"I miss you, I'm sorry." An Ishimondo story

17: Tired.

"Why."
•
•
•

       9 Months.

It was extremely early in the morning, the school had just opened and of course, Kiyotaka had already been there along with a few other kids who had to get there early for some rehearsal the theater club was doing.
Ishimaru was tiredly sat on a bench in the hallway whilst practicing for tests in advance or taking notes and doing homework as he always did. He followed along with his usual before-school morning routine.
That was until someone had sat down next to him and he immediately knew it was Mondo due to that musky cologne he wears constantly and refuses to go a day without it.
"Goodmorning Mondo..." Ishimaru seemed extremely tired as he kept writing on the paper, not looking up for a second.
"What're you doing?" Mondo leaned to the side, looking down at his notebook.
"I'm writing notes for my algebra test in three." He grumbled sleepily while Mondo picked up his notebook and pencil and placed them down next to him,, "Three weeks? Really, man? I'm surprised the teacher even told you yet, damn."
"Give me my book, Mondo.." Kiyotaka stood up and reached for it, Mondo blocking him.
"You can write those later, right now it looks like ya need a power nap."
Kiyotaka shook his head, even though he was clearly tired and very close to passing out, he wanted to finish his notes.
Mondo held the book high in the air, making sure he couldn't reach it by standing on the very tips of his toes, "Owada, give me my notebook." It seemed as if he was getting frustrated with Mondo and his idiotic antics but yet, he was tired. He knew he shouldn't have stayed up but he didn't care, as long as he got to study then he was perfectly fine.
Eventually he gave up on trying to get his book and just sat back down, the atmosphere became overly quiet all of a sudden. Mondo had sat next to Ishimaru, placing the book beside him as the raven haired boy just leaned against his shoulder tiredly. "Ya gotta stop overworkin' yerself, man. Stayin' up until the crack of dawn doin' some dumbass schoolwork that's due in three weeks ain't gonna do ya no good." Mondo pat the top of the boys head as he mumbled quietly. "If I don't put all my effort into my studies then I'll fail, I can't... have that.." His voice trailed off near the end of his sentence due to the fact that he was slipping in and out of consciousness, he was going to fall asleep at any point in time now.
"You can give yerself a break every once in a while, 's not healthy doin shit like this." Taka knew that Mondo had a point, staying up every day wasn't good for his health in the slightest. Despite him knowing this, he continued his routine every day. Go to school, go home and study, sleep for about thirty minutes, then repeat. Even then, sometimes he didn't even sleep.
The boy just nodded, he fell asleep thinking about what Mondo had said. He should give himself a break, but that could be too risky. He didn't want to slack off on his work.
It is all for a reason though, he wanted to do all of this. The reason he works so hard is to help out his family, to clear their name. He takes on all of the responsibility in doing that, wanting to change everything by himself.
I mean, how hard can it possibly be right?

•
•
•
    "I can't do this without you. Come back...
                                   please."