(July 08, 2017)

Naoto was keeping track of Takemitchi's body while he was still in the past. His hypothesis worked, which was honestly just a surprise. Though, nothing had happened yet for Takemitchi to change the future...

He wasn't really expecting anything from his hypothesis.

Naoto was just fixing up some of his files, moving them aside before knocking something over. "Ah, I should probably get rid some of these..." He lets out a sigh before picking up the book. Upon closer inspection, Naoto realizes that this wasn't part of his files.

It was something else.

"What in the world...?" Naoto blew off some of the dust to see what was on the cover. The book had a broken hourglass with a pocket watch that was somehow inside. Naoto believed that this was impossible, but he shrugged it off. He looked at the spine of the book, seeing the name of what he was holding.

The Book of Timelines by Azamune Jikan.

'This is an old book... but I don't think this is mine.' Naoto says before putting the book back on the shelf. He'll probably ask about this to one of his colleagues later when his shift starts. 

"AAAAARRRGH!" Naoto drops the rest of his files when he hears that familiar scream. He looked over at the couch and he drops whatever he was holding to run over to Takemitchi. "You've regained consciousness! This means my hypothesis was right!" He exclaims, a bit too happily. "This is like in one of the books I read, only without the timeline nonsense..." He shakes his head, then turns to Takemitchi. "Anyway, you coming back here means that you've made some progress, right?"

Takemitchi stared a bit before letting out a nervous laugh. "Umm... I sort of... shook your hand by accident?"

The Ten'Ichi Union used to be part of Toman's branches, but they had decided to rebel against them after a few "clean up" incidents that weren't taken care of. They had more casualties than Toman, which was honestly another reason why they left. Only a few stayed in Toman's circle because of the offers that they received.

Within Ten'Ichi, there was a subgroup called Soul. They focused on gathering information and medical services, but they were mostly backup for Ten'Ichi whenever some of the remaining members weren't available. Some of Soul had even stayed in Toman in order for them to relay information.

Kidou Yuuto had entered the facility and leaned against the wall. Seriously, he needed a better job than this. He can't work for Toman and Soul without being suspected enough. He didn't necessarily have a reason to, since he was fine enough being part of the medical service. But since a certain someone had died during the investigation...

Kidou sighed. He couldn't really blame them.

He hears his phone ringing and he answers it. "This is Yuuto, speaking."

"Hey, it's me."

Kidou smirked. "Ah, Rena. Good in hearing you. How are you and your ex-husband?"

There was silence on the other line before Rena sighed. "We're doing just fine after the divorce. You could've asked that a year ago before I got deployed here in Shibuya."

"My bad, my bad." Kidou let out a chuckle. "So, what's with the call this time? Anything new with the police?"

There was a groan on the other end. "I swear, the only useful officer is Tachibana. Though, I'm starting to question him and getting that weird guy that he saved from dying..."

Kidou kept a neutral expression. "Tachibana... ah, his colleague was..." He trails off.

"Yeah... you know." Rena let out a sigh. "Look, we're still grieving, Kidou."

Kidou let out a scoff. "At least I don't grieve for a relationship that wasn't meant to last."

"That's low, even for you."

Kidou shrugged. "We're all going low at this point, Rena. Why did you even call again?"

"Right... uh, about Toman." Rena cleared her throat. "Recently, Kisaki Tetta had been making secret visits... but I can't access the firewall with the burner laptop you gave me. I've been at this for weeks."

Kidou raised an eyebrow. "Kisaki's been making visits to someone in...?"

"Inazuma General Hospital. Someone named... uh, I can't pronounce it, but his name means 'King', if that makes any sense."

'Shit... I knew Kisaki didn't want him moving but...' Kidou was getting anxious. He can always just lie, and say that he was a close friend... but that wouldn't work, considering that the only people who visit him are that engaged couple (whom Kidou hates with a burning passion by the way) and Wakasa. "That's all? Is there anything else?"

"Well..." Kidou could hear shuffling in the background, and he figures that Rena must be arranging her files again. That's all he heard before hearing her type. "...oh god." Her voice was panicked. "Kidou. You have to get to the hospital before one of the nurses puts the medicine in his intravenous drip!"

"What medicine?"

"Kidou, go you have to go, now! If we're even a minute late, that guy's going to be paralyzed!"

Kidou's face went pale. "Shit, book me a taxi!" He hung up before leaving the facility in a rush. Once he was outside, a black car was already waiting for him. The driver's window was lowered down, revealing a familiar face. "I got the call from Sakuma, now get in."

"Thanks, Hiroto." Kidou gets in the front seat as Hiroto rolls up the window. The car starts and Hiroto steps on the gas. 

Kidou had to hold on to the chair for his life, but he could see that there was panic in Hiroto's eyes.

"...we might see your sister." Kidou reminded him.

Hiroto grips on the wheel tighter. "Like I give a shit."

Takemitchi was impressed by the board that Naoto made while he was asleep. Or, maybe something similar to that effect. "I learned something from your second time leap," Naoto starts. "When you returned to the past, you stayed in a 'death-like state' the whole time. Your time leaping ability is returning to the same day, twelve years in the past." He makes a circle on the board, which was pointing to a specific date. "For example, if you were to return to the past today, you'd arrive at the same date twelve years ago. That means if you spend one week in the past, then one week will also have passed here in the present."

"I'll be fired from my job." Takemitchi says to him.

"Who cares about that? My sister's life is on the line." Naoto says bluntly.

'You're too cruel, Naoto!'

"Anyway, how was your mission?" Naoto asks.

"Ah..." Takemitchi cleared his throat. "Uh, I met Mikey-kun."

Naoto raises an eyebrow. "Mikey?"

"Sano Manjiro, head of Toman." Takemitchi continued. "But I haven't met Kisaki yet..."

"Forget about Kisaki," Naoto says suddenly. 

Takemitchi looks at him, surprised. "But... he's not supposed to meet him, right? Why do we have to forget about him if he's also one of the top members of Toman?"

"It's best to just kill the head directly." Naoto tells him. "If we get the second-in-command, the actual person in command would just get away. Plus, if Sano Manjiro dies, they can never meet. Problem solved."

"But he's not..." Takemitchi starts, not knowing what to say. Sure, that plan was plausible... but would he really do that? "But Naoto, Mikey-kun is a good guy."

Naoto grabbed him by the shirt. "Didn't you see how much damage they've done!? The guy who killed my sister is a 'good guy'!? Did you get tricked into believing that in the past!?" He yells at him.

"You're wrong!" Takemitchi retaliates. "We can't just kill someone just because it's an easy solution!

"The head of Toman killed my sister!" Naoto retaliates. "Do you think he even deserves to live!?"

Takemitchi was about to answer when he hears his phone ring. He... didn't remember having someone to call him, aside from Naoto. Naoto lets go of his shirt, and Takemitchi answers the phone. "Hello? Hanagaki speaking?"

"Ah, you've introduced yourself already!" The voice on the other line sounded... cheerful, and not the kind that you'd see normally. "My name's Sendo Tsubame! I'm calling on behalf of my little brother, Atsushi-kun!"

'Wait, Akkun had an older brother?' Takemitchi was surprised to hear this information. He had visited Akkun's house before and all he saw was his mother. "Uh... okay, is there a reason why you called this number...?" He asks nervously.

"No reason! I just found it in his contacts, I figured you might need a friend. Bye!"

"Hey wait-!" Takemitchi was about to say but the line already hung up. Naoto had his arms crossed. "Who was that?" He asks. Takemitchi could see that he was still probably angry. Well, he couldn't really blame him. "Someone named Sendo Tsubame... he said he was Akkun's older brother."

Then it clicked in his head. "Hey, whatever happened to Akkun now?"

Naoto pondered for a bit, before going onto his laptop to check his documents; There was only one file. Naoto specifically remembered that Akkun had at least a dozen of them because he was involved with murder. But now... it was just one. He clicked on it, and it revealed a file with a picture on it. "...it says here that Akkun's one of the top members in Toman." He turns to Takemitchi. "Is it because you changed the past?"

Takemitchi just nodded. "I stopped him from stabbing Kiyomasa-kun! Maybe that's the reason why he became a bigshot!"

"Can you still contact him?" Naoto asks.

Takemitchi nodded. "I have a notebook with a couple of phone numbers. If he didn't change it yet, then I could still call him!"

Naoto stared for a bit, then he chuckled. "First, you see that the leader of Toman is a good guy... and then the next you want to talk to one of the bigshots of Toman... You've changed, Takemitchi."

"I have?" Takemitchi points at himself. "You mean I've become more mature? Or more sexy?" He teases.

"Don't push it." Naoto says bluntly.