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When Kakyoin was six his parents explained what a soulmate is. A person who was your perfect life partner. They also explained that if you wrote on your body it would appear on your soulmate’s body. That day, Kakyoin spent a few hours deciding what to write to his soulmate. He worried about making a bad impression. But his parents assured him all will be fine, and he eventually wrote a simple hello and introduction.
He learned that his soulmate was only a few towns away from where he lived. Their parents would set up playdates for the two, and they saw each other as much as possible. Kakyoin was lucky that Aiko lived so close. He didn’t mind communicating via arm but face to face was so much better.
Kakyoin was always grateful for how easy it was to find your soulmate. You didn’t have to go on long journeys, hoping to run into them. You just picked a time and met up. With how simple it was to find your soulmate it bugged him to know end that Polnareff and Avdol had no idea who their soulmate was.
“What do you mean you don’t know their name?” asked Kakyoin.
“Never asked,” said Polnareff, “Besides those are small details when you’re in love.”
“You should fall in love with the person before you meet them,” said Avdol, “Otherwise you go in with too many explanations.”
“Agreed.”
“So, for the past eighteen years, neither you exchanged names with your soulmate!”
“Don’t need to, my soulmate is a sweetheart,” said Polnareff pointing to the word bonjour on his arm, “He learned French for me.”
“You know my soulmate also learned a language for me,” said Avdol, “And I learned French for them.”
“No way, my soulmate also speaks Arabic and French.”
Kakyoin glanced at the Arabic written on Polnareff’s left arm, clearly that was a language the Frenchman knew as well.
“Just so we’re clear, Polnareff’s native tongue is French but learned Arabic for his soulmate, and Avdol’s native tongue is Arabic, but he learned French for his soulmate,” said Kakyoin.
“Yes, it is quite the coincidence,” said Avdol.
“Indeed.”
“And you don’t think, you might be soulmates.”
“Kakyoin, a lot of people speak French and Arabic, they’re very common languages,” said Polnareff.
“Agreed,” said Avdol, “It’s not wise to make assumptions on little evidence.”
It was that idiocy right there that convinced Kakyoin that they were soulmates.
***
And really, Kakyoin should have left it alone, let the two idiots figure it out. But he couldn’t help but want to interfere, because really what were the odds that they weren’t soulmates. Not to mention they were the only people he knew who didn’t try to find their soulmates as fast as possible or know their names.
So, while he should ignore them, he couldn’t help but interfere. Besides, he didn’t need to do anything drastic, he just needed to get them to realize the obvious. Which shouldn’t be too hard.
“Hey, Polnareff.”
“Yes?”
Kakyoin handed him a pen, “Can you write me a list?”
“Sure, but why?”
“I have messy handwriting.” That was a lie, but Polnareff never seen his handwriting.
“Okay.”
“Mr. Joestar task me with getting groceries, and I’m worry I might forget something.”
“Well then, I shall write as neat as possible.”
Kakyoin proceeded to list every vegetable, fruit, and dry food he could think of.
“Wow, this is a lot,” said Polnareff, “Mr. Joestar really wants us to carry all of this?”
“Who knows why he wants it,” Kakyoin was completely banking on the fact that Mr. Joestar trusted him enough to blindly lie for him if Polnareff asked him any questions. Kakyoin was pretty sure the man was fond enough of schemes to do this.
“Huh, well he is a strange man,” said the Frenchman handing him the list, “I’m sure he has a reason.”
“Indeed,” said Kakyoin, “I should head to the store now.”
Fortunately for him, he ran into Avdol quite easily. That was the beauty of staying in a small town, granted they would only stay here a night at the most. Still, Kakyoin could appreciate a charming town when he saw one.
“Hey Avdol, could I talk to you?”
“Of course,” said Avdol, before whispering, “Is something wrong?”
“No, but I found this strange list,” he handed it to Avdol. “The handwriting is familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
“Do you think it’s a stand user?”
“No, just vaguely familiar.”
“To be honest, I don’t know too many Japanese people, you should ask Jotaro.”
Kakyoin glanced at the list to see that it was in Japanese. Right, if Avdol were to recognize Polanreff’s handwriting, it needed to be in Arabic or French. And Kakyoin couldn’t think of a reason for why he would need Polnareff to write in either language. At least, not a convincing one.
***
Kakyoin gave up on any idea that involved writing. However, that didn’t mean he gave up entirely, in fact he quickly came up with a new plan. As the group set up for camp, Kakyoin sat near Polnareff.
“Can I draw on your arm?”
“Why?”
“I don’t have anywhere else to draw on.”
“Just don’t draw anything ugly.”
“Will do,” said Kakyoin taking out a pen.
“What are you drawing?”
“Nothing ugly,” said Kakyoin drawing a few cherry blossoms. He supposed it didn’t matter what he draw as long as Avdol and Polnareff saw each other’s arms. He continued his plant theme, adding trees, butterflies, morning glories, ajisai, and a few red spiders. Before long he covered Polnareff’s arm in drawings, from wrist to elbow.
“Wow, you are quite the artist,” said Polnareff.
“Thanks,” said Kakyoin, “I want to get another person’s opinion. Hey, Avdol.”
The man in question appeared, “Yes?”
“What do you think?” he asked pointing to the Frenchman.
“Polnareff has nice arms?”
“He meant the doodles on my arm,” said Polnareff shoving his arm into his face, “Our Kakyoin is quite the artist.”
“Indeed, he is.”
Kakyoin found himself staring intently at Avdol’s sleeve, it was like the thing was made of wood, it refused to move in any way that would reveal skin. The teen ended up staring at that sleeve for the whole night, how the hell did it stay completely still? Now that he thought about it, Kakyoin couldn’t think of a time he saw Avdol’s bare arm. If he really thought about it the same applied to Jotaro.
To make matters worse, Polnareff washed off his arm the next day. Kakyoin felt too defeated to try. He wasn’t even sure if Avdol saw his arm or not. Probably not, given that he and Polnareff were acting like nothing happened. And for one crazy moment, Kakyoin thought they weren’t soulmates.
***
Now any thoughts Kakyoin had of them not being soulmates were gone in a week. Because, at this very moment, Kakyoin was listening to Avdol and Polnareff discuss poems in the back of the car. Both of their soulmates send them poems. A crazy coincidence.
“It started when I was fourteen, I wanted to express how I feel but I wanted to do it in an elegantly, so I search for a poem, and then I sent À une passante. At time I thought it was a great romantic gesture, now I wish I wrote an original poem,” said Polnareff.
“Funny enough, that was the first poem my soulmate wrote to me.”
Kakyoin took a deep breath, willing himself to not point out the obvious.
“It is a good one,” said Polnareff, “But the one my soulmate sent me was so romantic it couldn’t compete.”
“Let me guess, Qais Iba Al’s Mulawwah.”
“That’s the one!”
“I think everyone has send that poem once to their soulmate, I know I did.”
“I can’t blame them; it’s a wonderful poem.”
They couldn’t seriously think this was a common practice.
“Agreed, but the poems I love the most are the ones he wrote.”
“Polnareff did you ever write an original poem for your soulmate?” asked Kakyoin.
“I did; I was around seventeen when I did it.”
“Wow, if I didn’t know better, I would say you two are soulmates.”
“Fortunately, we don’t make baseless assumptions,” said Avdol.
Why the fuck wouldn’t you make an assumption Kakyoin wanted to scream.
“You two are sure devoted,” said Mr. Joestar. “I just told my soulmate I was rich and not to worry.”
“Honestly, I don’t know why she married you, old man,” muttered Jotaro.
“I was charming when we met.”
***
Kakyoin didn’t think Polnareff and Avdol would be this oblivious. Well, he didn’t think Avdol would be this oblivious. He fully believed they were soulmates; he just didn’t think they would ever figure it out. And at this point, he didn’t think there was anything he could do.
But then, he saw Polnareff writing on his wrist. As Kakyoin got closer he saw the man was drawing a sudoku on his wrist.
“That’s interesting.”
“Oh,” said Polnareff, looking surprised, “My soulmate likes sudoku, so I like to surprise him on occasion.”
“That’s sweet.”
“Can I confess something?”
“Sure.”
“Ever since I encounter Dio, I haven’t had much time to talk to my soulmate, and he hadn’t communicated to me much. I’m worried that he’s losing interest.”
“I’m sure he understands.”
“Maybe.”
A happy looking Avdol approached them, “Mr. Joestar just acquired a car for us.”
“Wonderful,” said Polnareff.
“You look happy,” said Kakyoin.
“My soulmate just left me a sudoku, I was a little worry he forgotten about me but clearly that is not the case.”
“Wow, Polnareff just made a sudoku for his soulmate.”
“Your soulmate is lucky to have you.”
“Thank you.”
“That’s what you got out of that!” Kakyoin nearly shouted.
“What was I supposed to get?” asked Avdol.
“You guys don’t think it’s possible you’re soulmates.”
“Plenty of people like sudoku,” said Polnareff, which was the end of that conversation. Kakyoin had officially given up. Once he did, Jotaro told him about the bet he and Mr. Joestar had. Kakyoin bet five hundred yen that it would take them a decade to figure it out.
***
Ever since defeating Dio, Avdol and Polnareff would meet up once a month. They would go to a local café and just talk. It was a peaceful tradition, and the two always looked forward to seeing each other.
“You know Avdol, I couldn’t help but notice you always order black tea when we go out.”
“It’s my favorite.”
“Black tea is my soulmate’s favorite.”
“Polnareff, I notice that you always order a latte.”
“It’s my favorite.”
“It’s also my soulmate’s favorite.”
“You don’t think-”
“It’s possible.”
Avdol handed Polnareff a pen, and the man began to draw a heart on his wrist. He watched as the same line appeared on Avdol’s wrist.
“I can’t believe this,” said Polnareff dropping the pen.
Avdol picked it up and finished the heart, “We really are soulmates.”