After his brief but weird encounter with Kyoko, TK planned to work out in the locker room for the rest of the day. He thought about asking either Hina or Sakura if they wanted to join him but he still believed that things between him and Sakura were still awkward and he assumed that Hina was hanging out with Sakura for the day. He also didn't want to work out with Mondo because he thought the biker's exercise regimen was going to be a little too extreme for him.
Heading to the locker room, TK saw Chihiro standing in the hallway. She was cringing with pain while scratching her right arm. He could hear her muttering her displeasure the closer he got.
"Is everything ok, Chihiro?"
"It hurts…" Chihiro answered as she continued to scratch her arm.
"How did you get hurt? Did someone hurt you?" TK worriedly asked. Chihiro embarrassingly shook her head and avoided eye contact with TK.
"Oh, well… not really. I got bit by a mosquito last night."
"A mosquito bite? I thought it was something serious with how you were acting."
"Oh, did I give you the wrong impression…? S-Sorry…!" Chihiro tearfully apologized, making TK feel bad.
"You don't need to apologize. I overreacted so keep your chin up," TK told her and she perked up a little. "But you said it hurt. It must've bit you badly."
"Yeah, look," Chihiro lifted her hand to reveal a huge red bump on her pale skin.
"Oh jeez!" TK overreacted. Chihiro flinched and aggressively scratched her bug bite to the point TK was worried she would draw blood.
"It's way past itchy now. It really hurts…!"
"I bet. The little guy must've gotten ya when you were asleep."
"Oh, no. I was awake."
"Then you didn't notice it?"
"No, I noticed. But…" Chihiro looked away in embarrassment as TK was baffled by what she was telling him.
"But what?"
"Well, I felt it bite me, and I looked down at it. But I didn't do anything. I just sat there and watched it suck my blood…"
"Why didn't you smack it?"
"Cuz… that would've killed it."
"Well, yeah but…"
"It must have been really hungry to suck that much blood. If it was that hungry, it would've been really sad not to let it have anything," Chihiro said sadly.
"It's just a mosquito."
"Mosquitos are living things too, though. It might have its own mosquito family…" Chihiro then blushed from embarrassment and looked away. "S-Sorry, I know that's dumb…"
"It's not, you don't have to apologize," TK saw her scratch the bite and saw a little drop of blood forming from the tip of it. "You'll only make it worse if you continue to scratch it like that."
"But it's so itchy, I can't help it!" Chihiro whined. TK grabbed her arm and pushed the tip of his pointer finger onto the bite.
"Just do this whenever it itches. If it still itches then place an icepack on it for ten minutes or dab a towel soaked with baking soda and water on it," TK told her, remembering the tips Joe told him and his friends whenever they went camping.
"Wow, I had no idea! You're so smart, Takeru!" Chihiro said as she smiled like a tiny cute animal. "But don't you think it's kinda strange?"
"What is?"
"Well this school is completely sealed off, right? So how'd a mosquito get in? Maybe there's somewhere here in the school where bugs can live and grow. Some kind of… nature-y spot," Chihiro then had an excited look on her face as she hopped in place. "Or or or! Maybe there's a secret passage somewhere that leads out of the school!"
"Hopefully, but if there isn't, I swear we'll find another way out of here. I know we will if we all worked together."
"You're right! Working together is super important…" Chihiro cheered before frowning. "Of course, I dunno how I can be useful. I'll probably just weigh you all down…"
"Don't say that! Everyone has their own abilities they bring to the table."
"Really?"
"Yes. So don't beat yourself up because I know you'll be useful to getting us out of here."
"O-Okay! Thank you, Takeru!" Chihiro cheered. Takeru smiled and gave her a head pat before leaving for the locker room. He was happy to help out Chihiro and make her feel useful.
TK finished his final set for the day and stretched his arms. He was drenched in sweat and was exhausted. He felt his stomach rumble and checked the clock that was hanging over the door.
"I have enough time for a quick meal and shower before nighttime."
Wiping off his sweat with a towel, TK made his way to the dining hall. Since it was close to nighttime, TK expected to have a quiet meal. His expectations were quickly diminished when he saw Mondo and Taka arguing in the middle of the dining hall.
"Hey, Takeru! Perfect timing!" Taka yelled, Taking TK by surprise.
"Huh? What?"
"I have a favor to ask!" Mondo grumbled, making TK sweat nervously.
'I don't like the sound of that.'
"C'mon, Takeru. You gotta be our witness!" Mondo demanded.
"To what exactly?"
"This guy's been talkin' shit about me since day one. Callin' me a coward and shit like that…" Mondo growled as he glared daggers at Taka.
"You are a coward!" Taka declared as he returned the glare. "That's why you turn to violence to solve your problems! That's why you can't do what society asks of you, why you walk around dressed like that!"
TK questioned if Taka was in the right headspace because he never thought he would be dumb enough to say stuff like that to Mondo. Speaking of the biker gang leader, he had his fists and teeth clenched as he stared at the ground.
"...The fuck you say? You dunno shit."
"You've already lost to yourself, but you're such a coward you don't even realize it!" Taka continued to chastise the biker.
"So what, you sayin' you're not a coward? You think you're tougher than me?" Mondo cracked his knuckles as he approached Taka.
"I know I am!" Taka scoffed.
"Okay, then let's throw down. Prove you got what I don't got!" Mondo threatened as he got in Taka's face. Taka didn't back down and pushed back.
"I accept your challenge!"
TK watched as the two butt heads. He thought about splitting the two up but remembered the last time he got in between Mondo and someone he wanted to fight, so he stayed out of it. They didn't back off from each other until a couple seconds passed and the two turned and looked at him.
"So that's what's happenin', Takeru. You gotta be our witness!" Mondo once again demanded. TK awkwardly chuckled as he wondered if it was too late to go to his room.
"You're not about to start fighting, right?" TK asked. Mondo's expression softened as he clicked his tongue.
"There's a bathhouse on the 1st floor of the dorm, right? With a sauna inside?" Mondo asked and Taka understood where Mondo was going with their challenge.
"I see… a simple endurance contest, is it? We're going to see who can stay in the sauna the longest, am I right!?" Taka proudly proclaimed.
"Goddamn straight!"
Mondo and Taka then marched out of the dining hall and dragged TK along with them. TK tried to talk them into letting him go but they were gung-ho about him being their witness. Soon, they were all outside of the sauna and both Mondo and Taka had looks of determination.
"Are you sure you guys want to do this? It's almost Nighttime," TK reminded them, but they both remained determined.
"Shit yeah!" Mondo exclaimed.
"He'll be done in a matter of minutes, anyway. People like him are, without exception, all talk!" Taka declared.
"Bring! It! On! Hell, let's make things interesting. Wouldn't wanna win without a challenge, right?" Mondo then cracked his knuckles for what was to come. "We're gonna battle with all our clothes on!"
"Th-That's idiotic! Suicidal!" Taka yelled, taken aback by what Mondo was proposing.
"What, you afraid?" Mondo chided.
"Y-You're going to regret this!" Taka told him, but Mondo didn't listen.
"Shut up and let's do this!"
Mondo charged into the sauna fully clothed while Taka stripped down and covered himself with a towel before following. TK peered through the sauna window and saw looks of determination on both of their faces. He couldn't help but worry though. They were both sweating like pigs and they hadn't been in there for longer than a minute.
"H-Hey, Mondo…" Taka spoke.
"What, asshole?" Mondo grumbled.
"You can take off your uniform, ya know. Go ahead, I won't judge," Taka said with full sincerity.
"And you can shut the fuck up and mind your own business. I mean look at you. Your face is all red. What're you, one of those goddamn hot spring monkeys?"
TK saw how red Taka was. He could've been mistaken for having a horrible sunburn.
"I-It just so happens… I was born with a red face…!" Taka said in a defensive manner.
"You don't have to act all big, man," Mondo said in a caring tone.
"A-Act, you say?" Taka then started laughing as if he lost his mind. "I'm still plenty good to go! I'm so good, I could eat a steaming-hot bowl of soup right now!"
TK questioned if they were ok, but he could see they were still conscious. He considered leaving and getting a quick snack, but he chose to stay just in case they needed him. He decided to have a quick bath to clean the sweat off of him and remove his stench.
Minutes passed, then a couple of dozen minutes passed, then an hour passed and TK was getting concerned. He assumed they would've come out after he was done with his bath over a half hour ago, but they didn't. Only the sound of their grunts let him know they were still conscious. He peered through the window and saw that they hadn't moved an inch and still looked determined as ever.
"D-Don't you think… it's about time… you gave up?" Taka said while heavily breathing.
"What about you? You can't even hardly talk… dumbass," Mondo said tiredly.
"Say wh-whatever you want… I'm still totally… good to go! In fact, I'm starting to feel… kinda cold!"
"That's… prolly not good…" Mondo said worriedly.
"Guys, I think this has gone on long enough. You should come out now," TK told them. He expected them to come out but he didn't see them move an inch.
"Shut up!" Mondo and Taka yelled. TK sighed and disapprovingly shook his head.
The bell rang and the evening announcement played. TK expected them to move after that, but they didn't
"Did you hear that? It's nighttime, so why don't we call it a tie," TK yelled through the door, thinking the two couldn't hear the bell in the sauna.
"In a true competition… there's no such thing as a tie!" Taka yelled back. "You win, or you lose. That's… the only thing that matters!"
"Listen to you… you son of a bitch…! Then bring it on…! I'll… I'll push you right up to the gates of hell!" Mondo said, not backing down from the challenge.
"This doesn't seem healthy!" TK told them.
"Yeah, you hear him? Better crawl on back… to your room…! I'll let you know how it went… in the morning! Then you can start spreading my… my legend…!" Mondo tiredly said to Taka.
"Come tomorrow morning… you'll fall down in front of me… down on your knees. I'll show you where to do it…!" Taka tiredly retorted.
"Big talk from someone… whose face is about to explode…!"
"Right back a-at ya!"
"What the hell am I listening to? Are they even talking about the challenge?" TK quietly said to himself. He then yawned and looked back through the window. TK now realized that they were too stubborn to listen to him so he decided to go back to his room.
Now back in his room, TK slid into bed and prepared to sleep.
"I used to think Matt and Tai's fights got out of hand, but those two take things to a different level. I hope they stop soon before something bad happens," TK said as he got comfortable. He closed his eyes and went to sleep with one last thought. "I hope I don't get held responsible for their death if one of them dies."
TK walked to the dining hall faster than normal. He wanted to make sure that Mondo and Taka were fine. He walked through the doors expecting the worst but was taken by surprise when he heard a loud belly laugh.
In the middle of the room were Mondo and Taka with their arms around each other's shoulders, laughing like there was no tomorrow.
"What are you talkin' about, bro?" Mondo bellowed out.
"What are YOU talkin' about, bro!?" Taka responded with his own laugh.
"What did I miss?" TK asked out loud and it gained the attention of the duo.
"Hey, Takeru!" Mondo called out.
"Thank you so much for acting as our witness yesterday!" Taka added.
"Did I miss something?" TK asked out loud as he took a seat at one of the tables.
"They've been like this all morning," Hina answered with a shrug. "They were all buddy-buddy as soon as they walked in. It feels gross."
"Feels gross? Hell no. Feels great, more like!" Mondo argued and Taka nodded in agreement.
"This almost feels like sexual harassment, somehow…" Hina silently said and TK chuckled.
"Forget her, bro. A girl like her just doesn't get our manly bond! A friendship between men is stronger than blood! A woman could never understand!" Taka proudly declared and Mondo acted as if he wiped away a stray tear.
"What you just said? Bro, That was cool as shit! I should get a tattoo of it!"
"No, bro, you mustn't! Your body is a temple, given to you by your loving parents!"
"So… who won the contest?" TK asked, putting a damper on the mood. Both Mondo and Taka looked at him as if he asked an offensive question.
"Who gives a shit!?" Mondo yelled.
"Yeah, don't ask stupid questions! What matters is that we both took part in it together!" Taka added to what Mondo said.
"That is almost the exact opposite of what you said last night," TK exhaled.
"Friendship between men seems very… simplistic," Sakura commented. "Nothing like what I'm used to with girls."
"Yeah, for real…" Hina said in agreement.
"It's more of a respect thing. You do something that the other guy thinks is awesome, they'll respect you," TK explained and Hina shook her head.
"That's still simplistic if you ask me."
"Well we are a simple creature," TK joked, which got a laugh out of both Hina and Sakura. Hearing Sakura reminded TK of what he needed to do. "Hey, Sakura, can I talk to you later?"
"Sure, Takeru," Sakura answered and TK softly smiled. Hina was a little confused, but he told her it was nothing. He was glad he had the opportunity to apologize for what he did.
