It is said that once one has known sweetness, the world without it becomes unbearably tasteless.

For Faust, that sweetness had always taken the form of photography.

The future flows ever backward, slipping seamlessly into the present before decaying into the past. A lamentable truth—that time that goes by never returns.

But through a camera’s lens, she could trap fragments—frozen moments suspended in crystal, sealed inside the timeless vault of her heart, untouched by the passing everyday.

Was it not human nature to wish for the eternal presence of that which they cherished? To keep it all within arm’s reach?

…Thus, Faust did not scorn herself.

She serenely accepted that, at some indiscernible point in time, you too had become one of her ‘cherished’ things—no different from the act of pressing the shutter and stealing a piece of time.

It was truly unbecoming of one who possessed such vast knowledge, of a mind that saw the world with such perfect clarity, to act in this way.

Despite that—no, especially because of it—her brain did not bother to resist the path her heart had decided to chart.

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"I would like you to serve as a model for my club."

Those were the words that had fallen out of Faust's mouth after you had become acquainted with her. At best, they were not an apt expression of the emotions she felt. And at worst, they were partially falsehood.

She could have claimed that this was the photography club's latest project; to capture the image of a fellow classmate. But that would be obvious fabrication.

She could have said that this was the club leader's order, and that she was only following the words of her senior. But that would be blatant deceit.

She could have feigned obliviousness, as if her only motivation was a sense of artistic inspiration. But...

The truth was far simpler.

'I want to take pictures of you, and only you.'

In the end, it came down to her selfish desire—to lock away your image within her heart, frozen in time, so that she could keep you by her side forevermore.