"I understand, teacher."
Aimou no longer lingered, turning around and heading deeper into the Alchemy Workshop. She had intended to rest on the repair platform, but it was already covered by overgrown flesh.
Eventually, Aimou pushed open the door to the outpost’s small cabin. Bologue and Palmer had taken good care of the room; in its sealed state, it hadn’t been permeated by flesh, and everything remained as it was when they left.
Aimou closed the door tightly, sat down slowly on Bologue’s single bed, hugged her knees, and curled into a ball.
She finally returned here, got the answer to the question from Teda’s mouth, intending to put an end to it. But instead of the expected relief, there was a difficult-to-describe bitterness.
"See, didn’t I say it would be ? He never cared about you. Even if you dressed up as a Delusional and cooperated with him on so many things, even sacrificing yourself to revive Alice, he wouldn’t glance at you.
Poor Aimou, you actually harbored an expectation you shouldn’t have. Do you think your self-sacrifice would make him care about you?"
Alice sat on Palmer’s single bed, tauntingly.
"A tool is just a tool, you were never his daughter."
Aimou lowered her head even further.
"You know, you’re really an easily satisfied person."
Alice laughed, moved to the table, and casually played with the things Bologue and Palmer left there.
Bologue’s personal items were all hammers and knives. This guy was like a cold weapon Collector; the drawer contained nothing but deadly weapons, while Palmer had pile after pile of fantasy novels.
Their only commonality was that they both had prepared quite a few tape records.
"Even Bologue, who is closest to you, couldn’t guess your wish. Transforming into a human, in reality, you just wanted so-called... paternal love?
Or perhaps a sense of being chosen?"
Alice toyed with the records, tossing them like darts. Some hit Aimou, and she didn’t react at all.
"In fact, you didn’t have to return. Belli was kind to you, and even took these things out for you. You could have easily gained affection and acceptance from her.
Bologue could too, a violent man even I’m afraid of was toyed around by you. It should’ve been easy to trick some affection out of him, right?"
Alice glanced at the time, "He should be asleep by now, dreaming about you?"
Amid continuous laughter, Alice placed a record onto the player, and as it slowly turned, a light melody began to play.
"See, you have so many choices. If you stayed in the Sublimation Furnace Core obediently, Teda might die tomorrow, and everything would end."
"If I don’t return, I’d never know the answer," Aimou finally responded.
"Hmm? Why do you insist on Teda’s approval?" Alice couldn’t understand, "Just because he’s your creator? Your so-called... father?"
"Hmm, now you know the answer, but you’re not well-off, Aimou," Alice approached Aimou, "You had anticipated this ending from the beginning, right?"
"You gave the choice to Teda, but Teda didn’t choose you... That’s why you hid it from Bologue, isn’t it?"
Alice ruthlessly tore open Aimou’s wound without mercy.
"Even your father wouldn’t choose you, let alone Bologue.
You dare not test Bologue. If Bologue doesn’t choose you either, your last bit of hope would be extinguished.
In this light, Aimou’s short life is truly a failure."
No response, Aimou only curled up tighter, and after a while, her voice trembled.
"Why won’t parents love their children?"
"Why can’t I be loved?"
"Is it just because I’m an Alchemy Puppet?"
"But I feel like I’m no different from humans, I have the same consciousness they do. I’m even better than most of them."
"Why was I born to be someone’s replacement?"
Aimou quieted down, trying to recall some beautiful things.
Her appearance often led to misconceptions about her age, but in truth, Aimou was just a child, and in her short life, there wasn’t much beauty.
She remembered the Vow Festival, her first taste of cake, the first movie she saw, and that detective with the hound...
Bestowing an Alchemy Puppet with wisdom, only to tell her she’s destined to be a replacement.
Alice came to Aimou, squatted down slowly, and looked playfully at the disheveled Aimou.
"Don’t leave your choices to others anymore, Aimou. Your fate should be decided by yourself, not for some ridiculous wish, at the cost of everything."
Alice shook Aimou’s shoulders vigorously, shouting at her.
"Now you’ve gotten the answer you wanted, he doesn’t love you, and that won’t change, even if you sacrificed yourself."
Mentioning this, Alice couldn’t stop laughing.
"That’s how kids are, the emotion you long for won’t be reciprocated, no matter how hard you try.
Therefore, you only have that most extreme choice.
To punish Teda with death, making him regret and acknowledge your existence."
But even so, there was still no response. In comparison, Aimou seemed more human, while Teda was just some machine faithfully executing orders.