A/N: Happy New Year!

Sorry for the long wait, and thanks for sticking around. I wrote this chapter over winter break. Geez, I've gotten rusty not writing for a few months. Officially, this story will now update whenever I finish a chapter, but at latest, I will release the next within half a year lol. I'll try to write a bit every now and then and aim to finish by three months. I'll write a notification on my profile when I'm almost ready to post.

The battle is split into two chapters, and after that, there will be one more chapter in this arc. More information about the rest of the story will be given then.

Oftentimes, I google the anime scenes while writing so that I can view the settings in color and better immerse myself, only to notice some deviations from the original scene in the manga. Like how the anime makes the church walls black and how I thought the church was lit by electrical lights inside because it looked so well-lit in the manga, but it's actually all candles...

Totally not an important detail to overlook. Nope.

"It has come to my understanding that my behavior..."

Hakkai felt like he was tripping.

The hard wood against his back and warmth of his sister's shoulder against his own assured him otherwise.

Taiju spoke with the softest voice Hakkai had ever heard from him. Soft candlelight bathed his brother's face as he looked down at his two seated siblings from beside the altar. The inside of the church was well-insulated from the cold, yet his skin tingled from an icy wind.

He fastened another button of his gakuran.

"...has been detrimental to your development. However, this doesn't deny the fact that I have been taking care of our family—"

"Taiju." Yuzuha's voice was sharp as steel.

Taiju scowled and trudged towards them, his heavy boots plodding along the carpet. Hakkai shrunk back against the pew as Taiju stopped in front of them and peered down through narrowed eyes. Yuzuha gave his hand a small squeeze. It did little to stop his quivering.

"Hakkai, I'll let you choose one more time: Toman or the Black Dragons?"

...what?

He scrutinized Taiju's face to get a hint at his brother's intentions, but his lowered brows and disapproving frown looked no different from his usual demeanor.

Yuzuha leaned closer to him. Her voice was mellow. "It's alright to choose whichever gang you—"

"Hakkai. Sit up straight and tell me your decision, now."

He immediately sat upright, dislodging Yuzuha's hand, and met Taiju's golden irises. His breaths came shallow and his heartbeats rapid, and he swallowed to wet his dry throat.

What more would Taiju make him sacrifice? What punishment would he face for the wrong answer?

"I..." Hakkai began. "I choose—"

---

Takemichi came prepared to hold off a fire, but not prepared to hold back a wince as Baji kicked open the double doors and yelled—

"I'm gonna fucking kill your ass, Taiju!"

—at the three people huddled together at the other end of the hall. The interior of the church was not as bright as it'd been during the day, but it was still well-lit enough by candles perched at each column and electrical lamps beside the entrance for him to distinguish Taiju's red coat and two black-clothed figures sitting together at a pew.

The white sash tied around Baji's uniform flared out as he stalked down the carpet toward them. Chifuyu hesitated for a second then jogged to catch up, and Takemichi lowered his fire extinguisher onto a nearby bench before following.

Takemichi still disagreed that beating Taiju up was the solution to helping Hakkai return to Toman, but Baji would not be persuaded otherwise by him or Chifuyu, and besides, Takemichi was here to save Baji and Hakkai from Taiju and a fire respectively, so whether he agreed or not, he had to be here. Maybe Baji knew some context that spurred him to challenge Taiju, but Hakkai had chosen to leave Toman to prevent a war, and it wasn't right for them to literally start said war with the Black Dragons. Even Chifuyu had agreed with that and was here only out of loyalty for Baji.

"You again?" Taiju said. His coat flowed behind him as he met Baji in the middle of the aisle. "You don't belong here. Does the pact mean nothing to you?"

"You shouldn't have come!" Hakkai shot up from his bench and took a few steps toward them, revealing he was in his school uniform. "I...I left Toman! I'm no longer one of you. You can't beat Taiju!"

Baji eyed the former Vice-Captain before flipping his ponytail back and sneering at Taiju. "The pact? Psh! I'm not here to reclaim Hakkai—he can do whatever he wants to do. I'm here to settle our fight, Taiju! Don't try to chicken out."

Hakkai's face morphed into an unreadable expression. The other person beside him—a girl in a black sailor uniform—also stood up...wait, wasn't that the same girl as earlier?

Takemichi slapped himself. With both hands, across the cheeks. Twice.

"Hm?" Chifuyu glanced back at him.

"I'm an idiot. The densest, dumbest, dimmest idiot of all time." Chifuyu shrugged and continued observing the leaders' standoff, his shoulders stiff and fingers restless.

The fact that she was working underneath Mitsuya in the future didn't necessarily mean she had connections to Toman in the past, but she'd confided in him only a few hours ago that she had two brothers with issues. He'd put two and two together and gotten two and two. Yet.... He examined Hakkai again, who stood stock-still at the edge of the proceedings.

"He's always been pushed around, and he freezes up whenever he sees my older brother. Can I trust him to declare his true feelings?"

She'd looked so somber as she told Takemichi that. But Inui had earlier told him...

"The Boss...wants to help him mature, but his methods are sometimes a little harsh. They're not on too great terms as a result. But he only goes to the necessary extent, and no further. Beneath it all, he cares for them deeply."

Was their situation worse than he'd thought? But she was a good sister to him. With her support, Hakkai should be fine...

"Sit back down, Hakkai. You don't need to do anything."

"You always say that," she said as she walked to Hakkai's side. "You always ignore whatever he says unless it suits you because you don't care about anyone other than yourself. That's why Hakkai won't—"

"Not now," Hakkai hissed and nudged his sister. "Not here."

Taiju grunted with a nod and turned back to face their group of challengers. "Like he said, that's not important right now."

"It is. If not now, then when?"

His expression turned stormy, but he gave no acknowledgment to his sister and instead lunged at the Toman members, his massive frame hurtling at them with the momentum of a train. Takemichi flinched back and stumbled against a pew, but Baji dashed forward to meet Taiju, ducking underneath the taller boy's punch to return his own.

"Taiju!" she yelled as she strode toward him, but Hakkai grabbed her arm and stopped her from interfering.

The battle had begun.

"I think I now get what Baji-san meant. Baji-san's really the coolest after all—nothing escapes his eyes." Takemichi looked over to Chifuyu, who watched the unfolding battle while stretching his arms. Chifuyu then turned to him with a grin and raised fist. "We'll show you the 1st Division's strength. Just sit back and watch, Takemitchy!"

In the original timeline, Baji and Chifuyu hadn't been able to handle the battle on their own.

"...okay. I'll be back-up, just in case. Call if you need help."

Chifuyu chuckled and gave him a friendly shove. "Go wait with your fire extinguisher. As long as no one else comes, we won't need either of you." With that, he charged into the battle with a short cry. Takemichi tensed up and leaned forward, his full attention on the fight. Every blow, every block—he saw and heard all of it.

At their initial run-in with the Black Dragons, Baji had seemed roughly equal with Taiju until one unlucky hit progressed into a beatdown and Baji's loss. Yet now, with Chifuyu's assistance...

Taiju whirled around with a snarl as Chifuyu ducked behind him, but he jerked his head back to avoid Baji's punch and winced as it clipped his jaw. Chifuyu took the chance to slam a kick into Taiju's knees, causing the taller boy to buckle, but this time he blocked Baji's attack with his forearms.

Baji might actually win.

No. Takemichi shook his head. He couldn't relax just yet. This must've also happened in the previous timeline, too—none of Takemichi's changes had played out yet. Something big was still waiting to happen, the thing that would cause Baji's death. He glanced back at the front of the church, where the red canister sat at the backmost pew, then at Hakkai, who'd sat down as his brother suggested.

He, too, would die in the fire Kisaki manipulated Myers into starting, which would enrage Taiju into murdering Baji.

A slender hand grabbed his wrist in a vice grip.

Takemichi spun around, his free hand clenched in a fist—

Hakkai's sister glowered at him and kept tight hold of his arm. "What are you doing here?" she demanded. Her narrowed eyes glinted in the candlelight.

He shrunk back under her anger. "I...didn't realize," he said. "I didn't know you were talking about Hakkai earlier."

She—Yuzuha, finally he remembered her name—huffed. "I didn't realize you were Toman, either. Forget about everything I told you and leave, now. All of you."

"I tried to stop Baji-kun, but he wouldn't change his mind. He said he's doing it to help Hakkai-kun."

"Yeah?" Yuzuha smiled grimly. "From what Hakkai'd told me about him, I should've expected this. But it's not necessary anymore."

'Anymore'? At some point, beating up Taiju could've helped Hakkai? Had their relationship actually been...violent?

"Ah—" He failed to stop her from slipping past him and sprinting towards the fight, and in the blink of an eye, her leg shot out in an arc at the back of Chifuyu's head and knocked him onto the ground. "Chifuyu!"

Baji disengaged and skipped back to glance at Chifuyu, who struggled to his feet while rubbing his scalp. Taiju similarly paused the fight to watch his sister pat down her skirt, his eyebrows raised in surprise, then, in contrast to her serious frown, he let loose a bellowing laugh. "Yuzuha, are you finally going to help your older brother?! After being rebellious all these years?"

She refused to face him, instead squaring her shoulders as Chifuyu stood back up. "I hate you. I hate you with all my heart. But if you're willing to change yourself, I'll listen, even if you've never listened to us, because we're family." Taiju went silent. She then raised her voice. "Toman, this is our business. Your interference is unneeded."

"Like I said..." Baji took a moment to catch his breath. "I don't care about your business. I'm here to take down Taiju."

"Really?" She snorted. "I guess I don't care about yours, either. As long as you're here, you're my enemy as well!" Yuzuha surged forward and leaned back to kick at Baji's midriff. He blocked it with a forearm, but as she wound up for another attack, he clicked his tongue and cocked a fist—

Baji's punch was intercepted by a red-sleeved arm.

Yuzuha flinched back from them both, but she looked more surprised by Taiju's defense than Baji's attempt.

"Don't hit my sister," Taiju growled.

Everything Takemichi had seen clicked together with crystal clarity: Taiju's behavior, Yuzuha's concerns, Hakkai's passivity, Baji's motives. Takemichi had been wrong. There really had been domestic abuse going on in the Shiba family. The pact had not been Hakkai's earnest decision; he'd likely faced some level of coercion from his brother. And this wasn't just contained to the Toman and Black Dragons affair—based on what Yuzuha had confided to him, it'd been going on for a lifetime.

That was why Baji had called him a fool. A fool for ignorantly defending his fellow Division member's abuser. True to his word, Baji's goal in defeating Taiju was not to reclaim Hakkai—it was to prove that Taiju wasn't invincible and inspire the siblings to fight back! Was that what Chifuyu realized?

With notable hesitance, Inui had insisted to Takemichi that it wasn't anything serious, but he had reason to lie. Taiju was his leader after all, and Takemichi should've realized that he wouldn't want to criticize Taiju, especially in front of an outsider.

But now, although their chemistry had fluctuated over their battle, their interactions were showing some signs of reconciliation—Yuzuha was protecting Taiju, and Taiju seemed to be taking her words more seriously. Should they still be trying to beat Taiju...?

Something creaked behind him. Takemichi peeked at the front doors.

Could it be Kazutora? After recent revelations, it'd be better to keep this matter private. Or even worse, could it be Myers? He glanced at his fire extinguisher again. He'd come prepared, but there was a chance he'd not realize in time and it'd grow beyond his control.

He heard the indistinct chattering of a large crowd, softly at first, then with increasing volume as the door slowly opened. Low-pitched voices yelling, engines humming, tires squealing. By now, everyone had paused to watch the entrance, and based on Chifuyu's and Baij's deepening scowls, the newcomers weren't their allies.

Inui and his black-haired friend walked in, enveloped in the headlights of the waiting Black Dragons outside. An icy wind blew past them and extinguished a candle beside the doorway.

Takemichi stepped back, his eyes wide. Was this how Baji would die—the fire irrelevant, just an impossible battle against the entirety of the Black Dragons?

Inui examined the scene for a silent second, his face impassive. "Koko received a tip that there'd be Toman-related trouble during the Boss's prayer, so we brought the gang, Boss."

"Move them elsewhere."

"Huh?" Inui's expression mirrored Takemichi's surprise.

"I said to move them somewhere else," Taiju snapped. "Don't defile this place more than it's already been."

"...I understand, Boss. Are Koko and I permitted to stay in case our assistance is needed?"

"Only you two. No one else."

Was this a lucky break for them? There was no way they could take on the whole gang. Taiju didn't want his gang near the church, but would that change if he was starting to lose? And even if Taiju remained adamant about that, the Black Dragons could still attack them when they left.

"It's a hopeless battle," he muttered. "Kazutora-kun, where are you?"

"Koko, tell them to relocate to the next block over," Inui said. "I'll stay here." With that, he stalked down the aisle. Takemichi braced himself as the pale boy neared, but Inui ignored him and stopped beside Yuzuha. "I'll take it from here," he announced. She raised an eyebrow but stepped back a short distance from the fight.

With an amused smile, 'Koko' watched him leave. "Since when did you become so invested?" he murmured so softly that Takemichi almost missed it, then he met Takemichi's eyes and offered a small wave before exiting the church. Once he returned, Takemichi would probably need to hold him off. He swallowed and rolled his head.

"Hm?" Had the light upstairs always been on? He peered up at the balcony over the entrance. Maybe he'd just forgotten to turn it off earlier while searching for a fire extinguisher. It'd just been a study room. He should go turn it off, but how long would it take for Koko to come back? He refocused on the resuming fight.

Baji pushed back the sleeves of his tokko-fuku and tightened his ponytail. "Chifuyu, handle the new guy for me." The Vice-Captain nodded, and Inui consented to following him further down the aisle.

Without warning, Baji shot forward to slug Taiju in the chest, and the larger boy stumbled back but regained his footing in time to knock aside Baji's follow-up punch and return his own blow. Baji sidestepped past it and wound an arm back, but as Taiju tried to grab his collar, he had to duck back—back into the armrest of a pew. Baji cursed as he stumbled over it and looked back to catch himself, but he failed to notice the looming fist.

It whacked him directly in the face. Baji fell back against the bench, his head banging the hard wood, but he managed to roll to the side to push himself back onto his feet and raise his fists in a fighting stance.

But now he was trapped in-between the row of pews. The Captain shuffled back along the pew, his uniform brushing the back of the next with how narrow the row was, while keeping his gaze on his opponent.

Taiju didn't squeeze into the row to chase him, instead bending down to hold the armrest of the pew.

Eh? What's he—

With a grunt, Taiju lifted the 5-meter-long pew clean off the ground and slammed it into Baji's side. The bench snapped with a dull crack as it struck him. Baji coughed as he collapsed onto the ground. The remaining section of the bench collapsed on one leg as Taiju dropped it.

"Baji-kun!" Takemichi yelled as he dashed towards the fight. Chifuyu swiveled back at his shout but grit his teeth and endured a blow from Inui.

Someone beat Takemichi to it: Yuzuha blocked her brother from reaching Baji, her arms outstretched and lips tight. Her hair flowed to a stop.

Taiju halted, visible shock on his face. "...why're you trying to protect them, Yuzuha? They're the ones who started this, two times in a row. I can't just let them go without any consequences!"

She refused to budge. "You're going too far—you'll kill him!"

"Are you on their side, then?" His stare sharpened.

"I'm on Hakkai's side, not yours."

"As if this—cough—bastard could kill me," Baji scoffed as he struggled onto his feet out of the remains of the pew. A trail of red dribbled out the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with the back of his hand, examined it for a second, and scowled with another cough.

Yuzuha watched him. "You've lost already, leave and take a break. There's no need to fight Taiju any—"

Taiju shoved his sister to the side. "Stay out of this," he growled and advanced toward Baji, who panted and remained stationary with one arm holding his side.

Takemichi announced his interference with a roar. His boots struck the ground as he charged forward, and he slung an arm back to wind up. His punch hit Taiju's back dead-center. The thick coat muffled the sound of impact.

Taiju did not move.

"The fuck was that?" Takemichi flinched as the tall boy turned around to peer down at him, his voice monotone with disinterest. "I barely felt it."

Fighting Taiju's subordinates was challenging enough, but fighting Taiju himself...was it even within his capabilities? He hadn't been able to fight past Koko the first time—surely it was impossible for him to defeat the big boss. Baji himself had struggled against Taiju twice. What could Takemichi hope to do on his own?

But if I let Taiju continue, Baji-kun will die. Even if I can't fight him, I can't let that happen. I must defeat Taiju.

"Takemichi." Baji's voice was breathy. He paused to pant. "I'll fight Taiju on my own. Go help Chifuyu."

"N-no." Takemichi found his voice. "You need more help. You're injured, Baji-kun. I can't let you fight him alone."

A blur of red was his only warning before Taiju's fist cracked against his face. His vision went black, and the world seemed to flip upside-down, his sense of orientation awry and the ringing in his ears drowning out everything else. He cracked open an eye to find himself face up on the ground with a black boot shooting down. He shoved himself away, anywhere away. His forehead struck a bench leg seconds before the boot stomped down where his head had been.

Takemichi scrambled to his feet as Taiju drew back his leg, but he wobbled as a spike of pain sliced through his skull. Something dripped from his nose, and he wiped it away with a sleeve but winced as if needles were probing his skin. His eyes watered.

How had Baji endured one of these and kept fighting? He peeked over at Baji, who still hadn't moved from his position as he caught his breath. Taiju was easily the most powerful person he'd ever fought. They were on a whole other level of strength.

Taiju bore an amused smile. "Heh, not bad. Didn't expect you to get up after that."

The time-leaper took a deep breath, then he hurtled forward, each step jarring his aching head, and threw all his weight behind his fist—

Taiju's knee rammed into his gut, knocking him back as he wheezed for air, but he caught himself against a pew. Bile rose to his mouth, but he swallowed it back down, leaving his throat stinging.

It hurt. It hurt so much. Yet...

"I'm...not done," Takemichi said. "I can...still fight."

Taiju snorted. "How about after this?"

Takemichi braced himself, but not fast enough to protect his face as Taiju struck it again, inciting a new, burning wave of agony. He tasted salt—he must've bit his tongue—and his vision swam before him, but this time, he staggered back and remained standing.

"Takemichi!" he vaguely heard Hakkai shout past the sound of his labored breathing. Baji...or Yuzuha? Someone wearing all black hurried towards him and reached for his arm, but he waved them away.

"I won't fall," he rasped. "Don't worry about me."

It hurt, but not as much as the times he'd groveled before Kiyomasa. And the pain he'd experienced then was nothing compared to the pain he'd felt in the future, from a life without friends, without allies, and without a lover. That was the worst suffering imaginable.

The pain didn't matter anymore.

"At the point when others would've given up, you keep going, and that makes you invincible."

"Tch." Taiju was a red cloud in his vision. "You sure are stubborn, aren't you?"

"'Stubbornness' is all I have." His surroundings waved back into focus. "I'm not Baji-kun...heck, I'm not even Chifuyu, Hakkai-kun, or Yuzuha-chan. I'm just...me—Hina reminded me of that. I don't have the intelligence to have predicted this, the influence to have stopped the battle from happening, or the strength to beat the Black Dragons on my own. But...I have a body, as exhausted as it is. I have a voice, as hoarse as it is. And I have a vow, as fate-defying as it is, that I will never, ever break."

"Chifuyu, Baji-kun!" Takemichi yelled. "I'll take Taiju down. It's not over yet!"

"Just what I like to hear, partner! Then I'll take care of the rest!" Chifuyu's voice echoed in the hall. Inui, his hair neatly parted and face unmarred in contrast to his opponent's disheveled hair and bruised cheeks, seemed to falter for a moment, but that time was all Chifuyu needed to punch him across the face, sending him sprawling on a bench.

"Inupi!" Koko had just returned to witness the blow, and he ran towards their fight. Chifuyu stepped back to regard both of the boys.

"Why can't you be like that? What's wrong with you?"

"Huh?" Takemichi looked back to Taiju, who'd been unusually silent since his last hit. The tall boy seemed almost...somber, the mirth in his face gone and his voice no louder than the wind. That curious expression was soon buried under a scowl and raised fist.

His knuckles crashed into Takemichi's locked forearms with enough force that the attempted block ended up whacking him in the face anyway, but his boots remained planted on the ground. The point of impact burned as if he'd submerged his bare arms in ice, simultaneously hot and cold, but it faded into a tingling numbness. He felt his lips tug into a grin as the adrenaline finally kicked in. "It might take hundreds, thousands of tries, but I can do this. No matter what you throw at me, I'll take it on. I'll show you my strength!"

Baji threw his head back and laughed from the sidelines. There was a slight gurgle in his voice. "Ha! Mitsuya...sure got a good guy. Takemichi, I think you could beat him, but you'll take so fucking long that I'll miss the TV special airing today. Buy me another minute...then let's crush him together!"

Takemichi nodded. "Leave it to me!"

It was one of the longest minutes of his life. Every second was a battle in itself for him to weather Taiju's blows and send back his own. But slowly, he chipped away at Taiju. A hit here, a lucky hit there—granted, Taiju looked more exhausted trying to punch him down than hurt from Takemichi's punches, but Taiju's attacks became weaker and slower, and he stopped in-between them more often to catch a breath.

Taiju stepped back and panted, his shoulders slumped and hair tousled. Takemichi charged at him with roar, and Taiju's eyes widened—

Takemichi's knees buckled, his body too exhausted to keep up. He flailed his arms in midair, but nothing was close enough for him to grab onto as the carpet neared his face.

Something snagged the back of his collar. Takemichi jerked to a stop.

A new voice, calm and even, spoke up behind him. "I should've come earlier. Sorry about that, Takemichi. And thanks." A bell chimed.

Takemichi broke out in a smile as the person behind him pulled him back onto his feet. "Kazutora-kun!" His eyes watered. "You came!"

The former Toman member pointed back toward the church's entrance, where another familiar face in uniform walked in while examining the scene. "I met Mitsuya on the way, too. We've both got...business with the Black Dragons." Kazutora released his collar only for someone else to grab it.

"Eh? Wha—Baji-kun?!" Takemichi squeaked out as the 1st Division Captain lifted him off his feet with newfound vigor and forced him to meet Baji's death glare. Behind him, Chifuyu, having disengaged from his own fight at some point, graced him with a raised eyebrow and made no move to stop Baji.

"You fucking told them, did'ya? Even after I told you not to," Baji growled.

If he hadn't leaked to Kazutora, then things would be going way worse. "I t-told Kazutora-kun only, but not Mitsuya-kun..."

Kazutora poked Baji's arm. "I chose to come here. Takemichi only asked me for help because he was worried for you guys, and you should consider yourself lucky that he did that. You look like you've crawled out of a casket. How many fingers am I holding up?" He raised his middle finger.

"Fuck you, too." Baji released his hold on his collar. This time, Kazutora didn't catch him.

Mitsuya did.

"Oh...thanks," Takemichi said as his Captain caught his back with a hand and pushed him upright.

"Mitsuya-kun, why're you here?" Chifuyu asked. "How'd you find out?"

Mitsuya was silent for several seconds, more reserved than usual, and was about to speak, until Hakkai ran up to them, his eyes wide. "Taka-chan, you shouldn't be here! The pact—wasn't the pact supposed to—"

"Yeah, the pact!" Takemichi spun around to see Taiju push away his followers as they tried to help him up. A vein on his forehead bulged, and his eyes narrowed into slits. "What happened to it, huh? Does it mean nothing to you, Mitsuya?!"

The short-haired boy remained calm under Taiju's bristling anger. "I didn't come here to break it, Taiju-kun. I came here to rescind it."

The onlookers had varied reactions: Hakkai, openly gaping; Yuzuha, eyes wide; Chifuyu, smile growing; Baji and Inui, eyebrows raised; Kazutora and Koko, mildly curious. All, however, remained quiet.

"Hah? You think you can just revoke it as you please?" Taiju stalked up to Mitsuya and towered over him, the exhaustion he'd shown during their battle gone. There were a few bruises and scratches on his face and chest—probably more of Baji's handiwork than his—but they failed to hinder him.

"Our agreement was not done in good faith. Not everyone involved gave their full consent. Although, 'rescind' may be the wrong word—let's 'renegotiate,' this time with everyone." He turned to Hakkai at his side then nodded at Yuzuha, who watched from further down the aisle. "I made your situation worse. I'm sorry." He bowed his head.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong." Hakkai grabbed his former Captain's shoulder. "It's all...all..." He couldn't complete his sentence.

"It's all Taiju's fault," Yuzuha finished. "I'll take your offer! It's a long overdue conversation between us all."

Mitsuya smiled in response. "Thanks, but part of it was my ignorance." He redirected his smile to Taiju, whose glare turned livid as he watched the scene, his lips peeling back and fists trembling. "Mind accommodating me for one last talk?" The three of them turned to him.

"...that's not for you to decide." Taiju bit out. "I take care of my siblings, and this is the respect I get from them? Who's your actual brother here? Me or him?"

"You are." Yuzuha ignored Hakkai's tugging on her sleeve. "But so what? We can't talk to other people without your permission without you feeling hurt? Is your ego that fragile?"

Taiju's eyes flashed. "Come over here, Yuzuha."

"No. I refuse to let you hurt me anymore."

Hakkai whined his sister's name but edged back as Taiju approached them. Yuzuha also stepped back, but with controlled caution, her shoulders loose and arms raised in a defensive stance.

Mitsuya inserted himself in-between the family. "This was what I didn't realize," he said as he faced off against Taiju. "How you treat your family behind closed doors. By facilitating the pact, I wasn't helping Hakkai protect his sister—I was helping you hurt Hakkai. I surrendered him to you without any means to fight back. Hakkai's strong, but if he tried to fight you, Taiju, then he risked losing everything he tried to protect: Yuzuha, the truce. I pushed Hakkai into accepting such a large burden." He sighed.

"Yuzuha, Hakkai!" Mitsuya called over his shoulder. "We'll get Taiju to cool off, if that's alright?"

She made to reply, but Hakkai grabbed her sleeve. Past the sleeves of his gakuran, his knuckles were white. "...alright." She then raised her voice. "I thought you changed, Taiju! But you're still that same bully who sees everyone as below him. You need to lose once to learn that you're not the center of the world!"

Taiju growled and reached past Mitsuya for her, but the Captain pushed aside his arm. "I'm your opponent now," he said. "Not them."

"I was here first." Baji cracked his knuckles and strutted up to Mitsuya. He acted uninjured, but a wince escaped him as he reached up to flick his ponytail back. "Taiju's mine."

"No, you're hurt." Kazutora appeared at his side and rolled up the sleeves of his jacket. "And I'm stronger than Mitsuya. I should fight."

"Since when were you stronger than me?"

"Since the day you were born."

"Who's going to help Chifuyu, then? He can't fight those two dipshits alone."

"Stop trying to offload your duties onto others, Baij. Go take a breather with them."

Takemichi watched Taiju gnash his teeth as the former founders continued to squabble in front of him, lost in their own world. Having Kazutora and Mitsuya present was a relief, but he'd expected them to be more...serious about it. "Uh, guys...."

"Fine! We'll do rock-paper-scissors to decide who's strongest. First gets Taiju, second gets the other two, third has to do 50 push-ups. Are you happy, Baji?!"

"I don't think Baji's in a good enough state to do 50 push-ups. How about the loser goes to the hospital instead?"

"Mitsuya, I fucking swear I'll beat you."

Chifuyu rolled his eyes and shot Takemichi a small smile. Takemichi could not understand why they were all so calm when Taiju was literally right next to them.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" they chanted.

"Ugh, I thought you'd finally choose something other than rock." Mitsuya frowned down at his scissors. "I shouldn't have double-guessed myself."

"Shut up, loser." Baij raised his fist. "Go take a seat somewhere."

Kazutora and Baji resumed. "Rock, paper, scissors!"

Baji eyed Kazutora's fist. "Stop copying me."

Kazutora eyed Baji's fist. "That's what I should be saying."

"Then next turn, no rock. That's an automatic forfeit."

"Fine."

Taiju's patience snapped. Takemichi cried out a warning as the tall boy wound back his arm, but Baji and Kazutora were so damn distracted by their game that they didn't hear him. "Rock, paper, scissors—"

Baji pivoted on his heel and slugged Taiju in the jaw, sending him reeling back into a pew with a loud crack. Takemichi gasped. Someone else did, too. Inui darted forward in that instant, but Chifuyu blocked his way, and Mitsuya joined him.

Baji tapped his knuckles against Kazutora's two extended fingers. "Fist beats scissors. I win."

"Hey, that's cheating!" Kazutora whined. "Then by that logic, this is gun." He mimed shooting a pistol with his two fingers. "I win."

"This is a bomb."

"Then this is a Titan."

"This is a black hole."

"Then this is your m—"

"Just fight him together!" Mitsuya yelled back at them. Koko tried to duck past him while he was distracted, but Mitsuya sidestepped into his path, preventing him from interfering in Chifuyu and Inui's resumed fight.

"Hell no!" Baji shot back. He strode towards Taiju, who'd gotten back up but remained beside the snapped backrest while feeling his jaw. "I'll take him down first!"

"Eat my dust!" Kazutora sprinted past him, his earring twinkling. Taiju looked up at the commotion and scowled while he tensed his shoulders, but he kept blinking as if he were trying to get something out of his eye, and Takemichi would say that he even looked a little...disoriented.

So disoriented that his punch sailed clean over Kazutora's shoulder and he stepped towards Kazutora's fist. Taiju gasped for breath as it slammed into his stomach, but he had no break before Baji's elbow smashed into his temple, jerking his head to the side.

Taiju's knees hit the carpet, but he sprung back up with impressive speed to launch a counterattack, his fist shooting forward like a rocket. Baji leaned to the side to dodge, but Takemichi saw a wince flash across his face before Taiju whacked him clean in the chest. Kazutora must've noticed something was off too, for he immediately pulled Baji back by his uniform to reduce the impact of Taiju's hit. Baji caught himself against a pew and wiped his mouth, but a streak of red across his cheek remained.

Kazutora groaned. "For fuck's sake, you're not in fighting condition! Can you even bend over without coughing up blood?"

"...maybe," Baji admitted. "He got one bad hit on me. So I'll end this fast." He kicked off his perch and charged into action.

"God dammit Baji, wait up!" Kazutora sprinted after him.

At this rate, Baji and Kazutora would defeat Taiju. Baji had already gotten hurt, but Takemichi had protected him long enough for Kazutora to arrive. Mitsuya and Chifuyu were holding off Taiju's other men without too much struggle, and judging by the lack of commotion outside, the rest of the Black Dragons remained unaware of the sudden trouble. Hakkai and Yuzuha were enthralled watching Taiju's battle, where the once terrifying giant of a boy became no more than an ordinary teen against the duo. Whereas Chifuyu has served as support for Baji, providing occasional assistance but mostly staying out of Baji's way, Baji and Kazutora fought on equal standing, almost even taking turns to launch their attacks.

Takemichi slumped back on a bench with a sigh and wiped the sweat off his brow. That immediate crisis was averted. Better yet, if they resolved the battle quickly, then Kisaki wouldn't be able to enact the rest of his plans. He pushed himself back up and looked at Chifuyu.

It'd be a stretch to declare Chifuyu and Inui as equally strong, but Chifuyu made up for his lesser physical strength with energy. He hopped across the ground as if he weighed no more than a feather and leaned back to drive a roundhouse kick into Inui's side, but Inui withstood it with a grunt and stepped into Chifuyu's guard just before Chifuyu could regain his balance. The smaller boy managed to escape from the tight spot, albeit with a new bruise across his cheek.

Takemichi shouted to make his interference known. Chifuyu glanced at him and skipped back to make way, but then he...looked around and sniffed the air?

Takemichi halted.

Now that he thought of it, the air was quite warm. Part of it could be attributed to his own body heat from fighting Taiju. Maybe the church had electrical heating.

He inhaled deeply through his nose.

His heart stopped.

"Chifuyu..." He could distinguish Inui stalking towards him in his peripheral vision, but this was far more critical. "Do you smell smoke?"

"Yeah. I don't see anything here, though. I'll keep things under control here, so go take a look, Takemitchy."

"Okay." Takemichi watched Inui while backing away from the fight, but Inui slowed to a stop, his fair complexion managing to turn even paler. He looked like he'd been spooked by a ghost.

Takemichi turned around to follow his gaze upward. It was that room past the balcony over the entrance. The room that connected to the steeple, where he'd forgotten to turn the light off. But the light was brighter than when he last saw it a few minutes ago, and it had not been that vivid orange when he first turned it on that afternoon. Nor did it flicker so rapidly, the shadows cast by the balcony bars flickering in and out of existence.

The time traveler swallowed. "I'll...go check it out."

---

Hakkai gazed in awe at the fight.

He knew Baji was strong, but he'd never really considered that he was Taiju-level strong. His friend was not far behind, but with Baji's current state, his friend was carrying their team through the battle.

How bizarre to see Taiju on the losing side. Not that he'd never lost any sort of battle—when his business deals didn't proceed as expected, Taiju would remain in a foul mood for a day, at worst even a week, and was set off by the most trivial of mistakes.

Then how angry would Taiju be at them when he lost his first fight?

Hakkai looked to his feet. A snapped plank of the wrecked pew lay a meter away from him.

Yet simultaneously, he couldn't take his attention off the fight. Even if he didn't watch, he still strained his ears to hear every punch, every grunt. He didn't want the battle to end because he knew there would be pain after, but it was also...cathartic to watch them dismantle the curse that had haunted his entire life. He loosened the collar of his school uniform.

A warm hand held his. "You're shaking, Hakkai. Is it scary?"

Was he scared? He glanced down at his other hand, his fingers quivering, before replying to his sister. "I don't know. I've just...never seen Taiju like this before."

Yuzuha chuckled and squeezed his hand. "I have. Maybe you were too young to remember. Before mom died, he was super competitive and would pick fights with people twice his size. He won most of them, surprisingly, but not all. But whenever mom found out he'd gotten in a big fight, sometimes from him boasting about his victory, she'd yell at him while taking care of his injuries."

"I wish we could go back to those days," she continued. "Maybe it's too optimistic to think Taiju can change, but if Taiju loses once, just once, then maybe. I talked to him yesterday. Told him that if he didn't change, we'd give up on him and leave. So, he said he'd let you reconsider whether you want to stay in Toman or the Black Dragons."

"I...I think I'll stay in the Black Dragons. Taiju hasn't done anything bad yet—he's kept to his word."

"Are you sure?" Yuzuha tucked back her ginger hair. Her bruise from over a week ago had already healed. "Don't think about Taiju right now. Don't worry about what might happen or if it seems impossible—what future do you want?"

"Of course I want to go back to Toman!" Anger flared up in him, but he forced it down. Yuzuha didn't deserve any of it. "Of course I want to go back, but Taiju will be angry. Maybe they can take him down in a fight—" He jabbed a finger in Baji's direction. "—but Taiju's got his gang and underworld contacts. I don't know anymore who'd win in a direct fight, but Taiju can definitely hurt a lot of them. And you, too!"

"I'm stronger than you think. Toman's stronger than you think...although, I didn't expect that they'd find out and show up." She reached up and wrapped him in a hug from behind, her arms crossed over his chest and her hair tickling his neck.

"Don't feel forced to protect us, Hakkai," she whispered. "We can fight back. We want to fight back for your sake. But don't think about what we want, or what Taiju wants. What do you want?"

Yuzuha had never hugged him like this before, but something about it felt nostalgic. Warmth blossomed in his chest and filled a part of his heart that he'd never noticed was missing. Her arms were like a cozy blanket over him, and he relaxed, tension he'd not been aware of seeping out of his muscles. He let his cheek rest on her arm.

"I don't want to stay here. I want to return to Toman," he murmured. "I want to say sorry to Taka-chan and Frank, to say thanks to Baji and Takemitchy, to drive down the highway under Toman's banner, and to continue hanging out with the 2nd Division. I miss them. I don't want to lose all that."

Her arms loosened, and he turned back to face her. Yuzuha regarded him with a serene smile. "I hear you, loud and clear. I'll—" She stopped and sniffled.

He reached for her shoulder. "Yuzuha...? Are you cr—"

"I'm not crying. You just smelled weird." She shrugged his hand off and pouted. "Anyway, I'll tell Taiju you're returning to Toman. If he doesn't listen, I've already warned him, but I think after he loses, he'll be more willing to."

Most of all, I don't want to always rely on you to save me.

"I want to tell Taiju myself," he declared.

Her eyes widened, then she closed them with a smile. "Okay. Tell him what you want, Hakkai. I'll wait here."

"Alright." His chest burned with nervous energy. He took a few steps down the aisle in the direction of the fights.

If he ever was to challenge Taiju, the best time was now, while his allies were here to help him. But how could he get Taiju's attention? He watched his brother snarl and recoil from Baji's fist. Baji's friend ducked past the Captain and slammed his shoulder into Taiju's midsection, knocking him off his feet.

"Stop...stop fighting!" Hakkai yelled.

Baji's friend rushed towards their fallen opponent, but he yelped when Baji tugged him back by his jacket. Taiju, too, brushed his coat off after standing up and paused.

As did Mitsuya, Chifuyu, and Taiju's two henchmen.

They all stared at him—all waiting expectantly for him to speak.

Had his voice been that loud? He cringed but swallowed to wet his throat.

Taiju, funnily enough, saved him by breaking the silence after several pants. "So you've chosen, then. Me—or them?"

Hakkai took a deep breath and met his brother's serpentine eyes. "I choose...."

"I can't hear you. Speak louder."

His breathing quickened and knees trembled. "I...I choose—"

His throat turned to stone.

---

The church at half past ten on Christmas night was quieter than I'd expected.

The cross atop the steeple shone like a beacon in the small street, an oddity among the modern apartments and office buildings surrounding it. Its stone walls stood tall in the snow despite the small chips and stains hinting at the decades it'd lived through. The fogged glass diminished visibility into the building, rendering the inside into an amorphous, orange blob.

Had I been an ordinary passerby, I would never have thought that there was currently a gang battle underway inside with one or more people's lives at risk.

I stopped at the street across from the church's facade, my hands tucked into the pockets of my dark coat. "Now what?" I mumbled. My breath escaped as pale vapor.

I'd told myself I would decide what to do next by the time I arrived, but over the twenty-minute walk, I only mulled over the same issues: Kisaki had provoked Baji into fighting Taiju alone by capitalizing on his concern for Hakkai, a concern that was very much real—Hakkai was not ready to speak his mind and oppose his brother. Kisaki must have more in plan to eliminate Baji and Taiju from his path, but now that Yuzuha had committed to nonviolence, I had little idea what that plan entailed. He'd gathered all his obstacles here tonight for some grand massacre.

Kisaki had told me to not meddle in his plans on threat of revealing my identity, but he'd leaked to me the details of this battle during the admin meeting Baji called last night. Perhaps his reason involved rubbing it in my face, but I doubted he'd risk ruining his plans just for that. He did not perceive my presence as a threat, so it should be fine to interfere in the battle....

I bit my lip and sighed. My gaze roamed to the front door, down the staircase, and onto the empty parking lot. Snow dusted the asphalt, but footprints—numerous—stamped out black paths.

I looked around the street. Still empty and quiet, aside from the occasional passing car. I pulled up my hood, crossed the street, and prowled the perimeter of the lot, careful to not mix my footprints with the rest.

They were all the same pattern. I stepped beside a particularly clear print and withdrew my shoe to compare footprints. Theirs were larger and less curved at the arch. Heavier too, for mine only indented the snow. A solid gap separated their heels from the rest of the sole. Boots, most likely. The kind of boots Toman and the Black Dragons wore. And these were fresh—it'd stopped snowing twenty minutes ago.

A few tire marks cut across the snow, but not enough for it to be Toman. I frowned and walked further into the parking lot. They'd headed toward the church, gathered at the base of the steps, then veered off to the right and exited the lot. I eyed a metal bat glinting in the light of a streetlamp, discarded to possibly be picked up later.

Unusual path aside, they were likely not far from here. Even if Takemichi, Baji, and whoever else was inside beat Taiju, they would be too exhausted to fight the Black Dragons.

I walked past the stairs and to the right side of the church. Fewer lamp posts lined the side of the building than the parking lot, but the window above cast an amber glow on the snow in front of me, counterbalancing the harsh light from my phone screen.

No new messages on Frank's number. I selected all my contacts with a click, then scrolled down to locate and deselect Kisaki's, Yuzuha's, Hakkai's, Mitsuya's, and my host parents' listings. My fingers were numb as I typed my message.

Takemichi had told me that Hakkai and someone else would be fatally injured or killed. I'd failed in the original timeline, and saving Hakkai was more important than preserving my identity. Even if I was expelled from Toman and lost the benefits of my position. Even if it complicated my intervention in Toman's affairs and diminished my chances at protecting Hina and its remaining members....

My thumb rested on the send button, the plastic cold.

"Ah, you're here. Blake, wasn't it?"

I spun around and snapped my phone shut as Kisaki walked up from across the street, his glasses glinting past his dark hood.

"Calm down," he said, his voice casual. "I'm not going to reveal your secret just because I caught you here."

"...why?" I blurted out the question that had plagued me since after we last met. "You knew my identity and motives for months, but you remained silent. Why play along and act polite to me the entire time?"

"Who says I'm not still playing along? Would you have preferred I use it to blackmail you?" Kisaki snorted. "There was no particular reason as to why I kept it private, as was there no particular use I had for you other than to advocate for the truce. All telling you would have achieved was unnecessarily complicate your actions. Some people do the stupidest, most illogical things when desperate."

"But you knew I was trying to foil your plans, and I'd succeeded each time. Why wait only until I brought Hina to you to order my silence?"

"Again, there was no reason. If you're done asking questions, then—"

A shoe scraped overhead. "You called?" Hanma called down from the railing, his face and distinctive hairstyle on full display, unlike his leader. The tip of his cigarette glowed amber in his gloved hand.

Kisaki clicked his tongue and beckoned to him. "What took you so long?"

He walked down the stairs, snow crunching under his sneakers. "I was waiting for a good time to leave, but then I got distracted watching the show. Man, Kazutora's pretty good, actually. I never got the chance to see him let loose in Valhalla."

Why would Kazutora be involved with the Black Dragons business? If I recalled correctly, he'd been attacked by the previous generation of the gang, but that seemed insufficient to warrant an attack on the current. Perhaps he was here to help Baji? I exhaled. They needed all the help they could get.

"Kazutora's inside?" Kisaki echoed my surprise. He then shrugged. "That's convenient."

Huh?

"Eh? The all-seeing Kisaki didn't predict something? I thought you'd be like, 'all according to plan' or something smug." Hanma stopped beside Kisaki and slouched against the wall. He stunk of smoke. I crinkled my nose and stepped away.

He took notice and reached into the inner pocket of his coat with his free hand, pulling out a box of cigarettes. With his thumb, he flicked the lid back and offered one to me. "Want one?"

"No thanks," I muttered.

"Who else is inside?" Kisaki said. "Has Mitsuya arrived yet?"

Kisaki wanted Mitsuya to be present, too? Not only another strong fighter to help them defeat the Black Dragons, but someone who could possibly mediate Baji and Taiju's conflict. That didn't sound right. What was Kisaki's goal with this battle?

"Yep." Hanma counted on his fingers as he continued. "There's Taiju and his family, two of his guys, Baji and his Vice-Captain, Kazutora, Mitsuya, and—"

A muffled roar escaped from the church.

Takemichi's voice. It lasted a few seconds, as if he were winding up for an attack. I peered up at the window behind me but still couldn't see anything past the fogged glass.

"—and that guy," Hanma finished. "He sure can take a beating."

"Hm, I wouldn't expect anything less. My business is finished here." Kisaki headed for the other street, but he paused not long after and pulled a small, clear object out of his pocket. "Here, catch."

It arced toward me. I caught it with a hand and examined it. A half-used tube of hair gel.

"You don't want to get caught yet, do you?"

He hadn't been surprised to see me arrive at the church, and now he was helping me disguise myself. I looked back at him. "Do you...want me to interfere with the battle?"

"It's your choice." I could only blink as he walked away, the tube still held in front of me.

Rather than threaten me to stay uninvolved, he was encouraging me to join. He was so assured that I couldn't ruin his plan this time that he was allowing me full agency. Even though Mitsuya and Kazutora had joined the battle on Toman's side, Kisaki was not bothered in the slightest.

I don't understand his motives. It's too suspicious.

He'd given me the green light to act as I pleased, but surely he didn't intend for me to call for help. Kisaki had advocated the truce to ensure Baji would fight the Black Dragons alone, so summoning the whole gang, or at least as many members as I knew, would likely ruin his plans and incur his wrath. If anyone even came—I hadn't even earned the ear of the entire 2nd Division yet.

Hanma remained beside the building to smoke, and I edged away from him as I took out my phone.

The battle's occurrence defied Mitsuya and Mikey's spoken wishes, even if Mikey's official judgment was to defer to Mitsuya's decision to preserve the truce, but if Mikey realized Baji was in danger, I knew he'd rush to Baji's aid regardless. But I most certainly knew that Kisaki did not want his prize horse to gallop into danger, even if he'd underestimated Mikey's strength in comparison to Taiju's.

I deleted Mikey's and Draken's numbers from the recipients, too.

"This is not an order—it is only a request, and I understand if you choose not to answer it."

My thumb hovered over the send button again.

Takemichi was here because I hadn't done enough in the original timeline. I'd wager I chickened out on calling Toman because I didn't want to risk my identity.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and sent it. The pressure in my chest lessened.

Kisaki would discover what I'd done. Even if he didn't leak my secret in response, Baji would likely piece together my identity in time, if he hadn't already. He'd recognized me on two of the occasions I'd donned Emma's disguise, and regardless of whether he saw 'Blake' or 'Frank' then, it'd raise the possibility to him that I recurringly dressed up and pretended to be someone else. I could only hope he wouldn't tell anyone or act on it.

"Who're you texting?" After a final puff, Hanma tossed his cigarette butt onto the snow.

"My host parents," I said after pocketing my phone. "It's getting late, so I told them I'd be back soon."

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

Wow, that was fast. Who forwarded it to him?

Hanma didn't bother to check. He smiled, and his earring swayed in the winter wind. "You're a good kid."

"I'm going to leave now. Thanks for your company." Tugging my hood further down, I left the wall and walked in the direction Kisaki had gone. His footprints remained visible.

"Why not watch the battle with me? I know you wanna."

I peeked back at him. "I told you I'm going home."

"I bet you're literally going to walk around the block and come right back. Why not spare yourself the trouble and just go in?" He pointed his thumb at church. "It's a lot warmer inside."

If it had Hanma's backing, it probably had Kisaki's, too.

"...alright," I said. "Let me first gel my hair."

"Need a mirror?"

"No, thank you." I slipped off my hood and undid my ponytail. The hair gel felt like ice on my fingers. I winced.

"You really don't look like Frank, with your bangs down and covering your face," he commented. "Even though I saw you once with your hair messy that time you came to Valhalla's hideout, I still barely recognize you."

And now, I'd lost that advantage.

"Kisaki said he'd remain silent about my identity, but I'd like to ask that you do, too." I ran my fingers through my hair. I didn't have a hair clip, so I'd have to make do with just gel to hold my bangs to one side.

"Sure. Your secret's safe with me."

We regressed into silence until Hanma broke it. "Y'know, you remind me of Kisaki."

My hands stopped. "How so?"

"First, the fact that you're here—" He pointed at his feet. "—and not there." He indicated the church. "You stay away from where all the fun is. Second, you're the two biggest liars I know. But you don't have that same spark that makes people like Kisaki and Baji interesting to watch. You're boring."

Well, he wasn't wrong. My resolve wavered too often. I said nothing as I tied back the rest of my hair.

"Done? 'kay, let's go get some front-row tickets. I know a good place to watch from."

I followed him down the wall and back to the parking lot. Impervious to the tension of the situation, he whistled some jaunty tune and bobbed his head. I had to walk faster to keep up with his long strides. Snow crackled under our shoes.

Just before the staircase leading up to the entrance, he halted and grinned as he waved back at something.

"What are you doing?" I looked in the direction he faced. Had Kisaki returned to spectate? The parking lot was deserted and the street past it empty, but perhaps he was hiding. A line of pine trees at the far end of the lot obscured my sight of the rest of the street with their dense foliage, and the office buildings beyond were enshrouded in darkness.

"Just waving to my adoring fans. But anyway," he held my back and nudged me back into facing the church's facade. "I've been reading up on the penal code recently. With my track record, I'd better figure out how much deep shit I'm in if I get caught."

"And this is relevant because...?"

He snapped his fingers. "Just like Kisaki would've said. So impatient." We climbed the stairs at a slow pace. "I just figure it wouldn't hurt for you to know. And hey, it's kinda interesting. So, for adults, if you set fire to a building with people inside, you get either capital punishment or life imprisonment."

I squinted at the pole wedged in the doorway as we continued up the stairs. He'd probably used it to silence the door when closing it. "For homicide, that's nothing unusual. In the states, at least. Sentences are usually lenient for juveniles, however."

"True that. But if you spin it as negligence while pursuing social activities, your term is limited to five years. Just for that charge."

"Of course intent matters," I said. "That's why the law differentiates between manslaughter and murder."

"Yup, yup." Hanma stopped just before the final step onto the terrace. I passed him and craned my neck to peer past the ajar door as I approached. I could distinguish a few figures standing in the hall, but for some reason, it was quiet inside. "So tell me—if I set fire to a Christian church on Christmas night with people inside the building, how harsh would my sentence be? Does that count as a 'social activity,' or is that too much of a stretch?"

What an oddly specific question. I stepped over the pole and brought my face to the door. The air was much warmer inside. In the dim candlelight, Taiju, judging from his scarlet coat, and two smaller figures stood in the central aisle, so fixated on something further down that none of them moved. "Sure. Why not? You'll even earn extra points for hate crime. Have fun rotting in prison."

"Ouch, how mean. By the way, you might want to be careful standing there."

"Why?" I looked back at him. Hanma still stood at the last step in a casual slouch. He removed a hand from his pockets to point at the top of the church.

"There's a fire right above you on the second floor."

A...fire?

I left the door. He still stank of cigarette smoke, but I backed up to his side to follow the direction of his finger. The steeple rising above the entrance was a squarish structure the size of a small room. Its pair of windows glowed brighter than the other candlelit windows on ground-level but also more violently, flickering and spasming without control.

"You—you set fire to the church." My breaths came short. "Y-you're trying to kill everyone inside."

"Maybe." The murderer in front of me shrugged. "Or maybe not."

It wasn't just Hakkai's, Baji's, and Taiju's lives at stake anymore—Toman itself and the time leaper were destined for extinction. Mikey's mental health could not survive half of his closest friends dying, and Takemichi's death could lock this doomed timeline into permanence.

I grit my teeth and rammed my shoulder into his side. His shoes skidded off the step with a loud scrape, and he yelped as he stumbled down the stairs. I dashed for the front door, the wind roaring in my ears, and ran even faster as I heard his footsteps approaching.

If they died, then what purpose was there in remaining in Toman?

I slammed open the front doors. A rush of warm air ruffled my hair. "Get out!" I shouted. "Fire upstairs!"

Bewildered faces turned towards me, painfully sluggish. Baji and Kazutora, the former clutching his side; Mitsuya and Chifuyu, the latter narrowing his eyes; Inui and Kokonoi, sitting together with their shoulders touching; and Taiju and Yuzuha, standing apart at opposite ends of the church.

In-between his siblings, Hakkai gaped at me, frozen.

A hand shoved me forwards.

I tumbled onto the carpet with a grunt but rolled into a crouch to watch Hanma wave at me while grinning a second before the doors banged shut.

The sound echoed in the dead-silent hall.

---

"I'm done. I got her in, too." The bar lodged between the door handles creaked and jolted as the person on the other side tried to heave it open. Hanma dug a finger into his ear and winced. All that ruckus over the past few minutes was starting to get on his nerves.

Then, all of a sudden, it stopped.

What was happening inside? Before he left, he should've at least wiped off a little patch on the window so that he could peek in and watch the drama unfold. He sighed and shook his head. What a shame.

"What rate is your fire growing at?"

"It'll grow pretty fast," he said into his phone. "You said you don't mind if some of them die. Having second thoughts—"

Glass cracked above him. Hanma ducked further under the overhang as several large shards clattered onto the terrace. After waiting a good twenty seconds, he stepped back to look at the source. The room his little fire was rolling around in now sported two broken windows. "Geez, and now the other window's broken, too."

"It's just thermal stress. In this sub-zero climate, they're more susceptible to cracking. Good. Your fire is big enough."

A sharp bang accompanied by the screeching of metal had him flinching. The door casing now sported an angry fracture, and the right door popped out a centimeter on the hinge side. Hanma took a second to whistle and admire the work of brute force. "Damn, must've been Baji. Tried to kick down the door."

"Doesn't it open inward on his side?"

"Yeah. Isn't my Captain great?"

A sharp sigh answered him.

He tapped his heel against the stone column supporting the overhang. "You sound kinda annoyed, Kisaki. A little more than you usually do. Is it because of that message she sent?"

"I am annoyed." Wow, Kisaki was confessing his true feelings to him. That was a first. "This is an acceptable deviation, however. Whoever answers her call is unneeded in my Toman."

Maybe he coax a little more out of him. "It's also not your usual to add a new target this late. Where did she touch you?"

His voice became clipped. "Don't push it, Hanma. You should leave before the Black Dragons and the police arrive."

"Aww, you're worried for me? How sweet. Would you bail me out if I got caught?" He stepped down the stairs and let his shoes scrape against the stone to prove that yes, yes, he was following orders.

"It would be inconvenient to lose you. It would also be inconvenient to save you."

The lamps along the church's facade winked out. Hanma reached the parking lot and looked back. It was a pretty little scene, the stone church resting amidst the snowy night as the fireplace in its tower flickered merrily. The candles in the interior remained lit, but the electric lights beside the doorway and along the stairs were dead.

A clump of snow slid off the roof.

Hanma gaped as the building slumped forward, columns groaning and glass screaming as several tons of stone crashed onto the ground in front of the entrance. The steeple above the entrance teetered on its slanted foundation, as stable as a house of cards. Flames roared out of its broken windows, unyielding to the winter wind.

"What was that sound?"

Hanma eyed the pole sticking out of the fiery wreck, still lodged in the door handles. They'd snapped clean off. "...remind me to buy you a good Christmas gift, Kisaki. You just saved my fucking life."

"Could you actually describe to me what happened?"

"Geez, so impatient." He circled the church at a comfortable distance away. "The front of the church collapsed outward, but the rest of it is holding—barely. There's no way they're getting out that entrance anymore. I'd say it's fifty-fifty if that killed someone."

A siren wailed in the distance, followed by several more.

"That's my cue to leave." Hanma turned around and walked across the street. "Consider yourself lucky. That door would've probably buckled after a few more hits from Baji, but there's no way they're easily getting out of there now. The stairs are blocked off by rubble, so even if they make it out of the building, it's a steep drop to the ground. Would definitely break a bone or two."

"Hm, that's convenient. Splendid work, Hanma."

He stole a glance back at the wreck and laughed. The fire had grown and begun to consume the rest of the building, greedily licking at its snack. "This is why I can't get enough of you, Kisaki! All the amazing spectacles you've shown me and let me play a part in. You're like a drug—I'm addicted."

Kisaki didn't answer. Hanma looked down at his phone to see his home screen. He'd been hung up on. How rude.

"Merry Christmas to you, too."