"Tchi-san, are you sure about this?"

Taifu sat in a black swivel chair, idly kicking off the floor and spinning himself round and round. The skinny man wasn't dressed in black for once, and wore a light brown shirt instead. "Last time someone tried it, it didn't go so well."

"Hmm?" The woman with dyed-pink hair glanced over at him. She held a small stack of papers, but put them on a nearby desk before walking over.

He turned on a computer in front of him. "I want to show you something."

"What do you mean?" Tchi placed both forearms on the back of Taifu's chair, leaning on it as he gestured to the screen in front of him.

"One second." Taifu's fingers rattled over the keys. He navigated to the Japanese Football Union's database, entering a complex set of passwords. Multiple red flags appeared on his screen, warnings in bold text creating new windows and tinting the light from the screen a dark crimson.

[CLASSIFIED INFORMATION] He ignored them, closing the warnings and entering another password. Gradually, the warnings disappeared, leaving behind a single folder. "Here."

THE EXALTATION PROJECT Taifu acted like he'd seen this a million times already, but to Tchi, this was something brand new. How come she'd never been told about this? She was high up in the JFU ladder, but she'd never heard about a project like this. "...what is this?" Her voice was nervous, like she almost didn't want to know.

Taifu, on the other hand, shrugged nonchalantly. "I poked around in the database for fun. This came up from a few years ago."

Gathering her courage, Tchi moved Taifu slightly to the side, staring hard at the screen.

*The Exaltation Project - Introduction*

*One thousand talented youngsters aged 9 through 12 have been selected from around the country to play football for the Japanese Football Union, in one of the most prestigious, intense training camps in the entire world.*

*The project will last two years. If you're one of the lucky few, you'll have received an email and a letter with an address and time. Go there. Do not be late.*

Tchi clicked off the first file, scrolling all the way down to the bottom. There were hundreds of files. Pictures of a huge training complex, pictures and videos of young children playing against each other, fact files on every single player, and lists upon lists of match results.

There seemed to be endless files, photos, and video tapes. The facility looked like it was massive, and every single area of it was recorded. "What is this...?"

Her eyes narrowed on the very last file, and she double-clicked on it.

*The Exaltation Project - Conclusion*

*The project is being closed in five weeks. The following players from last week are now eliminated from the project:*

Her eyes scanned through various Japanese names she didn't recognize. I guess we are in Japan... she thought to herself.