My Sanity | Tokyo Revengers [Sano Manjiro x OC]

Interlude II

How the hell can the future keep getting worse? How many times did he jump back and forth between past and present and it was still horrible? He even had an ally but he was dead now. Each time Takemichi managed the change the past, but the universe seemed not to want things to go well. Even becoming the Captain of the First Division was not enough. He was a top executive of Toman, he should have managed to prevent Hinata's death. Chifuyu even helped him. But he didn't. Instead, Kisaki killed the Matsuno man and almost killed him if Kazutora wouldn't have saved him.

And those new top executives. Three of them were unknown, looking intimidating and dangerous. But the most shocking was Satohiko. He was so pale and so slim. And the dark circles under his eyes were so big as if he was getting no sleep. Though his eyes were empty, they were incredibly dark and scary. He was not the same man Takemichi once knew. Even though he said nothing, Satohiko was deadly. His aura was lethal.

What the hell happened in this timeline?

"Kazutora," Takemichi said. "My memory's fuzzy... So I might ask you some weird stuff... Why did Toman end up this way...?"

Kazutora didn't answer immediately and focused on the road. It was quite strange, Takemichi didn't look the same as he used to. But it might just be the shock of almost ending with a bullet in the head.

"It was Mikey," Kazutora said. Takemichi froze, then stared at the long-haired boy in disbelief. "Mikey... has completely changed. Toman changed because Mikey changed,"

"That... can't be...," Takemichi breathed.

In this timeline, Toman was also a criminal organization. Mikey would have never let that happen. Takemitchy changed the past, Mikey did not kill Kazutora so why the future was this bad still?

"Someone else must've been behind it! Wasn't it Kisaki pulling the strings?!"

"While Kisaki was holding you captive, Pah-chin and Peh-han were killed," Kazutora said. Again, Takemichi froze. "Mikey ordered it, of course. Mitsuya went missing several months ago. Mikey had started purging the old members of Toman. He doesn't even trust his friends anymore. He's not a delinquent anymore. Mikey's gone... completely evil,"

Takemichi said nothing. It couldn't be. Mikey was not like that. He was kind and would never go against his friend. He trusted them. He would do anything for them. So why did he change so much? Why would he kill them? Even if there were new members, Mikey would always protect the founders. And Sakiko would have never allowed this. She would have done someone.

"I'm one of the people who made him changed...," Kazutora quietly said. Even after all these years, the void Baji left was still palpable. "Baji's death took a toll on him, more than we thought. But what made him cross the point of no return... was Saki's death...,"

Takemichi's heart sank deep in his stomach. What did he just say?

"Saki-chan... is dead...?"

But how? Why? She was saved! They saved her on her birthday so why was she dead in this timeline? Why was she dead again? Was it her heart? Or was it something else?

"It's been seven years," Kazutora said, eyeing Takemichi weirdly. "Did you forget? That was when everything changed...,"

Takemichi said nothing. Instead, flashbacks flooded his mind. Images of a wailing Mikey, holding the corpse of the woman he loved so much in his arms, appeared in his head. Then an expressionless Mikey, followed by others where he was covered in blood, his eyes dark but empty. He was watching Satohiko, eyes full of madness and hatred, beating up a man to death.

How did this happen?

"It happened the year Mikey and Saki were supposed to get married," Kazutora explained. "Mikey wanted to step down, resulting in the dissolution of Toman if no successor was found. But things got messy. The Black Dragon was becoming greedy and wanted to defeat us. A conflict broke off and Sakiko was killed. No one knew it happened. Toman was fighting at the time, and they won. But when Mikey got home that day, expecting to reunite with Saki, he found her dead in their living room, the logo of the Black Dragon drew on her stomach. Mikey had never been the same since. He looked for the ones who did this and when he found them, he killed them,"

Takemichi said nothing. Loving the one person you had ever loved so dearly... and finding them dead in the place you were supposed to feel safe... finding out their life had been taken by your enemy... finding out they were killed while you were away... it changes people. Takemichi understood why Mikey became who he was now. Losing Hinata changed him. He knew the pain. He knew the anger. It was a destructive goddess.

"That was also the turning point for Satohiko," the long-haired boy continued. "After that, he changed too. He cut ties with Sumiko, the youngest sibling, and joined Toman. He's one of, maybe the most murderous of the gang. Killing is as banal as putting a shirt on for him now. Even though the Black Dragons are blood-thirsty guys, if they killed a civilian it was not pointless. How did they even know Saki was there at that moment?"

"Wait... you think...,"

"Chifuyu and I are certain Kisaki ordered her killing," Kazutora nodded. "Saki had a huge influence on Mikey. She was his sanity. She was what kept him from falling into darkness completely. But to Kisaki, she was the one who would make the great Manjiro Sano step down from leading the greatest gang in Japan. To him, she was holding him back, she was putting a stop to his schemes. So she was to be eliminated. And without her, there would be no one left to keep Mikey from falling. Mikey lived for her sake. Without her, he had nothing to live for, nothing to hope for. He doesn't care about anything anymore,"

Mikey had already lost so much. His brother, his childhood friend, then the woman he loved. He was in a state of mind where nothing mattered anymore. He had already lost everything he cared for so what was the point of staying on the good path? All it gave him was suffering. He had nothing to fight for anymore. Darkness was the only thing he had left.

"Anyway, Mikey right now is a real dangerous guy. I want to talk to him face to face. Tell him he gotta get away from those guys,"

"Which guys?"

"Kisaki's violence, money from the Black Dragon," Kazutora said. "If nothing is done about those two things, Mikey will never regain himself. But we have to get Satohiko out of here too. Mikey will never leave him behind. Sato's the last remnant of both his brother and fiancée,"

Mikey had fallen in the most abyssal darkness. He was no longer the bubbly boy Takemichi was friends with. Now he was a real demon. Takemichi had to do everything in his power to prevent this from happening. He had to save Hinata. He had to save Draken. He had to save Chifuyu. He had to save Mitsuya. He had to save Pah-chin and Peh-han. He had to save Sakiko. And now he had to save Mikey as well. Never Takemichi though Mikey would be one to be saved. He was so strong, so charismatic. But these kinds of people sometimes have the heaviest burden and the weakest mental health. Too many responsibilities meant too many things at risk to lose.

"Help me out, Takemichi," Kazutora said, his voice full of determination. "This time, I want to help Mikey. I want to help Manjiro Sano,"