Sure, he knew that everyone else was in the same boat as him about this. They weren’t the only couple in the world that didn’t have the pleasure of seeing each other everyday. He wasn’t the only one that felt a pang in his heart whenever he had to say goodbye to Astral or as though he was missing something whenever they weren’t there.

But to Yuma, those couples had it at least a little bit more easier when their partner was at least a phone call away. With just the touch of a button, they could talk to their significant other just like that.

On the account that his significant other was simply a being that lived in a different world, he didn't have that. He had to wait weeks, sometimes even months until he could see Astral again - and even then, those visits weren’t always very long.

Yet, still, with each visit Yuma found that he treasured each time that he spent with them. There was a special feelings associated with each visit and each time, he found that he was more and more comfortable. And with each time that they were together, they were inseparable.

“Yuma, do you think you could move a little bit for me?” Astral had asked one night as they were sat on top of his roof, looking over the night’s sky. Just as they used to do when Astral lived on earth. “Just because I think you’re squashing the food that you brought up.”

However, Yuma found himself hugging onto Astral a little bit more tighter.

There are a half-dozen great choices for the food topic, from the infamous tomato duel, to the heart-wrenching lunchtime with Haruto, to the other heart-wrenching lunchtime with Mihael. But really? This is one of my favourite keyshipping scenes. The times where Yuuma and Astral are confessing their love to each other, finishing each other’s sentences, fusing together to become Zexal - those are all great times, but what I love about this is that it happens in the randomest (and, in my opinion, the bestest) of times. This is from episode 067 - y’know, the epic showdown between Tron and Yuuma. This is set up from the earlier WDC duels to be a climactic, tense duel, as while Tron is outwardly childish and naive, his dueling tactics are nothing short of advanced and strategic. Yuuma and Astral both go into this duel knowing that they need to bring their kattobingu.

(Also y’know Kaito nearly died during his duel, so Yuuma’s feeling the pressure. But no biggie? He and Astral can do it.)

So the duel gets epic. Yuuma and Astral are pushed to their dueling limits, and Astral’s worried that maybe they won’t make it this time, that maybe it’s too much for them. That’s when they realise that they need to fuse and become Zexal, because that’s the strategy when everything else fails. So they do. Things get a bit better, and you as a viewer are getting pumped for some massive ass-kicking a la Zexal superpowers -

And then this scene happened instead! Yuuma tells Astral he’s hungry, remembers that he brought some food, and starts eating. Like you are fighting the enemy that’s been built up for this entire season and you stopped to eat food? Astral, however, gets none of this secondhand embarrassment; instead, he asks Yuuma about eating, shares the meal with him, (becomes the cutest gay alien you have ever seen), and then, recharged, he and Yuuma resume the duel.

The best thing about keyshipping is that Astral loves Yuuma for who Yuuma is. Astral may roll his eyes at Yuuma’s blunders and laugh at his mistakes, but deep down Astral respects Yuuma for all his impulsive, naive, and innocent behaviour. Never once does Astral take advantage of Yuuma’s kindness, or mock him for his forgiveness, or detest him for his compassion. Astral loves that Yuuma can bounce back from any situation. Astral enjoys dueling with Yuuma, as shown during every single duel they are in. In time, Astral even comes to appreciate Yuuma’s act-now-think-later tactics, which even save them in a duel when Astral’s defensive style would’ve cost them the duel.

And Yuuma? Yuuma loves Astral because he is with him every step of the journey. Yuuma’s been teased, mocked, and ridiculed for his dueling, yet Astral sees in him a hero. When Yuuma talks about creating bonds with other’s through dueling, it’s no surprise that one of the strongest bonds he created was with Astral. Maybe you could say that it was through Astral that Yuuma learned to duel, but I’d argue that it was through Astral that Yuuma gained the confidence in himself to duel better, to try better, to kattobingu. In the end, kattobingu represents both Astral and Yuuma, as neither of them gave up on themselves or each other.