Rin had expected that the Osaka - Kyoto trip would take a while.
So he'd brought a ridiculous amount of manga.
He knew enough to try and save the manga for later, so he turned around and started talking to the person across from him.
What their name was, he wasn't entirely sure. He was pretty sure that it was Iki Hiyori. That sounded about right.
He hadn't made a point to memorise the names of the people in regular school, as he'd spent half the time sleeping and most of the other half in the deputy principal's office being told off for sleeping.
Iki was funny, so soon the both of them were laughing quite loudly.
This lasted until senseii heard them, turned around to locate the noise-makers, and spotted them.
"For the love of all things good, be quiet, Okumura!"
The shout caused him to jump and nearly topple out of his seat.
Sheepishly, he withdrew back to his seat and focused back on his manga volume.
~oOo~
Half an hour later, he'd finished the several manga volumes that he'd managed to cram into his backpack.
Twice.
He loved the series, but you could only watch characters with big swords smack other characters with swords around for so long before you got bored.
For lack of anything better to do, he turned to the person behind him, who he had noticed reading two books earlier in the trip, and asked if she would mind doing a trade.
She was a slight little thing, with brown hair and eyes. He could smell that she hadn't eaten recently, and vaguely wondered if she was okay.
Before he knew he, he was trying to read The Black Goat's Egg.
So far, it was giving him a headache of epic proportions. What were these insane kanji that looked like a coal tar had been smashed onto the page? How could a goat have an egg? How?
Takatsuki Sen was a good writer, but did she have to use such flowery words and confusing metaphors?
After spending five minutes trying to decipher a string of confusing and very contradictory kanji, the half-demon gave up and handed the book back to the smaller girl.
Maybe someone should explain what Rin was doing on a school bus travelling from Osaka to Kyoto.
Officially, this was an educational camp.
Unofficially, he was doing a runner before he got executed and the school trip had seemed like a good cover.
Yukio had informed him that no, it was actually a pretty terrible idea but we don't have any other options.
The plan went that, once Rin got to Kyoto, he would slip away from the class, get to a rendezvous point, meet up with the Kyoto gang, and accompany them on a three-day "research" trip to Tokyo.
He'd stay in the city for a while and figure out his next move.
There was a snap as Rin jolted back into reality.
Someone was clicking their fingers in front of Rin's face, trying to wake the half-demon up.
Blue eyes cleared as Rin returned to the land of the living.
"What?"
"Your phone is ringing. It's annoying."
He picked the 4S up, and checked the caller ID.
It was Suguro.
He put the phone to his ear, waited a few seconds, and realised that he needed to swipe answer first.
He did so, and replaced the phone at his pointed ear.
The person who had clicked their fingers at him gave the ear a surprised look. Rin had grown his hair out to cover them for that exact reason.
"Okumura, are you listening to me?" Suguro shouted through the phone.
Rin jumped. He'd forgotten about the phone.
"Heeeeeeeeey Bon," he said cheerfully "Wassup!"
"How can you be so cheerful when your life is in danger!" Suguro hissed back.
Rin chose to ignore this statement.
"I'm on the bus to Kyoto."
"How long until you arrive?"
"About half an hour."
"And where are we meeting up?"
"Have you forgotten already."
"No, you idiot, I'm seeing if you forgot."
"The station in the kita-ku district."
"Right. And what time are you getting there?"
"Um…nineish?"
"The train leaves at midnight."
"Oh. So eleven thirty?"
"Get here at ten. So aim to leave at 7:30 and you might make it."
"That's mean!"
"It's true."
Suguro hung up.
Rin pulled the phone away from his ear and glared at it.
He then put it away and promptly fell asleep.
~oOo~
Someone was shaking him.
"Wake up." They said.
Rin cracked open a baleful blue eye to glare at the boy shaking him. He briefly entertained the idea of biting him.
"Wake up," The boy insisted "Senseii! Okumura won't get up!"
That got Rin up.
Senseii Naiku was famous for his ability to wake up any student, in a very unpleasant way that left the student not wanting to sleep ever again.
"I'm up, I'm up!" He yelled.
"That's what I thought." Naiku sniffed, turning away and mincing down the bus aisle in a distinctively feminine fashion.
Blinking to clear his eyes, Rin picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulders, squeaking when the corner of a book squashed his tail. Think of stubbing your toe on the corner of a table multiplied four times.
The boy who had woken him up gave him a weird look, before rolling his eyes and walking away.
Following silently, he joined the mosh pit trying to get their bags and may or may not have scared the crap out of one guy by hissing at him when he got between Rin and his bag.
The green duffel bag finally his, the half-demon joined the line of students waiting to go to the hotel.
They minced along the streets in slow formation, took at least ten minutes to sort out who was going where with who, and finally entered the hotel.
Rin got paired with two boys. Godaiin, who Rin had noticed staring at a flock of coal tars more than once, and Yukine, who Rin knew absolutely nothing about.
"Dibs first shower." Rin said, scooping up a spare set of clothes and marching into the bathroom. He locked the door, checked it twice, and let his tail out from underneath his shirt.
He removed his clothes quickly, and turned on the water.
~oOo~
Scowling, Rin checked the time again.
9:47.
Godaiin and Yukine were still talking, and had been since before eight.
What were they even talking about? Nothing was that interesting!
9:48.
The half-demon was getting very antsy by then, shooting glares at the two other boys, who were stubbornly not getting the message.
9:49.
"Would you two shut up?" Rin shouted, burying his head underneath a pillow "Some people need a thing called sleep!"
"Okumura!" A voice screamed.
Crap.
He'd forgotten that they were next door to Senseii Naiku.