Toman's Little Sister

85 | Fate

Gods give the oddest blessings and call down the strangest curses.

You couldn't decide which one yours was. A power where you could see into the future, not on command, and not for yourself.

You didn't cry when Mikey died in the first timeline. You knew he would. Even a small child like you knew that it was inevitable.

But with Baji, you thought you could change it. He died right in front of you, you knew. You thought you could change fate. You thought you could challenge it. With Draken, you thought you won. But instead, fate chose Baji.

And suddenly, you met a boy. A boy who could challenge fate. A boy who stood with a dull sword and a shield that was the lid to a barrel when he fought others, but who rode a regal stallion with a blade that could cut through fire and a shield that could victor over lightning when he fought fate.

A boy who never gave up. He wasn't fast, strong, above average in intelligence. But he never gave up.

You tried to find one for so long.

When you were small, you thought it was Shinichiro. A boy who lost so much but maintained a smile. But he wasn't the one, recalling his death in his own shop.

You thought it was Baji, but fate got him too, long dead but never lost in your memory as the years go by.

That fateful day, when you saw a battered boy announce to the world that he wouldn't run as if they were all listening, you knew you found him.

You had this odd power to see into the future, but when you saw him, you saw no future, only a past.

A past full of regrets.

You saw it in the man that stood before you now. One who sat on the side of the road with nothing more than the clothes on his back so many years ago.

And suddenly, he was here, trying to kill you.

"I knew you were always unhinged." You said with a scowl.

"Hey, I had to work to be here."

"What kind of work did you have to do?! To do all this, how could this possibly be a prosperous life?"

"Oh... I was still homeless after going back in time. You'd think I'd be able to change that. But I was barely even back there, way back in the past." He looked up. "I just had to make a damn promise. And suddenly, I was back on the side of the road."

Takemichi spoke up. "Wait... this guy was a time traveller?"

"He was." You frowned. "All it takes is a really strong promise. A really strong drive. Like you, you wanted to save Hina. For Shinichiro... he wanted to save Mikey."

"Did you say... Shinichiro?"

You nodded. "Like I said, it takes a really strong drive from both sides. Your trigger at first was that you wanted to live. Same with Akkun. You both wanted to live."

"And then with Naoto, I wanted to save Hina."

You nodded again. "With Shinichiro, we wanted to save Mikey."

"'We'?" Mikey stepped towards you. "What do you mean 'we'?"

"A strong drive from both sides."

The man before you sighed, a heavy, dramatic sigh that made his shoulders drop. "My trigger was linking pinkies. And who the hell wants to link pinkies with a homeless man, huh? I tried to find you, but you got yourself killed." He laughed. "Imagine, the one person who didn't fear my filth... died."

"I didn't even think of you when I changed the timeline!" You aimed your finger in his direction. "You were supposed to make your life better, not stay a shitty person."