"I wonder if it was destiny."
Haru murmured. Reflecting on a chance reunion.
"Destiny?" Ren asked back.
"Coming to this school. Meeting you all."
"Coincidence," Ren answered immediately.
"But it felt inevitable."
Noa showed interest. "How are destiny and coincidence different?"
Haru thought. "Destiny was decided beforehand. Coincidence is just by chance."
"But can you distinguish them?" Ren asked.
"Can't... maybe."
"Philosophically, it's a major problem."
Noa explained. "The conflict between determinism and indeterminism."
"Determinism?"
"Everything is decided by causal chains. The future is the inevitable result of the past."
Haru resisted. "But I'm choosing. This school, my friends."
"That choice was also decided," Ren said.
"How?"
"Your personality, values, experiences... all of them determined your choice."
"So there's no free will?"
"None," Ren asserted. "Or it's an illusion."
Noa showed another perspective. "But you feel it, right? Freedom."
"I feel it," Haru nodded. "At the moment of choice, I sense I'm deciding."
"That sense might be illusion," Ren said.
"Why?"
"There are neuroscience experiments. Before people think they 'chose,' the brain has already decided."
Haru was surprised. "So consciousness is an afterthought?"
"It's possible."
Noa said carefully. "But that's not everything."
"What do you mean?"
"Even if determinism is true, there's a view that doesn't contradict free will."
Ren supplemented. "Compatibilism. Determinism and free will are compatible."
"How do they coexist?" Haru asked.
"Redefine freedom. Not 'independent from causation' but 'following one's own will.'"
"Following my own will is freedom?"
"Yes. Even if that will is causally determined."
Haru was confused. "But is that real freedom?"
"What is 'real freedom'?" Noa asked back.
"...I don't know."
"That's why it's difficult," Ren said. "The definition of freedom is vague."
Noa showed another angle. "Let's think about the meaning of believing in destiny."
"Meaning?"
"What happens when you believe in destiny?"
Haru thought. "I feel reassured. I can think everything has meaning."
"But?"
"I also feel like escaping responsibility. 'It's destiny, so it can't be helped.'"
Ren nodded. "That's the danger of fatalism. It robs the motivation for action."
"Conversely, if I believe in free will?" Haru asked.
"Responsibility arises. But possibilities also expand."
Noa said quietly. "Both destiny and freedom, extremes are problematic."
"Extremes?"
"If everything is destiny, powerlessness. If everything is freedom, pressure."
"So what should we do?"
Ren answered. "Practically, live assuming free will exists."
"Assuming?"
"Regardless of whether it's true, it's more beneficial to believe so."
Haru understood. "Even if it's an illusion?"
"Even if it's an illusion," Noa smiled.
"But," Haru said, "isn't destined meeting romantic?"
"Romantic," Ren admitted. "But not logical."
"Sometimes emotion matters more than logic."
Noa mediated. "Both matter. Use them depending on situation."
Haru looked outside the window. "So our meeting?"
"Coincidence," Ren answered.
"But meaningful coincidence," Noa added.
"Meaningful coincidence?"
"We ourselves give meaning to coincidence."
Haru smiled. "So we create destiny?"
"That's one interpretation," Ren said.
"Nice interpretation."
Noa said finally. "Destiny may or may not exist. But we can choose how to believe."
"Can choose..." Haru repeated.
"That might be the only certain freedom."
Ren closed the book. "The debate about destiny has no end. But debating itself has meaning."
Haru stood up. "Let's go home. Destiny or coincidence, either is fine."
"Either is fine?"
"Being here, now. That's everything."
Noa smiled. "That might be the answer."
The three started walking. As if guided by threads of destiny, or blown by winds of chance. Either way, this moment is certain.