"One of Toman's founding members, the first division captain, Keisuke Baji!" Hanma announced. "He claims he wants to abandon Toman and enter the ranks of Valhalla. This is a very serious matter, so I prepared a witness, Hanagaki Takemichi. I will now call that witness forward!"
'Witness? What's that mean?' The blonde boy thought.
You were so scared you didn't know what to do. You either die here or die back at home. 'I really fucked up this time..'
"Hanagaki Takemichi!"
"Y-yes?"
"What did Baji say in front of everyone in the recent Toman gathering?"
"Uh.. he said I'm going to Valhalla. Toman is my enemy."
"..What do you think, Kazutora?"
"The test of faith and the witness summoning. Don't you think that's good enough? He'll be useful fighting other gangs and he knows what happened in Toman while I was in Juvie. Even if he were to betray Valhalla, he'd still be useful.. isn't that right, Baji? We'll crush Toman.. and then we'll kill Mikey."
"K-kill Mikey?" You mumbled.
"Yeah," Baji bowed in front of Kazutora. "I'll help with that."
'What the hell?!'
"Alright!" Hanma shouted. "From this day forward, Baji is a member of Valhalla!"
Cheers were heard and everyone started celebrating. Takemichi quickly took this chance to grab you away from Hanma.
"Thank you!" You whispered to him which he nodded to.
"Wait a minute!" Takemichi yelled, gaining everyone's attention.
Hanma noticed you behind Takemichi and scoffed. "Fucker.."
"Baji-kun, you helped found Toman alongside Mikey, didn't you? Why are you betraying him?!"
"Huh? Just because I'm a founding member means I can't betray Toman? What a joke. Kazutora is one of the founding members too, he resented Toman. In summer, our first year of middle school, we ran wild. It was a bit chilly for a midsummer day."
Baji went on talking about Mikey's birthday. That night that he helped Kazutora steal the cb250t bike from S.S Motors, your older brother's shop. The night that Kazutora had hit you in the head and led you to staying at the hospital.
"It was you?!" You looked at Kazutora in disbelief.
"Hm? I thought you'd knew it was me. Whatever, can't help that you're slow. Mikey's always protecting you, doesn't want to see you hurt in anyway. That's why he was so mad at Baji and I."
"You bastard! I'm so telling Mikey about this!"
"Good, give this message to Mikey. A week from now on October 31st, in the abandoned parking lot. Toman vs Valhalla, our final fight!"
。。。
"I'm so sorry, Michi-kun!"
"No, it's fine. I'm glad they didn't hurt you. What are you doing by yourself anyways? I thought you couldn't walk by yourself."
"Well.."
"N-no offense, of course!"
"None taken. I just had a fight with Mikey, he was super mad at me and called me weak. I was stupid and said I was leaving the house on my own to prove him wrong."
"A-ah.. he must be worried."
"Yeah. Now I know why he was so mad. Everything's been hard for him, one of his friends got arrested and his other friend just betrayed him."
Takemichi held you by the arm and you walked together. You didn't want to be held by a guy who has a girlfriend. It's weird, but it can't be helped. Your legs are super sore at the moment and Takemichi noticed how much your legs were shaking so he insisted on holding your arm. You just wanted to sit down for a minute. It's your fault for leaving though, so no complaining.
"Gotta apologize to him when I get back... and tell him about the fight!"
"N-no, I think I'll handle that by myself."
"But my broth-.."
"Hey, come here!"
A guy shouted to the both of you as you two walked past a park. You two looked to who shouted and it was the guy you saw with Baji at the Toman meeting the other night.
"Just ignore him," Takemichi whispered, looking scared.
"Wait! No don't ignore him," you pulled his hand.
"Today was a disaster for all of us, huh?" The boy said.
"Huh?"
"Baji-san's a total badass, ain't he?"
Takemichi pulled you forward with him to talk to the guy properly. "You were.. Baji-Kun's friend?"
"Tokyo Manji Gang, first division vice captain. Chifuyu Matsuno."
"YOU WERE THE GUY BAJI-KUN BEAT TO A PULP!"
"Be quite, Michi-kun! That's rude!"
"He beat you too," Chifuyu said. "You ruined the nomination ceremony. If Baji-kun hadn't decked you, something even worse might have happened to you."
"Baji beat you, too, Michi-kun?"
"Uh.. y-yes.."
"What are you doing here all by yourself, Y/n-san? Did Mikey let you out?"
"Wow.. you're acting like I'm a dog, Matsuno."
"S-sorry! Please call me Chifuyu.."
"I got into an argument with him, so I left the house."
"By yourself? He must be worried sick!"
"I-I know! I know I made a big mistake," you sulked.
"Uh.. s-so why'd you get beaten up, Chifuyu?" Takemichi asked.
"I got beaten up so he could join Valhalla, but Baji-san didn't get into Valhalla to destroy Toman."
"Huh?!"
"He's got something else in mind. Kisaki Tetta."
"..What?!"
"Baji-san joined Valhalla to get at Kisaki!"
。。。
"Oh.. I hope everything gets better," you continued to walk home with Takemichi.
"Yeah.."
"Uh.. this might sound weird but I had a dream that you visited Draken-kun in jail!"
He stopped walking and stared at you in disbelief. "HUH?!"
"H-he said that if he could redo his life, he'd kill Kisaki!"
"W-what the hell? How do you know that?!"
"Know that? What do you mean?"
...
"YOU CAN TIME-LEAP?!"
"Shh, be quite!!"
"S-sorry, it just sounds amazing. You want to save your girlfriend, it's such a cute goal!"
"Please promise not to tell anyone! Please!"
"I won't, I'm not that kind of a person, Michi-kun!"
"Thank you. So uh.. what else did you dream of?"
"There was one where I heard Baji beat down Kisaki but then.. he got stabbed! And-and there was someone shouting Kazutora's name."
You stopped to see your house nearby. "That's my house. Thank you so much for walking me home."
"Ah, m-may I have your number? You're the first person I've told about my time-leaping powers and it would be nice to have someone to talk to."
"Of course!"
。。。
You laid your head on your grandpa's shoulder and watched the television while he read a newspaper. "You're so boring, grandpa. Who reads newspapers these days?"
"Lots of people, you young kids just watch TV all day!"
"Because I have nothing to do."
"Grandpa!" You heard your sister's voice yelling from the kitchen. She came to the living room and stopped as soon as she saw you. "Y/N!! OH MY GOODNESS! MIKEY COME HERE!"
"Why are you yelling all of a sudden?" Your grandpa put down his newspaper.
Emma ran up to you and engulfed you into a hug. "Where were you?" She started tearing up a little. "I thought something happened to you! We looked everywhere for you!"
"What happened?" Grandpa asked. "She was here with me the whole time."
"What?!"
You saw your brother walk towards you and grab your hand. "Come to my room."
"W-what, why?!"
"..."
"Emma, help!"
"..."
"AHH!!"
...
"Where were you?" He closed the door to his room.
"N-none of your business!"
"Y/n."
"I..I was.. uh.."
He sighed and hugged you. "I'm glad you're safe. I'm sorry for yelling at you, I was in a bad mo-.."
"No!"
"Hm?"
"I-I'm sorry! You've been through a lot these couple of days and I-I," you started tearing up again. He gave you a soft smile and wiped your tear with his thumb. "I'm so sensitive. I can't even handle a person yelling at me, I'm so weak.."
"No, you're not weak. You're very strong, I shouldn't have said that. I never meant to make you cry."
You stayed quite and gave him a hug.
"What happened to your arm?" He grabbed your arm harshly.
"I fell."
"Go sit down."
"Huh, why??"
"Sit."
You quickly went to sit on his bed, scared of what's coming. You shut your eyes and just prayed he wouldn't kill you right now. You felt your arm being grabbed again and felt a wet cotton being dabbed on it. "O-ow!" You opened your eyes and saw Mikey treating your fresh wound.
"Sorry, does it sting?"
"Yes.."
...
"You're all done."
"Thank you, Mikey."
"I don't want to see you hurt again, understood?"
"Y-yes!"
"Thank you for staying still, you did a great job."
"Oh, thank you."
"Now let's go. You're gonna apologize to Emma for worrying her so much."
"..oh."