But his face closes. Based on what he's heard from Futaba herself, from Sojiro—Wakaba Isshiki doesn't sound like someone who would have had a Palace. But how can he tell? "I suppose there's no way for me to tell whether Wakaba Isshiki-san had a Palace. I mean, short of asking someone who saw it."

He empties the filter water away, sets more to boil, grits his teeth. Short of asking Ren, that is. His hand clenches into a fist as he stares down at the hotplate. "Futaba's Palace was separated into wings, effectively. In that case, each had to be traversed in order—there were messages we had to uncover, and so we couldn't proceed until we cleared each one, you see?

"Ren's Palace, though, appears to have multiple accessible wings. A large enough team could clear them simultaneously. Assuming they survived entering the main building, that is." And he switches the hotplate back on, with an annoyed little click.