WARNING: The following contains spoilers for To Your Eternity Episode 20, “Echoes,” now streaming on Crunchyroll.
It's not an episode of To Your Eternity if we don't say goodbye to another character, and the season finale is no exception. After escaping from Jananda Island, Fushi seeks out Pioran, as they intended to travel together to help Fushi get stronger.
However, once he finds hers, he suddenly is doubtful. With the Nokkers constantly on his heels, Fushi isn't sure whether looking for Pioran is even a good idea. Suitably, To Your Eternity's finale ends up a real tearjerker as Fushi eventually says farewell to one of his last remaining friends in Season 1.
Fushi has endured and grown a lot since he first awakened as a sentient being at the start of To Your Eternity. Every loss he has suffered has made him both stronger and more vulnerable. He tried to protect Tonari and her friends by taking on the Nokkers by himself, and he attempts to do the same with Pioran. When he sees the old woman sitting at an inn, eating a meager plate of peas while she waits for him, Fushi decides to leave, believing that his presence would only bring her unhappiness...
... Except he can't bring himself leave. Fushi goes back and forth between the ship and Pioran, fretting about, worried that she won't be warm or comfortable enough if he were to leave her alone. The Creator doesn't offer Fushi much comfort, merely telling him that given Pioran's age, she doesn't have much longer to live.
Fushi is unbearably lonely. Having all of his friends 'with him' as vessels makes his loneliness and sadness feel even heavier. He leaves Pioran for the last time, only for the old woman to recognize Fushi in his Mia form. For the first time since he found her in this town, Pioran smiles.
The two roam around without much of a destination in mind. They travel during the day, avoiding any confrontation with the Nokkers. They rest at night, with Fushi sleeping later and waking up earlier than Pioran in order to protect her. Fushi avoids changing into random animals, as he can't maintain his human consciousness while he's in those forms. He documents everything that goes on in his day. Although exhausting, Fushi is nevertheless happier than he ever was before.
However, things slowly begin to change. The noble spirit that Fushi admires so much starts to fade in Pioran, to be replaced by a woman who can't remember anything and starts suddenly losing her temper, even screaming for Fushi to kill her at one point. It must crush Fushi to see Pioran like this, but throughout it all, he continues smiling and taking care of her quietly.
One day, in one of her rare lucid moments, Pioran tells him that she is happy that she met him and asks him to bring in some fish and potatoes. Coming after Fushi was in a state of despair for constantly bringing sadness and suffering to everyone he has met, this is a surprise to him. Pioran lies quietly in her bed as the last tendrils of smoke disappear from their small fire. She calls out to the Creator and asks him to help her reincarnate into something useful to Fushi. The Creator warns her that this might change her very soul, but she says she doesn't mind.
Pioran dreams of being young again and walking on the beach. The Creator appears before her, holding a white sphere. Pioran places her hand over it and gradually ages before disappearing into the sphere. When Fushi returns and realizes what has happened, he crumples to his knees and sobs, brokenhearted. He buries Pioran and leaves, but not without telling her, although she can no longer hear him, that he was happy too.
To Your Eternity has no shortage of tragic deaths, but to see Pioran's mental state gradually deteriorate as a result of dementia is something that Fushi has never experienced. He can't fight dementia like the way he might fight the Nokkers. All he can do is watch helplessly as he witnesses the pieces of Pioran disappear.
The idea of agency plays a rather interesting role in the series. Fushi had wanted to keep Pioran safe and decided, of his own accord, that she would be better off without him. As an immortal being with a destiny already set out for him by the Creator to preserve the world, Fushi might not think he has much control over his own life. However, Pioran leaves him with some wise words: "Do what you want to do." Time and time again, the Creator has reminded Fushi that everyone dies; the only agency they have is choosing how they die -- and in her final moments, Pioran chooses to do so in her own noble way.
