The plan this time was simple. Follow Kisaki and uncover the exact events that lead to this present. Something must have changed that led to Kisaki surviving.
It could not have been Sanzu, as he has not made any moves in the past yet. His only way of figuring it out was to follow his primary lead and hopefully connect some dots.
It was not hard to keep track of Kisaki's location, he simply threatened one of the employees to get him a car (The dude was awfully polite, despite having a gun pointed at his head he asked if he needed a driver. No thank you, Sanzu can drive himself.) and followed the black limousine. The employee he threatened must have had some six sense, and thankfully gave him a plain gray car that blended into the sea of four wheels and did not arouse suspicion nor stood out.
The plain car was a gift and a curse. It was not until he was speeding in the highway, tracking down the limousine at max speed so as to not lose it from sight that he saw himself in the reflection and cringed.
A plain car to blend in my ass, his bright pink hair made him stick out like dog's balls. His impeccably clean and perfectly ironed lavender suit which complimented his eyes and made his hair pop out just made him feel like a clown. The only thing missing was a big red nose.
He was one second away from bonking his head against the wheel, but had to take a sharp turn first to catch up to the limousine.
The best course of action at the moment was to sink into his seat as far as possible and drown in embarrassment. Not that it would help hiding in case he was seen, but his hands were a tad too busy to at least take off the vest and tie.
Maybe getting a driver would not have been that bad of an idea. Whatever. For now he'll have to focus on not getting seen by Kisaki or his companion.
Sanzu briefly wondered who that could have been. He did not manage to catch a good glance at the man given he was mostly concealed by the car but he could deduce it must have been someone close to Kisaki by the familiar tone he used to catch his attention. Sanzu wandered through his memories, trying to find someone with that description.
Right.
Kisaki always had some lanky dog following him around. Hanma, if he recalls correctly.
Hope blossomed in his chest despite the unbelievable situation.
This is a giant lead into discovering the truth of the nightmare he has been trapped in. First time travel, then parallel universes where people hit by trucks somehow survived, Sanzu felt as if anything could happen at this point.
He sped up the car, close enough where if he squinted he could read the limousine's number plate.
Where were they going at such speed?
The decision to follow Kisaki has been a very impulsive one, so Sanzu hoped it paid off somehow, and would not lead him to trouble.
His silent thinking got rudely interrupted by the catchy tune of Russian Roulette. He struggled to pick up his phone to answer the call before putting it on speaker and throwing it on the seat next to him. The voice on the other line almost immediately triggered a headache.
"Sanzu you moronic druggie. Are you seriously dim-witted enough to forget the meeting you planned? Where the fuck are you!?"
"Koko, great to hear you are doing well." The sarcasm in his tone was clear, an indication of his patience running thin from the day's prior interactions. The last thing he wanted to deal with is a pissed off Koko, who had always been an expert lie detector and could see right through his deceits.
"First of all that's Kokonoi Hajime to you. Are you on the highway? I-I can hear the cars pass by- please don't tell me you're driving high right now." Sanzu did not miss this part of the future, it seems that some things do not change. "We need you to come here this instant, Muto is asking for you and Inupi and I can't cover up for you forever."
"First of all, I'm not high. I think. I just need to settle some business first, I should be there soon. Tell Muto to, uh, just wait a few more minutes." And mind his fucking business. It has been (technically?) a decade since he last saw him and is still a pain in the ass. "Also I thought the meeting was a tad later."
If Kisaki's words were anything to go by, he should not have been worrying about this meeting just yet. Saznu had assumed that by following the dead man walking he should arrive in time for whatever meeting this is.
For now some half-trues should be enough to calm the frantic man on the other side of the line.
In a sudden sharp turn the phone went flying across the car, almost hitting him on the forehead.
"Business? This meeting should be your only business! And what the fuck are you doing? I can hear you thrashing the car around, don't speed up moron-"
"Don't tell me what to do-"
"-shut the fuck up. And no, the meeting has not officially started yet, but we were assigned to be the arrangors this month, remember? It was you who insisted for us to come earlier. Oh my god, you forgot, didn't you. All those drugs are frying your fucking brain-cells. At least tell me you informed Kisaki of the meeting."
"Informed he is, me an-"
"-I don't like that unsure tone in your voice."
"I did tell him! And Kisaki and I will probably arrive at a similar time."
"So you are coming late. Great news. Phenomenal news even! Sanzu, I thought you to be one of the only ones in Toman I could trust to take this seriously, but it seems I was mistaken. I should have listened to Inupi, the only thing you care about is Mikey. I bet he's involved in your apparent business, but I will not pry. I'm not sure how many times I have to tell you this. But stop dragging everyone else into your messes." Koko screamed one last time before hanging up, not giving Sanzu time to respond.
An ugly feeling crept up his throat, but he tried to swallow it down.
He was far too detached to everything around him and couldn't care less if shit went wrong or if he was acting off-character to his colleagues. This future was not worth living in without his life work, without Bonten, and without Mikey.
Koko was right about that.
