It had been hectic, to say the least.
Takemichi sighed on his way to school. A bit unfair to have to attend classes as if nothing happened.
He just wished he had at least gotten some coffee before leaving the house. He could already feel a headache incoming.
"Takemichi!" A voice shouted behind him. Takemichi did not even need to look back as Hina's voice was something he would never forget. He slowed his steps down, and soon enough, Hina caught up to him, a bit breathless but otherwise appearing fine.
He tried giving her an easy smile as he greeted her good morning, but Hina's concern was noticeable from a mile away. She almost looked as restless as he felt.
"Takemichi, what happened last night?"
The boy coughed awkwardly. It was hard to look her in the eyes when he could see her practically radiating with anxiety as she eyed Takemichi for any noticeable injuries. It made him feel weird and a touch uncomfortable. His unease had nothing to do with Hina personally. It had been his phone call and thus his fault that she must have appeared so restless.
Throughout the entire night, he had berated himself for accidentally calling her. It was just so hypocritical to rant about how much he wanted to save Hina and then possibly place her in a much more dangerous situation. There were still many unanswered mysteries about Sanzu, and without a phone to carry around, he felt much more vulnerable than before.
The best option would be to consult the situation with Naoto, but in truth, it was frightening to even think about leaping back to the present after the gunman ordeal. The fact that whatever happened back at Naoto's apartment was still unsolved stroke him as peculiar and disturbing. It was all too similar to Sanzu's strange antic. But how did it correlate? What was Sanzu's intent?
Just.
Lots to think about.
Takemichi did not feel prepared for any more interactions.
"I tried calling you back, but you didn't respond." Hina continued. "I was ready to march into your house myself, but my dad wouldn't let me. I was so worried for you." She was visibly angry and noticeably tired if the messy hair was anything to go by.
Takemichi understood her frustrations. He had been vague as hell in their conversation, simply hanging up after a brief (although terrifying) exchange of words. Despite the obviously shitty situation, there was some sort of relief at the fact that she did seem to care for him.
"You, um, you called me back?"
"Duh." She huffed. "I tried calling you several times. Both your landline and personal number, but you didn't answer. I even asked Takuya to call you, and you didn't respond either. What happened last night? Did you get robbed?"
In Takemichi's defense, the entire night was a blurry memory. In no way did he recall any phones ringing.
The only sort of memory after the Sanzu encounter he could recollect was how embarrassingly long it took him to get up from the floor and realize that none of what happened had been a dream. And almost puke again, the house smelled terrible.
He wished he could pretend it had been a horrible nightmare, but after spending the entirety of the night panic-cleaning every single corner and bawling his eyes out from stress, he had some time to process the bizarre event.
"My phone, right now, is broken. Like it completely broke down yesterday after I called you when I was with Emma. I, um, I accidentally dr-"
"Dropped it on the floor?" Hina sighed. In the twelve years that had passed, he had forgotten about just how clumsy he had been in his teenage years, especially regarding his phone. It had gotten better over the years, but it seemed that muscle memory of not dropping your shit did not time leap alongside him. Hina appeared well aware of this annoying fucking quirk of his, which made it all the more embarrassing.
Takemichi scratched his hair, avoiding her pointed stare. "Yeah. The phone's just scrapped metal at this point."
"Right. I mean, that's believable coming from you, but you're still avoiding explaining to me why you called in the middle of the night. You sounded terrified."
Her concern was endearing, although it also put a heavy weight in his chest. How humiliating to be pitied by a teenager, the same one he is supposed to save. Yeah, sure, Takemichi was technically a teen too. He did not feel like one, though. He was not one, no matter how much he pretended.
"It was a weird nightmare. Forget about it."
His only option was to keep this to himself and not to burden those around him. Hina, of course, did not look persuaded. Takemichi barely believed his own words, well aware of how much of a mess he looked like.
Cleaning that mess up had taken him, quite literally, the entire night. To the point he had to rush on his way to class, forgetting to style his hair or properly button up his uniform. Hell, the smell will probably still linger for a few days.
Even Kiyomasa's beatdown had not made his muscles so goddang sore. His entire body was aching after trying to scrub away the dry blood from the entrance's carpet. He did not do a very good job, and after praying that his mother would not notice its absence once she traveled back home, he took the filthy carpet and threw it in the outside trash.
A somewhat late spring cleaning. That's a decent excuse.
"Let's go before we're late." Takemichi sighed. He had no desire nor energy to attend class, but it was the best alternative at the moment.
If last night had not ended so badly, he would have skipped school to hang out with Mikey and Draken. However, all he wants to do now is avoid anything Toman. Which sucked, given that the only reason he was time leaping was to save this stupid delinquent group. It felt like the entire world was against him.
Hina grabbed his hands, simply giving him a soft smile as they walked to school in silence. Just how much of a crybaby was he? That delicate touch, the sense of comfort and safety was enough to send him to tears.
It had been impossible to stay at his house any longer without triggering another panic attack. Just one second of pure silence would make his heartbeat completely erratic and spiral his mind into paranoid thoughts, which did not feel very nice.
Throughout the entire night, he constantly looked over his shoulder, flinching at every single little noise.
But Hina's hand felt nice against his own. It felt grounding. Takemichi felt just a tad more relaxed. Having a friend that sticks around no matter what stupid shit he does and would always be there to support him was not something he had gotten used to.
Takemichi rubbed his eyes, which surely revealed his exhaustion. He felt like shit, sure, but there were bigger issues at hand. Like for example, the whole Draken murder mystery he had to now solve for himself. And math class, first thing in the morning as well, much to his dismay.
This sucked. Takemichi hated feeling so scared. He wished he could hang out with Mikey and Draken and forget about the rest. The thought that Draken's death would occur if he did not intervene soon was terrifying, and yet there was no motivation for him to keep going. It was cowardly for sure, but he truly felt exhausted.
"What do we have after math?" Takemichi asked once they reached the school grounds.
The massive size of the school appeared opposing but still far better than the oppressing atmosphere back at his house. Takemichi wanted to be nowhere. He wished to stay in his bed, in his old apartment, and watch the time pass by.
"The science test."
Shit.
