Ethan Caldwell did not immediately turn off the video. The man's finger dragged the playback bar on the screen back to the starting point, rewinding that final segment one more time.
Within the static-filled, black-and-white frame, A-01 had only just slightly shifted, moving that tiny hand with the intention of pulling away just a fraction... B-00 instantly panicked to the point of sheer madness, immediately pouncing over and tightly squeezing those fingers like a wild beast terrified of having its very life force stripped away.
Ethan Caldwell's pupils contracted slightly.
The thing that B-00 was frantically obsessed with, yearning for to the point of shattering... had never, from the very beginning, been the concept of freedom.
It had never wanted to escape. The only thing it desired was for A-01 to never leave its side.
A monster did not need the sky; a monster only needed its anchor.
It was glaringly obvious that B-00 had regarded A-01 as its own personal anchor.
