we've seen EriKane/RaiKane and RaiMari/RaiKane, what about SouYuna and SouBella?
To be fair, this one wasn’t as much of a split decision as the Maria, Raiden, Akane, Erik, Sumire situation. I think I knew Bella and Sosuke would be endgame since the first oneshot I wrote about the two of them, but I’ll still discuss some key aspects of both relationships.
Sosuke x Yuna (SouYuna)
The Ibusakis and the Maruis live right across the street for one another, so Sosuke and Yuna grew up seeing each other every day. When they were kids, Sosuke would always climb the tree in front of the Maruis’ house and knock on Yuna’s window whenever he wanted to hang out (which was all the time). Sosuke was really popular in school and had lots of friends, but it was always really clear to everyone that Yuna was his favorite person. Their entire hometown thinks they’re going to get married as soon as they’re grown.
When they were kids, Sosuke would look out for Yuna and make sure no one bothered her. She could always count on him to grab the book on the shelf she couldn’t reach and be there to walk her home when she lost track of time and stayed out after dark. Even when they’re in high school, she knows he’ll still do anything for her—if he’s around, anyway.
In some ways, Yuna knows Sosuke better than he knows himself, and she always seems to be there with exactly what he needs—the study notes on the night before the test, lemon tea when his voice is raw after a show, actual food when he’s locked up in his brewing shed all day. Their relationship often takes on a really domestic quality, and he subconsciously goes to Yuna for comfort, even when he’s romantically involved with someone else.
For the longest time, Sosuke had no clue that Yuna had romantic feelings for him. He’d always had a lot of fangirls, and she didn’t act anything like them, so he assumed she only saw him as a close friend. When she finally confesses to him—during their second year of high school, while he and Bella were on a break—it broke his brain. Like...he needed time to process because suddenly everything that had happened between them in the last decade was cast in a different light...and then he realizes that he does actually return her feelings on some level.
When they start dating, it brings out a different side of Yuna. She’s always laughing and cheerful, and the similarities she shares with her mother really start to show. Sosuke starts to feel a lot more content with life in their hometown, and life is pretty idyllic for them for while.
Sosuke x Bella (SouBella)
Isabella Mito-Aldini has always had the ability to leave Sosuke speechless. She is wild and irreverent and tough as nails, and from the first time he met her, he knew there was gonna be something between them. Sosuke was used to a lot of girls chasing after him, but with Bella, he had to fight for her time. When they first started talking, he was just one of several guys she had on rotation, and he put all of his charm and style and best recipes into becoming her main—and then her only.
Bella has always liked to flirt and play around with guys, but Sosuke is the first person she starts to develop real feelings for. Even though he can come off as just another handsome playboy, he’s very sincere and makes it clear that he isn’t just interested in fooling around. He is definitely the more romantic of the pair and she is often touched—if not a tiny bit embarrassed (she still has a reputation to protect!)—by his gestures.
Bella is usually very self-assured and fearless, but as their relationship grows, she begins to come out of her comfort zone for him. She actually felt a lot of anxiety around meeting his parents for the first time and tried her hardest to be respectable around them. She ends up being the first one to say “I love you” and that took a lot out of her. He also proposes when they’re like 21 and she says yes even though she never imagined herself as someone who’d get married young.
Bella and Sosuke come from different social classes, and are in different friend groups, and for a while they seemed a little like star-crossed lovers. Sosuke isn’t intimidated by Bella’s background, and he works to become someone that her friends and family—especially private investigator Sumire and no-nonsense Grandpa Mito—can respect. Bella is always helping him navigate her world (ie. “Yes, you have to check your email at five in the morning when your boss is in another timezone”) but he’s a quick study.
Bella is a morning person, and Sosuke is not and all of their early morning interactions are pretty hilarious. When they’re in high school, she would hit him up every morning with a “Rise and grind, pretty boy” text; it would be a phone call if he had something important to do early in the day, and he would make some snide remark about how morning people were psychotic. When they’re older and living together in New York, Bella wakes Sosuke up every morning with fresh espresso and kisses on his neck and half-sarcastic requests for him to go running with her.
