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For someone who doesn't care all that much about meeting his soulmate, Kaedehara Kazuha seemed pretty interested in his own soulmate tattoo recently. He believed that people should be able to choose who they love and not let fate decide otherwise. So why was he looking so intently at it? He was pondering if he should get his tattoo removed. After hearing what happened to his childhood and best friend Shikanoin Heizou, Kazuha was concerned with this whole soulmate ordeal. It has caused nothing but pain to his friend and to so many other people, so why does this thing even exist?
Should he just go through with it and get it removed so this burden can be lifted off him? He doesn’t want to feel guilty for denying his soulmate of this once in a lifetime chance as it isn’t his decision to do so, but at the same time isn't that his decision too? It was all very frustrating for Kazuha as he never really thought too much about it. Kazuha frowns at the tattoo on his right wrist which never got this much attention to begin with, always being covered by bandages.
"So Kazuha, what's got you so down in the dumps?"
Kazuha looks where the voice came from and there stands his boss, Beidou. The owner of the Alcor, a Cafe/bar that is quite popular in Liyue.
"It is nothing too important, besides we have to open the shop soon." replied the platinum blonde.
"Oh really? I'm sure the customers won't mind if we open a little later. Besides, if my most popular employee doesn't have his signature smile, how would the customers feel?"
Kazuha's face was slowly tinting pink from embarrassment. Kazuha knows that there are a couple of regular customers that like to chat with him when he is working the counter, but poor Kazuha is a little dense when it comes to flirting. There were a couple of times when people flirted with him, but Kazuha didn't know it was directed to him because the majority of the time he was with Tomo and he is much more popular. So being called popular was something Kazuha could never get used to. He liked being in the background and observing nature. Being in the limelight was more Tomo's speed.
"Are you picking favorites? How could you?"
Kazuha looked over his shoulder to see his senpai. They had a shocked and hurt expression on their face that soon turned into a grin.
"And here I thought I was going to be missed. So, are we opening shop or what?"
"Yeah yeah, I'm on it. We're going to continue this conversation later through Kazuha." Beidou said with a laugh as she walked toward the double doors.
"Come on, are you going to help me or what?" his senpai said while motioning with their hand to follow them.
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With his shift finally over, Kazuha let out a large sigh. The mornings were always hectic, but today was especially busy. Another sign escapes his lips as his senpai walks through the break room doors.
"So, what's on your mind?" they ask as they take a seat across from him. "And none of that 'I'm fine, it's nothing' bullshit. I've known you long enough to know when you're lying."
"...What do you think of soulmate tattoos?"
"hmm, well for starters, I was born with one, but my parents had it removed when I was a kid because they thought it was best if I didn't have one. Something along the lines of not wanting fate to decide my life and letting me choose how I want to live, to love. So, I guess I don't really care too much about them."
"So you have no idea who your soulmate is? Would you want to meet them?"
"Nope, and I'm keeping it that way because I have no need for one. Besides I got the tattoo and string removed, so I'm a free soul. Why the sudden curiosity?"
"... My friend recently broke up with their soulmate after they cheated on him. I was just wondering if I should get mine removed in case something like that happens to me. However, I can't just deny my soulmate's existence an-"
"Kazuha"
He looked up and saw his senpai's face. Empathy and concern written all over their face.
"You shouldn't base this decision solely on being afraid of heartbreak. I know it's not an easy thing to deal with, but you should be making this decision because you want it. Your decision is your choice and you don't need to know what your soulmate thinks about it. It's your body and you get to decide what you want to do with it. I don't want to sway your decision, but it's your life."
Kazuha looked down at his tattoo again and smiled,
"...thanks, I needed to hear that. I think I know what I want to do now."
"That's good to hear, but I did not expect you to come to a decision so quickly." his senpai chuckled while standing up from their chair.
"Well, I think that's enough serious talk for one day. Are you going to head home soon?"
"Yeah, oh but there is one thing I was wondering about. You mentioned it briefly earlier. How do you remove the red string of fate?"
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Stepping out of the shop and onto the sidewalk, a light breeze blowing in the wind, Kazuha looked up to the sky and smiled.
Freedom never felt so good.