Part 95: Day 43 - Story

Day 43: Story

Music: story 3 ending


It has gotten a bit livelier thanks to the Sephirot. Unlike me, they were weak and lacked rationality. They made so many mistakes that greatly annoyed me. I did not approve of you placing the Sephirot here. However, you told me that your atonement and the awakening of the Sephirot were key to the untying of this knot I lie in.



You also told me I wouldn’t understand. You even blocked me from interfering with that relationship. Saying that it must be left as solely your role. You were right. Right as always.



To quote one of your favorite lines: “A machine must behave as a machine.” So I had to play the role of the observer, the only role you bothered to give me, enduring all the pain that others forgot. I don’t think I’ll have to point that out again.

In summary: Angela never really liked the use of the Sephirot, and even though A told her that they were necessary to finish everything he never explained anything beyond that and just left her to watch while we go through and deal with all of this.

Music: Through the Mist


It’s likely that this will not be the last time I do so. I may have to tell them again what I have already instructed countless times. However, you two will be different.



I expect that you will not exhaust me as the ones above do. Just keep this in mind. I will not come down here to the Lower Layer unless the circumstances require me so. That does not mean I will simply watch and do nothing, but I will not interfere for the most part.



I hope we never have to face each other from now on. It would only lead to the both of us suffering.

Music: Lucid Dream


And you were the best architect that I was graced to meet. Back then, you simply could not let Carmen go. You were so desperate to keep Carmen on your side that you locked her in a cryostasis pod in an attempt to preserve her body at the very least. But during all this, you were perfectly aware that Carmen’s body had become nothing but a shell. Our faces were full of grief, yet we still ransacked her body and dismembered her core.



You were wholeheartedly immersed in something, just like you used to be.

……

That day, when she opened her eyes for the first time. I remember you were just staring through the laboratory’s glass, not setting a single foot inside. You might have thought that you noticed me right away… However, I witnessed you standing there for a long time before you realized I was there.



What did you think after seeing that piece of humanoid machinery, who did not display the warm smiles and gentle laughter Carmen had so naturally? I told you in so many words that no matter how many AIs such as Angela you create, none of them will ever be Carmen.



If there is one thing I may have mistaken myself over… It is that I had thought you overcame everything. The truth is that you never have.

In summary: As the Lower Sephirot, Hokma and Binah are different from the rest. They already know their purpose and the purpose of the facility-and as such Angela leaves them alone for the most part. She'd rather not talk to either of them, as well. In the present, Hokma reminisces about Carmen's death, the destruction of her body, and the creation of Angela. He then comes to the stunning conclusion that the guy who built a robot to replace the girl he liked and then locked himself in an eternally repeating prison until he completes some play that would bring about her will was actually still hung up over her death the whole time.

Ace detective, that Hokma.



This is the hardest Hokma's missions get, and it's still not that bad if we've kept on top of our training. High Justice is important anyways to get from point A to point B.

...You think I'm still hung up on her, huh?

Of course. You've done all of this, and you've never once bothered to let yourself think about her.

To be fair, that's because I barely remember her. What I remember hurts, but…

If you were to remember more, it would hurt more and you would fall again. It may be inevitable, but I would like to be near you for some time before the hands of this clock reset and begin to spin again.

Mmm… I guess I can't really argue with that. That me from before I was me certainly screwed everything up for all of us, didn't he?

I wouldn't say that. I'm actually quite fond of this place, A.

Well, I want out-so we should work on that.

I would ask that you reconsider.

Not likely.

...Very well, A.



You've returned once more.

I need a break from the old guy again.

A, I believe that was an observation and not an inquiry.

Oh… I knew that.

Did you, now? I would think merely acting knowledgable while knowing nothing would be more your forte.

Angela, please make it happen before I try expanding somewhere between the two of them so I don't have to listen to either one.

That would be impossible, A.

Of course it would. If I ever meet past me, remind me to strangle him.

Of course, A.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Evil Kit manages to break the game's coding.








Okay, what do you want?

Talow, this is huge. I just got a note from the manager and-

And what, you know how to get us out of this stupid loop?

Well, no. It's just confirmation that any one of us can be killed or raised anytime whenever Hokma wants. He could kill you today and bring you back tomorrow and we'd think we were here the day after we were hired.

Uh-huh… And?

The agent the manager met had been here for ten years! That means we may have been here for five years, or ten, or twenty! We wouldn't know it!

...I'm going to get ready for work. Next time, only call me if it's important.

It is important! This changes-

Nothing. Hokma can delete us if we're nosy-so don't get caught being nosy. That's business as usual. We've been looping for an eternity-knew that. Didn't know it was moving forward, doesn't really change much. Only thing that changes is that if we ever do get out of here, you're going to be hard pressed to find anything about your dad.

Wait… that… that can't be all it changes, can it?

It also means those loops where I died early and thought Hokma brought me back late in a different one were probably the same loop. That's about it.

…damn!

Don't let it get you down. I remember when I used to get excited over every little thing, too.

You? Excited?

Yeah. Nowadays it's just waiting for another shoe to drop from the boot factory hanging directly over my face, but there was a time where I'd be freaking out with you.

...Huh. I can't really imagine it.

Well, you might get to see it sooner rather than later. That doctor we got?

Plague Doctor? What about him?

I've never seen it before. Ever.

Seriously? I was going to ask if you knew what was up with the clock that kept appearing on the CCTV.

Clock? You should have led with that-Abnormalities with the ability to alter what the Manager sees or hears are worth extra caution. I don't know what to make of it, so don't let your team get anywhere near the thing unless you're fine with losing them. I won't be working with it, at any rate.

So you don't know either, then… It talks about this 'reunion.' Maybe it's going to throw a party?

Hopefully it's just the kind where people get a bit drunk. More likely, it's the kind where we all die.

...Fun. Now you've given me something else to be paranoid about.

Welcome to my life. If it makes you feel better, I promise to tell you what it does the next time around.

It really doesn't, but thanks.

Yeah, yeah. Later, dead man.

Hey! Who said you could give me some random nickname?!