Coincidence.

What does that even mean?

A series of random actions that happen to be connected to each other

Or is it something unseen guiding seemingly unrelated things together,

Why can’t I recall anything before waking up in that house?

Why did I meet Omari?

Why did I go to Soterra and get as involved as I did?

Why did I see Lyra’s brother go into the same house I woke up in?

Why can I even see these things?

How is it all connected?

These thoughts lingered in my mind for the rest of day,

After Sir Giichi and Claude finished explaining everything we needed to know, we were formerly signed in as members of the adventure’s guild.

‘Why did things turn out like this?’ was what I thought when we were given our own individual rooms,

‘What were the odds of me making it here?’ I thought when Claude and his sister toured us through the Institute,

The more I get closer to my truth the more questions get placed in my way,

………

(Maybe.)

………

“If you think too much your head will explode Kage,”

“Karina?

You do know we have our own rooms now, right?”

“I’m checking up on you, you have been out of it this whole day,”

“I was thinking things over, also Giichi sir said he wouldn’t tell us more about the ‘artifact’ until he could fully trust us, so there is not much I should be doing right now besides thinking of what to do next.”

“Giichi is quite an ‘interesting’ old man,” Karina comments

“He is incredibly sporadic, one moment he’ll be mature and listening then he’ll suddenly start acting like an eccentric old man,

Kind of reminds me of you Kage,” she sidles up next to me on my bed,

“You’re saying I’m an old man?”

“Sometimes I think you are,

Then you act like a lost child other times,

Like now,”

“I’m just trying to piece everything together in my head,”

“You know coincidences do exist right Kage?

Just because an eccentric old man said you sort of resemble a man, who we are not one hundred percent sure to be Apollo’s father, does not mean you have to spiral into infinite confusion,”

“I know it does, but knowing my history with coincidences I have to overthink it Karina,

Do you know how lost I feel, how lost I’ve been feeling, since….”

“How about you change what you’re thinking about then,” Karina whispers soothingly,

“Giichi is going to show me, well us, a full map of this ring tomorrow, so if anything, we can always start making plans to go somewhere else, I am still not sold on the whole ‘Sweepstake city’ aesthetic,”

“Ring?”

(Have I heard that term before)

“What about it?” she rests her head down on me,

“Nothing, I forget that’s what the earth is called”

…….

Hey there you♪

Looking for a brighter season♪

Need to lay a burden down♪

Hey there you♪

Drowning in a helpless feeling♪

Enchanting vocals pulsate throughout the rustic walls of the institute, catching my attention,

“Saito, I think he’s called, who’s playing that,

I have yet to meet him and ask how he does that,”

“He is using a ‘sound diamond’ obviously,” Karina yawns

“How do you know?”

“I used one when I operated club Hedon, back in Soterra,”

“How does the music get into to the diamond then?”

“Sound is a general magic, anyone can learn it and imbue it into diamonds,”

“I thought that was it was a special attribute like what you had?”

“The sound magic I had was different, as it was attribute based, I could do more with mine besides the ability to create sounds like its ‘general’ counterpart,”

“Where do you get the songs from to play?”

“I don’t know, most music-sound diamonds are found with songs already in them, it’s said that people put them there a long time ago, from a past civilization,

I do know however that magic can travel from gem to gem once they are still in the earth itself, so that’s how the music got spread around,”

(Music that lasts eternally)

“I never noticed the music at club Hedon actually,” I reply,

“They were more subtle than the ones played here,”

“Ahh club Hedon,” Karina reminisces, yawning again,

“Simpler time it was back then was, till you had to ruin it,”

“I was trying to save the people from themselves,”

“Intoxication, euphoria and lust, they were happy Kage, even if artificially,”

“Then can you really call that happiness Karina?”

“I don’t know, but the pain I felt when I saw it all burn in front of me, was definitely not artificial,

Question Kage,

If losing something makes you feel sadness,

Then, the thing you lost,

Doesn’t that mean it made you feel happy?”

“……

I’m going to bed now Karina,”

“Wait, one more thing,

You remember, what you did when I was crying, when I thought I lost everything that day?”

“I hugged you?”

“Kage…….

Could you do it again?”

****

“Can you stop doing that Kage.”

“Doing what, Lyra” I dazedly reply to the girl,

“Zoning out when someone is talking, I am really starting to get tired of that,”

“I was making note of the area, we are not familiar with the city, so I have to take an account of everything I see,”

“Well make notes to me Kage, you do not always have to talk everything with yourself, I am right here,”

“You usually get angry when I tell you anything,”

“Well, that’s because you only ever talk to me when it is to make snarky remarks,”

“I make regular remarks, you’re just a bit soft,”

“I’m a woman… we are more sensitive with things like that,”

“Nice try Lyra, Karina isn’t like that at all, don’t try to drag all women down with you-

-aww!” Lyra stamps her heel on my foot,

“See what I mean!” I hop around gripping my foot,

“Would you two behave,” Claude barks,

“We are in a public area, you’re making the guild look bad,”

“I thought you said this was the good part of town,” Lyra jeers

“It is to us,” Claude answers, walking in front of us with his sister, Amelia, who rarely says anything to anyone but him,

He was supposed to show the five us around what he described to be the ‘better parts’ of Sweepstake city, but Apollo stayed back at the guild to talk more with Giichi about his mother and father, Pinoki and Karina have already disappeared off on their own somewhere, so all that was left was Lyra and me.

“There are still battles here, but not as much as you would find anywhere else in the city,” Claude is explaining…….

Though, not to extent of how Murdoc made Soterra there is a certain level of cordiality and peacefulness here, even the designs here contrasts that of the majority city,

The white moss-covered colonial bricks, that support most buildings, the calm trees that sway cheerfully in the midday breeze,

Rarely people would greet us, but when they did it felt somewhat refreshing, I have already gotten used to nonchalant crowds of Furlheim, after being here for only a few days,

(Claude is not wrong about thi-)

“Claude is not wrong about this being a much less hectic area of Sweepstake,” I remember to talk to Lyra,

“There are a lot less vendors here as well,” Lyra replies, slightly pleased that I didn’t keep my thought to myself this time,

“This is basically our territory,” Claude listening in to Lyra I,

“The guild that is,

Since the ‘Sweep’ is effectively run by its people, every faction has unofficially taken control of their own area, this being ours,

You can see by the older building designs here, this is some of the last remnants of how Furlheim city was,”

“Do you like it here?” I ask

“It may look bad to newcomers like you, but this is a really nice place, once you get used to constant battle for wealth and supremacy,” Claude assures

“I may not have said this yet, but the hunters were actually a faction born from under the adventurer’s guild,

We used to have more members just a few years ago, but some got unhappy with us being a neutral faction, they wanted to be the dominant power, so the split off, creating their own group, slowly amassing influence,

Now they mean to surpass us by any means,”

“You look like you aren’t that old Claude, so why are you acting so passionate about what basically is just your job,”

“It is not just my job,” Claude scoffs,

“Amelia and I are twins, and besides each other our only family is the guild,

Before that we used to live in these very streets,”

“She speaks less than even Kage,” Lyra eyes a quiet Amelia holding on to her brother’s hand,

“Amelia isn’t much of talker when it comes to anyone other than me and Sir, Giichi,”

…….

“Beautiful,” I whisper,

“hah? Lyra stumbles back awkwardly

“I just realized how beautiful this place, can be,

The mix of people here, it feels like one big pot of different cultures mixed together”,

“Is this what you usually talk to yourself about, Kage?” Lyra chortles

“Not usually,

You said I should talk to you instead of thinking everything to myself,”

“Yes, but can’t you find a more normal way to say things,”

“More normal?

As we were walking through the city, I noticed the diverse mix of people here,

I reiterated my thoughts on it to you thereafter,

What do you mean make it normal?”

“Sometimes I feel like you’re a child, Kage,” Lyra groans

“Karina told me something similar, funny enough,”

“What were you saying about you and your sister again, Claude?” Lyra ignores my remark

“Nothing, just that the guild was our only family,”

“What happened to your real family?” she presses,

“Our parents, if that’s what you mean, they’re both dead,

Died ten years ago, when-”

“-Ten years ago?”

(Around that same time didn’t Lyra lose her parents too?

Karina, Pinoki, Zinnia, Darius,

Soterra became the Holy city ten years ago as well)

I look at Claude and his sister as he is telling his story,

(What are the chances that I would meet someone like him,)

“Ten year ago?” Lyra is talking

“That’s a coincidence-”