Fate. A predetermined supernatural power. The will of the universe. Fate is order. It writes, and rewrites, gives and takes. It spins vibrant red strings that flow into the world and connect people who are destined to meet, to love, to share a story...
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Tomorrow, it will have been four weeks since I first resolved to bring Akito and Ren together. I expected the boys to at least be on conversational terms by now, but it turns out that I severely miscalculated.
It's not that nothing's changed; there is some mild progress to be noted. Ren doesn't complain about having to come to the committee shifts anymore, and Akito is slowly becoming more responsive to both of us. It's nice, but all in all, it really doesn't amount to much.
Ren is as stubborn and unreasonable as ever, stomping away the second he hears something he doesn't like, his heart hanging on his sleeve, and I can tell that Akito isn't being true to himself; every word that leaves his lips calculated, his tone practised, stiffly tiptoeing around like Ren is a land mine that he's afraid to set off. Neither of them displays any of the natural ease that should come with the company of your soulmate.
I'm starting to worry a little.
Once lunch break begins, I move through the steadily emptying classroom and plop myself down into the vacated seat before Ren's, depositing my lunch on his table. He glares. "Let's eat lunch together!" I cast a sideways glance at Akito, who's only just looking up from his notebook to take in my arrival, perplexed. Eating together will be good for us, right? Bonding over meals is something people have been doing for a long time. You simply can't go wrong.
Besides, every second they spend together counts. They're deskmates, which is ordinarily more than I could have hoped for, but every time I glance over, I find that Akito is dutifully looking ahead at the teacher, eyes unmoving as he concentrates, while Ren's face is pointedly twisted towards the window, his jaw set. I'm not sure if a single word passes between them when I'm not around to draw it out.
"No," Ren says gruffly, his arms crossed.
"Why? Let's eat together. Eating together is nice," I insist.
"Nice," he scoffs.
"Please? I want to eat with you, Ren."
I smile brightly as hesitation flickers across his face. I've realised that the trick with Ren is to always ask him twice. It's sad that everyone gives up after the first time.
"Fine," he grumbles. "Just don't be too noisy."
"Yay!" I cheer softly, popping open the lid of my lunch box. Ren bites into his curry bread like he's tearing someone's head off, and I giggle at the sight before shifting my attention to Akito, but he's so focused on his book that it feels wrong to interrupt. Akito will only politely refuse if I ask him to go to the canteen with us, so I came here myself. But this will hardly count as eating together if he's only going to be doing math the whole time.
"Akito, aren't you going to eat?" I watch with some satisfaction as Ren's eyes dart to him at that.
Akito blinks, surprised. "Ah, I—no, I've already eaten at home, thank you," he answers automatically. Ren's eyebrows furrow further.
