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Waking up for Saku has always gone nearly exactly the same. His eyes would crack open about 20 minutes earlier than his alarm, and he would spend the first 10 minutes tidying up his bed. Then, he'd take a shower and brush his teeth before eating either a convenience store bought breakfast or little more than a banana. He'd tidy up his uniform and check his messages before heading out to school. This has been the way he's done things since he was a teenager, and it's never failed him before.
Something was wrong about the way Saku woke up today. There was a small, but noticeable tension squeezing the base of his pinkie finger, but he couldn't see anything that would cause that. He did his bed, checking for potential issues on it, and found nothing. He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth and it didn't go away. He ate an apple for breakfast today, which didn't help, but the sweetness helped distract him for a moment. It was only when he neatened up his uniform that he noticed it.
A red thread, barely thicker than a strand of his own hair, was suffocating his right pinkie finger.
“Mio,” Saku groaned in annoyance, “what's this about?”
Mio, who was texting a friend on the couch, turned to face her brother with a disgruntled face. He was holding up his right pinky. Is this some new offensive sign?
Her brows furrowed. “Are you trying to flip me off…?”
Before Saku could respond, he noticed a red string that seemed to originate from Mio’s left pinky. In terms of diameter, hers was closer to that of a soba noodle than that of a human hair. The string may have originated at Mio, but it stretched into an unknown direction, seemingly even phasing through a wall. Why was hers so much thicker than his?
“…Never mind.” He put his pinkie down. “I must've just seen something funny.”
So she doesn't see it, does she?
He quickly grabbed his phone, navigating to a search engine as hastily as he could manage.
Red string on pinkie was his search query, to which he got many illustrations of two hands being connected by a small red thread.
Soulmates. These red strings connected people with their soulmate. Saku wasn't sure if that term was platonic or romantic, but it seems they really did exist. That felt oddly superstitious, but in hindsight, did make a lot of sense to him. It was a convenient explanation for a lot of things he didn't know how to rationalize.
But then… was he even allowed to see Mio’s? Shouldn't she be the only one who knows where her soulmate is?
Well, this is a riot.
Saku's classroom at Chidori was adorned in red threads going in every direction.
Everywhere he looked, he could see them. Nearly everyone had a red thread coiled around their pinkie, though the specifics of how they worked seemed to vary from person to person. Yutaka-kun’s seemed to be tied into a bow. Ishihara-kun’s covered his pinkie like a cocoon. Perhaps one of the more interesting observation was the fact that Miya-kun and Tsumaki-kun had the same red string. They must be soulmates, Saku thought, wondering if they already knew about this themselves or not.
Even Tsukada-sensei had a red string. Curiosity got the better of him, and he took the liberty of trying to follow that string on his free period. It had led him to a busy class 2-4, its students all busy taking a modern literature exam. The thread seemed to end at the teacher supervising the exam.
Chigusa-sensei…? That one must be platonic.
He couldn't pay much attention to classes today. Any interest he had in paying attention was overtaken by his vast curiosity on what on earth these red strings could possibly have meant beyond the obvious ‘soulmate’ thing. It was a good thing he had already studied up on this material.
Rintaro's red string was a simple one, nothing fancy, also about the size of a soba noodle. Saku immediately assumed that Kaoruko’s would look exactly the same. Ayato's looked a bit messily tied on, for some reason, though he was certain it still meant the same thing as all the other ones. Shohei’s red string was very interesting—because he didn't have one at all. This wasn't the first time Saku saw someone without a string, but for Shohei of all people? It was a bit surprising.
“Shoot… why are the midterms coming now?” Shohei muttered dreadfully, his head in his hands.
Saku looked at Shohei in the way one would look at a rat in a glue trap. “With all due respect, Shohei… what on earth did you expect?
“I just wanted to enjoy my youth while I still had it…”
Saku sighed listening to his eccentric friend. “Calm down. There's nothing more youthful and enjoyable than a study session with friends.”
Shohei hummed in defeat. Studying wasn't quite his definition of fun, but at least it was bearable with friends.
“Sounds like you're looking forward to it, huh?” Ayato asked with enthusiasm.
Rintaro smiled. “It’s been a while since we've done a full-group study session. Who knows how the others will react when they find out about Natsusawa’s new teaching skills?”
“You just wanna meet your girlfriend! No fair!”
Saku laughed weakly along. There was one of ‘the others’ that already knew of his newfound teaching methods. It's a shame they couldn't simply refer to them as “the girls” while in Chidori, that would be far too suspicious. Even still, it was true: they had planned a group review for their midterms with Kaoruko, Subaru, and Madoka later today.
A strange thought entered Saku's mind.
I wonder where her string leads?
He shelved the thought. It was probably an answer he didn't want to find out.
The walk to the station spot was so covered in red that Saku felt like he was in Chinatown. The group was certainly not going out together to just hang out, though. Whether it's midterms or college entrance exams, there was a lot of material to cover. What better time than now to do exactly that?
They chose a hangout spot specifically quite far from their schools. Even despite Kikyo trying to curb the hostility it has against Chidori, issues like that wouldn't dissolve overnight. It's always best to play it safe with these sorts of conflicts, so they decided on a hangout spot far away enough to where their uniforms would be difficult to recognize.
The actual venue was nothing special, though. Just some seats, a table, and a quiet enough atmosphere.
Rintaro shot a text into the group chat as they approached the hangout spot.
Rintaro: We're here.
Kaoruko: I see you.
Most people could. It would be quite impressive to not see him, actually, what with how tall he is.
“Rintaro!” called Kaoruko, her paces hastening as she locked eyes with him.
Rintaro had a large smile on his face, addressing both Kaoruko and the two girls that came with her. “Thanks for meeting us here.”
“My first time joining one of these,” Madoka joked. “I wanna say I'm excited but… I just wish we could do literally anything other than study…”
“Maybe you'll enjoy it,” Subaru quipped. “For once.”
Madoka hung her head low. “At least the heavens will know I tried.”
Shohei's gaze fell to the floor as he sighed. “You and me both.”
“That requires you to actually try,” Saku shot back.
“The last step is to factorize it, which should be simple. You'll end up with both values pretty easily.”
Subaru's eyes shone like stars as the method dawned on her. “Got it. I'll give it a try.”
The group had sort of split off into two by this point, congregating around each end of the long table. One group was studying for midterms, and another was studying for the national entrance exams. Occasionally, one group would ask for help from the other, which would be resolved in a matter of minutes. Despite this, Kaoruko, Subaru, and Saku were in full focus mode most of the time, keeping to their own material, but cross-checking if needed.
Even still, within the group itself, there was a smaller sub-group consisting of the students who were interested in taking the T University entrance exams. Kaoruko felt a bit left out, but she knew her friends Subaru and Saku needed this. It was a difficult climb, after all.
Unfortunately for Saku, he found himself distracted again by the strings. It was a tiny miracle that he managed to study at all before, especially with his curiosity now getting the better of him.
To his abject lack of surprise, Kaoruko's red string was simple, neat, and of a normal diameter. Saku was also not surprised at all to see her string connect to Rintaro's. Madoka, interestingly enough, didn't have one. Perhaps she's more the type to confide in everyone. If Subaru had one… it was extremely difficult to see.
It took them sitting next to one another, with Saku glancing directly at Subaru's hand as she held her mechanical pencil, for him to be able to see it. It was nearly unnoticeable, similar to his, about the width of a human hair. What really made it nearly impossible to notice was its color—it wasn't red. Where a red string should have been, a reflective white thread about the diameter of a human hair found itself tied around her pinkie finger, the thread seemingly winding its way into a direction Saku couldn't quite pinpoint. It was pointing about 30 degrees away from him, phasing directly into a wall.
Of course it's silver, Saku thought.
Had he not been explicitly looking for this, he would have easily brushed it off as a strand of her own hair.
But what did that mean? If a red string led you to a soulmate… what would a silver string lead you to? Was he simply overthinking this?
Google didn't help. The religious concept of a silver string being tied to one's life force didn't make much sense considering it led directly into a wall. There seemed to be some sort of connection here, though. It was still a string tied to a pinky finger, so it must have at least been related.
Perhaps Subaru's silver string is just… a really weird version of the red string everyone else seemed to have?
What a strange thing to know of.
“-tsusawa-kun? Natsusawa-kun?”
Saku must've been too lost in his own mind. The voice calling out to him felt almost like a seraph proclaiming “Be not afraid”, sending chills down his spine. His soul returned to him as soon as the words reached his mind.
“Is… everything okay?” the voice asked, now more human and recognizable.
Saku’s gaze swiveled immediately to the source of the voice. A blinding light had entered his eyes, flooding it open with an unknowable flash of radiance. What kind of religious happenstance is this? First the red strings, then Subaru's silver string, and now a terrifying angel who he couldn't see due to a blinding light. Was he being punished for his sins?
Just as quickly as the flash had entered his eyes, it left.
His gaze steadied. Subaru was looking at him sympathetically like he was homeless.
As the afternoon sun’s rays flowed into the space, Saku could have sworn Subaru's hair looked like it was glowing. It was as if she had a halo.
An epiphany hit Saku.
Just now, there were no angels tormenting him with heavenly radiance. No strange superstitions that involved flashes. No tricks of the light.
The flash of light was nothing more than sunlight reflected off Subaru's silver hair.
“Did you need something?” Saku asked, his mind still racing.
Subaru sighed in relief. “You just looked a bit bothered, that’s all.”
Kaoruko added to her friend's words. “If there's anything bothering you, I think you should take a break, Natsusawa-kun. You've already helped me and Subaru a lot.”
Saku put his head in his hands. “Sorry. I must just be sleepy.”
Subaru took out a grey vacuum flask, pouring its contents into its now-unscrewed lid. She placed it on Saku's side of the table.
“Maybe this will help?”
Saku inspected the lid, filled with a deep brown liquid. It was most definitely coffee. Who knew Subaru had it kept in a flask? Perhaps this was originally meant for her?
Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“… Thank you, Hoshina-san.”
Bottoms up.
Kaoruko was certain this meant something between the two of them. She caught herself smiling whenever she looked at her friends in front of her, silently rooting them on.
She was blissfully unaware of the strings.
Saku found himself sleeping a bit later than usual that day, though it was not out of choice. He had a lot on his mind between the nebulous flurry of exam prep questions and red strings going everywhere. Unfortunately, that meant he couldn't get his mind to stop thinking long enough to go to sleep.
On further thought, perhaps it was Subaru's coffee keeping him awake.
It's funny how she seemed to have been born with a silver spoon, a silver head of hair, and now even a silver string.
Saku didn't like to admit it, but a small part of him died when he found out her string didn't match his. He was right in his original assessment, it seemed. She didn't feel the same way. Perhaps she never would.
His eyes felt dry. He couldn't even shed tears to brace the fall.
I guess that's just what it's like being young, Saku thought, his regrets pooling under him as he tightly clutched his covers.
Where does a silver string lead?
Why were theirs so thin?
Why was he the only one who could see these connections?
If only this were as simple as precalculus.
It was not the alarm that woke Saku. In fact, it never was. His eyes would crack open about 20 minutes earlier than his alarm. This is how it always was.
But not today.
It was a flash of light, prying its way into his eyelids and burning his retinae in vivid radiance, that woke him up.
Saku flinched himself awake. He opened his phone to check the time. He had woken up 13 minutes earlier than he usually did.
It took him a second for his eyes to readjust, but he could have sworn something was flashing the morning sunlight directly into his eyes.
But what?
That was when he noticed it: something was different about his red thread. He didn't know they could change. Perhaps they could even disappear and reappear depending on the situation? Regardless, the capabilities of these threads seemed to suit the situation, like they were evolving.
No, wait, that wasn't important. Saku frowned at his thread. Something was off about it, but he couldn't figure out what. His eyes were still slightly overwhelmed by the flash, so he still couldn't look too closely yet. The fact that it was the width of a human hair meant it was even harder to see than it should have been.
It took a while for the string to come into focus. When it did, Saku's body tried to gasp, but it made no sound. His eyes widened in shock.
That morning, there were no angels tormenting him with heavenly radiance. No strange superstitions that involved flashes. No tricks of the light.
The flash of light was nothing more than sunlight reflected off Saku's silver string.