Sona Nyl: 1907 - New Haven's Young Bud

~1907, a certain month. New Haven/Afternoon~

---New Haven, Connecticut.

It was difficult to call it an Engine City, but the smoke pattern in the city was rather calm.

In a room on the 4th floor of a college student apartment where the clock tower at Yale University could be seen by wiping down the windows dirtied with exhaust fumes, Elysia Wentworth was immersed in a certain task.

The high-pitched sounds of metal overlapping metal echoed through the room.

Machine Production.

It hadn't been long since she had returned to her room at a boarding house in New Haven following several weeks of research in Capital Washington and other cities in the U.S. where Elysia threw her heavy travel bag on the bed and got herself immersed into her work. She even took off her jacket to throw it onto the bed, but have yet to change. Her sweat-soaked underwear were uncomfortable, yet she tried to ignore the annoying sensation. She had more pressing matters to worry about, such as the Travel Bag. Through her research, Elysia found out that walking with a roller used up far more physical strength than she expected. It was correct to assume she had experienced this before. In fact, she was so tired as to potentially collapse at any moment as her whole body down to her fingers were fatigued. Although she understood that this was due to perhaps traveling to various places without much rest, Elysia had figured that she, born without much stamina to begin with, would have developed even more youthful energy in the few years she spent solely to her studies. Under normal circumstances, the travel bag would be a burden to her.

So she had to do something about it.

That's what Elysia thought once she stepped out of the New Haven Union train station and walked around, admiring the clock tower of Yale University where she currently resides on leave of absence. This is something she had do. She can manage it. Although she didn't remember the conversation they had at the Engine amusement park, she had "that" which was in the process of being made in the previous year or so.

In other words, it was a specially-made Engine Machine. Although it was a single-made machine, she was hesitant to even refer to it as a Scholar Machine. Elysia had continued to work for several hours at home with a tired body. The basic theory was already established, and its design was ceased midway for a long time which she had been trying to put together based on that person's basic theory.

The answer to Kadath's artificial muscle theory.

That person's basic theory. 

A walking machine compatible with all environments. Once installed, she'll be able to create a machine that can walk autonomously. Upon touching it again, which was lying around during production, she felt a sense of resistance or hesitation but didn't think too deeply on it. She didn't think or feel it. She had to do it this way. That's what it had become. That's the last few years made her out to be. Thus, she merely moved her hands without thought or feeling. This was in order to create a means for transporting luggage when traveling alone.

To---

"Welcome back~!"

The door swings open to a bright voice filling the room.

It was the familiar voice of a dear friend.

"Ah, so you were back! If you were coming back, you could have at least told us or I and Celvin wouldn't have been able to make preparations to welcome you. We chatted on doing something for your return. You good with Washington now, Elysia?" She kept saying things one after another. Others were different. Many didn't share words with Elysia, not even to her Yale professors. The only time anyone ever talked to Elysia was on their studies. The only ones to ever talk to her were Vivi, her best friend since high school, and Celvin, who was her junior. "Wait. Elysia?"

Elysia didn't take notice of the change in tone as she was called out.

"W-what are you making there? Hey, Ellie. What is that?"

"Ah, Vivi..."

"What is this?"

"This is..."

She hesitates for a moment.

What could she say to convey to her?

Engine Machine. Walking Machine. A walking bag. She was aware in playing around with the parts that weren't particularly appropriate for making an expression. This was because Elysia was currently in the process of making a "body part" made out of metal and iron in a matter comparable to "living beings".

"...This is John's face..."

"John!?"

"Yes. John."

"What's that!?"

"Well, I used to have a dog named John at my home..."

"Yes, yes. I know that's the name of the dog you used to have at home. But why John?"

"Because it has four legs..."

"That's the reason!? I can't believe you even named that 'thing' as John. My God. I'll be going to Sunday School to get my faith back. I'll do anything I can to get you away from that 'thing', Ellie."

"Eh..."

She heard the voice become louder than usual.

Even then, Elysia never took her eyes off the machine. She was almost making a "face". If asked if it was necessary, she would have responded no but the instant she realized she was making something with limbs, she figured it'd be better to have it a face. She figured that if she made it look like her old pet, John, it would make traveling more peaceful.

"No, Ellie. Elysia Wentworth."

"Mmm... I'm almost done with this."

"No, no!"

"My apologies, Vivi. Tea won't be served for a little while."

"It's not the tea that I'm worried about. No. Nevermind about that. You just went on to work on that thing as soon as you get home regardless. You just throw everything on the bed and leaving it there. After this, I'm going to take you to a cafe to get you some fresh air. We'll go to a diner and order you a giant filet to give you some extra little energy, Ellie. This isn't it. This is not okay. If anything, we should do it now. You shouldn't be doing anymore of this."

"...?"

"That does it. If you aren't going to stop messing around with this indescribable 'face' right now, I'm just going to be taking you to a Mesmerology professor. Do you hear me, Ellie?"

"Yeah..."

"You're not listening to me!"

It's not that she wasn't listening to any of it.

She just didn't understand any of what she was saying. She can tell that Vivi was dismayed by the state the room was in and had wanted her to go out for some tea and food. However, Elysia didn't understand the reason for getting her out of the room and why she was saying all of this. For her, putting up a "face" on the walking machine was nothing more than a simple task that she could not understand her getting riled up for concerning her state of mind to even go see a Mesmerology professor. She just can't place it...

Emotions. Feelings. Or whatever they're called were dulled or something.

"Ah. Oh, Ellie. This is my fault. I didn't show my face to you so often, and you had to go and make this...scary thing. No, no, no. You have to get away from it this instant!"

"Eh? But I'm almost done with the 'face'."

"Face! Face! Oh, you're such a child!
All you're doing is just making an imaginary friend!"

~   ~   ~

Sorry---

I'm sorry, Vivi.

I'm certain that I've caused you nothing but trouble.

But it's just a little longer.

If I could go to the ruins...

Where they went...

If I could just get there...

Then...

Only thing, will I be able to listen to you properly.

So I'm sorry.

Just a little longer.

Please, forgive me for troubling you all this time. Forgive me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

~1907, a certain month. New Haven/Nightime~

Half a day had passed since the exchange regarding "John's face" with Vivi.

After persuasion over persuasion, she finally listened and gave up on attaching a face to the walking machine and just stuck to the bag alone. As it was, Elysia Wentworth's autonomous walking machine was nearly complete. Vivi was against the idea of giving it a name to the very end, but when Elysia whispered that she wouldn't give it a face, she was content with naming it.

And...it was past Midnight.

Soon after Elysia returned to her room after having dinner with her best friend, she started on her next task. Her travel bag was ready, so the next step was to create Engine Lights that would be put into long-term usage. The Confederate Army's disposable Engine Light that Celvin have given her was very simple but a highly complete Engine Light, but she wasn't sure how she was going to make it smaller and long-lasting on her own. However, Elysia never though to sleep on her bed and do nothing to start with. She had to do something.

That's been Elysia's drive for the past few years.

This was good for her study. This was even something she had started researching on for the past few weeks. This way, she can even possibly carry out the machine's production. Whatever it was, she had to do something. Even if she was right, she couldn't help herself to do something.

However, her physical strength was going to reach its limit sooner or later. Thus, just like the past few years late at night or early morning, she would end up falling asleep from exhaustion from her work. Rarely would she be asleep at night. It was perhaps due to the fatigue from her research trip. She fell asleep, laying her upper body over the desk.

She less often slept on the bed. This was especially true when started to research on New York, which has been in ruins five years ago. Although this wasn't an everyday occurrence, Vivi was left concerned...

"You want me to check up on her every now and then?"

"I have a feeling she isn't sleeping, so please keep an eye on her at night. Basically, I'll be checking up on the time and show myself but if I can't do it, you'll do it. If she isn't sleeping, and most of the time she isn't, I'm sure, just force her into it. She'll even give up on working too if you tell her I'll be upset. Can you please do this?"

Having been told of this, it was natural for Celvin to be highly panicked when he saw "Elysia fallen over."

Yes. It was natural.

For him, it was the image of his best friend being exhausted.

"Hey, Elysia. You still awake?"

He quietly opens the door and calls out to her.

No response.

Celvin, who came to check up on Elysia as he was told to by Vivi, whom he had been secretly in love with for several years, enters the room with his head titled. At first, he felt embarrassed, uncomfortable, and guilty about entering a girl's room alone. But he had lost count of how many times he has visited her so naturally, he got used to it. He wasn't like he was acting suspicious or anything.

However, he snuck into the room like a theif.

Just in case she was asleep, he let the sounds of his footsteps sneak up on her. Most of the time, she was doing something without sleeping so his sneaking would be wasted. But tonight, it was special.

Elysia was asleep.

She had her head fallen first atop the production desk like a corpse, limp and unmoving like a politician that got assassinated with a small rifle. Seeing her like this got Celvin very panicked.

"No way..."

His mind went completely white from such a terffying image. He could feel the blood being drained from his face. To think that even Celvin, who rarely thinks of such dark things, would imagine something like that after observing Elysia's behavior for some time. It was awful. Alan was being followed by Elysia. If anything were to have happened to her, how would his heart, let alone Vivi's, be like?

Now that he had thought about it,

He can hear her quiet breathing.

Ah, that was fortunate. If she was asleep, she would have said something but can't because she was sleeping. Padding his chest, Celvin tiptoes into the center of the room.

"...Elysia?"

There was no response. She was asleep.

She must have been really tired, which was no surprise there. She had just returned from Washington and was probably preparing her trip to New York. Even if he hadn't heard the details from Vivi yet, Celvin understood it. As far as he could tell, he was treated as a friend of theirs.

"But even then, to do this, you..."

He lets out a sigh with a shake of his head, muttering under his breath.

Even so, she was being very careless.

This was a woman of her age who comes and goes as she pleases, residing in an apartment known as a female dormitory, who had fallen asleep without so much as locking her door.

"Looks like you haven't a changed a bit, have you?"

Has she not really changed?

This kind of place was loose and vague when it comes to boundaries.

"You've gotten taller than before, huh?" He sighs. "How many people do you think at Yale have seriously set their sights on you? If they were to see such a sloppy look, you'd be in some trouble."

Shrugging his shoulders, he lifted up Elysia's body.

And the moment he laid Elyisa down on the bed.

Celvin's body froze, as if he was struck by lightning.

---Why did I freeze up?

He saw it. That's because he have seen it.

From outside the window, a faint steam lamp from the main street shined in, faintly illuminating Elysia's lying body.

---Just beautiful.

---So beautiful, I could swear I thought it was special.  

It was never his intention to look.

He was caught by surprise.

Unknowningly, he heard a gurgling sound. Lying there was the body of a maturing woman, and Celvin was unable to move as he recalled how soft it was the moment he touched her.

He couldn't take his eyes off her---

"You're not a kid anymore..."

Not a kid---

Had she truly gain a woman's body?

Elysia.

A classmate who was so absent-minded, dazed, and worrisome in being left alone. She, a girl who was supposed to be Alan's lover, who was similar to himself, someone who came from the countryside. Someone who was pure-hearted, who Celvin respected more than anyone else. Since the day five years ago, the darkness over Elysia's face never vanished.

She was forever the childish Elysia.

She was like a younger sister or little girl who came from the neighborhood.

However.

However, as she slept peacefully, her chest, which grown maturely, was completely different from how it was five years ago.

"Ah..."

---My hand.

---I extended my hand.

He didn't know how long time had passed, whether it was two seconds or ten minutes.

He came to his senses just as he was near.

As he was close to laying a hand on her. 

He refrained from touching her. He didn't want to do it.

"What are you doing, Me?"

---I...

"You're the worst."

---The worst...

---That's right. I got to be the lowliest kind of bastard there is.

"Shit, shit, shit."

Brother Alan. Brother Alan. Why?

Why has it come to this?

Why is Elysia rolling around like this and I'm here?

"If you...were here..."

That's right. Why aren't you here?

By her side. If only you were here.

"Something like this...!

It's so weird, but...!"

I slap myself as hard as I can on the cheek. A hit.

Before the pain goes away...

I exit Elysia's room, locking it with a duplicate key.

(To be continued)