Lifeline

CHAPTER 3

"I have a theory about this power of yours. First off, you time-leaped from July 4th, 2017 to July 4th, 2005. Which means that your power allows you to go back in time twelve years to the same day." Naoto explained to Takemichi.
Takemichi had a normal look on his face but in reality, he was more concerned at the fact that Naoto sounded like he had gone crazy. Talking about time travel will make anyone look at a person and think that they are nuts. An overwhelming urge to yawn came over him, but he stifled it down so Naoto wouldn't see. Ever since Naoto saved Takemichi, they have been locked away in his apartment for two days straight. He hasn't slept a wink as his face has been in front of a computer screen trying to learn more information about the Tokyo Manji Gang; the  same gang that was responsible for Hinata's death.  He looked over towards the couch to see Akira sitting cross-legged with her laptop on top, ocassionally leaning over to sip on her coffee.
He honestly didn't know how she did it. She showed no signs of being tired while he was solely relying on energy drinks to keep him awake.
"That's important."
Takemichi jolted at the sound of Naoto's voice as he leaned over him and pointed at the computer screen.
"Cram in as much information about the Tokyo Manji Gang as you can." he said as he sipped his coffee.
"Do I really need to do this to save Tachibana?" Takemichi asked.
"If there's one problem with your special power it's this. You can only go back in time twelve years from the present day."
"But that's just a theory we came up with." Akira mentioned as she closed her laptop to stand up. She stretched a bit as she had been sitting like that for at least a few hours.
"I don't even know how to travel back to the past in the first place." Takemichi threw his hands to the side.
"Return to the day my sister died! If you can stop her from going to the festival, even if it's by force, then she can be saved." said Naoto.
Akira and Takemichi looked up at Naoto.
"Waiting twelve more years and chancing it all on that one day...it's far too risky." Naoto bit his thumb in thought. "If you missed that chance, she'd never be saved again. I won't risk that. We should do what we can right now. Time-leap back twelve years from today and meet up with those guys from your middle school years."
"Which people?" Takemichi asked.
Naoto walked over to one of the boards in this room. He slapped his hand between two pictures. "Toman's top two."
Takemichi looked at the two pictures. One of them had slicked back blonde hair and the other had dark hair and wore glasses.
"Manjiro Sano and Tetta Kisaki." Naoto finished.
"Scary," Takemichi muttered.
"If those two never met, then the Tokyo Manji Gang won't exist in it's present form. Which means there'll never be a dispute for my sister to get caught up and killed in." Naoto said.
Takemichi's eyes widened slightly. "I see. So if I go back in time to my middle school years and stop those two from ever meeting..."
"Then Toman won't exist." Naoto finished.
Akira walked over to the board where the two pictures were. Takemichi noticed her movement and watched. Her brow furrowed as she stared at the picture of Manjiro Sano. If Takemichi didn't know any better, he could've sworn that was hatred in her eyes.
'I should have killed you when I had the chance.' she thought.
~~~
2005
Tessa groaned at the sound of her alarm going off. She pulled the pillow out from underneath her head and slung it across her body towards her nightstand where her alarm resided. As soon as the pillow hit it, a crack resonated throughout her room which meant she broke the clock. She sat up and rubbed her eyes to get the tiredness out of them and looked over towards her window. The sun had started to rise which meant a new day.
Reluctantly, she climbed out of the warmth of her covers and headed downstairs to start her day. She turned on the lights and headed over to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and breakfast. Since Tessa and Akira's parents aren't around, she's the one that takes care of the house and her younger sister. Coffee became a necessity for her to be able to function in the morning and as well for the morning to go right. It would seem weird that a fourteen year old to drink coffee, but it was normal for her. After a few minutes, Akira came trudging down the stairs with her school uniform on and the two ate breakfast like normal. They rarely talked during breakfast which only allowed the sound of the television sound throughout the house but they liked it that way.
~~~
After the dishes were clean, Tessa headed back upstairs to change into her school uniform. Akira had already left as she liked to get to school early, while Tessa seemed to get there last minute. She tied her hair up into a low bun with some hairs sticking out. As she grabbed her jacket, she heard her front door open and a loud voice call out to her.
"Up here," she said.
Footsteps were heard coming up the stairs and eventually stopped at her open door. She turned to see Draken leaning against her doorway.
"Look who's up on time," he remarked.
She gave him a confused look. "What do you mean? I'm always up early." She looked behind him. "Where's Mikey?"
He gave her a knowing look. "Where do you think?"
She nodded knowing that Mikey was probably asleep on her couch. Unlike her and Draken, Mikey was not a morning person. She walked past Draken and flipped his braid while she had the chance. She grabbed her shoes which sat by the door and her bag that was on the coat rack. She turned back around to see Mikey finally awake and the three of them headed out the door. Draken and Mikey always walked Tessa to the split in the road, (not by her choice), and then part ways to their separate schools.
Eventually, Tessa found herself at the main gate where her school resided. She looked at it with dread but trudged forward. If there was one thing Tessa wasn't, it was a school lover. It isn't like she was horrible at it. She had pretty average grades. She just wasn't fond of the place. Sitting at a desk for so many hours and listening to boring subjects is not ideal for her.
"Tessa!!"
She turned around to see a familiar pink-haired girl walk towards her. It was Hinata. She smiled and gave her a small wave in return.
"I wanted to say thank you for walking Naoto home for me." she said bowing to her.
"There's no need to thank me. You would've done the same with Akira." Tessa replied as Hina straightened up.
"You're too nice Tessa." Hina laughed.
"Yeah, I'm an angel." Tessa said with a cheeky smile. 'Clearly she hasn't seen me when I'm angry.'
Hinata laughed and headed into her classroom. Tessa let her smile drop and cleared her throat following Hinata in the classroom.
~~~
Just as Tessa predicted, halfway into her class and she was bored out of her mind. Instead of listening to the teacher, her focus was towards the windows looking outside. Her elbow was propped up on her desk with her chin in her hand. A bored look was plastered on her face as the teachings of her teacher were nothing more than mumbles in her ears at this point. That would soon be interrupted by the sound of her classroom door sliding open causing the classroom to go silent.
"There you are, Tezz."
Tessa's eyes shot open at the sound of the familiar, cheery voice. She turned to see it was indeed Manjiro Sano walking into her classroom. Draken was leaning in the doorway staring at her.
"Um, sir, I'm in the middle of a class right now." her teacher said as she stood there in confusion.
Tessa sighed and stood out of her seat. "I'm sorry about this Sensei. I'll handle it." She walked towards Mikey and the two walked out of the classroom. Once the door was shut and they walked a bit away, Tessa stopped in her tracks and whipped around to them, an annoyed look on her face. "What the hell are you doing here?!"
"We came to visit you. I missed you Tezz." Mikey said with a smile.
"You came to visit her," said Draken. "I just got dragged along."
"Come on, Kenny. You wanted to see her too."
Tessa pinched the section between her brows. "Look, it's bad enough you are at my place twenty-four seven. I do not need you showing up at my school too! And stop calling me 'Tezz'!"
Mikey ignored her statement. "Anyways, you aren't the only reason we came here."
"What do you mean?" Tessa raised her brow.
"Mikey made a new friend," Draken explained to her, "and he goes to this school."
"Oh," she muttered intrigued.
Mikey started to walk away from them and headed towards another classroom, Draken and Tessa tailing behind.
"Hey! You can't enter this school without permission!" one student said walking up to them.
"What middle school are you from?!" another one asked with anger.
Tessa sighed as she watched Draken precede to beat them up. "I go here."
"There you are. Come out and play, Takemitchy." Mikey said.
'Huh? Takemichi? Mikey knows him?' Tessa thought.
Takemichi walked out of the classroom to see all of the third years on the floor. "Are those all the third years?"
"They kinda' pissed me off so I flattened them all." Draken said.
Tessa scoffed and rolled her eyes. Takemichi turned to see Tessa standing a few feet behind. His eyes widened to see her here.
Tessa smiled. "Yo, Takemichi."
Mikey turned to her. "How do you know him?"
"Why do you need to know?" Tessa retorted.
"Because I have the right to know who interacts with my precious friend."
"Seriously?"
"Alright, enough." Draken cut in. He turned to the beat up third years. "Line up here idiots." He pointed in front of him.
Takemichi and Tessa watched as both Mikey and Draken step on top of the students and walked across them.
"I hear USG's been flaunting their power around Shinsen." Draken told Mikey.
"Cool. Let's kick their asses."
'The top guys in the Tokyo Manji Gang really are crazy.' Takemichi thought, a nervous smile on his face.
'Why am I friends with these morons?'  Tessa thought as well.
~~~
"How've you been?" Draken slung an arm around Takemichi and leaned down due to his height.
"I got beat up just yesterday." Takemichi answered.
Tessa listened while fiddling with the sleeves of her grey sweater she wore. Now that she thought of it, she could've sworn Mikey mentioned meeting someone that got beat up by Kiyomasa, one of their members who was running a fighting ring yesterday. That would make sense considering Takemichi showed up to school with bruises and bandages.
"You're free today, right?" Mikey asked him.
"Uh, no, not really." Takemichi answered.
Mikey and Draken then turned to Tessa.
"Do I even have a choice?" she groaned out.
"Let's go then," said Mikey.
"Stop right there!"
All four of them turned to see who yelled at them. Tessa's eyes widened slightly to see Hinata walking towards them, a stern look on her face.
"Who are you?" Draken asked.
Takemichi rubbed a hand behind his neck nervously. "Sorry, Hina, I'm pretty busy."
Tessa watched as Hina raised her hand and slapped Mikey across the face. She watched Takemichi's eyes bug out of his head and Draken with a vein popping out.
"Oh shit," she muttered with dread.
"Tessa, what are you doing here?" Hina asked her noticing her standing behind.
Tessa didn't know how to answer. Before she could spit one out, she grabbed both Takemichi and her hand and started to walk away.
"Let's go. You musn't do what these people want. I'll protect both of you." Hina stated.
Tessa and Takemichi looked at each other and then looked down at Hinata's hands that had their arms.
'She's trembling,' they thought.
A large hand grabbed Hina's hand that had a hold of Tessa's arm.
"Oi, I'll murder you, bitch." Draken said darkly. He grabbed Tessa's arm and ripped her away from Hinata and put her behind him. "You're just gonna' slap someone and then say "see ya' later"? Don't make me laugh."
"What part of this is a joke?" Hina said.
"Hah?"
"Coming into their school and forcing someone to go with you isn't something a friend would do. Lately, Takemichi has been covered in wounds. If that was because of you, then I won't forgive you." Hina stated.
Takemichi put a hand on Draken's shoulder. "Let go of her."
"What did you say? I didn't quite hear you?" Draken asked him.
"I said let her go, you dumbass!!" Takemichi shouted.
"You bastard." Draken leaned down towards Takemichi, a vein present on his temple. "Who do you think you're talking to?"
"Draken," Tessa warned him but he ignored her.
"I won't give up on her a second time!"  exclaimed Takemichi.
Tessa was confused by this. What did he mean 'again'? She turned to look at Mikey who hasn't said a word.
"Ah, and here I thought you could be my friend. Too bad. Well then, how do you wanna die?" A scary look took over Mikey's face.
Takemichi felt a shudder pass over him, but he stood his ground as Mikey walked towards him.
"Just promise me one thing." he said.
"Hm?" Mikey sounded.
"Promise that you won't lay a hand on Hina."
"I don't give a damn about her." Mikey said as he reeled his fist back ready to punch Takemichi.
Takemichi scrunched his face up ready for the impact.
"Just kidding!" Mikey said as he stopped a few inches from Takemichi's face.
"Huh?" Takemichi said utterly confused. He was sure he was about to get pummeled.
"Takemichi, you dummy." Mikey slapped Takemichi's shoulder playfully. "There's no way I'd lay a hand on a girl."
Takemichi was surprised by this.
"Takemichi, you were trying to threaten me." Draken said.
"I'm sorry," Takemichi whispered.
"It's okay. You won't give up on her. Nowadays, there aren't any men that will say that about women, are there? It's the Showa Era after all."
Once they got outside, Hinata bowed to Mikey. "I'm so sorry! I must have misunderstood something."
"It's okay, don't worry about it." Mikey replied. He rubbed his had against his cheek. "It was an amazing slap."
"Agreed," said Tessa placing a hand on Hina's shoulder. "You slapped him almost as good as I do when he pisses me off."
"It's fine to do your best for the man you like, but don't get too carried away. Things would have been bad if you'd hit someone that would fight back, you know." Mikey explained to her.
"Yes!" Hina exclaimed.
The four of them said goodbye to Hinata and left.
~~~
Takemichi was thinking the whole time as he pedaled on the bike with the others. He learned about Toman from Naoto twelve years from now. They were a heinous gang responsible for so many crimes. He learned about Manjiro Sano, the boss of Toman, who was a cruel person, and apparently hated as he remembered Akira's face when she looked at the picture of him. Is this guy really the boss of the terrible Toman?
"Why were you pleased with me before?" Takemichi asked Mikey as he pedaled.
"That's a stupid question." Mikey replied.
"Sorry," Takemichi said.
"I have a ten years older brother. Well, he's dead now." Mikey said looking up at the sky.
Takemichi listened quietly.
"He was a reckless guy. He'd always calmly challenge guys way stronger than him to fights."
"He sounds like a cool person." Takemichi said.
"You are like him, Takemichi." Mikey stated.
"Huh?!" Takemichi exclaimed. "I'm not that cool!! No matter how you look at it!!"
Mikey laughed. "Well, it's true he wasn't as lame as you, Takemichi."
"That's mean," Takemichi muttered.
They stopped their bikes on a hill looking out towards the city.
"This is an era where delinquents are called "lame" isn't it? In my brother's generation, there were quite a lot of street gangs in this area. There, you'd listen to your intuition and act on it. Everyone acted big. And all they did was fight. But everyone took care of themselves. What was so lame about those guys?"
Mikey sat down on the grass and smiled. "That's why I'm going to create an era for delinquents. You should accompany me on that journey. I was pleased by you, Hanagaki Takemichi."
"We have plenty of guys that are good at fighting, but there aren't many guys like you who would stand against anyone if it were for something you couldn't give up. Think about it, Takemichi." Draken spoke to him as him and Mikey walked away.
Takemichi didn't know what to say.
"They're right."
He turned to see Tessa standing beside him.
"You impressed me, Takemichi. I'd like to see you on this journey." Tessa walked away.
Takemichi watched her walk away before a thought crossed his mind. "Tessa!!"
Tessa stopped and turned to him.
"You're affiliated with Toman. What are you in it exactly?"
Tessa was thrown off by this answer but answered him anyway.
"I'm Toman's Advisor," she said and walked away.
'Toman's...Advisor?'
~~~
After Takemichi parted ways with Tessa, he began the trek home. Thoughts were running around in his head. Tessa was Akira's older sister and also affiliated with Toman. He never heard Akira mention her name back when he was in 2017. He wondered what happened to her. Also, Mikey is a delinquent, but he isn't a "bad person". In 2017, Toman rams a truck into a festival and kills Hina, someone with no connections to them at all. At the very least, he's definitely not the same person as the boss of that organization. He wondered if something changed in Mikey? He was so in his thoughts that he didn't notice someone walk past him.
"Sano Manjiro and Kisaki Tetta. If those two had never met, then the current Tokyo Manji Gang wouldn't exist."
Naoto's words sounded in his brain, but why now? He turned to look back at the three people that were walking the opposite way. The one in the front gave him familiar vibes.
"Hmm, I feel like I've seen that guy somewhere before."

A/N:
So, I'll try to update every Saturday and get as many chapters written during the week so I don't fall behind. Also, Tessa is a year younger than Mikey and Draken (just to clear that up) anyways see you next Saturday