Timeline: Somewhere in the middle of Reunion with Truth Chapter 2, after Tsuna and gang left the activity room for the onsen.
Disclaimer: Unless I am as disillusioned as those silly guys in this omake, I would never claim that I could be as ingenious as Amano Akira-sensei.
The Peeping Sensation
"-pai? Mochida-senpai!"
The exclamation by one of the guys still in the activity room brought Mochida Kensuke reluctantly out of his deep thoughts.
"Senpai, you are joining us too, right?" The previous speaker continued.
Looking around in confusion, Mochida's brain finally began to register the tiny bits of conversation he managed to hear while contemplating the enigma that was Sawada Tsunayoshi. From what he could gather from his limited and fragmented memory, the remaining male population of his current clients had decided to follow the lead of their female counterparts, and head to the hot spring.
"Um, sure." Mochida answered, still not quite in the present.
Following his clients through the changing room and into his own ryokan's onsen, Mochida suddenly realised that despite being the owner of the place, it was the first time he had went into the hot spring area with the intention to enjoy it, instead of simply for work. Sad, really.
"Eh? Where's Yamamoto and the rest?" Someone questioned, causing everyone to look around the surprisingly empty onsen.
"They did say they were coming to the onsen, right?" Asked a bespectacled young man, whose name Mochida couldn't recall.
"Ya. They left way before us. They couldn't have gotten lost or something, right?" Asked another, just very slightly worried about the missing group of guys.
"No way. Sawada and Kozato aside, there's no way Yamamoto or anyone else could have gotten lost." Taniguchi assured, apparently still thinking that Sawada and Kozato were still the two No-Good students they used to be. Mochida, on the other hand thought otherwise.
"Oh. Speak of the devil."
Turning around, the inn owner saw the very group of guys they had just been discussing, coming through the entrance of the hot spring. The first to enter was Gokudera, who did a quick, albeit thorough, scan of the place as if expecting danger. Next, came Sawada and Kozato, walking side by side. Those two were closely followed by Dino-sensei and Yamamoto. Mochida found the procession weird and strangely rehearsed, though he could not name the reason.
"Oh hi." Greeted the ever friendly Yamamoto once he saw the crowd before him. "Didn't know you were all going to come to the onsen. We could have came together."
"Where were you anyway? You should have arrived before us." Taniguchi questioned his former team-mate.
"We just stopped by our room to get something." Yamamoto offered simply. For some unknown reason, Mochida suspected that the baseball ace's answer wasn't entirely the truth. Maybe he was just getting a little too suspicious of people lately.
"Let's not worry about such useless details, ne, Guchi-chan, Yama-chan!" An energetic Naito Longchamp interrupted. "Standing around all day just talking, when there's such an amazing onsen waiting for us to take a dip in, is an insult to the onsen itself!" With that, Longchamp put his arm around both Taniguchi and Yamamoto's shoulder, despite being much shorter than the pair, and dragged a stunned Taniguchi and a laughing Yamamoto towards the hot spring.
"Longchamp's right. Let's go guys!"
"Hey guys! Don't you think we are still missing an important element in this reunion?" A Takeda Takuto said with a mischievous smile on his face.
"You are not thinking what I think you are thinking, are you?" came a vague reply from Karasuma Kaito.
"Oh. Of course I am," was Takeda's cheeky reply.
"Huh? What are you guys talking about?" asked Kaneda Osamu, failing to see what the aforementioned missing element was.
"You are not trying to put on an innocent guy act are you, Kane-chan?" Longchamp asked from the other side of the onsen, joining in the fun. "The missing element's every guy's dream."
"Innocent guy act? Every guy's dream!?" Kaneda repeated, getting more confused by the second.
Mochida couldn't help but be amused by the little display in front of him. What with practicing his sword skills and setting up his business, it had been a long time since he had been able to simply let loose with people his age. Looked like this day's gonna turn out to be fun.
"Oh~ Looks like little Osamu still don't get it~"
"Ya. Maybe we should just go ahead without him. We don't want to taint little Osamu's mind. After all, this is an adults only thing."
"Guys! Stop teasing me and just tell me what it is already!" Kaneda retorted with anger, resulting from the prolonged embarrassment, at the others' continued teasing.
Mochida can't believe that Kaneda still do not get it after all the clues that were provided. The guy's seriously more innocent than he looked. Unlike some people.
Not far from where Kaneda was being teased, was Sawada and his little group of followers. Despite looking like the very definition of innocence, Sawada and Kozato, unlike Kaneda, seemed to fully understand exactly what the missing element was. And those two used to be so very dense.
Well, to give the duo the benefit of doubt, regardless of how Dame they used to be, Sawada and Kozato were still men. It really should not be surprising at all for fellow men to understand what exactly goes on in that pervert, Takeda's head. Maybe Mochida was just being bias, but he can't help but doubt the maybe drastic change which he kept noticing in Sawada and Kozato. Those two just does not seem to be whom they say they were.
"So, what's the best way in?"
Having fully enjoyed teasing the now-still-confused Kaneda, the group of guys seemed to have came to a common understanding, and had started a strategy meeting.
"Why not just go by the most direct route? This wall's the only barrier to our goal!" Longchamp's voice cut through the crowd. The open pervert had almost shouted the suggestion in his excitement, not at all concern that his 'goal' might be able to hear him.
"Hey, lower your voice!" Takeda warned in a hurry. "We don't want to be caught before we even manage to accomplish anything."
"Don't you think it's a little too tough to scale this wall?" Yoshimoto observed, bringing the group back onto their previous discussion.
"I think so too. This wall look at least three meters high! There's no way I would be able to make it even half way up." Taniguchi admitted, agreeing with Yoshimoto at the same time.
"Oh. I was not talking about climbing the wall." Longchamp grinned. "We could just get Dera-chan to bring down the wall!"
"Don't involve me in that stupid plan of yours. Are you trying to get me killed?" Gokudera started at Longchamp's suggestion. "Reducing you to ashes would definitely do the world more good than harm." The puppy-dog continued to threaten, taking out those sticks of his, which look freakishly like dynamites. "And don't call me Dera-chan!"
" I bet those sticks of yours can't do much damage anyway." Takeda taunting, earning him a rather dangerous look from Gokudera. "I don't even know why you keep displaying those useless things anyway."
"You..." was all Gokudera said, before all the sticks in his hands suddenly lit up. Upon closer inspection, Mochida noticed that a cigarette-size stick had appeared between the delinquent's lips, which must have been the lighter. "I will make you disappear."
For a moment, it looked like the little puppy was going to throw those sticks and Mochida entertained the thoughts of what would happen next, but that moment passed thanks to a certain baseball star.
"Ahaha, let's not destroy senpai's wonderful onsen, ne?" Yamamoto asked, stepping in front of Gokudera.
"Che." Gokudera said, before those sticks of his disappeared to wherever they came from.
"Yo minna! Guess what I found?" Karasuma called from the entrance of the onsen, having just came back into the onsen, missing the almost-fight. He then continuing in a smaller voice as he neared the group, "The slope just outside the women bath leading to the top of the walls is especially flat!"
"What? It's really as simple as that? You can't be serious!" Taniguchi questioned.
"Oh, I can't be more serious." Karasuma replied. "That would be the perfect way into paradise!"
"EHHHHHHHH!? You guys are gonna peep in the women bath!?"
Oh. So now Kaneda had finally got it.
"Shhhhhhhhhh!"
To say that Tsuna was worried would be the understatement of the century. True, at first, Tsuna was simply worried. But as his former classmate's plan got more and more solid, that worry had turned to something closer to fear.
"Juudaime, there's absolutely nothing for you to worry about." Gokudera-kun assured, seeing the look on his boss face as the latter observed their former classmate's discussion.
"That's right, Tsuna." Yamamoto piped in cheerfully. "There's no way their operation would be successful."
"As much as I hate to agree with the Yakyuu-Baka, you know that the girls would not allow themselves to be peeped at while in the bath." Gokudera-kun added with confidence, his face not showing any of the reluctance his sentence had implied. "Even within the Vongola, their intuition is only second to Juudaime, Reborn-san and us Guardians."
"And with Reborn training them personally, there's no way they would forgive anyone who would dare to peep at them." Dino-san stated what he thought would be reassurance to Tsuna's worry. "Anyone of them could defeat most men with both hands tied behind their back."
"Thanks guys." Tsuna tried to smile, failing miserably. "But that's exactly what I am worried about."
"Huh!?" His friends stared at him as if he had gone a little pass the line of insanity. Like the time he had gone a full week without rest, trying to clear all the extra paperwork his Guardians' antics had created.
"I am not worried for the girls. I know very well that they can take care themselves." Tsuna decided that an explanation was in order, before his friends saw it fit to tie and lock him up for the sake of everyone's safety. "I am more worried about what would happen to them if they actually tried to peep at the girls."
"Ahaha." The usual laughter from Yamamoto and the various minute signs of his friends relaxing indicated that they had finally understood that Tsuna had not gone insane.
"Juudaime, you are being too kind. Those immature idiots would just be getting what they deserve." There was a look of satisfaction coupled with a little sadism on Gokudera-kun's face as he said that. Tsuna guessed that the bomber must be imagining what Haru would do to their classmates. It was really lucky that girl wasn't here. Her form of punishment isn't really something most people could take. Furthermore, when you put Haru and Kyoko-chan together, their choice of punishment would make even the king of sadism, Reborn, proud.
"Even if that's true..." Tsuna trailed off as the guys decided to make their 'way into paradise'. This is really bad.
"Erm guys?" Tsuna's quiet voice broke through the silence that came with the start of the stealth mission. "I really don't think this is a good idea."
That got the attention of everyone in the onsen. A little too much attention for Dame-Tsuna's comfort.
"Don't be a wet blanket, Dame-Tsuna." Yoshimoto was the first to speak up, though it seemed that he was not the only one who was unhappy with Tsuna's comment.
"If you are too much of a coward to go through with this, then we would just go ahead without you."
"What did you -" Gokudera-kun started, but was stopped by Tsuna's hand on his shoulder. Tsuna understood that Gokudera-kun was only feeling indignant for Tsuna seeing that the latter's kindness had brought him such harsh words from his ex-classmates, but Tsuna does not want this happy occasion to be tainted with a quarrel.
"Well, it's just that... don't you think the girls would be angry if you try to peep at them?" Tsuna tried again to persuade his former classmates out of impending torture. "I mean, this is only the first day of the reunion. It wouldn't be a good idea to anger the girls."
"Don't worry Sawada-chan. There's no way they would be angry if they never find out about it." Longchamp proclaimed confidently.
That sure was optimistic of Longchamp. Among those planning to peep in the women's bath, Longchamp was the only one who knew exactly what would happens when the girls find out. Yes, 'when', not 'if', seeing that the probability of the girls not finding out was close to zero. Tsuna sometimes wonder if Longchamp would ever learn his lesson.
"But-" Tsuna tried again, but was immediately interrupted by Kaito.
"Tsuna, if don't want to join us, then we won't force you, but I have confidence that this plan will work." Tsuna really couldn't blame Kaito for not heeding his advice, since the latter does not know the truth regarding the Vongola girls. They could be scary when provoked.
"Come on guys, let's go!"
With that, Tsuna watch as his classmates walk toward their impending doom, not at all expecting it. Letting an audible sigh escape his lips, Tsuna tried to tell himself that he had tried his best to talk them out of it.
It's true that he could have done more - like maybe knocking them all out and saving them from a worse fate - but that would risk exposing his secrets and maybe getting innocent people involved with the mafia.
He also could not tell the guys the truth regarding their impending doom since no one would believe him anyway.
So it's fine, since Tsuna had already tried his best. Right?
"Can't you move any faster?" One of the guys at the back whispered, apparently impatient that the progress to paradise was so slow.
"I haven't really exercise in ages. Give me a break."
"This is gonna be great!" Longchamp exclaimed a little too enthusiastically, once again too loud for the occasion.
"Shut up! Baka-Longchamp! At this rate, you are going to get us discovered before we reach the top," came a whispered voice, showing anger and frustration at his over-enthusiastic friend.
"Oops. Heehee, sorry." Longchamp replied, apparently not at all apologetic.
"Everyone, quieten down. We are reaching the top."
The ones in the lead - including Takeda, Kaito, Yoshimoto, Mochida, Taniguchi and Longchamp - peaked over the top of the slope eagerly. The sight that greeted them could sure be described as paradise.
Steam rising from the hot spring, much like the morning mist that creates the vision of deceit, gave the women bath a mysterious feel. The perfectly curved figures of various girls could vaguely be seen lazing around the onsen. Though the steam had prevented the adventurers from getting a clearer view of their targets, it had served to heightened the anticipation for the perfect view to come.
"That one's definitely Dino-sensei's wife... Just look at that figure..." Takeda lamented, trying his hardest to see through all the steam.
"Which one do you think is Kyoko-chan?" Mochida asked, failing to identify his long time crush among the crowd.
"Don't you think Shirayuki would look better naked?" Kaito added, directing the question at no one in particular.
"No way! I would want to get a look at Kurokawa-chan though. She'd never let me." Longchamp voice out, earning him questioning looks from those in the frontline. Since when was he close to that ice princess?
Their imagination running wild from trying to decipher what exactly the girls were doing, and doing their best at matching the blurry figures to the females present at the reunion, the moment was definitely rated among the top moments of their twenty odd years on earth.
"Hey move it! You guys should have seen enough."
"Wait -"
"Don't be so selfish! It should be our turn now."
"We haven't seen anything yet."
"Liars. Five minutes' more than enough to see everything."
"Did you fail your maths? It's only been like five seconds!"
"Oi! Are you done quarrelling? I want to get a look too."
"Like I said, we -"
"Hey! Who's that pushing? Just wait a little while longer."
"Just move it already!"
"Stop pushing! If not we're all -"
"No don't -"
"Wait - "
"AHHHH...!"
The mini tsunami that resulted as those in the front line fell into the waters of the women bath along with a few others was rather spectacular. The sight that greeted them mere seconds after they narrowly avoided drowning, was even more so.
Still slightly disoriented from the sudden drop, the survivors looked up to notice that the steam that had previously gave the place a mysterious feel, had somehow mysteriously disappeared. Before them were what they had previously thought to be paradise. Now, the adventurers were seriously reconsidering that thought as they started feeling not so adventurous anymore.
As the guys got up from the onsen dripping wet, they were confronted by a battalion of girls, fully clothed. How the girls managed to get dressed in the short time it took for the guys to drop into the waters and subsequently get up, no one knows, and now really wasn't the time to care.
"Erm, hi." Longchamp greeted dumbly.
"We were, er..., just hiking around the forest outside... and accidently fell in." Kaito tried the best excuse, or rather lie, he could come up with. But the looks he got in return, told him that not a single soul bought it.
"I-it's true." Yoshimoto followed Kaito's lead, unwisely.
"Done talking?" Kyoko smirked. Who knew the sweet Kyoko-chan could smirk?
"Of course they are done." The look in Kurokawa's eyes would have frozen even seasoned Yakuza members. Maybe that's why none of the guys saw the flying kick that came their way, until Mochida was once again back in the onsen.
"Who gave you permission to do such a pervertic thing!?" The little flash behind their class president's spectacles was definitely not a good sign. "I didn't organise this reunion for you perverts to do as you please!"
The guys' face visibly paled and all could hear more than see them gulp in pure fear. All knew from experience that an angry Incho was never good news. The class president's spectacles flashing, was even worse news.
"Naughty boys need to be punished." The smile on Shizune's face was a little too sweet for the liking of those it was directed at, since the visibly twitching eyebrow indicated exactly otherwise.
"Incho, I suggest that we skip the formalities and move on to the punishment." Whoever made the suggestion was definitely enjoying every moment of their class president slowly going out of control.
"Agree!" This time, about four or five voice spoke up at once.
"You have been judged and deemed guilty!" Shizune spoke up again. At this point the boys were close to grovelling on the ground. "CAPITAL PUNISHMENT!"
The next few moments that followed was a blur to most of the guys present. All they could remember was a torrent of pinches, smacks and flying kicks, all delivered by a single, out of control, angry, bespectacled monster. Let's just say that it wasn't long before the rest of the guys joined Mochida in the hot spring, covered by various degree of injuries.
The sound created by the monster and its victims during their confrontation was rather deafening, but if one listened closely, one would still be able to hear the conversation of a few onlookers in the background.
"That Shirayuki is really something."
"Un. We didn't even have to do much this time."
"I suggest we still have a go at that Longchamp later. I can't believe he had not learnt his lesson after the punishment he got from us the last time."
"I could just let Kyouya know that he tried to peep at me."
"That's not a bad idea. But make sure he at least keeps Longchamp alive. It wouldn't do to start a mafia war because of this."
Tsuna knew that his former classmate's effort at peeping was going to be in vain even before he heard the splash that signified them falling to their doom.
The very slight (so much so that it was almost unnoticeable to anyone who were not as trained as Tsuna and his guardians) spark of mist flames while most of the male population were still climbing up the slope, was the most unmistakable sign that the girls had indeed notice the guys' intention. Chrome must have used her illusion to recreate the scene of all the girls still in the onsen, while everyone either got dressed to confront the guys, or got out to avoid them.
Judging by the screams of pain and terror that resounded throughout the ryokan, the girls must have chose the former option. Tsuna really pitied the ones on the receiving end of the Vongola girls' wrath. After all, he was the one who have had to deal with the aftermath most of the time.
"Gokudera-kun, can you get ready to treat the guys if anyone's too seriously injured?" Tsuna requested of his right-hand man.
"Of course, Juudaime." Gokudera replied immediately with a bow before adding, "Although, in my opinion, none of them deserve to be treated, especially that Tomaso."
With a sigh, Tsuna let the comment slide. He did understand where Gokudera was coming from. Turning to his Rain Guardian, Tsuna added, "Yamamoto, can you please make sure that Hibari-san NEVER finds out about what happened today?"
The consequence would be worse than stealing Reborn's espresso if Hibari-san ever found out that anyone dared to even try peeping at his girlfriend, and Tsuna really do not want to have to clean up after his bloodthirsty Cloud Guardian's rampage.
Mochida Kensuke really couldn't believe his luck. The first time he tried to do something just a little out of line in forever, he was rewarded with two unplanned dips in his own onsen, a flying kick to the head, various other 'treatments' which could definitely be seen as abuse, and more bruises on his body than he had received in years. And the worse part of all this was, all his 'rewards' were delivered by a single GIRL. Mochida swears that his ears had been pulls so long and hard by that monster of a class president, that they could now rival that of elephants.
Even if he was the ryokan's owner, one couldn't expect him to be some kind of saint. All said, Mochida was still a guy. A very healthy one at that, thank you very much.
In between all the craziness of a certain out-of-control class president, it didn't take long for Mochida and the rest who had fell into the water with him to realise that no one would come to their rescue. Mochida had looked up at the top of the stone wall to realise that all of their fellow 'adventurers' had promptly abandoned them at the first sign of trouble. Furthermore, given the hellish symphony they were making, Mochida didn't even dare hope that those who had been too chicken to join them would be of any help.
The only form of comfort Mochida and his unfortunate buddies got, was that none of their partners in crime had escaped unscathed. After the girls had humiliated the shit out of Mochida and gang, they had proceed to track down the escapees. Those escapees had in turn received their fair share of Tsundere-style and other forms of punishments for not only peeping (though they had only tried to peep and had not seen anything yet, but Mochida didn't think that the girls would bother differentiating between the two) but also for daring to escape from punishment (honestly, who wouldn't try to escape from those psychopaths?).
Now, about an hour or so after the incident, Mochida and a few others sat in a little dark corner, trying their best to nurse their wounds, and quietly taking in the scene before them. As the girls put it, most of those responsible had been punished, but they still had a few left to interrogate. The 'few' just so happened to be Sawada and his groupies.
"Ne, Tsuna-kun, I expect that you do not have a part in this, right?" Kyoko-chan asked sweetly, almost like her usual self, though somehow, there seemed to be a tinge of something dangerous to that sweet voice of hers.
"No, I wouldn't even dream of it." Sawada answered calmly, fully meeting Kyoko-chan's eyes, not a hint of defensiveness in his voice. "You would definitely kill me for it and I am still too young to die."
Huh? How can Sawada talk about Kyoko-chan as if she was some demon. She didn't even join the other girls in beating them up.
"I am glad you know that."
And Kyoko-chan's reply was even weirder.
Word Count: 4133 words
Okay, here's the omake I promised! How was it? I had a lot of fun writing it, though I think I used more words on random stuffs than on the actual peeping scene. Please do let me know what you think.
Also, too many OCs and minor canon characters appeared in this omake, and I don't think it is very important to know exactly who they are, so I am not doing the character intro thing this time.
It's really time for me to sleep now. Oyasumi desu!
Published: 21 October 2014 ^_^ (at least according to my time zone, it's the 21st already)