Chapter Text
“Eiji.”
Through the haziness of sleep, the young man heard an unfamiliar voice beckoning him awake.
“Eiji, wake up.”
With a turn of his head and a groan, dark eyes slowly blinked awake. His vision was blurred, all he could see was a world of white. It was blinding. Instinctively, Eiji pinched his eyes shut.
“Come on,” the stranger’s voice sighed a little. “We don’t have much time. And it’s something important to do with Ash.”
Upon hearing that name, Eiji snapped awake instantly. He went to sit upright but he found himself already upright. Rather, he was actually standing.
Confused by how he was asleep standing, dark eyes trailed to the stranger only to find a blurry figure dressed in white in front of him.
“E-E-Eh? Wh-Who…?” Eiji stumbled back a step in surprise.
But whoever the figure was, he raised his hands up in a placating gesture. “Please calm down. I’m…” The stranger paused, raising a hand to rub the back of his head in thought. “What am I exactly…” He muttered to himself, making Eiji peer at him in wonder, squinting to see if he could look past the blurriness that enshrouded the other. “I guess I’m someone like a messenger of God.”
“Eh? Of God?!” Eiji suddenly snapped to, a wild thought ran through his head which he accidentally blurted out loud. “Am I dead?!”
“What? No!” The messenger raised a hand to his face, Eiji guessing that he was perhaps pinching his nose and he felt a little bit bad for jumping to conclusions. “I’m here to tell you that my Lord has heard yours and Ash’s prayers.
“Prayer?” Eiji paused but it didn’t take long for him to remember. Leaping forward to grab the blurry figure by the shoulders, he worriedly shook the other. “Is he alright? Is Ash safe?”
But the messenger didn’t reply straight away and Eiji’s heart began to fill with dread.
Shaking the stranger with a bit more force, Eiji didn’t hold back. His voice trembled as he demanded, “Tell me! Where is he? What’s happening?”
“He’s gravely injured right now and…” The messenger hesitated. “He might not make it.”
“Send him to the hospital!” Eiji cried.
“I can’t do that!” The messenger replied firmly, making Eiji withdraw his hands in surprise. “I wish I could…”
Somehow, Eiji wondered whether messengers of God were allowed to show such bias emotions to humans.
“That’s why I came here to offer you a... proposal,” the figure said carefully.
“What is it?” Eiji replied without a single beat. “If there’s anything I can do to save Ash, I’ll do it.”
The messenger paused for a moment, as if he were assessing Eiji and his words. But Eiji was determined. He would do anything for Ash, no matter the cost.
“Ash is currently losing a lot of blood. In a few minutes, he will die. My Lord cannot raise him from the dead but he offered to stop the bleeding. But at a cost…”
“I’ll pay it.” Eiji didn’t even need a second to consider.
“But even if you pay it, there is no guarantee that Ash will survive.” The messenger clarified. “My Lord can only stop the bleeding but whether Ash survives or not is down to his own willpower – his own desire to live.”
“I don’t care,” Eiji shook his head. “Whatever the cost is, if it means that Ash has a chance of surviving, I’ll pay it!”
The messenger seemed to be at a loss for words but he forced himself to continue. “Please think about this carefully. The cost will be yours and Ash’s memories of each other. Everything around you will be altered and your existence will disappear from the other.”
This, however, made Eiji hesitate. His memories? His and Ash’s? But it wasn’t just memories. It was his whole existence. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t make the deal anyway. He would still give them both up if Ash could live. But the time he spent with Ash was important to him. Everything from their first meeting, to everything they went through, to right then in that moment, they were very dear to Eiji.
His chest felt tight just thinking that he and Ash would never remember each other again.
Through the constriction in his throat and the tears pricking his eyes, Eiji was about to reply when the messenger continued.
“But allow me to add one condition.”
This made Eiji purse his lips together, eyes red from withholding tears while a hand went to clutch the front of his shirt in pain and anticipation.
“My Lord offers that if you and Ash were to meet again someday, somehow, He will return everything to you.”
Hearing this, Eiji felt a bit of hope grow within him.
“If by chance, the two of you meet again, among the 7.5 billion people in this world,” the messenger emphasised. “My Lord will return everything to both of you.”
Those words rang clearly in Eiji’s ears and he felt a spark of confidence. He looked straight at the stranger, his gaze directed at where the other’s eyes would be through the blur.
“Will you accept-?”
“I accept!” Eiji interrupted. Even without that added condition, Eiji would have agreed to the deal anyway. He trusted Ash to pull through. He trusted him to survive and visit him in Japan. And he trusted fate to lead them to each other. Even without memories, Eiji was confident that they would meet again.
“There will be no guarantee that he’ll survive,” the messenger reminded but Eiji shook his head.
“He will survive. I’m certain of it.”
The messenger seemed at a loss again but Eiji didn’t hesitate. He firmly held his head up, eyes burning with determination. There was absolutely no room for doubts.
“Very well,” the messenger nodded, reaching a finger out toward Eiji.
Keeping still, Eiji watched as the tip of the other’s finger came closer before it was planted against his forehead. Without knowing why, Eiji’s eyes fell shut, the only thing he could really feel was the small pressure between his brows.
“Then, I shall be taking your memories and altering your reality.”
“Keep them safe for me,” Eiji replied.
“Huh?”
Dark eyes opened slowly as Eiji rephrased. “Keep mine and Ash’s memories safe, because we’ll be needing those back when we meet again.”
Even though the figure was blurry and no features could be seen, Eiji could imagine the smile on the other’s face when he huffed a laugh. “Of course. My Lord will look forward to that day.”
Wave upon waves of memories flashed by dark eyes. Happy and fond moments, painful and sad moments, everything zipped by at an incredible speed yet Eiji could confidently say when and where those events took place. Everything up until that point replayed once and disappeared while past conversations drifted past his ears as if carried by the wind, also disappearing somewhere behind him.
The last thing he saw before everything faded to black was the familiar face of the person he loved most. Elegant jade eyes, soft blond hair and smug grin… Eiji felt himself smile despite the tears he wanted to shed.
“Ash…”