—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Dr. Veritas Ratio: "A classic collision between the perspectives of a realist and an idealist."
Dr. Veritas Ratio: "I can only say that, in truth, neither of them is wrong."
Stelle: "I get it now. It's the world that's wrong!!"
Stelle: "The world is at fault, so I shall shatter this world and forge a new one anew!!"
March 7th: "Hey, what's with the eighth-grader syndrome speech?!"
March 7th: "Aren't you embarrassed?"
Boothill: "Son of a nice lady, you two siblings are both more than a little obsessed."
Boothill: "Talkin' way too absolute there."
Hanabi: "Hehe, I suggest trying a little perspective-shifting."
Hanabi: "I've got an idea for you two~."
Hanabi: "I'll use my illusions to disguise the Chicken-Wing Boy as his little sister. Let him take Robin's place as a star singing for the outside world, and let him see reality for himself while he's at it."
Hanabi: "Then, I'll disguise Robin as her brother and let her serve as the head of the Oak Family within the dream of Penacony."
Hanabi: "That way, wouldn't you both realize exactly what the other has been overlooking?"
Stelle: "Holy cow, Director Hanabi!"
Stelle: "As expected of you!"
Stelle: "Simply brilliant!"
Guinaifen: "Fam, don't even say it, just don't even say it!"
Guinaifen: "This method actually sounds feasible!"
Welt Yang: "Though it sounds somewhat unreliable…"
Welt Yang: "It is indeed an effective method for practicing empathy…"
Furina de Fontaine: "It's rare for Miss Hanabi to come up with such a sensible suggestion."
Furina de Fontaine: "If it could really be like that, Miss Robin would be able to feel those many frustrations from her brother's perspective."
Furina de Fontaine: "And Mr. Sunday would understand his sister's persistence because he saw what she once saw."
Furina de Fontaine: "In the end, the siblings would understand each other and work together toward their ideals."
Furina de Fontaine: "It would be a total happy ending!"
Hanabi: "I can tell you prefer stories with perfect resolutions~."
Hanabi: "Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a truly perfect plot in this world."
Hanabi: "Regret is the true leitmotif…"
Hanabi: "For instance… the original plot of Penacony… care to guess where it's actually headed~?"
Stelle: "Director Hanabi, I feel like you've suddenly become strangely serious."
Stelle: "Please don't be like this, go back to how you were! You're scaring me!"
March 7th: "When she's like this, I get the feeling the rest of the story is going to be a disaster!"
March 7th: "It won't actually be like I guessed, will it? Family turning against each other, homes destroyed, blood flowing like a river… right?"
Silver Wolf: "What a great prophet we have here."
Silver Wolf: "Great guess. Don't do it again."
....
『 [ But that is precisely the problem. ]
[ If there are birds in this world that cannot fly for their entire lives, how can we assert that the sky is where they belong? ]
Sunday asks in return.
[ Are you saying… humanity is the same? ]
Robin looks up at her brother.
[ Think of the Astral Express; it serves as a perfect example. ]
[ The Nameless have put forth immense effort to link the worlds, earning fame across the cosmos… ]
[ However, those who can persist in such an arduous journey are but a few, and they are by no means ordinary people. ]
[ Because the cause of Trailblaze is not something a commoner can carry. ]
[ Otherwise, how could this Path have once fallen to the state of severed silver rails, an abandoned train, and the fall of an Aeon? ]
Sunday uses the Astral Express as an example.
[ That's a fallacy. ]
[ If we follow that logic, wouldn't the future simply become the privilege of heroes? ]
Robin cannot accept her brother's reasoning.
[ Regrettably, that is reality. ]
[ The synonym for 'future'… is 'self-worth.' ]
[ Heroes certainly exist in this world, and people yearn for and praise them, but the vast majority of ordinary people will never become heroes in their entire lives. ]
[ Some are born weak and helpless, some fall into misfortune later in life, and some succumb to meanness and cowardice. ]
[ In the face of survival, they are equally level, only able to watch as their value is continuously plundered by external forces. ]
Sunday speaks to Robin with a complex expression.
[ That is why we should show love and care to the weak, giving them full assistance as if they were ourselves… ]
[ That's what the Odes of Harmony have always taught us. ]
Robin attempts to rebut Sunday.
[ The aspirations of Harmony are indeed grand, but even in this carefree dream, the strong remain strong, and the weak grow weaker… ]
[ Such is human nature. It possesses a great side, but also a weakness that can never be eliminated. ]
[ Fundamentally, if people cannot even guarantee their own survival, how can they speak of a vague and ethereal equal future? ]
[ As long as the law of natural selection exists in the world… there are bound to be fledglings that plummet to the earth. ] 』
『 ....』
—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Stelle: "To be fair, what Sunday is saying is basically spot on."
Stelle: "A brilliant future can't be called the privilege of heroes; it should be called the privilege of the strong."
Stelle: "As long as you're strong enough, your future will definitely be a smooth path."
Nahida: "And for those birds born with broken wings, their future is destined to be very treacherous."
Dr. Veritas Ratio: "But such is the way of the world; one can only try to accept it."
Dr. Veritas Ratio: "Unless, of course, you truly possess the power to change it all."
Qingque: "If you ask me, you two siblings are just overthinking it."
Qingque: "Whether this fledgling yearns for the sky or not isn't for either of you to decide."
Qingque: "Your only responsibility is to open the cage and watch its movements."
Qingque: "The one that risks its life to fly into the high heavens is a bird that yearns for the sky."
Qingque: "The one that stays in the cage and refuses to leave—isn't that a bird that doesn't yearn for the sky?"
Qingque: "Since the fledgling has already made its own choice, why do you feel the need to interfere?"
Silver Wolf: "Don't project your own thoughts onto others."
Silver Wolf: "You'll live much easier lives that way."
Stelle: "The way I see it, Sunday and Robin are only feeling frustrated because of their childhood ideals."
Stelle: "They want to build an ideal paradise so that suffering no longer exists in the world."
Stelle: "Actually… have you two ever thought that the moment you conceived this idea, you were already walking the path of realizing your own self-worth?"
Stelle: "In other words, you are also characters who want to be heroes."
Robin: "…"
Robin: "You're right… that is the essence of it."
March 7th: "So, Robin and Mr. Sunday are actually 'the strong' too. They're living to realize their own value."
Dr. Veritas Ratio: "That is human nature. No one can avoid it—unless you aren't human!"
Stelle: "True. If you were a dog, you obviously wouldn't have this problem."
March 7th: "What are you saying? How do you know doggies don't have those kinds of worries?"
Stelle: "Because I've had a heart-to-heart with Peppy, and he just doesn't have those problems!"
Asta: "Uh… I asked Peppy, and he seems to have expressed exactly that sentiment…"
Silver Wolf: "You can actually have heart-to-hearts with a dog?"
Silver Wolf: "Ha, should I say 'as expected of you'?"
....
『 [ If people do not live for the future, are they merely living for the sake of living? ]
[ If Brother believes that Harmony cannot save the plight of the weak, then which Aeon can realize our ideals? ]
There is a hint of interrogation in Robin's tone.
[ … ]
[ People always forget that once, when the first bird flew into the sky, the expectation the entire world had for it… ]
[ Was that from then on, no more fledglings would fall to their deaths? ] 』
『 ....』
—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Paimon: "Uh… if people don't live for the future, are they living just to stay alive?"
Paimon: "Paimon thinks… that's a bit confusing."
Lumine: "Living for the future and living for the sake of living… I don't feel like they're in conflict?"
Hu Tao: "Actually, as long as a person is alive, they already have a future."
Hu Tao: "It's just that this future might not necessarily be a good one."
Hu Tao: "But no one ever stipulated that a 'future' has to be good to count as one."
Stelle: "To put it bluntly, most ordinary people are just living for the sake of living."
Stelle: "Because they don't have a grand, sweeping future, they can only have an ordinary life."
Stelle: "But even if it's an ordinary life, you can't deny that it is their future."
Stelle: "Similarly, we can't deny that living for the sake of living is 'wrong.'"
Qingque: "Exactly! Take me for example!"
Qingque: "I'm a typical 'muddle through' person, living just to live."
Qingque: "Don't I still feel like the future is bright?"
Qingque: "There's no logic in saying only a hero's future counts as a future."
Qingque: "How many heroes are there even?"
Qingque: "In the end, it's mostly us ordinary folk."
Furina de Fontaine: "Actually… It's because Miss Robin feels that a false dream doesn't count as a human future at all. That's why she's so repulsed by the dreamscape."
Stelle: "Exactly. Life goes on in reality, and life goes on in dreams."
Stelle: "If you want to be stubborn about it, both lead to the same end—Nihility. So can you say living is meaningless?"
Acheron: "Existence itself is the greatest meaning."
Acheron: "Because when you die, you will be completely embraced by Nihility, and from then on, not a drop of meaning will remain."
Acheron: "At that point, discussing any kind of 'future' would be futile."
Black Swan: "Hehe, so a person must first be alive before they can pursue other precious things."
Aventurine: "Living for the sake of living… there's truth in those words."
Aventurine: "Because if you don't survive, how can you have a future?"
Hotaru: "Likewise, only by allowing yourself to survive first can you seek the meaning belonging to your own existence!"
....
『 [ Sister, are you reading? What are you reading? ]
[ Mr. Gopher Wood gave me a picture book! It's about the story of the Harmonic Strings. ]
[ If I can become a Tuner, I want to summon… the Harmonious Choir, Dominicus! ]
[ I want to sing with everyone, to send out our wishes so that everyone can feel happiness and joy. ]
[ I see. ]
[ Then… I'll choose the Harmonious Choir too. ]
[ Does Brother… not have a wish of his own? ]
[ Of course I do. ]
[ It's just that… it also contains your wish, and everyone's wish. ]
[ It will be a true paradise where everyone can find peace. ]
[ Then, we'll build a stage inside and invite everyone to watch our performance. That way, both my wish and my brother's wish can come true—using the power of the Harmonious Choir. ]
[ Alright, then it's a promise. ]
[ Mhm, pinky swear! But, what do I have to do to become a Tuner… ]
[ … ]
[ Perhaps, one must become a star first. ] 』
『 ....』
—✦Omniscient Viewer's Chat Lodge✦—
Collei: "Is it another memory of Mr. Sunday's?"
Collei: "It seems he had his own goals from a very young age."
March 7th: "I'm starting to feel like the plot is about to take a weird turn."
Stelle: "Heh, I have a premonition. Something big might be coming!"
Welt Yang: "The Harmonious Choir, Dominicus…"
Welt Yang: "The avatar of Harmony, a true Emanator of Harmony…"
Himeko: "Sigh… it looks like there's a high probability we'll be facing off against an Emanator again."
Stelle: "Say what?!"
Stelle: "I'm fighting an Emanator?!"
Stelle: "For real?!"
Stelle: "Waaaah, I'm in danger! Dan Heng, come save me quickly!"
Boothill: "Meow, son of a nice lady, we two brothers haven't even entered the dreamscape yet!"
Stelle: "Sigh, looks like I can't count on you guys. I hope Sister Acheron can show up in time to protect me!"
Hotaru: "I… I can protect you, too!"
Stelle: "That won't do. Protecting beautiful girls is my duty; I should be the one protecting you!"
Hotaru: "But… but I have SAM…"
Stelle: "Uh… still no."
Stelle: "This is an Emanator. Even SAM wouldn't be able to stop them, right?"
Silver Wolf: "If she's willing to throw her life away, it's not like she couldn't stall them for a moment."
Silver Wolf: "You don't know—once, in a state of extreme despair and rage, she burned herself and absolutely pulverized a planet!"
Lumine: "Pul… Pulverized a planet?!"
Lumine: "Miss Hotaru did that?!"
Lumine: "For real…?!"
Navia Caspar: "It's got to be fake… Miss Hotaru is such a delicate person…"
Navia Caspar: "Oh, I just mean the person is delicate, not including the mecha."
Kafka: "It was just a single, transcendent strike that cost everything. It can't be considered her normal state."
Kafka: "I can only say that the fact she's still alive after that strike is a result of her powerful will to survive."
Stelle: "Holy!"
Stelle: "My Hotaru is that cool?!"
Stelle: "She's even blown up a planet!"
Stelle: "Crap, doesn't that make me look like trash?"
March 7th: "You're trash just because you can't blow up a planet?"
March 7th: "Then wouldn't all of us be trash??"
Hanabi: "Waaaaah… I… I often feel inferior because I can't blow up a planet… (I'm crying, I'm faking it.jpg)."
Welt Yang: "If that is indeed the case, to be able to deliver such a blow, she must have paid an unimaginable price…"
Welt Yang: "The Iron Cavalry of Glamoth… the Molten Knight… the Firmament Front…"
Welt Yang: "Miss Hotaru's past… may be more tragically beyond imagination than we thought…"
Hotaru: "It's not about whether it was tragic or not. At least I'm still alive, and I will live well. That is enough to make me satisfied…"
....