ai | s. manjiro & m. takashi

にじゅうろく

"Why did you want to meet me here all of a sudden?" Ai asks, a gentle smile painting her lips as she sits in front of the cushioned booth in front of Takemichi. Her eyebrows slightly furrowing as she examines the male's face. "You look quite shaken too, Hanagaki san." She begins to say, leaning a little closer as she places the back of her hand on top of his forehead. "Are you sick or something?"

Ai watches Takemichi lean back and violent shake his head. "Ai, will you please believe everything I'm going to tell you?" he asks. Blinking her eyes twice, Ai nodded her head.

"I'll believe you." She tells him. "At this point, literally anything can happen."

Taking a gulp, Takemichi inhales deeply before speaking. "I...can time leap."

Ai looks at him with a raised eyebrow, dumbfound by what he just told her. "Hanagaki san, I know I said anything can happen but I meant it figuratively and not imaginable." A small chuckle escapes her lips.

Takemichi shook his head again, gripping his hands under the table, his knuckles turning white. "Please believe me, Ai. I'm not from this year, I'm from twelve years in the future. Well, maybe eleven considering the new year. And I just time leaped yesterday and came back again today."

Slowly nodding her head, Ai slid her cola near her and brought the straw between her lips. "What did you see in the future?" she asks. Suddenly, her eyes widens and sits up straight. "You said eleven to twelve years right? That means..." Ai counted with her fingers "That means I'm twenty five to twenty six years old that time!" A squeal escapes her lips. "How do I look in the future?"

"Dead." Takemichi plainly replies.

"Huh?" Ai responds, leaning back while raising an eyebrow at him. "Hanagaki san, you shouldn't say-"

"I'm being honest here!" Takemichi defends himself. "Eleven years from now, you and Mitsuya kun are dead." Takemichi says, hanging his head low as he could feel the tears threatening to fall from his eyes. The vivid images of Mitsuya and Ai inside their respective white casket clouding in his mind.

"Do you know who killed me?" She asks. Suddenly unable to process what he had just told her. How could she die so young? And in her twenties? Ai always thought that her prime would hit her in her twenties, that everything she ever wanted in life will fall exactly where she wants as soon as she reaches that age.

Takemichi shook his head. Lying to her so she wouldn't look at Mikey differently in the past. Look at him differently right now. Takemichi knew that if he were to tell her the truth now, Ai would still be dead in the future. He has high hopes that Ai is one of the key reasons why Mikey won't impulsively give in to his dark impulses. 

"I'm curious though" Ai says again, pressing her back onto the cushioned booth. "Why was I killed with Mitsuya kun?" Ai asks

As much as Takemichi wanted to answer her honestly in what he saw in the future, he only shook his head. For he knew that if he answered her honestly, everything would be just like what he saw in the future.

"Does this have something to do with Kisaki?"

Takemichi raises his head, eyes wide with her accusation. "What did you..."

"Even though he's not in Toman anymore, I still feel like he's still out there to get me." Ai says, taking another sip on her cola through the white straw. "Have I told you that I'm one of the reasons why he got kicked out?"

"What did you tell Mikey kun?" Takemichi asks

"I just told him what I honestly think of him." Ai shrugs "A face like Kisaki's shouldn't be trusted. Oh, I think you'd be glad to hear what I came up with too!"