October 5, 2053 – 9:10 a.m.

Meanwhile, Junna walks away down the corridor on the third floor of the Gotha building, clenching her right fist in anger and grimacing in disappointment.

A few minutes later, Junna enters a room on the second floor, where a man in his 50s is working on a computer. “Good morning, Member of Jurisprudence Suzuki.”

“Oh… Member of Logic Miura... what brings you to my office?”

"Here... I'd like you to take a look at this."

The man takes the threatening letter Junna is holding and adjusts his glasses to make sure he is reading it correctly, given the strange way it has been written.

"What is this? And more importantly, what language is it written in? I can't understand the words."

“It's Esperanto, an old universal language.”

"Okay... but why are you giving it to me?"

“When translated, the message it carries is threatening. This letter was left this morning, or perhaps last night, by someone outside Jin's room.”

“I see... and I guess she wants my legal opinion.”

“Yes… you wrote the laws that govern us. In short... I think this could be considered a crime, no?”

“It's true that I wrote the rules of Gotha, but I followed the instructions I was given. Anyway, let's try to understand better. What exactly does the message say?”

“Jin has translated it... it says: I will establish peace in the country, no one will terrify you, I will remove harmful beasts from the country, I will establish my dwelling among you and I will not reject you, but if you do not listen to me and if you do not put my commands into practice, if you despise my laws and reject my prescriptions, I will send terror upon you that will consume your lives.”

“This is a quote from the Bible, if I'm not mistaken, from Leviticus. I would say that it was made by a rather educated person, as not many people know that book so well nowadays. However, the threatening message is rather veiled, and I fear that nothing can be done, partly because it would be difficult to pinpoint the culprit. If you think about it, even if it's paraphrased, it's still just a simple quote, so it wouldn't be easy to recognize it as a crime.”

“At least we could see who passed by there between last night and yesterday morning with the help of satellites and microchips. That way we could get an idea of who the culprit is.”

“As far as I know, Jin has a room assigned to him on the third floor of the Gotha, like everyone else who works here. However, his is the first one you come across when coming from the second floor where all of us Members work. Basically, between last night and this morning, we all passed by there. I think it's impossible to identify who left this message with certainty.”

Junna snorts. “Not that there's any need... I know it was Domon.”

Suzuki looks surprised. "Do you think he would go that far? I know he had a difficult past with the Jin we knew, but to risk his place in the elite, or rather, his own life, given that every crime now leads to the death penalty."

“Of course... his hatred for Jin, or rather his envy, prevents him from being the upright man who has long worked in our institution. When a person reasons based on such strong feelings, even the most basic logic risks failing.”

“In any case, even if it was him, I must admit that he didn't do too badly. A letter of that kind would not be easy to recognize as a real threat, and a member of the Gotha can only be condemned by his peers unanimously. I don't think that if you organized a Council meeting to judge him on such a matter, you would have any hope of condemning him.”

“You are right, Member of Jurisprudence Suzuki. Regardless of all this... I can still consider you on my side, right?”

“I am only on the side of the Gotha. This institution and that man have been my reason for living. To be part of the creation of a more just world, where those who do wrong always pay and where criminals cannot infect others with their evil. This is all I believe in, and maintaining this world is the very reason for my existence.”

Junna smiles when she hears his words. “Then you know that all of this is at great risk. Keep following me and you will see that nothing and no one will ever be able to stop us... or rather, stop Gotha!”

Suzuki also smiles at this point. “Of course... Member of Logic Miura, I trust you... and not only me, but also Member of Biology Arai, Member of Mathematics Ishikawa, Member of Computer Science Sakamoto, Member of Economics Ueda, and Member of Psychology Fujimoto do the same. We are all certain that you will be able to restore Gotha to its former glory.

"Excellent... that's what I wanted to hear," replies Junna, who then takes the threatening letter from her colleague's hands. "I'm going to see the chemistry member, Chiba. Let's see if that girl can give me some more information about this letter," says the woman with a laugh.

"Both you and I have touched that letter now, I think it's contaminated with our fingerprints. In any case, allow me to doubt that this is the main purpose of the visit."

Junna, who had already headed for the office door, responds with one last comment to Suzuki's statement. “We must bring the lost sheep back to the rest of the flock. The shepherd will be back soon.”