Chapter Text
Miya Osamu, age 13, hated his twin, Miya Atsumu. Said twin is currently talking excitedly to his parents about finally having his first vision.
Everyone gets visions of what their soulmate sees when they close their eyes. Atsumu apparently got his first vision while he was sleepinh in their class earlier in the day. He jumped straight up and yelled "I GOT MY FIRST VISION."
Their chemistry teacher whacked him on the head for disrupting the class. But silently, their classmates congratulated him. Since that moment, he hasn’t stopped talking about it.
“My soulmate was on a bike! It looked like they were biking up the hill.” He said, eyes sparkling with wonder. “I bet they’re into sports, too! Maybe we can play volleyball together!”
Osamu, who was chewing into his food, suddenly lost his appetite at his twin’s story. He’s heard it at least 8 times already, it’s getting old really fast.
The reason why Osamu hated his twin is because he himself hasn’t gotten his vision yet. Most people get their visions as early as 5 years old, and they continue seeing through their soulmate’s eyes from then on.
At age thirteen, he and his twin were “late bloomers.” But not anymore. Now, he’s the only late bloomer he knows.
When Osamu closes his eyes, he sees nothing. Just a blank, dark space. His parents say that his time will come, but that doesn’t stop him from feeling upset. How come Atsumu has a soulmate, but not him? It’s unfair.
He elbows Atsumu’s face that night, while they were brushing their teeth. He hopes Atsumu’s soulmate saw him choking on toothpaste.
Maybe he’s just one of those unlucky ones who were born without a soulmate. Before falling asleep, he tries to will a vision to come to him, praying to the Inari gods to give him at least a flash of images. But none came, and he slept with a heavy heart.
-
“’Samu! What’s wrong, ya scrub!” Atsumu yells. He’s stomping on his foot and walks over to grab another volleyball for him to set to his twin. “Yer spacing out a lot. Dontcha dare ruin the Miya twins name when we’re on the court!”
Osamu glares at him but gets into position to spike. When Atsumu sets the ball, he deliberately spikes it towards his face. He smirks at Atsumu’s stupid red forehead, “Oops, my hand slipped. Yer right, I’ve been spacing out a bit.”
His twin lunged at him and they throw punches and jabs until Aran walks into the gym with Kita. Upon seeing their captain, they quickly get up and gather the balls and start the cleaning process.
“What’re you two fighting about this time?” Aran asked exasperatingly. He’s used to the twins’ fights (let’s be honest, the entire Inarizaki student body is used to them) but he can’t help but be curious what set them off this time.
“He hit my face with a ball!”
“My hand slipped, ya moron.”
“Liar!” Atsumu was about to throw a volleyball at Osamu’s head when Kita clears his throat, freezing him in his actions.
“You two need to keep your fights out of this gym.” The cold voice of their captain sounded so loud in the empty gym. “Whatever it is yer fighting about, don’t drag the team down with you. Understand?”
The twins stiffened like a pole. “Yessir.”
-
Osamu was quiet during their walk home. But Atsumu had no problem disturbing his peace.
“I had my eyes closed while eating lunch earlier, an’ guess what I saw! My soulmate was eating pork buns!” His twin was talking with his hands again, exclaiming unnecessarily about his soulmate’s lunch and drink preferences on the vending machine.
“I hope they saw my bento, I used ketchup to write my name on it so they can see it.”
He swears his twin can be so cheesy sometimes. It makes him want to hit him more, but he’s not in the mood. He’ll do it later at home.
“I’m pretty sure your soulmate has stopped closing their eyes so they can avoid seeing yer stupid face.”
“We look the same!”
“Then maybe they’ll think I’m their soulmate.”
Atsumu pauses at the thought. “Shit, you’re right. Okay, starting now I won’t look at you anymore.”
And like an idiot, Atsumu walks on ahead to avoid looking at his grey-haired twin.
Osamu rolls his eyes. People do stupid shit for their soulmates. It’s a normal thing, especially in high school. Some of their friends have already met their soulmates, too. Aran and Kita are an example. They’re definitely an amazing match and it’s perfect that they both play volleyball. Their bond is stronger than his and Atsumu’s.
Sighing, he observes the sky as the sun retires for the day. Oranges, pinks, and purples blend together and darken to welcome the dark blue of the night sky. He snaps a quick picture before the colors disappear.
-
“Good morning everyone, today we have a new student joining our class.”
The professor guides the student to the front of the class and tells him to introduce himself. The students lean forward, eager to meet their new classmate.
“Hello. My name is Akaashi Keiji.” The student said, fiddling with his fingers. “I am 16 years old, and I was born blind. I hope to learn a lot this year.” He bows to the class after his introduction.
The class gasps silently, but Keiji hears them. He has really good hearing and can even hear some of them whispering “poor guy.”
He’s used to it—the pity. He ignores it most of the time. He was born this way, so it’s not like he knows how life is if he weren’t blind.
He went to a special school before, but with him entering high school, he told his parents that he has decided he was ready to experience school normally. At first, they were against it, but when Keiji told them that they can choose which high school he can go to, they slowly warmed up to the idea.
Fukurodani Academy is one of the top schools in Tokyo, and they offer tutors for students with special needs, such as Keiji. It was the best option for him, and the school was near enough that Keiji can commute safely.
His first day of high school was welcoming enough. His classmates were mostly curious about him and asking about how he lives being blind. He smiles and explains calmly that he has a cane with him that he uses to walk home but he mostly just sets it aside because he can move easily enough once he’s familiar with his surroundings.
The principal of the school was kind enough to give him a full tour of the campus so he can get a feel of how big the halls were and how to tell which rooms to enter. Luckily, prestigious schools like Fukurodani have braille embossed on their signs so he won’t have any problems getting to his classes.
After all the curious questions have been answered, his classmates mostly just let him do his thing. He listened closely to the teachers and recorded every class so he can review them when he gets home.
During lunch time, he was about to bring out his bento when he heard someone scoot their chair next to him.
“Hey hey hey! Your name is Akashi Kenji, right?” A loud, booming voice introduced himself.
“It’s Akaashi Keiji, actually…”
“Oh, my bad!” Wow, he talks so loud. “My name is Bokuto Koutarou, but everyone calls me Bokuto! I’m a second year here, but my friend Kaori-chan, she’s in the same class as you, told me about her cool new classmate and I wanted to meet you!”
Keiji didn’t know what to say to that. Cool new classmate?
“It’s very nice to meet you, Bokuto-san.”
“Don’t be too formal! Bokuto or Bo is fine.” Bokuto laughs, and Keiji can hear him opening his own bento. “What’re you having for lunch? Oh, I hope you don’t mind me joining you.”
Keiji blushes. He’s never met anyone this forward and friendly before, so he doesn’t know how to react.
“Uh, sure. Suit yourself.” He mumbles. Grabbing his bento box, he opened it carefully, setting aside the cover, and lifted it to his nose. He smells something sweet, but not too sweet. A hint of spice, and he can smell the familiar scent of nori. Smiling, he knew for sure what his lunch was. He delicately touched the homemade onigiri that his mother prepared. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it smells like home to him.
“It seems my mother has prepared onigiri with pickled plums and…” he paused, touching the other contents of the box. “And two pieces of spicy karaage.”
Bokuto had grown quiet beside him.
“What’s wrong?”
“How did you do that?!” Bokuto said, amazed by Keiji’s sharp sense of smell and touch. “Are you secretly psychic? Do your hands have powers?!”
Keiji furrowed his brows and laughed. “What? No, of course not.” He told the boy. “It’s a game in our family for me to guess what food we’re having. I guess I just developed a sensitive nose for food.”
Bokuto oohed, extremely impressed with his newfound friend. “Agashi, you’re so cool!”
“Bokuto-san, it’s Akaashi.” He shook his head slightly, but is amused with Bokuto’s enthusiasm.
“Oh, sorry. Akaashi!” he corrected. “Well then, let’s eat! Itadakimasu!”
Putting his hands together to express gratitude for his meal, Keiji repeated after Bokuto, “Itadakimasu.”
Keiji was nervous for his first day, but it went better than he had ever expected. He made a new friend, and although he’s louder than he liked, he’s actually really fun to talk to. His enthusiasm and energy are contagious. He met Kaori too after lunch, and she even apologized for Bokuto’s behavior, but he assured her that it’s fine. He had a pleasant lunch with him.
He doesn’t know it yet, but Bokuto was going to be one of his bestest friends for years to come.
-
When Keiji gets home, his parents asked a lot about how his first day went. They were extremely anxious for their only child, but when he recalled his classmates being nice to him and having made a friend already, they felt a little bit better.
They were eating dinner together when Keiji gets a vision.
He sees flashes of colors. Food. And a quick movement of something.
It’s hard for him to understand his visions. Being blind, he has no idea which colors are which, but with it’s easy for him to recognize food.
As a child, he’s grown to love eating food using his hands. The warm feeling in his hands and mouth makes the act of eating so much more personal and special for him. It’s probably one of his favorite feelings ever.
His parents cooked him food that are made to be eaten with hands. He quickly got used to how certain food felt in this hand and can tell what they are without smelling them firsthand. It’s become a fun game for them. They even branched out to food that are eaten using utensils and his parents are amazed at how good Keiji was with identifying them. Even without touching food such as ramen or hotpots, Keiji can easily identify it just from smell alone.
It’s nice, Keiji thought to himself. To be good at something.
At the young age of eight was when he got his first vision. It terrified him. He was reading a book in his room when images suddenly flashed inside his head. He ran to find his mother in their living room and clung to her, crying about loud sounds in his head.
His mother held him tightly and explained calmly about visions and how it’s connected to your soulmates.
After half an hour, Keiji finally calmed down. His mother told him that it’s great he’s seeing his soulmate’s visions. Keiji can’t see but he can see through his soulmate’s eyes and the thought brought a big smile on his face.
He returned to his book but he couldn't focus on the story. He’s too busy thinking about his soulmate and what his vision was. What was his soulmate doing? What colors did they see?
He was excited. His world has been dark for years, but with these visions, he can finally see the world.
Now, with his most recent vision, he wonders what the flash was, and was briefly scared that his soulmate was in danger. He shook his head and tried to get the idea out of his mind. His soulmate had to be more careful than that, right? He didn't know who they were but he hoped they were alright.
But what if they were the one doing harm?
He felt a cold chill run through his spine. And that night, he prayed that his soulmate was a good person who would never harm another being.