THE Church was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Only a few people on night shift duty would be around under normal circumstances, but the halls were practically empty with the number of casualties they had sustained during the day. Only members of the General Affairs Bureau darted around, wrapping up the aftermath.
Kiriko was summoned to the conference room as soon as she arrived. She ascended the stairs to the second-story and headed there.
“Excuse me,” Kiriko said as she opened the door to the room with seven chairs lining the panoramic window. Spinoza sat in the farthest chair with the rest of the elders. Kiriko took a seat in the sole chair placed in the middle of the room.
One of the elders spoke as she sat down. “Twenty-one Rabbis have sustained minor or serious injuries, sixteen Golems were damaged beyond repair, and three have parts broken off—that is how much damage our side has taken. I assume you have captured the rats to make up for our heavy losses, Torah Chief Kiriko Strife?”
“I failed to capture them,” she answered tersely.
Another elder joined the questioning. “Then would you care to explain why we have a witness account of suspect Ouka Baraki taking you away somewhere after the failed battle on Neck Bridge?”
“The witness account is true. I was with Ouka Baraki and Lovel Sinclair up until the moment I returned here.”
“And why wouldn’t you have apprehended the suspects if you were with them, hm?”
“I made the judgment call to postpone their arrest.”
Spinoza gave her a skeptical look. “You did…? Are you sure you have your story straight, Kiriko?”
Kiriko stared right into his eyes and replied, “I have not made a mistake in my account. I willingly allowed the three suspects to escape.” Spinoza shook his head, disappointed.
One of the elders cut into her with a low growl. “You disappoint us, Miss Strife. We believed you were a talented Rabba, but you have proved our expectations of you to be false.”
“I am disappointed as well… I can’t believe I have been acting under a misconception all these years,” she remarked, turning all seven heads toward her.
Another elder spoke up, loud and unhappy. “What are you suddenly going on about? Misconceptions, you say?”
“Yes, misconceptions. I always believed that the Sephiroth Project was entirely pushed by you elders—in order to butter up to the military.”
“Watch your tongue, girl. What does this topic have to do with our current deliberation?”
The elders burrowed into her with sharp, unforgiving eyes. Unfazed, Kiriko persisted, “But it turns out the project was pushed by an entirely different person. Won’t you all please stop and recall who it was that was invariably involved in the cube research, who influenced its direction?”
“You bring up an unrelated matter—”
“No, I don’t. Think back even further. Who was the first person to discover Grinzam’s corpse when it washed ashore?”
“It was—”
“There is someone among us who is Grinzam’s devout follower, who inherited his convictions. Who do you think that is?”
“……”
The elders said nothing, giving her their ear for the first time.
Kiriko set the scene for them. “That person refused to take on the role of Sephiroth’s Namer when requested, surviving the Berserker Accident as a result. And now he is trying to lay another trap for the survivors.”
“A trap? What trap?”
Confused voices filled the room. Kiriko’s clear voice cut through the noise. “That person is here right now.” She stood from her chair. “The person who has always remained at the center of the conspiracy for years while deceiving the people around him…”
She thrust her finger at the man sitting on the lowest chair. “…You, Spinoza Bulledge!” she declared with confidence.
“What?!” one of the elders shouted, shooting a look at Spinoza.
Spinoza responded, voice cool and level, “…Have you become confused, Kiriko?”
“No, I have not. I don’t know whether Sephiroth going berserk was intentional or a coincidence, but you leaked extensive data on our research outside these walls. After all, you researched the cubes, not for the Church, but to realize Grinzam’s dying wish.”
That was what the black file revealed. The documents inside were full of data only members of the research team at the time would know. If Ouka and Kiriko didn’t leak it, only Spinoza could have.
“I have here a file full of documents that a certain dormitory custodian had in his possession. This is proof someone leaked data on Sephiroth’s creation, data unattainable without having been present at the scene.”
Kiriko handed the black file to the elder furthest from Spinoza. They read it and passed it around, their bewildered chatter growing louder. She glared at Spinoza.
“You conducted the research and experiments you needed to accomplish your objective at this Torah Church—using the Church’s funds, facilities, and talented personnel. That is the truth behind the Sephiroth Project.” Once the accusation left her, memories of those nostalgic days flooded Kiriko in waves.
Everyone had worked their hardest to unveil the secrets and mysteries of the cubes. She never doubted her path back then, for she had friends to experience the sorrows and joys of it with. She had a boss she respected and looked up to.
How was she to know every day was a lie?
“…Torah Lord, you used us till the end.” Tears gathered in Kiriko’s eyes. She confronted Spinoza without wiping them away. “Please answer me, Torah Lord. You sacrificed Alita and the others for your selfish objective, didn’t you?!”
A silent conference room answered her accusation. Spinoza dropped his gaze to the floor and kept quiet. A long pause went by before he quietly murmured with his eyes down, “You saw through me, huh? …I really am disappointed, Kiriko.”
“You—YOU TRAITOR!” One of the elders abruptly sprung to his feet, enraged. “You accursed traitor who rebels against God! You dare forget to be grateful to us after we raised you as a skilled Golem Tamer!”
The rest of the elders stood and pulled out their tranquilizer guns. Spinoza didn’t even flinch as he said, “Rebel against God? Do you people even have hearts capable of adhering to God’s will? Till this very day, you are still wetting yourselves over the fact that you failed to follow through with your present to the military. Don’t bring God up, when the god you serve is but yourselves!”
“We’ll take you to Small Sanhedrin, screwed up young man! We’ll throw you into prison, never to let you out!”
“I see… As I thought, you view yourselves as right. You don’t even stop to consider you may be wrong.” Spinoza lifted his head and swept his gaze across the elders. The intent to kill gleamed in his eyes.
Oh no!
Spinoza shouted before Kiriko could move to stop him. “You are traitors, smeared in their own avarice!” Gunshots fired in cadence from behind, accompanying his grave voice.
Kiriko spun around in time to see the door fall over. A four-armed Grim Reaper stepped inside with gunpowder smoke curling from his revolvers.
“Purge them, Heaven’s Gunner!”
Bullets burst from the four revolvers at his command. Watching the elders collapse in succession from one side of the room, Kiriko bolted for the window. She bashed through it and leapt outside. The impact from jumping down from the second-story numbed her feet with stinging prickles. She endured the shooting pain, broke the window into the first-story corridor, and entered the building again.
The Prime Body Storage Room is just ahead! The confiscated Prime Bodies should be there!
Another round of gunshots and screams reached her ears. She didn’t have a second to spare. Kiriko raced down the corridor and threw herself into the Prime Body Storage Room.
It was a tall and narrow room with only one window at the end. Well-organized lifeless statues lined the walls on both sides. Kiriko found a bronze statue with completed Engrave Incantations and shouted with authority, “My name is Kiriko Strife! With truth as my witness, I give thee the name No. 10! Live as one with me and return to dust with me! I order thee to defeat Spinoza Bulledge!”
Just as the Bronze Golem moved to life in response to her, Kiriko’s ears were pierced by the sound of a gun firing.
Scarlet sparks flew from No. 10’s forehead. The bullet shot through the “e” with precision. Cracks webbed through the bronze body and it noisily crumbled away. Kiriko whirled around to find Heaven’s Gunner standing in the entrance to the Prime Body Storage Room.
“I never thought you’d be the one to see through me… My plan failed me at the very end,” Spinoza said with a bitter smile, beside his Grim Reaper.
✦ ✦ ✦
Cliff
AROUND the same time Kiriko was fighting Spinoza, Cliff and Lovel sat in front of the factory door chatting about various things. They filled each other in on what had happened since they parted ways two days ago and even swapped stories about their upbringing and families.
There was no end to what they had to talk about. They discussed the most trivial of things, such as their favorite colors and foods. The time they spent unconcerned with the rest of the world was fun beyond compare. And that’s exactly why Cliff failed to notice how much time had gone by since Ouka locked them out.
A long while passed before Lovel brought it up. “…Wow, look at the time. You think Ouka’s forgotten about us?”
“Now that you mention it, it’s been a while since he left. Let’s ask him what’s taking so long,” Cliff said and knocked on the door. “Ouka? Ouka? Are you ready yet?”
No one answered. Lovel frowned, suspicious. “…Doesn’t it seem like something’s off?”
Cliff pounded on the door, expecting some sort of reaction from inside since they probably couldn’t ignore the racket no matter what they were doing. He exchanged looks with Lovel and peeked in through the window. There, they saw Ouka sprawled out on the floor.
“OUKA?!” Cliff yelled. He didn’t see Kiriko inside.
Lovel smashed the window open with a rock without an ounce of hesitation. She and Cliff pulled themselves into the factory and ran over to Ouka.
“Ouka, what happened?!” She held him up in her arms and slapped his cheeks. He groaned and sluggishly opened his eyes.
“Wh-Where’s K-Kiriko…?” he stammered, his eyes blank, his voice hoarse with sleep.
“I don’t see her here. Did she go somewhere?” Cliff asked.
“What?! Does she plan to handle everything herself?!” Ouka clambered off the ground and flew out the factory door, stumbling over his feet along the way. Cliff and Lovel followed him, baffled.
“Where are you going?!” Cliff asked his back.
“To the Church! Kiriko is in danger!” Ouka leapt on Dram’s back in front of the factory and shot off toward Head Island.
“What should we do, Lovel?!” Cliff asked her, watching Ouka grow smaller down the road.
“Something’s not right here… Let’s follow him!”
Cliff and Lovel nodded to each other and ran toward the Church.