Arknights story · Somniloquium Serenum
SS-4 Guest Room Maze
In Uika's dream, Sakiko rides a boat to a desolate isle where she learns of the many years Uika has waited for her, alone. Meanwhile, Uika is forced to face her feelings, thanks to the questions posed by her new friend Eyjafjalla.
2 scenes, 294 lines
1. Before Operation
153 linesI take my most fragile memories and wrap them up tight, until not a soul is left who knows.
But even as I shout until my voice is raw, is there any hope of making her hear me?
I do not fear sorrow.
After enduring the rocking of the boat, stepping onto solid ground finally brings Sakiko a sense of reassurance.
'Preciate you chatting with me, young miss.
This island's one hell of a trip from the mainland. Why, if I only had the surface of the water for company, I'd go mad from boredom.
It was a pleasure to talk to you. I rather enjoyed hearing your tales of the sea.
Reminds me, you don't dress like a local. What brings you to this podunk little island?
...I'm looking for someone.
She a local?
I don't... imagine so.
That's mighty strange then. This island's all people who wanna get off it. Never heard of anyone wanting to come over.
To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if she's here or not...
All she has in hand is a ticket to the island. Even if it does turn out to be a prank on Morpheus's part, she has no other choice.
(Pats her shoulder) Ah, it'll be fine! With this few people on the island, you'll be done asking if anyone's seen her in no time!
...Yes.
But one thing. Doesn't matter if you find her or not, you have to be back here by noon.
Not many boats come this way. If you miss this one when it leaves, you'll be stuck until next month.
But it's nearly...
*sigh* Sorry, not much I can do.
I can wait for you some, but it's not safe on the seas at night. We need to be back on the mainland before sundown.
...Right, I'll be going now then!
(Loudly) Do—re—mi—
Yes, I can hear you.
(Quietly) Do—re—mi—
......
I just went through it again, further away... Were you unable to hear it?
Yes... I didn't hear anything just now.
...Let me get that blindfold off of you first.
How are my results?
I hate to say this, but... compared to last time, it seems like the range I can hear has gotten even smaller.
I see... Okay, I understand. I'll be more aware of environmental conditions on my future surveys.
Eyjafjalla, you should cherish your personal safety more.
How long have you been on the island?
I arrived two months ago.
Your hearing is getting worse, but we don't have a formal doctor here who can help you.
There should be a boat at the dock today. I'll pack your luggage for you, and then you can set off for home.
I can't. I still have one last round of data to collect from the volcano here...
But your health—
Before I came here, I had a doctor at Rhodes Island give me a health assessment.
Umm... While my situation isn't very optimistic, I did promise her I would be back within three months.
She knows how important my volcanological research is to me, so she agreed to me coming here in the end.
......
I love volcanos, Miss Uika, just as much as you love the stars.
Wasn't the very first time we met up on the mountain, that night when I got lost, and stumbled upon you watching the stars?
...Next time you head up there to survey, remember to call me along.
Yes, of course!
The weather's so fine this morning...
Miss Uika, could you sing a song to me?
Some music would go perfectly with weather like this, while we gaze out at the volcano and the sea far away.
Alright. I'll come in a little closer...
Uika narrows the gap between the two of them. She sees Eyjafjalla's little ears perk up, the hearing aids visible inside.
(Deep breath)
'As I paint the twisted sky, I think,'
'I wish you'd, without wings, just fall,'
'I touched something sacred,'
'Tonight, become my myth—'
'......'
That was beautiful!
...Thanks.
Who wrote this song? I don't think I've heard it elsewhere. Is it a local song?
I don't know either. It's probably just something I heard before, and it just stuck in my memory...
But, Miss Uika... You look so sad right now.
Huh...?
Hm? Uika Misumi?
John, you ever hear of that name?
Don't recall. Sounds like someone not from the island.
Could I trouble you to keep thinking over it, sir?
I heard from an old woman nearby that you're the most social person on this island, and that you know more people than anyone else. I'm sure something you know could serve as a lead...
*sigh*... Not many people on the island, though. If none of us at all have heard the name, it must be a newcomer, right?
Hey, wait, wasn't there talk about some weirdo living in a villa on the volcano's back side?
Hmm... I think there was someone there, yeah.
Can't quite remember her name, but I wanna say she's the only one you could be looking for.
Where is she right now?!
Well, follow the road circling the island north for twenty kilometers. Once you reach the back of the mountain, you'll see the villa.
Alright. Twenty kilometers, that should be about half an hour by car...
Oh, we don't have cars here.
You don't have cars?!
Didn't you realize when you came here? We don't have cars.
But the roads are clearly well-maintained...
We wanted to attract tourists to the island. We fixed everything up... and nobody came. We just ended up even more broke.
If you're in a hurry, missy, borrow this here bike.
It's not in the prettiest shape, but there's some use in it still. If you pedal hard, you should make it in about two hours.
......
Sakiko looks at the old bicycle behind the old man. Its frame is shabby and worn-out, nearly denuded of paint. Everything about it screams 'scrap heap'.
Good luck! Been a long time since we saw any new faces here. Hope you find who you're looking for! Oh, and enjoy your time on our island!
Thank you, sir. If you'll excuse me, then.
Sakiko places a foot lightly on the pedal—
Careful there, you're heading straight downhill—
The warning comes a little too late. The girl and the dilapidated bike are already careening out of control as they shoot down the slope.
AAAAAHHHHHHHH———!
...Now wasn't that funny?
Hahahahahah-hah-hah...
She really is far too funny! Hah-hahahahah!
Mor—Morpheus.
I... think... that was—a... bit overboard...
Shut it.
......
She's the one who agreed to this bet. I'm only abiding by our terms.
I'll find her weak spot, I'm telling you, and once I do I'll spin her a dream from which she'll never wake.
She'll learn...
I am the Castle of Dreams' most talented dreamspinner.
...There's no way, no way, that Iris could be better than me.
The sun's nearly overhead, and there's not much shade under the trees...
It's getting rather hot now.
My residence is close by. Why don't we go there to sit down?
Oh—wow, it really is cooler the moment you step inside!
This living room is so big—it must get cold in the winter, right?
The house warms up very quickly if I light the fireplace. The one over there, see.
But when I'm by myself, a little heater by the sofa is enough.
Wow, I had no idea at all you were so well-off...
I think you're misunderstanding something. I'm not an heiress or anything, I'm just the housekeeper here.
(Quietly) Am I going to disturb the owner...?
No, don't worry. I'm the only one here right now.
She—the owner of this place... she hasn't been back for a very long time.
It... sounds like you really miss her.
Yes. Our relationship might be a bit more special than master and servant...
She was the first one to see me as I am. She was the first one to ever make friends with me.
She loved playing the piano. I would sit next to her, and sing along.
At first, we were happy... So very happy.
But then, why did she leave? Why would she leave this island, her... home?
Why indeed... Maybe, just maybe, it was only me who wanted to stay here?
The bicycle's creaking grows ever more shrill, and Sakiko's balance is increasingly precarious.
Matters aren't helped by her waning stamina.
AHHHH—!
At a sharp turn, the bicycle flies completely out of control, and Sakiko's inertia sees her abruptly tumble away.
Guh...
She pulls her body up, gritting her teeth through the pain. With great effort, she lifts her head to look to her destination.
At the foot of a distant mountain, she sees the vague outline of a house.
That's...
As she stares at it, countless unfamiliar memories flood into her mind out of nowhere—
Th-that's...
In Uika's dream, Sakiko and her played there as children.
When they grew up, they lived there together.
These... these are all part of Uika's dream?
Hmm-hmm—♪ Hmm-hm-hmm—♪
Hm... Well, you did see it, yes? Oh, all the sweet dreams I spun for her, but this Uika girl? Her biggest wish is to be with you.
Problem. At the end of each dream, she's all alone.
You always vanish suddenly—
Sakiko Togawa, you're a cruel, cruel person.
I... Cruel...?
Didn't the pest give you the whole sermon?
Dreams are the truest thoughts of the heart's depths. And in the heart of Uika Misumi, well—the more she longs to be with you, the less she can touch you.
I can weave a tiny little uninhabited isle just for the two of you, and yet all she can do is experience the pain of losing what she gains, again, and again. And again.
This little happiness of hers is doomed to slip through her fingers like sand.
Tut, tut. What kind of heart holds such despair that even dreams can't cure it?
...Uika, I'm going to pull you out of this nightmare.
Are you really? Are you really?!
Now that's something I'd LOVE to see—the look of helpless, raging humiliation all over your face, that is!
As Morpheus cackles with wild abandon, a faraway boat sounds its horn.
The signal that it is about to return to the mainland.
2. After Operation
141 linesWhen you repeat something countless times over, you grow numb to it.
When you repeat the same day countless times over, you fall into its cycle.
It's imperceptible, inescapable.
An interminable, indefinite, impenetrable dream.
Every day, she wakes from her bed in the early morn, to the chirp of mountain fowlbeasts.
If she wishes to laze about longer, nobody will stop her. She simply sticks her head back under her blanket.
Once she makes her bed, she heads to the kitchen for a simple breakfast.
A fried egg, bread, milk...
What she wants to eat, and what she wants to drink, are all up to her in the moment.
She sits by the piano, pressing a key, bringing its untuned string to the correct pitch, little by little. After some time—however much—it is the next string's turn to be tuned.
By the time the final string is tuned, the first string has lost its pitch.
And so it goes, again and again and again.
Uika lies down on the summer-fed meadow, and gazes at the starry sky above.
She knows that even if the positions of the stars seem no different from yesterday, in truth, they are constantly shifting about.
Two stars next to each other now will, after a hundred million years, become incredibly distant. That even if we assign them meaning, that meaning will be lost.
Just like the relationship between people.
Today, too, that child didn't come back.
Here, on this deserted island, a dream of smoke and mirrors is built out of nothing but faint memories.
Trapped in a cage of recollection, as if but a doll.
Obsession and sorrow fill her body. They grow. They grow.
But she cannot move.
At first, I figured she'd had some flash of inspiration and went out for a walk.
It was only later I learned from the dockworker, she'd gotten on a ship leaving the island that same day...
Why don't you go and look for her?
I've lived out days like today so, so many times, to the point I'm not even sure if they're real or not.
I... I can't remember what she looks like anymore. I can't remember her name.
Maybe this is where I belong, in the end... Waiting here, silently.
Waiting here for her return, or my death.
There'll come a day that the well of my sorrows dries up. There'll be no more tears, and no more weeping.
Some far-flung place nobody cares about—that's the best place I can belong.
'No!'
Miss Uika, you're crying. That means you haven't given up yet, right?
This isn't the ending you want, right?!
At least...
At least tell her how you feel, face to face.
......
If I can make out what you mean, I'm sure she can too.
How can you reach her if you don't shout at the top of your lungs?
I can hear your voice. Me. Surely she must be able to.
I... but with your hearing in this condition, I can't leave you by yourself—
Don't say that. I'm a Rhodes Island operator, with all the training that entails. You don't have to worry about me.
You've already done so much for me, Miss Uika, and by all rights we were complete strangers.
You should look deep in your heart and ask yourself: what do you really want to do right now?
I can read lips, Miss Uika.
'Look, you can't escape'
'I confine you as you weaken—'
'You know I want...'
'I want... I want...'
'I want you so, I want...'
Uika's awareness snaps back, only to find herself running with all her might.
Her chest burns hard like never before, a sensation that leaves her light-headed, even.
The last strand of her sanity asks her the same question on loop:
If you can't remember her name, or even her face.
How will you find her among all the endless people of this land?
Her voice is a step ahead of her legs, flying straight for her heart.
And with every ounce of power she has, she runs after her voice.
Sakiko makes it to the villa in one piece. It is all exactly as Morpheus showed her.
Uika—
The same layout, the same decorations... Even the books on the shelves are the exact same.
Why...
The floor is spotless. The kitchen boasts an overwhelming array of silverware, and a grand dining table to seat a dozen or more.
Sakiko cannot imagine Uika living in a place like this by herself.
Since it's a dream, is it not? You could just take the painful parts and throw them away completely...
I'm sure she felt this place was very important to the two of you.
You must be the owner of this villa... Miss Uika just left.
...Where did she go?
She finally recognized her own heart. She's set on finding you.
Wanna get on the boat?
Yes, I'd like a ticket off the island.
Oh? Well, you'll have to wait a bit. I'm holding up for another passenger.
That young lady's still not back... Hope she found who she was looking for.
It's fine. I can wait—
Halfway through her sentence, Uika forces the words back down her throat. Fortunately, the boatman doesn't seem to notice.
*sigh* The sea's rough at night, and the fog gets thick. It ain't good sailing. I've got your safety to worry about, y'know!
Hey, listen to the signal tower go. The guy running it wants us gone already.
I can see him up there. He's waving a flag at us...
Heh. Old booze-hound needs the beer I bring him every month.
'Safe travels, and don't forget—my beer.'
Pfft. Doesn't mind if I forget anything else, long as he gets his hooch!
With his grumbling over, the boatman heaves his steps onto the boat.
The sea wind carries its horn through every corner of the island.
As she looks back at this isle of countless joys and sorrows, Uika finds there's so much she wants to say.
...Don't forget me.
You couldn't have forgotten.
We lived here since we were children.
I trust that we will meet again—
Sakiko's voice is already hoarse.
The waves crash on and on against the coast, but they carry no response.
The boat has already left the island.
Now, she is the only one here, alone.
A girl who's waited day and night finally finds it in herself to set off in search of her partner.
But who could foresee that they'd pass like ships in the night at the last moment... Tut tut tut, such a pity.
......
Tell you the truth. I never thought she'd choose to leave.
If she'd followed the ending I'd laid out for her, she would have forgotten all about you, and lived a blissful, carefree life here.
But I see now, I underestimated your influence on her.
I'm a good sport. This round is a draw.
......
Shame, though. With the speed that boat's going at, she'll be in a nautical pickle pretty soon.
What...?
Making an entire island for the two of you was tiring enough. What, next you want me to create the entire continent of Terra so your pathetic farce can play out over and over?
No, the boat's about to reach the edge of this dreamland, and once it does, she'll fall into the next one.
Another cycle, another reset.
She's bound to forget about you in the end.
No. I'm going to find a way to catch her—
Sorry, out of time.
Sakiko feels a burst of cold under her feet. Somehow, seawater has crept up to her ankles.
Dark clouds gather where the sea and sky meet, punctuated by rays of dazzling light.
Uika—!
The water rises with a fervor. Sakiko senses something dragging her down towards the abyss.
Uika—! Wait for me!
Gloom; cold; suffocation.
The water strains against her eardrums. What oxygen is left in her lungs slowly dwindles, as does the feeble light from above.
Her sight blurs. Salty, bitter seawater forces its way into her mouth, in a bid to occupy the last vestiges of her consciousness.
And so, she falls, and falls.
Down to the seabed, a place that knows no light.
'Saki...'
'Saki... Saki...'
A voice approaches, though she cannot tell from where.
Where am I?
Who is calling for me?
Come... on... wake up...
It is a familiar voice. One she has not heard in a very long time.
The cold, waterlogged seabed is gone; was never here. In its place, dry land, and swirling eddies of dust.
Who...?
Sakiko struggles to open her eyes. A pale strand of hair greets her.
Saki. Are you okay?
...Mutsumi?
Mm. I'm here.
Such simple words, and yet they bring tears to Sakiko's eyes.
It's no fault of the sand in the air, she knows that. For only she knows just how helpless she feels in this moment.
If she speaks now, her voice will break. But she can't afford to care about that. All she can think of is to clutch at the final straw she has.
Mutsumi... I... What do I do...?