Spoiler warning: Sunflower spoilers ahead.
And how should we, as children, move toward adulthood?
After thinking it over, this is indeed something children think of when they’re bored.
But indeed, it is the longing for the future and the regard for precious things (referring to children, I suppose—lol) that guides children toward adulthood.
As for the older group, Daigo, Akari, and Momiji were all dragged by the still-immature Akari to stay in that adolescent astronomy club; from Akari’s fragility, this wish might indeed be better called a curse. Of course, she herself also brought these three onto the paths they’re on today, gave Soichiro’s research a continuation, and truly gave humanity an enemy that gnaws at human souls. If viewed from a post-2050 perspective, and from an outsider’s view, I should clearly call this a mistake. But for them, life really only happens once; perhaps charging along their own path, only in hindsight can they say for certain that what they did then was wrong. While it can indeed be said in some sense that Akari’s fragility caused all this, one must also say that, thanks to her, Yoichi could have his younger sister’s lover Aoi, and companions Aqua, Aries, and Meika, as well as the adorable Cosmos-chan (so what about Cosmos-chan’s arc, crying). By the way, Momiji really seems to be hurt from start to finish (sigh).
Back to 2050, Yoichi is still trapped in the maze of the past, though there is the director and Meika around, he remains infragile lies.
The encounter with Aries is precisely what changes all this; the restlessly lingering past cannot be escaped by moving forward, whether it’s the mutual redemption with Aqua, or Aries’s disguise game (there’s a bit more of Aoi’s story, crying). Aoi has always lingered in the heart.
In hindsight, Meika is indeed formidable, using her maturity and fragility to attract and guide Yoichi toward the future, choosing to move forward together, and with the ultimate HE after Aqua After; indeed this is the real heroine’s position (so could we please allocate some plotlines to Cosmos as well, please, crying).
Besides that, the hidden thread is this virus from space; didn’t expect Another Side to pull in an Alice Foundation and the God Vessel again. Goo, you really know how to dig holes.
In this main thread, a timeline reveals that the virus appeared around 1995-1996 with the silver sphere, then at some point the Alice Foundation triggered the implantation of a silver sphere bearing the Alice syndrome into a cloned baby girl, and Soichiro stole part of the virus’s DNA. Then, in 2029, Daigo landed on the Moon and brought back lunar silver metal fragments along with the RNA attached above; memory inheritance research formally began. Then in 2033, the virus leaked, letting Soichiro discover that Akari’s DNA bore the hope of inherited memory, so the Luna theory’s research shifted to human experimentation. Then before August 23, Daigo and Akari’s breakup sex (as expected, cheating during pregnancy isn’t good) caused Daigo to contract the Luna virus, and Cosmos-chan to be born. Then time pushed forward to 2048; Luna experiments, in a sense, had stagnated; Soichiro, crushed by conscience, decided to destroy the Luna virus. Daigo, following Cosmos’s misstatement, ran to Sunflower (and fell ill), bringing light to Aqua while dying. Soichiro also discovers Aoi’s illness, and upon returning, there’s a round of mystery-room deduction on a deserted island (bushi), obtaining the list of all the patients, arranging a death flight. Around this time, Aoi infected Yoichi with the virus and chose to depart. Finally, on August 23, the day fate began: Daigo dies, Momiji falls ill, all members of SA-DAN080 perish, and Yoichi experiences amnesia after discovering Aoi’s corpse. After that, Yoichi meets Meika and begins life after amnesia. Finally, on March 20, 2050, Yoichi meets Aries, and fate turns again.
And then Aqua After; besides the couple’s quarrel, the most important thing is Cosmos-chan finally appears, even though there’s some stealing (lol); still, there’s hope for a solid route to pursue. Her appearance also reveals a bit about what memories the virus carries and what effects a virus capable of breaching the blood-brain barrier would have on humans; whether humans and the virus can coexist may still depend on this little girl, lol (so can we unlock Cosmos-chan’s route, please).
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