blackmail; shuji hanma

ten. ruins

She could feel herself changing her own future again as word of an info broker scattered throughout the city. There were whispers about her on the train and rumors lingering through the streets, not that any of the people talking knew who she was. All they knew was that if they wanted information on almost anything, the leader of Valhalla could get them an audience with the one and only Blackmail. Or, if they didn't want to get involved in gangs, they could seek her out via chat room.

More often than not, people sought her out in person, most likely wanting to see what kind of person she was for themselves. They were always surprised she was a middle school girl (well, physically - mentally was a whole other story), and once they learned she was just as good as the rumors said, a note of respect was built. Because of the face mask she had taken to wearing, most didn't recognize her elsewhere, as she now only wore it for meetings with people seeking information. Her braces were still on, unfortunately, but she had stopped flinching every time she caught sight of the metal pieces in her reflection. 

While she was out on one of her information runs, searching something up in the local library, (Y/N) ran into a familiar face, one she had been meaning to talk to for a while now. Takemichi appeared quite lost, searching the shelves for a specific manga book, but when he spotted her, he abandoned what he was doing to talk with her. She wasn't wearing her facemask currently, but she supposed that was better to hide her alternate identity from him, who probably knew about Blackmail by now. 

"Death Note is really good, isn't it?" Takemichi asked casually, as though he was trying to discern whether or not this was 2005 (Y/N) or 2017 (Y/N).

Catching onto his approach, she said, "The anime was good, but I'll always prefer the manga. It makes it easier revisit when you're running short on time."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "You don't know how happy I am to talk with you again. Somehow, since the last time we spoke, things have gotten even crazier."

The two time travelers sat at an isolated table in the back of the library, hoping that nobody would overhear them and if they did, wave it off as some sort of fictional storyline. Luckily, there weren't that many people in the building, and it was not the kind of place the people they would be worried about seeing them would be hanging around. However, Takemichi seemed more on edge than her, glancing around as though he expected someone from Toman to just pop up and interfere with his day.

"Have you been able to figure out why you were sent into the past?" (Y/N) asked, curious about that more than anything else. She pulled her knees up to her chest as she talked to get more comfortable, while also placing her phone on the table between them in case anyone contacted her. 

"To save Hina," Takemichi said immediately, a determined expression on his face before he realized she had no idea who he was talking about. "There's this girl I dated in middle school that died in an accident because of a conflict that happened with Toman. As soon as I learned I had actually time travelled, I knew I had to save her. And Akkun, and Draken, and a whole bunch of other people from their fates. What about you?"

"Well, I changed some things without meaning to, so now I'm dealing with that," (Y/N) said with a sigh, "I guess I was sent back in time to meet someone and let their life mesh with mine."

Now that she said it out loud, she realized she wasn't far off. The more time she spend with Hanma, the more she wished she had met him like she had now the first time she lived through her past. He made her life interesting and given her a whole new perspective, even if he didn't encourage the best habits.

Takemichi nodded, "Does this person know you're from the future?"

She remembered the Hanma from the future who definitely knew and some of the odd comments that the current Hanma made to her, but despite all this, she didn't know for sure. So her answer was ultimately, "No. Unless he knows and he just hasn't told me yet."

"I told Hina's younger brother," Takemichi blurted out like he had been waiting to get that weight off his chest, "Naoto's helping me in the future whenever I go back to see what's changed and what still needs to be fixed."

"You go back and forth too?" (Y/N) asked, relieved.

"Yeah, and speaking of change, something really strange has happened lately. There's this info broker that's made an appearance, that didn't exist the first couple of times I travelled through time. Her name is apparently Blackmail or something like that, and she's been giving Toman way too much trouble," he sighed, leaning forward on his hands. 

(Y/N) could imagine how much trouble said info broker was giving Toman, because she was the one behind it all. It wasn't her fault that so many gang members had grudges against the Tokyo Manji Gang, but it was definitely her fault that they received the information they needed to have an upper hand. She had a feeling that if her fellow time travelled knew about her extracurricular activities, then distrust would run rampant between them and that was the last thing she wanted.

This was not a conversation she wanted to get into, so she slowly sunk down in her seat, hoping the topic would pass. Takemichi didn't catch her mental hint, he just kept mentioning all the incidents that had occurred since Blackmail became known. Luckily, as though her distress had been sent telepathically across miles, her phone began ringing. 

Both teens jumped at the sound, mainly because they were in a library, and (Y/N) wasted no time scrambling for her phone and pressing the accept button. She didn't even take the time to read who was calling her, picking it up with a gentle, "Hello?"

"Yo, (Y/N), wanna meet up at the junkyard a couple of blocks from your house?" Hanma asked over the phone, the faint sounds of metal hitting against metal and yelling in the background.

Not wanting to be rude, she looked to Takemichi as if asking him if it would be alright if they cut their meeting short. The dyed blonde across from her gave her a reassuring smile and said, "Don't worry about it if you have to go. I get phone calls like that all the time."

(Y/N) nodded in thanks, before telling Hanma, "Yeah, I'll be right there."

And so the secret of Blackmail was hidden for another day.