The room visible through the open door left a single, overwhelming impression: "White." It was as simple as that.
Everything was white—the ceiling, the walls, and the floor.
It wasn't a brilliant, snowy white, but rather a soft, matte white—or perhaps an extremely pale gray. It was a shade that was easy on the eyes, lacking any harsh glare.
In the center of the room sat a bed, and upon it, someone lay resting.
"...What on earth is this place?" Alectas wondered aloud.
"...A clinic, perhaps? Or a bedroom," Anne speculated.
While they spoke, Reiko stared fixedly at the figure on the bed. The individual was covered by a white futon, making it impossible to see them clearly.
Suddenly, a voice rang out.
"Who are you?"
Standing on the far side of the bed was a girl. She was white—truly white. She stood just over a meter tall, smaller even than Reiko. Her hair was pure white, and her skin was a flesh tone so pale it was almost white itself. Even her clothes were white. Only her eyes were a deep, striking black.
"Did you come to bully Father?"
The girl—who appeared to be the source of the voice—skirted around the bed and stood before the three intruders, blocking their path.
"I will protect Father," she declared, spreading her arms wide to bar their way.
Though the trio was momentarily taken aback, Anne was the first to find her voice.
"Don't worry. We aren't going to do anything," she said, her tone gentle so as not to provoke the girl. "Is that your father sleeping there?"
"Yes, he is."
"What is your name?"
"...Neige."
"Neige, I see. I am Anne. Tell me, is your father sleeping? Is he ill?"
"I... I don't know," Neige whispered, looking down at the floor. "He's been sleeping for so long. He won't wake up for me."
Hearing the sadness in her voice, Anne crouched down to meet Neige's eyes.
"Listen, Neige. Would you let me Diagnose your father? If he's unwell, I might be able to help him."
Neige's head snapped up. "Really? If you fix him, will Father wake up?"
"Yes, I believe so."
Neige fell into deep thought for a long moment. Finally, as if making a monumental decision, she stepped aside.
"...Please. Please wake Father up."
"I will."
Anne moved slowly toward Neige's "Father." Meanwhile, Reiko struck up a conversation with the girl.
"So, the person resting there is your... Neige-chan's Father?"
"Yeah. Who are you?"
"I am Reiko. I have a Father as well."
"You do?"
"Yes. The greatest Father in the world, who created me."
Neige's expression twisted into a small pout. "My Father is the greatest in the world."
Reiko let out a soft, gentle chuckle. She understood the girl's sentiment perfectly.
"You're right. To you, your Father is the greatest in the world."
"Yeah!"
"But you see, my Father is also the greatest in the world to me."
"Can they both be the greatest?"
"Yes, I believe they can."
A strange sense of empathy seemed to blossom between the two. While Reiko and Neige were bonding, Anne was busy examining the man on the bed.
"This is..."
He was roughly the same height as Reiko. His appearance was strikingly similar to the Nega-doll they had encountered earlier, yet there were distinct differences.
First was the skin tone. It wasn't a deathly, ashen gray, but a warm brownish hue. And while his hair was white, he actually possessed a full head of it.
"The pulse is..." Anne began the examination by checking for a heartbeat. "...Nothing?"
She checked his wrist, his armpit, and his carotid artery. There was no pulse to be found anywhere.
"And yet..."
She could sense that the being before her wasn't dead. There was warmth in the body, and the flesh still held the vibrancy of life. She simply didn't know how to rouse him.
Back on Hourai Island, Jin and Laojun were also racking their brains (though Laojun had no physical head to rack).
"For now, we should try a Diagnose... and perhaps a Trace," Jin suggested. They might be able to learn something by observing the flow of mana. "I'd like Elsa's input as well. Laojun, where is she?"
"She is currently in the Mansion's kitchen, learning how to cook from Mine-san."
"Sorry to interrupt her, but could you call her over?"
"Understood."
"I've received the report from Laojun. I see... let's try it. Diagnose."
Following the instructions, Anne began the procedure as if she were treating a human.
"Biological reactions are present, but the internal organs and metabolism are... unfamiliar. He clearly isn't human. Now, Trace."
With the second spell, she was able to visualize the circulation of mana within the body.
"So he is powered by magi-engineering after all... But what is the next step?"
Just then, another communication arrived from Laojun. Specifically, it was a set of instructions from Elsa, relayed through the tactical core.
"Healing, then Trace... Understood."
Anne cast a mid-level Healing spell and monitored the subsequent flow of mana, reporting the results back to Laojun. According to her observations, the mana circulation had improved slightly.
"Healing. Healing. Healing."
Thanks to her internal ether converter, Anne could cast magic repeatedly without exhaustion. Furthermore, the high concentration of free ether in this facility amplified the effects of her spells.
"Trace... It's improving, bit by bit. As expected of Elsa-sama."
Anne cast five more consecutive Healing spells before taking a brief pause.
"Now... the recovery medicine?"
She produced an emergency bottle of recovery medicine, snapped the muscovite ampoule, and carefully administered the liquid to Neige's Father. While he likely wouldn't have been able to swallow in his initial state, the previous treatments had restored him enough to slowly gulp down the medicine.
"Next... Recover. Recover. Recover."
Following Elsa's guidance, Anne applied surgical-type healing magic as well. Even if his physiology was different, they hoped it would have some remedial effect.
Their hypothesis proved correct. Neige's Father slowly, faintly, opened his eyes.