Chapter Text
Soulmates are a strange thing and fate is funny in how it works. Everyone has a soulmate, but you don't know it until you're around them. The distance is uncertain. It ranges from the same room to the same country and the only hint you get is a heart in their favorite color with their initials inside it. From there the universe lets you play detective to find out who it is. When you look at your soulmate for the first time, the marks fade. This continues until you marry.
Isagi’s mark appeared on the first day of high school. Almost the second he stepped onto the campus, a deep purple heart that was drawn in an elegant fashion with M.R. written in script on the inside. It was beautiful in every sense of the word but the only reason Isagi noticed it was because of his friend Bachira.
Bachira was wildly more excited about the mark than Isagi. Groaning about how they should’ve been soulmates instead as they walked to class. It was because of this Isagi forgot about the mark. The silly little heart faded to the back of his mind as he focused on other things. After all, it's not every day you're scouted to attend Blue Lock Sports Academy for Boys.
His main focus was tryouts for the football team. The academy was well known for its alumni, everyone who managed to graduate while on a team was scouted by national and international teams and got a headstart on their career. The world stage was set and prepared for them if they graduated Blue Lock, so Isagi didn't have time to play detective for a soulmate.
Of course just because he couldn't be bothered to keep up with the drama side of things at his school, doesn't mean his friends were in the same boat. His friends, Chigiri, Bachira, and Kunigami, while not actively looking for soulmates, always kept Isagi in the loop about the latest gossip they heard. Which is how Isagi found himself in this current situation.
The group of four took two desks and pushed them together near the back of the window. Bachira sat across from Isagi and Chigiri across from Kunigami. They had their lunches spread out across the tables as if a mini buffet. Bachira was trying to force-feed Isagi who was dodging the brunette boy as if his life depended on it. It was then Chigiri decided to interrupt.
“Oh yeah, did you hear about what happened in class 2-A?”
"Huh?" Isagi said, pausing in his seat giving Bachira ample time to stuff his mouth with the katsu his mom packed for him.
"Yeah, so the 'It Couple' of 2-A broke up again for the third time this semester."
"Why don't they stay broken up? This 'will they won't they' thing is getting old." Kunigami rolled his eyes as he spoke, clicking his chopsticks together in annoyance.
"Anyway, the reason they broke up this time is because of the cursed soulmate mark. Apparently, they aren't each other's soulmate and one of them hasn't even gotten their mark yet."
"Do they have any suspicions on who might be the soulmate?"
"Nope. The one with the mark was always wearing gloves so he either knew and said nothing or only recently found out."
"My money's on he just didn't want to say anything until he found the soulmate."
"That's so mean though. Like, imagine breaking up with someone and immediately getting in a new relationship less than a day later."
As Isagi said, he’s not truly in the loop. He hears what happens in the drama mill from his friends so the 2-A ‘It Couple’ was unknown to him. All he knew was that they broke up a lot so it’s no shocker that Isagi piqued up and asked just who these people were. Leading to Kunigami explaining that they were Mikage Reo and Nagi Seishiro. Reo was heir to one of, if not the largest company in Japan while Nagi was just some dude that managed to catch the heir’s attention. Kunigami and Chigiri sat behind the two in classes so they always got a first-hand view of their mess.
Chigiri further explained that Reo wore gloves every day long before he started school at the Academy and the two of them just assumed they were each other’s soulmates. Nagi’s hand is still blank with no signs of a soulmate and when Reo took off his gloves during class the blonde was just staring at his hand silently. Isagi’s gaze drifted down to his own hand, taking in the vibrant heart on his palm.
His eyes narrowed as the mark slowly began to shift in his palm. It looked to be beating, a phantom thumping feeling caused the boy to jerk back in his seat. This gained the attention of the other three who followed his line of sight and stared at his hand watching the heart beat faster and faster. They stared in confusion and it was Isagi who broke the silence.
“Um… Is this supposed to happen?” There wasn’t a sound as Chigiri gingerly held his hand, his cherry eyes filled with curiosity. They didn’t get a chance to examine it further as yelling filled the halls paired with stomping.
The group of four rushed to the door piling up beside it to see what was happening. They weren’t in one of the more crowded areas of the school, in fact, the wing they were in was so unused that they turned it into a hangout spot. That made seeing the aforementioned Nagi Seishiro and Mikage Reo there in the midst of an argument all the more enjoyable. Bachira had already pulled out his phone, recording the scene for later as they listened.
“Nagi, are you seriously still upset about this?” The purple-haired boy sounded annoyed more than anything, yet the hint of a strain could be heard in his voice.
“I think I have some room to be. How come you never told me you got your soulmate mark? Why didn’t you tell me that isn’t me? Why did you hide it?” There was a bit of a drag in the blonde’s words, he sounded like this was the most emotion he had put into a conversation.
“What did it matter? It’s not like you even have yours yet.”
“That’s not the point, Reo. Why did you hide it? I don’t know what you’d even gain from hiding something like that.”
"I wanted to be with you. Why would I tell you, especially if this is how you're acting?"
"Yeah, that's why you made yourself so comfortable with Shidou right?"
"Oh come on! You're upset about that?! We weren't even together at the time, because you wanted to try something new. Tell me how did that go?”
“Don’t bring that up, Reo-”
“So you can bring up shit I did after our break up but the second I do it’s don’t talk about that? At least I actually had someone to spend time with. Did you even talk to that guy, that mind you, you dumped me for?”
Reo’s back was to the group which meant that when Bachira stuck his head out a bit too far, Nagi saw him clearly as the brunette was snatched back into the room. There were sounds of Nagi trying to interrupt but they were futile against the heir. “Reo-”
“Don’t Reo me. I’m so sick of this. You know for a fact that I would pick you and I’m still treated like shit. Buy me this, buy me that, did you even like me at all?”
“Reo please.” Nagi reached out to touch Reo but his hand was slapped away by Reo. “Of course I liked you. I still like you, I’m upset you chose to hide it.”
“Funny. I was upset when you left me for what’s his face, but I'm not supposed to speak about that right? What was his name again? Usagi?” The four boys' eyes widened at that, all of them pulling back into the room. They moved under the window all of them, holding their breath as the argument reached its peak. They listened as the two started shouting all the while Isagi was trying to turn off Bachira’s phone. They heard Reo stomp off but the sound of Nagi leaving never came. In fact, it sounded like the boy was getting closer.
Nagi stands in the doorway and stares at them, his gray eyes bored and cold. Despite the fact they were grouped together, his eyes were locked on Isagi. The silence stretched on for what felt forever but as Isagi opened his mouth to speak, the blonde turned sharply on his heel and disappeared down the hall. The bell rings before anyone can speak about what happened.
Cleaning up their mess from lunch, they split off to head to their classes. Isagi can feel Bachira’s eyes on the side of his head, waiting for Isagi to say something but the blue boy was keen on not speaking. There wasn’t a lot to say, Isagi had only briefly ever spoken to Nagi. He could count the number of times they’d spoken on one hand.
Never had he gotten the impression that Nagi liked him or that there were underlying intentions. The pair of boys passed Reo as they were walking to their class, the taller boy almost knocking Isagi over.
Reo turned quickly to face Isagi, holding out his hands as if to steady him but Bachira had already done so. The boy's purple eyes were filled with concern but his mouth was drawn into a tight line.
"Ah! Are you alright…?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Sorry about that Mikage."
The taller boy's hands found themselves on his shoulder and Isagi took note of the way Reo hid the letters on his fingers. Both boys tried to take the blame for the accident but it was Bachira who broke it up. All with one sentence too.
"You guys are soulmates." Their heads snapped in the direction of Bachira, who only took both boys' hands and held them out to each other.
On the backs of Reo's fingers was a blue heart, almost the same color as the bento box Isagi brought to school each day with the initials I.Y. written inside. On the palm of Isagi's hand was the same heart that appeared during his first year. The color was identical to Reo's eyes.
There was no doubt in Isagi's mind that M.R. was Mikage Reo and judging by the taller's expression, he came to the same conclusion.