Before giving his answer, Nono walks Tsuna around the Vongola mansion. It's as if he can sense what Tsuna is going to say, and knows that this may be the last time Tsuna enters these grand halls. He does have Hyper Intuition as well, so Tsuna wouldn't be too surprised. They meander through the hallways, Grandpa refusing to talk about the question that hangs in the air between them, instead wanting to catch up, asking about Tsuna's studies and his friends, what classes he's taking. This and that about Tsuna's daily life.
The final place Nono takes Tsuna is the Vongola garden - it's huge, huge enough that there's no way that they can walk through the entire thing during their meanderings, big enough that there's a chance that only the grounds keepers and Nono know the full extent of the garden. There's one section of the garden that's completely just rainbow sets of flowers over and over again, a repeating rainbow. Everytime the rainbow repeats the flowers are different.
"Woah!" Tsuna bent down to admire a particularly vibrant orange flower. It hung from a thick stalk, pointing down. "This one is so cool!"
"Thank you Tsuna." His grandpa was grinning fiercely at him. Oh. Oh.
"This is your flower!" Tsuna exclaimed, gesturing to the flower. "These are all the Vongola leaders and their guardians!" A small tickling began to echo across his chest.
"It is indeed my flower." Nono smiled as he bent down and admired a row of red cosmos. "Go ahead and have a look at the other's. They all had quite beautiful souls." Tsuna slowly walked down the line of flowers, taking a moment to try and admire each petal. He wished he had his flower book on him - the things these flowers could tell him (he felt a little like Gokudera, wanting to delve into the meaning of each one).
"So this is Octavia's?" Tsuna knelt at the next band of orange in the order.
"Dahlia's." Grandpa hummed. "Grace and Dignity is I correctly recall. If you could have met her I'm sure you would have seen why." Nono continued down the line, leaning on him cane as he walked. They passed red roses, sunflowers, tall green flowers Tsuna couldn't identify. There were rows of gentian and bushes of lilac. Morning glories and crocus'.
"Nasturtiums. Victory through battle and conquest." Grandpa gestured to another row of dark orange flowers. "That was Secundo for you." He gave a small huff that might have been out of frustration, or a laugh. Tsuna's eyes lighted up as they caught on a familiar flower.
"Wolfsbane! Oh, Lavendar too!" He glanced down the line. Easily his brain inserted the name for each flower. Hydrangeas, Poinsettia's, Goldenrod, Camellia's. Chrysanthemum's. "Grandpa did you already plant one's for me and the others?" His stomach churned a little bit at that - he was here to turn down Nono.
"Tsuna, those are Primo and his guardians." Oh. Wasn't that an interesting tid bit. His grandpa straightened up, glancing over at Tsuna. "Let's head inside and talk." Tsuna was more than willing in that moment to leave the garden behind him.
"So," Hasty to change the subject. "...Xanxus doesn't have a spot in the garden?" At least, he hadn't noticed any orange lilies.
"There is a place for him in the garden, just not in that particular section of the garden. How could I not find somewhere in this wide garden to plant my sons flowers?" Tsuna nodded as they headed back inside to a small room. Off to the side was a simple coffee table flanked by two couches. Tsuna took his place on one while Nono took the other.
"Excuse my detour Tsuna, I can never help wandering through the mansion at times. Now, I believe you had your answer for me?" Tsuna took a deep breath.
"Yes. I've decided… I don't want to be the Vongola Decimo." There was a beat of silence, Nono processing the information while Tsuna tried not to look his grandpa in the eyes.
"We'll just call off the ceremony then!" Something tight in Tsuna's stomach released the knot it had been holding itself in, and he breathed a deep breath. "I can tell that you were feeling quite pressured by the notion. Regardless I know that you're going to do great things when you grow up."
"T-thank you." Tsuna sighed in relief, feeling a weight come off his small tickling from earlier was… still there. Tsuna glanced down and, oh, his clothes were bunching up over something. Undoubtedly flowers. Nono seemed to notice as well.
"Ah, sorry, you know how my guardians can be." Tsuna said sheepishly. The clothing continued to expand over more and more flowers. "It's probably Hibari or Gokudera." His grandpa frowned. Tsuna blushed as he tugged on his vest. "Do you mind if I uhhh, if I check real quick? This is… a lot of flowers." Nono gave a go ahead gesture, and Tsuna quickly tossed off his school vest, face growing red as he unbuttoned the top part of his shirt, just the first few buttons, just enough to get a look at the flowers.
Almost immediately blue hydrangeas began to spill out from under his shirt, sickeningly huge flowers that just kept coming with no signs of stopping, new one's constantly replacing the old ones. Tsuna's blood went cold.
"Nono, there's a call for Tsunayoshi."
oOo
Tsuna finds everyone standing outside the hospital room. Hydrangeas are everywhere. They cover the floor, spilling out of people's shirts, tucked into their hairs. Someone brought plastic water bottles and there were some half done attempts to try and vase as many of them as possible, but most of them were in haphazard piles. No one could bring themselves to throw them away.
He veers straight to the emergency room, bursting in and calling Yamamoto's name. The doesn't really feel the doctors pushing him out, doesn't hear what they say. All he can see if Yamamoto lying on the operating table. They're feeding him oxygen. His chest is opened up. Tsuna feel smore hydrangeas bloom on his chest as the door to the room is shut and his legs completely give out on him. Numbly Gokudera leads him to a nearby bench to sit on. Tsuna unbuttons the rest of his shirt, letting the hydrangeas freely fall to the ground around him.
"Yamamoto's dad is on his way."
"Boss, some water…" Chrome offers but Tsuna shakes her off, clutching a flower in his hand.
"I-I was the first to find him." Ryohei's voice is shaky (like Gokudera's had been on the phone, like Tsuna knew his was if he dared to try and speak). "I was just patrolling the grounds and the locker rooms had been left open, but then there were the flowers and-" Ryohei took a moment to recompose himself. "...and Yamamoto was in a pool of blood. I tried to heal him with my sun flames the the wounds were too deep." The last few words come out as sobs and Ryohei looks off to the side, holding a first up to his gritted teeth as a few tears escape his eyes.
"DAMN IT!" Gokudera shouted and slammed his first against his leg, eyes full of a kind of fury like Tsuna had never seen before. "I won't forgive whoever did this!" His hands were clenching hydrangeas by the bundle. Tsuna just stares as them. They're so beautiful, but so delicate. Honest intentions, heartfelt emotions, gratefulness and beauty, understanding and grace. Yamamoto.
oOo
Gokudera grabs some food from a vending machine and Tsuna with his four guardians squeeze onto one bench, pressing almost desperately against one another. Yamamoto's dad looks tired, he looks old. Tsuna glances up to see him surveying the small hallway, the flowers that are littered everywhere, and his face pales even further. The flowers had begun to slow down but the sheer quantity and size of them still hung grimly in the air.
Wordlessly Tsuyoshi takes a seat near them, a sealed vase with forget me nots carefully held between both of his hands as he just stares at the door.
They sit there and wait for an update (for a death sentence) as small hydrangeas continue to bloom.