2022-09-30: Plumer

• Log: 2022-09-30: Plumer
• Cast: Akane Shinjo, Alouette Pommier
• Where: ?????
• OOC - IC Date: ?????
• Summary: Akane makes a friend. (cw: mild metaphorical violence-with-sexual-subtext)

---

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

It's late in 0095, and Alouette Pommier has awakened in a BioNet research facility, in a...

It's fair to call it a holding pen. Her memories of the first few years of her life have clawed their way back to the surface at long last, at once extremely fresh and a lifetime ago.

Didn't this already happen...? Surely it's because her memories, themselves, are so jumbled, that everything feels like it's simultaneously already happened and brand, brand new.

There's been no secret of BioNet's plans for this batch, of course -- another run of Pseudo-Zonders. One would think that catching a fish they'd thought lost forever would change the plan, make some specific use of Alouette...

... but in the end, she's simply materials.

She's not alone in this, at least.

To her side rests a second captive who looks like she's been waiting for Alouette for an eternity. She wears an unassuming school uniform -- white blouse and blue skirt almost a mirror of Alouette's own palette.

"Oh, phew. I was gettin' pret-ty bored waiting for you to wake up," she says, talking to Alouette like she knows her -- or at least has had the chance to talk to her during this incident before. "I was worried someone cooked your brain a little too much."

She offers an easy smile, and asks, simply:

"You wanna ditch this place?" she asks, as if it were that easy. "It's all up to you. I'm only still here 'cuz I was waiting for you."

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed. 

When Alouette awakens, she is met with a searing pain in her head. Gaps are filled in her memory and proper nouns begin to flood her headspace. The GaoFighGar Project... Gutsy Galaxy Guard...Guy Shishioh, Mikoto Utsugi, Renais Cardiff... BioNet.

She was never supposed to be an ordinary girl, that much is clear.

She's not sure how, but she instinctively comes to the conclusion that this must be one of BioNet's holding cells; it's frigid in a deeply familiar way. It's almost like she lived this out before too- in fact, this is when Ikumi and Mamoru should- her mind instantly suppresses that line of thinking. No, they must be people from long ago, and her memory is too scrambled to make any sense of it.

Instead, she focuses on her current situation, and turns to the girl next to her, who is waiting surprisingly calmly and patiently. She scans the girl and begins to fill in the blanks. That must be Akane Shinjo.. the popular girl from her class.

Akane already had so many friends, and Alouette only recently transferred in, but still, she was very welcoming and.. Ah, she remembers now. She recalls Akane offering to tour her around Fujiyokidai, since she had just moved in. BioNet must have captured them on their way, and that's why they're here together. Fujiyokidai...that doesn't quite line up, though.

Alouette gives her a bit of a puzzled look. "You waited.. for me?" And then she nods. "Yes.. let's go. This means you have a plan, right?" Everything feels so very off, but she feels the best she can do is place her trust in Akane.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Yep! I'm not gonna ditch my future best friend," Akane answers, sunset-bright. "At least not to monsters like these guys." She laughs a little, reaching behind herself, into the waistband of her skirt. "Let's see -- I know I put this --"

"It's stuck to my butt? Seriously?" Akane eventually concludes, with a roll of her eyes -- but she produces a keycard. "I palmed this off of one of the guards while they were leading me in. I could have left on my own if I wanted!"

She moves to make sure Alouette is all right -- giving her a quick once-over, making sure she's able to stand very comfortably -- and then finishes, "I think it'd be pretty rotten to leave a classmate to the wolves like that, though."

---

Pretty rotten... yeah. Akane looks out -- and then to the side again, to Alexis.

Once Tsutsujidai finishes its retreat -- once Akane finally defeats Gridman... the allies she'd isolated will depend on her and Alexis. Human beings can't coexist... they'll -- have their own little worlds. Their own dreams.

Akane wonders for a moment what would be worse -- leaving it to Alexis to help them, or putting what she's learned to use and fashioning those new worlds herself.

She asks herself whether she's pulling Alouette from a world full of wolves -- or if, even now breaking away from BioNet, she's the wolf herself.

It's difficult to answer your own questions.

---

"So! Installations like this are usually pretty barren," Akane says -- though how she came by that knowledge is a bit of an open question. "They don't actually need much in the way of guard patrols or anything like that... usually the people in here are too afraid to try anything funny. We got a little unlucky here, but sometimes the doors aren't even locked."

Her lips turn down in a small frown as she adds, "... It's the after part that's kinda hard. They've put some time and resources into us. They might want us back."

She lets that hang in the air for now, curious how Alouette will play it, as she swipes the keycard. The door is open -- all they need to do is leave.

---

Akane decides she doesn't like the way she set this up but is entirely too committed now.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

Akane calls Alouette her "future best friend" and although that may just be a joke, it still makes her indescribably pleased to hear and she laughs, turning her attention away from the situation for just a moment. She's always found it hard to initiate friendships, and having someone like Akane here.. It almost feels too good to be true.

Alouette quietly giggles when Akane struggles to place the keycard, finding herself to be sitting on it. "You're pretty resourceful, Akane.. No wonder everyone in our class seems to rely on you!" She remarks cheerfully, before covering her mouth in embarrassment. "Oh, apologies.. Should I have called you Shinjo instead?" Is it simply not being used to the norms of Japanese politeness culture, or does she have a sense of familiarity with this girl, even though they only met in class..?

Regardless, Akane helps Alouette stand up properly, and she gives her proper thanks in return. "I appreciate it. I don't think I could abandon you, either, if it was the other way around."

"Oh? BioNet used to be at least a little smarter than that..." Once upon a time, 3G dedicated most of its resources to fighting BioNet's forces. They must be running on a much smaller budget now if they can't even hire some proper guards.

Akane suggests that even if they can easily escape, BioNet might try to hunt them down. "Should we try to make contact with 3G's Nouvelle Tokyo branch, then? Or..." Alouette is immediately struck with a realization. Their main division left for space, defying the Federation's orders. And as far as she can remember, none of them ever came back.

 "...Or are we on our own?" She finishes, looking rather dejected, and almost losing her balance again - she's still quite weak in the head and body.

Guy, Mikoto, Renais, the Brave Robot Corps.. They're not here to help her like they did last time... if they're even still alive. Alouette feels like this is like some type of curse; finally remembering people she held dear, only to have it torn away by the fact that they're gone.

The door is open, but the air has a feeling of emptiness to it, what was once frigid is now just stillness. As much as she wants to make a dash for the exit, Alouette continues to cling herself to Akane, waiting for the pink-haired girl to make the first move. She can trust her, right?

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Just Akane is fine," Akane says, waving Alouette's concerns off with the hand holding the keycard. "I don't think we need to do the awkward feeling-out process, do you? It kinda seems like BioNet already decided we had plenty in common."

That's not a happy thought, though, so she doesn't dwell on it too much. "Haha, please," Akane says, at the idea of going to 3G. When she notices Alouette struggling, she moves easily to serve as a crutch; Alouette's just a little taller -- enough to make it pretty easy for Akane to drape Alouette's arm over her shoulder.

"That place is kinda a ghost town. Some of the neighborhoods aren't bad, but Nouvelle Tokyo's had a huge crime flareup lately, and a lot of it is BioNet-related," Akane answers, chewing at her lower lip. She doesn't take Alouette out of the room yet -- this is a fine-enough conversation topic to linger on. "I think they've got some stuff set back up, but like..."

She breathes out. "3G kinda got dragged into NERV, and that stuff is all mostly run by Britannia since they're the ones funding it. Do you think they're gonna do anything about bad stuff happening to a Coordinator and someone who used to live in Nagoya?" A little too much bitterness creeps into her voice.

---

I am so stupid, Akane thinks to herself. This is the right play -- it's indisputably one of the most vulnerable moments in Alouette's life, and the easiest to stir around with her finger.

But then, stirring it around with her finger is a little bit the problem.

---

"I think we're on our own," she summarizes. She slowly but surely moves toward the door with Alouette, saying, "Don't worry. I'll take care of it." Lazily displaying the keycard she swiped again, she affirms, "I'm pretty reliable, and I get the feeling you kinda like being able to depend on someone~"

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"Okay," Alouette responds, brushing off her own initial concerns. She's never been too interested in formalities, but living in AEU French and now Japanese society, she understands that it is important to a lot of people. Akane doesn't seem very concerned about it, though.. What Akane said about BioNet deciding they have a lot in common is quite curious, and Alouette gets the vibe that this hasn't been her first run-in with them, either.

Akane helps her walk around the room, letting her use her arm as a crutch as she regains her composure. Alouette never really had too much trouble keeping her balance, being more talented at the school sports than one might expect from her build, but she appreciates the kindness nonetheless... and who knows what BioNet had injected in her. "...Oh, thanks."

As Akane explains the situation with 3G, and how they were integrated into the Britannia-funded NERV, Alouette's hopes are further dashed that the heroes from her childhood had never returned. "I see. I used to be familiar with some of them but... it seems they're long gone, now." A shame, she had so many questions, now that her memories have returned.

"Oh, by the way, how did you know I'm a Coordinator? Do the guards really have that information on hand?" Alouette is not quite offended, more just naturally curious. Even she wasn't aware until her memories came back, but in retrospect her mother's efforts to protect her make much more sense now. She doesn't press Akane on the point of living in Nagoya, but she is sympathetic that an organization with Britannia's hands on it wouldn't treat her well for it, either.

"...So we are. At least we have each other." She nods, taking her step out the door as Akane holds in the key-card. Completely empty, metallic-gray hallways, with an almost liminal quality to them. "It is nice to depend on someone," Alouette agrees. "We're friends, so let's do our best to support each other out there."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Between your eyes and legs," comes Akane's first answer, "I'd say I have two pretty good reasons to assume most things about your genome are perfect. Maybe four depending on how you count?"

Awkward pause... just a little too long to be comfortable, and --

"Just kidding!" A little giggle, as Akane answers, "I overheard them talking while you were out. No big deal!" She shifts her weight a little bit, making it as easy as possible for Alouette to lean on her. "I guess it makes sense for them to be interested in how different kinds of people take to being Zonderized."

As the pair gets situated on the other side of the door, Akane looks down the hallway. "I'm guessing we're going to be on the run for a little while -- at least until BioNet gets bored. ... don't worry. I don't think we need anyone else."

Akane's half-surprised by how readily Alouette agrees with her -- but she doesn't mind. And it suggests that now is the perfect time to strike.

"In fact," Akane says, voice dropping a bit -- surely just to avoid tipping off any guards as they make for the exit, "Maybe we should just stick together! If we can't count on anyone else, at least we can count on each other... and with your head kinda jumbled, maybe it's for the best if I take care of you for now."

It's such an easy answer. No need to wait for rescue that an uncaring world isn't set up to provide. And even if rescue had come -- other people come with their own frustrations.

The world will be smaller -- but will it be worse than one where people like BioNet and Britannia operate?

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"H-Hey," Alouette can't hold back a blush, when she realizes that Akane is aggressively flirting with her; that sort of thing is something she is quite frankly not used to yet. Especially not from another girl, but she doesn't quite consider it to be bad... just something new?

Alouette turns back to face Akane and nods. "Maybe it does make sense. But it doesn't really seem like they got the data they wanted, if my memories returned instead." What would happen if they did..? Alouette doesn't really want to think about it; it's lucky that she and Akane escaped becoming monsters.

"If they're talking about it, that must mean they're reconsidering their plans. We should hurry." Still sticking closely to Akane, she begins quietly, but more assuredly walking forward. Even in this dream, where everything circles back to Akane Shinjo, Alouette is still pushy when she needs to be. That much hasn't changed.

On the run... the reality of the situation is setting in deeper and deeper. "Maybe I should call my mom if that's the case. Even if it isn't safe to stay here, I owe it to her after everything she's done for me..." Besides, she deserves to know after BioNet didn't even give her the luxury of knowing Alouette was alive when she was first born. But in the end, it's no longer safe to live with her mother for the time being... the last thing Alouette wants is to put her in BioNet's line of fire.

Alouette hesitates for a moment at Akane's offer, as if some force outside her body is telling her this is wrong, but when she thinks about it... the offer is both emotionally appealing and logically sound. The trust is already there, simultaneously with a distrust for the organizations in power. By sticking together as escapees, they also avoid the problem of dragging in new people to be targeted by BioNet. "...Okay," comes her reply. "You're right... it's weird, I'm still not sure what's real and what isn't." She still feels Akane brushing closely to her. "What I know for sure is that you've been there for me every step of the way since I reawakened." Recalling her anguish as she realized the fate of her old 3G comrades, she looks a bit somber. "In a world like this, we truly do have to trust each other."

It is difficult to let go of her trust in the world as a whole... her trust that it can change for the better.. But she made the right choice, didn't she?

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Isn't it better if she doesn't get involved?" Akane asks Alouette, at least sounding concerned. "It's not that I don't trust your judgment, but... I think for the next little while we're gonna be kinda radioactive." A pause. "-- Metaphorically, I mean! I'm pretty sure this is the wrong lab for that." Akane confirms Alouette's worst worries, and that, quite likely, is that.

"Yeah... it's pretty horrible, and pretty lonely. But don't worry. I'll make sure you're safe from all that," Akane murmurs to Alouette. She sounds a little more pained than she'd like.

---

The dream falls away -- or perhaps collapses into itself. Everything is gone, save for an endless black-and-grey void, cut through with the same red, yellow, and green wires as the inside of a kaiju.

Is that where they are, then?

Alouette and Akane stand opposite each other. Alouette still feels a little... fuzzy, a little dreamlike -- like she's not fully awake.

"That's a much better version of the situation, I think. It's nice not to need to be rescued," Akane says, as if it's the most natural thing in the world. "You can't count on getting lucky every time, you know!" She doesn't process the contradictions here -- that she cast herself as the lucky one, the rescuer, rather than removing that from the equation.

She gives Alouette a once-over -- a much closer inspection of her outfit than she'd had the chance at previously. She's back in the 3G Blue uniform, of course -- it is, after all, such a crucial part of her self-image as it presently stands.

With her hands in her hoodie pockets, Akane approaches Alouette. One comes out -- empty. She reaches up toward Alouette's jabot, gently gripping it by the ruffles -- dangerously close to her neck.

"You don't mind letting me take care of things, do you?" she asks, well ahead of knowing the answer.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"Mm.. I thought as much," Alouette slowly nods, at Akane's suggestion not to involve her mother. Alouette knew that she would also have to leave her behind, for her own safety, but she would have preferred it if her mother could at least know she is alive first. As far as anyone knows, she just disappeared one day after school, with her friend... It's likely better to keep the story that way, to keep BioNet off their trail.

"Lonely... yeah." Alouette frowns. Again.. it almost feels like Akane is talking from experience. It wouldn't be very shocking if she was, even though she said very little about herself except that she used to live in Nagoya, and that they might have a lot in common with each other. Yet, she sounds so self-assured... as if she knows she can use that experience to help Alouette.

—

The dream shifts, and so too does Alouette. She re-adjusts herself, and her machine-like vision scans the room the pair is standing in. The lights are so very bright...

Alouette once again retains the context of the current world, and who the person standing in front of her is. They're no longer in the matching school uniforms, instead, the girl across from her wears a stylish, yet comfortable hoodie. Akane Shinjo... not her classmate or fellow BioNet subject, but Akane Shinjo: Kaiju designer and God of Tsutsujidai.

Despite returning to the present context, even the proud and brave Alouette desperately wants to believe what Akane is offering. It's much like Triple Zero in a sense: once what she provides in the dream is accepted, it becomes a priority, even if nothing else changes.

...Maybe it is better. Alouette doesn't quite parse the contradictions, either. No matter how much of a genius you are, it isn't easy to when one of the most traumatizing events of your life has been manipulated, twisted around with a finger.

Even now, it doesn't feel to Alouette like she's giving up on her convictions. She's always had a sense that her position in 3G was a temporary one, that her operator seat was ultimately reserved for Mikoto Utsugi. In the end, it feels less of a betrayal, and more of an unburdening.

Besides, ever since that meeting in Tsutsujidai, she has wanted Akane to understand her, and stop pushing her away as another enemy. She knew they could help each other. Is this what it takes...?


As Akane takes hold of Alouette's jabot, her deep-blue eyes lock into Akane's crimson-reds. Neither girl able to break eye contact, Alouette's response finally comes.

"I think that's for the best, too... Akane."

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane smiles as Alouette agrees -- and that dreamlike feeling starts to settle deeper in rather than lift. "I knew you'd see things my way," she says, all smiles as she leans in, close enough that Alouette can feel her breath against a cheek.

"It's really just as well. You're not the first person I've explained this to," Akane continues, as her other hand comes out of her pocket, revealing -- of course -- a yellow utility knife. She spins it around her fingers once, pulling Alouette in closer still, treating the jabot like a leash.

If that's a leash, it's a short one.

"The idea that there's stuff only you can do -- that the world's got this special task for you -- that's kind of a fairy tale." Does she know Alouette considers her operator's seat promised to another? Is every unvoiced worry and burden free for her to read, or is she just lucky? ... and if Alouette were an open book for her -- would that be so bad...? Is there something wrong with that kind of intimate understanding?

She starts with the vest -- it's easy. She's not as delicate as she was with Yuka; she wouldn't want to hurt one of her subjects (... for now), but there's plenty of layers there. The knife drags across the yoke, then traces a line out from the armhole -- a process she repeats on the other side a moment later. It bites into the dress proper a little at spots, but that's probably fine. The vest slides off of Alouette's shoulders, crumpling to the floor.

She smiles. "Even if it were true, like... what if you come up short doing that task, over and over?" It's a little bit personal experience, even if Akane doesn't want to admit it. After all, her unique task is making kaiju -- and she's been roundly humiliated on that front. Alouette still has a path out of the dream, in Akane's estimation, though -- which Akane needs to carve away and close off. That indomitable 3G spirit -- how did that charter go, again...?

With the vest out of the way, Akane then starts to slice down the center of the uniform dress. This is a gentler cut than the last, because it has to be -- she needs to go exactly deep enough to cut through the tough, durable uniform material, without hitting the gauzy, comfortable material underneath. An underdress is fine sleepwear, after all, and far be it from Akane to interrupt a dreamer in the midst of a dream. It's fine -- she has lots of practice carving off all the parts that don't match her vision. Adding back new ones, too.

"If you make something like that your whole identity," she says, tracing down the yoke and then the sleeve, "and you keep failing... that's just setting yourself up for so much heartache." She comes up the underside of the sleeve, then down. "I don't want that for you! Really, you don't deserve to hurt that much." The front right side of Alouette's dress falls off; a moment later, the left starts sagging, and then slides off, leaving Alouette in that ruffly underdress -- and Akane holding a jabot with nothing to stay stuffed into.

She tosses the jabot aside and kicks the dress away -- into the infinite darkness in which she, the only bright thing in the world, stands. Alouette doesn't need 3G as part of herself. And only once she's done that --

Akane's voice drops to a whisper, glossy lips taking the time to form each and every word, leaning in to breathe poison in Alouette's ear.

"It's okay to give up."

Akane pulls back slightly, adding, "I have a new uniform for you, even!" There's a momentary swirl of fog -- where did that come from, in this space? -- and when it abates, Akane holds up a Tsutsujidai High School winter uniform blazer with a cloying smile.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

As Akane draws in closer, utility knife caressing Alouette's clothes, she still doesn't make the effort to resist. In this dream-like lull, her body feels unnaturally heavy... just as heavy as those unspoken burdens and worries.

"In a way... that's almost reassuring," Alouette replies, when Akane claims there is no such thing as a calling for a task that only you can do. "That even if I was designed to be perfect... there is no need to be." In fact, this was the lesson Guy had for her all those years ago... that it isn't necessary to be capable of doing everything alone, no matter what purpose she was designed for.

Akane makes the broad, yet clean strokes of the knife necessary to loosen the weight of the uniform vest, allowing it to plummet to the floor. It's just as she would when modifying one of her kaiju. Is Akane treating Alouette as if she was a kaiju herself? Yet as Alouette's clothing lightens, so too do her worries.

Coming up short over and over again... Alouette thinks about the fight against Gridman Sigma, and when she had to watch Alexis Kerib stab through Renais. Those won't be the last time 3G has to fight its former allies, and Alouette is quite honestly wholly unprepared for it. "I can't fight the Ruin Apostles... I don't want to fight them!" The most raw emotion expressed in the entire dream, as if Akane is cutting through her inhibitions.

And finally, the dress comes apart: the last remaining line of defense, proudly displaying the 3G Blue logo on the sleeve. Cleanly, yet carefully cut open, it too falls to the void. The underdress still covers the same amount of Alouette's body, but there is still a level of vulnerability and intimacy to it. As someone who carefully and elaborately decides her outfits, Alouette was never meant to be seen in just an underdress.

Growing up within BioNet's educational facilities, and then the Gutsy Galaxy Guard's infrastructure, Alouette has been taught two conflicting messages. BioNet taught her that no partnership lasts forever; that you should be prepared to, and expect to both betray your allies and be betrayed.

 When 3G came into the picture... she rejected that message wholesale, and decided to adhere to the charter that she should never give up on those she cares about.

What Akane is saying, is wholly unlike either mantra. If it's painful enough to keep going... if you can't see it being anything but a burden to yourself as well as others, maybe it's okay to give up.

"You may be right but..."

"I still haven't given up on you, Akane."

And when Akane offers the new uniform, seemingly a perfect fit, somehow... Alouette wordlessly accepts it.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane has to turn away from Alouette for just a moment to steel her nerves, as she admits those sad truths -- so different from one another, yet so alike. Alouette doesn't want to fight the Ruin Apostles... and she doesn't want to give up on Akane. Is this -- a rejection? This deep, this far in?

... if it is, it almost no longer feels like Akane's problem. The Ruin Apostles -- the Oath Over Omega... Akane came up short against that, and Alexis had to clean up her mess. Maybe... it wouldn't be the worst, for the world to grind to a halt -- to have everything sink into an endless singular moment. Would that satisfy the Oath Over Omega...?

... it's pointless to think about. Kaiju can't solve that problem, so Akane can't solve that problem.

And as for Alouette's other answer... something about it -- even in this space -- doesn't connect. What Alouette means isn't what Akane hears, here and now.

... Bujack presses down on her, too. The premises reinforce themselves for her just as much as they do anyone else. When Akane hears someone insisting, this far down, that they won't give up on her, what she hears is that she's managed to make them do just that, so quietly even they don't notice -- drawn them under her thumb, spun them up in her web. She can't conceptualize those words as sincere.

Even if they were: in a moment like this, that's a weapon she can use in the service of her forced understanding, too.

"If you don't want to see me get hurt... and you don't want to fight the Ruin Apostles anymore... why not break a few things on your way out~?" Akane asks, her tone playful but a little flat. "That way, you aren't contributing to such a painful fight... and 3G can't use those things against me, either."

It would be so easy to shred down the Gutsy Global Guard's combat performance. Even some simple lockouts could cause problems for weeks.

Akane's lips turn up in a sunset smile.

"Oh, I took the liberty of skipping you ahead a year! I figured I could take better care of you if we were in the same class, so... I'll see you in class, bestie~."

---

Alouette awakens in her bed, feeling -- at least for the moment -- not just rested but with a bone-deep feeling of contentment.

She has a trip to take.

---

Alexis glances down at Akane, still seated on a construction crane in Tsutsujidai. "My, but you've been particularly vicious this time," he muses. "Now, it's not that I'm criticizing you, of course, but you've done quite the number on her..."

... is this desperation, this loneliness that doesn't abate even as Akane manages to convince people of the worth of a dream, viciousness? Akane doesn't have the words to form her own answer.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

It's anything but a rejection: it is simply Alouette's own way of accepting the final offer of the dream. This entire premise: it's been just as much of a call for help from Akane. Perhaps, subconsciously, she realized just that.

"You want me to... break things? You know, we always broke the safeties to make things work, not shut them down. Still..."

That part is more difficult. She still doesn't particularly hold ill will towards her 3G friends, but she still has the feeling they will try to find her as soon as they notice she is missing. Perhaps it's for the best to make herself harder to track down. Having to explain herself to them would be much too painful...

Maybe Akane recognized that, as she switches the topic to something much lighter. "The same class? I'm glad." A warm smile emerges on Alouette's face. À demain."

—

And then the dream comes to a close... and Alouette rises from one of her most restful sleeps in a long time. None of that was real, and yet the desire to stay in Tsutsujidai remains.

She doesn't put on her 3G Blue operator uniform as per her morning routine. Instead she slips into her white blouse and blue skirt, as she was wearing in the start of her dream, and before she joined 3G at all. The uniform remains hung upon the wall...

Before it's time to leave, she sits down into her operator's seat one last time, entering her authentication code as 3G Blue's lead programmer. With a few simple clicks, and a "Yes" in response to "Will you really make these changes?" upon the screen, the Program Drive as well as many of the tracking programs coded by Alouette herself shut themselves down.

Not a permanent measure, but enough to ensure that 3G Blue's top officials will spend a good little while scrambling to put everything back together. Maybe Akane would prefer if the damage was more long-lasting, but she just... couldn't harm them any further.

All that's left to do is path a course to PLANT-side.