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When Nanako was a child, she had been so upset that she had been deprived of such a wonderful color. One that quite literally occupied more than 70% of the world. One that people said brought them safety and peace. One that a great part of the population claimed was their favorite. She couldn’t even look at the sky up high without seeing gray!
Blue.
She spent all her childhood and part of her teenage years without knowing how blue looked. When you are born, if you are lucky enough to not have any kind of disability, you forget about the darkness inside the womb and go through the marvelous experience of seeing color. All but one. You couldn’t see the color of your soulmate's eyes until you bonded with them.
The thought of having a soulmate excited Nanako. The knowledge that there was someone out there that would compliment you in every way. That was destined to be by your side. There couldn’t be anything better! It annoyed her to no end to be clueless as to what blue was, but it was worth the wait.
Then at 15, she bonded with the kindest boy and she thought she’d won the lottery. Oliver was everything she could’ve asked for. When they met in high school and shook hands because Oliver was that polite, the world made sense to Nanako. She finally understood what was so great about blue.
It’s a funny thing how life works, you know? When everything seems to be falling apart, the world just keeps on turning. When all the color leaves the world, flowers keep blooming. When tears can’t stop falling, the children keep laughing. When your heart shatters and you feel like you can’t breathe, the babies still cry. When the pain stops you from listening, the birds are still singing.
Nanako thought about this when a bird sat in front of the hospital’s window. They had just taken Oliver away, away from her forever. This bird sang a splendid tune, but she couldn’t say much about their looks. They were mostly gray, with the exception of the peak, claws, and eyes. But it wasn’t a majestic gray, but a soulless one.
It must have been blue. When your soulmate dies, they take away their color. Nanako was back to not being able to see blue. That’s what finally broke her. Not only was blue Oliver’s color, but Langa’s, her beautiful snow angel. It was in his eyes, his hair, his favorite board, and just everything about him. It broke her to not see him completely.
Although it was odd, when Langa entered the room, she still could see his hair color. She supposed the loss took time to settle in. Like in life. Her wonderful baby even offered to dye his hair, paint his board and even use contact lenses, so that she wouldn’t have to miss so much. While she was crying on his shoulder, a Nurse came into the room. Not knowing what to say, she blurted “What a beautiful purple bird.”
Purple
Years have passed and she still can see blue, but she lost purple forever. She didn’t understand. Everyone she knew that had lost their soulmate, lost their color, not a similar one, but the color. And yet here she was.
People have told her that maybe she was lucky enough to have two soulmates. But it didn’t make sense. Or maybe she just didn’t want it to make sense. Oliver had been the love of her life. She couldn’t imagine anyone that compared to him. Besides, at her age, most people had already found their soulmate. It couldn’t be it.
Either way, she moved on. Because as she understood that day, life doesn’t stop for anybody. They had to keep going. She did everything she had to do, life wasn’t ending. But even so, she forgot about soulmates and instead focused on herself.
Little did she know her soulmate would come literally banging on her door on a rainy night. She wasn’t expecting her to be her somewhat rival.
It all started a few months after they moved to japan. She was really scared that Langa would feel lost without snowboarding, but soon enough a sunny redhead showed him what it was to have fun again. She owed everything to Reki.
So perhaps she had a soft spot for them and turned a blind eye when they snuck out at night. They were good boys, she knew they weren’t up to no good. That’s why she got so surprised when one night she got a call from Langa, who happened to be at the police station. She had to leave her shift at the hospital to run and get him and Reki.
She’d never know, but the reason they call her was because Kojiro, Kaoru, and Hiromi were busy that night, Reki refused to call Ainosuke or Tadashi, and Reki’s mom would ground him until he was 40 if she found out. They trusted that Nanako wouldn’t be too harsh.
“Langa! Reki-kun!” She cried when she saw them inside a jail cell. She scanned them briefly and noticed that other than their regular skating wounds, they were all right.
“Mom!”
“Hasegawa-san!”
“Excuse me…” Nanako called. “Can anyone let my baby go?”
“Mom!” Langa replied this time embarrassed.
Nanako heard someone scoff behind them. She turned around to see a red-haired woman sitting at a desk and drinking a cup of coffee. She was kinda hot, but the stern frown took it away. “Your baby is a little delinquent.”
“Hey!” Nanako’s maternal instincts kicked in. “Don’t talk about my baby like that.”
“Mom!”
“Sorry ba- Langa! You” She pointed at Nanako. “Let them out. They are good boys-”
“Men” Reki interrupted.
“I’m sure that whatever happened was just a misunderstanding.”
The redhead scoffed again and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure that they accidentally ended up in the middle of private property and that one” She pointed at Reki “accidentally got a can of paint and started tagging the walls. And that one” She pointed at Langa “accidentally broke a dozen windows while nailing some tricks.” She used air quotes and a sarcastic tone.
“I’m sure that they didn’t mean any harm” She insisted. “As if you never did some minor crimes in your youth!”
“Their minor crimes are going to cost thousands of yens to repair!”
Langa and Reki looked at the two, like in a ping pong match.
“Which wasn’t their intention!”
Her snow angel was no delinquent and she wasn’t going to let this woman tell her otherwise.
“It’s still a crime, buttercup”
“Don’t call me buttercup, you square woman!”
“It’s called following the law, sweetheart. Are you confessing to doing crimes? Should we cuff you too?”
As if you’d be the one doing the cuffing , her mind supplied uselessly. Sure, the cop was pretty, and in another situation, she might have dared to ask her on a date, but this wasn’t the time or place!
Before Nanako could retort, a voice called from behind. “Inspector Kamata!” The redhead immediately flinched and Nanako smiled smugly. “What is going on?” A tall jet black haired man stepped between them. He looked furious.
“Chief!” Inspector Kamata bowed. “I’m processing these teenagers that invaded the old Yamamoto factory, tagged walls, and broke several windows.”
“Chief.” Nanako interrupted and bowed. She had a sweet saccharine smile. “I’m Hasegawa Nanako, Langa’s” she pointed at her son. “Mother. Please let them out. I’m sure they meant no harm.”
“Chief, they did thousands of yens in property damage, they-”
The chief interrupted her. “How long has the factory been abandoned?”
“Um…10 years?”
“Is this their first offense?”
Kiriko checked her files. “...Yes.”
“Are they minors?”
“Yes, both of them.” Nanako supplied this time, knowing where this was going.
“Let them go, Inspector Kamata.”
“But Chief!”
“Let them go. And come to my office.”
“But…”
“Now.”
“Yes, sir.” Her shoulders dropped and she sighed.
Of course that when they went home, she grounded Langa and made a call to the Kyan’s household. But for the moment, she rejoiced in her victory.
“Goodbye, Inspector Kamata.” Nanako said sweetly when the boys were ready to go. She finally got one good look at the woman, especially at her eyes.
They were gray. Soulless gray.
Their somewhat rivalry kept going for a while. They didn’t frequent each other much, but after that night, there was something that kept pulling them back together. Sometimes she’d meet Inspector Kamata if the nurse happened to go over the speed limit and it was just her luck that the redhead was around. Or if the inspector would end up at the hospital. And apparently, she was close friends with two of Langa’s older friends, so they had awkwardly met twice at the big parties the chef sometimes threw around.
Every time they met, it was like they were recreating that spiderman meme. At first, they still kept their banter and sometimes took petty choices to bother the other one. But after a while, their banter turned more into teasing. They still weren’t friends, but at least they were civil.
It all changed on one rainy night. Nanako had been back from her day shift at the hospital just before a rainstorm started. She was making dinner for her, Langa, and Reki while she looked worriedly at the window. The sky was falling. The boys were outside and she hoped they were okay.
“Oliver, why aren’t they back yet?” She asked at the framed picture of her husband.
She was about to grab her phone and text Langa when someone banged at the door. She frowned, Langa had keys. She still ran to open it and was met with a view that she wasn’t expecting at all. Langa was in the middle of Inspector Kamata and Reki. They were all wet and shivering. Her son had his arms wrapped between the two and wasn’t putting pressure on his left foot.
“Honey, what happened?” Nanako asked worriedly. She quickly moved from the door and let them in. Reki and Inspector Kamata led Langa to sit on the couch.
“We were skating and got caught in the storm, Hasegawa-san,” Reki explained while he helped Langa get comfortable. The blue-haired teen was blushing at the attention. “Langa slipped and sprained his ankle. Kamata-san found us under a tree while we waited for the storm to go away and she offered to help us.”
Nanako lifted an eyebrow at the redhead. Kamata shrugged. “I couldn’t leave them there.” She didn’t sound too happy about it, but Nanako still appreciated the act. Deeply.
Nanako went to get them some towels, and when they were all dry, she announced. “Dinner will be ready soon.” At this, the boys immediately perked up.
“I better get going. Thank you for the towels, Hasegawa-san.” Kiriko, who had been standing awkwardly in the genkan told her. Their awkwardness had lessened, but it wasn’t the same to randomly meet each other on the street and actually be in her home.
“Nonsense. Storm’s still going.” As if on cue, lighting, and thunder hit. The redhead visibly flinched. Huh, not a fan of storms it seems, but still she shook her head. “Please.” She insisted. “It’s the least I can do, you saved my boys.”
“I was only doing my job.”
“Still, stay.” When thunder boomed again, the redhead sighed and nodded.
“Just until it goes away.”
When they finished dinner, the skating duo went to Langa’s room. Nanako told them to keep the door open, knowing both boys would get embarrassed. She told Inspector Kamata it was payback for when her son embarrassed her when he was little. The redhead gave her a small smile at that.
“I’ll help you clean up, buttercup.”
“Would you stop calling me that?” Nanako chuckled despite herself.
“Never.” Kiriko replied seriously. They went to clean up the dishes, with Nanako washing and Kiriko drying. Occasionally they bumped shoulders or threw soap at the other. They giggled like old friends. In spite of their first encounter, something about Kiriko gave Nanako peace. She couldn’t figure out why.
“Oh shit. Sorry.” When returning to the table, Kiriko bumped into one of Langa’s boards from when he was little. She went to retrieve it and when she gave it to Nanako, their hands touched. It sent an electric shock through the Nurse. The redhead looked weirded out as well.
“Are you all right?” Kiriko asked “It couldn’t be lightning, right? That’s ridicu-” Her words got stuck in her throat when she turned around. She was staring at the wooden table. Immediately she turned around again and locked eyes with the nurse. “Oh.”
“What? What’s going on?” Nanako asked confusedly.
“Your eyes…they are brown. I’ve never known what brown looked like” Her eyes had the same glint and her voice the same dreamy shocked tone as when Nanako saw blue for the first time.
“H-how…?”
“You, Hasegawa-san. I think you are my soulmate.” She said in a low whisper. “I-I thought I didn’t have one. Usually, you meet yours in high school but mine never came.” She had a small smile. She looked at Nanako expectantly.
Nanako stared at her and it finally clicked. Kiriko’s eyes weren’t gray anymore. They were purple. It might have been years since she saw it, but she could never forget it. Nanako ran to the other side of the room and held Oliver’s picture.
Tears started streaming down her face. It was one of Nanako’s most treasured possessions. But it had been ruined when Oliver passed, because his jacket, the one that took ⅓ of the picture, used to be purple and now was a soulless gray. A big reminder that he was gone. But now, Nanako could see it fully again.
“Hasegawa-san! I’m sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for?” Her voice was broken.
“You are crying. I’m sorry, maybe you didn’t want me to be your soulmate.”
“I just…after my husband passed away. I thought it would be impossible to find one. I thought the color was gone and was never coming back. Even if it wasn’t his blue but purple that went away. How…how can I have another soulmate? Oliver was my everything.”
“Hey” Kiriko grabbed her by the shoulders. “We don’t have to get together if you don’t want to. Not right away or ever. I can be your friend if you’ll have me. But I’m not here to erase your husband. I can see how special he was to you and I’m not taking that away”
“But Oliver…”
“He’s always going to be with you. That's why the blue never went away. He’s there when you look at the sky, when you see the sea or when looking at your son. Oliver-san isn’t gone. I’m not a replacement for him. He’s still with you. And I’m sure that wherever he is, he wants you to take every wonderful thing this life has to offer you. I know it’s hard to process, but he loved you and wanted nothing but the best for you.”
The tears kept falling. Kiriko got closer and start wrapping her arms around her but still keeping a distance. “Is this okay?” Nanako only had the strength to nod and that was all the redhead needed to hold tight. She rocked them softly and started humming a tune, her voice instantly calmed the nurse.
“Thank you, Kamata-san.” Nanako said after a while and broke their embrace.
“Kiriko, my name’s Kiriko. I guess you can know that now that you are my soulmate, buttercup.”
Nanako laughed softly. “I’m Nanako.” Kiriko wiped the last of Nanako’s tears with her thumb.
“Nice to meet you, Nana. I’m your other soulmate.”