Rearranging Fate | Tokyo Revengers x OC

124 • Stray Cogwheels

"The second time leaper is Sano Shinichiro."

Clapping a hand over her mouth, Reina suddenly felt like throwing up at the information Wakasa had just dumped on her, even though she was the one who told him to get on with it the second Sanzu told her he knew something. She had confirmed another time leaper existed with Sanzu, and she had her own suspicions. But to think it was none other than someone related to Mikey, the very person she had switched places with.

"And you...you were his trigger?"

"Yes." With his hands clasped behind his back and his back straight, Sanzu nodded. "It was the thirtieth of July, raining, Shin-nii was standing on the edge of a bridge, and...and he jumped." Sucking in a deep breath, Sanzu wrung his hands behind his back. "I was at his funeral, but next thing I knew, a few days had passed, I was standing in the middle of my room, it wasn't raining, and I have the memories of two lives."

"Ugh." Retching, Reina bent her body forward, dry heaving as one hand crumpled her collar while the other covered her mouth. She felt like someone was hammering her head and twisting her insides. Bile clawed up her throat, and she tasted bitter acid on her tongue. Her eyes clenched shut, traitorous tears beginning to well up behind her eyelids.

She guessed neither her mind nor her body was ready for such stress so soon.

There was a hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles along her spine. Warm steam hit her face, and when she opened her eyes, a glass of water was held in front of her. Glancing to the side, she saw Izana's knitted eyebrows, a frown etched on his face.

"I'll ask Akise-san to deliver some medicine." Kokonoi immediately pulled out his phone, probably to do more than just text Akise. "For now, you should drink that, boss."

Briefly, Reina wondered how the glass of water appeared, but she guessed Inui must've immediately run off to grab one. Clenching her eyes shut, Reina swallowed the rising bile with the warm water, a bit disappointed the water didn't burn her tongue.

Across from her, neither Wakasa nor Benkei changed their expressions, looking at her impassively, and Reina didn't know what to feel about that. Though she was grateful Sanzu had turned the lights off because her head still felt like it was being hammered.

"Sanzu." Burying her face into her hand, Reina pressed her temples. "What happened in Shinichiro-san's original timeline?"

"Mikey died."

"What?" Lifting her head from her hand, she stared at Sanzu incredulously, silently asking whether he was fucking with her. But she knew Sanzu wouldn't dare joke about something involving Mikey and death. "How?"

"In nineteen ninety-nine, Mikey got into an accident. Fell down the stairs and hit his head," explained the trigger. "The doctor said a part of his brain wasn't functioning, so he was reduced into a vegetative state where his body is alive, but his mind isn't."

"Oh, fuck." Feeling bile rising in her throat again, Reina snatched the new glass from Inui's hands and chugged the water down, coughing when some of it went down the wrong pipe. Heaving, she buried her face into her hand again, and asked, "How many months?"

Normally, people reduced into a vegetative state would die within the first six months, but some fortunate, or perhaps it was unfortunate for them, managed to live up to five years. Either way, they were nothing but people who didn't have a mind of their own, simply bodies that could still breathe. They were destined to die soon since recovery was almost impossible. So, how long did the original Mikey manage to stay alive?

"Four years," the trigger answered. "During those four years, Shin-nii became Mikey's sole caretaker." For those four years, Shinichiro lived solely for Mikey. "He gave up on his dream of opening a bike shop just so he could get the qualifications to take care of Mikey. He slept only when he was at his absolute limit." Oftentimes, he even forced himself past his limit. "His grandpa passed away from stress, and Emma ran away from home. His life was a total mess."