Ash and Eiji’s Relationship
An innocent girl appears right in front of a boy who’s been labelled as bad and forgot how to love. She isn’t afraid of him in the least and, while saying “you’re hurting...”, the girl barges into the boy’s heart. Love begins from this point on.
Ash and Eiji’s meeting was exactly the same as this common pattern in shōjo manga.
Surrounding Ash — the street kids’ boss — were only completely submissive subordinates, bluntly hostile rivals and adults tying him down. There, a nonchalant Eiji shows up saying “I’m older than you!” (Vol.1, p.117), showing no fear towards the boss Ash and having no hostility whatsoever, doing so simply because he got worked up and wanted to emphasize his being older.
Later on, Ash recalled this moment saying: “you knew what sort of guy I was and yet you weren’t afraid, nor were you cautious at all... I just thought ‘what a weird guy’” (Vol.18, p.180).
In other words, at that time, Eiji had already completely won Ash’s heart.
Once this happens, love will just keep on growing.
Skipper’s death, the Club Cod raid, the days escaping to Los Angeles passing by Ash’s hometown — Cape Cod —, Shorter’s death, the great escape from Golzine’s mansion; their involvement might’ve been unpleasant, but it was very exciting, releasing a lot of adrenalin.
Nevertheless, Ash failed as he tried to send Eiji back to Japan, so as not to expose him to any more danger. When they thought they’d finally reunited, Ash ended up severely injured and got abducted and confined to boot. An essential spice for love stories, the must-have “Premonition of Farewell”.
And, with that, the two of them eventually found each other again. After telling one another “do you want me to ask you to stay by my side again?”¹ (Vol.11, p.111) and “this was Ash’s first confession”, they ended up living together.
But since it’s a shōjo manga, this brief moment can’t simply be the end of it.
After getting badly wounded due to Yut-Lung’s scheme, Eiji writes a passionate love letter to Ash — who’s once again determined to part ways with Eiji, as he feels responsible for the incident. The letter saves Ash, but he accepts death.
At that time, Eiji wasn’t by his side and Ash must’ve been in a lot of pain, considering that no vital organs had been struck. He laid his head down onto Eiji’s letter, as if he were asleep (Vol.19, p.36) and, as though he was right next to his loved one², Ash died a peaceful death.
When Ibe’s niece Akira questioned whether they were lovers, Sing answered that “they were more than that, they were connected deeply within their souls” (Vol.19, p.163).
Indeed, their relationship resembled that of a married couple who had been together for many years.
It often goes like: if the husband dies first, the wife would be fine at some point. However, if the wife were to die first, the husband would fall into an apathetic state and wouldn’t be able to live much longer.
At the time when Shorter died and when Ash murdered several people as a warning while getting ready for his battle against Arthur, Eiji gave him the support he needed. Had Eiji died before him, the day would’ve probably come when Ash turned into “the real devil”, as Shorter called it (Vol.19, p.108).
At any rate, Eiji’s house-husband actions — which went from preparing Ash’s meals to socializing with the neighbouring housewives during their time living in the apartment — were a truly splendid thing.
1. The iconic proposal scene!!!!! Not a relevant note, but there are just so many things to point out here! And, with that, I’d like to remind everyone that this wasn’t written by Yoshida Akimi. Although it’s heavily supported by some of the actual manga scenes, it’s still this author’s perception.
2. 妻 (tsuma), mostly “wife”, it seems that Eiji really takes on a “wife role” here — not sure if I find this accurate but anyhow!
