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Mondo woke up with a start. He had a killer headache. The room he was in was way too bright.
Wait.. killer… Mondo was… Wait, he killed someone. Why is he alive?
The lights finally dimmed, revealing Makoto looking down at him. It was weird seeing Makoto in a fancy suit instead of his usual casual attire. He was also surrounded by other people that Mondo could care less about.
“Sorry about the lights. Is this better now?” The lucky student asked.
Mondo only grumbled in response.”..The hell happened?” he asked with a hoarse voice. His throat felt incredibly sore due to disuse, along with his entire body. Or perhaps everything hurt so much because of that death cage he was thrown in.
Recalling back, Mondo felt like the execution was a huge insult to his title. He poured blood and sweat ( but no tears because men like Mondo don’t cry!) into being the leader of the biggest biker gang in Japan. Yet, Monokuma made his death look like a circus act. Mondo hates that damn bear so much.
“You're in the Future Foundation.” Makoto started explaining, “The executions ended up being fake - well, mostly fake. And the murder attempts that happened never actually managed to kill anyone. Everyone who died in the killing game ended up surviving, despite being horribly injured.”
Mondo grunted to let Makoto know that he was listening, even though it was quite difficult to keep his focus.
“We were also able to recover everyone because Junko-” wait, what does Junko have to do with this? “-preserved the bodies of everyone who was supposedly killed. Probably to prolong their suffering…” Makoto said the last part with disgust. Mondo honestly felt the same. What kind of sadist…
Now that the memories were slowly flooding back to him, he could remember that Junko was a pretty crazy bitch. Hell, he even remembered the creepy mascot she was fixated on and the shitty over-the-top pranks she liked to pull at Mondo’s best friend. He'd be surprised if she wasn't the mastermind of whatever happened-
He suddenly remembered that he had forgotten something. Someone . His best friend- Kyoudai.
“Taka…” Mondo muttered. “How is he?”
“Huh? Taka? Oh! He's…” Makoto nervously looked around at the other people in the room before his eyes landed back on Mondo. “He's in another room…”
Mondo stared back at Makoto. He doesn't like how vague the lucky student is being . He rolled to his side before getting up from the bed.
“Wait! You should rest first!” One of the nameless people told him and reached out to him to urge him to lay back down. Mondo chose to ignore what they had to say. They knew to back off when Mondo gave them his death stare.
They were probably well aware that Mondo was definitely not in his best condition to beat them up or anything, but they were smart enough to try not to argue with someone as stubborn as him. If they were that worried about Mondo’s well-being then they should avoid agitating him.
He exited the room without looking back and proceeded to wander the halls. He opened every door he encountered. He kept finding empty beds in rooms devoid of people. The others must have already woken up.
He'd almost thought that everyone was gathering up in a cafeteria or something, the killing game victims having fully recovered and now the entire class were hanging out to make up for lost time. Perhaps Kiyotaka was already waiting for Mondo, who was the last one to wake up.
But then he finally found Kiyotaka’s room, the man being out cold on a bed.
Mondo's eyes widened. He bolted to the side of Kiyotaka's bed and leaned down near his face. His quick movements almost made him faint but he willed himself to ignore the growing headache. Kiyotaka’s cheeks were sunken and he was pale, concerningly so. Mondo could see what was most likely the remnant of the wound that caused his death, in the form of a patch of pure white in the middle of his black messy hair.
“Taka? Can you hear me?” he whispered, his message meant to only be heard by his Kyoudai. However, he received no answer as the man in question was completely still.
Mondo straightened up, still staring at Kiyotaka’s form in pure horror. Did Kiyotaka kill someone?- No, there’s no way. Mondo feels ashamed to even think about such a possibility. Kiyotaka is the Ultimate Moral Compass for a reason. Then, that leaves one more possibility… He was killed by someone .
At the revelation, Mondo felt an uncontrollable urge to destroy something. But no, not in this room . He clenched his fists so tightly that his arms were shaking. How could anyone kill Kiyotaka?! How dare they?!
Mondo heard footsteps behind him. “Why isn't he awake?!” he immediately questioned without turning to look. “Everyone else is already up, aren't they?! All the other rooms are empty! Why the hell did you all leave him in this state?!”
‘W-well…” Makoto started nervously. “His body was in a.. weaker state when he got killed.”
Mondo snarled, “Weak?! He's is the farthest thing from weak!”
“No, no, that's not what I mean. It's just.. it's that his circumstances…”
“Spill it. Just tell me the entire truth,” Mondo demanded as he glared at Makoto over his shoulder.
Makoto hesitated before explaining, “Taka was starving himself for a while… His body could barely handle the stress when someone attacked him… The recovery process was especially rough on him due to the lack of energy.”
Mondo's shoulder tensed as he slowly turned to face Makoto. “..What? He.. he was starving himself? Wh- Why..? Why would he…”
Makoto nervously avoided eye contact. “Junko made everyone think that you got turned into butter after you died. Taka stopped eating because he genuinely believed that the food had.. you…”
“Okay.” Mondo felt like he wanted to throw up. Mondo’s death is what led to this. “F-fuck, okay.” He turned back towards his bedridden Kyoudai - the man that starved himself over a goddamn murderer. Kiyotaka could have survived if it weren't for- “Go away. I.. I need… I need to…” Mondo trailed off, unable to choose what words to express himself. Though, Makoto was smart enough to leave him alone, having the courtesy to close the door shut.
“Taka… God fucking damnit..!” he hissed through gritted teeth, his arms shaking once again. “Why the fuck would you let Junko get to ya like that?!” he growled as he gripped the side of the bed, crumpling the sheets there. He then slammed his fist on an empty space of the bed, jostling Kiyotaka's body. “Fuckin’ idiot! I hate you ! You shoulda move on and not grieve fer’ a goddamn murderer, ya piece of shit !” he yelled as he let his uncontrollable anger do the talking.
Mondo stopped to control his breathing. His chest heaving as he watched Kiyotaka's scarily still body. He was so angry that he didn't know what to do about it. He was also still very fucking tired and sore from getting up after sleeping for god knows how long.
Mondo grabbed a seat from the corner of the room and dragged it over to the side of Kiyotaka's bed. He immediately sat down before pressing his ear against Kiyotaka's chest.
He was still breathing. Mondo could still hear his heartbeat. Kiyotaka is still alive and well. He was just sleeping.
He stared at Kiyotaka's face with his head still laid on top of his chest. He wondered if Kiyotaka was feeling as tired and sore as Mondo did right now. He wondered if he was in pain. He wondered if Kiyotaka could hear him, if he heard what Mondo said to him in the middle of his outburst.
Mondo remembered when they used to be enemies. He had said something really dumb to Kiyotaka one day and ended up hurting his feelings badly. The moral compass had streams of tears running down his cheeks. Mondo thought that he was a crybaby, but then Kiyotaka proceeded to turn his back on him and just told Mondo to not forget to attend detention. It was as if Kiyotaka was embarrassed of having Mondo watch him cry in such a state.
“Taka… I'm sorry… I didn't mean anything that I said…” Mondo apologized not because he was asking for forgiveness, but as a plea for Kiyotaka to not take his words to heart - letting those empty statements hurt him. Mondo doesn't want to hurt the people close to him anymore. He doesn't want Kiyotaka to get hurt anymore.
“You can cry, Taka. I know you cry easily whether you want to or not... I- I won't judge you.” Mondo reassured as he watched his best friend's unmoving face through blurry eyes.
Mondo had just realized that he was starting to cry. No wonder he could barely see anything.
“Look, I'm crying too, Taka…” Mondo rambled deliriously. Seeing Kiyotaka, who is supposed to be full of expression, be so expressionless felt so wrong . “I'm here… I'm here… So please cry with me…” He felt his eyes getting heavier. They were right about how he needed to rest. He'll rest here, then… Since Kiyotaka is also sleeping soundly here. He'll make sure Kiyotaka will not get hurt in his sleep, nor will he be alone when he wakes up.
“I love you…” Mondo said before dozing off to the sound of Kiyotaka's heartbeat.
Unbeknownst to him, a single tear trailed down the moral compass’ cheek.