37: I just saw it.
37: The numbers of everything and every being would just emerge in front of me.
37: I see it, and I speak it out loud. That's it.
Vertin: 210 told me numbers imply our fate.
37 frowns more deeply.
37: Don't believe him, Vertin! Numbers are just numbers. I know nothing about fate.
37: Hmm, fine. I don't think I like 210, and the feeling goes both ways for us.
37: Because I once said he is a poor number. 210 = 2 × 3 × 5 × 7. He is the product of all prime numbers between 1 and 10.
37: Looks like he has it all, but he doesn't have any real forte. He likes to sugarcoat himself with metaphors. Only those with a flawed essence would adore the trickery of words.
Vertin: This is indeed an extreme comment.
37: And 6 is no better. Every leader of Apeiron has been a 6. 6 is the perfect number since it equals the sum of all its proper divisors: 1 + 2 + 3 = 6. But this number has been overrated. He's not that special.
Vertin: What about your number? What does 37 mean?
37: I don't know.
She purses her lips.
37: I am 37. I've known it since I was born. So did everyone else.
37: People told me what it means, but I have never tried to prove their theory.
37: I know very little of fate, so I always think …
37: Even if I find out their essences, does it mean I have known them better?
Sophia: 37 once tried to tell me my number.
Sophia takes a deep breath.
Sophia: She wrote it down and put it into a bottle. But I couldn't get up the courage to open it. I didn't want to know.
Sophia: I once made a horrible mistake. An unforgivable miscalculation.
Sophia: It makes me worried ... that I may also be a mistake.
Sophia: So I threw the bottle into the sea.
She stops her patrol and turns back briskly.
Sophia: This is how 37 is different from us.
Sophia: We are all prisoners of that cave.
Sophia: Only the wise one can find her way out of the cave and return to rescue the rest of us.
Sophia: I'm the ignorant prisoner who sits, and she's the wise one who returns.
Sophia: I will be crushed into dust by the truth, while she will be the star shining above it.
Sonetto: ...
Yes, she had heard the fable, but never quite like this version.
The red-headed girl lets out a sigh, raises her gaze out above the sea at the twinkling night sky.
Sophia: The truth is like the stars in the night sky—beautiful but cold.
Sophia: It has been there long before my existence and will stay that way long after I'm gone.
Sophia: It sheds no tears for the weak, nor laments the tragic fate. It's forever bright and always moving forward.
Sophia: The person who avoids the truth is not qualified to study it.
Sophia: I'm sorry. My interpretation has been emotional.
Sonetto: No …
Sonetto: I think I kind of know how you feel, Ms. Sophia.
Sonetto: However unworthy you think you are, there must be something we can do.
Sonetto: Maybe we can't reach the core of the truth, but we can clean up the path to it for the future explorers.
Sonetto: This is our fate.
Sophia: Interesting insight.
Sophia: I have come to understand why 37 likes you so much.
Sophia: Let us go back to work then. Start from dusting the tombstones.
Regulus: Alright, I've had enough of these soul, pneuma related idle topics.
Regulus: I wanna have a look at your model. Wow, seriously, how did you get this far?
Regulus eagerly pokes her head over. But 37 is faster; she has switched off the computer swiftly.
37: This model has been proven wrong.
37: For four whole years, we had been optimizing it.
37: But the Emanation in 1929 only lasted for two days, which means our calculation was entirely a failure.
37: That model is just like this computer. It's a piece of junk.
37: And this is all I can present to you.
37 drops her head, looking sad.
Vertin: No, it's not junk.
Vertin: I think I know why your model didn't work.
37: Wh-What?
Vertin: Manus Vindictae has changed history.
Vertin: They accelerated history, forcing historical events to happen earlier than it was supposed to; thus, the "Storm" in 1929 occurred sooner than it should ...
37: No way.
37 stares at her in astonishment. Her shoulders shiver.
37: Controlling the Emanation? Changing the history of the outside world?
37: Pneuma is eternal and transcendental. It won't obey any orders given from the phenomenal world. Neither will it change its patterns because of some fragments!
Vertin: I'm telling the truth, 37. I've been there, in the "Storm" of 1929.
Vertin: Your model was not wrong. You just missed some key information.
Vertin: You've never been to the place where the "Storm" falls and thus know nothing about the symptoms of the Storm Syndrome ...
Vertin: ... and the true purposes of Manus Vindictae.
37: No! That's impossible!
37: Even if there're means to control the Emanation, it wouldn't be like this.
37: If this is true, does it mean the phenomenal world, this insignificant phenomenal world, is more transcendental?
37: Mother's model was defeated by this?
She holds herself with a pale face, as if making a tough decision.
Eventually, she speaks up again with great difficulty.
37: Vertin, could you give us proof?
37: The proof that Manus Vindictae accelerated history and triggered the Emanation.
Vertin: I swear I wasn't lying.
37: No, not like this. To prove it in front of Apeiron.
37: Go to our sacred place, to the Hall of Truth, in the depths of the cave. There, everyone can see the essence of the world.
37: I beg you. Give them your proof, just like how we submit the proof of our soul number.
