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taka cautiously approached the lab storage room door, hifumi following close behind. he didnt trust hifumi one bit, but if there really was an escape route like the writer says, it simply has to be investigated. the door creaked open and taka flicked on the light, illuminating the small, dull room. Taka’s eyes darted around the space nervously.
... it seemed to be just an ordinary storage room. no sign of a trap door or any potential escape whatsoever. though, given the circumstances, taka thought to himself, its ridiculous to expect the exit to be in plain sight.
just as he was about to open his mouth to ask hifumi where the escape was, a sharp pain resonated through his body from his head, his vision phasing in and out. his head throbbed with a searing heat, worse than any headache. his knees began to weaken, and taka struggled to keep his balance until his legs inevitably gave out entirely. before he could completely process the events of the past 6 or 7 minutes, his face was pressed against the cool concrete. his ears rang with the forceful pounding of his own heartbeat, the thundering pain drumming at the backs of his eyes. the last thing taka saw was blood dripping down his temples and pooling against his cheek.
everything went white, and almost immediately after, black followed.
it was like a dark curtain had been draped over his sight.
a soft ringing chimed in the distance, like an old tv that’s been left on. the curtain that had fallen over his eyes just moments ago began to lighten, however his vision was still blurred. he started to make out what he could identify as voices; whose voices, was unbeknownst to him. they grew louder, pulling him back to reality.
he began to regain consciousness, and he slowly opened his eyes, instinctively squinting at the bright light that met him.
his vision finally adjusted to the new atmosphere, and he found himself lying on a bed not unlike an exam table. a tv monitor sat next to him on a stand, displaying the storage room he had been lying in what felt like days, even weeks ago, but at the same time it could’ve been mere moments. what was more jarring than his disoriented sense of time was the occupants of the storage room shown on the screen. there, on the floor, was taka. himself, his very own body, just as he had remembered— cheek against the floor, blood puddling at his head. then he noticed hifumi, standing by his lifeless body, holding a bloodied mallet.
had hifumi... killed him? what reason could hifumi possibly have to harm him? was this about alter ego... ?
no... no it couldn’t be. alter ego was destroyed. it would make no sense for hifumi to harm him over that.
as taka was attempting to rationalise what he was seeing, he noticed the large boy on the screen sniffle and wipe his face on the sleeve of his hoodie. was he... crying? taka didn’t have much time to process that thought before hifumi bent down and picked up his limp body carrying it through the storage room door. as he turned around, taka caught a short glimpse of the writers face. his eyes were tinted pink and puffy, and his cheeks were tear streaked. maybe he felt sorry for what he had done. maybe... he never wanted to hurt taka.
his thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice.
“Kyoudai!!“
he looked towards the direction of the sound. there, at the end of the bed, was mondo oowada. the man he had relied on so unconditionally in the past. his best friend. some might even say his partner.
had he been sitting in that chair the whole time?exactly how longis ‘the whole time‘? hadn’t taka seen him die right before his eyes? his thoughts recalled the monitor beside him, that just moments ago was showing his own dead body. but despite that, here he was. perhaps mondo went through the same thing. taka stared at the violet eyed biker blankly as he rushed to his side. mondos voice softened as he clutched the prefect’s cold hand tightly in his own.
“taka“ he whispered, “oh, im so glad yer awake. ive been waitin for ya fer... god dammit i dont even know how long.“
strands of the gang leaders hair fell in his eyes, the rest pulled back into a messy bun, as opposed to his usual pompadour. he had dark bags under his eyes, leading taka to question when the last time he’d gotten a good nights sleep was. he was wearing only the white tank top he had on under his jacket, which was sitting on the chair on the other side of the room.
“... mondo? “ taka muttered with what little strength he had left. “ i... i watched you die,“
“shhh“ the unkept delinquent hushed. “I’ll tell ya everything later. fer now...“ he trailed off, licking his lips nervously. “fer now, uh...“ taka stared at him with a confused expression as mondos eyes darted around the room, searching for the right words.
he shook his head in frustration.
“aahh fuck it!! i dont have the patience fer this!! “ he threw his arms around taka, who was surprised at the sudden gesture, but returned it, weakly wrapping his arms around mondo.
he buried his face in the biker’s shoulder, taking in his familiar scent.
“i missed you so much, bro“ taka said feebly. “ I missed ya too, bro “ mondo replied, hugging taka closer to him.
“when we get outta here“ mondo began, “i ain’t never gonna leave ya again.“
taka couldn’t help but smile at mondos promise.
“I’d like that.“