The professor continued, "I was the same child who had recognized you before."
When realization at the memory finally struck Toren, he was wide-eyed pleased. "Oh! You were the young mugger then! Brother paid for your food at that convenience store, right?"
"So he was your brother. I knew you seemed related by blood."
"We are originally not. But hey, I think I already told you that! I was adopted by his family. I actually came from the orphanage and never knew about my true parents. The priestess that was handling us always refused to tell me how I got there and what was the reason that I was abandoned."
A tinge of silence dripped in a few seconds. It felt a bit longer than it actually was and felt heavier than it should be.
"I recognized Coen's face," The professor said. "He was exactly the same person who helped me back then. He never grew older and never changed a single bit. I'm still wondering about it, but I kept my promise to myself that I would never forget that man. I was quite hesitant to take him in because things might get really dangerous and I'd hate it to get him in trouble. But I'm sure I could trust him."
Toren stared at the man who, in his eyes right now, seemed more like a boy – the one he used to talk about things in life and about foods and dirty jokes.
He was that same boy.
"You cannot trust my brother," Toren decisively said. "He will try to murder you. That was his intention from the very start. You knew that it was odd that someone actually followed you until right after your license got forfeited."
The professor was silent for a minute, seemingly deep in thoughts.
"Is there a reason why he must kill me? Would it benefit him if I was dead? Is it justice or is it perhaps related to something supernatural?"
Toren let out a sigh. "I have lost my memories, so even I cannot understand it myself. But I am sure that it does not involve justice in this era. It seemed more rooted before the world I have conceived."
"A flesh for a flesh. It must be something about his immortality, then. Or it must be something about you, his brother."
Toren realized the magnitude of his own ignorance. He began asking himself questions. From why he does not know the most important details and why he decided to erase his own memories as what Airen had told him.
What was he trying to escape from? And what was he so scared of?
That day, they dissected some things about Coen's purpose together and somehow bridged the gap that formed relatively large between the lost time.
But for a ghost like Toren, years and decades ago always felt like yesterday or an hour ago.
Toren said everything that was on his mind and so did Ross.
They shared their hidden boxes with each other and took out the dusty parts for them to clean one by one. Just as Toren had mentioned, Coen built his underground room from the control room he was assigned in.
He meticulously chopped his time into dividing his works and accomplished his private space underneath the laboratory.
And little by little, he had slowly transferred out from his apartment to that lab.
For a few weeks, Coen and Ross discussed the project and their roles to do.
The wage, working time, reports, process, and expected conclusions and accomplishments. And during this time, Toren also stayed with them.
Observing quietly, waiting patiently, and having a conversation with Ross secretly at his room.
Most of the time when the professor would lock himself inside his room, he would pop some beers and talk with Toren about the miserably downhill life he had.
When Ross was only a child, his parents got divorced for some reasons he never knew. He could not understand a single thing back then, after all.
His mother kept him and even then, she swirled to downward spiral of alcoholism and mental disorder. It was hell living with her, so he ran away from home and lived by himself.
Things got worse from that point.
He hated begging strangers for his needs and he hated the way he was treated like a poor kid despite being one. He felt like he had no choice but to steal and hurt and survive, even though he knew that it was not entirely the case.
Soon, he got involved in illegal things and became a scapegoat for grown-up criminals.
Adopting their methods and absorbing the influence of their actions, he became more comfortable living in the shadows even after knowing how to draw lines of morality.
And he talked and talked, drunk or sober, about his regrets to Toren.