Lunchtime at Kibogamine Academy. All the Super High School Level students gathered in the cafeteria, outside, in various classrooms or wherever their talent called them to eat lunch. One such student, Mondo Oowada, the SHSL Biker Gang Leader, leaned against the wall and waited outside the doors to the cafeteria. He was was waiting for his brother, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, or Taka to his friends. Well, they weren't brothers, and in many ways they didn't even resemble each other, but they were as close as two friends could be. Kiyotaka was off doing his quick rounds, checking the halls for delinquency, before heading off to the cafeteria to eat his own lunch. Meanwhile, Mondo was perfectly positioned to throw some intimidating glances at the punier students, who may at times happen to "give" him their lunch money to "ensure their safety." Kiyotaka of course was not aware, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
It had been a pretty good day for Mondo. He had gym class, which was always a breeze for him so long as he didn't give any kids a concussion in dodgeball. Art class he managed to skip... again... and math class he had with his bro so he was at least able to get some help understanding why an X is also a number. He even managed to get a full five dollars out of that pink haired mechanic! Of course, watching the kid's reaction to Mondo glowering at him was worth at least twice that.
Indeed, today had been a fruitful day, or at least it had been until he saw Kiyotaka sulk his way, bagged lunch in hand. Mondo shrugged it off, assuming it had been a rough round of monitoring and he usually didn't want to hear about his fellow delinquents and his bro butting heads again. The two walked off to a table that held their places. They were joined by some of their other classmates, Makoto Naegi and Hifumi Yamada being two of them. Naegi, being the nice guy he was, noticed right off the bat that something was troubling Kiyotaka. "Hey Taka, what's wrong? Hard day of monitoring?" He asked in his genuine way. Mondo winced, knowing better than to ask.
To Mondo's surprise, Kiyotaka just sighed. "No, it's nothing. I would not trouble you with my meager problems." Naegi shrugged and continued nibbling on his sandwich as Ishimaru unpacked his own. Mondo knew this meant trouble. If his bro wasn't willing to talk about it then it was probably weighing heavily on him. Despite his concern, Mondo eyed Kiyotaka's lunch to see if there was anything to mooch on. Of course there wasn't much. Just a sandwich, a granola bar and a bottle of water. Mondo on the other hand had protein, protein, protein. Sakura had given him tips on the right ones to choose to maximize muscle health and growth.
Kiyotaka tore a bite out of his sandwich angrily and chewed with spite. Mondo felt uncomfortable sitting next to him when he was like this. His bro wouldn't be consolable until they could be alone, but this angry eating had been going on for a few weeks and Mondo was not naturally patient. "Uh, hey bro... something wrong with that sandwich? You look like you want it deader than it is."
"Of course it's trash!" Yamada chimed in. "It looks dry and flavorless and it lacks color!"
Mondo snatched a Pocky stick out of the doujin writer's hand and smacked him on the head with it. "Yeah and I'm sure your pizza slice and cheeseburger are so much healthier, fat ass! At least bro doesn't weigh more than... uh... something fat!"
Kiyotaka winced and put a hand on Oowada's shoulder. "Brother, please. You should not point out people's flaws..." He sat up, having finished his meager meal. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go." He hurried off. Mondo followed, but not before splashing Yamada's soda in his face.
"Bro, wait up!" Mondo yelled as he chased after his friend. Kiyotaka increased his pace, walking swiftly in the other direction, head down in shame. Mondo, who was not concerned with running in the halls, caught up to him and grabbed him. Kiyotaka turned around. Tears were streaming down his face. "Bro..." Mondo was not surprised. It was not the first time his bro cried in the halls. Mondo pulled Kiyotaka into a hug, letting the shorter boy sob into his shirt. After a few minutes nobody had passed and Kiyotaka's erratic sobs slowed into heavy breathing. Mondo wrapped an arm around him and the two started walking outside. "Come on, bro. Now you're gonna tell me what's wrong and I'll punch it in the nuts."
Kiyotaka laughed softly. "I would suggest against punching my family history in it's genitalia, metaphorical or physical."
Mondo sat them down under a shady tree away from the other students. "Family history? Is this about your grandpa? Cuz I thought you weren't gonna let that get you down."
"Well, I suppose it does have to do with him... Brother, I don't believe you've ever seen my father. Have you seen a picture of my grandfather?" Kiyotaka said. "What do you remember him being like?"
"Uh, well you told me he was a genius and he let that get the best of him and-" Mondo started but Kiyotaka cut him off.
"No, what did he LOOK like."
"Black hair... red eyes... I guess he was on the bigger side."
"Precisely." Kiyotaka gave a nod. "My grandfather was a big man. In fact he was very big during his time. As was his father, and his father before him, and so on. And so is my father. For generations the Ishimaru family has consisted of big men with large, round, powerful stomachs. It is believed we are descended from a line of champion sumo wrestlers from the feudal era."
"But you're better than that! You're studly and could kick half the school's ass, probably three fourths at any other school!"
"No, I am a disgrace... For generations my family's men were able to fund their size due to a sizable pool of wealth. I am the first of my line too poor to grow to a reasonable size..." Kiyotaka put a hand on his stomach and sighed.
"So you're saying you wanna get fat? Isn't it better to be in shape?"
"Nonsense! Do you know nothing of tradition? And there are plenty of ways to be fatter and healthy. I would never sacrifice my muscle for fat, otherwise the fat would be more harmful to my body! None of my ancestors have let that happen and neither would I... not that it matters. Fat requires excess calories and excess calories require excess food, something my family lacks..." The look on Kiyotaka's face was unfamiliar to Mondo. It was despair. Helplessness. His bro was confronted with a problem he did not believe he could overcome.
Mondo couldn't let his bro be in that dark of a place. "Ya know what? If you wanna get big so bad then I might as well help you!"
Kiyotaka looked up. "Are you sure? You'd do that for me? How?"
"I dunno, you need good grub, I can help ya get it! I'll help ya get good and fat! Even if it's kinda weird..." Mondo gave Kiyotaka a thumbs up. Kiyotaka threw his arms around Mondo in an embrace.
"Thank you so much! Thank you!" He started crying again. "Thank you..." Mondo just returned the hug. He enjoyed these moments where he could experience affection, pure human contact, away from prying eyes. As stupid as it sounded, Mondo felt safe with Kiyotaka in his arms, like the world's problems were tiny. He'd do anything for his bro and he was sure the feeling were mutual, so long as that "anything" abides by the rules. After a minute or so, Kiyotaka broke the hug. "So when do we start?"
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