The Wanderer

Chapter 6:- Battle of 8/3

3rd August, 2005

"Today is the day we get attacked, don't we Kiyotaka-kun."

In the warm afternoon shade, my friend Takemichi said so to me. It is certainly true. However there was no need to be afraid.

"It seems so. You confirmed it with Naoto in the future didn't you?"

I, Naoto and Hinata were now on first name basis.

"Yeah, it seemed that even though the conflict had been resolved, Draken-kun still died. Sadly the cause was unknown."

Perhaps, we hadn't yet solved the root cause in the current timeline yet.

"Oh and by the way, I had been trying to tell you this for a long time but didn't for whatever reason. Whenever I go to the future, Naoto kind of forgets about you, and it's like you don't even exist in the future......"

Looks like he finally decided to bring it up.

"This is just a theory of mine, because even I don't have a proper explanation for this. But I hope you understand."

Actually, I might just know the real reason why that happens. However it would be difficult to explain it to him. Not to say that he is stupid or anything, this concept was difficult in general.

"I can only exist, when the future you is present here. If you travel back to the future, there are two possibilities. One that you return, and the other that you don't. Since nothing is fixed until it is acted upon, I am in a state where I don't exist till you make the choice to return. I disappear, for as long as you stay in the future. However once you shake hands with Naoto, or just return back yourself, time resumes again from the moment you had left, for me."

I told Takemichi a single lie.

Nothing is fixed until it is acted upon.

Actually this universe, like I wondered before, is fixed. It has a tendency to change things to the minimal. In simple terms, everything is already fated to occur.

However Takemichi's powers transcend fate. He has the ability to change it. Thus, him coming back or not is never fixed or fated to occur. And therefore until he acts upon the decision to come back, I stay in a state where I am unable to do anything.

But right now there was no need to explain it to him. This much should be enough. Thanks to the explanation, Takemichi didn't think of that possibility. Well I don't want him to either, it might obstruct my future plans.

"Anyway, we will go to the festival today, make sure you are on guard. That's all for now, see you later."

"Oh yeah before we go, I was curious about how your meeting with that guy go."

"That guy? Oh you mean Inupi and Koko. Well they are two influential members of this one gang named Black Dragon. Koko is one popular guy in the underground world due to his money tactics. Kotegawa wanted to expand our business through Koko, which seemed to be successful, as now we have access to some more casinos where we can place our bets."

In short, our business was flourishing at an even higher rate than before. Whether Inupi and Koko were really trustworthy or not, or whether their "gang" interferes with us later on, was not a current concern of mine.

I bid Takemichi farwell with a waving hand. I saw his figure disappear, but my hand still continued waving.

Once he had left, I continued moving to my destination. Which was none, since I had no plans for the afternoon.

"Guess this is my day off".

Having said that, I started heading to nowhere in particular. Trying to pass time, anticipating the approaching battle.