Chapter Text
Souji notices the slight stretch of his right pinkie meer seconds before a blur of orange and black rush past him and crash directly into a trashcan. He, along with other students, stop in their tracks at the sudden sound of metal clashing and bear witness to uniform-clad legs kicking aimlessly. Everyone continues on with their way to school, yet Souji hesitates to follow. The owner of the kicking legs cries out for help as they struggle to wiggle their way out of the trashcan. In doing so, Souji catches a glimpse of the owner's hand and proceeds to stop breathing. Clutching at the metal rim is a pinkie tied with a string of red leading right to Souji's.
Souji didn't expect much from Inaba and certainly didn't expect to find his soulmate in Inaba. If anything, Souji would've preferred to have never meet his soulmate until college because he knows he'll go anywhere his parents want him to. It's conflicting; to ignore the person meant for you in every possible way for the sake of, what, conveniency? Yes, it sounds horrible but Souji doesn't believe he's ready to love in the current stage of his life and doesn't have the heart to string his soulmate along if they have a chance of happiness elsewhere. It's incredibly selfish and selfess at the same time, but his soulmate will understand... right?
Souji doesn't bother to entertain the thought though and decides to walk past the student stuck in the traschan, willing to ignore the desperate tug of his red string the further he goes.
Yosuke stops struggling after he feels his string yank viciously and it doesn't stop until complete silence surrounds him and his trashcan. The silence doesn't stop the sense of dread leaking into Yosuke's gut after realizing at what just occured.
'They... walked away?'