𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐝 - s. ᴍᴀɴᴊɪʀᴏ

𝟎𝟏𝟖: 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐡

"We'd like to pay a visit to Sano Manjiro," Emma tells the lady at the front desk. This was the first time you heard his real name. "I'm his sister, Emma and this is... his close friend, [Y/N]."

The lady tells you his room number and you both thank her. You pat Emma on the back. You opened the door and Mikey was looking out the window, his head in bandages. Emma immediately runs and hugs him. The boy hugs her back with one arm and then notices you.

"[Y/N]?"

"I heard what happened... To Baji..." You take a seat, averting your gaze. Emma sobs in her brother's arms, telling him how worried she was. Mikey says he's fine but seeing him in the hospital contradicts that statement. "His funeral is soon," he informs. You look up to listen to him.

"I'm sure I'll be out by tomorrow," Mikey adds, smiling. A reassuring smile. If you were anyone else, you would find hope in it. Believe he was okay. But you saw through him. Even if his head heals, the death of someone you love is a pain that lingers. You remembered when he hid after Draken's surgery. Crying alone. You weren't sure how you'd comfort him.

Emma lets go of him, "Gramps told me to give you this," she says, handing out a bag. Mikey opened it and it was boxes of food. He smiles, telling Emma to thank their grandpa for him.

You get up and the two blondes look at you. "I'll let you two eat, I gotta check up on Takemichi anyway," you tell them. You give a slight bow to Emma and smile at Mikey before leaving. You walked and made a phone call.

"Hello...?" Takemichi answers quietly.

"Are you home?"

"Yeah," the boy replies.

-

As you arrived at Takemichi's place, he explained everything. What happened during the brawl from a few days ago. The visions you got from Kazutora and Mikey came true. But Kazutora made it out alive, handing himself to the police. Takemichi couldn't contain his sobs. He felt defeated. You hand him a tissue from nearby and he wipes his eyes.

"I mean..." You think of the right words to reassure the boy, "Think of it this way, you got out with one death instead of two?" Takemichi kept crying, and you beat yourself up a bit. Thinking that what you said wasn't reassuring at all.

"Mikey didn't kill Kazutora," you speak again, "That must've changed the future? Maybe not the outcome you want, but it's something?"

Takemichi stops crying and looks up, "You're right... I better leap back soon."

"How's your friend, by the way?" Takemichi tilts his head at your question. "Chifuyu," you elaborate, "You said he was close with Baji, right?" Takemichi frowns. Confessing he felt stupid for crying when Chifuyu lost more but you disagree. Telling him they were equally valid to feel how they feel.

You give him a bottle of water that you had and he drinks it, calming himself down a little. He starts talking about how Draken plans to visit Kazutora soon. Takemichi confesses he's worried about him too, saying the boy clearly isn't in a good headspace.

"I don't know how you can be so forgiving, Takemichi," you say, "Giving empathy to a murderer."

"Hey," Takemichi says, his tone deeper than usual. "Kazutora already admits he was wrong and turned himself in."

You furrow your brows at the boy. "Just because you confess to the crime doesn't make you less wrong," you retort. Takemichi frowns at your comment. "Why don't you come with us? Give him a second chance?" The blonde offers but you give him a hard decline.

"If it doesn't benefit the future, I don't think it would be necessary," you tell him and Takemichi sighs. "You're so serious..." He rests his chin in his palm, "I'm the time-leaper, y'know? You don't need to worry about the future."

Even though he was correct, it didn't stop you from worrying. With Hina dead and Mikey going dark. How can you not be concerned?

"You should live up your teenage years, y'know!" Takemichi continues, "You have all this time to do it and I have to go back to the future..."

"I am living up my teenage years!" You defend, "I'm alive so...."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" He shouts. Takemichi suddenly starts lecturing you about taking things for granted. Telling you his life story before he discovered he could time leap. You couldn't tell if he was 14, 26 or 72 years old right now. Even his posture reminds you of a grandpa talking to his grandchildren starting with "Back in my day."

You get up, mid-way while he's talking, "Clearly, you seem fine, so I'll be leaving you alone." His mouth was wide open, baffled that you didn't stay to listen to him.

-

"You're back?" The lady at the front desk greets, "You're so young to be out this late."

You chuckle and ask if you could visit Mikey. Awkwardly saying his first name. She lets you and you head to his room. Mikey was laying down, still awake, looking at the ceiling.

"Catch!" You shout, throwing a packaged dorayaki in his way. He catches it without even looking, holding it in one hand. He looks up at you, "What're you doing here?" he asks. You sit down on the chair across from the bed, "Why do you think?" You say with a smile.

Mikey sits up and opens the snack, "How's Takemichi?" You tell him Takemichi seemed fine, physically. He takes a bite, "And you?" You were confused why he'd ask about your well-being. "You seemed fidgety earlier," he tells you. "Not worse than being hospitalized," you blurt out. You apologize immediately, thinking what you said wasn't very comforting or appropriate.

Mikey laughs, "I'm fine, Gramps tells me I'm hard-headed!"

"That's not a compliment," you say and he looks at you confused, "Being hard-headed means you're stubborn, Mikey..." Mikey blurts out an "oh" and proceeds to eat the dorayaki you gave him.

"You don't have to act tough around me, you know," Mikey pretends to be ignorant of what you said. You look at him warily, "I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through... I don't even know the right words to say to you."

The blonde scoots into his bed and pats beside him. You look at him confused. He continues to pat the area and you get up and sit on the bed next to him. You shift your body to face him. Mikey moves so that his back is resting on the wall. "I'm happy that you even came to visit," he says, "I thought you only came earlier to accompany Emma." You tell him you only left because you wanted him to spend time with his sister.

"Thanks," he says softly, smiling at you. Mikey looks back down at his dorayaki, "You know... I really wanted to kill Kazutora." Your eyes widened, shocked he was confessing this to you. "Baji wouldn't have wanted that though," he adds. "I can't speak on his behalf," you say, referencing Baji, "But I do understand why you would feel that way." Mikey seemed surprised at your response.

"It's hard to forgive him..." Mikey admits. You come closer to him, hugging him. "Don't overwhelm yourself, just get some rest," you tell him, letting go. Mikey's arms drop, you didn't notice he was going to hug you back.

You get up off the bed, "I hope you recover soon. I'll see you around."

"Yeah, goodnight," he replies, waving at you. You turn to leave but hesitate a little. You felt like you hadn't done enough for him. You turn back, bending down slightly. You kissed Mikey on the forehead, where his bandages were. "Goodnight," you reply, immediately turning away and walking as quickly as possible.

Mikey places his hand on the area you kissed, speechless. Watching as you swung the door hurriedly.

Chapter eighteen, end.