Story Reader / Main Story / 25 Everglowing Justice / Story
It is late at night. The soldiers of the Aurora Squadron have entered the woods before you. In order to keep an eye on them, Echo and you have set up a simple camp here.
They've stopped. Their base must be nearby.
I'm not.
It's just... the closer I get here, the clearer some memories become.
Back then, right after Cecily passed...
Why would you do that, Father?!
Hm? Alisa? Is something wrong?
Alright, I can give you ten minutes...
The doctor in a white coat smiles gently as he looks at the time.
Are you here to recite the Utopia Protocols to me? Or has someone violated one of our little Alisa's rules?
...You know I'm talking about Cecily!
Devote everything to kindness and love. Never disregard what is righteous. Walk in the path of wisdom without arrogance or faltering...
Didn't you make those rules?
Experimenting on Cecily... Was that kindness and love? Was that righteous and just?
Of course, Alisa.
Pickman smiles assuredly.
It is the most wonderful place, somewhere even better than our Utopia here.
Everyone can live together happily there. Everyone gets to wield incredible power.
It is the most wonderful thing, Alisa.
But our research isn't complete. Once it is done, everything will be even greater.
Alright, I still have some things to do. Go play by yourself.
He smiles as he pats Alisa on the shoulder before quickly stepping away, leaving Alisa by herself.
No... That is wrong...
That... is wrong...
She keeps repeating the same phrase helplessly. Despite her heart telling her that everything Pickman said was wrong, the education she has received fails to rebut those "reasons."
Is that really right? Do righteousness and justice, fairness and order... look like this?
Alisa? What are you doing here? We just took in a new batch of Constructs, and we can use some help. Shouldn't you be working today?
...I see. I'll head there right now.
Arriving at the door, Alisa sees a few Constructs approaching her. The soldiers from Aurora Squadron are walking behind them as if escorting the Constructs.
This is Utopia! Most people don't get to come here despite how much they want to, so you're lucky!
Here lies the only Utopia in this apocalypse!
Psst...
Why didn't Babylonia move here if this place is so great?
Babylonia is nothing compared to this. You should treasure what you have here.
I don't know anything about treasuring, so why don't you let me head back?
You can't come back if you leave!
Who would want to come to a place like this?
You—!
He is about to say something when he sees Alisa approaching.
Hmph. Alisa, I'll leave them to you. I have other business to attend to.
Be careful. This Lena leading the group is a troublemaker.
I thought... all Constructs volunteered to come here?
Well, yeah. She was heavily injured, and we rescued her, so she has to pay us back, so to speak.
Fairness, am I right? Nothing's free.
...
I see. You can go take care of your business.
The soldier hurriedly salutes Alisa before running off. Alisa returns the gesture properly before turning around and looking at the Constructs they just took in.
Hello, my name is Alisa. I'm in charge of moral education here in Utopia. You can come find me if you need anything...
Hypocrite.
A sharp voice interrupts Alisa.
How moral can a secret Kurono laboratory be?
Enough with your crocodile tears. You caught me, so I admit defeat. But don't you brainwash me with your morals.
But he said they saved you and brought you back here because you were badly injured...
Lena lets out a disdainful sneer.
Yeah, whatever floats your boat.
She looks daggers at Alisa without saying another word.
Night has fallen by the time Alisa has done helping the newly arrived Constructs settle in.
Long overdue for maintenance, the ventilation system in the public area screeches in painful creaks. Alisa sits in Cecily's favorite corner, her M.I.N.D. a mess.
They said they saved Lena when it was so obvious that she was brought here against her will... Who is lying here?
You need to see everything with your very own eyes, Alisa. People's words need to be taken with a grain of salt.
You need to see things with your own eyes and listen with your own ears.
See things with her own eyes and listen with her own ears...
Keeping her eyes slightly closed, Alisa replays in her head what's happened recently.
Utopia has grown increasingly tense since Cecily "passed on."
Her father has upped patrol around the gate, and Utopia has seen an influx of "voluntary" newcomers these days. The people she has just received mark the fourth group today...
...Which is why she's starting to entertain the idea of having a conversation with that Construct going by Lena. She seems to know a lot of things... that Alisa has never been told...
...Such as "Kurono" and how people see this place as a "laboratory base."
Past midnight, in one of Utopia's flying fortresses.
Lena keeps her eyes partially closed, feigning sleep as she observes the patroller outside and quietly leaves a mark on the wall behind her.
Never has she thought she'd find herself in for a ride like this while trying to track down Kurono's research base.
What exactly is Kurono doing here, though? Does Babylonia seriously have no clue about this research base when it's so big and obvious?
One step, two steps... The patroller stops in his tracks and starts having a conversation with someone...
...Hello.
?
Isn't she the Construct from the afternoon... that claimed to be in charge of Utopia's moral education?
Well, what brought you here? Your rooms aren't here, if my memory serves me correctly.
I wanted to talk to you about... this "Kurono" and "laboratory base" that you mentioned earlier today.
...And you have no clue as to what those are even though you live here?
Good job trying to trick that out of me, but I'm not going to tell you anything.
I'm not tricking you into telling me anything. I-I'm just trying to figure things out...
Everyone here knows this place as "Utopia". Does that "Kurono" have anything to do with it?
Without saying a word, Lena fixes her gaze on the Construct before her.
The Caribous specializes in tracking and spying—and being a Caribou herself, Lena naturally has these skills down to fine art.
It appears that this Construct called Alisa doesn't have a full grasp of what's going on at this laboratory base, except Lena still can't rule out the possibility that she's just playing dumb to pry things out of her.
...I have nothing to say about that.
She squints her eyes again and looks away from Alisa.
...I need to go now, but I'll be back.
Alisa does a complicated salute before turning around quietly and leaving.
…………
It's been 10 days since Lena arrived in Utopia.
Under cover of night, Lena documents the landscape of this place as part of her daily "work," noting that these flying fortresses do not stay forever at one location—and that they can be dissembled and reassembled if needed...
...Which spells trouble.
Lena is trying to come up with a way to get out of this place. Right when she gets back to her room, however, she hears a quiet voice coming from the other side of the window.
Lena?
...What are you doing here again?
I assigned you this room because I pass by during my night patrols here...
How was your day today?
When Lena hears a few quiet rustles of clothes coming through the window...
...She can almost picture Alisa doing her complicated salute even without seeing her.
How did they manage to raise a child so pure and naive in a place as messed up as this one...
...You've been standing sentry here for 10 nights in a row now. Don't you feel tired?
I feel fine. Work is work, and they don't really want to do night patrols these days. According to the Utopia Protocols, we're supposed to look out for one another, so I thought I could do night patrols in their place.
...Are you stupid or what?
Well, I was hoping to learn about "Kurono" today, if you don't mind. And while we're at it... why do people call Utopia the "laboratory base"?
Do you really have no clue what's going on here? I mean, they're doing vivisection with Constructs here. What else can it be called? An orphanage home?
B-but that's not all that they are...
...Are you really that naive?
Anyone here—and yes, that includes you—could be the next guinea pig.
Why do you think they only take people in but never let them out? Have you ever set foot beyond this place?
I...
Lena's last question seems to have hit home.
All Alisa knows about Utopia is that it's a gigantic flying fortress flanked by numerous smaller flying fortresses.
All she knows is that everyone living in Utopia abides by the rules here and that they can all live happily together as long as they abide by these rules.
And she knows the skies out there to be blue, the grass to be green, and the ocean to be boundless. And yet...
...She has never set foot outside Utopia.
...
Lena lets out a barely noticeable sigh.
Having spent quite some time now observing this girl, she now knows for certain... that Alisa knows nothing about anything here.
I've seen them... in the middle of an experiment.
They... Dr. Pickman took Cecily.
And I'm going to stop them... because what they do goes against the Utopia Protocols. People are supposed to help one another, devote everything to kindness and love, and never disregard what is righteous...
I will do what I can... to help you and your people get out of this place.
...Wait, don't!
Her words disappearing into the silent air, Lena hears nothing more from the other side of the wall. With a frown, she tries to think of something to stop Alisa as she hears the same quiet footsteps approaching the wall again.
You...
Before Lena even finishes her words, she hears rustles of clothes again.
Good night, Lena. The stars tonight, too, shall shine upon your dream.
It took Lena a long time to finally let her guard down around me.
She would say hi to me at recess sometimes, tell me what was going on out there, and occasionally teach me how to shoot with a bow.
When she looked me in the eye, I always had this feeling that she was seeing someone else through me.
She wouldn't tell me anything, though, when I asked her. She only told me to keep myself safe and never fully trust anyone, no matter who they were.
When she trusted me so much herself...
