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Takemichi has never truly been alone.
Not when his parents had fallen out every night they were under the same roof, quarreling as if their own child hadn’t locked himself in his bedroom. On those nights, he curled into himself, crying as he was lulled to sleep by the loud angry voices and crashing furniture.
Not when his grandmother, his only solace, his only warmth in this god forsaken world, had succumbed to the gentle embrace of death. She was the most hardworking person he’d ever had the chance to know as she worked day and night, did her best to provide for Takemichi when his parents inevitably forgot to do so.
Not even when those same supposed adult figures in his life finally divorced and eventually abandoned him with only the monthly funds for his survival. (This meant nothing. After all, it was done merely out of the sliver of guilt and humanity they still had for the small boy that they had chosen to leave to fend for himself.)
And certainly not when his childhood best friend stopped showing up to play with him at the playground. The boy of his blurred memories—”I will beat up all your enemies, Kaku-chan!”—had disappeared along with the lasting impressions his family had made in their once shared neighborhood.
Beyond everything, time was there. Time was always there, waiting, suffering, loving, with him. Wherever, whenever Takemichi went, time followed.
It wasn’t that time was a physical being that could be held or conversed with, but an existence long melded in the folds of the sentient universe. Time was a force older than even the cosmos, one that was the law of infinity itself. Takemichi, was one who had completely understood time and time was left utterly enraptured.
————
In his youth, Takemichi experienced random lapses where he blanked out, spending his hours, even days, in a daze. It was just time wanting to play, he had concluded. This wasn’t a problem, as time was kind and made him happy, but his teachers did not think the same.
Takemichi was often scolded for not paying attention in class, for spacing out, unmoving as he stared straight ahead, seeing something that seemed like no one else could see. It was probably terribly unnerving for the faculty and he couldn’t fault them for treating him differently than other children his age (but he should because there is never a justified reason to ostracize a child).
For those lessons he missed, he failed with marks that not even the worst of children would want to show their parents.
Despite that, when he was fully aware, Takemichi did well with his grades. He studied as much as he could, spent hours trying to teach himself the knowledge he lacked.
Of course, that didn’t stop others from bullying him and his teachers from putting him down; humans were cruel in the sense that as soon as nonconformity with the conventional was found, rejection was the only reaction. It hurt. It always did, and maybe that’s why he began putting off studying and school as a whole. Maybe that’s why he went and grasped onto another hyperfixation: delinquent gangs.
————
Time was peculiar. Whenever Takemichi suffered, it felt as if time slowed down, as if savoring his afflictions. Sometimes it was almost as if those experiences repeated.
As such, wounds began requiring shorter healing periods at the expense of various scars remaining on his body, like a stain that won’t go away no matter the effort to get rid of it, a reminder of his trauma.
Of course there was also the added benefit of higher pain tolerance that helped, since time liked to speed up his nerves and pain recognition; Takemichi liked to think it was time trying to make up for his struggles.
Yet, the young child never blamed time. Time was after all a very curious existence. Time enjoyed watching and learning, clinging onto the understanding of its earthly incarnation’s life.
It was also a being so ancient that he knew it was unable to completely comprehend how it was disturbing his life. Takemichi was an awfully mature child, despite his fervent words of heroism, forced to grow up without what other children called a family.
Time was the closest to family, even if it lacked the warmth and physical attribute that he craved, so he clung to it.
There was always room for understanding between them because they only had each other. The relapses were only minor discomforts, so if it meant sacrificing some of his mind and body to satiate his companion, then so be it.
————
They stuck together no matter what as Takemichi grew, lost hope, and gave up on his dreams. His happiness went down the drain, leaving the pair void of much anything. Perhaps it was then that Takemichi began to realize the detriment that was inflicted upon his life with time’s interference.
In his years with time, Takemichi found himself lazing around in his rundown apartment, living a pathetic life. He worked at a DVD shop where he was even scolded by his junior. Pitiful, really.
He wasn’t happy, so far from it. Some moments, he pondered why he was living the way he did and then was filled with contempt for himself.
Why did things turn out the way they did?
What happened?
Where were his dreams and determination?
Clearly, it was because he was a coward, always apologizing for every damn thing. He was weak and now bitter and demoralized.
Time worried for him. Peculiar, as time does not feel. Yet, Takemichi was an enigma that even caught the love of time itself.
The day in time’s folds where Tachibana Hinata and Tachibana Naoto died was sudden and unexpected. They had been caught in a dispute involving the Tokyo Manji Gang, an accident. The shock was damning to say the least.
And when he was pushed onto the train station’s tracks, all he felt was guilt as the incoming train came closer. Time seemed to slow down as the guilt rushed in with the flood of memories of his prime childhood days alongside Hinata and his middle school friends, whom he left all those years ago.
As an adult, Takemichi knew how terrible of a boyfriend he was to the sweetheart of his younger years. He knew even when he was enjoying life back then, he truly wasted the life he was given. He ended up being a punching bag for others’ entertainment after all.
What could he have done better?
Would Hinata still be alive today if things were different?
Would he be happy?
His regret was overwhelming, engulfing his last moments as the train lights got brighter, closer.
Time heard his woes.
————
Time was truly too kind.
Takemichi was silently relieved that his earlier judgments weren’t wrong. Living through life the first time around had made him question time, his life companion. He scolded himself.
Time undoubtedly cares.
But that didn’t mean that time was fair either.
Takemichi was a living embodiment to that fact. He was time’s champion on earth. He was one favored by time, protected by time, something that not even the gods of everywhere and nowhere could easily obtain in their greedy hands.
Time was especially not fair because Takemichi didn’t have a choice. Takemichi did not have a say in whether or not he would time leap once again.
————
The first time it happened, Takemichi opened his eyes to see his middle school friends, looking younger than they should be with what he knows. He was also in a train instead of being in front of one about to be run over like a dog.
He had soon realized that the date was July 4th of the year 2005, exactly twelve years in the past of the day he was supposed to die. His reflection had looked so young, so happy if not for the tiredness it showed because of his inhabitance of it.
It had taken a while, but he eventually came to accept that he had the uncanny ability to time leap.
It took even longer to come to fully appreciate it.
He had met so many new people and made so many new friends. His new relationships with all of these eccentric characters were ones he would never regret making.
He was happy for the first time in a long while.
Hinata was one of the main contributors to Takemichi’s regard for his newfound power.
She was perfect. Every instance that they spoke, interacted, or even just shared a smile, Hinata made it even more clear as to why he had fallen in love with her, why she was someone deserving of not only his efforts, but time’s intervention.
Hinata was an amazing person and an even better girlfriend who forgave him for the terrible way he, or his past self, had treated her. He cried then. He wasn’t afraid to admit it because she was just too sweet, too kind.
Her deaths both destroyed him and strengthened his determination and resolve to create a future where she was happy and alive.
Takemichi loved Hinata.
Through his connection with Hinata, Takemichi got to know Naoto Tachibana, her younger brother.
He had slipped up through all of his confusion during his first leap to the past and told Naoto of the impending death of his older sister twelve years into the future. It had been an accident to tell the boy when Takemichi wasn’t in his right mind, being desperate and terrified out of his mind.
However, it was an accident that Takemichi was extremely grateful for. Through it, he was able to save Naoto’s life in the future, learn more about his abilities, and work with the younger man to save the future.
There was no surprise that the two of them became a lot closer after experiencing a fiasco so out of this world like time-leaping.
Takemichi was eternally grateful for Naoto.
Chifuyu was also someone Takemichi cherished with all his heart.
He was his best friend, his partner, who throughout different timelines had worked together with him, trusted him, and believed in him.
The small moments they shared would forever have a special place in his memories. They often shared their food with one another, read manga, and chatted about god knows what, hanging out until the sun set in the horizon.
They were partners until the end.
Mikey was an anomaly in Takemichi’s life.
He was intimidating and strong but he treated Takemichi so warmly, so kindly.
Mikey had point-blank range bulldozed into Takemichi’s life, forcing himself into Takemichi’s leaping journey and made it brighter. He made life fun and all the more worthwhile.
The boy was so full of strength, his power entirely evident, yet he seemed so fragile.
Everyone had a cliff that took varying amounts of life’s pressures to tip them down into the deep end. Mikey gave Takemichi the impression that he was already at the cliff, standing at the edge and staring down at the cold, inky, waters, just one small nudge away from completely plummeting.
It was concerning but at least he had his friends to hold him down and pull him back. Mikey had the Toman gang with him to help him smile, laugh, and not tumble to a point of no return.
At some point, Takemichi too became one of Mikey’s friends, a part of Toman. At some point, he came to care for him.
————
He had gotten to know a variety of people in his time leaping endeavors, but that also led to creating enemies. Namely, Tetta Kisaki.
No matter what he did, Kisaki was a step ahead of him. When Takemichi thought he had saved the future, he came back to disappointment and frustration.
Some futures Hinata still died, others Draken was dead, and Mikey had gone astray. Everything became more frustrating the more he tried to save his friends.
Why won’t anything just end right?
What was Kisaki’s motive for doing all of this?
Takemichi’s frustration was unimaginable. Sometimes, he wondered if it was better to give up, but luckily, he had Naoto to keep him on track and aid him wherever he could with information.
Only later would Takemichi realize that he never had the choice to ‘give up’.
————
Things began going downhill when Takemichi returned to the future and found out that he was manipulated into killing Hinata. His mind could barely process what had happened, filled to the brim with despair and guilt.
Chifuyu had died then too, for being dubbed as a traitor by Kisaki. His partner didn’t deserve that. Hinata didn’t deserve that.
———
When Mikey murdered all of his Toman friends and called Takemichi to the Philippines during the Manila timeline, the fear he felt was unimaginable, the shock all the more.
‘Why would Mikey do this?’
But then it became clear that the poor boy was just desperate. Desperate to find him. Desperate to find meaning. Desperate to be judged. As desperate as Takemichi was to save everyone that he came to love and cherish through all of the timelines.
Mikey was pitiful.
———-
Was it not enough? Was anything ever enough?
The criminal leader that Mikey made himself out to be in one future, sent Takemichi in a spiral.
It was his wedding with his beautiful, beloved Hinata. He just wanted to invite a friend to his happiest day and what did he get?
Three consecutive, hostile shots to his stomach at the hands of one he trusted, one he thought he could trust. Perhaps that was merely misplaced trust after all.
But Mikey was as pitiful as ever. He’d lost himself (as if he hadn’t lost himself in every other timeline). And now he needed saving.
In the moment Takemichi reached out for Mikey’s hand at the edge of the roof, a sliver of a terrible thought slipped into his mind. Isn’t Mikey the problem?
He immediately squashed the thought and reprimanded himself for such an idea. This was betrayal to Mikey. Don’t think like that. He needs help.
———
It was no surprise that he came back to a Mikey far gone in his own delusions of what is for the good of his friends. However, what he didn’t account for was Draken’s sacrifice.
Nothing ever truly works out does it?
Save one and lose another.
Takemichi despaired.
As Mikey assaulted him in a fit of blind rage, Takemichi let himself go. He was tired, so so tired.
All of his efforts to make a difference have been destroyed one way or another. What was the point of trying anymore if nothing he did worked? It was wasted effort for something no one else would understand.
Every punch, every hit he received from his dear friend, was one Takemichi truly believed he deserved. He tried to save his friends but only ended up losing others. Their deaths were his to carry, a fault of no one else's but his own.
He looked around with the remaining functioning eye he had, at the crowd that had gathered to watch the scene of Mikey brutally attacking Takemichi.
No one moved, struck by blood-chilling fear of what could happen to them if they even made a sound. No one made a move to aid him, to save him. And that was it wasn’t it? No one came to save him.
Takemichi would be lying if he wasn’t hurt by this fact. After all of his hard work, not one friend would come to his side? It was no revelation of any sort, but a disappointment of a lost hope he had had for the few lives that he changed, that he saved.
His vision became blurry and his mind started to become cloudy. Static. And then he felt a familiar presence.
Of course.
He wasn’t alone. Time was his companion. Time was his friend. Time was always there for him.
He smiled, making Mikey pause before continuing his one-sided assault.
Takemichi thought of an eternity spent with time. That did not sound bad. It was great even.
He was tired. Tired of trying when his efforts weren’t enough in the first place. Tired of living in pain. He wanted to let go and finally be let go. And so he did.
Takemichi’s breathing slowed until he took his last breath, a smile resting on his face, one that was more genuine than any that he had given in his life.
He slipped away.
He wanted peace. He wanted to rest.
Then, Takemichi opened his eyes to the familiar ceiling of his home.
Time had other plans. He didn’t have a choice. He never did.