Heart Seed Ruin Log

[goatsongs]

[You suddenly find yourself in the entrance to a library. Well, it should be an entrance - if you turn around, there isn’t a door behind you, but there’s a desk that says ‘RETURNS’ and a desk that says ‘HELP’, both with containers full of pens on them. There’s also rows and rows of bookcases all stuffed full of books.

Naturally, both the returns desk and the help desk are staffed: the returns desk by a bright-looking young boy, and the help desk by a serious-looking man.

Beyond the shelves of books, there’s a steel door to the left, as well as a wooden door to the right.]

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[goatsongs]

[There's a child-sized blankie on one of the beds. If there's nothing else available, she could use that.]

[sunflowering]

[She'd feel bad using a child's blanket to clean with. But she does reach over and pick it up.]

Is this his as a child? Or maybe...

. . .Could he have had children? Or maybe a sibling.]

[goatsongs]

[Picking up the blanket shows a flash of a memory: Chuuya, with a boy of about a year old on his knee.]

Look how big you are now! Pretty soon you'll be even bigger than Papa, won't you?

[The child gurgles. Chuuya laughs, sounding more sincerely delighted than Yuuki's ever heard from him before.]

[sunflowering]

[ . . . A child. He has a child? She hadn't realized he was a father, even though he clearly was at an age where that kind of thing was possible.

To be separated from his young child... it must be unbearably difficult.

But why then is this room covered in dust? Because he misses the young boy?]

[goatsongs]

[That's an excellent question.

Touching other objects in the room gets more happy memories - going to the zoo with his son, who meowed at birds and elephants but stared at deer in fascination, for example. Simple, sentimental memories like that.

Until touching something brings up a memory of a funeral with a child-sized casket.

Chuuya is crying, but says nothing up until they start to put the casket in the ground, when he lunges toward the casket and has to be held back by other mourners.

Don't take him away... don't take my son away from me...!]

[sunflowering]

[The happy memories bring a soft smile to her lips. An adorable child with a doting father. What a warm and beautiful family they make.

But that image is shattered when another memory strikes. She can almost feel his pain, tangible in the air. Her hand falls away from what she last touched, tears stinging her eyes.

How? Why...? She can't even imagine the unbearable pain of losing a child. She had no idea he had suffered through such a traumatic experience. Eyes closing, she squeezes them shut and lifts a hand up to wipe the tears from her lashes.]

Nakahara-san, I'm so sorry.

[goatsongs]

[There isn't an answer in words, but...

When she lowers her hand again, she'll suddenly realize that she's holding onto a steel key.]

[sunflowering]

[A key...? She blinks down at it within her fingers, before glancing back up. If she suddenly has a key, that must mean there's yet something to unlock.

Though she hopes what she finds isn't nearly so sad as this.]

[goatsongs]

[It's a pretty normal-looking steel key for a pretty normal-looking steel door. Surely nothing about it will be sad.]

[sunflowering]

[Harmless as it appears, she realizes after this most recent revelation that she can't take anything she sees lightly. There's no telling what she might see and experience. But with this steal, she supposes this means that she needs to backtrack. She does just that, coming to a stop before the steel door, as she turns the key in the lock.

Emotionally, she attempts to prepare herself for whatever it is she will see and experience this time.]

[goatsongs]

[The key fits, and the door opens.]