[Sakura's an 18yo girl from Japan who has never hit someone in anger, let alone conspired against their safety. Everything about this situation should be bigger than her.

The answer is obvious, was obvious from the start. The answer is no.

And yet she still stands there in indecision, offered mental freedom at the price of someone else. She doesn't know the girl -- Penelope -- a fact which sits as both a gift and a curse in her mind. If she had spoken with her before, known her as a person instead of a chess piece, would it be easier to say the right thing?]

I...

[Her glance meets Howard, but it just as quickly falls back to the ground.]

I mean-- it'd be easier, I think, living in the city without these memories... right?

[Voice a murmur, her hands fist against her skirt.]

But we'd... we'd be helping Mateus-san hurt her, if she didn't comply.

[Images of her parents flash through her mind, then her sister, then her friends -- as if predicting her future, a world where everyone is disappointed and taken aback by her selfishness. So weak that a handful of memories would bend her principles.

... A pause.

And then Sakura shakes her head once. She can't.]