Disclaimer:This chapter follows the actual plot of the manga. Thus, most of the plot does not belong to me.
Also, I do not actually speak Finnish- nor do I know much about Finland (never even been there) besides the few names I found in the internet. Just to let you know.
Oh, and when I mention 'drugs', I mean medicine of course.
Post Scriptum 4) Boxing Passion
"I keep telling you, it's bad to strain your muscles all the time," Naoki was saying, "I should know."
Though this was perhaps the worst reasoning one could offer, Ryohei seemed convinced. The fact that they were, for once, not running around the neighborhood before school was all due to Naoki's obviously superior debating skills.
"Then we'll only sprint around the neighborhood every other day!" the boy declared energetically, at which Naoki wondered how this had ever become a routine.
She supposed that it would (if it didn't kill her) at least build some stamina, which she was lacking critically. She still hadn't had the heart to tell him that her way of surviving his 'training' included a prominent amount of, well, drugs. Drugs that she had created herself, of course, and were thus completely trustworthy.
"Once a week is probably fine, Ryohei," the redhead told him mildly. They were now on a first name basis- which Naoki thought was very relieving, since 'Sasagawa' was a rather long name.
"Oy, Naoki, what's that?" the captain of the boxing club suddenly asked, nodding towards a spot behind them. Naoki narrowed her eyes at the faraway (but rapidly approaching) silhouette.
"Judging by the hair, that must be Sawada Tsunayoshi," she observed, "I never knew he was so fast." She also didn't know why he was running around in his underwear.
"Get to school as if I were to die!" the first year roared, leaving clouds of dust behind him.
"Wait up," Ryohei called, though Tsuna did not seem interested. Just before the boy passed them, Ryohei reached out and grabbed his wrist.
"Whoa!" And was instantly pulled along.
Naoki could not suppress a slight feeling of satisfaction at this sight. Ryohei honestly needed to experience what it felt like to be pulled along at top speed.
"At least take your bag with you!" the redhead called after the two who were quickly disappearing from sight. Then she picked up the bag Ryohei had left behind, and followed them as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
Well, he certainly wasn't late.
"Gah! This is so embarrassing," Tsuna muttered, silently cursing Reborn for making him run around in his underwear. Then he suddenly realized that something- or rather, someone- was attached to his wrist.
"A-are you alright?" the boy asked frantically.
"Your power, stamina, and passion are even greater than I've heard!" Ryohei exclaimed, having gotten to his feet almost instantly, "Guys like you only come out once in a hundred years!"
"Wha-?" Tsuna did not have the heart (or time) to disagree.
"Join the boxing club, Sawada Tsuna!" the second year demanded, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders.
"E-eh? Wha-? But- How do you know my name?" Tsuna stuttered, sweat drops running down his face at this sudden turn of events.
"I heard about you from a friend," Ryohei answered, "and from my sister." And just as Tsuna wondered who his sister could be, someone came stumbling along.
"Onii-chan! Your bag was on the street," a girl with bright eyes called out.
The truth was that Naoki had sort-of-accidentally-on-purpose left the bag on the street for Kyoko to pick up. Naoki wasn't so considerate as to carry such a load when someone else could.
Tsuna, of course, was in shock after confirming that his one and only Kyoko was, in fact, the sister of this person- who introduced himself very passionately as Sasagawa Ryohei.
"Don't let my brother force you into his club, Tsuna-kun," the girl said sweetly, at which her brother firmly denied ever forcing anyone.
"Well, I'll see you in the gym after school!" Ryohei called before he left.
Tsuna was, at this point, in a bit of a dilemma. He knew he would be a failure if he joined the boxing club- but he really didn't want to look bad in front of Kyoko's brother.
"But I'm impressed, Tsuna-kun," Kyoko continued with one of her pretty smiles, "I haven't seen my brother this happy for a long time!"
Of course, that left Tsuna no choice.
To Naoki's relief, time had calmed down the majority of the girls who had been in delighted hysterics about the new student, and it was no longer dangerous for her to stay in the classroom during lunch. That is to say, a good many girls still enjoyed observing the redhead, but they now had enough sense to do it out of hearing range.
Thus, Naoki could finally stay in the safety of classroom 2-A, in which no tonfa-wielding monsters preyed on her.
"Did you see how he pulled me all the way here this morning? Such passion, such energy!" Ryohei was shouting, apparently still in awe of the supposedly amazing first year.
Naoki did not even bother to point out that Ryohei himself tended to pull people all the way to school.
"You recruited him, didn't you?" she said instead, though her tone did not make it sound much like a question. The answer was pretty obvious.
"He's coming to the gym after school," the boxing club captain replied, his eyes still burning with passion.
Naoki chuckled (a few girls squealed), feeling a bit sorry for poor Tsuna. She was sure that the apparent passion and energy he showed that morning had been some sort of fluke (and she was willing to bet that Reborn had something to do with it). The Sawada Tsunayoshi she knew (or had heard of) was, to be frank, sort of useless.
"And you're coming to watch, Naoki!" Ryohei added all too confidently. Naoki raised her eyebrows and gave him an 'oh really?' look- which he didn't seem to notice.
"I suppose it might be interesting," she admitted a few moments later, edging away from her energetic classmate who proceeded to finish his lunch 'to the extreme'.
"Alright, I know you're there, Reborn," Naoki called out in the empty hallway, her eyes roaming over several possible hiding spots. Classes were over and most everyone had left to head home or attend their club activities. The redhead was lagging behind to try and avoid any unwanted confrontations. Apparently her plan had sort of backfired.
One of the floor tiles suddenly disappeared, revealing a platform which rose from the ground with the small child standing on top of it.
"Ciaossu," the mafia tutor said with his squeaky voice. Naoki simply nodded to acknowledge the greeting.
"I wish you would stop stalking me-" she began, but the hitman ignored her and hopped onto the windowsill.
"I'm impressed," Reborn told her with his unreadable expression, "You fooled me at first."
Well that was fast. Naoki really hadn't expected him to find out this quickly.
"Whatever do you mean?" the redhead said nonchalantly. It was a habit of hers to deny the truth until the acting was no longer amusing. Incidentally, it still was.
"You even managed to change your school profile," Reborn continued, observing her with his beady eyes.
He was right- it was something she herself was quite proud of. She had, before even coming to Japan, replaced her actual profile (the one that had her old picture and actual information on it) with an 'edited version', which was then sent to Namimori Middle School. Her father, of course, hadn't noticed. He was far too busy to be aware of such things.
"You're not being very clear today, are you," Naoki replied, putting on a convincing expression of mild interest.
"You're a girl," the hitman then stated bluntly.
Naoki wondered whether she ought to continue denying the truth, but the look on the child's face told her that it was time to stop acting. She sniffed in an annoyed manner, avoiding his gaze.
"I suppose I can't convince you otherwise," she said dejectedly, "What now? Are you going to blackmail me into joining the mafia?"
This was asked in a fairly neutral manner, seeing that Naoki had every intention to leave this school if she had to. She certainly wasn't going to let this child force her into some gang.
"I'll tell you after Tsuna's fight against Sasagawa Ryohei," Reborn answered with his characteristically impish smile. Naoki raised an eyebrow at that, but the child had already disappeared. Apparently she now had no choice but to go watch.
"Me..? Boxing…?" Tsuna muttered numbly as he dawdled in front of the boxing gym's doors. He knew very well that he and boxing did not match at all- in fact, it was quite impossible for him to be any good at, well, any sport. But to be hated by Kyoko's brother…
"How can I turn down the offer without him hating me?" the boy asked himself in dismay, knowing that this was probably as impossible as him being successful at boxing.
The door slid open.
"Ah, Sawada! I've been waiting for you!" came the hearty greeting from none other than the boxing club's captain. Tsuna's anxiety meter immediately jumped sky high.
"Upon hearing your reputation, the elder of Muay Thai came all the way from Thailand to see you!" the second year declared, pointing his thumb at a nearby person, "This is Master Paopao."
Tsuna cursed inwardly at the sight of Reborn in an elephant hat and boxing outfit.
"I want to see a boxing match between you two," the supposed Muay Thai master said, at which Tsuna regained his ability to speak and objected profusely.
"What are you saying?! You want me to box?" the boy cried out, along with many other protests.
"Obviously," Reborn replied simply.
"Yes, a spar between me and Sawada would be a good way to measure our skills," Ryohei put in, followed by another round of stuttered protests which were quickly cut off by the appearance of Tsuna's friends.
"Everyone's here," Tsuna observed, sweat drops running down his face at the sight of Kyoko cheering him on. Gokudera and Yamamoto did the same, and even Naoki seemed to have come to support the first year.
Soon enough, he was in boxing gear, facing the energetic captain. He wondered what in the world had happened to his until-recently-normal life for him to end up in such a dire situation. And then the match began.
"Go Tsuna!"
"Tenth!" The cheers were interrupted when a well-aimed punch threw Tsunayoshi to the floor.
"Don't hold back your strength, Sawada!" the boxing captain demanded, apparently under the impression that the boy had not shown his true ability yet.
"But this is my true strength!" Tsuna thought dismally as he lay pitifully on the ground, "I just wanna go home!"
Then he suddenly noticed his mafia tutor holding a gun. The first year panicked, picturing the likely outcome of a Death Will bullet in this situation. He just knew that he was going to beat Sasagawa Ryohei to a pulp and thus be hated by Kyoko forever. In his opinion, this situation couldn't get any worse.
The redhead had noticed the gun as well, and was watching the scene warily, ready to pull some emergency drugs out of her violin case if necessary. But Reborn wasn't going to shoot anyone, was he?
Her eyes widened in disbelief as the unmistakable sound of a gunshot rang throughout the gym. Sasagawa Ryohei fell to the ground.
"E-eh?! You shot the Dying Will bullet at him?" Tsuna exclaimed, shrinking away from the supposedly dead body of the boxing captain. Naoki held her breath while the other spectators asked themselves whether Ryohei had tripped.
"But- if someone so passionate is shot by the Dying Will bullet-" Sawada Tsunayoshi blanched at the thought, just as his opponent got up, "I- I'm going to get killed!"
Ryohei loomed over the younger student who cringed.
"What's wrong, Sawada? Can you get up?" the white haired boxer inquired mildly.
Naoki stared, not knowing what to make of the situation. Tsuna came to the conclusion that someone who was already willing to die for everything he did was not actually affected by the Dying Will bullet. Needless to say, he was even more intimidated by the upperclassman, and Reborn was impressed.
"You're next, Tsuna," the tutor said before shooting his student in the forehead.
What the boy regretted at that point was not, however, his inability to beat the boxing captain, but his inability to reject the offer of entering the club. Which was then what he resolved to do as if he were to die.
"I reject your offer, Sasagawa Ryohei!" Tsuna roared.
This outburst was followed by a good number of commands and refusals which echoed throughout the gym until they were silenced by a final punch- and the crash of a body being thrown at a windowpane.
Naoki was now seriously considering begging her father to take her back to Finland- except that this was far too interesting (though terrifyingly strange) to miss. She did however, twitch at the noise of Ryohei being thrown into a window. At least she wasn't the one being pummeled.
"So, what did you think?"
Reborn had once again appeared out of nowhere, just as Naoki tried to slip away unnoticed. Sawada was busy being congratulated by his group of supporters and Ryohei had left to change back into his uniform.
"I have to admit, it was interesting," she replied, observing the group of first years. Turning to Reborn, who was still in his ridiculous costume, she felt the need to add "but I personally wouldn't want to get involved in any of the action."
"You could watch from the sidelines instead," the tiny tutor suggested.
"Fine. But I'm not joining," Naoki replied simply, "even if Sawada decides to beat me up and throw me through a window."
Dear Suomi,
Turns out Reborn already knows about my little secret. I wonder how he found out- there must be a flaw to my otherwise perfect disguise. Or maybe he found out about my Finnish name… In any case, if he found out this quickly, it shouldn't take as long as I expected for others to find out as well.
Perhaps I should just tell Sawada and his lot before they… catch me in my undergarments or something. It looks like I'll be involved in their endeavors whether I like it or not.
I have a feeling that if I reveal my gender to Ryohei, his mind just might explode a little. I'll be looking forward to that.
Reborn seems to possess some sort of bullet that does not kill. I swear I saw him shoot both Ryohei and Sawada today, and I wonder why I was the only one who noticed. Those kids obviously don't know a gun shot when they hear one.
Also, I haven't run into that sadistic disciplinary leader lately. He seems to have disappeared- good news indeed.
Until next time,
-Lumi Virtanen
Author's Note : Sorry for the extra-late update. I had most of this chapter written out already, which is why I'm able to update now, even though I haven't read KHR for a long time. Read and Review!