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Fate was funny. He guessed that it didn’t really like him much, but who knew, really.
Harajuku. A hotspot for teenagers. Renowned for its colorful streets and trendy bars, it was bright with youth fashion, dessert shops… So on so forth. Walking down the district, his earbuds hummed with nonchalant tunes.
It was a casual day when Takemichi bumped into her.
Rather, he didn’t really bump into her. Takemichi was aware of the short haired girl staring intently at the immodest amount of shopping bags littered around her feet, but it wasn’t like he ran into her or, like, approached her.
The reason why he was at Harajuku in the first place—well, let’s not talk about that. Sure, it was a hotspot for all the swell shops, etc, and well. Plugged into his earbuds, Takemichi was just about to walk past the girl until—
A hand grabbed the string of his earbuds and tore the music out of his ears.
Shell-shocked, Takemichi gaped at her.
Unblinking eyes only stared back.
“... Uh,” the taller of the two dumbly began. Undeterred, the girl only nodded her head towards her totes and boxes.
“Would you mind?” She merely stated. Her tone was very bland.
Takemichi stole a glance at the bags.
“Erm.”
“You busy or somethin’? Just carry some, here,” heaving up a few, she shoved them into his arms, completely confident (or didn’t care) that this random stranger wouldn’t just run off with her purchases.
Fumbling to make sure none of them drop onto the ground, Takemichi blinked wildly before getting pulled along.
That was how Takemichi met Senju.
In hindsight, Takemichi probably had a streak with getting-pulled-along-by-people-without-thinking-twice-about-it. That itself spelt danger, and for sure Takemichi was aware that he should get his life together, but at the very least… This time, well.
It’s not like with Emma.
The guilt and horrible feelings immediately shot him in the gut. Sure, two or three years ago he had been dragged to that dreadful karaoke bar with the younger, purely (he swore) thinking that they were just going to just sing or something, but, but—!
... Still. Takemichi barely knew Emma, but learning about the death of someone he knew was...
It wasn’t good.
(He wasn’t even sure if anyone would tell him, had the teen not idiotically brought up the girl’s name himself. Even now, Takemichi could remember the look on Hina’s face the moment he mentioned Emma, the younger boy completely unaware of the trauma that would be served with.)
Takemichi began sympathizing with Chifuyu. The amount of stress the younger probably had, wondering if he should tell the stupid, not-Crybaby Hero but dumb teenager Takemichi the truth. Had Chifuyu not reveal about the time leaps, Takemichi would still fuss over everything. So in other words, this was a losing battle. Nothing was the the best choice and it was because of himself—
… Great. This again.
Did fate hate him or something? No, that was just him. Him and his narcissistic self-hatred. Remember: the fact that he even still had friends was because of the time leaps. This was just a small price to pay, and like, if it weren't for this power... Draken, Chifuyu, Akkun, all of them, Hina. They'd be dead. Forever gone. Takemichi rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Hm, this looks pretty cool,” the girl whose name was still unknown leaned forward, window shopping this very suspicious and shady looking store. Gulping nervously, Takemichi shifted his hold on the bags. His arms were already aching. This was pathetic. A migraine was growing. What time was it? He nearly groaned.
Turning around, the girl jabbed a thumb at the door.
“Wanna check it out?”
Finally hitting a nerve, Takemichi blanched.
“I don’t even know you.”
“Oh right,” she wasn’t even fazed. “Senju. There ya go.”
Blanching harder, he tried again.
“You don’t even know me…?”
A beat.
They stared at each other.
“Then introduce yourself,” Senju decided. “Easy.”
Takemichi was speechless.
“Just spill it already,” she huffed, arms crossed over her chest. “What are ya called?”
“... Hanagaki.” Oh kami he was getting pulled along again.
Unaware of Takemichi's inner breakdown, Senju nodded.
“Gotcha,” grabbing his arm, they went and entered the shady store. “Let’s go.”
Let’s go, indeed.
It was not like with Emma, but who knew. Maybe the innocent shopping would suddenly shift gears, and Takemichi would suffer the consequences once more. It was almost suffocating, really, all of this. Recalling that embarrassing encounter with Kakucho just weeks ago, the inside of his mouth soured.
It was getting worse, these muddled thoughts. Dragging his feet along, Takemichi sat boredly at the side as Senju explored the clothing aisles.
“Heck, this looks insane!” She pulled out a very questionable outfit. There were chains pretty much on every inch of black cloth, and Takemichi, had it been a few years ago, would have thought it was pretty dope. But the Takemichi now was different (... At least, he believed so), he could not comprehend why anybody would even consider buying that.
Seeing how excited Senju was over the shirt, however, Takemichi decided to let her questionable tastes slide.
Not like he could really say much about it, though. All he had was graphic tees and… Yeah. That was all. Mmhm. That was definitely all.
“The amount of knives you can hide in this!”
… Excuse me?
She stuck out her tongue.
“Just joking, Hanagaki.”
“... Haha, very funny.”
Occasionally, Takemichi wondered who the hell was paying for all of this. As Senju swiped out a… Rather suspicious black card, handing the thing over to the cashier and purchasing another ten boxes, the teen concluded that she probably came from a very rich family. That, or who knew, really.
Takemichi decided not to question it.
Senju dragged him to the next store. Gazing at the sunglasses hanging in rows, Takemichi waited as the girl tried out more clothes.
The next store. The store after that. Takemichi asked if the products could be delivered instead, to which the store keepers quickly sympathized.
Arms mostly free now, Takemichi blinked slowly when he noticed Senju trailing to a pause at the ice cream vendor.
“Oh,” Takemichi blinked again. Seventeen Ice. “That’s pretty good, I tried it out a few months ago.” With Akkun and the gang. “The chocomint’s nice.”
“Chocomint?” Drawing back in slight disgust, Senju shot him a weird look. “Seriously? Mint and anything sweet never go together, y’know.”
Takemichi made a smug grin. Buying two, he shoved one into her hands.
“Try it," he challenged.
Peering doubtfully at the ice cream, the girl sent Takemichi one more look before taking a bite.
Then her eyes widened, and Takemichi took that as a win.
“Hmm?!! It’s great!!”
“See, I told you!!”
“What is this?! It’s a whole new discovery, what the hell!!”
Takemichi began laughing. Biting into his own snack, he enjoyed the minty taste that was followed by the chocolate bits. A good, icy taste.
Senju continued to squeal over the ice cream snack.
“What are you doing shopping by yourself, though?" Takemichi found himself asking. "That’s an insane amount of stuff you bought.”
“Hm? Oh, my bro just said to go shopping or something. ‘Do something more lady-like,’ I dunno.”
“Huh.”
“Yup.”
“So that’s your brother’s card?”
“Hell yeah.”
“Wow,” Takemichi stretched his shoulders. They began walking.
“Well, it wasn’t like I was shopping alone,” Senju hummed. “You’re here with me, so.”
Takemichi raised an eyebrow.
“You went ahead and dragged me along.”
“And you never left,” ... Point taken. “Oh, what were you listening to earlier?”
The old iPod was heavy in his pants pocket. Glancing at it, Takemichi made a small shrug. The abrupt feeling when Senju tore his earbuds off still tingled in his ears.
“... Just this and that. Inspiration, I guess.”
“I wanna listen.”
He sighed.
Tossing her the device, she happily plugged it in and pressed play.
The two wandered around for a bit. Reaching a bench, Senju happily sat down, legs swinging and eyes closed to the tune. Takemichi sat on the other end.
“Instrumentals,” Senju murmured, “huh.”
“... Yeah.”
“You into music?”
Takemichi scratched the back of his head.
“Not really. Just been playing a bit, I guess. Guitar.”
“Cool.”
It became quiet. Relaxing a bit, blue eyes looked up. Some time was spent staring at the afternoon sky. Absentmindedly listening in on the nearby chatters, Takemichi thought about guessing where Senju was right now in the playlist. But thinking about it, he would probably hit far off the mark.
Just like with Kakucho, he thought wryly. Takemichi didn’t realize that his childhood friend had already reunited with “himself.” Himself, that was, his future-self.
How embarrassing.
His ice cream melted a bit.
Maybe he was being spiteful.
“What’s on your mind?”
Jolting at Senju’s voice, Takemichi whipped his head to the other’s direction. Senju had one eye open, ice cream stick sticking out from one corner of her lips.
“You’re brooding. Harajuku’s so busy, no one will pay attention. Talk ‘bout it?”
Both earbuds were still stuck in her ears. Senju continued looking through one eye, this gesture that Takemichi wasn’t sure how to describe.
“... Ah,” fidgeting a bit, Takemichi made a weak smile.
“Well.”
Where to begin?
The beginning, he guessed.
“I… Have a girlfriend,” head lowered, his face flushed a bit. Of all things, he started from there. Sure, that was kind of the start, but still. He clenched his hands into fists.
Senju made no move to interrupt, however. She let him be, finishing up her ice cream.
Takemichi tried again.
“I love her. A lot. We’ve been together for years now. Though… I…”
Spending a few seconds struggling to find the right words, a small sigh was finally made.
He tried to ignore the way his eyes burned.
“She’s... Probably looking ahead, for someone else.”
There were a few beats of silence. Head bowed down some more, Takemichi pressed his forehead against his fists.
Ah...
The silence was loud, almost. Having ran out of words, Takemichi left it like that.
Senju only blinked.
“Huh? She a two-timer or something? What a fella you have there.”
Takemichi sputtered.
“What?! No! No, that’s not what I mean oh gosh—”
“What else do you mean, then?” Senju sweatmarked. “Can’t really see it any other way.”
“I-I mean… It’s like, y’know,” kami, Senju wouldn’t know, “she’s looking ahead for who I will become… In the future? Yeah, something like that?”
The look of confusion grew. Takemichi could feel his face going beet red.
How in the world did Chifuyu explain everything to me without sounding crazy?!
“Ok...ay,” settling with a slow nod, Senju pursed her lips. “So, your girl is like… Huh. Sure, okay. Funky. But why would anyone like… I dunno, expect whatever from a future you, especially when you two are like… Dating? Gee. The dating world is sure scary.”
“Just ignore me,” throwing his hands onto his face, Takemichi could feel the tears gathering. Great. This stranger he barely knew for like, two hours, was going to see how much of a crybaby (not-Crybaby Hero, just a pathetic crybaby) he was. “Ahhggh, I’m just useless right now. Forget everything I just said, please.”
“Uh, it’s kinda hard to forget.”
“Please.”
“... If you say so, haha.”
Staying with his face covered, a few minutes passed as Takemichi pathetically attempted to hide his tears. He sniffled. Senju was probably very aware of his breakdown. Or not. Maybe this was like when she shoved her bags into his arms, without a single care of the world. He kind of hoped so, actually. This was awkward. So, so awkward.
Eventually, the sobbing stopped. Thankfully it did. Takemichi quickly wiped away the tear tracks, the cuffs of his uniform drenched.
… Though, now that he calmed down, blue eyes noticed. This was... Like Senju said.
Harajuku was busy. No one paid attention, not to his embarrassing crying.
Another sniffle. Trying to stop himself from shaking, he wiped his eyes again.
Senju fiddled a bit with Takemichi’s iPod. After a little, she lazily looked up to the skies. There was another phase of silence before she exhaled through the nose.
Then, she said out loud:
“Skydiving.”
Takemichi flinched.
“Eh?”
Turning her head, she grinned at Takemichi.
“Skydiving. We should go skydiving one day. It’ll be a heck of a lotta fun. Oh! You can bring your girlfriend, too. The more the merrier.”
“... S-skydiving, huh,” Takemichi scratched the back of his head. Skydiving. That sounded scary. He could imagine Hina doing it, though. Leaping off with her arms spread, smiling. “I don’t think I have enough guts to… Uh, y’know…”
“Don’t worry!! There'll be a few lessons before you actually jump. I think.”
… You think.
“But y’know,” grin dropping, Senju continued with a thoughtful gaze. “I bet it’s a really awesome feeling. Flying...”
With a raised hand, she tapped the side of her head.
“And then seeing everything, but not thinking ‘bout anything.”
Takemichi stared.
Senju smiled. In a swift motion, she tossed back his iPod.
“I should head back now. Thanks for hanging out with me, Hanagaki.”
“R-right.”
“Oh,” she blinked. “Maybe we should exchange numbers or something. How ‘bout it? Been a while since I hung out with someone my age.”
Pausing for a bit, Takemichi decided to nod.
“Sure.”
The blonde wasn’t sure why, but for some reason, his shoulders felt a bit lighter. Lighter, and despite bursting out into tears just a few minutes ago, he...
...
Deciding not to think too much about it, the teen went ahead and punched his number into the other’s phone. Senju did the same. Clack, clack, clack, and it was done. Phone handed back, Takemichi peered down at the screen.
Kawaragi Senju.
“Hanagaki Takemichi,” he heard Senju say. “Huh, so it’s really you.”
He looked up. “Huh?”
Senju threw her phone back into her bag.
“Wanna head for the station?”
Takemichi blinked slowly.
“Sure,” he decided.
Worming through the crowd, it suddenly occurred to him. The thought came out of nowhere, but still. Takemichi pondered.
Senju didn’t comment on his crying, did she.
... That was a first.
Walking together, they reached their destination pretty quickly. Even if he had a reason at the beginning, Takemichi forgot what he was doing at Harajuku in the first place. Alone, at that.
Regardless.
Glancing at his iPod, he thought about it some more.
A bad habit of his was to get pulled along. He went with Emma to the karaoke bar, the fool he was barely giving a single fight. When Mikey and Draken popped by that one time, they went to the bath house together as if they were longtime pals.
Takemichi barely knew them, however. All of them. Chifuyu, Hakkai, and suddenly Toman was disbanded, Takemichi standing in front of Naoto once more. Wounds littered everywhere on his body. His head throbbed occasionally, this gunshot wound near his toes. When everyone, even the friends he made before the black-outs (his future-self’s time leaps), talked about things that Takemichi had no memory of, he played along—went with the flow.
Just like Chifuyu, just like Draken.
Just like Hina, all of them trying so damn hard to help Takemichi (this Takemichi) feel like he belonged.
Because they were kind that way.
Blue eyes watched as everyone smiled. He tried smiling, too. Sometimes it came naturally. Other times, it was too hard. Something pressed in the back of his head. Something about Mikey, for some reason.
... He always smiled, didn't he?
Harajuku was edging towards the night. Takemichi pressed his lips closed.
A step was taken forth. Short, pale hair brushing against the wind, Senju spun around.
“Hey, Hanagaki.”
She grinned.
“Let’s hang out again!”
Ah. He was crying.
Takemichi quickly wiped the tears away. Senju didn’t comment on it, though. Just like last time, she never said a word.
Senju only smiled. Waited.
This was a stranger who shoved her bags into her arms. This was a stranger that he, Hanagaki Takemichi, met for the first time. A strange encounter, sure, but a meeting nevertheless.
Takemichi felt at ease. Shoulders light, he felt awfully… Okay
To Senju, he was not an image of the Crybaby Hero.
He didn’t need to pretend.
“... Yeah.”
So Takemichi grinned back.
“Yeah.”
Genuinely.
Actually—happy.
“Of course!!”
Hanagaki Takemichi had been afraid. It was a bit embarrassing, but he couldn’t help but imagine.
What if this was just like with Kaku-chan? That moment of ease—what if it was just the calm before the storm?
But it wasn’t. It never was.
Even if Senju had already heard of him before, his future-self’s heroics, this was alright. Takemichi was going to make it alright.
There was no need to cry.
“Y’know, the delinquent world is in flames right now,” Yamagishi said with a grave expression. “It’s intense, that three-way war of theirs’.”
“Yamagishi,” Takemichi groaned. “I told you, I’m not interested in any of that…”
“No, no, no, Takemichi,” Yamagishi pulled the chair closer. “Listen, it’s such big news!! Brahman’s boss died, it’s just insane.”
“Brahman?” Akkun pondered a bit. “I heard that they’re pretty deep with the whole yakuza stuff. Man, guess it’s really a good call to leave that world early.”
“Exactly, so can we stop gossiping about the dead?” Takemichi stated blandly. Taking out his math workbook, he grimaced at the blurry text written in small print. Thank the deities for Hina’s tutoring. He wouldn’t even have a single clue what this unit was about… If only there was a manga that delved into the workings of math.
“Brahman’s boss,” Yamagishi continued either way. “He was said to be unmatched, but to think that this would happen…”
“What was he called again?” Makoto said over Takuya’s shoulder.
“Hah? You don’t know? He was really famous!!”
“Underground famous, so of course I wouldn’t know! Just spill it already, Walking Delinquent Encyclopedia.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll tell,” Yamagishi lowered his voice.
“Kawaragi Senju.”
Everything froze.
Oh.
... There was an important realization. An eureka moment, even.
Calling that number, the ringing ended with a long, jarring beep.
(Takemitchy never met Senju.)
It wasn’t that fate didn’t like him.
(If that was the last handshake, then there was no reason for the Crybaby Hero to return and save her.)
(This was Takemichi's own problem.)
(He can't be selfish.)
(Not like this.)
Fate just didn’t care.