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"Do you believe in God, Jun?"
"Which one?"
Maria giggles while placing a chair down. The girl sits carelessly as if she isn't, in fact, having a conversation between the metal poles of a cell. "There's only one true God, silly."
I deem it unconstructive to unpack a discussion like that at this moment, so I respond with a swift: "Right, sorry."
"So, do you?" She presses on, and her determination makes me wonder what is there for her to gain. Perhaps time, that is what she was sent here for. Saya must be scrambling to fix what broke back there. She must be going out of her mind, buying silence and orchestrating my smooth return.
She'll have a hard time justifying my 'behavior issues', but Saya will do it, nonetheless.
Fair enough, I guess. Tainting the Syndicate's record with a suicidal teen is just unheard of.
"No, I do not."
"What, then?" She pulls the chair a bit closer to my enclosure and sits back down. "Everyone believes in something."
Maria taps her feet on the ground. The noise of her boots against the concrete is the only noise echoing in the room as she waits for my answer. She should have known better than to come here with those boots. Saya must be very busy if she allowed someone near me dressed like that.
"I believe in choices." I humor her.
"You sound like your sister." she smiles.
The grimace that molds my face is involuntary. "We were raised the same."
"But there are things that can't be explained by choices, don't you think?" She expects me to agree, but I remain stoic. "In the universe of choices, what are coincidences?"
"Uncontrollable variables."
"Or fate, if you will." Her smile widens. "Do you see where I'm getting at?"
I breathe in deep. I knew where she was going from the very first word she uttered in here. "Where?"
"All of this." She moves her pointer finger in a circle, gesturing to the gray room we find ourselves in. "was supposed to happen. You are here for a reason."
"The reason being I tried to kill myself."
"But you didn't."
"Because I was interrupted."
It took me no time at all to piece together the happenings of that night. Saya is fond of her little toys and has a frustratingly good aim. Fairly simple.
