At the same time [ Name ] found herself faced with an altercation, Takemichi was in a similar situation, but instead of demons, he was fighting humans. And just as he knew it would, it didn't end well.
Takemichi breathed heavily, staggered puffs of air falling from his parted lips as he dragged himself forward. He was slightly hunched over, the added weight slumped against his back making it harder for him to move. He bit down onto his tongue, groaning in frustration as he urged his muscles not to give out and continue to push forward to seek safety.
A large area on his back felt heated, warmed to a worrying degree as it caused his shirt to stick to his skin. The blood that was oozing out of Draken's wound rested atop him, but he had no time to worry about how gross it felt as he ignored it in favor of continuing to push forward.
His vision blurred as he staggered from foot to foot, steadily making his way down the path. The only thing fueling him to keep going at this point was adrenaline and the smoldering realization that Draken's life was in his hands.
His breathing pace began to pick up, and realizing he was beginning to panic, he tried to desperately calm himself down while his mind raced a mile a minute.
He could feel Draken's blonde braid tickle the side of his face every time he took a step forward, and that would be what kept him conscious and going at the reminder he was painfully there, short, barely noticeable breaths hitting the back of his neck.
"I swear... I swear, you're going to be okay." He reassured out loud, whether that be to himself or Draken unclear, but it encouraged him to just continue his simple task that seemed all so grueling on this cold August night.
With how hard it was raining, it was hard to see far into the distance, but he felt he was heading the right way. The rain drops beat loudly against the pavement and his footsteps became stuck to the ground as rain clung onto the soles of his shoes.
"Don't give up on me!"
Takemichi grit his teeth after he shouted that out, hoping that it would somehow reach Draken. He tugged upwards to adjust Draken's slipping position, because by no means was he light. He was also significantly taller than himself, so it made it all the more awkward and added further to the struggle of walking while being injured.
"Takemichi!" A loud but muffled voice called out.
Hearing wooden shoes click against the liquid covered pavement, small splashes being heard with every step, he looked over his shoulder and through the strands of Draken's loose blonde hair, he could see two familiar girls running in his direction.
"Hina! Emma!" He called out, a whine in his voice and a sting hitting the back of his eyes in relief.
"How's Draken?!"
The two had tears in their own eyes as they looked at the boy slumped against Takemichi's back.
"Don't worry, he's alive!" He reassured.
The two girls assisted Takemichi with lowering Draken to the ground, resting his head in Emma's lap as she stared down at him with a teary-eyed expression. She lifted her shaking hand up from her side and hovered it over Draken's head for a moment. Slowly, she gently threaded her fingers through his hair to push it out of his face, his pained expression that was revealed making her choke out a sob.
'What's taking so long?' Takemichi thought as he looked around for any signs of bright light that would enter the vicinity. It had been a while since they called for an ambulance, but because of how dark it was and the heavy rain, they were probably having trouble finding the location.
"Hina, we're supposed to wait for the ambulance here, right?" He asked as he bounced his foot up and down, anxiously looking around and silently pleading that they would hurry up.
"Yeah, but..."
She looked down solemnly.
"Apparently, it's really crowded because of the festival and the rain."
Wet steps could be heard gradually getting louder and louder as someone approached the small group waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Confused on who it could be, Takemichi looked up and what he saw made him freeze up, dreading to acknowledge the reason they were here even though it was obvious to him.
That one pair of footsteps turned into multiple as the group became clearer, the rain that once hid their images passing by them when they walked. They all wore similar black jumpsuits that had gold buttons lined up to their collar, all in a similar fashion as each other. He could recognize the man leading the group, the one with a constant cruel and uncaring look on his face from anywhere, and it only brought up bad memories.
'Seriously!? What's he doing here?' Takemichi thought as his face dropped downwards in a way that showed his devastation. Their timing was the worst and his thoughts spiraled out of control as he tried to figure out some way to get out of this alive.
"What the hell? Draken's not dead yet?"
"Hey, what the hell is Trashymichi doing here?"
All the members of the group began to talk at once, Hina and Emma looking over their shoulder in fear, their teary eyes being drowned out by the rain that fell from the sky.
"What do you think you're doing, you piece of shit?" Kiyomasa asked, his thunderous yet calm voice demanding for all attention to go to him.
Hina turned her body to face the group and held her arm out protectively in front of Emma and Draken, her eyes and legs shaking in fear but her mind refusing to let her back down.
"Hey, someone get me more duct tape!"
Takemichi felt a bead of sweat drip off from his face to the ground despite being smothered in rain, his lips parting to try and say something, however nothing came out, forcing him to press his lips together and shake his head back and forth.
He took a cautious step back, his eyes wide in fear as he saw how severely outmatched he was. They had clear intentions to finish off Draken and possibly himself, leaving him defeated as he grit his teeth in frustration.
'It's over.' He thought, the looming threat of disaster making his vision blur as he swayed on his feet. He could feel his eyes and nose sting, frustrated that he was so powerless. He had this miraculous ability to travel back in time, and yet he was still not changing anything with it.
But he wouldn't let this be the end. He would go down biting and thrashing before he gave up.
After all, what has he learned from dying? He learned that he was special and had the power to make a change. He was capable of it so long as he used his head and made up for his lack of brute strength. He couldn't be as strong as Mikey or as intimidating as Draken, but he could be resilient and hold his ground better than anyone.
Another thing he learned was to trust. To put his trust in others, just as he trusted Naoto with his secret and benefited by being able to travel from the future to the past at any time he pleased. What he was missing was offering this trust to a person who was so damaged and as fragile as the most historic pottery, yet strong in a sense of will and power. He had been excluding her presence in everything, but so long as he was there to help her, she would be there to help him all the same.
Kiyomasa slid out a knife from his pocket and flashed it, the metal reflecting its shine from the surface of Takemichi's eyes as he stared at it in fear. The big man began grinning madly knowing he wouldn't be playing fairly. And seeing this, Takemichi didn't hesitate as he decided he would even out the battlefield in response to the pure evil displayed in front of him.
Takemichi took in a long, deep breath, his lungs filling with air and expanding to its greatest capacity. He clenched his fist tightly, nails digging into the palm of his hands to the point the pain subsided into numbness. He leveled his face towards the ground and squeezed his eyes shut, wet hair sticking to his forehead as he opened his mouth.
And he yelled, a sound tearing from his throat and words billowing from his chest flying right off his tongue. He yelled so loud, so defeated, and so frightened, that it shook two different worlds to its core.
"[ NAMEEEEEEE ]!!!!! [ NAMEEE ], PLEASE! YOU'VE GOT TO HELP DRAKEN!"
Emma and Hina's breaths hitched as they felt their eyes sting, the mention of the girl's name and the sound of Takemichi's voice desperately shaking making them emotional. They had essentially abandoned her tonight, even if she insisted she would be fine, but in the end they still both felt really guilty to leave her all alone.
Draken blinked repeatedly and peered upwards through lidded eyes, his lips moving to utter his name, but no vocal words emerged from his throat.
'Takemichi...'
Emma turned her attention away from Takemichi and over to Draken, a sorrow-filled smile being sent his way as she mumbled that everything will be okay.
Everyone grew quiet after Takemichi's loud yelling, a silence drowning out the sound of hard rain creating an awkward atmosphere. Everyone stared bewildered for a moment, before a chorus of chuckles bounced around the alley. It quickly exploded out into full blown laughter as the gang members clutched their stomachs and wiped away tears from the corner of their eyes, meanwhile Takemichi could only huff out quick and short breaths of air with wide, shaky eyes.
Kiyomasa opened his mouth to retort something smart, however he would be quickly cut off.
BOOM!
A large, metallic-sounding collision with a similar ferociousness to a lightning bolt hitting the ground echoed and bounced off the walls of the buildings. It made everyone jump, and turning to look in the direction the sound came from, a trashcan could be seen tumbling over and rolling on its side.
It grated against the stone on the floor, the ear-piercing noise making nearly everyone cringe. There was no more laughter, seeing as no trash can could normally be that loud if it simply fell over. It was as if the gods incited their wrath upon it, and oddly enough, it sent a forewarning chill up Kiyomasa's spine.
Before anyone could even get out of the initial shock that transpired after the trashcan took front and center stage, a figure could be seen jogging out of the alley where the trashcan came from. [ Name ] had her lips slightly parted as she heavily breathed, heaving in exhaustion and her chest squeezing in pain. Her teleportation was sloppy from being out of energy from just fighting a demon, but she refused to just ignore the calling from Takemichi. Because this was the first time Takemichi had ever put to use the privilege she granted to him, and it was the first he's ever sounded so hopeless.
She had no energy to summon her weapon, but seeing Kiyomasa wielding that knife, seeing Draken bleeding out and laying in Emma's lap, seeing Takemichi shaking in fear, and seeing Emma and Hina crying with red, horror-filled faces, she didn't hesitate to run past her friends.
The speed she ran past them made their hair lightly flutter, Emma raising her hand upwards and holding her hair down as her attention followed [ Name ]'s movement with her lips slightly parted in awe.
She ran forward and reeled back her fist, a ferocious glare coming to her face as she had got close to Kiyomasa so quickly, none of the goons could run up to protect him in time. Their first initial thought was that it was just some strange, homeless looking girl, but the freezing sensation in their veins churned their guts to tell them they would be sadly mistaken.
Kiyomasa instinctively thrusted his hand forward in defense, the knife he held piercing right through [ Name ]'s hand making Hina scream out her name and begin to choke out a sob.
[ Name ] didn't even flinch as she pulled back the hand with the knife in it and dropped it limply to her side, before reeling back her other hand with no breathing room in between. Kiyomasa's eyes widened, thinking she would go through shock from just being stabbed and would step back in caution, however she fiercely pushed forward. Time slowed for him and he felt a cold sense of fear travel from his toes to the hair on his head, everything screaming at him telling him he fucked with the wrong person.
She struck the big man with her fist as hard as she could, feeling her knuckles grind against the side of his cheek. The momentum of it momentarily stopped the rain from falling in the vicinity of his face, and it sent him soaring to the ground with his eyes widened in shock as he felt a tooth rip out from his gums and fly out of his mouth.
Kiyomasa's body bounced against the ground before skidding against the grainy asphalt, his eyes rolling backwards so that he could only see his inner eyelids momentarily. His vision blurred as he tried to get out of his state of shock, however it was too much as his head continued to spin in surprise.
After a moment of regaining himself, his vision scatteredly looked upwards, and what he saw was not a girl in front of him, but a demon. Her [ E/C ] eyes glowed brighter and more fierce than any neon lights he'd ever seen. It was animalistic how in the darkness of the night and through the rain, the only thing that pierced through the shadows like a flashlight was the burning glare floating out from deep within her.
Warm puffs of air fell from [ Name ]'s mouth. She was slightly crouched and her fist was clenched at her side, while one foot was positioned ahead of the other from the running position she was stopped in.
She shook her head back and forth, wet hair slapping the air around her and a glare being directed down towards Kiyomasa that he couldn't prevent himself from sweating at. A yell ripped from her throat as she stared at him and the group behind him with nothing but hatred.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH! HOW DARE YOU HURT MY FRIENDS!"