The game itself wasn't the best in the world, but it was a lot of fun—at least, for them. Tsuna, on the other hand, was not having a good time. The ball seemed to have a personal vendetta against him, aiming for his most sensitive spots with a kind of sweet and loving ferocity that Tsuna was sure would leave him covered in bruises for a full week. Luckily, he was an expert at hiding his pain, a skill he had perfected over the years. But for now, he couldn't worry about that, even though the constant barrage of hits made him want to quit. It was a good thing he was such a good liar, and had managed to deceive everyone by shaking off the pain as if it were nothing. He just wished he could dodge or return the balls without drawing too much attention. The game was getting more and more annoying, but he kept playing to keep his friends happy, even if it was at his own expense.
"Oh, not again," he thought with irritation as he saw the ball flying directly at him. Blumk!
"I think it's better to end the game," Hana muttered without emotion. That was already the fifth time he had been hit in the same spot.
"Juu-daime!" Gokudera, his ever-faithful right hand, immediately rushed to his boss's side. "Are you okay?!"
"Are you okay, Tsu-kun?" Kyoko asked, her face showing genuine concern.
"Just take a deep breath... nothing happened, truly nothing happened," Tsuna repeated to himself like a mantra. But the mantra had lost its effect after being used so many times in the last hour. In total silence, Tsuna got up from the ground as if nothing had happened, picked up the ball, and... Whoosh!
"I'm fine, Kyoko-chan," he said with a sweet smile, his anger momentarily forgotten. The ball had just grazed the boxer's head by mere millimeters, leaving a trail of fire and a deep crater in the sand.
"But—" Kyoko was cut off by her brother.
"EXTREME!" Ryohei shouted, throwing the ball again and starting the next round.
Yamamoto jumped to return the ball, but couldn't even touch it. He and Kyoko both shivered. Gokudera fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, his face red and burning as the ball bounced innocently beside him. Seeing this, the girls got out of the game. The boys, apparently, were not as smart as they were, but neither girl could blame Tsuna for his sudden outburst of anger. It was certainly terrifying. Yamamoto didn't have time to call a pause even as the game continued. After five minutes of Tsuna not letting him touch the ball and watching Ryohei receive new "decorations" on his body with open arms, he decided to make a tactical retreat, taking the still-unconscious Gokudera with him.
The two girls, the baseball player, and the unconscious bomber took refuge behind the court door, peeking out through a crack. They wondered what exactly happened to make Tsuna "wake up." He was playing so well he was making the boxer eat the dust—or rather, the ball. None of them could deny it. But if he knew how to play so well, why didn't he play like that from the beginning instead of taking hit after hit? He didn't seem to be getting tired, either. The boxer was another story; the poor guy was already beaten enough. In less than a minute, Ryohei had been defeated and joined Gokudera's team until further notice.
Tsuna let out a deep sigh and sat on the benches. Before they could even wonder if it was safe to come out, he spoke.
"Come out. I won't do anything to you. The game is already over; there's nothing else to do here," he said. "If I get hit in my 'noble parts' again, I will take away your lights." He threatened, before throwing himself onto the bench and curling up, apparently remembering the pain.
Yamamoto laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck, while Hana patted her forehead and Kyoko went to get water and probably an ice pack. Was that the cause of everything? A few hits to his 'noble parts'? Tomorrow would be purple, and Sunday would be green and yellow. He had every right in the world to "blow up," and what a tremendous explosion it was.
"Tsuna—"
"I just need to rest, that's all," Tsuna cut him off. He didn't want to hear it, not at all. "I don't plan to play anymore," he added, just in case they had the wonderful idea of killing time with another game. There would be blood if they tried, and it wouldn't be his.
"...You really hit him hard," Yamamoto commented, looking at the poor boxer on the floor. He was almost sure that Ryohei would be bruised tomorrow.
"No, you all hit me hard," Tsuna growled, making their hair stand on end. Where did the sweet and scared Tsuna they all knew go?
There was no further comment from that point on, but frankly, Tsuna didn't care. Everything hurt, even places he didn't know he had. All because of them and their "magnet balls"! They would pay for it, but by the time the pain passed, his rage would be gone too, and he wouldn't do anything to them.
After a long time, when he had already calmed down, he got up and saw a water bottle in front of him, but no one was in sight. He sighed tiredly before drinking from it. Apparently, he had fallen asleep soundly if they had left so as not to disturb him. Oh yes, he had definitely fallen asleep, because now he was watching a beautiful sunset. How many hours did he sleep? All afternoon. It was a beautiful view and all, but... it was late.
He calmly decided to look for his friends, if they were still there and hadn't gone home. Besides, it was too late; arriving home later would only make his punishment worse, so he wouldn't bother rushing. Reborn would still kill him anyway; there was no escape, only a crueler death. It was a good thing that he was a masochist, because if he hadn't, he would have committed suicide a long time ago. Although to be honest, he didn't receive any pleasure, joy, or satisfaction from the pain. He was just so used to it that he no longer even feared the tortures of his former tutor.
"...Huh, what is this?" he asked himself aloud, picking up a note. "...Dear Tsuna," he read aloud. Who the hell called him "dear"? His mother didn't count. "We went to buy pizza since we think you'll be hungry by the time you wake up and your mom and the kids are on their way to New York... Wait, New York?" Tsuna stopped reading. New York? Oh, holy God... Reborn already had everything ready if he had taken his mother and the kids out with something so conspicuous. Tsuna shrugged; he wasn't scared. He was dead the moment Reborn had said the next thing in that sentence. At least the children wouldn't see his corpse...
"Gao," Natsu meowed from his shoulder. Tsuna didn't have the heart to tell him that he shouldn't be outside. Besides, there was no one around.
"...See you in a while, Tsuna."
"Gao?"
Tsuna stroked Natsu's head, making him purr as the note turned to ashes. They said, "for a while," but how long was a while to them? And did they really think that he was going to stay there alone? Of course not. He didn't want to fight Hibari, especially not during the night. And he had to go to his own funeral. Not for the first time, Tsuna wondered if so many blows and follies in his life had driven him to madness or to the brink of it, because he was sure that if he wasn't crazy for using Reborn as a shield and an excuse and not being at all worried about his near-death, then he must be close to being insane. But from what he saw, his family believed that he was in good shape, not that they were all that well in the head, let's say...
"HHHIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Tsuna cal—Blam! Crash! Kataboom!"
Kyoko could only break out in a cold sweat and watch helplessly as Natsu jumped up and hid behind a tree, as Tsuna ran away like a soul possessed, his scream still echoing. She saw Yamamoto rolling on the ground, fainting, with a large bruise on his cheek, in addition to the bruise on almost his entire face. This was nothing more than a tragic accident on Yamamoto's part. He had quietly approached him and placed a friendly hand on his shoulder... but her companion didn't see it the same way.
"That's how it's done, Juu-daime! You finally got what you deserved, you idiot!" Gokudera, with his face still red from the terrible ball he received from his boss, laughed almost maniacally.
As funny as the whole incident was, the girl felt sorry for what happened to Yamamoto, but at the same time she was relieved and grateful for two things: she wasn't the one who had received such a blow, and... seeing Tsuna scared like that, it had been a long time since she had heard him scream like that. On the other hand, she had to be thankful that she and Hana (who had already gone home) were the only ones unharmed for the day.
"Juuuudddddaaaaiiiiiimmmeee!"
Kyoko broke out in a cold sweat and felt as sorry for Tsuna as Natsu did, even though the former only God knew where he had gotten himself into. Well, in a few minutes everything would be forgotten, and Tsuna would surely return after having gotten over the fright. It wasn't as if it wasn't the first time this had happened to him. Even so, Yamamoto should have thought about it more carefully and not hit him from behind like that. The only thing he gained was a trip to the moon with no apparent return.
When Tsuna finally returned, very embarrassed for running away and knocking out his friend, no one said anything other than a simple "hello," and Tsuna was extremely grateful for it. Silence was very welcome in those moments of embarrassment and mild panic. Besides, he didn't think he had the ability to recover so quickly mentally, and his legs were just recovering from the concussion. And he was barely digesting the fright.
"Gao..." The poor lion came out and hid behind Tsuna. Obviously, the scare had not yet passed.
"I'm sorry, guys..." Natsu only hid more, and Tsuna just shook his head, silently saying that there was no need to apologize.
"...Today has been a real nightmare," he said loudly, taking Natsu in his arms and sitting down at a table. "And you are all suicidal," he said with a face so serious that it looked like stone.
"How can Juu-daime say that?! Juu—"
"First, to be here at this hour is to call on Hibari to bite us to death." It wasn't that he cared much at this point...
Hibari was doing his patrol as he did every day when he heard something very annoying and irritating that he hadn't heard in weeks...
"iiiiiiiiee"
He took out his tonfas. He was not going to allow this. It was the height of rudeness. Classes had ended hours ago, and no one should be there, much less the Omnivore.
"For breaking the peace, you will be bitten—"
"EEEEEEEEEE!"
Hibari didn't have time for anything. The next thing he saw was black. Tsuna kept running as if the devil himself was after him, not even caring that he had run over Namimori's demon prefect himself in his escape.
No, he really didn't care. Hibari would take hours to wake up from such a defeat. He would want to kill him even more on Monday, but honestly, Tsuna didn't even see him. He was on autopilot from panic and could have run into a wall. He didn't even remember. He was only sure of one thing: he wouldn't feel a thing tomorrow. And since Reborn was going to kill him, maybe that was even better, because Reborn was a sadist, and not feeling anything would be a wonderful gift for the situation he was in.
"Second," Tsuna put on his best poker face. "After what I did before, thanks to my rage, you continue to stay here as if nothing happened, and by the way, you scared me." He didn't care about their feelings. "And having knocked out almost everyone... you continue."
"Tsu-kun, how could we know that you would react so badly? You have never done any of that before," she said. Unintentionally or not, he had never reacted so badly.
"I didn't have accumulated anger," was his simple explanation, followed by, "That, and I'm smart. I'm tired of receiving free balls," he murmured with a bitter face.
Kyoko could only break out in a cold sweat as Gokudera began to offer his two cents, but Tsuna wasn't paying attention to his words. He was trying to wake up Yamamoto. Suddenly, Tsuna said as if it was normal:
"If I wasn't fed up, I would have done it, Natsu, and his teeth are super sharp, right, buddy?"
"Gao!" If the implications weren't so deep, Kyoko would have laughed at Natsu for showing his teeth like a supermodel on stage.
"Well, there's something I owe to all of you." Poor Yamamoto woke up just in time to break out in a cold sweat like the others when he heard, "I'm sorry, I got angry and lost control. It wasn't my intention to hurt you."
Although they honestly deserved it... they could have been softer with that ball, and they could aim better too! Tsuna thought in a bad mood, but he didn't say it. It was enough punishment to have stalled his anger when he wasn't even reasoning but acting. It was a sad fact... But at that moment, he just wanted to "return the favor," and he did that without even thinking and with all his desire.
"Very well, finished this..." I don't want to hear a peep... "Why pizza and in this place? Gokudera-kun, please stop once and for all." Like a scolded dog, Gokudera stopped praising his precious and amazing boss.
"It was a sin to wake up," the baseball player commented with a nervous smile. Tsuna was not even smiling... bad things happened if he wasn't, just like gambling. He never smiled until the outburst of anger.
"A sin?" he asked curiously while they were setting the table.
Although on the outside he just looked like a curious and surprised child, on the inside he was spinning around like a hamster on a wheel, trying to find a logical answer to something that had no logic to him other than that they must be joking. The reason, he was a murderer, a monster, he was not innocent and therefore not waking him up was a sin, it didn't make sense, he would believe it if he was a baby or something, but he wasn't. Sadly for Tsuna, that phrase was just an expression; it wasn't serious, and he was confused by everything.
"You looked so cute and innocent that we were embarrassed to wake you up," Kyoko said. The others were also afraid of waking a demon instead of their friend. For his size, the strength he had shown was not normal. "Besides, you must have been so tired to fall asleep in the sun. I doubt you wanted to get a tan."
"...Guys," Tsuna said, even more confused than before, but he decided to let it go. "Let's eat; we're hungry."
I'm not even going to ask where they got the money or the pizza. Less headaches for me, and I don't want to know anything else about today. Too many complications for just one stupid day! Hopefully, Reborn will send me to my grave today so I can save myself severe headaches tomorrow if they decide to come to—
"When do we play another game? This time, how about—"
"Count me out of the 'we.' I don't plan to play anything with a ball. I'll stick to my video games." He would not be counted as a player unless it was a matter of life or death. He had already taken enough hits to last the whole year.
"Ma ma, it wasn't our intention to hit you so much, Tsuna. It was just bad luck," Yamamoto said.
Tsuna didn't answer, only giving them an annoyed look as he continued eating. None of them dared to continue the conversation after the death glare the little lion cub was giving them from his master's head. Everything would be fine if they didn't fight, argue, or mention the ball games for a few days. It was their fault that Tsuna was in a bad mood and that Natsu was giving them a warning-death look, but they didn't know it. Although it was perfectly reasonable, with all the blows the poor boy had received in the game, anyone would be in a bad temper under those conditions.
"Tsuna..."
"Hm?"
"Why does Natsu want to kill us—Hey, ugh..." Thankfully, the soda he had just spat out didn't land on anything important. "Breathe, let's go..." After a few pats on the back, Tsuna recovered.
"Like today is not my day!" he complained but still kept eating, just for appearances. He was already full. "Where did you get that nonsense?" Unconsciously, the three of them sank a little in their chairs. "Natsu doesn't want to kill you; he's just upset about all the balls you threw at me, that's all."
"...Does he know everything—"
"If he is not sleeping, he knows everything, yes," he confirmed calmly.
"Ahhh..." Oh, oh...
This day has been terrible. You know, Natsu is just taking care of me in his own way. He wouldn't hurt any of them; the worst thing he could do would be to bite their toes.
"...I—"
"It's nobody's fault, and I've already let out my anger, so let the matter drop, okay?" He wasn't even in the mood to apologize.
After eating, Tsuna only ate two pieces and a glass of soda, but no one said anything. They began the walk home without Natsu, who did not want to leave but didn't have many options. His three companions had a peaceful conversation, but he was not paying attention to them. He was more focused on the road and a little surprised by the few people around, perhaps because of the time.
"It seems to happen to me..."
"Do you think, kora?" the other baby replied immediately, not at all surprised to see at least 20 corpses scattered on the ground in a place beautifully decorated with their blood, guns, and many fallen trees.
"Call the repair team," the culprit dismissed as if nothing had happened, leaving the place.
"And the funeral home, kora?" The repair team would pulverize them, burn them to ashes, and finally throw them in the trash.
"No." With that, he was out of sight.
"He didn't even leave one, kora..." Colonello lamented. He wanted some action, but all he got was more work.
For better or worse, Colonello did not see Reborn take out his phone as he left, nor the macabre smile that formed on his face. With his rage used on those idiots, he only had the thirst for revenge. And as they said, revenge was a dish best served on a cold plate, so he had to start gathering the ingredients. Tsuna would learn never again in his life to do something so horrible with his beautiful name—if he survived, of course.
How strange, why are the streets so empty? It's Friday night; the parties and chaos start at this time, not to mention the music and alcohol. Did something happen that I have no idea about? Hibari-san keeps everything under control, but he's not so bad as to cut off all the festivities as long as they don't do anything bad or stupid. Besides, he must still be knocked out... Tsuna thought, remembering who he had run over in his panic. But it wasn't his fault; if anyone should be blamed, it was the boys for scaring him so badly. And about that... thank goodness that at this time, Reborn still doesn't make me go through all the hells there have been and to have to scream again... and I thought I had eliminated it... He lamented with great sadness. What had happened to eliminate that scream had not been an infernal training, but something much, much more horrible.
"Thank you guys so much!" Tsuna blinked. Have we reached the first stop yet?
"Ma ma, you're welcome. Say hello to your brother for us. Good night!"
With that, Kyoko entered her house with a smile painted on her face. Despite everything, she had enjoyed the day. Gokudera put on a bad face and started his usual one-sided fight with Yamamoto for speaking on behalf of his boss and other things that Tsuna didn't care about. Yamamoto only laughed at him, making the fight worse. Tsuna let them be, laughing from time to time. Maybe he didn't understand anything, but it was quite entertaining. Maybe he should put them in a comedy show or something; he would get rich in days, not that he needed money. As Vongola Decimo, he would have more than enough for his whole life, and he was never interested in money.
"You unhappy idio—Juu-daime?!"
Both teenagers broke out in a cold sweat and paled at the tranquility with which Tsuna only stole the lit dynamites from the bomber and extinguished them with his bare fingers, wearing nothing more than a bored face that said, "How long will you go on with this? It's too predictable." And as if to top it all off, he threw them into a nearby trash can before also stealing his cigarette, throwing it to the ground and stepping on it, all without taking his eyes off them.
"Smoking is a bad habit, although I don't deny that it's effective for setting off fireworks," he said as if nothing had happened and continued on his way. The last thing he wanted was a concussion right now; he had already taken enough hits for a day, even if it was only from a ball.
"Ma ma, Tsuna is absolutely right, Gokudera," Yamamoto said, patting him on the back with a big smile on his face, the previous incident already forgotten.
"But, Juu-daime..." How could he say that about his bombs?
"Gokudera-kun, we are not alone." Oops, I forgot how sensitive you are to that subject. "And I don't want any more disasters today. I'm not looking down on your dynamites." So please don't cry like a baby whose bottle was taken away... he thought somewhat guiltily, but he had no other options. An old salesman had been watching them for a while, and his hearing range was not very trustworthy.
"Well—"
"We've arrived at your building, Gokudera-kun. Shall we accompany you to your apartment?" Tsuna cut him off unintentionally, leaving his right hand speechless without realizing it.
"Phew~" Yamamoto whistled, looking at the building. "I didn't know you were rich, Gokudera." It was a fairly large building and very well maintained. He never thought he would see the bomber in a place as beautiful as the one he was seeing, much less living in one.
"That's not the problem, idiot!" he yelled at him before prostrating himself before Tsuna. "As expected of Juu-daime!"
"Your sister told me," a very embarrassed Tsuna commented, unintentionally destroying the dreams, hopes, and especially the stomach of his faithful right hand.
"B-big sister?!" If Tsuna didn't know him, he would have thought he was dying instead of being in a state of panic about how his sister knew where he lived, but he still decided to speak.
"Ma ma, what a great sister you have." You have no idea...
"Reborn told her after a date..." Although on the outside he was extremely embarrassed to say this, on the inside he was relieved that the poor boy had fainted. He wouldn't have to worry about any arguments or stalkers until he got to his funeral. "Can you help me? It's on the 1706th floor, and there is no elevator."
"Floor 1706? What a bad joke that is..." Although it certainly scared him just thinking about it.
"It's actually the 12th floor, and there's really no elevator, unless they repaired it anyway." Plan satisfactorily executed, so they will stop fearing me so much after this afternoon... if they remember, of course.
After leaving a dead-to-the-world Gokudera in his bed, Yamamoto didn't even ask how he knew what room it was. After leaving the building, Yamamoto had made a decision that would surely follow him for the rest of his days: if he was going to live in an apartment, he would make sure that the building had more than one elevator and that they were perfectly functional. Taking a fainting person down 12 floors using the stairs... no, next time, they would leave him at the reception.
"Thank you, Yamamoto." But obviously you lack training... and Gokudera-san needs to lose weight. I think I'll have to ask Bianchi-san to put him on a diet and supervise him...
From his bed, Gokudera's body twisted for no apparent reason.
"Ma, no problem, but next time we'll leave him at the reception." His back was killing him. Gokudera really should go on a diet, although the boxer was even heavier.
"If you say so..." Tsuna was happy enough with having avoided an unnecessary death that he wouldn't have cared what Yamamoto had said, or whoever it really was. "Your house is the closest. Let's go."
"Take it easy..." His back was killing him, and he doubted he could keep up with his friend who didn't seem affected at all, even though they had shared Gokudera's weight.
"I'm not running," was the calm answer, and sadly it was true. Tsuna was just following the same pace as before.
"Gokudera must diet..." Because if Tsuna was able to leave him behind effortlessly, it only meant one thing: he must look like a grandfather.
"Maybe..." Don't worry, I have a plan for that. He will lose weight, and a lot. I just have to find a few little loopholes for him so he doesn't starve or spend the whole day in the hospital... Oh, I know!
"Not to criticize you or anything..." Maybe Tsuna had been spending too much time playing. "...but what's with that mischievous laugh?"
"Oh, nothing, don't worry. I just know what to do to get Gokudera to diet without breaking his heart into more than a thousand pieces."
"...I see..."
Where had the kind-hearted, scared, and cowardly Tsuna gone? Where had this one come from, who obviously loved them like the other but was sinister, calm, and had outbursts of anger not to mention that he seemed to know more than he showed? It was not to look down on him or anything, but... this Tsuna scared him and at the same time, he pitied him. He seemed quite lonely despite everything he did. Maybe he was a perfect idiot, as Gokudera said, but he was not a bad friend, and it was too obvious that... something was going on here, something not good at all. But it was also quite obvious that Tsuna was Tsuna. No matter how you looked at this one and the one before, they had the same basic characteristics, like two bats, same shape, and maybe even the same wood, color, and brand, but they were different. Just like the two Tsuna he knew in his mind. What he didn't understand was how they had come to this exactly. Maybe one of Giannini's inventions had something to do with all this?
In addition, he knew that Tsuna would have to change, perhaps drastically, if he was going to be a mafia boss, something similar to what he was now but without the sadness, loneliness, and even the spontaneous anger with which he exploded from time to time, whether it was justified or not. He couldn't be a fearful and timid boss; it would be stupid. And even if he didn't want to, that would have disappeared by the time they went to Italy, but... It was a gradual change, nothing like, "he woke up one day like that for no apparent reason." All right, you could call him stupid and idiotic, and maybe he was, but he could swear that this Tsuna was a leader, and not just any one. The decisions he made and how he manipulated them as if they were plasticine... maybe—
"Well, you've arrived, Yamamoto." The one named just blinked. What? "What do you mean? We've already arrived at your house."
"Did I say it out loud?" he asked, embarrassed and scratching the back of his neck nervously.
"Loud and clear, Captain," Tsuna confirmed, this time smiling slightly. "Say hello to your father and try to sleep straight like a plank, okay?"
"Of course, Tsuna, see you."
"Goodbye~"
When Yamamoto closed the door, Tsuna jumped up with his arms outstretched, saying, "Yes!" over and over again in his head. It had worked out without any problems, and with great satisfaction in the fact that only he was going to die and not any of his friends as well, he rushed off for his funeral. He didn't need them to realize his deception so soon and follow him to hell. Plus, he didn't need his friends to be traumatized for life, or for them to have to pay a psychologist's bill, when they saw what Reborn had planned for him, if they made it out alive. It was sad, but jokes aside, it would be much better to just die rather than go through what his guardian had planned for him; he was sure of that, despite not knowing what might happen.
After a good bath and having explained to his father where he got his "tattoo" on his face and having been scolded for being a bad friend—it wasn't his fault that Tsuna called the ball—Yamamoto was finally lying on his bed, his big, sweet bed. With the air conditioning on and the lights off, he was ready to sleep and forget the pain in his back and perhaps erase his "tattoo." Maybe his father should have his eyes checked, because his red, beaten face wasn't a tattoo... Or maybe it was just the tiredness of the day that made him think that. The boy was ready to drift off to sleep when a thought out of nowhere made him jump out of bed: Tsuna went home all alone when he was supposed to be the first one they would leave.
Gokudera woke up with something similar in his head when he woke up at fifteen minutes past three in the morning, only to wonder how the hell he was in his bed and who the hell had the key to open his apartment if his was still hidden inside a TNT package of unknown location to anyone but him. Still, none of that was remotely important at the time, but this was.
"I'm going to kill that idiot if he didn't take Juu-daime home!"