Tsubasa
Some people liked travelling at Christmas. Tsubasa was not one of them.
The last day of walking, starting halfway across the mountains and heading down – finally – to Metal City, had been particularly horrible. The day had started out wet, with rain rolling in unexpectedly overnight, and despite Eagle waking him up as the first drops fell Tsubasa had been unable to find better shelter before he was wet enough to be miserable about it.
Then, apparently because the weather hadn't thrown enough at him, the rain had changed to sleet by morning.
With no choice in the matter, Tsubasa had started to work his way down out of the mountains. He didn't like the cold. The wind cut through his damp clothes, and the longer he walked the more he found himself wishing that he had taken Hyoma's offer of leaving with him the following day and taking the train down the mountain. Being in Koma Village for their Solstice celebrations had been a treat for him, an unexpected invitation from Hyoma and sanctioned by Hokuto. There was always so much to learn about the history of his sport there.
But he also wanted to understand how the village remained so well hidden, and what had brought it to basically isolate itself, and so he had insisted on travelling back down the mountain alone.
Now he was beginning to wonder if that was a mistake.
Eagle, grumpy and soggy, was less than companionable, so Tsubasa trekked along on his own. If it hadn't been for the rain, it would have been reasonable nice despite the cold. But being cold and wet and miles from home did not make for a happy journey, and he buried his hands as deep in his pockets as he could.
The lights and towers of the city gradually came closer, misty through the haze of sleet. Houses sprang up around him, getting denser and closer together the further he walked. The wind was less bitter here, and as darkness fell the sleet finally stopped, but the number of people around him had increased significantly.
Of course. It was the 24th December. Young couples were walking about together, celebrating their romantic holiday. Other people, as he got closer to the centre of the city, were shopping for food or presents or decorations. Hawkers sold their wares, shouting over each other to be heard. The crush grew and grew as more and more people surrounded him, even to the point that they were all but pressed up against him.
He was cold, he was wet, he was tired, and he really didn't have the patience to deal with more than a couple of people at a time. Eagle wasn't being helpful, his house was still a mile away, and this was shaping up to be a pretty terrible Christmas after what had been a beautiful Solstice ceremony.
Tsubasa squeezed between two people, only to discover to his embarrassment that it was two people having an actual conversation, instead of just happening to pass each other slowly.
Finally, finally, the crowds started to thin out again. Tsubasa breathed a sigh of relief, only to almost immediately pull a face as it started raining once more.
"Typical," he muttered, but set his mind on home. There was a hot bath that could be run in fifteen minutes, just long enough to update everyone at the WBBA that he was home, and a kitchen that should still have some old tinned food that would still be safe to eat. He did not want to go into any shops until the Christmas chaos had passed, for groceries or otherwise.
Somehow, the rain made it seem even further to get to his house. His home was going to be cold, but it would also be dry and empty, and that was all he was looking forward to.
… except, as he opened the front door, he discovered that his home was warm, dry, and full of people.
"Happy Christmas!"
Okay, maybe not full. But any house containing Yuu Tendo, Madoka Amano, Kenta Yumiya and Hikaru Hasuma was definitely more full than the way he left it.
"What are you all doing here?" he asked, more shocked than anything else. Yuu stretched out an arm and Eagle happily landed on it, shaking the water off his feathers.
"Hyoma called," Madoka said. "He said you'd insisted on walking back from Koma, and it had been sleeting most of the day so he suggested warming your house up a bit."
"You broke into my house," Tsubasa said flatly.
"Not exactly," Hikary told him. "Hyoma phoned Madoka, who called me to see if I'd heard whether you'd called in to say you were hiding out somewhere to stay out of the sleet, then when we established you were actually walking in this weather we called Yuu to see if he had a spare key, and be did but it turned out he was with Kenta, so that's why we're all here." She smiled. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay, that's all."
Being cold was awful. Being in the heaving crowds of the centre of town was awful. Being both at the same time was the worst of all.
But somehow being cold (albeit slowly warming up in the heat from the radiators) and surrounded by people he knew wasn't so bad.
Next time, though, he was going to take the train.
