Hikaru cried.He couldn't help it. The smell of cars, dust, the sound of Japanese - actual Japanese - being spoken around him...it was too much. He missed it so much. This was where he belonged - amongst the lights, the tourists, the displays... this was his homeland. He could feel people looking at him without openly staring; something else he'd missed. But then again, why would he not miss it? This was his land, his country, his home.
On the way to the subway station, he cried. When he scanned his IC card, he sniffled. On the actual train, he grinned like an idiot. At the convenience store, in the streets, in his neighbourhood... where his parents stood.
His mom ran right up to hug him. The smell of batter and flour and faint perfume filled his nose, along with the stinging feeling of more tears. Her aqua eyes sparkled in the starlight, watering up even more than Hikaru's.
"The day you were taken away, we were certain we'd never see you again..." She whispered, gripping him so tight it was like she thought he'd disappear the moment she let go. He held her just as tightly - breathing in as much of her scent as he could; begging that it be permanently burned into his memory. The sound of sizzling wafted in from the open door, and he could hear Asuna's amused purring from the living room.
"Welcome home, Hikaru." His dad couldn't wait any longer and wrapped the two of them in his own embrace, a manly tear or two welling in the corner of his eyes - but he'd never admit it. His orange hair waved in the spring breeze, and a fleeting memory of his childhood passed through Hikaru's mind. The circle completed - the perfect picture of the happiest family. The teen finally let it all out. All the pain, all the loneliness, all the frustration and the feeling of longing...everything was okay now.
He was home.