Blame a sad ost from "Kokoro Connect". I don't own "Kafka on the Shore".

"No, it doesn't hurt. Not really." Ritsu smiled softly, pausing in his scratching out a letter and reaching over carefully to ruffle the younger boy's hair.

The boy's wide brown eyes held a questioning note. "Why doesn't it? Don't you love him, Onodera oji-san?"

With a small sigh, he set his pen down and stared out the window, distant. "Yes…very much, Kyosuke-chan."

"Then…wouldn't it hurt if the person you loved didn't remember you?" The boy's tone was curious, full of the naiveté that Ritsu remembered he used to have, all those years ago.

"No." Ritsu turned back with another warm, wrinkly smile. "Because I know that it wasn't all for nothing."

Confused, Kyosuke drew his eyebrows together and clicked his heels, but Ritsu only continued smiling—gently, nostalgically, the only sign of his distress already drifting away like the small dust motes in his study.

Quietly, Ritsu nudged the wooden door open and entered, carrying one single red orchid. "Takano-san?"

Aforesaid man started from reading and turned confused bronze eyes towards the sound. Recognition quickly flooded through them, but it was slightly distant, the kind that came from knowing someone but not being close to them. "Ah…Onodera-san. Hello."

Ritsu could only nod in greeting.

"May I help you?"

Suddenly Ritsu was overcome with an emotion he hadn't felt in years: embarrassment. The last time he'd felt it was when…well, that wasn't important.

He was told that he looked absolutely stunning in white.

With a small, sheepish smile, Ritsu shuffled further into the room and held the flower up. "Just…thought you could use some color in here. It's all browns and grays, sheesh." His smile grew lopsided, and he felt like he was young again, just for a moment.

Normally, Masamune would retort back with something clever, something witty, and they'd go back and forth with playful teasing even in their old age.

But, no, this wasn't the Masamune that Ritsu remembered. "Oh. Is that all?"

Ritsu wasn't naïve, nor was he stupid. His smile didn't waver in the least, and he only let out a quiet sigh, content to just be in the same room as his one and only love. "Yes," he answered, moving forward and setting the beautiful flower on top of Masamune's book.

It wasn't depressing; it wasn't despairing; it was just the fact of life. Everyone grew old someday, and…Masamune had only reached that point a bit faster than Ritsu had thought he would. Masamune was so full of life when he was younger, it was so difficult to believe that once such an intimidating, passionate man had softened to something more like the worn edges of a blanket. But it was just what happened in life, and Ritsu had accepted it long ago.

He watched as Masamune struggled to see the words in front of him, squinting his old-aged eyes at the small print. Ritsu laughed quietly, still so amazed at how terrible his eyesight had gotten. "…Takano-san?"

"What is it?"

"…Would you like me to read to you?"

"Tch," He sat back, the chair creaking under his weight. "I must be blind, for all I could see of these pages."

Ritsu had already picked the book up and taken a seat in the chair next to Masamune's bed. "No…not quite yet. Just let me do this for you."

"…Alright."

Kafka on the Shore, the title reads after a cursory glance. "'Cash isn't the only thing I take from my father's study when I leave…" Ritsu tunes out what he's reading, choosing instead to focus on the way Masamune's still-magnetic eyes light up at the sound of new words in a new book, how his posture straightens just slightly, and how a small smile tugs at the corner of his thin lips.

He loves these moments between them, where he can almost pretend that their dynamic is still the same; where, whenever Masamune's eyes got strained due to overwork, he'd lay in Ritsu's lap while Ritsu read to him; where, they could enjoy each other's company just with a book. Even with all the closure Ritsu received over the years, he still couldn't help but think back to memories past, of all the things they did and the memories that they gained together. He still is happy, though…it's quieter, and softer.

These moments still make him so happy, just to be with Masamune.

"…hey. Hey, Onodera-san."

Ritsu shook himself out of his ponderings, giving the other man a gentle smile. "Yes?"

"You…came here last week too, didn't you?"

Inwardly, he was crying. For Masamune, for the lost memories he seemed he'd never get back. It was getting worse every week. But on the outside, he gave one of his warm, enigmatic smiles and closed the book where he stopped. "Yes, I did. I came to read to you."

"…you…did."

"Yes, I did."

And it was the same the previous week, too. And the week before that. It was the same routine, the same book, the same flower that'd wilt and get thrown away by one of the weekly helpers.

But he was okay with it, because he would be comforted by the memories that they once shared.

A/N: This was very nice. I think I might write more of old Ritsu and Takano.

Red orchids mean passionate love.

Kyosuke is a random OC who may or may not have any close relation to Ritsu and Masamune. I don't know. You can make him their grandson or something.

-ChemicallyEnhanced