Work Text:
Monochrome. Black and white with some gray variation. That was all that could be seen. At least that was all that was known to Ryunosuke Tanaka in the short 20 years of life he’d lived. His sister hadn’t told him any different, nor had any teachers or other mentor figures. He’d just come to accept that this was just how life was in the small northern Japanese town. Until it wasn’t…
The night had been a particularly peaceful one; Saeko was at her job at the cafe and Ryu was left to occupy himself in the small home the siblings shared. Snow was gently falling, leaving a shining coat of white on the road below. The light from the street lamp caused the white blanket to shimmer. As Ryu continued to look out the window, he smiled at the simple beauty of the fresh and undisturbed snow.
He let out a yawn as the warmth of the kotatsu table was starting to make him drowsy. He knew that Saeko was working the late shift and would probably make a ruckus when she returned home. The Tanaka’s were not known for being quiet. Perhaps he should take advantage of this interlude and get at least a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Yawning again, he stood up and shuffled over to open the door to his room. He flopped on the bed clothes and all. It didn’t take too long before soft snoring could be heard coming from Ryu.
“Woah! I got a bite!
Oof…I nearly got pulled in! I'M NOT GONNA LET YOU GET AWAY THIS TIME!”
A loud voice echoed loudly around where Ryu stood, seeming to almost come from Ryu but Ryu knew that the voice was not his own. In his hands was a rod commonly used for fishing and his arms were reeling in. The boat seemed taller than Ryu would’ve thought if he was standing in a small fishing boat. The arms continued to reel in the catch the rod had obtained. As the fish broke out of the water, so too did it cause Ryu to blink.
It was subtle at first. Just the faintest amount of silver on the fish’s belly. As if a drop of water had dropped on the fish, the silver spread over the fish mixing into the lightest goldfish yellow and then to a light hue of blue darkening as the color spread to the top of the fish. The same dark blue hue was also shown on the fish's side fins and tail as it cleared the water. Falling in the boat, the colors on the fish only got clearer and more vibrant the more that Ryu looked at it. Yet all else around where he stood was still shades of grey, whites, and blacks.
“ALRIGHT! FINALLY! This is why I came to Italy!”
Ryu’s eyes flew open with a sharp breath. Placing his hands in front of his eyes, he still saw the whites, blacks, and greys he was used to. He sat there wondering what exactly was that dream? Why was the fish the only thing in…was that…color?!
He was still pondering this over when he heard a voice call loudly to him from downstairs.
“OI, SLEEPYHEAD! BREAKFAST IS READY! YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO GET DOWN HERE BEFORE I EAT YOUR SHARE!”
Ryu jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes knowing that his sister was serious about eating both breakfasts. He knew however the five minutes was a guideline and she would take all of the good stuff if he wasn’t down at the breakfast table within a minute or two.
Slipping into his house shoes, he climbed down the stairs and joined his sister at the low table still lost in thought as to his dream. He brought the various breakfast items to his rice bowl as he remained abnormally quiet.
He was shaken from his thoughts by an elbow in his side.
“I know my cooking isn’t that good to leave you speechless. What’s bothering ya, baby bro?”
Ryu knew that Saeko never asked because she was ever a nosy big sister or trying to get information she could use later to blackmail Ryu with later. It was always because she cared. It had always been Ryu and her for as long as Ryu could remember.
“Have you ever seen more than just…you know…the normal? Like colors? And perhaps like through someone else’s eyes?”
He pauses to look over at Saeko for any sign of reaction but he did see one right away. Turning back to his food.
“I know it’s weird. Just forget I even said it…”
What Ryu hadn’t seen because he turned away too soon is that Saeko’s eyes widened first at the question and then a soft smile spread across her face and remained when Ryu finally looked up again feeling his sister’s hand on top of his.
“Why are you smiling, sis? I told ya to just forget what I said. Just drop it.”
Saeko’s hand squeezed over the top of Ryu’s to provide comfort.
“I’m not making fun of you, baby bro. I’m happy for ya. What you are saying is what means that you have connected with your soulmate.”
“Wha-
Wait…
You mean…”
Ryu’s mouth hangs open trying to process the words that Saeko had just said.
“Aren’t those just fairy tales that were told to us growing up? Soulmates don’t exist.”
Ryu’s head shook back and forth, trying to get the images of his dream out of head. Yet, they still didn’t leave.
“But they do, baby bro. I’ve only had brief flashes myself, but nothing concrete. Isn’t it so cool to see something different?”
Ryu sat at the table still contemplating the vivid images of the dream. The way that the images had been through someone else’s eyes. It was all too real. Ryu couldn’t deny what Saeko was suggesting. This dream was not simply just…a dream.
“It was. I mean it was weird at first, but then I woke up kinda sad that it was over. A mixture of emotions really.”
“So, are you gonna try to find them?” Saeko leaned over the table with an excited smile on her face. The only thing that she truly wished for was that her brother found happiness in this dull colored world. Finding your soulmate was such a small chance, but even if it was that slim, she wanted her brother to go for it. He just had to have the courage to do it. “Like do you have any clues as to where they may be?”
Ryu thought back to the dream and jumped up as he remembered something. The younger sibling started looking through his desk drawer hoping to find what he was looking for. Finally finding the map, he pulled it out and traced the distance between where he was in Miyagi to the country he’d heard his soulmate yell out. His eyes widened at the vast distance.
Hearing her brother go silent, she stood up and watched him and he searched and then peeked over his shoulder at where his finger stopped.
“Italy, huh?” Saeko commented. “Well it is your soulmate after all…It’s not like he was going to live down the street or something.”
Ryu still stood frozen in place. The furthest he’s traveled was to Tokyo with his high school volleyball club for Nationals and that was by train! If he wanted to meet his soulmate, he’d have to travel on an airplane and not just for like a few hours but for a significant time in the air. Not to mention the expense to just travel there. Ryu barely passed his English classes and should he go to Italy, he’d be even more screwed. He knew not a lick of Italian, other than perhaps being able to pick out a few things on the menu that he knew from TV shows he and Saeko had watched.
“Do you think I can? Do you think I can find my soulmate there? How much would it cost to even get there?” Ryu processed out loud not caring if Saeko answered any of the questions.
“You won’t know unless you try, little bro.I’d say try and see where it takes you.” She answered anyway, knowing that her brother would appreciate hearing something out loud.
“Alright, I’ll do it!” Ryu grinned back at his sister, offering his fist out for her to bump. He then booked his ticket with what little savings he had for two days from now. Now the butterflies set in…
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yuu Nishinoya, or Noya as he asked most people to call him, had been living his best life since he graduated high school. He’d decided to use what money his grandfather had given him to travel and explore the world. Mostly he’d been alone, but occasionally he’d brought his best friend, Asahi Azumane, with him. Asahi had been apprehensive to fly so far from their home in Sendai, but Noya had assured his friend that they would be perfectly fine.
“Egypt is a great place to visit lots of history, plus it would assist you in ideas for what you want your fashion design line to be. Don’t be such a scaredy cat about everything, Asahi. You gotta get out more. I wonder how you still think that you can live in a place like Tokyo with such an aversion to crowded spaces.” Noya shook his head on the phone with his best friend.
“I bought you the ticket, Asahi. You’re going! You can’t back out. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 7am and be packed and ready.”
Noya heard some grumbling from Asahi on the other end of the phone before the two hung up, but he knew that Asahi was shuffling himself to his room and putting clothes in his suitcase if a bit reluctantly. Noya looked over at his suitcase already packed. Normally, he was one that would just throw clothes in hours before leaving and rush out the door. He knew if he did that for this trip, however, Asahi would be even more of a worry wart than he already was.
Noya let himself fall back on the bed with a sigh realizing just how tired he was feeling. He checked his phone and saw the alarm was set. Yawning, he let his eyes close not too long after his breathing slowed to its sleeping pace. Slipping into a deep sleep, he dreamed for the first time in a long time.
The breeze blew through the jacket that was around Noya. It appeared to be a fall day as there were leaves blowing past him. Looking down he saw that he was on a bike. He couldn’t quite tell where he was, but it felt a bit familiar. Like it was home, or at least similar to it. The bike slowed as it reached a hill but it did not stop. The powerful legs underneath him continued pumping as he heard his breath exhaling and inhaling from his mouth and nose. Something about the sound of the breaths sounded slightly deeper, like this may not be his voice or perhaps his body.
Finally, the bike crested the hill and stopped. The gaze in the dream turned so that Noya could now make out that the sun was rising over the town still sleeping below. What shocked Noya even more was that as the sun rose, the sky changed from the monochrome that he was used to and started with some deep blues, only to lighten as the yellow, oranges, and reds of the sun begin to increase as the sun continues to rise.
“Can’t beat that view…” a voice came from Noya but wasn’t his voice. “It’s almost like it knows that I just got off work and is greeting me.”
The voice pauses before starting in falsetto, “Good morning, Ryunosuke Tanaka-san. You worked hard all night with your food deliveries. Enjoy the light I provide.”
A deep chuckle came from whoever Noya was seeing this sunrise through, before continuing in his normal gruff voice, “Thank you, Sun-chan! You are always looking out for me. I just might love you.”
That moment was when Noya’s alarm went off, loud and blaring, ensuring that he did not fall back asleep even if he wanted to. Noya sat up rubbing his eyes while his brain tried to process what exactly this had been.
He remembered his grandfather telling him stories of how his grandfather and grandmother were soulmates. The two were able to see the true color of the world once finding each other. There had been signs in the beginning that the two had told Noya when he was a child. His grandmother told him that she’d had vivid dreams where it wasn’t quite her body that she was looking through. She also started to see things in color. First the color only stayed in the dreams, but slowly began seeping into reality the closer that she got to crossing paths and finding Noya’s grandfather. When she finally found him, the two were able to see the whole world in color, and it was so beautiful!
After that story was told, a very young Noya would often wake up upset that he’d not had a dream or that if he did he hadn’t seen what he could classify as color. Now that it had happened, he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t cancel his itinerary, especially with bringing Asahi along. He sighed as he pushed himself off his bed and grabbed his belongings heading out the door. Noya only had one thought on his mind…Ryunosuke Tanaka.
________________________________________________________________
Ryu had just boarded his flight, with a heavy release of breath. His heart was beating so fast. Now he was trying to slow it down as the plane lifted off. He wasn’t sure how he was going to survive the long flight ahead of him. Somehow, he did and next thing he knew he touched down in Rome. He honestly didn’t remember anything about the flight nor have any pertinent dreams during the long flight. Stepping into the busy airport with all of the signs in a language that he could not read, he swallowed hard and followed the signs to the exit. Ryu didn’t have a plan, yet he was here.
He paused as he reached the last exit sign. Wait, was that…green? Are the letters in green?
Blinking, Ryu looked at the sign again and it was still in green with white spreading through the sign. He stepped out of the airport and blinked in the sunlight. Opening his eyes, the sunlight wasn’t just white, but tinged with yellow as he starred longer greens of the leaves on the trees and then any grass seen around him.
“Are you Ryunosuke Tanaka?” Came a voice in English from the nearby ride share cab that he’d scheduled.
Ryu nodded unsure of how to reply and started stepping toward the cab when at the same moment, Noya was getting out of the car behind with his large backpack on his back. Noya’s keen ears caught the Japanese sounding name and paused, almost frozen in place. His body wouldn’t let him move from the spot. Instead, he turned and his gaze was met by a buzz cut guy around his age. The black of Ryu’s jacket became more vibrant.
Noya stepped in front of Ryu stopping him from getting in the car. Shutting the door, Noya smiled up at the unknown arrival.
“I think we may be soulmates. Name’s Yuu Nishinoya, and I know yours. It’s Ryunosuke Tanaka right?”
“Wha-? How do you…?”
“You’ve had dreams right? Like vivid ones? In the one I got, you yelled your name at the sun rising. It was actually pretty adorable.” Noya chuckled, giving Tanaka a playful wink. “I had been planning on going to my next excursion, but since you went through the trouble of coming to find me, I should show you around.”
“Uh…yeah…” Ryu was still dumb struck by it all and yet still followed after Noya. “Oh and you can call me Ryu if you want.”
“And I go by Noya.” Noya reached out offering a hand to Ryu.
Ryu slid his hand into the one Noya offered him and allowed himself to be lead by Noya throughout the city while his other hand pulled his suitcase.
“Since you like sunsets and sunrises, I thought I’d bring you to my favorite spot. It will be perfect, I can promise. Here, sit here.” Noya gestured to the ledge beside him for Ryu to sit. Noya slid his hand back into Ryu’s, occasionally looking over at the other and then out to the ocean again.
Ryu nodded and sat following the gaze of the other. Just as the sun began sinking below the ocean, Ryu’s eyes widened as the light spread as if watercolor was dripping on the paper. Not only were there blues and greens, but now blues entering the scene, and then purple, and reds, and oranges.
“What’s happening?” Ryu turned to Noya, eyes still wide.
“You’re seeing it too? Pretty cool, right? My grandmother told me this happened when she met my grandfather.” Noya gave Ryu’s hand a light squeeze while his other hand reached up to gently rest against Ryu’s cheek.
A light blush warmed Ryu’s cheeks at the touch. His eyes widened as his as Noya leaned closer and closer until their noses bumped together. Noya giggled to himself as his nose bushed over Ryu’s.
“Life is already better with you in it, soulmate. I now see it in color and it is simply beautiful. We are no longer simply dreaming in color.”