Clarity

A week.

That’s the amount of time that had passed since the talk with Tsukasa, and Nami still felt like she hadn’t solved anything regarding the mess she had caused because of her constantly changing feelings.

Despite all that, the pianist knew what she had to do. She had a plan, but to go through with it, she needed to gather more courage. The talk with her soulmate had already drained her of all her strength. On one hand, she was glad Tsukasa showed determination—it made her heart skip a beat, reminding her of that one side of him she had forgotten ever existed. But on the other hand, it didn’t make the rest of the situation any easier.

She felt awful that even after he declared he wasn’t giving up on their relationship, she still tried to reason with him and show him examples of why they weren’t a perfect match, as she had originally believed them to be. So, she mentioned the thing Aya had noticed: how she acted around Tsukasa’s parents.

He wasn’t convinced at all. As a counterargument, he brought up the fact that her red-headed friend had only seen her among his parents once or twice, during formal events. So, it wasn’t his parents that caused her to be so passive but rather everything around her.

But it was Tsukasa’s other words that hit her harder.

“Your feelings for me were there before you got your Soullet, so stop using the system’s imperfection as an argument.”

He was right, and that’s why it hurt her so much to hear it. Their relationship wasn’t dictated by the Soullet. The system might be far from perfect, but going through the events of her life over the past few months, she had forgotten that.

Atsushi had a similar mindset to hers, showing her the Soullet-free zone café. The older lady who mistook them for a couple. The pair who had been mismatched after the update but still wanted to give each other a chance. Aya revealing her secret.

It was all connected to the Soullet system. All except her feelings for Tsukasa.

Getting through the ceremony had made her focus so much on the bracelet devices that she almost forgot that before having one herself, she hadn’t cared much about their existence.

Because back then, she was simply happy with Tsukasa and her passion for music.

Only thinking about it wouldn’t take her anywhere, so it was finally time to get up and gather all the courage to do what needed to be done.

She had to talk to Atsushi.

That was also something Tsukasa himself had recommended to her, which was surprising at first. But the longer the brunette thought about it, the more she understood why he gave her such advice. This way, she had to fully acknowledge her feelings for him, and at the same time, she would learn about Atsushi’s personal feelings as well.

So, she had to finally get up from her bed and prepare herself.

With newfound motivation, Nami immediately jumped out of bed, which automatically made itself. She had forgotten her parents had bought it a few years back for their own comfort, while she had chosen an old-school bed that you had to make yourself every morning. It’s not like it was that much of a hassle. The pianist never understood how people could get so lazy as to invent such a thing.

Moving into her family home had been a good idea, though. It wasn’t like Tsukasa had kicked her out of their shared apartment, but she needed some space, and so did he.

Walking to the kitchen, already fully dressed and cleaned up, Nami immediately spotted both her parents sitting by the table, peacefully drinking coffee. Just like she and Tsukasa had done every morning after they moved in together. Such a simple thing, and yet it painted a beautiful picture filled with peace and comfort.

“Morning!”
“Good morning, Nami. Did you sleep well?”

“Yup. I’m gonna grab something to eat on my way—same with dinner—so don’t wait for me, okay?” she announced with a bit of uncertainty in her voice.

“You’re going to finally sort things out today?” her mother guessed. But Nami always knew her mom had a keen eye for the smallest details, so if anything, it was her act that made it obvious.

“Yeah…”

“It’s all going to be okay, honey, don’t worry. We believe you’ll make the best decision in the end.”

“Thanks, Mom.” To have such caring parents was truly a blessing.

“And I still bet my money you’ll stay with Tsukasa.”

“Darling!”

And it was also nice that her dad had a sense of humor to ease up any tense situation. The brunette only chuckled and waved them goodbye as she stepped outside.

Walking around this almost-perfect city, it was hard not to feel guilty for not always having a positive attitude and a life free of troubles. Mini robots regularly cleaning up any trash that came their way and wiping off unpleasant graffiti with automated lasers helped maintain the nice views no matter the time of day.

It made Nami wonder how she managed to create such a mess in her life in this environment.

That was until she looked to the other side, where she saw a technician struggling with a lamp algorithm. The lamp kept glowing during the daylight, and to make things worse, it glowed pink. One might think: Why does this lamp even need a pink color programmed? But people loved being extra, and during certain events, those lamp light performances could truly astound anyone—even if it wasn’t the best for the environment.

But it was another thing that made Nami chuckle: the ad banners, which usually scanned smartphones in the nearest area to personalize what was shown on them, seemed to have been hacked. They were now playing some meme song on a loop.

Right. Even in this so-called utopia, there were still elements of imperfection. Nothing could ever be perfect. For someone who constantly tried to outdo herself in music composition, it had taken Nami an embarrassingly long time to realize that.

But soon enough, once she reached her destination, her thoughts once again focused on the task at hand. Sitting down on a patch of grass in the secluded part of the park up the hill, she could see almost the entire city spread out before her. It was the full picture she needed to see—just as she needed to paint a full picture of her current emotional situation to make a good decision.

She took out her phone and started typing. It was a short moment, and once she was done, she let out a small sigh, allowing herself to enjoy the scenery in front of her.

Forgetting to turn off the screen of her phone, one sentence was visible to anyone who might take a peek:

“Pinged you the location. See you there to talk?”