A Condition Called Love [Tokyo Revengers]

Chapter 36: The Wounded Tiger

Nana's POV (In the year 2003 – new timeline)

As time passed by, the four of us (me, Keisuke, Manjiro, and Takemichi) kept on running, making sure that we could save all our loved ones this time around, just like how we promised that day on the rooftop. We tried to change or avoid the unfortunate circumstances from the previous timelines and kept the normal ones the way it always was.

The first two unfortunate incidents that happened in the previous timelines were Manjiro's sudden death after he fell down the staircase and Manjiro attacking and scarring Haruchiyo after Senju broke his airplane toy, and luckily for us, we were able to avoid both those situations, so in this new timeline, those two incidents never occurred. And as Manjiro's death was avoided this time around, we ultimately saved Shinichiro from spiraling down into despair and depression as well.

After that, not much had changed, to be honest. Manjiro once tried to reach out to Izana while we were still in elementary school and sadly, that encounter didn't go as well as we expected but we kept our patience, hoping to reach Izana sooner or later. Meanwhile, unlike in the previous timeline, I kept my contact with my cousins (the Haitani brothers) and we often hung out at Roppongi from time to time. And let me tell you, they hadn't changed a bit even in this new timeline, always provoking or encouraging me to do stupid things with them like getting a tattoo on one half of my body like them. Those idiots.

At the beginning of the year 2000, we finally met Draken. Our previous encounter with him was normal, so we decided to keep it like that and go with the flow. We kept our new encounter with Draken as natural as possible, so much so that Manjiro ended up asking him about the porn magazine once again when we first met him in this timeline and that didn't stop me from smacking Manjiro on the head as well. After Draken, we later met Mitsuya and Pah-chin again, and afterward came Kazutora into the picture. Like in the past, it was Keisuke who met Kazutora first and became friends with him and it was finally time he introduced us to the tiger-tattooed boy.

It was April 2003 when the boys and I were starting the 1st year of our middle school, except for Takemichi who was a year younger than us and was in his final year in elementary school.

"So, how are things going with Kisaki?" I asked Takemichi while he, Keisuke, and I walked toward our schools together early this morning.

"So far so good. I'm friends with him now." Takemichi replied with a smile.

At first, Manjiro, Keisuke, and I were a bit skeptical about Takemichi's decision of wanting to become friends with Kisaki because of what Kisaki did to us in the past timelines, but Takemichi was persistent about it, so we let him do whatever he wanted to do and hold on to our faith.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" I asked the younger boy in a concerned tone.

From beside me, Keisuke parted his lips and was about to say something but I immediately cut him off.

"No, Keisuke. We're not killing off Kisaki's ass. We're not gonna commit any murder here." I stated sternly, slightly frowning at him.

"How did you know I was gonna say that?" Keisuke gasped in surprise and I rolled my eyes at him.

"It's okay, guys. I'm sure we can bring Kisaki to our side. Also, Nana-chan's right. Murder isn't an option here." Takemichi chuckled sheepishly.

After exchanging farewell, Takemichi went in a different direction while Keisuke and I headed towards our new middle school.

"Today's our opening ceremony, huh..." I trailed off with a smile on my face, looking up at the cherry blossom trees over us as the pink petals of the flowers flew and fell on our hair and uniforms.