/Red string/
Soul mates are connected by a red string of fate. It glows more vibrant when they are near, and appears more dull when they are far; in both physical distance and heart.
A red string can glow weaker, but it can't break.
/
The sound of the school bell ringing out jolted Light from his daydream as he stared outside the window next to his desk. Another day. It was over.
Chairs scraped as his classmates left, and Light found himself automatically putting his books away into his bag. The teacher was rubbing off the math's equations from the board at the front of the class and the halls were full as Light walked out into them.
Another day, it was always the same.
People were making plans for the evening, talking about TV shows he sometimes watched only so that he could participate in their conversations. Grimacing as he exited the school gates and started walking home, he found himself behind a couple. A boy and a girl wearing the school uniform holding hands. A red string dangled from each of their wrists, swinging between them as they stepped.
It was a strange phenomena that Light had never really understood. Each person was born with a red string, and at the other end was their soul mate, like it was pre-destined from birth. Red strings, some dull and some bright, were always around. Although it was rare to see such young soul mates who had already found each other…
And it was common that people would even grow old without finding their soul mates at all.
Day 46.
It had been 46 days since the beginning of the first term of the last year of school.
Lying on his bed that night, Light tried to think of something that would alleviate the boredom.
Day 47.
He lay there again, eyes dull with frustration.
Day 48.
He tried to think about the future. About following his father's footsteps and joining the police, going to university and studying law.
Day 49.
Light's thoughts were empty.
He found himself staring at the ceiling.
A knock on his door brought him out of his empty contemplation.
"Hey, Light!" His younger sister. "Can you help me with my math's homework?"
"Huh…? Uh… Sure."
"Thanks! We're doing quadratic equations. Oh!"
"Huh?"
"You're string!" Sayu exclaimed, eyes wide with surprise. "It's brighter today!"
Light followed her gaze to his wrist, thinking that she must have been over-reacting. His string had been dull all day like it always was, barely even there. But similarly his eyes widened too. Right then, it was glowing bright red.
"Did you meet someone?!" Sayu asked, latching onto him. "What's her name? Tell me, tell me, tell me!"
"I didn't, no, I didn't meet anyone…"
He followed the string curiously with his gaze, but of course he couldn't see any further down the hall.
"They must be in the same city if it's that bright!" Sayu told him. "Come on!" Tugging on his arm, Light found himself being pulled down the hall and down the stairs. Sayu pulled her coat down from the hook near the front door and she put on her shoes, getting Light's out of the shoe box so that he could do the same.
"Cold…" She said as they wandered out the front door. "It's going this way." Sayu pointed at it, at Light's string on the left of the street.
"Sayu, you're going to get sick if we walk around looking for this person."
"No way! We have to find her!"
Light trudged along behind Sayu. It didn't feel real. Couldn't have been. There was something faulty with his string. Had to be. Because no one had ever taken his interest, and he doubted that anyone ever really could.
"This way!" Sayu kept tugging on his coat sleeve. Light didn't share her enthusiasm, although as his string grew brighter and brighter...
Maybe there really was someone…
"Come on!" Laughing brightly as she broke into a run, Sayu kept on cheering him on and they wove in and out of streets until Light felt himself get out of breath and he barely recognised the neighbourhood they were in.
"It's too late." Light said, stopping and catching his breath. "Sayu, this can wait. We can go out looking tomorrow when it's earlier. If we keep going we'll get lost."
"But what if she leaves tomorrow?" Sayu asked him. "What if she's only in Tokyo tonight and tomorrow she's going somewhere else?"
Light shrugged. "Then we'll meet some other time."
"Don't you care?" His little sister asked. "What if you don't get the chance again? Everyone… everyone wants to meet their soul mate."
Light avoided her gaze as Sayu clocked on. Everyone except Light.
"You don't… want to?"
"We should go home."
/
The sound of the school bell rang again, to indicate the first class the next day. Already sitting at his desk, Light was absently staring out the window again. Staring out to the blue sky and the white clouds that lazily glided along.
Chairs scraped, and students sat. He heard the teacher cough to get the class's attention and then he greeted them.
"Good morning everyone. We have a new student today. Please, make him feel welcome."
"Nice to meet you." Said a quiet voice, and Light's head turned. A boy his age, 17, was standing at the front. Pale, thin, and with dark hair that fell, overgrown, around his grey eyes.
"Light Yagami-kun speaks English. Please, take the seat next to him."
Light turned his head further and realised that the seat next to him where his classmate, Ido, usually sat was today vacant and then he started hearing whispers and then he noticed something else…
That his red string was glowing the brightest that it ever had -
"Two boys?" He heard someone muttering. "That's so weird…"
"What? …Light-kun and this guy?"
and that it was connected to this new student.
Light's cheeks flushed. In embarrassment or panic, he didn't know which. It was the first time it had ever happened; that he'd felt flustered. He avoided anyone's gaze as the boy approached and sat down. Light followed his string one more time to make sure. There was no mistaking it… the other end was attached to his wrist.
"I've never seen two guys attached before…" The mumbling continued.
"Man, how disappointing would that be if your soul mate wasn't a girl?"
"Disappointing? I'd try and cut my string off."
"Is that possible?"
"Don't know, but I'd try for sure."
Feeling anger and embarrassment building up, Light was about to snap before the teacher recalled the class's attention.
"Everyone! Please open your books to page 53, topic 6."
The murmuring settled and Light got out his book. He noticed that the boy beside him hadn't taken his out. (Maybe he didn't have his books yet? Couldn't understand them?) He was staring vacantly ahead, although Light got the impression that he was intentionally avoiding his gaze.
Light's brow furrowed.
"I'm Light." He introduced himself quietly, deciding to completely ignore the fact that the string which hung between them, connecting them, was glowing brightly.
"I know." The boy replied in English, in monotone, still looking ahead.
Biting his cheek in irritation, Light thought for sure there must have been some mistake. How could your soul mate be someone who was totally disinterested in you? Totally indifferent to you?
"Um… your name?" Light asked, and to his surprise the boy turned to him.
"L." He said. One syllable. Abrupt and short.
"L…? Is that short for something?"
L shook his head. "No."
Light opened his mouth to say more, but he could feel his classmates staring at them. Not only that, but there was something about L, the vacancy of his gaze had switched to an intensity.
Light was used to people looking at him. In particular, he was used to girls looking at him. Some had even approached him, even though they didn't share the same string, confessing to him. Light was tall, slim, with an ever cool and composed demeanour. His face was handsome enough to be in magazines. And while the girls admired him, the guys envied him.
Usually people looked at Light, and they didn't see anything past that. L, however... didn't seem to have any problem staring him dead in the face, completely unaffected by it.
"Let me know..." Light said quietly, and stiffly, turning back to his book, "if you need help here."
"That won't be necessary." L replied and again Light bit his cheek. Seriously this guy was rude.
"It was just an offer..."
"Offer declined."
"Sorry, but did I somehow make a bad impression to you?"
L didn't answer which only further agitated Light more.
/
And Light didn't understand that. Just this morning he'd woken up, not really caring that his string was glowing any brighter or that his soul mate was near.
He decided to choose a table alone at the cafeteria for lunch. He picked around his food, not feeling very hungry, and out of curiosity he followed his string and saw L sitting on the opposite side of the room.
After disposing of the rest of his lunch, Light sat at L's table. L was sketching something into a book and ignored Light again.
So Light stayed there and watched. L was drawing an aerial view from somewhere. buildings and skyscrapers (somewhere around Tokyo? it looked familiar) so detailed that Light could see every window, matching with perfect proportions to each building, and each building perfectly proportioned to the other.
"Where is it?" Light asked, head resting on his hand as he watched L's hand flick with each movement.
"The view from the plane," L answered shortly, "when it was flying over Tokyo."
"You know..." Light murmured quietly, after a while more of watching him, and L ignoring his existence. "If you really didn't like me, then the string wouldn't still be glowing so brightly right now."
The lead of L's pencil snapped and he glanced up.
"I never wanted to meet you."
Reaching for the pencil and thinking on what L said, Light slid the sketch book across and clicked the pencil, starting on another page.
"I didn't really care about meeting you either." Light admitted, "My sister pulled me out the front door last night because she noticed my string glowing brighter and she wanted to find you. She was more excited than I was. I can't even describe why I didn't care..." Light looked at L, concentrating still. He'd started drawing an outline of a face. L's face. His gaze travelled from his cheekbones, to his eyes, sketching them down quickly and perfectly. "Even though everyone's born with a soul mate, it was like I didn't really believe there could be anyone. I guess I could never imagine the person on the other end of the string. What they looked like... what their personality was."
Pausing as he started sketching L's lips, he flicked his gaze back up to meet L's eyes, then down to the paper again. "I didn't really have any image of you, but you're still not what I expected."
"Sorry to be a disappointment." L said dryly.
"That's not what I meant." Light finished shading L's hair and pushed the sketch book and pencil back. "So, why didn't you want to meet me?"
Staring down at the portrait Light had quickly sketched of him, L swallowed and shrugged.
Whatever it was, he wasn't going to say it.
"Alright," Light resigned, putting his hands into his trouser pockets. "You don't need to tell me. But we also only just met. It's not like I have any expectations, so you don't have to completely avoid me either."
"This conversation confirms that I should." L said quickly, and snapped the sketchbook shut. "Yagami Light please don't talk to me again - "
"Huh?" breathed Light.
"It's for the best." L murmered and stood up, "I don't want any contact with you."
Looking up at L, Light could hardly believe what he was hearing. He'd found his soul mate today, and now his soul mate was rejecting him...?
"What?" Light asked after him, starting to grow annoyed and equally confused. "Hey, did I say something wrong?"
"Not particularly." L replied vaguely as he walked away.
Light had never seen two soul mates meet before. He didn't know exactly how people reacted when they found each other, but he'd seen it a lot in movies. People were always happy to find the person on the other end of their red string. It was like a cliche that was portrayed over and over - the female lead would cry in euphoria when they finally met and the male lead would embrace her and then there'd be soft romantic music playing in the background.
The closest thing to music around Light was the chatter in the cafeteria growing louder, and the female lead was actually a guy who was acting like he hated Light, and Light was left there sitting alone. But their string was still glowing brightly. He watched it unravel as L widened the distance between them. In fact, it seemed to be glowing even brighter than before. L didn't really hate him, if he did the string would be dull. So why was he acting like he did…?
Light stood up. He was aware of people's gazes on him, of the whispers. He only intended on trying to talk to L one more time, to solve whatever was going on. And as he reached out for L's arm, L's head spun around to him in surprise.
Light's heart felt like it stopped for a second in his chest, and L had reflexively thrown a kick. Light went down, and L went down with him, awkwardly landing on top.
"Sorry..." L apologised immediately and monotonously.
"You just kicked me!" Light protested at him.
"It was a reflex."
"Why!? I wasn't going to attack you!"
"I told you not to talk to me again."
"And that's it? you won't even tell me why."
"You're the one who said you don't have any expectations."
"I don't! but why can't you just tell me-"
Light bit down in pain as they continued to tackle. Everyone was probably staring at them now but they kept fighting. He threw a punch back to retaliate an elbow L threw at his face. They matched each other, strength for strength, until someone was pulling them apart, separating them and they found themselves sitting in an office, on a couch the furthest they could possibly be from the other while the headmaster stared at them.
"Yagami Light, highest ranking student at this school," his gaze shifted to L, "L Lawliet. highest ranking student at your previous. Would you care to inform me why the two of you were brawling in the cafeteria?"
Lights eyebrow shifted at the new information about L. So, he thought, L was also the highest ranking student at his previous school too, but his eyes remained narrowed in annoyance as he dabbed his cheek with an ice pack.
"It was my fault." L admitted quietly. "I kicked him first."
"He told me not to talk to him, and I went after him." Light also admitted. "It's my fault too."
The headmaster blinked in reply, then uncertainly cleared his throat. "Well, usually students don't admit they're at fault so quickly."
"Does that mean I can go now?" L asked bluntly.
"Certainly not," pushing his glasses up his ageing face the headmaster looked at him sternly. "Assaulting a fellow student is a very serious offence."
"Then I'd like to remain silent until I can speak to a lawyer."
"You won't need a lawyer." The headmaster told him.
"But you just said that I committed a very serious offence."
"An offence against this schools rules." The headmaster clarified exasperatedly.
"I see." L said. "In that case, please continue."
"You have both committed an offence that violates the school rules. You will receive an expulsion warning, and each of your parents and legal guardian will be informed of your misconduct."
"You're going to expel the two highest ranking students in the school?" L repeated.
"I, well-"
"It's my first day here anyway, so it really wouldn't be that inconvenient for me to change schools. Should I start looking in advance? There's a school close by here that offered a rather nice scholarship."
L stared back innocently as the headmaster stared at him in flustered puzzlement.
"N,no that won't be necessary."
"My guardian is also rather busy with managing my parents estate. I doubt he'd want to be troubled at a time like this considering we both admitted that we're at fault. If you wouldn't mind, can I suggest that we conclude with a warning against having our grades being penalised in the future and leave this meeting as I'm sure that a person with responsibilities such as yourself is only having his time wasted on trivial matters such as this and for that I apologise." L stood out of his crouch and placed his hands in his pockets. "Thank you for sparing us your time."
Light took the ice pack away from his cheek and stared after L as he left the room as equally as speechless as the headmaster at L's perfectly executed Japanese as well the perfectly executed way he'd just resigned their conversation, before he remembered that he also had to get up and leave.
"Um... thanks." He said, bowing quickly before he left the room.
L was already gone by the time he closed the door behind him. There was still another class until the break in the afternoon so Light went back to the room and noticed that L still hadn't returned. Taking his usual seat next to the window, he could feel his classmates looking at him again, this time probably wondering why the schools best student had been in a fight earlier, with his soul mate no less, and was now late for class. He could almost hear their speculation as he absently turned his pen following his red string out the door.
At afternoon break he sat on the roof, head resting back against the building and eyes focused on the sky. His head turning as the door squeaked and L walked through.
L sat beside him, silently.
"I wanted to apologise properly for kicking you." He apologised again.
The clouds passed by and Light watched them drift. They were the kind that were white and thin, spanning across the sky.
"I thought I finally might not be alone." Light said quietly. Not particularly to L. His usually sharp amber eyes were dull again as they continued staring up at the expanse. "Even my soul mate wants nothing to do with me." He smirked, but there was no amusement in his tone. "This is why I always believed that something's too good to be real, it probably is. The whole notion of a soul mate must really be nothing but chance. These red strings connect us, but who decides in the first place? They're probably all meaningless. A nice story someone created one day."
"You're wrong." L told him, with such force and finality that Light's gaze snapped to him.
"Huh?"
"That's all I'm saying, and I apologised. Excuse me."
"Is this the last conversation that we're ever going to have then?" Light asked him, as L neared the door.
"Yes."
"Then, L," Light said emptily, "it was nice meeting you."
There was a finality to it, and L's hand hesitated as it hovered on the door handle. It's hinges were rusted, it's paint peeled. The clouds continued to float on and time continued to move on and L left.
/
Day 51.
Above his head, Light stared at his string.
It was pulsating bright, then dull.
Bright, then dull.
He didn't know if it was because of L's feelings, or his. A part of him believed all that he'd said before about a soul mate being nothing but chance, but a part of him also couldn't stop thinking about L.
Bright, then dull.
Bright, then dull.
"Ugh." Light sighed. It was pointless to think about him anyway, it wasn't like they were ever going to talk again. What was he going to do when they sat next to each other everyday? Just ignore him? Would the string eventually fade until you could barely see it anymore and then it wouldn't even matter? They could just be like strangers.
Thoughts like this continued in his head the next morning. He left his gaze on the window as everyone entered the classroom again and his ears annoyingly pricked at hearing the sound of the seat, where L sat, scraping beside him. Tapping his cheek with his hand, he was growing annoyed at himself.
"Good morning..." the English teacher continued to talk on and Light absently opened his page to the one they were reading. "Yagami-kun, could you please translate the following sentence into English?"
Reluctantly, Light stood.
"Who said that love was fire? I know that love is ash. It's the thing that remains when the fire of life is spent."
The teacher said his name once more after he remained standing, staring at the page.
"Yagami-kun, please sit down."
"Yes..."
The fire of life... what did that even mean? Had Light ever felt that fire... Was it normal to feel it?
Was it the buzz that was always around him, when people talked about those TV shows? When his sister had pulled him out the front door, more excited than he was to meet his soul mate? Was it the way people passionately spoke about changing things that would probably never change?
Bright, then dull.
Was it normal to feel like you'd met your soul mate before, even though you were certain that you'd never met and there was no rational way to explain it. For everything to feel familiar about them, like life had somehow played on some sort of loop and it had finally met up, around in a circle again...
L's face. Even though he'd been looking at L while he was sketching, it was like his hands already knew how to move. They were drawing his eyes, his features, while he was looking it him but it was like it was from memory. That fight... they were matching each other because Light knew how L fought, like it had all happened before...
"I am L."
Light's eyes snapped open.
He couldn't remember when they'd closed.
"L?" Light repeated, and someone was staring down at him. He was on the classroom floor and the other students and the teacher were surrounding him.
"Are you alright, Light-kun?" L asked him and Light's heart felt like it stopped for a moment.
"Where are we?"
"At your high school."
"...Why?"
"You've forgotten again. I just did too."
"Forgotten-?"
"The memory will only last for a moment, so listen."
As much as Light wanted to, he also didn't. Memories came flooding back to him, things that he didn't understand. Things that made perfect sense. And now he didn't understand anything at all.
"This is the thirteenth time that this has happened. Just before you blanked, you saw something outside. That seems to be the trigger. What did you see?"
"I don't... remember."
A room. He was suddenly in a room. There were no windows, and there was something, metal, handcuffs? restraining him.
L's school uniform had disappeared and he was wearing a white shirt. Jeans. Thumb poised, resting on his lower lip.
"It's already been fifty-three seconds. Tomorrow this past week will replay again. Next time, you have to remember what you saw."
L wasn't standing over him. It was the teacher. He was back again in the classroom. Had that whole thing just been... a hallucination?
"Yagami-kun?" the teacher was saying to him, abruptly and with the smallest amount of concern etched onto his face. "Someone please assist him to see the school nurse."