Yuki sits by the water tank, staring in sad horror at the yellow fish belly up.
It had been years, he supposes fish always had shorter lifespans than humans. Still, Haru had lasted so long, even in fish form.
He gently scoops him out of the tank with a strainer, decides to drop him in the ocean. He shuffles around his home, grabbing his waistcoat and hat, dead fish in a plastic bag.
He locks his door and steps out into crisp Enoshima air, cloudy day evident.
Walking through the plaza he sees Sakura, cheerfully playing a game with her children. She looks up and gives him a sad smile when she sees the bag in his hands.
"...Is that?"
He doesn't need to answer, but he nods irregardless.
"I give my regards."
"Thank you."
"Mama, it s just a fish!" Says one of the boys, but she shushes him away. Yuki continues on to the pier, looking forward.
He stops at the edge, looks down at the water.
Eighteen years, Haru.
Eighteen years of love, nine of devotion to a boy who was trapped in a fish's body. Yuki had never swayed.
He thinks vaguely that Akira and Natsuki should be here. That Kate should be there, if not for her rose adorned grave. But Akira is gone, a missing person, and Natsuki lying in the ground, buried in a cemetery far from home.
It's just him, now.
He closes his eyes and remembers the best summer of his life, remembers past that to the best years of life, remembers kissing a blond haired boy whose eyes are all Yuki can remember.
He remembers days long ago when death seemed so far away, when the dark edge of life had been unable to touch his world. How things change. How things change, and so fast.
He glances again at the bag in his hands, but there's no movement, just a yellow fish dead in a plastic bag.
He opens the top and pours him into the ocean, watches yellow hit blue, sink into the depths.
It feels like his heart goes with it.
[[De-anoning from the kinkmeme]]