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The ship has long since left the London docks.
Ryuunosuke is on the deck of the ship, watching London slowly leaving his sight.
He's leaving; that's finally sinking in at this moment. This moment, where he is alone and Susato san or Professor Mikotoba are not here to witness, having retired to their rooms for the time being.
Ryuunosuke is leaving.
And what is he leaving behind, really?
He'd despised London. London was what had taken Kazuma away. London was where Kazuma's dreams were. London was where he’d had to fight tooth and nail to even make the attempt at emulating the person he thought his best friend would never become.
London was where everything went wrong.
That dreary, cloudy, gray city that believed itself better than all the rest... yes, Ryuunosuke had despised it, in his heart of hearts.
But he thinks of Iris. Of Sholmes. Of Wagahai. Of the attic he and Susato san had made into their home and office. Of the dinners, the breakfasts, the tea times the four of them shared.
Of 221B.
His chest aches with the memory. He rubs at it, wills it to go away.
He even thinks of Van Zieks, who was not the warmest to him. He would miss what they had, Ryuunosuke realizes. He would miss that honesty, that drive to find the truth.
He's aware that he's sailing towards chaos, what with the justice system surely to be in tatters back home at this point. He and Susato san would be the ones to pick up the pieces, be part of whatever system was to be built and put into place. He's going to be hard pressed to find anyone whose priority is truth rather than survival and politics and peace, for the truth usually is ugly; it rears its head up at the worst of times, at the times it is most needed, when it is most inconvenient.
Yet, Van Zieks had been more than willing to trudge through all that.
But he hadn't been the only one- Kazuma had done it, too. Had even demanded Ryhnosuke be there and help him unravel that horrid mess of a case, even.
He should hate Kazuma for that, for dragging him into this. For having the gall to believe that Ryunosuke would help bail him out if he got in trouble for this revenge mission.
For having the gall to be right on every count of that.
Ryuunosuke is leaving behind his best friend, the very one he had done all of this for.
Just as they had reunited, they would be separated by the ocean.
A tragedy, the seemingly inevitable ending.
He has a sudden urge to jump into the water, swim back to the docks.
He can still see land from here, if he squints. Surely he'd make it?
He lets himself think, dream, dream of a reality where he gets off this boat and back to-
To what? To 221B, the home that was never really his? To Kazuma, who no doubt has his own purposes in staying in a city that is not his own? Ryunosuke squints again, to see London. Would any of them still be at the docks, waiting? Waiting for him to disappear fully from sight?
Waiting…
Waiting, like he was now? For some miracle to take place, swoop in and make everything alright?
He stills, then.
He is out of breath.
He breathes in, as much as he can. Lets it out.
Slow.
Steady.
He opens his eyes after. (When had he closed them?)
Looks at the water, peers into it, concentrates on the waters licking at the side of the boat. His grip, having become so tight on the edge he is holding onto, loosens the more he absorbs himself in his observation.
He will not be going back to London, not for a long time.
He will go back home to Japan. Go back where he came, and start carving his path that has been forever altered by this past year and its events. Go back and assist in whatever way he can to fix the mess the Professor case has left in its wake on Japan's end.
But he will be back.
That knowledge, it settles somewhere deep within him, seeping into his bones.
He will be back home.
…Home.
This does not have to be a tragedy, an ending.
Ryuunosuke looks away from the waves, and looks up to the sky. The sun is up now, bright and shining down on him. He can barely see, but he squints his eyes, stares straight at it anyway.
This is not an ending.
This is a new beginning.