Rearranging Fate | Tokyo Revengers x OC

154 • Welcoming Party

Reina had cried a lot of times since she leaped through time. Both Inui and Kokonoi, as well as Izana, knew that. After all, their first meeting with Reina in this timeline started with her bursting into tears, then bursting into more tears after realizing they got their memories back.

But in all seriousness, what was it now?

She wasn't sobbing or wailing, but she was burying her face into her palms, shaking with suppressed sobs. Izana immediately went to sit beside her on the bed, asking what was wrong, only for Reina to shake her head and claim it was stupid.

"Reina, you consider everything stupid."

"I don't." Sniffling, she wiped her snot and tears. "It's really stupid. Ran and Rindou went shopping with Mirai." Okay, so far very normal. The Haitani brothers were very self-conscious of their reputations, so they never mentioned Hokusei Mirai in this timeline. But Izana could guess they loved her from how loudly they had squealed when they got a sticker-filled letter in juvie.

"They took Mirai to many luxury stores, the arcade, and the cinema." Okay, that was also normal, as in 'the Haitani bloodline daily hangout' kind of normal, so Izana really couldn't see why Reina was crying. Even if Mirai got a closet-worth of clothes and jewelry, Reina would've been happy. It was, after all, her wish for Mirai to be loved. "And Rindou took her to a 'kid-friendly day club' or something."

Okay, that was kind of concerning, but not the worst the kid had been through. So, it shouldn't be enough to make Reina cry.

"And Mirai said she wants to be a musician!"

Blinking when Reina burst into more tears, Izana glanced at Inui and Kokonoi, who also looked freaked out because they didn't see what was wrong with the situation. Furrowing his eyebrows, Izana patted her back while trying to piece out what was wrong. Then, it hit him.

"You thought she wanted to be a photographer." Because the Mirai in the other timeline was obsessed with photography, or rather, the ability to eternalize time in the form of sheets of paper and digital copies. But Reina wouldn't cry just because Mirai wanted to explore a different hobby, so the reason must be, "You're scared you'll end up comparing her to the Mirai from the other timeline."

"They're different." Maybe because Reina has been juggling too many things, she didn't spend all her time with Mirai and ended up not noticing the difference, or perhaps she was just in denial. "This Mirai...she's never seen blood."

This Mirai was the 'perfect' Mirai she had always wanted to have, and yet, she missed her Mirai. Her Mirai, who was a bit snarkier because Reina never bothered to control her mouth. Her Mirai, who had seen her sister become a monster and still hugged her. Her Mirai, who had shaken hands with death and survived.

Her Mirai, who would take a photo of every little thing because she already saw how short a life could be in the form of Reina bleeding out with a mutilated wrist on the bathroom floor.

She missed her Mirai.

"It would be better to time leap if I had nothing." Like Takemichi, Ryou, and Shinichiro who leaped through time without having any pleasant memory of the future, Reina wished she could do that too. "I'm being unfair to everybody."

"Let it be like that," Izana responded with a shrug. "You can still introduce photography to Mirai even if it's just to make things easier, but everything is bound to be different." Because they were changing the entire past, present, and future. Some unwanted changes were bound to happen. "Just keep going. Maybe one day, your memories of that other timeline will go to the back of your mind and be forgotten."

She doubted that, but there were some truths in Izana's words. Things were bound to be different, and she only had herself to blame for it. Reina didn't have the privilege to mourn over every single unwanted change, failure, or lost bond. She let her head fall onto Izana's shoulder, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath.