Location: The Library - Floor of Art
Servant Roland
You don’t reek of alcohol today. Wussup?
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Cuz I didn’t drink. I just wanna stay sober today.
Servant Roland
Hmm… What’s gotten into you?
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
You look pretty sad to miss out on a chance to drink.
Servant Roland
Whoops, was it that noticeable?
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Well, today’s a special day.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
The day I died and perished from this world.
Servant Roland
Really? What’s the date, again?
Servant Roland
It’s hard to keep track of time staying here.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
The date doesn’t really matter.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
It’s this exact moment I’m commemorating.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I learned all about the life and death of Giovanni, my first incarnation.
Servant Roland
That’s what you meant, huh…
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Do you think the followers of the Church of Gears are a bunch of fools, Roland?
Servant Roland
You mean how they’re so desperate to find meaning in their lives, going so far as to join a cult?
Servant Roland
Nah, I don’t think they’re stupid. They’re just pitiful.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
That’s what I think, too.
♪ Background music: StorySimgak
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I grew up without anyone to call parents.
Servant Roland
Same here. I was raised by my grandma, had a rough childhood.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I was born in a Nest, and got left in an orphanage without even knowing who my parents were.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I’d have died already if it was the Backstreets.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I was lucky to be born in a Nest, and unlucky to have lost my parents so early.
Servant Roland
What Nest was it?
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
K Corp’s.
Servant Roland
That’s one of the more decent ones I’ve heard.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Yep. My life was pretty smooth. Slightly more unfortunate than others, and slightly luckier than others.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I never really starved, or got bullied by anyone.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
It was a sheltered life, free from any outside influence.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
All I did was breathe in that shelter without meaning. I thought it was the natural thing to do.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Everyone else had the same expression as mine.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
In the school or on the streets, all the people in the Nest made the same face.
Servant Roland
Lost focus, spacing out and staring into empty places?
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Mhm. You’re spot on. I figured life just comes and goes.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I kept living a monotonous life… Until I met someone with a face I’d never seen before.
Servant Roland
Oho! I’m guessing you met your first love?
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
…I suppose. It was Giovanni’s first love, to be exact.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
She was giving a passionate speech in the middle of the street, even though no one paid attention to her.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I barely understood what she was saying, actually.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
All I could think about was how brilliant and alive a person could be.
Servant Roland
Love at first sight, eh?
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
She went on about how she’ll change this world and its people.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
And she was looking for recruits to join her cause.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Isn’t it funny? Who in the Nest would want to give up their comfortable life for research like that, really?
Servant Roland
Yet you did.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
True. Maybe she went out into the street expecting to run into someone like Giovanni.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Her name was Carmen.
Servant Roland
Carmen, huh…
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Whenever I saw Carmen brimming with joy and pride for her cause, I felt alive too.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I wanted to stay with her forever.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Though she probably just saw me as a good friend or colleague and nothing more.
Servant Roland
Ah, the heartrending agony of unrequited love.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
It didn’t matter to me that much. I was content with living on like that.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
But…
Servant Roland
Then tragedy befalls the research team, right?
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Yep. Slowly…
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Progress of our research stagnated, and Carmen gradually lost her liveliness.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
And then, when a kid named Enoch died during an experiment…
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
It’s as if something within her snapped.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I wanted to cheer her up somehow, but seeing Carmen’s lethargic face scared me so much. It’s like I was erased from the world.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
And Carmen ended her own life soon after that.
Servant Roland
That sure sounds tragic. Must’ve shocked you hard.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I could take it somewhat well. I was actually pretty calm about it.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I thought, even the person who was more alive than anyone could meet such an early and miserable end.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I decided to stay in the laboratory to help out with completing the research Carmen started.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Her colleagues were still there, and they didn’t lose hope just yet.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Then one day, they said we might possibly be able to save Carmen.
Servant Roland
A tempting offer, wasn’t it?
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
It was. And…
Servant Roland
I’m guessing it came at a price.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
It was a risky experiment. The subject could slip into a permanent coma if it went wrong.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
No one was willing to participate, so I volunteered to be the subject.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Carmen coming back would’ve been the ideal outcome, but even if it failed and I ended up sleeping forever, I was okay with that.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
In a world without Carmen, I lost my light anyway.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
So I can understand people taking desperate measures to find meaning in their lives, like the Church of Gears we recently saw.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I participated in an experiment that could get me killed for a similar reason. And its result was…
Servant Roland
A failure, huh?
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Yep. Then I was given a second life. Woke up in Lobotomy Corp. as Netzach.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Even though I had already abandoned all attachment to life before I died…
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
In the midst of confusion, I could hear a nostalgic voice. It told me to try and live on.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
After all those twists and turns, I finally got here. Now with the fearlessness to keep on living.
Servant Roland
That’s a commendable spirit, Netz.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
And now, I want to actually live, rather than just barely exist while doing nothing but breathe.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
If I get a chance to, that is.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I’m starting to think it might actually be possible this time around.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
The world is bigger than I expected, and it has lots of hideous sides, but there certainly is beauty to be found.
Servant Roland
I guess your drinking habit was a coping mechanism to get you through each day.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
Pretty much. I do enjoy alcohol for what it is, though.
Servant Roland
Same for me.
Patron Librarian - Art Netzach
I feel like a drink now. Shall we?
Servant Roland
I’m all for it! Cheers for today.
Floor of Art.
Book of Wedge Office, 
Book of Emma, and 
Unstable Book of the Crying Children.
