✦1314✦Nanbaka✦Reverse-harem✦

♡58♡ No.413, Sakura Ranfa

Samon wanted to speak with Ranfa because he wanted to try and understand Michiyo. He felt that in order to understand Michiyo, he must first understand 'Ranfa'.

"What do you want to speak to me about, Samon-san?" 

"...just who are you?"

"I'm Sakura Ranfa." She had a strong sense of self without a doubt about it. Ranfa was certain that she was Ranfa and no one else. She doesn't see herself as another Michiyo and she certainly doesn't see herself as a clone. The same could be said about Michiyo, who was certain that she was Michiyo too. "We are one, but at the same time we are not." 

"But Michiyo merely changed her name. In a sense, you're a clone-" 

"What makes a person a person? Why are you and Musashi obsessed with chasing the idea on who is real and who is fake?" 

Samon slammed both hands on the tea table, "Because to us, there is only one Michiyo and only one Ranfa! There can't be two!" They were both in love with this one girl who carried two names. Samon couldn't accept things this way because seeing Ranfa with Musashi was like seeing his Michiyo still harboring feelings for someone else other than him. What man or woman would accept their lover's other self loving someone else?

Ranfa looked at Samon and she merely closed her eyes. "Samon-san, what gives the person an 'identity'?" 

"Huh?" 

"If Michiyo were to lose all of her memories, is she still Michiyo?" 

"Of course she is!" 

Ranfa smiled at Samon, "And if she can't remember you and start living her life like a complete reset? Is she still the Michiyo you know? If she doesn't have the same memories, feelings, and personality of the Michiyo who loved and adored you, is she still Michiyo?" 

Samon gave it some thought. If Michiyo were to lose everything now and start living with a blank slate, she's not guaranteed to love him the same way. He had heard of people who lost their memories unable to live their old life again, he couldn't deny that. "You're saying memories, feelings, and a person's personality is what gives a person their identity?" 

"I wish you and Musashi will stop seeing us as one person but as someone who are living in their own rights. She is Sen Michiyo, and I am Sakura Ranfa...we're not asking for anything much, we both just want to be with someone of our own choosing." 

Samon could understand that, but what he couldn't accept was the fact Ranfa's existence proved she couldn't let go of Musashi in the end. "You don't understand..." 

"I do understand. You're annoyed because you're seeing me as a symbolism for her feelings for Musashi. You wish I would disappear so you can have her all to yourself." Unlike Michiyo, who will be mindful of another person's feelings before speaking, Ranfa was the type who will say anything even if the truth stabbed you like a knife.

"You're wrong!" 

"You wish she could have killed me when I gave her the chance to!" 

"You're wrong!!" 

"I am right!" 

Shouting at the top of their lungs wouldn't solve a thing but they were both shouting at each other anyway. Both of them wanted something impossible from the other; Samon wished Michiyo never gave Ranfa an existence to reality, and Ranfa wished for Samon and Musashi to see them as two different people. 

"...why can't you and Musashi accept that we are different?" 

"Because you are both one person. That is a reality that can't change."