Prolonged Arrival

A radiant blue hue coming from the fish tank placed atop the table along with some other pile of scrap papers distracted him from continuing his work. He went over and sat next to the glowing object, staring at the one and only fish that acquired the space inside. In all fairness, owning a pet fish cooped up inside of a glass bowl that sits in a far corner of the room, alone and lonely all day long wasn't anything special. Definitely not. But it kept him from rendering unnecessarily. So, he kept the fish, giving it company and vice versa.

Today was the last working day of school before the start of summer vacation beginning tomorrow. It had been a tiring day for him, especially more so after the trouble he got himself into while helping a senior.

The said senior was the one to approach him first, requesting his assistance in rearranging some books that were returned to the library at the last moment. Oh, she was a librarian, of course. As a student still in his second year, he thought he should try and learn a few good habits from his upperclassmen that might come in handy later in the future. This being one of the reasons he always hung out with her.

—

"Heading home? It's the last day of school." A voice came from behind him, a familiar person with a familiar smile said.

"Hello to you too," He replied, "And I've got some stuff to do back home."

Before saying anything any further and before he could even react to the situation, Adrien had already slid her arm onto his shoulder. He didn't resist since it was a normal gesture from her; it didn't hold a meaning or intention to it and occurred without any ideal signs, much like her presence itself in his life.

He glanced around at the empty hallway which now seems far wider, and stretched into a seemingly endless void than when it is packed with a boisterous crowd of students, whether it be in the morning, lunch time or after school. There didn't seem to be any people wandering inside the classrooms either, something that gave rise to an eerie atmosphere around them. The last of the student council members or other clubs' were also either already on their way out or preparing to do so.

And this was when he realized that he and Adrien were probably the only ones not heading in the direction of leaving the school building. He felt the faintest rush of adrenaline starting to rush its way up into his looming mind, before letting out a sigh of relief, realizing just how absent-minded she looked when he caught a glimpse of her, clearly the reason for her ignorance. He was just being silly with his imaginations by acting careless himself, though for a relatively different reason.

They took a sharp turn to the next corridor and entered a room which had a sign that read Library outside next to the door.

"You can take the ones on the table." She announced while her back was turned to him, rummaging through some things behind the librarian's desk. 

He was confused at first but soon caught up after noticing a hoard of stacked up books that laid on the reading table. He took one last glance at her as he thought about the fact that he never even agreed to doing this, and then, unwillingly, proceeded to finish the task anyway. He would look at the cover name and place them by their genres and names orderly. 

"There was a high demand for books based on the restoration period."

Adrien, who was scribbling something in a notebook, looked up from her writing, confused.

"Someone issued five outta ten of these books on that tag here."

"That's a hefty amount of pique in history. The name sound familiar?"

He shook his head, "I don't know a Izumi Hisashi."

And with their prompt pace, they were able to arrange the books and close up in a short time. Adrien still accompanied him on their way out of school. He watched her as they were walking and she seemed happy about something. "There's a place I think we can visit right now!"

They had just finished doing work and she was already hyped up for the next big activity. But he gave the idea some thought. There wasn't anything interesting in particular at home that he was looking forward to, he is obviously not planning on doing any school assignments either so this seemed fun enough.

"Fine," He gave in with a feasible sigh. The smile on Adrien's face grew brighter in hopes and energy. It wasn't all that late either by the looks of it, most likely late afternoon.

The city was enveloped in a quiet rush as always as people made their way to hang out meeting spots, back from somewhere else or aimlessly roaming from one place to another. They passed by numerous students of various other nearby schools, some even from the next city over as their uniforms suggested.

There was an unnatural feel of cool air when they arrived at their destination. And it didn't make it any better seeing how oddly uninviting the place was. There was a staircase leading to who knows where in this desolate part of the city. There wasn't much, or any traffic for that matter. Despite how sketchy it looked, it worked well to set the mood for a good spooky location.

A myriad of huge buildings surrounded the area, their roofs hidden away by the mist. He didn't realize until then how strange the atmosphere of this place was compared to where they came from and the fact that it was just the start of summer. This area was inarguably an abandoned meeting spot for underground thugs and even if it wasn't, given the condition of the stores and other architectures, it was hard to believe anyone would be willing to work here. It gave a silently dangerous vibe.

"Are we even supposed to be here?"

"I come here often and I've never once seen anyone except... Well, it's abandoned so I doubt we will get into any trouble."

He seemed a little hesitant but in all honesty, equally as tempted to discover why this place is the way that it is. "C'mon." Adrien called out, already five steps in.

The cemented path was clearly diminishing, the color was mostly a dark gray but some light hinges blended together every here and there. It was as if the more he climbed up those stairs, the fog gradually grew thicker. He couldn't see Adrien for the first two or three minutes but could feel her presence so he was certain that she was there with him. And soon, he sighted her faint figure and hurried towards it, catching her in time.

"How far?"

"Hm?" She said in instinctive confusion, "Oh, it gets a little difficult to locate sometimes because of the fog but we should be there soon now."

He hummed as a response. "How many times have you been here?"

Her expression changed to a thoughtful one before she spoke again, "Lost count. But since after the graduation ceremony, during Spring maybe?"

He began thinking back on his graduation ceremony but nothing special came to mind. The two of them continued walking side by side at this point, Adrien was around the same height as him. No one would be able to tell the difference if they were standing so much as just across the street.

He briefly gazed at her before shifting his focus back in the direction of where they were heading to, straight ahead. And right then, he could see an opening where the fog seemed to disperse at. The two of them exchanged glances and without another word, started racing toward the clearing fog. With each step forward, it felt like the ground beneath him would clash at any given moment, or so he felt because of using his utmost strength. Although it did look quite aged now that he thought about it.

He tempered the last of his strength onto what he assumed was the last step and then jumped upward, his feet coming to a halt after dashing at least a foot across the cemented ground when he landed. His hands clenched into a tight fist and legs parted enough to balance his body so as to not trip or fall.

With a bubbling burst of accomplishment, he turned around to mock Adrien and announce victory… but she was gone. No matter how thoroughly or how long he searched for her, there was no trace left, Adrien had disappeared into thin air. He climbed all the way down to where they had started from and only a school bag laid there with Adrien's cellphone inside.
He went back home in tears that day. The sun was already starting to set as he was walking back, his head down, dazed and confused. His tears have dried from the warm summer wind, his eyes unable to concentrate on anything because of his intrusive thoughts, just following where his feet lead him to.

"---" He was surprised to hear that and upon raising his head for the source of the voice, he was met with the sight of a figure standing in front of him. It looked to be a man. His unruly hair was the only visible feature of his as the shadow casted by the sunlight blocked out the rest. But even so, he could perceive the smirk on his face. An odd side of the moment that caught his attention.

The boy then noticed the sudden disappearance of everyone beside them, nobody was there anymore even though they were just a moment ago. He also realized that he was at the railway crossing and the man was standing right before the rail crossing gate with the signal flashing a bright red. He could hear the nearing sound of the train and then,... WHOOSH—!

The loud blaring sound of the train and an incredible force of steaming air compelled him to cross his hands above his head and strengthen the grip of his feet to the ground in defense. The impact was so forceful that it felt like he would be blown away by it at any second now. The man, however, stayed completely unaffected by this. On the contrary, he actually stepped forward and slowly reached out his hand and held firmly onto the boy's wrist and within seconds everything was back to normal.

Except that they weren't on the railway crossing anymore; they were on a heighted tower.