Anfiya

Ever since Anfiya became a guard crew member and a permanent fixture on the Eternal, all the non-human members onboard became especially vigilant. The animals taken in by the pet shop owner would consistently bark frenziedly at the box Anfiya held, and the two with an eagle and a goose also feedbacked that their animal pals would lose sleep at night. Everyone in the know always subconsciously had their guard up against the box even when there weren't tentacles coming out from within.

Meanwhile, the cause of this—Anfiya and her box—expressed nothing in regard to this series of events. She avoided eye contact with the other members and wasn't willing to explain to everyone that the "creature" in the box was frankly harmless, simply refusing any form of interaction with people...

This lasted until Conductor and Livia found an opportunity to have a long chat with her. Anfiya revealed that she didn't want everyone to dislike White Birch, but she couldn't find the right way to explain that either. A lightbulb moment hit Conductor as a splendid idea came to mind.

The next day, a paper was added to Anfiya's box that read: "Anti-Midnight-Snacking Deputy: White Birch."

As a child, Anfiya learned from a book that humans would form connections with others once they were born in this world, and these "connections" would multiply, leading to heavier footsteps due to the constant dilemma between connections.

She subconsciously touched her shoulder, attempting to visualize what it would feel like to have a thread-like "connection" attached to her.

Alas, there was nothing.
No mother, no friends, and her "father" wasn't a like a "father" either, merely someone who saw her occasionally to check if she was still alive. The only person in her world was an elderly nanny, but the woman was purely doing her job and wasn't obligated to give Anfiya the feelings she longed for.

As if being placed in an empty sterile room with not a single decor, Anfiya was all alone and had no connection with anybody, virtually like an alien that didn't belong in this world.

Only when her father saw the weapon designs that she learned to draw on her own did she finally have the chance to stand before the man. Nonetheless, Anfiya understood that her father didn't view her as a daughter but as a talent that had half of his genes - something he had yearned for all his life.

Under his arrangement, she went eagerly to DRYAS CORPORATION's ninth factory, Ironworks IX, wondering if she could start addressing that man as "Father" instead of "Mr. Dryas" if she did well there and if there would be people similar to her in the factory whom she could talk to and perhaps... befriend.

"Friend" was a word she had only seen in books, an exceptionally significant "connection" in the lives of humankind.

With a heart full of hope, Anfiya stepped into Ironworks IX.

"Your ability to speak will deteriorate if you keep staying silent."
This was the line that set the acquaintance between Anfiya and Nikita in motion. Nikita was the ideal type of friend Anfiya had always dreamed of - close in age, friendly, and on the same wavelength. With Nikita's guidance, Anfiya gradually became one of the members of a small group who idolized Nikita, leaving her awestruck as she carefully tried to maintain this hard-won friendship.

Slowly but surely, Anfiya got used to life in Ironworks IX, and her talent, which had been repressed for years, finally had the chance to shine as she managed to continuously produce more outstanding results faster than others. The joy brought by the sense of achievement filled her heart bit by bit, but when she tried to share her elation with her "friend," she was met with Nikita's frosty gaze instead.

Did she... do something wrong?
Please don't hate me. Please don't abandon me. I would do anything. She practically tossed her dignity aside and begged Nikita. Yet, facing Anfiya's vulnerability, Nikita seemed to only become even more distant.

"How could you have done anything wrong? You're too impressive."
...Aren't we friends?
Mocking smiles spread onto everybody's faces like a disease. "Aren't you amazing? Who are we to be your friends?"

No insult or violence. Anfiya was simply, once again, thrown back into that sterile room, losing all connections. It was a long time later when she finally learned that had been a plan Nikita conceived all along. The woman had never been sincere from the beginning; her only goal was to make things hot for Anfiya so as to root out this misfit.

"Your ability to speak will deteriorate if you keep staying silent."
It still hurts a lot to recall these words, but in order to keep at it, Anfiya chose to converse with the Chaos Remains in the incubators instead, though needless to say, she couldn't get any response.

However, one day, a Chaos Remain lightly tapped the glass with its tentacle after Anfiya was done talking. She took it to be a coincidence at first, but as time passed, she noticed that it would indeed react differently to the things she said.
For the second time, an invisible thread linked her with the world, and right when she bordered on a mental breakdown, she finally heard their "voices."

The night before leaving Ironworks IX, Anfiya smashed the incubator open, asking, "Are you willing to leave with me? If not, you can leave by yourself too."
Its tentacle gently touched her, and then it wormed its way into the box beside her, lying contentedly in it as if it knew this was its future home.
"May I call you White Birch?"
White Birch's tentacle wiggled up and down, mimicking a human's nod.
Anfiya hugged White Birch's box tightly, having found a friend at last.