Motorcycle Heart |Ishimondo

4- The story continues.

Mondo's Pov

It's been about 3 months now I've been tutored for. Kiyotaka's actually been really helpful. It's just hard. I have heavily flirted. I have walked around in a tank top way too many times. He's probably straight anyways. The bitch is either dumb or that. Or I just need to put it clear.
I have a math test in a couple days. Taka's been coming around more to help me study.

I hang out with him more too. I still sit with Hiro and Leon but I feel like I'm third wheeling so our groups sorta merged. There's usually five of us- Hiro, Leon, Chihiro, Taka and Me. Sometimes Kazuichi and his boyfriend sit with us too. Turns out geography hamster man is his boyfriend. Gundham is his name. He's a bit eccentric and how do I say this- out of his goddamn head. But I love Kazuichi like a brother so I let it slide.

Daiya got into the university he wanted so it's just me at the moment. I'm glad for him but it has been lonely. But he visits at weekends and tells me about it. I expect him to come home saying he got a girlfriend or something but he never does. Taka comes round most afternoons. Not even to study just to hang out. Often we just sit on the couch, curl up together and watch films or series. I find myself thinking about what we could watch a lot.

Leon finally got around to asking out Hiro. In Leon's words he asked him out with a love letter and Hiro just said 'yeah sure'. I wish it was that easy. But they are quite happy. Hiro is weirdly confident in relationships and Leon is more or less the opposite. I guess it's his first.

I finally met Chihiro. I gotta admit, the dude/ette is cool. I envy them in a weird way. They're so proud of being out. All of my friends are. With their relationships and pride pins. It's June tomorrow. I'll buy a pride pin. They sell them in shops. I'll tell Taka tonight that I'm trans.

"Mondo. Mondooooo. MONDO!" I snapped back to reality. The voice next to me was Kazuichi's. It was last period history class.
"Yeah what?" I asked.
"Bro you snapped out again. Look I know you're really gay but you gotta focus once in a while. You can suck dick after class K?" He teased with a grin exposing his unnaturally sharp teeth.

"Why don't you tell that to a mirror. Like you haven't been texting Hamster boy for the past half hour. I know he's sent you pictures of him and his hamsters which you replied 'ahsisbdhsjj'." I responded.
"Bro how did you say that out loud."
"I don't know. Fourth wall magic I guess." I started to shove my work in my bag.
"Doing anything tonight?"
"Just telling my crush I'm trans. Nothing much. You?" I joked sarcastically.
"I remember having to tell Gundham. He was down with it. They told me they were non-binary and I just sorta said it after as a comfort. But Taka is totally cool with that sorta thing. Like half of us are trans so he'll be fine. If he can deal with freaks like us, being trans is nothing." Kazuichi actually helped.
"Thanks dude." I grabbed my bag and walked out of the door.

The sound of the bell ringing always made me excited nowadays. I got to see Taka's face light up when he sees me. I probably smile just as much. He has last period with Gundham so we four meet up at the lockers together.
The sound of shoes tapped along the hallways. There was the usual buzz of gossip. Some girl got pregnant or broken up with. Sometimes both.

There was an unusual buzz today. I heard Kiyotaka's name getting tossed around. Weird. He probably just got detention or something. Me and Kazuichi walked down the hallway to the lockers where I saw a crying Taka being comforted by Gundham and his hamsters.

I dropped everything. I could barely feel my feet move but I went to him. Like there were magnets pulling us together.
Kiyotaka never cried. I try to tell him he's allowed to have feelings but he always just doesn't. Usually he's more vibrant around me but he's like a dull neon light right now.