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Mash's hands are bleeding.
He doesn't realize this until his head starts to spin from the abrupt blood loss. Mash tries to tighten his hold on the chain even more, but he's already drained from the airborne confrontation with Innocent Zero, he's hurting, nerves and skin scraped raw. His flesh presses deep into steel and draws out red, red, red. The colour drips onto the ground, soaking the soil like the spreading of rust; the overwhelming smell of iron floods his nostrils, pungent, nauseating. Still, Mash has to breathe. He has to breathe. If his body collapses from a lack of oxygen, he can't fight.
What if he lets go?
Grappling against the chains and Mash's strength, the towering, dozen-headed monster strangles out roars that shake the ground beneath his feet, making Mash stumble and force his legs further into the earth. For just a moment, the sound muffles the unintelligible screams of the Easton Academy students, and that unbidden thought just— crosses his mind.
But Mash stands his ground. He digs his shaking feet in even deeper, creating little craters of his own. Strains every muscle he has on the chain in his trembling arms, and...him letting go is not an option. It never was. Mash knows he's the only one who can stop this monster, bigger than him, bigger than every student combined, bigger than the school building and its colossal stone walls, but for all its height and size, it's not stronger than him. He won't let it be. As long as the monster does not relent, Mash won't either.
...Kinda wish I could have taken off my wrist weights before all this, though, he vaguely thinks. But as soon as he has the breathing space for that single thought, the monster ceases its struggling, changing its stance to forcefully yank the metal chain in its direction instead. There's an instant where Mash feels the chain slipping from his grasp, and his stomach twists in a far-too-unfamiliar dread, but he hauls it back just in time.
Mash has never played tug-of-war, but he imagines this is how it would feel like to ordinary people. Seconds stretch into minutes that feel like small eternities, but neither monster nor human give way, both at an staggering impasse. Piercing static buzzes in Mash's ears, drowning out everything but his hammering pulse. Across the metal, cracks have formed where his bleeding fingers grip harder than he has ever done before, muscles tenser than they have ever been before. If Mash pretends this is just another part of the Selection Exam, he can almost imagine, that—
A beat, where all the white noise in Mash's head falls silent enough for the words to ring, clear.
"ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ ᴅᴏ ɪᴛ, ᴍᴀsʜ!"
Mash's heart does something funny as he looks up, almost thinks he's hallucinating Finn's voice, and 𝐏𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐒.
The monster goes flying as Mash swings the chain skyward, and there is a sudden blissful quiet as it hovers in the air for a brief moment, before Mash uses the tremendous built-up momentum to hurl the chain to the side. The monster's massive body crashes into the far-off mountains, causing an deafening explosion that leaves their masses broken and hollow.
As the aftershocks of the tremors fade, Mash stares into the distance, observing the newly changed geography with mild interest. The mountains look like someone took a really big bite out of them, and he faintly ponders whether someone will have to redraw them on maps, and give them a new name, like "Cavities". He doesn't really know why that's the first thought that came to mind.
There's the distant sound of cheering from the school's colosseum, but Mash only returns to his senses when he registers a certain someone calling his name, just the way he heard before. He knows it's Finn, even before he turns around to look.
Mash can’t help but wonder if the encouragement he heard was real. That amidst it all, the sound of Finn’s voice is what...
His roommate stops just a distance in front of him, relief in his gaze. "I'm glad you're alright!" Finn says, smiling.
Mash wants to ask if Finn had really cheered him on just now, confirm that it wasn't just his imagination, but when he opens his mouth all he gives is an affirmative hum and a "Thanks."
Still, Finn looks at him, smiles at him, like it’s enough. It seems that to Finn, even his shortest replies, his smallest gestures, are always enough, and it’s...nice.
The chance to bring it up is lost when Lemon catches up with them, her eyes sparkling and cheeks flushed, bursting with praise for him. Mash opens his mouth again to thank her as well, but she’s...not listening to him, suddenly caught up in her flowery words and usual marriage fantasies, even when Mash is right in front of her. He closes his mouth, baffled, as he usually is with Lemon. She’s a great friend, and Mash cares for her, but sometimes he wonders if Lemon ever actually sees him, or if she has ever thought of Mash as someone other than a potential husband, which Mash honestly doesn’t plan to be. Even now, she looks like she wants something, and that something is soft and kind and...not a thing that Mash can give, or even knows how to give.
Mash looks to Finn, whose smile has turned slightly apologetic. Almost hesitantly, his roommate reaches into one of the pockets in his uniform. When Mash sees what it is, he stares, and his heart quietly does the same funny thing like it did earlier. Like it’s gotten squeezed. A bit like a whipped cream piping bag, he decides.
“Eat up,” Finn says, holding out a slightly squashed cream puff.
Mash has to comprehend the sight for the grand total of half a second. He gently takes the pastry in his hand, like its flavour is a limited edition that even Mash can't replicate. "Mm," he mumbles, wondering if he could say something else, but he still feels a little dizzy from the tug-of-war, and Lemon is on her tiptoes with her eyes closed for some unfathomable reason, so Mash just meets Finn's eyes in a short, understanding glance before biting into the cream puff.
It's just as sweet as usual, but Mash thinks it's the best one he's had in a long time.