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"Have you heard about the red string?"
"The what?" You asked your friend while munching your food.
You're hanging out with her that afternoon but she keeps her head in this old-looking book. She said that she found it somewhere in her new apartment's basement.
"Well, it's a Japanese myth. It is said that soulmates were bound together with a red string. They will soon meet regardless of time, place or under any circumstances because the string will keep them connected. It is said that the string may be tangled or twisted but it will never ever break." Your friend narrated. You scoffed.
"And you believed that?" You asked chuckling. She just shrugged before putting the book down.
"It sounds interesting. Are you going to stay for a while longer? I have to go somewhere. Just lock the door for me, okay?" Your friend said before standing up and picking up her bag from the counter.
"Nah, I'll leave with you. I have to do something at home." You said before strolling behind her.
You bid your friend farewell when she climbed up her car. You're just a few blocks away from your house so you're just going to walk.
You always like walking down your quiet neighborhood. You were just passing by the park when an old lady caught your attention. She's covered in mud and she's lying on the ground, face first. You immediately ran towards her.
You checked her pulse first before lightly tapping her face.
"Lady? Hello? Are you okay?" You asked. Her eyes slowly opened.
"Oh... oh, dear. I'm fine. I'm sorry. I fell earlier and I think I passed out because I can't get up... you know, old age." She chuckled. You helped her stand up.
"Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?" You asked worriedly. The old lady shook her head slightly.
"No, thank you so much for helping me. A lot of people passed by but no one helped me because I looked ragged." She said still wearing that same smile.
"What?? Some people just passed you by? You were laying unconscious on the ground! What kind of heartless people would just ignore you?" You said. Your heart is now filling with anger.
The old lady tapped your hand lightly.
"It's okay. I'm glad you're the one who helped me." She said. The old lady fished out something from her pocket before handing it to you.
"Here. Take this." She said. You accepted it and frowned slightly.
"A pair of AirPods?" You asked.
"Thank you, lady. But I already have a pair of these at home. I don't actually need it." You said hesitantly. The lady shook her head.
"This one is special." She started. "It will allow you to talk with your soulmate wherever they are in this world." She said. You eyebrows arched up.
"Oh... really?" You asked amused. She nodded, still wearing the same smile.
"Now go home and give it a try." She said. You just nodded before turning your back at her. You're still hesitant to leave her but she gave you a light push.
"Oh, and y/n?" You looked back at her. How did she know your name? "The Gods liked playing games sometimes." She said smiling.
You were about to answer when a car honked at you. It was your friend.
"What are you doing there?" Your friend asked.
"Oh, I helped this old lady—" Your words got cut off when you looked back and the old lady is nowhere to be seen.
"Helped who?" Your friend asked again.
"I— Nevermind." You said before walking towards her car.
Where did the old lady go? You're sure as hell that you're talking to her cause the airpods that she gave you is still on your hand and judging by her state, she can't walk very fast.
Did you just walked into a different entity?
But what keeps on bugging you is her last words.
"The Gods liked playing games sometimes..." what does that mean?
You're sitting beside your bedroom window with the AirPod on your hand. The disappearance of the old lady is still a mystery for you.
How in the hell did she know your name? Is she a nymph or something?
You gaze landed on the AirPod on your hand. It looks ordinary. You tried to open it and a piece of small folded paper fell from it. You picked it up and unfolded it.
"The only question you could ask about their whereabouts is "Where do you live"?"
Your eyebrows furrowed again. Is this about the talking-to-your-soulmate-thingy that the old lady was talking about earlier?
Hesitantly, you picked up an AirPod and put it on your ear.
"Uhm... hello?" You said. But silence greets you back. "Helloooo~" you repeated a little playfully feeling like a fool.
There is no way that what the old lady was saying is true. There's no such thing as soulmates. What is this? A Disney movie?
You were about to remove the AirPod from your ear when
"Hello?"
a lazy voice greeted you from the other side. Your eyes widen.
The old lady was right?
"Alright... let's take a break for a sec." Kuroo said before walking down the benches. The other members of the Nekoma Volleyball team joined him as well. They picked up their water bottles and towels.
"Kenma, is this yours?" Tora asked and handed the AirPods to Kenma. The latter's eyebrows furrowed and took it from his friend.
"No, I don't think so. I left mine at the locker room." Kenma answered.
"Huh? But it has your name on it?" Tora said. Kenma looks at him with confused eyes before checking the airpods out.
It has indeed his name engraved at the bottom.
But he's sure as hell that he left his airpods inside his bag in the locker room.
He tried to open it and a piece of paper fell. He picked it up and unfolded it.
"What's that?" Kuroo butt in. Kenma payed him no mind and read what's written on the paper.
"The only question you could ask about their whereabouts is "Where do you live"?"
"What? Where does that came from?" Yaku asked.
"What do you mean? That's Kenma-san's airpods, right?" Lev said joining the conversation.
"Nevermind. I'll just put it inside my bag. I'll be back." Kenma said before leaving the other guys and stroll outside the gym.
When he's almost at the club room, he took an AirPod and put it on his ear.
He don't know why but something inside him just told him to do it.
"Hellooo~" his eyes widen when he heard someone talking from the other side.
"Hello?" He said.
"Oh my god! You're real?!?" You screamed from the other line. The boy frowned a little.
"I'm sorry, but who's this? I think the owner of the airpods left it somewhere in the gym. Are you on call with them?" The lazy voice from the other line asked. "I'm pretty sure they're somewhere near if their phone is still connected to the AirPod." He continued.
"Wait... u don't own it? Didn't some old lady gave you the airpods?" You asked.
"No. My friends found it in the gym. What's odd is it has my name in it but it's not mine." The lazy voice answered.
"M-maybe because it's destined to fall in your hands??" You hesitantly answered trying not to sound like a fool. But it didn't work. The boys eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Well, an old lady gave me this AirPod and she told me that I could talk to my soulmate with this. I didn't believe at first but then when I tried it out you answered..." you explained.
"And you think I'm your soulmate?" The lazy voice asked.
"Uhm... yes. I guess??" You answered biting your lower lip.
"I see..." he said.
What? Did he believe you? Woah. That's easy. Maybe he's someone who actually believe in supernatural shits.
"May I ask you something?" He said.
"What is it?"
"Are you drunk?"
Your mouth fell open. So he doesn't believe you at all?
"Look, I swear I'm telling the truth! I know this is hard to take and it's weird but it's true!" You argued. The boy rolled his eyes in the other line.
He thinks you're pulling a prank on him.
"Who told you to make fun of me? Is it Lev? Tora? Kuroo?" He asked.
"What? I don't even know who those people are!" You insisted.
"Alright, but how can you prove to me that what you're saying is real?" The lazy voice asked. He's interested but he doesn't sound like it.
and heck... he sound divine...
"Hello?" He said... you blinked.
Did you just zone out? You shook your head then bit your lip. You grip the folded paper tightly trying to find a way to make this person believe. Wait? That paper!
"Okay! Uhm, when you open that AirPod case, I bet there's a folded paper in there that says "you can only ask the other person about their address" or whatever? Right?" You said. You're unsure but it's worth the risk.
The boy's eyes fell into the folded paper in his palm.
"Ye, but you could put it here intentionally and leave it somewhere so you guys can pull a prank on me." He answered.
You squeezed your eyes tightly. He's right. Now you're running out of ideas on how he'll realize that all of this is true.
"Kenma, who are you talking to?" Kuroo said while walking towards him. Kenma's brows shot up.
"Are you pulling a prank on me?" He said.
"What?" The other person on the line asked.
"I'm not talking to you." He answered.
Kuroo's eyebrow furrowed.
"Are you talking to someone on the phone?" He asked.
"Yeah and they're blabbering nonsense. Is this on you?" Kenma asked.
"What? This isn't nonsense! This is true!" Kenma rolled his eyes to your response.
"I'm not pulling a prank on you. Can I talk to them?" Kuroo said. Kenma removed the AirPod and give it to Kuroo. The latter put it in his ear.
"Hello?" Kuroo said. Kenma's watching him intently,
"Hello??" Kuroo repeated.
Your eyebrows furrowed when silence filled the other line.
"Hello?" You said. They did hang up? Wait? Can you hang up in this thing?
"Kenma, are you kidding me? There's no one on the other line." Kuroo said before giving the AirPod back to Kenma.
"What?" Kenma asked confused before putting the AirPod back to his ear.
"...are you there? Hello? Damn, can you hang up on this thing?" He heard you from the other line.
"But she's talking." Kenma told Kuroo.
"Oh, there you are! Did you hang up?" You asked.
"No, I don't even have the phone connected to this. How can I hang up? My friend was trying to talk to you but he said that you're not talking." The boy said.
"What? But I've been talking the whole time plus I don't hear him talking either!" You protested.
You were about to say something else when it hits you.
Could it be...
"I guess we can't talk to anyone unless it's your soulmate!" You blurted out.
"What are you talking about?" Kenma asked.
"Cause they can't hear me and I can't hear them so maybe... this thing is made specifically for soulmates!" You said.
Kenma rolled his eyes once again.
"Can you stop talking about this soulmate thingy? It's kinda weird." He said. Voice lazy.
Kuroo watched Kenma with confused eyes while the latter is talking to "someone" on the "other line".
"I— we'll wait for you at the gym." Kuroo said. Kenma just nodded.
"Believe me! I'll cut my middle finger if this is a prank! I swear I'm telling the truth!" You said.
"Alright, whatever you say. I have to go back to practice now. I'll talk to you later, I guess?" Kenma said. Slowly believing your bullshit.
"Practice?" You asked.
"I play volleyball." He answered. You nodded as if he can see you.
"Alright. I'll talk to you later!" You said.
"Yeah, I'll just put this thing on my ear and you'll hear me right?" He asked.
"That's my theory... but whatever, we'll try it." You said.
"If you don't answer later, I'll take it as a prank and throw this AirPod away." He said.
"Wha—" your words were cut off when silence filled the other line.
Kenma pocketed the AirPod and jogged back to the gym.
To be safe, you kept the AirPod on your ear for the rest of the afternoon.
"Hello?" You jumped from your sleep when you heard the familiar lazy voice.
"Hello? I'm here!" You said sleepily but a little too eagerly.
"Are you sleeping?" He asked.
"Uhm yeah.." you answered. Kenma's eyebrows shot up.
"Did you sleep with the airpod on your ear?" He asked.
"Maybe?" You answered.
You heard him chuckle from the other line and you swore you just heard the angels sing.
"Hey? You there?" You heard him called. Damn you zoned out again.
"Uhm.. yeah, yeah I'm here." You said.
"So why don't you tell me your name?" He said.
"Is that okay?" You answered.
"Why wouldn't it be?" He asked brows furrowed.
"The instructions said that the only question that we could ask is where do we live." You answered biting your lower lip.
"Did you read the instructions carefully?" He asked. "It said the the only question about OUR WHEREABOUTS..." he continued emphasizing the words.
"Oh..." you answered realizing it and feeling like a dumb person.
"So, what's your name?" Kenma asked.
"Y/N. You?"
"Kenma. It's nice meeting you, y/n."
You and Kenma spent almost everyday talking to each other. You'll just remove the AirPod when he has volleyball practice or when you're studying but aside from that, you never missed a day without talking to each other.
It has been a month now and you learned a lot about him.
He likes video games. He played a loooot! The boy is obsessed. There are times when the AirPod just sits on his ear while he's playing just so he could still talk to you. He also plays volleyball. He said that he actually don't love it but he doesn't dislike it either. His friend Kuroo encouraged him to play. He also lives in Japan but he can speak English fluently.
Kenma would like to believe that he learned a lot about you for the past month too. He knows that you snore softly in your sleep. He knows that you can't memorize a thing without saying it out loud repeatedly. He knows that you're not a great singer but you're not that bad too.
It feels like the both of you are starting to get closer now and that made your little heart happy.
"Hey? I have to go shower. I have school." You heard him say from the other line. Your brows furrowed. You've been meaning to ask you this but you always forgot.
"You have online class?" You asked.
"No. I go to an actual school." He said chuckling.
"Oh, you can go to school now?" You asked again.
"Huh? Why wouldn't we go to school?" He asked confused.
"I mean... the virus? Remember? We're all quarantined to avoid the spreading so we just stay in our home so we spend our classes online." You explained. "But I guess Japan is over it? I mean, I'm not watching the news cause this year sucks so..."
"Y/N... what are you talking about? What virus?" Kenma asked.
"Uhmm?? The Corona virus? The global pandemic?" You answered. You're confused cause why the hell wouldn't he know about it? It's a global pandemic!
"What do you mean? I always watch the news and there is no global pandemic." He said.
"What—" your words were cut off when the old lady'/ voice rang to your ear.
"Sometimes, the Gods liked playing games."
What does this mean? You have a hunch but you don't want to believe it.
"Uhm... Kenma, does... does this year start out great for you?" You asked nervously biting on your lower lip.
"Y-you... you don't hear any news about volcanic eruptions or large earthquakes?" You asked again.
"No, I don't think so. It's kinda peaceful. Why?" He asked.
You squeezed your eyes tightly. If this whole soulmate thing is real then that means that your idea isn't impossible either.
"Uhm... what... what year is it today?" You asked.
"Huh? 2020? Why?" Kenma answered.
Your mouth fell open. That proves your theory. A single year fell from your eyes. How could this happen? Did the Gods indeed played with you? But why? What did you do wrong?
"Y/N? What's wrong?" You heard Kenma from the other line.
"Kenma..." you called out his name.
"Why? What is it? Are you crying?" He asked.
"I don't think we will ever meet." You whispered.
"What? Why? Are you ill or something?" He asked confused.
"No..."
"Then why?"
"Kenma..." you called again and this time you can't stifle your sobs.
"What is it, y/n? You're scaring me."
"Kenma, I think the Gods played with us." You answered.
"What do you mean? You're confusing me." He answered.
"I— I think we're from two different worlds."
How can the red string of fate cross worlds?
"So I guess, we're soulmates that wasn't meant to be." You whispered.