Chapter Text
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Mondo Owada is a notorious gang leader. at least he used to be, during his prime. He retired at age 18 after entrusting the gang to his good friend, but his name was still all over the paper. It was unfamiliar to not be glared at or recognised in public, as some sort of monster or notorious criminal. Not like he wasn’t, but sometimes it just hurt.
It was hard to find somewhere to move away from his previous life. Especially in the city, near the woodwork courses and workshops.
Mondo had always wanted to be a carpenter. It had been his lifelong dream to build something so stable and so powerful with his two hands.
His life lacked stability. Oftentimes he would struggle with his eating and taking care of himself, despite his bold eyeliner that was smudged - because ‘powder was for chicks’ - and his pompadour- thick curly bleached hair that made a short ledge over his forehead, keeping half of his face in the shade.
As far as Mondo knew, he had a terrifying appearance, and he took pride in that. His icy lilac eyes glared, and when the light hit them just right they seemed to be shining. Not that Mondo was in the light often. He seldom seemed to find joy or comfort in taking rides on his bike, after what happened to his brother.
When Mondo was offered that place in some rural town, he felt as if he might float. It was hard enough living in a garage for years after his retirement. And sure, it wasn’t as rowdy or rough-and-tumble as the city, but it would make do. The previous owner was a carpenter herself and seemed delighted when Mondo reached out. The craft was not easy, but it was refreshing to her that it would be passed down to the younger generation. Plus, she’d been contemplating moving out earlier. She had offered him her tools and workspace, which Mondo gladly accepted with a toothy grin as he emailed her back.
So, with his bags packed and his few friends in the gang waving goodbye, took off from the city, into the train, to his new life. Sure, he hadn’t researched the place, or met his neighbours, but he was certain it wouldn’t be that hard to socialise, right?
Wrong. He soon met a man called Kiyotaka Ishimaru.
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Kiyotaka Ishimaru, a 20 year old with a posture straighter than a hardwood tree, and morals as tightly woven as a beanstalk, had not been expecting someone to move into that old property near his.
He’d been a farmer for a year now, after dealing with the loss of his sick mother, soon followed by his father, who couldn’t handle the sadness.
Kiyotaka wanted to be a politician when he grew up. Well, the pressure on him made him inclined to feel that way- and dream that way. After his grandfather, a politician, was involved in a scandal, it had tainted his family name and he worked so hard to revive the goodness in it, mainly because of his father of course, but he felt like he owed something to the world.
He then reflected back on himself, seeing careers that weren’t associated with politics. His father had already had a bad enough influence on his childhood, so it was refreshing when he found out what he always wanted to be, without voices telling him to restore honour to the Ishimaru’s, a vegetable farmer in a serene area, where he could look at the stars and dream of one day becoming at peace with himself.
He had used his father’s will, however small it was -Kiyotaka grew up poor- to buy a small farm just a 10 minute’s bike ride from a small coastal village. It had a pub and a grocery store, but Kiyotaka barely visited because he grew his own produce. He never really left his farm, he was indulged in his books about the philosophy of man, and he didn’t have many neighbours, so it felt like paradise to him.
Kiyotaka didn’t feel the need to put on a front or interact with anyone at all- the old lady down the gravel path came to give him a new cutting board in return for some fresh fruit, but he barely saw her as it was, so when he found out she was moving away he didn’t feel sentimental. He was glad it was just him and the stars, no neighbours down the footpath that led to that small cabin there. Just him and peace and-
Mondo Owada?!
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