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It goes by in a flash.
Mondo kills, and then he dies. Taka sobs and screams until there’s nothing left; not tears, not sound, not heart, not light, not life.
He doesn’t remember how it got to this point, everything after Mondo’s death is fuzzy. Soft. You never would expect getting your head bashed in to be soft.
He finds himself in his room. He doesn't think he was there before. But he needs to sleep. More than anything, he needs to sleep.
He falls into bed.
Taka opens his eyes and Mondo is next to him. He knows it's Mondo, even though it doesn’t look like him. Or well, it does, but different. Older. Creases around the eyes, lines in the crevices of his smile. His hair is long and unfurled, coiling into curls laid haphazardly across the pillows. He smiles at him fondly, with a hint of concern. Mondo ruffles his hair.
Taka pinches his eyebrows together. This… this isn’t right. Mondo is…
Mondo gets up onto his elbow and leans over. He says something, but it's muffled.
Taka opens his mouth to ask him to repeat it. To beg to hear his voice again. Nothing comes out.
The school bell rings.
Taka shuts the door to his locker. How did he get here?
That doesn’t matter, he’s got to get to class, or else the hall monitor is totally going to get on his butt. Not that he’d ever dream of being tardy, anyhow. He’s gotta set an example for his men.
Oowada gives him a look as he walks by. He knows he's just waiting for him to do something to get him in trouble. It's freakin’ annoying.
Man, what is it with that guy?
Kiyotaka smiles back at him. He reaches up to caress his cheek.
Mondo backs away like Kiyotaka has touched an open wound.
He laughs, smiling wide. His smile drops abruptly. Toying with Mondo is fun, but he was hoping he could get him to succumb to despair. Oh how horrible that would be, to corrupt him with his love!
Maybe love really doesn't conquer all. How wonderfully depressing.
Kiyotaka stares holes into the back of the boy's head.
Oowada looks up at him from the desk he’s currently vandalizing. He regards him, then goes back to his handiwork.
Kiyotaka frowns, getting up to take the pencil away.
He stops when he looks down at the offending words. Oowada quickly tries to cover it up, blushing really red. The cursive is pretty terrible, but it says, ‘Mondo Ishimaru, Mondo Ishimaru, Mondo Ishimaru.’
The red sky almost looks like a sunrise. It's beautiful in its own way— even like this, the sky being beautiful is a constant. A bridge between this world and the old one.
Kiyotaka follows Mondo into the old gas station, Mondo excitedly telling him about his find.
He shows him a CD player, with six CDs in it. It runs on battery. Mondo plays the first track. It's slow and moody.
He gets in close to Kiyotaka and starts swaying, hands on his hips.
Kiyotaka scowls, then smiles, then laughs.
He puts his hands on his shoulders, and they dance through the rubble.
When he wakes up, his head hurts.
Somebody knocks on his door.
He opens it just a crack, just enough to see who it is. And when he does, he has to blink.
Mondo hugs him immediately after the door opens further. He cries and cries and cries, saying… something. It's hard to tell through the tears. Taka leads him into his room, leads him into the bed, leads him into his arms, leads him into a kiss.
They don't talk. They don't need to.
Maybe things would have been different, in another life; but probably not anything important. Probably, they will always wind up here, in bed, in silence, and in love, when the end eventually comes.