THIS STORY CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE END OF BANANA FISH! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

SA: (Crying) Banana Fish had to be the most heartbreaking manga that I have ever read, and my favorite character, Blanca, didn’t even die!!

Jinx: I know (Tears in eyes) It was so sad!

SA: So I had to write a tribute, farewell fanfiction for one of the most powerful and beautiful mangas of all time. This is “Hello and Goodbye,” my first Banana Fish fanfiction. Enjoy.

Summary: At the end of the series, Eiji contemplates the heartbreak that has befallen him.

Hello and Goodbye

By: Silver Affection

Dedicated to Ash and Ei-chan

“Hello.” That’s what the Americans say as a greeting when they meet someone, be it a stranger or their best friend.

I met someone. Someone who I can truly say changed my life forever.

Ash Lynx—a 17-year-old teenager who grew up in an almost entirely opposite way than I did.

And I loved him, in a way that I’m not even sure what it was.

You were my world for over a year. The happiest year of my life.

The year when I finally became alive.

A time when both my innocence and love were tested to the max.

America truly was a strange land. A land seemingly ridden with guns, violence, and betrayal. Unlike the peaceful land of Japan, where guns have been banned.

Two different worlds; two opposite boys. Now that I think about it, that year seemed like a dream. A dream from some fiction. A beautiful dream that I almost mistook for paradise itself.

But that dream had to come to an end someday. Ash was killed by Lao, and in a way, it was my fault. If I hadn’t left the letter… If I hadn’t been in the way… Ash might have made it, and I might have been able to spend the rest of my life with him in quiet Cape Cod. Together, and surrounded by the warmth of people who care.

But in the end, I woke up. As Ash’s teacher Blanca once said, “A rabbit and a lynx simply can never be friends.”

I don’t know if he was right or wrong. All I know is that I will now be alone… forever, left with an empty hole in my heart.

You wandered into my life, changed it forever, and then left seemingly without a trace.

“Sayonara.” That was the last word you ever spoke to me—the last time I ever heard your voice.

“Goodbye.”

FIN