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When Chifuyu opens his eyes, he finds himself standing behind a familiar back. A tall and slender figure, with majestic long black hair.
The figure that Chifuyu memorized like a prayer and missed like a savior. Baji-san, alive and well. Standing tall with his confident and proud demeanor. And very much real.
Chifuyu almost cried, the last time he saw or dreamed of Baji was years ago before everything fell apart for the worst. And so, having such a good dream after a long time reminds him just how far his life had fallen for the worst these past 2 years.
Right, he didn't remember falling asleep. But he wished to not wake up just for a little bit longer. Wanting to savor this moment before he woke up to his miserable reality. A reality with no Baji-san, Draken-san, and Mikey-san.
The mess of the reality he lived in was his fault.
But who is he?
Why can't Chifuyu remember it?
The one who caused problems in the delinquent world that eventually led to Toman's downfall. It all started with Pah-Chin's arrest, Peh-yan's betrayal, Baji-san's death, Sano Emma's murder, and eventually Draken's death. But then...it ended with who? And who was he with during those times?
"Why are you standing like that, Chifuyu? Saw some cats or something?"
Baji's voice took him out of his deep brooding. Baji raised an eyebrow at him, with a questioning look plastered on his face.
Baji-san looks so real as if he was still alive and Chifuyu was sent back in time before the mess happened.
"What? Cat's got into your tongue or something?"
Baji-san hits him on the shoulder playfully and Chifuyu's eyes widen when he felt slight pain.
He realized, that this is indeed real. That Baji-san is in front of him, breathing and alive. He's not dead.
"B-... Baji-san, can you hit me once more?"
Baji looked even more confused and borderline concerned for Chifuyu.
"Oi, you're scaring me. What's wrong really? I mean, I don't mind punching you and all, but why are you even asking to be punched? You a masochist or something?"
Chifuyu knows he sounds weirdly suspicious. But he really needs to make sure that he is not dreaming.
"Just do it...Wait, Baji-san! What year is this-"
Before he could finish his words, Baji already delivered his deadly punch. And Chifuyu fell to the ground, wincing in pain from a sore jaw that will probably be a pain for the next few days. But he got what he needed. This is indeed reality.
"Oh shit- sorry, you were being really adamant about getting punched. It's April 2004 by the way. Did you hit your head this morning or something?"
2004.
The year where everything went bad.
In a few months, Pah-Chin's friend will be attacked by Moebius gang members, which will lead to the conflict between Moebius and Toman that ended with Pah-Chin's imprisonment. The very first tragedy, the start of Toman's downfall and Mikey's instability.
If this is reality then Chifuyu has the power to turn that around. To stop the bad things that will hit and ruin Toman.
Then he could save Baji-san and never lose him to death ever again. He would still be able to follow Baji-san's lead.
Yeah, that sounds nice. That sounded like Chifuyu's prayers after the Valhalla conflict.
To be together again with Baji-san.
And so, Matsuno Chifuyu's mission to save Toman from destruction began.
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Chifuyu realized, belatedly, that making up a plan to save people is difficult. Especially when you're alone and you are not the smartest person who knows what to do and how to do it.
He had tried to come up with a scenario to save Pah's friend. Or even, if it's possible, stop the Moebius members before they could attack him and his girlfriend. But it wasn't that easy, especially since he has no idea who is Pah-Chin's friend and there's no way he could ask Pah himself, as he is only a mere vice-captain of the first division. He's powerless, basically.
That's when Baji-san came in.
His captain had knocked on his door with a few packets of Peyoung Yakisoba noodle. Entering before being welcomed and quickly sat on the sofa. He demanded Chifuyu explain his odd behavior for the last few weeks. Asking why the younger boy had asked to be punched and now, Chifuyu even began to shut himself more. Which is high-key alarming Baji that something is off.
Knowing Baji will not accept any of his bullshit, Chifuyu decided to tell Baji the truth. Because having Baji on his side would definitely put him at an advantage. With Baji being one of the founding members and all.
Baji looks at him as if he was insane, but managed to listen to everything Chifuyu has to say. Only once in a while chirping in, either shocked by what Chifuyu has to say or cursing Kisaki Tetta.
"Wait, wait, so you're saying that I died? That Kazutora killed me?"
This question again. Baji has asked it more than 3 times already.
"Yes and no, Kazutora-san stabbed you, but then you stabbed yourself and bled to death"
Baji quiets down and takes a few moments to think things through. Or, just absorb all of the information about the future given to him in one go by Chifuyu.
He leaves his captain to go and cook the noodles. They're going to need a lot for this conversation. And by the time he returns, Baji looks at him with a determined look on his face.
"We need to stop the fall of Toman! Whatever it takes!"
Seeing his captain so determined reminded Chifuyu of someone, but he couldn't remember who it was. He feels like that someone also had the same determination as Baji-san when it came to protecting people that they care about.
Chifuyu decided to pay it no mind and start to discuss with Baji-san a plan to prevent Pah-Chin's friend from being attacked with his girlfriend.
Maybe it was just his imagination.
Maybe he didn't have anyone before.
Because what he remembered was being with Baji-san and then eventually, spending his days with Hakkai as his best friend.
Right now, saving what he couldn't save previously is way more important than trying to remember a ghost.
.
.
.
To put it simply, Baji-san and him worked in a great dynamic and managed to save Pah-Chin's friend. They beat up the Moebius members together. Even though they got a bit bruised up, they managed to fulfill their goal.
Pah-Chin's friend and his girlfriend are unharmed and Pah-Chin was notified about it. The third division's captain thanked him for their help and swore that the third division will always be on their side.
Baji gave him a proud grin, showing off his canines, and rubbed Chifuyu's hair.
"We did it! We saved Pah-Chin from three years of imprisonment! Hell yeah!"
Chifuyu laughed, he also felt proud of himself. Almost too proud. As if some part of himself is saying that they did better than someone. But again, Chifuyu decided to ignore that unsettling feeling and focus on the future.
The next big problem they're going to have was Mikey declaring war on Moebius for trying to attack Pah-Chin's friend. The war would be held in an abandoned field, a scenario that is unfamiliar with Chifuyu.
The dangers of 3rd August are no longer available. Because Peh-Yan didn't have a reason to betray Toman, and Kiyomasa has already received a beating from both Mikey and Pah-Chin for starting an underground fighting ring under Toman's name. He was beaten to a point where he would never dare to be near them again.
Baji and Chifuyu both agreed to celebrate simply by sharing their Yakisoba noodle. But their whole celebration meal was used to also discuss what to do next.
They both agreed on making sure Kisaki Tetta never joined or touched Toman.
Chifuyu feels like he is slowly, as cringy as it sounds, becoming a hero.
But he didn't dislike the feeling, instead, he feels honored to do noble things with Baji-san.
However, the unsettling feeling inside his chest didn't disappear. Even if it's been almost 3 months since he woke up to a new time dimension.
It keeps on bugging him to remember someone who probably doesn't exist.
But why does Chifuyu feel like he's missing something important?
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The very first time Chifuyu founded something that might lead to his unsettled heart is in a dream. Yes. A very unreliable source, but better than nothing.
He didn't know why he had a dream, but it must've been because he was so exhausted after the battle with Moebius. He sustained a few bruises and cuts while Baji is having a little bit of a concussion with a small number of bruises, but nothing new to their delinquency lifestyle.
His mother forced him to stay in bed for at least a week. If there's anything different from how she was in his previous life, it was her warmth and kindness. She was always a strict woman, affectionate but rarely expressed it, being a single parent and all that, but she became warmer and more caring towards him.
And so, he thinks God is giving him both a task and a gift.
The moment his body touched the bed, he automatically lose his consciousness to sleep.
But he didn't expect to dream of someone.
In front of him was a boy around his age, he has curly blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. He wore only a long white night-gown dress. He also didn't wear any shoes or anything. But he is fair-skinned and looked well-groomed, meaning he probably came from a rich family, but the fact that he doesn't have any footwear didn't make sense to Chifuyu. Other than that, he looked like he is a rich man's daughter.
Okay, if Chifuyu had to be frankly honest, then the boy looks beautiful.
But that doesn't answer the question of why he appeared in Chifuyu's dream. Because he is sure that he's never met the boy before.
He was about to call the boy out until suddenly, the boy was shot in front of him. Three times, on the chest. Making it a fatal wound. Some of the blood even spattered onto Chifuyu's face.
Chifuyu stood there frozen, as the boy fell down and grunts in pain. Heaving for oxygen as it's painful to even breathe. Chifuyu wanted to help him, but before he could even move. A dark figure shot the boy again. This time on the back of the head. Killing the boy for sure.
The boy's fresh blood leaked everywhere, staining his white dress. Light red doesn't look good on him, his brain unhelpfully supplies.
Chifuyu feels like he's about to vomit, his stomach churns at what he just witnessed. He feels like all of the oxygen inside his body has been taken out forcefully by the sight, and so, he feels suffocated.
Chifuyu couldn't hold back his horror and scream. Praying that someone will come to help them and take him away from here.
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"CHIFUYU! CHIFUYU! HONEY- WAKE UP, WAKE UP!!!"
Chifuyu wakes up to his mother shaking his body, as she looks panicked and terrified. Before pulling him into a tight hug and rubbing circles onto his back. He rests his forehead on his mother's shoulder, trying his best to calm his heart and gain his breathing back.
"Darling, what's wrong? Where does it hurt?"
His mother asks as she checks for every part of his body that could possibly be in pain. Chifuyu took a deep breath in and lets it go before shrugging.
"Just a bad dream...I overreacted"
His mother looked at him as if she was unconvinced but decided to let it go.
"Okay... Want to talk about it?"
Chifuyu shrugs. Because he's also not sure about what that dream is about.
But he hoped that he never dreamed of it again. He needs a lot of rest in order to save his gang! Not some nightly terror.
However, he couldn't get the boy out of his mind.
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.
.
After Baji attempted and succeeded at the 'retain Kazutora without dying and make him talk out his problems then convince him to go to a therapist' plan relatively unscathed.
Of course, some punches and kicks were exchanged between the two childhood friends. But the fist fight didn't involve any sort of knives or blades though, so Baji didn't bleed himself to death.
Baji managed to get to Kazutora before Kisaki and Hanma did. Then, he sit his childhood friend down and had a semi-serious talk with him. To which half of it were settled by sending punches to each other until either one of them gives up.
"It was one hell of a fight. Tora never disappoints. But God damn his uppercut hurts like a bitch"
Baji commented when he was getting patched up later, receiving a disapproving glare from his mother and a chuckle from Chifuyu.
Fortunately but unsurprisingly, Baji won and he talked Kazutora into revealing his problems and mended their cracked bond with each other.
Their plan was to rehabilitate Kazutora first and heal his emotional wound. Once Kazutora's condition is better, they will start their attempt to help Kazutora make peace with Mikey.
Due to the complicated history of Baji, Kazutora, and Mikey, this plan is mostly a gamble. There's a fifty percent chance it could work and a fifty percent chance that it may fail spectacularly.
"So, basically if we fail, we're most likely to be kicked unconscious by Mikey or something in that scenario?"
"Yes"
"Well, fuck. That's not fun."
However, Baji himself knows that it's the only way. And he wants to fix this problem more than anything. He desires unification in Toman again. Where the founders are still bonded to each other without bad blood and murder. Yeah. Murder is not fun.
When they managed to get Kazutora's psychical and mental state in a better condition, they start to help him with school, living space, and things like that.
Baji offered his place, and Kazutora took the offer after a lot of convincing by the both of them and Mrs. Baji, who have known and treated Kazutora like her own child.
Kazutora also enrolled to his school. He ended up being put on a grade lower than Chifuyu due to the fact that he missed about 3 years of formal education.
But Kazutora is doing so much better and he is ready to meet and make peace with Mikey.
Mikey himself also knew about it. And accepted Kazutora back into the gang without much problem. And Toman became complete again.
Chifuyu could sigh in relief now that the deadly Valhalla versus Toman fight didn't happen. He didn't lose Baji-san and even befriended Kazutora-kun.
Life was starting to look up for him.
Until one day, when he was walking home from Baji-san's house and saw him again. The boy of his dream.
He wore exactly the same attire that he did in his dream. Knee length white night gown and absent footwear. He was walking ahead of Chifuyu.
Without much thought, Chifuyu chased after him. Following the boy.
"Hey! Excuse me!"
The boy didn't mind him at all. He continued walking, and it starts to annoy Chifuyu.
"Oi! It's not nice to ignore someone, ya know?"
When the boy did spare him a look, Chifuyu is once again captivated by his alluring beauty. But he feels like those serene blue eyes, plump pink lips, slightly chubby cheeks, and his tiny stature is not new.
He feels like he's seen him somewhere before. Way before he saw him in his dream.
"... I know this might come out as creepy, but have we met before?"
He asked and before he could answer, a motorcycle rider with his passenger bringing a bat passed by them and hits the boy on the back of his head harshly. Chifuyu could hear the bone crack loudly.
And once again, he feels like it happened too fast. Just like in his dream.
He kneeled to help the boy, as his shaky arm pulled his body closer. While trying to calm his breathing and shaking, he rummaged his pocket for his cell phone and called for help.
After calling for an ambulance and having calmed his breathing down, Chifuyu's shaking hand touched the back of the boy's head and could feel his fingers wet and sticky from the blood.
He didn't know whether to pass out or to scream. Even though he's used to bloody injuries, he is not used and will never be used to murder. Especially when it happens in front of his eyes.
And to such a poor boy. He didn't seem to be the type to look for trouble, but life has its funny way to mess with you, as someone like him became a victim of a random attack.
When the ambulance arrived, they checked the body in Chifuyu's arms and asks him to let go. Before the body was taken and put inside the body bag.
Chifuyu could only stand still, shocked. As the ambulance drove away. Chifuyu was still blank even when he was being asked by the police about the details of the accident.
'What the hell just happened?'
Was all that Chifuyu could think of that day.
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It didn't take long for it to become almost a daily occurence. Somehow, the boy appeared again and again. Unhurt and alive.
Chifuyu didn't want to believe it at first, thinking that he must have gone insane, but it is what it is and so, Chifuyu keeps chasing after him. Determined to figure out who is the boy.
But every time he did try to talk to the boy, the boy somehow always died in front of him. Either it was because of an accident, a planned homicide, or just... Magic?
And he is also very much convinced that the boy could either be his imagination or an actual ghost.
But a ghost doesn't have a body anymore. At least, Chifuyu believes in the concept that ghosts are souls. Not humans with a living body. And so, it didn't make sense for him to die and still leave a body behind.
Chifuyu also didn't know why he is so obsessed with finding out who the boy is.
Maybe it's because something inside him yearns for the boy.
He feels like the boy used to be someone very important to him. His soul feels attracted to the boy.
But he just doesn't remember the mysterious ghost boy in his last life, and everytime he did try to talk to the boy, something bad would happen to the boy.
However, today was a bit different. Instead of chasing after ghost, the ghost came to him.
Chifuyu was waiting on a bus stop for Baji-san to pick him up. They are about to go together to a Toman meeting concerning the Tenjiku gang, a pretty serious meeting.
But then he was approached by the boy. He stepped out of the bus. And their eyes meet.
Chifuyu was too immersed into their eye contact, that he didn't realize the boy he's been dubbing as 'ghost' is walking closer until eventually, standing in front of him.
Realizing how close they were made Chifuyu feel flustered. That he squeaked a bit and took a few steps back.
"U... Uh... Hi?"
The boy smiled kindly and replied.
"Hi"
Chifuyu knows he should feel frightened by the fact that he still doesn't know whether the person in front of him is indeed alive or is indeed a ghost. After all, he saw him crushed by a falling pot on the head to death yesterday.
"Um... Okay, I need to confirm something... So please don't die on me"
Chifuyu touched the boy's hair and was shocked at how soft it is. He is tempted to bury his face in it. But that's enough. He already got what he needed to make sure that the person in front of him is indeed a breathing and living human.
"Y-you're real..."
The person smiled again and nods. Chifuyu quickly took off his hands from the soft hair and then stood there awkwardly.
"Why don't we sit first? I think we have a bit to talk about, right?"
Chifuyu quickly agreed to the suggestion and the both of them sat on the bench available on the bus stop.
"So...I just have this really big question. What are you?"
The question that has bothered him for a long time is now getting asked and he didn't seem to be offended by that question.
"I'm a... It's difficult to classify what I am, but I used to be a person like you. And I am still a person now. But not for long though"
Chifuyu decided to woefully ignore the last sentence. Trying his best to prepare his heart on what will happen to the boy next as soon as they're done talking.
"Okay... And why have you been appearing in my life? And my dream at first? Are you some sort of... Psychic?"
The boy laughed at his question and shrugs.
"Only God will know why"
That was an unsatisfying answer. Chifuyu noted.
"But about you, you recently woke up to this reality huh?"
The fact that the boy knew about his time travel (?) made Chifuyu a bit surprised. As well as sure that he is the key to end this unsettling feeling he has ever since waking up to this reality.
"You did a great job, you know? I could never have done that. You're amazing, Chifuyu"
He said sincerely with a pretty smile and Chifuyu blushes.
Before he remembers why he wanted to know more about the boy. He pulled on the dollar of the boy's dress and proceeded to ask questions he's been bottling up.
"N-no! Don't make this about me, who are you and why did you know my name? And how did you know about that? How did you even end up on my dream? Why do I always see you die? Who are you?"
Those questions that he kept inside has finally been released. And the boy didn't seem to be intimidated by his serious demeanor or the sudden collar tug.
He just smiled and gently removed Chifuyu's hand. He stood up and proceeded to walk away. Before turning and with a sad smile and teary eyes, told him.
"We are punished to such a cruel fate, huh? Aibou."
And all of his unknown memories, the memories his brain had hidden was released. And all of a sudden he remembers everything. He feels complete.
The person who he's been watching die over and over again was...
He was...
He was his partner.
The proprietor of their fight against time and fate.
He is his Aibou.
Just when Chifuyu finally understands. He looked around to see that TAKEMICHI has walked onto the crossing lane.
But there was a huge truck coming at full speed.
With a horrified look, Chifuyu stood up and yelled at his partner.
"TAKEMICHI WATCH OUT THERE'S A TRUCK!!!"
Takemichi didn't move away, instead he turned to Chifuyu and yelled back.
"Chifuyu! I love you... And goodbye"
Then, the crash happened. Amongst his screams, the passersby's gasps, and the sickening sound of a body being thrown away at such a power. Chifuyu could see that Takemichi smiled.
So innocent and sincere.
If only it weren't for the circumstances.
Chifuyu ran towards Takemichi and took him into his arms. Begging the passerbys who are busy taking footage for help. He continued to cry as he feels the warmth of Takemichi's body is leaving slowly.
And once again, it has turned cold when the ambulance arrived. Baji arrived and hugged him. While Chifuyu screams of Hanagaki Takemichi's name.
He's living his best life while watching his partner die all along.
And he didn't know. Why the universe punished Takemichi to such a cruel penalty.
But one thing was certain.
Chifuyu now has every thing and everyone he missed.
In exchange of one person who truly tried hard. Who sacrificed everything for them. And yet, didn't get anything in return.
Chifuyu prayed that a miracle will happen and he will meet Takemichi once more as a human.
If only he knew that it was the last time Takemichi would appear and be punished on earth.
fin.