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If anyone had told Arisa years back that she would wish that Kasumi was her soulmate, she would have laughed.Although the energetic girl was technically her best friend—her first actual friend, more like it—Kasumi was far from the type of person Arisa could envision herself falling in love with.If Arisa had to say, her ideal soulmate would simply have to remind her of her home. They would have to be as soothing of a presence as her bonsai trees, as gentle as the wrinkled hands of her grandmother welcoming her home with an embrace. Arisa would have to lay eyes on her soulmate—whoever they may be—and at the thin strand of gold tying their lives together, and feel the comfort of their familiarity wash over her. Then she would know they were the one. Then she would know home.“Arisa?"She opened her eyes to Kasumi's inquisitive face peering down at her.Arisa thought of bonsai trees, of soft, wrinkled hands, of the gold string wound tight around her right pinky—detached from the one tied to Kasumi's finger.She coughed, cheeks pink. "You're late."The brunette sat down on the swing beside hers, smiling lightly.Silence settled between them, relaxed, punctuated only by Kasumi's faint humming. The playground that evening was empty save for the two of them, and a part of Arisa wished it wasn't. With no external distractions, it was harder to stop fretting over the main reason why she and Kasumi agreed to meet there.“How's your grandma?"“She's doing well. I mean," Arisa twirled her string with her other hand—a nervous habit, "not as well as she used to, but she's fine. She says you haven't visited in a while."Arisa hated the accusatory note that slipped between her words, regretted how needy it must have made her sound.Kasumi's eyes widened. "She did? Ah, I'm sorry, Arisa! I—"“It's fine," Arisa mumbled. "You're studying at a university an entire city away. It's not like we can expect you to drop by every day like you used to..."“I'd do it if you wanted me to."Despite herself, Arisa's face reddened. "What? D-Don't be ridiculous, I'm not saying you have to—” “But I want to," Kasumi whined. "It isn't the same without you, and Rimi-rin, and Saya, and everyone else at school. I want to see you--"“W-Well, too bad," Arisa snapped weakly, "because I don't."An obvious lie—one that even someone as dense as Kasumi could see through. "Aw, really?" Kasumi teased, "then why did you ask me to come talk to you all the way over here, hmm?"“Because you would have blown up my phone on your bus ride back if I didn't come see you off for your last day here in town," Arisa huffed, "obviously.”Kasumi laughed, the same bright sound that never failed to make Arisa's heart beat a little faster. How many months had Arisa last heard that laugh?“But," Arisa muttered, "I did miss you, you know..."Her voice was barely above a whisper when she said it, but Kasumi heard her loud and clear. "I know." she smiled, eyes warm. "I missed you too." Years back, during their first encounter, when Kasumi had told her a trail of stars led her to Arisa's home, Arisa nearly had a heart attack.“What?" Arisa had spluttered. "You mean, like a gold string or...?Her grandmother had constantly echoed tales of divine strings, of two souls worlds apart finding each other by following the strands around their fingers. Everyone had it, her grandma told her. Strings—varying in color, in length—connected each individual to their other half.Her grandmother’s was green—the color of spring, of fresh rose leaves. Arisa's was gold, as bright as the shimmering star stickers she had stuck on the walls as she walked back home after piano practice.No," Kasumi quickly said, "I meant the stickers on the walls. There was an entire trail of them leading to your house."“Oh," Arisa sighed, relieved.“Why? What's so special about the stickers?"Arisa waved her off. "Nothing, nothing, I just—I thought you were talking about a string.""A string?" Kasumi glanced at her pinky, then at Arisa's. Strands were wrapped around them, identical in color and in every way and form, but strangely enough, unjoined. "Arisa," Kasumi excitedly said. "Do you think maybe we're soulmates? Our strings are—"“Anyway," Arisa said, loudly, "about the stickers..." Looking back on it, Arisa should have let her continue. Two strings, identical in color, destined to lead to one's soulmate—and theirs had been near exact copies of one another.To say it was a coincidence was a stretch, both girls knew that. Months after that initial talk, when they had grown closer, they had broached the topic again, and Arisa didn't know if it was through sheer naivete or absolute denial that they had concluded that it was just destiny, that it was just a sign that they were meant to meet each other and become best friends. Arisa looked at the girl beside her. Surely you couldn't have meant that, she thought. Surely you could have suspected it meant something more, that this was all meant to be something more. She and Kasumi were walking to the bus station now. The world around them was bathed in soft, orange light from the sun slowly sinking behind the horizon. By nightfall, Kasumi would have her cheek pressed against the bus window, snoring slightly, and Arisa, would be making her way back to her house, to her bonsai trees and her waiting grandmother. Who knows how long they both had to wait until they could see each other again? Arisa slowed to a halt.“Hey, Kasumi?"Kasumi turned to face her. "Hmm?"“Remember when we first met each other? When we first saw our strings?"Kasumi paused, then nodded. “We were the only best friends who had matching strings,” she recalled, smiling.Arisa stepped closer.“What if it meant something else?”Kasumi cocked her head to the side, confused. “Like what?”“That maybe,” Arisa said, gently taking her hand, “we aren't just best friends…”Kasumi’s pulse quickened. “Wait… What do you mean…?”Arisa sighed in annoyance. “Are you actually going to make me say it?”Arisa looked at Kasumi, at her best friend, felt the softness of hands that had stayed with her through those countless hours they had spent in Arisa’s bonsai garden.The exact catalyst for Arisa’s feelings, she could not pin down. Maybe it had started that fateful night in the music store, when Kasumi had all but insisted to walk through pouring rain just to have Arisa’s guitar fixed. Or it might have blossomed years back, when the two girls had barely known each other, brought together by the trail of stars and their strings shining in the dark of Arisa’s gardening shed.Arisa didn’t know.All she knew was that her heart was sure, that despite disconnected strings, despite fate’s ambiguity, that despite everything, Arisa was sure of what she felt for Kasumi.Arisa looked at Kasumi, at her soulmate, and said, voice ringing with fierce conviction: “I love you.” "I..." “I know you think this is absurd,” Arisa quickly said. “Our strings aren’t even connected, for God’s sake. But there’s a reason why you met me all those years ago. There’s a reason why the stars led you to me. We can choose our own soulmates. We can choose who to be with regardless of some stupid strings. And I know you believe that it takes divine proof, that it takes a sign for you to believe that two people are meant to love each other.So here’s my sign, loud and clear. I love you, Toyama Kasumi.”“Arisa, I…”“You don’t have to answer me just yet,” Arisa rambled. “I know this is a lot to process, and that you probably don’t even agree, but—”“Arisa.”“—we go to different universities and I don’t know when you’ll be back and—” “Arisa.” Kasumi cupped her face, effectively silencing her.“I love you too.”“What?” Arisa breathed.“I love you.”Kasumi kissed her.And in that moment, nothing else mattered, not their universities, not the sky turning to fire above them, not even the gold encircling their fingers.With Kasumi, Arisa was finally home.