Chapter Text
Isagi was just days away from turning 17. It was a birthday he’d eagerly anticipated for many years now. On his 17th birthday, his soulmate mark would appear on his wrist. Isagi had always dreamed of the day he’d meet his fated partner, envisioning fairytale fantasies of how they would spend the rest of their lives together. He’d seen the matching symbols on his parents’ wrists—a blue eye adorned his mother’s, while a brown eye decorated his father’s. In school, they learned that soulmate marks always matched on their right wrists, and that each person manifested only one.
There were three possible symbols: an eye, an ear, and a hand. Tradition stated that soulmates would receive their confessions using one of the three human senses portrayed. Eyes suggested a visual confession would take place—popular methods were via written words or a visual display of affection. A heartfelt love letter was what Isagi hoped for himself. Praise was Isagi's weakness, which was fitting, since his love language was words of affirmation. Every year, his parents and friends gifted him heartfelt cards and letters for his birthday. Whenever he needed a boost of serotonin, he opened the well-treasured box where his cards slept safely, and read through them one by one. If Isagi received an eye symbol, he’d request a love letter, so that he could frame his soulmate’s confession to cherish forever.
Ears indicated a verbal confession, such as a love song or spoken wedding vows. The final method, which was the most daunting to Isagi, was a physical confession signified by a hand symbol. Soulmates with these marks engaged in more intimate activities, such as kissing, sex, and other displays of physical affection.
In another room secluded from the players, Ego Jinpachi monitored the surveillance footage. He was especially curious to find out what mark Blue Lock’s ace would manifest. The Neo Egoist League wasn’t far off, only a day away. Ego was already envisioning the BLTV views and subscribers skyrocketing. Fans would eat up any type of information surrounding Isagi Yoichi.
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Isagi woke up with a shout, buzzing with excitement. He was 17 today! Lifting his right wrist to his sleepy eyes, he noted the mark etched into his skin. A sapphire blue eye half-lined with red peeked back at him. That’s the symbol I wanted! As he stretched, his sleeves fell down, revealing another symbol on his left wrist. I thought there was supposed to be only one mark. An ominous feeling seeped into his bones as he further examined it—a hand wrapped around a pair of lips. Why was it obscuring the mouth? His teachers had never explained any such symbol.
He spent a good part of the morning pondering over his marks, friends and teammates popping by to wish him a happy birthday, before his thoughts wandered to Shidou and Sae. Sae hadn’t appeared particularly pleased when Shidou nearly smothered him in affection during the U-20 match. The midfielder even went as far as slamming his soulmate into the ground after a brash koala-hug. If his other half treated him with similar displays of aversion, Isagi believed his heart would break.
Unbeknownst to Isagi, Ego tapped his glasses, deep in thought as he stared at his screen. He zoomed in on Isagi’s marks. The ace has two. How interesting. Second symbols were rare, and affected each person differently. Ego had only heard of their existence while aimlessly browsing medical websites, jumping down various rabbit-holes online. What had those websites revealed?
“Typically, a person will receive only one soulmate mark, which always resides on their right wrist. However, in rare cases, people receive an extra mark on their left wrist. If a person possesses an extra symbol, they have a limited amount of time to exchange confessions with their soulmate. The timer starts as soon as the fated pair crosses paths. Delaying confessions will cause the double-marked to lose the second human sense portrayed. For example, an eye on the left wrist causes blindness. An ear will induce deafness. Only through mutual confessions can the sense be restored.
The hand symbol’s appearance will vary depending which wrist it’s on. On the left, it’s accompanied by a pair of lips. Instead of losing their entire sense of touch, those with a hand-mouth symbol will lose their voice. Exchanging confessions within the first 14 days of meeting is strongly recommended for those double-marked.”
Losing that sense could start within the first month, and fully deteriorate over the span of weeks, or even days. In extreme cases, it occurred overnight.
Ego debated calling Isagi to his office, perhaps to give the boy a heads-up. His hand hovered over the announcement button, before drifting away. The probability of Isagi’s soulmate being inside Blue Lock was slim. There was no need for unnecessary alarm. Although, if his soulmate were to appear, an unexpected challenge for Isagi would be advantageous in racking views up. If anything went wrong, there was a qualified medical team on standby within the facility. He rerouted his focus to the Neo Egoist League, which was starting today.
In hindsight, Ego should have warned Isagi. Who would have expected Michael Kaiser to be his soulmate?
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The Neo Egoist League dove into full swing, with Bastard München in the middle of introductions with Noel Noa. Following completion of their skills test, Isagi fought to keep his irritation in check. Just as he was about to finish the obstacle course, a certain blonde athlete had cut off his fucking shot. As soon as Isagi spotted the perpetrator, he knew those lined eyes matched the one decorating his wrist. The romantic side within him was flustered, plotting ways to ask his soulmate out on a date. His more rational side insisted he’d rather bash this guy’s head in with a soccer ball.
Calling him by his first name, invading his personal space—not once, but twice, and sending his timed efforts plummeting to hell with a single kick was enough to place Kaiser at the top of his devour list. Confessing this early in the game was out of the question. I have a little ego-checking to take care of first. If Isagi was going to confess to Kaiser, he’d bring him down to his knees before that. His pride wouldn’t allow any other courses of action.
Days of training flew by, and Kaiser continued to add fuel to Isagi’s fire. His constant teasing gradually grew on Isagi, and he came to expect them, not entirely in an unpleasant manner. Occasionally he found himself enjoying Kaiser’s taunts and headpats—he didn’t want to admit those were his favourite. Sometimes, he tried to make small talk with his soulmate. But Kaiser shut down all attempts, feigning ignorance whenever Isagi pointed out their matching eye marks. He seemed to be waiting for Isagi to prove himself.
That wasn’t an issue with Isagi. His self-promise echoed in his mind. Win against Kaiser before even thinking about confessing. He quelled the butterflies in his stomach by repeating this mantra to himself. However, they still lingered, fluttering within him every few hours and making him blush ever so slightly whenever he walked past Kaiser. On the days they bickered and butted heads, the butterflies would stir up a whirlwind of clashing emotions.
When the Manshine City match rolled around, only during a certain play did he feel a pivotal shift in Kaiser’s attitude. It was after Isagi outplayed him, sending the ball to Yukimiya before forcing Kaiser to his knees. As he held Kaiser beneath his grip, uncertainty overpowered the usual contempt swirling within his soulmate’s eyes. It was an expression he’d never seen on Kaiser’s face before.
The hesitation had vanished when Kaiser approached Isagi after the game, demanding to compete as true strikers. That was all he remembered before collapsing on the field. Noa explained that Kaiser was the one who caught him. An indiscernible expression clouded his face when he brought Isagi to Noa’s room.
Isagi didn’t think his cheeks could get any redder as he excused himself, hurrying back to his dorm to take another rest. Despite sleeping for 10 hours, his body still felt greatly fatigued. He wondered how Kaiser managed to maintain metavision for an entire match.
Well, I can ask him the next time I see him. The rush of victory came back to Isagi, pouring through his veins. Tucking this win into his belt, he finally, finally allowed himself to entertain a confession. The butterflies he’d suppressed awoke and bloomed within him, sensing his shift in attitude. He let exhaustion lull him back to sleep, settling into his blankets. I’ll think about possible confession routes tomorrow, after I sleep this fatigue off…
Isagi had yet to discover the timer on his voice had run out.
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Isagi’s field of view was brimming with Kaiser as he stood in the center of a darkly lit room. Water pooled around its edges, soft surrations echoing as it lapped the walls. Murky, gray fog curled around his feet as he took a hesitant step forward. It hung low over the shallow water, engulfing the lower half of his body. Was he dreaming, or had they traversed into another universe?
He was unsure of what to do with the pounding in his chest—the way his breath caught fire every time he looked at Kaiser. It set the butterflies ablaze, their wingtips dancing with heat. With each beat of his pulse, their wings flapped, keeping in tune. A subtle, steady rhythm that rapidly culminated into a resonating symphony of emotions. Vaguely, he wondered if this was a sign of him accepting Kaiser as his soulmate.
“Kaiser.” His voice rang throughout the silence, cutting through the fog and feeling entirely too loud. The blonde boy didn’t turn, not even shifting or giving any indication he’d heard Isagi. Something felt wrong, the atmosphere of the room too suffocating and calculating.
A tendril of fog snaked towards Isagi’s lips as he waited. He could see the troubled expression wracking Kaiser’s face through his reflection.
Isagi tried again, waving his hands and scattering the fog. “Kaiser, you idiot. I have something important to tell you.”
His soulmate finally turned around, catching sight of the shifting fog. A look of confusion fell over his face as he opened his mouth to speak. “Yoichi? What are you doing here?"
Somehow, Isagi couldn’t hear a word Kaiser was saying, but his speech flowed straight into his subconsciousness. He shook his head, perplexed. Watched as Kaiser’s lips moved again, forming shapes above his hauntingly beautiful tattoo.
A shadow of apprehension shrouded Kaiser's eyes briefly, but it flitted away so quickly, Isagi wondered if he'd simply imagined it. “We can’t be soulmates. You and I don’t belong together."
Kaiser turned away, beginning to walk toward an unseen exit. His steps were swift and precise, as if he hadn't just rejected their soulmate bond.
It felt like someone had sealed Isagi’s throat and crushed his windpipe. He faltered, reaching for the person he longed to connect with the most. Deep within him the butterflies hovered, suspended in shock. The symphony of emotions wavered, hushed with anguish. Not hushed. Silenced.
If he had observed very, very carefully, he would have noticed the way Kaiser’s mouth trembled as he spoke that last sentence. But panic stripped him of his rational thinking the moment Kaiser uttered those words. They crashed and reverberated through his skull, before settling into his blood with a horrible sense of finality.
Wait, he cried.
His last thought as he watched Kaiser vanish, was that he couldn’t even hear his own voice anymore.
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Isagi jolted awake silently screaming, the nightmare of his soulmate abandoning him stabbing through his limbs, rendering him distraught. His only proof that his voice had ever existed was the hoarse, searing pain tearing down his throat. The vocal cords that worked just hours ago felt raw and somehow mangled. He coughed, taking a rattling breath and feeling harsh lungfuls of air tear in and out of his body.
Kurona and Hiori rushed to his side, dropping their gym towels. Their concerned voices filtered through the clouded haze of shock gripping his mind, in the forms of, Isagi, tell me what’s wrong, and, Oh god, something’s wrong with his voice. Hiori hurriedly called for the medical team on-site.
“Isagi, Isagi. Can you tell me what’s going on?” Kurona knelt next to Isagi’s bed, carefully grasping his arm as he waited for his friend to speak. He observed as Isagi pried his mouth open in a desperate attempt to form words. Only a wheezing, strained whisper, if it could be called that, escaped. Not even a shell of a sentence.
Isagi needed to find Kaiser as soon as possible.