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LOCKED TO ardent

The first thing he noticed was the off-white ceiling and plain walls. It didn't occur to him that there was anything weird about that for a minute or so, instead he sat up, glancing around at the unfamiliar room. The bed he was lying in wasn't particularly hard or soft - not as comfy as the one at Hope's Peak, but it wasn't uncomfortable either - and there was a desk beside the bed with a set of clothes, a note, and two red-and-white balls. Mondo reached for one of the balls without thinking, only stopping himself when his memories of the previous days came flooding back like a tidal wave.

Fujisaki. How could he forget, even for a moment? Fujisaki had come to him, seeking help, expressing a desire to become stronger, and what had he done? He'd blacked out. No, that wasn't right - he'd blacked out and killed the kid. Mondo's fists clenched and he drew his hand back. That's right, then there had been a trial, just like the first time someone was found murdered in Hope's Peak Academy. Monobear had called them all down there and they had gone over the evidence. Well, if by "they" he meant Naegi, Kirigiri, and that jackass Togami. First they had outed Fukawa as Genocider Syo, then they'd blamed Togami for altering the crime scene, and then...

...And then the truth had come out. If he hadn't been so careless with what he was saying, Fujisaki's secret would have been safe and he wouldn't have hurt Ishimaru, his aniki. Of course he had noticed the way Ishimaru reacted - the screaming, the denial, the tears, the desperation - and Ishimaru had voted for someone else. Even when he had acknowledged his defeat, Ishimaru hadn't. Ishimaru had believed in him until the very end - but he shouldn't have. He had betrayed not only Fujisaki's trust, but Ishimaru's as well.

It was a good thing he hadn't gotten away with murder though. Mondo doubted he could have lived with himself if he had. Even the execution wasn't that bad - from what little he remembered of it. It could have been worse; he could have been chained to a signpost and bludgeoned to death by millions of baseballs. He still had nightmares about Leon's death. He didn't even know Leon all that well. No, Mondo's death had been relatively quick and he'd gotten to ride a motorcycle one last time. There was something freeing about that, something he doubted he could ever really put into words. His last action had been his favorite. Maybe that was suiting.

So why was he here? Why was he waking up? He was dead, he was sure of that. He was equally sure that this wasn't Hope's Peak. There weren't any windows in the room, which meant that he could be underground, but he doubted Monobear would have let him live after the murder. He hadn't gotten away with it; he hadn't "graduated." So where was he?

Mondo finally got up, snatching the note off the top of the clothes folded on the desk. There was a large, red "R" on the shirt front, but Mondo ignored that for the time being to scan the note. Apparently he was now working for an organization known as "Team Rocket." That title meant nothing to him and he set the note aside, picking up the clothes next. It was a very standard uniform that looked like it would be way too tight-fitting for his taste and Mondo set that aside as well. Finally, he picked up the red-and-white balls, turning them in his hands curiously. He wasn't a Super High-School Level Baseball Player, but he might be able to use them as weapons if he needed to. He tucked those in his pocket and turned to the door. He expected it to be locked. It wasn't.

The hallway was just as nondescript as the room, though the ceilings were a bit low for his liking. Mondo picked a direction at random and started down the hallway, absently wondering if he could find some way back outside. It felt like it had been a long time since he had seen the sun.

He was stopped on his way by a shorter, scrawny man wearing that uniform (yeah, it definitely looked like it would have been too tight on him). The man frowned at him and pointed one gloved finger down the opposite hallway. "You should be heading to your first day of training! Why aren't you in uniform?"

"Fuck off," Mondo replied, shoving the smaller man out of his way. The guy definitely looked older, so he could assume that this wasn't the school. No one else was in the school after all, right? Just the fifteen of them - well, eleven of them now (did he even count anymore?) - and the person controlling Monobear. Mondo brushed that thought aside; this wasn't the school. That was what he would focus on.

He didn't find his way out. His sense of direction had always been good, but that was on the roads, in the open air. He had always gotten turned around in Hope's Peak as well, but never like this. He couldn't believe he'd managed to wander in a circle, finding himself back in front of the room he'd woken up in. Maybe this was some kind of trick; he couldn't move on until he'd gone to his first day of "training" or whatever.

The man in the Rocket uniform came walking down that hallway at just that moment. "Gotten yourself lost, huh?" He sneered. "Just follow this hallway and hook a left. The training facility's there. You'll meet the other new recruits and get started on your two weeks of training."

Two weeks? Like hell he was going to hang around for that long. Mondo rolled his eyes and followed the man's directions, ignoring the shout for him to get back and change his clothes.

The training facility was more decorated than the hallways or the room, and well-lit at that. There were several other young men (wearing that hideous uniform), all gathered in the center of the room, talking quietly. It looked like the instructor hadn't shown up yet. Mondo was tempted to leave, but this might be his best chance to get information on this place. He frowned for a moment, before walking up to join the others. He stood at least a head taller than them, which made him stick out even worse than the clothes he was wearing. Not that he cared.

"What's this "training" gonna consist of anyway?"

None of the other men seemed to know, and Mondo began to wonder just how badly things were going to go. It wasn't like it could be any worse than Enoshima being stabbed through by spears in the gym, right?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"And why not?!"

As much as Ishimaru tended to not have any concept of what constituted 'appropriate volume levels', it was rare for this amount of anger to overtake his words; it was clear that, at the very least, he had many thoughts on this sort of thing.

"Do you not understand what the purpose of justice is in the first place?! It's not simply a matter of punishing those who have committed a crime - it's a way for everyone involved to find some sort of healing, both the victim and the perpetrator! Why punish those who commit some sort of wrongdoing if we don't expect them to learn from it?! What would be the sense in that?!

"You know that I don't find killing acceptable! I've made that plain multiple times - I don't believe there to be any reason for which taking another person's life would be valid! I don't understand what you're trying to do by arguing this with me - are you trying to make me hate you?! Do you want me to punish you, to tell you that I believe you're a terrible person, to decide that I want nothing more to do with you because you think you deserve something like that?! What do you want from me, aniki, because I've already told you that I'm not going to turn on you!"

"I--!"

What did he want? That was a good question and stunned Mondo into silence. He focused on the floor, not really seeing it. Did he want Ishimaru to hate him? Was he trying to punish himself for Fujisaki's murder by driving away his best friend? He could argue that Ishimaru didn't seem to be the sort to hang out with criminals, but Ishimaru had accepted his past easily in the beginning. Yes, things had gone horribly at Hope's Peak, but Ishimaru was adamant about remaining his friend despite that. So was he trying to drive Ishimaru away?

Mondo couldn't answer that. He did know that he didn't want to be left alone though, and he didn't want to lose Ishimaru's friendship. So if he was doing that, it was definitely something he wasn't aware of.

"...I don't know, aniki. I don't fucking know." He finally answered, resting his head in his hands. "I don't want to lose your friendship, alright?"

Ishimaru reached out, resting his hand lightly on Mondo's shoulder; there was...really only one answer to that, wasn't there?

"Let me give you my word, then. As a man. I promise that you aren't going to lose my friendship."

Mondo jerked a bit at the sudden contact, glancing at Ishimaru. He heard what his friend was saying, but for some reason the words didn't quite sink in. Ishimaru knew how much promises meant to him, and he wouldn't have said something like that if he had any intention of breaking it, right? He was Ishimaru's first friend, after all.

"I... thanks." He finally said, though it sounded weirdly stilted, like he didn't appreciate it. "That... that really..."

He shook his head after a moment, trying to clear his thoughts. "You sure you want to make that promise? I mean, I don't think I'll do anything else that shitty, but I fucked up pretty badly back home. You really wanna be associated with a murderer?"

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it, aniki; I know how much this means to you."

He hesitated for a moment. "Like I said, I don't regret anything. Especially not our friendship, and I'm not...ashamed to be associated with you, if that's what you're getting at - I don't agree with what you've done, but I don't...I'm not going to turn my back on you."

Mondo was silent for a moment, still refusing to make eye contact. He knew he needed to say something, to acknowledge that he heard Ishimaru's words at the very least. He couldn't think of anything to say. He couldn't possibly put what he was feeling into words.

Ishimaru - the Super High School Level Hall Monitor - was willing to stand by him, even after he killed Fujisaki. Ishimaru was willing to still be his friend and had no interest in punishing him further for what he'd done. He was the best friend Mondo could have ever asked for, and the person he felt closest to since Daiya's death. It didn't matter that they hadn't known each other for very long; they had just clicked after their initial fight. He didn't want to lose that. He wouldn't lose that.

Mondo reached up to rub at his eye, totally playing it off like it was just itching and he wasn't tearing up. It's not like it mattered that much.

"I... you don't know how much that means to me. I can't really put it into words but that's... It's really good to hear that. Yeah."

He didn't sound very satisfied with that though. "Your friendship is really fucking important to me and I don't wanna lose it, so that's really good to hear." That still wasn't good enough, but he couldn't find any other way to word it.

Ishimaru nodded without saying anything, the hand that had been on Mondo's shoulder slipping back down to join the other, tightening sharply against the blankets again and bunching the thick fabric in his fists; the words had been so easy to say, they had looked like the right decision from the start and Mondo had even asked him if he was sure, but now that the promise had been accepted and Mondo seemed so moved by it...it was then that the full weight of what he had just done seemed to hit him all at once.

Ishimaru had meant what he said - he could see no reason for which killing would ever be acceptable. But Mondo had murdered someone. He had murdered someone, and then he had refused to confess to the crime. He would have killed everyone else for the sake of protecting his secret...wasn't making any sort of promise to Mondo condoning all of that? Saying that it was all right, that Mondo had been punished enough for what he had done, that all was forgiven? What right did he even have to say that? He hadn't been there, he hadn't seen any of it for himself; maybe his opinion would have been different if he had. Maybe he would have been angry, maybe he would have disowned him then - after all, Mondo had said he had taken it hard after everything was revealed. Who was to say that he hadn't done that? Mondo wouldn't lie to him, but not all weak points in one's statements were lies...

He could feel himself shaking a bit the longer he thought about it, eyes wide and brimming with tears as he continued to stare down at the blankets in front of him. What if he managed to bring the others here? He would certainly want to save Fujisaki, and the others would probably know what Mondo had done to her. What if she was angry - what if she didn't think that Mondo deserved forgiveness? What about the others? If they turned on Mondo, just as he was afraid his gang would do to him, what was Ishimaru supposed to do then? He would have to defend Mondo in some way; to do otherwise would be going against that promise that he'd just made. But could he really do that? Could he really defend a murderer and keep his own conscience intact? After all, the others would be right to be angry about what he had done - wouldn't seeking some sort of justice also be their right?

Another thought occurred to him, harsh and jarring - what was he supposed to do if the rest turned on him as well? It was selfish to the point of making him feel sick, but he couldn't deny the fact that it brought with it sharp tendrils of fear lacing through his body. Would they consider him biased, would they think he had turned against them?

Wouldn't they be right in thinking that he had?

This was, after all, a decision he had made based on personal emotion, wasn't it? Mondo was his first and only friend. He didn't want to lose that, of course he didn't want to lose that. But had he really allowed it to affect his judgement so much that he would defend a murderer against those he had wronged?

Would you do the same for Kuwata?

He didn't know where the thought had come from, but something about it made him freeze up. If Kuwata were brought here, along with the others - along with Maizono, and along with Naegi who had been initially condemned by the rest for the killing, and along with everyone else who had nearly died so Kuwata alone could escape Hope's Peak - if he were to be brought here and the others turned on him, would he receive Ishimaru's protection as well? Mondo had attacked in blind rage; Kuwata had sought out Maizono and made a concentrated effort to murder her. Ishimaru wasn't as close to Kuwata by a long shot, and Kuwata's position was far more indefensible - but even so, would Ishimaru be willing to argue on his behalf, to protect him from retaliation even from Maizono, who would have every right to feel angry and victimized? Would he be able to say in all confidence that Kuwata had already been punished, that justice had been carried out, that that was enough and no one had any right at this point to make him suffer further?

Words couldn't describe the immense amount of relief at the realization that he would. Not because Kuwata was his friend, not because Kuwata was close to him at all, not even because he had seen the fear on Kuwata's face as he was killed. Just because it would be the right thing to do. The flood of relief also brought feelings of guilt with it, for having doubted so severely; even so, it was more than enough to make him snap back into himself, to realize that his reaction to all of this likely looked incredibly bizarre. While he wasn't crying as hard as he normally did, there were still tears rather openly streaking his face, and he'd quite simply blanked out entirely on anything that might have been happening around him.

"I...I didn't know it was so important to you..." He finally looked up, made himself focus on Mondo again. "You're my brother; you're not going to lose my friendship. I promise, all right? You'll never...you'll never lose that."

Edited 2013-03-22 14:24 (UTC)

Ishimaru had gone off into his own little world, but Mondo didn't try to get his attention. He was content to sit there, staring at the floor.

It meant a lot to him that Ishimaru was willing to trust him and promise something like that. He still felt like he hadn't expressed it well enough, but hopefully Ishimaru understood.

Finally Ishimaru spoke and Mondo glanced up. "Ah, yeah?" He hadn't done a very good job of expressing how important their friendship was to him, had he? That was unfortunate, and not something he really knew how to fix. He could obviously spend more time with Ishimaru here; that was a good start, wasn't it? "Thanks. That... that's a promise I'll hold you to, alright?"

He grinned, the expression close enough to genuine. "You're a great friend, aniki. I'm really glad you're here with me."

Even if Ishimaru had been aware of Mondo's thoughts, he wouldn't have been able to articulate what the problem actually was; it wasn't an issue with how much Mondo was expressing to him, as he was incredibly grateful for it and it got the point across well enough. It was more that he still had difficulty acknowledging it as being real, that someone would want to be friends with him like this in the first place, much less so closely.

As it was, however, it was clear that Mondo's words pleased him; there was still a vague sense of concern that he would manage to fail at this whole 'friendship' thing - he tended to be good at that, after all - but most of the time, the issue involved him being unsure about exactly what he did to cause the failure in the first place. But with Mondo that wasn't an issue, was it? Reading him was far easier than it was with most; even if Mondo didn't tell him everything, he told him enough, and he was open enough with Ishimaru for him to be able to tell if something was off. And he'd said before that he wouldn't lie to him...

He could feel himself relax quite a bit at Mondo's assertions, however; he laughed a bit, nudging him playfully. "Well, you need someone to keep you in line, aniki! I still have my title of Super High-School Level Hall Monitor to uphold; being in another world doesn't mean I've forgotten!"

"Ain't that the truth?" Mondo grinned, elbowing Ishimaru back. "It's good to know I'll have you watching my back, aniki. I could use it!"

Especially now that he was here in a different world, without the Crazy Diamonds. Not that they'd ever approve of him after what he'd done in Hope's Peak. That wasn't something he wanted to think about though, and Mondo pushed the thought aside.

"Oh, are you admitting that now? You're just going to get my hopes up that you might start following the rules one day!"

Again, though his tone didn't shift very much, his expression was clearly teasing. "Don't worry, I won't let you get into too much trouble."

"Oh c'mon, you know me better than that! The day I start following the rules is the day you start breaking them!" Never mind that the whole psychic manipulation thing was breaking quite a few rules in Mondo's book. "That's good to hear though. It's good to have someone here who'll have my back."

"I can still hope, can't I?" He nudged Mondo again. "But whether you follow the rules or not here, I'm still going to wake you up early - so we should probably try to get at least some sleep before then, as I'm not going to let us waste the day tomorrow!"

Mondo laughed and reached out to ruffle Ishimaru's hair again. "Yeah, yeah, alright. I know how you are." He didn't really mind getting up early, but he was more of a night owl than anything else. It would be nice to get to have his own schedule here; he wouldn't have to get up at seven in the morning and go to bed at ten and follow all of Monobear's stupid rules.

"Just don't try to get me out of bed before seven. It won't happen." Mondo warned, still grinning. He flopped on the bed, rolling onto his side and glancing down at Ishimaru. "You sure you wanna sleep on the floor? There's enough room up here if you wanna share." He figured Ishimaru would refuse to take the bed, but this was a decent alternative, right?

Well, that certainly got Ishimaru's attention, though it was a bit difficult to say whether it was good attention for the time being. More like incredibly unsure attention. Something along those lines. What in the world...

"You're sure that would be all right?"

"Yeah? Why wouldn't it be?" Mondo asked, tipping his head slightly to the side. It struck him then that Ishimaru was probably an only child - he had probably never had to share in close, confined spaces like Mondo had. It wasn't always with his brother - he'd shared a bed with quite a few different gang members over the years due to limited sleeping locations - but it was something he always took for granted, something he expected everyone to understand.

It was kind of strange to see Ishimaru so hesitant about it, to be quite honest. "Yeah," He repeated, "I used to share beds all the time. It was actually pretty fucking weird to not share a room with someone in Hope's Peak." He laughed.

The number of siblings Ishimaru may or may not have had was more or less irrelevant - doing anything like this had simply never been a necessity for him. His family had been successful in politics and in life in general for several generations; they may not have been as prominent anymore - and with good reason, if he were going to be honest - but a lack of living space had never been anything that he'd had to worry about, to put it lightly.

"Do you think so?" He shifted a bit on the floor, moving to undo those boots of his, his hands quick against the laces. "I've never had to share my room before, much less the bed - ah, but if you're sure you don't mind..."

"Huh, really?" It should have been obvious, but Mondo had managed to miss it somehow; Ishimaru wasn't like him. Ishimaru didn't come from a broken home and Ishimaru didn't have to struggle to make ends meet. He had gone to another excellent school before Hope's Peak, hadn't he?

But that didn't really matter at the moment and Mondo scooted over to make enough room for his friend. "Yeah, of course I don't mind. Daiya and I have shared beds way smaller than this one! Don't worry about it."

...Granted, this might be a bit more awkward with Ishimaru who clearly wasn't used to this, but Mondo didn't think it would be that big of a deal.

...A bit more awkward indeed; he stood up after getting his boots off, looking at the bed somewhat skeptically for a moment before seeming to try to shrug it off and lying down.

"Did you have many siblings, then, or was it just your older brother...?" It was something he wasn't entirely sure he should be asking about, but he had to admit he was curious; he also couldn't fathom why else sleeping arrangements like that would be necessary in the first place.

"Nah, it was just me and Daiya. We lived in some really crammed places when we were kids, and even when we ditched home to start the Crazy Diamonds we didn't really have much money. We did what we could to save money and make sure living arrangements were comfortable for the rest of the gang, you know?"

Mondo shifted onto his back, staring upward at the ceiling. "The Crazy Diamonds was a small gang back then. We only had three other members at first, and they were all Daiya's friends. But we grew pretty quickly after people got word of what Daiya could do. He was great; you would've hated him." Mondo laughed though. He seemed quite relaxed talking about his older brother like this, despite his earlier insistence that he had killed Daiya. "So yeah, we had to share a bed a lot of the time, actually. He was the worst, too; he kicked in his sleep!"

While Ishimaru didn't sit up entirely, he did prop himself up rather quickly at that. "So it was just you and your brother on your own? I mean, with your friends of course..."

This was rather obviously getting into territory that Ishimaru had absolutely no idea how to navigate; if anything, he seemed to find the whole thing...well, "distressing" wasn't entirely accurate, but it was probably the closest thing to it. "You were all right with that?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course we were. We ran away from home." Mondo did glance over at that, raising his eyebrows at Ishimaru's expression. "What? There's no need to look so horrified! It was for the best anyway; that bastard was a shitty father and mom wasn't much better. We were way better off on our own. Daiya took care of things; he wanted me to get an education."

That was why he had gone to Hope's Peak in the first place. It would have been better for him to remain with the gang for his last few years before retiring, but Daiya had been so insistent on sending him to school that he couldn't turn down the invitation. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he felt he might at least be able to honor Daiya's memory in that way. So much for that plan.

"You shouldn't say things like that!"

It slipped out before he could really think about it; it was an automatic response, one that had never required thought on his end. You respect those who brought you into the world, simple-as; the idea of doing otherwise wasn't anything that Ishimaru had ever entertained, and correcting such things had become almost second nature.

But then, he'd always been surrounded by others who had no right to complain.

"I mean i-it's good that he took care of you, aniki, but..."

"Why not? It's the fucking truth. Daiya got me out of there before things went to shit, but if we'd stayed behind we probably would've ended up in foster care within a few years anyway. Like I said, the bastard was a shitty father."

Mondo glanced up at the ceiling again, content to leave it at that. He had been damn lucky when it came to their father; Daiya hadn't.

"He taught me all I know. He was always there for me and always pushed me to do the best I could. I wouldn't be a Super High-School Level Gang Leader without his guidance." He smiled, turning a bit to face Ishimaru again. "But it doesn't matter. It's all in the past anyway. We've got other things to worry about here."

"...If...If you say so..."

It was clear that he wasn't convinced, but at the same time he didn't seem to know what else to say; he lay down properly again, shifting a bit as though trying to get comfortable.

"Your brother...as much as you say I would have disliked him, I don't think I would have. Not entirely. He sounds respectable."

While that likely could have been taken for backhandedness otherwise, his tone was blunt and completely straightforward; genuine as opposed to snide.

LOCKED TO ardent

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