"Ma Ma, don't you think you're exaggerating just a little bit?"
"Shut up, you idiot, I need maximum concentration."
"To change a bouquet of roses?" The voice sounded almost surprised, and a little mocking.
"Yes, these girls don't have thorns, they have THE THORNS! So unless you want to change them, shut up." This voice sounded almost exasperated and obviously very grumpy.
"I don't even know why you bother to change the roses. It's not like Tsuna-nii would notice..." This voice sounded more childish, a teenager, maybe?
"Just shut up, you!" The one with the roses half-shouted.
Maybe they were for his girlfriend or something?What did he care? Couldn't the three of them just shut up? Was it too much to ask? They were extremely annoying.
"Ma Ma, don't be angry, but she's right." The voice of false peace. Didn't he know he was adding fuel to the fire?
"Of course he doesn't! We don't know when—uh..."
Uh in all its expression and meaning. Honestly, why did any of this matter? Did he just have to get up and smash a vase to make them shut up? How great. Really, next time he would just take a stick and beat them until he knocked them out. Yes, that was a much more satisfying method in many respects.
"Thanks..." If that wasn't sarcasm, he needed a new dictionary. "...Idiots."
Apparently, saying that last word was a mistake, because it woke them up from their enchantment of absurd petrification, judging by their faces of surprise and disbelief. He'd hoped they would stay like that so he could throw himself in their faces and continue sleeping. Now that he thought about it, what the hell were these strange people doing in his room, and with roses of all things?
"Juudaime!" Evasive maneuver number 167.
"Tsuna, what a joy you are—" Evasive maneuver number 60, with a slip included.
"Ugh... I'll just say... hello?" Ah, apparently someone was smart.
He opened his eyes for the first time since they had woken him up. What noisy people they were, God; they could raise the dead if they weren't careful. He blinked several times. White again? Really? Did he have an obsession with hospitals that not even he knew about, so strong that he dreamed of one every time? Or were they a new kind of nightmare?
"...Have you taken drugs again? Although if we take into account that the last dose was about four hours ago..." He trailed off, a little surprised and worried.
And again, dreaming of his own time... Unable to help himself, he smiled crookedly. He felt nothing, absolutely nothing physically, just the slight discomfort of being anesthetized... but he doubted it was so much that he wouldn't have woken up even with screaming. Now, that wasn't the reason for his smile. It wasn't the reason that made the three people present shudder. It wasn't the reason he took the first thing he saw to throw at them (sadly, a bottle of aspirin). And it wasn't the reason why his crooked smile was getting bigger... along with the fear of those present.
"...J-Judaime...?"
"Judaime my ass," he thought darkly, sitting up in bed and taking a glass of water, slowly sipping it while never taking his eyes off any of the three. Sadly for them, he was the predator, and they were the prey. Unless they ran away right now, they wouldn't get out with their pride and dignity intact. The reason for Tsuna's smile was quite simple, too simple: this was all another dream, and therefore he could vent as he pleased without any repercussions.
"You unhappy, brainless idiot, who wouldn't wake up to such a scandal? And all for some roses." Gokudera-san seemed to have received three slaps, but Tsuna was only just beginning. "Instead of putting roses in a stupid hospital vase, you should give them to your girlfriend, if you have one..."
"Ma Ma, Tsuna, I think you should—"
"Tsuna your mother." Yamamoto took a step back and looked like he'd been kicked in the stomach. "You think I should what? Calm down and think things through? I would... if this were real. But it isn't, so I'll say everything I want, however I want, whenever I want. If you don't understand it, you should get a mental check-up and maybe buy yourself a new brain."
"...Tsuna-nii, you're overdoing it—"
"Overdoing it? Since when are there limits in a stupid and cowardly dream? Even if this were real, if you were real, it doesn't change the fact that the first ones who went too far were you, don't you think?" He smiled sadistically and laughed a little, but he wasn't happy. "Oh, sure, I never had the right to give my opinion, so it doesn't count, right? It's all my fault, isn't it?"
"Juu—"
"It's my fault that an enemy died by my hand and saved your pathetic lives, oh heavens, I shouldn't have said that..." He ran his hands over their lips, mocking them. "Because it's a lie! I didn't save anyone! I killed because I wanted to and that's all! I killed because I'm a monster, a demon! Am I wrong?"
"Yes, you are!"
"Oh heavens." The three of them swallowed dryly; he was mocking and taking it out on them to the EXTREME. "Oh, good heavens, what a setback, and so many years later!" And I was too good at it... "And by the way, in a dream, do I still have that stupid hope of being forgiven by these dreamy people?" He shook his head as if talking about a lost cause. "What stupidity, really, after so long and after having made things so extremely clear... obviously things will remain as they are!"
The three people shuddered in place, but he didn't care if it was in guilt or just fear. At that moment he didn't care; he was just venting his anger on something. What was left anyway, and what better than mere pieces of a dream?
"But let's forget about this little monster that obviously wants to kill you, shall we?" To add to the terror of the three, that was practically a purr. "Now, to what do I owe the great unfortunate and unwanted pleasure of seeing replicas of some members of my ex-family who can even bear my presence?" To the last purr, but the expression he was giving them was as much curiosity as unhappiness and sadness at a certain point.
What the hell could they say? Whatever they said, he would talk back before they could finish, and that was if they could stop trembling from the fear and guilt they carried. They never thought that he, dream or not, would throw things in their faces, at least in this way, but... the Tsuna they knew was not this Tsuna who had spent three years alone in depression. It was not the Tsuna who gave them their space and let them do and undo everything they wanted, accepting that they did not even want to see him... it was not the hurt, distrustful, and sad Tsuna that they had in front of them. And even if it hurt, they had to learn that they didn't know how this Tsuna was going to act after so much suffering, not to mention that he still believed that he was dreaming and the pain medication did not help the matter one bit.
"...Are you in pain?" A small consolation. They had no right to claim anything from him when they were the real culprits of all this.
Apparently, he wasn't expecting that, because his expression changed to one of total bewilderment, at least for a few seconds, before smiling unhappily again. To their horror, he simply bit his finger until it bled, without any kind of grimace.
"Nope, I guess not," was the simple answer. "But that doesn't mean they can evade my question. Or maybe they don't have any answers, it must be that, I guess. There's no way I see their real selves so..." He shrugged his shoulders reluctantly.
They looked at each other without knowing what to say. Honestly, they were afraid of making things worse or giving more ammunition to their boss to shoot them, because he did not lack the desire to make fun of them and throw things in their faces.
"Anyway, where is Reborn-san? It's him who I really want to insult and maybe throw him out of an abyss..." The last part was said like a child with a pacifier asking his parents for a gift.
The three of them became very frozen popsicles. "(...) it is him who I really want to insult (...)," what were they?
"Reborn-san... this... doing the paperwork..." Yamamoto replied nervously. He didn't know which of the two devils would be worse.
One blink, two blinks...
"The paperwork?" The question sounded almost inconceivable, but slowly he laughed, laughed, and laughed to the point where he almost fell out of bed laughing. "The paperwork, God, that's a thousand times better than insulting him!"
Perhaps the worst of the two devils was the one in front of them. Sadly, they had turned him into that... And that fact came to bite their butts at that moment very strongly.
"It doesn't matter if this is a dream, thank God!" They weren't even going to comment. "He deserves it for the two films he made with me without saying a peep to humiliate me worldwide and make money with it! He deserves it! He deserves it!"
As Tsuna did his little victory celebration and laughed maniacally, the three adults who hadn't really moved more than three steps from where they were since their friend woke up felt a little... silly and very, very confused. Did Tsuna believe that this was a dream and his dreams were reality or something similar? Then again, they felt a little out because they didn't know what the hell he was talking about—
"Well guys, what do you propose for entertainment?"
About five minutes later, he wondered what the hell he was asking for. What he should have done was ask for, demand, something worthwhile, because this... It was embarrassing just to watch.
"...I don't give a damn what they think or think they're doing, not at all, so I'll be honest: this would kill a dead person without any problems," he said almost without emotion.
Stopping the game of chess, in which he was losing epically, Yamamoto said as kindly as he could:
"What do you suggest then?"
A few minutes later, the three adults wanted to hit a wall. They really were dumb... Tsuna was always a music lover, so this really shouldn't have come as a surprise, but... hell, it was. Tsuna just laughed. What else was he going to do? Cry? He could, but not in front of them, at least. He didn't feel so sad that he would start crying right there just because.
"Nan no tame umareteki taka..."
"Is it my imagination, or do you know it by heart?" Gokudera asked suspiciously after the song ended, because sometimes he was ahead of himself...
"Who knows?" was the mocking reply. "Do you want to try?"
Karaoke, nothing more and nothing less than karaoke. They had never really expected that, so, combined with the verbal attack, they didn't know what to think... Following the news that Reborn was doing the paperwork, Tsuna had just wanted to have fun, a huge change from what he had been doing since waking up.
"Hey, it's you..." He stopped, a little embarrassed now.
"Hmm?" was the sleepy answer.
The reason why none of them dared to call him by his name or any of the nicknames was... that he ignored them, or said something like, "Tsuna my ass," and frankly they didn't want to have to deal with him again by insulting and taunting them left and right, so they didn't try to call him by a new nickname either. Although perhaps now that was not even remotely important, not with the almost asleep in a position that was not at all pleasant for the back. Apparently, two hours awake was a lot to ask... in many ways.
"...He's drooling..." Emma complained, the one chosen to be Tsuna's pillow by luck (bad or good was beyond him).
"Excuse him for using most of his energy to make certain areas of the city unrecognizable and then drag him out shopping," Byakuran said, smiling kindly even though his tone was sarcastic.
"You were the one who decided to go shopping for candy at the last minute!" he complained. Poor Tsuna had been the one dragged while the two of them were saved from their friend's endless questions, knowing that in the end, the marshmallows would be what he would buy the most, no matter how good the other products were (either visually or in price). "Why aren't you the pillow?"
"I'm sorry, but Tsu-chan chose you."
"He didn't! He fell asleep on a bench because of how long it took you, and then you threw him in here—"
"And obviously Tsu-chan preferred you. I can't deny that."
Irie just looked away, trying to ignore the fight and praying that they wouldn't wake up Tsuna, who would most likely chew them up and then spit them out if they woke him up abruptly. He couldn't support either of them, simply because he wasn't Tsuna's pillow, and he really didn't want to argue. On the other hand, Byakuran was being cruel and Emma a bit of an idiot... they were in a limousine, and there was room for Tsuna to sleep happily before they arrived...
Irie looked at Tsuna for a moment, worried. Apart from the fact that he was drooling, he looked practically dead. He wasn't even snoring, and he looked a little pale... He wasn't even going to wonder why or how long he was going to be in those conditions. He had already seen firsthand and in too much detail what had put him like this, and he wouldn't be surprised if he slept like a rock... rather, he prayed that it was that way. He did not want to deal with a Tsuna who was tired, irritated, or grumpy. Elsewhere...
"...My son..." Yamamoto stopped, about to say, "Hi, Pa." "You won't leave this house today, understand?"
Several blinks, and after about 15 seconds, Yamamoto finally reacted:
"What? Why? What happened?" What could be so serious that... oh, OH.
"That," his father sentenced, without taking his eyes off the television and without bothering to look at his son, who must have already seen the reason.
"...and so, what will probably be called: 'The day the Apocalypse began'—Oh, it doesn't matter, there was absolutely nothing left! Dear listeners, we don't know the cause, how, the why, the origin... NOTHING! And exactly that was what was left: practically black and flat earth." The reporter said, almost tearing her hair out, scared. "At the moment, no dead have been found..." though seeing this... She wasn't the only one who thought that finding something that signaled a death was practically 0.0000000001% possible.
Kyoko and her brother just stared at the TV without even blinking, without hearing anything else, so surprised that they didn't know what to think or say. Or maybe if they had a thought: Would Tsuna be okay after this? With the luck that the boy had... No, it's better not to think about it.
In his apartment, Gokudera choked on a Coca-Cola. What the hell, what the hell happened? Some crazy maniacal pyromaniac killer trying to kill his beloved boss, perhaps? Or did Reborn have a super bad day? In any case, he had a very clear primary goal in his mind, and he couldn't wait another second:
"Wait for me, Juudaime, I'll find you!" he screamed from his apartment after loading up on more bombs. An alarming thought reached him before he left the door and shouted from the rooftops: "I WILL SAVE HIM FROM THE ALIENS, JUUDAIME!"
That was the only logical explanation for the whole thing, because even in a war, things were not so... nothing! And he doubted very much that his beloved boss could not deal with some lunatic mafia killer who came his way, not with what happened last time. But if he was an alien, he couldn't blame his boss for failing. Only God knew that they couldn't make beings outside planet Earth! And although it might only make the situation worse, he would go to help his boss. With these thoughts, his legs became twice as fast if that was remotely possible at that point. It was a real pity that the boy didn't really know where to go... to find their boss. Elsewhere...
"..."
"Lord?" Why was he talking? He was going to die, we are all going to die!
"Start the investigation. If you have not found the culprit by sunset, you will be bitten to death," he sentenced without even looking back, focused on the flames in front of him with an intention to kill the poor devil who dared to do such an atrocity in his city.
The members of the Disciplinary Committee present shuddered at the same time that a tonfa was broken into three parts, and they soon went out to fulfill their mission (flee) before the prefect changed his mind. In an unknown place...
"Ugh, thank God we don't live there..."
Chrome didn't comment, only continued to look at the sky, where chains of smoke in alarming quantities and in different sectors rose into the atmosphere and disappeared from existence. With Lambo and company...
"Yossshhhhh!" Lambo jumped, excited, and ran in circles around his brothers, who were watching TV with their mouths agape. "Now all that's missing is the superhero!"
Fuuta just looked at Lambo, not understanding. They had just seen parts of their city reduced to ashes and—
"I wonder what kind of villain he is..." I-pin muttered, understanding perfectly what Lambo was talking about.
Fuuta looked at both of them. Were they crazy? How could they be so calm when—Wait a minute...
"Guys, you know that's real, right?" With those faces, why did he feel like he was being taken for a fool? "That's our city..."
"And?" Lambo asked, not understanding. "That just implies that a supervillain is interested in something or there's a superhero nearby. Lambo-sama wants to meet a superhero and now he has the perfect opportunity!"
It was better to give up trying to reason with them. When they saw him face to face, they would understand the seriousness of the situation. Maybe he should be thankful that they were taking it the way they were taking it, because he didn't want to have to deal with crocodile tears; that was Tsuna-nii's job, not his. Too bad Bianchi wasn't there; things would be much easier...
"Thank you very much..." She left through the door of the barbershop, only to be scolded by a crowd. "BUT WHAT—ohhh... oh uh..."
Apparently, doomsday had arrived, if the flames and crazy smoke were any indication. If it wasn't that, then maybe she'd have to talk to her brother about where the hell he got his bomb ammunition, to restrict it. And if it wasn't her beloved little brother either, then she'd have to go undercover and find the arsonist. No one was going to mess with Tsuna while he was there. In addition, she needed a new guinea pig to try out her new creations...
"...I wouldn't do that if I were you, Kufufufu..."
"But..." It sounded almost uncertain. "Someone has to change the serum..."
"I wouldn't do it if I were you, and I won't say it again."
"Ma Ma, why do you say that?"
"Tsk, because the Omnivore will surely tell you... That's right." He ended up like the warning was a bit obvious, and he was still late. It wasn't like he cared...
No, not at all. What did matter to him was having someone so close... Too bad he just didn't feel like punching him in the stomach, just in case he didn't want to do anything but curl up in the blankets and winter for three months or so. Although that did not prevent his victim from being saved from a good bite on the hand.
"Ouch, let go, let go!" Tsk, not much blood came out; he was losing his touch... "Why the hell did you bite me, Tsuna?"
He looked at him, kept looking at him, without even blinking, with a face of total boredom that would have been much more effective if he had been sitting or standing. Lying on a bed like this, it wasn't very scary, but pitiful, but frankly he didn't care. The only thing he was very clear about was: he didn't want to move. Not so much because he was lazy, but because everything hurt again, although it was tolerable...
"You were invading my personal space..." In fact... "you still do."
In the last part, Yamamoto immediately took about four steps back, and the person behind him laughed in amusement. Blinking, was it his imagination or had someone done magic art and vanished? What did it matter...
"Ma Ma, someone has to change your serum, and I was embarrassed to call the nurse..."
Oh, a lie in all its glory. Why would someone like him need to lie? And in a dream, too? In fact... why the hell did I have to dream of the same room every now and then?! Ugh, I was going to have to hire a psychologist; maybe all the years of loneliness, depression, and madness were finally starting to bear fruit that I wasn't enjoying...
"If you get close, he might bite you again..." He really didn't care, but he wasn't going to make it easy for him, either... what would be fun in that?
"But Tsuna—"
"Tsuna is in Hawaii." Maybe I should stop paying attention to them, less headache...
"Hawaii, kufufufu... do you want a vacation yet?" For some reason the illusionist looked astonished and surprised.
"Yes, I don't." At that moment, all he wanted was to be a cat: to snuggle up and sleep.
The room turned to ice, making him wonder why without much care. Hey, it was a dream; I didn't need to worry much... unless it was their mental health.
"Ma Ma, just let me change your serum; the painkillers must have run out by now..."
"Kufufufu, I think that's the only reason why he's not making a mess."
Nod, yes, he was right about that.
"You were just kidding... weren't you?"
Just because he let me touch him didn't mean he was joking. Just because he enjoyed having his hair stroked didn't mean he wasn't going to bite it. Just because this was nothing more than a dream didn't mean he wasn't going to take dams or do something crazy.
"Who knows..." It was the most honest answer I could give him.
At any other time, he might have been upset about being drugged, but at that moment, he was grateful to feel the pain go away... with part of his sensitivity as the minutes passed. It was a relief to feel nothing, although it wasn't exactly a very pleasant feeling either, but it was better than nothing... Supposed.
"Heavens..." He didn't need to look to know that he had gotten nervous, and he couldn't exactly blame him. The bites hurt... of course, if he bit him and didn't hit him or throw something at him... who knows...
Click!
"Uncle!"
He saw a black shadow and in the blink of an eye he had a small creature bouncing right next to him with a big smile and throwing questions at a thousand miles an hour. He blinked several times before sitting down as best he could, finally focusing on the child.
"...Uncle...?" Since when...?
The boy next to her soon threw himself on top of her, to her greater confusion, and she could do nothing but hug him and try to keep up with everything the boy said... that only he himself would understand, because he was going too fast for his poor ears. He was about five or six years old, black hair and bright blue eyes, pale skin and... Ah, I already remembered who the hell the boy was, but no matter how much I rewound, at no time had he been called Uncle... Maybe this dream was trying to tell him how much he wanted to be called that, because if so... it was something extremely cruel.
I hadn't seen this child in years, none really, because there were three, and the last time he saw them the boys didn't call him Uncle, most of them weren't more than a year old... and they had a lot of trouble saying their name, not to mention that he hardly saw them and if he interacted more than five times with them it was a lot. And those interactions were nothing more than being their babysitters here and there when their parents couldn't... Their guardians ill-intentioned, they knew very well that when there were children or relatives involved they could not say no, especially if they were children... But if anyone had to blame it was Reborn for suggesting it to him so he wouldn't have to put up with them or have to get involved in disasters and accidents...
In fact, now that, I remembered, this particular cute boy called him...
"How long have I been Uncle? What happened to Tuna-tan?" he asked almost curiously, stopping the boy in the middle of a sentence of God knows what.
Yes, I wasn't very proud of that nickname, but I wasn't the worst of them... Internally, he killed everyone in the room except for the child on his lap; even in a dream, he was not in the mood to be mocked. The boy closed his mouth, opened it, closed it again, and finally pouted and then playfully struck him on the chest. This action reminded him that he should surely look like a spook; in most of his dreams he looked like a ... well, anyone would run away and any mirror that saw him would be torn to shreds, so he was surprised that the boy even touched him...
"Daddy explained to me that you were not my nanny but my Uncle..." I murmured with swollen cheeks and looking away.
Oh wow, Daddy let me explain, that was pretty funny to imagine... After all...
"What are you laughing at, Omnivore?"
...It wasn't exactly common for someone with so few words and a lot of action to sit down to "explain" anything. But you had to take into account that it was her cute little son, so I assumed there were some exceptions. Now, this kid could be cute and cuddly and playful all he wanted... but he knew very well that he had inherited the same strength and bloodlust as his father. Like father, like father, isn't it?
"Oh, nothing, just the fact that you 'explained' to him that I am his uncle, even though we don't share blood or anything else but—" In his mind he said: a beautiful and beautiful enmity for the simple fact that I kill someone even though you have killed several long before me. "...friendship."
Dream or not, I would not be able to say anything of such caliber in front of a child, especially one who was not afraid of it for some strange and inexplicable reason.
"Tsk, would you prefer that I had told him that you are my boss and that I would have to—"
"You are the father, not me. I don't know about those things," he simply cut him off. It was a dream after all; in real life, he wouldn't even be able to touch a hair of this creature on his lap.
"Daddy, man?" asked the boy now confused and giving big puppy eyes to everyone.
It was an incredible pity that it didn't work with him. After Lambo, the lamb's eyes lost any effect. In addition... He was the master of such an expression; he wasn't going to melt with it even if he wanted to. Blinking, at what point had all this crowd appeared?
"Nothing to worry about, Hi-Daisuke-san." He quickly corrected, the last thing he wanted was—
"Daisuke-san, what happened to Dai-chan?" The boy complained to him, puffing out his cheeks and crossing his arms.
Wow, I had given it back to him... and that was precisely what I wanted to avoid... By the way, now that I thought about it...
"How do you even remember me? You had two the last time I saw you..." And from what I knew at that age, I remember things...
"Ehhhh... I don't think any of the kids could forget you, even with a Tuna brainwashing..."
"Definitely, kufufufu..."
"Don't evade my question, Uncle!"
Cold sweat, great...
"Okay, you win, Dai-chan..." Heavens... "Ugh, you dumb down."
"I don't weigh, you're the dwarf," the boy said with a smile from ear to ear.
Unable to help himself, a vein burst... along with half a wall.
"Just because your father is taller than me, just because all the adults here are taller than me... doesn't mean I'm a brat dwarf!"
"Hahahahahahaha..."
"Why are you laughing? Explain yourself before I give you a good reason to laugh and cry..."
"It's just... It's just that... you're a noodle and a piece of chalk!"
Blinking, he was probably right; in real life, he was too skinny to be healthy and didn't go out much, so he sure looked like a ghost... But still, tell him that so that he would get upset and take it out on him... this child...
"Stop!, hahahahahahaha, Man!, hahahahahahaha."
Stop? I didn't think so, not at all. If he wanted to bother him so much to play with him, he was going to play, and he was going to take it all out... As I laughed the child to death, I partially ignore the adults' conversation, simply because... They were right.
"...I'm a bit jealous now. With your son, it's a love, and he gave us an abnormal verbal beating..." Yamamoto complained, between astonished and annoyed.
"Daisuke is a separate case; all children who are not bad are a class apart," was the simple explanation of the ex-prefect.
"Kufufufu, you say it as if you have no remedy..."
"Daisuke never forgot him; his best playmate, supposedly..." A sigh. "Spend three years or so making excuses and then come back here and try not to let it slip away..." it was only a matter of time... "For disaster, obviously."
"And a good set of paper, rock, and scissors. I bet Rukia-chan is also half crazy to see it, kufufufu..."
"You're not helping, pineapplehead. She's six, and... I'd better not say it." "Why not?"
"Ma Ma, she is a good girl—"
"Believe me, you haven't seen its bad side... even." A slight tremor shook Gokudera, one of those present in the crowd.
"It should not be so bad—"
"Remember who their mother is and then remember who their father is."
"...True, very good point."
He wanted to roll his eyes. Heavens, the girl was only bad if and only if you didn't pay attention to her, and it wasn't some kind of surprising evil or anything, it was just very well-crafted jokes... with pain included and perhaps a blow to the pride of his victim, nothing more.
"I'm going to assume that like Dai-chan, Tsuna is the one who has played with them the most, even though it was only a few days of being a babysitter..."
Oh, probably, but I doubted it; it was a dream after all, and by now the kids must have forgotten about it, happy with life with their parents and whoever was taking care of them part-time. Oh, great, he shouldn't get depressed right now. Stupid dream...
"Man, look at this." A Wii U. Wasn't he too young to forget it? "Let's play. I'll be Bowser, and you'll be Peach."
"And why should I be Peach? I'd rather be a Koopa—"
"Because someone has to be the princess," was the simple answer.
"...Now you're going to tell me you'll be the hero—"
"No, the winner; princesses never win on their own." I stick my tongue out at the last thing. I was doing a very good job of encouraging him to play...
"So you think so... Let me kick your ass, shall we?" With that said, he chose Peach and a bike that seemed to be useful because of its acceleration and off-road levels. He was going to win because he was going to win...
"I think it was an excellent idea for you to bring Dai-chan, Hibari..."
"If I didn't, it would still have sneaked in," was the resigned answer.