The day and the schoolwork went relatively smoothly to your surprise. Maybe you can start considering yourself as something of a child prodigy, become a genius in the field of quantum physics, and invent some machine to send you back.

All jokes aside, Hinata was quite accommodating to any questions you may have, even when you assured her that everything was quite fine. You're becoming fast friends or at least you hope so. You could always settle for friendly acquaintances if she didn't thought of you in the same way. Although you do hope that you could make friends with her. The connection felt almost natural and was a much needed relief amidst the confusion you buried deep down.

When lunchtime rolled around, she kindly showed you to the cafeteria where meals are, thankfully, free. Despite it being quite a while since you last ate a bite, you couldn't build up the appetite to finish your food. You at least made an attempt to take some bites to reassure her when she expressed concern. And a little white lie that you were still feeling full from what you had for breakfast. She doesn't need to know you haven't eaten since the day before.

Your frazzled nerves kept your stomach full anyways. You doubt you can eat it all without giving the custodians a new mess to clean up.

As the last of the bells chimed, signaling dismissal, you and Hinata parted with the promise of seeing each other tomorrow. Just as you were about to open up the map for the directions back "home", an alarm caused it to vibrate in your hands. The suddenness nearly made you drop it on the hard concrete floor, but it seems that your reaction timing beat whatever mischievous intent the world had against you.

You smirked at your miniscule victory against the universe that had been against you since day one of your arrival in Japan.

Your smirk was promptly wiped off your face as a car sped by, sending water in your direction as it ran over a small puddle. Your upper body avoided the splash but your shoes weren't nearly as lucky. Where did that puddle even come from? As far as you know, it has been sunny since last night.

You scoffed at the absurdity of it all before finally checking the recent alarm, ignoring the feeling of your soggy socks squishing in your loafers. What does the universe have in store for you next?

You stared at the screen for a total of five seconds before rubbing your eyes and looking again. Was hunger finally getting to you and causing you to hallucinate? That must be it. There was absolutely no way that your phone had an alarm set just to tell you to go buy groceries. And it even had a specific store named, with the address written. Not as if you needed it when you could just search it up on your map. But were you really going to go out of your way to buy groceries just because some random application on your phone told you to do so?

You sighed as you looked up the directions. You might as well stock up on food if you don't want to die of hunger before finding a way back. And no, it wasn't out of fear of whatever the petty universe might do to you if you refused.

.

.

.

Perhaps you weren't nearly as smart as you took yourself for. An empty street before the sun had set for the night clearly should have been enough of a warning to stay away. It might as well have been a sign planted directly on your path saying "Danger, turn back" but it seems you were lacking the brain to pick that up. So you decided to shrug it off as a weird coincidence and continue on your way home after your trip to the groceries.

Halfway past the street, you coincidentally passed by a park, and coincidentally heard some loud noises in the otherwise empty vicinity. That leads to you coincidentally choosing to investigate said noise, and coincidentally discovering what looks to be some kind of illegal fighting brackets. Meanwhile, coincidentally, more people, teenagers, were coming to join the audience, putting you in a position where you can't leave your hiding spot.

Now you're coincidentally trapped in the bushes as deafening sounds of hollering and cheering filled the air. Surely this was too much to blame entirely on coincidence.

Suddenly, one person stood up from the bystanders. You couldn't make out their appearance with their back turned towards you.

"WAIT!!!"

Their shout alone was enough to silence the rest, although it could partially be chalked up to surprise at the sudden disruption. All heads swerved to look up at him, even the two that were originally in the center of the circle, ready to fight.

"T-Takemichi!"

The name rings a bell but you couldn't tell from where.

"The fuck are you doing, shit-licker?!" A nameless nobody shouted out at the boy.

"Oh man," Takemichi folded his hands behind his head, and you swore you saw his hands tremble a bit before he clasped his hands together tightly, "Ain't it really boring having the same type of fights every single time? Don'tcha wanna watch something more interesting?"

As he slowly began his descent down the stairs, murmurs of agreement rose amongst the others.

A voice cut through them all, daring Takemichi to continue talking, "...something more interesting?"

Takemichi was silent for a few seconds before resuming, voice shaky at the start though he masks it well, "How about... the king versus the slave."

Muttering began anew in the crowd, this time of confusion at his proposal but Takemichi didn't let their words get to him. Having reached the very center of the circle of delinquents, he stood face to face, or rather face to chest, with the much larger... boy? Man? He was probably the leader or organizer of this whole thing, judging off size and intimidation factor alone.

"Kiyomasa-senpai." The honorifics Takemichi was using doesn't seem to quite fit his opponent. "Let's have a one on one fight."

You shuffled quietly in the bushes to get a better view of the twos' faces. It was then you noticed that Kiyomasa-"senpai" was holding a cigarette. In fact, some of the other kids in the audience were also smoking. Did kids really decide to throw away their health so early on? They couldn't be older than middle schoolers-

Wait, hold up, backtrack a bit. Isn't that "Takemichi" the same boy you met just the other night? Now that you could see his face, it does resemble the pitiful boy from your memories, just less pitiful looking now that a majority of his wounds had been cleaned up and healed.

Before you could study his appearance further, the fight immediately began with a well aimed hook landing right in the middle of Takemichi's abdomen. You couldn't even call it a fight right from the very beginning. It was as one sided as what you imagined landed him those injuries when you first met him. Jeers and taunts rose in volume from the bystanders.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER, HANAGAKI?!"

Blows were dealt to his face in quick succession, sending him reeling back.

"YOU'RE ONLY GONNA BE IN HIGH SPIRITS AT THE START?!"

A knee to the stomach caused him to fall back.

"YOU GOT ONE HIT KO'D AGAIN, DIDN'T YA?!"

That last kick to the face must have hit hard, seeing as blood covered the lower half of his face. But despite the shouts of, you're guessing, his friends for him to stop, he took another step forward. This only stirred the crowd up as they cheered for Kiyomasa. As they literally cheered for someone to beat another person up, even though they've done enough damage. You should be calling 911, right? This is some kind of illegal fighting, isn't it? Your hands shake as you pull out your phone, lowering the volume just in case, although you doubt they can hear you over their ruckus. You tapped the three digits that you had been taught were used for emergencies and waited. The sound of the fighting continued as you waited for the other side to pick up.

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH, TAKEMICHI!!!"

And waited.

"YOU'RE SERIOUSLY GOING TO DIE!!"

And waited. Why wasn't it going through? The one time you needed it your entire life and it wasn't connecting. Frustrated, you ended the call and turned back to the fight.

"Not yet... this can't... heal... my heart..." The beaten boy struggled to get his words out between pants for air, "...that's experienced those... 12 years..."

It was almost as if the entire world quieted down to hear him, the ridicules and screaming having stopped.

"Running and running," he swayed, unsteady on his feet, "And running and running..."

Were those tears you see in his eyes?

"I AIN'T GIVING UP!!!!!"

His declaration echoed through the silenced crowd, once mocking him, now staring at him with some mix of shock and disbelief.

"I HAVE A REASON TO NOT GIVE UP!!!"

You can only stare baffled at his resolve. Thinking back to your conversation just yesterday, was he talking about beating Kiyomasa?

"Kiyomasa..." Takemichi glared at him, who was just as spell struck as the rest, "The only way you'll win is by killing me."

That... was too much resolve. Did your words really do this to him? Sure, willpower can be the tipping factor in a test of strength but you didn't mean it in the context of throwing everything, even your life, away.

"I absolutely ain't gonna lose."

Takemichi's glare turned into a grin, looking confident despite his condition compared to that of Kiyomasa, who hadn't been hit once yet.

The latter, who had been silent the entire time, looked up with a smirk, albeit a bit shaken from the boy's determination.

"Bring me my bat!!" He shouted into the crowd, towards no one in particular, before turning back to Takemichi. "Bring it on, I'm gonna kill you."

You should try dialing 911 again.

____________________

In a world so unfamiliar, I found you.