All was quiet except the rhythmic click-clack of the train on its way through the pale countryside, the occasional squeak of the metal handrails moving kept time as it went. A young girl sat in a window seat, the last pair of seats in the last car. Her choice didn't even matter, as she was the sole inhabitant of the desolate train to nowhere. The night air was thick and humid, the lighting bleak and colorless. She stared out the window into the world as the trees whipped by - lost in her own thoughts.
'It can't be true' she thought to herself, 'the Ethereal Horizon is out there.' She wasn't sure she actually believed her own words anymore. She wanted to believe, but it seemed so real. Just as the Priestess had said, her home had vanished. Only an empty lot of flowers stood where her memories laid. Her life represented with a for sale sign. 'Papa can't really be gone...' She slumped over, her elbows hitting her knees and her stare shifting from out the window, to her own lap. Her black dress was stained with grass, tears, and sweat. Her shoes too, had a shine of dirt and bits of grass and burrs stuck into the laces. Moving her hand down, she felt the tiny pocket which she had sewn onto her dress. Her phone was still there. Beside her on the seat sat her purple and pink umbrella. Other than her railpass card, she had no form of money; her house key wasn't there either, likely still hanging on the hook beside her bedroom door at her Grandmother's house. Without her house key, she had nowhere to go. Yuuta wouldn't even be home from the vacation yet. 'Yuuta...' The sound of his voice calling her name filled her mind again, the last thing she heard before she ran away: 'Rikka!' Tears began to swell in her eyes again, sliding easily down the tracks that were still there from the last time. Starting to feel heavy, she removed the eyepatch from her right eye and carefully sat it on the seat next to her. Still hanging her head, the sound echoed through her head again. 'Rikka!' It sounded so real. A glimpse of something moving reflected in the window caught her eye, so her head snapped up to look.
"Yuuta!" she exclaimed excitedly as she looked up to the empty train car, only to have loneliness sink back in. He wasn't there. She was simply imagining things again. As if on cue, however, her phone vibrated against her leg. She pulled it out, and flipped it open to reveal a new message: '(no subject) from Yuuta Togashi'. Opening it revealed exactly what she expected. 'Where did you go, Rikka?' She didn't doubt that he would have chased her. He was never going to catch her though, and if he had the forethought to check the train, he would have been here by now. Instead of responding, she was about to snap her phone closed, when she noticed another message that she had clearly missed while running: 'In person?' from Caesar.'
"Caesar?" she said aloud, unable to remember who it was or why this name was in her phone's contacts. Out of curiosity she opened the message and then it all came back to her. 'I'm back on land for the week! Perhaps if we could meet up in person you could read some of my books, it might help you more than our PMs and emails! - Caesar'
"I'm not sure... Oh! Right... Right..." Her last history test had went horribly, and that was selling it lightly. Remembering the math fiasco, she decided instead to try to fix it on her own rather than involving Yuuta and her friends - by joining a history enthusiasts forum. After a few short posts, she met a guy there who goes by the name of 'Caesar' who seemed really smart. He was some sort of sailor, and lived on a ship at sea. The very idea excited her normally, but it didn't sound like a good idea meeting up in person with a strange guy so soon after meeting online. He could be working with the bureau, or even worse he could be a normal, every day pedophile.
The horn of the train sounded out like the forlorn call of a mighty beast in the night, breaking her from her mixed thoughts. Soon after, the train began to slow, the silence and screeching of the rails interrupted by an upbeat jingle. Moments later, a robotic female voice rang out over the intercom. "Now approaching Hinuma Station. Repeat: Next stop, Hinuma Station." She wasn't even sure where Hinuma Station was, or which train she ended up on. At the time, she didn't really care where she went, all she could think of was getting away. With a sigh, she looked back at her phone. Her fingers had already typed that she wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not, all she had to do was press send.
"I don't want to think" she said aloud again, snapping her phone closed. She leaned over against the window and stared out at the ghost town. There wasn't a single person at the station, she once again felt like the sole inhabitant of the entire world. It surprised even her to find no one out and about during the holiday. Closing her eyes she began to think anyway. 'I don't want to meet anyone right now. I just want to be alone.' She attempted to convince herself and ignore the truth that she really just wanted to be with Yuuta. To forget the world and just spend eternity with him. Behind her closed eyes, she could see his face. He was the only one who really understood her, the only one she could really trust. She couldn't understand the feeling he gave her. Her heart felt so weak, her hands so numb, her head so blurred. 'How does he do it? What power does he have?' Her emotions couldn't stop her from moving forward with her life, however. She needed Caesar to help her, and perhaps he could help her with more than history. He had a ship. "I could search a lot farther with a ship. I would definitely find the Ethereal Horizon then..." She tried to wash Yuuta from her mind, and instead picture her dad again - she couldn't do it. Try as hard as she could, she couldn't remember what he looked like, the pain tore through her chest like a sword. "One day, again..." With a sigh, she opened her phone and her eyes and typed out her real response: 'Where?' before picking up her umbrella and eyepatch. She hit send, and popped her feet up on the bench beside her, content to just lay there and think about Yuuta forever.
By the time she opened her eyes again, the train had began to lurch forward once more, the call of sadness from the lonely metal beast filled the air as well, mirroring her own feeling. She had fell asleep, but only for a few minutes. The intercom jingled once more, bringing the robotic woman's voice to the still air, and so did her phone. She flipped it open again, seeing the sender was Caesar, the subject a reply to her reply. "Now leaving Hinuma Station." The intercom called out as she opened the message and started to read it. As the intercom finished the announcement: "Next Stop..." the single word stared up at her from the screen on her phone. She spoke the word in the message in unison with the intercom. "Ooarai."