love beyond species《tsukkiyama》

00: 寄生虫

寄生虫: parasyte

The day was not even a gloomy one. The sun was shining down on the Miyagi Prefecture and the sound of birds happily chirping filled the air.

Although all seemed well, Yamaguchi Tadashi's heart was nonetheless broken.

It was exactly one year since Tsukkishima Kei's funeral. Tadashi remembered the day as if it was just yesterday.

Tadashi stood with Kei's mother and brother in front of the large hole where they would soon lower the casket that contained his late lover. 

When Kei stabbed the knife into his heart and crumpled to the ground, Tadashi had never felt more pain in his entire life. He called the police saying that he witnessed a suicide, not telling them that he was a parasyte. He didn't even tell Kei's family or his own. The news about his death was enough to crush his loved ones, so Yamaguchi felt it best to leave out the fact. After hearing Kei's last words, Yamaguchi truly believed that the real Kei was still inside the parasyte. anyways.

 Yamaguchi couldn't help but feel guilty that he may have been a factor in his death. It was the only thing he could think about for days, even months.

Hell, it still haunted him to this very day.

Tadashi stood looming over Kei's grave. He was the only person standing in the cemetery. He held a bouquet of sunflowers, his head bowed down and looking at the intricate engravings on the stone. It read:

Here lies Tsukkishima Kei, beloved son, brother, and friend. 

Tadashi's tears slowly dropped to the ground and made little spots on the dry stone. He laid down the bouquet and stood there for a second and then turned to leave.

Since Kei's death, Yamaguchi stopped hunting parasytes. He couldn't do anything without the harsh memories clouding his thoughts and his judgment. Daichi and Asahi understood, of course.

Daichi and Asahi had figured out that Sugawara was a parasyte, much to their own horror, but he left before the two could even do anything about it, leaving them both empty, much like Tadashi was, but further crushed that Sugawara could be left to cause more harm elsewhere.

Tadashi walked home slowly, the same route he'd take when he used to walk with Tsukki.

He walked into his house quietly, whispering "I'm home," even though he knew his parents were still at work. He slid off his shoes and neatly placed them by the door and started up the stairs to his room.

The emptiness never left Tadashi. Sure he had friends around, he seldom hung out with Hinata Shoyo and Kageyama Tobio, but it was never the same as anything he did with Tsukki. 

Although Tsukki seemed stoic and emotionless, Tadashi knew that he was soft on the inside and he truly understood and listened to everything Yamaguchi had to tell him.

All he felt now, was lonely. 

Yamaguchi huffed a sigh and dropped his bag on his chair and ripped his shirt off, flopping onto the bed angrily. He punched his sheets, tears flowing freely and falling onto his bed.

"I could've prevented this... I could have protected him as he did for me, or... or I shouldn't have gone to kill him, I shouldn't have even checked!" he wept and rested his head on the pillow in front of him. He wished he had never seen the advertisement about hunting parasytes, wished that had never dug into the news story at all, feeling like it may have prevented his heartache.

His fists were still clenched, so tight that his nails dug into his palms. Eventually, Tadashi drifted away to sleep.

His exhaustion caused him to fail to notice the small blue worm that had started crawling up his leg, heading for his brain.

fin

w: 633