diff --git a/cpp/include/kvikio/parallel_operation.hpp b/cpp/include/kvikio/parallel_operation.hpp
index b69f67b37a..9efc4053c2 100644
--- a/cpp/include/kvikio/parallel_operation.hpp
+++ b/cpp/include/kvikio/parallel_operation.hpp
@@ -119,30 +119,34 @@ std::future<std::size_t> parallel_io(F op,
     return detail::submit_task(op, buf, size, file_offset, devPtr_offset);
   }
 
-  // We know an upper bound of the total number of tasks
-  std::vector<std::future<std::size_t>> tasks;
-  tasks.reserve(size / task_size + 2);
-
-  // 1) Submit `task_size` sized tasks
-  while (size >= task_size) {
-    tasks.push_back(detail::submit_task(op, buf, task_size, file_offset, devPtr_offset));
+  std::vector<std::future<std::size_t>> tasks_before_last;
+  auto const num_full_tasks  = size / task_size;
+  auto const remaining_bytes = size - num_full_tasks * task_size;
+  auto num_tasks{num_full_tasks};
+  if (remaining_bytes != 0) { ++num_tasks; }
+  tasks_before_last.reserve(num_tasks - 1);
+
+  // 1) Submit all tasks before the last one. These are all `task_size` sized tasks.
+  for (std::size_t i = 0; i < num_tasks - 1; ++i) {
+    tasks_before_last.push_back(
+      detail::submit_task(op, buf, task_size, file_offset, devPtr_offset));
     file_offset += task_size;
     devPtr_offset += task_size;
     size -= task_size;
   }
 
-  // 2) Submit a task for the remainder
-  if (size > 0) { tasks.push_back(detail::submit_task(op, buf, size, file_offset, devPtr_offset)); }
+  // 2) Submit the last task
+  auto last_task_size = (remaining_bytes == 0) ? task_size : remaining_bytes;
 
-  // Finally, we sum the result of all tasks.
-  auto gather_tasks = [tasks = std::move(tasks)]() mutable -> std::size_t {
-    std::size_t ret = 0;
-    for (auto& task : tasks) {
+  auto last_task = [=, tasks_before_last = std::move(tasks_before_last)]() mutable -> std::size_t {
+    std::size_t ret = op(buf, last_task_size, file_offset, devPtr_offset);
+    for (auto& task : tasks_before_last) {
       ret += task.get();
     }
     return ret;
   };
-  return detail::submit_move_only_task(std::move(gather_tasks));
+
+  return detail::submit_move_only_task(std::move(last_task));
 }
 
 }  // namespace kvikio