"AOYAMA ITCHOME! THIS IS AOYAMA ITCHOME!"
The tannoy rang out as Lee got off the subway and into the small backstreets of Aoyama; "I've got my old clothes and my bag with me…no books or anything…" He thought to himself as he pat down his pants for any hint of his time but aside from his phone, he felt something crinkle in his pocket; pulling out a small scrap of paper with the words "Sojiro Sakura" written on it along with a house address…Not a good sign.
"Sojiro's name and address? I'm this far back?! Oh man…This isn't good…Then again, I did remember Igor saying that it wasn't a perfect reset." Lee thought to himself but was taken out of his thoughts as he felt someone brush past his shoulder; he turned to see who it was rushing past but he looked like he saw a ghost once he realised who it was.
"Sorry about that." a woman's voice could be heard as Lee paled a little; that lab coat, the punk rock eye makeup and the dog tags; Tae Takemi, she would tilt her head when she saw this stranger looking at her like he was in shock so she walked over to wave her hand in front of his face; "You doing okay? you're looking pretty pale." Takemi asked him plainly as he snapped back to attention.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine…you just uh…you remind me of someone." Lee said as he tried to compose himself once more; granted his memories of his time before was hazy, but the recollections of her giving him experimental drugs was something that transcended time and space…and his body.
"Let me guess….the girl of your dreams?" Takemi would say sarcastically with a playful roll of her eyes; "Look, I'm a little busy right now but if you are legitimately feeling sick then stop by the clinic that's just up the road…" she would advise him and then shuffled around the corner towards her clinic.
"Still the same snarky doc…Wait…How exactly do I know her like that if I just met her…I don't even know her name." Lee would think to himself; the most he could remember was going to see her regularly but then they suddenly stopped…Getting his bearings back, he headed on and tried to follow the address to Sojiro's house before pressing the buzzer to alert someone.
A few seconds pass and no one answered but Lee glanced up towards one of the top windows and felt a warm sense of happiness though he wasn't sure why exactly…flashes of an orange haired girl with glasses and a pyramid fled through his mind and made his mind burn in pain as he slumped against the gate; "Damn it…What's going on? why am I getting these flashes?!" He would think to himself as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey buddy, are you okay? Do you need me to call a doctor?" A deliveryman would ask as he was holding on to some boxes; "I don't think anyone's in right now….Though if I remember this house right, I think the guy here runs a cafe just down the street…if you're needing to talk to him then try there." He would say and started directing to the cafe.
"T-Thanks, I'll go check it out…and get some coffee…." Lee said with a small smile as he steadied himself and started to walk back, the sounds of the batting cage ringing in his ears as he rounded the corner towards a very isolated cafe with a sign that he couldn't forget; "Leblanc…." He said to himself as he then opened up and saw the place for what he could remember of it; it's retro design, the smell of curry and coffee made his nostrils tingle with the faint sense of nostalgia that he could never forget; a wave of happiness washed over him as he felt that sense of home in this place…
"Oh, I guess they did say that was today…so, you must be the problem child I was warned so much about?" a man's voice said as he stepped out from behind the bar; Lee managed to put a face behind the voice very quickly as he saw a spectacled man wearing an apron with the cafe's logo on it.
Lee wanted more then anything to hug the grumpy old man after the nightmare of his life back home but he stayed rooted to the spot; this was still way back when Sojiro had more then a few reservations about him and his image as a delinquent; "If I say or do anything weird…he'd toss me out if I'm as far back as I think I am…" he thought to himself as he straightened himself up and then nodded; "Yes, you're Mr. Sakura?" He would ask, playing the safe card with things for now at least.
"Yeah, I'm Sojiro Sakura…and lucky for you, I'm going to be your monitor for the next year while you're on probation….A customer of mine knows your parents so they….ah, why does it matter…anyway, lemme give you the tour up here." Sojiro would gesture for Lee to follow him up the stairs to the attic of the cafe.
For anyone giving it a passing glance, it looked like your average trash filled attic; discarded junk and piles of old books and magazines were strewn about the place with a healthy coating of dust, a potted plant in the corner and a pile of boxes with a futon on top of them…Some people would think twice about considering a stay in this but for Lee, it was more then that.
"THIS…will be your room for the year, I left your stuff up here so you can get settled in and I'll give you sheets for your bed." Sojiro listed off as he noticed a rather distant look in Lee's eyes; "What's wrong? you look like you got something to say."
"It's uh…it's pretty big." Lee would say; he saw enough movies with time travel to know that saying or doing the wrong thing in the past could cause problems, yet he also fought the urge to be grinning like an idiot. "Thank you for taking my stuff here."
Sojiro grunted in dismissal as he gave Lee a stern look; "Whatever, it'll be on you to clean up the rest…I'll be locking up the place every night after I finish working here so when you're not at school, you'll be here to do whatever you want for the nights…oh, but I WILL notice if anything goes missing so I won't hesitate to hand you over if you're sneaking anything!" He warned Lee with narrowed eyes.
"Full of confidence in me, aren't you?" Lee would think but decided to hold off on the sass for now, he didn't want to test Sojiro on that. "Don't worry Sir, I'll try not to be trouble."
"Hm…Well…In any case; you better unpack and prepare, we'll be going to Shujin tomorrow in order to enrol you for classes…Honestly it's a waste of my Sunday…" Sojiro grumbled but sighed when he noticed Lee's apprehensive look; "Shujin Academy? They're the only school in this area that'll accept someone of your…reputation, so behave yourself there because if they expel you then you're on your own…and I'm NOT going to help you out if you do." Sojiro warned him as he headed back downstairs to resume his work.
"Shujin…Sounds about right considering the name, at least not much has changed so far…Still, I should probably get started on cleaning." Lee thought to himself as he opened up the box with all his stuff in and changed to more casual clothes before grabbing a mop and bucket to start cleaning up the place.
—A Few Hours Later—
Sojiro came back upstairs after dealing with the last few customers; "Alright, I'm locking u-" He called up but then stopped once he saw the results of Lee's cleaning; the floor was now shining, all the discarded junk that wasn't useful was tied up in garbage bags while the books and magazines were organised on the shelves. Sojiro had to clean his glasses to make sure he was seeing this right as there was no hint of a cobweb or dust pile anywhere in the room.
"Huh…I gotta say, I was wondering why there was so much noise around but I guess it makes sense that you want to keep your room clean like this." Sojiro remarked as he looked around, even the box of Lee's things was tucked away neatly; "Anyway, I'll be locking up shop now so make sure you get to bed early…I'll be driving you to the school tomorrow but after that, it'll be the train from then on…" Sojiro explained before heading back downstairs, Lee could swear he heard Sojiro mumbling something about only ladies getting front seat privileges in his car.
After hearing the door lock from downstairs, Lee heard his phone jingle and pulled it out from his pocket; he saw the icon a literal thousand times but even then…He was still unnerved when he saw the red and black eye symbol blinking on his phone like he had it for years; "So this is where it all starts…I suppose I better make my introductions…" Lee would think to himself as he lay on his makeshift bed and remembered what he could of before; Igor's words warning him about being right back in the enemy's hands and a brief flash of a golden cup sat in the bottom of the world skimming through his mind, making his head throb whenever he tried to focus and remember everything from before.
When Lee opened his eyes, he was greeted with another blue room; however this one was a lot more sinister and isolated, the sounds of chains swaying and the doors remaining barred gave Lee a feeling of immense cold as he caught the eyes of two mini wardens; "Caroline…and Justine…Then that means…"
"Trickster, Welcome to my Velvet Room." A deeper and more grim voice echoed from the open hall into his cell as Lee came face to face with "Igor" once more. However instead of feeling at ease with this almost identical face standing in front of him; he felt nothing but a white hot anger searing at his insides, "Igor" was watching him with an almost amused sneer. "I can assure you that is no need for alarm, you are still fast asleep in bed; this place exists between dream and reality. Though this place reflects the heart, this is a rather interesting perception…true to your nature as a Prisoner of Fate…"
Lee knew that he had to act like a regular kid being thrown into the unknown and luckily enough for him at this time, his current mood played right into that; grabbing the bars and rattled at the door; "Let me out of here now!" Lee yelled at "Igor" but was shut up when Caroline slammed her electric baton against the bars with a hearty ZAP.
"You will show respect to the master of this jail, Inmate! Now stand up straight!" Caroline barked at him with a menacing glare.
"Pardon me, but I neglected to introduce you to them…to your right is Caroline and to your left is Justine, they will be your wardens for your rehabilitation and also your collaborators." "Igor" explained and then leaned forward; "The world is distorted and destined to fall into ruin, but you are one of it's key components for it's salvation…in order to save it and yourself, you must fight the distortion of the world to complete your rehabilitation…But I will disclose more with you another time…Dawn is quickly approaching." "Igor" would mention as he heard alarm bells going off as the world faded into light.
Morning soon came as Sojiro woke Lee up and rushed him to get ready so they could enrol him at Shujin; by the time they were in the headmaster's office, Lee had another unwelcome feeling at the moment he saw the eggheaded man sitting at his desk.
"Now, to reinforce the matter; you are to be on your VERY best behaviour at this school, it's not often that we have an opening and it's a special case that we accept someone of your notoriety." Kobayakawa would sternly warn Lee as he and Sojiro signed the papers; "You will be given no shortcuts or any leeway and the staff here will punish you if it is deemed necessary. We expect nothing less then absolute attention and hard work from you at all times when you are on school grounds." The headmaster rambled on about student respect and obedience but Lee seemed to be half paying attention as he got the whole lecture from Sojiro already while he drove them but the harsh wording was cut short as there was a knock at the door; "Ah, that will be your teacher…she has an opening in her class and you will do well to listen to her."
As soon as the lady walked in, Lee was overcome with some very…confusing emotions when he found himself face to face with the tired looking teacher.
"I'm Sadayo Kawakami, you will be attending my classes most of the semester and you'll be reporting to me each day." She would list off as she then handed Lee a small card but behind it was a pink piece of paper that concealed half of it's disclaimer for "Maids"; "This is your student ID, please be careful not to lose it…" Kawakami mumbled but then nearly snatched the whole thing when she took back the pink slip that had intermingled with it, thankful that no one else seemed to notice it.
Lee however did see it long enough to recognize it before he had another memory flash of a maid in twin tails napping on his bed, making coffee or that same teacher at a fishing pond. Thankfully he was able to dismiss it as a momentary dizziness before signing the school contract.
"Mr. Sakura, please ensure you keep an eye on him…students like this can sometimes be a handful and can be introduced to some less then savoury things if they're not careful." Kobayakawa warned Sojiro as they left to get back to LeBlanc.
—Back at Leblanc, a couple of hours later—
Sojiro grumbled about losing an entire day to traffic all the way back to the cafe; "I can't believe it, traffic blocked up all the way through because of the accidents on the subway…You're taking the trains from now on, I can't keep ferrying you and losing potential customers!" he would mention to Lee as the young man was holding on to a bag with his school uniform in it.
"Got it…But still, accidents like that have been happening more and more recently…" Lee pointed out as he set the bag down on one of the empty booths, the two left in the morning but a string of train accidents kept Sojiro from opening so there were no customers all day. "And I can think of a good number of reasons why that is…" He thought to himself.
"I guess the news probably showed that stuff around the clock while you got to the city…not all of them were subway accidents though, there was a car crash a while back that really shook people up, poor kid…" The older man remarked softly as he cleaned his glasses; "In any case, I got something for ya…" Sojiro mentioned as he walked upstairs to Lee's room.
Confused, Lee followed after him; "A kid…is he talking about…Wait…is it? Damn these memory flashes! I can remember stuff like the Grail and Igor but anything else is just….hazy…" He thought to himself as the whole selective amnesia thing was getting to him.
"Take this, it's a diary for you to keep track of everything you do for the year. I trust you have the better judgment AND the common sense to keep out of trouble, but I still have to report to your parole officer…Why did I have to get saddled with such a troublesome kid?" Sojiro complained as Lee raised an eyebrow but decided not to comment.
"Anyway, you get ready for tomorrow…and try to sleep reasonably, I'm gonna be too busy with the cafe to take care of you if you get sick, okay?" Sojiro remarked as he started his way down the stairs but stopped partway; "Oh…and uh, try not to let other people get you down; it's not always easy to start fresh." He would try to reassure in a surprisingly soft manner.
"Yeah, don't worry…I've got thick skin." Lee quipped as he watched Sojiro leave the cafe and heard the door lock; "Thick skin…if only he knew…." he mused as he gazed up at the ceiling and took another glance at the Metaverse icon before turning over and falling into sleep; seeing as he knew what it was for, trying to delete it would've been pointless.
Lee felt his body lurch as he felt himself standing in a long hallway in his casual clothes, on each side of the hall were numerous doors and three larger doors at the end; the right was a yellow door with a tarot card on the front of it, the left was a blue door with a gun on it and the middle door was a red door that had a checkered mask over it.
"That's…foreboding…" he would think as he felt drawn towards the red door; but when he went to turn the knob…nothing happened: it was locked. Staring at it in confusion, Lee checked his pockets and while he did so; he felt the floor fall out from under him into a black void similar to when he first went back.
THUMP!
Lee woke up with a start as he had fallen out of his bed and hit the wooden floor; "Of course it had to be one of THOSE kinds of dreams." He grumbled to himself as he picked up his phone to check the time and sure enough, it seemed to align with his morning alarm; "Aaaand right on time…I should get going."
After he had gotten dressed in his school uniform, Lee grabbed his bag and headed downstairs to make it for the subway but he got stopped by Sojiro.
"I had some left over from making meals for today, so here…Figure I'd at least feed you before you go." Sojiro mentioned as he nudged a glass of water and a plate of curry towards him.
The smell was all it took to draw Lee back towards a seat and grabbed a spoon; "Thank you, sir." He said to Sojiro before he started to eat; it didn't take more than the first mouthful for Lee to start wolfing it down, each bite made him feel twice as better as he did when he first stepped into LeBlanc again after so long.
"Heh…Good, right? My own recipe and a friend of mine helped improve it." Sojiro grinned when he saw how well the curry went down with this supposed delinquent, he then checked his watch after seeing the now cleaned plate; "You should probably get going before customers start showing up, I'll take care of the plate if you flip the sign to Open."
"Thank you for the food." Lee thanked Sojiro before he rushed out the door and then flipped the sign before heading for the station.
—Later on, in Shibuya—
The heavens opened up as the city streets were doused in pouring rain, students who didn't have umbrellas were trying to make a blind rush for school or for shelter under buildings. Lee was one of the few who took the latter option; while checking his phone to pass the time, he noticed that the Metaverse app that was sticking out like a sore thumb getting agitated.
But while he was trying to figure it out and remember why, a second figure took up a spot next to his and pulled down their hood; the moment he saw the the girl's face and her voluminous pigtails. "Whoa…" Lee thought to himself as he found himself captivated by the girl next to him; her platinum blonde hair drew his attention but the more he glanced at her, the more he seemed to feel something stirring, something more then just recognition…He knew for a fact that he remembered her more clearly then the last few people with only one word coming to mind: "Ann…" but he snapped out of it when he heard a soft chuckle, seeing her smiling a little at him made him feel like his stomach was tied in knots before going back to passing time.
"Morning…the rain's not letting up, you need a ride to school?" A more masculine voice called out to the girl from a nearby car; it was a dark haired man with a prominent jaw and wearing what looked to be a red and white jersey. Ann nodded before heading into the car and made the driver turn to Lee; "How about you? Did you need a lift too?"
Lee was confused; on the one hand, he was alright to just walk it to school but on the other hand…something about this guy made alarm bells ring in his head and even more so when he saw the blonde girl getting in his front seat, he shook his head but felt the pang of an unknown guilt when he saw the girl's expression become more down as the windows rolled up.
As soon as the car started up again, it gave Lee an epiphany; "Wait…if Ann's here, then that means that Ryuji will be here any minute!" He mused to himself as the moment he remembered Ann's name, it seemed to trigger Ryuji in the same time; so he waited….and waited…by the time that the guy's car rounded the corner, he heard footsteps and someone yelling.
"HEY, WAIT UP! IT'S RAINING LIKE HELL OU-Damn it! Screw that pervy teacher anyway!" A rough voice grumbled as they realised it was too late.
"Pervy..Teacher?" Lee would ask, triggering the App even more before turning to new person who ran past him, the bright dyed blonde blur made him both relieved and excited that he now had his best friend to hang out with again.
But something nagged at him, something felt….weird; like he had just rewatched a movie and something different popped up, however he began to notice why once this person turned to face him.
With the menacing glare, the endorphins quickly wore off; in front of him was a girl with that same dyed blonde hair, cropped short with a messy ponytail that would probably be neck length if it was down, she had smaller eyebrows then most people along with brown eyes that seemed to pierce through him like a knife.
The weirdest thing about this was that while this girl was wearing the same uniform as the other girls that ran past him; she had her uniform jacket open with a glaringly loud bright red t-shirt with "Royal Pain!" emblazoned on the front and her skirt was long enough to reach her ankles, Lee remembered reading about this kind of look…Sukeban if he remembered right, though one thought stuck in his mind as he remembered Igor's words; "TIME IS A RIVER, NOT A ROAD…WHEN YOU GO BACK, THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT."
"The hell are you staring at? Do you want something?" The thuggish looking girl glowered at him more, practically emanating the vibe of any wrong answer could get him hurt, with one additional thought from Lee once he put two and two together.
"That's not Ryuji…Oh….Oooooooooh…" Lee slowly realised while trying his hardest to not freak out.
"That's the difference?!"