Riel ended up inviting the twin sisters to the house, but…

“What do I do? I allowed them in, but I have zero experience with visitors. Do I offer them something? Coffee? Tea? Cookies? Arrghh!!”

He didn’t know what to do. He was at the kitchen thinking hard, but even with an overclocked brain, he couldn’t really decide. Not wanting to keep the twins waiting, he decided to just directly ask them.

“Umm, what do you guys want? Coffee or Tea?”

“Coffee!”

“Tea!”

The twins raised their hands, but their answers turned out different. Riel’s mouth opened agape and after a second, a “huh?” emerged out of it.

“Well, just so you know, I only have instant coffees and teas. Don’t expect this to be superb-tasting.”

He then went ahead and prepared two cups. He didn’t know anything about teas, but since his sister would sometimes buy some, he would end up drinking a cup or two. He never liked the taste of tea, that’s why he didn’t expect that one of the twins would be into it.

“I guess each individual is really different from the other, huh?”

He scratched his head as he finished preparing. After a few seconds of staring at the cups, he decided that it was fine to serve it to his visitors.

“Here ya go.”

“Thanks!”

“Thank you...”

[Even when they are showing their gratitude, they still act differently. How can twins be so similar, yet, so different?]

He only just met them. In fact, it hasn’t even been an hour, but he already knows who is who based on their behaviors and personality. Of course, Riel isn’t arrogant enough to tell himself that he already knows them enough, but anyone would figure out who is who based on the obvious.

[I guess I’ll just bring cookies.]

He certainly has more to offer, but Riel is the very definition of Sloth. He didn’t want to get something that is even the tiniest bit away from him. Since the cookies were the closest to him, he decided to just get it and share it to the two regardless of their preference. He went ahead to the living room in order to greet the twins with his cookies.

“So, why did the two of you come to visit me? Surely it isn’t just to thank me for what happened a long, long time ago.”

Riel decided to be the first one to say something.

“We wanted to be friends with the one who gave us our names.”

Said the outgoing sister. She was followed by the more passive one afterward.

“W-we want to know more about you.”

“Seriously? That’s all? Wait, how did you even figure out where I live?”

But the two couldn’t answer right away. The sisters looked at each other as if they were talking with the other on their minds.

“It’s a secret!”

Said Runa.

“Huuuhh? You can’t say it? Surely you didn’t do anything illegal, right?”

“*failed whistle, failed whistle*”

“Oyy Runa, Making a failed attempt at whistling won’t get you anywhere. It only makes you more suspicious.”

“Aha! Calling us by names already? You’re a bold one.”

“Huh? How the heck am I supposed to refer to you otherwise? Calling you by your last name would be disastrous.”

“You got me! Tehee!”

…

…

“This cookie…. Is delicious.”

The one who broke the banter was Luna who appeared satisfied.

“I’m glad you liked it.”

Said Riel.

“What cookies are these?”

Asked Runa

“It’s a no-frills cookie. It’s plain as you can see. Although cheap, It tastes quite good.”

Riel explained, but he knew that he was already getting sidetracked.

[Damn, these two are good at distracting me.]

“Getting back to the topic at hand, how did you find out where I live? I deserve an honest answer, don’t you think? If you’re not going to answer, then I’ll have to kick you out of here.”

Despite still being nervous, and despite not knowing how to properly act in front of his visitors, he decided to abandon appearances and be frank as much as possible. He had been living a life of solitude while caged at home, he couldn’t think of any proper way that they may have used in finding him. Which means they might have used some kind of connection to find him. He didn’t like the thought of being watched without him knowing.

“R-Runa…. What do we do? H-he looks angry…”

The worried Luna clung to her sister as she asked about their move.

“I guess we’ll just have to tell him.”

The twin’s nod to each other signaled that they had made a decision.

“We are lucky that we didn’t need to do anything more to find you.”

“What do you mean by that, Runa?”

“We simply searched through the hospital’s data and found out where your sister lived.”

But Riel wasn’t convinced.

“How did you figure out that she was my sister?”

“According to papa, you told him your name.”

“No no no. That still doesn’t make sense. I don’t remember telling that idio- your father my last name.”

Luna decided to be the one to enlighten the confused Riel

“Umm...T-the hospital records… It had several questions. On one of the questions, she was asked about what she likes.”

But only multiple question marks appeared on Riel’s head. It took a while for him to realize something.

“Don’t tell me…”

Runa was who resumed the conversation.

“Yes. Your sister wrote “Riel” on it.”

Riel casually looked at the direction of her sister’s room with a death stare,

[I’ll make sure to interrogate you about this later. Why the hell are hospitals even asking their patients those pointless questions?]

but the twin sisters caught on quick.

“So, you really did want to forget about us.”

With a disappointed look on her face, Runa said these words. She resumed speaking,

“What exactly did we do for you to hate us this much?”

But Riel replied with another question.

“What exactly did I do for you to look up to me this much?”

Luna stayed quiet while clinging to her sister’s arms while Runa felt disrespected by what Riel did.

“Answering a question with another question. Nevermind. I guess you were really just forced to name us, after all.”

But just as Runa was standing up, Riel spoke once more.

“I wasn’t in any way forced to name you. In fact, I could have refused your father. But you know, as a 6-year-old child, I’d answer anyone who asked me anything so long as I have an idea.”

He continued,

“I was there when the two of you was officially named. And I saw your father happily smile. He was even crying tears of joy. but ever since I was young, I had nearly no self-confidence. As I grew older, I realized that what I did to you two was something that I should feel ashamed about. I gave you such unique names that you would normally only find in fantasy stories. I can’t help but wonder: Will those two be able to live normal lives? Won’t they get bullied? If they end up living lonely lives, it’ll be my fault. All because of some stupid names that I came up with.”

After what Riel said, a soft, crying voice could be heard.

“H-hey, why is Luna crying?”

Riel asked a question that made him look and sound dumb. At that point, no one would blame the sisters if one of them would go and slap him, but Runa decided to be civilized.

“In case you haven’t gotten a clue yet, we LOVE our names. Did you know? Nobody else in the world has the same names as us. We don’t take that negatively. We never once thought that our names are so ugly that no one would use them. The reason that we are still the sole owner of our names is all thanks to you and papa. It’s because nobody is creative enough to think like you and no one is strong enough to name their children differently like what papa did. After all, people like being one with the crowd. Those who traverse a different path would be considered outcasts of society and will be bullied to death. But as you can see, we love our names. Instead of looking at it negatively, we look at it the positive way. Because our names are so unique, teachers have an easier time remembering us. It’s also easier to make friends because our classmates are always curious as to where our names came from and would ask us about it the moment they get the chance. No one has ever bullied us before. Those who would pick a fight because of our names are probably just jealous. No one has ever said that our names are ugly. Being unique won’t automatically make you a target of discrimination. It all depends on what kind of ‘Unique’ we are talking about. There are always two sides to the same coin.”

Riel couldn’t really fight back anymore after hearing that speech.

“Sigh, I give up. Worrying about the things I did in the past was never correct in the first place. I was only thinking about myself, too. I never thought about how you guys may have felt.”

Riel gave his honest words, but it looked like he had something more to say. He couldn’t really look the twins in the eye, and he also didn’t have the courage to shout it out loud and make it sound like he is proud, but even with his eyes looking down, even with his hands which were trembling out of nervousness, he spoke in a gentle voice and in a kind tone. He let out a voice that contained a tinge of happiness. He said:

“I’m glad to have named the two of you. And I’m glad that you liked the names that I gave you. I’m sorry for being ashamed of it. Honestly, hearing your names not by my own mouth; they sounded beautiful. But I have social anxiety, so rather than being judged by another, I often negatively judge myself first so that it won’t hurt me anymore if somebody else says something bad about me. It’s my own kind of self-defense.”

The Luna who had been crying entered the scene with words of her own. With a voice so soft, and with a gentle and reserved smile on her face.

“We love our names. So please, don’t call it stupid anymore.”

“Yeah. I won’t call your beautiful names stupid anymore. Honestly, now that I think about it, isn’t it kind of dumb to fight over something such as names?”

Was what came out of Riel’s mouth this time, but he wanted to say something more just in case the twins end up misinterpreting him.

“Well, names are worth fighting for. After all, they are the first gifts that we receive upon entering this world. They are what identifies us. The names that we receive is a big part of what makes us, us. Why didn’t I realize it before?”

“It isn’t that you didn’t realize it before, but you were too focused on mocking yourself. You were trying to deny yourself too much. You kept judging yourself, and since you were the one who named us, you ended up hurting us, too. Just please remember. Even if you’re used to the pain, somebody else is hurt when you hurt yourself.”

It felt natural for Runa to be saying those things to Riel, but Riel felt like he was being lectured by someone much older than him. He just needed to get it out of his system.

“Why am I getting lectured by a bunch of 16-year-olds? I’m a fully functional member of society, you know? I’m an adult. But yeah, I admit. I’m still too immature.”

He stood up; facing the twins with his head held high. He slowly stretched his hand forward as if to reach the twins, and finally, he asked

“Would you be willing to be my friends, please?”

The Luna who recently stopped crying went to answer him first with a mild expression and with slightly flushed cheeks.

“*Nods* I’m happy to be your friend.”

It took quite a while before their hands parted ways. It was as if they were cherishing every bit of moment that they were connected, but

“Surely you haven’t forgotten about me?”

Runa was growing impatient.

“R-right. It is nice to be your friend, Runa.”

“Well, I guess that’s it for now. We originally came here only to say hi and to ask you to be our friend. We will be coming back again soon!”

Riel didn’t have any qualms about anything, but he needed to make a remark

“Just please don’t visit too often.”

“I.. I promise, we won’t be a burden to you! So please, let us visit!”

Luna suddenly went persuasive mode. She still had her cute, soft voice and her meek expressions, but she sounded like she put every bit of her strength in her words. Runa on the other hand,

“Aha! So we’re really just a bother to you?!”

Riel was taken aback by their response, but it was his fault for not being clear about it.

“R-relax, both of you. I just don’t want my neighbors gossiping about two cute teenage girls visiting me often. I wouldn’t say I’m living a good life, but I sure am living a peaceful life. I don’t want my already tarnished reputation to be destroyed even further.”

“W-what exactly did you do that your reputation got tarnished even before the gossips about us starts?”

Runa asked with a doubting stare, but Riel didn’t want to answer as of the moment.

“We can leave that for later, right? Now, go, go. Shoo shoo!”