Chapter 32 - Epilogue: Alice Elizabeth Raymour, White Rock Shooter, KC, Cirno

Alice: Legacy
The front door suddenly opened, Alice walking in. White, Solace and Chamber turned towards the door. Alice caught sight of Chamber and was initially surprised at Chamber's eye colour but recovered quickly. She approached him, "Hello, Chamber," she greeted politely, "Are you going to be living here?"

Chamber paused, rather surprised at Alice's correct guess, "I would like to but I wanted to ask for your permission."

"Oh, it's no problem with me," smiled Alice, "Have you asked Lash?"

"Yes, I have," answered Chamber, "... Are you Alice?"

"Yes?" responded Alice, confused at Chamber's lack of recognition, "... Do I not have an equivalent in your world?"

"I don't know. I've never met my world's version of you, if there is one."

"Wait," interjected Solace, "You know my equivalent but not Alice's?"

"I met your equivalent during a global ice age," explained Chamber, "And she made no mention of Alice to me during our time together."

"But you know Ælious, right?"

"I knew some of his relatives, very well in fact, but not David himself. It was KC that introduced the two of us together after Doomsday. Apparently she knew the both of us."

"... You knew his relatives?" Solace repeated, "Do you know their names?"

"I followed the Ælious bloodline for around two million years, I have far too many to name."

"Ah," realised Solace, noting he had a point, "I'll name the ones I know then. You say you didn't know David, right? What about Amy?"

"No."

"Oh. She's Ælious' mother. Err... April?"

"Older sister to Summer."

"You know them? They're Alice's and Ælious' daughters."

Chamber did not reply immediately, "... In my world, they were Max's daughters."

"Max? But he doesn't hold the Ælious middle name."

"In my world he does."

"Wai- wai- wai- wai- waiiiiit!" interrupted White, her expression clearly showing the confusion she was swimming through. "Alice!" she called, "You have daughters? How old are you? How old is your Ælious?"

"I-I'm eighteen. He's twenty now," stuttered Alice in embarrassment. White fell back on her beanbag, her wide open eyes staring at the ceiling. "B-but, please understand, they came from the future. I haven't... done anything with Ælious," she gulped.

White raised her head with a relieved sigh, "How old are they?"

"April's seventeen now, Summer's fifteen."

White frowned, "Did they make it through Doomsday?"

"They did," answered Ælious, walking through the open front door with KC following behind, "I just checked with the Arcanians in Barton City. They're doing some final preparations before coming back here."

White was surprised to see him. "... Just a question, do you have children? How old are you?"

"No, I don't," answered Ælious simply, "Twenty-seven." Solace noted that despite a seven year gap in age, this Ælious was not all too different from her own counterpart. He was taller and noticeably more serious but was otherwise the same.

"I see..." White raised an eyebrow, "By the way, why're you here?"

"I wanted to ask Solace a question," Ælious approached Solace, who stood up from the beanbag out of politeness, "Solace, I'm David Ælious Sun. I believe you know my counterpart in your canon?" He offered his hand for a shake.

"Y-yeah," nodded Solace, shaking his hand, "He owns this house." Based on what Chamber said, this Ælious probably never met his Solace counterpart. She was rather saddened by that thought.

"I was wondering..." began Ælious, with a note of concern, "If I could move in?"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa," interrupted White as she got to her feet, "Ælious. Don't even think about it," she threatened, "You know how things can go wrong." She looked at Alice, "Alice, you can't let him live here!"

Alice looked down, unwilling to accept White's statement, "I... was the one who offered he move here."

White shook her head, "Alice. Alice. Alice," she groaned walking up to Alice. Taking hold of Alice's left hand, White lifted her arm, showing Alice the back of her own hand. "Alice, look at this." Alice looked to see that White was pointing out the engagement ring on her ring finger. "What is this?" It was obvious that White was asking the questions not for information but to force Alice to spell out the dangers.

"... It's my engagement ring with Ælious."

"This one?" asked White, nodding towards the Ælious behind her. Again, this was a question with an obvious answer.

Alice looked down again, "No, my own Ælious."

"Alice, look at me," White took hold of Alice's chin and raised it to force Alice to look her in the eyes, "Would your Ælious like you to get attached to someone else?" Alice did not reply.

Ælious spoke up, "White, I'm-"

"No," stopped White, turning towards him, "You be quiet. There is no reason to believe your counterpart would have the same feelings you do. My Black is completely different from the Black in this world." Solace, having watched the Black★Rock Shooter anime, Black's likely canon, couldn't help feeling White was exaggerating somewhat. She had not played the game, White's likely canon, making a mental note to pick up the game, somehow. White faced Alice again, "Answer me."

"... I- I... No..." Alice admitted, "But I assure you, nothing is going to happen." White just raised both eyebrows, not at all convinced.

Solace suddenly thought of something, "Chamber, you've been living in Barton City, right? Have you met a Vincent Hughes?"

"A coastguard, right?" confirmed Chamber, "Lash told me he's Alice's childhood friend. He's from your canon, I believe." Based off Haruhi's speech back at the Scarlet Devil Mansion about the residents of Arcania City, it was definite that Vincent was from Solace's canon.

"White," urged Solace, "It would be better for Ælious to stay here. Without him, Vincent might make a move on Alice."

"... What?" responded White, realising things were not as simple as she thought, "What does Vincent have to do with this?"

"Alice and Vincent... have a history together..." began Solace, unwilling to reveal more information without Alice's permission.

"Vincent and I..." started Alice, taking the responsibility, "We loved each other when we were younger... but Vincent had to move away with no way of communication. By the time he returned many years later, I had fallen in love with Ælious instead."

White took a step back with a frown. She turned her head to Ælious, "Who are you engaged to?"

"I'm married to Carnis Fells." This struck Solace with surprise. Her canon's Carnis was ten years old. Assuming a seven year age gap, Ælious' Carnis would only be seventeen. Ælious went ahead with prematurely answering White's next question, "My Alice is married to my Vincent."

White scowled, "... Fine. I won't get involved with your own decisions. Just... just... keep things in mind. Ælious, I want to talk to you. Solace, which room's Ælious'?"

"Upstairs, first door on the left," answered Solace, sitting back down on the beanbag.

White took hold of Ælious' shirt and pulled him towards the stairs at the back of the room. She paused, "Alone, please." KC froze in mid-step as White dragged Ælious upstairs. There was silence as Alice resigned to a dining chair.

-

White: The Lunar Castle
White pushed open the first door to the left as soon as she reached the top of the stairs. She pulled Ælious into the room and shut the door behind them. The room was completely empty with no furniture, an easy indication that the resident was not brought in by Doomsday as a newcomer's belongings would have been brought in. White slid down a wall to sit on the floor. "Look, Ælious, I know I have no right to be getting in your way but I have... my concerns."

Ælious sat on the floor by the window looking over the back garden, "I understand your concerns, White, but nothing will happen between us, I promise."

"That I do not believe," admitted White, "But as I mentioned, I want no part of it any more. Let's just hope Alice's Ælious and your Carnis, among others, really don't mind. What family members do you have in your world?"

"My only surviving family member is my father, Richard LaGrange Sun," answered Ælious rather casually, as though he had come to terms with it.

White noted this attitude, "... I take it you don't like your creator?"

"I certainly would have liked a somewhat nicer life, that's for sure," Ælious commented, brushing his hair back, "I felt so... distraught when I found out my life was essentially 'entertainment' for natives... How about you?"

"...I hate following orders," sighed White, "So much that I protested against my creator. In my world, he wanted me to work with evil so I decided to work with good after Doomsday to go against my purpose... But then... that's the whole point of my attitude. So I'm essentially doing what my creator wants." White hugged her knees, "I don't want to obey orders not even from my creator... I joined the Black Squad but refused to take Black's orders."

Ælious scratched the back of his neck, "We can't blame the natives for our suffering. To them we are, or at least were, considered fiction. We have fiction in our own worlds, right? Our creations would have the same feelings about us. But about not following orders... Do you not trust Black?"

"It's not Black I don't trust, I just have a personal vendetta against following orders..."

"White. There's a good reason why the three kingdoms each had a group specialising in enforcing order. Taking orders from a head figure is very important for any sort of cooperation in any sort of group."

White looked up and protested, "The Humour Society didn't have a leader-"

"You. Were our leader, White," interrupted Ælious, "We followed your orders. We trusted you and your judgement." White did not reply, instead looking down. "I'm a freelance self-employed technician. In the Alliance in my world, I had erm..." Ælious coughed deliberately, "...trouble... following orders. Commander Shepard. Officially, he works for Cerberus but follows his own intuition. And Galactus. Would he take orders from anyone? And then there's the Anti-Nine, yesterday's events showed that none of them were completely obedient order followers. And yet, we're all prepared to be under your leadership as part of The Humour Society." White once again did not speak up. "White, I realise the only orders you follow are from your heart. But I want to point out that while we are taught that orders are to be obeyed, a considerable portion of us consider orders to be mere suggestions."

White couldn't help letting out a laugh, wiping an eye, "I suppose you have a point."

"Now, having been in Gensokyo, I don't know how trustworthy Black is as the Enforcer of Order of Yamaha but seeing how much you and the Anti-Nine trust her, and her actions last night, I wouldn't mind her giving me umm... suggestions."

"Yeah, yeah, I got you," smirked White, "I'll meet up with Black and actually pledge my loyalty to her this time." There was a brief silence.

"By the way," spoke up Ælious, "But what are you going to do now? Now that the conflict's over?"

"... I'm not sure," answered White, with a hint of regret, "During the last year, I spent all my time working for The Anti-Humour Society. Doom paid me for it, it was my full time job. But now... I do feel that I've lost my purpose. In my world, I have no need for further education, I need no training for a job. And then my home was on the moon."

Ælious noted that no newcomers or newcomer locations ended up on the moon, even if they were located there in their own world. "What about your home? As in the building you lived in."

"West Dover, United Kingdom. A rather convenient place to keep an eye on British shipping as well as being relatively close to London. I love my castle and all but living next to natives with no other newcomers was a drag..."

"So you're going to move to a newcomer place?"

"I was hoping to ask the mayor to ask if I could move here," White revealed, noticeably rather informally.

Ælious was pleasantly surprised, "You're going to move here?"

"The two main newcomer hubs are Siberia and the Sahara. I prefer somewhere a little warmer."

"I can tell," noted Ælious, nodding at White's revealing outfit, "Where's Black going to live?"

"Don't know. Black said she was going to travel. I have a feeling she wants to keep her distance from Yamaha for a while." Ælious couldn't help feeling White was delaying time for something. However, he could tell that talking about Black's plans reminded White about her own unplanned future.

"Like you, I don't attend further education and I have a full time job in my world. But I intend to expand on my value, so to speak. I can take this time to learn new skills, make best use of our current situation being alongside other newcomers. What was your primary concern when you were in your world?"

"Mortal injury," was White's simple reply.

"Erm..." responded Ælious, caught off guard, "How's your first aid skills? Or diplomacy skills?"

"Hmm... I could do with better first aid training..." admitted White. Ælious couldn't help noticing she didn't consider the diplomacy suggestion. "I..." She paused, turning to the closed door. Reaching an arm out to the handle, she opened the doors inwards, revealing KC standing outside. KC acted somewhat surprised. White stood up with a sigh, "I'll stop taking up any more of your time. Thanks for the talk, Ælious, and remember..." She raised her eyebrows at Ælious, "Alice." She walked sideways out the door, KC coming in after.

"Is she okay?" asked KC, closing the door behind her.

"She's lonely," whispered Ælious, making sure White couldn't hear through the closed door, "This past year has probably been heavy on her. Working for a cause you believe in, only to realise that it really wasn't the best cause to follow. Probably another reason she's paranoid against orders. She's treating The Humour Society like family. Anyway, KC, there's a few things we need to discuss."

-

KC: The Final Future
"The first, we have already discussed back in our world," noted Ælious.

KC knelt down in a formal position, sitting on her feet, "An armament."

"I am not a mechanic. I have very little experience with physical construction. Your body is, apart from your helmet and err... sound system in your abdomen, exactly as that of a mass-produced android Sentinel Manifold scout," Ælious recalled to emphasise the point even though KC already knew this, "If you were ever damaged, we could ask the Manifold for parts and repairs. But after Doomsday, none of the Manifold made it through. If you were ever damaged, there would be no... ordinary way to fix you. Seeing you in half after your fight with Clayface was heartbreaking. It is sad I didn't manage to thank the future Sasaki for repairing you. However, as you know, my dream is not to make the best android but to make the best AI. To that end, your body doesn't really matter but I'm sure your life is a lot better with a body and it is essentially your body that protects your AI." KC kept silent, fearing where this conversation was going. "Back in our world, your armament was not an issue. But with so many powerful beings in this new world, there is a lot more risk. If you were ever destroyed... well, I have backups of your data but not your personality. That is what your body gives you. So... would you like armament upgrades?"

"I don't want to be a weapon of war," iterated KC, "But I feel if we keep on getting involved with dangerous international affairs, it will be inevitable that I will be considered one and likely be damaged as a result. I have expressed my opinion against an offensive armament before but I believe I would greatly benefit from some physical defensive measures."

"True, Yamaha may be keen on your development. Though speaking of Yamaha, I would say that you are outdated, in comparison to many in Yamaha's ranks," Ælious was uneasy saying this, "Your AI's probably not up to scratch to, say, Sora, which brings me to my next issue." KC once again said nothing, listening attentively. "I am aware you are from far far into the future of our world." This was what KC was scared of Ælious knowing, though given he had been working on KC's maintenance during this past year, there was no way he wouldn't have noticed. "It's not a big secret that Doomsday pulled newcomers from different periods of time into this world," pointed out Ælious, "I'd rather not think about the implications that has on our worlds." Once more, KC said absolutely nothing. According to her memory, despite being present with Ælious and tens of thousands of years with his descendents in their world, she had never come across implications of Doomsday. However, she remained quiet. "You have survived almost two million years, KC," reported Ælious, awe in his voice, "And I've been thinking... Maybe it's time to set you free."

"... How do you mean?" asked KC, not sure what Ælious was implying.

"Your programming still limits you, KC," Ælious shifted his legs uncomfortably, "I've explained to you before, your timid nature is hard programmed. It's a defensive mechanic, if you ever malfunction or hacked, it would essentially incapacitate you and prevent you from harming anyone. But of course, it has a huge impact on you, as a person." KC shivered nervously on being called a 'person'. "For almost two millions years you've been timid and passive. And I feel bad for limiting your life. Before Doomsday, you were only six years old, your body and personality only one year and, to be honest, the impact of limiting your personality had not crossed my mind."

"I believe that my timid nature has been very beneficial for me," input KC, "It has prevented me from catching unwatched attention and likely contributed towards my survival. I realise the importance of this limitation and would not have it any other way. If I ever caused harm, whether intentionally or not, would be devastating to myself and, I'm sure, yourself."

"You don't envy Sora's freedom?"

"Sora treasures her mental freedom very much and is determined to protect this freedom. However, this does not make Sora and me all that different. We are happy with what we do, we speak our mind when appropriate and we both love our creators very much with good reason. While Sora is independent, I choose not to be. I am capable of being independent when I make that decision. We have been through dangerous conflicts together back in our world and, to be frank, I prefer being close to you."

"But you see," pointed out Ælious, "That's another thing hard programmed into you. I have it set that my orders would be your number one priority, even above your own preservation. It's another defensive system to prevent you from going completely rogue to enhance your survival, whether you were at risk or not-"

"I would be concerned about that if I had no reason to trust your judgement," interrupted KC strongly, "But I can find plenty of evidence that any limitations on me are justified and do not affect my capability, my ideology nor my potential. The time I spent in our world in your absence was not hampered by the restrictions. I was perfectly capable of surviving with others and by myself."

Ælious was pleasantly surprised by KC's attitude change, "Well, if you say so," he grinned, scratching the back of his head. "There's another related topic we need to cover that we haven't before, related to your freedom." KC blinked, waiting patiently for the subject. "As you're well aware, it was my ultimate dream to create the ultimate AI, you, at least in our world. However, that essentially makes you an equivalent of a toy, my plaything, which doesn't respect you at all. I was thinking about removing this impersonal goal from you."

"It is my personal goal to become the ultimate AI," noted KC, "So this goal is completely fine with me."

"That, I'm fine with," commented Ælious, "But my goal was to make your AI completely by myself or from your own development. However, you now possess the entire programming of a Vocaloid." KC still had the data she had intercepted from Sora's forced transmission on the helicarrier. "Sora would not approve of you having this data. Would it okay to use the data for your own development?"

"I don't think it's moral to keep it," argued KC, "The data contains her memories over her entire life, which is an invasion of privacy. Keeping it would pose a security risk for Sora and possibly other Vocaloids if the data is ever released. However, if I kept it and learnt from it, I could attempt to enhance segments and help Sora with any issues she is having or any future issues she may come across. I would suggest keeping the data. This would likely enhance longevity of both myself and Sora but may sour relations if she ever found out. With the world in peace under Haruhi, it would most likely be safe to keep it."

"Good points made," nodded Ælious, "Do make sure to protect the data. On a similar note..." Ælious took a slip of paper out of his jeans pocket. As he held the edge, KC could see it was a spell tag. "Hakurei Reimu's memories," explained Ælious, "To restore them to her, I had to take them myself. So like how you know everything about Sora, I know everything about Reimu."

"Are you going to keep them?"

"Well, unlike Sora's data, I can't personally use Reimu's memories for my own gain," Ælious looked up in thought, "Well, apart from blackmail." He looked back down again, "I don't have the physical strength or the divine power to use any of Reimu's fighting skills. She is technologically backward so there's not much I can learn from her mental capabilities. So essentially to me, her memories are just a backup, just in case anything else happens to her."

There was silence for a few seconds before KC spoke up, "Please continue."

Ælious smirked, "You've got me there." A worrisome look appeared on his face as he nodded towards the room door.

"Everyone's downstairs," whispered KC, understanding what Ælious was concerned about.

Ælious shifted across the floor to KC's side of the room and sat next to her. "The Hakurei Barrier. Despite being intended for a passive role of supreme defence, you've seen for yourself the offensive power of the Barrier."

"It's a two-dimensional object which makes it the ultimate cutting device," noted KC.

"Exactly. If anyone with access to divine magic gets a hold of Reimu's memories, they could use them to bypass The Convenience Theory that gives the ability exclusively to Reimu. No doubt Haruhi and Sasaki already know how to use the Barrier. That may have been one of Ganondorf's intentions to gain the ability himself. I'm sure Doom could have learned from it too, seeing how much comic book heroes abuse The Convenience Theory."

"It might be safer to destroy the tag," KC pointed out, "It is something that can easily be physically lost or stolen."

"Again, good point. But should I be keeping her memories at all? A lot of her memories are very private. She is a girl after all." There was a pause. "Well, not to say males don't have their own private experiences."

"What about past political information? What happened at The Bad Apple Incident?"

"Reimu wasn't lying about that. She was insulted," Ælious clicked his tongue, "I can't tell whether the insult thrower was a native or newcomer but I think Reimu's reactions given her own knowledge at the time was justifiable."

"You sound concerned."

"Sort of. There's a few inconsistencies within her memories regarding her acquisition of the United States. After being insulted, she suddenly knew the capital of the US and the president and their locations despite knowing nothing about this world's geography."

"You fear that Reimu's actions were tampered with?"

"Not so much. Reimu's quick take over of the United States did stop all American military activity, essentially preventing any potential causalities. Though Miku used that as a reason to extend Yamaha. But now's really not the time to point fingers. I'll hold onto her memories for now, just in case."

"As to who implanted the information, Sora and I have our suspicions."

Ælious grinned, "It's been an international mystery as to the origins of The Unwritten Law. Who else could it be?"

-

Cirno: Cold Divinity
As White placed a hand on the handle of the front door was about to leave the house, there was a knock from outside. After pausing briefly, White opened the door to find Cirno standing on the other side.

"White?" blinked Cirno, with curiosity, "I didn't know you lived here."

"I don't," explained White, "I was visiting." White moved out the way to allow Cirno to look inside.

Cirno stepped in to see Alice, Solace and Chamber in the room, looking in her direction, "... Is Ælious and KC here?"

"They're upstairs," answered Solace, "Do you need to talk to them?"

"I need to talk to all of you," nodded Cirno, looking a little nervous at being put on the spot among some high profile Humour Society members. "Including you," she declared, grabbing White's wrist before White could leave out the door.

White was surprised, "Oh? What would you need me for?" She closed the front door as Ælious and KC came down the stairs, just as Solace had stood up from her bean bag to go and get them. With a disappointed sigh, Solace sat back down.

Upon seeing Ælious and KC, Cirno spoke up with importance, "Old Gensokyo is sending out invitations to everyone who contributed to the end of The First Year to come to Gensokyo for a week long festival through Christmas. Basically, would you all like to come to Gensokyo for a biiiig party?" Cirno asked, spreading her arms out and puffing out her chest to emphasise the size of the festival.

"I personally don't have any Christmas plans," wondered Solace, looking at Alice, "Arcania won't be lively any time soon."

"... I guess," admitted Alice, "When will the festival start?"

"At noon," answered Cirno, "So still a few hours away."

"Who's going to be at this festival?" asked White.

"Umm, Yamaha, North High, Humour..." Cirno was struggling to remember any others, "Umm.... Something... Erm..."

"Don't strain yourself, Cirno," laughed White, patting Cirno on the head, "I accept your invitation. I'll pass on the message to the rest of the society." She opened the front door again. "I'll meet you all there," she grinned at the others in the room before leaving, closing the door behind her.

"Sure," accepted Ælious, "I'll go. It'd nice to celebrate the end of The First Year." KC nodded her head in agreement.

"I'd be happy to accept your invitation," smiled Alice.

"Me too," added Solace.

"Umm," began Chamber, "When you say 'you all', does that include me?"

Cirno turned to Chamber in shock. She pointed at him and looked at Alice, "... Did that thing just talk?"

"This is Chamber," introduced Alice, "He's a friend of ours."

"Oooh," gasped Cirno in amazement, "You're a strange looking robot."

"I'm not actually a robot or an android," corrected Chamber. By his rather neutral tone of voice, it was clear he had practice with this explanation. "I have a human neural network with a machine body so I am actually a cyborg."

Cirno blinked and turned blankly to Alice. Alice simplified Chamber's explanation, "He's a human being, just in a different body."

"Ooh," responded Cirno with interest, "Can I touch him?"

"You'll have to ask for his permission," pointed out Alice.

Cirno looked at Chamber's single green eye, "Can I touch you?" Given how stable her voice was in saying this, Cirno was noticeably very innocent.

"Sure," Chamber answered simply.

Cirno placed a hand on Chamber's cannon, finally noticing Chamber was hovering in the air. "Wow, you're pretty cool." She realised she was getting distracted, "Oh, err... Yeah, Reimu said that friends are allowed."

"Awesome," said Chamber, "Umm... Could you inform everyone else what I look like? During this past year, I've not been greeted the friendliest of ways this past year due to the way I look. Apparently, I look threatening."

"I'll try my best," nodded Cirno, confidently, "I think you would be easy to describe to everyone." Chamber didn't reply, likely trying to decide whether this was a compliment or not.

After a moment of silence, Alice spoke up in a comforting voice, "Cirno, how are you settling down in Old Gensokyo? Is it going smoothly?"

"Yeah," replied Cirno, nodding again, "It's all going okay. But I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Sure, what did you want to talk about?" Cirno looked down in disappointment, hands on her chest. She mumbled something very quietly, something both KC and Chamber could hear with their advanced abilities.

"I'm going to take a look round the city," declared Chamber with far too much authority in his voice for such a trivial decision, heading towards the front door. Using a fully controlled electrical cable from his back essentially as an arm and hand, he opened the door and left, noticeably leaving the door open. Most likely because he did not have the key.

"I think we should organise your room, Ælious," urged KC, tugging Ælious upstairs, to his confusion, "To decide on what to bring from Canada."

"Err..." wondered a similarly confused Solace, though catching on, "I'm going to... look at my room too. And think about bringing my stuff from District 9. Erm... be right back," she announced, leaping up the stairs.

Once all noise had died down, Alice politely spoke up again, "I'm sorry, could you say that again?"

With everyone else gone, Cirno lifted her head, with renewed confidence, "I was wondering if you could be my teacher, please?"

Alice blinked, "For what?"

"For English. I have a teacher in Gensokyo for everything else but I want to learn how to read English."

Alice was perfectly aware why, "Hmm... Well, from what I know about the Death Notes, they can come in any language."

Cirno was not comfortable about talking about the Death Notes, "... There are others things like the Notes out there, right? Learning English would stop me from making more stupid mistakes. You see... I hate studying." Alice was not particularly surprised at this revelation. "I'm actually the only one in my class who can read Japanese so I thought I'd be fine with taking it easy but..." Cirno's voice trailed off.

"I have no experience of teaching so maybe it would be better to ask someone else," confessed Alice, "Amy, Ælious' mother is a professional teacher. Maybe she would be better to choose. Or maybe KC."

"Umm... I was hoping you could teach me..." murmured Cirno disappointedly, "But it's okay if you don't want to..."

Alice felt sorry for Cirno, "I suppose I could try my best but... I'm currently looking for a paid job and to continue my own education. I'm not going to be able to find either of those here in Arcania."

"Maybe you could partner with my teacher for a paid job?" suggested Cirno, evidently trying to convince Alice the best she could, "And maybe Yamaha would be happy to teach you whatever you want."

Despite Cirno's naivety towards politics, her comment about Yamaha was enlightening. Unlike a biological civilization like Old Gensokyo, New Yamaha was a completely unified front with no need for a local economy. And perhaps as one of the Anti-Nine, Yamaha would do Alice a favour. Perhaps even for free. After a moment of thought, Alice took hold of Cirno's hand warmly, "Don't fret, Cirno. Introduce me to your teacher during the festival, okay? I'm sure we could talk things over."

Cirno smiled cheerfully, "Awesome! Thanks so much! I'm sure everything will be fine."

Alice patted Cirno on the head, not so confident in Cirno's words.

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