Though I could not open my eyes, I felt my companion stand up and stare down at me.

“…”

She called my name. Yes, she knew it.

“Do you remember when you read my memory about my mother?” I asked.

“Yes, I do.” She crouched down. Her slender fingers touched my cheek.

“I won’t forgive her, but I miss her.”

I thought I could not be back in my old bedroom. I would die in this underworld river.

“Really?” she said.

“Yes, I want to see her again.”

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“Again…”

“So, you should go to your true destination and meet him again.”

Again? Yes, once again. I want to find you if you become anyone else.

“Meet him and apologize. OK?” I told her.

“…”

Maybe she called my name once more, but I can’t remember what happened next.

According to my nanny, I was sleeping in our backyard.

I was barefoot and had the empty backpack. The knife was on my waist.

Many years later, I learned my companion’s identity at the Imperial academy.

I heard it was a drone, an ancient interface with a humanlike appearance.

That individual had been faulty and malfunctioning. The former emperor had sacrificed his life to destroy the drone and “the tower” to save his subject.

Drones have no gender. They have no soul. They never smile.

But I know…

No matter how old I get, in the dream, I’m a boy in the underground.

She sits on the shining shore, legs crossed as she smiles at me. I see my girl there at last. I’ve wanted to see her again for a long time.

I call her name. “Azel.”

She is staring at me, too―curiously, with her big, sparkling eyes.

If she is a girl, that would be nice. I want her to be one because I’m a man. Who would blame me? It’s my dream.

I want her to call my name again.

And smile.

The end