Fictions Mentioned:

Episode 1

Insert Song: Start

Dies irae - Animation OST: Ewige Wiederkunft

It was...how many years has been? Three years. Yes, he thought it was three years. Time had passed rather quickly and not a moment too soon. Now, it was a special day for him, for one Koichi Minamoto, a young adult of twenty-three years of age. He had a slim figure, fairly in good shape. Fairly tall, about 181 cm. If one were to ask about him, he would be someone quite popular with the ladies due to his handsome looks. He had a pair of glasses that he wore around his eyes. Once, he used a pair of glasses in order to make do with his eyesight. Now, he didn't need them as he can see clearly due to a few circumstances but didn't want to part with them as they formed a part of him. So he more or less did a little tinkering and modified them for his own discretizing purposes.

"Look the rain that until yesterday continued has let up..."

There was the sound of graduating students all singing in a choir. Yes, it was a time of graduation for all of the students of the Class of 2012 of an elementary school called Rokujouin Public Elementary School. It was harmonious, one full of memories and experiences of bygone yesterdays and fun times. Now it was time for these elementary students to step into another level of their life. A time when they would now be in middle school.

"I feel the dawn's wind on my cheek. Even though we have grown to adulthood, the dream we spoke of on that day would never fade. Even though the paths we take are sure different, we will be looking up at the same sky, from somewhere on this Earth..."

Minamoto looked from his left and from his right. He sees the crying faces of the parents of the children that were all here seeing their children singing and growing up to the next stage of life. The tone itself was reminiscent and sober. In all of that, Minamoto smiled. He glances somewhere to his left and sees his superior from the organization that he worked for, Director Taizō Kiritsubo, crying vehemently with his superior's secretary, Oboro Kashiwagi, trying to calm him down.

"Chief, try not to stand out too much," Kashiwagi said as she used a handkerchief to wipe out the tears coming from the chief. She was a young woman with a slender figure and a pretty face, nice purple eyes, and long wavy dark hair. She was wearing formal attire consisting of a pink dress shirt, a dark red jacket, and a dark red skirt. She was wearing silver shoes.

"Well, I'm about to be flooding with tears myself," she would also say there were tears leaking down her face. Of course, she too was crying as she couldn't help it. It was natural to cry as they, Minamoto, and the rest were seeing three special young ladies that were part of that singing choir.

The first was a young girl with long crimson hair that reaches her neckline and crimson eyes. She was wearing a dark shirt and a red skirt. Kaoru Akashi.

The second was a young girl with lavender hair and purple eyes. She was wearing a white short jacket and a pink dress. Shiho Sannomiya.

The third was a young girl with long dark blue hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a white dress shirt with a green necktie, all overlayed with a white-yellowish sweater and grey skirt. Aoi Nogami.

They were part of the singing choir and were giving it their all, bringing smiles and tears to their respective parents who were watching them with interest. Minamoto was seated somewhere a bit far away, somewhere close to one particular woman of medium height with long white hair, violet eyes, a large bust along with a small waist, narrow hips, and long slender legs. This was the former director of the organization that he worked with and was currently its management officer. Fujiko Tsubomi.

Tsubomi smiled. "There's no helping it. And when it comes to the kids singing at their graduation, it's even worse when you raised them. Right, Minamoto?" She winked at him...but noticed something odd.

Minamoto in fact wasn't crying. He was only smiling. But the smile was mysteriously sober and solemn. His eyes only lowered as if thinking about something.

"Minamoto?" Tsubomi called his name, looking worried for him.

But Minamoto simply tried to divert the topic as the smile never left him. "You would be right, Director..." He looked at the three girls that were now singing with all of their hearts. "It's been...It's been three years I think since I met those kids. There were ups and downs but...it was all worth it...in the end..."

But why did Minamoto say that? Why was he speaking like that? It was because of the Future. An event that bespoke of a dark and terrible event that could happen sometime in the year 2020, a few years from now. But then, Minamoto thought this particular future did not make any form of sense. Why? Because a lot of events had happened long before meeting the three girls that he would raise and care for that already made such a future impossible.

But why was it still there? It was an anomaly. An anomaly that didn't make any sense. An anomaly that he and a few others that he knew had tried to investigate secretly. But the organization that he worked for, B.A.B.E.L., didn't know that.

While Minamoto was still in deep thought, Tsubomi was simply looking at him with curious and suspicious eyes. Ever since meeting him, she had this inkling strange feeling that he may have been hiding something. Call it paranoid, but one didn't come to her position without at least becoming cautious. But no matter how much she looked, she could find no secret whatsoever. Not a hint, nothing. Maybe she was simply overthinking things. But then, this was the same time of feeling that she had harbored over the years when it came to this young man who did not hesitate one bit to be with these three special girls, raising them and giving them the support that they needed.

The man who took the girls in. The man who saved them. Even when these girls were a bit hard to deal with, Minamoto only carried on with a smile. But that smile was sad, sadder than it had ever been as the years go by.

And from how she knew him, whenever the girls weren't being taken care of, he was always busy working and barely taking any rest. The girls and everyone else tried to urge him to lighten up a bit more but it was without success. If there is one thing that Koichi Minamoto is good and bad for, it was this. He was always working. Why? Tsubomi didn't know, even when she tried to check him for herself. She finds nothing noteworthy to be suspicious of. And yet...the feeling never really went away, did it?

"I'm sorry, Director," Minamoto suddenly stood up with slight tears in his eyes, surprising Tsubomi and a few others who glanced at the standing adult that seemed to be in a hurry. "I need some fresh air for a bit."

"Ah! Wait a minute, Minamoto!" Tsubomi raised her right hand and tried to call Minamoto back. But the latter was already a few steps away and was quick towards the door.

And while this was happening...

"...!"

The three girls who were singing along with the rest of their fellow classmates suddenly see from the corner of their eyes that their caretaker and supervisor suddenly leaving towards the door, looking like he appeared to be grief-stricken.

"("Minamoto?!")" Kaoru thought.

"("Minamoto-san?!")" Shiho thought.

"("Minamoto-han?!")" Aoi thought.

A thought occurred to them to immediately follow him, but they would see Fujiko Tsubomi waving her right hand and smiling as if saying that it was alright and that it wasn't anything too serious. They didn't need to worry and they needed to be right where they are.

Conflicted thoughts appeared in their minds. Nevertheless, they were all rooted on the very wooden floorboard where they all stand and continued singing. They would sing and they will make their heart feel. Afterward, they will try to follow up and catch up with Minamoto. For they couldn't help but worry for him. For do they not all have genuine feelings for the man who took care of them and treated them as they should be?

"Don't you know Minamoto, I..."

"Don't do it, Kaoru!"

Minamoto was simply walking outside the school courtyard. He was walking and didn't turn back. He excused himself for a bit, asking Tsubomi for permission to leave for a bit because he needed some fresh air. He needed it so badly as he feels like he was suffocating. Flashes of the future event were sometimes leaking into his mind as if they were an uncontrollable daydream nightmare.

He wiped the light tears off his face as he pinched his eyes. He continued walking and let his feet drag wherever they took him. He didn't even know how long it had been. He just kept walking back and forth and did a bit of thinking. Then he had a thought about the concept of time being such a cruel mistress. It's like it's making him stare at the future that is coming. An impossible future that would never even come to pass because so much had happened to him. He had so many years to prepare for that day, so many years before meeting the three girls that were currently back at the school's gymnasium.

"But time is a cruel mistress, and it was not until much years later that she would learn the truth: that there is no such thing as salvation, an escape is only ever an illusion conjured up by the hopeful."

The haunting quote from George Mann continued to echo in tandem with the daydream nightmare that was like a flash 'blink and you miss it'. He was raising his left hand and touched a par of his hair as he closed his eyes in a grimace fashion.

"Oi, why the long face? You'll get plenty of early wrinkles that you don't want to be having at your age."

Minamoto was surprised as he looked to the right. He spotted a very familiar person, a man with thick brown hair and deep brown eyes that look back to his brown eyes. Despite the cheeky smile, there was a sense of empathy and concern, paternal even. He was wearing a dark brown suit with blue pinstripes, a white dress shirt, and a loose tie under his unbuttoned collar. Overlaying all of that was a light brown Duster-type overcoat.

"Wha..." Minamoto looked a bit closer and sees the man raising his right hand. A few seconds later and Minamoto would see yellowish bright energy from the hand before eventually disappearing. And at that moment, Minamoto was shocked. He was shaken as he realizes what was about to happen.

"Doctor..." Minamoto muttered softly out of concern.

"Yeah..." the Doctor smiled sadly, collapsing the cheeky expression with a sober and empathetic one. "I can't really stay here for too long, Koichi. There are a few more places that I need to go to...at least...before the end..."

"You're regenerating," Minamoto said, concerned for the man. He immediately heads towards the Doctor and sits down beside him.

"Yep," the Doctor chirpily said. "Had a little...thing that I dealt with back in my universe's Earth...It all leads up to this..."

"...How-" Minamoto tried to speak further but the Doctor cut him off.

"A very long time," the Doctor firmly said with a smile. He didn't need Minamoto to pry as to how long he had been holding back his own regeneration. He had been holding it back the longest. "I've been getting my 'reward', Koichi. Been visiting all of my old companions, all of my old friends and students, and last but not the least, I've been visiting you and the other...Team TARDIS crew...I've visited Ren, I've visited Andy, I've visited John, and now I'm visiting you. Next on the list would probably be Taki and the others..."

"...Why now?" Minamoto asked, curious and concerned. "Why this time specifically?"

"It's The Children's graduation day, isn't it? No way I'd miss something like this, especially since this is an important day for you," the Doctor smiled sadly.

"...Right, their graduation," Minamoto laid his back to the front backside of the bench and breathe quickly with pursed lips.

"Koichi," the Doctor called out to him with a chiding paternal tone. "Look at me."

Minamoto slowly glanced towards the man that he may as well call a father figure and mentor figure all in one.

"I know how it hurts, believe me," the Doctor patted Minamoto's right shoulder with his left hand. "Now...enough about me, would you mind telling me what's bothering you?"

"It's been...It's been years, Doctor. After all this time, we're still no close to finding out what the heck is going on with this future prediction that should've been changed a long time ago. How is it that this future hadn't changed after all this time after everything that's happened?" Minamoto exasperatedly asked in frustration.

"That's honestly what I was wondering for these past several years," the Doctor smiled sadly as he let go of Minamoto's shoulder. "I've been investigating that future since my last incarnation and when you were oh so young. No matter how much I try to look into it, the future is still all static, not budging an inch. Been a while since a particular time zone acted like a mysterious group of puzzle pieces for me to solve." the Doctor mused a bit. "Even the Foundation's best can't seem to get their brains wracking up with it. Although since then, I and a few others can only take a good guess."

"By guess, you mean the hypothesis that there is something or someone messing with time," Minamoto said grimly.

"That hypothesis might as well be true in this case and I believe that you believe it as well," the Doctor grimly said. "Even Reed's a bit worried about this future from time to time." And then, the Doctor simply smiled. "Soooo, future aside, I was wondering why you're still sulking all the way out here when you could be over there watching out for your Children."

"Doctor I-" Minamoto hesitated to answer. He didn't feel like answering. But the Doctor can already take a good guess.

"You're worried about them," the Doctor said with an empathetic but blunt tone.

"Of course I am," Minamoto turned to the Doctor with an exasperated expression. "I'm worried about what the future has in store for them. Everything seems to be happening too fast for my liking. I've been watching them for three years already and...I...I know that the future can be changed, I know it can, both intellectually and logically, but..."

"But you still can't help but worry," the Doctor smiled sadly.

"Those...Those girls back in there," Minamoto indicated to the three girls who were currently inside the gymnasium. "I'm not...not blind to their feelings for me despite my rejecting it every single time on the needed justifiable excuse for morality and not wanting to get arrested for pedophilia. Every day, it just...becomes more obvious as time goes by. The more their feelings for me grow, the more that future seems close. I can...I can almost feel it...Like...Like all it takes is one person to place a domino in the right direction and tap it, leading for the rest of the dominoes to fall. Just...I can't hide who I am from them forever..."

"Then don't," the Doctor said simply.

"What?" Minamoto made a confused expression.

"Koichi, you've been hiding this from them for a very long time, nearly three years of their entire life. I know you want to protect them from your other life as part of the agreement, but they need to know. They are ready to be told the truth just as the rest of your colleagues needed to be told the truth," the Doctor explained.

"I just...I can't..." Minamoto scratched his head for a bit, grimacing. "I don't think that I'm ready to tell them."

"No one is ever ready for the kind of life that we're leading, Koichi," the Doctor said with a sad smile. "All we can do is make do with what we have been given. I believe that The Children are more than ready at this point to hear of it. Now then..." the Doctor stood up and patted Minamoto on the shoulder one last time. "I believe that it's about time that I should leave. More people still needed visiting after all." He said the last part with a sad smile. "Remember what I taught you then, Koichi, follow your heart. Open it and let it guide your mind. Think about now, not tomorrow, not yesterday, just now. The rest can take care of itself. For now, be there for The Children. They need you just as much as you needed me then. What I did for you then, do it for them now. Don't let the fear of the future cloud what's right in front of you. Remember that."

And with those final words, Minamoto would see the Doctor leave, walking with light footsteps towards the gateway of the school and eventually disappearing from sight, leaving Minamoto to ponder the advice that he had been given.

Minamoto sighed. "("Focus on the here and now...Simple and easy, and yet...rather difficult...")"

"Minamoto!"

"Minamoto-san!"

"Minamoto-han!"

Minamoto had been jolted out of his thoughts as he sees three charging girls carrying their respective diplomas coming out with worried expressions. He looked at them one by one who were currently embracing him. Kaoru Akashi, Shiho Sannomiya, and Aoi Nogami. All of them were looking at him, their worried faces demanding an explanation for why he suddenly went out of the gymnasium.

"Minamoto, what's wrong? Why did you suddenly leave? Baa-chan said that you needed a bit of air so..." Kaoru asked.

"That's right, Minamoto-san, what's wrong?" Shiho asked.

Minamoto didn't answer for a moment and simply looked at the three girls that he was placed in charge with. Picturing every single face, making it stay within his mind, and savoring the present moment. Shaking his head and sighing, berating his act of stupidity, he smiled.

"Don't worry about me, girls. I just...needed a bit of fresh air. I'm just a bit...overwhelmed...if I have to admit..."

"Overwhelmed?" Aoi asked.

"You're...You're growing up...Faster than I wanted to truly admit..."

"Eh...?" the girls made confused expressions that carry traces of concern, not understanding the less-than-clear sayings.

Minamoto only smiled sadly as he looked somewhere else in the same direction where the Doctor had once been before turning right. His strange expression made them a bit...perturbed if only because they lack the context of what is happening to the man who was their supervisor and caretaker. In fact, this wasn't the first time they saw an expression like this. There were other times and other places, but those seemed like a rarity at best. Now, it was happening again.

When the girls thought with amusement and simple gossip that Minamoto would cry just like everybody else since it is rather natural, they never really expected this kind of reaction from him. It was an out-of-context one that showed traces of confliction that they don't really have an answer to. Even if one of them, Shiho Sannomiya, a psychometer by nature, tried subtly to extract some information by touching his right hand without looking into his memories (which were futile anyway as when she tried that once a few times, there were just multiple complexified equations too advance even for her all simultaneously being solved a hundred miles per hour, and there were flashes of a few happy memories) in order to respect his privacy. All she found were traces of sadness about the unknowing inevitable.

Why? What was wrong?

They were growing up, that much they were aware, but what did that have to with what is happening now?

"Minamoto...please listen," Kaoru said with traces of concern as she held his left hand which drew his attention. She smiled, ever so brightly. "We just wanted to say...thank you."

"Thanks, Minamoto-han," Aoi smiled.

"Thank you for everything," Shiho smiled.

Minamoto blinked his eyes in confusion but the girls clarified.

"It's all thanks to you that we were able to go to school and graduate..." Kaoru said.

"You made our meals every day..." Shiho said.

"You helped us study and played with us..." Aoi said.

"We truly, truly thank you for everything, Minamoto," Kaoru said, her smile now turning to worry. "So...don't worry...whatever it is that you're worried about. You raised us to be very good girls and were so grateful for everything that you did. So don't be sad..."

Minamoto didn't respond, only bowing his head, and smiling sadly.

"No...with all of you standing where you are, you all did it on your own, I just simply lend a helping hand. Anyone with a good heart and conscience would probably fill the same shoes as I did so I'm no one special-"

But Minamoto got cut off by the girls who were more or less angry, sad, and concerned by what he seemed to be implying.

"What are you saying, Minamoto-han?!" Aoi exclaimed.

"There would be no other person that we would imagine that would take care of us just like you did!" Shiho exclaimed.

"We...I can't imagine someone else better than you, Minamoto!" Kaoru exclaimed.

Minamoto smiled. "Not really what I meant, but thank you..."

And while saying this, he can feel the winds blowing from the southwestern direction. He sighed as he stared back to the place where he last saw the Doctor and begins to think over what he had said.

"("Maybe...Maybe the Doctor is right...I should tell them eventually about who I am and about my other life...But not now, of course, they just graduated. I should let them rest after everything...")" he thought.

While Minamoto was staring at the empty space, the girls could only look at their caretaker with concern and wondering why he was looking intently in that direction.

It was nighttime...

The Children were all back in their beds and were fast asleep. But this was also an opportunity for Koichi Minamoto to secretly call an old friend for advice...

"Koichi, what made you call?"

Somewhere on the rooftop of the apartment, Minamoto was standing and carrying a file folder in his left hand. At the same time, he was holding a cellphone in his right hand and was talking to someone on the phone. His expression was one of grim concern.

"Dick, I...I need some advice..."

"Advice?"

Minamoto was using a special type of hotline that allowed him to connect between universes. It was one of those in-built functions that his cellphone has in store. And as for the person that Minamoto is calling, the latter considered this person to be a best friend and leader.

Richard John "Dick" Grayson. Once he was known by the superhero alias "Robin". The first to take the title. Nowadays, he was known as Nightwing.

"...You remember all of those discussions that I had with you about The Children?" Minamoto asked.

"Yeah? Why?" Dick asked.

"...Well, I was thinking...that maybe it was about time that I told them the truth...you know, about my other life..."

"...Oh," Dick widened his eyes. "You plan on finally telling them?"

"That's...right..." Minamoto made a sideways glance.

"By the tone of your voice, your hesitating on following through with that," Dick pointed out.

"I just...I just...I've been hiding this from them for so long. For three years, I've managed to separate my other life from the current life that I've been living right now."

"But we both know that this secret won't last forever, Koichi," Dick reminded. "Actually, I'm surprised just how this secret had lasted for so long when it did."

"I had help with that though?" Minamoto reminded.

"Yeah, but even with that, I don't think it would matter in the long run. Considering that future that has a few people keeping an eye on it, it's only a matter of time anyway."

"I just...I just wanted them to enjoy their childhood, just giving them a bit more time, that's all. I don't want to burden them with anything more than necessary," Minamoto made a saddened expression.

"Time can't always be on our side all of the time, Koichi, especially in our line of work, you know that," Dick reminded sadly.

"Yeah...I know," Minamoto said, knowing it all too well.

"Look, if it were up to me, I think that the best way to go about this is to simply tell them the truth little by little, step by step. They deserve that much at least since as I last recall, their already gonna be starting their middle school semester sometime in the next few months. Better that the truth comes out of your own mouth instead of others," Dick advised.

"...You have a good point, thanks, Dick," Minamoto said with a sad smile.

"Hey, don't mention it. We've been best friends for like, what, since we were ten? Whenever you call, you know I would answer," Dick smiled with humor.

"Right, once again, thanks," Minamoto, who was smiling genuinely, was now changing the expression of his smile to a grim one as he sees a familiar face wearing a gakuran uniform standing with arms crossed. He had white hair, the hair from his forehead covering the bullet-shaped scar. "Hey, Dick, I'm gonna have to call you back, catch you later."

"Alright, later Koichi," Dick said with a smile before hanging up.

"Hmph, it would appear that you've been having problems, Minamoto."

This person—Major Kyousuke Hyoubu, was perhaps the most wanted criminal esper in the entire world. Born sometime in the 1930s, the chaotic period which will soon be followed by the Second World War, Hyoubu would eventually be conscripted to join the Imperial Japanese Army's ESP Secret Service Corp. By the end of the war, he and his unit were betrayed by none other than their commander, who and the military in general, had ordered for their execution. Of course, that didn't take and the rest is history. Now, he is known to be the leader of P.A.N.D.R.A., an Esper organization dedicated to protecting their fellow Espers and fighting against the oppression of the Normals. The eerily similar comparison between them and another organization (Brotherhood of Mutants) was not lost on Minamoto, although thankfully enough, it wasn't quite as bad as the latter.

Minamoto, only narrowing his eyes, didn't need to speak. The only thing that he did was walk toward Hyoubu without any hint of fear and simply gave him the folder. Hyoubu raised an eyebrow.

"What is this?" Hyoubu asked.

"Information," Minamoto said simply. "You probably need it more than B.A.B.E.L. probably does. That and you're a rogue element that can pretty much do whatever one sees fit without getting limited to useless political and territorial diatribes."

"Hoh," Hyoubu smiled a bit, grabbing the file folder and flipping it over to reveal the contents. The more he read them however, the more Hyoubu made a grim expression with narrowed eyes, displeased by what he is seeing. "I see..." He said as he closed the folder, having read more than enough of the situation. "Well, this makes things a bit clear then. Thank you for the information."

By then, Hyoubu was just about to leave but he gave one last word with a wry smile. "Speaking of, the fact that you trusted me with this information may get you on the wrong side of the law."

"I've already been doing that ever since we first met," Minamoto said, remembering the deal that he and Hyoubu had long ago.

"And neither those The Children nor B.A.B.E.L. knows about our...well, business transaction if you will," Hyoubu said.

"The same can be said of every single member of P.A.N.D.R.A.," Minamoto pointed out with a serious expression.

"Ah, fair point," Hyoubu smiled wryly at that before turning serious. "Still, I could not help but overhear the conversation that you have with your old friend. You're actually planning on telling them about your past?"

"Better to hear it from myself than from others, I owe them that much at least," Minamoto smiled sadly.

Hyoubu simply looked at Minamoto with a blank expression. "Well...if you were to decide on such a fundamental decision, then of course, you would have to eventually reveal to them about that future, correct?"

"...I know," Minamoto grimly said as he look at the shady night sky with both hands in his pocket. The ominous winds blew his and Hyoubu's clothing. "And that's what worries me, and I would bet that you would worry as well. And speaking of that future, what have you found out about Ihachigō's brain?"

"...Nothing's changed," Hyoubu simply said with narrowed eyes.

"...I see," Minamoto said with a grim smile and saddened eyes.

Hyoubu said nothing and simply vanished afterwards to parts unknown, leaving Minamoto to ponder his thoughts.

Insert Song: End

OP Song:

Theme Song | Teen Titans | Warner Archive

Incarnation(s)/Regeneration(s) of the Doctor:

The Tenth Doctor - A: David Tennant

Main Companion Protagonists:

Koichi Minamoto/Astro Man - VA: Yuichi Nakamura

Main Love Interests:

Kaoru Akashi/Queen of Catastrophe - VA: Aya Hirano

Shiho Sannomiya/Untouchable Empress - VA: Haruka Tomatsu

Aoi Nogami/Lightspeed Goddess - VA: Ryoko Shiraishi

Main Hero Characters:

Richard John "Dick" Grayson/Nightwing - A: Sean Maher

New Characters:

Kyousuke Hyoubu - VA: Kōji Yusa

Fujiko Tsubomi - VA: Yukana

Taizō Kiritsubo - VA: Jūrōta Kosugi

Oboro Kashiwagi - VA: Masumi Asano