It was like a flash of lightning came into Takemitchi's eyes. His thoughts of shock were snapped out when he heard the intercom. 

"Shibuya. You have arrived at Shibuya. Please watch out for any belongings..."

Shibuya? He hadn't been here since his his middle school years. But why was he here? Wasn't he on the train tracks a few seconds ago?

"Hey, Takemitchi!" Takemitchi turns around in seeing four familiar faces, and even then it didn't remove the shock and confusion written on his face. "What're you doing? We're going." One of them says as they were waiting for him to get out of the train. Still confused, he rushes outside before the door closes.

A wave of shock and nostalgia suddenly hit Takemitchi.

"Yamagishi, did you see this week's magazine?"
"I saw it, the pics were hot, right?!"
"Can't you guys be more serious once in a while?"
"I'm hungry, wanna grab something?"

Takemitchi knew these people all too well: Makoto Suzuki, who's constantly fondling his balls. Yamagishi Kazushi, who thinks he'll be smart if he wears glasses. Sendo Atsushi or known as Akkun, the leader of t their old middle school gang. And Yamamoto Takuya, his childhood friend. These four were his friends from middle school, and if anything he hadn't seen them since graduation. But why were they even here...?

And how come they looked the same way as they were in middle school?

Takemitchi looks over to the side to see a mirror. "Huh...? Huh?!"

'Open-necked shirt and baggy pants... who is this lame delinquent?!' Takemitchi was in complete disbelief as he was holding his face. There was no way that this was him, right? 'No way... it's me! It's me from middle school! Fuck, I look so lame! This was supposed to be the peak of my life!'

He fumbles for something in his pockets, and all he had was a 500-yen coin and an old flip phone. "How nostalgic!" He opens it up and sees the wallpaper of him, Akkun, Yamagishi, Makoto, and Takuya. But somehow the fleeting moment of nostalgia disappears when he sees the date.

2005/07/04

"July... July 4th, 2005?" Takemitchi was confused. "Erm, I remember correctly..." He starts counting on his fingers. "Wait... it's twelve years in the past?!"

"Hey, Takemitchi! What're you doing anyway? Let's go already!" Takemitchi turns around, seeing the four were already ahead of him. 

'Everything feels so real...' He thought, blinking in disbelief.

The five were crossing down the road, enjoying their own company. Even though Takemitchi was confused to why he was in the past, it felt... in his own words, a little nostalgic. Maybe he was having one of those flashbacks in where your life flashes before your own eyes, living out your best and last moments before dying. 

They ended up at a fast food joint a few minutes afterwards. Makoto's food coupons weren't enough for everyone, so Akkun bought his own meal and Takemitchi bought a small fries. "Really, Takemitchi?" Makoto raises an eyebrow as he was eating his own burger. "Just fries?"

Takemitchi laughed nervously. "Well, I need to save for my train ride back home..."

"C'mon, that'll work itself out!" Yamagishi says through a mouthful of food. Takuya moved away a little to avoid getting chewed up lettuce in his fries. 

Akkun shakes his head at this before turning to Takemitchi. "I'm so glad that your cousin is the leader of Shibuya Middle Third." He says with a reassuring look. Yamagishi, still having a mouthful of food, swallows it before taking another bite while saying, "So when the third years come out, we can just bring out Masaru-kun's name, right?"

'My cousin...?' Takemitchi was lost in thought for a few seconds. 'Wait, are they talking about Masaru?'

"Uh, hold on a second. What good does it bring by having Masaru-kun with us?" Takemitchi asks, and he earned weird looks from the four. "W-What?"

"Oi, oi, Takemitchi! Are you okay in the head?" Yamagishi asks him with a snicker.

Makoto clenches his fist, holding it up with a smug grin. "We're going to start a fight! There's a war between us second years at Mizo Middle and them second years at Shibuya middle!"

'Come to think of it, Masaru-kun did  say that he's the leader at Shibuya Middle Third...' Takemitchi thought, remembering what his cousin had said from before. But there was a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Eh? So we're on our way to that middle school to start a fight?!"

The four gave him strange looks, which made Takemitchi uncomfortable. "Hey, someone say something..." Yamagishi nudges Takuya.

"Takemitchi, they were looking down on us, you know?" Takuya tells him. "They only thing we can do is fight back."

"Looking down on us? Just because of that?" Takemitchi asks them. Wow, he thought, he really was a lame-ass delinquent. Just what the hell were they even on back in middle school? Not to mention that this was a petty reason to start a war...

"We don't need that pussy act!" Yamagishi makes an up and down motion with his fist. "You're gonna give 'em the backfist as soon as you see them like always, right?" 

'Backfist...?'

"Our charge commander!" Makoto pats his shoulder. 

Yamagishi lets out a noise that sounded like a yell of encouragement, but his knee hit the table and the drink started to spill. "Hey, you spilled that!" Akkun scolded, but that only led to Makoto laughing and Takuya making a bird-like pose while letting out a battle cry. 

'Yeah... I'm definitely having a flashback.' Takemitchi thought.

'Wait, wait, wait! This is all happening too fast! This certain did happen! I talked with Masaru-kun before going to the middle school in Shibuya...'

Takuya notices Takemitchi being lost in his own thoughts, and he pats his shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

"H-Huh? Y-Yeah! I'm fine!" Takemitchi manages to muster out, hiding his nervousness. "Why ask?"

"You've been actin' a little weird. You can just tell Akkun if you're sick or something." Takuya reassured. "Besides, you can easily fight them with the back of your hand." He adds with a snicker. "Or maybe dating Tachibana-san made you forget about fighting?"

"Hey! Don't bring Hina into this!" Takemitchi says, his face flustered. But being able to call that to Hinata again was... it was a little comforting.

'Wait a minute...' Takemitchi goes back into his thought process, remembering conversation from earlier.

Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. And he was panicking.

'Shit...! I haven't done any of this in ten years! I think I might piss myself...' Oh boy, Takemitchi was wondering when the flashback will end, but considering that this was the moments before he was going to die...

Eh, might as well let the river flow, right?

Takemitchi was just staring at his four friends in a bit of disbelief as they were talking to the first years of Shibuya Middle. 'Was everyone around me really this gung-ho back then?' He thought, a look of confusion on his face. 

They reached the park after a while, and the five of them were waiting for the so-called delinquents of Shibuya Middle. Takemitchi was looking around for a bit, being silent before Akkun spoke up, "That's weird. Everyone we talked to earlier were just first years." 

"Gang boycott?" Takuya asks him.

"Or," Yamagishi turns to them as he was finished with drawing circles in the stand. "Maybe they heard we were coming and got scared!"

"Could be." Makoto says with a grinned before laughing along with Takuya.

"Well," Akkun stood up from his position. "Those Shibuya delinquents are whipped and trendy 'city boys' anyway."

Takemitchi was a little silent as the three stared at him. Yamagishi could notice the tension for some reason, and he stood up as well. "Takemitchi?"

'Trendy city boys...?'

"Oi!!!" 

'No!'

The five flinch, turning around to see a bunch of guys walking towards them. One of them had a cigarette stick in his mouth, which somehow made him the intimidating one of the bunch. "So you're the ones messing with our second years." 

"That's... Kiyomasa." Akkun whispered to them as they started to back away, with the third years walking towards them. The one with the cigarette, or now known as Kiyomasa takes out the stick from his mouth to yell, "That's Kiyomasa-san to you!"

Akkun gulped, "Kiyomasa-san of the Tokyo Manji Gang..."

'Tokyo Manji Gang...'

"Shit, Takemitchi! Call Masaru-kun, quick!" Yamagishi was fumbling with Takemitchi's pockets to grab the phone, but they heard a familiar voice yelling, "Sorry!" and they stopped moving backwards. The Shibuya Middle third-years turned around, and they saw a brown-haired male with freckles walking towards them. 

"That's Masaru-kun right there..." Makoto looks at Takemitchi with disbelief and obvious betrayal.

And that's when Takemitchi remembered:

Masaru was just an errand boy.

They were badly beaten. Kiyomasa and his gang wasted no time in giving them hell. Each hit was already a low blow to Takemitchi's already low self-worth. 

It was sundown by the time Kiyomasa was finished with them. 

"WUR ZORREY!" Takemitchi and Akkun were on their knees, apologizing. Their faces were the ones that were mostly bruised out of the five of them, and Kiyomasa's gang just starts laughing. "Fucking dorks can't even yell properly." Kiyomasa scoffs. "That ain't how delinquents do it."

"From now on, you shits belong to the Tokyo Manji Gang," One of Kiyomasa's goons say with a smirk. "So work your asses off!"

They walk away, laughing. 

Excluding Masaru.

He felt guilty for letting them get into this situation. "Hey... I wanted--"

"FUCK YOU!" Takemitchi stood up and punched Masaru square in the face. Takuya was the one that had to pull him so that he wouldn't do more harm than good. "You fucking liar! You're the reason why my life turned to shit!"

"Takemitchi---!" Masaru was about to explain but Akkun stood up, along with Yamagishi and Makoto as they were glaring daggers at him. Takuya was still holding back, only letting go when Akkun gives the greenlight and Takemitchi punches Masaru again. 

Masaru just quietly took the punches before Takemitchi was already on the ground, panting heavily. He turns away. "...I'll see you." He mumbled quietly before leaving them.

"Are you okay?" Takuya puts a hand on Takemitchi's shoulder, and he just nods. Yamagishi was holding his arm, letting out a sigh. "I can't believe we got into this mess."

Akkun nods. "Let's just go home."

The five start walking back home, and Takemitchi glances behind him. Masaru was already at a far distance but he was looking at them with a guilty expression.

Takemitchi glared at his cousin, and then he followed Akkun and the others as they were walking home.