red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter lxii: the letter

"akashi senju...you're kazua's friend back then!"

"i'm glad you remember me." senju grinned happily, fixing her hair bun with her red hair stick. she moved away from the window and sat on her velvet sofa, motioning for the two to sit across her.

they did so without argument, and takemitchy was baffled by the amount of delicacies prepared on the long coffee table between them. senju was living a life of luxury, and him being there definitely told him that it's no joke.

"draken told me that you just visited mikey from prison." she began. "so, you know what happened to kazzie already?"

"i got the gist of it..." takemitchy nodded. "...but i still don't understand why. kazua was so confident in the past. she told me that her plan will definitely guarantee a future where all of us will be happy."

"she did promise you that." senju nodded. "but hanagaki, did you really believe that this is the future she's referring to?"

she takes a single white envelope from the coffee table, holding it up between two fingers.

to future me
sada kazua <3

"this was the letter that kazzie left in your time capsule twelve years ago." senju said. "before she died, she told me to take this on the day you open the time capsule. the answers to both our questions, why kazzie had to die, are all here."

draken slouched against the sofa, eyebrows pinched together in suspicion. "you think that kaz predicted her own death?" he asked her. "we both know she's smart, very smart, but even she can't predict what will happen in the future. quit shitting around, senju."

the female glared up at him, assuming that he's still in denial of everything. kazua is a very dear friend to him, one that he considers his best friend since they've met. she fully understands why draken is trying to force himself to accept that kazua had long passed.

but she can't, not when kazua told her so herself.

"kazua uses her words to gain advantage over situations that go against her favor." she said sternly. "during the battle against the three deities, because she wasn't able to use her words wisely, she was killed."

"why don't we all just admit that she tried to save mikey the best she could and accept that she couldn't?" draken lowly asked, glaring right back at the albino. "why don't we just accept that this is reality?! even mikey gave up!"

"because this isn't the end!" senju yelled back, stomping up to her feet to glare down at draken. takemitchy flinched when she raised her voice, raising both his hands up to chest level in an attempt to calm her. "why can't you just believe in her?! kazzie planned all of this alone for us! can't you just be grateful that emma's still alive because of her?! that you, mitsuya, and baji are alive?! that kazutora changed for the better and pah-chin's living happily!?

"i won't give up. not until kazzie gets her own happy ending. if it's with that stupid ass manjiro, then so be it!"

she heaved heavily, not directing her eyes towards takemitchy's.

spending time with kazua allowed takemitchy to learn how to be calm most of the time, and he was glad that he did. despite senju seething down their necks right then and there, he stayed composed and carefully grabbed the letter from her hands.

"i'll open it." he said. "whether or not this is the end, it wouldn't hurt for us to know what kazua was truly thinking on that day."

"yeah, whatever." draken looked away with a scoff.

sighing, he ripped the top part open and took our a single sheet of paper from inside.

to future takemitchy,

"what?" takemitchy's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"what?" the other two asked.

well, if it is takemitchy who receives this rather than me, then i'm guessing that sometime through my plan, i failed. i have expected a few things after the battle against tenjiku. takemitchy, read this carefully. you'll need it.

first of all, we both know that the trigger to manji's dark impulsivity is loss, and that's what kisaki has been trying to unleash all along. the reason why he needed manji was because of his already existing dark impulsivity when shinichiro-niisan died. in order to do this, he tried to kill all those he loved. we're pretty cool for stopping him, right? but there's one person that manji saw as family that we weren't able to save.

kurokawa izana. as unbelievable as it sounds, it's true. an important loss in the midst of his gang journey is what triggers his darker side.

second, shinichiro-niisan left me a task before he died, and that is to save manji from his dark impulsivity. in order for me to do that, i need to make manji realize that there is no end for him in living the gang life. the world of violence is what has been influencing his own future.

the reason why i was so determined to save him isn't just for my own selfish reasons. this is shinichiro-niisan's last wish. i will do anything to keep it.

words are powerful. after loss, words are what pierce through manji's heart. many of us have said some things in the past that drives him into a decision. whether or not it's a good decision, we can't tell until we see the future. i'll let you be the judge of that.

i'm assuming that the reason why he told you that he wants to come home to me when you tried saving him in that particular future is because something happened to me that made him realize a lot of things, enough to make him yearn for the past to be relived. it could be something i did, something he did, something that coincidentally happened.

it's safe to say i died in that future too.

third, if i do die, that means that i wasn't able to arrive at the day i persuade manji to stop. this part of the plan wasn't disclosed to anyone, not even senju, so i doubt that this will happen after i die. this is the reason why i'm writing this letter. chances of me dying is high, after all.

there are two things i want you to keep in mind.

twelve years from now, if manji is happily living his life without me, please keep it that way. don't go back in time anymore. live your life with hina-chan and grow old together until you're one of those raisin buddies sitting on rocking chairs on your house porch. don't think about me. i'll probably be arm wrestling with the devil down in hell, or something. i'll be fine.

but if manji's still in the darker side of life, i beg you to meet me in the past.

let's save him one last time.

the choice is still yours. i won't force you to go back in time if you already have a happy future with hina-chan regardless of manji's situation.

that's too selfish of me.

with love,
sada kazua