cantgive100percent | this is very self indulgent

He's nine years old and wearing his new coat like a badge of honor. It's orange like a dying lamp and lined with black, made out of something a little stiff and heavy - he had to roll up the sleeves twice so that he could keep his hands free. Every now and then he can feel the material nudging at his knees, and if he zipped it up, it could even pass as a dress.

It is unabashedly his favorite piece of clothing.

How it happened was that an old man was giving out things yesterday; when Ryu asked why, he said it was because he was sick and knew he would be gone soon. He didn't want all his belongings to just sit around unused. He used those exact words - 'be gone,' and it seemed awkward on his tongue, like he was changing what he was saying at the last second.

"You mean you're going to die," Ryu stated, quiet but firm.

The man did not respond, at first, but then offered him the coat. "It makes me feel more alive, to know people are using these things," he explained. "Make sure you take good care of my memory."

Ryu put it on over his old jacket - dull red and navy, with sleeves that pinched at his elbows when he moved his arms. The coat swished at him indignantly while he fished his hands out through the cuffs. "It's a little big," his benefactor commented with uncertainty. "I can give you a smaller one."

"No. I like orange."

Ryu fumbled for the zipper, to see if the coat even had one intact - it did, lucky - and zipped the coat closed with finality. It was his now.

The old man was at the same spot for the next few days, his pile of belongings slowly dwindling away each time Ryu saw him - they didn't speak again, but Ryu could tell he was being watched as he walked by. It was like his treatment of the coat (which he wore every day) was being appraised each time. It made him self-conscious about it. "Take good care of my memory," ringed in his ears every time something bad almost - or did - happen to the garment. When the pile finally ran out and the old man stopped showing up, Ryu felt a guilty mix of relieved and sad. A person giving their life away to others, piece by piece... it didn't take much time at all to run out of pieces.