Double Black

but we are something, don't you think so?

The soulmate system in this world has existed for as long as one could remember. It was a concept as old as time; a concept which has seen generations pass. It was something very normal. Parents told their children about it as soon as they were old enough, schools conducted special classes to explain how the system actually worked, and it wasn't all that often that people disregarded the system.

This world's soulmate system was simple enough. Whenever a child is born, parents are required to register them in the soulmate registry. The Government has a special department just for this purpose. Then, until the child is of eighteen years of age, the Government's Soulmate Division keeps a regularly updated file about the child. Their grades in school, their hobbies, their behaviour, their personality type; it's all in the file.

The Soulmate Division contacted the parents often enough; their sole purpose being getting behavioural and personality information about the child. Plus, once a child turns fourteen, they are made to take the '16 Personality Types test'. They also take several other seemingly fun quizzes to determine the child's personality. 

Based on this database with such a large number of records, a Soulmate Algorithm has been developed, credited to a group of brilliant scientists and scholars. The algorithm works on the files of the teenagers, comparing each person with every other person in the database, and then finally selecting a most compatible match. It took a lot of things into account; geographical location, language barriers, compatibility of personality and much more. 

For a system so scientific, it was surprising that the soulmate system has been around for so long. Actually, centuries ago, certain humans used to have supernatural abilities. The abilities were varied; varying over a enormously wide range. A certain ability user had first conducted the conservative soulmate system; a direct result of his ability. He worked with ability users of various types to create the soulmate algorithm used today.

Of course, nowadays, the algorithm was maintained by genius scientists. After all, supernatural abilities had become defunct ages ago. The human race had lost their special abilities just like how they had lost certain body parts, now known as vestigial organs. It wasn't all that complicated, really. 

Once a child turns eighteen, they are required to go the Soulmate Division office for their soulmate assignment. Just scanning their fingerprint on the kiosk is enough for the task. The screen shows their supposed soulmate.

It was a common practice to find your soulmate as soon as you find out about them. Until one turns eighteen, they can date whoever they want. They might even be in a childish form of love or something. But once they turn eighteen, they were expected to cut all romantic ties in pursuit of their soulmate. After all, a romantic relationship with a soulmate has proven to have almost negligible divorce rates. It also provided for a happier life. Hence, almost nobody disregards the system. It's supposed to be in their best interests, after all.

Quite frankly put, Dazai Osamu called bullshit. How can a bunch of codes and numbers possibly decide who's compatible with who? Whatever happened to falling in love of your own accord? Gaining experience from previous disastrous relationships, all in order to find the one you actually love? Love and trust can't possibly be pre-determined. That's stupid. More often than not, the concept of love is supposed to be a 'trial and error' system.

It wasn't anything out of the ordinary to have relationships before you turn eighteen. A lot of people do so. They just make sure you cut off their relationships before they turned eighteen. That wouldn't turn out well.

Dazai was in a relationship too; has been since he was fifteen. That's three years. He turned eighteen in a week or so, and that was when he had decided to get his soulmate assignment. It wasn't necessary to get the assignment on your eighteenth birthday or anything. One just had to do it when they were eighteen. They could get their soulmate assignment a day before they turned nineteen and that would be okay too. Ha, at least the system was a little flexible.