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TheMcD
May 4, 2013

Monaca / Subject N 2024
---------
Despair will never let you down.
Malice will never disappoint you.

To Live Again: 09/14/2030, 23:24





A memory of when Natsuhiko, Mashiro, and Salyu stayed overnight at a karaoke box...



♪ BGM: Words of Healing

--Right as she fell asleep, Salyu heard something and woke up. When she looked around, she couldn't find Natsuhiko.

...Natsuhiko?

No answer.

Where did he go...?

After she muttered that, she heard a voice right beside her.

...He probably went to make a phone call.
!

It was Mashiro. Salyu thought she was asleep, but it appeared that wasn't the case.

A phone call? To whom?
To Yuuri... Natsuhiko's rarely out of the house at night, see. So whenever he is out, he gets worried about Yuuri and calls her.
...Even though she's not there?
Even though she's not there. But he does hear her voice through the phone.
I see...

Salyu fell silent after saying that. She rarely got the opportunity to talk with Mashiro alone. So she decided to take advantage of the situation and ask her some questions.

...Um, Mashiro.
What?
What kind of girl was Yuuri?
Well...

Mashiro thought for a little before answering.

She was cute, and super, super gentle... She was the girl I admired.
What was she like to Natsuhiko?
She was a little different to Natsuhiko, I guess. She wasn't really the girl he admired, but more the girl he wanted to protect. ...But he couldn't protect her in the end. Since Natsuhiko couldn't accept that reality... time has stopped for him to back when Yuuri was still alive.
...

Mashiro's use of roundabout expressions was hard for Salyu to understand, but she caught the gist of what she meant.

Natsuhiko still loves Yuuri, doesn't he?
Yeah... you're right...
Mashiro, do you still love Yuuri?
Of course I love her... but not in the same way as Natsuhiko, though. ...Maybe it's too early for you to understand that sorta thing, huh?
Of course not. Probably.
Huh? Wait... Salyu, don't tell me you love Natsuhiko too...?
Mm. He's the one I love third most, after the professor and you.
...I see.
Alice: Kyuu.

Alice cried a voice that signified ''relief''.

Mashiro, you felt relieved just now. Why?
Huh? Ah, no, I... Man, there's no getting past Alice's eyes, is there?
?
Well... I know it's odd of me to say this... but despite appearances, I'm quite a jealous girl.
...?
I've already got an eternal rival. I almost thought I had yet another one to worry about... so I panicked a little.
...??? I'm sorry, I don't follow.
I guess it really is too early for you then, huh, Salyu?
...Looks like it.

That was the first time Salyu saw an inconsistency in Mashiro's behavior.

...Mashiro, sometimes even you seem to have your secrets.
Well, people are piles of secrets. ...But you know what, Salyu? That's what makes interacting with people fun.
The fun of figuring out secrets?
I guess there's also some fun in learning how some secrets must never be found out.

--After Mashiro said that, they heard footsteps from outside the room.

Mm... looks like Natsuhiko's back.
Ah, crap. Let's pretend we're asleep.
Why?
Because it's embarrassing. So just go to sleep.
Mm.

Salyu shut her eyes as told. Just this once, Mashiro's behavior was unintelligible from start to finish. Salyu thought to herself as she listened to Natsuhiko enter the room and sit on the sofa.

(... Secrets that must never be found out... Looks like even Mashiro has some of her own. But if everyone has these unsolvable secrets... that's actually a relief. Because it would mean I'm not alone. It would mean everyone else has similar worries...)

And with that thought, she fell asleep once more.

Tips posted:

TIP: Louise Yui Sannomiya
Category: Fiction

Nickname: Salyu.

The half-Japanese, half-French girl born to Alice Enflamme and Eishi Azumi. Her godparent is Miyoko Tenkawa.

For as long as she could remember, she had been treated as a sort of brain backup for Subject N, becoming inundated with extensive knowledge from specialists in all sorts of fields. Her brain was damaged as a result, and she lost the ability to deduce someone's intentions based on their facial expressions and gestures. Later, when Subject N's N-ification ended the experiments, she accepted a proposal from Miyoko to have part of her memory erased. With the caveat of being under observation, she was given some freedom and became Natsuhiko's classmate as ''a genius foreign girl who skipped up grades''.

The nickname Salyu was given to her by Mashiro after her full name ''SAnnomiya, Louise YUi''. Salyu happens to be pronounced identically to salut, a casual French salutation used among close people to greet each other and bid farwell. Since Salyu had trouble coming in contact with other people without ARMS, she liked that part about the nickname.

After returning alive from the series of incidents at LABO, she is now working with Natsuhiko and the others to evade Q. Perhaps due to the influence of the other children, Salyu has begun to act like a girl her age from time to time, which always startles Natsuhiko.

And that's it for Salyu. Next up, Watase.