Shuchiin Academy, the Student Council Room.
The afternoon sun streamed through the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, casting warm, bright pools of light across the floor.
Dust motes drifted through the golden columns of light, dancing slowly, and everything seemed quiet and serene, like a frozen oil painting.
And yet that serenity was like a thin glass dome, sealing Kaguya Shinomiya outside of it.
She sat alone in the Student Council Room, her slender fingers unconsciously running over a cup of black tea that had long since gone cold.
The tea was a deep amber, but it reflected nothing of the hollowness in her eyes.
It had already been three days since Ai Hayasaka left.
Three days. Seventy-two hours. Four thousand, three hundred and twenty minutes.
For Kaguya, time was no longer a measure that flowed evenly. It had become a stretched-out torture, soaked in icy water. Every minute, every second, came with the agony of having her heart sliced apart piece by piece.
Her world was collapsing silently from its very foundations.
On the first day, Kaguya forced herself to stay composed.
She told herself that Ai had simply been kept overnight by that man, handling some urgent "liaison" matter. Over and over she replayed Ai's final words before leaving: Everything is under my control. Even though her heart had long since been overtaken by enormous panic, she still clung to a faint thread of hope, the way a drowning person clings to a piece of driftwood.
On the second day, that driftwood was mercilessly torn from her grasp.
She went to check Ai's dormitory at the school, and found it had already been emptied out.
The suitcase, the clothes, the books, even the goofy photo-booth strip the two of them had secretly taken together that had sat by the bed... everything was gone without a trace, the room cleaned spotless, as though "Ai Hayasaka," along with every trace of her existence, had been wiped from this world by some invisible hand. In that moment, Kaguya's heart sank into a sunless abyss.
She contacted the main household to ask after Ai Hayasaka's whereabouts.
What she received in return was an official statement, cold and stripped of any trace of human feeling:
"Lady Kaguya, regarding the matter of Ai Hayasaka, there is no need for you to ask any further. Due to her failure to perform her duties, she has already been 'dealt with' by Mr. Fujiwara. What you need to be considering now is how to serve Mr. Fujiwara more devotedly, in order to make up for the offense she committed and preserve the face of the Shinomiya Family."
"Dealt with"...
Those two words drove into Kaguya's mind like two red-hot steel needles, burning every shred of reason and hope she had left to ash.
She slumped down in the empty Student Council Room, feeling a despair that cut to the bone.
What she had lost was not just a handmaid. She had lost her eyes, her ears, her right arm, the final barrier holding back the cold world.
Without Ai Hayasaka, she was like a bird whose wings had been clipped and whose feathers had been plucked clean, exposed naked to the muzzle of a hunter's rifle, without even the strength left to tremble.
"Kaguya-san? Kaguya-san! Hey...!"
A voice full of energy, accompanied by the snap snap of a paper fan striking the desktop, hauled Kaguya by force out of the abyss of her despair.
Chika Fujiwara, the secretary of the Student Council, stood with both hands on her hips, her pink cheeks puffed out like a bun, glaring at her in displeasure.
"You've been spacing out at that poor cup of tea for a full half hour! If you keep staring, mushrooms are going to start growing in the tea, and then evolve into Tea Aliens!"
Chika was the only person in the Student Council these days who still dared speak to Kaguya in this manner.
The treasurer, Yu Ishigami, had long since picked up on the suffocating gloom around Kaguya, and was always finding excuses to stay as far away as possible.
Only this pink-haired girl, by virtue of her abnormally dense nerves and her innocent goodness, still stubbornly tried in her own way to warm this slab of ten-thousand-year ice before it could freeze over completely.
"Ah... sorry, Fujiwara-san." Kaguya slowly lifted her head and pulled at the corners of her mouth, forcing out a smile.
She didn't quite dare look directly into Chika's clear, untainted eyes.
"Honestly!"
Chika came around the desk to Kaguya's side and poked her cheek with a finger. "What has been with you lately? You're completely out of it."
"If something's bothering you, tell me about it. I, the great 'Romance Detective' Chika, may have lost battle after battle on the romance front myself, but when it comes to solving a friend's worries, I am a top-tier expert!"
As she spoke, she even struck a playful classic detective pose, trying to coax a smile out of Kaguya.
But looking at Chika's bright, unclouded face, an enormous sorrow welled up in Kaguya's heart.
Solve her worries?
Chika, do you know? My worries have grown big enough to swallow the whole world. And the source of all those worries is the man who shares your surname, a man who is nothing short of a demon.
A powerful urge surged through Kaguya. She wanted to grab Chika's hand and tell her everything.
But she couldn't.
The instant she thought of that man's careless smile, of those eyes that could see through anything, a chill that cut to the bone climbed up her spine.
Kaguya Shinomiya understood very clearly: the moment innocent Chika Fujiwara got dragged into this, given that man's way of doing things, this flower blooming brilliantly inside her greenhouse would be ground into mud without the slightest mercy, until not even the mud was left.
"I'm fine, Chi... Fujiwara-san."
As she spoke that surname, Kaguya's voice trembled before she could stop it.
She hurriedly lowered her head, her voice thin as a mosquito's hum. "I'm just a little tired lately. Haven't been resting well. I'll be fine... after a bit of rest."
"Is that so..."
Chika tilted her head, doubt written all over those large eyes, but seeing Kaguya's refusal to talk, she didn't press any further.
She heaved a box out of her oversized tote with much grunting and held it up before Kaguya like a treasure.
"Ta-da! Look at what I have here! The super-rare tabletop game I just discovered: Dungeon Tales: The Princess's Grand Adventure! Let's play! Playing games is the best way to relieve stress! I'll be the hero, you be the princess, and together we'll take down the Demon Lord!"
Kaguya looked at the brilliantly smiling princess on the game box, and the hollowness in her eyes only deepened.
Game... princess... Demon Lord...
Wasn't her own life right now a horror game with no save points, no quit option, and no hero coming to rescue her?
She no longer had the right to play these lighthearted, cheerful games.
...
Meanwhile.
Tokyo, the Shinomiya Group headquarters tower, top-floor conference room.
A secret meeting attended only by the core members of the Shinomiya Family was underway.
Sitting at the head of the table, Gan'an Shinomiya, the old man who could once stamp his foot and make the Japanese economy shake three times over, now wore exhaustion and anxiety he could no longer hide on his face.
His eyes were sunken, and his hair seemed to have gone whiter in the span of a few days.
"Regarding the matter of Mr. Fujiwara detaining Ai Hayasaka, share your views." His voice was hoarse and low, echoing through the silent room.
A branch-family elder in charge of family intelligence carefully wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and spoke. "Head of the family, after all, Ai Hayasaka is Lady Kaguya's personal handmaid, an extension of Lady Kaguya herself. For him to openly 'confiscate' her is the most direct way of expressing his dissatisfaction with the... quality of the 'meeting gift' we delivered."
Another core executive in charge of family operations immediately chimed in. "Exactly! The reports I've received also show that Lady Kaguya has been emotionally unstable at school lately. She keeps to herself, barely speaks, looks haggard. A 'flawed' offering like this has clearly displeased Mr. Fujiwara. Ai Hayasaka was just a warning. A severe, merciless warning!"
"A warning..." Gan'an Shinomiya turned the word over, and a flicker of dread passed through his cloudy eyes.
The Seiji Fujiwara of today was no longer a business partner with whom one could speak as an equal, nor even a competitor to be wary of.
He was a god, a demon, an absolute sovereign holding the power of life and death over them all.
His displeasure, to the Shinomiya Family who had long since strapped their entire fortune and lives to his chariot, meant the heavens collapsing and the earth cracking open.
"Then... what do we do?" someone asked in a quavering voice. "Do we send someone to negotiate and bring Ai Hayasaka back?"
"Idiot!"
A middle-aged man seated below Gan'an Shinomiya barked sharply. "You think this is some children's game of pretend? Negotiate? What exactly are you going to negotiate with? That is Seiji Fujiwara!"
The entire conference room sank into dead silence, broken only by the heavy breathing of one person after another.
A long while later, Gan'an Shinomiya slowly lifted his head, and a resolute, ruthless glint passed through those cloudy old eyes.
"If the offering itself has a problem, then we send the offering... whole and complete, holding nothing back, into the master's hands."
He swept his gaze across them all and spoke one word at a time, each word as though wrung out from the very last of his strength:
"Convey my orders. Begin the procedures for Kaguya's leave of absence from school at once. From today on, she does not need to return to the main household."
"Her destination is only one place."
...
The Fujiwara Residence, the study.
Seiji Fujiwara was lounging on the sofa, eyes closed, resting.
The air was filled with the rich blended aroma of top-grade cigars and single malt whisky.
In a corner of the study, Ai Hayasaka, dressed in a custom-made outfit that built upon the base maid uniform with even more form-fitting cuts and lace, more shameful in design than the standard model, was silently preparing his tea.
Her movements were precise and elegant, as though calculated to perfection through thousands of repetitions, but in those once lively, mischievous deep blue eyes there was only a bottomless deadness.
Over these past few days, she had completely accepted her fate.
She had personally tasted, with the entirety of her dignity and her future, what came of resistance. Now she was nothing more than a beautiful doll that obeyed orders.
Seiji's gaze drifted lazily over Ai Hayasaka's slender back, and the perfect curve of her waist and hips traced out by the tight fabric.
The effect of the [Loyalty Brand] was excellent.
This little stray cat, who had once tried to bare her claws, had now been thoroughly tamed. Not a single thought of resistance could take root in her heart anymore. All that remained was absolute obedience to her master.
"Hmm... a single collectible does get a touch lonely after a while."
Seiji picked up his phone, looked at the name "Gan'an Shinomiya" in his contacts, and the corner of his mouth curled into an amused smile.
"It's time to let this pitiful master and servant be reunited."
He placed the call.
The line picked up almost on the very first ring.
"Mr. Fujiwara! What are your instructions? Please, just say the word!" Gan'an Shinomiya's voice came through the receiver in a tone so fawning it bordered on grovelling.
In a tone tinged with mild displeasure, as though complaining about bad weather, Seiji said languidly:
"I've been missing Miss Kaguya somewhat."
On the other end, the breath caught in a sharp halt, as if a hand had closed around the man's throat.
Seiji continued, taking his unhurried time with the knife. "I hear she hasn't been in good shape lately. Lord Shinomiya, for the sake of the 'sincerity' of our partnership..."
He deliberately drew out his final syllable, every word like an invisible mountain pressing down through the radio waves onto Gan'an Shinomiya's heart.
"...have her move in here."
There was a full three seconds of silence on the other end.
In those three seconds, Seiji could even hear the man's breathing turn ragged from extreme tension.
Then a voice burst from the phone, near-ecstatic with relief:
"Yes! Yes! Of course! It is Kaguya's honor! Her supreme honor! I will make the arrangements immediately! Before tonight is out, I will have her delivered to your residence whole and unharmed!"
Seiji hung up and tossed the phone aside.
He looked at Ai Hayasaka in the corner, who, having clearly heard the contents of the call and in particular the name "Kaguya," could not stop her body from trembling slightly. A smile spread across his face.
The cage had already been built.
Now it was only a matter of waiting for the precious little canary to fly in on her own.
...
...
A black Rolls-Royce Phantom glided through the night, smooth as a silent shadow along one of Tokyo's main thoroughfares.
Inside the car, the scents of fine leather and wood mingled together, the quiet broken only by the faint whisper of the air conditioning.
Kaguya Shinomiya, dressed in her crisply pressed Shuchiin uniform, sat upright on the soft rear seat.
Her hands were clasped tightly together on her knees, the knuckles white from the pressure, betraying the extreme turmoil within their owner.
After school, the car that had come for her had not been the one bringing her home. Instead it was a group of expressionless men in black, with a cold, unquestionable order:
"Lady Kaguya, the head of the family has issued an order. Please proceed at once to Mr. Fujiwara's residence."
Kaguya did not resist. She did not even ask why.
Because she knew resistance was meaningless. Once Ai Hayasaka was lost, she had been reduced entirely to a pawn on the chessboard of family interests, a piece that could be sacrificed at any moment, with even the strength to struggle drained from her.
Outside the window, the dazzling night scenery of Tokyo flew past in reverse, those brilliant neon lights looking in her eyes like the burning will-o'-the-wisps of hell, cold and unnatural.
She was going to see that man.
The man who had so mercilessly destroyed her pride, her daily life, and everything else.
Fear, like a parasite clinging to the bone, spread outward from deep within her heart, wrapping itself tightly around every cell of her body.
But within this boundless fear, deep down in Kaguya's heart, one final fantasy still remained.
"Negotiation..."
She said it to herself, in her mind, over and over, as though reciting an incantation.
She forced herself to calm down.
She was, after all, the heir of the Shinomiya Family, a "princess" of one of the four great conglomerates of Japan.
No matter how staggering Seiji Fujiwara's power was, he could not possibly disregard the Shinomiya Family's deeply intertwined influence across politics and business.
She could talk cooperation, talk benefits, talk the future.
She had to show him her value, make him understand that a clear-headed Kaguya Shinomiya with her own autonomy, one capable of mobilizing the resources of the Shinomiya Family, could bring him far greater benefit than a broken doll.
If she could only make him see this, then perhaps... perhaps she could escape this fate of being a "plaything." Perhaps... she could even get Ai Hayasaka back.
The thought was like a shot of adrenaline injected into Kaguya's chilled body, restoring a sliver of strength to her.
She closed her eyes and began rapidly constructing in her mind the framework of the negotiation and the arguments she would use, rehearsing every dialogue and scenario that might arise.
...
The car drove slowly into a heavily guarded high-end residential district and finally came to a stop before a grand residence that looked like a medieval castle.
The heavy, ornately wrought iron gate slid open without a sound after the camera identified the license plate, like a vast beast lying in wait in the darkness, opening its abyssal mouth.
Kaguya stepped out of the car and looked up at the building before her, exuding an overpowering aura in the night, and the defensive line she had only just built up in her mind crumbled away by a few more degrees against her will.
A meticulously dressed, expressionless head maid was already waiting at the door, and bowed slightly to her.
"Miss Kaguya, the master is waiting for you in the living room."
Kaguya nodded stiffly and, taking a deep breath, followed the head maid into this gilded, glittering cage.
The living room was astonishingly large. The enormous crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling lit the entire space as brightly as day, yet without a trace of warmth.
The mirror-polished Italian marble floor reflected the priceless masterpieces on the walls, paintings she had only seen before in art auction catalogues.
Everything here was perfect to the point of unreality, like an elaborately constructed stage.
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