S1016B

... You wore it on the day we had margherita pizza at a restaurant in the Donut Alley. You did complain about digestive troubles on account of the discomfort caused by the outfit.

Though you preferred the window seat, the issue with the reservation system at the restaurant seated us in the middle of the hall - which you also found regrettable.

... Some might see a true romantic in you. A man who brings back to life and color an entire day just from a single word whispered by his ex-lover - as though it happened just yesterday. As though he couldn't forget a single thing done in her company.

But your excellent memory is just the logical, mechanical outcome of childhood mnemonic training you were subjected to.

.......

You've got it wrong, though. It wasn't the window seat I was angry about that day.

I was angry because the first thing you said when you saw my new dress was that I should return it and get something a size larger.

It was true that you needed to go up a size. The tightness of the outfit was presenting various difficulties in mundane activities.

Right, but did you have to say that to my face? You could've just complimented my dress and moved on.

Anyway, the initial discomfort slowly receded to the back of my mind the longer I wore that dress.

But when I changed into something more comfortable... That stifling discomfort rushed in all at once, and I realized that, all along, I had been wrestling with an outfit that wasn't made for my size.

It's a fitting analogy for that Rouge, too... Though, unlike me, she's refused to change into something more comfortable.

The voice of whom I presume to be Meursault's mother is still playing from somewhere behind the walls - the voice that will never again speak new words.

Yes, yes... Everything I did... all of that had to have meant something... A purpose...

I've been flaying the Golden Hide off because... yes, that's it.

Hmm, this is unexpected.

"Meant something," hmm...? What meaning did this one find, I wonder? How puzzling. It's almost as if she's hearing an entirely different Voice.

.......

You're going to ignore me this time? That's not a bad choice either, I guess.

It's speaking to me... once again... It's coming through so clearly, without breaking, without fading...

Telling me to put my nails to this outfit... to rip it all away... That in my naked body, I'll find my true self...

<She's turning into a "Mannequin," as they call it in here...>

<Though they were all in different stages, all the Rouge and Noir employees we'd encountered in the Grand Magasin were Distorting without exception. But... her case is progressing much quicker...>

It's finally... sloughing, sloughing off me. Take these stifling things off of me... I want to be my true self...

Has someone draped those lies over you, too?

Come, I'll liberate you from those oppressive clothes... And you'll feel... just like I do...