4. transcending time and space (we met)

Nishizono Shinsuke is in this timeline.

Kurama finds the interruption point-- but he doesn't find any trace of Fei. It was like none of Chrono Storm ever happened in this world, because there were no signs of time interference.

It was like the timeline they'd come from no longer existed.

If so... where can they go from here?

-

-

-

"I'm sorry, I'm not an alien, I swear!"

"That's exactly what an alien would say!"

"I- I know!"

Rinka's scream caught the attention of everyone at the beach houses along the shore, and the entire Gymnastics Club at school.

But her attention was drawn immediately away by something much more urgent. The lighthouse flickered on, and with the new light she could take in the sight of the boy, so little, so small– not in a good way at all.

He pulled off some seaweed and that was stuck to his clothes, but the sleeve was already torn. He held a hand up to one of his eyes, almost as if he was shielding it from the light. His face was flushed– it must be cold– and his free hand was clenched over himself, like he needed his own arm for warmth.

Alien or not, that was a boy in need.

"Wait... is that blood?"

Rinka finally registers the dark patch under his feet. That hadn't been water or algae.

It was still dripping heavily from somewhere she couldn't see– and she knew how contaminated wounds in the sea could get.

"I'll go get the first aid kit! Stay right there and don't move!"

"Huh?" the boy squeaks. "But– eh? Oh, okay?"

"What's going on, Rinka-chan?!" someone yells. It's a whole legion of adults, all with flashlights and some kind of weapon.

"Oh, Mister!" the girl yells, "please call the ambulance! This alien boy is seriously hurt!"

"Alien?!" came a whole chorus of yells, even from the boy himself.

"I'm not an alien!" the boy clarifies, sounding incredibly offended. "My name's Nishizono Shinsuke, and I'm a human being!"

-

-

-

Kurama nearly walks into Coach Hitomiko.

"The Flame Striker in these parts, huh?" the man she was speaking to says, "I mean, I've heard the rumours, but there are plenty of rumours around nowadays. Like how there's been a snake-boy loitering around the park these few weeks, or an alien dropped near the lighthouse, and other things."

"An alien?" Coach Hitomiko asks, and Kurama sighs, ducking behind a vending machine around the corner.

Of course, this was where Gouenji rejoined Raimon, after all. If he was still here, they were probably on their way here, too.

"But seriously, so soon? I know I spent about a week here mooching off HIjikata, but they're already here?!"

Kurama had already found the spot, but now he had to wait for the moment Gouenji met Tenma. In the worst case, maybe that time's already past and Kurama's just wasting time now... but he didn't want to think about that.

He really couldn't afford to live like this anymore, he's out of money, and he'll die of guilt if Hijikata drags him home for dinner again.

"Kurama-kun?"

Shit.

He whirled around to find Coach Hitomiko, looking surprised to see him here.

"I thought you were in Hokkaido," she says, accusatory. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and Kurama wanted to run.

"Ah, yes," he sputters out looking behind him. He could make a break for the store? No, he doesn't have money to pretend to spend. Maybe into that alley? It's a fence beyond it, he can lose her there, "I travelled."

"On your own?"

It's sharp. She steps forward, and Kurama decides that's enough taunting fate. 

He spins around and makes a break for it, kicking off a trash can to get on top of a wall, running through it into the alleys of a housing district.

He's been practicing. He wasn't one of the best in reflexes for nothing.

(Seriously, he needs to either get to the interruption point, or he needs to leave. If he meets Raimon again it's going to be hell of a day.)

-

He takes a long way around to the opposite shore, to the beach supplies rental shop that he'd chosen as his stakeout point. He's also been kind of working here as a helper to the old guy manning the store, for some pocket change.

"Ah, Kurama-kun, good timing," the man calls when he catches sight of Kurama at the entrance. "Get the first aid kit, would you?"

Kurama makes a noise of affirmation– but then his eyes whirl down to the incident in question and he freezes, horrified.

Seated on the benches, knees scraped but cheerful– was Matsukaze Tenma.

He recognized that weird hair anywhere.

It's like, one of Raimon's seven great mysteries or something– Kurama remembers the great hair war he and Kariya did three years ago as an excuse to restyle Tenma's hair, and a whole bottle of hair gel lost to this boy's ridiculous cuticles.

"Kurama-kun?" the shopowner says.

Kurama jumps back to reality, "ah– right! A moment!"

Tenma's here. Sasuke's not around, so it's not time yet. Maybe today's the day. No, it's definitely today. Maybe it's any time now– it's here. It's really here.

(Kurama's heart is racing and he doesn't know how to breathe.)

(Now that he's here– he doesn't know. He doesn't know if it's possible.)

(Is Tenma and Alpha even going to show up? Sure he was confident this was the interruption point– but who's to say they'd ever notice him? Who's to say they'd actually stop and interrupt history just to get him out of here?)

(He's so stupid, why did he even make the effort to come here?)

But he's definitely coming. Fei's already told them– timelines are delicate things. Of course this timeline still leads to Chrono Storm, right?

...right?

(Ahh, he might scream.)

"Here you go," he carefully disinfects the little scrape on Tiny Tenma's knee, sticking a band aid over it and patting it gently.

"Thank you, Mister Big Brother!" the child beams.

Kurama can't help but smile. "Be careful, alright?"

(This isn't right.)

(Tenma isn't such a little, weak creature.)

"Thank you," his mother smiles down at him. "Kurama-kun, was it? Do you go to the school around here?"

"Ah– no," he stands up quickly, "I'm from the mainland..."

"So you're here to hide out from all that alien business, are you?" she chuckles, and Kurama almost chuckles back.

He supposes school is shut down all over Japan due to the terrorist attacks. That's a great cover for his current part time work here.

Mrs Matsukaze continues to talk to him. Asking him how Okinawa's treating him– really well, the locals are nice, they don't ask questions– and wishing him well to continue enjoying his time here.

Generally, a very nice lady. Just like Tenma's Big Sis Aki.

-

When they leave, Kurama watches them go from the beach shack as they head down the less wandered alley, toward their car.

And then Kurama stops, because that's– that's where it is.

He runs.

Tenma notices something, glancing toward a little puppy, stuck behind the lumber. He runs forward to save it– and trips, barely managing to catch himself on his back.

But the log was falling– tipping over, right for him.

Kurama doesn't think. He just runs, "TENMA!" scrambling over the ledge, over the fence– and he doesn't make it in time.

But the soccer ball does.

A strong right, and the ball collides with the timber, sending it right off course. It would miss him now, but better safe than sorry.

Kurama scoops right in to pick up Tenma, cradling his little figure along with Sasuke's in his arms, and pulls him out of the area before the timber collides harshly against the rest.

"Tenma!" his mother drops everything in a panic.

The boy hurriedly runs out of Kurama's arms into his mother's, and Kurama can't help but breathe out in relief.

People were hurriedly gathering, alarmed. They quickly checked for injuries, the adults moving the logs out of the way– and in a position that wouldn't be a falling hazard– while Kurama notices Tenma staring at something further out.

It's the figure in the orange hood, and he smiles, relieved.

The soccer ball with Raimon's mark upon it rolls over, and Kurama picks it up before handing it to Tenma.

He chuckles. "Looks like soccer saved your life, huh, kid?" Kurama says, patting him on the head. "Be careful now."

"Uhn," Tenma says, "I'm sorry! Thank you, Mister Big Brother."

The one that should be thanked is Gouenji, but Kurama will extend that gratitude.

"Who was that guy?" someone says, and Kurama turns to see Gouenji has gone off elsewhere.

And then–

–and then Kurama remembers what he was here for.

-

Nothing happened.

If El Dorado saw him, they ignored him.

Maybe they weren't looking. Maybe whatever time rift the caravan caused, it caused enough problems that this tiny little moment in history was no longer significant.

Kurama had been banking on empty hope this whole time.

But nothing happened, and he was still here.

-

He sticks around for a few more days, not so sure what he could even do from here.

He tried screaming into the sky. It didn't work. No one came to pick him up.

He couldn't think up another time to go to, and even if he did, this had already proven it– he, a person stuck in this time, is not going to be able to stop interference from another time.

He was lost in time, and there was nothing he could do to get back.

Kurama curls into himself and curses, trying not to cry. He didn't have any tears left to cry, even. But he's lost his last hope. He can't go home, and there's no home here for him. There's nowhere he can go.

"Hey, Kurama!"

He jumps, whirling back and looking out of the play building to find Hijikata, glaring right down at him.

"I said to drop by every few days for dinner, didn't I? Your fews days ran out a few days ago!" Hijikata snaps. "Geez, even Gouenji wasn't this troublesome to deal with!"

"Eh?" Kurama balks when HIjikata reaches in and drags him out. "Wait– ouch! I mean–"

"Dinnertime!" Hijikata says, firmly.

Kurama hurries to wipe away his tears, but if HIjikata saw it, he said nothing. And Kurama can do nothing but be abducted back into the HIjikata house, where a warm dinner and a loving family sat, welcoming him home.

(Oh.)

(There was one place he could go.)

-

-

-

Nishizono Shinsuke wakes up in a hospital room, and he's spent the past few days recovering slowly.

There was a medical eyepatch over one eye, but he was more concerned by the ear on his left side, completely covered in bandages and apparently a little worse for wear. He knew that his eye would heal, not perfectly, but decently– but his ear was gone.

He looks down toward his hands that were beginning to ache– the blitz of something resembling a glitch cutting through his arm, part of his flesh phasing out in a blur before regaining its bearings in the current timeline.

And he knew he didn't have much time left in this world.

"Hey there! Doing better today I see?"

Shinsuke turns around to see Tsunami Jousuke, a lunchbox in his hands. "Tsunami-san," he greets. "I'm sorry you had to come all this way."

"No, it's fine, I pass by the area a lot," Tsunami chuckles, "plus, it's essentially my duty as a new member of the soccer club."

After being picked up by the Oumihara Soccer Club, they've been coming by to check on him every few days. Shinsuke recognized Tsunami, and understood what era he's in– so he divulged exactly nothing about his background.

Thankfully, the school and the community has agreed to foot his hospital bills.

He felt really bad about it, but he needed to survive.

"That's right– you know, I didn't think soccer was all that great until recently!" Tsunami grins. And Shinsuke knows this– they're bringing up stories about their life to cheer him up. He'll listen. "I met these guys– eh, I don't think I remember their names. But here's this guy called Endou–"

Shinsuke straightens.

"...Endou-san?"

The Endou of this world and timeline– Raimon is coming this way?

"Yeah, Endou! You know him? Apparently he's pretty popular because they're fighting aliens or something," Tsunami chuckles.

Maybe– no, Shinsuke can't hope. He can't go look for them. He can't.

"Yeah," he says, his traitorous voice speaking over his own thoughts like the terrible, terrible thing it is. He brims right into a smile. "I'm really interested! Tell me more about them?"

Let him have this.

(Let him have this, please.)

-

"Here, you can have this."

Otomura, Oumihara's gamemaker, hands Shinsuke a pair of headphones. They're made thick and sturdy, evidently made for ear protection before music purposes.

"My place's a device shop, so the nurses told me to get you one," he explains.

They're taking off the bandages on Shinsuke's head today. His left ear was healed, but it was a rather disfigured-looking scar, so there were recommendations to cover it if he wanted.

"Thank you," Shinsuke says. He really didn't deserve his goodwill– but it was a gift. He was going to treasure it.

(He could cry from gratitude, and he does.)

"Just use it well, alright?" Otomura says. "C'mon now, we're going to be late to our surprise practice match with Raimon."

Shinsuke hugs it to his chest, and he almost didn't want to go.

He wanted to stay here, basking in this moment of happiness.

His arms fade out slightly when he puts it against the light of the outside world, but he can do nothing but steel himself and get going.

-

-

-

"What the– Kurama!" Endou calls out when he sees the figure coming by with Hijikata.

"Oh? You know him?"

Kurama grimaces. He's dragging a cart with an ice box behind him, but he really should've made the other kids do this instead.

"Yeah, it's me again, you stalker bastards," he mutters, irritated.

"Language!" Hijikata hisses.

"Wait a second, I thought you were in Hokkaido?!" Megane points, exasperated.

"Why are you literally everywhere! Stay in one place, you lost alien!"

Kurama bristles, "call me an alien again, I dare ya!" he threatens. He'll sic a giant snake on them, he swears.

"What's this about?"

"Uh, we actually met him in Hakuren..."

There were more people now– or less people, depending on the perspective. There was another girl, a gyaru, among them– then a surprisingly short Kogure Yuuya, and a rather familiar face in Tachimukai Yuuki.

But in exchange, Kazemaru, Someoka, and Kurimatsu weren't around.

"Oh uh," Fubuki looks a little flustered, "we found him and took him in for a bit. He's free to leave whenever, it's not like we own him."

"I see," Kidou says, arms crossed as he turns his eyes to Kurama, who rolled the ice box down for HIjikata to lift it over a bench. "So, what are you doing in Okinawa?"

"None of your business," Kurama says immediately.

"Are you doing fine?" Aki asks, much more pleasant than literally everyone. "You look less pale now!"

"I saw you around," Hitomiko says, and Kurama flinches. "You ran away from me."

"You were asking annoying questions," Kurama says.

"I was being a responsible adult," came the rebuttal.

HIjikata laughs, placing a hand on Kurama's shoulder. "No worries, you guys, Kurama's been in my care for a couple weeks. My siblings all love him!" He sets down the basket on his back, "and here's some vegetables from my field."

"Ah, thanks, that's a great help!" Furukabu says.

"What's with these crazy coincidences?" Ichinose says, "you just happen to be acquaintances with the one guy we met yesterday?"

"I got kidnapped," Kurama says immediately.

"Into a loving family!" Hijikata beams.

"Save me."

Surprisingly, meeting Raimon again was much better than the first time around. Kurama could answer most of his questions with his usual snark.

(Hijikata whispers to Kurama, not a word about Gouenji, before he goes.)

"HIjikata forced me to see a physical therapist," Kurama says, when the team was warming up, and he joined them for a little to show off his arms. He was wearing a tank top, so the shoulder braces were right out there for the world to see.

The town already knew him as the boy with all the arm support, so he didn't bother hiding anymore.

"So they're really not going to heal?"

"No, but I can try to coexist with it."

Somehow, learning that his route to freedom was gone– it lifted a weight on his chest, and after a good cry, he didn't feel like caring anymore.

"This is Kurama, uh–" Endou trails off.

"Kurama Norihito," he introduces himself properly. He's actually not sure if he's actually told them his full name before this.

"And what school do you go to, anyway?" Urabe Rika says, sounding a little put off by Kurama's entire presence. "Look at him! Dark skin, light blue hair– read the mood, brat, yer stealing my character!"

"Rika?!" someone calls out. Why is she picking a fight?

Kurama raises a middle finger, "ya wanna fight, ya whore?" he turns his filter right off, "bring it, I'll have ya fucken' know I was here first, ya shit."

"Kurama-kun?!" came another yell.

"Language!" came someone further away.

"Don't put them together! They'll make sailors cry!"

"How about we just put them together and see who kills each other first?" Touko suggests. "We bring the strongest one with us, we only need one of these rude, tanned, and blue-haired bitches around."

"EXCUSE YOU?!" Rika and Kurama snap at the same time.

"Your characters overlap too much."

"And I'm not coming with you guys either way!" Kurama huffs.

"So what school do you go to?"

"The school of not your business!"

"Uh, are you a soccer player too?" Tachimukai asks, trying to bring the conversation somewhere nicer. "What position do you play?"

"I'm a forward," Kurama says. He pauses when everyone stares at him.

"Right! You did that crazy shot in Hakuren!"

"This is the first time you're actually telling us you play soccer, actually."

"Show it to us again!"

"What the– now? I guess my arms are in a better state than back in Hakuren..." Kurama sighs. Maybe playing with these guys won't hurt.

HIjikata watches them fondly. He stands by the sides, the managers around him, Hitomiko walking up to him– and Kidou and Endou coming closer, not too much at ease.

"Found him in the park a few days ago, he doesn't seem to have anywhere to go," Hijikata explains, uncharacteristically serious. "He seems to be looking for something. I don't think he found it."

The circumstances were suspicious.

Kurama made no sense.

But when someone passes him the ball, Kurama juggles the ball around his knees with the ease of an experienced player. Tachimukai stands before the goal, and Kurama kicks it testingly over.

It's a strong kick, and the spin throws Tashimukai's grip off. His hand actually slips, and the ball actually flicks off his fingers right into the goal.

Everyone's speechless.

"Oh, my bad," Kurama says. "My ball's got a very annoying spin to it that's tricky to catch if you're facing it for the first time. You'll get used to it in another shot or two though." 

"What the– one more time! That one didn't count!"

"What was that?!"

Endou rushes over to see what was up with that, because hell he wants to try catching it too– but HIjikata's face remains steeled.

"He's not a bad guy," Hijikata says. "That I'm sure. But he's a hurt kid, and I don't trust leaving him alone."

Last time he found Kurama, the boy was dead on his feet. Face washed out with tears, spirit dried out from despair.

"Whatever's happening to him, it's not good."

Kidou listens– and he nods.

-

Tsunami arrives, surfboard spearing into the ground like a deadly javelin as he announces his presence.

Apparently, his school wants a practice match with Raimon, and they were discussing the pros and cons of Raimon taking the challenge of a school out in the nothings of Okinawa.

Kurama, however, has his attention on the surfboard. He sort of missed the days where he'd go surfing with Hamano. He doesn't think he'll be able to handle it now, though, with his spine in this state.

"Two-seven-three?" he read the numbers on the board, confused. People usually pattern their boards with pictures, not numbers– wait a second, "oh, it's 2-7-3 for Tsu-Na-Mi."

Beside him, Megane's mind blows as he connects the same dots.

"Hey, Kurama, you wanna go with them or come back with me?" HIjikata asks, when they decide to go to the school.

Kurama looks between them.

His time here was meaningless now– he had nowhere to go, nothing to do except live and work at the beach house and help out. He was trying really hard not to think of his old world and how far away it was.

Maybe a distraction would be nice.

"I'll go watch the match or something," Kurama says, "someone needs to bring the ice box back to the house, after all."

-

-

-

Meeting Oumihara was... an experience.

They launch fireworks, design a banner, and run out in a grand surprise. Their coach has enough energy for everyone, and Natsumi was right about to go home in exasperation.

"Kurama-kun, do you want to play?" Aki asks.

"Huh? No, no, I'm fine."

She was probably offering out of courtesy, but Kurama had no intentions to join as a member of Raimon, it'd be way too weird. He helps the managers, though. That was enough for him.

Tsunami was introducing his team to the Raimon group.

"And– huh? Where's Otomura?" Tsunami asks, looking around. He turns to Raimon, "he's our gamemaker, see. He rides the best beat around here!"

"Otomura-kun's bringin Nishizono-kun over," Rinka says. "He said he wanted to watch, after all."

Kurama stops, freezing right in the middle of handing Aki a bottle of water.

And then he immediately shakes his head out of it. There was a guy called Sorano in Hakuren, too. Some names were common, after all– he shouldn't overthink this.

"Uwaah! The field is huge!"

The voice reaches his ears and suddenly Kurama can't breathe.

In the distance, a boy with blue hair and the Oumihara jersey walks in, followed immediately by a short boy in some bandages, headphones, and casual clothes.

Nishizono Shinsuke looks around, fascinated.

"The water's so clean!"

"Of course it is," Otomura says, "were you expecting it to be dirty?"

"No no," Shinsuke says, flustered, "but I think I was expecting it to be a little shallower? I think I'll sink if I try to step in it."

"It's not for swimming," Otomura chuckles.

Shinsuke snickers back, "well, I'm clumsy, so I might fall in... oh, enough about me!"

Kurama can't– he can't.

"Kurama-kun?"

"Hey, what's wrong?"

He drops the water bottle and he can't move. Aki looks over, confused. Someone might have called his name, but Kurama can't tell who it is.

He steps forward, weakly. "Nishizono..."

Shinsuke is thin. Thin, pale, and covered in too many injuries for his little figure. He's wearing headphones– he never does– and one of his eyes was covered in an eyepatch.

What happened there? Who hurt him? Who does Kurama have to kill?

(He was injured for the same reason Kurama had injuries, definitely. But seeing it on himself was different from seeing it on Shinsuke.)

"Hey, Kurama-kun!" Aki calls out, worriedly, and they were beginning to draw attention.

"What's going on over there?" Endou looks over, wary.

"Kurama?"

Shinsuke and Otomura look over– and though confusion plagued their gazes at first– Shinsuke quickly lit up with recognition.

"K-" Shinsuke stutters, and then– forgetting everything, he's running. "Kurama-senpai!"

Otomura yelps, not expecting him to suddenly break away– but his eyes catch onto Shinsuke's arm– and the blurry faze in his shoulder that seemed to glitch out of time with the background– and he pauses, baffled.

(Were his eyes playing tricks on him?)

Kurama's face lights right up with relief, his face scrunching up as he rushes forward.

He would've never done this three years ago– or even in their present, really– but now, now was different. He opens his arms and Shinsuke jumps, and he catches the boy, wrapping him tightly in relief as his knees crumble and they sink into a connection of contact that they needed more than anything.

-

The two teams didn't quite know how to react.

"Who's that?" Kidou asks.

"Nishizono," Tsunami says. "Rinka found him a few days back by the lighthouse. Fell from the sky in a mysterious light, apparently."

"We don't know where he's from or if he has a family," Rinka says. "He hasn't said a thing about himself.

(Well, that certainly sounded like an alien.)

"What a coincidence," Kidou says, grinding his teeth, "we found Kurama like that, too. Fell from a great height with no known origins."

"We don't know anything about him either," Ichinose says.

(That was certainly suspicious as hell.)

Two boys of unknown origins, with strangely severe injuries– in such an inopportune time, all getting involved with Raimon now by various extensions. It was incredibly suspicious, especially considering Burn tried to infiltrate them yesterday.

For now, they've given the two some privacy, since they obviously needed a moment to talk– but everyone couldn't help but loiter around and try not to stare, gossiping about their own possible theories.

"It's really a mystery," Coach Hitomiko says, "they don't seem to be related to the Aliea situation, though."

"Huh? How are you so sure, Coach?" Endou asks.

Hitomiko doesn't respond to that.

"Maybe they're aliens, but from a different planet?" Haruna theorizes.

"Enough about the alien theories already," Touko says. "But I can't help but think that something supernatural's involved."

-

"This is the third time you've been thrown somewhere different?" Kurama exclaims.

Shinsuke nods. He raises his arms– and they could all see the way it seemed to shine oddly against the light, and parts of it seemed to grain out against the scenery.

"Whatever wormhole it was that sent us around in the first place– I still feel like I'm in the middle of it," he says, strained. He hugs himself, looking incredibly pale. "It's like I'm not completely here, and it's uncomfortable to even exist here. I'm– I'm probably going to glitch out of existence again, and I'm going to land somewhere else. I don't know if it'll ever end for me."

Kurama reaches down quickly, grabbing Shinsuke by the shoulders tightly.

Kurama was solid. He existed. But he could see Shinsuke's figure blurring out against the light, like an odd frame of animation in the midst of a perfect sequence.

Kurama wanted to curse out the world in every language he knew.

Because while Kurama was mourning and feeling sorry for himself, Shinsuke was struggling to even exist as a physical human being.

"You're fucking kidding," Kurama hisses. "We need to find Fei. Now. You're going to–"

"That's the thing, Kurama-senpai– I've been sent to three worlds!" Shinsuke raises his voice, his voice breaking in desperation. "And– and all of those worlds were so different. There was one where we didn't even play soccer. One world there's an entirely different Raimon team, a completely different government!"

And Kurama's grip suddenly weakened.

All of those worlds were different– but Shinsuke spoke of more than one world. More than one timeline, more than one dimension.

(That was wrong.)

(There's only supposed to be one true timeline. The others disappear after history is changed and the timelines settle.)

And yet...

"What," Kurama whispers, "what happened to us?"

The explosion that day– the caravan. If Kurama was sent to one obscure world, and Shinsuke to many others– then didn't that mean everyone else was sent elsewhere as well?

"How many parallel worlds did we create with that explosion?" he realizes. "What did we do to the universe?"

They don't know– but with the dozens of worlds they've created, and the millions of possible time parallels they thrown the world into a disarray of–

–it was impossible for them to ever find the one they started in. Even harder for Fei to ever try locating all of them ever again.

"...What's going to happen to us from now on?"

Neither of them knew.

"I'm so glad I found you," Shinsuke says. "Before I disappear again. I'm just– I'm glad."

And suddenly, Kurama realized just how much this little meeting meant for the boy. He held Shinsuke by the shoulders and didn't want to let go.

-

-

-

"This is my kouhai, Nishizono Shinsuke," Kurama says.

Shinsuke looks near tears. And he actually does cry, which horrifies the crowd, and Kurama too.

"What?!" Kurama explodes.

"No it's just–" he sniffles, "it's the first time you introduced me like you were proud of me! And to think that just three years ago you wanted to kick me off a building every time you saw me!"

For a moment, Kurama almost wanted to do it again.

Everyone whirled on him, absolutely mortified. Some of the Oumihara kids even ran over to grab and hold Shinsuke protectively away from Kurama, and the ones from Raimon were hiding behind each other just in case he wanted to try.

"Hold on– so you guys are from the same school?" Domon asks. "So why can't you just tell us what school you go to already?"

"You're not going to say it's Aliea, are you?" Touko says, "we've already got one attempted infiltration yesterday, I don't think anyone's in the mood for another."

Kurama raises a brow at that. He's really interested to know more about that, but he'll let it go for today.

"It's not Aliea," he says. "But I guess... in a definition of it, we're aliens?"

Everyone straightens at that, exclaiming a loud "hUH" at the sudden revelation. Everyone ignores Megane's loud snark of "AHA I KNEW IT" in lieu of trying to save Fubuki from choking on his drink in the background.

And it was fair. They were already exposed to alien elements. Surely telling them that they were also from another dimension (planet?) wasn't too far of a stretch?

Shinsuke struggles out of Tsunami's grasp to stand beside Kurama again.

"We're from another world," Shinsuke says. "We got caught up in a... time explosion... I think?"

Kurama grimaces at that. "What else would you call us being eaten by wormholes and just ending up several dimensions to the left and a few generations in the past?"

"Being– what?" Endou has to stop them, because they were losing him, "you're from a different what?!"

"If this is nonsense, I'm leaving," Natsumi says.

"Now, now, Natsumi-san," Haruna and Aki held her by the arms. "I'm sure the explanation will make sense soon?"

"We're from another world," Shinsuke says. "In the future, time travel is possible! Or dimension travel," he corrects himself after a thought. They did create the universe of King Arthur and all.

Kurama wants to sigh. It sounds ridiculous, and fair enough, if he hadn't personally gone, he wouldn't have believed any of this bullcrap either.

"After alien terrorists, it's dimension travel huh..." Domon sighs. "What's next? Fantasy creatures?"

"Maybe magic," Rika says.

"I'd believe it," Tsunami says. "He did fall out of the sky."

"I mean, we've already seen aliens that can teleport and destroy schools with soccer balls. What's the freakiest thing that could happen from here?"

Kurama's brow twitches. "Alright, let's change the question," he says, turning toward Endou and then Aki. "Have you two ever met a couple of time travellers, fought other time travellers with soccer, and talked to a blue bear that turns pink when he's excited?"

Now everyone's staring at him like he just said something ridiculous. Which he did.

"Specifically on your first day of school last year?" Shinsuke adds, hopefully.

Endou and Aki look completely lost, as if they're about to slightly laugh in awkward exasperation. They have absolutely no idea if they were supposed to take that seriously at all.

Kurama nods. "Ah, so that's why nothing happened at Tenma's interruption point."

If Tenma didn't show up back then, then he didn't show up any other time either. In fact, the entire plot that El Dorado had to eradicate soccer probably didn't happen at all. Which would be a shame, because it also meant that the many instances of future Raimon showing up in past Raimon's time to play soccer also didn't happen.

"Wait–" Shinsuke balks. "So Chrono Storm doesn't exist in this dimension??"

"I guess?" Kurama says.

Everyone's still staring at them, waiting for an explanation.

Kurama and Shinsuke simultaneously groan. 

That means they're going to have to start from the entire concept of time travel, and seeing as neither of them ever fully understood that and definitely know how annoying it was to understand that without being literally shown the time portal– this is going to be a very long conversation.