Chapter Text
This is the only timeline in which he remains.
One moment you were at the shrine, celebrating the last few seconds of the year with Toman. The next moment, everything was gone.
A vision of the future rudely interrupted the new year countdown, and the scene before you faded around the time the crowd was counting down from three. You were still at the shrine, and it was still dark out. But under the moonless night and solemn crowd of black-clad silhouettes, you saw Kisaki in a Toman uniform standing behind Mikey’s shorter figure. Dread seized your heart but in your vision, only a sense of calm remained. You seemed unfazed, like this was to be expected, like this was normal. Mikey's expression was cold and dark, as if the abyss just past his gaze had swallowed him whole. Even in that memory of the future, you found yourself shuddering.
“ –two, one, happy new year!”
You were back, your arm linked with Baji’s, the return of the unfamiliar heaviness of your kimono sleeves and the scarf tied snugly around your neck, the cold, wintry air in your lungs, the resounding cheers of the crowd echoing through the shrine grounds. Chifuyu was there, throwing his arms around you and Baji and Kazutora in somewhat of a group hug as laughter filled the air, and this moment should’ve been exciting, but all you felt was apprehension.
Kisaki’s single-minded obsessiveness toward taking over Toman was getting old. Even so, he was succeeding somehow, slipping through the cracks despite your and Takemichi’s and the others’ best efforts. He was back in Toman in the future you saw, standing where Draken should've been. How could you have let that happen?
When Baji glanced at you in worry, you affixed a smile to your face and assured him nothing was wrong. Right now it was a happy moment, and you didn’t want to ruin it for everyone. You’d tell them what you saw later, as well as what Hanma had told you at the chapel. This fight against Kisaki, you thought wearily, was far from over. But for now, it was the new year, new beginnings, and that sort of thing.
Speaking of new beginnings…
"I think Takemichi Hanagaki should lead the defeated Black Dragons," you told Mikey. He was in the middle of playing a game of fukuwarai at one of the festival stalls, pinning a scrap paper with an eyebrow drawn on it onto a paper face on the table. The pin landed under the nose, like a moustache. Mikey pulled his blindfold off, giving you an annoyed look.
"I was almost done," he said crossly, eyeing the mismatched face on the table with disdain. "Look what you made me do."
"Sorry," you said, although it wasn't entirely sincere. "This is kinda important though."
"Okay," he said, as Draken offered the fukuwarai booth owner a handful of coins. "You were saying?"
Even though Takemichi was the acting captain of the Third Division until Pah-chin's release, you couldn't think of anyone better to lead the remnants of the Black Dragon. Takemichi was respectable, not quick to start a fight the way Baji was, and most importantly he could keep an eye on Koko and Inui. If you could keep those two out of your division, then that future of the Black Dragons taking over Toman wouldn't come true.
Probably.
"Sure," Mikey agreed easily, getting to his feet and gesturing for you to take a walk with him. "If that's what you want. You see it too, right? Takemitchy is a lot like him."
"Him?"
"My brother." Draken and Emma were out of earshot now as you followed MIkey down the path leading toward the outskirts of the shrine. He was looking into the distance with a wistful expression, his lips pursed and his eyes glazed over in reminiscence. "He was the first president of the Black Dragon. Hmm, you don't look surprised. Did Baji tell you already?"
You nodded, a little guiltily.
"Well, I don't mind. You're Toman. Always have been, always will. So don't go dying on me, okay?"
"Of course I won't," you said, a slight frown tugging on your features at the shift in the conversation mood. "And in exchange, you'd better not ever forget what Toman was built for."
You knew that somewhere down the line, Mikey would lose himself to the darkness that shrouded him. That was what Hanma had said. That was what Takemichi’s bad future held. But because you knew, you'd make sure that would never happen, no matter what.
(It was hard to imagine that the Mikey you knew would ever go down that path.)
-
"M-me? Lead the Black Dragon?"
Takemichi's tremulous voice was comical, contrasting the way you and Mikey vouched that he was the man best suited to carry on Shinichiro's will. After discussing with Mikey, even Inupi had agreed that Takemichi was most like him.
And sitting around the back room of your father's auto shop, you finally told your friends all about what Hanma had said to you about Mikey, and your vision of Kisaki still ending up returning to Toman in the future.
Chifuyu was the first to speak again, side-eying Takemichi reproachfully. "Well, in the future you came from, you did end up inviting him back yourself."
"At Pah-chin's release party, which'll be just over six months from now," you added, thinking about how a lot could happen in half a year. "But it's only because he helped us out in the conflict with the Black Dragons, right? We caught him masterminding the whole thing this time around, so there's no reason to take him back now."
"If you invite that bastard back," Baji growled, "Takemitchy! I'll kill you myself. Got it?"
Takemichi made a strangled noise under his breath, and then gave a silent, jerky nod.
"So uh," Kazutora cleared his throat awkwardly. "About this future stuff…"
"Sorry, man," Chifuyu said with a sympathetic glance over at him. "You're one of us now. You gotta suffer with us."
After putting the conflict with the Black Dragons behind, Baji finally buckled under the pressure to let Kazutora in on the knowledge of Takemichi's time leaping and the sorry state of the future. He was a First Division captain too, and also a good friend, and you and Chifuyu felt bad for tiptoeing around him all the time.
"I'm glad that in twelve years, we're all still fighting together for Toman," was the first thing Kazutora said. Everyone turned to look at you, Baji with a smug sort of look, Takemichi with guilt, and Chifuyu with amusement. You glowered right back at them.
"Okay, I might've been the only one that went all bad in that future but that's 'cause Mikey took Toman down the wrong path," you said defensively. "So we just gotta make sure that doesn't happen, yeah?"
"We gotta fucking kill Kisaki," Baji said, the voice of reason. "Then our problems are solved."
"We aren't killing anyone," Kazutora interjected, his voice firm and serious. "Getting blood on your hands won't fix anything. It'll just make it worse."
Baji seemed to want to protest, but he decided against it. "Huh. Well, that shitty bastard can come at Toman all he likes. I'll bash his face in every time."
"We'll help you, Baji-san," Chifuyu exclaimed excitedly. "I'm all fired up. No matter what, we'll destroy Kisaki with everything we’ve got."
"Takemichi, you've been quiet," you observed, noticing that he was gazing at the grimy floor of the auto shop the entire time. "What are you worried about? Spill."
"I've just...been thinking," he said, faltering slightly. "Why is it that every time I try again, Kisaki seems to still come back to Toman? What if he...can time leap too?"
His words were met with a long, heavy silence, as everyone digested what that could mean for Toman. It did make a lot of sense, how Kisaki was still able to work his way into the gang after being thwarted during the conflict with Moebius, with Valhalla, with the Black Dragon. And it matched Hanma's warning of how Kisaki would keep trying again and again, not stopping until he dragged Mikey and Toman down with him to the depths of hell. Takemichi could time leap, and you, Hanma, and Mikey had strange powers to see the future too to varying degrees. It was all too likely that Kisaki also had something like that.
"Holy shit. You might be onto something, partner," said Chifuyu, his eyebrows creasing with a worried frown. "That's why no matter what you do, Toman still keeps going bad. Then, will you return to the future?"
"I'm worried about what I'll see there," Takemichi confessed. "If this isn't over yet…"
"Well, this fight's going to take us twelve years, is it not?" you said brightly. "Even if you go back to the future, all of us will keep fighting. You don't need to worry about us."
"We have your back, Takemitchy," Kazutora said, nodding. "We know that Kisaki is the enemy. We'll never let him through. You can trust us on that."
"Maybe you guys are right," Takemichi mumbled. "I'm not doing this alone. Maybe...after everything, the future's changed."
“It’s already changed, and we’ll keep it that way,” you promised him. “Leave it to us to protect the future here.”
“Your home’s twelve years in the future where Hina and the others are waiting,” Chifuyu added. “That’s where you belong. Till then, we’ll just part ways for a little while.”
In the back room of the auto repair shop, Takemichi started bawling loudly because of course he would, his sobs ricocheting off the garage walls and concrete floors, and you found yourself grinning because there was a certain charm in the way he cried unabashedly. He truly embodied Shinichiro’s will, and Toman’s will.
With him at your back, and with Baji and the others at your side, there would be no way you’d lose. Not against Kisaki. Not against anyone.