Chapter Text
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8:12
Taka looks up from his watch when he heard Makoto walk in. "Taka, hi!" Makoto said to him as he walked over, cheerfully.
Too happy, after what had just occurred.
Makoto just sighs, beginning to look around.
"Huh, wonder what that is..." He mutters to himself, looking at the giant machine in the center of the lab. "There's a door on it, have you gone in?"
Taka doesn't answer him.
"I'll take that as a no," Makoto replies to himself. "Wanna at least come here and help me open it up?"
Taka stands there for a moment, staring at the machine, before deciding to help. He can't allow himself to be completely useless.
He helps Makoto pry open the door to the machine in front of the two of them.
"See anything?" Makoto asks Taka as he steps in.
Taka looks around the small container inside the machine the two discovered. Inside the compartment was a small screen, flashing with bright letters and numbers that Taka couldn't make out exactly, some buttons and levers on a control panel, and a note. The note was ripped at the bottom left corner, with no trace of the missing paper scrap on the floor. Taka picked up the note, handing it to Makoto to read. His eyes were too heavy and his head hurt too much to be able to focus on anything long enough to read a single word. He had gotten zero sleep the night previously, for obvious reasons.
"A-a time machine?!" Makoto exclaimed.
Taka's eyed widened. He snatched the paper from Makoto's hands, suddenly having the ability to see clearly once again.
'Do not touch! This machine is able to travel across the realms of space and time, something your minds are far too small for you to understand.
- timate Physicist.'
The name on the note was cut off at the tear, along with part of the second last word, but Taka put it together that it was supposed to say 'Ultimate'. The Ultimate Physicist...
"Maybe we can..." Makoto mutters, barely audible to Taka. "We could go back, stop everything. Stop everyone from coming. We can save everyone..."
Taka takes one look at the flashing screen to see that, maybe, it wasn't the most probable idea.
"No, hang on." He says, pointing at the screen. Makoto jumps at the sound of his voice. Taka didn't blame him, not only was it the first time he's spoken since last night, his voice was broken, scratchy. His throat burned from talking, after screaming as hard as he could and begging for anyone to stop what was happening, he barely had anything left to physically say. "Look. 'Fuel remaining', and it says forty-eight hours..."
"Huh." Makoto steps past Taka and stares at the screen. "Well, I guess since nobody's here to refuel the thing. But, forty-eight hours...That's two days-"
"Wait."
Makoto turns to face Taka, who stared wide-eyed at the screen.
"Two days...If we were to use it...." Taka says, his voice hushed. "We would be...The morning after the sauna."
Makoto looks back at the screen, then to Taka. He knew what Taka was saying. If he were able to travel back the remaining time, he could save Chihiro, stop Mondo. Keep both of them alive.
Makoto only shook his head. "Taka, we shouldn't...Not yet. We should wait to talk to everyone else first, I'll bring it up in private to Kyoko, and we'll figure something out. " He asks, holding onto Taka's arm. "Look, we don't know what this thing can do. For all we know, it's just something Monokuma set up to mess with us. And, even if it's not, how do we know it's safe? I don't want you to get your hopes up about saving him, and then..."
Taka stares straight into Makoto's eyes, as if his gaze would alter his opinion.
He lets out a shaky breath. "I miss him." He stutters, looking down at his shoes.
Makoto gives him a sad smile and squeezes his arm. "But he would want you to live on, wouldn't he? Not run blindly into the first machine you see. Let's get outta here, we can go grab something for you to eat."
Taka closes his eyes. "Okay, okay...I just need a second."
Makoto nods, and leaves the small chamber of the machine.
Poor Taka, he thought. All he wanted was his friend back. But this wasn't safe. For all he knew, it was some weird machine that would kill them, or does something else. Or absolutely nothing. There's no way time travel exists.
Makoto shoots around when he hears the door to the chamber slam shut, and the machine whirl to life.
"Taka?!" He shouts, running to the door and banging on it. "Taka! Answer me!"
"I'm sorry, Makoto...." He hears Taka say from the other side of the door. His voice was full of uncertainty. "But, if there's any chance for me to save him...I need to take it. I promise you, I'll do whatever I can to prevent a murder from happening again..."
Makoto slams on the door. "Dammit Taka, open up! What if you hurt yourself?! What if you get yourself killed?! We don't know what that thing does!"
Taka doesn't respond for a moment. Makoto was scared he had somehow already hurt himself, and he would open the door and find Taka on the ground lifeless.
"If I die now, does it even matter?"
Makoto gasps. "T-Taka...What are you-"
"I couldn't stop him. I was supposed to...I should have..." Taka says. Makoto could hear him fiddling with buttons and switches. "If this works, and I can go back, I can stop this from happening. But, if I die in here...Well, was there really anything lost?"
"Taka, don't say that!" Makoto shouts. He tries his hardest to find any way to pull the door open. "Mondo wouldn't want this! He wouldn't want you to risk killing yourself because of this!"
"I don't care!" Taka screams. Makoto stumbled back. That voice. The same voice he had heard in the court room, while everyone watched Mondo's execution. Agony. Pain. Utter despair.
"I don't care what Mondo would want now! I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I DON'T CARE!" Taka's voice cracks. "I want this, I need this, Makoto. I need him. If you could take back Leon's murder, if you could bring Sayaka back, wouldn't you?"
Makoto doesn't answer. He knows he would. But admitting that is the wrong thing to say.
"I'm going back," Taka states firmly. "I'm going to stop Mondo. I'm not going to let him die. Not again."
"What's going on?!" Makoto hears a voice behind him. "We heard screaming and came as fast as we could!"
He whips around, seeing two familiar faces at the door. Sakura and Hina.
Perfect, he thought. With Sakura's strength, the door may open, and with Hina's kindhearted and caring nature, there would be someone to talk to Taka, help him recover.
"I'll explain everything as soon as we get this damn door open!" Makoto tells them. "Taka's in there!"
Sakura wastes no time, walking straight to the door of the machine and breaking it open.
When the three look inside, it's empty.
The screen flashed again, bright red text.
Fuel remaining: 0
Makoto helps Taka stand up, pulling him out of the room as fast as Taka's legs would go.
Taka felt weak. He felt like he would collapse at any moment, he felt like he was about to throw up everything in his stomach and then some. He could still hear it. The sounds of the tires on metal. The sounds of the machines whirring. His screams of agony...
"Hey, let's get you to your room." Makoto says softly as he leads Taka to the dorms. Everyone followed at a cautious distance behind the pair, even Byakuya, who didn't dare say another word, which is odd, considering the show he put on in the court room.
Hina jogged up to meet the pair as they passed the dining hall. "Go grab him something to drink," She says to Makoto. "I'll walk him the rest of the way."
Makoto nods, walking away from the other two and into the dining hall.
Hina walks Taka the rest of the way to his room. "Can I have your key?" She asks softly, holding her hand out. Taka pulls it out of his pocket, placing it in her hand. She unlocks Taka's door for him, allowing him to go inside.
The first thing Taka did when he entered the room was collapse on his bed. His legs finally gave out, his body gave into the despair he felt.
Makoto walks in with a bottle of water and a couple slices of bread, placing it on his desk.
"We'll be back to check on you before nighttime, okay?" Hina tells him. She leans down, placing a gentle kiss to his temple, smiling sadly as she leaves the room with Makoto.
When the two returned, Taka's door was unlocked. They entered nervously, seeing him in the same spot he was before. On his bed, staring at the wall, bread and water untouched.
"Hey buddy," Makoto whispers as he walks in. "Did you sleep?"
Taka doesn't answer.
"Are you feeling hungry? We can grab you something else from the dining hall.
Taka remains silent.
"You wanna go for a walk before nighttime?" Makoto asks. "Maybe talk to the others for a bit?"
Taka continues to stare at the wall.
Hina sighs. "Okay, we're gonna go then. You know where we are if you need us," She says, walking towards the door. "And, Taka, please try to get some sleep."
The lights shut off, Taka's door shuts, he's in complete darkness, complete silence. Alone with his thoughts.
Taka doesn't sleep at all. All he could think about was Mondo. Mondo's actions, Mondo's voice, Mondo's face, Mondo's screams.
Taka gets out of bed for the first time a few minutes to 7 am. He exits the room, door still unlocked, and heads to the dining hall. His feet dragged on the floor with every step he took. His arms stayed glued to his side.
Hiro was at the door when he got there, waiting for it to unlock.
"Hey man," He says, in a tone he's never heard Hiro use before. "How are ya feeling?"
Taka doesn't respond. Hiro goes to say something else, but the morning time announcement cuts him off. He shrugs himself off, pushing the doors to the dining hall open for the day and walking in. Taka follows him, same painfully slow pace he walked on his way to the dining hall.
"Taka..."
Everyone starts to file into the dining hall after the announcement, the usually early students there first.
"Taka."
Taka takes his usual seat as the tardy students begin making their way in. Everyone begins sitting at the table around him, making small talk while they wait.
"TAKA!"
Taka shoots out of his seat at the sudden noise, falling backwards onto his butt.
"Bro, you okay?"
His eyes widen. That voice...
His vision was no longer blurry, his eyes no longer hurting, nor was his head. Everything about his health spoke 'well rested'.
Everyone had surrounded him, staring confused, concerned, and some frightened.
"Taka?" Another voice said. "What's wrong?"
His eyes shoot to the direction that the voice came from. Makoto stood there, staring at him with wide eyes. Above him was the clock. a quick glance at it told Taka everything he needed.
8:15.
"Did something happen?" Taka's eyes drifted to the second voice.
Chihiro. There he was. Talking, breathing, alive.
"Seriously, dude, talk to us."
The first voice he hear, once again. He whipped his head around.
Mondo.
There he was. Everyone was here, save for Sayaka and Leon. Two people that were impossible to save.
Taka shoots up suddenly.
"Fine!" He says, his voice shaky. "Perfectly fine! Just...Had a little shiver!"
Everyone looked at him suspiciously
"I-I, ah, I need to go to my room for a while." He says, slowly backing away from the table. "Suddenly not feeling well!"
"What the heck was that about?" He hears Makoto say behind him as he runs away.
"I dunno. We should probably check on him later." Hina replies.
The muffled conversation gets quieter and quieter as Taka runs straight to his dorm.
He slams the door behind him, slowly sinking down against it until he reaches the floor.
Mondo was there. Chihiro was there. Was he really back?
This wasn't a dream, was it?
He began pinching himself all over his arm, until the pain became more, well, painful than an annoyance.
This was real, he told himself. It worked, you're back. He's alive. You can save him.
-\/-