“Now, tell me. What is the purpose of you coming here, Arisa?” asked Johann.

Arisa is holding her forehead with her left hand as her jumbled memory swirls uncontrollably in her head. That’s right; she must try to persuade Johann to stop everything he does right now.

Can I talk to him when many things from the past suddenly fill my head without warning…

“Would you be so kind as to speak?” asked Johann sarcastically.

“Wait, just a bit….” Arisa makes sure that at least she can stand straight.

Johann is still staring with his usual cold, sharp gaze as she tries to temporarily get rid of the memories that came like a flood. For a few seconds, Arisa tried to wrap her memories just a bit, and she could focus now.

“Johann… can you stop all of this?” Arisa begged.

“I should have known. But, you asked for an impossible, Arisa. No one can stop when they’ve reached this far.”

“People are working hard for the future of our planet. Many reports said that their long-term efforts to maintain the beauty of the earth are finally coming into a fruition. This is for our future, Johann.”

“By justifying my father’s murder, you meant? Remember, this journey can happen because my father died,” Johann emphasized with a very cold intonation.

“I’m sorry about what happened to your father, Johann. I understand how it feels because I also lost my father.”

Johann smirked slightly.

“Don’t lie to me, Arisa.”

“What do you mean?”

“I really can’t believe you understand my feelings as a father and son. Weren’t you abandoned by your father? Because of that, you were brought into the laboratory where your father worked so at least he can watching over you. However, in reality he absolutely paid no attention to you.”

“What are you talking about? My father was a hard worker and cared about his child. I definitely understand how it feels to lose a father figure like that.”

“What’s your father’s name?”

“Well, his name is—”

Her throat tightens. Arisa can’t remember her father’s name at all.

Why? What is his name again? That person wearing that white lab coat is my father, isn’t it?

Obviously, his name is [ ]

…what?

“You make me wait.”

“Wait… wait a minute. I’m sure I’ll remember it soon enough. His name is….”

“Go back to our childhood, Arisa. When the two of us were playing in the white hallway along with people wearing white lab coat. Find your father’s name again and tell me!”

Johann brought Arisa’s memories back to several years ago when the two of them were still together in an unusual place for children their age.

A place that bears witness to Arisa and Johann’s history in their early days.

That day goes as usual. The oxygen dome provides clean air to the residents of the safe zone and reflects the blue-gray color of the sky. There are no clouds because there is no water circulation in this artificial dome. However, that did not affect the activity inside the building with a broad, T-shaped shape that, on its widest side, got fifteen floors high. The place usually referred to as the laboratory operates busily.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

A girl had nothing to do besides playing with her utensils at the employee cafeteria. An ice cream cone on her table is the only thing she can easily interact with when almost everyone here has a considerable age difference, and it seems they can’t be bothered with anything.

Now and then, Arisa notices some people in white coats passing in front of her while talking about things she doesn’t understand. Feeling that she could do nothing, she forced herself to enjoy the cold snack, which was not much to her liking.

“That’s Arisa, the daughter of the head of Team 23?”

“Yeah, that one. She is here because his father is going to do a personal check up on her. So, she left his school for a while and received intensive care here.”

“I don’t feel like she’s got a disease or something.”

“Well, the report might say otherwise.”

When the little girl turned her head, those two who had been whispering for a while immediately turned and left before Arisa could recognize their faces.

“...”

She neither confirms nor denies them as she will scoop more of her ice cream. Arisa continues to wait since her father said he would come here soon. She then tries her best to have those ice cream, even though she really wants to throw it somewhere and have other snacks instead.

About half an hour had passed. Arisa’s ice cream has run out, and she looks at the cup blankly. She wonders when the father will come here to talk to his daughter. There was nothing she could do but sit back and watch people he didn’t know pass by.

Until someone approaches her as the little girl notices his familiar face.

“…Arisa. Dad is done with everything Dad needs to do. Let’s go to the examination room.”

Before Arisa could answer, the figure wearing a lab coat stepped out of the cafeteria. She had no other choice but to follow him.

Arisa and her father arrived at a room containing several complex tools similar to a hospital room, including a full-body scanner. He gestured for his daughter to climb on top of the scanner.

“We’ll start the inspection.”

Arisa nods and lays down on the engine while its see-through lid is already opened. Her father presses his communications ring to close the lid down, and the orange laser goes through Arisa from head to toe.

The machine inspection didn’t take five minutes to send the scanning report to her father’s ring.

“Hmm...”

He sits on the available empty chair near the table while on his projection screen for a detailed view. The information regarding Arisa’s health doesn’t show any significant concerns.

“Physically, your body is fine. The function of every organ is running normally, especially with your brain,” Arisa’s father rested his head on his hand on the table, “but why is your academic performance isn’t going to get any better? To the extent that your teacher needed to call me there even though he knew that my schedule is fully packed. What’s really going on here?”

“…”

“Apparently, you can’t answer this simple question.”

He checked the clock displayed on the projection of his ring. And then. Arisa’s father straightened his suit and stood up.

“I will return to my research again since break time is over. Do as you please, just don’t disturb others. Oh, it might be useful if you learn about human expressions. It can help you stimulate your stiff facial nerves.”

“But—”

Before Arisa could finish, her father’s figure disappeared behind the automatic door. Now, only a little girl is sitting on top of the laboratory’s health check machine alone.

She sighs softly and gets off the machine to leave the room as well. This place isn’t suited for her to learn anything, just as her father told her to.

“So, today I will just go there. As usual,” Arisa muttered.

She arrived at a reasonably large file room on the bottom floor of the building, in which blue color dominated its walls. Several other researchers are also here to complete the data on their respective rings. They seem focused on the information displayed in front of them.

Little Arisa continues to step past some people who are indifferent to her.

Her little eyes glance at that one corner of the room with several cushions and flexible seats, surrounded by short walls with projection lines above it, encircling the space like a fence—they named it the reading room. The room is currently empty because it is still rush hour. No problem. After all, Arisa mostly spends her time alone in this archive room.

“The study topic for today: how can someone smile?”

Information appears on the projection walls, which provide relevant data and recordings to support the question. This place’s artificial intelligence is as reliable as ever.

It didn’t take long for Arisa to sink into the sea of information related to human expressions and emotions—the essential that eroded within her. Her gaze was so focused on reading the projection and learning the facial expressions of a human being. That goes for hours.

“Arisa,” called a boy’s voice from behind her.

He doesn’t wait for Arisa to reply to enter the reading room. As he looked around, he understood what his friend was studying.

“Human emotions and facial expressions again?” asked Johann.

“That’s right. If you’re interested, let’s study together,” said Arisa with a smile.