That had been a very harmonious exchange. Nothing about him screamed “villainous leader of the reprobates of the slums.” The feeling of dissonance only kept growing stronger. Or perhaps he was just that good at hiding his true personality?
Liz regained her composure and continued, “Anyway, what were you thinking?”
“Well, I was wondering if maybe we could reminisce about the old days?”
She looked at him in confusion.
“I mean, you have some sort of transient amnesia, right? Not my area of expertise, but I was thinking maybe stirring up old memories might help you remember something.”
“Oh! That. Right.” So this is for my sake? She’d thought maybe he’d attack her without warning, but apparently not? How odd.
Zenos continued nonchalantly from across the table. “So, how much do you remember?”
“Umm... I remember the orphanage was called the Dalitz Institute,” she replied, deciding to play along for now.
“Do you remember anything from after you left?”
“No.” Liz put on a distressed face, bringing a hand to her forehead.
“How much do you remember about the orphanage?”
“Well... A little? But some of it is fragmented,” she said, keeping her words deliberately vague.
“You remember Gina, right?”
“Y-Yes.”
“Well, that’s good. Gina is your little sister, after all. How is she, by the way?”
“She’s...” Liz trailed off for a moment.
Zenos leaned forward slightly. “She’s...?”
“Um, I’m not really sure.”
“I see. I figured you and Gina had stayed together after you left the orphanage, but you can’t remember that either, huh?”
“I can’t,” she replied quietly.
“Do you remember any other kids from our old group?”
“Um, there was you, and my sister Gina. Then there were Marcus, Emil, Lombard, Ashley, Kuja, and...Velitra.”
“Right, yeah. You’re missing a few, but you got most of the ones who were with us a long time.”
“R-Really? That’s good.”
After a moment of silence, Zenos asked gently, “Hey, Liz, you wouldn’t happen to know where Velitra is, would you?”
“Velitra was the one you were good friends with, right? I’m sorry. I don’t know.”
“Makes sense. You don’t even remember much about your own sister, so of course you wouldn’t know.” Zenos crossed his arms and hummed thoughtfully. “Guess it won’t be that simple. Let’s just leave it at that for tonight. Putting too much pressure on you won’t do any good either.”
“O-Okay.”
“How about we go on a walk tomorrow? Since you passed out in the ruined city, maybe you have a connection to this area. Walking around may help you remember something.”
“All right. Thank you.” Was he really thinking of her well-being? Sure, they’d known each other as children, but now she was nothing more than a tribute to him, right? “Say, why go out of your way for me?”
“Hmm? I mean, you took care of me way back when, right? If there’s anything I can do for you, I will.”
Liz still wasn’t sure whether or not he was plotting something, so she decided to subtly probe further. “By the way, what do you do here, Zenos?”
“Me? Uh...” Zenos hesitated for a moment before continuing, “Well, it’s not something I can talk openly about.”
“Oh?” Liz leaned forward. “So it’s something shady, you mean?”
Zenos’s expression was subtly awkward. “I can’t deny that, no.”
So he is the mastermind, then? The missing basement, the absence of guards, and his demeanor not having changed from what she’d remembered had all contributed to her sense of dissonance, but he was clearly acting suspicious now.
“Do you keep a lot of women around you?” she asked pointedly.
“Um, not in the way you’d think, but I can’t deny there are a lot of weird women around me.”
“And you do human experiments, don’t you?”
“You’re not making any sense, but no? I mean, I examine people’s bodies, but not for experiments or anything.”
