Limitless

Chapter 30: Close to Home

Getting onto the train was as easy as everyone could make it. Trying to not draw too much attention, they each went into small groups of four. As soon as one group gets the tickets for themselves and get onto the platform, the next group follows in after them. The platform was quite crowded, showing that it was peek time for people to go to work or coming home from doing a late shift. Keebo was hesitant stepping into a crowd like this. However, he calmed himself down as he remembered that he was disguised. A long coat with a high collar helped to conceal his body and the lower half of his face while his hair was hidden by a hat. He was able to get his ahoge low enough for the hat to fit on. The train was almost packed when the Limitless boarded it. They were quite lucky to find enough space for all of them in one carriage.

"Boo yah! We got here before the dumbasses found us!" Miu shouted, jumping up from her seat as the train started to pull away from the station.

"Miu, please keep your voice down!" Keebo hissed, pushing the inventor to sit back down.

"Yeah, you filthy cum dumpster! We don't know if we haven't been followed or not." Kokichi said as he jumped onto the top of Miu and Keebo's seats. As Miu sputtered out the name that he referred to her as, Shuichi grabbed the back of Kokichi's jacket to get him to sir back down.

"Well, let's just hope that we weren't." Kaede sighed, trying to give herself some form of relief.

"I agree. I would rather be back in prison on death row than back in the Facility." Ryoma added, just able to suppress a shudder as he remembered his time in prison. No one dared to add anything onto that issue. They decided to distract themselves by trying to plan ahead or have small talk between themselves. As stations came and gone, with passengers coming on and off, and the train had entered the countryside, Kaito suddenly went a little quiet, something that was quite unusual for him now. Maki observed him silently. Did he have his mind on something? Before Maki could ask, Kaito suddenly got up, quickly excusing himself. As he left the carriage, Maki made eye contact with Shuichi. He noticed that something wasn't quite right too.

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Kaito watched the world go by through the window of the door. He started to feel a little suffocated so he thought that ten minutes on his own wouldn't hurt much. That wasn't the main problem however. It was the fact that he was finally going home. He had lost count of the days that he had been separated from his grandparents. He often wondered if they were still searching for him. Thanks to the rules that he and the others had set about not contacting their loved ones, Kaito didn't know if they were okay or not. He lost count of the times that he just wanted to pick up the phone and tell them that he was okay, that he was safe. Even now, he wanted to borrow a passengers phone to call his family. Maybe once they get to the station he'll find a phone and call them. Or maybe he could visit his grandparents after he and the others find somewhere safe for the time being until something better comes along. He knows that he can't stay, but one visit should be alright to tell them that he's okay. Right?

"Are you okay, Kaito?"

Kaito snapped out of looking at the fields, seeing Shuichi and Maki standing next to him. Judging by the looks on their faces, they must be a little worried about him.

"Yeah, just needed a bit of space." Kaito said, trying to not make this matter a big deal.

"We can leave you alone if you want." Maki offered, looking like she didn't quite believe what she was being told.

"No, it's fine. Stay." Kaito sighed, better off having two friends with him at the moment. He might need someone to watch his back if necessary. As his friends went silent, Kaito once again looked out at the scene outside the train. The grass was a lush green with white patches of now melting snow. There wasn't any buildings or signs of anyone living this far out. There was a dense forest quite a way from the train tracks. It seems nice to live out in a place like this. It would be quite a good place to hide. Everyone would be away from people and hiding in the forest would give them good enough cover from White.

"So, what do you want to do when we get to your home city?" Shuichi asked, catching Kaito's attention.

"What do you mean?" Kaito asked. It was more of what Shuichi said. He didn't say anything along the lines of "what should we do...". He was asking Kaito what he wanted to do once they finally get off of the train.

"You've got family living there. No doubt you want to see them." Shuichi explained, seeing right through Kaito's facade.

"That's true. I want to do that, but I think I should wait until we find some temporary accommodation or something like that." Kaito argued. It hurt to say that, but it was true. It would be the best course of action once they get to their destination.

"You can let us worry about that. You go see your family. You deserve to that after all." Maki said, giving Kaito more of a reason to see his family. Kaito thought it over. He didn't want to feel like he was abandoning the others or anything like that if he left them behind. However, there was something that he told himself to try not to think of it as abandoning the others. The others should be okay with him going home, surely they would understand that he would want to see his family after so long. He wasn't leading this group or anything, so he can trust someone to keep an eye on everything while he was gone. And once they've found somewhere safe, Keebo could go get him since he knows Kaito's address from his file. It seemed like a good enough plan in a way. Kaito was ready to say that, but he couldn't get the words out. He suddenly spotted Shuichi and how his eyes were suddenly a silvery grey colour. He was using his powers? At first, Kaito thought that he was using his powers to keep an eye on the others, but something told Kaito that it wasn't the case.

"Shuichi? What's wrong?" Kaito asked, causing Maki to look at the apprentice detective in concern herself. Shuichi blinked, his eyes turning back to normal. He had grown pale, looking like he had seen a ghost or something like that.

"Something's com-" he started. Suddenly there was a loud screech of breaks. The train suddenly jerked violently to a stop, causing the three to go unbalanced. They just about heard everyone else scream and exclaim as the train halted. Kaito slammed into the wall opposite him as Shuichi steadied himself against it. Maki rapidly regained her balance from her assassin training. As they recovered from their shock and stood steadily on their feet, they all thought the same thing.

What just happened?