ARM Backup/Settei book 2 translation/Heroines section

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Heroines

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Luca Trulywaath

(CV: Ami Koshimizu)

[Luca_Truelywaath]
Luca Trulywaath

As Croix's childhood friend, she has been recognized as her official girlfriend by her peers. She is loved by everyone because of her energetic smile and her gentle heart, and everyone in Rakshek is always trying to talk with her. Her Install Port is located on the underside of her left armpit.

Profile

Gender: Female Likes: Soybean Donuts, Tomato Juice,
Age: 19 Reisha's Lullaby, Money
Height: 1,57 m Dislikes: Kururuku Dango Bars, Raw Tomato
Weight: 42 kg Bell Peppers
Measurements: 78-56-78 Dream: Becoming a Singer
Birthplace: Enna Palace Hobby: Crafting things
Occupation: Dive Therapist Motto: Money flocks to money.

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Setting Drafts

[Image 1]

Early Design

[Image 2]

Pu

Body

It can change the
shape of its scarf-like
part at will.

[Image 3]

Fastening Part

Barrette covered in lacquer

Director's Voice

She was a heroine that was born when we began thinking the ways in which we could express at the same time the beautiful parts and the nasty parts the humans have. Even if you get charmed or scared because of the negative aspects that we drew on her, maybe you will be able to feel her as person that truly exists near... that is what I wish.

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Facts about the Heroine

Life Timeline

Year Event
3753 Born as the only daughter of Arshe, the 32nd Maiden, in Enna. Her true name is Cloche Leythal Pastalie.
3754 (Luca's Age: 1 year) Arshe is assassinated due to Alfman's conspiracy. Luca is taken away by Batz and Reisha and both run off with her, beginning their life of running away from the regime Alfman. To hide her, they rename the child Luca Trulywaath.
3756 (Luca's Age: 3 years) The Trulywaath family end their life of running away when they settle down to live in Mint Ward. In there, her little sister, Reika, is born.
3758 (Luca's Age: 5 years) Reika suffers an IPD outbreak and is contained by the Grand Bell.
3760(Luca's Age: 7 years) Reika is renamed Cloche Leythal Pastalie and is appointed as the 33th Maiden at the age of 5 years.
3766 (Luca's Age: 13 years) At the same time she becomes old enough to start Diving, she departs for Rakshek to begin working as a Dive Therapist.
3677 (Luca's Age: 14 years) Starts going out on dates with her childhood friend, Croix.
3768 (Luca's Age: 15 years) Croix passes the exam to become a knight and leaves her side.
3772 (Luca's Age: 19 years) Reencounter with Croix. Her story continues in the game.

While she is the legitimate descendant of the Maidens, her mother was assassinated and she was raised as the adoptive daughter of the Trulywaath couple. Because they were very poor, they didn't have much money to spend, and this had a part in the formation of her current personality, which tries to do everything on her own, no matter what. She is extremely clumsy both at cooking and sewing, though she also has a pretty unique sense for the things she makes.

Early Childhood

Luca's poor yet happy family was completely broken once her little sister Reika suffered an IPD outbreak. Her beloved little sister was taken away by the Grand Bell in front of her own eyes while her father was killed off, and this left deep scars inside young Luca's heart.
Luca's family always had economic problems due to having to hide her away from the public and from running away from the Grand Bell, but things only got worse once the family was reduced only to mother and daughter. This was what made Luca pledge to herself since she was very young that someday she would go to Pastalia to free herself from this harsh life and rescue Reika.
In addition, Croix also became an orphan because of an IPD incident. When Reika had her outbreak, Croix's mother also had an outbreak and killed her husband, killing herself in the process. This is why Reisha adopted Croix, as a way of atonement for what happened with Reika.

Childhood

While she was raised in good health with Croix, Luca was a girl who was always had her gaze lost in the direction of the faraway Grand Bell. Seeing this, Crox made a habit of repeating to Luca [Once I become a knight, I'll take you to the Grand Bell] to cheer her up. And given Croix was pretty skillful with the sword, Luca realized that having him enlist in the Knight Corps was a goal within her means.
Eventually, the Reyvateil qualities awakened in Luca. But even so, she never lasted long in any part-time job she took and wasn't able to earn much income due to her clumsiness. However, she'd be able to take jobs that would pay much better now she was a Reyvateil, which Luca felt was a blessing from the heavens. This is what enabled her to earn enough income to pay the expenses for Croix's trip to Pastalia.

Time of Independence

Even among the jobs that only the Reyvateils could do, Luca was interested in one in particular, which was inviting people into her own Soulspace to heal them: that is, Dive Therapy. Luca asked one of the acquaintances from her part-time jobs, a Therapist to take her as a disciple, and it was then the fierce training started for her. While there were many days in which she ended up vomiting after the Dives due to her harshness of the training required to tamper around with her own Soulspace, Luca's will was strong and did the best she could to bear with the training.
It didn't take long for Luca to become one of the most popular Therapists in Rakshek.
However, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Faithful to the proverb, she received constant slander from her jealous senior Therapists, but Luca killed her own outer ego completely and built many relationships with the people that actually liked her. Of course she still had her natural personality, but the thing that supported Luca more than anything else was the decision of building a fortune through this job.

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How Luca Became Lovers with Croix

Once she turned 14 years old, Luca started going out in dates with her childhood friend, Croix. Since they were very good friends from the start, immediately everyone officially recognized them as a couple. However, Luca never did harbor any clear feelings of love for Croix. At this point in time, the feelings that Luca had for Reika had gotten so intense that she couldn't continue containing them, and so, she was unable to harbor any love toward anyone.
She wouldn't be able to go to Pastalia without the citizen visa for it: the [Nero-Plate]. However, only the wife and children of a Pastalia resident are eligible for receiving one, and thus Luca conceived the idea of using Croix to go to Pastalia and search for Reika. If it was Croix, the closest person to her, her boyfriend, there's no way he would disappoint her... these were some of the calculating ideas going through her mind.

Croix Departs for Pastalia

While she was able to reduce the suffering of her family thanks to the income she got from doing Dive Therapy, she also began saving to sponsor Croix's journey to Pastalia, as no amount of money would let her go there by herself yet. Receiving the Nero-Plate was not a realistic possibility, as for obtaining it she would have to save a little over 100 times the amount she earned, and her family was poor and she barely possessed any sort of specialized technical abilities.
Luca was literally betting everything on Croix. His fighting prowess was the best from everyone they knew by far, and if Croix were able to become a knight, Luca would be able to openly enter Pastalia as his fiancée. Luca said to herself that it was the only way in which she could look for clues to Reika's whereabouts. And so, Croix did his best in fulfilling Luca's expectations and passed the knight exams as an rising star.

Current Times

Luca dedicated herself to becoming a highly successful Dive Therapist in Rakshek, while Croix was working and studying abroad as a Knight, managing to surpass the expectations that Luca had put into him and growing into a person that even the other knights he worked with had a great respect for.
Thus, Luca's dream of going to Pastalia was realized in an ideal way. Biding her time, she received Croix's invitation and reunited with him.
Thus, Luca at times traveled with Croix and his friends, at times parted ways with them, and during the course of these journeys, she came to know that she was the legitimate successor of the Maidens of the Grand Bell: the descendant of the [Maidens of Homura].
And while she only treated the other people well as a simple formality before, now she was actually risking her own life and using her own strength to save others. But now she has started began fulfilling her duty as one of the two Maidens that have a mission more important than anybody else in the world.

KEYWORD

◆Dive Therapy

The reason why she started working as a Therapist was simply because it paid well and because the harder she worked, the more money she would earn. So when the Reyvateil qualities awakened on her, Luca thought to herself [Great!]. The reason being that being a Reyvateil in itself greatly increased her worth.
There was an actual problem though, as being a Reyvateil did not just bring upsides with it. This is because Reyvateil scannot live without the life extending agent, meaning this incovenience was the opposite side to these benefits. However, Reyvateils get at minimum an aid from the system in the world consisting of having a guaranteed supply of Diquility (life extending agent). So as long as they could bear with the pain itself, even a person with no support like Luca herself would be able to dream of having an even better life than a normal human.
As she had the talent for it and she put in the effort, Luca became one of the most popular Dive Therapists even in Rakshek. She was well-mannered as well, which got her praised as a pleasant Therapist. While depending on the Reyvateil serving as Therapist Dive Therapy could also become an indecent business due to its special characterisitcs, Luca has decided she will never let her sessions become like that. Additionally, she will not consent to carrying out extreme stress release sessions or cruelty-based ones.
The concept Luca uses for Therapy is healing, such as letting the customer lie on her lap above a flower field, showing them a beautiful sunrise, inviting them to an imaginary beach... In any case, she has decided that the basis for her business is crafting such healing worlds that the customers have said one after another that they do not wish to return to the real world. And her reason for doing this is exceedingly simple: she does not want to get into any sort of complicated relationships with anyone. For example, if she disagreed with a customer on something, that would get people to point at her behind her back, which is what she vehemently refuses to let happen. So as long as she holds healing sessions, she can let the customer enjoy themselves and go back to the real world in a safe way. And by committing herself completely to this stance and atittude, Luca was able to attain the worth she currently enjoys. So even though [she has deep relationships with no one], she has a position of being [a popular girl loved by everybody], which no few people envy or think ill of.

◆The Ideas She got From Living in Poverty

If we had to state in simple terms what is the root behind Luca's conduct and speech, we would say they are rooted on the mentality of [If I'm pitied, I'll be given money]. Due to poverty, anything that doesn't bring results will cause their death. Anything that doesn't bring results will result in their family's unhappiness.
Her upbringing was after all rooted in a poor lifestyle. As her parents lived on the run, they didn't have any fortune to call their own, but give that Reisha once served as the attendant of the Maiden in the Grand Bell Hall, her background didn't allow her to get any jobs that would cause her to stand out. Mint Block, where Luca's house is located, is an undeveloped land that is called by the people the [Frontier Land], but it could be said that Luca's house looks even shabbier than the other houses in the area. Therefore, it isn't difficult to imagine how difficult her life could have been.
And now she has lived for 18 years under these conditions, she has come to desire apparent results over processes or emotions. Due to this, she prefers an [easy-to-understand friendship] than [an impossible-to-understand love] when it comes to expressions of affection. Luca doesn't contact people through scolding or rebuking them with the goal of getting them to understand her in the future. As she is always greeting everybody with a smile, she ultimately has increased her number of a certain type of assets: the number of people she has befriended. Even her way of thought toward money is stepped on this sort of thoughts.

[Image]

This is Luca's house in Mint Block. As this was a second-hand house that Batz and Reisha somehow purchased after 2 years living in the run, it was a house in a pretty worn out status as it can be seen in the image.

◆Tastes - Keeping Cool Relationships

While Luca wears atypical and eye-catching clothes for work, what she actually likes to wear is an entirely different sort of clothes. She actually likes simple and plain outfits that don't have much in the way of ornamentation. Even among the many costumes she has, her favorite one is the bartender-styled Stylishy. In private, she prefers wearing simple one-piece dresses that she can just put on from below when she goes out for a walk, and for staying at home she prefers to just wear a T-shirt.

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◆Widely Spread, yet Shallow Frienships

Luca is popular enough that whenever she's walking around Rakshek, at least 1 person will greet her per each 10 steps she takes. Given how much her popularity as a Therapist has spread, she has a lot of regular customers, but the energetic and affable Luca has an extremely good reputation in the neighborhood as an [energetic and good girl]. Whenever she goes shopping, frequently the clerks tell her [it's good to be young, isn't it?] and give her all sorts of bonuses.
However, if we were to talk about how many people she has truly shown her heart to, we would say no one, as in exchange for treating everybody equally Luca has not shown her true self to anybody. Therefore, there is no one who actually knows Luca deeply. Luca does not even have the sort of personality that delves deeply into other people's worries in the first place. Even if she thinks "it's for their sake...", she fears to an abnormal degree that telling something harsh to somebody else will hurt the other person. So even if the other person suggests talking in-depth about a certain topic, she will just pretend to accept it to then encourage the other person in shallow ways.
That is why Luca has not made any friends. That is what led many to state about her reputation that [while Luca is a good girl, she doesn't really have any friends]. Nana is the first person who has managed to look past all that and understood her, or in other words, who managed to get to the core of who Luca really is.

Luca energetically talks to everybody who lives in Rakshek. However, the only friend who is capable of having a heart-to-heart talk with her is Nana.

Luca's tidily cleaned room. Aside of the bed and Gengoro (the Pepen stuffed doll), she only has a dresser and a mirror. From the extremely simple layout it can be inferred her lifestyle does not allow her to buy more furniture than the bare essentials.

◆Dressing in Fine Clothes Despite Having Little Money

Given her work implies serving customers, she puts an abnormal emphasis on her own image. While this is the same case for all other Therapists, Luca wears good-quality and well-sown clothes that are at odds with her own economic situation.
She understands quite well that giving a good first impression, especially through a gentle smile and looking good are of vital importance to her own livelihood. That is how much she will never ignore these two points. Additionally, while it is thought her hairstyle is part of her own image, she prefers to basically have her hair bundled up behind even when she changes costumers. The only time Luca wears her hair in a braid is when she is wearing her favorite costume: the Stylishy.

◆Longing to Be a Singer

"What would you do if you got a lifestyle good enough to not have to worry about money?" Luca would not hesitate to choose a life as a singer. Ever since she was very young, her dream was having as her job touring around the region, singing Songs in halls and bars, and healing the people.
Luca always loved singing. But as she spent her days worrying about her income, the only hobby she had that had nothing to with money was Songs.
The Song she loves the most is [Reisha's Lullaby]. But despite loving this Song so much, she became unable to even remember it because she started doubting that Reisha was her true mother. That was because she spent days fearing that at some point, she would learn [she wasn't a real daughter of this household].

◆Terrified of "Feeling as a Failure"

If the relationships she built so far crumbled away, she would be robbed of the scarce happiness she endeavored so hard to hold. That is her fear.
That is because, regardless of whether they are physical things or not, she fears losing even the smallest thing that brings her satisfaction. Her main driving force is the acknowledgment from others, but she is unable to acknowledge herself. That is why the value other people put on her is the most important thing to her, her everything. The fear she has of feeling as a failure crosses the point of nervousness and goes right into abnormal territory. To put it in another way, she has unconsciously become a slave to her own fear of feeling like a failure. This facet of hers rarely surfaces on the real world, and while it seems to appear and disappear in her Soulspace, it is colored by a determination stating [I'm going to get robbed of something, so I'll do anything to keep that from happening] that goes to tragic levels.


[Image]

"I... never thought at all I could get spoiled by someone like you're doing now..."

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Special Episode 1: Red Shoes ~Luca and Nana~

Beginning with the one on this page, these are special episodes about the three heroines that the Director, Mr. Tsuchiya wrote especially for this book.
The first one is an episode that depicts how Luca and Nana became close friends. What kind of event was the one that strengthened the bonds between these two...?

Nana might be now the kind of person I could call a friend. But naturally, it was different at the start. I had built a thick wall separating me from other people, so while I had many acquaintances, I had no friends. Therefore, back then Nana was no more than another simple acquaintance to me. And she kept being an acquaintance, until a certain episode happened in which Nana broke through my wall.

Nana and I are colleagues. And since we made our debut on the occupation at the same time, we're about the same age too. It was due to that too that Mrs. Lahr looked after us and treated us as if we were sisters.
If I tried looking at it from Mrs. Lahr's viewpoint, I'd have thought for sure that she wanted Nana and me to get along well because we both were her source of income. But from my viewpoint, Nana is the sort of person I wasn't good at dealing with. I mean, she isn't faithful with boys, and somehow I got the feeling she was pretty careless too. But she's still well-mannered and cute, and as I enjoyed it whenever we talked, I gradually started getting along with her well. I had professional rivalries with all the other Therapists in the Association, so I couldn't talk to them. It may have been due to that work environment, but at some point both Nana and I started being counselors for each other, and we also started encouraging and cheering each other up. I also started doing girlish things with her. We went looking at clothes and trying them out, and also going to look at shoes and me saying "I want these red shoes!" And we continued having days as fun as these. But that didn't last for much longer.
A certain time, a customer dropped on me and requested a very difficult Therapy session. They told me they needed a Proxy Dive at all costs. That's the skill known to be quite hard to pull off even within our business. So while I was kind of anxious about doing it, I studied it while I was doing night work with Nana and decided to try it out. Then the day came. My efforts paid off and the Proxy Dive was a success. Both me and Nana celebrated that success together.
The story of my success spread throughout the business in an instant, and I suddenly found myself joining the club of Charismatic Therapists. And as Mrs. Lahr was overjoyed at this, I ended up becoming pretty well known. But at that point, there was something that worried me: for some reason, Nana became distant to me. True, we still kept talking like good friends as normal. But she didn't want to continue studying Therapy with me, and what's more, she seemed to always be arguing with Mrs. Lahr about something.
Apparently what I was thinking about that time was quite a shock to me, as I'd occasionally fail to carry out the Therapy sessions. But while there was a side to me that felt relieved when I failed, that wasn't something I could let happen. For my own livelihood, I had to keep climbing higher, higher and higher... At last I had gotten the ability to do so... I thought it'd be okay if Nana was the one to steal that ability away. But then I wouldn't be called Charismatic anymore... These two feelings revolved inside me, and I couldn't decide what I should do. I isolated myself. As Nana was my only confidant, I had no way to placate these worries. And I finally got sick and had to stay in bed.
It might have been because it happened at this time. It was then that a situation similar to getting kicked while being down happened. I mean, when I heard that Nana had failed at performing a Proxy Dive and that she hadn't returned to the real world, I flew out from my bed!
Defying the weight that had taken hold of my body, I rushed to the Dive Shop. By the time I got there, the customer had already returned to the real world, but Nana's consciousness wasn't coming back. Why did something like this happen...? Anyway, I wholeheartedly wanted to help her, and by the time I realized it I already was Diving into her. Right before her Soulspace and body were jacked off (disconnected)... My feelings barely led me to her, but by that time she had already lost her will to live.
"Nana! Nana, hang in there!"
"...Luca... Ahaha... So, you saw it? I'm so pathetic..."
"This isn't the time to be calling yourself pathethic! Why did you do something this reckless!?"
"Reckless...? You would have done something like a Proxy Dive, right...? Or do you mean I don't have enough talent for something like that...?"
"I'm n-not meaning anything like that!"
"No, it's fine... It's the truth after all... I mean, it was something impossible to me. There's so many unfair things about us humans, huh...?"
"That isn't it! If you worked harder at it...!"
"You can say that so easily because you could pull it off without having to think about it! I don't care about your popularity either! I don't wanna hear that from somebody who works all relaxed and without a care on her mind!"
"Huh...? No... I'm not..."
"...?"
It might have been because I was sick, but I couldn't hold back my feelings. I had saved plenty of pent up worries by that point after all.
"I've suffered a lot too!!"
"Huh?"
"You know that it isn't true that I have no cares on my mind! I mean, you became distant to me! I've been so worried... so troubled all this time... I even thought that I wouldn't care losing my Charismatic title if you were the one to steal it from me...!"
"There's no way... I'd do that..."
"Yeah... I thought so too. If I became a Charismatic Therapist, I'd get a better income... and I could bid farewell to my life of poverty... I wouldn't have to worry about anything. But now it's different for some reason. Ever since you became distant to me, I didn't know what I should do... You know, I think it'd be great for us to stay together, Nana... So please, let's go back..."
"...It's all empty flattering in the end. If you saved me, you'd just become an even brighter star at my expense, huh...?"
"No... That's not my reason for..."
But at that point, my bad health caught up to me and left me unable to continue the Dive. That's what I thought at that time. My consciousness started getting hazy, and I don't know what I said beyond that point... I couldn't even continue being on my feet...
"Luca...? Hey, Luca? You've got a high fever...! What happened to you!?"
"S-Sorry... I'm fine... It's nothing..."
"Don't "it's nothing" to me! ...You've got a fever, don't you! You know you shouldn't Dive when you're sick! Why did you do something as dangerous as this!?"
"Because... Because..."

"It'd be great if we could be together, Nana...!"

"Huh!?"
"I feel lonely being all by myself...! I don't want to be alone anymore...! So please, let's head back together...!"
"Luca... No way... To think you suffered so much for someone like me..."
"Let's... head back... to...ge...ther..."
"Luca..."
"A-Agh... You have no remedy... I thought I could die in peace and quiet... But I wouldn't feel good about dying if I dragged you with me!"
"...E...heheh..."
"Don't giggle at me! Stupid... You're so weak now that if I didn't bring you back with me, you'd be unable to make the trip back by yourself. There's a limit to recklessness...!"
And so Nana returned safely to the real world. But she had to be hospitalized and get some rest for a while. As for me, my health worsened after that and I had to go through the hard time of getting hospitalized myself... Goodness, all the earnings I had gotten recently vanished in the hospital bills... But as it allowed me to save Nana, I think it had good results. I mean, there's more to this story.
Afterward, Nana and I became even better friends that we used to be. And Nana, to thank me and apologize for everything that had happened then, went and bought for me the red shoes I said I wanted back then. Yeah, it's the same shoes I keep wearing even now... They're a treasure that Nana worked her hardest to be able to buy, and which are filled to the brim with her feelings. These are special, precious shoes to me.
Now I think about it, this was the first time I let my feelings honestly clash with another person. It was then that I realized how exhausting it was to honestly deal with other people, but at the same time I learned about the happiness you get from being deeply related to someone. I came to think it'd be really fun if I could have many people I could interact with in this same way. And while these feelings didn't let me make many close friends right away, I'm pretty sure it served as the greatest inspiration for my relationships with Lady Cloche and Skycat.
And Nana continues being my closest friend even now.
Here's to us continuing to be good friends for a long time, Nana!

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Costumes

Heavengazing Empress

The formal outfit used by the Maidens in the times of the Imperial Regime. Even in the Cosmosphere it is used for a role in which she is worshipped by the villagers. It has a solemn image that reminds Luca of the heavy responsibilities that she bears.

Stylishy

The uniform for the [Manabe Coffee Shop] that was decided to have a boyish appearance. While this is the costume Luca herself likes the most, she doesn't tend to wear it when she's walking around in the real world because it's not an outfit suitable for Therapy.

Pretty Cherry

The warrior Pretty Cherry, who despite being daunted due to her own powerleness, takes the initiative and rushes right into the battlefield. While Luca tends to swallow down all the things she would like to say, this outfit brings her determination to the forefront.

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Sorcerer Maria

Hiding multiple contradictions within herself, this was the shape Luca had when she tried to unify all her personae to obtain a perfect mind. However, the methods she used to do so were the methods only a [witch] would have used.

Bathgirl

Not a Therapist, not a Maiden. This is the shape that represents Luca pure, unadorned self. This shape is the costume that represents Luca's greatest wish of being accepted just as she is.

Assault Pain

Luca keeps holding back in her relationships. However, she subconsciously has several distorted feelings that cannot be honestly conveyed. This is the representation of her aggressive persona and her arrogant side that looks down upon people and uses them.

Venus Trial

Fear of having something snatched away from her, anxiety, hidden true feelings. Luca protects herself with several layers of armor. However, these layers are constructed only with shallow feelings, so it is no more than than abnormally brittle mass of feelings.

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Vow

The wedding kimono worn for Japanese weddings, which Luca wore for the Completion Ceremony. The purewhite kimono represents the fact that Luca has shown Croix the entirety of her heart, and that she has offered to Croix her pure feelings devoid of any falsehood or lies.

Super Tres Bien

This is the costume she wears when she is assuming the role of Manabe Luca, the easygoing high school student of the Grand Bell Academy. By the way, the [Super Tres Bien] means [a person who uses the words Super Very Bad words]. If Luca were actually a student, maybe she would have gotten into the mood and used them too?

Bath Towel

Slightly different from the Bath Girl, this is the bath towel Luca uses when she is bathing in private. The embroidered logo on it reads [Rakshek Association of Commerce and Industry], so it is a gift that was given to her from every angle. It gives a peek on Luca's private life.

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[Image]

Nagi's Column

Don't you think that a bunny girl costume would match Luca perfectly?

Note: This is actually a stage magician assistant costume.

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Cosmosphere

While Luca is amiable and sociable, she has an abnormally thick wall around her heart. That wall comes from her thoughts of [not wanting anybody to get through to her].
Her outstanding Dive Therapy abilities have unconsciously led her to [let a person enter a stratum for which he is not authorized], which is impossible by nature, so she will not get hated. And after letting him enter it, these distortions led to the collapse of her own life, thrusting even the Diver into a dangerous situation. As she maintains a dangerous balance between the [terror to showing] and the [terror of being hated for not showing], it has manifested in her Soulspace as the worst kind of paradox.

[Images]

What if you fell down and died?

Ehehe... For some reason, I'm feeling a little nervous....

Deep Psyche

Normally, Luca frequently conceals her own feelings as she deals with other people to facilitate her social interactions, but she actually has a lot of things she wants to say. As a consequence of accumulating so many of these things, her deep psyche has been structured as an extremely sadistic mind. That is the alternative way she has found for venting her stress. Disparagement and sarcasm told in gentle words. Cruel words that slash like blades. Seeing her smile like a saint as she utters these words, they would be heard at first as gentle words, but upon listening to them well, one would notice the implications of [madness] that would make anybody shiver with fear.
On the other had, the mental image for her world is a chick, fairytale-like cake world. Given how much Luca has tempered her mind as a Dive Therapist, there is a high likelihood that she designed the appearance herself, but this also allows to guess that this is the reason for the cake's shape crumbling away the further one steps into her deep psyche.

Lv. 1: Safe Region

The place where Luca entertains her Dive Therapy customers. As it is just a region in which she normally allows all sorts of people to access for her work, it functions as a safety valve that will not allow them to notice Luca's true feelings, nor she will allow other people to proceed further into her deep psyche. The "play tag" and "rest on lap" entertainment she did for Croix are healing services she offers to the customers that come here for Therapy.

Lv. 2: Cubicle Side

A world that reflected the state of mind that Luca had when she had her first Paradigm Shift, fearing Croix would hate her. But as she was rejecting opening her heart to someone else, the world was transformed into a cramped cube. Furthermore, two Lucas: a [Luca who did not want to be hated by Croix] and a [Luca who rejected being invaded by someone else] appeared before Croix, who wanted to connect his heart to her more deeply.

Lv. 3: The World in the Rice Bowl

The Grand Magician Luca received full trust from two villages that were antagonistic to each other. But precisely due to this it became obvious that it was a pretense of trust, preserved upon lies she told to both villages. This was an embodiment of the worldly wisdom Luca had gained, wishing [to not be hated by anyone]. However, these makeshift lies end up being discovered at some point. Luca honestly conveyed her own feelings to the warring West Village and East Village, and honestly exposed her own self.

Lv. 4: Cherry's Mission

After meeting the hot-blooded man [Hot-Head Flag], Luca received the mission of protecting the world. The way she was thrusted with this mission out of nowhere was a product of the envy and bullying she received in the real world as a popular Dive Therapist from her more experienced colleagues, and the unreasonable needs of her customers. Additionally, Cloche made an appearance as the more experienced, and egomaniac champion Viole, which showed a peek on Luca's true feelings about Cloche.

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[Images]

Will you do anything for me?

No, don't come any closer!

I thought you wanted to be seen like this at least once, don't you?

And how is it? Does it feel good?

Lv. 5: Deep Mind Invasion

Not wanting to show her deep psyche anymore, Luca placed a trap on her Cosmosphere to hide her true feelings. While it ended without incidents thanks to the witch Luca saving Croix, the Luca of this stratum then offered them a competition disguised as a game. When Luca won it, she showed an abnormally aggressive attitude toward Cloche. It was an expression of the warped, sadistic mind that dwelt inside her.

Lv. 6: Tried to Truly Love

What Luca stubbornly refused to show was in this stratum: how negative emotions like her anxiety, self-loathing, hatred swirled about due to her concealing them to appear as sociable. This also exposed further the ugly emotions she held toward Croix such as envy and desire to have him all to herself. But on the other hand, they were also joined with her feelings of letting Croix proceed further inside her heart to form a complete whole.

Lv. 7: Perfect Girlfriend

In a world where the land had collapsed, Luca was called the [Perfect Whole] and enjoyed crazy support from the masses. While their belief on her reached aberrant levels, it was the result of her aspirations to be liked and respected by everyone exploding all at once. However, her heart would not be satisfied regardless of how much praise was piled up on her, which only further enlarged the hole in her heart that was present on this stratum.

Lv. 8: Blank Score Lullaby

Croix had a dream of the time he started living with Luca in her house. When he woke up, he saw the armored Luca, trapped in a sleep similar to death. He needed to make Luca remember the gentle lullaby she used to hear when she was little in order to wake her up. Luca had forgotten that song because she still remembered her gentle mother and her cute little sister. Her current self had lost all of that.

Lv. 9: Love Can Be Shame

So far, Luca had shown Croix all the uneasiness and conflicts she had in her heart through the Cosmosphere. And as if they were calling to each other, Luca's costume showed her stripped off everything and the cake that served as the setting became a purewhite shortcake. While Luca had lived paying attention to how others would see her, she had decided that she would show Croix everything and live according to her true feelings from now on.

Gengoro

As the Pepen stuffed doll that Luca treasures so much, he serves as her true Mind Guardian. You can meet her a few times from after you have accessed Luca's Lv. 6 Cosmosphere.

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Cloche Leythal Pastalie

Cloche (CV: Sawashiro Miyuki)
[Chroche_Latel_Pastalie]
Cloche Leythal Pastalie

The Grand Bell Maiden, considered the most precious life over the land of Metafalss. Although she is the Maiden that turned her back on the Goddess, she is endowed with a powerful charisma, which earned her the overwhelming support of the peoplewhen she challenged the Goddess to a war. Her Installer Port is located in her left arm, inside her armpit.

Profile

Gender Female Likes: Gergo, Kururuku Candy, Pepen, Fruit Waffles
Age 17 Dislikes: Grotesque Things, Horror, Excessively Sweet Things
Height 1,65 m Weight 47 Kg
Measurements 91-60-88 Dream Becoming a Fancy Shop Owner
Birthplace Mint Block Hobby Collecting "cute things?"
Occupation Grand Bell Maiden Motto Refrain from judging people by their position and status.

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Setting Drafts

[Image 1] Original Draft

[Image 2]
Reasons for the Changes in the Design

Adding more emphasis to the priestess imagery by adding the sun-like ornament to her coronet, and a scaptula similar to the ones used by the nuns.

Adding more blue to a part of the clothes to give them a leaner image.

Opening a little more the frontal part of the skirt to highlight her beautiful legs.

Would it be okay if we added a pair of wings here?

Director's Voice

We wanted to make with her a girl that symbolized being [strong woman] whenever she made a speech before a huge public, and in private was [a girl that showed a face that you wouldn't see in the company of anybody else]. I think I just wanted to sketch the gap between these two different faces.

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Facts about the Heroine

Life Timeline

Year Event
3755

(Cloche's age: 0 years)

Born to Reisha and Batz in Mint Block while they were still living on the run. Her real name was Reika Trulywaath and she was raised as Luca's little sister.
3758


(Cloche's age: 3 years)

At 3 years old, she had an IPD outbreak,and was taken to the IPD Labs in the Grand Bell Hall to be contained.

On this same year, she began crafting magic successfully using the New Testament of Pastalie dialect.

3760

(Cloche's age: 5 years)

Her custody is transferred to the Grand Bell and she is enthroned as the 33rd Maiden. She receives the name Cloche Leythal Pastalie and begins training to become the Maiden.
3764

(Cloche's age: 9 years)

She develops a high fever during a sudden illness, in which she revives her dreadful memories of her days in the IPD Labs.

She also becomes unable to show any health problems she may be suffering from outwardly from this point on.

3766

(Cloche's age: 11 years)

While chasing a robber that had entered her bedroom, she visits Pastalia's Slums for the first time. Upon learning how badly the people live in there, she receives their feelings and promises to do something for them after her formal enthronement as the Maiden.
3771

(Cloche's age: 16 years)

Large-scale collapse of the Rim.

During an inspection visit to Enna, she has an encounter with a berserk IPD and sees how cruelly the Grand Bell treats them.

3772 (Cloche's age: 17) Rakshek Resort Attack Incident. Her story continues in the game.

She is the Maiden that boasts the greatest popularity in history. Because she was raised to become a person that could stand above anyone else since she was very young, her actions and behavior are brisk and she unconsciously puffs with pride. As she is not the type to change her behavior depending on the person, she has a straightforward personality that treats everyone equally.

Early Childhood

She was born at Luca's house in Mint Block. She was raised by her family thereafter, but when she was three years old, she had an IPD outbreak, something unprecedented for someone so young. As it seemed this contagious disease would bring about more dangerous symptoms the younger the sufferer was, and how potent its contagion rate was, Reika's parents thought that it would be better to hide her in [Mikry Forest], so the infection wouldn't get transmitted to anybody else.
However, they sadly were discovered once a squad from the IPD Containment Corps arrived. There, Batz lost his life trying to protect his daughter, and Reika herself was taken under custody by Grand Bell. By the way, Reika doesn't have any conscious memories of this incident. This is due to the fact that she lost consciousness from the high fever she suffered as soon as her outbreak started, and even if she had been conscious, she was so young back then that it would have been difficult for her to remember anything. However, these feelings still left deep scars in her subconscious.

The Times in the Grand Bell Labs

Once Reika was contained, she was confined into the Grand Bell's dark, cold underground IPD Labs. At the time, it was already common knowledge for the staff at the Labs that the IPDs were capable of drawing enormous amounts of power from Infel Phira through crafting Songs in the special Hymmnos dialect [New Testament of Pastalie]. However, they couldn't find any sample IPDs that could craft a Song by themselves. It was then Reika began crafting in the [New Testament of Pastalie], successfully communicating with Infel Phira for the first time in approximately 400 years. But after that, Reika had to live for a long time as the subject of inhuman experiments.
These experiments were dangerous analytical studies that involved the destruction and recombination of her Souslpace, not unlike having pieces of her brain pulled out and put back in haphazardly. These horrible experiments that almost drove her insane many times ended up becoming a source of trauma to Reika.

The Dawn of Her Days as a Maiden

These horrible experiments lasted for about two more years, but when Reika turned five, her situation changed. She heard the sound of the door to her cell opening, and there was Loude standing before her.
[Does it hurt? Do you want to leave this place?]
Reika only nodded her head in respose to that question.
[Well then, let us fulfill that wish of yours. From this day on, you will become Cloche Leythal Pastalie, the [Maiden], regarded as the most precious life in this world.]
Reika couldn't still understand what this meant, but she thought that she'd be okay with anything if she could leave this place and not suffer from pain any more.
It was in this way that Reika became Cloche and ended up living at the Grand Bell Palace.

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The Times of Hard Struggle for the Maiden

What awaited her in the Grand Bell Palace were life as the [Maiden] and the training she would have to undergo before she was ready for the position. The next five years were filled with harsh education on all manner of subjects, but the one she specially hated was [Leadership Studies], which was taught to her by Chancellor Alfman himself. The subject had as its premise that people were to be looked down upon and should be readily sacrificed for the leader's cause. However, Cloche didn't know anything at all about the people that lived outside the palace and she didn't have anyone she could talk to as equals. Lacking any practical knowledge, Cloche could only continue building upon the things she was taught.
And during that lonely childhood she had, she once collapsed due to a high fever and was moved again to the nightmarish Labs. That place made her recall again the trauma she was inflicted in her early childhood, which intensely terrorized her. From that moment on, Cloche decided she would never show whenever she was feeling unwell. This was what that terror has driven her to do.

Times of Independence for the Maiden

A certain day after she had turned eleven years old, a robber broke into Cloche's bedroom. Now that her Maiden Coronation Ceremony was approaching, Cloche was unable to keep bearing with the pressure everybody was placing on her and she spent her days crying. However, the encounter with the robber served as a chance for her to learn what kind of life the people of the Slums lived. It was then that Cloche fixed her eyes into becoming the Maiden, and putting her feelings aside and facing her official coronation as the new Maiden, she introduced herself with a grand and powerful speech. The masses were instantly charmed by her words.
However, a few years after her coronation, she went to Enna for a routine inspection and there she saw how an IPD was contained in front of her own eyes. Her heart was torn to pieces from the cruelty the containment involved, but on the other hand, it also reaffirmed her belief on her mission: it served as an admonishment telling her that she must become a Maiden that nevers forgets to treasure all people.

Current Times

To Cloche, who lived secluded in her small world without knowing anything, the repudiation of the Grand Bell in a coup d'état and her own days trying to survive after she was attacked came as two consecutive shocks. Until that moment, her attitude and actions were motivated by the thought "we live in peace, but that's why I must do all I can." Despite being a capable Maiden, she was quite out of her element in these overwhelming experiences, and that left her unable to notice her own abilities.
Because of the Attack on Rakshek Resort, she was forced to live alongside the people and engage in their daily activities, which left her unable to adapt her new environment. She ended up releasing all of that pent-up stress into Croix and his friends due to being the closest targets she had, but they also served as the chance for her to build new relationships with others.

KEYWORD

◆Maiden

The job of the Maiden consists fundamentially of [Singing Songs], but the 99.99% of her usual days are spent in serving as PR for the Grand Bell, or in other words, as their spokeswoman.
The Maiden is the [Symbol of Hope] for this world, so if the Maiden is in good spirits and filled with confidence, the inhabitants of this world interpret it as the world enjoying a great stabilitys. This is precisely why she must act dignified in front of everyone she meets, and that is the first difficult a Maiden has to live with. She isn't allowed to disclose her personal feelings on any matter to the public. And she had to practice enough times to hate the training for this, so this it has now akin to breathing to her.

◆Feelings of Exclusion because of the Loneliness

Cloche never had even a single friend. This is why she doesn't even know how to establish contact with other people or start friendships. This is why when she met Croix and his companions, she was unable to read the air and notice when she being excessively overbearing or emotional. When she started traveling with them, she timidly tried to reach out to them. She initially had an attitude that made it difficult for anyone to even approach her, but Cloche slowly became able to take the hands others extended to her. At first, she was unable to accept them because she was unable to judge whether they were extending to her their hands for [establishing a friendship] or for [attacking her]. What caused her to lash out at those who ignored and turn their back on her was the fact she felt uneasy about everyone becoming distant to her. Not knowing how to interact with them, she began resorting to force to make everyone face her. But then, Cloche noticed how everyone was looking at her with unpleasant expressions. It really is impossible to change how people think through force.
These experiences also influenced the way she conducts herself as the Maiden. Her forceful way of doing things instilled an euphoric feeling similar to that of narcotics that shook awake the people, but once these narcotic-like effects expired, the whole society cooled down at once due to being shallow and not representing her actual feelings. She ultimately learned from this that the way she must talk to others to actually move their hearts, so they would share the same viewpoint.
However, as she was quite lacking in experience regarding how much she should lower her guard around others, she also kept to herself matters that could result dangerous if revealed to others. Once she was released from that loneliness and learned what was the safe range for dropping her guard around someone, she would endlessly cling to that person and depend on them.

◆Ignorant of the World

Saying things like [You shall Dive into me!] at the very center of a town, not knowing how to take off her own clothes even for taking a bath, trying to give a Pepencuit to a person... the things that show how ignorant Cloche is about the ways of the world are too many to be mentioned. What's more, as she is truly ignorant of the real world and knows next to nothing about how it works, Cloche frequently slips out into the city. The Grand Bell Hall is tightly guarded and there are several blind spots in it, but what Cloche mostly does during her secret escapades is spending money at the Fancy Shop, which doesn't really seem to be of much help to her in studying how society works.

◆Doesn't Want to Be Recognized by her Social Status

Cloche is keenly aware of all the sins she has committed. Among the policies she has advocated for is the implementation of the IPD outbreak increase plan. And this has only brought about a countless number of victims.
It is this same self-awareness which allows her to always treat people gently. Feelings such as [I am the Maiden that receives her life from the people] have been deeply engraved in her heart thanks to her interactions with the people. This is also why she doesn't want the people to consider her social status when they talk to her.
While Cloche has never said anything on the matter and is not necessarily conscious of these feelings, they are frequently shown in the way she acts. Conveying these very feelings is what allowed her to maintain her popularity amongst the people.

This is Cloche's private room within the Grand Bell Hall, packed full with neatly ordered stuffed dolls. It's gorgeous, but aside of the dolls, there is nothing that gives a feel for how she is in private. The fun factor in it is extremely low, so the feel it gives off instead is how drab and boring the everyday life of a Maiden must be.

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◆Face in Public, Face in Private

The Cloche that talks with the people in public and the Cloche that talks with someone in private are clearly different persons. Completely killing off her emotions whenever she interacted with people has become an everyday occurrence to Cloche, given how aware she is of her actions being subject to their constant scrutiny. However, if anyone ever had the chance of meeting her in private, that person would see her display her basic [feelings of seeking other people]. Of course, this is something she does unconsciously and she can't control it at all. This is also why when someone gets on her bad side and makes her angry, she will insult or hit that person. And when that happens, she always ends regretting it greartly afterwards. This also means that whenever she is worried or stressed about something, she ends up taking it out on the closest people she has around.

Whenever Cloche talks with Croix privately at night, there is not even a single trace of the Maiden that habitually holds speeches. After she opens her heart, he becomes able to see her more honest side.

◆Love

It is ridiculous that Cloche, as the idol of the people, would have a boyfriend. The reason why this phrase originated was because Cloche never said anything on the matter. Somebody who says that she doesn't even need friends would have no chances of having a [boyfriend] either in the first place.
However, despite Cloche being a sheltered girl, it was natural she would develop an interest in boy that was closest to her in age: Croix.
Generally speaking, the Grand Bell itself takes care of finding a fiance the Maiden her and making sure that she marries him. So far, not even a single Maiden has ever married for love. The Grand Bell always feared that something like that could happen and if they discovered that the Maiden was in love with somebody, they forcefully separated them and forced her to forget her lover. There never was an actual Maiden that married knowing what love itself was.
When Cloche met Croix, she was able to feel what love is, which was a source of happiness to her in this chaotic world filled with conflict.

◆Loves the Fancy Shop

She has a strong wish to live surrounded by cute things. While this is the reason for her always going to the Fancy Shop in secret, she also has a strong urge to get informed, which is she is more well-versed on merchandising than normal girls her age. She is especially fond of items such as limited edition ones and those gotten from present campaigns, and it seems she tries all possible means to obtain them.
However, she is aware of her position, so even if she could have a chance to obtain non-for-sale items and such in places where she would stand out, it is more likely that she won't take advantage of it. Naturally, this would be painful to her, and she would regret it thoroughly once she was back in her room all alone...
Incidentally, while Cloche has unparalleled love for Gergo, she also holds an abnormal level of hatred for imitations of it. Apparently, "anything cute works for me" isn't part of her mindset. As her tastes are so peculiar, she is frequently sticking her nose into the Pastalia Fancy Shop lineup, to the point she is seen as an annoyance.

The Pastalia Fancy Shop is Cloche's favorite place. Her dream is [to become a Fancy Shop clerk].

◆Terror to the Collapse of Her Power

Cloche's position is that of the Maiden. To her who has wrapped herself around that idea, the sole idea of losing the power that comes with it is terrifying. The terror is such that she would prefer to go through any other sort of penance rather than see her power collapse.
The most obvious moment in which this side of her showed itself was when Luca was said to be the true Maiden. Anybody would have given up immediately upon hearing that Luca was the true Maiden while she was an imposter. However, she always continued denying this fact. And she also having thoughts such as "what makes me less suitable to be a Maiden?" and "what reasons do I have to be acknowledged as a Maiden?", which she used as weapons to harm Luca.
The hidden side to this was that she herself was terrified of not being recognized as the Maiden. She didn't have anybody that would give her confidence, and furthermore, the enormous pressure that was placed on her shoulders caused her to imagine the seriousness of the crime she would be charged with when it was established she was an illegitimate Maiden. It was in this way that she started tying the noose around her neck to a masochistic level.

[Image]

It might have been your strength and calmness that which captured my heart.

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Special Episode 2: A Day Off in Pastalia -Cloche and Pepena-

If it's stuffed dolls, then it's Gergo, and if it's animals, then it's Pepen. There is a memory that Cloche, who likes cute things so much, keeps as a treasure from her childhood.
That memory is of a time when she slipped out in [secret] for the very first time, which led her to have a great adventure with the cute-looking, yet foul-mouthed Pepena.

This happened when I was around nine years old. It was the day in which I [secretly] slipped out for the first time, and in which I met Pepena. When I met her, apparently I went into a daze because of her loveliness. "Could this be what people call love...!?" That is what I thought back then, though if I may say so myself, my only thoughts at the time were about foolish matters. Regardless, I never thought nor imagined at that moment that this somehow would end up becoming quite the great adventure. The whole incident started immediately after I met her:
[...Pen...]
[Huh!?]
For some reason, one of these cute creatures, a Pepen, abruptly collapsed in front of me!
[T-This is terrible!]
It was as terrible as if one of my cute darlings had sustained grievous damage! With this thought in my head, I ran over to the creature to see what had happened to it. However, due to my lack of common knowledge on this sort of situation, I was unsure about what I could do to assist it.
[A-Are you okay!? What happened to you?]
[Ah... Ahh, som'one came, pen. I'm so hungry, pen... feed me something, pen...]
[...] I was dumbfounded. But at the same time, I felt as if my love had died much like the petals of a withered flower. This animal was inexcusably rude!!
[Wait a moment! How do you dare to ask anyone to give you food in such a rude manner...!?]
[I d-dun care 'bout it... I'm gonna die anyway, pen...]
[...]
I had no other choice at my disposal. I took out the biscuits I had taken from the palace and fed them to the Pepen.
The Pepen devoured them in an instant, and the next second, it sprung up from where it lay with a "boing." It then sighed and turned its face to look at me. It then said...
[See ya, pen.]
[Wait just a minute!!]
[Ugh...]
I grabbed it by its scarf. its level of rudeness had already exhausted my patience! [You! Are you lacking in awareness about what you should do for someone that behaved charitably to you? Is it not common sense to demonstrate gratitude with words for the person that gave you something you needed!?]
[Gratitude, pen?]
[Don't you know what gratitude is...? What an imprudent creature you are!! How unbecoming for one of the creatures that live upon Metafalss! What is your name!?]
[Pepena... pen...]
[Very well, I am Cloche. Then, Pepena, you leave me with no other choice! Starting now, I will corrrect your behavior and teach you about basic etiquette. Now come with me!]
[...Pen?]
And thus, the curtain opened to the great adventure that I and Pepena had.
I took Pepena with me and we started taking a stroll through the city. However, this did nothing to remedy the fact that both Pepena and myself were quite lacking in common knowledge. I also felt quite compelled to abuse of my authority as the Maiden, as I did not expect that Pepena would come to me with such a number of questions...
[What is that cloth that says "beeg baagein seil", pen?]
[T-That is.. because that is a cloth that everyone uses to dry their hands after washing them]
[And that written on that sign is read as "Tsuruya", pen?]
[T-That is... Hatoya! That sign is read Hatoya!] Fortunately, Pepena was truly ignorant, so I could just make up whatever seemed right to teach her. I was really moved by her, and I slowly came to have fun as well as we went around exploring the city. I even lost track of the time as we, one person and one bird (?), continued playing. From the main street to the alleys, then to the Waterfall Hill Park... everything was new to me, so I would have felt I still hadn't played enough to satisfy myself no matter how exhausted I had gotten. And eventually, when I started getting hungry, I realized all over again just how much time had passed. Yes, I hadn't eaten anything since I slipped out that morning.
[Ah, I am hungry. And I already gave you everything I had to eat this morning]
[That's all ya could do. It beats dyin', pen]
[It seems the one who will die from starvation is me now though]
[Then overcome it with your spirit, pen]
[...]
[Ah! There's food ov'r 'ere, pen! Me is hungry too, pen!]
[Stop now! These are things that we cannot grab and eat as if it were nothing. Don't you know that these things have to be "bought" first!? You really don't know anything!]
[Have to be bought, pen? Then we should go and pick 'em, pen]
I shook when Pepena suddenly rejected what I was saying. Naturally, I hadn't prepared for tricks. [D-Don't say such things as if they weren't anything!]
[...Maybe you don't know how things are bought, pen?]
[I am quite well-informed about it! Now listen! I will go and buy some right away, so just stand there and watch!]
That is a bad habit I have had since a long time ago. That I act too pretentious and boast in excess...
In all honesty, I wasn't lacking knowledge on how a purchase is conducted, but it was still the first time I was actually buying something myself. Despite being so nervous, I still went to the street stall with an imposing air to try and keep the nervousness from showing on my actions. I grabbed some delicious-looking strawberry candies and cakes, and some doll-like dumplings, and took them to the clerk manning the stall.
[How much for all this?]
[300000 Leaf!]
That is what the man in that small candy stall said with a smile...
I thought it was much more expensive than I expected, but had I gotten flustered over it, it would have done nobody favors.
I then proceeded to pay the same way I always did: I took out the checkbook I used in the Palace, wrote 300000 Leaf on one of them, took it out and gave it to the man.
[Will this be enough? Well then, have a nice day]
The man stood there with his mouth agape as he stared at the piece of paper for a moment, but once he understood that it was truly a valid check, he got flustered and started chasing after me.
[W-Wait a moment! You're actually paying 300000 Leaf for it!? It was a joke! Just joke! I'm telling you it's just 30 Leaf!]
I didn't understand what he meant and continued always questioning why that man told me such an ill-intentioned lie. But from his viewpoint, I only caused him trouble, huh? At the time though, I was completely unaware that what the man said was just one of the jokes that are so typical to tell to the children of the normal people.
Then, I sat down on a bench with Pepena to eat. For some reason, it seemed that the cheapest candies were also the tastiest ones, so I just ate these and gave the others to Pepena. She devoured them to then say this:
[Hmm, I'm full, I'm full, pen. What ya say after eating, when someone has given ya food, pen?]
[You say "thank you"]
[Thank you, pen]
I felt kind of happy from hearing that. While looking at how innocently happy Pepena looked, I thought... that the effort I made to buy these candies in spite of my nervousness really was worth it. On hindsight, I actually spent the whole day playing around with Pepena to my fullest. It might have been the very first time I was able to play around so innocently. I honestly could feel that it was thanks to Pepena's stomach that I was allowed to peacefully spend such a day like this. After all, it was the first day when I could play with somebody else to my heart's content without having to draw a line between each other.
However, even this wonderful day had to come to an end. Yes, if I didn't secretly return to the Grand Bell Hall before the sun set into the horizon, I would be in great trouble.
[Pepena...]
I wanted her to accompany me to the Grand Bell Hall. Maybe we would have been able to continue having all sorts of fun if we could have lived together from then on. But had my little escapade been discovered, they would surely have taken Pepena away. This was also the first time I grasped in full what the word [parting] meant. While trying the hardest I could to hold back my tears, I told this to Pepena.
[I have... to go home now...]
[Pen?]
Pepena showed me a face that made me understand that she didn't understand what I was talking about. This time, her innocence only made our parting much harder for me. [Okay then... bye-bye!]
I closed my eyes and began running as fast as I could. It wasn't like Pepena would have followed me. But I had to do it this way, as I didn't desire to go back all by myself anymore.
[Cloche! Thank you!]
I heard her voice saying that behindd me. At that moment, I felt how huge teardrops fell from my eyes and flowed through my face, and then I told her "Let's meet again the next time I sneak away!"

That is a small memory I have locked deep within myself. Even within the few memories of happiness I have, this is the one that shines the brightest. And I am sure that Pepena feel the same way about it. However, I could learn about many things from that little adventure. I was unable to tell Pepena these words at that time, but if I ever come across her again, there is only one thing I wish to tell her. That is...
[Thank you, Pepena!]

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Costumes

Metamorole Model

Excels at school, has an irreproachable conduct and a fine behavior. The single most honored student at school, who is popular among teachers and students alike. It could be said this is just the same way in which the Maiden has the gazes of everybody in Metafalss set upon her every single day.

Summer Love

A yukata outfit made for going to watch fireworks. She conceals her love within herself due to being in a situation in which she can't admit she is going on dates before the public. While Cloche was uninterested in love, her open feelings of romance were concealed in the deepest areas of her psyche.

Olmodern Style

The Grand Bell Restaurant, which was unable to admit defeat and stuck to its traditions. This is the hakama that she wore as a store clerk for said restaurant. This symbolizes her own [courage], in which she herself broke that which she had treasured so much until now.

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Fluffuria

These are the pajamas Cloche wears only in private. She really likes wearing cute clothes whenever she can relax and doesn't have to appear dauntless.

Armageddon

This is the symbol of the wishes for self-destruction that have been smoldered within Cloche, because of the extremely tense and stressful life she has lived. She looks like a demon, but as she actually is quite naive on the inside, it'd be better to say that it allows others to feel she is weak of heart.

Victim Pain

It symbolizes Cloche's masochistic part, which has taken a shape in which it has various mechanisms and restraints that make her unable to move well by herself. It's the complete opposite to Luca's Assault Pain, the representation of her sadism, which also symbolizes how markedly opposing their garments and personalities are.

Pretty Viole

This is the uniform that matches with Luca's Pretty Cherry costume. In contrast to Luca's pink costume, Cloche has a violet one. Both of them are costumes that give off the image of a defender of justice.

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Whiteris

This is the Cloche that has shown Croix everything that she has on her mind and that has accepted all of her personas. The pure white wedding dress symbolizes the [Me] of Cloche. Its true meaning is that she herself has completely accepted everything about herself.

Pepena

There isn't any problem with liking cute things enough to wear them, is there? This is one of the bonus costumes that can be received upon clearing Frelia's Cosmosphere, and it's a mascot costume that has quite a lot of impact.

Bath Towel

This is the aspect Cloche has whenever she enters into a bath at the time of a Dualstall. As Cloche doesn't craft this bath towel using Song Magic unlike Luca does, she cannot fight wearing it. While it has quite a lot of Cloche's outstanding style, obviously she wouldn't like fighting in it.

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[Image]

Nagi's
Column

This is the greatest secret of Lady Cloche
that no one should ever see...

Lady Cloche... how shameful...

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Cosmosphere

Due to her lack of knowledge and contact with the world, Cloche's surface self isn't falsified to the extent Luca and Jakuri's are. Therefore, her Cosmosphere has next to no areas that have been consciously rearranged and instead it focuses on [showing the parts of herself she has concealed]. While they are mostly thoughts and wishes about being freed from the pressure she lives under due to being the Maiden, there is also another facet to them, which appears under her feelings of wanting [others to understand her]. However, no matter how much she ends up accepting somebody, she has also made walls that can't be broken easily. These walls are originated from the terror she has of accepting people due to her severe lack of experience with relationships.

[Images]

No... don't... don't look at me!

I haven't finished yet, the true show starts now!

I... have showed you everything about me, huh...?

You look so cute when you are tied by these chains... my little Croix...

Wait, let me go now! What are you doing!?

At last... at last I'll return to Cloche...

Deep Psyche

The deepest areas of Cloche's heart were inflicted a severe trauma from the time prior to becoming the Maiden, during which she was confined in the IPD Labs of the Grand Bell, prior to becoming the Maiden. The terror from back then erupts when she is all by herself, and it also gave birth to the pathological dependence she has on others. This has only solidified from the long years of loneliness she spent after becoming the Maiden. Once she has allowed somebody into her heart, she wants them to honestly care for her and look at her. As a representation of that, she has developed a masochistic mentality that is the complete opposite to Luca. Therefore, the fact she has thoughts such as [Do whatever you want to me, but don't leave me alone!] makes for a tremendous contrast with the prideful image she usually projects.
Additionally, the mental image of her world is dark. This world that seems to be enveloped in a neverending night could be said to represent the solitude she feels: her lack of self-confidence and the fact that she believes nobody will ever come to save her.

Lv. 1 Illuminator's Night

A completely dark world unfolds before your eyes upon entering. This is the representation both conscious and subconcious of Cloche herself rejecting the very idea of anyone seeing inside her mind. As Croix searched for the ember he needed to shine light upon the darkness, he discovered that the [lamp] that served to illuminate this world was locked inside a prison. The one that helped Croix free the [lamp] from the tough iron bars imprisoning it was the mysterious girl called Alice.

Lv. 2 Youth's Invitation

The restaurant for which Cloche worked, the Grand Bell Restaruant, and the western restaurant for which Luca worked, the Sacred Modern Cafe, were both establishments that competed against each other to gain customers in this small city, until they both were driven into a showdown that would decide their destinies. However, the Grand Bell Restaurant's owner: the traditionalist Alfman, was completely against Cloche's proposals of adding new dishes to the menu. Cloche, who had been tied down by these traditions, finally made her opinions reach the despotic owner.

Lv. 3 Collapsed!?

The Cosmosphere's third stratum was no more than a completely empty space, as the memories that were supposed to exist in it were unbearable enough for Cloche herself to erase them. The only things that appeared in this level were dim fragments of her memories from when she became the Maiden at a young age, and when Alfman was saying something to her. Because all these memories disappeared into nothingness, there is no information that the Diver can learn here. Only an impression of the mysterious dark-haired girl Alice still remained.

Lv. 4 Honor Student Scream

An honor student that is recognized as the best in the school, Midorino Reisu. Reisu is the school's student committee president, has the best grades, and excels in all sports. Everyone praises her as a talented girl, which is in fact a representation itself of the kind of praise that Cloche seeks in the real world as the Maiden. However, she actually also has wishes such as loving to go to the Fancy Shop or wanting to go wild, which ended up exploding in the live performance she held.

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Lv. 5 Loophole Promenade

Cloche is also a girl, so it's was natural she wished to go to the summer festival dressed in a yukata on a date with her boyfriend. But as she lived being the Maiden for so long, she was unable to honestly express her feelings. Yet still she wanted to have that date... This twisted love ended up developing into a daring game of master and servant in which she put a collar with a leash on Croix and dragged him around. It seems she was still opposed to dating him as equals.

Lv. 6 Drainage of Shame and Prejudice

Cloche was tormented, being blindfolded, having her arms and feet tied down, and agreeing to everything Luca said. And despite all of that, she was still pathologically dependent on Luca. The Cloche in this stratum was afraid of losing everything upon everyone learning that Luca was the true maiden. An insane masochistic mentality in which she wouldn't care about anything that was done to her as long as Luca didn't leave her alone. And under such a humiliating situation, Cloche was made to hold an address.

Lv. 6-R Shared Mental Frequency

The Paradigm Shift in the previous stratum wasn't caused because Cloche had opened her heart, but because she was forced into it. All because it was a modified stratum that was created when the true Maiden, Luca appeared, and it wasn't even supposed to exist. Now Cloche was consumed by her inferiority complex and had lost sight of her existence's meaning, she succumbed to her self-destructive urges. Croix had then to undergo the Paradigm Shift with the mysterious dark-haired girl, Alice.

Lv. 7 The Black Flower's Blooming Day

Cloche had accumulated such an enormous quantity of self-destructive urges that she sought to annihilate her own personality. Croix had to struggle quite hard to somehow bring Cloche back to normality as she kept wavering between hope and despair. He finally got through to her, and both were about to promise that they would live together. However, the dark-haired girl Alice appeared once again. As soon as Cloche saw her, she got greatly disturbed for some reason.

Lv. 8 RESET

The girl that appeared within Cloche's mind, Alice was a separate persona she formed to cut off from herself all the bitter memories and situations that Cloche had experienced in the past. Through Diving this deepth, Cloche confronted her trauma and successfully managed to accept her past self. Thanks to this, she recovered her past memories and remembered she and Luca are sisters.

Lv. 9 Embracing All Love

So far, Cloche had confined herself into her own shell and rejected her past self. But all the versions of Cloche that were encountered before reaching this stratum are all part of Cloche herself: important factors that make up who she currently is. And as they accepted how important they are, Croix and Cloche celebrated the [Completion Ceremony]. Cloche conveyed her gratitude to all the personas that make her the person she is.

Alice

This girl that plays an important role in Cloche's Cosmosphere frequently appears throughout it. She symbolizes Cloche's rough past.

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Jakuri

Jakuri (CV: Miyazaki Ui)
Jakuri [Mir_Teiwaz_Artonelico]

A mysterious person who is always riding a robot from an ancient civilization and that is always two steps ahead of Croix and his companions. She is a direct subordinate of the Grand Bell Chancellor Alfman, and so she works alongside Dr. Loude. Her Install Port is located under her navel, in the lower part of her abdomen.

Profile

Gender Female Likes: Sleeping, Delusions
Age Looks 15 Dislikes: Bothersome Things
Height 1,53 m Weight 34 Kg
Measurements 71-51-75 Dream Eating as many Hotpan as she can
Birthplace Binary Information Field of Sol Ciel Hobby Writing Scripts
Occupation None in Particular Motto I HATE humans.

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Setting Drafts

[Image]

Original Designs

Modifications to the Design

Director's Voice

Even though I entrusted her design to Nagi-san, it wasn't like this design wasn't good from the start (*laughs*). Even so, I decided to ask around the company and found out that the design was pretty liked among the younger staff members. That gave me the confidence to go and say "Let's go with it!"

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Facts about the Heroine

Life Timeline

3409
(Jakuri's Age: 19 years)
Year Event
3390

(Jakuri's Age: 0)

Was born possessing the greatest power among all the Pureblooded β-Type Reyvateils. Real name: Mir.
Beginning of a large-scale Reyvateil rebellion in the region of Neo Elemia. It escalates into an all-out war against the humans.
3411

(Mir's Age: 21 years)

The Reyvateil rebellion is suppressed. Harsher laws and regulations are enacted in regards to the Reyvateils.
3420

(Jakuri's Age: 30)

The Reyvateil Control is implemented by the humans.

Mir rises in revolt against the humans (Mir's Rebellion).
The same year, the Origin Reyvateil Shurelia, and the Teru girl Tastiella suppress it.
Mir's body is sealed, but she turns into a Virus life form and hides inside Ar tonelico.

3421

(Jakuri's Age: 31 years)

Mir's mind is sealed thanks to [Chronicle Key], the Hymmnos sung by the Pureblooded β-type Lune.
3770

(Jakuri's Age: 380 years)

Mir awakens. The people of Sol Ciel are attacked by Viruses.

The same year, she is supressed (story of Ar tonelico 1).
Mir leaves Ar tonelico and departs for Metafalss.

3772

(Jakuri's Age: 382 years)

Mir takes on the name "Jakuri" and approaches Dr. Loude. Her story continues in the game.

Once known as Mir, the strongest Pureblooded β-type who plunged Sol Ciel into terror. After she was released from her seal and obtained freedom, she decided to go to Metafalss, the land that piqued her interest long ago. She wanted to see with her own eyes the Metafalica whose name had been inscribed in ancient documents.

Birth

Around 400 years ago, the region that served as the setting for [Ar tonelico 1], Sol Ciel came under unprecedented danger due to the sudden attack of anomalous beings. In order to deal with this threat, Shurelia, the Administrator of Ar tonelico taught the humans how to create the Pureblooded β-type Reyvateils. Thanks to the tremendous power the Pureblooded β-types had, the eradication of the anomalous beings was a success.
However, this also served to demonstrate how much they excelled in activities such as medical care or security. Now they had obtained this knowledge, the humans kept creating Pureblooded β-types as if they were trying to outcompete each other, and soon enough they decided to attempt creating Pureblooded β-types that had no Will or emotions of their own and that functioned completely just like [systems]. The masterpiece that resulted from these emotionless Pureblooded β-types was Mir.

The Sprouting of Feelings

The humans were emboldened by Mir's creation, but this enraged the Reyvateils that were deployed throughout the world due to the humans considering them as if they were machines. This led to a rebellion, which ultimated escalated into a war between Reyvateils and humans.
The humans gave Mir the job of supressing the rebellion and afterwards installed her as the Controller for the Sylva Horn that would be used to control the Reyvateils.
However, the humans made a great miscalculation. Mir had started developing feelings after she was born and as time kept going. In other words, she wasn't an [emotionless being] as the humans had intended when she was created, and instead she started developing an intense hatred against humanity.

Mir's Rebellion

Now she had developed feelings, had seen the sad situation the Reyvateils lived in and had her hatred for the humans intensify even further, she as the most powerful being in the Second Era rebelled against the humans. Naturally, the humans were dependent on the Reyvateils for the greater part of their lives. Therefore, if key areas were systematically destroyed and the Pureblooded β-types, who by nature were endowed with a tremendous combat power, were turned into their enemies, there was no way they could have won.
However, as Mir's attacks left a countless number of victims in their wake, Shurelia, the Administrator of Ar tonelico opposed her. Borrowing the powers of the Teru girl Tastiella, she sealed Mir's body into a shell of Grathnode Crystals. Thus was the greatest catastrophe in the Second Era known as Mir's Rebellion temporarily averted.

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Incubation

After her body was sealed away, Mir transferred her mind over to the Binary Field of Ar tonelico. In this way, she was able to remain within the Tower as a parasitic virus. And with her endless rage towards the humans still boiling, she hacked into the Tower and resumed her attacks. However, she was once again warded off thanks to the efforts of Shurelia and Tastiella, and even her mind itself became was sealed away.
Thus, a time of seemingly perpetual isolation started for Mir. As long as she was sealed within the Tower, she was unable to come in contact with anyone and could do nothing but await the time of her awakening. All while still holding a grudge against the humans and praying for the happiness of the Reyvateils. This solitary time lasted for around 350 years.

Awakening

Mir finally awakened on 3770 AD. While she was unable to undo the seal that still kept her body imprisoned, she resumed her attacks on the humans as a virus. However, a party composed by both humans and Reyvateils managed to halt the ambitions that Mir had to make a paradise only for the Reyvateils (the story of [Ar tonelico 1]). However, both Mir's body and mind were released due to the effectse of the Song that was Sung to reboot the Tower in the middle of this battle: Re-Nation. Mir was finally defeated, getting released thus from her 350 year-old curse and gaining freedom. Being better aware than anyone of all the sins she had committed in Sol Ciel, Mir decided to leave this land without telling to anyone.

Current Times

After she left the Tower, Mir decided going to the land she had gotten to know and admire from the ancient books: Metafalss. Even if she wasn't totally up to the idea in the inside, she still wanted to atone for the sins she had committed with her own hands and find a method to regenerate Sol Ciel.
However, the present-time Metafalss couldn't have been any farther from a utopia. The only things she found there were the Legend of Metafalica and a few traces of the attempts that had been done to make it a reality. This caused Mir to despair.
And there she met Loude, who happened to be in a quite close position to this world's government. With a deep interest on this world, Mir gave herself the name she got from the ancient robot [Jakuri] and temporarily started a new life as an escort for Loude.

KEYWORD

◆The Ultimate Pureblooded β-type

The three Reyvateil Origins that exist upon this world are Eolia (Shurelia), Frelia and Tilia. These three were all made as Tower Administrators and are life forms that exist on a separate level from all others. And the ones that have a power second only to them are the Pureblooded β-Types. This refers to Reyvateils that were made based off the Origins' genes and which have not even a single drop of human blood in their veins. Generally speaking, all Pureblooded β-types have great abilities, and while they are quite long-lived due to their lifespans being 150 years, Jakuri has even greater abilities, capable of blowing them all away.
The reason for Jakuri having such greater abilities is due to the technology from the period she was born in: the Second Era being more advanced than the First Era in which the Origins were born. It's quite ironical that although Shurelia was who taught the humans how to create the Pureblooded β-Types, Jakuri holds an amount of power that even exceeeds an Origin like Shurelia in some aspects such as Tower access speed. This means that if Shurelia and Jakuri fought on equal footing, Jakuri would definitively beat Shurelia. As the Ultimate Pureblooded β-Types, Jakuri has the potential to become the strongest Reyvateil in history depending on the situation.
However, Pureblooded β-Types are quite rare beings currently, and the three Origins are Tower Administrators and aren't specialized in combat, so that's the natural conclusion to reach if they are compared from a combat perspective.

◆Hates Humans

If there is a single keyword that can't ever be left out when it comes to [Mir], that would be that she [hates humans]. It goes without saying that this hatred steems from the unacceptable treatment the Reyvateils suffered at the humans' hands when Jakuri was still known as Mir. However, it seems her hatred toward humans has started slowly healing ever since she became [Jakuri].
The treatment the Reyvateils receive in Sol Ciel and the treatment they receive in Metafalss are as different as Hell and Heaven. As Metafalss is rooted on the Legend of Metafalica and a Reyvateil is the one who will craft the continent, all the generations of Maidens have been chosen from the Reyvateils.
It was fundamentally a fertile ground for the Reyvateils being appreciated. Once Jakuri went around and saw how life was in Metafalss, she learned about how appreciated the Reyvateils are on this land. This fact surely had a positive effect on her.

◆Heart of the Land

The greatest reason Jakuri had to come to Metafalss was her interest in Metafalica, which means that she wanted to learn the theory behind land creation. She wondered, "how can you exactly create a world overflowing with life and a proper cycle of its own?" As Jakuri wanted to regenerate Sol Ciel, she sought a Heart of the Land that was large enough to have an effect on the world itself.
...However, the Hearts of the Land Jakuri found in Metafalss were only very small ones. On the other hand, the Heart of the Land that produced the Metafalica crafted by Luca and Cloche was different. It was the strongest Heart of the Land that Jakuri had ever seen. Once all battles had ended and they were before this [ideal Heart of the Land], Jakuri entrusted Cocona with a smaller Heart of the Land. She left word with her that she was returning to Eolia's Tower.
This is the Heart of the Land that was crafted by Metafalica. The shape of the Heart of the Land has a strong resemblance to the shape of Sol Marta, which is because Sol Marta was made to give the impression that it was like a Heart of the Land to Metafalss. That might have been the message the people that lived during the First Era left with it.

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◆Yearning for the Paradise

Planet Ar Ciel no longer has any green lands. Of course, this also applies to the Sol Ciel region where Jakuri was born. The Grathnode Inferia that took place at the end of the First Era not only half-destroyed Ar tonelico: it also shattered the Heart of the Land of Ar Ciel itself. As a result, all water as well as all plant life disappeared from the surface.
During these 350 years that Jakuri spent in isolation inside the Tower, a good part of it was spent reading all documents she could find. And the one that caught her eye the most from them all was the truth about the Legend of Metafalica, which had been handed down orally for generations. A scientific investigation was once carried out in the Metafalss region about creating a green land through the Songs crafted by the Reyvateils. While Jakuri could do no more than admire this extension of her delusions while she was imprisoned in the Tower, she started admiring them in a more practical way once she gained her freedom.

The Cat Mansion, as seen from the Newfield Gorge. It is located further deeper in than Enna, the city where most of the ancient culture still remains, so this place had many historical scholarly books still remaining within its walls.

◆Loves Reading

Despite being a Pureblooded β-type possessing a vast amount of knowledge, she really loves reading matters such as ancient documents. She also has a hobby of writing and creating novels, which could be attributed to her love for books. This is the reason why she decided to set her base in Metafalss at the abandoned Cat Mansion. As the Mansion kept a large amount of ancient documents preserved inside, it was here that Jakuri carried out research on the history of Metafalss. However, when the Lift Generator that was located in the Cat Mansion's basement malfunctioned and she realized this meant the area around the Mansion would collapse soon, Jakuri returned to check the books in it once more. While her reason may have been that the large pile of research documents and investigation reports she and Loude had written were still there, it was still a scene that left quite an impression due to how Jakuri doesn't seem to develop an attachment to anything.

◆Fantasist

Fantasizing is as natural as breathing to Jakuri, who spent 350 years in isolation. As result of her building up her fantasies for so long, she has built up a veritable stock of exquisite details in her Cosmosphere, and it appeared the collection of unpublished writings that Spica used as blackmail and that she published as novels got good reviews, so Jakuri is now becoming the best-selling author in Metafalss.

◆Jakuri Robo

A product of the lost technologies Loude researched. Commonly known as [Divine Army], each individual unit is equipped with great combat capabilities by default, but if a Pureblooded β-type or Origin Reyvateil rides them, this type of robot demonstrates even more capabilities. Jakuri borrowed this robot from Loude, and it was then she gave it the [Jakuri] name. The name doesn't mean "the robot Jakuri rides", it instead means that the Jakuri name was given to it afterward.

Jakuri Robo

While it doesn't look that different from the ancient robots that are called the [Divine Army], the one Jakuri rides is a special model that was modified by Loude.

◆Feelings of Remorse

Jakuri is constantly suffering due to the fact that succumbing to her hatred led her to destroy half the Wings of Horus. An unforgettable act in which she annihilated countless lives. And she is better aware than anyone that she was the direct cause why the world suffered a technical regression and the advanced period that the Second Era was came to an end. While her stance on rejecting humans has not changed, on the other hand her guilty conscience torments her to no end.
However, while her research on regenerating the world started with her intent on atoning for her crimes, her feelings gradually changed into [I want to save this world]. And soon, she came to think that if the people around the world all join their forces, it will definitively be possible to regenerate the planet.

[Image]
I won't ever use a word such as [eternity], because I don't believe anything is [eternal].

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Special Episode 3: Knight of Beginnings -Mir and Ayatane-

Mir was given life with no emotions, to merely function as a [System] that did as the humans told her.
And it was in the research facility where she was kept as a test subject where she met Ayatane, who would be later on engraved into her mind as her Mind Guardian.

Every single day was hell. No, maybe it would be better to say that was normal for me. They gave me no reasons. They just made me lie down there, and every once in a while they would wake me and make me Sing Songs. That was my life. Life? No, it wasn't a life. It'd be more accurate to say that I was merely existing. That was how I spent my days.
I was inside the center of the paradise (to them (the humans) called Neo Elemia, the Elemia Governmental Wave Research Center... more commonly known as the Sylva Horn. The purpose I had was the research and creation of a [Reyvateil that they deemed suitable for their situation]. And I was the test subject for it. As I was called [Subject #4], I guessed I must have been the fourth test subject that came after whoever was the first.
And a certain day, a new researcher was hired by that research center. I felt I wanted to take a look at him, but I still greeted him with a blank, emotionless expression, to which he just answered with a smile. Even if he showered me with smiles, he was still going to do the same thing to me. So I decided to not give him any space in my heart, just like I did with many others. But there was something about different about him. I could understand that much right away.

Then, night came. Beyond a single staff member that was supposed to be on duty, all others had to leave. And he was the one stationed that day. Just like all other researchers, he had come to do the night rounds. However, I noticed there was something off about him. And what was that? That there was a nice smell wafting about from him.
[Would you like some miso soup? It's warm and tasty!]
He then produced a bowl of warm soup with that smile of his on his face. It was some sort of tasty-looking food that was completely unlike any I had seen before. As it was a sensation I had never experienced before, that caused me to instinctively display my emotions. Although this instantly caused my blood to run cold, he just replied with a satisfied expression:
[It's okay. You can display emotions before me.]
It was a tranquilizing smile, and it caused me to lower my guard for some reason...
I then silently drank the miso soup. I heard him speaking as I kept drinking it.
[In three more days, I'll take you away from this place.]
I was shocked. Why? That question had escaped my lips before I had even realized it.
[You Reyvateils are our mothers. You are not creatures that must be oppressed by the humans in a place like this.]
Mothers? Just who are you? Aren't you human?
[I'm not a human. I have come to Neo Elemia from a distant world. And it was all to save you Reyvateils, and to make Reyvateilia a reality.]
Reyvateilia... That name alone was enough for me to imagine all sorts of visions about it before he had even finished explaining what it was. A paradise made by Reyvateils for Reyvateils. His words really got my hopes up on that promise, so I decided I would wait and endure for three more days.

And then, the day came. Apparently, we were supposed to run a large-scale experiment that day, as the researchers were all rushing from a place to another. Even I was handed down orders in the form of a Download. Once the Download of the Hymn Crystal was finished, I instantly felt exhausted. After all, it didn't seem like it was a Song I could finish Singing even if I spent a whole night Singing it. But still, I just did like always, as if nothing unusual were to happen, and I started Singing.
It was a truly painful Song. During all the time I Sang, I felt sad, and I hated it. But I could do nothing more than Sing as time kept going on. The researchers started leaving one by one, until none of them remained in the dead of the night. Just my thin singing voice continued reverberating inside the silent laboratory. It might have been a requiem for somebody I didn't know that which resounded within this inorganic cathedral, which was scrapping away at my body bit by bit...
[It's such a nice Song. It feels as if it were refreshing my heart...]
...!! It happened out of nowhere.
And there was him. He had come just like he had promised me.
You are...!
[I am...!]
It seemed like he was about to say something. But then, an alarm started ringing and red lamps illuminated the whole room. Why? Why are you going so far for me!?
[Because there is a Song I want you to Sing.]
The guards started appearing before us. He then brandished two foreign-looking swords he had hanging from his hips and instantly felled all the guards we had before us. We then kept running away.
[You are not a creature that should be Singing for the humans. You are a creature that is destined to become like a mother to all Reyvateils in the world. I'm sure you can rescue the Reyvateils from the humans' cluthces. So please, don't use your powers for these humans who would just utilize them to satisfy their greed]

Whenever a guard tried to attack us, he slayed them as swiftly as if he were dancing. And after a short time, we had reached the facility's exit. However, the shutters closed down before we could leave. We were trapped.
[Looks like I underestimated them...]
We were completely surrounded. Naturally, not even he was match for the wall of guards around us... But he still continued fighting and protecting me to the bitter end. Even if he had to defeat all those soldiers by himself, he wanted to take me outside from this birdcage. However, he was sustaining heavier and graver wounds with every guard that fell to his swords. And he ultimately was rendered unable to move. Before I realized it, I started crying and screaming while he used his last strength to say it was no good, and embraced me.
[...I'm sorry... I planned to save you... But instead I only ended up putting you in danger... right...? Please... live... live and become the [Song of Hope] for us...]
[No... don't die... Don't die, I beg you...!]
[Please forgive me... I cannot grant that request anymore... This is the punishment that I, the incapable Ayatane, am deserving of for being unable to carry out my mission. Farewell, Mother...]
[Nooooooooooooooo!!!]
He appeared to have breathed his last at that moment. I don't know anything about what happened afterward. The only thing I know from news I heard afterward was that on that day, the Governmental Wave Research Center sustained severe damage and that had a large impact on Elemia's wave science research. For better or worse, all the people that had seen me demonstrate emotions here had become stars in the nightly sky and disappeared.
As for what became of me afterward... I was robbed from even the right of being able to walk freely inside the Horn under the pretext that they were protecting me from stuff like spies and terrorists. I was completely imprisoned within a single room.
And then, I continued waiting for the day in which the people would drop their guard once again.
Yes, for that day in which complete authority over the Sylva Horn would be granted upon me...

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Costumes

Bumpkin Girl

The jersey put over the gym uniform make up for a combination of clothes that greatly evoke the image of an unsophisticated girl. The name's origin is that in the old days, it was common to call unsophisticated men [Bumpkin Men]. And as Jakuri is a girl, we baptized it as [Bumpkin Girl].

Spree Gunner

This is the outfit that Jakuri wore while she worked at the Doll Shop. The shop had a dark image, so the work attire for it was simple maid uniform. The pistols she carries in both hands aren't because she like them, but because they one of the items the shop sells.

Long Skirt

This is the standard Costume used by Jakuri's character in her Cosmosphere, [Togasaki Miu]. The way in which she wears the jacket from a boys' uniform over her clothes, like a female deliquent gang leader, makes clear to others what Jakuri's tastes are like.

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Miros

This is the devil form that plunged into terror the world in the school drama story that unfolded in the first half of the Cosmosphere. As it should be easy to notice from the name, this is a costume that directly hints to the form that Jakuri used to have a long time ago: Mir.

FUNB-T

This is the shirt that Croix lent to Jakuri when he was looking after for her after she got all wet from the rain. It was actually something he got from Targana though. The proper way to read it is [Funbu-ti], and it actually has become a pretty popular T-shirt among all the merchandise we have produced.

Graceful Gown

Sleepwear whose main feature is its black color, similarly to her standard costume. If we remove the upper haori, it would become a pretty revealing outfit. If you complained to Jakuri about it, she'd reply with a "just let me do whatever I want when I go to sleep."

Southern Cross

This is the most revealing costume from the ones all characters have in the game. As Jakuri isn't used to wearing to clothes, she is still reluctant to putting any on. It also comes with a float though, and it appears she's trying to gain a liking for the sea with it.

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Pure Ritual

The costume that represented how pure Jakuri was at the time of her birth. While she hates humans now, the very first Song crafted was a Song of Hope that should have brought happiness to everyone. This is the shape of the pure Jakuri that existed back then.

Dark Rose

The jet-back wedding dress Jakuri wore for the Completion Ceremony. It is very typical of her to just make it black even for this situation without batting an eye. Its charm point is the roses that decorate the pinpoints.

Bath Towel

The way the towel is positioned to barely conceal anything, even compared to the other two girls, is pretty Jakuri. Jakuri is always saying that she has [she isn't embarrassed about anyone seeing her body], so it appears she doesn't think she has anything she needs to hide.

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[Image]

Nagi's Column

[It has to be decorated with something like OO,
though I don't know if the higher-ups will like it]

But the problem would be:
what am I supposed to put in the Os?

Hint: Something Croix is particular about.

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Cosmosphere

Jakuri is a Pureblooded β-type, meaning she possesses capabilities on a different level from Third Generations like Cloche and Luca. That is the reason for why a [completely fabricated world] appears on all layers of her Cosmosphere from Lv. 1 to Lv. 5. While Jakuri says it's just to play around, in a certain way this is how says that she never intended to show her Soulspace to anyone. But although she is the strongest Pureblooded β-type in the world, it still doesn't change the fact that she is a Reyvateil. The deeper the strata the party reaches, the further apart her Cosmosphere gets from a [fabricated world], making it possible to approach her true deep psyche.

Deep Psyche

Jakuri deploys into her Cosmosphere as so-called high-school slapstick love comedy. It has the Grand Bell Academy as its setting, where Croix becomes [Kuroaki Mawata] and Jakuri becomes [Miu Togasaki]... that was the setting and roles she assigned. But even if it seems like a play of sorts, the characters that appear on it are given characteristics [Jakuri considers them to have], meaning they are there because Jakuri considered them interesting enough.
Jakuri had no intention of accepting humans, so she only planned to show Croix and friends this fabricated world. But as they kept triggering unexpected Paradigm Shifts one after another, this ended up unveiling Jakuri's deep psyche: the area her conscious self cannot reach. And what Croix saw there was her intense hatred toward humans. But more intense than that was her deep guilt for having half-destroyed a world.

Lvs. 1-5 The Combatants Enter and Others

This was a world in which the humans and demons were at war. Kuroaki Mawata was charmed by the outlier between his classmates, Miu Toagasaki. However, Miu's true form was actually the demon Miros that had plunged the world into terror. Although she though that there was no way a relationship could happen between humans and demons, they both still kept becoming closer and closer. However, they ultimately had to fight each other. It was a light-hearted love story that also had a tragic love as its main theme.

Lv. 6 Fragments of Heart

Because she had allowed unexpected Paradigm Shifts to trigger, Jakuri's conscious self reached the limit of its control and the fabricated world she had made collapsed. The basis for this world was an extension of the fabricated one for the story they had played up to this point, meaning the demon Miros was truly demonstrating her hatred for humans. Within Jakuri's deep psyche there were scenes displaying just how much she hated humans. But there also was a [Jakuri that desired to coexist with the humans].

Lv. 7-C -Crime-

What kind of mistreatment did she receive long ago, when she was still known as Mir? Why does Jakuri hate humans so much? Jakuri showed it to Croix by allowing him to directly experience it. And then demonstrated to him what she did to the humans in retaliation for it. She released upon him the gravity of the karma she held upon her shoulders as well as the awareness if the sins that still continued stinging her heart.

Lv. 7-P -Punishment-

The two different ways in which Jakuri felt guilty for her actions were in conflict. One side thought that as she had already exterminated several millions of people, she had no right to continue living. The other side thought that she wanted to coexist with the humans and that she ought to atone for her crimes with the regeneration of the world. However, the elimination of her hatred toward the humans only hastened further Jakuri's guilt for her crimes. She then proceeded to attempt her own execution by representing herself as two Jakuris: one dressed in white and another dressed in black.

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Lv. 8 Escape from the Womb

Now Croix had accepted both the Jakuri who hated humans and the Jakuri who wanted to coexist with the humans, Jakuri's mind had been saved. And once he finally reached this stratum, what awaited Croix was a pure and innocent Jakuri: just like she had been when she was born. It's not difficult to imagine she wouldn't have been consumed by a hatred that ran so deep had she been born as a normal Reyvateil. Jakuri had finally regained her true nature.

Lv. 9 The Way Love Pierces

What awaited Croix in the final stratum after he had accepted all of Jakuri's self was a return to the [fabricated story] world. Now Jakuri had shown Croix everything, and Croix had accepted her whole self, they had to head to the Chapel together for the Completion Ceremony. However, even at the very end Jakuri was unable to accept herself. Jakuri then presented Croix with a final request: that Croix would stab her with his own hands.

Jakuri's Imaginary World

Jakuri's Cosmosphere is entirely a world that she crafted with her own hands up to the halfway point. In other words, the Virtual World we are explaining on this section is merely a product of Jakuri's fantasies. If you look at the setting and characters with this on mind, you should be able to gain a glimpse of her hobbies and ideals.

Doll House

A doll shop with a suspicious atmosphere where Miu used to work part-time. As you may have noticed from the fact she was working and going around in her Spree Gunner costume, Jakuri really loves the standard fashions for cosplay such as maid uniforms. But since Jakuri is not straightforward about her tastes, even the doll house itself seems kind of decadent and gives off the feeling that there is something wrong about it.

Sea of Num

A beach with a fantastical scenery. This is the place where Miu enjoyed a beachside date with Kuroaki and where they became aware about their fleeting love. Incidentally, this is the only place in Jakuri's Cosmosphere that exists in the real world. The place that can be seen beyond the sea is where Jakuri's heart is lodged: Eolia's Tower. The First Tower of Ar tonelico in which she spent 400 years. Her homeland and the place she is bound to go back to.

[Images]

Damn you... Why did you throw away your sword...!?

I will make a dream-like world.

My execution starts now.

It's okay... we can be together... like this...

My body... feels so good... and it's feeling so weird too.

I'm busy now.

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Bonds

Infelsphere

Luca and Cloche were the two Maidens that possessed the qualifications to craft Metafalica. Before they could reach the point where they could complete Metafalica, they underwent many trials and conflicts. They challenged the Infelsphere while being led by Soope, where while at times fighting, at times fooling around, they both grew bit by bit. And by both having the other experience the environment and relationships of the other, and having their true feelings clash against each other, they managed to deepen their bonds with each other to the point required for crafting Metafalica.

Lv. 1 Environment

Luca

She, who lived in a poor househol where they worried about whether they would even have food the next day, maintained her distance while still smiling at everyone else. While withstanding unpleasant customers and being manipulated by the irrational society.

Cloche

She spent her time in solitude, unable to have contact with anybody, while bearing the heavy pressure from being the Maiden. She couldn't have carefree chats with anybody, nor she could even take a step outside. Days with no freedom in which she was limited solely to studying and training.

Lv. 2 Relationships

Luca

Although hers was a fatherless family, her family life was completely cold and distant. Even though it seemed at first glance that she had many friends, they strangely changed into jealousy and dependence, with her mental fatigue preventing her from building actual relationships.

Cloche

As her absolute position had been taken to extremes, she had no relationships beyond that of [master and servants] with the people around her. Additionally, the fact she was nobility meant that anything she did would bring trouble to everyone around her, preventing her from building actual relationships.

Lv. 3 Love

Luca=

Just the fact she was his childhood friend gave Luca a large advantage from knowing many of Croix's strong points. Although initially she became closer to him for Reika, Croix came to like Luca and they ended up weaving together quite a long history.

Cloche

Croix was after all a knight who had sworn his loyalty to Cloche. Although this sort of relationship was forbidden between a knight and the Maiden, Croix made his vow as Cloche's knight upon learning everything about her.

Lv. 4 True Feelings

Luca

It was unacceptable the Grand Bell they believed in was filled with lies and that the elite did not understand how ordinary people lived. And then, she cursed the Maiden who had promoted the increase in the rate of the IPD Outbreaks by calling her a murderer.

Cloche

She was disillusioned with the fact that the people supported her when it was convenient, but instantly became critics of her government when even the slightest cloud of suspicion cast its shadow upon her. She also thought that Luca, who was affable to everyone, was a despicable woman who buttered up to others.

Lv. 5 Acknowledgement

Now they both had experienced each other's environment and relationshops, learned about the feelings of love each other had and allowed their true feelings to clash, they accepted everything about each other. Now they had tried to actually understand each other, they both realized they had dug rifts between them out of misunderstandings and ignorance. By going about these many recollections, they both managed to understand why the other thought and acted in a particular situation.
And now they had both cleared all of the trials in the Infelsphere. Now they had obtained the qualifications to Sing Metafalica, Cloche and Luca had become the true Maidens of [Homura] and [Mio].

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Before They Both Craft Metafalica

Before they could Sing Metafalica correctly, they both experienced all sorts of things: Luca Sang EXEC_METAFALICA/. by herself without having fulfilled the conditions to Sing it and created a Deathlandia. Luca was propped up by the Sacred Army and Sang EXEC_HIBERNATION/.. Cloche Sang METHOD_METAFALICA/. before an angry mob. Both Songstresses managed to craft their feelings during the course of their long journey. And only after their bonds became so deep could they craft Metafalica alongside all the people in the world.

◆Luca and Cloche as Sisters◆

Although they have no blood relation, Luca and Cloche are sisters. They both treasure greatly the memories from when they were young. Now they both had been made aware of the fact they were sisters, it is common to see them spending time in a harmonious manner, attempting to make up for all the lost time. While they seemed to only quarrel and bicker during their journey, the feelings Luca had of having Reika back and Cloche's feelings of wanting a family were so strong, that they were the ones to remain in the end.
Incidentally, if you finish the game and don't get an ending with either of them, you will be able to catch a glimpse of a modest episode showing them together: Cloche being spoiled by her big sister and Luca not being able to resist the cuteness of her little sister pouting and calling her Sis. Seeing them both as they treat each other as sisters is quite pleasant.

[Images]

I've never liked being with you ever since we met.
You've always bothered me than I could stand. Ever since we first met...

I... declare that I will sing Metafalica with Lady Cloche and birth to the green land with her!
I... declare that I will sing Metafalica with Luca and give birth to the green land with her.

Thank you! I love you, Sis!
Well, if you don't mind donuts, here you go.

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Early Childhood

The time Luca and Reika spent with their [family] was just three short years. However, the happy memories of the times they spent together still remain in their minds. We have drawn together the illustrations for their appearances in early childhood and childhood, just as they appear in these precious memories.

[Images]

Cloche at 11 years old.

Luca at 13 years old.

Reika at 3 years old.

Luca at 5 years old.

I beat up a stone for Reika!!
I’m gonna get strong too! I'm gonna protect Sis too!!