T/W for death, I guess.

"I'm going on a walk by myself. In the meanwhile, sort yourselves out." Takemichi's stoic detective friend briskly headed off before he could react, stranding him outside the car with his childhood girlfriend.

"Geez, Naoto..." Hina placed her hands on her hips and looked after her brother's retreating figure. She sighed but turned back to Takemichi with a small smile, her long chestnut hair flowing. "Since we're here, how about we walk together?"

"Uh, sure." There wasn't really anything else to do here at this time of the day, anyway.

The public park Naoto had brought them to had an expansive view over the bay, where the city skyline just beyond dazzled the water with an array of colors. A wide, stone path ran around the perimeter of the park, lampposts and benches lining the side that led to the undergrowth. It was a beautiful place, but Takemichi's mind was too distracted to fully appreciate the scenery.

He and Hina slowly strolled side-by-side along the path, a respectable distance away from each other. Takemichi hadn't initially noticed the clover-shaped necklace that now rested on her exposed collarbone above her dress, and he probably wouldn't have paid it any attention if it wasn't the gift he'd given her literally ten hours ago. Which was technically twelve years ago. And if she was still wearing it...Takemichi didn't want to get his hopes up.

"We haven't talked in a while, have we?" Hina broke the silence, although her gaze was kept on the path.

He had no clue. He wouldn't be able to know the events that transpired in this new timeline. "I guess."

"I'm glad to see you're doing well."

It was Hina, and yet, something about her felt a little...off. Since he'd stumbled upon her after the time-leap, she'd seemed sentimental. She was sweet and gentle, more mature than the 14-year-old girl he knew, but it was as if there was an underlying nuance to her that felt foreign. Perhaps it was how her older self normally acted—in fact, this was his first time meeting her in the present, where she was alive and well.

There was only the sound of their shoes on the path for a full minute, his scrapping sneakers and her clicking heels. It grew more awkward with each passing second of silence. Takemichi went out on a whim, as he had no idea what to say to his past girlfriend. "Um... Is there something bothering you?"

Hina suddenly came to a stop and stared over the bay. Takemichi halted as well, but he watched her instead as she played with the pendant on her necklace. From his position, he was unable to see her expression. "A little, but it's nothing too major." Her voice remained kind, but there was a touch of melancholy to it.

Was this his chance? The necklace he'd given clearly was important to her, and he just wanted to ascertain their relationship. But even if that wasn't the case, he still wanted to help her. "You can share it if you want to."

She continued to look at the skyline as she spoke. "That's sweet of you. Then I'll do so.

"I...fell in love with you twice in the past. Once in primary school, and the other around the time you gave me this necklace."

"Primary school?" he couldn't stop himself from asking.

"You probably don't remember. We didn't even talk then." Hina chuckled a bit as she reminisced, but she didn't elaborate.

But that time aside, it was their relationship that she was troubled over. Why, after twelve years? She'd been the one to break up with him in his original life. Perhaps those feelings had changed. He now dared to hope.

"But I waited for years," Hina continued, "and he never came back."

'He'? Takemichi noted the change in pronoun, but he ignored it. Had his past self again failed to maintain their love? And technically, he was that person. It was him who had failed to change. But the necklace, though. The fact she still wore it implied their relationship still did matter to her. Did it, or did it not? Her silhouetted figure gave little away.

"I'm sorry, Takemichi-kun, but I don't love you anymore."

Partly knowing they'd probably broken up again was one thing, but hearing it directly from her mouth struck him like a bullet. It hurt, even with his previous self-defeated thoughts to dispel the illusion that Hina was still in love with him. He really was just her ex-, and he'd come over to her apartment without knowing and tried to talk to her. He looked down at his feet in shame. Honestly, what was he expecting? He hadn't changed at all. How could he have hoped for their relationship to continue?

"I—"

BANG! BANG! Takemichi was suddenly cut off as a sequence of loud cracks rang from the undergrowth. It almost sounded like fireworks, but these were unusually sharp and had a strange, steady cadence to them. Hina turned back from the bay to curiously watch with him. The trees remained still, and their dense foliage prevented any light from penetrating through. Everything happening beyond it was impossible to deduce by sight alone. A similar, yet considerably softer, sound ended the sequence abruptly. Gunshots? His skin felt cold despite the warm climate.

"Hina-chan, please go back to the car," Takemichi said as he tried to determine where the sounds had come from. His worry over their relationship went forgotten at the sign of possible danger. "I'll go look for Naoto."

She abided without complaint, although her fingers brushed his as she passed. "Stay safe."

"Yeah." Hina strode back the way they'd come. Takemichi jogged along the opposite way, staying clear of the foliage. But by the time his breaths had started to turn into pants, he was unable to find Naoto. Was he further in? He nervously eyed the unyielding undergrowth before running into it while keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible. But as alert as he was, every step sounded like thunder.

The police detective would've surely been able to distinguish the gunshots, and he might have returned to the car. But what if something had happened to him? It was very possible those shots had been his, although he couldn't recall seeing Naoto carrying a gun. Regardless, Naoto should've been trained to deal with these sorts of situations. Takemichi continued to run through the park. He'd spend no more than five minutes before returning to the car, he decided. That was final.

"Hmph, that was messy," a deep voice said.

He caught a flash of movement as someone walked out of a public bathroom, which sat on the plaza in the center of the park. It was a lanky man in a pinstripe suit, his dark hair streaked with gold swept to the side and his circular glasses reflecting the light of the lamppost. A briefcase swung at his side.

Armed only with the knowledge that there was a potential gunman wandering in the park, Takemichi normally would've tried to hide. It was too late, though. The tall man had noticed him. Takemichi flinched back under his impassive stare.

"Oh, it's you," the man commented. Takemichi tensed. He couldn't share in his recognition, although there was something familiar about the man that he couldn't quite put into words and had him on edge. "Why aren't you in the car?"

"Huh?" he blinked at the sudden question. "Uh..."

He sighed. "Rhetorical question. It's too late, anyway. Could you just stand still and wait here for a minute?" Takemichi nervously eyed the stranger in front of him, who kneeled down and set his briefcase on the ground. Drawn to the action, he noticed a dark character tattooed on the back of one of the man's hands, the character for 'punishment.' It was such a distinctive feature that Takemichi immediately recognized it. Hanma...but what was he doing here?

Hanma unlatched the case and lifted the cover. But it was its contents that chilled Takemichi's blood. A gun and multiple gun magazines. Those sounds had been him, hadn't they. Takemichi wasn't going to stay around like a fool and let himself get killed. He swiveled away and started to run for the tree line.

BANG!!! Takemichi tripped at the sudden sound, which was infinitely louder than those from earlier due to his proximity. His ears were ringing, but he had no time to wait for them to recover. He scrambled to his feet and dashed into the trees. But against his better judgement, he peeked back once he'd made it safely to the undergrowth.

The lanky man who was about to kill him collapsed on the ground, a dark pool of blood forming around him. He was most certainly dead, or at minimum fatally injured. Who'd killed him? Who else was there?!

He could faintly make out a figure on the other end of the plaza, arm outstretched as if holding a gun. It was too hard to identify their face, but it definitely wasn't Naoto. Takemichi wasn't eager to find out who they were. He dashed away through the grass, heading in a straight line for where the car should be parked. He wasn't prepared for this. After seeing that display, reality and common sense had caught up with him. There was no way he could deal with someone with a gun!

It was hard to see where exactly he was running without the light of the lampposts. But staying visible in the light was probably much more dangerous. His chest started to ache with how fast he was running, trying to put as much distance as possible between him and that person—

"Oomph—" His foot suddenly snagged on something unusually high, sending him face-planting into the grass. He grunted as he received a mouthful of grass. After spitting it out and trying to get that earthly tang out of his mouth, he lay in that position for a few seconds, his heart pounding and breathing rushed. But he felt something...wet under him. He got onto his knees and looked back at what he'd tripped over.

It was too dark to make out anything other than monochrome colors, but something lay on ground, its length...human-sized, he daresay. Seeing Hanma die had sent his imagination in an unusual direction. The liquid he'd felt stained the surrounding grass, unusually dark, and it seemed to originate from the thing he'd tripped on. But a small breeze sent the trees astir, allowing him to momentarily glimpse something in the light of the lamppost several meters away. A hand.

Takemichi violently jerked away from the corpse. How many people died here tonight? He stared down at it, speechless. He felt even more self-conscious of his loud breathing. Fuck. Seeing Hanma collapse from a distance was nothing compared to the body right in front of him, unresponsive and very-much dead.

But Hanma had mentioned a car...Hina. Hina was there!

He vaulted to his feet and resumed his path through the park. Even if Hanma was now dead, there was no guarantee she'd be safe. He needed to hurry back as soon as he could.

CRASH!! A terrible cacophony rang out from not too far in front of him, a discordant mix of metal warping, glass shattering, and other arbitrary sounds of things being devastated. Takemichi picked up his pace despite already going as fast as he could, desperate to find out what that had been from.

He broke past the trees to see a car wreck, a heavy-duty car having slammed into Naoto's white four-passenger. Takemichi could see the faint silhouette of someone in the passenger seat of Naoto's car. It must've been Hina! But before he could get close, a fiery explosion suddenly billowed out from the wreck and engulfed the two cars, and the sheer pressure of it physically blew him off his feet. The gasoline must've ignited. He staggered to his feet and charged in.

The first thing he noticed was a person in the driver's seat of the car that had slammed into Naoto's. Takemichi spared them a glance before heading to save Hina, but he did a double-take as he realized he'd recognized the culprit.

Akkun was hunched over in the seat, the pompadour he prided himself on matted with blood, which continued to stream down his forehead. "Akkun!" Takemichi yelled as he banged on the car door with his fist, but his old friend didn't respond. He was dead. But with that, he started to wonder why exactly Akkun was here. He was a beautician now; he'd cut Takemichi's hair only a few hours ago. Why was he here? Why would he kill Hina?

But a wet cough from Naoto's car broke him out of his bewildered musings. He rushed over and saw his past girlfriend inside. She must still be alive. He could save her!

He yanked on the door handle, but the door didn't budge. He placed a foot against the adjacent door as he strained his arms to pull the handle, but it was futile. The frame must've been too warped to properly open. "Hina!" he yelled as he saw her eyelashes flutter. He clenched his hand into a fist and struck the car window repeatedly, left with no other option. His knuckles hurt from the impacts, and they weren't particularly effective. He stopped to grasp his hands together, angling his body perpendicular to the window as he crashed his elbow into it with full force. A large crack split through the glass. He reared back again, and with a final hint, the laminated glass shattered, allowing a narrow passageway into the wrecked car.

The fire was still contained to the point of collision between the two cars, but it was rapidly spreading. Takemichi coughed on a mouthful of smoke but reached into the car as far as he could, a hand on the window frame to support himself. The metal was uncomfortably hot to touch. "Hina! The fire's spreading! We need to go!!"

But diving into the car allowed a better view of his past girlfriend that he previously couldn't see through the side window. The front of the car had warped from the crash and was buried deep in her midsection, blood pooling around it. It was unquestionably a fatal wound. Even if he somehow managed to pry her out of the wreck, she would probably die first of blood loss. No amount of first-aid could stop that injury. His arm faltered, and his heart sank with it.

Hina blinked at the sound and weakly raised her head. "Takemichi-kun..." she murmured. A stream of blood dribbled from her lips.

"I-I'm sorry!" His feelings from before the incident resurfaced and burst out after realizing this was the last time he'd ever be able to talk to her again. "I'm sorry for letting you down! But I still love you, Hina. And I always will, no matter what!" He could feel huge tears streaming down his cheeks, but he didn't care.

Hina stared forward with the same sentimental smile she'd been giving him all night. "...you have nothing to apologize for," she quietly managed to say. Takemichi tried to lessen his sobs so he could properly hear her, but his body wouldn't listen. He bit his lips to shut up.

"I was the one being unfair," she continued. "Even...though I said I didn't love you anymore, I lied." She looked down at the necklace hanging from her neck, tainted red in the flickering light of the fire and her own blood. "I still remember and treasure those times.

"Thank you, Takemichi-kun," Hina managed to turn her head to face him properly for the first time since arriving at the park, despite the pain the movement must've undoubtedly caused. He could see her neck trembling past his blurry tears. "Thank you for trying to save me. But I don't want you to die here. You're still a precious person to me."

But Takemichi didn't move. He just wanted to be with her until the final moments of her death, not to provide her some comfort but for his own selfish desire to be with her for however many minutes until she died. He barely felt the metal searing his fingers or noticed the blaze creeping up the car.

"Takemichi-kun..."

"Just a little longer," he begged. She lifted an arm out and weakly pushed his chest, but he stayed put.

"Please leave. Live." She coughed a bit, her shoulders heaving. Her arm drooped, but Takemichi grasped her hand, scratched from small pieces of debris. Hina gave his a small squeeze before working her hand out of his. "Leave now. There's no more time."

"No. I'm not leaving you," he bit out. The fire had burned its way into the compartment and licked at the backseat. "I'll save you, Hina, I swear! No matter how many times I fail. Even if you don't love me anymore. I'll keep trying again and again until I reach a future where you're saved. Just wait for me, Hina!" he yelled.

"Takemichi-kun, I have no idea what...you're talking about," she chuckled with a strange gurgle to her voice. "But I see you've come back. I'm satisfied with that. Now go." She tried to push him out again, but she couldn't muster the strength to.

A hand suddenly yanked his shirt from behind and sent him sprawling onto the concrete. He looked up to see who'd just grabbed him, but the fire finally enveloping the entire car distracted him. "HINA!" he screamed.

"It's not safe here." The person took him by the shoulders and firmly dragged him away to the end of the lot. Takemichi allowed it, too stunned to react. It was after watching the flames lick at the car for a full minute that he properly took in the person who'd saved him past his own tears.

It was a man in a dark bomber jacket, his slim frame and shoulder-length hair giving him a feminine appearance. The bangs that framed his face had been dyed blond, contrasting with his otherwise black hair. A small bell chimed from his earring. He gazed at the fire almost wistfully, as if seeing something more.

"I don't like fire," the man said in an even voice. "The way it burns, consuming anything that stands in its way." He turned back to Takemichi, who noticed a black tattoo on the other side of the man's neck. "You alright?"

"Yeah." Takemichi sniffled loudly. "Thanks." He wasn't happy with the abrupt interference, but he recognized that the man had saved his life. Hina was probably dead by now.

The man's gaze lingered on his face. "Hm? Aren't you the one who was with...oh, so that was Hinata." Takemichi stared back in surprise, but his savior had turned to watch the blaze. "May she rest in peace."

"H-how do you know her?"

"A friend asked me for help, but it seems I was too late. For both of them," he sighed. "But be careful, Hanagaki Takemichi. Kisaki's after you."

This man knew about Kisaki. Was he part of Toman?! "Wait, who are—"

"FREEZE!" Naoto, this time actually him, yelled from the other side of the parking lot. He brandished his police badge as he approached them. "I'm with the police. Put your hands up where I can see them and back away slowly."

The person who'd saved him clicked his tongue before dashing away, ignoring the police detective. "Running away is a crime. Stop where you are!" Naoto called after him. He was ignored. The detective glared at the fleeing man but shirked his duty to hurry to Takemichi. "What happened here? Are you alright?"

He'd finally found Naoto but at the worst possible timing. Who was that man? Why was Hanma here? He'd sworn to save Hina, but all he had at the moment were questions and the suspicion that something bigger was happening behind it all.

"H-Hina died again. I'm so sorry, Naoto."

---

"The person who you stumbled upon was Myers, Blake, with an illegally obtained firearm from overseas. The bullet that killed her matches those of Hanma Shuuji's, and as you mentioned, a third party shot him dead. Based on the description you provided, it's most likely Hanemiya Kazutora, with how distinctive his appearance is. However, I've been unable to find him since."

Takemichi sat beside Naoto on a bench outside Hina's funeral. The detective's eyes were downcast, and dark bags hung from his eyes. It reminded Takemichi of the first time they'd met at the train station, seeing Naoto so seemingly defeated like this. Hina's necklace felt heavy in his suit pocket.

"Hanemiya Kazutora?" Takemichi asked. He didn't appear to be an enemy, rather, he even seemed to be working against Toman by killing Hanma. What exactly was his relationship to them?

Naoto kept his head lowered as he answered. "He's a locksmith with no apparent connection to Toman. However, after a bit of digging, I found out he was sent to a juvenile detention center during middle school for killing Sano Shinichirou."

"Sano? Wait, do you mean—"

"It's Sano Manjirou's brother. Hanemiya killed the leader of Toman's brother." The time leaper vaguely remembered Mikey mentioning him once, saying Takemichi reminded him of his older brother. But Takemichi didn't realize he'd been killed. That must've undoubtedly hurt Mikey. Perhaps it might've been what changed him from the good-hearted boy he knew to what he was now.

"Maybe...if I stop him from dying, then—"

"You can't. It happened two years before. At the time you can time travel to, he's just been released," Naoto again interrupted. "But even if you can, it doesn't matter. Myers and Sendou keep dying with my sister. Nothing's changed."

The two sat on the bench in silence. Takemichi watched the leaves of the nearby trees flutter. He disagreed with Naoto. Despite failing to save those three again, the future had changed. Akkun had become a beautician. Hina had been alive, even if only for a single evening. And Myers had...come to think of it, why was she there? He hadn't noticed how unusual her presence had been, as he'd been caught up with everything else bombarding him.

"...Naoto, isn't it strange how Myers-san was there at that time of the night? With a gun, no less. It's as if...she knew it would happen." He let his thoughts flow out. Naoto hadn't moved in response to his words, but he knew the man was listening. "Maybe...she's a time traveler, like me?" It was a far-fetched possibility, but how else could she have known?

Takemichi continued. "I heard in the past she stepped in to save someone from another gang. In the previous future, before he died, Akkun...mentioned she'd been looking into Toman. I think she'd surely try to save Hina." The only other way she could've possibly known about the incident that was about to happen was if she had connections to the present-day Toman. But there was no way that was true. Why would she have been investigating Toman if she was a part of it already?

He'd seen Myers and Hina together on multiple occasions, even if he'd rarely talked with the transfer student himself. While he would've found it hard to believe that the reserved girl would attempt murder, she had. Perhaps their friendship had deepened later, to the extent where she felt driven to get revenge. She was trying to save Hina as well, even dying in each failed future. But if she was dead, how could she jump back...? Takemichi was perplexed, but he knew one thing for certain: Myers was trying to save Hina, just like them.

"Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but you have a point," his detective friend quietly spoke up. "But unlike with you, I don't recall anything unusual about my sister's friend. We didn't meet much, but I don't remember her acting any different or her personality abruptly changing, even if she was rather smart for her age."

Naoto was willing to entertain the possibility. "Then, should I ask her about it, or maybe just team up with her? She's trying to save Hina, too. We might be able to work together."

"It's probably better not to confront her on it," Naoto replied. "It's not something that can be undone, and she might even be able to accomplish things on her own that we can't. Just investigate her in the past for now, if you're able to. I couldn't find anything unusual about her from my research besides what happened at the park, although the information I could find by myself is limited, with her being a foreign citizen." Takemichi hummed to show his understanding.

"But even if there's someone else trying to save her, it doesn't make a single difference. We've tried several times, and it's been futile. You can't change fate." Hina's brother clenched his fists, frustrated with that knowledge.

Takemichi took that chance to finally correct him. "You're wrong, Naoto! We've changed the future. Fate can be denied! And we have the ability to try as many times as it takes. Even if we keep failing, if we reach just one successful future, we win! Maybe saving Draken-kun wasn't the right answer," he admitted. "But that's fine! We can still try again." He'd sworn to Hina he would save her. And he would, eventually.

His black-haired partner had visibly relaxed, although his head was still lowered. He was getting through to him. It wasn't over yet, Naoto!

"Maybe...we need to just destroy Toman. If I can become Toman's leader, this won't happen at all." Takemichi was vaguely aware he was talking out of his ass, but there was some logic to it. If he wrenched control from Kisaki, then he'd be able to keep Toman from turning evil. He'd be able to save Hina from getting killed.

Naoto suddenly let out a sharp bark of laughter. "What a foolish idea. How would you even go about that?"

He felt some blood rush to his cheeks. "I'm...not sure, but I'll do it!" He could try as many times as he wanted.

And one day, one day, he would succeed.

Wait for me, Hina.