All things are temporary. We are all taught this from an early age, but only a few of us understand it properly. We take things we love for granted and we pretend that it will never cease. Everything meets its end one day. Taking things further, all life is is a process where we are losing everything. We are born with nothing. We don't have clothes or any materialistic belongings when we come out of the womb, all we have is ourselves. We also die with nothing. All the things we worked for, all the things we built and loved; are inevitably lost as well. We don't take anything with us into the next phase after death. I understand now, when we lose our belongings, a pet, a family member or a friend, they aren't taken away from us, a more accurate way of saying it is that we lost it earlier than we expected.

That day I got up at ten, shaved, brushed my teeth and wore my best suit. It wasn't particularly a nice day. The sky was a dark grey colour with the thick clouds hiding the otherwise nice sunlight. After saying goodbye to Saki and Kaaki I made my way to the train station and bought the first bullet train ticket to Kyoto station.

The train was fairly empty as expected on a Sunday morning where most workers and salarymen stayed at home relaxing with their families. Only around half a dozen other people were on the train from where I could see.

I finally arrived to Kyoto station a few minutes before one o'clock. I was met with the same type of nostalgic feeling I had when I went back to Chiba. I hadn't been here since that trip during high school.

I was tempted to look around and explore the large, magnificent structure but I knew I was in Kyoto for different reasons so I quickly rode the normal local train.

I had typed in the address Tadaoki gave me onto the maps app on my phone. It told me the station that I needed to get off at and the walking distance from that station to the graveyard.

On that train similar to the bullet one I rode earlier only a handful of other people were on it. A father around his mid 30s and his daughter who wore a pretty expensive looking coat and a older couple around their 60s.

After getting out at my intended station I looked on my maps apps again. Studying through it quickly I found out that it was around 20 minutes walking distance. The graveyard was situated on a small mountain around the edge of the whole Kyoto area.

As I continued walking over the pavement I couldn't help but be disturbed by the uncomfortable silence the area had. The one way streets were narrow and cars barely went past. As that came into my mind I realised it was a fairly unexciting location as there weren't any attractions such as malls or anything.

The tightly packed streets were all accompanied by houses but the silence seemed to still continue. The image of families just quietly relaxing inside their homes quietly came into my mind.

Turning around the corner where the maps app told me to face I looked up and noticed the steep road I was going to have to walk on to get to the destination. The same old look of the streets continued with small houses comforting the side of the narrow street but it was evident that it was quite steep. "5 minutes till destination" my phone notified me in bold black letters.

It must have been a pretty hard walk but I didn't feel one bit sick of it. My mind was fully occupied on worrying about how much he might have changed, how he might see me now and whether we would even recognise each other.

After maybe 4 minutes of walking up that steep street my eyes were met with the site of the graveyard.

There was a car parking space right at the bottom and the slope neatly aligned all of the stone walls representing the names of passed individual people. From where I could see I noticed there were over 8 rows, each containing at least over 15 tombstones.

I only saw one other group of people there, a family of 4 people sitting around a tombstone on the second row. They looked to be placing flowers down on one of their passed family members, most likely their grandparents.

Glancing at my wristwatch it read: "2:06pm"

Back then he was a type of guy to come late a lot. It would not be surprising at all to me if he wasn't here already.

I started going up the narrow stone staircase on the far right side of the site where it enabled me to look through each and every row.

It wasn't until I went up to the last and highest row, I saw him.

It was definitely him.

There he was, legs crossed, sitting down on the ground facing one of the stone walls directly, around 1 metre at the most away from it. He wore a blank expression as he stared at the stone. Even though he seemed expressionless I was able to make out the slightest curve on his lips which gave away the smallest, most unnoticeable smile.

He wore a suit like me, except I could tell his one was a lot more pricey. It fit him perfectly. I was glad I wore something nice as well, otherwise I would have seemed rude and out of place.

His hair which was long and brown the last time I met him, was now transformed into a neat black style.

Even though he was sitting down I could tell he was still taller than me.

I was able to make out all the parts of him which had changed, but I instantly knew it was him.

The young, playboy vibe he used to have seemed to have diminished during the six years he was absent from my life. Instead he seemed like a proper, developed and serious, well mannered adult belonging to the real world.

I walked closer to him and he noticed me.

He didn't stand up, look surprised or seemed to be phased one bit.

He just looked at me in the eyes as he said my name.

"Hey Hikigaya, been a while." He said as he smiled, swaying the end of his lip to his right side.

I sat down next to him, facing the stone

"Yo, Tadaoki" I said.

The tombstone read:

"Michio Fukuo"

We both silently just stared at it, continuing to sit down.

We continued to stay like that for a short while as we let the silence occupy the aura.

The natural sound of the branches swaying, the leaves being carried by the wind filled up our eardrums.

"I would have never expected that the next time the three of us were going to reunite, it will be in this fashion" Tadaoki said snapping the silence.

I replayed his words in my mind.

I never thought of things that way. I remembered about Fukurou and Tadaoki every now and again but I never thought about meeting them again.

"It still doesn't feel real to me that he's gone, even now after looking at his tombstone." I replied.

"Neither to me." Tadaoki said.

The silence occupied the air again.

I looked back, trying to remember when the last time I saw Tadaoki and Fukurou was and what we did.

"You know Hikigaya, in a way I feel responsible for Fukurou's death" Tadaoki continued.

"Why? How come?!" I immediately replied, slightly shocked by his words.

"I was the last person to see Fukurou before he killed himself."

He carried on "I know what you are thinking. No I wasn't in touch with him all these years, but just by chance, I met him on the train on his last day, it was the first time I had saw him in 4 years."

I continued to look at him.

Tadaoki tilted his head downwards at an angle, still wearing a sad, hesitant smile.

"He was the guy who noticed me first on the train, at first I couldn't recognise him. He was….. just someone else…"

Someone else?

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

Tadaoki sighed, exhaling slowly.

"It's…. hard to explain… he seemed to have just lost the piece which made him Michio Fukuo. He looked shot. He just didn't have that light in his eyes anymore. You remember when he used to go ballistic and crazy when it came to jazz and blues music right?"

"Yeah of course I do, what about it?" I said back.

"He seemed so different so I tried to bring up the topic of blues, but he told me he hadn't listened to any music for years. It's just, like… he wasn't Fukurou anymore."

I thought over Tadaoki's statement.

"Don't get me wrong, that didn't make me be unfriendly towards him. I invited him to have a beer with me at a nearby bar. We talked for 2 hours straight about almost everything. What he had been up to, what I had been up to and even you, Hikigaya. There was no way the two of us couldn't talk about you."

"Did he say anything regarding me?" I asked

"We talked about your novel,'I remember Clifford'. He talked about how happy he was that you made it. Remembering now, that was the only time he looked like his former self. A massive cheerful smile went across his face as he was talking about how joyful he was that you, Hikigaya Hachiman, out of the three of us, made it to the finishing line."

Those words touched me hard.

"I didn't know all this time, but at his small funeral, which only about 8 people attended, I learnt from his close relatives something Fukurou never told anyone."

"Fukurou's father had passed away when he was very young and he was single parented. His mother was not with him a lot of the time as she was out working hard to support them 2. He had a dream since he was very little to become a successful writer and let his mother stop working and rest. Since he was in high school he worked part time until midnight so he could save up for the university entrance fees, but even then it wasn't enough so his mother who was very supportive about Fukurou chasing his dreams, chipped in even if she didn't have much money herself." Tadaoki continued.

I was speechless. Fukurou never said any of this. All this time he kept it a secret.

I imagined the two of them talking. I imagined the way Tadaoki way described how Fukurou looked joyful. However, a piece of me couldn't get rid of the thought of Fukurou's smile, showing the slightest hint of sadness.

We both went silent, staring at the stone again.

It was an unlikely, unconventional reunion.

"Seriously, Hikigaya. I can't explain to you how grateful I am that you titled your book the way you did. Fukurous will lives on through your work."

I nodded. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't want to reject his idea, a strange state occupied my mind.

We both went silent again for the last time, just staring at Fukurou.

I couldn't tell how long we maintained that position for.

Then out of nowhere, Tadaokis phone rang.

"Sorry Hikigaya, he said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered the call."

He stood up and looked the other way.

Staring blankly at the stone, I felt as if I memorised every small detail, every small crack, every shade the stone contained.

I noticed Tadaoki finished his call, so I stood up.

"I should get going now." I said.

"Well, maybe the last time the three of us meet." He said as he breathed out heavily.

We both stood next to each other and said the words to him.

"Goodbye Fukurou."

We walked back to the small station together. It felt like it was the last time I was going to see Tadaoki as well, at least for a long time.

When we got to the platform and sat down waiting for our different trains to come, I asked him "Tadaoki, where do you work now?"

"Oh, wow yeah we haven't updated each other at all, haha… after i completed the Japanese literature course I applied for a number of magazines and publishers to submit my story, but for 2 years I wasn't going anywhere. I decided to just pull the plug. I just felt like I was holding onto a thin rope. I now work as a human relations manager at my fathers company."

I was surprised by the last part.

"You worked it out with your father?"

He sighed.

"Yeah, it was tough but it was worth it."

As he said the last word, the announcement for a train arriving beemed through the speakers.

"That's my train" he said as he got up.

"Well Hikigaya, I never said it, but I always looked up to a certain aspect of you."

I pulled back.

"What!?"

Tadaoki, the most charismatic, womanizer looked up to me!?, where, what part? How? Is this a good or bad thing!?

"It's like you have an invisible field around you. I can't put it into words very well, but it leaves a certain imprint on anyone who enters it for a period of time."

The train came and doors opened. He slapped the shoulder in a borderline hard, but still friendly way. As he went closer towards the train door.

"Hikigaya!. Don't stop! Don't stop improving! Be the greatest writer in history!. You are carrying not only your own dream but me and Fukurous! Our dreams and aspirations are all onto you now!"

I stood there, eyes wide and mouth slightly opened. The latter part of his words hit something inside of me.

"See ya my friend!"

None of us know how it happens. Perhaps there will never be an explanation for this, but when humans are put into conditions where they are hyper conscious of what's going on in the moment, strange, unrelated, stupid things tend to pop up into the mind.

It happened to me.

"Tadaoki!"

He looked back at me as he stood inside the train.

"Did the "100 girls Tadaoki" really sleep with 100 girls?"

Tadaoki smiled.

"...probably not 100. Maybe like 60-70…"

The doors of the train closed between us and the train started to move.

Feeling the quick wind of air the train made, my eyes followed it as I stood there straight, witnessing the train go smaller and smaller and eventually out of my sight.

On the empty train ride back home, I reflected and attempted to process everything which happened that day. Tadaoki's transformation, Fukurou's stone, how he described I was "Carrying" their dreams now. The feeling of responsibility and a high expectation smashed onto my shoulders. What was strange was that it was in no way an unpleasant one. Instead I felt a great rush of energy and motivation. When I got onto the bullet train, Not moving an inch, I fixed my eyesight on the scenery outside the window. I didn't touch my phone once.

The main sensation I felt from all the happenings that day, was the affirmation and confirmation that all things are temporary. All things must pass. No matter how big, small, useless or important something is one day it will be taken away from us. However, this fact is in no way, shape or form purely a bad thing. One of the best ways to start or appreciate something, is to simply understand its finality. Nothing's ever promised to us. When I returned home,I hugged my Saki and Kaaki a little bit harder than usual, so much so that she even squealed. Hearing Saki's gentle breathing as she slept, I looked at the ceiling for the millionth time, but this time it felt a little bit different. One day, whether it is long ahead or soon, this will all pass.