The next following morning, I could swear the hickeys from yesterday became even so slightly more visible. And after I ran out from Tetta's house yesterday I kept on ignoring his calls, not that I received that many of them, since I must have gotten my message across. Which was being too shy and perplexed by his actions to entertain his remarks.

"Also what I am supposed to do with these?" I looked into the mirror tracing my fingers against the skin and feeling the red and purple spots on my neck.

"What got over him?" I wondered, was it the new look that he personally crafted, which caused him to be bolder and more outrageous in pulling his moves? Or was this simply his newly crafted strategy to get back at me for all these times I teased him relentlessly?

I soon reached for the foundation to cover everything up, but then a problem posed itself in front of me.

"But won't this leave makeup stains on my school uniform collar?" I asked myself, being aware of how costly these things could be.

"Well it's not like we are poor or anything, so if it doesn't come off during the wash cycle I can always purchase a new one." I was about to grab a make-up sponge, but Kazutora busted thru my door startling me in the progress.

"You may have fooled me yesterday, but next time-!" He stopped mid-sentence, I guess sleeping on the fact, made him gain a new perspective on yesterday's event.

"What the hell is that on your neck, Michi?!" He yelled while I sighed in defeat.

"Are you asking in search of a confirmation or are you seriously clueless?" He didn't even reply just kept on ranting in my presence.

"It was Kisaki, wasn't it? I will smash his face the next time I even catch a glimpse of the guy!" I started to apply the foundation reminding this fiery brother of mine.

"You do remember there are some rules set in place, no fights between Toman members, or do I need to jog your memory as the 6th division captain?" He became eerily silent, so I turned around, noticing his pleading eyes.

"Listen, brother, you're worrying too much, people can change, but in case he is not sincere the system won't stay oblivious to his schemes." I tried to reason.

"Oh right, once your intelligence becomes higher than his, he won't be able to manipulate you anymore." He made it sound like it was the case, but at least he calmed down.

"He has around eighty-five points, meanwhile I have eighty-one." Kazutora assumably imagined me breaking up with him as soon I hit the eighty-five intelligence mark.

The morning thereafter went over smoothly, it was the aftermath at school I was more worried about.

Also, I never thought I would see the day when my boyfriend would be waiting for me at the school entrance, it looked like he came to talk.

"Were you really so flustered yesterday? That you decided to ignore all my calls?" Well, there was no use in lying.

"Yep," I responded, avoiding eye contact. Another surprise awaited me, he leaned in and whispered straight into my ear.

"Your reaction was cute tho~ I wouldn't mind seeing it again." His fearlessness basically spiked to the top since yesterday.

"I rather not..." I answered honestly.

"Why did you suddenly decide to break up with me?" Wow, why was he already jumping to the most extreme explanation?

"No, I'm just worried that if you did it again I would knock you out cold with my hard-headed head." We stared at each other in silence.

"This just sounds like an excuse to push me away." What were those depressing assumptions?

"Did you forget about the most important aspect of me?" I questioned as he rose his brow.

"I'm clumsy." It looked like I sparked his memory.

"But that's a strange thing to be worrying about." In the end, he didn't seem to take my warning to heart, but he held my hand so we could walk thru the corridor together.

The lessons went as normal, just under lunch, I received texts from Takemichi telling me he wanted to meet up, really badly. He wanted to discuss something that could only be spoken face to face, and he made each text sound highly suspicious, which made me believe that someone could interpret his messages wrongly

without the context of time travel.

So when the classes ended I was about to head back home, but my boyfriend stopped me.

"How about seeing each other today?" Did he want another date?

"Why? Are you missing me because I dared to ignore you for one evening?" I teased him, but that was only his cue to reciprocate the gesture.

"I just want to make sure, that I leave even more marks on the other side of your neck, and preferably today." I instinctively covered my neck from his eyes.

"Are you holding a serious grudge against me? Is this some kind of grant plan of yours to get back at me?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Maybe, or perhaps I just want to show my new girlfriend how much I adore her?" If that was the case, why was he smiling like a literal villain? Did I unlock some dominant Kisaki side, unannounced to me?

"I bet you don't like the taste of make-up, besides we can just meet on the weekend, then I can spare most of my time on you."

"Why not today?" He was quick to question.

"Can't do, I 'm going to meet up with Takemichi." I packed my things into my bag and stood up, but I never knew that hearing this guy's name would trigger my boyfriend so much.

"Don't say you're also having a weird crush on him." Was he getting jealous, just because Takemichi's name left my mouth?

"Do I look stupid enough to pursue someone that is whipped for another girl?" Kisaki then proceeded to point at himself.

"And what am I? A potato?" I nodded my head, as this dumb ass tried to make me recall that just a few days ago he was over the moon for the exact same chick.

"Yep, totally. But on a serious note, their situation is so much different, they're happily dating each other, you on the other hand single... and ready to mingle." He facepalmed while I rubbed my hands together.

"Free to experiment my seduction tactics on." His eye twitched in annoyance.

"Then that guy can wait, while you will spare your time on me, prolonging your experiments." I was quickly guided to the band club room, in a rush.

So this guy gets jealous all on his own, and then begs me to grant him some kind of affection, so he would feel ensured I wasn't leaving him? I decided to cave into his request since it was refreshing to see totally new sides of him.

"Sure I can play with you for the next half an hour, but after that, I'm ready to leave." I never thought the club would turn into some kind of dating hotspot.

I sat on the sofa, wondering what this guy would ask for however, he just laid his head on my lap. Perhaps he wanted to relax, so I started to play with his hair to help him with that. After a few minutes, my chaotic brain came up with this bright sentence.

"My little baby is so precious, lemme give you a couple of forehead kisses to make you feel better." I found it enjoyable, treating this guy as the attention-craving baby he surely was.

"Sometimes you sound like one of my aunts." He pointed out, causing me to laugh at this silly comparison. But this peaceful time didn't last too long, because he was quick to shift into another activity once he became comfortable, kissing. And that's when this glorious mission appeared.

'Would you rather pin your boyfriend to the sofa or wall?" Wow, so many diverse options to choose from.

"Check this out." He got a little startled when I effortlessly picked him up and pinned him to the wall per the system's request. I thought he would loathe the second option more, but after hearing some grumpy sounds of complaints, soon he didn't hesitate to take this situation to his own advantage.

Considering both my hands were occupied with maintaining balance, nothing was stopping him from attacking my neck once more, causing me to leave this room with more hickeys than I initially had.

"Why would you do it? I don't have any make-up to cover it." He didn't feel sorry.

"I don't mind if people see that you're mine. I would actually prefer if you didn't cover it for the next Toman meeting."

"Like I would become a reason for more petty fights between you guys, also forget about seeing me tomorrow!" I declared and stomped away, making sure to head straight home.

At home, I had to whip out my makeup set again.

"So annoying," I mentioned covering my whole neck this time around. And once I thought nothing was visible I paid Takemichi the visit he wanted.

"What took you so long?" He questioned.

"I was attacked by a piranha called Kisaki." That's the only thing that needed to be said.

"Right, how is it dating this guy? You really think he had a change of heart?" I shrugged.

"I mean there were many abrupt changes in his behavior, but I haven't seen him planning anything major." Takemichi nodded and then finally voiced his plan for today.

"Actually I was planning on going back to my original timeline, to see how things have changed since then." Right now when Baji was alive, Valhalla and Tenjiku were onboard our little gang, and I was keeping my boyfriend in check, it was probably the time to see if anything has changed.

"Good idea." But suddenly something I never anticipated to happen took place.

'Would you rather travel to the future together with Takemichi Hanagaki or travel to the past, where you can't interact with any people?' Wait, the decision sure was easy, it didn't mention anything about not interacting with people from the future.

"Listen something amazing just took place... it says I can go with you."

"Go where?"

"Well to the future." I wasn't sure how that would have worked, but we both agreed to at least try our luck in this matter. I let my parents know that perhaps I wouldn't be able to return tonight and so we headed to Hinata's apartment so Takemichi and Naoto could shake their hands once more.

Once I saw them do it from a distance, I clicked on proceed with the time travel feature, and in no time found myself at the same store Takemichi usually ended up at, but unlike him, I was my current thirteen-year-old self.

"Trippy." Was the only word that left my mouth at the moment.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyone expected this turn of events? ;)