Sonetto: Ma-Matilda ...? It's you?
Sonetto: I'm sorry! I-I ... thought it was someone suspicious, so ...
Matilda: ...
Matilda buries her face in her palms and shrugs her shoulders.
Sonetto: Matilda ... Are you alright?
Matilda gives Sonetto a push and steps back. Her face blushes.
Sonetto: Um ...!
Matilda: Sonetto! How dare you!
Matilda: Attacked the monitor student in Primary Defense, and disturbed the peace in public, YOU!
Matilda: As your classmate used-to-be, I'm obliged to stop you from making a scene here and disturbing the patients!
Matilda: I'm, I'm here to give you my warning ...
She suddenly runs towards the other end of the hallway before Sonetto can possibly react to it and do something.
Sonetto: Please wait ...!
Bump ...!
Matilda: Ouch!
Mesmer Jr.: Oh, isn't it the "Sonneteer"? And ... our outstanding graduate.
Mesmer Jr.: I thought it was some acute mania patient getting out, waiting for my fancy transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy.
Matilda: Err ... it hurts.
Matilda: Wh-what! Sonneteer?! How would I have anything to do with her ...?!
Matilda: I'm Matilda Bouanich, the Top 3 student in school, the monitor assistant, and the speaker of graceful French!
Matilda: None shall forget my name after making the acquaintance of me!
Mesmer Jr.: I didn't, but I guess no one will remember the third place.
Matilda: Wha-
Matilda: Go away, go! Don't stand in my way!
Sonetto: Matilda! Please take ...
Matilda runs away without looking back. Sonetto stands there, with a handkerchief in her hand. She is about to give it to Matilda.
Sonetto: ...
Mesmer Jr.: She just ran away like that? There is even garbage dust on her hair.
Sonetto: I didn't know she was the one following me. I shouldn't have acted in haste ...
Mesmer Jr.: Alright, get down to business.
Mesmer Jr.: Sonetto, you are here visiting the timekeeper, right?
Mesmer Jr.: Follow me.
Sonetto: Okay.
???: A little bird told me you went to visit Vertin, is that right?
Z: Yes.
???: How was she doing?
Z: Just like the other patients.
Z: Unconscious.
???: Artificial Somnambulism Therapy shall be good for her.
???: It's been four years since she became the Timekeeper. She surely needs a break.
Z: Yes, and I have no other opinion about this, Madam Vice President.
Z: I'm here for another issue.
Madam Z places a stack of files on the desk.
Constantine: The proposal of additional manpower submitted by the House of Integratus ... I have given it consideration. It's not worth a committee hearing.
Constantine: Are you here to talk about dead plans?
Z: Yes, because I have the exact opposite view.
Z: Vertin's suitcase will not be affected by the "Storm," just like the buildings in our headquarters.
Z: Which means she will soon be able to form a team ... indirectly controlled by the Foundation.
Z: I suggest putting her in command of an independent autonomous unit. With enough support, they should soon become another reliable force of the Foundation.
Z: And it also facilitates our relationship with Vertin.
Constantine: The people Vertin brought back with her, who are they?
Z: Arcanists who have stable personalities, good command over their arcane skills, and some social experiences.
Constantine: If you ask me, they are some pitiful exiles who lost everything in the "Storm."
Constantine: So desperate, horrified, and overwhelmed, longing for something stable to hold on to.
Constantine: Vertin is not here. Only the Foundation can give them what they want.
Constantine: But what can they give us in return?
Constantine: The innate arbitrariness of arcanists? Or questioning our beliefs of mankind supremacy because they have nobler blood?
Z: ...
Constantine: Of course, the Foundation needs new blood. Especially those ...
Constantine: who are highly obedient and know the importance of order.
Constantine: That's why these poor refugees need no independent unit or autonomy.
Constantine: They need the guidance of disciplines, a teaching more comprehensive than what's been given to those naive children in school.
Z: I see.
Z: What you want is a group of dumb puppets.
Constantine: I'm always the optimist in the room, and you know that, Ms. Z.
Constantine: This won't so much be a dead plan if one day they can prove they are not some dumb puppets.
