act45side

Bye-bye, bye now!

You be good children, just like you promised!

We will—

Iris, Bena, all set? In that case, let's—

Wait!

Miss Sakiko...?

I thought you wouldn't come...

*pant*... *pant*...

Iris... the necklace...

N-Necklace?

In your left pocket—the necklace in the little box that keeps the nightmares away!

What are you talking about, Miss Sakiko? I don't... what?

Iris reflexively reaches into her pocket, and is surprised to indeed find something in there.

Sakiko... you don't actually have precognition, do you?

Center stage. Mutsumi lies in a pool of blood.

My child! Oh, my child!

Help her! Somebody!

What's wrong? Is she hurt?

Poor girl! She's dead! How horrible!

It's all a trick! She's not dead. How could she be dead?

(Noisy chirping)

(Excited chirping)

Cut!

...You're an abysmal actor, Wolff.

Sorry. Acting's not my forte.

(Merry laughter)

Oh, and you think YOU were any better?!

(Panicked crying)

This won't do. I'm still short of actors... I need one more...

Morpheus stares daggers at the center of the stage. There, a blue-haired girl sits, eyes closed, but brow furrowed as ever in struggle.

(Dismayed chirping)

It's a Siracusan play. Caused quite the controversy, in its opening run.

True and false, false and true, why does everyone tie themselves in knots over which is which?

Human beings have too strong a need to know everything down to the core.

Perhaps, it's the very thing that makes them human.

I'm sorry. I spoke out of line again.

No... Wolff. You're fluent now.

Maybe it's all the rehearsals lately... Then again, maybe it's not the rehearsals, but the things I've been seeing. The sort of things that grow a heart a size or two.

Can a woven creation have a 'heart'?

The books tell of a metal man who gained one. Perhaps I can too.

Tut. Shouldn't have let you read so much... I liked your stuttering better.

She has no 'heart' anymore?!

I can patch her back up, but without a heart, she'll never leave this place again...

You decide... decide Morpheus's fate.

(Oh, Iris... oh, Bena...)

Alas. It would be better if you didn't talk.

If only, if only, everyone was like me...

Morpheus. It's time we ended this farce of yours.

Upon the stage, where a doll slumbered, now a doll stands.

What? Excuse me? How?

This isn't right! No, how could you—

I made myself clear. I will not be leaving my companions until I have awoken them.

Well, I'll give you two choices—

One! Get out of my sight, right now.

Two! I trap you under layers and layers and LAYERS of dreams, and you stay lost in Limbo forever.

I decline.

You think you can—?!

Sakiko reaches into her pocket.

(Yes. It's still there.)

Iris's necklace has accompanied her through layer after layer of dreams, and it has followed her here.

Now, she will save Ave{@nbs}Mujica. She will save everyone.

Our bet is still on.

In their dreams, I saw their innermost thoughts.

Even as their wishes came true one by one, they found no happiness in it.

They are no hypocrites for it. They are simply still in doubt.

As the founder of Ave{@nbs}Mujica, I pledged to them that I would take responsibility for their lives.

From the moment I uttered those words, our fates became inseparable...

My role is to show the path to lost dolls. I will lead them through the fog, for I must.

Center stage, Sakiko Togawa stands. She casts her eye over her slumbering companions, then returns her gaze to Morpheus.

They, and you... are no more than lost dolls.

In the moonlight, the doll takes on a temporal life.

Awaken—

Stop her!

(Terrifying roar)

This is our dream. Therefore, we are its Master.

We <i>will</i> become as we want to be!

Sakiko Togawa slowly raises a hand, and her clothing begins to transform.

She recalls the Originium Arts she learned in her dream; the songs she wanted to write.

As she has practiced countless times before, she casts down a firm finger—

Upon a white piano key.

The note rings clear in every corner on and off the stage, and bids the threads holding up each doll fall slack.

No longer puppeted, they fall to the expanse of the stage one by one.

Be assured that in the face of all your efforts, I can hardly rest on my own laurels.

Despite all our hardships, we came back together and put on a masquerade that belonged to <i>us,</i> didn't we?

I want to write a song—

About our struggles, and the possibilities of the future.

We are a band. Our destinies are one.

This is my answer.

Put down the guitar, Mutsumi-chan.

You're our princess. We'll be by your side, whatever you do.

—Cover her ears!

(Hugs guitar tightly)

You're not me...

I miss Saki...

Somebody, help...

Honestly, what do I do with you?

The 'Mutsumis' throwing themselves at Mutsumi suddenly crash to the ground one by one, as if marionettes whose strings were cut.

I'm on your side, Mutsumi-chan. I'll listen to your deepest desire.

The fully-armed brawlers are closing in on Umiri.

Time we put an end to this, Umiri...