Chapter 1 - Plot of the Elders (1/8)

A straight corridor continued without end.

The floor was covered in shades of red, blue, white, black, yellow, gold, silver, and green so bright they hurt the eyes and the area overhead was too dark to see the ceiling.

Countless doors lined the walls on either side. Doors with identical dimensions, color, and keyhole shape continued forever without end.

A single figure walked down that strange hallway before finally coming to a stop.

It was Ibekusa Machina.

There was no visible difference between the doors and there had been 102 of them as far as she had walked, but she did not hesitate to reach for the knob. She chose the correct knob from all of those different doors.

She found a blue sky and garden on the other side and a refreshing breeze blew in as soon as she opened the door. The scent of fresh grass welcomed her.

This miniature garden was decorated by red and white roses. Straight ahead were a table covered in a pure white tablecloth, a white wooden chair carved with a design, and a small girl sitting in the chair.

The girl wore a red gothic dress with plenty of lace, frills, and ribbons. Her hair had curly ends, was tied to either side, and was colored a blonde as dazzling as the sun. She did not look even ten years old, but she had a strangely mature calmness to her.

A single maid stood behind her.

A chess board and a white stuffed rabbit sat on the table. There were also two teacups. When she noticed Machina, the maid immediately began preparing tea.

"Welcome back."

"Welcome back."

"…Thank you."

Machina sat across from the girl.

"I see you're as punctual as ever."

While taking a sip from the cup in her hand, the girl pulled out a wooden pocket watch. The time was precisely 16:59:57.

The stuffed rabbit on the table moved on its own to move one of the chess pieces.

It boldly moved a rook forward to break into the opponent's formation.

But a moment later, the girl used the hand not holding her teacup to move her queen one space forward. The rabbit froze in place with its long ears tensed. That rabbit had the world's five best chess programs installed in it, so it knew she would achieve checkmate in seventeen more moves at this rate.

Deciding to recalculate everything from square one, the rabbit blinked its red eyes while thinking.

"…"

"Mh."

Machina reached out and used the previous rook to take the pawn next to it. The blonde girl confidently enjoying her tea looked on in shock.

At 17:00:47, the beautiful garden was enclosed in darkness.

The sky, trees, and scent of fresh grass all vanished, leaving only the table.

Also, twelve monoliths built to the golden ratio appeared floating around the table.

Those rectangular solids had the designs of playing cards. A Jack, Queen, or King was drawn on each one and one of four suits was designated in the top left and bottom right corners.

"Hi, Miss A. how have you been?"

The King of Spades was positioned out front and it swayed like a clown while speaking in a mechanical voice that muddied the voiceprint.

The gothic dress girl referred to as Miss A closed her eyes and briefly replied "fine".

"Esteemed guests of FeTUS, thank you very much for gathering here today."

The maid prepared a cup of tea each even for the cards and began the meeting once she was done.

"Today, we will be discussing FeTUS's final objective, Adam, which has at long last appeared. I will provide a report on the current situation and FeTUS's plans for the future. As I am sure you know, Adam is currently-…"

"That is not necessary." The Jack of Hearts interrupted as the maid began with a gentle smile and voice. "We can gain a certain amount of information on our own."

"The Adam scheduled to be born within these hundred years has finally appeared."

"Mutsuki Fujita, the Serpent's Eye holder mentioned in our last meeting, is Adam."

"Currently, he is under the angels' control and safely retrieving him would be extremely difficult."

"We know all of that."

The Queen of Clubs, King of Diamonds, and Jack of Spades spoke one after another and the others showed no sign of attacking them for their rudeness. It seemed all twelve were already in agreement.

"My apologies."

Despite their overblown complaints, the maid's gentle smile did not crumble.

"Then Miss A will provide her thoughts on FeTUS's future plans."

"Yes."

At the maid's insistence, the girl finally set down her cup of tea.

For a brief moment, she seemed to glance toward Machina across from her. Machina remained just as silent and expressionless as at school and that was her response to Miss A.

She was letting Miss A say what she would.

"Let me begin with the conclusion."

The girl spoke to the floating monoliths that surrounded her as if to intimidate her.

"From here on, maintaining the status quo will be FeTUS's top priority. Fujita Mutsuki will continue to be observed by Miss E and the others currently monitoring him."

"What…!?"

The twelve cards each gave muffled expressions of surprise. Despite the lack of expression on the playing cards, the microphones meant to disguise their voices still let through how shaken they were.

"Miss E has already built a favorable relationship with Fujita Mutsuki. As such, I believe keeping everything as is would be the safest and most reliable method of achieving our ultimate objective."

Even as the stir vanished from beyond the microphones, the girl continued speaking.

The cards replied after managing to at least calm their voices.

"You mean we have Adam right before our eyes…and we will do nothing?"

"Precisely."

"I cannot accept that! From what I've heard, the demons are already advancing on him! You know perfectly well what will happen if Adam falls into the demons' grasp. To achieve our ultimate objective, we should secure Adam as soon as possible and even restrain him if need be!"

The Jack of Diamonds moved forward while shouting in anger.

That led to several other cards joining the argument to agree.

"Miss A, you have been far too passive lately. It was almost certain that Mutsuki Fujita was Adam, yet you had Miss E do nothing, allowing the angels to snatch him from our grasp. It was also your mistaken decisions that allowed the demons to approach him, wasn't it?"

"I know you have not forgotten how much money went into locating Adam! We investigated every single infant in the world and monitored the six hundred thousand with a possibility of holding the Serpent's Eye. But of all things, the angels and the demons found him ahead of us…and now I hear all three factions are on equal footing!"

"And then you went on to observe without acting, which is not like you at all. What happened to the vigorous Miss A who supported the history of mankind for centuries?"

They all voiced their complaints and showed no sign of stopping.

Machina remained expressionless throughout, the maid's smile was erased by her annoyance, and Miss A sighed and frowned.

Those beyond the playing cards were investors who had made large financial or informational contributions to FeTUS, the organization led by Miss A.

This was a gathering of influential members of large corporations from around the world, but the rich being loud and annoying was a global constant. And being unable to speak back to one's sponsors was another such global constant.

However, a hierarchy had been established.

"Listen."

"Mh…"

The girl's heavy voice rapidly silenced the sponsors.

Showing respect to one's elders was yet another global constant. Even if this group of twelve owned a third of all the world's legal currency, they could not treat her rudely.