Drizzles of a Symphony • Semi Eita

❥ fifty-sixth drizzle.

❥ Soulmate AU; Where your soulmate gets a mark on his skin, the moment you fall in love with him.

• Semi x Een •

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Takeru was right. I didn't belong in the kitchen.

And that is proven when I almost forget about the french fries I had in the frying pot, under high heat.

It's a warm Tuesday afternoon, and Semi was out to get his hair coloured. Meanwhile, I was stuck at home, reading essay after essay and discussing them with my literature class partner, Suwa.

My phone begins to ring while I try to save my fries, and I am horrified to see that it's from Takeru, himself.

How did he know?!

But it turns out that he didn't have mind-reading skills and found out about me trying to make food when he had specifically asked me not to.

"Hey, can I bring some friends over?"

It was the first time he had ever asked that since we moved, the first time I had seen him keen on the idea of ever 'hanging out' with friends, or anything similar, so I am already bubbling with excitement when he continues.

"Dad brought a lot of vegetables and we still have so much, so I thought it would be good if we came over and make some food."

"YES, YOU GO, TAKERU!"

"Calm down. Can you just buy some meat? I think we're out of chi-"

"I GOT YOU, BRO."

"Een, what the hell," It' almost felt like I could hear my brother cringe, "I hope you realise I'm bringing 12 people, including myself."

"I'LL GO BUY DRINKS AND MEAT RIGHT NOW."

Takeru sighs loudly, letting me know that he'd be home in half an hour. I almost drop my laptop while I try to take a plastic cup from the drawer, and I run to my room to get a coat and my purse. Before I climb downstairs, I knock on Yamato-san's door. It's her son, Miyazaki, who opens the door with a big smile on his face.

"Hi!" He greets, and I am already melting when I hand him the cup I had filled with fries, to him. "Oh! French fries!"

The boy is beaming as he accepts it, and Yamato-san appears to view, the two of laughing while we watch the 5-year-old going to the sofa to start eating.

"Takeru is bringing friends over," I explain, "So I'm going shopping."

"You have the spare keys, right? You can use the machines in the cafe if you want to make any drinks."

Yamato-san is one of those people who's existence means everything to me, and I give her a thankful bow and let her know that I will. When I come back upstairs from shopping, there's three texts waiting for me.

The first one is from Suwa, who had logged off after letting me know he had an emergency meetup. So much for working on an assignment earlier and not leaving it for the last day.

The second one is from Semi, who lets me know that he had found the notorious Miyuzawa Aimee at the salon, getting her hair bleached.

Personally, I was happy to see my best friend doing something she had been talking about for days, and I am laughing when I think of all the bickering that would probably be taking place, while the two of them went to grab some food - surprisingly, Aimee was the one who suggested it, and I assumed that the time apart got the two of them to be a little bit more mature.

There's a selfie of Aimee, holding up a peace sign with her new blonde hair, and she looks absolutely beautiful, my heart hurting a little while I miss her a little bit more again.

I am too busy being emotional to read the next text, which was from Takeru - who knocks on the door while I am having an emo breakdown.

Following Takeru is Riku, who steps in and gives me a big bow, and he has a wide smile on his face while he greets me with a wave.

"Fujiwara-san, it's been a long time since I've seen you!" He yells, and I feel like a mushy and gooey puddle of happy while watching the rest of his friends from last year stepping in.

What shocks me the most is not the fact that some of his friends were college students now... But the fact that one of them is someone I knew quite well.

"Fujiwara?"

"Suwa-kun?!"

"You know each other?" Takeru wants to know, his gaze going to the boy with purple hair - who is my literature class partner, and also the same person who whines about having to read things written by people who have died 3456789654 years ago.

"Haha, I wasn't expecting this. Fujiwara, I was the captain for Saisei last year," Suwa has to say, "And now that we know each other out of school, you can call me Reiji, just like everyone else here does."

There's laughing and a lot of noise while all 12 of the stride people make their way tot he kitchen, and Takeru drags me and Riku to the sofa, forbidding us to even enter the kitchen.

"Jeez, what a jerk." Riku frowns, his arms crossing over his chest while he looks at me. "How did you even survive with him for all these years?"

"The same reason why you're dating him."

Riku's face turns a little red, stuttering something about college and running while he tries to change the subject. He was so adorable that I wanted to cry.

"Fujiwara-san, where can I find the oil?" The only girl, Sakurai, calls, and I can hear Takeru inside, criticising about how I must have made something and forgotten where I placed it. To escape from his wrath, I ask Riku to follow me, and the two of us go down to the cafe to make drinks.

"What kind of drink would you like, Riku?"

"Hmmm..." The strider takes a few minutes to look at the menu, and I turn the lights on, making sure I had the closed sign on so that no customers would get inside. "I think everyone likes milkshakes. They served us that, and juice, during meals in the workshop."

"So we just need different flavours."

"Yes!"

Riku looks amused while I take the different jars of powder, and I am laughing when I motion for him to come back to the counter and join me in the preparation. He seems a little embarrassed that he gets caught so easily, and we spend the next twenty minutes talking about school and Takeru, all while we prepared the drinks.

The more time I spent with Riku, the happier I become that he is dating Takeru, and I could never, ever understand what on Earth was the problem with my Dad, or every other homophobic person that existed.

As if on cue, when we put away the materials, there's a loud knock on the door, and I find Semi, who opens the door and steps in.

"You look like you need help." He says, when his gaze falls to the cups and cups and many more cups stacked at the counter. "Want me to carry some up?"

"Yes, Eita, thank you." I say, and my soulmate gives Riku a smile before he takes four of the cups and heads out.

"That's your boyfriend, right, Fujiwara-san?"

"Yes."

"Your soulmate... Is the person you love. You're really lucky, Fujiwara-san." He has to say, while he puts more of the cups inside a paper box for ease. "I hope I'll be lucky too, when I get my mark next year."

"I hope so too, Riku. Let's hope for the best."

We walk back to our apartment to see Semi and Takeru having an arm-wrestling competition, and Riku and I exchange glances, wondering just what on earth was wrong with our boyfriends.

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a/n; boyfriends who run together stay together - a concept after watching prince of stride ay