One Year Later

14 | Epilogue

It was dark by the time Mondo made his way back to his own dorm, this time with his boyfriend latched onto one arm and a puppy tucked under the other. Kiyotaka leapt onto the mattress as soon as he was inside, and he patiently waited for Mondo to shut and lock the door. He turned off the glaring overhead lights and allowed Kiyotaka to flip on a lamp.

"Hell of a day," he laughed as he climbed in beside Kiyotaka. Cocoa was too eager to explore the unseen territory that was the mattress and jumped away. Mondo figured it would be alright to let her sniff around for a little while. He'd have to get a stool to put beside the bed, he thought, or maybe some stairs, so that she could easily get up and down.

"They certainly pulled all of the strings," Kiyotaka agreed. "I... didn't know they were all so invested in this!"

"I think it's a little more complicated than that. ...I mean, for one thing, Kazuichi and Leon and Hiro are always lookin' for excuses to throw a party."

"That's true..."

"And as for everybody else, well... We've been wantin' to do a reunion for a while anyway. And those girls are awful fond of ya. They probably just wanted to make ya happy."

"Also true! A-And I do believe some of those boys owe you more than a few favors..."

"After today? I'll call it even."

"That sounds fair to me."

The two shared a laugh. In reality, everyone's reasons for throwing such an over-the-top celebration didn't matter. What mattered was the fact that everyone had had a wonderful time together. Mondo had feared that they might all drift apart after graduating, as most classmates do, but had instead found that even after time apart, being with them was like picking up right where they had left off. As if no time had passed at all.

Cocoa finished sniffing the edges of the mattress and returned to her new master. Mondo shook his head as he mussed her curly fur with one hand. A good half of her body fit in his palm.

"I can't believe ya pulled somethin' like this off," he chuckled. "I mean, talk about above and beyond! My present seems pretty lame by comparison."

"That's— Don't say such a thing!" Kiyotaka gave his boyfriend a gentle slap across the side of his head. "You've given us the gift of comfort and safety and adventure! Chi and I both!" Mondo squinted at Kiyotaka for a moment before arriving at the conclusion that he was being completely genuine. As usual.

"...Still," he said, holding the puppy up to get a closer look at her face. "Y'got us a daughter."

"Mondo— she's not a baby!"

"Says YOU." Mondo scratched her behind the ears. "She's MY baby now."

"Whatever you say." Kiyotaka watched her crawl around for a moment. "...It wasn't only for you, you know. I take my job quite seriously. I spent most of the day before the party delivering pets."

"I know that. That's just the kinda guy you are." Mondo watched as the puppy climbed onto Kiyotaka's chest and laid her head down on her paws, as if to study him. The prefect smiled back, his cheeks tinted a rosy red. It suddenly felt like Mondo had a family. A perfect, if small, family. "We should get married."

"...I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Mondo froze. What had he said? And more importantly, why? He could only imagine how dumb the look on his own face was. That wasn't something he had meant to say out loud. And it definitely wasn't something that he thought (or dreamed) about semi-regularly. In any case, the box in his pocket suddenly felt very heavy.