"Ah, you're back. I've got lots of news," Naoto said without looking away from what was in his hands. The white paper crumpled up under his fingers, his eyes trained on the picture and words written below it.
Takemichi lazily rubbed at his eyes as he registered his surroundings. The last thing he recalled was shaking hands with a younger Naoto— meaning he could only be in one place. The future.
He looked up at the man and said his name with a smile. "Naoto!"
As he responded with a hum, Takemichi sat up before quickly swinging his legs off of the bed.
"Mhm. Look here, I've found information on [ Name ]," he said while waving one of his hands in a 'come over' motion.
Takemichi furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head. Last time he came to the future, Naoto had no idea who [ Name ] was. He only found that she would die somehow.
"You know her?" He questioned, walking over to see what he was looking at.
Naoto made a confused face before nodding his head.
"Did I not meet her before? Hm. Perhaps when you went back last time, you did something that caused me to meet her..." he trailed off in thought.
And that's exactly what happened. Like a domino effect, Takemichi's past actions influenced Hina and [ Name ] to grow closer. By doing so, [ Name ] was able to meet Naoto when being invited over to her house.
Naoto shrugged, knowing it wasn't that big of a detail. "Anyways, I found out something that will shock you."
He placed the newspaper down on the table, one old and worn from many years ago. It was the one he had last time, one referencing [ Name ]'s death. Naoto turned around and leaned against the desk, sighing before he looked Takemichi dead in the eyes.
"Tetta Kisaki will be the reason [ Name ] dies. If you want her to live, make sure she knows to never trust him and try to keep him away from her."
What?
Takemichi stood in silence for a moment. A lump formed in his throat, preventing any words from making it past his lips. His eyes were quick to water in frustration.
Why was he terrorizing him? Taking away all those he held dear? And how was it even possible that [ Name ] could die from his hands?
——————♡——————
Takemichi returns to the past after attending Hina's funeral with the promise to fix things. With the knowledge that it will all be Kisaki's fault, he begins to take a more cautionary approach to this. He couldn't run in blind like when he learned Draken was going to die, no, he needed help. And the only person that came to mind with that thought was [ Name ].
He decided at some point later on, before shit went down, he would bring up everything he learned in the future to [ Name ]. She's strong and kind-- helping others would be something she would agree to without hesitation.
As Takemichi woke back up in his bed, he stretched with a tired groan before yawning freely. He looked around him, surprised to see he was surrounded with his school bag and its contents emptied atop of it. He grabbed the book that was on his lap and brought it towards his face, seeing sloppy hand-written notes dated with today's date. Did the past him actually put effort into taking notes? But why would he suddenly decide to start doing that-- he was all about skipping class and not paying attention to lessons.
He hummed before standing up, taking his notebook with him as he left the room. Turning to the bedroom beside his own, he walked forward and lightly knocked. The pressure of his knuckles made the open door swing open wider, Takemichi peeking in to see that no one was inside. He wanted to compare [ Name ]'s notes with his own, thinking she had been going to class, unknown to him that she had been staying at home since she was sick.
He walked in with a small 'excuse me' before heading over to the desk with drawers she usually stored her books in. The lamp was on and glowed down atop the wood table brightly, illuminating the area with a warm ring of light. In the middle of the light rested an open book, its dark words contrasting against the light parchment. It was unfamiliar to Takemichi and didn't look like any of her schoolbooks.
"What is this...?" Takemichi mumbled as he looked down at the open book, the structure of it looking much like a diary.
'Dear Xiao...'
He averted his eyes immediately after reading those words, shame crossing his face. It looked more like a letter addressed to someone rather than a diary. 'Xiao' was a name he had heard her mention a few times before and he knew it was someone from her previous world. She never talked much about those in her past, but he had a sneaking suspicion this Xiao person was much more than an acquaintance.
Was this book something [ Name ] crafted specifically for this 'Xiao' person just in case she never sees him again? It tugged at his heartstrings, a wave of sympathy washing over him.
His eyes unintentionally dropped to the bottom of the page after only reading who it was addressed to. Curiously, he read the last few words, and saw that the name signing off the letter was 'Astrus'.
He heard the creak of floorboards, her light steps being as hard to pick up on as always. Quickly stepping away from the table, he stood inconspicuously as he looked towards the door. As [ Name ] walked in, he smiled and raised his notebook to put it in her line of sight.
"Hey, I just wanted to see your school notes," he said from behind the book.
[ Name ] walked towards the desk and moved around Takemichi, nodding her head as she said,
"Ah, I moved it to the drawer on the right."
She closed the book atop the desk discretely and slid it in the drawer while pulling out her school notes. She was quick to hand it over to Takemichi before she pulled out the chair that was tucked under the desk and sat down with a relieved sigh.
Takemichi fumbled with her book, placing it atop of his before he looked over at her. His eyebrows furrowed as he registered her condition-- downturned features, dirtied palms, and lazy voice.
"Are you alright? You look exhausted. Have you been out?" he asked.
When he got no response, it quickly clicked in his mind that she was out pursuing demons once again.
Takemichi frowned. "I told you I was tagging along from now on."
[ Name ] shrugged nonchalantly, knowing she had no intention of letting him tag along. No offense to him or anything, but against demons, he would just be a burden. And if anything ever happened to him while he was with her, she would never be able to forgive herself.
Looking at him now, there was a clear tone and attitude switch from earlier. One that she could only correlate to the more mature version of Takemichi.
"So, you're back to being you?"
Takemichi sighed, a puff of air seemingly coming out from his mouth at the change of subject.
"Yeah."
With his free hand, Takemichi raised his hand up to the back of his neck and held it gently. He looked from [ Name ] to the open doorway, re-calling what Mikey and Draken had told him earlier in the bathhouse. Which was how they expected Takemichi to show up at the Toman meeting tonight.
"Anyways, I have somewhere to go tonight, so I may not be back until late," Takemichi informed.
To his surprise, [ Name ] nodded her head and told of her similar plans of leaving the house tonight.
"I do as well. Remain safe Takemichi, and if you need me, just call out my name."
"I know I know."
——————♡——————
The motorcycle roared loudly, though it went deaf to Takemichi's ears as he stood beside it with his eyes popping out of their sockets and his jaw dropped open. Mikey burst out laughing at the face he made as he shut off the vehicle that he and Takemichi had arrived on.
It seems [ Name ]'s plans were much more similar to his than he initially thought. After all, it couldn't just be a coincidence that they were both standing outside the Toman meeting spot, waiting to be allowed entrance.
"[ Name ]?!" he shouted, making her turn around curiously.
She stood tall wearing the uniform of those belonging to Toman, something he himself had yet to be granted. He wasn't even a member yet, just told to come to the meeting because Mikey felt like bringing him along.
[ Name ] wore a surprised expression as she looked over at Takemichi. "What— oh, I had assumed you were going to Hina's place. We could have traveled together if I had known."
"How did you even— why is that—"
"Mikey invited me to join Toman, don't you remember?"
Takemichi does not remember. He's sure the past him was thrilled with that information, but he wasn't. [ Name ] tends to forget the fact that the memories of his past and future self can't combine, so this was shocking to him.
But unfortunately, this wouldn't be the last of the shock he would experience tonight.