The Two Identical Faces Meet Again — This Time, the Same Table, Still Without Words
The two 'identical faces' previously reported on the 16th — a man who drifted ashore through a Yuragi, unable to speak any identifiable language, and the local, 37-year-old office worker whose photograph matched his almost exactly — met for a second time under TDA supervision on the evening of the 25th. Their first meeting lasted only a few minutes and consisted of gestures alone; this time, the two sat for nearly two hours over a meal staff had prepared. Once again, no conversation took place.
As previously reported on the 16th, a wordless man (a drifter, estimated to be in his thirties or forties) taken into protective custody near the Fukagawa waterfront in the predawn hours of the 15th, and a local, 37-year-old office worker (name withheld) whose photograph matched his almost exactly, had their first meeting on the 16th — a matter of a few minutes. According to the TDA, the office worker subsequently made several requests not to let that be the end of it, and a staff member suggested, "Since conversation isn't possible, why not try spending time doing something together?" That led to the second meeting on the 25th.
■ The Same Meal, for Nearly Two Hours
Just after 6 p.m. on the 25th, the two sat down in the facility's dining room to the same meal staff had prepared. According to a staff member present, for the first twenty minutes or so the two ate in silence without meeting each other's eyes, but after the drifted man pointed to an item on his own plate and then glanced between it and the office worker's plate, a natural gesture of splitting the remaining dishes between them emerged. "Not a word passed between them, but there was a moment where the way they moved their chopsticks seemed to say 'is that enough?' or 'a little more?'" the staff member recalled. The meeting ran longer than planned, lasting nearly two hours.
■ The Office Worker: "The Unease Changed Shape"
Speaking to this paper anonymously after the meeting, the office worker said, "Honestly, the unease from our first meeting is still there. But this time, something other than unease was mixed in with it." Choosing his words carefully, he said, "That person has my face, and is a complete stranger to me. And yet there were moments where the way he divided up the dishes felt strangely similar to how I'd do it myself. I still don't know whether that makes me glad or unsettled." The TDA said it is recording his reaction as his own, adding no evaluation or interpretation of its own.
■ The Drifted Man: "Not Refusing"
Staff said the drifted man showed no clear sign of refusal or distress either, and gave a small bow of his own at the end of the meeting. His future processing, including naturalization and the choice of a name, continues as previously reported, and is still expected to take longer than usual given the complete absence of any linguistic foothold. The TDA said, "Repeated meetings don't by themselves mean procedural progress. We'll continue them only for as long as both of them want to."
■ Neither Blood Nor Words, Still Unconnected
As previously reported, no blood relation has been confirmed between the two, and their fingerprints do not match; only their skeletal measurements remain close. The leather pouch and engraved metal ring the drifted man carried remain registered as the provisional Lineage 153, with no new clue to his origin. The TDA repeated on the 26th, "Our stance hasn't changed — we won't read any special meaning into how similar they look."
■ A Third Meeting, Not Yet Decided
The office worker said, "I still don't know, even to myself, whether there will be a next time. But I'm glad we didn't let it end where it did." According to the TDA, no third meeting is currently scheduled, and one will be considered again only if the office worker requests it. Why the two faces are so alike, and where the drifted man came from, were both left unanswered once again. What becomes of the two men's connection from here also remains unexplained, left to stand.
