The world created specifically to celebrate Kaito’s birthday came to a sudden, jarring halt. It was a forced, world-scale Time Stop—an absolute freeze that even Chronoa, with her divine authority over space and time, could not resist. This narrowed the list of possible culprits down to a very select few.
Shortly thereafter, several figures materialized in a meeting room within the castle. They gathered around a massive circular table, the atmosphere heavy with sudden tension.
"Seriously? What is the meaning of this?" Alice grumbled, looking around the room. "Stopping time out of the blue just to summon us for some 'emergency meeting'..."
The group consisted of the core members of Kaito’s birthday celebration: Shallow Vernal, Kuromueina, Alice, Fate, Lilia, the Three Kings of the Human Realm, Machina, and Canalis—ten people in total. Additionally, Electrone had been drafted into the meeting because the Time Stop had no effect on her, bringing the final count to eleven.
Shallow Vernal, the architect of this emergency meeting, spoke up in her usual flat, monotone voice.
"I have an objection."
"An objection? Shiro, what are you talking about?" Kuro asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Ugh... I have a really bad feeling about this," Alice muttered. She looked as though she had already guessed what was coming, her expression one of pure exasperation.
"It is a matter of unfairness," Shallow Vernal continued. "Midway through the gift-giving process, it became standard for lovers to take 'special actions' when presenting their gifts to Kaito-san. Because Lilia and I were the first to present ours, we were denied the opportunity to do so. This is unacceptable."
"Wait, what? Shiro, don't worry about stuff like that! Besides, Sieg-chan and I didn't do anything special when we gave him our presents, right?"
"Kuro, you were the very first one to steal a march on the rest of us by kissing Kaito-san on the cheek during the gaming tournament. As for Sieglinde, she secured a promise to share a muffler with him. I recognize that as a corresponding romantic action."
"Guh... T-That’s... well..."
Kuro tried to chide her other half, but she quickly found herself at a loss for words. If one had to identify the first person to make a move among Kaito’s lovers, Kuro was undeniably the culprit. Faced with that undeniable fact, she couldn't offer a strong rebuttal.
"She's right! It is unfair!" Machina shouted, throwing her support behind Shallow Vernal. "Even My Beloved Child must be feeling unsatisfied at this rate!"
"No... Even if we were to accept Shallow Vernal-sama's claim, you are clearly outside the scope of this argument, Machina," Alice sighed.
"Indeed," Shallow Vernal added. "This is strictly a discussion regarding unfairness among lovers. Mothers are excluded."
"How could you!?" Machina cried, clutching her chest as if wounded.
As Machina began her dramatic protest, Electrone reached out and gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder.
"Outputting proposal... 《Now, now, Machina-chan. If we start including people other than lovers, this conversation will spiral out of control. Let us show some maternal grace and stand tall.》 ...A mother has moments when she must be prioritized, but I judge that this is a time for yielding."
"U-Umm, well, when you put it like that... I suppose it wouldn't be right for a mother to interfere with a couple's private time..."
"Continuing output of topic... 《Besides, Machina-chan, let us discuss your movie. It was truly magnificent; I was deeply moved. Especially the scene at the 28 Years 145 Days 18 Hours 24 Minutes mark where the camera zooms in on Kaito-sama! Entering from an angle of 53 Degrees from the Upper Right... I felt your fastidiousness in that shot. It gave me chills!》 ...That was nothing short of high art."
"I knew you'd understand, Electrone! Exactly! I agonized over that shot for so long. If I had simply wanted to show My Beloved Child's cuteness, an angle of 47 degrees would have been optimal, but when considering the flow of the scenes before and after, 53 degrees was the only choice! I spent three days debating it, so I'm thrilled you noticed! I have so many other details to tell you about..."
"Um, Shallow Vernal-sama? Can we just invite Electrone-san to all these events from now on?" Alice asked with a weary, indescribable expression. "Managing Machina is a breeze if she's around."
Watching Electrone smoothly pacify Machina and redirect her obsessive energy toward technical film discussion, Alice's face betrayed the sheer weight of her usual hardships.
"Please save that proposal for later," Shallow Vernal said, refocusing the room. "Regardless, I will not tolerate this disparity. Lilia and I protest most resolutely."
"Wait, what!?"
Lilia looked on in pure shock, her face clearly screaming, "Me too!?" despite her lack of words. Powerful and inflectionless as the declaration was, there was absolutely no way Lilia could interject or back out of this situation now.
Serious-senpai: "Damn it! That Natural God and her meddling... But seriously, what are they going to do? They can't exactly redo the whole gift ceremony."
???: "And based on Shallow Vernal's logic, Lilia-san is getting dragged right into the line of fire. I guess the backlash from wearing a composed expression in the Judge's Seat finally caught up to her."