Olilen Oneshots

Help Me Find Them

7: 47 PM

Oliver got on the train just in time. It set off as he barely managed to find a seat and secure his luggage in the clumsiest way possible. His mind was yet hazy from the long flight from his hometown to Chōfu, Tokyo, but he could not rest yet. After all, he told his friends and especially Len not to worry and let him get to their apartment complex all by himself.

His phone buzzed and Oliver fished it out of the pocket of his coat. Just as he thought about it, Len texted him.

Did you arrive yet?

Yeah, I'm on my way

Same route?

Yeah

Great^^

Len was typing and Oliver waited, scrolling through the chat log in the meantime. They didn't get to talk much lately, but those dreary days were soon over. He could count the hours until they would get to have proper quality-time again with one hand.

One minute passed, and then another and Oliver started to get impatient as there were still no further texts, but Len's icon lit up every now and then. He put the phone back in his pocket; Len would send the message regardless.

A glance out the window sent a shudder down Oliver's spine. It was barely 8 PM but autumn hours fell short and the landscape was already dipped in nighttime. Despite layering clothes beforehand, Oliver wondered how long it would take him to freeze to death outside like that.

He could have also chosen the route that would bring him home the fastest, but Oliver hated hectic commuting and preferred his route by far. It took him more than double as long, but at least he got to see pretty sceneries and didn't get suffocated inbetween all the people finding their way home. He always took this route, but it felt off today. His tiredness played tricks with his mind.

Napping helped passing the time but he woke up confused and panicked for a second where he was. The person across the aisle scanned him, and Oliver buried his face deeper into his scarf. Not much longer.

Minutes passed as the train stopped at the next station and Oliver hurried to grab his bags and get out. As expected, the cold bit on his hands and face, but at least the rest of his body was spared for now. He looked around and found the bench he always waited on for his final train to Shinjuku Station. From there on he really didn't need much longer to finally fall either in Len's arms or on his bed.

He watched the passengers cluster in grapes, scramble around for a while and then thinning out one by one until he was all alone. He was always the only one to wait for another train, but he couldn't complain. Driving to a no-name station just to avoid traffic wasn't the most usual behavior after all.

Well, not quite no-name. Kodaira Station to be exact, but other than a bench and a ticket machine stuffed under a thin roofing there was nothing to see. Maybe past the few scattered homes across the street would be something exciting, but Oliver never bothered to check out his stopover, and he definitely didn't want to do it now in the middle of the darkness. He told himself that the next train would arrive soon enough.

But it never did.

Oliver waited the exact time, and then ten and then twenty minutes longer than usually and he started to get worried. He left his luggage back at the bench and wandered around the platform but the one flickering street light didn't reach far enough to see much. He returned and walked to the back of the bench where the railway schedule was. He hummed surprised to find a sheet of paper poorly taped on the display. The notice was in Japanese only and it was too dark for him Google Translate to read the photo he took, but he managed to barely make out the horrifying news himself—no more trains today.