"I don't know."
"...You don't know?"
Noah raised an eyebrow.
"Not even a small guess?"
Akari shook her head.
"No."
Her gaze drifted toward the distant forest as though recalling something from long ago.
"When I first discovered that platform, I also thought it might have something to do with escaping this place. The strange carvings, those red crystals, the stone pillars... everything about it seemed unnatural."
She paused briefly.
"I investigated it many times during my first few years here. I tried sending mana into the platform and the crystals. I examined the markings and searched the surrounding area for anything that might activate it."
"And nothing happened?"
"Nothing."
Akari shook her head again.
"For more than sixty years, that platform has remained exactly the same. Eventually, I stopped wasting my time trying to understand it."
Noah nodded slowly.
"I see..."
Yet his expression remained thoughtful.
"But I still feel like there's more to it."
