I'll Wait in Izumo - Banana Fish [Ash x Eiji]

Lovers in Central Park | 60 Years Ago

60 years ago.

Do you have a girlfriend?

Ash's silly question clung to me for days. Why would he ask? Why would he even be interested in the first place? Perhaps, it was the beer and Halloween candy that sent his mind into a careless buzz. Was this a question he asked all of his friends?

I thought about the girl he loved when he was fourteen and how he was not able to shield her from his world. It saddened me to think of Ash losing someone he cared for so dearly. Another part of me wondered what it must have felt like to be loved by him.

Does he still love her? I pondered. Is this a question worth asking myself?

Ash then staggered into the kitchen as I poured our morning coffee. He threw a stack of books onto the counter and wiped the raindrops off of his glasses. Exhaustion darkened his eyes as he sunk into the plush sofa. I couldn't tell whether he spent the night ensconced in dog-eared book pages... or pulling the trigger of his gun. I scanned his white shirt. No blood.

"What's wrong, big bro? You look a bit solemn today," he observed with a smirk on his face.

I didn't answer. I tried wiping my thoughts away: Ash losing a lover when he was only fourteen, questions asked after many cans of beer, and the echo of my heartbeat when it pounds against my chest.

He raised an eyebrow. I turned my face away, looking out at the city skyscrapers from our open window,

"Hey, at least we haven't been kidnapped from this place I got for us," he joked. "Hm, c'mon, what's on your mind?"

I set my coffee down and joined him on the couch. "I guess... I've just been thinking about the conversation we had on Halloween. When you asked me if I had a girlfriend... and when you told me about the girl you loved."

"Oh."

"Do you think you'll ever fall in love again after that?"

"You may be older than me, but you ask such stupid questions." He grinned for the first time in days. "Let's get out of here. You haven't been a tourist in the most tourist-filled city in the world."

We made our way to the glimmering lake in Central Park. For a day in November, it was oddly warm. New Yorkers strolled through the urban trails, covered in red and orange leaves. People, young and old, rowed their boats with no track of time. It felt like an escape from the rush of the city. A hideaway of peace.

"Ash?" I asked, "Did you ever come here with her?"

"You never mind your own business, uh?" He turned away for a moment, looking out at the pastel rowboats. "But since you asked, we did come here when the weather was warm. I sometimes forget that I have these fond memories. I guess it's just harder to search for them now."

"So, do you think of her whenever you come here in the summertime?" I bit my lip, embarrassed by my desperate curiosity. Words continued to spill out of me like a stream of consciousness, flowing down an endless river of questions. Yet, I saw a glow in Ash's smile. Curiosity might've tortured the cat—the cat being me—but at least he was remembering some happy moments.

Although she was no longer alive, I wanted to thank her... to say Hello, you don't know me, but you've shown Ash love, and for that, I am endlessly grateful.

Ash took a deep breath, allowing himself to think before answering my question. Then, we looked at each other. I fell into his gaze, warm and melancholy.

"I don't think so," he replied. "It's not summer, but it is a warm day. I'm here by the lake again. I'm not thinking about much, but I do know that I'm thinking about you. That's about it." He looked down at me, then at the reflection of us in the water. "Pleased with my answer, Sherlock?"

I turned red, knowing that he was thinking about me. In years to come, would I return to this spot by the lake and think about him as well? Or... do memories slowly vanish?

He swung his arms around my shoulders. "Are you hungry? We should get going. I could eat just about anything right now, even that dried horse mackerel and Japanese radish you like so much."

As I started to crave a Japanese lunch, Ash spotted a hot dog stand, and we slipped back into our New York reality.