“Wait!” the Purplebud woman said, bringing both the Alnea’s attention to herself. The eagerness in her voice… it was slightly different from before. Yet, it was not her voice, but her face, that had long reigned in its smirk with a slight furrow in her brows, which garnered most of their attention. “You two are still talking about resolving the differences between you, right?”

  “…Why do you think we will answer your doubts?” Alnea said, using the chance to return the smirk that the woman had given him a few moments ago, only for his red robed self to answer for the woman, saving her from embarrassment.

  “Well, she did answer all your questions, and even helped you in understanding your situation…”

  “…That’s because it suited her purpose.”

  “And how does that make a difference? She still helped you out of your dilemma.”

  “…Why are you helping her?”

  “Is it not a man’s honour to help a lady in distress?”

  “Distress? Her?”

  “Just look at the frown marring her lovely face.”

  “…First of all, I am not interested on how her face is. And more importantly, even if she is in distress, so what? She is still our enemy.”

  “…That may be so, but—

  “I know, I know, she helped you by giving you the opportunity to come out. You have said it twice already.”

  “Have I?”

  “…Is that what you should be focussing on right now?”

  “…I guess not.”

  “Seriously, I do not how you managed to rescue that Star Seeker girl…”

  “With my efforts and perseverance, of course.”

  “…Forget it. We were not talking about anything important anyway, so I might as well clear her confusion rather than waste my time with you,” Alnea said, waving his hands, before turning towards the Purplebud woman, ready to clear her doubts. But his words seemed to have made her even more confused than before. Enough for it to show on her face. Not much, of course. Just a hint at the corner of her eyes, and a slight downward curve to her lips. Yet, that alone was enough to uplift Alnea, both, Red and Black.

  “Go ahead, ask what you want,” Alnea said, allowing the waves of happiness in his Heart to infect his words, only to remember that the woman in front of him was still his enemy. “But do not try to push your luck. Although you did answer all my questions, I am sure that it was to further your own purpose, and not out of goodwill. Still, as long as you do not try to peek into my secrets, I will try my best to answer you.”

  “…Though I may be curious about your stories, especially after all that I heard just now, I know my limits,” the Purplebud woman said, restraining the emotions showing on her face. “And to be honest, I never thought that you would even consider answering my doubts. But now that you have made your offer—

  “Is it too late to take back that offer?”

  “There are quite a few things I want to know. Like how did you meet your other self before I brought you here, or what did it have to do with Amira stabbing you? And you also said something about Black and White when discussing about Red and Black. That seemed awfully similar to be just a coincidence, or a pun. Do you have access to a Fortune Spring similar to this place?

  “Then there is the way you have been talking with your other self. Almost as if he is a completely different person. You even blamed him for all your misfortunes, saying that he brought the curse of his name to you… What is that about? Is your name… Is your Fate really cursed? And what did your other self mean when he said that you were incomplete? Is that the reason why the Great Elder seems to be so interested in you? Or the reason why your other self is so different from mine?”

  “…Great job, idiot,” Alnea said to his red robed self. “Now she knows all our secrets.”

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  “How is that my fault? You were the one who suddenly began talking about all those things.”

  “And you responded by revealing even more secrets. Why did you not stop when you noticed her there?”

  “What do you mean notice her? She has been there the whole time.”

  “Stop giving excuses.”

  “That is not an excuse. It is the truth. The only one here giving excuses is you.”

  “I—

  “Enough,” the Purplebud woman said, drawing the attention of the boys back to herself. “Though I do not mind you two arguing, at least let me finish first.”

  “…You have even more questions?” Alnea mumbled, before glancing at his red robed self. “Maybe we should learn how to keep our mouth shut.”

  “That’s probably a good idea…”

  “…You two do not have to worry so much,” the Purplebud woman said, restraining her urge to raise her voice once again. “I know that the things I just asked touch your deepest secret. The kind that Wanderers hardly share with even the people closest to their Hearts, let alone to their enemies. As such, I never expected you to answer those questions. The only reason I even said those things was to let you know that you should be careful with your words around your enemies.”

  “…Why?”

  “…I do not know,” the Purplebud woman said after a moment of silence. “Maybe to gain your favour, maybe to lower your distrust, it does not matter. I just hope that you will not shirk the question I ask next.”

  “…I cannot give you any promise, but I will try to give you a satisfactory answer.”

  “…That is enough,” the Purplebud woman said, and paused for a few moments, organising her thoughts, before finishing her words. “When you two were talking about your choices—only those related to the Red and Black, of course, and not the other choices you talked about. When you two talked about there being many ways for you to reconcile your differences, and let the Red and Black meet, what exactly were you trying to say?”

  “…You do not know?”

  “…Is it something that I should know?”

  “…If you have already reconciled the Red and Black within you, then yes.”

  “You should know what we talked about.”

  “We even pointed out the hints.”

  “You just had to connect the dots.”

  “I thought it was obvious…”

  At first, the Purplebud woman seemed to believe the words of the two boys, turning a little pale from her ignorance. That was until she saw the smirk on their faces, and understood what they were doing.

  “…Teasing a lady is not good manners, you know?”

  “But we never said that we were good,” the red robed Alnea said, with the black robed Alnea matching his shrug.

  “We are, who we are.”

  “Alnea,” the two Alnea said in unison, saying the second part of their name in their heads. The Purplebud woman was still their enemy, after all. Leaking the secret of their Roots just to sound impressive was not worth the risk. Though, to the Purplebud woman, the way they spoke in synchronisation was already beyond her expectations.

  “…When did you two become such good friends?”

  “Friends?” the two Alnea said in unison once again, glancing at each other with a smile, before shaking their heads. “We are not friends. On the contrary, we can even be considered to be enemies. But that does not stop us from having a good understanding of each other.”

  “No one knows us better than we do.”

  “…Except for my master.”

  “…You and your obsession with your master.”

  “In a way, she is your master too, you know.”

  “…I guess you could say that. I did learn a lot from her, even if it was through your eyes and ears.”

  “So, don’t you think she is omnipotent?”

  “…She does seem to have an endless stream of means at her disposal.”

  “Right? Right? It is as if there is nothing she cannot do.”

  “…She is a Grand Wanderer, after all,” the red robed Alnea said, nodding along with the black robed Alnea, as if his words were the gospels of truth. That was until he glanced at the Purplebud woman and recalled that she was still with them. But by then, it was already too late.

  “You have a Grand Wanderer behind you?”

  “…Right, we almost forgot. You were still here.”

  “Not we, you,” Alnea said, cursing his red robed self, before turning towards the Purplebud woman. “What are you doing here anyway? I already answered your question. And you reconciled the Red and Black within you long before we came to this world.”

  “Why are you still loitering around? Do you not have anything else to do?”

  “…I liked you two better when you were still fighting.”

  “…You think we have stopped fighting?” Alnea said, and paused for a moment, before turning back to his red robed self. “How did she reconcile her two selves?”

  “Luck, I guess?” the red robed Alnea said, and laughed along with the black robed Alnea, prompting the Purplebud woman to frown at them.

  “…You two should stop teasing me, or I will get angry.”

  “There is no need to get so worked up,” the red robed Alnea said, still chuckling a little. “It was just a joke.”

  “It was the truth though…”

  “You—