MDR back at it again with soft MagoRetsus, this time a soulmate au where people see in black and white until they see their soulmate.
This assumes that Retsu hadn’t been approached by Disaster before the ABC Cup, which is almost certainly false, but this is an au already, and do you really need to think about it that hard? Of course not. It’s MagoRetsu time, and Retsu is so much softer when he’s not wearing stupid hairspikes.
Of course, the deckbuilding forums blew up when a complete novice managed to beat buddycop boy wonder, Tasuku Ryuenji. There were heated debates on whether he threw the match, some concerns for public safety, but Retsu wasn't concerned about any of that. He was more interested in his deckbuilder. Baku.
The Aibo reporter was prolific, and Gao Mikado certainly picked big names for his first opponents - his next was the buddy of television star Demon Lord, Asmodai - making it easy to piece together the identity of his deckbuilder and analyst through simple observation.
Retsu wasn't impressed. Despite his big wins, the matches themselves were basic, with no inspired or brilliant plays from either side. Nonetheless, he knew his apprentice, knew he was capable of more than this, and so he begrudgingly tuned into that year's ABC Cup to see what improvements he could show. Retsu used to tune into local competitions quite often, in hopes of seeing an interesting deck build or clever play. After a few years of honing his skills, however, he saw more misplays than new ideas, and after moving away he'd had even less incentive to watch, finally stopping completely.
Most of the competition showed that he hadn't been missing much- the elementary branch of the tournament was more often than not just embarrassing, with the few standouts already apparent from the beginning. Of course, Baku's fighter was one of them, and while he had improved, sweeping through most opponents quite easily, Retsu couldn't bring himself to get too excited, listening more than watching as he multitasked it with his schoolwork. The transition to the middle-school half of the tournament just happened to begin when he was losing focus, and he turned his eyes to it as a way to procrastinate, reasoning he'd lose interest in it soon enough and be driven back to his books.
The screen, however, started to change as he looked at it. As one of the fighters was raised into view on one end of the fighting stage, Retsu's vision changed- everything becoming indescribably vivid and vibrant. He was captivated, unable to take his eyes of the program as every new angle revealed something he'd never seen before, each sight a kind of sensation he didn't even know how to describe- he didn't even pay attention to what was actually going on on the screen, transfixed on the undefinable sensation overwhelming his sense of sight. It wasn't until after the fight was over that he realized he must be seeing in color, looking up from his television to see that his the effects expanded beyond it, and after a shocked moment of realization, he scrambled to rewind the program, suddenly focused on the person who triggered it.
"Hitting the stage for the first time today, it's Aibo's student council president, Magoroku Shido!"
Retsu said a silent prayer of gratitude for the commentator's clear introductions as he replayed Shido's entrance to the fighting stage- he couldn't even form an opinion of the person who was supposedly his soulmate, too overwhelmed with the vibrancy of color whenever he looked at him to notice anything else. He was beautiful, the most magical thing he had ever seen, and every other beautiful thing he saw after this point was only because he'd seen him first. Even when he was supposed to be learning about him - his newly discovered soulmate, the person he was destined to spend his life with - he was too distracted by the color surrounding everything around him to learn anything. He was overwhelmed with curiosity, but at the same time, just visualizing was overwhelming enough to drive out inward thought.
Nearly stumbling from overstimulation, Retsu made his way down the stairs, gaping when he met eyes with his mother in the entryway. She was more vibrant than the calm colors of the halls and stairway, hair burning with deep red, eyes a contrasting bright and gentle green as she turned to look at him. Retsu wondered if he looked anything like that- wondered what his soulmate would see when he laid eyes on him, if he'd be as bold and striking as the woman in front of him. He never thought he'd envy his mother's appearance, and the thought froze whatever impulse had drove him out of his room, his mother simply staring at him in confusion. The awkward silence was just enough for him to catch the voice of the ABC Cup commentator through his open bedroom door announcing the pairings for the next round of the tournament, the name 'Magoroku Shido' sending him scrambling back up the stairs fast enough that he slipped down a step before gaining proper footing, room spinning as he raced back into his room.
"God, that's right, I knew he won his match- how could I leave when he has another round-!?"
He stopped as he realized he was seeing his room in color for the first time, gaze once again moving off his small TV to pass over the once familiar scenery. Most of what he owned was greyscale (such an adult word, he never thought he'd be using it to describe something so soon), the familiarity of it giving a welcome feeling of stability.
Suddenly feeling exhausted, he fell back onto his bed, lazily rolling his head over in search of something out of place with his monotoned memories. The window by his desk caught his eye, just a sliver of the outside world visible from it- and god, he hadn't even seen outside yet. How many cheesy romance stories had he seen that tried to describe rainbows and sunsets and blue skies- he wondered if he'd seen blue yet. He'd barely taken his eyes off his tv, he hadn't ventured past the staircase outside his room yet. He'd already seen more than he could've previously imagined, yet he was realizing that there was so much he hadn't seen yet, the scope of it suddenly dizzying.
A familiar voice broke his thoughts, and it took him a moment to realize it was the voice of his soulmate, whose first fight he had watched twice now, yet somehow he'd managed to miss the first two turns of his second. He snapped his eyes back to the television, catching an eyeful of his soulmate that immediately filled him with the need to scream into his pillow. He was seeing his soulmate for the first time, but he couldn't even cheer him on in real time. He buried his face into his pillow as the camera switched to Shido's opponent, wishing he could have a few hours to process the new dimension to vision, wondering what it was like to have this moment with them in person instead of alone in his room. It was a lot easier to follow the fight with his eyes closed, face buried in the pillow as he listened to the fight commentator and the fighter's taunts. Shido felt more real as a voice- haughty and overconfident, brimming with superiority Retsu couldn't help but buy into since just the sight of him had changed his life forever. He was visualizing the fight in his mind- the monsters, their gauge and life, and he realized that Shido alone hadn't existed in his mind before color, the mental image of him filling the plain greys of his imagination, taking a whole new life onto himself. Retsu heard his laugh through the television, imagined him smiling the way he had after his first victory- too dazzling at the time to even process, and just trying to recreate it in his mind seemed to blind him, bright color sending him reeling even inside the dark behind his eyelids.
He promised himself he'd rewatch all his fights once he'd gotten a handle on himself.
"Retsu, you're seeing color, aren't you?" Retsu froze, eyes stopping mid-way through a scan of the dining room, and his reaction seemed to be enough to satisfy his mother. "I knew you were acting odd earlier. It's easy to tell, you know- you're looking at everything like it's your first time." Retsu shifted his gaze to match his mother's, feeling himself sink into the soft tint of her eyes as he once again filled with the discomfort of finding his mom beautiful. His mother only smiled, her expression shifting nostalgic as she reached a hand across the table to hold his. "I remember when I first saw them. We met at our high school's opening ceremony- we met eyes, and suddenly the cherry blossoms-" "-burst to life. I know, Mom, you've told me a thousand times." He rose his spare hand to his head, feeling exhausted despite accidently falling asleep after Shido's match. "Was it as.... Disorienting for you? It's so much, I feel like my head is spinning."
"That's normal." His mother took her hand back, starting back into her dinner. "They say you can always tell when someone meets their special someone because they're grades start dropping. But don't worry about it- before long, you'll be so used to it that your old memories will start coloring themselves in. Why, I can't even remember what it was like to live without color anymore." Retsu only groaned, closing his eyes as he went back to his own food. "... He made it to the second round of the ABC Cup. He's student council president too, apparently." "Ohh, sounds like you got lucky! Think he has a deckbuilder?" "Mom," he let out another groan, feeling his face start to burn with embarrassment. "Still, the ABC Cup is for Aibo students, right? Too bad we moved away, or you would've been in the same school..." Retsu risked opening his eyes again to catch the beginnings of a mischievous smile on his mother's face, his own frown deepening. "Hey, you're going to be too overwhelmed for school anyway- you should visit him!" "What- no." "Why not! He hasn't seen you yet, right? You're actively depriving him of the experience!" While her voice was teasing, Retsu didn't like her choice of words, suddenly feeling guilt settle in his gut. "You'll be seeing a lot of firsts tomorrow- but trust me, it means more when you're both seeing something for the first time together." "... I'll think about it."
Night time was a refreshing change from the morning; darkness muted the still unfamiliar sensation of color, even the night sky an almost familiar shade. As much of a relief as it was, however, the lack of strain meant he had nothing to exhaust him like the morning had, the earlier nap coming back to haunt him as he lie awake, his head filled with nothing but meeting his soulmate. He supposed it was uncommon to first see your soulmate through the television, getting color so far ahead of the other person. He already knew his parents hadn't had to worry about how they'd introduce themselves- they didn't get to know ahead of time, had no anxious period of waiting. At the same time, it was a rare opportunity to plan- like the story his mom told over and over, he could set up the perfect scene, something bold and striking like when he saw his mom in the hallway (was that really his go to? He barely left his room all day, it was the strongest color he'd seen. He briefly wondered how his parents managed to get through their high school orientation when he was overwhelmed by something so little.) Trying to visualize their meeting only filled Retsu with the need to see him again, the soulmate he both couldn't keep his eyes off of and could barely handle looking at, and before long his smartphone was in his hands as he searched for the ABC Cup footage, the screen a bright reminder of his new dimension of sight in contrast with the stillness of the dark. He forced himself to really look at his smile this time, pausing as he attempted to burn it into his memory. Even as he'd slowly grown accustomed to seeing in color throughout the day, the sight of him brought those first moments back in full force, and as he stared at his phone screen he wondered if it was the color or just him that overwhelmed him with emotion.
When he woke up in the morning, it was almost normal- besides the burning in his eyes from looking at his phone screen all night. The previous day's relevation only hit him when he opened his closet to get his uniform, the clothes inside making him jump back. God. He hadn't even known what his clothes looked like.
His mother looked disappointed to see him with his school uniform and bag when he came down for breakfast, reminding him of what he'd already gone over in his head a million times last night, "it's a pretty long train ride from Fumiya Daini to Aibo, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to catch him if you go after school."
"I'm not skipping school."
"Uggh, who raised you to be so responsible!? It's your soulmate, go get him!"
Retsu just ignored her, grabbing his breakfast to go and heading out the door. The second he stepped out, he remembered his mother's words from last night about today holding "a lot of firsts", already coming to a halt as he craned his head upward. His first blue sky. It was a cliche he'd read a million times before, but experiencing it for himself... He wasn't sure why books even tried.
The farther he got along his usual route to school, the more he felt his guilt rise with his disorientation- he wished he could close his eyes to everything until he and Shido could properly meet, but he knew his plans were too perfect to scrap- and either way, it was Friday, and Shido deserved to keep his ability to focus through to the end of schoolweek, even if he became increasingly convinced he wouldn't have the same.
He was glad he'd planned everything out ahead of time, basically running on autopilot as he pushed through the heads of students pilling out of classrooms to the roof or cafeteria for lunch. Even with everyone wearing identical uniforms (or supposed to- it was hardly properly enforced), the school was filled with moving, shifting color: hair, posters (some were grayscale, but since people tended to find their soulmates around his age, there were plenty packed with too-bright color, as if testing the limits of their new senses)- it had been no different when he came to school that morning, his stomach churning with each new sensation. His mother had been right about focusing in class- Retsu couldn't even remember what they'd done that day, spending the last few hours swiveling his head in every direction to look at his classmates, out the window- everything had a new dimension to it, nothing familiar and everything captivating. He was pretty sure his teacher knew, and maybe most of the class as well by now, and he didn't bother telling anyone where he was going as he headed out the front entrance.
He had lied, actually- he was skipping school, but only the second half. Leaving the school grounds entirely, he headed straight home, thankful his mother was at work as he basically sprinted to his room as soon as he got through the door. He'd started tearing out of his uniform before making it up the stairs, but his speed stopped as he opened his closet for the second time that day. Mumbling an endless stream of worries to himself, he started to sort through his wardrobe, mind swimming in horror stories of kids trying to coordinate colors for the first time and failing horribly. He didn't want Shido's first impression of him to be garish- and he certainly didn't want mocking stares on him as he made his way to Aibo. His closet had a decent amount of greyscale, with a fair number of pinks- the same color as most of the rooms in the house, and obviously chosen by his mother. He tried one, it wasn't a good look on him (he thought. He certainly had no sense of how color was supposed to work yet.) After far too much indecision, he chose a maroon collared shirt (it reminded him of his mother's hair, damn it. He had the same hair color, when would he stop making this association?) and black pants. He was kind of disappointed to find very little to choose from color-wise for bottoms, but, remembering the horror stories, maybe that was a saving grace. Still felt kind of lame, though.
He had spent way too long choosing an outfit, and the sky was already starting to shift its hue by the time he got out of the house again. Retsu cursed under his breath as he looked at the time, realizing he wouldn't arrive before the ABC Cup finished- he had hoped to cheer Shido on, but ultimately, that wasn't where his plan was staged- this would work.
Retsu was running as soon as he got off the bus, already shaking with nervousness and a hundred of worried thoughts- what if he left school right away after the cup? What if they bumped into each other before he was ready? People were already crowding the escalators leading from the school's entrance, and Retsu tried to eavesdrop on their conversations to figure out what'd happened: supposedly Baku's fighter had won, which was surprising, since middle schoolers nearly always dominated the finals. Shido had apparently staged some sort of extra round, the specifics Retsu didn't catch, the sound of his name sending his mind far away from buddyfighting.
Nervous every second that Shido might be among the departing students, Retsu pushed his way into the school, almost immediately becoming lost. He knew he should be more level headed than this, but instead of looking at maps, he was scanning the shadows falling over the school's unfamiliar mint walls, craning his head to watch the colorful crowd departing with banners and headgear that caught his attention no matter how hard he tried to ignore it. He was in the middle of people watching and anxiously trying not to look at the sky when he bumped into someone, turning to face a girl with pale complexion.
"Oh, uh, sorry about that," she was already moving to walk away as he gathered himself, "actually, could you show me where the student council room is?"
She turned to look at him, eyes cold and uninterested.
"Da."
She turned and kept going the way she'd been walking, and Retsu, unsure whether her answer had been a no or a yes, uncertainly followed her. While she made no signs of noticing him, he was sure she must've, so, assuming she had actually understood him (she looked foreign) he took her silence to mean he wasn't mistaken.
"So, um, maybe I should've asked this first- do you know if the president is in the student council room right now? I know he was in the cup today, so,"
"He is in the council room." Oh, good, she did speak Japanese. "He is rewatching the footage and pouting about his losses." She turned to look at him, and he couldn't help but stare into her eyes, cold and icy, a deep blue that gave him shivers. "What business do you have with him?"
"Oh, um. I- actually, were you already headed there?"
"Da."
Retsu still had no idea what that meant.
"If you were, maybe, you could just give him a message for me." He hated how he was stuttering, her eyes boring holes into him as he struggled through his own nervousness and disorientation. "Tell him to meet me in front of the school. Alone. Can you do that?"
"... I doubt he'll listen." She looked impatient. She was starting to scare him.
"Please, tell him it's important."
"What business do you have?" He hesitated, a weird mixture of embarrassment and intimidation mixed with disorientation making him freeze. "What business do you have with President Shido?"
"That's- um, not important. Well, it is- just, don't tell him." Her eyes narrowed on him. He swallowed. "Fine, um, tell him I'm an admirer."
Her eyebrows rose, and something like amusement flickered across her face; a hint of a smirk, instantly dying to revert into an expressionless frown. Then she turned away.
"... He may listen."
She started walking again, and Retsu stopped, his mind struggling to keep up with the conversation.
"S-so you'll tell him?"
"Da."
"Um- thank you!"
He started sprinting in the other direction, hoping to god that 'da' meant 'yes', and that he'd be able to find his way back out of the school before Shido got there.
Retsu was out of breath by the time he made it outside, taking a paranoid glance around the entrance before quickly finding cover. He took a guilty glance at the sky- it was nearly time. He spent the next few minutes hiding behind a tree in front of the school, experiencing his own miniature version of hell. What if the foreign girl didn't tell him? What if she did, but he decided not to listen? What if she did deliver his message, and he did come out, only for his first glimpse of his soulmate to be Retsu peeking nervously around a tree because he couldn't stop checking at the entrance- oh god, footsteps.
"What? No one's here! Ugh- when I'm already in a bad mood, was Sofia pranking me!?"
The familiar voice made his heart stop in his throat, thoughts of plans and rehearsed lines darting from his head. For a horrifying moment, he froze, panicking as he imagined Shido leaving right then and there. And then, he started to do just that, and new panic broke him out of his paralysis.
"She didn't!"
It came out less dignified than he had hoped, but his voice seemed to grab Shido's attention, the boy stopping half way through turning back inside. Taking a shaking breath, Retsu tried to collect himself, only to panic again as the footsteps started again, this time moving towards him.
"Stop!"
"Who are you!? Stop yelling at me!"
"Stand in the middle of the courtyard and close your eyes." There was a pause. Retsu didn't dare peek out and risk everything. "... Are you doing it?"
"I don't know why I should."
"I have something to show you. Please," oh god, he had not considered actually convincing him, "please do it. I swear you'll like it."
Another pause.
"Beg me a little more and I might."
Retsu could hear the grin in his voice. His face was burning, and he didn't know if it was from embarrassment with himself, indignation at the situation, or the mental image his voice gave him.
"I could leave right now and you will never get this. And I promise you don't want to lose it."
"Hey, that's a threat!"
God, Retsu, don't threaten your soul mate just because you're nervous. Great first impression. Nice argument behind a tree. A great memory to look back on for your whole fate-bound lives together. He'd just have to hope his plan worked well enough to cover the memory.
"All right, I'm sorry. Please, close your eyes for me... I'm begging you." Shido made an uncertain noise. "I will get on my knees afterwards if you want."
"... Deal."
After a moment, Retsu cautiously peeked out. Shido was standing in the middle of the courtyard, eyes closed. Retsu resisted the urge to just stare at him. God, he was real. He was beautiful. He was facing the wrong way.
"No peeking." Retsu slowly stepped out from his hiding place, walking over to Shido, pausing, and walking behind him before putting his hand on his shoulders.
"What are you doing?"
"Repositioning you, hold on." He lined his sight up with Shido's skull, turning him until he was facing directly into the sun- or more accurately, the sunset.
He stepped back around, backing a few paces away as he lined his shadow up with Shido. Perfect.
"Alright, you can open them."
Shido did, and immediately his eyes widened.
Retsu was grateful that Aibo was elevated, the entrance falling away to reveal an expansive view- most of Cho-Tokyo visible, and more importantly, an endless skyline. Shido's vision must've filled with color, the whole of Cho-Tokyo below them lit in gold light as the sky above them lifted into orange and pink and blue and purple. Retsu's outline would be burning with the backing sun, coloring him in the deep red of the horizon (he hoped so, at least- the color he was already so taken with, he hoped it would be Shido's favorite as well).
Shido could only gape as he took it all in, and Retsu could only watch- watch the way the light shone in his eyes as they saw color for the first time. And then Shido collapsed.
"Are you alright?" Retsu rushed over to pick him up, Shido flinching as he immediately looked back into the setting sun only to be blinded now that Retsu wasn't blocking the sun itself. Retsu turned to it as well, finally allowing himself to take it in in full now that Shido was with him. Their first sunset. It was cheesy, and cliched, but Retsu had slept through sunset the other day thanks to his exhaustion, and looking at it now, he was glad. It was the most vibrant thing he had seen so far- making him realize how disoriented Shido must be, his first experience with color being so much more overwhelming than the TV screen Retsu started with. "Here, let's move to the bench over there." He started to lift Shido off the ground, and Shido complied, the two of them walking over to a bench on the side of the courtyard.
"You... Who are you?"
"Shouldn't that be obvious?" Retsu couldn't help but grin now, keeping the arm he'd used to support Shido around him. "I'm Retsu Omori, your soulmate. It's great to finally meet you." Shido turned away from the sunset to focus on him for the first time, his gaze distracted even as he looked him over. "You don't have to push yourself to take everything in right now- sunset will come tomorrow too, and, well, I'm not going anywhere." He almost felt like he had an unfair disadvantage, watching Shido's dizzy unfocused expressions while he already over the immediate worst of the disorientation, able to think relatively clearly despite his own nervousness and overstimulated senses. He wasn't sure if Shido had noticed the discrepancy yet; probably not, and Retsu decided not to try to explain while he was obviously overwhelmed.
"Um, I'm Shido, Magoroku Shido."
"I know."
Confusion slid across Shido's features, but he probably couldn't have processed the reason, Retsu letting him watch him in perplexed silence.
"... Of course you do." Seeming to have come to his own conclusion, he leaned into Retsu's shoulder, turning back to the sunset. Retsu turned back to it as well, only to feel eyes on him as he looked down to see Shido's eyes lifted towards his face. "So it's you, huh..? Not really what I imagined."
Retsu felt himself smiling again at the feeling of Shido's eyes on him, even as he struggled to understand the meaning of the statement.
"... Well, this kind of thing is impossible to imagine beforehand, isn't it?"
"Mm."
Shido snuggled deeper into his shoulder, closing his eyes, and Retsu turned back to the rapidly setting sun. Sunsets really were short- while it was a comfort to know things would become easier to handle for Shido as night came, Retsu felt a pang of loneliness at the thought of the sky losing its color.
"... I can help walk you home once the sunset is over. You must be tired, right?"
"Mm hm."
He sounded like he might be asleep already. Retsu couldn't really blame him.
Most of the color had drained from the skyline by now, clouds once lined with pink now dark purples starting to turn black. That was okay. They'd have their whole fate-bound lives to watch sunsets.