Before long, Cyrene's figure dissolved into a halo that seemed to melt in the sunlight, leaving only motes of light drifting through the air.
The girl born from a seed sat alone in the cold cage.
She hugged her knees and rested her chin on them. Even the light flowing around her seemed to slow as she sat deep in thought, her murmurs unusually clear in the empty courtyard.
"...Peach doesn't understand."
"Is it because I still don't understand [love]?"
She suddenly raised her head. A smile much like Cyrene's spread across her face, bright and just a little sly.
"Hee-hee, but that's okay. I can learn. Oh, right—search for [Cyrene?]"
Laigushi's cold, emotionless voice, like metal scraping against metal, sounded once more within the internal database:
"[Electrical signal sequence: PhiLia093...]"
The girl laughed softly, as though she had found a guiding light in the fog. Light danced eagerly across her body.
"Why didn't I think of that before? I don't have to figure it out alone. Peach can teach me! What [love] is, what [romantic love] is—"
Laigushi continued in the same flat tone, each word striking like a hammer against the cold cornerstones of logic:
"Electrical signal sequence: PhiLia093. Path: Compassion."
"Huh...?" At this definition, so different from "romantic love," the girl's smile froze. Confusion replaced the light in her eyes.
She tilted her head slightly, as though a program had encountered a command it could not parse.
"Something doesn't seem quite right?"
Laigushi's voice continued without pause, laying out its merciless "truth":
"[The development of 'Erudition' has no overlap with the creation of 'consciousness.' Their underlying principles are even at odds.]"
"[Without 'consciousness,' there is no foundation for a 'heart,' and thus no capacity for genuine emotion.]"
"[But this does not prevent a factor from learning to