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

Morning Light

I took an overnight trip from Manhattan to Izumo. In the afterlife, the world was connected through dreams and floating trains. The continents of our Earth no longer felt so vast and spread apart from one another.

I arrived in my hometown before the early colors of sunrise. I didn't know where Ash was, but I could feel his presence. I pushed away my fear, and I ran toward him. His spirit was glowing, brighter and brighter, with every footstep I took.

Even before death, I always knew if Ash was hurt, missing, or in danger. There was always a voice telling me to look for him. In those moments, I was willing to do anything to save him. I was described as a frightened boy, but for Ash, those fears went away. It wasn't until after his death that I realized love conquered fear.

After pacing through my small seaport town, I reached Lake Shinji. It was the spot where my grandfather would take me fishing. It was where I wanted to take Ash if he had been able to come.

Instantly, I spotted his blonde hair, blowing in the wind.

After all these years. It can't be.

I held back my tears, clamped a hand over my racing heart, and approached him—slowly and carefully. For so long, we lived in different worlds, but now, I finally found him in my childhood location: across the ocean and sitting by my hometown lake.

He still looked so alone. Walking to him felt like tiptoeing on April ice. I was afraid of losing him again, but that couldn't be possible. Not here.

"A...sh. Ash," my voice stammered. I thought about the last night I saw him in the hospital. I was blind and wounded. Yet, I needed him to hear my voice. Somehow, seeing him in the afterlife felt peculiarly similar.

Slowly, he turned around. His face, caught in a sudden surprise, lit up with glee.

"Eiji?" He stood up, and we raced toward each other. "EIJI!" he called out, his voice echoing through the entire lakeside village.

When we caught each other, death felt more alive than anything I'd ever felt before. This is it. We're truly safe now. I missed his green eyes. In the morning light, I could see everything: those blonde eyelashes, the light freckles on his nose, and shades of blue and brown speckled across his iris. Tears rolled down his cheeks, and I could see the entire universe in his eyes. Those eyes. I'd forgotten how much they would ignite whenever we found each other.

I embraced him, clutching him as he held onto me.

"Ash, stay with me. Promise you won't leave."

For the first time, he simply cried. He was always the witty chatterbox, but in my arms, he became the lost child in the forest. This was the Ash I knew. The Ash I would comfort at 3:00 AM. The boy who didn't know how much he was loved by everyone around him. This was the Ash who wanted nothing more than to be loved.

"I've always wanted to protect you," I whispered. "I wanted to protect you from fate, but maybe this is our fate... to meet in a place where the world can't hurt us anymore. So, please, let me be with you."

We stayed in each other's arms until Ash pulled away to gaze into my eyes. So many years had passed, and it felt as if we were relearning the details of each other's faces. I wondered what life would've been like if we grew old together. If I got to see Ash with a gray head of hair and a wrinkled grin. Would I still have remembered his seventeen-year-old features? Do all memories blur like faded photographs?

His lips curved into a melancholy smile. Ash placed his hand on the side of my head, his long fingers slipping through my hair.

"We do such stupid things for the people we love."