The Mastermind

He was a tall, blonde, blue-eyed young man. Every single one of the children was gazing at him including Aiko, it was obvious that he was the boss. Aiko's eyes were following him until he reached the basement.

She was concerned for Yuma's life. In their view, this is the second attempt he's made to run.

The children were told to return straight to their rooms, and they were not even allowed to complete their meals. Despite the fact that they were meant to go to the playroom.

Yuma has been absent for two days now. Aiko lost faith and thought of him as a deceased individual. She could not stop thinking, she had a lot of unanswered questions, but what she knows is that Theon will not get away with it.

Today after lunch was Aiko's turn with the experiments, she was taken to a different room this time. She was waiting on top of a bed for a few minutes until a man showed up.

He did not say anything, he took a lighter, sat on one knee in front of the bed, grabbed her foot, then burned it slowly while she was screaming. After a few seconds, he left her foot and turned to his desk, held a pen then he began writing something on a paper while Aiko was still crying in pain.

After he was done with writing, he took a scalpel then grabbed the same foot and commenced taking the burned skin off.

Aiko wanted to kick him so badly, but she knows the punishment would be way worse. She could not do anything but cry. After he was done taking the skin off, he put it in a bottle, then he wrapped a bandage around her foot. 

He went back to his desk and said, "That is all, you may leave now."

"But I can't walk, how am I supposed to get out?"

"If you are not able to walk then crawl. Get out." He said firmly 

Aiko stood up on her feet, then walked out bearing the pain in her foot, as soon as she closed the door behind her, she leaned against the wall, lifted her injured foot, and gathered some energy to make her way to her room.

The blonde guy who was passing by and saw her in that condition, said sneering "You poor thing. Do you need help walking?"

Aiko gave him a glare full of hatred "Soon, you will be the one who needs help."

He was stunned by her answer, but after a moment he laughed.

Suddenly, the man who was torturing her came out of the room, seems like he was listening to them. He pulled her hair, yelling at her.

"How dare you talk like that in front of the master you little brat?! Apologise right this second!"

"Let go of her." His master told him smiling, then continued "Is he the one who did this to your foot?"

Aiko nodded, then he said speaking to that man "help her reach her room." Just like that, he left without saying anything else.

Doing what his master ordered him, he held her hand to help her walk on one leg, and when they reached the girl's chamber, she was pushed in there by the same man who brought her, then he slammed the door before he leaves.

Kira asked Aiko what happened to her foot exactly, and after she answered, Aiko asked Kira if the master had ever come here before.

"He comes here every six months to make sure that everything goes right. However, he is not supposed to be here at this time, maybe it is because of Yuma attending to escape again."

"Speaking of that you told me that Yui is the one who wanted to run?"

"Right, she wanted me to cover for her then I refused, and seeing what happened to Yuma maybe she changed her mind."

Kira was a little suspicious about that, but she believed that lie easily and begin comforting Aiko about her foot.

Aiko arrived in the cafeteria thanks to Kira, as soon as they arrived they found the meals already on the tables unlike usual, also there were three guards instead of the caretakers.

They took their seats and began eating silently. "Is there a meeting or something? What would they discuss? Increasing security? Or improving the punishments so nobody can ever think of escape?" Aiko wondered.

After they were sent to slumber, everyone was asleep except for Aiko, not only because of her foot injury but also because of her thoughts, is it true what that woman told her? That this place was made to get rid of demons who control children? Or was she just lying to her? And if she was lying what is the purpose of harming all those kids? What is their goal?

Aiko has been awake all night, and in the morning the door opened and the caretaker who entered began waking the others up per usual. 

After he made sure all of them are awake, he told every single one of them which room they have to clean and who will clean it with them.

Aiko was supposed to clean the basement with Yuma, she was surprised to know that he was still alive.

After breakfast, Aiko went to the storage to bring the cleaning supplies, she was disappointed since she thought she would see him during breakfast but he was not there. 

She got used to the pain in her foot faster than she thought, at least she can walk alone now. When she finally entered the basement, she was surprised by the dungeons, and even more surprised by how bad Yuma's condition was.