CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE GAME BENEATH THE GAME
Eden never truly slept.
Even now... hours after the Council chamber emptied, after Mr. P strolled out with his crooked tie and thermos...the Spire still hummed with unseen arguments and unspoken moves.
The pattern was moving. Cracking.
And not a single one of them could look away.
...
Sera Velorian .. The Room of Mirrors
Sera sat alone in her sanctum, surrounded by mirrors.
The room was not a room but a reflection of itself.. twelve walls, all made of glass, each pane showing another version of her. Another Sera. Another whisper of thought.
And all of them were arguing.
"He's hiding something," she murmured.
The reflections all agreed.
Mr. P's proposal had been too clean. Too clever. Seemed like what we wanted to hear but this is Paku we talking about.
It glowed with genius, but not the kind that healed. Not the kind that protected.
"It was poison," she whispered into the mirror.
Her other selves smiled faintly but said nothing.
...
Genna Vrae .. The Armory
In Eden's great armory, Genna split swords with her bare hands.
Steel sang and snapped between her fingers as the Wrathborne Observer vented her suspicion into the air.
She didn't understand circuits. Or code.
But she understood what it meant when someone smiled before a kill.
And Mr. P had smiled too much.
...
Callus Greaven ... Eden's Archives
Callus Greaven was already gathering threads.
His drones swarmed the Archive like black flies, pulling up every surveillance feed, every stray file.
A clone of Mr. P... one of his higher-functioning variants.. had been seen lingering near the Archive AI. Unauthorized. Unlogged.
Callus sent a whisper through private channels to Yulan Ishtar.
He wrote only two words: He's playing us.
The reply came a moment later, dripping with Yulan's usual quiet venom:
Let him. He plays well.
...
Rei Kagami ... The Confrontation
Rei found Mr. P exactly where he'd expected.
Alone.
That, in itself, made him suspicious.
The man was suspended upside-down in a zero-gravity chamber, reading a stained old cookbook and sipping tea through a bent straw.
"What kind of shit show was that," Rei said flatly, stepping into the chamber.
"You wanted me to watch them tear themselves apart."
Mr. P didn't even look up from his page.
"Correction," he said calmly. "I wanted them to show you who they are. The tearing apart is just… an encore."
Rei's eyes narrowed as he crossed the chamber. His boots found the floor even in zero gravity... shadows clinging to his steps as he reached out, snatched the book from Mr. P's hands, and ripped it clean in half.
Mr. P raised an eyebrow behind his sunglasses.
"That," he said, "was a first edition. Signed. Now i need compensation."
"Why did you lie?" Rei's voice was low, sharp.
"Why did you push Luther? Why are you baiting Zero?"
Mr. P finally swung upright, landing lightly on the floating bench. He leaned forward, elbows on knees, his grin gone.
"Have you ever," he asked softly, "played a violin in a burning opera house?"
Rei blinked, frowning.
"No," he said.
Mr. P nodded slowly, staring into the middle distance.
"I have," he murmured. "And let me tell you, Rei. It was the most honest sound I've ever made."
Rei's scowl deepened.
"You speak in riddles because you're afraid to say what you mean."
"No," Mr. P whispered. "I speak in riddles because some truths don't fit in straight lines. Some fires are too old. Too divine lets say. You don't put them out. You just… play louder than the screams."
He stood, stepped closer to Rei until the two of them were inches apart.
"When the final crescendo comes," Mr. P said, his voice low and certain, "someone will have to strike the last note. Better it be someone who knows the rhythm right."
Rei froze.
The words weren't an offer.
They were a proposal. A riddle. A seed.
One that Zero wouldn't see coming.
Not unless he'd lived through the same madness Mr. P had.
...
Zero ... The Future Echoes
High in his sanctum, Zero stood before the Foresight Array.
A sphere of moving glass and probability rotated around him, showing him possibilities like petals of light.
He watched a thousand versions of the conversation between Rei and Mr. P play out in spectral echoes.
All of them slightly different.
All of them hiding something he couldn't fully see.
That… intrigued him.
"You still speak in riddles, Paku" he said softly to himself. "Never changed haven't you."
He could see the pattern now.
The foolishness. The coffee. The clones. The sunglasses.
All camouflage. All deliberate.
"A mask," Zero murmured. "Not to hide your weakness…"
His fingers traced the air, selecting one particularly fascinating possibility.
"But to hide your intent."
For the first time in years, Zero smiled.
"You are fun, Paku."
He raised his hand.
And whispered to the glass.
"Let's see how you like it when I move a pawn."
...
Mr. P .. The Lab
Back in the depths of Eden, Mr. P returned to his lab.
The air was heavy with ozone and burnt wires. Clones bustled through the space, carrying coffee, carrying blueprints, carrying each other.
Clone 51 was building a scale model of Eden out of cheese cubes and toothpicks when Mr. P walked in.
"Any good news?" the clone asked.
Mr. P didn't answer.
He stood silently in front of a hologram, its blue glow casting his face into strange angles.
It showed Rei's profile.
A dozen lines of data streamed around the image.
Mr. P stared for a long time.
Then he whispered, almost to himself.
"He'll either join me…"
He reached for his thermos, took a slow sip, and grinned faintly, sharp as a knife.
"…or kill me."
The grin widened.
"Either way," he said, "I need to figure out to stop Zero's foresight ability."
The clones stopped for just a moment, watching him.
But Paku Shinomiya was already walking away.
Humming softly to himself.
The game was moving now.
And beneath the game… another game waited.
One only he seemed to hear.
...
END OF CHAPTER 11