"It's not long after accepting his fate that Takemichi meets Emma in the middle of a crowded street. She looks familiar, but he can't place her. He's too sleep deprived and distraught, because it's been longer since his last possession, and Mikey is starting to get tired of him, tired of waiting for the monster.
"Wanna go out?" she asks him after a brief introduction.
It's jarring, because he's done nothing to warrant her attention. He's just a loser that hangs around cool guys who like the other 'him'.
"Why?"
She raises an eyebrow. "I want to have sex, and you seem harmless enough for a girl's first time."
Okay, he must've heard wrong. There's no way she was that forward, right? This doesn't happen in real life.
"I-I have a girlfriend," he squeaks.
Emma falters but pushes on. "Don't you think she might appreciate if you had experience?"
"What makes you think I don't?"
She gives him a look, and he reads a thousand damning things from it, more than anything she could've said.
Emma is stunning. She wants to gain experience, allowing him to gain it as well. It's a tempting offer, especially because she's never met the other him, and she's already dragging him to a dimly lit karaoke place.
He pulls away from her. "Wait, I can't."
She crosses her arms, probably trying to look intimidating, but she only looks like a kid hugging herself. "That in love with your girl?"
Is he? He thinks of the way Hina makes him smile, all her little quirks and the way she lights up when she sees him, like he's somebody even while he's nobody. Then he thinks of the way he feels in his dreams, the ones about her dying as he gets the news from a crummy TV. The thought of being so estranged that he never hears about it from any of their friends or her family makes him die inside, almost as much as the thought of her not being in the world anymore.
"I think I'm only ever going to love her more than I do now," he answers.
Hopefully the monster taking over will change Hina's fate. As long as it saves her and never harms her, he can live with the rest. Or not. His death is probably a condition of the deal.
Emma's lip wobbles. "Lucky girl."
Oh, shit. This must be how people feel around him when the waterworks are about to start.
"You're beautiful, Emma, but I don't think you should be going after guys like me unless you care about them."
Wrong thing to say. Absolutely the worst.
"But how else is he going to notice me?" Emma sobs, face in her hands as she tries to pull herself together.
Without thinking much of it, Takemichi pulls her in a hug. Hugs aren't cheating, right?
I don't know who you're talking about, but he's an idiot if he won't date you unless you're less innocent."
She sniffles into his shirt. "Your girl really is lucky, Takemichi."/p
Despite everything, the compliment warms him. She thinks he's cool, or at least good enough for Hina, and not the thing that takes over him sometimes.
He's happy to have met Emma, if only for that kind word.
It's the last coherent thought before everything goes blurry again.
Sorry if Emma is OOC here. I figured she'd be bold, and I don't have much patience for writing flirting with two characters who are not interested in each other.
I didn't like this part in canon, so it is changed. Therefore, past Takemichi's incomplete memories of future Takemichi's leaps is enough to make him turn her down.