Epilogue: Fruit

The teenager watched with passive listlessness as his feet carried him to his desired location as if they were functioning on autopilot.

It was warm outside, and most trainers would choose to remain indoors and enjoy a cold drink—but he loved the summer with a ferocious passion that one would often question. He didn't blame them; they wouldn't know why before they'd heard his tale.

He felt like his best friend was most present when it was a sunny day out. He could feel his Volcarona's warmth through his bones, like a blanket that reassured him that everything was going to be OK; it was like a low melody that hummed through his veins.

A low chuckle escaped his throat as he tied his long orange hair into a short ponytail—loving the sun didn't mean that he needed to make himself uncomfortable on purpose.

"How is it going to be OK, you jerk?" It'd been three years since his friend's death, and though his parents worried, telling him that he needed to move on, he would refuse every time, and he would find himself going towards the same place on the same day each year.

He wouldn't stop no matter what anyone told him. It was like a puzzle; like gathering all the little fragments of an unspoken letter that the deceased creature was trying to tell him: just what was he thinking on that day?

Not stopping to think, he pressed forward.

❦유❦

I'm almost at the same spot, aren't I?

Alder's grip tightened around the half-eaten apple in his hand. He was sure that he was in the correct forest—it was hard to mess that much up—and he flinched at the memory before walking on, his feet engaging in scuffles with the ground as he headed towards their first meeting spot.

A smile crept up his face as he spotted the tree, now drooping slightly but more than alive than ever with its shock of green leaves, but that smile was replaced with a small "o" to his mouth as he found a figure there before him.

He'd been getting ready to kneel and pray, but the small creature at the base of the three distracted him. Narrowed sky-blue eyes looked up at him, suspicious, and the two of them froze.

It was almost the exact same situation. He'd met a Larvesta in this same place six years ago too, except that his Larvesta had been half-dead and different.

Before he knew it, the trainer was laughing, the sound bright and full with tears streaming down his cheeks, but he didn't care about any of that. The Larvesta below him startled, jumping backwards and glaring at him, but he simply continued to laugh.

Did you want this to happen? He snuck a glance at the sun, hanging high and haughty in the sky and smiling back at him with the same radiant happiness. Did you do this for me?

No matter how he looked at it then, it was never goodbye. It had never been a goodbye because Volcarona was everywhere. He was in the air; he was the field of blooming flowers that grew around the tree, and he was the pair of strong, warm arms embracing him.

He stepped forward, hearing his partner telling him to go ahead—that it was fine to replace him because that was a separate set of memories and friendships that would forever stay in his heart. This wasn't a replacement; it was simply a chance to heal.

"Hey there," he whispered, kneeling down and reaching out to the Pokemon before him. "My name's Alder. It's nice to meet you."

❦유❦

https://youtu.be/HW-vV7ZlcZo

//hISSES IF IT WAS LONGER I'D MAKE IT FREAKING 2K WORDS AND I'D EXCEED THE WORD LIMIT

Anyway, thanks once again to everyone who supported this book! Thank you so, so much <33 I love you all!

Special thanks goes to Jin, creator of Kagerou Project, for creating this amazing series (in particular Imagination Forest) and inspiring this short story, Itou Kashitarou for making the other song that inspired me (Life Is Only Full of Goodbyes), Risa-White for freaking giving me really good advice for the first three chapters, and ArtsyCrown for being lovely :D

((and and this book is 7.2K words so thankfully it didn't exceed the word count AHAHA))

time to go enter this in the watty awards when motivation strikes

Once again, thanks!!