Gonta and Mondo Encouraging Their Kid

Gonta Gokuhara (Tying shoes)

- They tried over and over, but they could just never get that bow that signified that they’d done it right.

- Over and over, Gonta watched as his kid tried over and over, getting the laces tied up in random combinations over and over. Everything seemed to be “over and over”.

- Gonta had never been that good at tying shoes himself, but he tried to help as much as possible, consulting the books and diagrams he’d been given over and over.

- “Don’t worry! Gonta will help until shoes are tied!” Of course... Gonta wasn’t exactly that much help. He didn’t even wear shoes, after all.

- Eventually, a kid gets frustrated, you know?

- “I’ll never be able to tie these stupid things!” The kid kicked his legs in frustration, trying to fling the shoes off their feet and somewhere far away

- “Ah! Stop! You’ll damage shoes!” Gonta tried to settle them down.

- Eventually they gave up on trying to fling the shoes away. They started to cry out of frustration. Gonta felt a little upset, too.

- “Gonta... sorry. Gonta not smart. Gonta want kid to be happy, but Gonta don’t know much about shoes...”

- “But Gonta will keep trying! Gonta try very hard, until kid can tie shoes! No matter how long! Gonta promise! Kid must try hard too!”

- That speech seemed to give enough motivation to keep the kid going. Turns out you don’t need to be smart to touch someone’s heart.

- And a few minutes later, a crude bow sat upon both of the kid’s shoes. Gonta picked them up in a bone-crushing hug. “Gonta so happy! Gonta so proud! Gonta good teacher, right?” Don’t worry. No bones were actually crushed.

Mondo Owada (Riding a bike)

- They say you never forget how to ride a bike.

- Does that also mean you never forget all the times you failed? Wobble after topple after crash, and it was all beginning to pile up.

- “Hey, don’t worry, kid. It took me 200 tries to be able to ride my motorcycle. Keep at it.”

- But even the most headstrong of children can’t deal with failure forever. Eventually it just wells up and you need to...

- “Enough! I can’t ride this thing! I’ll never be able to! That was the 200th time! Just put the training wheels back on...” they pushed over the bike and ran off, crying.

- “H-hey! Wait! Ugh... shit.” Was he not a good teacher? Mondo couldn’t help but have that thought appear in his head. No, he couldn’t think like that.

- Mondo went to look for them. He found them crying, hidden away somewhere.

It was really late but you couldn’t sleep…

After all how could you?

How could you peacefully close your eyes and ignore the things around you for at least a few more hours just to wake up again and remember where you were?

You had been frantically running around the entire school to see if you could find Ryoma’s motive video before he does. Everyone else would tell you they didn’t watch the video and refused to just give it away or would tell you not to mess with things that didn’t concern you.

You both had gotten closer since coming to the school unexpectedly, though you kinda already knew who he was from his reputation. It wasn’t easy to get him to open up and tell his side of the story. He had everyone taken away from him…and that’s exactly why your gut feeling of why he was interested in his motive video in the first place really bothered you. 

Was he eager to see if there was even a single person important enough to him to be in that video? What if that was the case? What would he even do? 

Thoughts raced in your mind, the more you wondered, the more sick you felt.

He shouldn’t have to go through this alone, no one should.

Pushing yourself up and out of bed, you changed into normal clothes and quietly snuck out your room, being careful not to slam your door too loud that it might wake the others.

You nervously made your way over to Ryoma’s room, standing outside just looking at it for a while. Before you could talk yourself out of it you reached up and rang the bell next to his door, being able to here the ‘ding-dong!’ echo throughout his room inside.

No answer.

Okay…maybe he was just..asleep…

But what if he wasn’t,,,,what if he was wondering out so late at night because, like you, he can’t sleep,,

Without even thinking twice you were up and out the doors of the dormitory and almost run-walking into the school.

The only other room he must be in would be his own research lab. You’d been in there a few times but you had only seen him use it as it’s intended purpose once and that was when he invited you to play with him after hanging out with him one day.

You don’t know why your heart was beating so fast, why seeing him okay was so important. Why letting him know he’s not alone felt so important to you.

Making your way up the final flight of stairs you hastily make your way to the door, only to have the door fly open, hitting you in the face in the process.

It all happened in a quick second, before your realized it, your body made contact with the floor and you were out like a light. 

…

…

…

It felt like you slept 1000 years when you came to.

Pushing yourself up from the cold floor, a sharp pain pounded against your head and the part of your shoulder where you landed on it wrong.

It was still dark outside, so you assumed you were actually down and out for maybe an hour at the longest.

You highly doubted that the door swinging into you was Ryoma himself, surely he would’ve stayed with you until you woke….

Peering into the already opened room, you tried to take in the scene.

Hoshi sprawled out on the floor of the research lab, a plank of wood thrown down next to his body.

You darted your way over to him, shaking him in a frenzy 

“Ryoma? Ryoma!!!!”

You keep repeating his name and flipped him over onto his back.

He couldn’t be dead, you were right there!

Tears pushed their way into the corners of your eyes

Placing your ear up to his chest, you could feel it move up and down and his heart beating at a normal slow pace.

You let out a sigh of relief….he was okay…

You looked around, no one was around and nothing else seemed out of place…

A possible murder?

Maybe the culprit chickened out and thats when they bumped into you…

Whatever the case may be, you were just so relieved he was alive…

Your head hurt too much to dwell too much on a crime scene

You wiped the little tears from your eyes as you leaned down and swooped him up into your arms

It wasn’t really that hard to hold him

So much so that you grabbed the plank of wood you could only assume knocked him out in the first place and held a firm grip on the two.

If the culprit was still out and about and bumped into you on the way back, you felt comfortable having some kind of line of self defense 

…

…

…

It wasn’t too early in the morning when Ryoma finally came to 

He slowly opened his eyes, the pain in the back of his head stinging being much worse then yours as he sat up

He was in his bed…and so very confused how he got there

His gaze wondered to the foot of his bed where he saw you, your upper body laying upon the edge, arms folded under you to support your head, out like a light.

Peaking over the bed he could see a plank of wood by your side..

Well now maybe he had some what of an answer.

Leaning over, he shook you awake.

The first thing you see upon waking up is Ryoma in your face

Blinking the sleep out of your eyes, it all started rushing back to you

You subconsciously moved your arms and wrapped then around Ryoma’s neck into a hug

“Ryoma! i’m so glad your okay! I was so worried and i went to see if you were doing okay but you weren’t in your room and i panicked a little so i assumed the only other place you would be in was your research lab and i was rushing up the stairs i wasn’t looking where i was going and your lab swung open in front of me and i fell and and…-”

Your grip tightened around Ryoma as you got more and more worked up.

“Why?…” Ryoma said with a dry response

“…w…why what?”

“Why would you waste your time worrying about someone like me?…someone with nothing and nobody to live for…someone wh-”

His voice seemed to strain, almost as if he was holding back tears

All he could remember was talking to Kirumi and feeling that if those were his last moments, atleast he may have helped someone with more to live for.

“Shhhhh, Ryoma, Ryoma please…all that matters right now is that im here…..you’re here…and im glad you are…”

You both spent the rest of the day in his room, just talking, a bit of crying, and just enjoying each others company.