She has just arrived in her office. Located on the 13th floor of one of the highest buildings in Namimori, it's more than enough to provide a great view towards entire city. Stepping out the elevator, her middle aged secretary immediately greets her, "Miss M, you have a guest."
"Who is it?" She still asks, even though she knew exactly who it is.
"It's him again, your distant relative."
M.M lets a deep sigh. When will he give up?
"Anoo.. Miss M, I know it's none of my business, but shouldn't a boy at his age attend school or something? Instead, he keeps coming here. At anytime, mind you. Perhaps, you should be stricter to that boy."
And here came that speech again. Her secretary is a lovely woman. Even though she gets quite sassy sometimes, but she works effectively, that's why she keeps her in her position. Well, she knew that her secretary is just simply showing her concern.
"Arigato, Nakano-sama. I'll try to persuade him to take school more seriously" she gave her a smile and entered her private office. Inside, a boy around 19, is waiting for her while watching TV.
M.M turns her gaze around her office. Well, at least it used to be her office. The simple, modern-minimalist interior she choose has gone away, instead, hundreds of white lilies are scattered around the room. Some are even assembled beautifully hanging from the ceiling.
"Hey! What's this?" the question was clearly directed to the boy who seems to be carried away by whatever he sees in the television.
No answer.
"Hey, clear this up!"
Still no answer.
"Hey Frog boy! Give me back my office this instant or I'll swear I kick you throughout the window! NOW!"
The boy averts his gaze lazily and gives a simple grunt.
"I take that as a yes! Now, clear this mess up!"
And with that, all the lilies are gone, revealing all the furniture beneath the abundance of flowers.
"Che… You're so not fun M"
"Oy! You little brat, shouldn't you call me with M-nee? Show some respect, you moron!"
"You're noisy, M-nee."
"Whatever" says M.M while brewing some coffee, definitely trying hard to ignore the boy illusionist.
The coffee scent soon fills the air.
"You know, too much coffee is not good for health." says Fran.
"Hey kid, you better mind your own business. Shouldn't a boy at your age get busy with college preparation?" M.M swiftly took the TV remote from Fran's hand and changes the channel to the news channel.
Fran groans, "Nooo… Not the news channel. It's booooring."
"Shut up. I need to stay update for my work, and you, you need to stay silent." M.M says demandingly.
"Pfftt…"
There's nothing big in the news.
"Is it hard to be a lawyer?" Fran broke the silence.
M.M's eyes get a little bit widen upon hearing this question. It's very unusual for Fran to show any interest in… well, anything. So, a question regarding her job is quite surprising.
"Umm… It's not that it's an easy task. As a matter of fact, it is a bit on the hard side honestly. We lawyer deals with the truth. But truth in this world doesn't come in a clear monochrome version. There's always grey in between. So when we finally deliver the truth and hopefully -the justice- in a case, we'll feel glad to know we've done something good in this world."
M.M stops for a moment to see whether Fran gets bored with her words, but he seems to get quite interested even though he is pokerfaced as usual.
"I like my job even though sometimes there are hard cases, Vongola related usually. Most of them came from the destructions caused by your stupid Captain and the rest of the Varia. But, I guess it's unavoidable if you work under that Sawada. Thanks to him that I can keep this office and expand it the way I want it to. After all, I have to work to earn some money for living, you know."
Fran lets out a heavy sighs "It seem like we have different approach in work. You try to reveal anything while I try to deceived anything."
"Well, I suppose you're right." M.M smiles and continues "But, since we work for the same boss, by the end I think we walk to the same way, just a different path that is."
Fran can't help but nod at her statement.
Once again, the room was filled with no sound aside from the television.
"Have you heard the news?" Fran asked.
"About?"
"The mist and cloud guardian engagement."
"Oh, I heard that." M.M answers calmly.
"So…"
"So, what?"
"So, what you're gonna do?"
"About what? Speak clearly to the point Frog boy, you're already wasting my time here." M.M's voice gets a little higher with she being irritated.
"What you're gonna do? Now that the purple haired woman gets engaged to the Vongola's strongest guardian, my master is literally available right now." says Fran in a serious tone.
"Wha..?" It took some times for M.M to comprehend Fran's word before she sets out a great laugh.
"Ahahahaha! Are you serious? Oh my, you are serious about this. Look at your face. Ahahahaha. Oh, what a wonderful morning I have!"
Blushed, Fran lost his cool "What's wrong? Weren't you the one who always cling to my master wherever he goes? And you were so angry when Chrome gets near my master back then."
She wiped the tears that formed at both ends of her eyes. "Listen boy. Then is then, now is now. Yes, I admit I used to have a crush on your master. But it was a puppy love. I knew, even back then, I'm not going to end up with him. It's just not going to happen. So, I do what adults do and that's called moving forward."
Fran stares at M.M.
"It's fine. Someday you'll understand." M.M smiles heartwarmingly.
"Now, get off my office and find anything useful to do." M.M shoves him outside her office.
"B..but…"
"Just go! I need to work." It's a command that is delivered with a smile. Obviously, Fran can't say anything.
Bam! And the door is closed.
One week later…
The clock on the wall show it's almost 10 PM when M.M starts to pack her bag and ready to go home from work, when suddenly she hears a knock on her window. Yes, her office is on 13th floor but somehow, working with Vongola has made her no longer surprise with the oddity shows up every here and there.
She walks to the wide paned window just to see an indigo glowing butterfly, knocking or rather banging itself to her window. It's a mist flame. What does the frog want at this time? It's been a peaceful week without the boy coming to her office at all. She opens the door to the balcony and look down. Down there, thirteen floors away, she sees a small figure who she believes to be Fran.
"What are you doing?" M.M shouted. She's pretty sure nobody else will be disturbed by her voice but she's not sure whether her voice can reach the person intended. She doesn't know the answer for as soon as her echoes of her voice stopped, came a bunch of purple butterflies from below like a string of lights.
The butterflies bring something.
A letter?
M.M opens the neatly folded paper. It is handwritten.
To: M.M nee.
I am sorry for bothering you this late. But I find it is easier for me to do it this way. For this past weekend, I've been thinking of what we're talking last time. You know, about doing something good in life.
Varia is not a place that goes well with goodness. Even though we value Vongola's peaceful way, in the end we've done anything that you've probably never heard of. I am sorry if what I and the rest of the team did have put on more burdens to your already tiring job. But as you said, we're going to the same way, only took different paths.
All this time, I thought that it's enough. But the conversation we had last week has made me finally understand. I've been wasting too much of my time. I need to broaden my perspective. And for that, I will go back to Italy tomorrow. Vongola tenth has managed to put me into a university there. I will pursue your path. I will take law, the same as you, while continue to shape my illusion techniques.
Am I moving forward, M.M nee? I hope so. I'll be back in several years. Don't miss me, okay?
M.M let out a smile, "Who's gonna miss you silly boy?"
I know I have a long way to go. But someday, I will be as good, no, better than my Master. So, wait for me, would you?
-Fran-
With that, the letter disappears into thin air together with all the butterflies.
"What? That's it? What if I haven't finished reading it?" M.M gets a bit annoyed. She steps forward and looks down, searching for the small figure who responsible for emotional roller coaster she feels right now. But she couldn't find anything. Fran is no longer there.
She lets out a sigh, "I guess he's a truly mist flame user. He doesn't even give me time to answer."
M.M turns her gaze onto the night sky. Somehow, the stars just look too beautiful tonight.
Fran knows that M.M has always been in love with a mist user. What he doesn't know is that somewhere in time, the person she keeps dear in her hearts is no longer his Master.
