"Miss, are you okay?"
"Eh?"
Setsuna found herself standing in the middle of the street, eyes unfocused, staring into the middle of nowhere. The voice of what looked like a young boy had jolted her out of it, but upon snapping back she wasn't even sure what she had been thinking about.
"Ah, yes, I'm fine…"
She squatted down to look face-to-face with the boy.
"How about you? Are you doing okay? Is anything wrong?"
"Mm…Everything is fine…" The boy looked downwards and Setsuna could easily see the lie.
"Please tell me honestly. Is everything going all right with you? You can tell me anything."
The boy fidgeted.
"Well…There's nothing wrong, but…" He shook his head. "I don't really know, but…"
"You're having problems figuring out to do, right? Is that the problem?"
He nodded.
"I'm not sure what to do…I'm not strong enough to help other people with the rebuilding work and…I'm not very smart so…I don't know how to help everyone else here…"
Setsuna pat his head.
"Don't worry if there's not much you can do. Just hang in there. Everyone's working hard right now, so there's a lot being done. And if you ever find something you think you can do, feel free to help. Okay?"
The boy nodded.
"Good. Don't worry too much."
The boy nodded again and ran off, and Setsuna wondered where he was off to. I'm not sure what to do. It was a common thing she was now hearing around the city. It wasn't really a surprising thing; after the fall of Moebius, given that there was now a sore lack of administration going around. Fortunately, the city wasn't in absolute chaos, but there was now the opposite problem; the city was now so listless that the lack of organization led to little productive things being done.
Setsuna got up and began to walk. She herself sympathized with the complaint; even though she had returned to Labyrinth with the hope of doing something, she didn't know what herself to do either.
It's time to sleep.
It's time to wake up.
It's time to eat.
Today I will fulfill Lord Moebius's objective.
Everything is for the sake of Lord Moebius.
It's time to eat.
I am a loyal servant to Lord Moebius.
I am…
I…
Trying to think about her past too much hurt her head. Not just because of thinking of what she had done as Eas, but because her memories from before becoming Cure Passion were getting blurrier and blurrier every day. When she had asked Westar and Soular about it, they also reported feeling the same thing about their lives before the Delete Hole incident.
She wondered if she'd had a will at all.
Exactly how much had Moebius controlled in Labyrinth, and for how long? Moebius had deleted all historical records of the city, all the data they'd kept – and only those proficient in science or excavation were currently capable of looking into it. But very little had been found so far, how long Moebius had controlled humanity, and what he'd done to them.
It occurred to Setsuna that she had no idea where she had come from. For all she knew, she could have been spawned from a test tube or something. She touched her own hands, as if somehow she were about to find out she was actually a robot.
She didn't even know her own name. The only name she ever remembered was Eas, and she now hated that name that Moebius had given her. She wondered if she had a name at all. Were humans now unable to reproduce normally? Had Eas been raised by Moebius and his system? Had she ever had parents, parents who had been ripped from her, forced to work under his systematic control? Perhaps she had even been working for the entity who had indirectly killed her parents?
What had Moebius done to her? What had he done to all of Labyrinth? Was humanity able to recover, after all that he might have done?
Feeling tired already just by thinking about this, Setsuna sat down next to a building and looked up at the sky, or what she could call a sky by the definition of Labyrinth.
She didn't know anything.
Eh, Love, I have a question…
Ah, mom?
I notice Secchan's been looking rather sad lately. Is something wrong?
…
It seems like she's worried about something about to happen.
I…I'm sure she's fine! But, if you're worried, I'll talk to her…
That's good. I'm just worried about Secchan. After all, she's part of our family now.
Yes!
"Help! Can someone please help?"
Startled by the sudden commotion, Setsuna jerked her head up and saw a bunch of people crowded over a woman. Setsuna quickly got up and ran as fast as she could over to the woman, and as she approached she could see that the woman was doubled over on the ground. There seemed to be something under her shirt…
"…The woman is…"
Shocked, she ran over and asked the first person she saw, "What happened?"
"I don't know…She suddenly complained of something really painful and fell over…"
Having a small idea of what had happened, Setsuna got up, nodded, and said, "Quickly. Get her inside to lie on something."
The crowd of people around her quickly pulled up the woman and carried her inside the nearest building. Setsuna followed.
Her mind was racing. I don't know much about how to do this…I know Buki or Love might, but I can't contact them now…
Rushing in to see the woman on the table, she said the only thing she could think of that would help: "Please don't panic…please…everything will be okay, just don't panic…"
She tried to think of what she knew about this and how to do it without hurting anyone. "So, ah, please try to tell me what – "
The woman shrieked in pain and Setsuna clutched her hand. "Everything will be all right…"
Setsuna slumped against the wall and sighed. The entire ordeal had tired her out.
After a fashion, she got up again and hobbled over to the crowd. "Is…everything all right?"
"Yes, everything is all right…"
She looked at the woman, who was no longer in as much pain. She was holding the small child in her arms.
"Thank you for helping me…"
"No, no, it's really not a problem…"
Setsuna looked at the child and smiled.
"Please take good care of this child. He will be important to the future of Labyrinth."
The woman nodded and clutched Setsuna's hand.
"You have done so much. Thank you for everything you have done."
Setsuna nodded.
I think we humans will be able to create our future with our own hands.
I believe we are capable.