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In another lifetime, generations away, Kako meets Ima on a subway, going to work. They don’t grow up together, this time… his final, hungry, hopeful wish wasn’t answered until now. To be a part of Kako’s life, however he could. To be her Ima no matter what.
(She wanted to hold his tattered body, as he confessed it, whatever their teammates thought of his lovestruck scandalous eyes. But he’d swept in ahead of her, like usual, flitting around their enemies, swatted out of the sky. He’d known he would go first, and there wasn’t time to reach him. She slunk and crawled and grabbed at the edges of his ruined blood-wings, aiming for his hand. No luck. He begged to return to her, even before he was gone; he’d tried so hard to keep her out of this fight.)
Someone squeezes Ima’s thigh, on the subway, because they know he works at a host cafe and he’s wiggled away playfully, there, winking, bantering. Making a game of his own discomfort so he isn’t punished and doesn’t lose customers. He’s the prettiest man Kako’s ever seen, and she catches the flash of rage and fear in his eyes, being stroked like his body belongs to someone else, deciding whether to cause a scene. She suddenly feels so, so protective of him; she stands up, though the train is moving, and holds out her hand.
“Hey, let’s trade seats,” Kako whispers. She works at a nearby university; she studies literature and loves detective movies. She’ll learn about Ima’s family’s debts, his intense loyalty and obligations. She’ll fight for him, even before she realizes he’s hers, again. He looks up with wide, false-innocent eyes, and takes her hand unquestioningly. They don’t trade seats… instead, they stand in the train car, hands still locked together. She doesn’t want to let him go. Why not?
Ima starts giving Kako a card for his host cafe, when she tells him her stop’s coming up. Then he winces… he doesn’t want to get to know her like that, a cutesy-sweet performance. He wants to follow wherever she’s going as somebody real. She can read him perfectly, somehow.
“I’ll come find you after the cafe closes,” Kako says, taking the card. Maybe she’ll think of him as a brother, someday. Maybe something else. Beloved, always.
“I’ll wait. I mean, I’ll see you.”
Please, please.
I’ll see you soon.