Story Reader / Main Story / 24 Chaos Unsnarled / Story
I'll take the left, and you'll take the right, No. 21. Shorty, stay close to us.
I'm not short! I... I am not done growing yet!
Right.
No. 21 walks to the other side of the road with a blank face and focuses on some marks left on the undergrowth and mud.
Her tail swings quickly but mindlessly, destroying a few fragile flowers.
...
Is Kurono the one responsible for developing No. 21's new frame now?
Yes.
Under who's order?
...
...Forget it.
We'd need a lot of help from Kurono even if we wanted to design it ourselves. We have no data on her current design.
This frame might just become the victim of some complicated war one day.
It's better to let one party complete the entire design, rather than have both sides be skeptical about the other's design.
For developers, getting the new frame to work is the only way to obtain new, valid data.
So I can understand why he decided to hand over the authority of design.
But I can promise you that I hold significant influence even if I can only supervise the process.
I would like to receive a copy of every progress and compatibility report. This is a reasonable request from the supervisor of No. 21, right?
I'll see to it as long as classified development information is kept safe.
On behalf of No. 21, I really appreciate your help.
The red-haired Construct puts on a bright smile, but under her perfect smile stirs raging, suppressed anger.
I'll get going, then.
Right.
...One second. I know No. 21 has little common sense and has trouble with words, but do you know anything about what she wrote about her wish for the new frame?
What did she write?
To have the smell of humans.
Ever since she returned from a mission in a little town, "the smell of humans" became one of her favorite phrases.
Vera never paid much attention to it when it appeared in the daily squabbles of Cerberus.
"The smell of humans"? That is something that becomes non-existent the moment someone chooses to become a Construct.
Noctis is no brighter, and Vera would give him a painful kick the moment she heard him say something like that.
But for someone who was robbed of her human experience, crazy phrases like this seem oddly fitting.
But nobody knows what No. 21 still needs to become the "human" she imagined.
The original goal was to provide her with some extra options on top of stability.
But live testing has shown that the frame cannot follow her wishes if it's to maintain stability.
And as far as frame stability goes, most Constructs experience fear and panic when the imagined self is different from their actual self.
Basically, it's when their inner self cannot accept reality.
Does No. 21 really know her heart? She is showing a lower compatibility in the human-like frame than her current frame.
No. 21, can you find what you are desperately looking for?
Captain.
Is Buddy going to die?
If you were the one who is lost, are you going to sit there and wait for death?
No, I'll come back to be with you.
Then you should know more than anyone else that Buddy isn't going to give up so easily.
Right.
Having some motivation recovered, No. 21 rushes back to her research area.
I found some footprints! Over there!!
The boy's yell emanates from nearby as he waves at Vera with an exaggerated gesture. Without waiting for her response, he swiftly dashes toward the newly discovered clue.
Hey! Don't run away like that!
Ugh... No. 21, follow him!
