[Akashi grew up with seven colored soulmate bars on his arm, all with far away timers that wouldn't stop until his 20's. He's had time to make peace with the fact that he'll have seven people to be tied with forever and so close together, and time to get comfortable with the fact that he is, indeed, very polyamorous. He dated four people at once for a few years and recently separated from them; it was bittersweet, but they didn't want to put the stress of 11 partners on him knowing the soulmates took priority in this society. Reo took the break-up the hardest. Akashi doesn't want to play favorites, but he misses them the most.]
[Newly single and the first timer ticking closer to zero, Akashi goes about his daily business as a professional shogi player. His routine includes visiting a coffee shop a train ride away to answer emails (he's been fending off this one offer for a really weird commercial for weeks), work on his book, and practice his shogi skills against his computer program. He'll then take a walk around the city, catch one of his partners for lunch and--oh, right, he doesn't have that anymore. Well, he'll have lunch by himself, it's fine. If the press finds him alone they'll have fun with that one.]
[He searches the internet for somewhere new. It's a few stops away, but he doesn't mind the trip--it'll take his mind off of things. Once he's out on the street he vaguely knows where he is, he's walked down here before with Kotarou and had to tell him to slow down. This is going to be tough.]
[While he's admiring some of the historical buildings, someone passes by him that strikes him as a ghost, someone he's not supposed to see who usually slips by undetected. It was just a glimpse he caught, sure, but something sparked--literally. Without thinking he pivots and reaches out for an arm in the crowd, grabbing and turning the stranger around.]
[The timer on the light blue mark under his sleeve hits zero; for the first time in Akashi's life, lightning shoots from his eyes.]
a!
[Newly single and the first timer ticking closer to zero, Akashi goes about his daily business as a professional shogi player. His routine includes visiting a coffee shop a train ride away to answer emails (he's been fending off this one offer for a really weird commercial for weeks), work on his book, and practice his shogi skills against his computer program. He'll then take a walk around the city, catch one of his partners for lunch and--oh, right, he doesn't have that anymore. Well, he'll have lunch by himself, it's fine. If the press finds him alone they'll have fun with that one.]
[He searches the internet for somewhere new. It's a few stops away, but he doesn't mind the trip--it'll take his mind off of things. Once he's out on the street he vaguely knows where he is, he's walked down here before with Kotarou and had to tell him to slow down. This is going to be tough.]
[While he's admiring some of the historical buildings, someone passes by him that strikes him as a ghost, someone he's not supposed to see who usually slips by undetected. It was just a glimpse he caught, sure, but something sparked--literally. Without thinking he pivots and reaches out for an arm in the crowd, grabbing and turning the stranger around.]
[The timer on the light blue mark under his sleeve hits zero; for the first time in Akashi's life, lightning shoots from his eyes.]