35. Deserving Of Happiness
"If you're happy in a dream...
Does that count?
The happiness-- does it count?"
- Arundhati Roy
....... ....... ........ ........ ........
It smelled like the ocean, fresh and salty. It sounded like one too, and you opened your eyes to an unfamiliar place around you.
You were in motion, you realized, inside a car that was slowing to a stop near a beach, and the person next to you had their hands on your thighs, placed delicately and unknowingly out of habit.
The person was asleep.
The person was Sano Manjiro; black-haired with a dragon tattoo running up his neck, grey t-shirt with black shorts, a version of him you vaguely remember from the glimpses you saw after watching his videotape.
"Wifey?" He mumbled as he woke up, but as your eyes met, you saw how this version differed slightly from the Mikey you knew. "We're finally here," he opened the door of the Lamborghini and reached his hand out.
As soon as your hands were in his, a sick and heavy feeling formed in the pit of your stomach, as if something horrible had to happen to make it possible for you and Mikey to be here.
Leading you onto the beach, sandals in hand as the wind blew through his hair, your lover's back provided no answer or reassurance to the uncertainty that was creeping up your spine like the waves were creeping onto the shore. The seagulls crying in the sky did nothing to quell your thoughts, only making the moment seem like a faint, faraway dream that you were having.
A dream where everyone else is dead, you froze in your tracks.
"(n/n), something wrong?" Mikey's voice pulled you away from your thoughts and you shook your head.
"It's nothing, Jiro, just thought of something."
Your response seemed to hurt him, his grip tightening around your wrist as he pulled you in closer.
"No, you don't have to worry anymore. We're safe now, remember?"
Safe from what? You wanted to ask him, but you pushed the question down.
"Oh...yeah, sorry. I just got a little paranoid," you decided the best thing to do in this situation would be to go along with everything and try to act as normal as possible.
Mikey pursed his lips as he gazed at you, a frown forming until he was offered a smile and a kiss on his knuckles from you.
"Wait here, I forgot something in the car," he hesitantly dropped your hands and started walking back towards said car.
Did I go back to the future? You tried to make sense of everything while Mikey was gone, It would be bad if I did so. A future where everyone else is dead is definitely not what I was aiming for-
There was an information you were missing, you knew but weren't sure what it was, though something Mitsuya said seemed to be especially important for some reason.
For some strange reason, all our friends decided to throw their lives away so me and Mikey could escape.
So we could escape?
"(L/N) (Y/N)!" A shout made your eyes shoot up to be met with a completely different surrounding.
"Y-yes!!" Your panicked voice was met with laughter, and you cursed when you saw (f/n) and Akihiko on the screen of your laptop.
You were in the kitchen of what used to be the apartment you shared with Ikeda Manjiro, sitting in a chair at the counter in front of your laptop, on a video call with your two best friends.
'I've repeated the question to you three times already, you aren't paying attention," (f/n) pouted.
"Sorry, I zoned out..."
"It's fine, I guess," she playfully glared at you," Anyways, as I was saying-and you better answer this time-will you help me and Aki pick out a name for the baby?"
"Wha-a baby? Sure!" You leaned forward in surprise, your heart fluttering slightly at the idea of your friends bringing their own bundle of joy into the world," Any name you're considering right now?"
"Not really, nothing has been sticking. Maybe you could look out for a nice name from among your students!"
"I'll see what I can do about it."
(f/n) narrowed her eyes suspiciously, her last suggestion had been playful but you had taken them to heart and were a lot less cheeky in your response than usual. Akihiko noticed as well and came back into the frame from where he had disappeared to for a few seconds.
"We wish we were living closer to you, (y/n). This is one of the greatest things to ever happen to us, but it'd be better if you could go through it with us too."
"We've practically grown up together after all, so it seems like something's missing," his wife agreed," For some reason, Aki thinks it's an amazing experience to wake up at three in the morning to satisfy my very specific cravings."
"Whatever," Akihiko rolled his eyes, then turned towards you smiling," We'll be seeing each other soon anyways, right (n/n)?"
"Oh," (f/n) practically squealed in excitement," I'm so excited about you and Manjiro's wedding!"
"WEDDING?!" You slammed the laptop shut a bit harsher than considered safe, the revelation having shocked you right down to your very core, and tried to catch your breath to calm down.
What was going on? Were you also travelling between timelines like the old man from before?
"Bracelet!" You raised your wrists so that they were eye level, sighing in relief when you saw the familiar white jewellery around your left wrist. "And what was it that Mitsuya told me in the other timeline? ...oh, I should probably call (f/n) and Akihiko and make up an excuse."
Running.
You're running.
From what?
"(l/n)-san," a familiar voice can be heard near your ear, making you reach up and touch it.
A headset, of course, but who was talking to you?
"Who is it?"
"Uh...I'm Tachibana," came the hesitant reply, "Are you alright? Is your tiredness catching up to you? I've been on the phone with you from the beginning."
"Yeah, maybe it did," You panted," Tachibana-kun, remind me what's going on?"
"Sano found out you were working with us, so we arranged for Chifuyu-kun and Kazutora-kun to come pick you up."
"Right, thanks...umm, where exactly am I running to?"
"Usual place, at the bridge."
Be more specific, gritting your teeth, you turned to see that nobody was actually chasing after you.
Which made it all the more scary, making you pick up your pace.
"Are you sure you're alright, (l/n)-san?"
Damn you, Tachibana...Tachibana-
"Naoto?" You almost fell flat on your face at the realization.
"Yes?"
"It's not...I see it! I think I see the bridge!"
There was an unassuming car parked there and two figures you made out to be Chifuyu and Kazutora waiting inside.
"Okay, that's good. Keep going."
"I promised Draken I'd look after you," Mitsuya's voice rang at the back of your head," So don't worry about it, just try to escape. I'll try to keep him off your trail, and Chifuyu will be with you. Don't worry, (n/n), it's not your fault, you'll be okay."
"Oh my god I need help," you cried under your breath, quiet enough that Naoto couldn't hear you.
The lack of awareness you had about everything going on was going to kill you.
"Are you at the car now, (l/n)-san?!"
"H-huh, yeah? Almost?"
"Are you at Onaruto Bridge?!"
Looking around, you weren't sure where you were, but it definitely wasn't at Onaruto Bridge.
"Onaruto..." You slowed to a stop a few feet away from the bridge," No...I'm not..."
"Shit, shit! Turn around, right now! (l/n)-san!!"
Before you could follow Naoto's instructions, the car door slowly opened and a familiar Mikey, but this time with longer black hair and eyes void of any feeling, stepped out.
"Oh fuck," you squeaked out, but your legs were frozen and glued to the damp ground, wet from the rain.
He's gonna kill me. He's gonna take a gun out and kill me. No, he's getting closer, he's gonna stab me to death, oh fuck I never signed up for this!
Squinting your eyes shut as tightly as you could, you braced for whatever a gunshot or stab wound would feel like, but instead, warmth enveloped you.
"Boss-chan," Sanzu, who had somehow gotten out of the car and walked towards you without you noticing, was placing a jacket around you and leading you back to it.
My earpiece-
You gasped when you felt Mikey take it out from your ear, a look of betrayal in his eyes as he threw it into the water. Motioning for the pink-haired man to leave the two of you alone, he took a step towards you, then another, then another, until you were standing face to face.
"(y/n)..." he reached up to caress your cheeks," (y/n)...what...what did I do?"
"Mi..key?" Searching his eyes, you could see that he was genuinely confused.
"I blacked out again, didn't I?"
"Huh?"
"I'm so sorry, I freaked out when you disappeared-"
"Mikey-kun," Sanzu was halfway out of the car again, signaling for you to bring him over, and you complied.
After securing Mikey in the passenger seat, Sanzu opened the back seat for you.
"Boss-chan," he said before you could enter it, grinning lazily.
The fuck does he keep calling me "Boss-chan" for? Your eyebrows twitched in annoyance as you realized that he wasn't even doing it sincerely but as some sort of amusement.
On second thought, there was some amount of sincerity in the way he referred to you.
"What is it, my minion?" You drawled back sarcastically, making his eyes light up even more.
"You know by now, boss-chan, how the boss gets when you're not around. Please don't do this again, it was hell for the rest of us as well."
This was news to you: does something happen to this timeline's Mikey when you're not with him, or to every Mikey in all timelines?
You wouldn't know, since you couldn't be there to see how he gets without you there, obviously.
Duh,(y/n).
"Okay, now in you go," Sanzu pushed you inside the backseat of the car as gently as he could in order to not piss said boss off.
As you sat still waiting for the man to make it to his side of the car, another truck made a slow turn into the bridge, its headlights shining so brightly they blinded you for a few seconds.
"Momma," a child with (h/c) hair and black eyes greeted your sight when you opened your eyes," Momma, Yukine keeps crying."
"I'm on it!" A rough, boyish voice could be heard from upstairs, and you immediately recognized it as Mikey's.
Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs, and when Mikey appeared with a small baby in his arms you almost started crying. This version of Sano Manjiro had blonde, slicked-back hair and the same dragon tattoo, but he looked distinctly happier and more at peace than the one you'd just left behind at the bridge.
"Your baby brother's gonna make us late for our Saturday ice-creams huh, princess?"
"Papa!" The little girl got onto her feet and started running towards her father, stopping and pouting beside him," When's grandma gonna get here?"
"Soon. She's bringing uncle Kisho with her so they can spend time with Yuki."
"Eh? Mom and Kisho?" The mention of your mother and brother finally prompted you to speak.
"Aren't they?" Mikey looked at you, confused," You did call them over so we and Sachi could spend some time together, didn't you?"
The doorbell rang not even a second after that, to which Sachiko's eyes lit up as she ran towards the front door and opened it.
"Sachi!" Your mother's voice could be heard at once as the little girl tackled her into a hug.
"Grandma! Uncle!"
"Wifey," Mikey came to sit on the floor next to you as the three people up front continued their conversation as well, "Try to relax this afternoon, kay? You've been worrying yourself sick over Kenchin's arrest, it's not good for you."
"Eh?" That took you by surprise and required all the strength you had to not retort, Gee, thanks for reminding me when I had absolutely no idea about that before.
After a few more minutes spent catching up, you and Sachiko were waiting for Mikey to come from the garage with a car for the trip, your index finger being held tightly by the most precious child standing beside you.
Soon he was in front of you...with his fucking CB250T and smiling sheepishly, giving you the idea that the (y/n) from this timeline was usually very against this idea.
"Yayy! We're gonna take Papa's bike today!" Sachiko cheered, earning her a small nudge from Mikey towards you.
It seemed like she knew what it was for because the next second she was turning towards you with the biggest puppy dog eyes and asking if you could "pleaseee" take Babu out for a ride this time. Her face looking so much like the pictures of younger Mikey you saw in photo albums at the Sano household helped soften your heart to her pleas and wishes.
Soon enough you were driving past the various expensive-looking houses and clean parks with ponds, into a more crowded and "city-like" area filled with cars and people going about their busy, day-to-day lives with signs and directions written in a language you couldn't read.
Slowing to a stop next to what seemed like a small mom-and-pop store, the three of you got off, Mikey placing Sachiko in one of his arms while holding your hand in the other.
"Short king!" A group of teenagers walking past grinned, earning a glare from said king and a loud snort from you trying to hold in your laughter.
But as soon as they were gone, the glare disappeared and Mikey almost seemed proud of himself for a while as you entered a small ice cream shop, the one you regularly went to, you assumed, by the way the staff there greeted the three of you.
Ice cream every weekend, you remembered, making you slow to a stop, This is all Jiro ever wanted, the two of us are happy.
But Takemichi had to change this future, even though the two of you are at peace...
Because nobody else is, Hina died, Emma died, Draken is in prison.
"I want chocolate ice cream, dad!" (h/c) pigtails bounced with excitement as Sachiko pointed at the menu.
"As usual," the doting father smiled and slightly bounced his daughter up and down, making her giggle.
You deserve to be happy, Mikey deserves to be happy...but so does everyone else.
And that's possible.
"What about you, wifey? What do you want?"
So, are you ready to go to the next timeline?
"Not really," you whispered to yourself, a bittersweet smile on your face as you watched the scene in front of you," I kind of want to stay here forever."
"(n/n)...? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
That wasn't possible, you unwillingly came to the conclusion, so the best you could do was to steel your resolve and make sure this could be your reality forever.
"It's nothing, Jiro. I'm just so happy, love."
Let's go.
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