Mae obviously didn’t say this out loud. Otherwise, she would have outed herself as a Maestro of Flesh.

“Mae. I think what matters the most is that someone can fill what’s missing for them.” Ara said, drawing another person beside the one without a heart.

That person had a heart in their chest.

“Music doesn’t have to be sensual or play on our senses of corporeality. Frankly, anything I believe is bullshit. Music is subjective. But the cool thing about magic is that we can make it objective.”

“Then why do we tap our feet to a melody? Or cry? Smile? Why can’t we enhance that?”

“Like… make it physically hurt someone? That’s crazy to me. Even bringing out the same emotions from someone suffering is messed up. There’s a way to do it for sure, but doing it literally isn’t how I think it should be done.”

Ara then elaborated by showing a person crying as they sung into a conducting wand.

“That should come from the soul, be in the form of memories, experiences, and that stuff. Not because they’re being punched. I know I said there’s no wrong way to do music but… the latter is just violence. You’re not tapping into anyone’s hearts. You’re trying to make them submit to your own by forcing experiences upon them.”

Mae didn’t know how to feel about that, but she nodded regardless to fit in. But it made her think despite wanting to keep it out of her mind. It was like a voice that could not be blocked out.

“Did that turn your world upside down?” Ara jokingly said, reaching towards Mae’s head.

The girl instinctively flinched. She knew what was coming and immediately shut her eyes. As an Impuritas, physical contact only meant one thing.

Pain.

But instead, she felt warm. Safe. Cozy. Ara’s soft hand brushed her hair like she was just a child. Her heart fluttered, and when she opened her eyes again, she saw a comforting smile that didn’t judge her for the way she thought.

Instead, Ara understood how she felt. Behind those emerald eyes were experiences similar to hers.

How did they arrive at different philosophies then?

“You don’t cry because music hurts you. You cry because it can tap into memories and experiences. If it was the other way around, then you’d only be making terrible memories. You’ve got a lot to learn!”

“… Do I?” Mae despised this.

But she considered it.

There was something unique about Ara. The way she was able to convey her philosophy of music was like how people described the way the Green Conductor made waves in the world.

“Maybe that’s why that person likes you.” Mae said unintentionally, causing Ara to enter a coughing fit.

“I thought so too.” Autumn nodded. “There’s no way you’re just partners.”

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“Pffffft! Excuse me? You morons… Just who – no, what do you think I am!?” Ara shouted, denying this from the bottom of her heart.

“A… girl, right?” Autumn said.

“A girl for sure.” Mae was certain of this.

“Girl?” Deiman also spoke up.

“Wrong! I’m a guy!” Ara declared, waving her conducting wand as if to prove her point.

“But you’re so clingy with him? Weren’t you flirting when you fixed his tie?” Autumn was even more confused now, but still convinced that something was going on between them two.

“Isn’t that what friends do!? You take care of each other! Ever been part of a Syndicate!? You’re basically family. You’re gonna hug and get hugged or use it as a special secret code and whatnot. Who knows, I could’ve whispered something discreetly when I fixed his tie. What gave it away? I’ve been hiding my chest, but apparently that’s not enough.”

“Your voice.”

“You sound like a girl.”

“Voice…”

The trio responded, causing Ara to deeply sigh as she reached into her chest again with one hand. The other loosened her apparel. Suddenly, a pair of breasts bulged against her clothes. They were at the brink of breaking free. What she held in her hand was a flexible sheet with a pair of slits that led directly into a void.

“Despite how I look, I’m actually a guy. At heart. I’m just missing a conducting wand. Don’t even ask me how it happened. Convinced now?”

“Gender changing magic isn’t unheard of, but I’ve never seen one so flawless. Healing magic can undo it right away, since it’s not the shape of a person’s original soul.” Autumn was impressed by the level of detail of Ara’s female body, to the point where she couldn’t help but to wonder if it was an illusion.

She discreetly tried to dispel it, but alas, there was no magic to dispel at all.

“What’s this about Syndicates?” Mae was more shocked that Ara was part of a Syndicate. She didn’t seem like that type of person.

“Eh, just some bunch of low lives from where I’m from. You have no idea how much people wanted to eat me when I was a guy.”

“… are you bragging?” Autumn didn’t know how to interpret that.

“No. I mean literally. Tear my flesh apart and wear it. Make a raincoat out of me or use my ribs as a new barbeque oven. Or selling my fingers a la carte by a catering Syndicate. They were all Solem Paw wannabes, or idiots seeking revenge. Then you had the Ateliers and a Star of the Nexus go on a killing spree.”

Ara lamented. Her expression darkened as she recalled her life in S7.

“You could hear them screaming from behind the concrete walls. Imagine what it must’ve been like for people to want to come into our hell. The way their fingernails snapped, and fingers were grinded down to the knuckle as they cried for help. We called a truce for a week straight. No one ate each other. The streets were cleared out. Then the violence returned all at once.”

Ara excused herself for a moment to catch her breath. She slid the void-bra on and walked into the darkness of the tunnel. The upbeat tune of a violin harped from within to help clear her mind. But woven between each note were long, drawn harps of sadness.

Deiman listened to it from the pool as he stared down at his own reflection. The light changed the way his shadow interacted with the monoliths, creating formless monsters. While Autumn and Mae waited for Ara to return, Deiman looked up at Raoul and pointed a monolith.

“… I think you can use that one…”

Suddenly, Raoul’s damning gaze fell onto him.

There was no way Deiman could explain how or why he said this.

He simply knew it like it was muscle memory. What he saw from the monoliths were not the same blue rings that Raoul interacted with. He could see yellow rings of light, as well as those of red.

Raoul did not question him. Not yet. He strode to the monolith Deiman pointed at and interacted with it, only to fail. He exhaled silently, almost as if he was thankful that Deiman was wrong.

However, the young man walked over to Raoul and tapped on a sequence of texts different to the one Raoul did.

Suddenly, the room shook and the monolith was swallowed into the ground. A series of mechanical clicks came from the locked door. Something was set into place, and Deiman stood there with blank eyes, unable to explain himself to a shocked Raoul.

“You… Who are you?”

“… I don’t know myself. But I know this is a cave. A cave with too many shadows, and one where it’s hard to see what the objective is without innate curiosity. They are not truths. They are only perceived truths… born from the shadows of a false light in the allegorical cave.”

The explanation caught Raoul off guard.

Because he had also heard this from someone long ago.