*PAST*

Takemitchy once again stepped back into the past by shaking hand with Mikey, but this time not by twelve years, but by ten.

After returning to the old days, he didn't experience a moment of peace, the gangs that were prowling around were extremely dangerous, in addition, Manjiro was the leader of one of them.

When Hanagaki learned from his friends what had happened during his absence, the boy decided that he wouldn't give up and save Sano, who was currently the leader of the Kanto Manji Gang, at all costs. The boy later joined Brahman, a gang led by Senju Kawaraga. The teenager agreed to this request as Brahman aimed to defeat the Kanto Manji for the sake of his intrigues. This gang was very different from Toman, who was so admirable and full of ambition before. This one, the Kanto Manji Gang, was its complete opposite. Draken also belonged to Brahman, he did it only because he wanted to save Mikey, he wanted his friend to come back home with Annie. Through the sequence of events, it happened completely different.

Kojima, who has already lost her aunt and Furukawa-san, was watching Hanagaki from hiding. The boy met with Senju.

Someone had planned an attack on Kawaragi, and Takemitchy wanted to protect her. Later, someone else, showed up at the scene. Draken. The boy got rid of the attackers and took the gun they were using from them. At first it seemed that everything was fine and that no one was hurt, but the truth was quite different. Ken shielded his friend and picked up the missiles he had previously sent. An ambulance was called to the scene.

Ami, seeing the whole event, came closer and was terrified to see the rescuers trying to save her friend. It was draining life and no one could prevent it. The teenager quietly stole the jacket of one of the paramedics, then covered her face solidly and entered the ambulance where the wounded man was. Hanagaki didn't recognize her, he was so shaken and crying that he had to leave the room while the doctors did everything to save Draken.

Kojima walked over to her friend and looked at him, taking him by the hand. Ken opened his eyes slightly, then recognized his friend and smiled at the sight of her. The two haven't seen each other for a long time.

"T-take care of him..." He whispered weakly and the girl nodded and tried to ward off tears. "I'm glad we met again..." Said.. "She... Is waiting... Emma..." Ken whispered, then closed his eyes and didn't open them anymore. The last tear ran down his cheek, and the nearby apparatus began to squeal, indicating that the patient had unfortunately died.

Ami wiped her tears and quickly left the ambulance by accidentally bumping into the blond.

"E-eh?" Boy looked at her, but he didn't recognize her immediately.

The moment he realized who it was, the teenager had already run away and went to the hideout.

Kojima got rid of her disguise and went straight to her gang leader. She knocked on the door and when she heard permission she went inside.

"Anything urgent?" Sano glanced at her. "We have yet to discuss..." He broke off seeing her reaction. Immediately afterwards, he asked the people in his office and approached his beloved. "What..." Leader didn't finish, because the teenager hugged up to him and started to cry. "Ami...?" He whispered confusedly.

"Draken-kun..." Her voice breaking. "He... He's dead, Manji..." She cried, and her words shocked Sano.

"K-ken-chin...?" He repeated depressed. "But... How could it..." Mikey couldn't believe in the death of a friend.

A moment later he hugged the jittery girl tighter, trying to contain his emotions.

Time seemed to speed up. To save Mikey, Takemitchy decided to appoint the former members of Toman and re-form the gang, where he himself remained at the forefront as a leader. Neither Sano nor his beloved liked the whole situation.

One great fight broke out between the Kanto Manji and the second generation Toman. They all fought fiercely with each other while Mikey was on one of the containers standing around, watching the entire skirmish. He wasn't going to fight yet.

"I don't understand him." Ami said standing next to the blonde and looked at the fighting Takemitchi. "Why did he call Toman? What second generation?" She snorted. "There's only one Toman and only you are its leader." She was still angry by it.

"Since he's back from the future ..." Manjiro said indifferently. "Maybe in future it went wrong again and he wants to prevent it."

"This time he's crossing the line." Kojima snorted and then looked at Senju coming towards them. "I'll take care of her." She glanced at the leader and jumped off the container before Sano could say anything.

Kojima stood in the way of the leader of the enemy gang and turned her head to the side.

"Well, well, Senju Kawaragi." Ami smiled. "The cause of all tragedies. You're still going to put everything on your innocent brother?" She shook her head. "I'm not letting you get to Mikey." She said sternly and prepared to fight.

"I thought so." The other replied and started the fight.

Manjiro trained his beloved well. She wasn't stronger than him, but she was at a high level of her skills, thanks to which she was able to cope with the fight against Senju.

"Stop it, wouldn't you rather end this?!" Kawaragi shouted.

"Give up, it'll go faster." Kojima replied and kicked the opponent and the girl flew back a few meters. "Whoops..." She smiled insolently. "Not so powerful?"

Her further fight was interrupted by the person standing behind Kojima. The girl smiled at the sight of him.

"I'll finish it." He said and patted his friend. "After all, I'm her big brother." He smiled and walked over to the injured sister.

Annie nodded, a moment later someone else accosted her and pulled her aside.

"So you're back, Takemitchy." She looked at the blond.

"Ami-chan, you must listen to me, I need your help..." He moved towards her, but in one second she knocked him to the ground.

"I don't need to listen to you, and certainly don't count on my help." She said firmly. "Toman second generation? You're so serious?" She shook her head. "There's only one Toman and only Mikey is the leader! Not you, Hanagaki!" She kicked him in the face. "I was wrong about you." Girl hit him again. "I'm starting to regret having been with you for so long..." She said as if in a trance and wanted to hit him again, when Mitsuya suddenly stood in her way. "Huh?!" She looked at him. "Mitsuya?"

"Listen to me." He said. "Please. It's not what you think."

"Ami-chan..." The beaten blond stammered. "I never wanted to replace Mikey-kun..." Said, glancing at his friend. "You're right, he's the leader of Toman and he'll always be, it'll never change."

Kojima wanted to attack again, but Takashi was still holding her back.

"Ami-chan... I just want to save him." Boy said. "Both of you."

"Save?" She repeated after him. "From what? Huh? How are you going to help us, Hanagaki Takemitchi?" She said. "There's nothing you can do, everything is lost..."

"No." Blonde pushed Mitsuya away and stood in front of his friend. "Nothing is lost yet, Ami-chan." He said looking at her. "But I need your help. Only you can stop him. He'll certainly listen to you, Ami-chan... Wouldn't you like your common future to be different? Home, family... That's what you wanted."

"Am I dying in the future?" She asked. "Or maybe we're both dying?" She said, then smiling, she raised her head to look at the sky, and tears ran down her cheeks. "Even if so... I don't mind. As long as I'm with Manji... Anything can happen."

"Ami-chan!" Takemitchy shook her. "Help us save Mikey! We'll definitely make it together, his dark impulsiveness..."

"You can't do anything about it." She interrupted him.

"But you can." He looked at her. "Mikey loves you."

"I won't betray him." She replied.

"It won't be betraing, Ami-chan." Mitsuya interjected. "We're all gathered here because we want to restore the old days of... The old Mikey. You'd like that too, right? We want to save him. " Friend said. "Think about it... What would Baji think?"

At these words, tears appeared in the eyes of the girl, and the image of the deceased appeared in her head.

"Emma? Draken? What do you think?" He put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't give in to this darkness, Ami-chan." He smiled warmly. "Come out of it, join the light with us and take Mikey with you... It's much better here, believe me."

Teenager wiped her tears and sighed heavily, then looked at her friends who were now fighting with Mikey, but he easily defeated them.

"He won't even listen to me..." She said after a moment.

"Let's try." Takashi smiled. "Agreed?"

"Mm..." Kojima replied after a long moment and looked at Sano.

First, Takemitchy stood in front of Manjiro, but despite all the talks between the fight, he didn't manage to reach his friend. Just as the leader was about to deliver the final blow, Ami suddenly appeared and blocked him.

"Ami?" Sano was surprised. "What are you doing?"

"Manji..." She covered the blond lying on the ground and looked at her beloved with tears in her eyes. "It has to stop..." She said.

"Huh?" His voice rose considerably and sharpened. "What are you talking about?"

"Manji..." She stroked his cheeks.

"As long as we're together, we can do anything..." Sano reminded her. "We don't split up, we act together... But if we're against each other, what can we achieve...?" Said, looking into her eyes. "Those are your words, remember? You told me that."

"I know, I remember..." She wiped her tears.

"And yet you stand against me..." He interrupted her. "Ami ..." He stared at her sternly. "I take it as a betrayal."

"I would never betray on you, Manji!" She called, and looked at him pleadingly.

"You just did!"

"No..." Girl shook her head and walked over to him. "No, it's not like that..." She said looking at him. "I want to help you... I just want to save you, Manji..."

"Save me?" He repeated after her.

"It's gonna end badly. But it doesn't have to be that way. We can change it, fix it all... Let's end it, Manji..." She pleaded. "You always care about others first and forget about yourself... And what's in your head..." She stroked his cheek. "We can fight it together."

"It won't change anything..." Leader said. "I'll only ask once." He pushed her hand away and stared hard at her. "Are you with me...? Or against me.?" He added hard. "Choose."

"Manji..." She wanted to approach him, but he backed away.

"Mikey-kun!" Hanagaki walked over to them. "Please listen to her..." He looked at his friend. "You've helped us and saved us many times... Let us do the same now."

"Ami." Sano looked at her ignoring the other blond. "What's your answer?"

Kojima hesitated, wanted to say something, but she was short of words. The girl shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I see..." Leader said. "So against me..."

"N-no... Manji..." Kojima came closer but noticed that Mikey's dark side was taking over him, the girl stepped back. "Don't do this."

"Mikey-kun, I won't let that happen!" Hanagaki called. "I made a promise to myself that I would never let that happen again! It doesn't matter that I have no chance against you, but I'll fight anyway! I'll never give up! I want you to be yourself again!"

"Today you'll die... Takemitchy..." Sano said hostile and a moment later they both started fighting.

The time-traveling blond man had no chance with his opponent and after a long moment he was lying barely alive on the ground again.

"Stop! Please!" Ami shielded the wounded man and looked Manjiro in the eyes. "It isn't how it suppose to be! Manji, you're not yourself right now! But you can fight it, you hear me?!" She walked over to him. "What do you think...? What would Baji say if he saw you now? Or Shinichiro? Emma or Draken?" She mentioned. "Do you think they would be pleased to see you in this state?"

"Shut up." He said, still in a trance.

"They wouldn't." Kojima ignored his words. "Either me! Until now, I have always stood by your side, but now... When there's a chance for a better life for us, I don't want to waste it! Manjiro!"

Sano gripped her hand tightly and looked into her eyes.

"What do I have to do to get you out of my way? Kill?" His voice was cold.

"Kill me, go ahead, we'll see how you feel about it." Annie replied with tears in her eyes. "I love you... What I want is to live with you, Manji... This hell may end if we fight with it. There's more than darkness in this world, Mikey..." She approached him. "There're warmer and nicer places... Let's go to them, together..." She said then fell to her knees and bowed her head in front of him. "There are many people in Kanto Manji who would also like to end it and try something different... Let them try it... Teach what it's like to live in the light... Manji ..." She cried. "Let's end it like we started... Together."

Takemitchy sat next to them and watched the whole situation. Ami still had her head lowered, she didn't dare to look at Sano again, she was afraid of what might happen.

Manjiro, on the other hand, fought with himself. He got lost not knowing what was right and what was wrong. He was afraid of who he might become and what he might do. He didn't want to hurt his loved ones, and he didn't want to kill Annie, even though she had betrayed him. Or maybe she didn't?

She just wanted to reach out to him and free him from the darkness surrounding him. She had promised him once that if they failed to overcome this dark side together, they would fall into it together and would never be alone again. Now Kojima was kneeling in front of him and begging him to come back to her, to the light that awaited.

They have strayed from the path and had been unable to find it for a very long time, and now with Hanagaki's return, there's a new hope. There's a chance to go back to the old path and finish everything the way it should've ended for the first time.

Annie still had her head lowered and the hand Sano was still holding was shaking tremendously.

"If you want to... Kill me..." She whispered.

Takemitchy got up and wanted to move to his friend's and help, but he restrained himself seeing what was happening.

"How could I do that...?" Manjiro replied softly and knelt in front of the shaky girl.

"Eh?" Kojima looked up to meet her lover's gentle gaze. "M-manji...?"

"Mm..." He nodded. "You're right..." He said, lacing their fingers together and his other hand stroking her cheek. "It's time to end this..." He smiled faintly. "I want to try another life... Together with you by my side... If you only want to...?"

Annie let more tears flow out, then threw herself on the boy's neck and hugged him tightly, which he reciprocated.

The war is over. Each of its participants could choose the path they wanted. The darkness that Sano couldn't control bothered him less and less. The boy at the present time slowly learned how to stop it. Finally, everything started on the way it should've taken the first time.

Right now, Mikey, Ami, and Takemitchy were over Draken's grave. Hanagaki, seeing the current course of events, said that everything should end well now.

"It's time to go back." He said to his friends standing next to him.

"See you later then." Annie smiled pleasantly.

"We'll see you in ten years, Takemitchy..." Manjiro smiled at him and held out his hand.

"Mm." Blond nodded. "See you later." He smiled and grabbed his friend's hand, and then his power was activated.