The night after Mondo's execution, Taka never even changed his clothes. He only managed to make it back to his room because of muscle memory, unlocking the door and shuffling over to his bed. He sat down, eyes staring into empty space as tears started to run down his face.

This wasn't the same kind of crying he'd done at the trial; this was a silent kind of grief.

A certain someone hovering nearby frowned.

"No, I don't like this ending at all."

The next morning started much the same – Taka's feet carried him to the breakfast meeting purely out of habit. He didn't even eat anything, though his survival instincts were still intact enough that he downed a full litre of water to replace the fluids he'd lost.

People were trying to talk to him – Hiro especially attempted to get his spirits up – but he didn't react to anything. Though he did still take note of what the others said: a new floor had likely opened up, with new things to see. He didn't have any particular reason to go, but neither did he have a reason not to go…

That's how he ended up in the physics lab. But once he got there another bout of apathy attacked him and he just stood in a corner, blankly staring at things. Makoto entered the room at some point and said something, but he didn't care.

It was echoing in his ears again – Mondo's surprisingly soft words: "I killed him."

Monokuma's sudden appearance almost got a reaction out of him, but he didn't have the energy to yell at the bear right then. He had no energy to do anything at all. Even breathing was starting to be tiring.

Until the words "Time Machine!" spoken in that annoying high-pitched voice reached his ears.

"A… time machine…" His throat was sore, both from the yelling at the trial and not having spoken a word all morning. But even though it hurt, his words built to a crescendo as the tears started anew, and he screamed, "With this, I'll stop Mondo this time for sure!"

There it was. The thing he hadn't wanted to admit. The thought that, if he had but been there for Mondo more – got even closer to him – that the murder of Chihiro would never have happened in the first place.

As Monokuma proceeded to tease Taka, Homunculus watched it all, a thin smile starting to form.

"Well, I was on the fence before, but this has forced my hand."

Habits ingrained that deep are hard to break. Despite everything, Taka still found himself walking back to the dining hall to reconvene with everyone. Of course, he added nothing to the conversation, his face wearing the same expression it had all morning. Or, rather, wearing no expression at all.

There was talk of the new floor, and cameras, and ghosts, but Taka heard none of it. After Monokuma's rather ill-timed jab, his brain was swirling with one simple thought: If I could go back…

Even after everyone left, he still stood there, swaying slightly on his feet.

And, for some reason, he thought back to when he'd gotten his first glimpse at the real Mondo.

"Well, I'm leaving now. Goodnight…"

Makoto's voice soon faded, leaving Taka and Mondo by themselves in the sauna.

"Hey…" Taka managed to say between shuddering breaths. "Our witness left… there's not much point in carrying on now…"

"Speak for… yourself…" Mondo retorted, "If you're that weak… you can just leave."

Taka glanced at Mondo, still in his full uniform. How had he not passed out by now? He already felt like his lungs were burning, and yet Mondo seemed just fine.

"Alright then!" Taka yelled, drawing on reserves of energy he hadn't realized he still had, "I'm staying right here!"

It was only a few minutes later that Mondo started to wobble, leaning up against Taka for support. Mondo didn't seem to notice immediately, but Taka certainly did, feeling Mondo's sweat-soaked clothes press against his body. After what felt like an eternity (though it was really just over a minute), Mondo jerked back.

"I'm not… tired… or nuthin…" His speech was noticeably slower now; his breath coming out in rasps, and Taka felt a genuine seed of worry start to gnaw at him.

"Hey! Why don't we call this a tie and step out?"

"Don't be fuckin' stupid. If I give up… you win… that's not a tie…"

Taka suddenly stood up and was hit with a blast of hot air. Without a word, he strode over to the door and wrenched it open.

He'd expected the cool air to be refreshing, but their bodies had become so used to the heat that it was actually painful. It hit him like a physical blow to the gut and he gasped, staggering out the door and slumping down just to the left of it.

Mondo followed soon after, leaning against the wall to the right and sliding down until he was seated against the floor. Neither of them spoke for a good while, chests heaving until their lungs had gotten used to the cool night air.

Just as Taka took a breath and turned to Mondo to admonish him for not stopping sooner, the other man turned to face him, and Taka was taken aback by the look in his eyes.

"How do you do it?"

"What?" Taka was genuinely blindsided by this question – he'd been so sure the first thing to come out of Mondo's mouth would be a statement of victory, considering that Taka had technically been the first one to leave.

"How do you take charge so easily?" Mondo clarified and leant back against the wall, staring towards the ceiling.

"I –" This was unexpected. Taka hadn't really ever thought about it, and now someone else asking him to do a deep introspection. Somebody he didn't even really know. Unsure of how he was supposed to answer, he kept quiet, and Mondo eventually filled the silence.

"I mean, we were put in this fuckin' crazy place, and you just became the leader. No election or nuthin', and everyone accepted it. Even now, you just… did it. People only listen to me when I yell."

There – something to focus on, to deflect the conversation from himself. "Surely that's not true! You have a whole gang who listens to you!"

"Heh, that's just 'cause of my brother. But what you can do…" Mondo paused and swallowed, seemingly bracing himself, "It's cool as shit."

Despite the fact that they were out of the sauna, Taka suddenly felt his face heat up. "Th-th-that's…" Taka stopped and put a hand to his throat. For some reason, he found it hard to speak…

"Hey bro, are you okay? Should I, like, fetch some water or something?"

"I'm fine!" Taka's voice sounded abnormally loud to his ears. He took a deep breath and deliberately spoke a few decibels softer than usual, "I guess I was just tired from the heat."

Leaning back, against the wall, he suddenly realised what word Mondo had used to address him. "Bro…?"

"Yeah – I figured, if we're gonna, like, be buddies and shit, we have to be less formal!" Mondo's face suddenly split into a huge grin and Taka felt his chest tighten, his heart stuttering for a second. But, though it was a bit hard to breathe, it wasn't in any way unpleasant. He felt himself smiling back as he replied, "Sounds good, bro!"

Suddenly his legs could no longer support him and he collapsed onto the floor. Homunculus, having just tapped him on the shoulder, looked on in shock as Taka continued to lie there, his face seemingly devoid of emotion. "Hey," Homunculus said, leaning down to him. Unused to speaking softly, the next few words were strangely stilted, "I can help you."

No reply.

Seemingly producing it out of thin air, Homunculus glanced down at the Z-Pad. The item that could truly save this boy… if he would but accept it.

Not knowing what else to do, Homunculus shoved it in Taka's face. "Time travel."

"…" Taka still said nothing, but Homunculus could tell from the slight shift in his eyes that he was paying attention, and took the chance. "You want to save him, don't you?"

Instantly, Taka was back on his feet, the light in his eyes blazing. And he was glaring directly at Homunculus.

"Why do you care?"

"What?" Taka still hadn't taken the Z-Pad, leaving Homunculus awkwardly holding it out.

"Nobody cares! At the trial… nobody… even tried to save him…" The tears were threatening to break again, but Taka blinked them away. But just before he could continue his tirade, he stopped, finally noticing that he didn't know this being standing before him.

"Who…?"

"Ah yes," Homunculus straightened up. Finally, familiar territory. "You can call me-"

"The mastermind?!" Taka's eyes widened in horror.

"What – I… no! Listen, you-"

Taka screamed, backing away towards the wall. "No… please… don't kill me!"

"I'm not going to kill you, I'm trying to help you. Please listen."

There was nothing to indicate that Taka should believe these words – no evidence of any sort to point towards it being the truth. But for some reason, he did.

Though he was still very confused.

"Huh?"

"Call me Homunculus."

"I… okay, Homunculus."

That was easier than expected. Once again, Homunculus held out the Z-Pad. "This is called a Z-Pad. It allows you to travel back in time."

"But… Monokuma said…"

"Maybe for regular people it's impossible. I'm not exactly a regular person, though."

Taka looked at Homunculus, taking the device suspiciously. He glanced at the screen and tapped at it, but it didn't change. All that showed was a timeline of events – at least, Taka figured that was what it must be. However, it was all blank – except for one tiny image that Taka squinted at.

It took a few seconds to figure out what it was, but once he had…

The Z-Pad went flying through the air and bounced off Homunculus' head.

"WHAT THE F-" Taka couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, despite how angry he was. "What? Is that?" He said instead, pointing to the screen.

Homunculus was confused by this reaction, but tried to rectify the situation and picked up the Z-Pad to examine it.

"Oh, I forgot to mention – the Z-Pad only allows one to travel to times important to one."

"There are times more important to me than THAT."

"Are there?"

"Of course! The sauna…"

"Ah, but that was important to you and one other. This…" Homunculus tapped the screen showing a snapshot of the trial just before Mondo's execution, "Is important only to you."

"But, how can I save him… if…" Taka's entire body was trembling, but with sadness or with anger…? He couldn't tell.

"Do you recall the state of the other's jacket after the sauna?"

"After…?" Taka's mind raced back to that moment – Mondo propped up beside the door, sweat-soaked jacket clinging to his body… that same jacket trailing along the floor, a stray strand of cotton revealing…

"A button! A button fell off! Will that…?"

"Most likely."

Taka hadn't actually thought Monokuma's rant about how sweat evaporation shields one from the heat of the sauna was actually useful – he'd just exclaimed that during the trial to distract himself from the truth.

He drenched a strip of fabric in water and wrapped it around his hand. Homunculus had been the one to point out where the button had fell, half-buried by coals. At least Mondo's buttons were real brass; Taka didn't want to think about the possibility of if they had been plastic instead.

Taking a deep breath, Taka reached out towards the coals, already feeling the water start to evaporate. He was scared of being burnt, and that made him act slow. But if he acted too slow…

He plunged his hand into the coals, and the makeshift bandage worked well to shield him. But where his fingers touched the button, the built-up heat burnt through the protective layer. He almost instinctively drew his hand back, but instead his bit his tongue and curled his fingers around the button, dropping it onto the floor once he was sure it was out of the coals.

He gasped for breath, air singing through this teeth as he examined his hand. The burn wasn't awful, but there was no denying that he had been injured. Just as he was examining his wound, he heard a soft pinging noise from the Z-Pad, and checked it to find a new image – one of the Taka and Mondo sitting outside the sauna.

Taka was just about to tap on the icon, but paused, realising a question he had asked earlier in anger was actually still quite valid, "Wait, why are you helping me?"

A plethora of answers swirled through Homunculus's mind, all of them equally true.

I had nothing else to do

Some people deserve nice things. If the universe won't give it to them, I will.

I want to see a happy ending.

The world needs breaking once in a while.

But the words that were actually spoken were simply, "I doubt you'd understand."

For a day and a half, Taka stuck by Mondo's side. In the original timeline, he knew exactly when he'd been with Mondo and when they'd been apart – of course he'd kept track of that, because that was some of the happiest moments of his life. From this information, he could easily spend more time without Mondo without accidentally running into his past self. What was a lot harder, however, was trying not to let Mondo know about it.

"Hey, bro, is something wrong?"

The question was sudden, and it made Taka stop dead. "What do you mean?"

"You've been acting weird. Like, one time we had a conversation about pancakes, and then an hour later you're trying to get me to talk about The Crazy Diamonds. What gives, man?"

"Crap." The word slipped out before he could think, and he slapped his hand over his mouth, growing red in the face. He'd only ever sworn once before, and this Mondo had never heard it…

"Woah…" Mondo leant down close to Taka and placed his hand on his forehead. "You sick or sumthin'? Your head feels a bit hot…"

Of course his head would feel hot if Mondo was this close! He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. No, first prevent Chihiro's death; other confessions can come later.

Wait, before that, he had to clear this mess up.

"Do you remember what you asked me in the sauna?"

"What?"

"You asked me how I did it? How I'm always the leader." He paused, "Well…"

"Bro, are you sure you wanna talk about this? You seem stressed."

"Yes." Taka was sure. He'd had more time to think about it – to think about that question, and it in relation to the secret Monokuma had threatened to uncover. He needed to talk about it.

"I guess the real question shouldn't be how… but why. I do love studying – always have. But my family…" Taka swallowed hard. He had wanted to bring the conversation around to his actual secret, but he wasn't ready to talk about that. Not yet, not even with Mondo. "My family were really strict and only wanted me to study; nothing else. The only time I could be around people my age was at school. If I was sporty, I guess I'd have done that. But I'm not a physical person – never have been. So it was only natural that I would gravitate to the position where I'd have contact with the most people – the leader."

"But…" Taka was idly picking at his armband, "Sometimes, it's a lot. Leading people in things like projects, and work – that's easy. But sometimes… sometimes I think the morals and things expected of someone are a bit ridiculous."

Mondo nodded enthusiastically, "The rules are full of shit. But, no offense," he glanced at Taka, "Your family kinda sound like assholes."
Taka's heart sank and he felt dizzy, but this was nothing like the post-sauna wooziness. This was…

"I've gotta go!"

That was the first time since the time travel he'd broken off a conversation with Mondo before he absolutely had to to avoid being found out, but right then, he needed to be alone.

The next time he met up with Mondo, the taller man looked angry, but before Taka could properly process it, he was pinned up against the wall.

"You're gonna tell me what the fuck is going on."

"What…?"

"First you tell me all about your family and whatever. Then I try to ask you about it when I see you again, but you don't know what I'm talking about. Then I realise," Mondo leaned in close, eyes staring directly into Taka's, "You look different. It's small, but you've got more lines around your eyes. So what I wanna know," his free hand punched the wall beside Taka's head, "Is why you're pretending to be Taka."

Oh.

"I… am Taka." What a stupid thing to say, but he didn't know how else to react. He'd been so stupid, not thinking of the ramifications of his words, only caring about his emotions.

"Bullshit!"

Taka flinched, expecting to be hit, but the hand holding his shoulder just clenched tighter. Sure, it was painful, but not nearly as bad as what he expected the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader to be capable of.

"If you're Taka, who's the other guy?"

"Also Taka."

"What…?"

"If you let me go, I can explain."

Maybe it was because he was confused, but Mondo let go without another word. Fishing around in his back pocket, Taka produced the Z-Pad and pushed it against Mondo's chest.

"Time travel." He said, pressing the screen.

They were back in the dining hall, just after Taka had first traveled back in time. It had been added to the Z-Pad's options without his noticing, but he was sure glad for it now.

"What in the shit – " Mondo's voice echoed throughout the room, and Taka was infinitely glad Homunculus had promised the security cameras would be no problem.

The Z-Pad had fallen to the floor after the travel and Mondo picked it up gingerly, inspecting it.

"What's this?" His voice was quiet as he gestured to the screen. Taka didn't even need to check to know what he was referring to, but Mondo elaborated anyway, "Why am I on a motorbike with Monokuma? Is this…"

"Yes." Taka hadn't wanted to tell him, but at this point, just explaining the truth was probably the easiest course of action.

"Chihiro called you over to the locker room to tell you his secret."

"His…? Dude, Chihiro's a girl."

"Well, that was the secret. But anyway, you got real angry after he told you. You felt…"

"I killed him."

Hearing it again struck Taka like a knife. He felt a wave of cold wash over him and his scalp prickled.

"No!"

"What?"

"Well, I mean… yes, you killed him. But! It wasn't your fault! You were scared, and vulnerable and –"

"I didn't want anyone to find out my secret."

"But Monokuma told us anyway."

"…what…" Mondo stared into the distance and visibly started to shake. "You must hate me then."

"What? No! I –" I could never hate you. "It's my fault! If I was there for you, you wouldn't have…"

"I'm fuckin' disgusting." Mondo sat down suddenly, staring into empty space. It reminded Taka of…

"No! You're not! That wasn't your fault either!"

There was an awkward pause as Taka summoned the strength to say what he had wanted to say; the strength to get it off his chest.

"But I suppose it's only fair to tell you mine."

Deep breaths, Taka.

"My uncle… he left us in a lot of debt. It was really stressful on my family, and my home life was never exactly cheerful. But then I started going to school, and it was obvious how good I was at it. I did find studying and learning fun, but then my family…"

He had to pause. This was going to be more difficult than he'd thought.

"They started pushing me. Whenever I had free time, they'd make me study. At first, I didn't want to – I was lazy and wanted to play outside. So, my father – he'd…"

"You weren't lazy! You wanted to be a fuckin' kid!" Mondo leapt to his feet and grasped Taka's shoulders.

"But they needed the scholarship money! I had to…"

"You weren't responsible for them! That wasn't… your…" Mondo trailed off, realising what he was saying. For his part, Taka was dumfounded. He'd been so used to carrying the burden that he didn't even think of the possibility that maybe he didn't have to.

They stared at each other for a moment, and suddenly Mondo pulled Taka into a hug. Tears were streaming from his eyes as he said, "I was right tho. Your family are fuckin' assholes."

Taka wrapped his arms around the other man and buried his face into his shirt.

They stood like that for a while, until Taka finally noticed the soft pinging noise of the Z-Pad. Turning to glance at where it lay on the floor, screen facing upwards, the two men noticed the new icon at the same time. Keeping a firm hold of Taka's hand, Mondo dove across the floor to reach it.

Quite suddenly, they found themselves outside the entrance to Hope's Peak, on the day they had first entered. Glancing at each other, there was a silent agreement to move somewhere they wouldn't be seen. Moving around the back of the building, Taka suddenly realised that Mondo was still holding onto his hand. His hand must've twitched at this realization, because Mondo suddenly let go.

"Sorry, bro!" For some reason, he was louder than usual.

Taka took his hand and held it against his chest. It was like he could still feel the pressure of Mondo's fingers on it, and he wanted to –

"Listen." Mondo stood before him, looming. Taka braced himself, ready for a tirade, or a lecture. And then he realised that Mondo's face was bright red.

"Bro!" No doubt about it; his voice was definitely louder than normal. "You helped save me, and you're so nice and the sweetest guy I've ever met, and –"

Taka's heart jumped into his throat. Wait, was Mondo saying…

"You're so nice, and I'm just a fuckin' delinquent but would you –"

"I couldn't live without you!" Taka surprised himself by interrupting Mondo. "After you were gone, it felt like a black hole inside me. And… I…"

"Bro, are you… confessing to me?"

"Yes!" Taka screamed, his face now burning red. He knew that if his family saw this… he shook his head. No, Mondo was right. He looked up, his entire body trembling as he yelled, "I love you!"

Suddenly, Mondo was laughing, and Taka felt himself freeze. What if he had misread the whole situation? But just as he was starting to fear the worst, Mondo picked him up and held him in a tight embrace.

"Bro, I'm so happy! I've never had a confession work out before because I always start yelling everything! I never thought that the person I was trying to confess to would confess first!"

"So," Taka said, a short while later. Both of them were resting after the extreme emotions of the day, propped up against the wall."

"What do you wanna do now?"

"Probably be a carpenter?"

"Really? Not a mechanic or a racer?"

"Nah," Mondo looked to the sky, shielding his eyes with a hand, "I'll miss the gang enough already; it's probably better if I do something different."

"You could go back to them."

A shadow crossed Mondo's face. "Nah, it's probably better if I don't. What's it called…? Self-care or some shit. What about you?"

"I wanna study more."

"Really, dude? We just talked about this." Mondo looked at Taka with a surprisingly tender look in his eyes and Taka felt his face grow hot again.

"I know! But, like I said, I do enjoy studying! I'll just do it for myself, and make sure I have enough time to relax. Maybe get a part-time job somewhere."

"Fair 'nuff."

Mondo stood up and offered Taka his hand, who gladly took the extra boost.

Neither of them said anything, but both knew what had to be done.

Taka grasped firmly onto his armband as Mondo reached across to hold his jacket. They glanced at each other for a second before flinging their respective articles to the wind. And the atmosphere echoed with the words, "I won't let my past hold me back anymore!"

The smell of coffee filled the air as Taka finished cleaning the mug. He set it back on the shelf, correcting several others to face the same way as he did so. He'd allowed his hair to grow a bit longer during the last year, though he still kept it well-groomed and swept back. Well, except for the times when Mondo would deliberately muss it up.

"I can't believe how good you are at this!" The manager exclaimed, coming back from his tea break. "You've only been working here a week, and you've already memorized all the regulations!"

"Well, I always was a good student."

There was a hint of irony in his tone, but the manager didn't manage to pick up on it, merely nodding at Taka before heading off again. There were a few customers in the shop, but they'd all been served already, and Taka was just thinking he could relax a bit, when…

"Hey, bro!" The voice echoed throughout the entire restaurant as Mondo strode in, the sound of his boots on the floor far louder than the sound of the bell as he opened the door. He shook the extra sawdust off his shoulders as he made his way over to his boyfriend and grabbed a menu.

"I'm pretty sure I saw those women in the corner look at you when you walked in," Taka whispered, motioning towards them with his head.

Mondo instantly turned towards them, keeping one hand on Taka's shoulder as he yelled across the room, "Too bad, ladies! I'm already taken," and turned back to Taka, kissing him.

"You know," he said softly, still holding Taka in an embrace, "if you want a kiss you can just ask."

Taka reddened and squirmed a bit, "I'm at work! How would you feel if I came in while you were working and you wanted a kiss?"

Mondo looked at him straight in the eyes and said, "I'd kiss you. I'd put the saw down and kiss you." A smile crossed his face and he leant closer and continued, "Then I'd push you against the workbench and-"

Taka pushed his hand against his mouth, despite the fact his eyes were twinkling at the thought. "Alright," Mondo said, taking Taka's hand and kissing the back of it, "later, then."

After the coffee was prepared, Mondo stayed at the counter, taking the occasional sip while conversing. "How's varsity going?"

"It's good. Astrophysics is a lot of work, but I like it! A lot of studying."

"Man, I still can't believe someone went and paid it for you! You sure you don't know who would've done that?"

"I'm sure."

That was a lie – Taka was convinced there was only one being who would both be willing and capable of paying his whole tuition, but considering that it had never been confirmed, he couldn't be exactly sure.

The bell tinkled and Homunculus walked in, excitedly looking around the café and instantly spotting the tiered display by the counter as Taka commented, "I took your advice from your last visit."

The macarons almost seemed to sparkle with a hidden nostalgia as Homunculus looked at them. "What flavours?"

"Vanilla, lemon and coffee," Taka replied, pointing to each of the tiers in turn. Throughout this exchange, Mondo kept quiet. He always did whenever Homunculus visited – though he owed much to the strange being, he always felt a bit awkward, considering his first direct contact had only been after the whole time travel thing had resolved.

"Hm…" Homunculus muttered, a contemplative finger tapping the glass. "I'll take a vanilla."

"Huh," Taka remarked as he prepared it, "I thought you'd go for a coffee one for sure."

"Ah, I see why you'd think that." Homunculus took a bite of the confectionary, reveling in the taste, "But I'm not fond of things bittersweet."