[Tobiichi Luna POV]
Six years ago.
The young me was so naive.
***
"Luna, these children aren't the type of people you'd want to be friends with."
"I'll decide that myself."
Walking through the cold white halls of the facility, I looked around at the children, sitting apathetically in their seats, reading textbooks of various different subjects. For the first time, I felt intrigued by something. These children, they were different, they were like me.
Making my way into one of the small study rooms, I sat down next to a young girl. She looked the same age as me, but for the first time in a long time, I was able to sit next to someone without invoking a reaction from them.
"Hi, what's your name?" I asked.
"Mahiru Shiina."
She responded without even looking up from her textbook. Carefully reading every single word, she seemed to be studying maths. I leaned over her shoulder, peaking at the content that she was learning. From what I could tell, it looked around high-school level.
"Is that hard?"
"A little bit."
"You know, that technique in the textbook isn't very efficient. You should try separating the variables on both sides before integrating."
For a moment, the little girl didn't seem all too concerned. All of sudden, scribbled some things on her notepad before looking up at me.
"You. You're not from here are you?"
"Nope~ I'm just an idol."
"H-how did you know that? You don't look older than me. Are you really not from the Ideal Human Project?"
"Eh? Is that what this is called?"
She looked up at me with eyes that I had seen too many times before. It was the eyes of admiration, the eyes of jealousy, the eyes of envy. I suddenly lost all interest in speaking with her. It was just like talking with a fan, all over again.
"U-um, could you teach me more things you know? The next exam is coming up soon and I'm not very ready."
"Sorry, Mahiru, I can't do that."
"I'm scared. I'm scared that they'll get rid of me. Please."
I could feel a slight tug on my shirt.
"Nope. That doesn't concern me. If you're not smart enough, maybe you should be ridded of. That's what the purpose of this facility is, isn't it?"
She let go of my dress.
With eyes sunken in with melancholy, she looked down at the table, silently.
I got up and made my way back toward the hallway. There was still some things to look at before I was going to go home. It wasn't easy to convince the higher-ups to let me in here. Still, I'm feeling a little bit disappointed. I was expecting something more entertaining.
Strolling through the eerily soundless white halls, I looked around at the various pieces of scientific equipment littered around the rooms. Carefully monitoring the children, the machines displayed various tidbits of information. None of it was particularly interesting though.
As I made my way to the end of the building, I could hear the very slight beeping of some machine in one of the rooms. Making my way over, the sound slowly grew, it seemed to be coming from the Analysis Room.
I guess I'll take a look.
• ───────────────── •
Slowly pushing the door open, a sharp screech echoed through the halls.
Inside, I saw a boy sitting on the ground. He looked up at me as I entered. The room was filled with computers, stacked beside each other, one after another. The heat in the room was quite noticeable, as I felt myself brushed by a wave of warm air.
"Who are you."
"I'm just some idol, and you? What are you doing in here?"
"Nothing really."
"Oh? This looks like a room that only the adults should be entering."
"Do you need something with me?"
Leaning against the wall, I giggled a little.
"Nope, nothing~. I'm one of the observers, I'm trying to find children that need to be disposed of."
Sighing, the boy got to his feet.
"That's obviously not true."
"Hey hey~ I might just pick you to be the next victim. I can't have someone disagreeing with what I'm saying."
He looked down at the ground, ignoring the fact that I was talking to him.
"It seems that you don't believe me just because I'm a little girl. I'm smarter and stronger than most of the adults here you know?"
He continued to ignore me.
Aha, how amusing.
I made my way toward him.
"Come on, look at me when I'm speaking to you."
He seemed to be holding something in his hand.
I pulled him arm out of the way, trying to get a view of what it was.
…
Suddenly, I felt him grip my arm.
Seeing the world spin around me, my back crashed into the ground.
A sharp pain went through my body.
Ow. It wasn't too bad. But it was the first time in a while that someone had tried to hurt me.
"Just to let you know. The reason I knew you weren't an observer wasn't because you were a little girl. It's because none of the observers would bother talking to us. They're always just looking at the data."
I laughed a little.
"It's not very nice, throwing a girl onto the ground like this, is it?"
I was looking at his legs, with my back still on the floor.
"I can't have you looking at what I have, Tobiichi."
Aha.
"So you knew who I was, after all~. Why did you ask who I am?"
He stared at me with cold, emotionless eyes. They were like dark blue crystals, shining in the dimly-lit room.
Ah… those were the eyes I wanted to see.
So beautiful.
"I guess it was just out of boredom."
Haha.
"So, boy. Won't you tell me your name?"
He walked away, sitting on top the counter by the side of the room. He looked up at the roof, sighing again.
"I don't see why you'd care about the name of someone like me."
"I just want to know, isn't that fine?"
"I'm just a tool, built for the Nishikawa Conglomerate. It's better if you don't get involved with me."
I made my way towards him again.
"You just slammed my back into the ground. I want to know your name, isn't that a fair trade?"
He placed whatever he was holding in his hand into a socket in the wall. I still wasn't able to identify what it was. It looked like a key of some sort.
"If you don't tell me, I'll just ask someone else."
"Go ahead."
"Don't you want to control your own destiny?"
"Not particularly."
"Don't you want to find out the real reason for the existence of this entire facility?"
He looked up at me, but his face showed no intrigue.
"I already know the truth. You're the one who hasn't seen it yet."
"Is that so?"
"Kizutaka Rin, that's my name."
Wait.
Kizutaka… Rin…? It can't be…
That name…
***
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[Volume 1 END]