()||<BIN>9</BIN><黑屏1>0,10</黑屏1><BGM>BGM_Empty</BGM>:
()||<黑屏2><BIN>80</BIN><Night><BGM>GF_xGS2_27</BGM>:
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:...I'm sorry.
AR15Mod(4)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:You don't mince words, do you?
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:I know you don't want people to bring it up. +And I'm ready for you to slug me for doing so. But this is really important to me... Especially right now.
AR15Mod(3)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:So you want to know what a Doll feels when faced with the prospect of true death, is that it?
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:I've experienced a lot of hopeless situations myself, but my neural cloud was always petrified by a sense of fear that said, "I don't want to die". +I have never been prepared to die. I have never wanted to die. Simply put, dying scares me. It simply terrifies me.
AR15Mod(2)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:...This sounds like some kind of mental illness to me, no? +To think they'd make you go for a neural upgrade at a time like this.
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:!
()||:XM3 practically falls over herself to whisk away the upgrade form that lies exposed between them.
AR15Mod(0)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:Humph... So it's true.
()||<SE1>AVG_20Winter_Drink_Tea</SE1>:ST AR-15 sighs and knocks back her glass.
AR15Mod(3)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:If you ask me, you're fretting over nothing.
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:Hm?
AR15Mod(0)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:You want to know how I felt in the face of death? +Why do you want to know? What good would this knowledge do you? +What would change even if you knew? If I told you I was scared shitless back then, would that make you feel better? +Or maybe, if I said it didn't bother me at all, would that give you some courage? +What a joke.
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:I...
()||:XM3 falls silent. +She's right. What's the point of asking her that question?
()||:Everything started because of M4A1. Because of that, she learned of M4A1's past and came to understand what ST AR-15 had gone through. +But the fact remains that they were ST AR-15's experiences. They have nothing to do with XM3.
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:...The dilemma I'm facing now is whether I should retire or to accept a neural upgrade. +Either way, "I", as I am now, will die.
()||:XM3 picks up her glass and takes another drink.
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:There's no way I'll give up being a soldier. +If I have to bow and scrape and serve tea, I'll probably lose it and end up crushing my customers' skulls.
AR15Mod(0)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:Well yes, shooting is addictive.
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:Accepting a neural upgrade ought to be the best choice for me, but like you said, I'm not sure if that's a wise thing in my current state of mind. +Also, if I do it, I'll need to back up my neural cloud, which would make a mockery of my conviction up till now.
AR15Mod(2)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:Don't you think holding out like this also makes you a stubborn fool?
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:M4A1 never mentioned anything about you being snide.
AR15Mod(3)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:You hate my snide remarks because what I say is true.
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:...
AR15Mod(0)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:The crux of your issue has nothing to do with whether or not you should back up your neural cloud. +You've simply gotten hung up on an insignificant detail and you stubbornly refuse to let go of it.
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:What detail?
AR15Mod(4)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:Are you mistaking yourself for a human?
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:...I don't understand.
AR15Mod(5)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:I'm telling you—we're Dolls. +We're not the same as humans and we never have been. +We've always had a narrower scope of things. +Do humans start everything over just because they nick their fingers? +Do they set themselves rules where they'll die immediately once they get hurt, however insignificant their injuries actually are?
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:So you're saying that I've taken it too far and started having delusions about being human?
AR15Mod(0)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:That is exactly what I'm saying. +You stopped making backups, you convinced yourself that you have only one life. +I will admit that raising the stakes is a good form of training, but taking it that seriously is just weird. +Basically, you're worried that if you back yourself up right now, you'll end up losing this literal "do or die" mentality of yours, which will land you in a slump?
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:I can't deny that such a thing might happen. +This is how I've lived until now. +Scientifically speaking, there's no telling how much I'll rebound when I release all that pent-up stress inside me all at once, right? +And all it takes is a moment's carelessness, because there are countless dangers on the battlefield and no takebacks. You should know that better than me.
AR15Mod(3)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:This is ridiculous. I've never heard such utter nonsense in my life. +You think all the battles you've been through were a sham? Was your training all a sham too? Your knowledge and skills are what makes you strong; this "sense of urgency" is just icing on the cake. +You never needed it in the first place.
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:...But when you decided to go down the road of self-destruction... +You didn't think you'd come back, did you? +At that moment, how is a Doll different from a human?
AR15Mod(4)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:...I suppose the difference lies in the value of what their lives can create.
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||:Value?
AR15Mod(0)<Speaker>ST AR-15</Speaker>>||:...Right now, you no longer need to motivate yourself with that sort of mental stress. +The fact that you're still trapped by it just means you're hung up on a technicality. +That's all I have to say... What you do next is up to you.
()||<SE1>AVG_Door_Open_Close</SE1>:Thud. +ST AR-15 does not answer XM3's final question. Instead, she finishes her glass and leaves the Café, closing the door behind her.
xm3(0)<Speaker>XM3</Speaker>||<黑屏1>:...