Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Keisuke woke up, and that was the only sign he needed to guess he was in deep trouble.

Of course, he was very glad to be alive. Or, he would be, if he had any real moment to think about it. As off right now, his only thoughts were, I’m alive.

Just this realisation. Nothing more. Just that.

It should probably have been impossible. Keisuke remembered being stabbed. He remembered stabbing himself . And he had lost so much blood. Not even speaking of the pain he had felt when he thought he had at least touched something important in his body. His diaphragm, at the very least. And Keisuke was at least smart enough to know that if one bled from the mouth, it either meant they bit themselves or that the digestive system of one’s body had been completely hijacked. One did not simply recover from that.

The second sign that he was not going to like the following moments was this. He was laying on the cold, hard ground. Not as in pain as before, and he definitely could breathe easier, but he was not in a hospital.

It made no sense. At this point the whole fight between Valhalla and Toman might have been a great hallucination. That, or it was just the last part that had not happened. He found it hard to believe, but what sort of possibility existed except this one?

He could, potentially, have miraculously managed to survive, lived on, and then gotten Alzheimer. But that would not explain why he was lying there, feeling pain in the exact same place that he felt had been stabbed a mere few minutes ago, even if to a lesser extent.

Chifuyu was there. And Mikey, and… that weird guy with the piss blond hair, stupid haircut, and bawling eyes… Something Michi. But not right now. Where had they gone? Where was Keisuke, even?

Goddammit, why was his mind so confused? Why was everything blurry?

“Oh, you’re waking up.”

And now there was that tired voice that felt familiar… the picture in front of his eyes cleared the more he blinked and squinted, feeling a headache creeping in. He groaned, tried to focus.

This was simply too strange. As soon as he had a good idea of who was sitting next to him, he tried to leap out of his lying position, but ended up regretting it immediately.

“Don’t move too fast now. You’ll ruin… whoever’s work it was who patched you up, I guess.”

Keisuke turned, back to half-sitting, he brought a hand to his eyes and temples like it would fix the problem and grunted. He glared in surprise at the person that was there.

“Mitsuya? That you?”

But it couldn’t be. Keisuke must still be hallucinating.

Mitsuya did not look like Mitsuya. Or well, he did. But he looked older. Like, much older. Thinner. And his hair was black and there were bruises under his eyes.

Also, was that a gun?

Mitsuya could never.

The fake Mitsuya tilted his head to the side.

“Are you even real?”

Wait, why was the fake Mitsuya asking him that? It should be the opposite?

“I should be asking you that!” Baji let out, incredulous, before he had to bite his lips.

That hurt like a bitch.

“Honestly,” Mitsuya told him deadbeat, “I have no idea what either of us should be asking the other. But as far as I can tell, you’re actually there and the other guys in the street could see you before I dragged you in here, so I assumed you’re real.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Keisuke tried to look around. In here, as Mitsuya called it, was an empty alleyway with warm toned bricks over the walls and vandalised cars on the borders. He could not hear much noise, so they were far away from any population, Keisuke deduced through his haze, but that could also just be the ringing in his head that was drowning everything else.

Now that it was lessening, it did not actually hurt that much. But still. Worse than the street fight bruises he was used to.

“Strange things happen around Tokyo,” Mitsuya shrugged. “For all I know you’re just gonna disappear in another couple of hours.”

“You make no sense. Why do you look so old?”

“I’m not answering that,” replied Mitsuya in an instant, apparently uncaring. “I guess I helped you because I’ve been thinking about shit. Like, just the other week I’ve been told there might be a time traveler in our midst, as an off thought. Weird thought but oh well.”

Mitsuya was rambling like Keisuke had actually asked a question, and it was freaking him out. He decided to cut him short. The man’s gaze was in nothing, dazed over or maybe just bored. It was surreal.

“Okay, stop. What the hell is happening? Why are we here?”

Mitsuya just stared at him for a while, silently. Keisuke thought he would not answer. He was crouching now, and with a sigh, he pointed at Keisuke with his cigarette - his cigarette - and said:

“You’re here because I brought you here. Can’t have a ghost in town where everybody can see.” Then, he pointed to himself. “ I’ m still here because I’m waiting for someone. I’m washing my hands of this.”

Keisuke felt that Mitsuya might as well have grown another head. Or become a rabbit with a pocket watch, because he damn well fell into the rabbit hole like Alice did in the book their literature teacher had been forcing them to read before Kazutora was released from Juvenile. He had landed in a fucking crazy world and he was still not convinced this was not some strange hallucination that should fade away soon. The problem was, he felt oddly lucid, for someone who should be dreaming, or drugged up on painkillers.

“Don’t worry about your wounds. You’re tough. You should be able to stand and walk again in a few minutes. Though, you should check in with a doctor, if you’re staying.”

“If I’m staying where? Help me out a bit here, Mitsuya, I’m literally lost.”

Mitsuya raised an eyebrow, inhaling a drag.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” he said, something sarcastic in his tone. “Also, a clandestine doctor would be a better choice for you right now. Be careful around public bullshit.

It was Keisuke’s turn to stare at him.

“Look,” he thought about his words carefully, something he rarely did but damn did he think this was the only thing that could help him right now. “I don’t know how to put this, but… are you not making any sense because you’re… stoned, or something?” he cringed inwardly at the mere insinuation that Mitsuya could try drugs. “Or is this all a big fever dream?”

Finally, this got a somewhat worthwhile reaction out of the man that Keisuke thought was probably his old pal.

“Listen,” he started out, sounding both awkward and exhausted, looking out the street’s corner. “It’s not that I don’t care, but- well, in a way, I really don’t. I can’t afford to try and help you or care about what’s happening because I’m really not in any position to do anything. Even if I wanted to, I can’t involve myself in a mess like this, it’s basically got nothing to do with me anymore, because-”

“Because,” a deep, familiar, composed voice interrupted, “you should already be out of the country.”

Mitsuya’s gaze drifted from the floor in front of Keisuke to behind his head, staring at something Keisuke could not see yet. He softened a bit, maybe in relief or just because the newcomer had saved him from a majorly awkward situation - that Keisuke himself still failed to understand.

“Ah, you’re here.”

Keisuke whipped around - and winced - to see a man standing at the other corner, leaning against the warm-toned wall with his arms crossed and chin carefully tucked low, observing with a piercing gaze that felt so, so familiar…

“You shouldn’t be here,” the man repeated, and it dawned on Keisuke, who this was. “If Kisaki learns that you’re still around, he’ll call for disobedience and have you executed.”

This man, wearing sober clothes, a silver earring, with stiff yet feline grace and that hair-cut - even if the hair was black now - and those striking eyes. And that voice, that had not changed that much.

Keisuke widened his eyes. He knew this man. He was older, taller but…

This was Chifuyu.

“I know,” Mitsuya drawled. “That’s why I called you. Take care of this mess, please? Even if I wanted to do it myself, I’m already, probably going to bite the dust soon anyways. I’m out of the picture.”

“I know,” the man, oh gods Chifuyu, replied calmly, and his eyes set themselves on Keisuke in a way Keisuke could not read. “Is this why you’ve called me?”

“Sorry to dump this on me.”

“It’s fine. It’s better than just throwing him at the HQ. Where did you find him?”

“Just out there, in the middle of the street. Still injured, by the way.”

“You didn’t ask yourself any question?”

“At this point, I’m well past that. You still recognise him at least?”

Chifuyu hummed, still staring at him like he was an unsolvable enigma. And Keisuke was now truly lost, unable to follow their conversation. Also, why would Chifuyu have forgotten him?

Well, why would he look older in the first place?

“Don’t tell me you don’t. You still remember B-”

Chifuyu silenced him with a hiss.

“Of course I know. Don’t say the name. Who knows what’s listening.”

Okay, that was weird.

“Ah. Good, you had me worried for a second,” Mitsuya did not look worried at all. “I should… leave.”

“I’ll cover for you,” Chifuyu told him, his whole attitude distant and cold.

Mitsuya paused, seemingly surprised, then he huffed, and for a moment, he looked like the Mitsuya Keisuke remembered.

“You’re… really one of the best left out there, Chifuyu.” he came to Chifuyu’s level and patted his shoulder.

Chifuyu did not react, merely batting his eyes.

“It’s the least I could do for you. Don’t get killed.”

“Can’t promise anything. And at this point… does it matter?”

There was no further goodbye attempt between the two, as for some reason those last few words seemed self-sufficient. Mitsuya quickly took off, leaving Keisuke and Chifuyu staring at each other, like they were each looking at a stranger.

It really… made no sense.

“You’re Chifuyu, right?” Keisuke frowned, wary, but hoping that he at least would answer all his questions.

Chifuyu merely tilted his head.

“You want answers, don’t you?” he questioned him, like he had read his mind.

Or like he had guessed. Chifuyu had always been fairly skilled in doing that. Chifuyu did not even wait for Keisuke to answer. Instead, he leaned away from the wall, uncrossing his arms and turning away, with only one last glance at Keisuke as he made to leave.

“Then follow me.”

Chapter Text

“Where are we going?”

Keisuke walked behind Chifuyu, mindful of the very soft tissues of his barely scarred-over wounds. He watched the man’s back as they walked in the quiet streets of the city. Chifuyu had not turned once to look at him since they left that dark alleyway. That was absolutely uncharacteristic of him, at least when Keisuke was with him, but that was not the most glaring issue in this situation. Keisuke would like to ask the right questions here, for example, why everyone seemed older - he did not appreciate the conclusion he was slowly reaching - but the carefully measured way Chifuyu only looked forward, almost tense, meant that Keisuke would likely not receive his answers before Chifuyu got his. However that would work.

“Somewhere private,” Chifuyu told him succinctly. “We’re almost there,” he added, maybe to stop Keisuke from pressing any further.

And Keisuke did decide to keep his other questions for later, because he knew Chifuyu would not lie to him.

The Chifuyu he knew, at least. This one had just as sharp an eye, but something was off with him. Maybe the way he had not smiled once since Keisuke noticed him. Or maybe it was the way his eyes were always narrowed, the way he appeared guarded and much more silent than before. Then again, silence and reserve were not completely incompatible states with Chifuyu’s person. Just… usually, Chifuyu would relax when Keisuke was there.

At last, they finally stopped walking and entered an underground parking. There, instead of walking up to a car, Chifuyu made them wait until a car left the place before he dragged them both through the elevator, floor minus 4. It befuddled Keisuke somewhat, but he could recognise a cautious maneuver when he saw one. He let Chifuyu lead him through a concealed trap and then another backdoor before they finally reached a basement that was so many meters under the surface that Keisuke had lost count after the fifteenth. That was the kind of place any ten year old would be all too happy to claim as their secret base, sneak snacks into in secret and stay for hours playing video games with friends.

This was not it. It was too dark, barely a light to be able to read things, dust on the shelves, an old couch slipped in the corner, something that looked like a computer but was far too thin to be that, and - Keisuke blinked in alarm when he noticed - a couple firearms.

There was someone sitting on the ground, with another mini-computer on their lap. They looked up as soon as Chifuyu closed the door behind him and Keisuke. Keisuke almost did not recognise him.

“Chifuyu? What happened?”

That voice. Those amber eyes. That was…

“Take a look,” was Chifuyu’s scathing reply, flipping a hand through his bangs as if to relieve himself from the stress, retrieving a phone in the corner and staying away as he typed someone’s number in.

Their eyes met. Keisuke, and him.

“Kazutora.”

The name escaped him in a whisper.

The man in front of him stood up, barely taking the time to put his device aside, and stared with wide eyes, in complete disbelief.

“Is that… Baji?!”

Keisuke’s name trembled in Kazutora’s voice.

They both remained frozen in place. Kazutora looked so different. He had grown his hair, he looked softer now, and he dressed differently - he was taller too. Keisuke should be getting used to that, but it surprised him every single time. Even more right now. This was his old partner he was looking at right now. His old partner, who had shoved a knife into his flank just half an hour ago in his perspective, who Mikey had tried to beat to death, who had been crying and-

It was him, in the dimly lit cave, standing now taller than Keisuke and looking at him like Keisuke was a ghost sent from Heaven. Or perhaps more accurately, from Hell, Keisuke found himself thinking. He had never been an angel.

Kazutora looked so afraid to move closer. Like this was all going to be a form of twisted torture from his brain, a hallucination that would fade into smoke as soon as he got close.

Then, a tutting sound escaped from Chifuyu’s phone, who was standing by the far wall, looking at neither of them. When he glanced back, he looked away just as quickly with only those words:

“Don’t just stand there, Kazutora-kun. Look him over, he’s injured.”

Kazutora flinched out of his stupor, whipping around yet his eyes remained locked onto Keisuke’s, like he feared Keisuke would disappear if he looked away one moment.

“You mean he’s real? It’s really him?”

Chifuyu turned towards them sharply.

“If I knew, I’d have directly shipped him to France, what do you think?”

“That’s… fair.”

There seemed to be an answer from the other side of the line, and Chifuyu focused back on his call, speaking quietly enough that Keisuke’s sharp ears could not make out all the words. Meanwhile, Kazutora finally approached, gesturing at Keisuke to sit down.

“Where are you injured?” Kazutora asked him, focused yet nervous.

“Well,” Keisuke drawled. “Shouldn’t you know?”

Kazutora flinched, making Keisuke regret his untimely bout of dark humour.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he apologised half-heartedly.

“It’s fine. Can you take off your shirt, please?”

Keisuke did as he was told and Kazutora set to work in silence. He fumbled through the movements, and Keisuke hissed slightly when he palpated the thin scars on his body. Kazutora, as if reacting to his pain, winced as well, and fumbled some more with some bandages and other products that he applied on it - likely so that the area around the wound remained sterile. It hurt a bit - like a bitch - but it was very different from what it was when it was first inflicted. Keisuke remembered this horrible agony acutely.

When Kazutora got to examine the still half open wound, haphazard and rough, in his back, he swallowed thickly, and his hands trembled. It was to such a point that Chifuyu muted the phone with his hand to address him.

“Don’t force yourself if it’s too much. We could swap places.”

“No,” Kazutora immediately denied, even though he did not look the part, “no, it’s fine. I can do it.”

That was when Keisuke seriously considered how nightmarish the entire ordeal of Keisuke’s near death must have been for Kazutora.

For Kazutora and Chifuyu both. But Kazutora had always been more fragile.

“Who did you call?” Kazutora asked Chifuyu once the other man hung up.

“A freelance doctor,” Chifuyu replied, making his way to the door and putting the phone back where he had taken it.

“I didn’t know that was possible,” Kazutora commented with a curious frown, even though his lips were thinned as he worked on patching Keisuke up better than whoever had done it before.

“They’re not really freelance,” Chifuyu rectified, as if to explain. “But they take care of people like us without question and as long as you pay them enough, they don’t tell.”

“Ah. Makes sense. Are we going to let them in here?”

“Yes and no. I’m going to get them outside. Wait for me here, both of you.”

Meanwhile, Keisuke had no idea what he had just heard.

“Are you both on the run or something?” he questioned them, incredulous.

They both stared at him in silence. Keisuke almost regretted saying anything. Why did no one have a normal reaction whenever he talked? Mitsuya had been somewhat normal in comparison to this, except for the fact he had seemed kind of high - probably just Keisuke’s imagination.

Kazutora turned to Chifuyu who already had a hand on the door’s handle.

“Do I explain everything?”

Chifuyu merely continued to stare at Keisuke quietly. His eyes boring into him were just as intense as they had once been, if not even more. But there was something more focused in that intensity, more dangerous, scanning and calculating in a way the Chifuyu Keisuke knew would never display so obviously, nor would he need to.

Then, the man that looked like his best friend blurted out suddenly:

“Don’t. I’ll do it. Search him for any bugs. If you don’t find any, ask for what he remembers.”

Chifuyu’s new habit of talking around Keisuke was starting to become truly irritating. Keisuke really wanted to punch him.

“What if he lies?” Kazutora at least had the gall to throw him a glance.

“If it’s really Baji-san, you’ll be able to tell if he lies.”

Which, rude. Keisuke knew perfectly how to make a good lie. Kazutora raised an eyebrow at Chifuyu, but the man was already leaving. Before he closed the door behind him, he looked at them with those piercing eyes of his one last time.

“Test him too, just in case.”

The door closed quietly. Keisuke deadpanned.

“Damn. The boy I knew was nowhere as paranoid. You sure that was Chifuyu?”

“Don’t move,” Kazutora admonished gently, and Keisuke turned back to face him with a roll of the eyes. “I wouldn’t say paranoid, but Chifuyu used to work on instincts when we were kids. You know, the type to rely on intuition for the first theory then investigate to confirm or invalidate from that. Now he’s just more meticulous about it.”

“So he’s paranoid.”

Kazutora chuckled tightly.

“I guess he is. Though I wouldn’t know, I’ve only known him for a year and a half.”

What the fuck? Excuse Keisuke, but really, what the heck?

First of all… actually, Keisuke had no idea where to start pointing out the holes in that statement. A whole damn year? Had Keisuke been in a coma? But then that would not explain why they had grown so much - they were, everyone was adult now! Except him, and that made no sense. But if they were adults, and Keisuke remembered well that Chifuyu and Kazutora had only met two weeks before the battle between Toman and Valhalla so there was that to keep in mind, then how the hell had they only known each other for a year?!

This entire situation made no sense at all, he hoped everyone knew. Even though he was probably the only one who felt so out of loop.

Maybe he had been in a coma for a long time, after all. But to think this was his adult size, he was ashamed. He should have grown more, what the heck! But even if he had been in a coma all this time, why did he find himself waking up in the street with the exact same wounds as before?

Or maybe this was really all just a big fever dream and he was still in a coma.

“I’m done, I can’t do anymore,” Kazutora declared, and Keisuke put his shirt back on with a harsh sigh.

When he looked up, Kazutora was back to looking at him like he had two heads. He raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

Kazutora shook his head hectically, without ever losing the eye contact.

“Absolutely nothing. So, hum, do you have any listening device on you?”

Ah, right. Chifuyu did say that he might have bugs on him. Which, what was that? Listening devices, like the microphone and remote things in movies? Belatedly, Keisuke searched his own pockets just to make sure, ruffled his clothes to see if there was something heavy or metallic in there, or if something fell. He shrugged.

“I don’t think so? Why?”

Kazutora smiled awkwardly.

“Chifuyu technically has… a lot of enemies. Hopefully they don’t know that, though.”

This continued in making no sense at all. Keisuke nodded slowly, because he already knew Kazutora would not tell him anything yet. Hopefully once he passed their stupid tests, they would start actually making sense. Which, the idea that he had to be tested to prove he was himself made him somewhat angry. He wanted to punch Chifuyu more. And Kazutora, too.

“So, now I’m going to ask you a few questions,” Kazutora predictably resumed.

“Can’t we just beat each other up to prove we’re ourselves?” Keisuke suggested. “I’m sure you remember my fighting style, I beat you in the ground enough times for you to remember.”

Kazutora blinked at him, wordlessly.

“Huh. Eh- yeah, no, sorry we can’t do that,” he did not stop staring, seemingly fascinated. “Chifuyu wouldn’t like it.”

“And since when do you answer to Chifuyu, asshole?” Keisuke drawled unhappily at his - older - friend. “The last time we talked, you said you hated his guts!”

Kazutora blinked again.

“I never said that.”

“You were thinking it very loudly. Your face went all dark every time we talked about him. Which, admittedly, we didn’t do often, precisely because you didn’t like him, but you get what I mean,” Keisuke was really working himself up now, this was so annoying and nonsensical. “Besides you literally volunteered him for the test of faith back in Valhalla- wait, don’t tell me you’re still part of Valhalla? Did the shady business get an upgrade or something?”

But that would not make sense either, Chifuyu would never join Valhalla, especially if Keisuke was not there anymore.

Then again, nothing make any fucking amount of sense in here.

“I’m… sorry I can’t tell you? Anyways… let’s get to it. The faster this is over, the quicker you get your answers, right?”

…True. Keisuke could not help another fed up sigh, crossing his legs and leaning an elbow on his thigh to rest his cheek on it.

“Go on,” he waved at Kazutora. “Shoot. What question do you have?”

Kazutora seemed to be looking for something to ask for a moment, like he had not thought about it before. Then, he brightened - relatively.

“What did we do together the day we met?”

“Huuuh…” Keisuke frowned. “Didn’t we set a car on fire?”

“Okay. Why did we do that?”

Oh, dear. This was going to be awful.

Come back quickly, Chifuyu.