Replay

0.5 Interlude

A/N: This is a rehashing of the first chapter of the manga, but although I have made some modifications, it is not necessary to read to enjoy the story. Your choice.

I switched this chapter with the first so that our protagonist is introduced from the beginning. A small warning that the interludes may not necessarily occur in chronological order to the story, especially if Takemichi time-leaps in the middle of the arc.

Hanagaki Takemichi slouched on his cheap futon as he watched the morning news while munching away at a bag of chips. Light filtered in through the windows of his cheap apartment, and the room felt cluttered and smaller than it really was with the empty bottles and containers scattered over his table and floor. He'd clean it up sometime, but he didn't really want to at the moment. Summer tended to do that. He needed to go to his part-time job later, but until then, Takemichi just didn't feel like doing anything. He paused eating to let loose a large yawn.

The reporter on the screen droned on. "The Tokyo Manji Gang has been on the rise, and in a recent dispute, a few uninvolved citizens fell victim."

The name rang a distant bell, but he couldn't immediately associate any memories with it. He shifted uneasily, the room suddenly feeling warmer.

"A witness at the scene reported that a truck suddenly swerved off the road and crashed into the victims at a nearby park. There were two casualties: 25-year old Myers Blake and Tachibana Hinata. The culprit has not been--"

Takemichi scrambled for the remote, not caring that his greasy hands smeared over the buttons as he rapidly upped the volume. He must've not heard that right; he'd set the sound a little lower so that his neighbor wouldn't complain at him again--

He breathed in sharply as the reporter repeated it in the same, monotonous voice, as if it were just another ordinary piece of news.

"Tachibana...? She's...dead?" They hadn't seen each other in over ten years, and she was a remnant of his middle school days. That had been the peak of his life, the time he'd had a girlfriend and hung out with his delinquent buddies, fighting off the neighboring schools. And then it'd just kind of fallen from there, to where he was now. He stared at the screen for a little longer, which had by then switched to a new piece of news.

It was a difficult pill to swallow. He'd mostly forgotten about her after middle school and still couldn't even fully recall her, but there was some peculiar feeling at having someone he knew dead. Suddenly realizing he wouldn't be able to talk or meet with her anymore, even though he wouldn't have normally done so. It was over, though. She was dead.

A loud banging on the door to his apartment broke him out of his thoughts, and he sluggishly pushed himself up and headed to answer it.

He apologized to his neighbor again and headed to work, but he couldn't fully concentrate.

---

Takemichi sighed as he stared down over the train tracks. His t-shirt and baggy pants stood out against the cluster of suited businessmen waiting to his side. All around him were people more successful; they'd done something right that he hadn't. Just where exactly did he go wrong? Tachibana's death had left him feeling reflective as he thought back over his life. But it didn't matter. He was stuck in this situation for now and the unforeseeable future. He didn't like it, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He heard someone step into the line behind him as the train blared into the station. And then things went awry.

Something pushed the small of his back with enough force to propel him clean off the platform and painfully drop onto the tracks below.