Location: Distant Memory

-???-

My memory only contains her smile. When was the last time I saw her after that particular incident, I wonder? All I could recall from that dim memory was the warmth of her touch as it loosened its hold on me, her sobs, and how she shivered in my presence as red ink began to fill my mind. I let out a long breath. "Why can't I remember? My head hurts," where? '.

My head started to ring loudly.

All of a sudden, I'm plagued by these memories. What exactly is this, why is it here, and who is it? I was met with the hazy figure of a woman, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't make out her face. It resembled a picture that had been glued into position. Do I have someone who would protect me? is just a passing thought.

There emerged a fresh set of memories.

Protect? Was that the reason why, after speaking to those people, she collapsed to the ground? Even my vague memories of it have faded. How does she appear?

Even that escapes my memory.

The last thing I recalled in that memory was me calling out for her as they dragged me away from the body that represented death. Then again, why did I even do it? Was she that important?

When they wrapped something around my face, my mind started to become foggy; it also sapped my strength, and they carried me into this enormous white box. I waited there as my thoughts soon left.

Why me though? I pondered. Why would they take me away when they were all significantly taller than me? And who were they, exactly?

Even though nothing makes sense, one thing is certain: I was with her because I was looking for something sweet.

•••••••••

LOCATION: ???|

After some time, I abruptly regained something—my consciousness—but I was still unable to move, smell, see, or even taste. But is this just a trick of my mind? In my ears, I can hear bubbles floating. No, specifically, it feels more like the voices are coming from inside my head.

For a very long time, I was accompanied by darkness, and the cold embraced me warmly.

I had no idea how long it had been since I had been awake, but on rare occasions, the bubbles' voices would disappear and be followed by a sinking sensation.

What is going on? These thoughts wouldn't go away, and I could feel the hands of these thoughts running through my back like rubber. Is something being changed or added? I'm not sure. I am aware that this is also the only instance in which I can claim to have heard something.

"Put him back in. It's finished."

Those words were difficult for me to comprehend. I heard it, though it sounded distorted and muffled to me. an old and rough sound.

Do the bubbles around me even attempt to keep me sane? Or perhaps everything I'm thinking is just a fabrication I made up because I'm alone.

•••••••••

LOCATION: ???|

How long has it been?

My only chance of salvation might be my destruction, I thought constantly.

Am I being moved? Though where? Ugh. I can feel the trembling in my cage.

I have no idea what light is, so I cannot even begin to imagine what it would feel like to see one, or even if I can. Even I have lost touch with who I am. Too much time has passed.

"Finally, I can feel it," would be a better way to put it. My mind finally drifted away, and so did my body; the cold sensation became the norm; the darkness became my new light; and things I never knew existed suddenly laid out around me.

Now that my senses were more acute, I could tell by the slightest vibration whether something was brittle or hard, and I was aware that the thing isolating me was somewhat brittle.

I was able to see through the darkness thanks to the vibration, and I was also alerted to the movement of people nearby by the beat. "One, two, three, four, eight, nine, ten?" I tried counting.

I never mastered the ability to count past ten like a child.

Kid? Am I a child? Why did I consider it that way? How certain am I that I'm even a child, or how certain am I that I'm an adult? An adult is what, exactly?

Why am I forgetting everything?

After the shaking stopped, what happened next affected me. I experienced a sharp sting behind me, as if a long, thin, but sturdy object were still moving inside of my body. At the same time, a warm sensation started to spread throughout my abdomen. I could feel something shifting inside of me.

I believed the darkness to be the norm for me, but I never imagined being able to open my eyes one day. Bubbles flew in front of me every day, and I finally got to see what they looked like.

I had trouble seeing through my flimsy cage. Although I can see their bodies, I can't see their faces as their stumbling bodies pass through me every day. I just can't stop looking at this sight.

My eyes refused to move from their single position despite my attempts to roll them. When I first opened my eyes, I believed I could still feel it, but time passed.

What exactly must I "feel"? I still don't understand anything.

My mind began to race with a new query, which I kept returning to. I'm not sure if I gave it much or little thought because what followed drastically altered my life once more.

Two figures approached my frail cage. Their voices were so quiet that I hardly heard them. I could only make out the brief words they used because of the bubbling noise in front of me.

I shifted my focus and paid close attention.

"Here...…escape...BANG!! BANG!!"

I suddenly heard something loud, and I noticed a new color: "red."

The two figures released this red color, which splattered on my brittle cage and flowed smoothly downward before the figure fell. What caused them to fall?

Fall? And what is that? Like falling, is that it?

Why did I give it any thought? Was it significant? I'm not sure anymore. I should probably just reflect on what happened.

One of them began to rashly approach me after those repeated vibrations of stamping filled the outside of my frail cage. Then I heard a sound like something breaking, like shattering. In front of my brittle cage, a faint but loud sound was heard. What makes me float suddenly flows somewhere, giving me the impression that I am falling.

I heard the most crystal-clear sound even when the thing that was making me float finally vanished.

"Roger! I have broken the glass, destroying specimens of SS Zero."

A man's voice is soothing to the ears because it is deep and husky.

After that, I experienced the sensation of losing consciousness and my senses for a very long time.

I passed out completely.

Glass, what is it? The last thing that comes to mind before I close my eyes

••••••••

LOCATION: ???|

*Dub dun, lab dub*

*Breathe deeply*

"Haaaaaaa~ ahhh~"

My body started to expand and contract for the first time. My thoughts were suddenly stimulated by this cooling sensation, and the most absurd thought appeared.

A question of who I am

I said in a raspy voice that filled the room, "W-, Wha-, it's... My na-, me." It hurts because this was the first time, I had to let out a sound. The opening where the voice came out is covered in dryness and my craving for something I don't even know I want.

I decided to cover the opening where my voice emanates at that point.

I thought everything was different, but something went back to what it was before. Once more, darkness met me, but I didn't feel the need to be troubled by it because I could see everything.

My eyes swept the entire area. I do not know this location, but everything was unique. A change occurred here.

(No sound, no light, just a lot of dust.)

Dust? My mind wandered to a fresh idea. I decided to crawl out of my broken, brittle cage—the glass—at that point because it no longer seemed important to me; stretching out my limbs no longer felt like a brittle cage.

As I wriggled out, I heard loud shattering noises and felt a lot of dust. I stumbled and landed on a rounded object on the floor. When I finally got to it, I noticed that it had a few holes in it despite feeling rusty to the touch.

Since this was the first thing I touched, naturally, my curiosity about it grew. The feeling felt different, but at the same time, I felt a "nostalgic feeling." Caressing the thing, I noticed something small and rectangular that seemed to be attached to this lower part, forming an arc.

Holding this enigmatic object close to me made me feel at ease because I felt an attachment to it.

I scanned the area once more. Even though everything was a complete mess, I noticed something. I approached; it was dirty but well-organized. I extended my hand and seized the object I thought was intriguing.

There are only a few items on the dusty shelf, but I am drawn to the rectangular object with its many pieces of thin, soft, flexible, and sturdy material.

When I touch it, a jolt runs through my body, forcing me to sit on the ground, open the thing, and read what's inside.

Introduction to Human Anatomy

As I quickly read through the seemingly endless text, my eyes caught the book's skill; I had never imagined that I could comprehend everything at once.

Even words I had never heard before came to me right away as everything was moving so quickly and quickly through my mind.

(Human Metamorphosis)

(Journal 7: God's Anatomy)

(Journal 9 Zero)

I ate up the text, reading each chapter word for word until I had finished all nine books in the pitch-black, but I never understood a thing.

Throughout my time alone, I would stroke the spherical object, which I would later come to know as the human skull after learning that it was among the books' contents that I would repeatedly read.

I created a cycle whereby I would open one book, read everything in it, then open another, and so on until I had finished all nine.

I never felt that what I do is unfulfilling, but because all I do is read, everyday things like not understanding the concept of time or what day it is never bothered me.

I did have one thought that kept me perplexed: what is light?

For the eyes to see and visualize colors and to perceive the world as having a life, light is a necessary agent.

I can see, but all I can see is black and no colors. I can read it, but it lacks color. Why do I need light if I can see through this darkness already, what is light?

I'm lost on this.

I would just put my troubled thoughts aside and read the nine books over and over until something happened.

*TRIRRKKK, TRRRIKKK*

I was suddenly enveloped in a grinding noise, and I could feel footsteps vibrating above my head. Dust would fly into my face as seven figures kept scratching the walls above me.

As the sound draws nearer, curiosity overtakes me. Several items, including the shelf and movable objects nearby, were used in my attempt to reach it. I stack them up until they are solid enough to support me as I ascend to the ceiling.

I positioned my ears close to the ceiling in an attempt to hear the movement and sound.

I approached and heard the most adorable voice. Being thin and calming, it is not oppressive to hear.

"We were nearly, but a little more."

I want to hear more.

By the time I get to the ceiling, I can see that it is beginning to collapse. My body was compelled to jump down by an instinct that rushed through me, and that's when a tiny hole appeared. For the first time, a flash of light briefly covered me, but it quickly disappeared as it grew larger and brighter.

I noticed that she had sweat and dirt on her face there. She gave me a knowing glance before screaming in a heavenly voice.

"There's a human there!"

Her silver eyes stared down at me, and we exchanged a look as my eyes faced the first light source they had ever seen. My eyes also caught sight of an angelic face.

Unbothered by looking directly at the light, I heard another voice.

[User, zero]

[Requirements for activation: sunlight, [Initiating automatic retina adjustment for the host]

[Initiating a body scan]

[Proceeding with the procedure]

[System awaken length, calculating, two thousand years after the initial launch]

This voice in my head sounds formal, not like hers.

••••••