-Art by noe_uoo on Instagram-
[Reference to manga chapters 82-84]
Slurrrrp
The pair of chopsticks dug into the pot ramen once more before pulling out another scoop of noodles for the blonde boy to devour yet again. Slurrrrp.
Sighing restlessly, Chifuyu held out his cup of instant ramen for Takemichi, "Want some?" He asked casually with a mouthfull.
Takemichi gladly took the cup from his friend as he begins to eat for the first time since he had time traveled back to the year 2006- it was the late afternoon, he had just confessed everything he knew about his powers and the future to Chifuyu, who suprisingly believed him, which lifted much stress from his shoulders.
The boy chewed tenderly and slowly as his partner only continued to ramble on about how frustrated he was at the thought of being killed by Kisaki. As he ate, Takemichi's thoughts drifted to the most mundane things; starting with the scarring image of Chifuyu's dead body, and then rising to the memory of the silver ring on his left hand. "I think you were married in the future, Chifuyu..." Takemichi mumbled without thinking.
Chifuyu, on the other hand, halted his ramble and raised an eyebrow. "What? Really?"
"I'm sure of it." Takemichi responded seriously.
The boy in the sweater only looked at the sky, completely throwing away his theories on how to save Toman from the future, to ponder over the unrelated information he just recieved. "Who was I married to? Was she hot?" He asked rather eagerly.
His friend looked down at the cup ramen in his hands, eyebrows twitching at the only name that came to his mind. He needed to be truthful with Chifuyu, he reminded himself. So, sucking in a breath, Takemichi told him, "I think it was (Y/N)."
Chifuyu gasped and Takemichi couldn't figure out whether it was of suprise or terror, maybe even both. "Her!? But I don't even talk to her, sure she's pretty, but we're nothing alike! Are you sure, Takemitchy?" The blonde sighed, cheeks burning a little pinker at the thought.
The time traveler only took another bite from the noodles and spoke as he chewed, "I just figured since she was there. In the future, I mean. She busted in and knocked Kisaki and his guards down and tried real hard to save us," Chifuyu furrowed his brow as his friend continued, "She didn't manage to get him down completely though because when he finally reached his gun, he shot her. And then you too." Takemichi recalled back to the moment in the future when he noticed the certain gleam in the older Chifuyu's eyes when he watched (Y/N), and the woman herself returning the same sort of look to him. But he didn't want to say that out loud just yet. Maybe he did misread the situation. Perhaps the older Chifuyu just really liked wearing that ring without significance.
"So it wasn't just me and Baji, but (Y/N) too. Kisaki's got a lot of nerve coming for our members like that- I'll kill him." Chifuyu muttered with his eyes closed. "Not right now... as the third division captain, Kisaki has a lot of men under his command," He stood up from the bench as he went on to talk about the difference between where Kisaki stood and how he and Takemichi ranked in comparison. With a grin, the boy turned back to his friend with uplifting words. "You're gonna make the first division into an unbeatable team, Takemitchy. We'll curb stomp the Black Dragons, Kisaki, and I don't care who! I got your back to the very end!"
Takemichi said nothing but stared at Chifuyu's empathetic hand. "Let's make this work." Said the boy in the sweater with his classic grin.
Returning a smile, Takemichi grabbed his friend's hand, "let's do this, partner!"
~
It was two days later when a small meeting with the Toman admins was being held in an old, abandoned building.
Mikey sat atop a pile of scaffolding as he looked at the scene displayed before him. Hakkai was down on his knees after having just asked to leave Toman and Takemichi was right behind him, declaring his objection for all to hear. Everybody gathered around remained silent but listened intently to what the blonde had to say.
"Mikey," Takemichi began. "Take a moment to calm down and consider, with a tasty snack!" He pulled out a dorayaki bun from his pocket and held it in front of the leader's face confidently. He was just as suprised when Mikey threw the dorayaki to the side, clearly irritated, and told Takemichi not to interrupt.
Beginning to panic, Takemichi pulled out his notepad secretively to take a look at what the plan B that Chifuyu had prepared. When he read the word courage written boldly in the middle of the page, all his confidence fell down to his ankles like a pair of worn elastic undies. Desperately, Takemichi turned around to his partner for any sort of signal but only recieved a useless thumbs up in return which made him lose even more hope in the situation of trying to stop Hakkai from leaving the gang.
"What's your decision, Mikey?" Draken asked.
Mike leaned back and replied, "I'll leave it up to Mitsuya, since he's the second division captain."
As if on cue, Mitsuya's boots clacked against the floor as he made his way next to Hakkai. "I understand." He replied casually, his cool demeaner not breaking once.
Hakkai was suprised from the response he got but was quick to bow to his captain, "Takachan! It was a pleasure working with you!"
"What are you saying? I never said you could leave." Mitsuya said with his back facing Hakkai. The tension in the air rose back up as the fashion designer looked over his shoulder to his friend, "Let me talk to Taiju."
With those words from the second division captain, the Toman meeting was quickly dismissed.
Takemichi gulped hard as he watched everybody slowly leave. Chifuyu stood next to him without uttering a word. As Mitsuya and Hakkai walked past the two, they noticed a certain (H/C) haired girl catching up to them. Despite being the vice-captain of the second division, she had been so quiet that Takemichi almost forgot she was there.
She still didn't say a thing as she latched onto Mitsuya's arm while he talked with Hakkai. Takemichi and Chifuyu nodded at one another as they followed behind the three that were now heading to see Taiju.
The conversation still hadn't let up when they were walking through the city. "Would you please stop? You always try to handle everything yourself," Mitsuya scolded the taller boy. Hakkai was about to speak but was interrupted once more by his superior, "And why are they tagging along?" He directed at Takemichi and Chifuyu.
"What? I was there when it happened," Takemichi tried to justify his reasons.
Chifuyu pointed at the boy and said, "And I'm here to keep an eye on him. He's a moron, you see." To which Takemichi immediately got offended and snapped back, only recieving a lighthearted chuckle from Chifuyu in return.
Mitsuya gave in and let them come along while Hakkai didn't give the slight indication that he cared. (Y/N), on the other hand, only stared at the two with an unamused face. She looked Takemichi up and down and scoffed lightly, "You really are a moron," She mumbled. Although one could argue that she and Takemichi were friends, or more accurately, acqaintances, she was still as dismissive as ever to him. Who could blame her, he wasn't the most charming guy, after all.
Takemichi gasped at the girl's rudeness and was suddenly overcome with humiliation as Chifuyu began laughing. "And you," (Y/N) snapped while glaring at the vice-captain, "I saw you kept looking at me during the meeting. Cut it out, weirdo."
That sure shut the two up. She turned her back to them and caught up with Mitsuya who put a hand on her shoulder and smiled gently, "Don't be so harsh, (Y/N). They're our friends." She didn't say anything back but instead shoved her hands into the pockets of her Toman uniform and looked away as she walked.
"What's her problem? Are you sure I end up getting married to her?" Chifuyu mumbled to his blonde friend.
Takemichi smiled nervously as the idea became even more bizarre when he saw the attitude she had towards them. "You know what, maybe I was wrong." He whispered back.
But what neither of them expected that day was that this rude girl would end up being a valuable piece in this game of chess against the timeline.
As they both stood there, in a daze, Mitsuya tilted his head to the two boys while continuing down the path and gestured for them to catch up.
"Hurry up, you guys, or else we'll leave you behind!"