You immediately knew who was banging on your door. Takemichi, the time-leaper, has done it enough times for you to recognize his pattern. The actual 14-year-old Takemichi barely talks to you.

"Welcome back to two-thousand-" You stop your sentence after noticing Chifuyu was with him.

You give an awkward laugh, "Sorry, I was... referencing a movie I watched..." You say to Chifuyu specifically. Takemichi asks if they can come in and you shift your body, making room for them to walk in.

You offer for them to sit on the couch. Chifuyu insists on standing while you and Takemichi sit. "I told Chifuyu everything that happened," Takemichi confesses and you furrow your brow, wondering what he meant.

"That I'm from the future... and... the timeline I just got back from."

"Please tell me you laughed at him," you say, looking at Chifuyu. Takemichi makes an ack sound, "Is this really the time?"

"It did sound a little ridiculous, not gonna lie," Chifuyu admits, covering his mouth, concealing his laugh. "But the more he continued, the more it made sense."

You turned to face Takemichi, "What happened in the new timeline?" You asked. Takemichi frowned, he told you he became Toman's upper echelon. Hina and Akkun still died and Chifuyu died in this timeline. Kisaki in the future admitted he planned Bloody Halloween. Takemichi also met with Kazutora right after and filled him in on Mikey. Saying Mikey became corrupt because of Kisaki's manipulation and Black Dragon's money.

"I wasn't there this time?" You interrupt, curious.

"Like the last timeline, you distanced yourself from me and Toman. But Naoto said you became blind," he answers.

"Blind?!" You exclaim your shock, "Did he say why?"

Takemichi nods, hesitating a little before he spoke. "He said you became obsessed with trying to find Mikey." Chifuyu looked extremely confused, "How could that result in blindness?"

It even made you think about it. But you remembered what had happened when you tried to look 12 years into Naoto's photo. How your eyes began to bleed. Takemichi agreed with Chifuyu, not understanding the correlation and how that would happen.

"Kazutora's alive?" Takemichi nods slowly, confused why you'd ask.

You take out your phone, pulling up the photo you had of Kazutora.

"Why do you-"

You shush Chifuyu, trying to concentrate on the image.

Kazutora began beating people up in an alleyway. Guys were on the floor, groaning or unconscious. He punches someone in the gut and lifts them by the collar.

"Spit it out, where is he hiding?!" Kazutora spits in the man's face.

"If I tell you and you let me live..." The man slowly says, his voice strained, "I'd be killed... Worse than anything you can do."

As you blinked, you covered your eyes immediately, dropping your phone. You can feel the liquid pouring out.

"Are you okay?!" The two boys shout in concern, getting closer to you. You release your hands, dark red residue remaining around your eyes and hands.

Takemichi's eyes widened, "Why are you-"

"Kazutora is looking for someone..." You say quietly, "I think he might be referring to Mikey." You pick your phone up, aching to know why until it dawned on you. You closed your phone immediately. I probably shouldn't abuse this power, you say in your head. You weren't sure when in the future you became blind but now that you know, you wanted to prevent it. Even if you were curious as to where future Mikey's whereabouts were.

After wiping your eyes, you filled Chifuyu in on your ability. How you can see other people's futures, even through a photograph. "After seeing the vision I got, I was immediately curious," you tell them, "I wonder how early he began distancing himself from Toman..." You were worried for the boy. 

"It might be soon..." Takemichi says. "I met with Hakkai, who in the future, was in Black Dragons. But he's a vice-captain in Toman right now!" He continues to tell you that Hakkai just quit to join Black Dragons. "The current leader, Taiju, is his older brother. He just told the both of us he plans to kill him," Chifuyu join.

Takemichi says he needs to stop Hakkai from killing his brother so that Black Dragons don't join and corrupt Mikey. "Are you sure that's the only thing that corrupted Mikey?" You comment.

"With the loss of his brother... And now childhood friend, don't you think that could've messed him up already?"

Chifuyu nods, "That's right, even after 12 years, I was still trying to avenge Baji..."

"What are you trying to say?" Takemichi asks you. "He seems fine right now, he even forgave Kazutora."

"Takemichi, he's just 15. No kid can suffer that much loss and be fine," you state, "You said Kisaki was part of corrupting Mikey? He's already in Toman so..."

You widen your eyes, "Wait," you realize, "Since Kisaki already admitted to pulling some strings, why can't you take him out instead?"

"That would cause infighting," Chifuyu says, "We're already going to be busy, after Takemichi's encounter with Black Dragons. Taiju beat up Takemichi, who's a captain now, it's definitely something that could start a conflict."

"You think Kisaki might have something to do with Black Dragons?" You ask. Takemichi jolts, "He was helping Kazutora while still being in Toman!"

"So he could be helping Hakkai kill Taiju!" Chifuyu chimes in.

You and Takemichi stand up. "Your new mission is to stop Hakkai from killing Taiju and expose Kisaki for coercing him," you say and the two blondes nod, determined.

Chifuyu couldn't contain his excitement. "I'm kinda pumped! This is starting to feel like a detective show!"

"You watch too much of that..." Takemichi says. Telling you Chifuyu has been calling him "partner" since they met, because of a show he watched. Chifuyu hit him on the shoulder in embarrassment.

You chuckle, "I think it's very fitting actually," Chifuyu perks up. Pointing at Takemichi as if his point was proven.

"It was nice meeting you, Chifuyu," you greet as the boys put on their shoes. "Yeah..." The blonde stutters, "Thanks for inviting me- us. Inviting us in," he finishes.

The two leave and you can distinctly hear their conversation.

"What was that about?!"

"What?! I've never been to a girl's place before..."

"She would bully you if she heard that."

You laugh to yourself, walking away from the door and into your room. You sit at your desk, looking at the photo of you and Mikey.

You still wanted answers as to why he was hiding. Or rather, distancing himself from everyone. No matter what happens here, he always seems to be alone in the future. You think about all the visions you got of him. When Draken was supposed to die, he was alone on the roof of a building wearing a dragon tattoo. When you got the vision with Kazutora, though everyone was watching, even shouting for him to stop, he didn't listen. And now, he was completely out of contact with Toman.

It sounded harsh to think, but you wondered if he was fated to be lonely. But why? You couldn't make any sense of it. He has all these friends who support him. Who stay by him. Yet he pushes them all away.

You wondered if you'd be able to save him from his fate.

-

You felt stupid walking into the restaurant. You were wearing a mask, your hood was up and you wore sunglasses when the sun has already set. It was the only way you could "join in" on the discussion.

Or more like eavesdrop. Takemichi invited you to come discreetly as he proposes the idea of fighting Black Dragons to Draken and a few of the captains in Toman. So far, it's not going well for him. All of them have rejected the idea, solely because Mitsuya already made a truce with the leader. You hear them leave soon after.

"Let me join in."

You turn to see who it was. It was a boy with tanned skin and gold-rimmed glasses. "Kisaki?!" Takemichi and Chifuyu exclaim. This was your first time seeing him.

You hear Kisaki and Chifuyu bicker. To the point that Chifuyu breaks a dish, taking one of the shards and pointing it at Kisaki's throat. Everyone in the restaurant was alarmed. You took off your ridiculous sunglasses to get a better view of Kisaki. You think of a time frame before focusing on him.

"Don't worry, nobody here is gonna rat you out. What do you know about Taiju's movements?"

"Taiju's movements?" Chifuyu asks. Kisaki, Takemichi, Chifuyu and Hanma sat in a dimmed room. A man sat across from them, he was one of Taiju's assistants.

"If we want to beat Black Dragons, we need info on Taiju," Kisaki states, "Now, what does he do on a typical day? What does he do and what time?"

Kisaki looks over at the rest of the guys, "Knowing your enemy makes them easy to defeat, right?"

The vision gets cut short. Kisaki's back was turned to you and he began walking away. Takemichi and Chifuyu turn and wave.

-

Takemichi and Chifuyu stopped by your place. They filled you in on what happened at one of Black Dragon's hideouts. And having to team up with Kisaki.

"I have to spend Christmas with three dudes just to stop one dude from killing another dude," Chifuyu groans, "Ugh! I get no luck with the ladies every Christmas," he continues to complain. Takemichi pats his back, as to reassure him.

"Keep your friends close but your enemies closer," you quote, "You've already got a glimpse of how Kisaki works behind Toman's back, it's only a matter of time until you can figure him out and beat him."

Takemichi nods, his eyes filled with determination, "Yeah, not only would it be easier to stop Hakkai, we might be able to expose Kisaki finally," he gets up. The boys walk towards the door, "We're gonna go tell him that we agree with working with him."

"Wait!" You halt, and the two stop to turn to you. "Should I... do something?" You ask. You wanted to be involved somehow, but you wanted to hear what they thought.

The two blondes look at each other. "Well... it wouldn't make sense to Kisaki if you suddenly tagged along..."

"I wouldn't feel right with letting you come with us," Chifuyu adds, "Black Dragons have become way stronger than before, they've also got hundreds of men. The size of Toman would only be a handful to them. It would be too dangerous for you."

You came back down to reality. You were always just a bystander to Toman. But you wanted to help badly. For Mikey and Hina's sake. You wondered if this feeling was also a reason you became blind in the future. But were you really supposed to wait until after Christmas? You lay on the couch thinking of what to do. Thinking of possible answers. You went into your room to look at the photo of Mikey.

"Stop it, Mikey."

"Huh?" Mikey glares at his friend, "Why are you ordering me around?"

Mitsuya takes a step forward. "I agree with Draken. He's no longer a part of Toman."

The two men kneel, bending down to bow to Mikey. The blonde looks down at them. "Mikey, you've chosen the path of violence," Draken says, keeping his eyes down, "From now on, Mitsuya and I put our lives in your hands. That is what we've decided."

"But, Mikey," Mitsuya adds, "We respect Takemichi. We don't want him to end up like us."

"Don't mix him up in our mess," Draken concludes.

You blink rapidly. Your eyes began to sting. You rub them.

Takemichi's... Gonna leave Toman?

Chapter twenty, end.