Chapter 20 – Homeward bound

"Corvus left?~" Otoya still could not believe it. Corvus had left them without a word.

Camus nodded. "He wanted to head back home for a week or so."

"So that's why I haven't seen him around." said a platinum blond with green eyes.

"His train left at 5:15 am this morning." stated Ai calmly.

Ranmaru took a long drag of his morning coffee. Sometimes, coffee was the only thing that managed to bring him back to the world of the living.

"Good morning, everyone." Cecil came down the stairs with a Ren and Syo in tow.

Syo yawned, opening his mouth wide. "Dammit, I feel so tired." This is Natsuki's fault.He cursed his best friend in his mind. If it wasn't for his brilliant idea to 'have some fun', I would be fine today!

"Syo-chan!~" The tall male lunged at his short counterpart, almost causing the both of them to fall form the lack of balance.

Syo wriggled in his arms, struggling to get away. "Get off me, Natsuki!"

"Ne, wasn't last night fun, Syo-ch-"

Syo clamped his hands over Natsuki's mouth, preventing him from telling the others what happened last night. "Shut up, Natsuki!" Syo had blushed a bright red.

"Oh?~ What did Natsuki do with Ochibi-chan last night?" Ren had on a playful smirk.

If it was possible, the azure eyed boy blushed redder and brighter. "None of your fucking business you meathead!"

He tried to hit the playboy, but was still caught in Natsuki's strong grasp. "Natsuki, let go!"

Ranmaru frowned. "Hey! Stop making a ruckus first thing in the morning!" He couldn't even enjoy a cup of coffee in peace.

His warning, however, fell on deaf ears. The three were still bickering loudly.

"Never mind Ran-ran!~ Cheer up!~" Reiji patted Ranmaru on the back. He sort of pitied his silver haired teammate. Ranmaru never was a sociable person.

"Corvus has gone home?" Looks like Cecil had just got the news form Otoya.

Otoya nodded. "But don't you think it's weird? He left without saying anything to us!" Otoya treated Corvus as an older brother figure.

"His train was leaving at 5:15 am, Otoya. He wouldn't have woken us all up just to bid goodbye." Tokiya sometimes wondered how dense Otoya is.

"But still!" the red head was beginning to whine.

Masato leaned himself against the counter, listening to the other's talks.

Corvus had left for home.

Without telling them anything.

Masato bit his lip. His thoughts floated to the night he found Corvus in the kitchen. It had only happened a few nights ago.

The pressure on his lip increased. Was Corvus mad at him for kissing him? He could feel his chest clench and his heart thump. The heat was getting to his ears.

Sapphire eyes glided to Masato. There was something off about Masato, something Ren couldn't put his finger on. But he knew that it had something to do with their new tutor, Corvus.

Camus was punching some numbers into his phone violently.

"Who're you callin', Myu-chan?~" Reiji was afraid the keypad would break under the pressure of Camus' fingers.

Camus punched the 'dial' button and put the phone to his ear. "Calling Corvus to check in with him." His tone was grim. Were they really idiots for not knowing how to call the male who set out home?

~.~.~.~

"...ir? Sir?"

Corvus was pulled back to reality. He looked up from his seat to find himself face-to-face with a pretty young woman.

"Would you like a bento?" She offered him a kind smile and looked at him through her big brown eyes.

Corvus shook his head weakly. "No, thank you."

The young woman pushed the cart away, asking the next passenger on the train if he or she would like to buy a bento.

Casting his luggage off to one side, Corvus slumped down into his less-than-comfortable seat and perched his chin on his hand, looking out the window.

The train had departed from the station ten minutes ago and he was now seeing tall buildings and skyscrapers melt into the scenery. He was leaving Tokyo, heading home.

Most of the passengers on the train were sound asleep, trying to catch a few more winks before they reached their final destination. Others were reading or listening to music.

Extracting his headphones and ipod from the pocket of his knapsack, Corvus felt guilty that he didn't say anything to the boys back in Tokyo before he headed on the train. Looking at their sleeping faces, he didn't want to wake them up.

He plugged in his headphones and clicked the first song on his playlist without looking at it. The machine booted up, playing a familiar tune which made Corvus' heart catch in his throat.

Still disbelieving it, he checked his playlist. The name of the song was 'Sanctuary', sung by Hijirikawa Masato.

Corvus did a facepalm. Out of all the songs he could've listened to, the first song that came on was this. Rubbing his cheek, he could still feel the ghost of Masato's lips.

What am I doing? He had left the dorms so that he could go back home and cool off, but the thought of Masato was still in his mind.

~.~.~.~

"The next stop is Shiribeshi. Passengers who are stopping there please get ready to get off the train. Please remember to take your belongings. The next stop is Shiribeshi. Passengers who are..." The automated voice announced the same lines over and over through the speakers.

Grabbing his luggage which only consisted of his knapsack and an oversized duffel bag. He was the only passenger to get off the train.

The electric locomotive whizzed pass him. Leaving him behind.

I'm home.

Shiribeshi is a subprefecture of Hokkaido, just after Oshima and squeezed between Iburi and Ishikari. It consists of 1 city, 13 towns and a total of 6 villages. Half of Shiribeshi is surrounded by water, making it like an island.

As he walked out of the station, Corvus breathed in the salty smell of the sea. It felt good and nostalgic. Growing up here, he used to swim in the sea all the time.

He was a boy then, growing up with a single mother who sold fried squid and made kimonos to get them by. He spent his younger days lying in the sun and swimming. Surprisingly, he never got tanned. He would help his mother sell the fried squid and watch her make kimonos which were no longer high in demand.

They did not make a lot of money, just enough to get by. Yet, they were content.

An English man made his way into their small village named Akaigawa in the Yoichi district. Took a liking to his mother and got married.

After that, he was shipped off to London, coming back here only once or twice each year.

Looking at his home now, he felt thrilled and sad. His mother had died in a foreign land, not in her hometown. Not buried here either. Corvus felt that he cheated his mother. Why was he able to come back, but she wasn't? She loved the place more than he did.

Corvus felt his phone vibrate in the pocket of his jeans. "Hello?" A brief pause. "Camus?"

Thank you for reading! Please don't forget to favourite and/ review!

Afterthought: Might wanna go look up Shiribeshi on Wikipedia if you don't know about it.

Thank you Tokiittoki again for your reviews!

-Thank you for the correction, I'll be sure not to make the same mistake again!

-I definitely ship Natsuki and Syo, but I don't know about Tokiya and Otoya, though maybe I will -winks-