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Everyone knows that everyone has a mark somewhere on their body. They are supposed to help one find their perfect match, but for Ran Mitake, it is more like a problem. Her mark is in a... rather private place. It is a bouquet of flowers in blue and red. It looks incredible and all, but she can’t show it, not to mention that she can't ask people to undress so she can see if their mark is the same as hers. That’s why she has always thought that she’ll never find her soulmate.
She envies people who have their mark in a more conventional place like their arms or legs. There are even a few people who have theirs on their face for everyone to see. Ran wishes she were that lucky. This is the case with her friend Tsugumi.
Tsugumi has her soul-mark on her right cheek, so when Hina Hikawa, the student council president saw it, she recognized it immediately as her sister’s mark. Ever since that day, Himari has been talking non-stop about how weird it is that Ran hasn’t found hers yet. Himari has known her soulmate Tomoe since elementary school, she has always been obsessed with the subject and has declared herself as a matchmaker, constantly trying to “help” people find theirs. When Tsugumi found hers, Ran became the next target.
“Please, Ran, just show me your mark,” Himari has been asking since they arrived at CiRCLE, and she’s starting to get anxious.
“L-let’s just stop talking about it; it looks like the others are about to arrive.” She has been ignoring the subject for as long as she can remember, but it suddenly seems like she can’t keep it to herself anymore. Of course, Himari would get suspicious that no one has seen it. At this rate, she will end up checking her body in search of it.
“C’mon, Ran, just show it to her, you know this won't stop until you do,” Tomoe says. It’s not new that Tomoe is always where their leader is, she’s just as tired from the constant nagging but she sides with her girlfriend when she starts rambling about how important it is for Ran to show them her mark so that they can help find her soulmate.
“Aww, Tomoe! You make it sound like I’m forcing her!” Himari says as Moca and Tsugumi enter the studio.
“That’s probably because you are forcing her, Ran must have a good reason for not showing her mark” Tsugumi points out, she doesnt know just how right she is about the subjectM but it looks like Ran is safe for now.
Himari gets distracted when Moca teases her. “Say, why exactly do you want to see it? I thought you already had a girlfriend,” Moca teases.
“Mocaa, you know it’s not like that but i have run out of ideas, i just want to help her” Himari exclaims with a pout on her face.
“If she doesn’t want to show it, just let her. A mark is something personal” Moca says with a serious tone. Moca acting in such a serious manner is odd of her, Ran is glad she saved her but finds it kind of strange.
“Mmph! You only say that because you don’t want to show yours either!” Himari accuses, pointing her finger at the ivory-haired girl.
To be honest, Moca’s mark is one of the few things about Moca that are a complete mystery to her. Back in middle school, Ran thought about asking her about it but Moca would want to see hers too, so she ended up forgetting about it. Nonetheless, she’s kind of curious, there’s also a nagging feeling telling her that she should be asking about it, it kind of bothers her not to know something so important about her best friend’s life.
“Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen or heard about your mark, Moca” Tomoe says with a newfound curiosity. Moca looks ready to start racing to the door to leave the studio, but Himari won’t let her go and gets in her way.
“Show me your soul-mark, Moca!” Himari’s voice cuts through the room, stopping Moca in her tracks. Ran sighs in relief—Himari’s distraction means she’s off the hook for now. But she can’t shake an uneasy feeling she gets, after all, she owes Moca for saving her earlier. Maybe she should say something.
“Guys, we’re going to have a problem if we don’t start rehearsal now,” Tsugumi says. Ah, looks like Tsugumi just saved her.
“She’s right... anyway, you’re not going to escape this easily. You’re showing me your mark, too, Ran!” Himari insists. Of course it wouldn't be that easy, after all she’s been having this discussion for a while.
Practice went as normal, but honestly, Ran wasn’t really focused. She just can’t get Moca’s mark out of her mind. They’ve always been really close; why wouldn’t Moca tell her at least how it looks? Well, I guess she can’t really be mad about it. After all, she hasn’t been that talkative about the soulmate subject. Maybe Moca doesn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. Maybe she should try to ask about it. She guesses she could tell Moca about her mark if she asks... Moca won’t make fun of her or anything. Would she?
Ran's mark is a taboo subject. She always ends up ignoring it one way or another, and it makes Himari really mad because she can see how Ran’s expression changes when she and Tomoe are being “all lovey-dovey” (in Moca’s words). Ran looks sad. Himari is sure Ran wants to meet her soulmate as much as anyone else, but she can’t figure out why Ran doesn’t want her help or even just to tell her where or how her mark is so she can help find the person who matches. Ran must have a reason, and Himari is going to find it!
“I’m going to figure it out!” Her sudden exclamation surely got Tomoe’s attention because Tomoe stopped cuddling with her and now looks confused.
“What do you mean?” her girlfriend asks with a worried tone. “Please tell me you’re not talking about Ran’s soul-mark.”
“Of course I’m talking about that! We need to discover why she won’t show it to us,” Himari says, placing her hand over her chest in an oath pose. “I promised myself that everyone in our group would find their soulmate and live a happy life with them.”
“But what if she doesn’t want to find her soulmate?” Tomoe says, starting to get comfortable again. “Why else wouldn’t she want to show it?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure she wants to find her soulmate. Every time someone starts talking about the topic and how much they love their soulmate, I can see how her face turns sad,” Himari says with confidence. “That’s why we’ve got to make her show us her mark.”
“What do you mean?” The red-haired girl says with a confused expression. “You’ve been asking her to do it for over a week, and it doesn’t look like she’s going to agree anytime soon.”
“I have a plan. And if it works, she’s not going to have an escape,” Himari says with a big grin on her face.
It had been four days since Himari last asked Ran to show her mark, and it felt suspicious. At first, Ran thought Himari had shifted her focus to Moca, but when she asked Moca, she said that Himari hadn’t even brought it up. Ran wasn’t sure what to think—maybe Tomoe had finally convinced Himari to stop. At least, she hoped so.
Lately, she had been feeling anxious when she was with Moca. Moca was so calm, and Ran hoped she hadn’t noticed how she had been acting. Moca’s mark was still a mystery to her. Ran really wanted to see it but couldn’t muster the courage to ask. She was worried that if she showed her own mark it might be awkward. Deep down, she really wanted Moca to have her soulmark. What was she even thinking!? She just… she wanted Moca to be her soulmate because they were close and knew each other well. After all, it kinda scared her that someone she didn’t know would suddenly come into her life.
“Hey~, earth to Ran~, did you hear what I was telling you?” Moca’s voice interrupted her internal rambling. Ran had been so distracted by her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed Moca talking. The only thing she could focus on was Moca’s face. Moca had some bread crumbs near her mouth. She looked cute… and now Ran felt her cheeks burning. “Mmm, I’ll take your silence as a no. I was telling you that Himari asked if having a sleepover at her place is fine.” Moca continued eating her fifth bun. “So, wanna go?”
“Yes, why wouldn’t I?” Ran replied, sounding rather insecure. The truth was, she felt like she shouldn’t go. Tomoe had been acting evasive, and Himari had this suspicious grin on her face whenever they talked.
“Well, she’s probably planning something weird to make you show her your mark,” Moca pointed out. Ran wasn’t just being paranoid, Moca seemed to have noticed it too. “Anyway, I’m going. Moca-chan would never miss the opportunity to tease that lovey-dovey pair,” Moca added with a wide grin, which shifted to a rather confused expression as she continued. “Say, Ran, I’m wondering, why don’t you want to show your soul-mark?”
“W-well, mmm, it kinda is… embarrassing,” Ran admitted nervously, preparing for Moca to tease her or ask more questions, but neither happened. The silence was killing her. “I-I can tell you that it’s flowers. That’s all.” She hoped that would be enough to make Moca stop asking..
“Mmm… I see,” Moca said with a pensive look. “Well… what do you think about Sayo-san and Tsugu? I think they’re cute.” She suspiciously changed the topic, which worried Ran, but she went along with it.
It was now ten at night during the sleepover when Himari proposed a game of Truth or Dare. Normally, Ran wouldn’t agree, but she hadn’t been thinking straight lately. There was just so much going on in her head. The conversation with Moca had been spinning around in her mind all day. Why hadn’t Moca asked more? Was she planning something else? Or maybe Moca didn’t want Ran to ask about her, so she decided to cut the conversation short. Yeah, that must be it. Ran didn’t know why she was overthinking such a simple action. Well, in her defense, this whole thing was kind of suspicious.
“Tsugumi, you start!” Himari said, handing Tsugumi a bottle to spin. The bottle stopped on Moca.
“Well, truth or dare, Moca?” Tsugumi asked, even though they all knew she was probably going to choose the second option.
“Dare,” Moca replied as usual, without much thought.
“Then… I dare you to stay awake until everyone else is asleep!” Tsugumi said after a moment of consideration.
“You’re underestimating the greatness of Moca-chan, that is easy,” Moca said with confidence, even though she was usually the first one to fall asleep, even when they weren’t at sleepovers. “Well, now it’s my turn. I’m spinning the bottle!”
“Are you sure you can continue the game?” a concerned red-haired girl asks her girlfriend after having spent over an hour doing multiple dares, such as eating three buns in five minutes, running ten times around the room, and answering numerous embarrassing questions. “Moca is totally doing some kind of trick with the bottle!”
“I must continue, even if Moca’s luck is incredibly good!” she says while spinning the bottle and crossing her fingers for luck. Almost as if in slow motion, the bottle stops on Ran, making her start screaming and hugging Tomoe. If someone didn’t know better, they would think she had just won the lottery. “Well, Ran, truth or dare?!” she finally says after five minutes of celebration. She knows what her plan is. no matter what Ran says, she’ll end up revealing that her mark is in an embarrassing place.
“T-truth,” Ran finally says after thinking. Maybe she’ll just ask how it looks and Ran can avoid saying where it is.
“Why haven’t you shown us your mark?” After seeing that Ran isn’t answering, she continues, “I swear we’re not telling anyone else, and if it’s something embarrassing, we’re not going to laugh!” After this, Ran gulps and decides to answer truthfully. They’re good friends, they won’t laugh or make fun of her.
“The reason you haven’t seen my mark,” Ran can’t believe she’s revealing this, “is that I more or less have to… undress to show it.” She says this as quickly as she can, trying not to blush (and totally failing). Then she sees Himari’s face, which looks completely confused.
“That’s all?” Himari says, moving closer to Ran. “You should have told us!” This is accompanied by the others showing their agreement.
“What do you mean by that? It is totally embarrassing!” Ran says while blushing, but she’s glad they didn’t make fun of her. It seems it wasn’t such a big problem after all, and now she feels kind of stupid.
After that, they stopped playing and decided to just talk normally. It was mostly Ran answering questions from the others about how it feels not being able to show her soul mark and assuring them that they would help her find her soulmate no matter what. Even though she felt relieved by her friends’ support, she couldn’t help but notice something off about Moca. Normally, Moca would be the first one to make fun of her and say she was exaggerating, but she didn’t. She just kept looking strangely at Ran.
It was past 2 a.m. when Ran woke up to go to the bathroom. Looking around, she noticed that a certain ivory-haired girl wasn’t there. When she went downstairs, she saw Moca on the sofa, eating a bun much slower than usual. Moca seemed lost in thought, staring at the wall. “Moca?” When Ran called her name, Moca turned toward her, but Ran could tell she wasn’t paying attention at all. “What are you doing here? It’s 2 in the morning.”
“Hey, Ran.” Ignoring the question completely, Moca stood up and started walking toward her. She was… way too close. “Show me your soul mark.”
“What?” Ran nervously laughed, thinking Moca would say it was just a joke. But Moca only started getting closer. “I already told you I can’t. Why are you so interested in seeing it?” Ran said, with a slight blush, backing away in an attempt to escape.
“I think we are soulmates,” Moca said, as if it were the most normal thing. She stopped in her tracks to look Ran directly in the eyes, her blue eyes showing her usual sleeping demeanor but with a determined glint. It was the most serious look Ran had ever seen from her.
“What?!” Ran exclaimed louder than she intended. Just then, she heard a door opening. Oh no, they’re going to see us and will surely want to know what’s going on. Ran didn’t have time to process it before she was already in the bathroom, pinned against the wall by her friend. She couldn’t say she hadn’t thought about something similar, but being in her friend’s bathroom while she was sleeping—or maybe in the living room right outside—was not how she would have liked this to happen.
“Well, now show me your mark.” Ran couldn’t believe Moca was asking her to undress in front of her. What on earth is wrong with her? After a moment of silence, Moca spoke again. “I guess I’m showing you mine then.” She said this right before starting to remove her pajama shorts. SOMETHING IS CLEARLY WRONG HERE! She began lowering her panties, and Ran realized this couldn’t continue.
“Hey, hey, stop!” Ran said before realizing that Moca had only lowered them a little to show a part of her mark… Ran’s mark. “Wait, is that…” She directed her eyes from her pelvis, where her mark was situated, to Moca’s before screaming in realization. “WE ARE SOULMATES!”
At this point, Ran didn’t care that she was shouting and probably alerting the neighbors; she was just so happy. Not just because she had finally found her soulmate, but because it was Moca. She didn’t need to think much before embracing Moca in a tight hug that lasted a moment before Moca linked their lips in a rather inexperienced and quick kiss that was interrupted by knocking.
“I didn’t invite you two so you could make out in my bathroom!” Himari’s voice through the door brought Ran back to her senses and made her realize where they were. Of course, she ended up flustered all the way to her ears.
“Don’t act like I didn’t catch you and Tomoe panting in my bathroom last time,” Moca said, opening the door and turning Himari into a rambling mess. “I thought about giving you a room so you could—”
“Just stop it!”
It’s been some time since the sleepover at Himari’s house. Moca and Ran have been spending a lot of time together, trying to understand what being in a relationship is like (essentially the same, but with kissing). Right now, they’re cuddling in Ran’s bed, though Moca looks almost asleep. There’s something that’s been on Ran’s mind since they discovered they were soulmates, and she thinks now is the moment to address it.
“Hey, Moca,” Ran gains some confidence and asks, “What would you have done if it hadn’t been my mark?” She waits a moment before continuing when she sees Moca’s confused face. “You just suddenly decided to undress in front of me, and you weren’t even sure about us being soulmates. That’s crazy.”
“Well, I guess I just didn’t see a future in which we were not destined to be together,” Moca replies with a smile. “There’s no one as perfect for Moca-chan as you~” Ran feels a rush of warmth in her face. Moca’s cuteness makes her blush, and she decides to hide her face in Moca’s embrace. “Hehe, Ran is all red~”
Ran had always thought she wouldn’t find her soulmate, but turns out she had always been at her side.