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Karasuma Eishi thought soulmates were frustrating.
Sure, it was nice to know there was someone out there certain for him, but what he didn’t like was the idea that something else tells you they’re the one. It took the romance out of it, right? One day, you were supposed to bump into the person who happened to be on the other side of your string, and then bam . Your search is over. Hang up your coat, because you know you’re stuck with this person for the rest of your life. Karasuma hated waiting, hated that he had to wait so long for someone that he was fated to love. Just get it over with.
The red string upon his finger was practically mocking him.
The string’s rules were simple. Only you and your partner could see it. The farther in distance you were from each other, the fainter the string appeared, though it never disappeared. Being in the same radius made the line practically sing, it’s redness searing into view. The loops would tighten around your pinky the first time you saw them, the first time you would lock eyes and know that your long journey was over.
At least, that’s what Karasuma was told. It hasn’t happened to him yet.
Karasuma, age 10, pulls on his string absentmindedly in class. It’s gotten pretty faint, hasn’t it? They must have gone far away, this time. He hopes they’re alright, wherever they are.
-
On the other side of the world, Takayama sits.
Everyone around him was dead, the rancid smell of their corpses smacking him in the face. His cold parents’ hands grip onto his own. Moments ago, he spotted a lady walk smoothly down the aisle, up to him. Her hand bleeding and the light covers her face. “You really...want to live, right…?”
Takayama wipes the blood from his mouth, still taking everything in. What was a “blackout”? How had this stranger sprouted wings and flown away? Was he actually even awake?
The red string, faint now that he’s far from Japan, tugs on him. It tells him he’s awake, tells him someone is waiting for him.
Takayama pries the cold hands off of him, gets up, stumbling out of his seat and into the open. He feels his wounds already start to heal up.
He plucks the string back, thinking of his next course of action.
-
A week later, Karasuma wakes up to a surprise.
He sits up suddenly, watching as the string trails out the window and further away.
“They’re back in Japan!” Karasuma says to himself, dazzling at how much brighter the string is, rotating his hand around and around. He can’t help the grin that breaks across his face as he tugs on it.
-
Takayama quietly walks through the airport, holding onto his backpack, while his Grandfather’s hand rests on the small of his back, busy discussing with Takayama’s Aunt living arrangements.
He’s tired. The mark on his back itches like it wants to leap out of his skin and into the open sky, and his head throbs as it’s bombarded by the many sounds and cries of people all around him. He feels like he’s walking in slow motion.
There’s a tug on his pinky. He looks down to watch as it vibrates from movement.
Welcome back . It seems to say.
Takayama looks out to the buildings of Tokyo, wondering if his soulmate was somewhere nearby.
-
A sharp claw rip through his suit, slashing up his stomach with enough force that Takayama yelps out in pain.
The black mass cackles back, clicking out words Takayama doesn’t take time to process, busy trying to fly away.
It follows after him, its wings beating to the same tune of his heart.
Why won’t it go away?!
The medium-sized creature body slams into the young boy, causing him careening to the ground below.
He hits the empty field, dust flying all around him as the blackout hurtles itself.
Relying on instincts alone, he rolls away, holding out his hand to slash at it.
It explodes upon the slash, parts raining down as Takayama sits in the middle of the field, claw still out, ragged breathing.
The red string sits in his direct view.
Takayama slowly reaches up his other hand, lifting up his pointer finger and hooking it under.
He’s almost expecting the claw to slash through it.
Instead, it plucks like it always does.
-
Karasuma stands amongst a bunch of scattered papers.
He clenches his fists, holding back tears as he looks at his mom.
“I won’t take the entrance exams.”
He slams the door behind him, not letting her try to talk sense to him.
He grabs the nearest pillow and thinks of throwing it, but instead screams into it with all he can.
He takes a breath, and notices that his string is being tugged on.
“Why couldn’t you be here ?” Karasuma pleads, tugging back.
He sits on his floor, watching as the string responds.
-
Years later, Takayama steps off the train, entering Tokyo for the first time in a long while.
He breathes in, taking in the buzz of the city, electricity bouncing off his skin.
He doesn’t notice the string on his finger, doesn’t its vibrancy now that he and his soulmate were in the same place. Rather, he lets himself be whisked away by the first cry of a victim, a siren of a new chapter.
-
Continuous waiting for the day he’d meet his soulmate had left Karasuma bitter.
His soulmate didn’t tug on the string as much as they did as kids. In fact, they hadn’t made any semblance of communication since that day back in 6th grade.
Figures, they haven’t even met me and they’ve already forgotten about me.
He stares into the face of the cat Kamoda handed to him, as if she would hold the answer to love and life.
“Did you hear?” Kamoda asks, drawing his attention away from his thoughts. “The Birdmen has been spotted in Tokyo!”
Eishi scowls. “I don’t care about that.”
His best friend huffs at the answer. “I think it’s pretty neat...Do you think he has a soulmate?”
Karasuma’s face contorts into one of exasperation, throwing his hands in the air. “How should I know?!”
-
It’s in the hallway that Eishi notices his red string has found its end.
There, staring out the hallway window, a cute boy with wild hair watches as the clouds roll by.
Eishi should’ve said hi. Should’ve strode up to him and held out his hand, saying “ Hello, I’m Karasuma Eishi, and I guess we’re soulmates .”
Instead, he books it down the hallway, bright red, avoiding any chance of eye contact.
-
Takayama watches as a boy storms off down the hall, watches as his red string bounds behind him, snapping like a serpent.
Takayama can’t help but to think his soulmate is kinda cute.
-
“Let’s skip today, Kamoda.”
They both hop over the fence, Karasuma falling on the ground.
He scrambles to find his glasses, shoving them on as he retorts something back to his friend.
A figure on the roof catches his eye. Blinks, then it’s gone.
“It was a spirit, right?!” Kamoda asks, earnest.
“No, it wasn’t. I’ve seen it before.”
Karasuma ignores his friend’s questioning as he stares at the roof.
It’s probably him, our classes’ truant freak...
It wasn’t the nicest way to describe a soulmate, but Takayama wasn’t around enough for Karasuma to get any idea of what he was actually like.
Or where he went to all the time.
-
Smoke rises through the air, and blood flows across Karasuma’s eye.
He can’t die here . Not here, pinned under a metal bus, slowly succumbing to his injuries.
Something flashes in the sky, and a winged creature lands in front of him on the rocky shore.
Karasuma squints, trying to get a good look at the figure.
He notices his line of fate, shining as bright as the creature’s markings, and his eyes trail back to the end of the string.
What the fuck-
He’s cut off by a voice:
“ Do you want to live, or do you want to die ?”
-
Days later, he and his new friends are sitting on Sagisawa’s rooftop, when it comes back to him.
A flashback to the scene of him, drinking the blood of the birdman, watching as the red string of fate dangled between them like a lifeline.
He thinks about Takayama, who came up to him the first day after coming back to school.
“ Hey, are you alright ?”
He thought his soulmate was just saying it out of concern, but now...
“I know who the birdman is.” Eishi says, staring at the ground, not believing the words out of his own mouth.
“Really? Who?”
-
The next day, they wait for him at the entrance. Karasuma makes a bold step out and whips to face him.
“ Takayama! ”
The other smiles, sending a chill up his own spine. A voice echoing in his head a location to meet.
-
A voice pierces into Takayama’s hearing, sending jolts through him, he stands, as if possessed, and flings himself into the air.
He flies fast, locating, searching, there .
Fire bellows from a ship. He rushes forward and into the vessel, grabbing onto nearby unconscious passengers from below.
He hears Karasuma calling out his name.
He brings the crew he has on hand and comes back up, using his wings to lay them on the floor of the ship.
“Give me a hand.”
Karasuma looks reluctant, unsure.
He reaches his hand out, and Karasuma takes it, dazed.
Karasuma’s hand feels nice, Takayama feels a small smile creep up.
“I knew you’d be the first person to fly after me.”
-
A few days pass, when a scream rips out, jarring Takayama awake.
Karasuma ?
He abandons his place next to his Grandfather and runs out into the cold air, taking off his clothes and launching upwards.
He knew there was a blackout, but he had dawdled too much. He shouldn’t have.
His back stings as he sees the sight in front of him, and he wills himself to go faster, crashing himself into the blackout full force.
He gets to work, grabbing onto the wing and pulling it back.
Kill first, save later.
He watches Karasuma flail under the pinnings of the propellers.
He rips off another wing.
“Move, Takayama!!”
He stops to watch Karasuma leap through the air with a propellor that was previously stabbing him, and Takayama feels his face heat up at the sight of Karasuma driving the makeshift weapon into the blackout, causing it to explode.
Karasuma begins to fall, and Takayama steps forward to catch him.
Studying Karasuma’s wounds, it doesn’t look pretty. He really overdid it, but…
He did well.
Karasuma’s head lolls to the side, resting against the other’s shoulder, his hair falling across his scrunched-up face.
Cute .
-
Karasuma voice rips through the cold night, the ice in his words sending Takayama on further alert.
Kamoda had been shot, and Karasuma had awakened.
Takayama desperately tries to help his friend, willing himself to transfer the poison out and to him, almost causing himself to faint.
He’s forced to stop, but the adrenaline still pounds in his ears, his heart.
He’s furious .
His eyes pierce back to where they were, searching for the cause of this.
He finds a light, forces a connection, desperately searching for a motive, a reason, why she would hurt his friends.
The girl, about his age, pleads that she isn’t the enemy.
His stomach twists and pulls as he takes in the sincerity of her words. His own feelings boiling over at the bile in his mouth.
If you aren’t our enemy, then what am I supposed to do?
The line is cut short, and Takayama is left to fume.
“ Takayama ?” Karasuma calls. “ Are you alright? ”
-
Sitting at his desk, head in his hands, Karasuma tries not to over complicate the situation.
Sure, Karasuma knows that he and Umino weren’t fated, but it was still extremely awkward that she was in his room, and on his bed.
He’s not even used to Kamoda coming over, so how the hell was he supposed to to deal with someone like Umino ?
Umino, unaware, sips her tea.
“So...um...I know it’s a dumb question, but…” She pauses, before looking up:
“Do you know if Takayama has a soulmate?”
Oh.
“...Why do you ask?”
“Well, um!!! You’re the closest to him, right? I know it’s not to be, but I got curious and I was wondering if he told you or anything…”
Karasuma clears his throat.
“Uh…”
Geez, this is awkward.
He squirms in his seat, avoiding her curious gaze. He absentmindedly fidgets with the loop around his pinky.
She snaps her fingers together in realization. “Ah!”
She points her finger at him.
“He’s your soulmate, right?”
Karasuma’s entire face erupts in red. “WH-”
“Ohh, that makes sense! No wonder you two hang out so much. Geez, Karasuma, you could’ve said something sooner~”
Pressing his hands on his cheeks in an attempt to cool himself down, Karasuma squeaks: “I-we- is it that obvious ??”
“A little!! It’s okay, there’s no need for me to really crush on him, haha.”
Karasuma coughs into his hand. “You’re really positive, aren’t you?”
Umino hums, looking at her phone. “I like to focus more on the positives. I mean, we were all in that crazy bus accident, and should’ve died! It made me consider that I might not have a tomorrow to look forward to, so why should I complicate things with negativity?”
Karasuma leans back in his chair, staring at the red string of fate being pulled out the window, reflecting on her words.
-
Life wasn’t as simple as he wanted it to be.
They’re are standing on the rooftop, and Karasuma has never been more confused in his life. A Bellwether? A leader? What is Takayama talking about?
This was never a good idea. They should’ve never looked for him. The universe must have made a mistake, he can’t be tied to this thing. Since the beginning, Karasuma has never gotten him.
“I suppose that’s true.”
Takayama plucks the string between them, the first acknowledgment either has made to the other since meeting.
“But you know, you’re a lot closer to me now than you were at the beginning.”
-
Standing still, Takayama watches Karasuma scramble up the hill of the landslide.
The shorter boy takes his hand, something he was embarrassed about a mere 10 minutes prior.
“The actions you take will eventually bite us in the ass.” Karasuma starts. “This needs to be your last time. Understand?”
He’s staring adamantly up at him, and Takayama can tell even without the hand-holding the sincerity in his words. He glances from Karasuma’s face to their pinkies, where the line curls around their wrists.
“...I understand…”
-
“Ah, that’s probably Takayama’s monster.” Sagisawa remarks, staring up.
Karasuma watches as the said boy starts to pull the blackout out, already starting to get hits into the smaller-than-average creature.
“You really get the feeling Takayama’s form on land is borrowed, yeah?”
Karasuma summons his wings, thinking back to Takayama sitting by the window, getting lost in thought. He notes the string between them, wrapping around Karasuma like a viper in guilt.
I shouldn’t be tying him down like this...
-
Next week, a thud lands against Karasuma’s wall.
He opens the curtain.
“Takayama-”
A hand reaches towards him.
“Lend me your strength.”
His room is in tatters, and his clothes are shredded against the floor.
Takayama let’s his hand release, dropping Karasuma to the ground.
“What was that just now?!?”
Takayama refuses to look at him, the shadows covering his face.
Karasuma pulls on his string in frustration, hoping to snap him out of his tone.
“Answer me!!”
He doesn’t budge.
-
Karasuma lands on the beach, watching Takayama’s face. It is empty, pained, full of some indescribable emotion Karasuma can’t begin to pin down.
Takayama has wrapped the string around his arm tight, almost as an attempt to ground himself.
“ Takayama ?”
He could’ve said something then.
But he hadn’t.
Karasuma wakes up to see the red line faint, just like it was all those years ago.
The first thing he does is scream into his arms, emotions of anger and regret immediately boiling over, wishing he could rewind the clock a mere 6 hours earlier.
-
Karasuma sits in Takayama’s grandpa’s living room. He sips the cup of tea, glancing over the house again for any detail he had missed. Something to tell him more about his missing friend.
The Grandpa, ever so sharp, asks him bluntly: “Are you something more than Sou’s friend?”
Eishi flushes, stares down at his finger, fiddling with the faint line. He doesn’t need to voice the answer.
-
“ I know it’s weird for his Grandpa to say, but he really is a good boy. If Sou comes back…” He swallows, putting his hand up to his face, “Could you not give up on him? ”
-
Sitting in his room, Karasuma scowls at his hand.
It’s Takayama’s birthday, and he still gave no response.
Not even a tug.
Karasuma pulls on the chord for him, watching it bounce up and down.
Asshole.
-
He dreams of white, and the red line seems to shine like it never did before, as Takayama unfurls himself from his ball.
Seven wings is a good look on him.
-
“I’m going after him.” Karasuma states, sitting on the rooftop of the school.
“Yeah, I expected you would.” Sagisawa says. “I wouldn’t want to be that far from my soulmate, either.”
-
Standing on the top of the world, he calls for him.
He faints, and finds himself drowning in a world of white. He reaches his hand out, desperate.
Takayama breams into the world, grabbing onto Eishi’s flailing hand, and pulls him up. The red line swirls around them like a mind of its own.
Karasuma gasps for air.
“ Good, you woke up. ”
-
Karasuma sits on the hill, watches as Takayama interacts with the girls down below. A large mixture of feelings arise. Unsurity, bitterness, hurt.
Takayama stands up to look at him, and Karasuma feels suddenly cornered; helplessly watches as the other raises his hand and plucks the string while smiling.
He jumps into the air, sailing off, trying not to think as everything swarms around him like a storm.
-
At the bonfire, Karasuma attempts to eat.
“Have you met your soulmate?” A kid asks, bright eyed and filled to the brim with curiosity.
“...Yes.” Karasuma replies, making sure his glance at Takayama wasn’t too obvious .
“What are they like? Are you two together? How was your first meeting?”
Takayama suddenly kicks off into the air, and Karasuma’s answers only depress him, but he can’t even bring himself to lie.
“Heroic, our meeting was uneventful, and we’re still not together.”
“Huh,” the kid says, following the older kid’s gaze, “I didn’t think Taka could have a soulmate.”
-
Karasuma walks up the flight of stairs in the castle to where Takayama sat.
Takayama glances his direction, before continuing to look out.
“Can we talk?” Karasuma starts.
Takayama turns his body towards the other, placing his hands on the banister.
“Sure.” He doesn’t seem anything less than content.
The castle tile feels cold at his feet.
“There’s a lot I could say.” Karasuma starts.
He wants to ask about so much. About the seven, about this new ability, about them .
Karasuma crosses his arms, takes a deep breathe.
“We’re soulmates.” He tries not to blush as he says it.
Takayama smiles. “So we are.”
“It doesn’t feel like it.”
Karasuma swears Takayama flinches at the words.
“Karasuma-”
“No. No, I don’t want to hear another shitty excuse from you.” Karasuma grits walking forward, “I don’t get it. I don’t get you . Soulmates are supposed to know each other, but I don’t know you at all.”
Karasuma turns around, leaning against the railing. He glares at his friend, at the boy he’s supposed to care for and come to love, but all he sees is the divide. Next to their string laid another elephant in the room: Takayama’s tunnel vision. Karasuma always felt like he had an axe to grind, but that day on the beach seemed to trigger something within him.
You really have changed. Karasuma thinks, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
He glares into the red eyes looking back at him. Takayama is a bit too close, but Karasuma’s too annoyed to derail the conversation about personal boundaries. Takayama has the ghost of a smile on his lips as he asks: “But who changed more?”
Karasuma starts to say something, possibly something to argue back with, before he gets cut off by the feeling of soft lips against his own.
His brain falters and sputters, and Takayama pulls back just as quickly as he had leaned forward. Takayama glances off to the side, looking like he’s crossed a line.
“...Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” Takayama backs up even more, and his wings twitch as if they’re about to move. Karasuma, afraid he’d fly off, impulsively yanks on on the string between them hard, sending Takayama tripping forward with shock riddled across his face.
He’d have to applaud himself later for the flawless maneuver of his catch: done by cupping the sides of Takayama’s face and kissing him like he’s wanted to do since they met.
Unlike the first kiss, their mouths clash together in a way that’s bruising and just a bit painful. Neither seem to quite care, though, as this moment felt so long coming that all Karasuma could only focus on memorizing the way it felt to kiss his soulmate. God , he needed this. Though he really didn’t expect that his dilemma over this whole soulmates thing would be solved by them kissing mid-conversation.
Takayama rests his hands on Karasuma’s hips, causing the other to hum fondly. He knows there’s more to be said, where they stand together and how to deal with one another, so Karasuma pulls back, and he’s greeted by an actually blushing Takayama.
It looks nice on him.
He tries to continue their previous conversation, but is instead interrupted once again when Takayama leans down and kisses him sweetly, and Karasuma really can’t complain.
A voice sounds by the staircase, causing Karasuma to jump away from the other in order to stare at the random seraph girl that um, well, caught them .
“Am I... interrupting something?”
Eishi’s hands lift away from Takayama’s chest.
“No-”
“Yes,” says Takayama, at the same time.
“Oh, sorry!!” She sputters. “Barbara sent me up here to tell you two there’s a meeting in the dining hall in fifteen minutes…”
Takayama nods. “We’ll be down.”
She gives a nervous thumbs-up before skittering down the staircase.
Now with the moment broken, Karasuma freezes as it registers that yes , he was just kissing Takayama. Plus, he notes, the other’s hands still rest on his hips.
Takayama clears his throat. “That was nice.”
Karasuma covers his face in embarrassment, leaning against the other. “Don’t just say that so casually!”
After a moment of internal combustion, Karasuma shifts his hands away from covering his eyes to peak at Takayama.
“I’m still mad at you.” Karasuma mumbles. Though kissing helped.
Takayama glances from him to the side, reflecting.
“I’m sorry for not being a good soulmate.” He says, stepping away from the other.
A pathetic laugh bubbles through Karasuma. “It’s not like I was ever a good one, either.”
Takayama’s brows pinch up, “Don’t say that.”
“But isn’t it true? We’ve been soulmates all our lives, have known each other for months, and yet we’ve done nothing but dance around each other.” He flushes. “Ignore the fact we were kissing 5 minutes ago.”
“Things aren’t immediate.” Takayama says, “You can’t expect us to fall together so easily because a string connects us.”
“I know, I know. But, there’s a difference, yeah? There’s a line to walk upon. You can’t just deny that this” he gestures to line between them, “isn’t a thing, and fly off and continue to isolate yourself from us.”
“I’m not-“
“You are!” Karasuma throws his hands in the air. “You say it doesn’t feel like you are, but are you really one to judge? You’ve never had the right way to measure it.”
Takayama doesn’t move.
“We’re your friends, Takayama. I know you’re off doing your own thing and focusing on being some sort of messiah or something, but...just...”
Karasuma steps farther away, inching towards the stairs. He reaches down, plucking at the string between them.
“Don’t forget, okay?”
The other stares, before gently looking down and tugging back. For a moment, it felt like they were 10 again.
“ Okay.”