"Ok, I think I have a few ideas on why you saw another me."
Maribel was startled out of her daydreaming, turning away from the window to face Renko, who seems to have come up with a few conclusions on the strange incident in the library the other day. The blonde had almost completely forgotten about it as nothing else was said regarding the fact that Renko was in two places at once, which would have raised some suspicions, but Maribel simply thought she might have been dreaming about it after all since it wasn't brought up. Renko on the other hand, did not.
"I managed to ask some people who were there at the time about what happened since I had a free period before lunch yesterday. I have a feeling that what you experienced did happen on some degree."
Renko removed her feet from the table she was resting them on, making the chair she was leaning back on to crash into the floor loudly, resting her elbows on the table as she took a more serious tone. Ignoring Maribel's look of sudden distress as the front of the chair landed harshly.
"Turns out they do remember me, albeit a little hazy. As if it was a dream or something. I didn't go to much into it, in case they might think something's up. But regardless, the Doppelganger might actually be real, the possibility of multiple people seeing the same hallucination or dream is incredibly thin."
So that was what she was up to, Maribel chuckled quietly to herself. Always thinking about the supernatural things. the blonde sighed as she turned to Renko again.
"And I was wondering where you walked off to, since I spotted you down the hallway and the next thing you disappeared into a crowded area. As well as giving me a vague text of 'I'll see you tomorrow'. Considering events, I wasn't sure what to think."
Renko laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of her head, before clearing her throat and talking once more.
"Now, I doubt that theory of the multi hallucination is true, regarding what I said before. But I did some digging on Doppelgangers and what they could be. Of course, as the word means double, that there is someone who has the same appearance and/or name. This factor alone is, at best flawed, as there is a high chance that someone in the world will have the same name as someone else. Or at most somewhat resemble another, as it's genetically rare to look exactly like someone else, as twins have slight variations depending on their genetic makeup. However, looking deeper into this I've found that there is more to this then just 'having the same face or name'. Your experience was apparently, for a lack of a better word, a paranormal one, which could explain why everyone I asked had a fuzzy memory of it."
Renko stopped so that Maribel could process what she had said. A paranormal occurrence, despite trying to find proof of the abnormal or anything relating to that in the past, actually sounds daunting. A wave of fear suddenly washed over Maribel at the thought, as if a memory began to surface but never quite reach. She clenched her hands tight, trying to fight the emotion, until Renko placed a hand over her own.
"Hey, hey stay with me here Merry. I don't want to lose my friend to her subconscious."
Maribel shook the thought from her head and took a deep breath. Smiling at Renko to say that she was fine.
"what makes you say it was paranormal? Other then the fact of some people's hazy memory."
Renko leaned back away from the table and reached into her skirt pocket and retrieved a neatly folded piece of paper, albeit slightly crumpled from however long it was in that pocket. she unfolded it and lay it on the table, smoothing it out before turning it until both of them could read what was on it. Which turned out to be notes and bullet points messily written out in Renko's handwriting.
"I found everything I wrote down on a link on doppelgangers, which does make for an interesting read. It says that the entity is a wraith or apparition that is a replica/double of an already living person, but it also says that it casts no shadow. Which suggests the paranormal aspect of it I guess."
Maribel lifted her eyes from the paper to look at Renko, an expression of worry on her face.
"And is that a good thing or a bad thing? Going by the other names, I doubt it's good."
Renko sighed as she shook her head, turning the paper back to herself to read what she put down.
"No, unfortunately. It's said that they are actually omens to the unfortunate person that has one. Meaning that they could just be simple bad luck or, worse, death."
Colour drained from Maribel's face upon hearing what would happen to an individual if their doppelganger was seen. Renko's interacted with her, albeit a little strangely, like the actual person. She quickly became concerned about Renko's wellbeing and hope whatever outcome that does happen, hasn't already been set in motion.
"But, apparently it is only when the individual sees their own fake is when it is deemed an omen of death. You only saw mine and remember it, so as long I don't the most I might get is being in danger or an illness that isn't life threatening."
Maribel stared at the brunette in disbelief. Hearing Renko disregarding her own safety is a little concerning, regardless of the chance it might happen. Scoffing even as Maribel grabbed the sheet of paper and sliding it across the table towards herself, turning it so she could read through Renko's notes herself. Still in disbelief of Renko's dismissal of what potentially be a dangerous encounter.
"Renko. I saw a version of you that could be very malicious, who I assume warily is wandering around campus and you're telling me now that it's no big deal? Are you nuts?!"
The brunette said nothing as she took back the piece of paper, folding it and returning it to her pocket. Gathering her thoughts before she replied.
"Merry. There's nothing else we can do about it. We are not equipped to deal with this, make this doppelganger go away. We're just students, if anything, we could make the situation worse if we tried."
Maribe sighed.
"So you're saying that I should ignore you if I suspect it's the fake I'm talking to?"
Renko chuckled, shaking her head.
"No, what I mean is that you need to spot differences between us. There's obviously flaws with the fake as you can't have an exact replica of another, no matter how hard you try. The trick is finding out what they are."
Maribel sighed in response, thinking deeply as she recalled the memory.
"your personality was off, now that I think of it. As if you were hating on everything and anything you saw, including myself. I thought you were having a bad day at the time, but you would outright tell me if you were."
Renko nodded in agreement.
"So, as long as you see these, plus any other flaws as well, we can be at least somewhat safe from any sort of unfortunate events, omens or not."