[Chapter 1] Memento Mori Episode 5: The Man in Black

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"It's cold..."
Ryo Aoyama woke up to a suffocating feeling and a chill that seemed to cling to his skin. However, whether it was because his consciousness was hazy or because it was too dark to see, he couldn't tell if it was day or night.
After a while, his vision adjusted to the darkness, and he realized that the pressure bearing down on him was the cause of his breathlessness.
"Ugh!"
He tried to move his body to assess the situation, but his arms wouldn't move as he wanted, and his fingertips were tingling with numbness.
"Did they drug me...?"
He desperately tried to trace his memories back to the last scene he could recall. However, he felt as if his head were shrouded in mist. Biting his lip and feeling the cold, damp air against his cheeks, Ryo Aoyama spoke to himself, his face twisted with frustration and anxiety.
"For now, I'm alive..."
The moment his mouth curled into a self-deprecating smile, slightly relieved from the tension, something like lightning flashed through his mind.
"Professor Hemmi!"
As he shouted that, his memories came rushing back like a flash of his life before his eyes, and Ryo Aoyama remembered everything.
--I was put in a coffin for the 'Project M' initiation.--
His mouth was so dry from extreme tension that he couldn't speak, and cold sweat ran down his pale forehead.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps from far away.
Ryo Aoyama desperately called out Professor Hemmi's name from inside the coffin several times. Then, with a clatter, light poured in, and he instinctively closed his eyes at the glare.
"It's okay, there's an air vent."
A familiar voice drifted down, and Ryo Aoyama's tense face relaxed slightly.
"Professor Hemmi!"
When he opened his eyes to confirm, there was Hiroshi Hemmi removing the coffin lid.
"Welcome to Project M."
With that, Professor Hemmi reached out his hand.
There was still some numbness left in his fingertips, but Ryo Aoyama grabbed the professor's hand, pulled himself up, and checked his surroundings. In Ryo Aoyama's memory, there were five other students in black cloaks with hoods pulled deep over their heads besides himself, but now there was only one coffin, and the area was set up as a bleak room. If one were an outsider, there would be no way to know that a strange initiation ceremony had been held in this room surrounding a magic circle just a few hours ago.
"Is Professor Hemmi also involved with Project M?"
Ryo Aoyama had joined a university circle called 'Flock' in June of this year, which gathered only high-achieving students, upon Professor Hemmi's recommendation. And he had been told that within Flock, there was an elite group called 'Project M' that gathered even more elite members, and that it was a prestigious society that went beyond the scope of the university. However, he had never imagined that Professor Hemmi, who had recommended him, was involved with Project M.
"I'm just a ferryman of the underworld."
With that, Professor Hemmi looked around.
"Even if there's still some numbness left, you'll be completely back to normal in a few hours, so it's fine. First, let's leave this room and move to the third floor."
Professor Hemmi turned on his heel and headed for the door. Various questions floated through Ryo Aoyama's mind, but he decided to follow the professor in silence.
The winding underground corridor had a structure that would be impossible to understand after just one visit, but Professor Hemmi led Ryo Aoyama to the emergency stairs to the ground floor without any issues.
"The underground here is special, you see."
Saying that, they went up to the third floor, and he took a key from his pocket and opened the door.
"This building is the old law school building, isn't it? Isn't the third floor off-limits...?"
Ryo Aoyama looked around the quiet, luxurious hall on the third floor.
"The first floor of the building is still used as a mock courtroom, but the basement and the third floor remain closed."
Professor Hemmi crossed the hall and headed toward the back passage. They walked down a magnificent corridor paved with ivory and dark gray marble like a chessboard, and stopped in front of a corner room at the end. Then, as if instructed in advance, Professor Hemmi knocked on the heavy door three times, the sound of a lock echoed from inside, and the door opened.
"Don't say your own name."
Professor Hemmi whispered, and then entered the room. Ryo Aoyama followed the professor into the room and looked around. The room was not very large, but it was furnished with tasteful, classic-style furniture.
"Welcome."
When a low voice was heard from the desk placed at the back of the room, Professor Hemmi bowed.
"I have brought the dead to the President's chamber."
Having announced this, he stepped back a few paces and stood against the wall. When Ryo Aoyama, who had been left behind, started to say something,
"Sit on the sofa."
The man whom Professor Hemmi called 'President' spoke from across the desk.
With magnificent silver hair and thin black-rimmed glasses, he exuded a tasteful, intellectual air, but he was a man with a somewhat cold atmosphere. He looked to be in his late seventies, but it was clear at a glance that he was not a university employee. Ryo Aoyama felt suffocated by the fact that the President was dressed in a black suit, a black dress shirt, and even a black tie.
"Thank you."
As invited, Ryo Aoyama sat down on the reception set in front of the desk. Then, the sound of a lock clicking echoed behind him, and he reflexively turned around. He could see the tall man who had opened the heavy door earlier waiting by the door. There were only five people including them, but he noticed that there were no windows in this room.
"Since you are a student in the Department of Education, you should have Professor Hemmi teach you the rules. But keep it to yourself."
The President opened a desk drawer and took out a card.
"You are an autumn enrollee, aren't you?"
With that, he handed the card to the man standing next to the desk, who appeared to be his secretary. The secretary received the card from the President, carried it to the side of the sofa where Ryo Aoyama was sitting, and handed it to him.
"Jack of Hearts..."
Ryo Aoyama muttered quietly while staring at the playing card he had been given.
"It's rare to start with a face card from the beginning. Usually, one starts with a number and gradually raises the level... Well, Professor Hemmi's recommendation carries a lot of weight, but you are the first member from the Department of Education."
With that, the President turned his gaze to Professor Hemmi, who was standing against the wall. Professor Hemmi nodded slightly and said,
"Then, since the sorting of the souls of the dead seems to be finished, I will take my leave."
After saying his farewells, he gave a slight nod to Ryo Aoyama, who was sitting on the sofa. Ryo Aoyama hurriedly stood up from the sofa, bowed, and exited the room, following Professor Hemmi.
As the heavy door closed and the sound of the lock echoed in the corridor, Ryo Aoyama was suddenly released from the tension.

"Flock is an elite circle established about ten years ago by a law professor together with a retired judge, but Project M within it is a relatively new initiative. Most of the members of Flock are students from the Faculty of Law or the Faculty of Science and Engineering, but almost all of the participants in Project M, including graduate students, are students from the Faculty of Law."
As he walked down the long corridor listening to Professor Hemmi's story, he saw a blonde man walking elegantly toward them. It was immediately clear even from a distance that he was the doctor who had come to Japan from France in August of this year as a researcher in the Department of Psychology.
"Is Dr. Blanche also involved?"
"--No, he is a special case. He must have business with the President."
Ryo Aoyama felt a strange sensation that Pierre was on the off-limits third floor, but he naturally thought that such an appearance would create a special case.
"A new member?"
Pierre spoke as they passed each other.
"Yes, but I won't give you one."
Professor Hemmi said, as if to restrain him.
"Heh heh heh, you're strict. Is this a student recommended by Professor Hemmi?"
"Those guys are always acting so high and mighty. I forced a student from my department to be a member."
"I see, so that's why the law students were a bit noisy."
Professor Hemmi responded in silence.
When Ryo Aoyama was accepted into the autumn Project M, pushing aside the law students, booing erupted from some of the Flock member students. Flock is an elite group where just being a member is seen as promising for the future, and it is said that one can build strong connections in the academic and legal worlds. Also, if one can participate in Project M, one might even be scouted abroad. However, because Project M is strictly confidential, its actual activities have not been revealed.
"One will be chosen from the law students in the winter."
"That's true."
Pierre chimed in, then shifted his gaze to Ryo Aoyama, who was standing next to Professor Hemmi, and
"Congratulations on joining."
He congratulated him with a full smile.
"Oh, thank you very much."
It was a smile that would make even a man blush, but Professor Hemmi's expression did not change.
"Then, excuse me."
Pierre left in the direction of the room where Ryo Aoyama had been just a moment ago.
"He's a very beautiful person... I hear the female students making a fuss about him every day."
Ryo Aoyama sighed as he followed Pierre's retreating figure with his eyes.
"Don't trust that man too much."
Professor Hemmi said, as if to warn him.
Ryo Aoyama was surprised by Professor Hemmi's stern expression, but when he remembered the man called the President, he tried to change the subject.
"The person called the President was pitch black like a crow, and I was nervous when I faced him."
"That person is one of the founders of Flock, former Judge Kurokawa."
"His name is also 'Kuro' (Black)."
"Hahaha, indeed."
Professor Hemmi relaxed his expression and continued the conversation.
"Dressing in black is probably so he won't be discovered by the light."
"Then I would recommend that he dye that silver-shining hair black as well. If it shines that brilliantly, he'll be found in an instant."
Professor Hemmi looked at Ryo Aoyama and said,
"That's why I wanted to include a student like you from the humanities. Because only rationalists are gathered here."
A satisfied laugh echoed through the quiet hall.

As if on cue, he knocked three times, and the chamber door opened.
Pierre entered the room, confirmed that the door closed behind him, and walked elegantly toward the desk where the President sat.
"The autumn initiation just finished a little while ago."
The President spoke in a friendly manner.
"It seems some students were noisy about the results of this selection... It's troublesome; if they cause a scene, outsiders will become interested."
Pierre sat deeply on the sofa in front of the desk, crossed his long legs, and turned a stern gaze toward the President.
"Yes, I know."
The President gave a bitter smile.
"The blunder the other day was also because there was a mole in your place."
At Pierre's words, the President furrowed his brow and fell silent.
"I have dealt with the mole here, but I will report it to headquarters."
"That is!"
The President was astonished, but Pierre turned an ice-cold gaze toward him and stood up from the sofa.
"That is all for the message."
Saying it as if to cut him off, Pierre turned his back on the President and began to walk toward the door.
The President's sharp eyes were fixed on Pierre's retreating figure, but as Pierre stepped out of the room through the heavy door, he turned back with an expression as if he had thought of something.
"I forgot to mention, I have already found my favorite. So, rest assured, I will not be taking any students from here back to Switzerland."
Showing a fearless smile, he left the chamber.
The President stared intently at the tightly closed door for a while, but
"Keep an eye on that man."
With a glance, the tall man standing next to the door moved.