By the time Ye Lan awoke, it was already close to midnight. After he finished talking with the Sephiroth who had come to visit, it was already two in the morning on Day 50.
He finally said his goodbyes to the various box-heads and returned to his dormitory to sleep.
When he woke up again, it was Lobotomy Corporation's final workday—Day 50.
On this day, neither Meltdowns nor Ordeals would occur. The only thing employees had to do was gather the required energy for the day.
For everyone, this day was a rare time of rest, and it signified their imminent arrival at a permanent day off.
But before that, A could not rest.
There was one more "person" waiting for him in the true Architecture Department.
"You've seen your own reflections, haven't you?"
Standing before the photographs of all the facility's past leaders, a young man in a lab coat, hands in his pockets, spoke to A.
"They must have tried to hinder your progress because their futures were already bleak."
"But you chose to cast them aside, shattering the fragmented 'yesterday' along with them."
"And so, you and I are able to meet in 'today'."
"Seeing you come here without hesitation, you must have realized it, right?"
"I know that we both lost our 'hearts.' I've known for a long, long time."
"But I did nothing. I'm sure many would do the same... That is the difference between Carmen and us."
"Unlike us, she didn't look away. She tried to save them, to find their souls. She made a noble decision—to bring salvation to humanity."
"But I, a man without such ambitions, had to inherit her will."
"It's ironic, isn't it?"
Sitting at the only desk in the Architecture Department, A watched his reflection in the mirror speak eloquently.
"Perhaps I was never the right person for this job."
"As you've seen, I became a 'Wing' and committed the same atrocities as the others."
"Here, employees repeat thousands of deaths, endlessly. My friends, long dead, are trapped in a cycle of suffering."
"And I sat here, watching it all coldly, under the pretext of realizing her dream."
"This sin can never be forgiven. Nevertheless, I must do it. If this sin can break this wicked cycle, even just once, then I am willing to bear it all."
"Our mission is to spread the seeds among the people. Everyone has their own light. Stories are made of light, and people's existence is rooted in light."
"We are the ones who sow the seeds, but how the seeds grow depends on them."
"We... regrettably, we cannot foresee what kind of forest we will grow."
"We have one more thing to do. Something we have repeated countless times... to manage the Abnormalities."
"You can do it. I believe in you. Come. This will be your last job as Manager."
When the person in the mirror finished speaking, A was surprised to find that it was already time to work. Without even a chance to eat breakfast, he had to begin today's management.
Angela appeared before him as always, speaking cryptic words to him from within the unchanging mirror.
Meanwhile, Ye Lan, waking from his sleep, also walked into his dormitory bathroom as usual. He wanted to see if his old employers had any new messages.
But it seemed they had truly abandoned him. The communicator in the display piece had initiated its self-destruct sequence. It was now just a broken, worthless trinket.
After a quick wash, he changed into a brand-new company uniform and left the dormitory room he had inhabited for who knows how many loops.
Facing the final day in a new set of clothes, welcoming a new life—could anything be more delightful?
Ye Lan thought about what was to come, wearing a smile so wide that passing colleagues wondered if his mental contamination hadn't been fully cured. He walked all the way to the cafeteria.
None of the Sephiroth were in the cafeteria today. After a quick breakfast, Ye Lan went to his locker room.
Twilight had been destroyed in yesterday's battle. The E.G.O. suit given to him today was the [Adoration] suit, extracted from Melting Love.
But what he wore today didn't really matter, because he wasn't assigned to a specific department. Both A and the Sephiroth believed he should rest. All he needed to do was lend a hand if a department got overwhelmed.
In other words, he was free today!
He took the elevator to the Architecture Department. Four employees greeted him. They had been on duty in the Training Team and were here today as replacements.
After telling them the management procedures for a few Abnormalities, Ye Lan got back in the elevator and headed for the R&D Department. He had originally planned to find Malkuth in the Control Team first.
But a sense of foreboding told him that he might have said something he shouldn't have to Malkuth while he was heavily injured yesterday. If he went now, the cute box-head Miss "Malkuku" would surely grill him with questions.
He waited in the elevator for a while. Before it arrived, a jolt locked the elevator in place. The total energy had reached the 10% mark. The entire facility tilted 45 degrees to the right with a shudder.
As more energy was collected, the facility would continue to rotate until it was completely upside down, with the Architecture Department at the very top.
After the shaking stopped, the elevator resumed its normal operation, and he soon arrived at the R&D Department.
Binah was sitting idly in her office. The woman nicknamed "Lock-mom" also had no work to do today.
But just as Ye Lan felt sympathy for Angela, Binah also felt a degree of sympathy for her. No, perhaps that wasn't accurate. It was less that Binah sympathized with Angela and more that she wanted to see what Angela would do with the Seed of Light.
The two like-minded conspirators sat opposite each other, quietly waiting in the R&D Department for the facility's rotation to finish and for the moment they would rise to the surface.
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