© Gold

Title: Beyond: A Tribute

Part Ten: Listen To Your Heart

Author: Gold

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is created by Konomi Takeshi. This work is a piece of fanfiction and no part of it is attributed to Konomi-san or any other entity holding any legal right associated with and arising out of Prince of Tennis . It was written purely out of fanservice and it is not to be used for profit or any false association with Konomi-san or aforesaid entities.

Author's Ramblings: Excuse the cheesy title. This is a chapter completely devoted to Oishi and Eiji.

Part Ten: Listen To Your Heart

Oishi Syuuchirou had always wanted to visit Hokkaido ever since he was a little boy. Hokkaido was famous for its excellent confectionery, the most delicious milk in all of Japan, the creamiest and coldest ice-cream -- and, of course, for its lush acres of lavender fields that bloomed in full glory all through the hot summer months. In the winter, Hokkaido's temperatures were the iciest in all Japan, but it also had some of the best skiing to be found -- far less crowded and overwhelming than Nagano, and with absolutely beautiful slopes and marvellous scenery.

Hokkaido, in short, was gorgeous. Oishi had just never imagined in all his life that he would be there for one of the worst possible reasons.

He sat down slowly on an exposed tree root and gazed around him. All around lay an endless patchwork of fields in a myriad of brilliant colours, narrow, lonely country roads, long belts of trees and small clusters of rooftops peeking shyly over the horizon. A strong breeze whipped through the air, leaving several swaying tree branches in its wake, but it barely ruffled Oishi's neat hair. It was utterly peaceful. The rolling green hills yonder, the beautiful fields of flowers in full bloom, the strong breeze...

Oishi lifted his face to the eternal, cloudless blue of the sky above and begged, silently:

Will you help me find Momo, please?

He had been here in Biei, Hokkaido for the last few days, helping in the search for Momoshiro Takeshi. Biei was a placid, rural town spread over a large land area, but with a decidedly scanty population, and they had hardly any police force to speak of. The Biei police didn't have search dogs, but some of the local residents owned dogs, and the police from the nearby city of Asahikawa had also sent one round to assist in the search. Nevertheless, their efforts seemed futile. Yesterday morning, they had found Momoshiro's backpack. It had been pretty much intact - including the mouldy remains of his lunch after the due process of decomposition over four days. There was very little else to go on and, not surprisingly, the worst was feared. The search had been temporarily suspended for yesterday afternoon, when a surprise summer storm hit. Unfortunately, the rain had also helped to wash away a good deal of the scent markers that might have helped the search dogs.

Oishi brushed a hand over his eyes. The Biei police had said very apologetically and regretfully that morning that they would have to call off the search, if nothing more could be found by the end of the day. Already, it was nearly three in the afternoon, and time ticked steadily away. In three hours, the search would be over.

A deep well of numbness seemed to rise up from the bottom of Oishi's heart, sinking into him, and steeping him in a nameless, fear-filled misery. Oishi buried his face in his hands. If only there was a clue of some sort -- if only!

The trees rustled; it seemed that the wind had changed direction. A shadow dappled across the grass at Oishi's feet, turning the fresh grassy shoots a darker shade of green.

"Oishi...?"

Time seemed to freeze, hanging on the cusp of that one brief moment.

"...Oishi...?"

Oishi raised his head very, very slowly.

"Nya, Oishi...?"

A hand waved itself frantically in front of Oishi's face.

Oishi's lips parted, as if to say something, but no voice emerged from his throat.

"Oishi!" The newcomer dropped to his knees in front of Oishi and seized him by the shoulders, shaking him a little. "Oishi, what's wrong? Oishi! Are you all right?!"

Oishi's eyes, hitherto wide and blank, seemed to focus a little, and travelled up and down the anxious face in front of him. "...Eiji?"

Kikumaru Eiji sank back on his haunches and his hands slid down to grip Oishi's arms instead. He looked tremendously relieved. "You remember my name! You're all right!"

Oishi gently, but firmly, removed Eiji's hands from their grip on his arms. "Eiji, what are you doing here? Aren't you in Osaka?"

Eiji fidgeted. "Inui said that you were here."

Oishi blinked. "...eh?"

Eiji heaved a small sigh and folded his arms. "Inui called me. He said that Atobe -- you know, Hyoutei's Atobe--"

"I remember him."

"Who could forget him?" Eiji made a face. "Anyway, Hyoutei's Atobe was calling us all in, all of us who knew Tezuka. Not just from Seigaku, Oishi! From everywhere! SeiRuu and Yamabuki and Fudomine -- everyone, everywhere, even Rokkaku!" Eiji bounced up and down excitedly on his heels. "Atobe's planning something -- Inui said he didn't know what, but they're all going to help Tezuka. Atobe's going to do something about it. Fuji's there. Taka-san's there. Inui's there. And we'll be there soon! So, Oishi, don't worry!"

Oishi was quiet for a moment, looking into that bright, expressive face. "But... why did you come here?"

Eiji said cheerfully, "Didn't I tell you? Inui said that you were here. So of course I came." His face scrunched up dolefully. "I flew here, from Osaka."

"...oh."

"And it cost me twenty-six thousand yen! From Osaka to Asahikawa!" wailed Eiji piteously. "I had to borrow money from my brothers and sister!"

He looked so comically tragic that Oishi found the corners of his mouth turning upwards although he tried hard not to laugh. "Well," said Oishi, as comfortingly as he could without bursting into giggles, "it's not too bad... it was still a special summer fare, wasn't it?"

Eiji wagged his head vigorously. "Yes! Nya, Oishi..." He looked at Oishi. "You came here to look for Momo, right? Right?"

Oishi drew a deep breath before speaking. "Yes. Yes, I did." But I haven't found him.

Eiji cocked his head to one side, waiting.

"The police say that they'll end the search today," Oishi said. "I -- I don't know what to do, Eiji. He's out there somewhere -- but I wish that I knew where... if we don't find him today..." His voice trailed off and he bit his lip.

"Let's find him together."

"Huh?"

Eiji jumped up. "I got here from the airport ages ago, and I was looking for you all over. You didn't answer your mobile phone, Oishi." Eiji looked disapproving. Then he made a grand, swooping motion with one hand. "Look around, Oishi! It's all trees and fields and hills, lots and lots of them! I was looking for you in maybe hundreds of thousands of square miles of fields and hills! I cycled without stopping for two hours! How do you think I found you?"

Oishi hesitated a moment before taking the plunge. "...how?" he asked cautiously.

Eiji smiled at him, and Oishi's breath hitched in his throat. There was something in the smile on Eiji's face, and something in the look in Eiji's eyes, that Oishi had never seen before, not in all the years he had known Kikumaru Eiji.

Eiji knelt down. "We're the Golden Pair." He put his hand over his heart and looked directly into Oishi's eyes. "Oishi's here. So I will always be able to find you. Always." He reached forward and placed his other hand against Oishi's chest. "Nya, Oishi, I'm there, too. So when I'm looking for you, you'll call out to me, and I'll know where you are. And if you're looking for me, I'll call out to you -- so you'll know just where to find me."

Oishi swallowed a lump in his throat.

Eiji's eyes were shining so brightly that Oishi found it difficult to look into them. "So I know that we can find Momo, Oishi. 'Cause we're the Golden Pair, and we can do anything! And 'cause --" here Eiji thumped the spot over his heart, and patted Oishi's chest, right over Oishi's heart -- "we've got Momo here, too. You and me. So we'll definitely find him. Definitely!"

"Ah," murmured Oishi, feeling suddenly that his heart was too full for him to be able to say anything else.

Eiji beamed at him and got to his feet. "Okay! Let's go, Oishi!" He held out a hand to Oishi.

Oishi grasped the proffered hand, and let out a whoosh of breath as Eiji hauled him firmly to his feet.

"Eiji..."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"Silly Oishi. Let's go!"

By four in the afternoon, Eiji looked as if he was wilting in the heat, despite the fact that he was wearing Oishi's sunhat, oversized sunglasses and a thin cotton tank top.

"My jeans are melting off me," he moaned, his bicycle wobbling dangerously.

"Fold them up to your knees," Oishi suggested patiently, slowing his bicycle to a stop. He had a white bandana tied Kaidoh-style around his head to keep off the heat, since Eiji had his sunhat.

Eiji half-fell off his bicycle and let it crash on its side. He stooped down and began slowly rolling up a jean leg. "Did anyone find anything else?"

"Not since yesterday. So far, they've found only the backpack. Nothing was missing. It was as if he just put it down and went somewhere else." Oishi mopped his forehead, his face, his neck, his arms -- in fact, every part of him was dripping with perspiration. Even his toes were feeling unhappily moist and cramped in his shoes. "I haven't had any further news today." He frowned. "The mobile phone reception out here isn't very good."

Eiji made a little noise, which Oishi took to mean frustration with his jeans.

"Just two hours more," Oishi muttered anxiously to himself, glancing at the watch on his wrist. The search would end by six.

Eiji made the funny little noise again.

"Eiji? What is it?"

Eiji was peering over his sunglasses, his forehead wrinkled and his gaze fixed on something in the distance. "Oishi... something's there."

"Eh?"

"Down there." Eiji pointed down the road.

Oishi squatted down beside Eiji and shaded his eyes with his hand. "... where?"

Eiji sprang to his feet. "I think I know what it is!" He took off at a run, leaving Oishi behind him.

When Oishi finally caught up with him, two bicycles in tow, Eiji was half-bent by the side of the road.

"Don't go into the field," Oishi reminded him. "We're not allowed there."

"I know," Eiji replied absently. He stood up, frowning. "Oishi, look." He held out his hand, the palm open and facing upwards. "I found this in the middle of the road."

Oishi stared at the object lying on Eiji's palm. It was a broken keychain. "It must have fallen off--"

"Momo, Oishi," interrupted Eiji in an urgent tone. "Momo."

Startled, Oishi looked more closely at the keychain. What he had thought was a rather odd design for a keychain -- a faded pink, oddly-shaped thing decorated with a little bit of pale green -- "Why, it's a peach!" And then Oishi realised, in a blinding flash, what Eiji was trying to say.

Momoshiro had always liked to carry around accessories that included in their design his namesake, peaches. The nametag dangling off his schoolbag in junior high and senior high had a badly-drawn peach next to his name, and a keychain in the shape of two peaches hung from the zip; as for his tennis bag, wallet, mobile phone, pencil case -- none of them were spared. Even Momo's special towel had a row of peaches on each end. If this keychain really was Momoshiro's--

"Are you sure, Eiji?" Oishi wanted to know. "I mean, might this have been dropped by a girl...?" It was a horribly long shot, that this keychain could actually belong to Momo, of all people, and they had found it here, in the middle of nowhere.

Eiji's fingers closed over the keychain. "Oishi." The fist holding the keychain reached out and pressed itself against Oishi's chest. "Listen to your heart. Close your eyes, Oishi." A hand reached out and covered Oishi's eyes. "What does it say?"

Oishi, his eyes obediently closed, heard only the quick, rhythmic beat of his heart in his ears. Doki-doki. Doki-doki. With a sigh, he took hold of the hand covering his eyes and gently pushed it away, opening his eyes. "I believe you're right, Eiji. But it hasn't got anything to do with my heart."

"Eh?"

Oishi looked at the keychain again. "This keychain is old and used. I think that a girl wouldn't carry it around in this condition ... if it was precious to her, she would keep it away amongst her treasures. If it wasn't precious, she would throw it away... perhaps by the side of the road." Oishi lifted the keychain from Eiji's outstretched palm. "She wouldn't drop it in the middle of the road. And guys don't carry keychains like these around... except Momo." He turned the keychain over. "And look, Eiji."

The little peach was made of metal; on its back, it was a dull silvery colour. There were two characters edged into the metal: Tokyo.

"Echizen won this at a Tanabata fair a few years ago," Oishi said softly. "We were in our second year in high school then. Echizen was just finishing junior high."

"I remember!" Eiji exclaimed, bending closer. "Momo won the big prize of a week's supply of cat food. He and ochibi swopped their prizes, but Momo always said that ochibi got the better deal."

"Taka-san won a keychain, too," Oishi went on. "His keychain was in the shape of a big fruit basket, and behind it had the same characters. I thought at that time that the stall owner at the fair must have bought all the key chains from the same shop."

"He probably did," Eiji said agreeably. He tilted his head, smiling. "Nya, Oishi, who says that it hasn't got anything to do with your heart? You could remember all these - wasn't that what your heart was telling you to remember?"

Oishi smiled back. "Maybe. But it also needed my brain to remember."

Eiji pouted.

Oishi changed the subject. "Eiji, you could see the keychain from all the way back there?"

Eiji put his hands on his hips indignantly. "Oishi. I've got the best eyes in Seigaku, remember? Even ochibi doesn't have eyes better than mine and he's a top pro tennis player! I've got diamond eyes, I tell you!"

Oishi couldn't help smiling. "Of course."

Eiji grinned happily back at him, and then looked at the keychain. "But Oishi, do you really think this means that Momo came here?"

Oishi said thoughtfully, "It's quite likely. This could have fallen off his backpack." He reached into his shoulder bag and pulled out a map. "We're on this road. Further down -- Eiji, you're heavy."

"Sorry." Eiji took his chin away from Oishi's shoulder, but continued to hover close by.

"This leads to Shirogane. The sign we passed back there says we're a few kilometres from the White Birch Avenue... but if Momoshiro had passed this way, he would have needed a bicycle. Why didn't they find out if he had rented a bike?"

"He could have gone there by bus," Eiji pointed out reasonably. "Personally, Oishi, I think we're crazy to be cycling there. I wish we'd taken the bus. I'm boiling, we haven't seen anybody except maybe cows and lots and lots and lots of hills and fields, and I'm getting hungry." He tapped his foot impatiently. "And thirsty."

"I have some food. We'll eat in a while. You can have some of my water, too," Oishi said placatingly. "Nobody remembered seeing him on the bus..."

Eiji rolled his eyes. "I've got my own, thanks... but that's not what I meant," he grumbled. "Oishi, nobody would remember Momo unless he looked like a foreigner with blue eyes and yellow hair, or if he looked like a gangster. I mean, nobody would notice Momo unless he looked really weird and not normal."

"That's true," Oishi agreed. "Besides, I don't think that anybody thought that Momo might take this road... we all thought that he must have lost his way nearer to Biei, maybe near one of the farms. Everyone thought that he must have gone for a walk around Biei, maybe the Panoramic Road. That's why the search concentrated efforts nearer to central Biei. This is a bit out of the way. We're outside the main part of Biei now." He looked down at the map. "There's a nature trail here, by the side of the White Birch Avenue. There's also a waterfall further up, the Shirogane Fudou Waterfall... oh, there's one more waterfall here, the Shirohige Waterfall, near the Shirogane onsen."

Eiji chewed anxiously on his lower lip. "Oishi..."

"Hmm?"

"Momo likes waterfalls. If I were Momo, I'd want to see the waterfalls. I'd take the bus from the station, not a bicycle. It's too far. There's an onsen at the end of the route, right?"

Oishi turned to look at Eiji.

"Momo would want to go there." Eiji had a faraway look on his face. "When ochibi was still here, and Tezuka, and Kaidoh too, we'd all go to the onsen together, remember? It was really fun. If I were Momo, if I heard of an onsen, I would want to go there, just so that I could tell ochibi about it. There aren't any proper onsen in America, after all."

Oishi looked down at the map. They were still a good four or so kilometres from the trail and the beginnings of the White Birch Avenue. Another fifteen minutes or less on their bicycles might do it.

"Come on, Eiji." Oishi swung himself on to his bicycle.

"We're really going to cycle there, aren't we?" Eiji asked mournfully, hopping on to his bicycle.

"We don't have much of a choice, do we?" Oishi replied. "I think we can do four kilometres in less than fifteen minutes."

"Ten minutes."

Oishi arched an eyebrow. "Are you challenging me to a race?"

Eiji's grin was huge and brilliant. "Nya, I wasn't the one who said that!"

Oishi threw back his head and laughed. For the first time in a very long time, he was filled with hope -- hope that everything would turn out all right for Tezuka, that they would find Momoshiro, well and alive, and that somehow, the world that had turned so topsy-turvy a handful of days ago was slowly but surely righting itself again.

Then they were off, the Golden Pair, their bicycles side by side as they streaked down the narrow road that led, they hoped, to their missing friend.