#deconstructingmink

In a universe where everyone is born with numbers on their wrists counting down to when they’ll meet their soulmate, send me 00:00:00 for my muses reaction to their numbers hitting zero when they meet yours.

Was it that time already? Where did the weeks go? It was like a holiday or a birthday. If you weren’t careful, the time would sneak up on you before you even had time to prepare.

That’s what happened to Mizuki. He hadn’t actually checked his timer for a few months. A lot of people did this with their timer. He knew he wasn’t the only one. Covering it up and forgetting about it was the obvious thing to do. Most people would rather go along with their lives not knowing what fate had planned for him.

Mizuki hated the concept of fate. He’d prefer to be under the impression that he was free to make his own choices. Life wasn’t actually planned out in front of him. That’s what he always believed, even though so society had always told him otherwise.

But as he thought about it, his hand had accidentally slipped off his wristband. Without hesitation, he chanced a glance at his timer. He just about spit out his hot cocoa when he read that he only had about a minute left.

A minute.

Already?

He recovered the timer and glanced around the coffee shop, wondering which was supposed to be his supposed ‘soulmate’. There were a lot of people in the shop, after all. Some young, some old. No real way to tell who was ‘the one’. Or so Mizuki thought.

A large, dark skinned man had taken a seat at a table near Mizuki’s. Mizuki glanced to him, suddenly feeling a sort of… pull towards him. Mizuki took that as a sign. But…

This… this was him?

He looked terrifying.

Even so, Mizuki grabbed his cup and cautiously moved to the man with the dreads. The closer he got, the more noticed how nice the man smelled. It was of cinnamon… among other spices. That eased Mizuki’s nerves a little. Suddenly, this felt… right. It really did.

Smiling a little, he set his cup down at the man’s table and sat across from him.

"Hello."