Page 74 of Psync
He wanted to throw a blanket over him or perhaps find a shovel. Just in case anyone got any ideas.
Eli had started out at the fence, too—enjoying the sun with the rest of the onlookers—but the comments and whistles started getting on his nerves, so when Haruka had come up to him and suggested he sit in the shelter under the shade, he’d taken him up on it.
And if he’d enjoyed the complaints as Haruka walked away without paying attention to his fan club, it was nobody’s business but his own.
Now, he sat perched on top of a table, drawing quick sketches of Haruka as he sank arrow after arrow into the target.
“Those are really good,” Aaron said, leaning against the table to get a closer look.
Eli frowned at his sketches. He only had a very modest talent in art. If his drawings were good, it was more likely due to his subject matter than anything else.
“They’re okay.”
“No seriously. Can I take a picture for our Facebook page?”
“Sure.” There was no reason not to. They were only warm-up sketches. It wasn’t like anyone would be able to tell who he was drawing. He handed his sketchbook to Aaron.
Then he proceeded to stare at Haruka until he realized he no longer had an excuse to do so.
Ugh.
He fished in his pocket for his phone and sent a few TikToks to his sister, so she’d know he was still alive. During his search, he came across a clip about soulmates.
Huh.
It wasn’t particularly well done, or informative, but something in the clip stuck in his head.You’ll know your soulmate because you’ll be drawn together like magnets.
It was a little too close to what Eli was experiencing for him to ignore, so he opened a page in his browser and typed soulmates into the search bar.
He found a link to an article on soulmate myths, scanning through it to see if he could find anything useful. He read several different red thread myths. So many Asian countries had their own version. The one from Japan claimed that each person had an invisible red thread tied to their pinky. The other end of the thread was attached to the pinky of their soulmate.
He stared at Haruka’s hand as it released another arrow, but he didn’t see a hint of red on his pinky. Eli’s either, for that matter. He went back and found another link on soulmates—one about bored ancient gods and how they had a tendency to fuck with soulmates, but it sounded ridiculous, so he didn’t bother clicking on it.
“Hey!”
Eli looked up from his phone to see Haruka snatch Eli’s sketchbook out of Aaron’s hands.
“I wasn’t done posting those yet.”
“Too bad.” Haruka tucked the sketchbook into his bag, then sat on the bench next to Eli’s table and began to unstring his bow. “I’m done.”
Eli clicked his screen off. He could look into it later.
???
The next afternoon, Eli found himself sitting in front of Alice, doing something he’d never thought he’d do.
“You are going to be so beautiful when I’m done!”
“I don’t need to be beautiful.” He grumbled. “I’d be more impressed if you made me more masculine.”
“Hush, you.”
It had started out as a silly idea. Alice had brought her makeup kit with her, claiming that, since she was using brushes, refining her makeup skills was technically something that fit in with the club’s motif.
“I’ll allow it,” Raina had shouted from the other side of the room.
And since Eli had been the only person not currently enmeshed in a project, he got to be her victim.
