Chapter 4 – Aconite
Hehehe… Arcbound Illusionist here…
I hope you enjoyed the previous chapters.
By the way, be mindful of the time being mentioned as these will provide important details in the later part of the story. If anyone noticed something odd about the last two scenes in the previous chapter... it's intentional and a part of the plot...
Well, here's the next part…
October 13, XX59 ----- 08:45 hours – Namimori Middle High School 3rd Floor
The class became very awkward after the walkout. Ms. Fujisawa had both of her eyebrows raised and started teaching her lesson about interjections after thirty minutes of babbling about passing their tests, respect and everything that will let her take back against the students who fearlessly walked out from the class. The other students, however, feared for an upcoming war as the teacher went with her tirades. They were frightened that Gokudera might snap at any moment when she verbally insulted his boss and the baseball idiot. Despite their fear, Gokudera just kept silent all those time, telling to himself to wait and observe everything.
Gokudera's mind wandered around the classroom since the current lesson bored him. He started thinking about what Hibari said this morning.
Everything had changed and figure out for yourself what had changed.
The bomber knew for a fact that the skylark would never, ever give him a warning, piece of advice or something if the current situation was not worthy of his time. The only things that could get his interest were fighting and strong opponents. But then, the only people in the school that he might have interest fighting with were his boss, the baseball freak, the boxing idiot and himself. However, the person didn't meddle with them as long as they don't disrupt the order in the school or else, there was another strong person in the school.
Based from this hypothesis, there were two possibilities that could be conceived. First possibility is the existence of a strong person enrolled in the school within the last two months and was currently posing a threat to the Vongola. It may be an assassination, coup-d'état, theft of the rings and blackmailing. This was quite impossible since there were no fools that would plan to brew up a mess against his boss or unless they wished for a one-way trip to heaven for his family and himself. Added to that was that it directly contradicted the skylark's clear warning.
The second one was quite different from the first. In this possibility, something had already happened and the effects had manifested within those two months that he was away. This could be directly compared to a sickness that had showed its symptoms after an incubation period upon the host's body. In this way of thinking, he could just assume that something occurred to his boss and then, all things went disarray. The thread justified the teacher's behavior, as well as Yamamoto's and his boss's actions. Hibari's words fell on to this thought too, for 'everything had changed' presupposed something already happened and the effects were the changes that manifested in Namimori.
However, this thought was questioned by the transfer student which entered the classroom. If he remembered correctly, he saw the transfer student went out after his boss and one hell of an idiot ex-boyfriend, which already was strange. The appearance of this new boy reinforced his first hypothesis and weakened his second one but there was something in the boy's appearance that made him doubtful, if not, cautious.
At first glance, Gokudera immediately noticed the boy's black hair that could be mistaken as a tangled mop. His body was quite thin with his back being curved and his limbs being thin. As he looked at the face, he noticed the big, dark circles around his sunken eyes that utterly ruined the porcelain skin complexion. His legs were long and slender but a little wobbly, causing his body to shake while taking each step. The uniform was somehow too big for his body frame, making a small-sized shirt appear large. He just thought that this guy was better off wearing a black robe and an oni mask than wearing their uniform.
The teacher, who noticed the transfer student's entrance, took advantage of it and started talking,
"Mizuno Rui, come in front."
The boy stopped in his tracks and after a while, he went in front of the class. She boastfully held his chin and raised it.
"May I ask you, where have you been?"
"Restroom," the boy simply replied. Gokudera could sense the twisted sense of understanding steaming from the student, as if the teacher will not be here again tomorrow.
The teacher was annoyed by the student's answer. She tightened her grip in Rui's chin and retorted, "Tell me, since when did using a restroom requires 40 minutes?" Her voice suddenly changed from angry to mocking, as if she figured out something, "Unless you're jacking off inside a cubicle, looking at a picture of someone."
"No."
She gave him a smirk and continued interrogating him in an ironic manner, "Just what? Humping someone?"
Rui just stared him deeply in the eye, as if he did not understand what she was trying to do and pointing out at her statement.
Everyone burst into laughter, even Gokudera could not resist chuckling at the boy's idiocy. However, he stopped when he saw Rui's stare become sharp towards the teacher. Then, he calmly removed the teacher's hand and replied in a very creepy voice, "Simpleton." and walked out of the classroom.
The students had goosebumps on that voice while, on the other hand, the dumbstruck teacher blood pressure rose up from Rui's insolent action and started lecturing the students about respect to teachers and their roles as students in an education-centered country.
The thriftiness in speech, creepiness of voice, sluggish movements… all of these reminded Gokudera of someone they fought against in the future. However, something was different, or to say in the simplest way, missing between Rui and that someone in the future. The storm guardian was left wondering on how capable that student was to pose a threat to the Vongola. But he promised to himself, as his right-hand man, he would never, ever let something bad happen to his boss.
October 13, XX59 ----- 08:57 hours – Namimori Middle High School 3rd Floor
Gokudera stood up from his seat and approached Ms. Fujisawa who was practically annoyed on what happened to her class. He immediately flashed his certificate for the teacher to sign. She raised an eyebrow at him, knowing how he was related to Tsuna and Yamamoto. Then, she asked,
"So, how was Italy, Mr. Gokudera?"
She signed his certificate using the fountain pen she had on her own person. After signing, she immediate gave it to the waiting student.
"Fine."
"A word of advice, darling. Distance yourself from Sawada and Yamamoto, those two are making records lately."
What in the hell is this damn teacher talking about? His right-hand man should always be in the boss's side, he thought. However, he just asked, "Records? What about the records?"
"Haven't you heard?"
"Would I ask you if I know?"
"Well, how should I say it..." she mused for a second and continued, "Both have been hitting the nerves of the faculty lately for the past 2 weeks and been the regular customers of detention. I hope that serves as a warning for you, Gokudera-san. See you tomorrow." And she walked out to attend her next class.
"Wait! Wait!" Gokudera tried to ran after her but she bumped on her homeroom teacher who was their next subject teacher, leaving him no choice but to attend to the next class.
October 13, XX59 ----- 09:03 hours – Namimori Middle High School Rooftop
"Feeling better?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Let's go back to the class. It's homeroom."
"Yamamoto, about…"
"You feel pity, don't you?"
The boy nodded.
Yamamoto put his ever-reliable arm around Tsuna's shoulders and said, "Your kindness to undeserving people will lead you to nowhere, Tsuna." His face changed from a smile to a frown. His black eyes shifted from a cheerful daze to an angry stare. "Just look at what happened to me. I was too kind and that bitch…" he said, his teeth gritting and his fist clenched tightly on the other man's shoulder.
Seeing his guardian in distress, Tsuna threw a sympathetic gaze at him and asked him, "Yamamoto, are you still affected?"
Upon seeing Tsuna's concern over him, he smiled again and let go of the shoulder that he was holding on tightly.
"Haha, of course not, past is past. The only important thing now is that the plan would be successful, especially that Gokudera's here to stop it."
Tsuna lowered his head, "Yamamoto, you know, you don't have to do all of this, I mean, everything's fine-"
"Fine? Are you blind? Everything's not fine, Tsuna!"
"It's just that they…"
"Tsuna, haven't I told you this before? As your Rain Guardian, I cannot let anything everyone that made you cry that time. I will see to it that they will suffer, Tsuna, suffer."
"…"
"Tell me, do you want me to continue this or not?"
"…"
"You know that I know what you truly want this, right Tsu-kun?"
The brunette replied timidly. "Yes."
The swordsman brought out a soft laugh and replied, "I'm happy that I am making you smile again."
"Um, about Hibari-san, I think you and him are going too far…"
"C'mon, Kyou-kun's just being Kyou-kun…"
"Well…"
"Hm?"
"I just worry too much."
"Yeah, you're just anxious. C'mon, let's visit him."
"Him? As in him?"
"Uh-huh. This jerk owes me one."
"…"
"Tsuna, the two of us know that this piece of shit will walk around naked if you wanted to. Besides, I just want to make sure that everything will be fine for tomorrow."
"He's busy this day and, let's just go to the canteen. I'm a little hungry because someone ate half of my breakfast this morning."
"Sure."
The two laughed as they walked towards the cafeteria, ignoring the fact that they have classes.
October 13, XX59 ----- 09:03 hours – Namimori Middle High School Faculty Room
She looked at the compact mirror she was holding and saw lines across her forehead. She immediately applied powder on her face using the sponge until those pesky lines disappeared.
Damn that Mizuno, Sawada and Yamamoto! They're destroying my beauty!
Without her noticing, the door opened and someone peeked inside the room. Seeing that the only person in the room was Ms. Fujisawa, the person entered inside and closed the door. The teacher closed her compact powder and was terrified to see the person approaching her slowly.
"Why are you… " and the room was filled with eerie deafness and silenced noises.
After a few minutes, the person left out of the room and reached out for a picture in his pocket, revealing the picture of a cute woman in her mid-30's with two odd-looking children in her arms, a kid with a tome as big as him and a teenager with a cute stuffed doll in his head.
October 13, XX59 ----- 09:05 hours – Namimori Middle High School 3rd Floor
"Class, settle down. I have some announcements to make."
The students stopped from chatting and faced the teacher.
"Listen," Mr. Eizawa started, "your next two classes are suspended and will be spent in club activities."
Wild screams filled the classroom. Everyone was pleased to hear that they have no classes for two hours, all except Gokudera since he had something to do. Therefore, he raised his hand and asked,
"What about me? I need the teachers to sign my documents!"
The teacher smiled and replied, "Well, Mr. Gokudera, I guess you need to attend the meeting for the teachers to sign up your certificate."
Gokudera yelled, "What? I need to attend that damn meeting? I am neither a teacher nor a student organization representative to begin with!"
The teacher was shocked. He was only joking but unfortunately, it backfired to him. He looked at his students in fear that they might hear Gokudera. Luckily, the students were chatting with each other that they did not notice their conversation.
"Gokudera, come here!"
The student complied and walked briskly towards him.
"So… you know about the meeting later?" he whispered.
"Hell, yeah! It's about that Matsumoto being- hmmmp!" A hand forcefully covered his mouth. He learned that it was from the teacher, who was now looking very, very nervous. Gokudera bit his hand, causing Mr. Eizawa to release his hand. The bomber caught his collar and shouted,
"What's your problem?"
"Gokudera, could you keep your voice down?"
"Keep my voice down? Are you kidding me? You're asking me to attend a stupid meeting about that Matsumoto jerk being hospitalized as well as the other baseball students in this classroom, then covering my mouth? You're a jerk!" the bomber shouted.
The teacher could not react from the heavy silence that immediate enveloped the room. Added to that was the students' mood shift from happiness to distress. He was given questioning looks and glances from the students that made him produce big grains of sweat in his forehead.
"What is Gokudera talking about?" a student said.
"Sir, you said they were just sick?" another one added.
"Are you hiding something from us?" A female student asked.
In one moment, the students literally caused uproar inside the classroom. The angry and agitated students were all demanding for information from their teacher.
"Class, class, settle down. We're just joking, right Gokudera?"
Gokudera just gave him an irritating look while the other students looked cynically at him. Realizing that he had no other choice, the teacher confessed,
"Silence, I'll tell everything."
The classroom suddenly turned very quite and the students became focused to the teacher. No one dared to make unnecessary noises and actions that could break the silence of the room. The teacher, who was convinced that the students were all ready to listen, started,
"Class, as you all know, your classmates, Suruga Kyosuke, Miyagi Takenori and Matsumoto Ryou were all absent because they were sick. But, the truth is, they were all beaten and heavily injured during the past few days this week."
"The principal started to get disturbed since some parents started to get worried. So, he summoned all the teachers and student organization representatives to an emergency meeting about the students' security inside the campus and putting an end to the streak of Namimori Middle School students being beaten and hospitalized in the past weeks."
One student interrupted him and asked, "Sir, why did the school hide this from us?"
The teacher sighed, "We, along with the parents of the victims, decided to hide this issue for you to not worry about your classmates and to prevent another school-wide scare like what happened when Kokuyou Middle School students beat up our students."
The class was convinced with the explanation given by the teacher. However, they started fearing for their own security inside the campus, since three of the victims were their classmates. One of them asked,
"Sir, how about Kyoko-chan? Did she get beaten to death too?"
The teacher sensed that the students got anxious after hearing Sasagawa's name.
"Sasagawa Kyoko was absent due to a different reason," then the teacher looked at Kurokawa and continued, "Kurokawa, could I tell it to the class?"
The bomber noticed Kurokawa's saddened face. Her eyes lost the usual sharpness and her expressions were indescribable. It was as if she was carrying a burden. However, it was only normal since she was her best friend. Then, he thought about his boss whom he thought was worried about his girlfriend. After a while, she spoke,
"Yes."
The teacher, after getting permission from Kurokawa, spilled out the reason with gloom written all over his face,
"Sasagawa was in the hospital, recovering from a failed suicide attempt."
A spectrum of reactions rose from the students which the Italian could not avoid to notice. Some were asking Kurokawa if that were true, only to be answered by either a nod or a 'yes, it's true'. Some cried about Kyoko's condition and tried to sympathize with her current condition. Afterwards, students began chatting softly with their eyes at the bomber, as if they were hiding a confidential secret from him.
If Kyoko was not the topic of conversations, it was their worry about their safety since some victims mentioned were from their class. A boy blamed the robbers at the shopping district, another blamed the senior students and others pointed their fingers at Kokuyou Middle School students for they thought that they were the people behind this.
In all the reactions that Gokudera saw, one stood out. It was from Fujita Yukito, a member of baseball team. He was sweating at his seat, with his hands holding tightly at the edge of his seat. Then, the other students asked him if he was okay and he just nodded slowly.
"What's with him? I do hope that this doesn't bother Juudaime," the white-haired teen mumbled.
After a while, Mr. Eizawa observed something about the students' reactions and got the students' attention by asked,
"Class, since I told you about the agenda of today's meeting, I think I have the right to ask this. Did something happen during the past two weeks?"
The class exchanged whispers with one another with the only audible words were Sasagawa, Sawada and a certain Kobayashi Miyabi. The teacher noticed this and announced,
"Okay, okay, would someone tell me what was with Sasagawa, Sawada and this Kobayashi Miyabi that would cause the things that are happening today?"
Gokudera became alert at the second he heard his boss's name. He was right about his second hypothesis about a particular event that happened within the span of two months and somehow, it involved his boss. However, he felt that something was not right, that there were particular puzzle pieces that were missing in the picture.
October 13, XX59 ----- 09:32 hours – Namimori Middle High School 3rd Floor
Meanwhile, in the middle of their discussion, the door opened and saw his boss and Yamamoto entered the room and sat on their respective places. The mood of his beloved boss was brighter than earlier and so as Yamamoto, who was noted to kick the desk an hour ago.
Mr. Eizawa just sighed and said, "Sawada and Yamamoto, both of you are over 30 minutes late. Where have you been?"
"Sir, we were just in the canteen," Yamamoto replied.
"Don't tell me that you two cut classes again?"
Yamamoto just laughed his usual contagious laugh while the other students got annoyed.
The teacher laughed, "As I expected…" his eyes dropped and turned towards Sawada.
"Well Sawada, we have been talking earlier about something and I learned that there was something that happened between you and Sasagawa. Could you tell us what happened?"
Sawada calmly replied, "Nothing happened, Mr. Eizawa. But I do know that she is in the hospital, recovering from a failed suicide attempt."
"You know about that?"
"Yeah, her brother told me about her condition."
Gokudera saw it clearly. He saw the sharp stares of his classmates rained at Sawada all at once and his boss did not waver in shock or fear. He only saw his boss glanced at Yamamoto and then at him. As he caught his boss' glance, he sensed the embarrassment and regret laced in it, making him very uncomfortable. He started to wonder what really happened at those two months.
Fujita, who was shaking earlier, stood up from his seat and approached Sawada. He grabbed him from his seat and punched him. "Of course, we expected you to know that, Sawada! You're the reason why she committed suicide!"
Sawada fell over his chair while the people near him immediately evacuated into the sides. Everyone was pleased to see his boss being punched, as if they were waiting for it. Gokudera had enough of all the whispers, the annoying stares and rumors towards his boss. If he would let this things happens towards his boss, he would be unworthy of being the right-hand man
Before he could react, Yamamoto was already there, punching Fujita hard in the stomach. Fujita toppled over a chair and fell into the floor. From his position, Yamamoto mercilessly mounted on him and gave him a flurry of punches on the face. He tried to defend himself by using his forearms as a shield. However, the shield immediately crumbled against the strong punches and in one moment, the poor man found himself receiving every bit of Yamamoto's anger.
Amidst cries for him to stop from his classmates, the enraged swordsman continued his barrage unto the man as if the misery brought by his punches served as cheers for him. Gokudera noticed something unusual about the scene. Although the others were begging Yamamoto to stop, no one actually made an effort to restrain Yamamoto, even their teacher. In their eyes, he could sense the 'sorry, you're on your own' in their stares On the other hand, he noticed Yamamoto's eyes and shocked as they saw it. It was a serious, determined glare with one thing in mind, to kill.
Gokudera shivered at the sight of those eyes. Those sharp, cold eyes were the same eyes that he saw when he broke up with him. Those menacing eyes did not display mercy, compassion and any trace of Yamamoto's attitude on those black eyes. Instead, those eyes only showed anger, revenge and lifelessness. He thought that he would never see those eyes again but he was wrong and the proof was in front of him.
The class screamed louder when they saw Fujita's mouth bleed from a solid punch. Fujita's voice began to muffle as blood flows into his mouth and it only flows out of his mouth as Yamamoto's blow landed on it. Now, the other male students attempted to get Yamamoto away from their classmate. Some tried to pull his hand, some tried to hold his back but all in vain for one of them who pulled his hand suddenly found his wrist being pulled and his face being hit.
Almost everyone moved towards the side of the room, afraid that one of them would share the same fate. But among the class, one of them tapped Yamamoto's shoulders and said,
"Yamamoto-kun, it's enough."
Yamamoto stopped and turned towards the person who touched him.
"Tsuna…"
Yamamoto stood up and pulled the boy from the ground with his hair. Then, he whispered something to Fujita before letting him off. Everybody noticed the latter's reaction and was terrified. Fujita was shaking and having difficulty to stand. His legs gave up in fear and he fell onto a classmate who, luckily, gave him a helping hand. The said classmate volunteered to bring him to a clinic.
And as the two were walking out of the classroom, they were accidentally bumped by Rui. The latter just apologized to them and continued walking towards his seat. Apparently, he did not notice the blood stain in his uniform that he got from the bump.
The whole class literally turned dumbfounded. As shocked as they were in Fujita's action, no one opened their mouth and said something. They just exchanged meaningful stares at each other and returned to their seats. Meanwhile, the teacher got a clean sheet of paper and wrote something.
After writing he looked at his class. When he noticed that all of them clamed down, he stood up and snnounced,
"Mizuno, Sawada and Yamamoto, I want to talk to the three of you personally. Proceed to the Detention Room, now!"
However, an angry Gokudera charged towards the teacher and shouted,
"How dare you involve Juudaime in detention! It was Yamamoto's fault! Are you blind?"
Mr. Eizawa, as if he just learned that he had the authority over his class, replied,
"Instead of babbling nonsense here in the classroom, Mr. Gokudera, why don't you try attending the meeting as my substitute?"
"What?"
The teacher handed him a piece of paper and said, "Here's a letter authorizing you to be my representative in the meeting. Everything that they need to know is written in the letter so don't worry. After the meeting is finished, talk to me in the Faculty Room and I will sign your document."
Despite all protests, Gokudera had no choice but to attend that damn meeting. Maybe he could get something important in the meeting like the information that his classmates were hiding to him and to know how the school was changed in those two months that he was gone.
Meanwhile, Yamamoto stood up from his seat and went to Tsuna to assist the latter. He got Tsuna's bag and carried it along with his bag in his shoulder. Then, they passed Gokudera whom Yamamoto intentionally hit with the bags he was carrying.
Gokudera shouted, "Won't you say sorry to me, asshole?"
Yamamoto neither apologized nor tuned to him. He just raised his hand a little, just right for Gokudera to see and flashed a dirty finger.
"I had enough, baseball-brain, take this!" and he launched a punch against Yamamoto. However, he felt a force holding him back from completing that punch. He looked at his back and saw the transfer student, Rui Mizuno, holding his fist with his bony hand.
"Let me go, fuck!"
The boy did not let him go. Instead, he just looked at the silver-haired teen's face with his eyes. Gokudera could feel the eerie feeling that he felt before, only with the irritation of being analyzed by a weirdo.
Mizuno released his hand and uttered, "Pathetic human."
"What did you say, freak?"
He saw how Mizuno ignored him and walked alongside Yamamoto and his boss. After a while, he saw how his ex-boyfriend handed the bags he was carrying to the boy and then wrapping his arms in his shoulders and pulling it closer to him. What annoyed him the most was not what Yamamoto did but the boy's consent to Yamamoto's arm. It made him very angry and at the same time, jealous.
In the end, he came up with a conclusion. Both of his hypotheses were correct and to combine both of them was very, very logical. In his mind, a spark of mystery ignited inside him. He wanted to know that bad what the hell happened in those two months and what did that transfer student do to be that close to his boss and Yamamoto.
Finished with the chapter…
Well, if you're curious about Rui Mizuno and his ability, I left some clues about his real identity…
Anyone who gets it right gets a cookie…
By the way, I also left subtle hints on what is really going on and if you managed to figure it out despite the subtle hints, I'll give you another cookie…
Thanks for reading.