Takemichi Hanagaki"s second year of middle school represented the pinnacle of his existence. He commanded respect, possessed a reliable circle of friends, and even had a girlfriend. Yet that era ended twelve years earlier. In the present, he is an insignificant figure: a faded nobody mocked by youngsters and constantly obliged to apologize to his junior superior. A sudden broadcast detailing the Tokyo Manji Gang"s ruthless killing of the sole girlfriend he ever loved, together with her brother, further aggravates his misery. Merely a split second before a train terminates his lamentable life, Takemichi is hurled back to that very day from twelve years past, when he was still courting Hinata Tachibana.
After being compelled to relive the day that launched his decline, Takemichi encounters Hinata"s younger sibling. Instinctively, he confesses to his apparent death before reverting to the earlier timeline. He implores the boy to safeguard his sister, then inexplicably reappears in the future. Astonishingly, he survives. Even stranger is that reality has shifted; it appears Takemichi can bend time"s flow. Presented with an opportunity to avert his former girlfriend"s fatal demise at the hands of the Tokyo Manji Gang, he resolves to traverse time and alter destiny.
