A/N: One of my readers, 'GoKingOk,' said that mind reading is 'intrusion into the mind,' which wouldn't work on Regulus. Thank you for commenting that btw. But mind reading can also be thought of as passively hearing or perceiving the thoughts of others without actively intruding or manipulating those thoughts. They're both right, so I pick whatever will lead me to the funniest development, which is the latter. I kind of also asked ChatGPT about it, and 'it' said that it's ok. But, I don't know if that is 'it' calculation, or it's me gaslighting 'it' to agree…
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Chapter 14: When the Conversation Becomes Impossible
Regulus Corneas P.O.V
One moment, I was attacking Reimu and the next, I flew backward to a big palace-like place. Huh? What happened? Did I get hit by something? If so, what was it?! I can't see what hit me. I can't even react to whatever got me flying here. Really, who attacked me?! And why? I just want to get rid of that Shrine Maiden, so why did I get attacked by someone other than that Shrine Maiden? They don't have the right to butt in somebody else's business, but yet I got sent flying by them! How many times are people gonna send me flying? Is this the fifth time that happened to me? I didn't bother to count but the number of times I got sent flying probably exceeds the number of my fingers on one hand!
Really though, how dare whoever that is to send me flying? That is definitely a violation of my rights. My right to my physical well-being! I need to deliver my justice to whoever did that to me! But before that, I need to know who did that to me. Was it that horned girl? That weak-as-heck girl that I sent flying through a dozen buildings? Was she the one who did that?! Since I don't know for sure, I'll put that in the back of my mind for now, but I'm definitely not forgetting that humiliation any time soon!
After I thought about that, I began to look around me. Again, what's around me is the inner wall of a palace. I assume this palace is the palace I first saw when I came down here. I never thought I would end up here since my original plan was to go up to the surface. But that plan was ruined by the Shrine Maiden whom I thought was dead.
Sigh, why do I have to deal with these troubles? I don't like any of these yet why do people keep pushing me to these troubles? Can't they just leave me alone? Like that horned girl. I don't even know her name and yet she grabs my head. How disrespectful! Didn't she know that I am Regulus Corneas, the Sin Archbishop of Greed? The undisputed, the most satisfying, the most perfect existence? To grab my head like that, does she not know what the word 'respect' means? How barbaric!
I stomped the ground a couple of times to indicate my frustration at the whole situation. Seriously! And now I'm in this freaking palace! If someone were to tell me an hour ago that I would go on a tour around this country, I wouldn't believe it. I think I have gone through three landmarks already! Can't I just get a break already? This is seriously annoying! Those pests, they should just disappear. After I get back to them, I will definitely finish them! All I need is one hit. If at least one of my attacks reaches them, they would be dead! No matter how long they dodge, they will definitely not be able to dodge my attack forever.
With my determination to kill those who ruined my day today set, I turned myself around to look at the holes I created when I entered this place. On the wall, and on the numerous walls behind the first one, there are holes in the shape of me beautifully decorated.
I just have to walk through these walls to go back to where I came from. But of course, it wasn't that easy. Of course, it wouldn't be that simple! In this freaking land, something would always block me from doing what I wanted!
"Regulus Corneas, will you quiet down? To come near my living quarters and be so loud this early, please at least show your consideration." That was the voice I heard as I'm about to walk through the holes I came from.
Turning around to the sound of that voice, I see a sleepy-looking little girl with pink hair staring at me. Her stare makes it seem as if she can see through everything.
This girl stare is creeping me out, and what with that floating eyeball connected by some sort of string? Disregarding her appearance and whatever that eyeball thing is, how did she know my name? Did I introduce myself to her? No, I did not! So how dare she call me by my name? She should have at least listened to my introduction, but no, she straight up called me by my name when I never introduced that to her! How impolite of her! And she has to appear when I'm about to leave. I wouldn't mind if she is not rude, but she has to try to order me around. I can't just ignore that, you know?
And seriously, why can't I leave in peace without encountering rude people? I can't leave this place knowing rude people who violated my rights didn't go unpunished, you know? So this girl is practically blocking me from leaving! How troublesome! I should just kill her and leave. I think that I was at least justified to do that much as this girl violated my right to my free movement and freedom of my choice. I should be able to do whatever I wanted to do without anyone telling me to stop. It's insane how people try to restrict others from their rights. Restricting themselves is fine as that doesn't violate the rights of others, but trying to restrict others is terrible, I'll say. So, this girl is unacceptable for trying to order me to quiet down. Her order is quite ridiculous, to be honest. One of the most important rights I possess is my freedom of speech. I should be able to speak, so for her to try to take that away from me, it's unforgivable.
After I rant that in my mind for just a couple of dozen seconds, the pink-haired girl suddenly wore a grimace of disgust and pain?
Did she just look at me in disgust? What gives? I didn't even talk to her, so did she just get disgusted by my look? If not then what else did she get disgusted by? And what with that pain look on her face? Is she mocking me? Did she think that I was a pain? What part of me is a pain to you, huh? Honestly, I don't even know if it's possible for someone to feel that someone else is a pain even when they haven't uttered a single word.
"Hey now, how did you know my name? I don't think I ever intr—." I did not get the chance to finish however as the girl interrupted me.
"I'm afraid I have heard enough." She said that while massaging her brow.
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Satori Komeiji P.O.V
Yesterday was a long day. I did taxes all day yesterday until late night, and finally got my deserved nap around 1 AM. Being the lord of the underground is tough. But instead of me getting to rest till 9, getting a full 8 hours of sleep, I was getting a rude awakening at 7 when I heard the never-receding tide of voices. It's like listening to the constant ringing of a dozen fire alarms, so I wake up.
After I wake up and get up from my bed, my head is throbbing. Argh, this feeling is the same feeling I have when I sleep in a place where there are a lot of humans. The same feeling that I get when I wake up after having slept through an onslaught of thoughts rushing to my head.
At first, I thought that surges of thought had come from at least five people. But as it turned out, the thought I heard that caused me to wake up from my slumber was from a single man, which was beyond surprise. I had never met someone who thinks that much before!
When I confronted him outside of my living quarter about him being here, I got assaulted by his thoughts.
The human brain allows for a near-instantaneous formation of sentences without the limitation of vocalizing them out with mouth and tongue. For that, I received this guy's thoughts with the length of the paragraph in just a couple of dozen seconds, making my head hurt. This is not too bad though since being in a crowd of people is a lot worse than this, but it's bad enough that I can confidently say if I were thrown into a room with five people, those five people wouldn't be thinking as much as this guy. This guy must have refined his thinking to hold such speed for decades!
I couldn't help but massage my brow at such an assault. My body is shaken a little in fear. This guy's thoughts are very unpleasant. His thought is probably comparable to the vengeful spirit in terms of how unpleasant it is to read. His thoughts are so disgusting that even my face unconsciously scrunches up in disgust. Vengeful spirits are filled with negative thoughts of wanting to harm others, and Regulus' thoughts are filled with his selfish greed that would harm others if his thoughts were to come to fruition.
From what I have gleaned from his conscious thought, he doesn't seem to be aware of his own greed as those probably being locked away in his very subconscious. I find him to be a potentially interesting case for both Persecutory Delusional Disorder and Grandiose Delusional Disorder in psychology, I'm not sure though. Hmm, I should put this guy as one of the villains in my hit psychological novel.
After having listened to Regulus' thoughts for long enough, and after he finally had enough of thinking and began to talk, I interrupted him since I heard enough from his delusion.
"I'm afraid I have heard enough." But Regulus doesn't seem to take that so well as I found myself in front of another barrage of rants, both from his thoughts and his mouth.
'Have heard enough? Have you heard enough?! What have you heard enough?! I don't even think that I spoke more than 20 words, so how was that enough? If she found that enough, is she mentally retarded that she can't process more than 20 words? Is she dumb, or is she just messing with me. In this case, I'll just assume that it's the latter: she is messing with me! With it being the latter instead of the former, I can fully use my right as a perfect being and spell out her flaws. I will let her know her mistake and her imperfection!' "Now what did you mean by 'having heard enough?' Are you messing with me!? I talked less than 20 words and you said that you 'have heard enough'? Don't play with me! How was that enough? Tell me how—"
At this critical juncture where Regulus is speaking, I interrupt him once again as I really have heard enough. "Spare me the details. I already foresee what you're going to say next."
After having said that, I read what Regulus was thinking, 'Foresee what I'm going to say next? Is she saying that I am predictable?! I found that incredibly insulting.'
That thought ended short as I interrupted him, "I did not find you predictable in the slightest."
Having heard me speak out of the blue, Regulus thought, 'What? Did she just predict what I'm thinking? Didn't that just prove my point of her seeing me as someone predictable? I can't handle such insults! I am not as predictable as this girl made myself to be. By saying that I'm predictable, it means that I'm simple. To even suggest that someone is simple, it's an insult to their character! Making that a violation of my right!'
Sigh, no matter what I say, this guy's always interpreted them as some sort of insult against his very person. Indeed, he probably has a Persecutory Delusional Disorder or something. I'll say that this is troublesome, with him finding fault in everything I said and twisting it so that it victimizes himself, the conversation would never flow and my headache would get worse.
I can't speak with humans for too long as their thoughts are just overwhelming sometimes and makes me nauseous. For that, I really really want this guy to leave. But from reading his thoughts, making him leave is practically impossible. I cannot even walk away from him as he probably will think that I didn't find him worth talking to or something and lash out. To be honest, his mindset is the most dangerous I've seen yet in someone.
Regulus practically thinks that everything is harming him in some way, and with him thinking that, his mind immediately thinks of murder as a solution. So, getting such a guy out, or getting myself out without him trying to kill me, is gonna be a very hard thing to achieve. But as someone who has a side job as a detective, solving my way through something is something I'm used to. I'm also used to thinking under exhaustion, which is not something I wanted to get used to in the slightest…
Ah, I read Regulus' thoughts just now, and he started to have the thought of killing me… I need to say something quick, but what should I say? If I say something about it, Regulus would act immediately to kill me for sure as he doesn't want to be seen as a simpleton. If I didn't say anything about it, he would go on with his intention. Such an unreasonable guy. Even though I only knew this guy for only a couple of minutes, he made me afraid and hate him already.
Regardless, since both of my options would result in the same result, mainly, him acting his thought of killing me out, I will just taunt him to make his conscious thought easier to read. "Perchance, the next thing you're going to say is, 'You are making a fool of me! You are violating my right to freedom from harassment!'?"
"You are making a fool of—what?!" Regulus wore an expression of shock, but afterward, that changed to anger. "You you! How did you know?! What did you—?! How did you do that?!" Regulus stumbled on his word. Afterward, he thought, 'She is definitely mocking me! She is definitely having fun making me look like a fool!' Upon thinking that, he basically says that out loud, "Is it fun for you to lower someone else by making them look like a fool? Am I that simple for you to rea—."
"Your heart has already spoken, so you don't have to say anymore. Mm-hmm, yes, what you're thinking next is, 'I'm going to get rid of this right violator who interrupted me thrice!' Right?"
At this point, Regulus was shaking, and his thoughts turned chaotic, causing me to winch a little. 'What was that? How did she read what I'm going to say next? It doesn't make sense! Am I that simple, or was it something else entirely? I don't get it! Just how did she know what I was going to say? She even spells out the things I'm going to say next for me. Was that her way of mocking me? I can't even let a word out and she predicted it perfectly! Since I had barely spoken out about what I was going to say, is this even called a conversation?! I hate this! I need to put this point across!' "What was that? Just how did you guess what I'm going to say ne—."
With me, all conversation is impossible. This conversation too, I had already heard once. No need to repeat it, and thus I said, "No, I did not predict what you're going to say, I just heard it."
'Heard it? Heard what? What was it to be heard? I didn't say anything and yet she said that she heard it?! What did she hear?!'
"Ah yes, you're thinking, 'What did she hear,' right?"
'Did… Did she hear my thoughts? My very inner sanctuary? No way that is true! There is no way! Everything about me is uninvadable! Both my mind and body cannot be bypassed as I am perfect. As a perfect being nothing can harm me or affect my mind! I'm impervious to anything, but yet this girl suggested that she can read my mind? But reading my thoughts or not! This girl is violating my right to speak by cutting me over and over again! Doesn't she find it rude to cut people off?! I have to point that out to her or else I wouldn't be able to rest!' "Did you just suggest that you hear my thoug—."
"Oh, I'm sorry then. I can already hear what you're thinking, so it's faster to—oh? … I see… Hmm-hmm, I see, you wanted me to stop reading your mind? I must confess that it's impossible. As long as my third eye is open, your thoughts will be heard by me. … Ah, saying that I had intruded on your mind is a bit… I mean, it's right, but it's also wrong. I did not penetrate your mind to see what you were thinking, I merely heard them. … 'What's the difference' you're thinking? Not much, really."
Saying that much, Regulus stares at me with a death glare. There is no need for him to talk, and thus he is angry. From what I read from his thoughts, he likes talking very much, so my existence probably is a bane for him.
What he is thinking is, 'I didn't even get to talk! This is unacceptable! This girl is the worst! Not only did she read my mind without my permission, she also kept interrupting me! She also didn't allow me to talk! Annoying, annoying, annoying! The most annoying person I ever met! At least hear me out! At least hear me talk! The conversation is impossible if it's one-sided, you know? I didn't even get to ask what her name is! If she didn't let me talk, I'd never know… Wait, she probably is reading my thoughts even now! This is getting uncomfortable! Freaky! Disgusting!'
Having heard Regulus' string of insults in his mind, I remain silent and unmoved. Those insults mean nothing to me. The hate of one person is nothing to the mountain of hate from thousands.
I cut Regulus' thought off by saying, "I apologized, it seems that I hadn't introduced myself yet. I am Satori Komeiji. I'm the master of this palace. And, it's not nice to insult someone in front of their face. But, it seems that you and I are not dissimilar as you are hated as well."
My third eye is staring unblinkingly at Regulus. He is thinking, 'Hated? You are wrong! Why did she think that I was hated? There is nothing about me that is hated. I'm perfect, the embodiment of perfection, they are just jealous! Jealous of me, that's why they seem so hating. But that is just how it seems, they did not hate me. They're just staying there in awe of my radiance. But, I must confess that there are some who hate me, but that is on them, not me! They are hating on me not because of my satisfying self, but because of their disgusting heart! You are reading my mind, ain't you? I know you are reading my mind at this very moment! So apologize to me! You are invading my inner sanctuary. It's a place that should not be invaded, yet you did! I don't care if you can't help it or not, you still have to apologize! I don't even need to talk, now am I? But just let me talk, you intrusive bitch! Actually, you know what?! You are violating my rights! More of my right than any other I had met in 3 minutes! You will get punished for this!'
Having sensed such an ominous thought, I sigh, this guy is so angry that he doesn't even bother to talk now, and only thinks rapidly with his mind. But that is fine as I have seen through Regulus' heart. "Fighting is inevitable, indeed. I might not be good at fighting as I did paperwork all day, but I will show you why Satori is the race that even the vengeful spirits fear."
There is nothing to hide. I see it! Regulus is thinking of attacking me by moving his arm horizontally, thinking of cutting everything in front of him. Having read that intention, I duck, making Regulus' attack completely miss me.
After it was completely apparent that I had dodged it, Regulus began to think of his next action. He is thinking of sending a shockwave at me through breathing! Having seen through that one too, I began to fly and step aside the incoming shockwave by reading what direction Regulus intended to release that shockwave.
"Now I wonder, what is it that you fear?" I said that to bring the thought of Regulus fear to the surface. For some reason, I cannot read his mind deeper than his surface thought, not even a little bit. That means that I cannot find his biggest fear and trauma, unless he reflects upon them. Though in the first place, I cannot go too deep into people's minds, so that doesn't really change how I do things.
'Now why would I fear anything? I fear nothing! Was she lowering me as a person with that question? But if I do have fear, it's probably that red-hair knight. Wait, no, I did not fear him. Why would I fear someone weaker than I am? That bad excuse of a knight only defeats me because I go easy on him. If I meet him next time, I won't commit the same mistake of letting my heart be destroyed by those fucker! Ah, right, this girl can read minds! But why does that matter? I have nothing to fear, I will proudly exclaim that!' "Now what are you on about? I did not fear anything as I am perfec—."
"I see, so your biggest fear is the red-haired knight you didn't bother remembering the name of. I find it interesting that even in your mind, you are trying to convince yourself that you are fearless. Sadly, I have to say that you can't hide your biggest fear from my third eye."
Regulus is a bit disgruntled as he thinks, 'I fear? I fear that red-haired knight?! She is lying! She is trying to psychologically harm me by spreading lies! I did not fear that knight! She should know that! Right, you! YOU should know that I did not fear him! Look at my thoughts again, and see my recollection of that knight! Point me out just what part of me is afraid of him!' "That is a lie, and I know it! There is no one that can understand my mind more than myself! Don't intrude into my thoughts and act like you know it all! You know wha—?!"
He didn't get to finish again as I said, "I see, so you sent that 'Red-hair knight' to the moon, but he came back. He also throws you down to the earth, causing your death. You are not a human, but a ghost… you didn't even notice that. You see? I'll know everything about you soon enough, even things you don't know yourself. There is nothing to hide here. Now tell me more! What is it that you don't want to experience again!"
'Argh, she cut me off again! Regardless of that, she sees what that knight put me through! But so what?! Those are things that I didn't fear, so what was even her point?! What is it that I don't want to experience again? Now why would I think that? She can read my mind, but so what? This is my mind, so no one can read things I don't want to get out. I just don't have to think about what I don't want to experience again. In fact, I don't want anything, so things like that don't exist. I don't have such experience! Not at all. I might not want to experience myself being thrown down through earth again, but that is not something I don't want to experience again. Actually, thinking that makes me seem like a masochist! So yeah, I don't want to experience that again like any normal human does. But that is nothing! That magician might recreate that experience, but it does nothing to me. I will tell this girl who can read minds that the thing she asked me for did not exist! Even if she read my mind! That will not stop me from having a normal conversation!' "You told me what I'd gone through because of that knight, but that is not something I fear, so what? And who gives you permission to see through those? So how dare you intrude?! That is a violation—."
"I see, the experience you don't want to experience again is when you're falling down through the earth. You might try to deny it, but I see your true sel—." I did not get to finish my words as Regulus attacked me again. Before he does so, he is thinking about what kind of attack he's gonna throw out and in what direction it's going to throw out, so I easily dodge that.
"Hmm, I found out about your past trauma. I'll let you experience that again with this 'Recollection'. Now open your eyes and relive this trauma that you deny, Recollection "Master Spark"."
With Regulus thinking about a certain magician, I was able to duplicate what she used to send Regulus flying through the earth. The output of my 'Master Spark' might be a lot lower, but having something is better than nothing.
With that being unleashed toward Regulus, Regulus found it so shocking that he didn't freeze the air and everything around him. How did I know that he could do that? From him thinking about it of course. Because he did not do that, he was knocked back through the other side of the hallway and past the wall at the end. The sad thing is that he didn't knock back through the hole he came in, and instead flew through the hallway, pushing him further into the palace. This is a hallway, and I did not appear from behind him when I first met him, so that is the result.
After I knocked him back to the other part of the palace, I planned to chase after him. But before I could do so, from the holes that Regulus first created when he came here, a person in red came in. On one of her hands was… eh?
"Koishi?"
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A/N: For the Omake, I'll write that in the next chapter. This chapter is long enough already. So, I'm sorry if you want to read that.