“From this point you will be accompanied by a different guide.”
Indeed, a little farther along the red carpet stood a man in a black suit. He gave an extremely low bow to Rintaro and the others.
“No bags or any other hand luggage is permitted beyond this point,” he said, his voice monotone.
It went without saying that nobody was carrying any kind of hand luggage. The man simply recited his line, then without doing any kind of check, turned his back on the visitors and started walking. Rintaro and Sayo exchanged glances and set off after him.
After a short while they came across another man, this time wearing a blue suit. The color of his suit was the only thing that differentiated him from the previous guide. This man also gave an exaggerated bow.
“No authority or business titles permitted beyond this point,” he said, without so much as a flicker of his eyebrow.
Having recited his line, just as the black-suited man had done before him, he turned his back and walked on.
“Is this some kind of joke?” Rintaro asked.
The tabby cat’s response was not very encouraging:
“I don’t think they’re the joking type around here.”
They followed the man in the blue suit, until they came across the next man, this time in yellow.
“No malice or hostility is permitted beyond this point,” they were informed.
Rintaro was beginning to suspect the cat was correct.
They followed the yellow-suited man farther down the corridor, until suddenly they emerged into a large open hall. Rintaro and Sayo cried out in surprise. The space was wide and cylindrical in shape, so high that the ceiling was out of sight.
All around them, seemingly sprouting at random from the walls above, were hundreds of staircases, forming aerial walkways that crisscrossed and intertwined like a spider’s web. It was like looking up at the detailed internal frame of some kind of spacecraft.
“Thank you for your patience,” said the man in the yellow suit. He gestured toward the middle of the hall, where the red carpet ended at the doors of an elevator. At the elevator door stood a man in a red suit. As Rintaro and the others approached, he bowed deeply. The elevator doors opened to reveal a glass-walled interior.
“The president is waiting for you,” he said tonelessly. “Please get in.”
Just as the three were about to board the elevator, the man in the red suit moved to block the tabby cat’s path. He gave another ceremonious bow.
“I’m sorry, but no dogs or cats are permitted beyond this point.”
The tabby remained perfectly calm. As Rintaro opened his mouth to protest, the cat silenced him with a sharp look.
“I told you it’d be tricky this time,” it said, turning to Sayo. “I’m glad you’re here. I wouldn’t be comfortable letting this one go on alone.”
“I guess that must be why I’m here,” said Sayo. She smiled, and the faint gleam of a grin seemed to pass through the cat’s green eyes.
But then, as if to disperse any show of sentiment, the voice of the man in the red suit rang out with force.
“Kindly press the button for the top floor.”
It turned out that there was in fact only one button in the elevator. There was a large panel with a single button, rather unnecessarily bearing the words Top Floor.
In other words, there was no button to come back down.
“It looks like we’ll just have to get this sorted out, and then find our own way back,” said Rintaro with a sigh. He turned his attention to the tabby cat on the outside of the elevator. There was a moment of silence.