A room contained an antique leather chair and a table that showed off the rings of the tree it was made from. But the room had no furnishings besides the desk, the chair, and the abstract painting on the wall.

The room was located in the center of the imperial capital and the palace was visible from the window. Some strange people were gathered inside.

Mask-like objects hid some of their faces, but their silhouettes were very strange looking. On the other hand, those who left their faces exposed had well-featured faces. Everyone in the group seemed to draw the eye in some way or another.

“If the Jewel Branch of Hourai’s seal has been broken, those with imperial blood will gather in the empire.”

One of them spoke. His appearance was well suited for his behavior which was showy to the point of seeming sarcastic. His name was Kurahashi Kento. He was a member of CIMO 8 and he had the greatest brains and abilities of the group. His codename was USD, he was rumored to have the greatest intellect of the human race, and he was the one member who did not hide his ident.i.ty.

“Whoever those people may be, I want to make it clear that we will ultimately ally with the current empress.”

Kento looked around at the other members in search of agreement.

It was clear he had the most influence of the group. But one voice did rise in argument.

“You always jump right to the conclusion. For one thing, the government can’t interfere with the empress. And isn’t CIMO 8 a group of individualists?”

None of the people there were moving their mouths, but the voice was definitely there.

Kento replied without a hint of confusion.

“And as individualists, we were forced to join together for our original objective. And that original objective is of course what Yamato Bouichirou wanted. And that is…”

The voice from nowhere finished Kento’s sentence as if to say it understood.

“To appease the extra-universal beings. And if that fails, to fight and defeat them.”

The voice then added its own thought.

“I think our chances of appeasing them are greater.”

“I hope you are right,” said Kento coldly as he looked down at his feet.

A large dog was curled up there. It had long hair, so its eyes and drooping ears were almost completely buried below the fur. If it had not moved, it would have looked like a large mop.

The dog languidly raised its head, looked up at Kento, and moved its mouth.

“Are you saying you can’t believe me when I say the chances are good?”

The movements of its mouth did indeed match the voice.

Kento accepted it as normal, shook his head, and spoke as candidly as if speaking to an old friend.

“Even if you were one of them, you can’t know for sure.”

“It is true I do not represent them.”

The dog spoke to indicate he was a part of “them”. His codename was The One and he was a rare talking dog. However, his true ident.i.ty was not the dog.

“You are the only human in this world who is from ‘there’, so you don’t get to say you don’t represent them.”

Kento’s calm voice sounded slightly disagreeable.

The One bared his canine teeth to form a sarcastic smile.

“That’s another way to think about it. Then again, I betrayed them.”

A strange tension filled the air between them.

But a girl’s voice broke through that atmosphere.

“Kento, One, you always end up like this when you meet. Anyway, what are we supposed to do?”

The girl casually placed a hand on the side of her head and tilted her head, but she had a strangely bewitching aura to her. Kento and The One lowered their shoulders in disappointment.

“Kei, we will be protecting the current empress as a group,” said Kento as a warning.

The girl named Kei placed a hand on her chin and looked upwards.

“Hmm, but we aren’t the ones to decide if the empress is up to the task. That demon king has the empress on his side, right? Doesn’t that make us enemies of the empress?”

“But only the empress can use the Jewel Branch of Hourai and we need the power that has awoken. That is most likely the only power that can oppose the extra-universal beings.”

“Then it doesn’t matter who the empress is. We just want to use that power, right?”

Kei leaned back in her chair as if sulking and she clasped her hands behind her head.

“Yes, but the empress makes that power usable. And yet we only need the power. That creates a contradiction. In other words, we must explain our reasoning to the empress and have her obey us.”

Kei’s expression made it clear she did not quite understand.

“Do you really think that’ll work? Would that demon king really listen to us?”

“From what I have seen of his personality, that should not be a problem. He fears the destruction of the imperial citizens’ lives. That means our reasoning can reach him. Or we could take an innocent hostage. Either way, preserving the current regime is important.”

“Does that mean we’ll be ending the plan for me to replace him?” asked Kei as she leaned back in her chair and let her legs dangle down.

“That is a dangerous plan, so I want to avoid it if possible. You are our trump card. Listen carefully about what I tell you to do and do not take any careless actions.”

Kento’s tone was slightly different from before. It sounded like he was worried about Kei and like there was hidden meaning to his words.

Kei returned her chair to normal and sat up.

“Understood. If you say so, that must be the case.”

“That’s right, Kei.”

Kento smiled at her and she seemed to remember something.

“Oh, right. Weren’t we supposed to use our codenames here? You shouldn’t call me Kei, USD. People will think there’s something between us. Even if we’re both guys.”

Kei smiled.

Kento gave an uncertain look.

“You failed to use my codename first, Esper.”

“Really? And I was trying to keep a decent division between my private life and work. Right, Kento?”

Kei gave a suggestive look to Kento.

“Please stop that. People will think there is something between us.”

Kento shook his head, but Kei gave another suggestive look.

“And what’s wrong with that? Also, it’s important for coworkers to get along. Don’t you think The One is prepared to betray us? After all, if he allies with another imperial candidate and that candidate gets ahold of the Jewel Branch of Hourai, using its power would be easy.”

Kei looked across the different members.

Kento cleared his throat and The One spoke up.

“Ha ha ha! Esper, the way you act as if you really can read people’s minds is your one real flaw.”

“But,” began Kei with a smile back. “My special intuition is quite good. I work for Kento and I will do anything for him. Hey, One. No betraying us, okay?”

The One gave an obviously faked shiver.

“There is no place for me except for here. Working to prevent the destruction of mankind is my only choice.”

“Let’s stop talking about that,” cut in Kento. “Either way, mankind is about to experience the greatest threat it has ever faced.”