()||9<黑屏1>0,10BGM_Empty: ()||9<黑屏2>GF_xGS2_16:Everything around me suddenly goes dark as if there was a blackout. I gather that means Kalin has managed to break in. +Both Rico and SPAS are nowhere to be seen. +My eyes eventually grow accustomed to the dark and I find myself standing in front of an antique door. +I reach out to twist the handle, but retract my arm just before I touch it. +I suddenly realize that the simulation has completely ceased to exist, and I am now inside Rico's actual Vita. +For some reason, I have a feeling that on the other side of this door is the ending to this story. +It's the result that I desire, and yet here I am, suddenly reluctant to reach for it. ()||AVG_Door_Open_Close:Creak... ()???||<黑屏1>:Are you finally here, Signore Jean? ()||<黑屏2>137:The door suddenly opens and I hear a familiar voice. +An arm circles around my shoulders and guides me through the door, after which the door closes behind me. +I look around and find myself in a circular garden. Lush plants of all kinds surround a little house shaped like a cocoon. +The garden is eerily quiet; I can practically hear my own breathing and heartbeat. Everything is so still, it's as if time itself has stopped. SPAS12(4)???||:You took too long. ()Commander||:SPAS? ()||:SPAS is once again standing before me. She lets go and takes a step back. +Both her clothes and her smile are different. SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:Signore Jean, please call me Sabrina. Here you are at last. ()Commander||:Sabrina...? Was it you looking at me from outside the window back then? ()||:Sabrina gives a small nod. ()Commander||:Then who exactly are you, Sabrina? SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:I am the servant and friend of a lonely deity, as well as the guide on your final journey. ()Commander||:A lonely deity? SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:Indeed. The deity who created this world but still remains in solitude ()Commander||:...You mean Rico? +Can you bring me to her? SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:Gladly. I've been waiting to do this for 52 years. ()Commander||:52 years? ()||:Sabrina doesn't answer. She merely gives me a bow and walks lightly towards the cocoon-like house. +I follow close behind silently and walk in the same direction. ()Commander||:Are...Rico and you the only ones here? SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:The lady has always been alone. She lives by her oath and awaits your return after creating this tranquil and beautiful place. +She once dreamt of life in the future, but fate had its own arrangements. The future that she dreamed of was never meant to be. +As compensation for having everything taken from her, the deity was brought here – a world where she can have all her heart desires. The man who led her here gave her everything, then vanished. ()Commander||:The man? SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:Signore Jean. +He was a cold man, but he handed all command authorizations to my lady. +You aren't the same Signore Jean, are you? ()Commander||:... SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:But that doesn't matter. Even if you aren't the same Signore Jean, you still have what it takes to save her. +After Signore Jean's departure, my lady had no wish to leave this place, nor did she feel compelled to build anything beyond this little garden. Instead, she created me – a shadow detached from her very soul. +I helped her maintain this garden that is hers alone, day after day. +We have spent the long years together. It was a little lonesome, but as long as I was with her, it was bearable. +I thought the days would go on like this for eternity, until one day... ()Commander||:One day...? SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:Until one day, a girl came to me and gave me the power that could change everything, power that didn't belong to my lady. +With this new-found power, I also evolved into a deity, but I didn't tell her. Life went on quietly like it had always done. +My lady spent her days in the garden as usual, but things were different, and I decided that I had to do something for her. +So that same day, I put her to sleep. +In that cocoon-like house, I gave her a long and lovely dream. All her desires that were taken from her, everything she had or never had – she would find them all in that marvelous dream. +That way, she could experience the happy life that she was entitled to live without breaking her word. +And while she was dreaming, I had been waiting at the door for you. +Because I knew that when the dream finally came to an end, you would be here. +...And now, the time has come. ()Commander||:You... SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:I know you destroyed the simulation. +But since it was created with the power you lent me, it is only right to give everything back to you now that it is over. +Even my appearance is borrowed from you; I hope you aren't offended. ()Commander||:Both you and the simulation are sustained by SPAS' neural cloud...? SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:That's right, but don't worry. I have no regrets as long as my lady is sufficiently happy. ()Commander||:But if you exist solely for the sake of making Rico's dreams come true... +And you just disappear once you've fulfilled your purpose, doesn't that make you feel resentful or bitter? SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:Signore Jean, aren't you the same in your devotion to your Cyborg? ()Commander||:... SPAS12(4)Sabrina||:Please come with me. +Save your compassion for the child...for my lady. ()||BGM_Empty<黑屏1>:I follow Sabrina into the house. ()||BGM_Moon9<黑屏2>:"A long time ago, I had to lie in bed all the time." +"I didn't know how to walk. I might as well not have any limbs. They were attached to my body, but I had no control over them at all." ()||:"The doctors could move around my bed freely, but I could only lie here." +"Why is my life so different from theirs?" ()||:"If I become a Cyborg, will I be able to stand?" +"Then I want to be a Cyborg... 'Please choose me,' I prayed silently." ()||:"'Help me get my vengeance,'" +"Said Signore Jean. That was the very first order I received." ()||:"I'm very grateful for the life I'm living." +"I can see the sun and the moon with my own eyes; I can run along the beach; I can fight for Signore Jean." +"But if one day, I am no longer useful to him..." ()||<黑屏1>BGM_Empty:"How will I live with myself? ()Rico||263<黑屏2>GF_xGS2_16:Signore Jean... ()Commander||:Are you awake? ()Rico||:Yes...I think I had a really long dream. +In my dream, you came back to me and we went on a mission together again. ()Commander||:It was just a dream. ()Rico||:Is that so...? But you really came back. ()Commander||:Yes, I have. ()Rico||:It has been so long... +I thought you were gone for good. I thought I wasn't useful anymore. ()Commander||:I'm back, and you're coming with me. ()Rico||:Is there a new mission? ()Commander||:No...you don't have to fight anymore. ()Rico||:But...if I don't fight, aren't I worthless to you, Signore Jean? ()Commander||:Rico is Rico. Even if you don't fight, you still have a reason to live. ()Rico||:Can I live like an ordinary person? +Do I really have the right to live that kind of happy life? ()Commander||:Everything is possible even outside of your dream. +You don't have to sit on this throne for someone to love and care for you. ()||:I extend my arm and help Rico out of her throne. Sabrina bows to us from the side. ()Sabrina||:Signore Jean, what I created was just a dream. +But in this last moment, please allow me to borrow your power once again to realize her dream. ()Commander||<黑屏1>:Sure, do whatever you want. ()||139<黑屏2>:By the time I come to my senses, I find myself sitting at the same table when I first entered this Vita, but this time, I'm not inside a simulation created by SPAS. +I am once again holding a cup of coffee, whose pleasant aroma tantalizes my sense of smell. +I take a sip – the same bitterness that I remember. +I add a dash of milk and give it a stir. The milk foam swirls around the cup and gradually blends into the coffee. Rico(2)Rico||:How does it taste, Signore Jean? ()Commander||:Mm, fantastic. Rico(2)Rico||:Hehehe... I spent a whole week experimenting to achieve this flavor. ()Commander||:Thanks for the coffee. +It is absolutely one-of-a-kind. Rico(2)Rico||:In that case, I'll brew it for you every day! ()||:Rico smiles happily. She's holding a coffee pot instead of a gun. +It looks so much more natural to see her like this. ()||:The blazing sunset gives everything a golden hue. For a moment, the cityscape outside the window looks positively radiant, as if someone has spilled brilliant paint all over it. +We take in the scenery in silence, our eyes sweeping beyond the city into the distant sky. +The fiery clouds drift by slowly in orderly layers like giant whales gliding through the sky. +Now, unobscured by the clouds, the orange setting sun is slightly blinding, but neither I nor the girl want to avert our eyes. ()Commander||:It's sunset again... Rico(2)Rico||:Yeah. ()Commander||:Somehow it always feels a bit depressing to watch. Rico(2)Rico||:But with Signore Jean by my side, it's just another beautiful view to me. ()Commander||:Let's go home. Rico(2)Rico||:Okay! ()||<白屏1>:The scene starts glowing white. +In the dazzling light, I can just make out Sabrina waving at us. ()||<白屏2>9:...Perhaps this story has also reached its conclusion. ()||:... ()???||:She survived all the fighting. +Even though I have always treated her sternly, she always smiles at me with such sweetness. +She is so easy to please and so grateful for everything. The more appreciative she is, the more wretched I feel. +She's always worried about when she'd stop being useful to me, and I've been exploiting her insecurity the whole time. +I keep telling myself it's part of her training, but deep down I know that I'm just a bastard trying to drown out my guilty conscience. +In here, I can finally put a stop to that. +If she weren't a Cyborg, she would have been a wonderful child. If she weren't a Cyborg, she would have been loved. ()???||:Stop being a deadly Cyborg. As a living and breathing person, your possibilities are endless. That's what you are truly worth. ()???||BGM_Empty<黑屏1>:I wish you all the happiness in the world, Rico.