Perfect Connection

A soft clicking sound echoed through the ceremony hall.

The Soullet had been activated.

Now, it was only a matter of seconds for it to analyze the owner and match her to her other half, who would hopefully turn out to be Tsukasa.

You see, there were different possible outcomes when activating the Soullet. The most desirable scenario would be for the color pink to appear—it meant that your soulmate had already activated their own bracelet, and once you were close enough to them, soft vibrations followed by a gentle jingle would sound, intensifying as you neared the right person. To complete the matchmaking, the couple would have to touch their Soullets together. If their colors changed to golden yellow, it confirmed they had found their partner. But if it turned red and reverted to pink, it meant they had the wrong person. Another possible outcome was for the bracelet to glow white, meaning either that your soulmate hadn’t activated their Soullet yet or, in the worst case, that you weren’t compatible with anyone. This rarely happens these days, but it wasn’t impossible.

Nami didn’t have to worry about being in one of those cases, as her Soullet absorbed all the information, and the pink color began to glow vibrantly, the jingle clearly audible to everyone present.

But it wasn’t the only sound.

Another device was letting out the same jingle in unison.

Nami looked up to see Tsukasa’s bracelet glowing the same pink as hers. He was already looking at her, unable to stop smiling. Without exchanging words, they walked toward each other and bumped their Soullets.

There it was: the beautiful golden glow.

“Told you so,” Tsukasa said, his voice trembling as though he was trying hard not to cry with happiness. “There was nothing to worry about.”

“You’re so stupid,” Nami giggled, practically throwing herself into his soft embrace.

Unlike her now-official boyfriend, she didn’t mind letting all her tears out. Of course, that silly composer couldn’t help himself from saying the classic “I told you so.” He loved proving he was right, even in the most serious situations. Maybe for others it would be annoying, but for Nami, it was charming.

It had to be part of being a soulmate: you could easily find the positives in your partner’s traits that others might see as flaws.

“Ahem,” the administrator interrupted their emotional moment, “I understand this is all very exciting—a truly adorable love story—but we limit ceremonies to ten minutes, and someone new may arrive for their Soullet, so I kindly ask you to move along.”

The abashed couple let go of each other. Only then did Nami notice that their uninvited audience was applauding. It was not a surprise, her ceremony had now become a perfect story for the online news, yet another example of how perfectly the Soullet system works and how accurately it calculates human emotions. She didn’t care what others thought; there was no space for that now that she knew her life was set just as she wanted.

“Let’s get out of here,” she said, taking Tsukasa’s hand and leading him toward the exit, away from the ceremonial hall.

Out in the fresh air, they both could finally take a relieved breath without anyone having the unwanted gaze on them.

“That was…” Tsukasa tried to find the right words to describe his feelings.

“Underwhelming and overwhelming at the same time?” Nami offered.

“Something like that, yeah.”

“I still can’t believe it’s all real. I-I mean, I imagined this scenario almost exactly as it happened, so it’s like living through a dream.” He put his hand on his forehead, slowly running it through his curly black locks.

“Well, we’ll have to get used to this being our reality now,” Nami looked up at him teasingly. “Can you handle that, Mr. Yamada?”

He chuckled in response. “I think I can manage, somehow.”

It was so strange. Nami tried her best to be happy and excited, but it was truly just… confusing. It felt like she’d gone through an adrenaline rush that had triggered strong emotions, which disappeared once it was over. Maybe the experience of using the Soullet to search for a significant other held more meaning than just immediate confirmation. Then again, she was sure that if she said that out loud, people would look at her strangely and remind her how lucky she was to have an early match instead of going through the long waiting process.

“Crap,” a sudden realization hit her. “We should probably call our parents and friends to tell them the good news, right?”

Her boyfriend looked at her for a moment, then smirked as if he knew that the time for something he had planned all along had just come.

“Or… we could go to the restaurant I reserved a week ago instead, and from there, we can send a picture to everyone so we can enjoy our first day as soulmates together.”

“That sounds nice.” Nami smiled, thinking how peaceful it would be to go along with his plan, until she realized something and a confused look appeared on her face. “Wait. You reserved a table for today?”

Tsukasa puffed out his chest proudly. “Not just any restaurant—your favorite one. I know nothing relaxes you more than us eating nabe together.”

“You really thought of everything, didn’t you?”

“I told you, I had no doubt about our feelings.”

That’s right. It didn’t matter if she didn’t feel anything particularly special after the ceremony. Nami couldn’t understand why she had been so set on experiencing something more intense. So what if she’d had different expectations? All that mattered was that she could now move forward with her life the way she wanted. Not everyone was this lucky. She and Tsukasa were one of a kind, the reaction of people in the stands was a clear proof for that.

“I have a feeling that no matter what we do, it’s impossible not to get flooded with messages. But that nabe does sound good right now… So, shall we go, turn off our phones, and pretend nothing exists except for us and the food we order?”

“Exactly what I had in mind.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go—I’m starving!”