Home by the Ocean
002: Home
"…ss"
"…iss"
"…Miss"
"Excuse me… Miss?"
Megumi grunted "Five more minutes mom…"
"Uhh… miss, I'm sorry to disturb your sleep but you're at the last station and we're requesting everyone to please move out to the platform"
"Last… station?" Realization hit the midnight haired girl as she blushed her entire face to the brim.
"I am glad that you and your boyfriend had a comfortable travel but can I request for you to wake him up too?"
"Boyfriend?" that was then when Megumi turned her head to see Kurokiba's head resting atop of hers with his arms crossed across his chest, sleeping soundly with a silent snore. The thought of him so close to her nearly jammed her brain and she almost fainted on the spot. "N-n-no! H-H-he's not my b-b-boyfriend!" she flailed her arms in front of the woman in a lame attempt to convince her.
"Ehh? But you were comfortably sleeping on his shoulder a while ago…"
Megumi's face went redder, if that was possible "N-n-no! I-It's a m-misunderstanding! I have no r-relationship like th-that with h-him!"
"Oi, would you shut up, I'm trying to sleep" a low, gruff voice grumbled and Ryo finally opened his half-lidded eyes.
"I'm sorry sir but you are now at the last station and we are requesting everyone to please move out of the train" the attendant told him.
"Oh, okay" he said lazily before stretching his long limbs. He automatically stood up, grabbed his bag and walked out of the cart, completely disregarding his schoolmate's existence… well, not completely "Oi, hurry up" he called out to her.
Snapping from her reverie, Megumi quickly stood "Oh! Right! I-I'm sorry miss!" she bowed a couple of times at the woman. Her apologies seem to run forever and Ryo was growing impatient before he hooked his finger at the back of her scarf and drag her out of the train.
"Where to now, bumpkin?" he asks after they exited the station
"B-B-bumpkin?!" she half-cried, half-pouted
"You're from around here, where to?" he shrugged
"W-We'll have to ride another train straight to the village"
"Alright" he swung his duffel bag over his shoulder and started walking. "You're not seriously making me lead the way, are you?"
"R-Right!" grabbing her travel bag, she scurried along Ryo's side.
The two Tootsuki students managed to get on the train and it doesn't seem that Ryo will be sleeping again anytime soon. So after fighting with herself and gathering her confidence for the last few minutes, Tadokoro Megumi dared to break the silence.
"U-Uhmm… K-Kurokiba… a-are you sure you want to come? W-won't it be better if you called Alice earlier so that s-she could pick you up?"
"I told you that I wanted a break, didn't I?"
"Y-yes! You did, but… w-why a-a-are you coming along with me?"
He shrugged "I was already in the train with you and I've come this far. I don't want to go get another ticket back. It's too troublesome. Besides, it's not like you said no, right?" he looked at her with his bored expression this time.
"Uhh… y-yeah…" Megumi could only nod her head.
However, the real issue is not about him taking a vacation in their small port town, granted her hometown may be small and simple but it has its perks and the sights there are breathtaking especially at dawn and dusk.
It's the fact that she's bringing a boy home… and not just any boy. A boy who gives off the aura of someone none of the fishermen in her home would want to hire even for a part-time job and a split personality that could mistake him for a notorious criminal.
It would be fine if it were Souma or any of her friends in the Polar Star Dorm. She could handle that much because they're her friends but this is Kurokiba Ryo! She doesn't know a thing about him aside from the fact that he gives her the willies and that they have absolutely no relationship aside from being marked as ex-rivals.
But that's it.
Whatever the case, the fact stays that she's bringing home a BOY
Oh what would her mother say…
Ryo didn't know how long he's been staring at this mouse-like companion of his. He just couldn't understand her. Can't she talk normally? She always stutters and apologizes here and there. Honestly, it's annoying.
But really, can he blame her? He's quite aware of his bad reputation. That alone gave other people enough reason to fear him, especially if they learned about how he was since he was a child.
His opinion of the girl seems to be diminishing every second he spends more time with her. During the autumn elections, he mocked her and those who cheered for her but she didn't cower back then. She stood up to those friends of hers and said so with full confidence. He laughed it off but it was actually the start of his respect for her.
So where was that confidence that captivated his attention before?
"Stop fidgeting, you're going home. You should be more relieved, so why are you shaking like a leaf?" he finally said and that definitely caught her attention.
Before nervous girl could answer him, the train driver announced over the speaker that they've arrived at their stop. Ryo suspected that it was because of years of being Alice's aid that his body automatically took hold of Megumi's luggage and proceeded to the door.
"H-Hey! What are you doing?" she tried to take her luggage back but epically failed at it compared to the lanky man's strength.
Ryo grumbled "I got it"
"You don't have to!" she flushed and continued to pull on the bag.
"Hey! What are you- don't do that-!"
With Megumi's constant pull and the sudden, screeching halt of the train, the two students lost their balance and most coincidentally, just when the train's doors open did Megumi fell. She closed her eyes, anticipating the harsh impact of the concrete floor but the pain seemed to have lessened when a big, warm hand somehow pressed itself at the back of her head.
A low grunt opened her eyes to see the mad dog on top of her, using his other free hand to support his weight up. It was a good thing that they were the only passengers on the train or else it would've led to a lot of troublesome things.
Megumi could only stare at him, her mind blank and when he regained his composure did he broke her out of her stupor.
"Damn" he hissed at the cold wave coursing through his sandwiched hand. "Are you alright?" he asked her when their eyes met.
She bashfully nodded her head
"Good" he said, but it sounded like he wasn't that relieved "Because that was stupid of you. Why did you have to be so stubborn? It's not like I'm gonna rob a poor, country bumpkin like you"
For once during their entire trip, he hit a nerve but when she was about to retort at his rude remarks, a deafening yell was heard above their heads.
"MEGUMI?!"
Both Tootsuki students looked up to see a crowd of what seemed like fishermen, middle-aged people, and a couple of girls around their age gaping at them. The banner that they dropped from the shock could read out the words 'WELCOME HOME TADOKORO MEGUMI!" was read.
Ryo was only able to form an "oh" at the realization that these people might've been here to welcome this girl home… until they suddenly caused an uproar.
"HEY YOU! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
"Oh my! Megumi, we never knew you could go that… far"
"Even if your boyfriend is cute, you can't do things like this already Megumi!"
"N-n-no! E-e-everyone! You got it all wrong!" she burned red
"Megumi! What have they done to you?!"
"No! P-please! This it just a mis…"
Ryo looked down at his former rival when she wasn't able to finish her sentence and what he saw made his eyes widen by a fraction.
"What the… you fainted?" expectedly, he received no response from the limp body beneath him. Using his knees to prop him up, he placed his free hand on her shoulder and shook "Don't faint on me! Hey! Get a hold of yourself!"
To his dismay, there was still no response. He felt the back of his shirt being grabbed and before he knew it, his body was dangling a good few inches above the ground by a rather big, buff looking fisherman with his eyes sending him a clear message that he just might get filleted.
"You worm! What do you think you're doing to our Megumi!"
"Creep! You're a pervert!"
Another fisherman and a girl around their age shouted at him.
"What the… I didn't do anything" but his words fell on deaf ears as the people continued to shout their profanities at him.
"Oh no! Megumi's out cold" said a woman who held Megumi to check up on her.
"Poor Megumi!"
"You bastard! What did you do to her?!"
"I told you, I didn't do anything!"
"Hey! I know you!" came up another local fisherman "You were the one who won against Megumi during her competition!" he pointed an accusing finger at him.
That would mean that they understood that he's her schoolmate, right? Unfortunately, they didn't think that way.
"Why you! So you're not satisfied that you beat her in the competition?!"
"Eww! What a stalker!"
"You pervert!"
"I'm gonna rough you up real good, ya hear me?!"
"What the hell… I told you that I didn't do anything to her! you got it all wrong! As if I'd do something to a crazy bumpkin like-"
"What did you say?!"
"Oh you sure are gonna get it pal!"
Ryo felt the man holding him up walk off to follow a crowd who carried Megumi's fainted- but still blushing face, body (along with their luggage that was thrown out of the train when they fell) to one of their cars. The raven-haired, however, was thrown at the back of a Class 5 truck and his nose twisted in irritation at the foul smell. It seemed that they used it to deliver fish. Some fishermen also sat at the back to guard him, just in case he'd try to escape and Ryo felt the vehicle start to move.
"We'll let the Mrs. Tadokoro deal with you eye-bags boy"
'Eye-bags boy?' Ryo raised a brow 'Lame. What are they, five?' he sighed. No use arguing with people who wouldn't listen. He just hoped, by the sound of it, that the bumpkin's mother will be kinder and at least hear him out than these country folks.
Well, that was one unusual way to welcome someone.
Ryo wondered if coming along was a good idea in the first place.
Here's chapter 2! I made it longer to at least compensate for my absence.
Sorry guys I was sick and was hospitalized for days but I'm feeling better now and hopefully, catch up with my fanfics.
Thanks for those who have read, reviewed, put this on their favorites, and followed this fanfic! I'm glad that I gained your interest! There's not much RyoXMegumi fanfics here and even though it's really canon (and maybe highly unlikely to happen- manga reference) I really, really, really, ship these two! They're so cute and yes! Has potential!
Thank you again and hoped that you liked this update!
Ciao~!
