Why was doing nothing becoming ever so boring? Once, not too long ago, watching birds fly past his spacious balcony was entertaining enough to keep the young man preoccupied for hours on end – that is, if he wasn’t sleeping. It might have seemed as a pointless existence, that he was wasting his life by observing the exact angle at which the sun’s rays hit the balcony railing but it was appealing enough to him, and he was content. 

Until about a few hours ago, that is. 

Unable to spot neither anything interesting nor the moon behind the thick cloud cover, Leon exhaled a puff of air and abruptly turned, strolling out of his balcony and into his living room, grabbing the blazer he’d unceremoniously dumped on his couch an hour or so ago. After a moment of consideration, Leon scribbled a tiny note and stuck it to the refrigerator, his mind concerned for the well-being of his worrisome friend. Hayate wouldn’t take well to Leon being missing, after all. Switching off every light except the one directly above the fridge, he left behind his home for the past six months and ventured out into the busy streets of Tokyo.

Inside, the light illuminated the lone note stuck to the surface, the only indication that Leon had ever come home. 

[i]Be back soon. Don’t wait up for me.[/i]

Outside, the frigid air bit into Leon’s skin, urging him to walk faster and escape the cold. However, the young man had no plans of such sort. A brief glance at his watch told him it was 11:24, 36 minutes away from the beginning of a new year. [i]The beginning of nothing.[/i] He mused to himself, already slightly used to the fact that New Year’s no longer brought anything to him. Resolutions? He’d never bother sticking to them. 

[i]11:46.[/i]

His feet took him places he’d never been to before. An art gallery. A trinket shop crowded with last-minute shoppers. A couple’s café. Every place brushed past him like a distant memory, like something out of a dream. 

[i]11:57.[/i]

His mind wandered back to the events only a few hours ago, at his father’s New Year’s Eve party. Though his [i]’dear father’[/i] – Leon thought to himself with a sarcastic edge – had decided to do nothing with his youngest son anymore, he was surprisingly still invited to the annual party thrown at his family home. People had glanced at him several times, their questioning gazes landing on his earrings every single time. His golden eyes stared back at them, finding something off about their own appearances and returning the curious looks. Embarrassed, they’d turned away. 

Socializing was easy enough. A [i]‘hello’[/i] here, a [i]‘how are you?’[/i] there and a little bit of flattery thrown in, and he was all set. However, having done the same thing ever since he could speak, it grew monotonous over the years. And this year, there was nothing stopping him from leaving. Not bothering to leave discreetly, Leon strode out the door and drove away into the night amidst a couple of curious and rather indignant stares.

He still didn’t know [i]why[/i] he’d done that, two hours later, as he stood on the platform of a train station in the exact same clothes he’d left the party with. [i]12:07.[/i] What was he waiting for? A handful of people milled about, all of them looking to leave the grey-toned tunnel and celebrate the coming of the new year. None of them paid Leon any heed and soon enough, the station was finally empty. [i]12:14.[/i]

It was getting colder. Leon could still hear fireworks behind him, still sounding even 23 minutes past midnight. A flash caught his eye and he turned his head to gaze upon a sleek train that was definitely not normal. There weren’t any trains scheduled for 12:23, were there? He shrugged and was about to turn away when a [i]bunny[/i] caught his eye. 

Not only that, but a whole assortment of animals, some glued to various bits of technology. The abrupt arrival of the train and its very appearance drew Leon in like a moth to a flame and without a second thought, he walked in, not even flinching when the doors slammed shut behind him. Worry was the last thing on his mind as the intercom crackled and a voice announced, “Welcome to Nowhere.”

[i]Nowhere.[/i] Leon grinned to himself, nudging a bunny slightly in order to take a seat and observe his eccentric surroundings. [i]I like Nowhere.[/i]

The train’s occupants had paid very little attention to his presence and to the excited aura of another passenger that had come on as well. He hadn’t noticed her but she was sitting a few seats away from him, buzzing with excitement and experiencing the exact same thing as him. It definitely wasn’t a dream, Leon decided as the train started moving, pulling away from all he’d ever known. 

Of course, that was two weeks ago. 

Leon didn’t regret his decision, not even a tiny bit, as they toured Nowhere with a rather incompetent guide by the name of Froggy. Leon found the boy endearing and took every opportunity to amuse himself with Froggy’s bad sense of direction. He talked to the boy much more than he’d talked to the girl, Ace, and didn’t really mind their aimless wandering all that much. Nowhere was amazing, much more so than the real world. It was definitely strange but it suited Leon all the way, and he didn’t want to return to the monotony of his previous life. 

Eventually, Froggy was replaced with another guide, someone Leon could tell was slightly if not much more competent. He was fairly normal and Leon found his energy infectious as he bounded after the cat-eared guy. After Ace finished speaking, Leon added, “He was adorable, I didn’t really mind getting lost as much as we did, it was super fun! It’s Leon by the way.” 

They passed through stranger and stranger structures – houses where the residents of Nowhere lived such as mushrooms and pumpkins and other fruits the called home. His energy hadn’t receded yet and Leon continued to give his attention to the surrounding landscape, intrigued.