DAY 12, Manager's Bedroom.
"Today marks my twelfth day since entering Lobotomy Corporation…"
Ever since Angela had advised X —using that unmistakably firm 'this is for your health' tone—he had moved his journaling habit from early morning to just before bed.
She was right. Rather than sacrificing precious sleep, it was better to let the day settle and then record things calmly.
"This afternoon, Angela proactively talked to me about the Sephirah department heads."
"Although I know that on the surface, her intention was to hope that I, as a new manager, would treat the department heads more kindly and establish good cooperative relationships…"
"For some reason, though, I always feel that when she mentioned them, her tone wasn't exactly… friendly?"
The pen paused. X recalled Angela's expression at the time.
It had been an extremely subtle look—one tinged with unmistakably personal emotions.
"Hah… how should I put it. She was clearly advising me to tolerate my subordinates' little flaws, but from her words I vaguely sensed a trace of her own pride—perhaps even narcissism?"
X couldn't help but chuckle softly and continued writing in his diary:
"Things like, 'I know they'll envy me behind my back,' and 'no matter what they do, it won't change the fact that I'm the best AI in this company'…"
When Angela had said those things, her eyes had been calm and unruffled. Yet the superiority and pride hidden beneath that composure had practically radiated outward.
She really looked like a little girl trying to show off in front of him.
"It's hard to imagine—no matter how advanced the City's technology is—that this is the first time I've ever seen an AI so vivid, so indistinguishable from a human…"
"The longer I spend with Angela, the easier it becomes to forget that she's actually an AI."
"I just don't know… is this me reading too much into things? I always feel like she genuinely likes it when I treat her as a real human being."
"At the very least, Angela hopes to be treated that way… doesn't she?"
X didn't write down an answer to that question.
Perhaps there wasn't one to begin with.
"…Wait, hold on."
The pen hesitated, then resumed. A few more small lines were added to the diary, which was already close to being filled.
"This kind of existence… I remember it being called a non-human sapient entity, right? I wonder if Angela has reached the threshold set by the Head…"
"…Probably not yet? If she had, then even if Lobotomy Corporation is one of the Wings of the World, it wouldn't escape punishment from the Head. But Angela is still perfectly fine for now…"
Looking at what he'd written, X shook his head helplessly. In the end, he drew several heavy lines through those dangerous speculations, crossing them out completely.
He gently closed the diary. The leather cover made a faint sound, marking the official end of the day's work and personal record for him.
After tidying up the scattered documents on the desk, X stood up, stretched, walked over to the bed, and lay down with a hint of weariness.
He closed his eyes—but his thoughts didn't quiet immediately. With his hands folded behind his head, he began his usual pre-sleep mental review.
"I asked Justin from the Control Team. She said that aside from environmental sounds comparable to a group chanting hymns, Old Bones doesn't have anything that could be described as a 'voice'."
"It's more like thoughts or images transmitted directly into one's consciousness…"
"I also indirectly asked a few others—employees responsible for maintenance or record-keeping in the containment unit. Their answers were more or less the same."
"Basically things like 'not sure,' 'never noticed,' or 'it doesn't seem to have a voice'…"
There was no definitive denial—but no confirmation either.
The trail seemed to end there.
So the voice he'd heard in that "dream"—so clear, sacred, even gentle—really wasn't Old Bones'?
Then whose voice was it?
What was that portal?
And what exactly did that "dream" mean?
A chain of questions surged up again, making the nerves that had just begun to Relax throb faintly once more.
Perhaps because bypassing Angela's monitoring was genuinely difficult, "B" hadn't appeared today.
Even so, X had a feeling—he and that being would meet again very soon.
"So in the end… do I really have to go in there and take a look myself?"
The thought sent a chill through X .
That dream had felt far too real—so real that it made him doubt whether it had truly been just a dream.
"But… thinking about it calmly, that should still just be a lucid dream, right?"
X tried to convince himself, his voice so quiet that only he could hear it.
"If it's a dream—something born of consciousness—then in theory, I shouldn't be able to truly die in my own dream… right?"
Even so, when he thought of the eerie glow of that unknown portal and the question that seemed to pierce straight into his soul, his heartbeat quickened despite himself.
"…Maybe next time I could be a little bolder? Check whether the containment units of other ZAYIN-class Abnormalities are the same…?"
The thought had barely formed before X forcefully suppressed it.
No. Better to be cautious.
No matter what, the very existence of that "dream" was itself a massive enigma. Together with the mysterious "B" and the concept of the "Inner Lobotomy Corporation," it cast a heavy shadow over his mind.
Drowsiness crept in, and X couldn't help yawning.
"Forget it… thinking this much doesn't even guarantee I'll have the same dream again…"
His consciousness gradually blurred, as if sinking into warm water. Everything from the outside world began to feel distant.
The gentle touch of sleep slowly wrapped itself around X 's limbs and thoughts.
However—just as he thought he was about to sink completely into deep sleep, his awareness on the verge of vanishing—
That same peculiar sensation from before—the feeling of his consciousness being refocused by some unknown force—once again surfaced in the depths of his mind without any warning.
Curiosity toward the unresolved mystery, like a stone thrown into water, sent ripples spreading outward, gradually overwhelming the heavy drowsiness.
And the awareness that had already begun to blur slowly sharpened again, becoming clear and keen.
Just like last time, X instinctively opened his eyes.
"…Alright."
Sitting up from the sofa, X looked around.
This time, there was no panic or fear like when he'd first arrived. Instead, what filled his heart was an almost resigned calm—
And… a faint, barely suppressed eagerness to actively explore the unknown.
"Looks like as long as I fall asleep, I'll probably end up here. What is this—my personal dream map?"
X let out a self-mocking laugh.
"Well, in that case, forget about the exact mechanism… I'll just assume that this recurring dream is what B referred to as the so-called 'Inner' Lobotomy Corporation."
Having made up his mind, he stopped hesitating and grew a little bolder.
He got up from the bed, stretched his limbs. The sensation in his body was still incomparably real.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, X set off—heading straight toward the containment unit he'd visited last time.
The one that housed One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds.