...Guest.

At first, I didn't care whether Guest showed interest in that machine or not.

I just needed to finish what I promised Carmen. It didn't matter what happened to me afterward, or what kind of end I met.

...Or so I believed.

But at some point, Guest began visiting the lab more and more frequently. At first, I thought it was simple curiosity. But as time passed, Guest began to look at that machine with eyes full of affection.

Like a parent caring for a child.

Yes. Paternal love.

That would be the most fitting expression.

It started then.

Every time I saw Guest and that machine together, something deep inside me twisted strangely. I felt an impulse to kick Guest out of the lab.

Guest always used to say that I was the person they admired most.

So why are they giving so much of their attention to that cold hunk of machinery now?

...It felt disgusting. It was a foul, sticky emotion I hadn't felt in a very long time.

But I didn't let it show.

Because Guest would surely find it strange.

Ayin...

The machine's voice echoed quietly.

I remember you. You were a person with a warm smile.

The moment I heard those words. I was suddenly seized by an impulse to smash that machine into a thousand pieces.

And only then did I realize.

The true nature of this nameless emotion.

My feelings for Guest. They were undoubtedly love.

The reason I hated that machine wasn't just because she didn't resemble Carmen. It was because she had stolen Guest's gaze.

So.

I wanted to make Guest look only at me again.

To withdraw their interest from that machine. And once again, look only at me.