, Shadow the Hedgehog." said Elias in a sad and disappointed tone of voice to Shadow. "You'll be answering my questions this time." Elias added to Shadow.

"… Yeah, I know." said Shadow weakly to Elias (who nodded before he noticed the 2 empty syringes lying on the floor and he cursed the policemen and detectives for injecting drugs into Shadow).

"Hey, can you hear me? It seems that you've been through a lot in here ever since they caught and bring you here, Shadow." said Elias as he leaned forward a little in concern to him. "Almost anything can happen here… and I can't stop them." Elias told Shadow worriedly and seriously before he leaned back in his chair. "That's why I need you to answer me honestly. I don't have much time left either."

"… What do you want to know, Elias?" asked Shadow weakly and suspiciously to Elias.

"Firstly, what was your objective, Shadow? Why did you cause such a major incident? I didn't think it was a joke or a prank from the get-go, but I couldn't assemble a case for prosecution. It's because I couldn't figure out the method behind it, no matter how hard I try." Elias asked one question after another at Shadow.

"Of course you couldn't know about it…" replied Shadow.

"You may be right." said Elias as he furrowed his eyebrow slightly . "There's no way I could be convinced of such a… "world" just be reading the reports. It seems you're coherent. When and where did you find out about that world? How is it possible to steal another's heart? Now, tell me your account of everything… Starting from the very beginning." Elias asked more questions at Shadow (who gave another weak nod to Elias before he closed his eyes and raised and placed his right hand on his forehead to try to remember back).

XXXX

Soon after Shadow closed his eyes to try to remember, an almost transparent, sparkling blue butterfly suddenly appear and flew past Shadow, who opened his eyes in slight surprise when he saw the butterfly flew past in front of him before he heard a soft and mysterious voice of an unknown girl speaking to him.

"…You are held captive. A prisoner of cruel fate to a future that has been sealed in advance. This is truly an unjust game… Your chances of winning are almost none. But if my voice is able to reached you, there may yet be a possibility open to you… If so, I beg of you. Please overcome this game… and save the world… The key to victory lies within the temporary forgotten memories of your bonds-the truth that you and your mobian friends grasped. It all began that day… when the game was started half a year ago after your arrival… So please, for the sake of the future of the world… as well as your own, your friends and everyone else… you must remember…" the mysterious voice of the unknown girl spoke and told Shadow about it before he closed his eyes and try his best to remember back.