Heart Beats

Karma

The strings that pulled the world and everyone in it together was something Karma had come to love and despise. What if the person you ended up with didn't want to be with you? What if you ended up with a person you didn't want to be with? A stupid system of lies and fairy tales, Karma thought as he walked the city streets. He didn't believe in the superstition that everyone else in the world believed in. Until he couldn't avoid the truth any longer.

His twentieth birthday had only just passed days before, but he still hadn't taken the initiative to follow it and see who it lead to. He didn't know how to feel about the string tied to his right-hand pinky finger because he had lived his entire life without it, and now he couldn't be rid of it. He hated it and it made him feel anxious.

Fall had rolled in and the air held a soothing chill in it. Karma could see his breath as he looked down at his right hand. The string continued forwards and around a corner, but he didn't follow it. Instead, he continued on without a second thought straight for his apartment.

His home was a small apartment complex he had bought as soon as he completed his first year of university. He planned on going into the Ministry of Economics as he was working on a course for trade and industry. The getting into the university was hard and the work was harder, but somehow Karma made it through each and every day of it.

Stepping into his apartment building and pulling out the keys, Karma eyed the red string tied to his finger for the thousandth time. It bothered him constantly, and he only saw it as a distraction.

His apartment was small but cozy. A single couch in front of the tv hung up on the wall. he hadn't bothered furnishing the place yet as his part-time job and schooling had taken up most of his time. A large window overlooked the street below as dusk began to fall and lights illuminated the streets.

Karma tossed his messenger bag onto the glass desk in his room as he entered and flopped onto his double bed. His hand moved over his eyes and before he knew it thoughts consumed his head. The thing that caused him so much grief and anxiety was latched onto him forever, and he couldn't do anything about it. It wasn't necessarily the string itself, no, it was someone else.

The last time Karma had seen Manami Okuda was their most recent class reunion a few months back. They had spoken the entire time, and Karma loved talking to her. Back when they were still in junior high, he had been asked a question.

"Who do you like, Karma?" One of the boys had asked while on a trip to Kyoto. He had answered Manami, as that was the first person to come to mind. At the time, he had said her name because there was no one else he could think of. But slowly as they fell out of contact, he realized he actually did like her, and he missed her too.

Karma Akabane with a schoolboy crush. But he supposed it must have been true and he hadn't been lying to himself. Because he really did like Manami, and he didn't want anyone else to be his soulmate.

That was when Karma decided once and for all. If he couldn't be with Manami then he might as well not be with someone else. And without even the slightest idea of who his soulmate might have even been, Karma grabbed a pair of scissors and cut his string loose.

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Manami stopped in her tracks as a pounding pain seized her chest. Her hands grabbed at her chest, her heart racing as though it were on fire and her blood was flowing in reverse. The hall she was walking through in her college was full of students, but they all backed away from her as she dropped to the floor breathing in shaky breaths. Touching her head to the flow, she could hear pounding steps around her as people started yelling and screaming.

What are they screaming for? She wondered as she heard her heartbeat again all too loudly. There was another tight pulling in her chest that forced her to screw her eyes closed in pain, and she felt a hand at her shoulder.

"Manami? Are you alright?" Takebayashi said as he shook her shoulder. Manami pushed his hand away. It felt too hot, too painful, it felt wrong. Her vision was tinted red, and the next time she coughed, Manami noticed a splash of scarlet on her hand.

"What does red mean to you?" Someone had asked her long ago. She thought of that now, but she couldn't think of the answer.

"Manami? What's wrong with you, Manami?!" He asked again before she could look him in the eyes again. She had finally given up on trying to stay upright and fell to the floor, and she lay there as she blinked ever so slowly, until she didn't open her eyes again.

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As Karma snipped at his string again, he couldn't help but feel annoyed as it wouldn't cut. His scissors had passed through the string time and time again but it was still attached to his finger, whole and untouched.

Maybe if I just cut off my finger I'll be rid of it, he thought in annoyance. Seeing as he couldn't do anything about his string, Karma lay on his bed again contemplating what to do. He reached his hand out to his nightstand and looked at the black dark screen before he turned it on and dialled a number.

After ringing for nearly a minute, Nagisa didn't pick up so Karma decided he'd just do what he was supposed to do. Work. The entire time he worked on his class work, his mind always wandered back to his favourite chemist. The last time they spoke, she said that she went to a college in Tokyo to study scientific medicine. Creating new drugs and procedures and the like.

There was only silence in Karma's apartment for the next hour or so. The occasional honk of a car or a screaming child interrupted his thoughts from time to time, but other than that it was peaceful.

Just in the middle of writing his report for one of his classes, Karma's phone went off. He closed his laptop and picked up his phone from where he left it on his counter, answering as he walked to the window.

"Hey Nagisa, good ti —"

"Hey, saw your call but I'm a bit busy right now." Nagisa interrupted hastily. Nagisa's voice was then drowned out by the loud sounds of his surroundings.

"Hey Nagisa, where are you?" Karma asked confused. He could hear some yelling and loud steps as though people were running.

"Yeah I'm at the Jikei hospital in Tokyo right now, that's what I called about." He said.

Karma laughed. "Why would you be there? Something happen to Kayano?" Karma asked slightly concerned. in the past year, Nagisa and Kayano had started to go out. Karma hadn't cared much. Only teased the two for it.

"Not Kayano. Manami."

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Karma's legs moved before he could think. Before he knew it, he was grabbing his coat and had hung up on Nagisa and was out the door. From his apartment, the hospital Nagisa was at was roughly a ten-minute taxi ride, but Karma didn't have the sense to call for a cab so he ran the whole way. By the time he ran up to the entrance of the hospital, he could see Nagisa leaning against a wall waiting for him.

"Where is she?" He asked in a rush. Nagisa knew about how Karma felt about Manami. Despite being a daredevil outgoing boy back in junior high, he could never bring himself to tell Manami how he felt. And he never even knew why.

"We can't see her right now. It's family visits only and her family is currently out of the country. They would probably come back now but nobody can get a hold of them." Nagisa explained as they walked down a hall and up a set of stairs. Karma's heart was pounding in his chest. It only got louder as they reached a glass wall in the corner of the floor they were on. Inside the glass-enclosed room were two beds. Only one was occupied.

Manami's wavy hair was spread out on her pillow as her eyes were closed in sleep. Nothing looked to be wrong with her but karma knew better than to assume nothing happened.

"What happened to her?" He asked quietly, bringing a hand to rest open on the glass window.

"It was something like a heart attack. Takebayashi was speaking to the doctor about it but apparently about an hour ago, she just suddenly collapsed and started spazzing out. When she arrived at the hospital she went straight into the operation room. Apparently, her heart was overworked and nearly tore her heartstrings. You know how people can die from a broken heart? That was basically what happened.

A broken heart, Karma echoed in his head. The entire time he had been panicking about Manami, he hadn't had a chance to look at his sting. But upon seeing something red near Manami, he remembered it again. And upon looking down, his string went through the double glass doors and snaked up onto Manami's bed. And on her left-hand pinky was a red string of fate.

"Nagisa," Karma said dazedly.

"What."

"Nagisa."

"What."

"Manami is my soulmate."

Nagisa opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't know what to say. He had already found his soulmate, and he knew the feeling of being by them all the time. A happy feeling even when you were sad. But for Karma to find out his soulmate was exactly who he wanted it to be, and that they had nearly died that day was something he didn't want to think about.

"What are you going to do about it?" Nagisa asked. That seemed to snap Karma out of his daze as he looked over to Nagisa. "What will you do now?" He asked again.

"I'm going to tell her. Manami hasn't turned twenty yet, right?" Karma said. Though one soulmate could see their string, the other might not have come of age yet so they wouldn't be able to see.

"Good idea—"

"But what if she doesn't like that we're soulmates?"

"Of course she will like that you're soulmates."

"But what if she doesn't?" Karma pressed, his eyes lingering on Manami's face in the ward.

"She will. Don't stress it."

Karma swallowed down the nervousness in his stomach as Nagisa went to consult the doctor again and check on Kayano. But why had she ended up like this? Did she have a boyfriend? Did she get her heart broken? Did something make her so sad that she nearly died? Karma had so many questions, but no answers.

"The doctor said we could go in since her family isn't here," Nagisa said. Karma was relieved he'd get to see Manami, but also nervous.

"We'll go in first, you can go last if you want," Nagisa offered. Karma nodded thankfully and stood by the door to the ward and watched as Nagisa, Kayano, and Takebayashi went into to see Manami. They said a few words to her but she didn't wake, nor did even move. By the time they left the ward Karma's nerves were still in a tangle and he couldn't say anything when he went in. The door closed behind him and everything was completely silent until the doctor walked back in.

"How did this happen to her?" Karma asked the doctor as he sat down in a chair beside Manami's bed. The doctor stood at the foot of her bed and sighed.

"Considering the circumstances she was in at the time of the incident, we believe it was her soulmate that caused this." He said. Karma finally took his eyes off her and looked at the doctor.

"How?"

The doctor sighed again. "Recent research found that when out red strings are cut intentionally, it can severely harm the person on the other end. The person cutting doesn't feel it, and nothing happens to the string, but as a result of cutting it they end up like this.

"In short, Miss Oduka's soulmate cut their string—several times might I add—and put stress on her heart as so."

The doctor finished up his explanation and left with a few papers in hand, and the ward was silent again.

It was my fault, Karma thought. It was my fault she ended up like this. Karma didn't realize he'd started crying until he felt the tears rolling off his cheeks, staining Manami's white blanket with tears.

"Why are you crying?"

Karma's head shot up to look at Manami as she brought her hand to rest on his that was leaning on her bed. Her eyes were tinted red, and as she looked at Karma he couldn't help but notice her grimace at the movement.

"Because I did this to you." He said. He didn't think she knew what he meant since she couldn't see her string yet, but her eyes opened wide in realization.

"Then are you my soulmate?" She asked him innocently. Karma only nodded as another tear rolled down his face.

"How did you know?" He asked.

"Everything that happened to me. They all matched what I found. I discovered the red strings tie to our heart's heartstrings."

"That's my genius Manami," Karma laughed as he wiped away his tears.

"Karma?" She asked weakly.

"Yeah?"

"I really love you."

Karma smiled as he looked at her. "I do too."

"Karma?" She asked again.

"Yeah?"

"What does red mean to you?"

Karma remembered he had asked her the same question back in junior high. She never gave him an answer, as the bell had rung before she could say anything. At that time, Karma had already started to hate what was going to happen to him when he came of age. He didn't want his red string at the time. But if he could have predicted that Manami would have been his soulmate, he never would have even thought to cut it.

"Red to me means you." He answered as he squeezed her hand tighter.