red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter xvi: the future is damned

"oh, this tastes great. you should try it, hanagaki-san."

"this one too."

"ah, harajuku is such a happy place."

throughout the afternoon, it felt more like takemichi was assigned to be kazua's personal assistant to eat and carry a few bags of figurines and manga she bought. he tiredly follows behind her with a sour belt hanging at the corner of his lips, having it as his source of energy to keep up with the shopaholic.

the sun's already beginning to set, and they have yet to discuss what they really came here for.

"here,"

takemichi stops on his tracks, finding a freshly made dorayaki stretched to his direction. he glances up to see the girl already finishing her own. "eat up, and let me get those."

she easily took the bags from both of his hands and let him catch the dorayaki she purposely tossed his way. kazua turns around and began walking, her free hand reaching at her back pocket to take her phone.

"if you have anything to say, say it now while the crowd's still here." she says.

"huh?"

"it's easier to talk about important stuff when there's an entire distraction around you." kazua looked over her shoulder, lightly smiling at him. she looks like an entirely different person from the first time he met her. her eyes were always blank, and it still is, but she made an effort to make him feel comfortable in her presence throughout the day. she was considerate enough of his feelings, especially since she didn't really give him much of a choice coming here. "so, what is it with sano dying? who else are?"

"i..." takemichi carefully covered the dorayaki in parchment that came with it and thought that it would be better to eat it later. "...would you believe me if i tell you that i came from the future, sada-san?"

"hm? what kind of issekai are you reading, hanagaki-san?" kazua chuckled lightly. "you? from the future? is that why you told me people are going to die?"

"yeah, please. i know it's hard to accept it, but mikey-kun and the other toman founders may really die."

kazua turned away from the crowd and began leading the yellow-haired boy to togo shrine. it's quite near from where they were. "come to think of it, you're not even a part of toman." kazua muttered. "but you knew that draken is in danger. was he supposed to die that night?"

takemichi took awhile to answer, but nodded nonetheless. "yes, he was supposed to. but you saved him. i'm still grateful for that."

kazua couldn't help but chortle at herself. "you saved him, hanagaki-san." she looked over her shoulder again and smiled. "if you didn't ask for my help that night, i may be living in regret right now. so, thank you."

"sada-san does care for toman. she loves them."  takemichi smiled back at her. "if i tell her the entire truth, what happened in the future, i might be able to convince her."

"well, i was assuming you're going to talk about illegal shit, not you being from a different world." kazua stopped by the wooden bridge that went over the clean river. there were koi fishes below that people are free to feed. thankfully, since it's getting dark already, there was no one else there but the two of them. she still had her back turned to takemichi as she leaned on the wooden railing, lips pursed tightly together. "baji keisuke. ring a bell?"

"one of the toman founding members. he's mikey-kun's childhood friend."

kazua's brows narrowed. takemichi does know of things that he wasn't supposed to. "he came to me a few weeks ago, telling me that he will be joining valhalla. it's a bad idea and i warned him about it, but he insisted." she sighed. "so, we're alone now. tell me all about this future you're talking about."

***

"sano..."

if kazua's eyes were dull before, takemichi could testify that it somehow darkened now. they looked so hollow after he finished his story while she silently took it all in, finding out about the gruesome future that awaited her loved ones.

while kazua sat cross-legged atop the wooden railing, takemichi was sitting cross-legged on the wooden planks in front of her, his neck craned up to study her expression. "he asked you to help him?" she quietly asked. "he became a criminal?"

"the most vicious criminal organization in the future was led by him, and he tried to kill himself when he thought he killed me." takemichi gulped. "sada-san, mikey-kun told me something important before i was sent back here."

kazua looked down at him, eyes hollow. "what is it?"

"he wanted to come home." he bravely said, orbs studying any change in her features. "he wanted to come home to her. i assume that....it's you he was talking about."

a thick lump was stuck on kazua's throat, but she didn't let takemichi notice any of that. maybe her eyes widened a little in shock, but that was all he could pick up from her. the rest of her thoughts, her inner feelings about all this, was kept hidden.

her slender fingers intertwined, and she tightly held on as she processed it all.

in the end, she wasn't able to save mikey like she promised to sano shinichiro.

she failed.

"what happened to me?" she asked. "in the future, i mean."

"to be honest," takemichi scratched the back of his head, "i don't know. this is the first time i ever met you even after time leaping so many times. that's why i have a strong feeling that you're the key to all this, sada-san. you can save mikey-kun! please,"

takemichi changed his sitting position, now on his knees as he bowed with his hands and head on the ground. "please...help me save mikey-kun and everyone else!"

her mind is still a little hazy. she somehow couldn't accept the fact that she was unable to save mikey in the future. she dedicated her entire life trying to save him, yet she still failed.

"that happened even with senju's help?" she thought long and hard about it. the future takemichi talked about is twelve years after 2005, after all. it only means that they were given enough time to fight against mikey somehow and try to save him from forming the most vicious criminal organization in tokyo.

yet, they failed.

she didn't know how, and she was itching to know so badly. she wants to avoid failure at all cost, especially when it's mikey's life that's at stake.

"hanagaki-san,"

"please!"

kazua sighs. "raise your head. don't beg."

"but..."

"there's no reason to beg." a gentle smile appears on her lips, the change of tone in her voice catching takemichi's ears. he carefully looks up, eyes widening when he realized that there was not an ounce of negativity around her figure. not an ounce of negativity, but no signs of positive outlooks either.

it was neutral. he couldn't read her.

"let's begin with the next problem at hand." only now did he realize how gentle her voice truly is. "valhalla, right? we need to save baji first. we can proceed further after we do."

"y-you'll help me?"

"why wouldn't i?" kazua chuckled. "you don't look like the type to lie. that and..."

takemichi stayed silent, waiting for her next words.

"...i love sano, hanagaki-san." a light grin appeared on her face. "i can't let him suffer like that. i want him to be happy."