"I didn't expect that you two would like the play so much…" flustered, Reina let out.

"Ahahaha… It was also unexpected for us."

I almost forgot what I did for the past few minutes. My body tensed up, and so did my face. On my unconscious applause, I wasn't able to make out of the expression I was wearing, or rather, I didn't know what face I should have. Was I smiling, was I crying, was I pained, was I happy; it did not matter as I myself did not know.

My lips are still trembling, and my heart was still palpitating.

"Are you going to stay for a bit, Ringo-nee, Yuka? I'll have to go to the restroom."

"We'll wait, take your time."

It was the opportune moment for Rin and me to exchange our like thoughts.

"I shouldn't have taken it for granted, Gin… There was a reason why I wasn't able to see Reina's brother from her memories even knowing how much she was fond of him…"

"In the way that Reina was telling about him, I thought that they were just the coincidences linked to her, but it was an entirely separate thing.

He knows. He knows that we are going to be here."

"Don't you think… he planned this all out just to meet you?"

"Hahaha… One thing that we don't have in common is how flashy he made his introduction. Flashy that is, but he did not stand out as much as I thought."

"So… did you see who among them Reina’s brother was?"

"The guy with the white hair."

"I figured… he did look very normal appearance-wise. Is it possible that his hair was also natural?"

As I was about to respond, I sensed Reina coming back and prompted to stand.

"Only he can tell.

Reina? Is it possible to meet your brother right now?"

A question mark sprouted from her head in the middle of a stolid expression that did not show any concern at all.

"I think… that would be fine? I would also like to congratulate him too! He is probably on a green room right now," she started on her steps and so we followed.

"Are you really allowed to do this, Reina?" Rin asked, just out of curiosity.

"I usually do this when I watch his plays. I also used to drop him off some food.

Also, he himself asked me to give you the tickets, so he probably wants to meet you too."

After an exchange of texts, Reina found herself by the door of a waiting room as told by his brother. Thus, Reina knocked a few times and opened the door.

"Yuka…! Congrats on another successful play!"

"Hahaha, thanks. We have loaded fries, want some?"

"Yes! But anyway-"

It was a sight that can't grow old. The wave and the dance of his pure white hair definitely stood out as he rose from his seat. No buts, no hesitations, he walked until he was in front of me, and indirectly, we both scanned the small differences in our height.

"I'm Kuroko Nijisaki, it's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Sakato," and then we shook hands as we both acted as if this was just a formality, "Thank you for such a wonderful story," he added.

"Ahahaha, if anything, I could have sued you for using my story without any form of license and plagiarizing it."

As I greatly expected, the other people inside the room turned their heads to us, but at the same time, the two of us just burst out in laughter.

"Ahh… that was a good laugh… Sorry for worrying you, Reina. I'm just kidding around with your brother."

"Hahahaha, don't take him seriously, Rei."

"Ohh, so that's how you call her! I call my girlfriend 'Rin' from 'Ringo.'"

"Well yeah, I know that already, duh."

"How did they even hit it off so quickly…" thought the female pair of coincidences.

He paused for second and then put his hands together for loud clap.

"Good work today and as always, but can you guys please leave the room for a sec? I just have some things to discuss with my visitors. No worries, we were really just joking around earlier."

Thus the performers left without a hint of reluctance.

"But still, a copyright is a copyright, man."

"At least I didn't show your embarrassing entries from your journals."

"Right, you have a point. Anyway, I have a lot of questions."

"Sure."

"How come you saw my memories without me knowing? Have you entered my cognitive realm?"

"First, I dunno. Second, I have not but it was through long dreams. To answer them both, the only guess I have is that we both have a greatly 'encrypted' mind. It just so happened that the coinciding persona will have access to the original's memories, right?"

"Well, yes, but some things still don't make sense."

"Hmm, then maybe… the reason why you were able to recognize Ginji Satoshi was because in the midst of the same wavelengths, there is still something different."

"You seem to have everything analyzed at this point… Have you come to a concrete conclusion?"

"You really ask that when we both think that it is unlikely that we'll have a straight answer on our same questions."

"Hahh, apples… it really feels like I'm talking to myself."

«On the other hand, Rin has settled on a chair beside Reina, watching the two men exchange words.»

"Umm, what is actually going on right now, Ane…"

"Huh, knowing that you are a coincidence, I expected that you would just shrug off this kind of thing at this point."

"What do you even mean by that…" she pouted.

"Well, long story short, your brother actually plagiarized Potato's story."

"Eh?! S-S-So this entire play… Panik…!!!"

"Hey, kalm. That's technically the case, but have you ever heard of someone plagiarizing someone's literal life?

Even I was surprised at first in the middle of watching the play earlier, but I've had moments like this in the past few years so I can adjust on stuff fast. I'll get you straight, Reina, your brother is the same as you—a coincidence, but of Gin's existence."

"W-What?! How did you know?"

"It was dead obvious from the very beginning. Except for a few additions instead of revisions, the play itself embodies Gin's memories spot on. On the part where the character held the knife, for instance, the words he uttered are exactly the same as Gin said, or at least that's how I saw it earlier.

But to be honest, there's no point dwelling on that, okay? If he is a coincidence, then so be it, we don't have to be so serious about it."

"Then…

Would you like some loaded fries, Ane?"

"My, that's what I wanted to hear. Thank you my dear~"

…

"So once again, my name is Kuroko Nijisaki and I am indeed Rei's brother."

After a nod, Rin let out, "Sounds like it was derived from 'black?' Gin's name means 'silver' anyway."

"Yes, I've thought of that too."

"Then what? Someone with the name 'Shiro' (not Nagi's Shiro) is going to appear or something?"

"If it's going to be a dog, then I would really be surprised, Yuka Gin."

"…

Heyyo! She's actually joking like Rin now!"

But after a few laughs, I cleared my throat and continued the convers- Why are there so many loaded fries here…?

"Is your hair from natural birth… and what should I call you?"

"Well, you really can't call me Kuro so just call me by my name… but I originally had black hair just like anyone, or at least that's what I can remember."

"Oh?"

"Anyway, Rei has already heard the story of my childhood but I'll try to be detailed. It probably also roots as to why I became a coincidental persona of you even though I'm older by two years.

So first… I'm actually an adopted child."

In any case, that fact truly surprised me. And somehow, Rin tapped my back with a finger and pointed her other hand on her eyes.

"So you just noticed."

"Seems like you two are talking about my eyes, but just like how Gin had a traumatic time when he was five, my childhood was also bleak because of these eyes. As you can see, they are red in color which is if not uncommon, it is unique.

Red eyes are usually associated with fictional figures like a vampire. Because of that belief, I used to get called a monster and my parents eventually abandoned me. What do you know, I got sold for quite a sum. And yes, that kind of things still exists, but I don't really want to go deep in the society.

I basically thought that I was just an existence meant to be discriminated. Just like how Hiroomi Katsuto and Sean Hickory were in their childhood, I was also gravely abused. That being said, I also broke down very early in my life as I've experienced distortion several times. I am pretty much on the category of an Exile."

"Oh, right, do you now understand the concept of Exiles, Reina?" asked Rin.

"So Yuka Gin really is an Exile?"

"Correct," and then I turned back to Kuroko.

"'Your hair is going to whiten early,' is a saying for people who get too much stress especially at an early age like in adolescence and adulthood. To make things worse, my hair whited out because of that very reason and it has never turned back. People feared me so I was thrown away as a homeless kid, but thankfully I was found by Rei's parents who apparently had thought they were infertile. But Rei is here so all is well.

To this day, I still can't show how grateful I was for taking a child home from the side of the road regardless of my appearance.

What is a family; I realized so late. We both did not know how to value life and the people who had always took care of us, and I think that we will both have regrets that we won't be able to redeem even at the ends of our lives.

But at least, the title of that play was an original of mine because we exist in this world but we succumbed to despair and lost control, yet in the midst of that we were able to find hope, and now we are both living, not surviving.

That is basically my story."

"G wasn't very fine when he realized all of those things. How about you?"

"For one, Ginji came from a normal childhood unlike the two of us. It was as easy as downing a glass of water for me, so no worries. For him, it was like bottoms up straight from a bottle of spirit."

"Glad to know."

"But I guess I shall continue now that we're on the topic. When was it, November 2018? I was already working as a writer by that time but I was still always ill. Most likely right after you two realized each of your existence, I immediately began to see your memories, although slowly. When it felt like I have graduated from my frail body, I immediately set out to travel on some parts of the world with studying cultures to further my writing as a pretense when I was actually attempting to conduct a qualitative study about our case. But I have actually been aware of this phenomenon earlier than that when I found some clues just like the book I recommended to my sister, but all my research ended with just clues. I didn't have any conclusion.

I believe the case that was written on the book, but it was made around the 19th century and I don't think historians would bother to care about it. So of course there poses so many questions.

Is it a 'nonsense' that started because of Eijiro Kurogane or was it because his unconscious has established an incredible connection towards you even when seeing you as a newborn? For what reason did this actually happen? Is it objective or subjective? We really don't know. There may be questions we have already answered but we really can't grasp the fundamentals."

"Actually, we may never reach a conclusion even if we think illogically."

"I agree. But really, it's probably relevant yet a little irrational that everything that has happened to us including my sister and your girlfriend are just instances of coincidences just like any other."

"If anything, I am probably the most irrational person in this room."

"Haha, in many ways, I suppose.

But with that said, I really just wanted to lure you in this play to meet you. I've been waiting for this moment for a while and it really is fascinating that my life actually reflected from yours. It's just another bizarre thing that has been added to this world."

"As long as we do not clash against each other's way of life, everything is fine; but not like that's actually going to happen."

"Yes, you are way worse of a human than me, Gin."

He did not show a hint of mincing his words. It was a statement uttered on a very calm and gentle tone, but I know that he meant what he said, and it is the truth. I may be a coincidence of Eijiro's life, but I diverged from that and look what happened to me now. I am basically an utter mess right now.

"Do you still have any agenda after this, Kuroko?"

"We plan to go home immediately. I've done my part on this one-time event so I'll be back to my usual job and rest a bit."

"If you have time to spare tonight, maybe we could grab a drink or something?"

"Just us? Your friends don't drink, right?"

"Hmm, I guess just us two."

"It's probably better to just stay in your house. Is Haku a cat right now?"

"We can't see him right now so he's a Schrodinger's cat with variables as cat and not cat."

"Oh, that's a good one."

Admittedly, it's true that I am a worse human than he is, as said already, but in some sense aside from that, he couldn't be worse than me. Or perhaps, he has better perception than me.

Maybe he was born with a naturally fast processing mind, while correlating intelligence to that is another story. Then add a fragment of my existence, and he is now one with an absolutely powerful mind.

He was able to take in more than fifteen years' worth of memories that no normal person can withstand without taking much of a blow and he was able to adapt himself too quickly in the midst of reading through communicative factors. Kuroko's sense of awareness is frighteningly uncanny.

I just hope that he would not want to surface himself to this world.

▪ ▪ ▪

Cold winter, mixed feelings. It was not really the greatest way to travel on the road back home. But regardless, we're safe. And as if that was not enough, the evening has gotten even colder even without the snowfall. The roads are still wet and perhaps slippery, but it was a quiet and clear night.

"Ahh, thanks for having me."

"Sure thing. Get inside quick or else you'll freeze. Wait, you shouldn't have bothered bringing something."

"Uwaahh, your kotatsu is packed. Of course you'll be here first. Hi, Haku."

"H-Hi…?"

"Don't mind him, cat. He knows too much things."

"I see."

"Do you like dried anchovies?"

"Why, yes of course, mister! I like them toasted when I'm in this form."

"Good to know."

This might actually be the first time I've gone drinking under the kotatsu especially on this cold of a weather. At least, it really warms you up.

"So, got a girlfriend, Kuroko?"

"That was so sudden… but not yet. Still finding the right person. But would you think Ringo is the right person for you?"

"Is there actually such a right person for a guy like me logically?"

"I guess that depends on how people see it~

But any progress on your proposal?"

"So we go there already, huh…"

"Well, you're probably the only person in this world that is unfazed by that."

"Hahh… But to answer, I don't really know how I should propose to her later down the line. I'm not actually considering it if things will still go well between us. I don't even know what career she's going to take after graduating. We really don't talk about future stuff though."

"Of course even you can't, but you are set on this one, right?"

"I've already started saving some time ago."

"Sheesh, you're too patient and eager just the same. I know that your high school days were a colorful one, but you ought to do more things aside from working. That's an advice I can give you as your senpai in life.

Let's go fishing sometimes. You might like it."

"That actually sounds good… I might actually capture a shark for real."

"This is the one time where you should be logical about bodies of water. Just go donate a thousand Laxes to Gura or something."

"So you actually watch her streams!"

"Well of course. Being you doesn't mean I have the same interests, but this one is a different coincidence.

So on three…"

"a"

"Pfft… Just a sec, I'll bring out some hot sake."

"Ohhh, first time having that."

"Same as me. Anyway, you still good?"

"I've seen worse days with producers. You're the embodiment of a moderate drinker so we'll be fine."

"I don't know how this is going to taste so let's just down this…"

"Yeah…

To live and to hope."

"To live and to hope."