𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗥 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗘𝗡 // 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘫𝘪𝘳𝘰 "𝘮𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘺" 𝘴. (HIATUS)

⇢8.

Despite the amount of anguish he felt, the number of tears falling from his eyes, the level of pain he felt in his heart; his nose filled with snot as he sniveled; a crybaby. Takemichi proudly stated what he wanted, no, what he was going to do, willing to take whatever measures necessary to give his loved one the lives they deserve; a hero. Tokyo's Crybaby Hero.

"I want to save all of them!"

~

~

~

The next day, Takemichi went to the movie store he worked at, only to be met with a firm,

"You're fired."

"Huh?" His manager continued to nonchalantly put movies into their rightful place.

"Oh come on, it can't be that surprising. You just disappeared for two weeks," she stood up. "And I wonder who got to take the blame for that one."

"I'm sor-"

"Fired."

'Right...it's been two weeks.'

"Uh...about my pay-"

"Look for direct deposit."

Later on in the evening, Takemichi found himself back in Naoto's apartment.

"Say Naoto," Takemichi started with a hand on his chin. "Maybe I can tell past Hina about her future? Just like I did with you-"

"Absolutely not," Naoto replied with a firm rebuttal. "Takemichi-kun, are you trying to take the easy way out?" Takemichi quickly waved his hands.

"No, that's not..." Takemichi nervously pointed his index fingers together. "I'm not trying to take the easy way out because life is hard or anything."

"What if my sister ends up thinking you're crazy and disliking you? No one would believe this under ordinary circumstances. How stupid are you," Naoto sighed. "I just so happen to believe you back then because I was into occult stuff back then."

"Yeah, you were pretty sharp. Wait...did you just call me stupid?" Naoto looked down at a file in his hand.

"Sendo is dead, so we won't be able to see Sano," Naoto looked up at Takemichi. "The only way to save my sister is to go into the past and change Toman." Takemichi slowly sat down, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them.

"So we're back to the beginning. If only Draken were alive..."

"Are you talking about Ryuguji Ken?" Takemichi nodded.

"Yeah. Did you look him up?"

"Yes," Takemichi stood from his spot on the floor and made his way over to the detective. "Here's the newspaper from back then. On August 3rd, 2005, in the parking lot of Musashi Shrine in the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo, fifty members of a biker gang had a brawl," Naoto turned to look at Takemichi. "A young man in his third year of middle school was beaten and stabbed in the abdomen, then he died." Naoto turned back to the computer. "Several posts about the incident are still available."

Naoto's finger glided across the pad on his laptop, scrolling through more posts regarding Toman. "Because of their inner strife between the Mikey Faction and the Draken Faction of Toman, Ryuguji died."

"Wait! Hang on a sec," Takemichi exclaimed, leaning closer to Naoto's laptop. "August 3rd, only two weeks away!" The detective nodded.

"That's correct, but twelve years ago." Takemichi took a step back, jutting his lower lip into a confused pout.