VII. Relativism — Interlude

The interlude opens in Aiya Sato’s past, recalling a village “lucky cat” and introducing Aiya’s cool pragmatism as she visits Selene Nova’s elegant home. Selene disclaims the cat as her daughter’s and immediately pivots to the Forum’s investigation into Nova Corporation, assuming it will fade without legal consequence.

Selene reveals she has just, quietly, become CEO as her father steps back. She asks Aiya for strategic advice. Aiya affirms that public condemnation matters less than financial penalties and suggests a philanthropic diversion aimed at issues the Forum champions, positioning generosity as both shield and leverage.

As caviar and wine are served, they weigh options: eradicating poverty as a bold gesture versus smaller, brand-friendly donations. They settle on a high-visibility approach—philanthropy paired with spectacle—proposing a charity event and future Tokyo gathering during cherry blossom season to lock in public narrative before corporate boards can resist.

Between bites, Aiya reflects on power’s theater, gendered optics, and her own disciplined, materialist ethos: real power is the freedom from precarity, not sentimental virtue. Desire flickers and passes; strategy remains. Selene praises Aiya’s thinking, and they align on remaking perception to remake the world.

They toast to a “new world.” A final aside notes what Aiya would have told Atlas Blakely: survival over mourning, acceptance of the Society’s terms only to live—placing this calculated philosophy in contrast to later upheavals.