Chapter Text
Ever since the day he’d seen the owners of that textile shop, Ren’s curiosity about soulmates grew and grew. He couldn’t help but fantasize about if he’d ever meet his soulmate as he poured more research into the concept.
It’s said that one’s soulmate would be their partner for life, like they’re the same person. In Japan, to some extent, that was exactly how they were treated too. After one met their soulmate, it became easy to treat the two as one, as in most cases they could easily communicate with each other. They also inherited traits from each other as their bond grew stronger.
If those bonds went far enough, they could even merge the soul together and be as one body and one mind. It was admittedly a somewhat scary thought, presenting his whole self unrestrained to another, and yet it was also so deeply appealing.
It was considered a special occurrence, almost akin to marriage, when you met your soulmate. A lifelong bond and partnership. This day was called in just about every language the ‘Union of the Soul’.
In Japanese tradition, the two halves of the soul typically visited a nearby shrine for a small ceremony in celebration. It was not unlike marriage, but as soulmates were not always romantic these two events were distinguished from each other.
Ren sighed to himself as he sat back in his chair and looked out the window. It was already dark outside, he couldn’t believe he’d allowed himself to get so caught up in his thoughts that he’d been at the school library for hours. He came here to study for his final exams this year, he needed to get himself together. No point dwelling on soulmates anyway, it’s not like he’s going to meet his anytime soon.
Although it was fairly common for parents to try to get their kids into school in a larger city, typically somewhere in Tokyo, Ren’s parents had a very different idea about childhood development. They thought you should wait until you’re an adult to find your soulmate. Studies were more important.
Ren couldn’t exactly argue with that, most people don’t meet their soulmate until far later in life. There’s a lot of people all over the world, his soulmate could be just about anyone. There was no guarantee they were even in Japan.
Tearing himself away from his thoughts once again, Ren stood up from his chair and packed his bag. He should get home soon, he didn’t want his parents to worry.
Ren threw his backpack around his shoulder and walked out the library door and then the school soon after. All the darkness around made the stars clearly visible in the sky, he could even see all of the stars forming the Orion constellation. Ren had been to Tokyo with his parents for vacations before, but he couldn’t see any stars when he was there. That was one advantage to living in the country, he supposed, even though he already knew everyone here.
He wondered if his soulmate, wherever they were, enjoyed looking up at the stars too. Of course, there was always the chance they were on the other side of the planet from him looking at a bright sunny day.
Shaking the thought from his mind, Ren carried on as usual. That was, however, until he heard a sound up ahead. Was that a woman’s voice?
Concerned, Ren ran on ahead and turned the corner to see a woman being accosted by a sleazy drunk man.
Doing what was natural, Ren quickly got between the woman and the man. However, he was perhaps a bit too forceful in wedging himself between them to save the woman, and the man lost his balance and fell onto the ground, failing to catch himself with his hands.
The police arrived and the man pinned the blame on Ren, and the woman took his side.
In what felt like a few moments, Ren’s world had been turned on its head.
***
Sumire could just barely make out some stars of the Orion constellation as she stared out her window. Tomorrow was the day she, Kasumi, and their club would be going to Odaiba for some special practice at a gym nearby the stadium.
Since they would likely compete in that stadium at some point, their coach wanted them to see it and opted to take the whole club to Odaiba instead of their normal gym.
The special practice in question would be a mock tournament between members of the club, meaning Sumire and Kasumi would be competing against each other. It wasn’t anything new to Sumire, but she felt that Kasumi always won. Sumire felt like she would forever be second place. Not to mention she’s continually messed up her routine as of late. It’d be a shock if she even managed to make it to second this time.
Staring at the stars like this helped a bit, though she couldn’t help but wish she lived in the country instead. So few stars could be seen in the sky with all the lights of Tokyo that sometimes the sky felt blank.
Oh well, at least some could still be seen. Perhaps when she grows up and Kasumi has taken the world stage, Sumire can settle down with someone and move to the country. Then she’d be able to see the stars all the time.
After taking another long glance at the stars, Sumire prepared herself for bed.
***
Practice went about as Sumire expected, she failed yet again. She clumsily messed up her routine and lost the mock competition. As always, Coach Hiraguchi said that Sumire’s performance was ‘graceful’ but she felt that her coach was just being nice. Now she and Kasumi were walking under an umbrella to visit the stadium before heading home.
“Practice was brutal today, huh?” Kasumi spoke up next to her. “Everyone did their best, I barely came out on top!”
She’s just saying that. She was far ahead of everyone else.
“Sure.” Sumire shortly replied, not feeling up to conversation.
“What’s wrong?” Kasumi asked.
“I keep messing up my routine…” Sumire sighed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately.”
Sumire used to be so optimistic about gymnastics, but failure after failure led her to almost hating the sport.
“Your growth spurt’s changed your eye level, that’s all.” Kasumi attempted to assure her. “You remember how much I messed up when I got mine, right?”
A small smile formed on Sumire’s face when she heard that. Then she remembered that it only took Kasumi about a day to get adjusted, it’s been several for Sumire.
“I just can’t catch up to you, Kasumi.” Sumire shook her head. “The more we practice the more I’m certain of that.”
“Come on, don’t be like that!” Kasumi once again optimistically reached out to Sumire with her words. “We’re going to take the world stage, remember our dream?”
You mean your dream.
Sumire shook her head and sighed. “You’ll never understand how I feel.” she said under her breath.
“Sumire?” Kasumi asked, appearing not to have heard her.
“Forget it, let’s just go home.” Sumire told her with a sigh. “Odaiba’s just a train ride away anyway, we can see the stadium anytime we want.”
Kasumi didn’t seem satisfied by that, but Sumire didn’t care as she simply began walking to the train station.
“Hey Sumire, wait up!” Kasumi shouted as she briefly sprinted to catch up with Sumire.
The rest of the walk and train ride home was filled with silence between the twins. Sumire was just glad she stopped herself from being reckless.
***
One month later…
Ren didn’t quite know how to feel as he rode on the train in his new Shujin Academy uniform. Sadness? Anger? Regret? None?
Ren felt he did everything right. He helped a woman in trouble as he had been taught to do all his life. Yet here he was, being punished for it. The woman testified against him and the court sided with the drunk man. Ren was suddenly put on a year long probation for physical assault, which would put a permanent stain on his record.
How could he possibly stand to meet his soulmate now? Whoever it was would inevitably inherit his horrible reputation going forward. Although perhaps it won’t be so bad, it’s not like everyone could possibly know about it.
Ren sighed as he leaned back in his seat and stared at the ceiling of the train. He’d hoped his guardian for his time in Tokyo would be kind at least.
The train began to slow as it reached its destination and Ren prepared to get up. Time to go, he supposed.
Nearby…
Sumire stood against a wall in a clothing store in the Underground Mall that Kasumi had dragged her to. Sumire herself never had a good sense of fashion, and thus she mainly relied on Kasumi to pick outfits for her. Sumire wasn’t even sure why she was here, since Kasumi and herself had an identical height and build.
But it seemed to make Kasumi happy to have her around, so she couldn’t be upset about it. At least someone enjoyed having Sumire around.
“What about this outfit, Sumi? Does it look cute?” Kasumi asked as she came out of the fitting room, dressed in a bright red coat and scarf.
Sumire honestly had no clue.
“Uhm, it looks great!” she answered, not sounding very convincing.
Kasumi simply shook her head with a smile. “Come on, you’ve gotta try harder than that!” she then looked at herself in a mirror and gave a little twirl. “I like it though! I’ll grab another pair of clothes for you as well.”
Sumire simply nodded along as she waited for Kasumi to check out.
“Alrighty then!” Kasumi spoke up and Sumire knew exactly what was coming next. “Time to find a place to eat!”
This was always how things went whenever Kasumi invited Sumire to go shopping. They, mostly Kasumi, would pick out some clothes or accessories or snacks and then go eat somewhere.
The twins set off up the stairs of the walkway and eventually arrived on the surface.
Ren looked at the train line on his phone as he arrived in Station Square. It looked like his line was in the underground walkway, so he set off in that direction. He began to feel something weird though, a small static buzzing in his ear? His mind? He couldn’t tell. He shook his head around in case he’d attracted the unwanted attention of some bug, but the sound didn’t go away, nor did it seem to move when his ears moved.
What was going on?
He’d have to figure it out later, he had to get to Yongen-Jaya.
Sumire felt a small static buzzing in her ear as the sunlight hit her head. Shaking her head did nothing, but she was sure it’d go away soon. As she walked through the crowd it got louder and louder, until she could no longer ignore it and looked around.
What was going on?
Ren was having a hard time ignoring the buzzing sound as he made his way towards the walkway, it kept growing louder and louder. He looked around to see if anybody else was experiencing it, but if they were there was too much of a crowd to tell.
Not knowing what else to do, Ren went down the stairs of the walkway and began on his way to Yongen-Jaya. All the while, the buzzing got quieter and quieter until it stopped completely.
The buzzing was gone, though Sumire didn’t know why. Maybe it really was just one of those random things ears do sometimes.
“You doing okay, Sumire?”
Sumire jolted a little as she was snapped away from her thoughts. “Uhm, yes. I just had a weird sound in my ear.”
“Was it static-y buzzing?” Kasumi asked.
Oddly specific question, had it not just been her ears?
“Uhm, yes, how’d you know?”
“Wait really!?” Kasumi seemed wide-eyed.
“What’s wrong? Isn’t it just something ears do sometimes?” Sumire asked.
“Ringing, yes. Buzzing? No.” Kasumi explained. “It’s supposed to be a sign that your soulmate is nearby! Do you still hear it?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Aw man!” Kasumi moped. “I wanted to meet whoever your soulmate was! Now we’ll never find them!”
“Wait really!?” Sumire’s eyes shot open.
She, like everyone, knew about how eye contact confirmed who your soulmate was, but she didn’t know about the buzzing!
Kasumi looked around “They could be anywhere now, especially since we’re in Station Square. Let’s just go eat, maybe we’ll be lucky and bump into them again.”
Sumire nodded. “Yeah, hopefully!”
She suddenly felt a lot more optimistic about today.
***
Ren couldn’t help but feel like he was forgetting something as he took the train to Yongen-Jaya. Something related to that static buzzing earlier.
Well, he supposed he couldn’t help it now. He just had to find Sakura’s residence and meet his temporary guardian for the year.
If he kept his head down for the year then all this would go away and he could treat the whole thing like nothing happened. Presuming he was allowed to, of course. His parents may not bring it up, but old friends and the school certainly would. There’s a non-zero chance that he’d have to stay in Shujin for two years as opposed to just the one, and it really all depended on if he was accepted back into his old school again.
The train soon came to a stop and Ren got off and headed up to the surface. At least Yongen-Jaya wasn’t as crowded as Shibuya itself.
It didn’t take long for Ren to find Sakura’s residence, but nobody answered when he rang the bell. He’d heard a postman say that Sakura was likely tending to his café right now. Ren asked for directions and soon found himself in front of the café.
‘Café Leblanc’ was what it was called. Ren was glad for the little bit of french he knew that he was able to read it. All thanks to his fondness of Arséne.
With a deep breath, Ren opened the door and heard a bell ring as he entered.
Ren looked around the café and its occupants as he thought about what he’d say to his new guardian. It was rather quaint, a very old-fashioned café with a nice aesthetic. The only occupants were a middle aged man who appeared to run the place and an elderly couple. Ren supposed it made sense, children got out early on Saturdays but often wouldn’t come to a place like this, while adults tended to work later.
Eventually, the middle aged man took notice of Ren and put down the newspaper he was holding.
“Ah, they did say that was today.” Sakura(?) said as he stood up. “So you’re Amamiya?”
Ren nodded. “Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sakura-san?” he ended with a question, unsure if this was really Sakura.
“Yes, I’m Sojiro Sakura.” Sakura looked Ren up and down. “I’ll admit I was expecting a delinquent, but you’re the kid, huh?”
Ren guessed Sakura didn’t know the court case was a complete farce.
“Follow me, I’ll show you to your ‘room’.” Ren didn’t like the way Sakura said that.
Sakura then went up the stairs of the café and Ren quickly followed behind him. What he saw before him was a big dusty cluttered attic with a bed in the corner. One look at Sakura told Ren this was no practical joke.
Ren guessed this was his room from now on.
“I’ll at least give you sheets for your bed.” Sakura told him. “You seem like you have something to say.”
“It’s cluttered.” Ren blurted out, mentally slapping himself for being so blunt.
Sakura seemed to expect something like this. “It’s on you to clean it up. Your stuff is in that box over there.”
Without another word, Sakura walked back down the stairs to the main level.
Ren could handle a little dust and perhaps he wasn’t always the best at cleaning his room at home, but this was too much. He began looking for cleaning supplies and spent the next few hours just cleaning.
***
While the attic was far from perfect, Ren finally decided to stop cleaning and collapsed backward onto the bed. Now with a little more room to think, Ren’s mind went back over the past day and he remembered that static buzzing in his ear.
Oh…
Wait, wasn’t that supposed to signify your soulmate was nearby? Ren didn’t even realize!
He turned onto his side on the bed a little frustrated he lost out on the opportunity to meet his soulmate.
Well, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. His soulmate would surely be treated worse just by being half of the delinquent who assaulted a random old man for no reason, as the court ruled. Crummy ‘justice’ system.
At least if he hasn’t met his soulmate yet they don’t have to share in his public shame. That should be for the best.
He didn’t want to drag anyone else into his problems, he could wait until college to look for his soulmate, just like his parents wanted.
***
On Sunday Ren simply met with the principal and his homeroom teacher. The principal was clearly just using Ren as a charity case for the school’s public relations whereas his homeroom teacher seemed not at all enthused to have him in her class.
Ren supposed he should’ve expected that, but as long as the students don’t know about his arrest he should be fine. That’s what he told Sakura, anyway.
The next day Ren had a strange dream about being in a jail cell and there was a man with a long nose, but he honestly could barely remember it when his alarm went off. He simply got up like any other day and threw on his school uniform, making sure to wear it properly as he did not want to stand out.
Luckily he had black hair and dark eyes, and despite his piercing gaze he could wear glasses to mitigate it. He checked himself over in the bathroom mirror to see how he looked. He looked like a totally normal, somewhat introverted high school student. Perfection.
As he was leaving, however, he noticed a plate of curry on the counter top. Looking behind the counter he found Sakura looking at him expectantly.
“Curry?” Ren asked, tilting his head.
“It’s your breakfast. Now eat it.” Sakura said.
Ren never thought of curry as a breakfast food, but it was better than just hoping there would still be some bread left at school in the morning. After saying his thanks for the food, Ren dug in and was surprised by just how good it was.
Sakura smirked as he saw Ren’s expression and gestured for him to drink the coffee as well. Despite being an unusual combo, they went together very well.
“Is this your recipe?” Ren had to ask.
Sakura smiled. “It was a collaborative effort between a friend and I. That’s a story for another time though, you should get to school. Don’t want to be late on your first day.”
Ren nodded his head. “Right.”
Finishing his food, Ren thanked Sakura once more and rushed out the door toward the train station.
***
Once he’d gotten to Shibuya he noticed the sky was looking much cloudier and he could smell the vapor in the air. Having lived in the country his whole life, he knew it was about to rain. Unfortunately in his rush to get to school he had not packed an umbrella.
Oh well, it appeared as though he’d have to get to school without one.
Ren quickly speed-walked to the train to Aoyama-Itchome and managed to catch the train just in time. The train was packed with students and there were no seats left, but Ren let out a sigh of relief. At least he wouldn’t be late.
Bzzz-t
Ren opened his eyes as the static buzzing returned to his ears. That could only mean one thing: His soulmate was on this very train.
He knew he shouldn’t have, it was risky to find his soulmate here amongst the students. But he rationalized to himself that no one knew of his record yet, surely it’d be okay.
Ren’s rationalizations in the end only served as justifications for his sheer curiosity and previous hopes before he’d ever even been arrested. Ren looked around the train, trying to see if anyone else was looking his way.
Then his black eyes met red, and the static filled his mind until a solid connection could be made.
Then he heard her voice.