『 After Hanabi left, the two continued their journey. Under Sunday's guidance, they arrived at a large platform. Looking at it, everyone found the place somewhat familiar. 』
『 ....』
〘Stelle〙: Why does the pattern on the ground look so familiar?
〘Belle〙: I have that feeling too.
〘Miyabi〙: It seems to be the spot where Miss Stelle landed back then.
〘March 7th〙: Oh right! No wonder it looks so familiar.
....
『 After scanning the surroundings, Sunday smiled at Robin. "This place is just right. Let us wait here for the Dreammaster's arrival."
Robin nodded. "Mhm. Speaking of which, Brother, I heard you don't touch sweets at all anymore. Even though when we were kids, you used to fight with me over dessert after dinner…"
"I feel like during the time I was away, many things have changed. What on earth happened?"
"Even in a beautiful dream, someone must remain awake at all times." Sunday took a deep breath and spoke slowly.
Robin shook her head gently, refuting her brother's statement. "But that person shouldn't be you, nor should it be any specific individual. Brother, you are putting too much of a burden on yourself."
"The paradise we agreed upon… shouldn't be like this." Robin lowered her head slightly, unable to hide her disappointment.
"Penacony is just a dream. It cannot eliminate the troubles and pain of reality to bring people true happiness… All it can do is provide a place for people to escape reality, and nothing more."
Hearing this, Sunday couldn't help but shake his head. "Do you remember that old man from just now? Without this dream, he might have already fallen into an abyss of no return."
Robin nodded. "True… but even without Penacony, he might have found another way of life. As far as I know, the Intelligentsia Guild has long been promoting corresponding rehabilitation technologies."
"Although that kind of life would be much more ordinary and difficult, right now, he is receiving end-of-life care called a 'beautiful dream' in a coma. His ending… is already set in stone."
"Is Penacony giving these people a future, or is it stealing their future away?" Robin looked up and questioned him back.
"Before that, you must understand… not everyone can walk toward the future." 』
『 ....』
〘Dr. Ratio〙: This is the divergence arising from their different horizons. Miss Robin went to the outside world for the sake of Harmony and witnessed more possibilities, while Sunday has remained in Penacony all this time. It seems that besides seeing a psychiatrist, you should also go outside and take a look.
〘Sunday〙: .....
....
『 Sunday raised his head slightly and looked at the sky. "The future is to humans what the sky is to birds. People mistakenly believe that flying is the nature of birds because they have never seen those birds that fell to their deaths on the ground."
"Do you remember the harmony dove we adopted when we were children? How did we treat it?"
Robin spoke calmly, "We carefully raised it in a birdcage, feeding it and changing its water every day, grooming its feathers. Later… when we decided to leave Penacony, I opened the cage door and let it return to the sky."
"Fearing it would make you sad, I didn't mention this in my letters."
Sunday sighed softly. "Not long after you left, it fell right in front of your bedroom window." 』
『 ....』
〘Hook〙: Ah… the little bird…
〘Natasha〙: Little Hook, don't be sad. The little bird just flew to a place further away.
〘Robin〙: So that was indeed the case… Otherwise, Brother wouldn't have left out any mention of that harmony dove in his letters to me.
〘Alice〙: But at least it proves that it once wanted to fly into the sky.
....
『 "…I guessed as much. Otherwise, Brother, you would never have kept completely silent about its whereabouts." Robin's eyes looked downcast.
"Although the ending is regrettable, I still firmly believe that choice wasn't wrong. Birds don't hatch from their shells just to spend their lives in a cage… Even if they lack the strength to fly, the sky is still their destination."
Accompanying Robin's words, the camera slowly tilted upward, showing the starry and skyscraper-dense sky of the Golden Hour. 』
『 ....』
〘Elysia〙: What a beautiful starry sky♪ High-rises above the clouds can really only be achieved in dreams♪.
〘Eden〙: It is indeed very beautiful. Ah, right, Ely, do you like this gemstone? If you like it, I'll give it to you.
〘Pardofelis〙: Sister Eden is starting again? Wait for me, I'm coming to stock up!
....
『 "But that is precisely the problem. If some fledglings in this world can never fly in their entire lives, how can we assert that the sky is their destination?" Sunday questioned back calmly. 』
『 ....』
〘·HSR· Welt Yang〙: In my homeland, there is a kind of wingless bird. Their wings are tiny, and they cannot fly. In a short film made by people, one put all its effort into securing trees along a cliffside. When there were enough trees, it put on a pilot's cap and leaped off the cliff. That was its once-in-a-lifetime flight.
〘Kevin Kaslana〙: For some birds, flying is precisely for the sake of falling.
....
『 "Are you trying to say… humans are the same?"
Sunday turned around slightly. "Think about the Astral Express. It is a perfect example. The Nameless made immense efforts to connect the worlds, earning renown throughout the cosmos… However, those who can persist in such a bitter journey are but a mere few, and certainly no ordinary people."
"Because the cause of 'Trailblaze' is by no means something ordinary mortals can bear. Otherwise, how could this Path have once ended up with severed silver rails, an abandoned train, and the fall of the Aeon?" 』
『 ....』
〘·HSR· Himeko Murata〙: Perhaps the Aeon will fall one day, but the Trailblaze will not. The Trailblaze has no end. As long as you have the belief in the Trailblaze in your heart, then the Trailblaze will always exist. Even if the silver rails are severed, the train is abandoned, and the Aeon falls, even if we no longer exist, someone will take over the torch we leave behind, go further, and illuminate the darkness ahead.
....
『 Robin stepped forward to refute him. "Sophistry. If we deduce by this logic, doesn't the future become the privilege of heroes?"
"Regrettably, reality is exactly so. The alias of the 'Future'… is precisely 'Self-Worth'."
"There certainly exist heroes in this world whom people look up to and praise, but the vast majority of ordinary people can never become heroes in their entire lives." 』
『 ....』
〘·HSR· Welt Yang〙: Heroes are heroes precisely because they also emerged from the ranks of ordinary people. They were not born heroes. Some were forced by the times to stand up, and only then were they called heroes.
〘·HI3· Himeko Murata〙: When facing a crisis, if you choose to face it bravely, then you are your own hero. And when everyone around you encounters danger, and you choose to stand up, then you are everyone's hero.
〘Phainon〙: I can't say such grand, philosophical words. I just want to protect everyone around me from the Dark Tide, and fulfill everyone's wishes.
〘Yanagi Tsukishiro〙: When you have that kind of thought, you are already a hero, aren't you?
....
『 "Some are born weak and helpless, some fall into misfortune later in life, and some succumb to baseness and cowardice. In the face of survival, they are equally level, only able to watch as their value is continuously plundered by external things."
Robin refuted once more, "That is why we should show care to the weak and give them ample assistance, as if they were ourselves… The 'Odes of Harmony' has always taught us this."
Sunday shook his head. "The aspiration of 'Harmony' is indeed grand, but even in this carefree, beautiful dream, the strong remain strong, and the weak grow weaker… Human nature is like this. It certainly has a great side, but it also possesses a weakness that can never be eliminated no matter what."
"At its core, if people cannot even guarantee survival, let alone that illusory, egalitarian future. As long as the law of 'Natural Selection' still exists in the world… there are bound to be fledglings that fall to the ground."
"If people do not live for the future, do they just live for the sake of living? If Brother believes that even 'Harmony' cannot save the plight of the weak, then which Aeon can realize our ideal?"
Sunday closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
"People always forget that once, when the first bird flew into the sky, the expectation of the entire world for it at that time…"
He looked up at the sky.
"…was that from then on, no more fledglings would ever fall to their deaths upon the earth." 』
『 ....』