𝖲𝖺𝗍𝗎𝗋𝗇

chapter five

With shortness of breath I'll try to explain the infinite

Days pass by in a blur of bittersweet moments forever captured like polaroids inside Megumi's heart.

Today it's Yuuji's last day on earth and he wants to go to the beach.

Yesterday they spent the whole day baking along with Nobara, then proceeded to eat all the goods (actually, only the ones safe to eat which of course were just those made by Yuuji himself) in front of the new TV that Gojou got them the day before.

Afterwards, they played Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros and Yuuji lost every single race and match because he kept getting distracted by his own thoughts. More than once they found him zoning out, looking somewhere faraway, out of reach for everyone in the room except of him.

Megumi's heart ached every single time - out of helplessness, but mostly out of love.

By the end of the night, they all cried a bit (actually, a lot) and stopped pretending it was just another day lazing around. They slept together, arms and legs in a tangle of limbs, covered in blankets and each other's warmth, Nobara and him holding onto Yuuji for dear life.

Today Yuuji seems to be in a better mood, but Megumi isn't.

It doesn't help they're all here, gathered at the beach - it feels like a funeral of sorts and it's making his skin itch and crawl and bile rise up his throat.

It's like they're bidding him goodbye as if he were about to part overseas for a long-lasting job or a trip and not towards the threshold dividing life from death to never come back again.

Megumi hates it, hates it so much it burns him from the inside out.

But Yuuji seems good, if not happy at least content enough.

He's recording everything with his phone, though Megumi isn't quite sure why - tomorrow that same device will probably get thrown away or destroyed as if it never even existed.

Megumi doesn't think the higher ups will let him keep it, no matter how much he tries and begs for it, for the memories of Yuuji living within.

"C'mon, let's get closer to the shore, I wanna see if the water's cold." Yuuji says, next to him.

It's December, Megumi thinks, of course it must be cold.

But he holds Yuuji's hand, laces their fingers together in a makeshift of a cage to hold this moment captive, and lets himself get carried along by his dim energy.

It feels like a star dying out - slowly, feebly, tragically.

When they reach the shore Yuuji lets go of his hand to toe off his shoes and socks, haphazardly throwing them to the dry side on the sand before running towards the water like a little kid meeting the ocean for the first time - sweatpants barely avoiding getting wet from where he has rolled them up his knees.

And Megumi just looks at him, still fully dressed and unconsciously holding his phone tightly between his hands and close to his chest.

For a minute that feels like it stretches out infinitely it's just him.

Yuuji.

Pink hair looking like a sunset under the late afternoon sun, eyes once again turning into honey-dipped crescent moons as he beams when a wave crashes against his ankles and the cold bites at his naked legs. His strong, sturdy and stubborn body looking shockingly cozy under that green coat Megumi himself has worn countless times while walking back home under the night sky with tired feet and a full heart.