A/N: 38 follows and 61 favorites in just one chapter? That's pretty crazy. Thank you so much for the support! I didn't think many people would still read such crossovers, much less read my crossover idea, so I'm really happy right now hehe
Replies to reviews can be found down below!
2.
Setsuna wondered why her low presence had not affected Kusakabe, Reborn, and her family. Were people in Namimori wired differently, or was her misdirection failing her? She hoped it wasn't the latter. If it was, then she was even more useless now.
"You are not needed for this match, Setsuna."
She winced, pulling her knees closer to her chest as she resumed staring out of the window. It was a bright, sunny day today, a stark contrast to how she was feeling right now.
She was disappointed that she hadn't realized it sooner, that Tsuna had easily spotted her in the crowd when it should have been difficult for another person to find her. How was it so easy to him? Kusakabe had noticed her, too, when she boarded the limousine, and Reborn, Nana, and the kids had no issue with seeing her either.
"Maybe he was right. Maybe I am useless," Setsuna bitterly thought to herself. Maybe her decision to quit the basketball team had been a good thing. If her misdirection wasn't effective anymore -
Her thoughts were interrupted by three soft knocks on her door. She whipped her head around to see her door opening slightly, with Tsuna's face popping out after.
"Hi, Setsu-chan," Tsuna smiled gently at her. "Would you like to accompany me around Namimori today? I have to buy some snacks for Lambo and I-Pin, but I figured I could show you around, too, while I'm at it."
Setsuna smiled back at him, standing up and smoothing over the grey sweater she had been wearing. "I would love to."
After saying their goodbyes to Nana and the kids, Tsuna took her on a tour around Namimori. The route they were taking had few people in it, and Setsuna was grateful for it; the relative silence allowed her to think.
Why was her misdirection ineffective all of the sudden? She had had a low presence all her life, and she always surprised people whenever she started to speak because they never realized that she had been there in the first place. Even the Miracles had moments where they hadn't seen her.
What made Tsuna and the others see her so well?
"- and this is the library. I haven't been here much, but it's a nice place to go to if you've finished the books you brought along with you," Tsuna told her, snapping her out of her thoughts.
It appeared that they were passing by a moderately-sized building with a lot of windows.
"It would be nice. I think I'll be done with the books within the week, to be honest," Setsuna said, causing Tsuna to chuckle.
"It's amazing how you can read so much. The only books I can finish in one sitting are manga."
"They're still quality pieces of literature. They just happen to have more drawings than words," Setsuna shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with that."
"You'd be the first to say that," Tsuna grumbled half-heartedly. "Reborn always nags at me to read up on 'educational' things."
"Reborn-san must not be the kind of person to appreciate something meant for younger audiences."
Her response caused Tsuna to snort.
"Better not say that near him," he warned her. She didn't understand what he had meant by that. Surely, Reborn wasn't the kind of person to get mad at a joke? She supposed she wouldn't get her answer anytime soon though, as Tsuna hadn't offered any more information on the matter.
They had reached the supermarket a few moments later, and Tsuna quickly grabbed a shopping cart. They walked down the aisles, placing items inside based on a grocery list Tsuna had bought with him.
"Okay, so now we need some powdered milk and- five boxes of instant coffee powder?! Reborn's nuts!" Tsuna complained but placed five boxes of instant coffee powder in the cart anyways. "He better be paying for this with his own money."
"Reborn-san lives in the house, too?" Setsuna asked, a little confused she didn't recall seeing the older man last night.
Tsuna shook his head. "No, not really. He's my tutor, but he lives somewhere else. It's just that he's usually at the house for long periods of time, so Kaa-san treats him like family, too."
"Nana-oba-san is very kind."
"A little too kind," Tsuna rolled his eyes playfully. "Still, Reborn must be seriously craving for an espresso substitute. The ones he usually buys are only found abroad, and I guess he finally ran out his stock."
Tsuna shook his head before pushing the cart forward again, and Setsuna was amused by the thought that Tsuna seemed to see his tutor as some sort of older sibling, or an uncle. It was just her opinion, but she found it endearing.
After crossing out everything in the list, Tsuna turned to look at her. "Want anything?"
Setsuna blinked. She hadn't brought any money with her. She was about to politely refuse until Tsuna said, "You don't have to worry about the costs. You're family."
Setsuna slowly nodded, her refusal dying down as she excused herself to return to the pocky section. She grabbed two boxes of vanilla-flavored pocky before hurrying back to Tsuna, who was already lining up by Cashier 2.
"You done?" Tsuna asked, and Setsuna nodded her head, gently placing her boxes of pocky inside the shopping cart.
"I'll pay you back when we get home."
"No need, Setsu-chan. I told you, you're family," Tsuna insisted, pushing the cart forward once the old lady in front of them in line left with her purchases. Tsuna placed the items on the counter, and the middle-aged cashier lady scanned the tags of the items.
Once the cashier lady rang up the total, Tsuna brought out an orange-colored wallet, handing the cashier lady the exact amount of money before being handed a receipt. After the items were packed into boxes, the cashier lady watched as Tsuna and Setsuna grabbed the boxes, only for the lady to shriek in surprise afterwards.
Tsuna and Setsuna looked curiously at the cashier lady.
"For a moment there, I thought the box was- I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there," the cashier lady apologized to Setsuna.
Setsuna was surprised but was able to reply with a "It's fine" before she and Tsuna left the supermarket.
"She was a little odd, wasn't she? You're not exactly hard to miss," Tsuna told her. "I'm sure she didn't mean anything bad by it, Setsu-chan."
But that wasn't the point. Not at all.
While Setsuna appreciated Tsuna's effort to try and comfort her, she was rather puzzled. Was her misdirection working again? But if it was, why wasn't it working on Tsuna?
'You're not exactly hard to miss', he had said, but why? Why could he see her so well?
"Are you upset?" Tsuna asked her worriedly.
Setsuna shook her head. "No, I'm not."
Tsuna looked at her as if he knew she was lying, but nodded and decided to take her word for it.
The boxes were a little heavy, and they had grown heavier throughout their trek back to the house. Tsuna decided to take her to a nearby playground for a break. Setsuna was thankful for the break, placing the boxes down on the grass beside her as she sat down on a blue, plastic swing.
Tsuna sat on the swing next to her, kicking the ground gently to make his swing slowly move forward and backward.
"This playground's pretty close to my high school," Tsuna shared. "I always pass by this area with my friends after school. It's a good place to relax."
"What's your school like?" Setsuna asked curiously.
"It's honestly just like middle school but with longer class hours, stricter academic requirements, and even stricter teachers, but it's alright. The teachers are fair, so I haven't found difficulties in my classes aside from Math."
"Your weakest subject?"
"In a sense," Tsuna frowned. "When I was in middle school, my Math teacher used to pick on me since I was a pretty bad student at the time. Most information slipped my mind a lot, and I had concentration problems when it came to schoolwork. Anyways, my teacher gave me tests containing advanced material that wasn't taught in class, but I couldn't tell anyone since it was the word of a failing student against a respected teacher's. I doubt my classmates knew about the content of my tests, but at the time, most wouldn't have tried to defend me anyway.
It changed when me and a friend, Hayato-kun, almost got expelled. Story for another time, but we basically had to search for a time capsule buried somewhere in the school to avoid being expelled. We eventually found one, and it was amusing because it was my teacher's time capsule from when he was a student. And inside? All failing marks.
Long story short, we exposed him for the fraud he was and my Math skills got better when he was replaced with a competent teacher. I'm still at a disadvantage, though, so my friends offered to help me catch up. I'm still in the process of doing so, though I'm almost done."
Setsuna nodded, absorbing the information. She wanted to send an Ignite Pass to his teacher's face for the bullying he had committed. If Tsuna was a failing student at the time, he should have tried to help him out, not worsen the situation.
She hadn't spoken in a while, causing Tsuna to rub the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry. I was rambling. That was probably too much information."
Setsuna shook her head. "You weren't rambling. It's nice to get to know you more, too. I'm sorry if my silence made you feel bad. I was just thinking of punching your middle school Math teacher."
Well, the Ignite Pass wasn't exactly a punch, but she wasn't in the mood to talk about anything related to basketball right now.
Tsuna smiled at her. "The sentiment is appreciated, but you don't have to. His reputation's already ruined, anyways."
"He did long-term damage."
"And I'm getting better. That's what matters."
Setsuna wondered how Tsuna could be so forgiving.
"Haha, sorry, Kurokocchi, but I don't really feel like going to practice anymore."
"Leave them be, Setsuna. They don't need to."
"I don't know, Setsu. What's the point in practicing, anyways?"
"Eh, but, Setsu-chin, why waste time doing something unnecessary?"
She wondered if she could be as forgiving as he was.
She had never been lonely as a child. She had her parents and her grandparents to entertain her never-ending questions on the books she had read, and she also had Shige-kun to be a pseudo-sibling, but Setsuna couldn't help but wonder about what could have been had she met Tsuna earlier.
When they had walked home after staying in the playground for a few minutes, Tsuna had been telling her funny stories about him and his friends, Hayato and Takeshi. The things they had done in middle school were so ridiculous that Setsuna couldn't help but laugh softly. Tsuna seemed pleased with her reaction, and saw it as incentive to tell even more ridiculous stories about him, his friends, and a group of odd people involving frog hats, feathers, and umbrellas.
They probably looked like close friends as they walked down the street, and Setsuna wished she had met him sooner. He made her feel content.
All the what-ifs were plaguing her mind as they walked back, but those were pushed aside when another amusing story made her laugh once more.
A/N: And that's it for now :3 I hope you liked the chapter, though I admit it's a little shorter than planned :c
Also, I don't want to rush the whole romance part of the story. I want to make Setsuna build relationships with some characters first before meeting Takeshi. Hope that's okay.
REPLIES TO REVIEWS
rozielrie: As of the moment, those are the Flames I'm partial to at the moment, though I'm still deciding which one will be the main Flame. :) Still subject to changes though
Beasttamer99: Thank you! I haven't planned as far as Seirin Arc yet, but I will definitely take your suggestion into consideration :)
Lynchin: Thank you again for pointing out my mistake hehe :)
wildman9002: It's a potential Flame for her! But I haven't quite settled on a decision yet :)
Guest (Jun 19): Potentially yes! And there's a reason why they noticed her already though :)
Shadowing: Thank you so much! That's nice to hear :)
