I Don't Want To Just Be Friends - Ishimondo

Not What I Had Expected

School had now officially begun. Excited, Kiyotaka made his way out of the dorm room, ready as ever. He decided, since hopes peak academy did not have school uniforms, he'd just wear the one of his former school, with a little bit of a personal touch - his favourite, black, knee-high boots. Confidently, he walked towards his classroom. He was extremely curious as to who his classmates would be, since all of them were going to be just so unique. When he arrived at classroom 78, Kiyotaka gently opened the door and peeked inside.

A few students were already sat at their assigned seats, including Celestia Ludenberg. The classroom itself just looked like a regular classroom, nothing special about it. Kiyotaka had expected a bit more. His expectations were set quite high after seeing his dorm room. His seat was right in front of the teachers desk. Sneaking a look at the already present students, he sat down. First class was maths. When the teacher finally arrived, everyone else did so as well.

Everyone but one very specific student.

Kiyotaka sighed. He would have to confront said student after class. Though as a former hall monitor, such a task was nothing new to him. However, getting an actual gang leader to listen to him would probably be quite challenging, nevermind the ultimate gang leader. Maybe fate had just decided to torture the moral compass by putting the schools most probably soon-to-be-#1-problem-child in his class.

The class itself wasn't as extraordinary as expected, which actually saddened Kiyotaka quite a bit. Still, he directed his full attention to the teacher, took extensive notes and raised his hand as much as possible. After the bell rang, he packed up his papers and prepared himself mentally for confronting Oowada. The self-proclaimed hall monitor skimmed every room he came across, looking for said gang leader. Fortunately, it didn't take long before Kiyotaka found his target.

Mondo Oowada was leaning against the bathroom wall, glancing at the door as it swung open. Before speaking up, Kiyotaka observed the taller man's appearance. Oowada had tanned skin, a rather muscular build and was wearing a long, black coat decorated with rather impressive and intricate gold embroidery. His hair-do was a mystery to Kiyotaka, though he didn't want to waste any time trying to figure out the physics behind it.

"What are you looking at, dumbass?" Oowada spoke in an annoyed tone. Apparently Kiyotaka had been staring a little too long. Not wanting to make the situation unnecessarily awkward, he came straight to the point: "Oowada, I've been informed that you were in the same class as me, however you did not show up. You better have a valid excuse for skipping class!" Mondo just scoffed and pushed himself off the wall, hands in his pockets. His lilac eyes stared right into Kiyotakas. For a split second, Kiyotaka felt his heart skip a beat.

After staring the hall monitor up and down, Mondo finally sighed angrily: "I'm a fucking gang leader, do you seriously expect me to go to class like you goody-two-shoe?" "Of course! You're a hopes peak student Oowada! Do you not realise how much that means for your future?" Confusion made itself visible on the taller man's face. Noticing the change of expression, Kiyotaka started to go off on a tangent about the incredible future of hopes peak graduates, though he didn't get very far. Not wanting to put up with the moral compasses pep-talk, Mondo aggressively took hold of Kiyotakas left wrist, pulling said man closer to his face: "Listen here asshole, why the fuck are you so concerned about my future?! Hell, I don't even know who you are, what's your deal?!" Kiyotaka simply gave Oowada a stearn look and stated calmly: "My name is Kiyotaka Ishimaru, however you may simply address me as Taka. I am the ultimate moral compass and it is my duty to look after and support my fellow classmates!"

After introducing himself formally, Taka easily freed himself from Oowadas grip. He put his hands on his hips and looked the stronger man straight in the eyes. Genuinely being quite impressed by the smaller man's courage to stand up for himself, Mondo felt his anger subside slowly, instead he started to get a bit curious. He put his hands back into his pocket and smirked: "You've got balls kid, I like you." That sentence puzzled Kiyotaka. He wondered, why the sudden change in tone?

"Well Taka, class is about to start, isn't it? I better get going." Obviously being sarcastic about it, Mondo left the bathroom casually, leaving behind a confused hall monitor.

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Mondo walked towards the classroom. That hall monitor kid... Taka, was it? He sure wasn't afraid to deal with him. The gang leader thought it was kind of cool, in a way. Normally, Mondo would scare away anyone who would dare to come close to him, in fear of being seen as weak, but... Something was different about Taka. The biker didn't know why exactly, but now, he really wanted to impress Taka. Could I actually find a friend? Mondo asked himself. He'd have to ask for his number at some point, but first he'll actually have to go to class.

The way to class was crowded, annoying and just simply stressful, however the view outside the gigantic glass panes was quite pretty. From here, you could see the school garden, which was beautifully kept by the ultimate gardener and a few other volunteers. Despite wanting to go to his classroom, Mondo stopped. The garden reminded him of the times, when he and his already deceased dog Chuck would play together in the nearby park. Good times, but now was not the time to cry.

He gently opened the wooden door, teacher having already arrived. Not even looking up from her papers, the professor spoke: "Oowada, you're late." He sighed. "I know..." "Take a seat"  Doing as the teacher said, he quietly sat down at his assigned place. The hall monitor from earlier hadn't arrived either.

How ironic.

After a little while, the doors opened once again, and said student walked in. "I am terribly sorry for being late, however I had a meeting with the headmaster, so I was excused!", he announced proudly. Judging by his tone, Mondo was quite sure he didn't get in trouble. He most likely just reported me to Mr. Kirigiri, the biker thought. Being incredibly uninterested in whatever was going on at the front of the class, Mondo decided to look around and observe a few of his classmates. Two people sat directly next to him - a lanky guys, with spiky red hair and a lot of piercings and a smaller girl in a brown skirt with hazel coloured hair. In front of him sat someone he actually knew of, though to be fair, it was hard to not know her - the ultimate pop sensation Sayaka Maizono. The biker didn't care much for her music, so he decided to look for Takas seat instead. Of course he sat right in front of the Teacher. Exchanging notes would be quite impossible. A shame, Mondo thought. The rest of the hour was quite uneventful. Mondo was trying really hard to not fall asleep, failing miserably. Finally, the class was dismissed.

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Kiyotaka was in an incredible mood. The headmaster, Mr. Kirirgiri, had officially made him a hall monitor after witnessing him getting Oowada to attend class. He wasn't even going to question how he knew about that incident. All that mattered, was that he was now able to enforce order and rule into the halls of hopes peak academy. Humming happily, he made his way to the campus. However, he was stopped by a certain someone.

"Hm? What is it Oowada?" He asked with a curious look on his face. The biker scratched his neck nervously. "I was just... Quite impressed by you this morning. 'S been a while since someone dared to stand up to me!" Mondos nervous visage turning into a smug grin at that last sentence. "Hm?" the shorter boy didn't seem to quite get was Mondo had meant, which send the biker right back into his nervous state. Awkwardly, he started walking together with Kiyotaka towards the academy's campus. "I just found you pretty cool dude. Wanted to know if ya could give me your number..." "Ah, sure!" Kiyotaka reached into his bag and pulled out his phone, showing Mondo his phone number. Said man started typing the number combination into his own phone and saved the new contact. "Nice dude, I'll talk to you later then! Maybe we can hang!", the biker shouted happily, while speed walking towards the dorms. Without being able to get any further details regarding the hangout from him, Kiyotaka chuckled fondly. Had he finally made a friend?