Soulmate System

KARMA TIME

August. 20. 2023. 

"And your fiancé, Karma?" Your lawyer continued. "Most people aren't able to answer this question; when they are, they're usually very fortunate... or the exact opposite."

"Well, if you asked me when I'd first met him... I would probably say the exact opposite."

December. 9. 2014. 

You never liked Karma in your first year at Kunugigaoka. You had your reasons, definitely, but as the year went by, and you kept moving up in the ranks, you'd kept him off your mind until second year. Unless it was at the random times he'd pass by in the halls, or when you'd hear rumours about him. Or even your small encounters with him.

After you'd gotten bumped up to A Class, you had just stuck to studying, telling yourself there was no way out now.

The only issue was that you were terrible at studying.

You'd barely passed a test, and you had the lowest grade in the entire class. Out in a secluded part of the school, you squatted down as you looked over and analyzed and re-analyzed every small error you had made that culminated into the big mess that your test had become.

As your eyes were fixed on the paper, the boy who had come up to you and quickly snatched it out of your hand, hadn't registered in your mind until the paper was being read over by him.

"What is this? How'd you get up to A Class if you don't even know the basics? I wonder, how do stupid girls like you go up the ranks?" You couldn't bring yourself to look at him or speak up, instead glaring down at your shoes. "Mind giving me a show"-

You didn't know what else he could say. Or what else he would say.

Karma Akabane had beat him up too quickly and too well. You dug your nails into your palm as you stayed back. You didn't want to watch; but you had to thank him, even if you didn't want to.

You couldn't get yourself to do that, though.

"You didn't have to do that," you told him, as the two of you walked out of the secluded area. "I could've just left."

"You weren't watching him," Karma countered. "He raised his hand. He was gonna hit you before you even saw it coming. How couldn't you tell?"

You shrugged. "I was looking down."

"Still- people have a sort of presence; an intensified one when they wanna beat you up. Or kill you."

"Yeah, I could sense it from you, don't get me wrong," you huffed, looking around. "What were you even doing there?"

"Following that guy so I could beat him up anyways," Karma said, without a care in the world as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "He was picking on a senpai."

You'd never seen Karma as one to respect his elders. That changed your view of him for a little while. 

August. 20. 2023. 

"I have to ask... are you aware of his violent history? Excluding the assassination assignment."

You scoffed. "Yes, I'm very aware."

December. 11. 2014. 

The next time you'd seen him, you had just jumped at the ruckus you heard in a classroom, and stopped by, curious as to what happened. But when you saw Karma walk out, with a self assured yet angry expression on his face, you didn't even need to peek inside the office to know what he'd done.