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“What’re the chances, eh?” Himiko said, looking down at her forearm. In a pinkish-red colour reminiscent of scar tissue, characters ran up her arm, the kanji for a name: Shinguji Korekiyo. She looked up and stared at the boy stood before her, and grinned.
Korekiyo blinked, breaking eye contact. “Yeah, it’s pretty rare. I, uh… sorry, I’m just so shocked.” His fingers trembled slightly as he gripped his rolled-up sleeve, the characters for Himiko’s name standing out against his pale skin.
“No, I totally get it,” she said. “This is awesome, though. When I signed up for Danganronpa, I never, ever thought I’d meet my soulmate.”
“Me neither,” Korekiyo said. “It’s… good to meet you.”
Hesitantly, he held out his hand. Himiko knew the story from other people who had gone through this, but she still found her heart racing; all she and Korekiyo had to do was hold hands, and their soulmate bond would fully form. It was traditional, so why was she anxious?
Eventually, she held out her hand, clasping his with her own. As their fingers touched, a jolt like an electric shock ran up her arm, and she gasped. The same happened to Korekiyo, and he gave an awkward chuckle.
As she stared at him, her sudden anxiety made sense, and Himko found herself wanting to cry rather than smile. She was anxious because… in a few weeks, she and Korekiyo would enter the killing game. What if one of them died? What if… one of them killed the other?
But she pushed all those horrible thoughts away, remembering why she signed up for Danganronpa. Judging by the expression in his eyes, Korekiyo was going through the exact same thing.
But soulmate bonds were meant to be strong, right? They could survive anything now they had each other, right?
Please…
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As Himiko wanders through the halls of this weird, weird school, her mage’s hat sitting wonky on her head, her arm prickles and itches. Annoyed, she pulls up her sleeve to itch it… and stares.
The characters for Shinguji Korekiyo are on her arm, itching and itching. Where did this come from?
Her memory is still all foggy, but something comes to her; how could she have forgotten about soulmates? Everyone has a soulmate. But she has no memories of this Korekiyo person. Who are they? Could they be one of the people in this school?
Well, there’s only one way to find out. Despite her laziness and lack of stamina, Himiko picks up her pace. She needs to speak to everyone, just to check if Korekiyo is here. Of course, the chances of that are extremely low, but she needs to check. Having her soulmate by her side in this confusing situation would help a lot.
She meets lots of weird people on her journey through the school, including a robot, a perverted girl who makes Himiko run away as fast as her tired legs can carry her, and a girl called Tenko who clearly has some kind of crush on her. She’s exhausted, but she has to check them all.
Finally, Himiko bursts into a classroom, and someone turns around. She stares, finding herself looking at a boy wearing a military-themed uniform, bandages on his hands and a mask covering the lower half of his face. He gives off a creepy aura, and Himiko lets out a weak, “Nyeh…”
But her mark prickles worse than ever, and she walks towards him. “H-Hello. I’m Yumeno Himiko, and I’m a mage.”
The boy’s stoic expression breaks for a second, his eyes widening. “That name,” he says. “Did you say Yumeno Himiko?”
“Uh huh,” she says, nodding. “What’s the matter? Are you impressed to be in the prescence of the Ultimate Mage?”
“No, you misunderstand me,” the boy says.
Slowly, he pulls up his sleeve, and begins to unwrap the bandages that cover his forearm. As he exposes skin, Himiko spots marks just like the ones on her arm, kanji that look like they were burned into the skin. Soon, she recognises her own name, and Himiko gasps.
“Wh-What the hell?” she says, staggering backwards.
“Do you understand now? I have no memories of meeting you, Yumeno-san, but I find myself with your name emblazoned on my arm. My memories are foggy at this moment in time, but I do recall the phenomenon of soulmate marks. Could it be that you are my soulmate?”
His tone and choices of words are old fashioned, and she blinks. But Himiko ignores that, more focused on what he actually said. Without speaking, she pulled up her sleeve and held out her arm. He reads the characters and lets out a small gasp, his hand going up to his face.
“My goodness…” he says. “Not only are you my soulmate, but it seems I am yours too.”
“So… you’re Korekiyo?” Himiko says, too shocked to remember how rude she must sound going straight to first names with him.
“That I am,” he says. “Shinguji Korekiyo, the Ultimate Anthropologist.”
Himiko blinks again, taking a step backwards. This… is him? This weird and slightly creepy boy is her soulmate? “Oh… n-nice to meet you.”
He gives a laugh, a strange sound with a hiss to it, and extends his hand. “I understand the circumstances are less than ideal, but should we follow the tradition?”
“Oh yeah…” No matter how weird he is, Korekiyo is her soulmate. And it’s the tradition to hold hands. “Okay…”
Himiko holds out her hand, and Korekiyo grasps it. But… she doesn’t feel it; there is no electric jolt as their bond solidifies. Did it fail…?
Or… did they already do this before?
No, that’s stupid. They’ve never met before.
So why is this happening? She doesn’t understand.
She just has to hope she and Korekiyo can stick together throughout all of this.