Chapter Text
Shinichi had had been a long, fun day with Ran solving his father’s puzzle. The ending had been slightly disappointing, but Ran and him had eventually given up on waiting for this mystery man to show up and headed to the park nearby to play for the last few hours of daylight left. Ran had headed home a few minutes ago, and Shinichi should be heading home before it got too dark and his mother got overdramatic about how worried she was for him. He was, yes, 6, but they both knew he was a lot smarter than other 6-year olds. However, something kept him in the park. So, there he stayed, swaying in a forlorn manner on the swings, watching the fading light of dusk creep up the side of the buildings around the park.
Feeling silly, Shinichi rose and dusted off his smart trousers. Stretching, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye – 3 individuals, 2 parents are their presumed child. Something about the man seemed oddly familiar. He crept closer, peering at them from behind a tree. He tried to keep his focus on the man, but something in his core draw his gaze to the young boy, around his age with wild hair and a loud demeanor.
He wasn’t sure why until the boy turned and he saw a glimpse of his eyes.
Shinichi turned around and slid down the stump, tucking his knees under his chin and wrapping his arms around them. He was baffled. Flummoxed. He’d never heard of someone whose eyes glowed, let alone seen them. What kind of…. creature was this? He peeked back around and found that, to his disappointment, the people were gone. With a quick check of his wristwatch and a not very age appropriate curse, he headed home.
Now this was a mystery worth solving.
His first thought was to talk to his parents. This was quickly dismissed. His father would just make it into a ‘learning moment’ or act surprised he didn’t know it already. Worse, his mother would somehow add this mystery into her fawning over him somehow. He wouldn’t have it – she embarrassed him far enough as it was. The next thought was much more logical: books.
This was obviously an ocular phenomenon, perhaps only visible at night or even just around dusk, Shinichi theorized. He cracked open the encyclopedia that contained the ‘O’ words, hopeful it would be under ‘ocular’ and not the derivative ‘eye’. A diagram of the eye was shown, labelling the various layers; next to it was a drawn rendering of an eye with a glow seemingly photoshopped onto it. Bingo.
Smugly, Shinichi sat down to read, worming his way down into the familiar cushion of the library’s armchair. The expression was quickly wiped from his face, and he found himself at a loss for words. He knew he was prone to being… unaware of somethings, Shinichi admitted to himself. Things that didn’t matter, you know? Like his birthday. But this concept – soulmates – was something he was sure he would’ve remembered.
Shinichi sat back, allowing the book to flop open on his knees.
So, that boy was his soulmate.
There was a strange lightness to the thought, and he felt strangely giddy. However, he could feel the rational side of him growing increasingly agitated. How was it fair that he was stuck to someone he didn’t know and didn’t have a choice in for the rest of his life? He barely saw the boy in the dim light of dusk, which gave him the inane thought of trying to ID the boy in a lineup at the police station. According to the book, his eyes would light up in a symbolic way, which was vague – another unfair thing.
“Shin-chan?”
Shinichi perked up at his mother’s voice. It never went well when she saw him in a ‘mood’, so he tried to play it off as simple tiredness, and not the weight of this new knowledge on his 6-year-old conscious.
“Yes, mother?”
“Try not to stay up too late.” His mother finished, the statement nearly a question. Damn she was hard to fool. He’d have to work on his acting, which probably meant ask his mother for help. “Try to save the coffee for when you need it,” she winked at him with a smile, leaving him to his thoughts.
Shinichi found the topic of soulmates to be strangely foreign, both warming his heard and making him feel uneasy with the implications behind it surrounding fate and free will. Shinichi mentally shrugged. And then, as he was alone in the library, physically shrugged. He has Ran. He has his parents. He has soccer. And, most importantly, he has a while to think about the concept of a soulmate before it matters.
After all, he’s run into his soulmate one time, even if just barely in passing. There’s no reason to think it won’t happen again.