"Sorry, but can I talk to him alone?"

"Of course, sir! Fuyuka-san, please let us escort you out."

Fuyuka nodded before looking at Takemitchi with a soft smile. "Really. Thank goodness that you're awake. Kokuō would miss you." She says before following the police officers out of the room as someone was already inside.

"Long time no see," The man says, sounding relieved. 

Takemitchi raises an eyebrow. He did look familiar but he couldn't figure out from where. "I'm sorry, who are you?" He asks.

The man just gives a smile. "I'm Tachibana Naoto." He replied.

"On July fourth, twelve years from now... your sister is going to die."
"Remember that date, Naoto. And protect your sister!" 

"You changed my fate on July fourth, twelve years ago." Naoto starts, looking at him with a serious face. Takemitchi was bewildered, still looking at him in disbelief. "Wait, that was real?" He asks, then mumbles to himself. "But... I thought you died..."

Naoto was still looking at him with a serious expression. "You leapt through time, and I survived so I can save you from dying." He kneels down to his side, gripping his shoulders. "You told me twelve years ago that I should protect my sister, so I became a detective to do that."

There was a glimmer of hope in Takemitchi's eyes as he abruptly sat up. "Then... you saved Tachibana, right!?"

Naoto lets go of Takemitchi's shoulders and looks down. The uncomfortable silence was already enough for Takemitchi to realize the inevitable.

Tachibana Hinata was still dead.

The Inazuma General Hospital, which was established in the late eighties in Inazuma Town, had a second branch in Tokyo that was established in 2010, where it became one of the top university hospitals over the course of its establishment, and the hospital became a candidate for the Green Hospitals Award .

"I'm sorry... Mr. Imaushi," One of the nurses looks up at the man in front of her. The man was holding a bouquet of flowers and he looked solemn, as if he had been doing this longer than he should have. "But Fuyuka-san is out today and as you know—" "Kokuō doesn't accept visitors unless Fuyuka allows it," The man cuts her off, sighing in disappointment. "Can you at least give this to him?" He asks, handing the bouquet of flowers to the nurse.

The nurse looked at the man with pity in her eyes. "Only two people visit him, and you're one of them." She says before taking the bouquet from him. "If you want some good news, he responded to someone today." 

"Oh? Who did he respond to?"

"The second guy that visits him... from the DVD rental place, I think?" The nurse puts the bouquet aside. "I'll tell Fuyuka-san that you came today."

The man nods before turning around to leave. Once he steps outside of the hospital, he pulls out a lollipop. Usually it'd be a cigarette, but he stopped smoking years ago. After he had gotten into that state.

Wakasa stared at Shinichiro with a poker face. "...a lollipop? In case you forgot, I'm a gang member. Not a sweet tooth."

Shinichiro pouted. "C'mon, it's bad enough that we have one smoker in this gang. It helps!"

"It's a no, Shin."

"Even if it's grape flavored?"

Wakasa stared at Shinichiro again before taking the lollipop from him, opening the wrapper. "I hate you sometimes. I should tell Hitomiko to break up with you."

"HEY! Don't steal my girl just because you're childhood friends with her!"

Wakasa let out another sigh, opening the wrapper as he sticks the candy in his mouth. Grape-flavored, just like he always had. It didn't taste the same though. It tasted bland. His phone rings soon after, and he answers the call begrudgingly. "What now? I told you I was on my day off."

"I know," The person on the other line sounded like he was completely exhausted. "But Takeomi won't get off my back. He's asking if you found Kiyama Tatsuya and Kira Hiroto."

There was a pause, then another sigh. "I haven't found them yet. They've been missing for eleven years. He already has Hitomiko." His tone sounded angry rather than annoyed. "Toman already has funds, why does he want those  two?" 

Another pause on his end, and all that Wakasa could hear was the typing of a keyboard and a soft beeping sound. "...those two... Takeomi needs them to keep Hitomiko in place."

Wakasa clenched his fist at that. "Tell that scarred bastard not to touch her." He hissed. He couldn't protect Shinichiro, he couldn't protect Keizo, he couldn't protect Haruchiyo. He needed to protect his childhood friend from getting killed.

It was bad enough that Wakasa was forced into joining Toman, along with a few others. Keizo was in a psych ward due to the endless amount of torture that Kisaki Tetta had put him through. Haruchiyo ended up committing a mass murder and ultimately fell into Kisaki's hands. As much as Wakasa hated to admit it, he blamed himself for letting Hitomiko get involved in this mess.

Currently, Hitomiko was engaged with Takeomi. It was an arrangement, but the both of them didn't want this. For one, Takeomi's a cheater. And second, Hitomiko still loves Shinichiro. But they had to keep up an appearance, after all. 

"I'll inform Takeomi shortly, Imaushi." The other line says, and the typing of a keyboard could be heard again. "Oh... and how was the visit?"

"You could've asked that first, Kidou." Wakasa rolled his eyes at the question. "The same as usual. But the nurse told me he responded."

There was silence again, then a sigh of relief. Kidou was still typing away before another beeping sound was heard. "Mikey won't like it if he moves, just so you know."

"Are you sure it's Mikey saying that?" Wakasa hissed again. "You fucking know that it's Kisaki's orders, and no one else's."

"I know. But I'm saying it as it is... Kisaki's brainwashed him." Kidou says gravely. "I'm just hoping that he'll move soon, you know?"

"...I know."

"I'll call you again for updates."

"See you." Wakasa hangs up, hiding his phone before pulling out a burner phone from his jacket, and started to text something.

From: Waka
To: K&K
Message:

They're looking for you both. I suggest you hide at the warehouse for another three days.

They're going to use you as bait to make your sister give in.

Make sure to get the burner phones in my drawer.

Wakasa presses send. He takes one good look at the hospital before starting to walk away.

He doesn't know if this would be his final visit, but at least he got good news.

Shinichiro responded.

He could still live.