Story Reader / Interlude / Song of Flowers / Story

Dear Selena, I've got good news!

The play I've been writing has an important breakthrough.

It happened... because I've obtained more information about you.

Records from the abandoned space station.

Chairman Allen had a long struggle with the Parliament in order to conduct an investigation and data collection on the space station.

I've never seen him looking this serious...

The squad that eventually landed there retrieved the remains of the lost Archaeological Team.

One of their memory banks miraculously preserved an audio file.

It was your voice in that file.

I heard... the chat you two had, and your song.

...

Truth is, it took me a while to collect myself before writing this letter.

I'm sorry, but I can't recall how I felt when I first heard it as I'm writing this.

I felt... hurt, and helpless, and... angry. I can see them on Chairman Allen's face as well, who allowed me to listen to the clip.

For a moment, I almost felt like you were there with me.

Sure... That was pleasant and naive. But perhaps that sweetness was what allowed me to write this story down.

Later in the audio clip, there was only one voice.

Your voice... you were talking to yourself.

You told me that talking to oneself is an inevitable step in creation. Truth be told, that, too, was how I felt since I started writing.

It is a peculiar experience. I thought I knew myself quite well, but as I started penning my characters' actions, I began to realize—

There are so many parts of me that I have yet to explore. The ways I wanted the world to develop as I wrote them down.

Do you... also talk to yourself when you write?

Have you ever been convinced, accused, or saved by your inner self?

In the three years you slumbered in the space station... how many times... have you talked to yourself...

Tell me, Selena.

—Yours, Ayla

～An impressive battle it was, my brave comrades! But the fight is yet over, for our land is corrupted still, I'm afraid.～

～So stand! Stand! Behind you your homeland you shall guard and defend!～

～Stand! Stand! Skybound our home intends, stop us this bitter earth shan't!～

She looks so lively with the dusk focused on her like a spotlight, highlighting the only protagonist on this stage.

Only when Selena approaches closer that she realizes the girl's frail body is slightly shaking. Flora's arms show small signs of infection, which must be excruciating for a child. She is relying on her willpower to perform for an empty audience.

This is an underground theater. The subterranean design has slowed down its deterioration, and the hidden entrance has shielded it from Corrupted attacks. Even the stage is intact.

It also makes it difficult for those who search for it. Pieter followed the track to this place, only to be circling it outside, unable to pin down Flora's trail.

By the time Selena discovered the underground structure and found the entrance by analyzing the architecture in the surroundings, it was already dusk.

Then she argued with Pieter for a while at the entrance.

—"If we take her back by force, she's just going to run away again in the future... Just give me a little time. A little is all I ask. Let me talk to her."

She convinced Pieter to stay at the entrance, entering the theater by herself.

And she has been watching the first half of the girl's solo performance as the sole audience.

As the girl finishes a segment, Selena steps forward.