Katekyo Hitman Reborn! belongs to Akira Amano. I am not profiting in any way from this.

I apologize for any mistakes.

Thank you for all the feedback! A kind person let me know about the notification problem. Thank you for that! I hope everyone is having a good week. If not good, at least an all right week. This chapter is the last I have written out at the moment, and since I'm still quite busy, the next chapter will be very late. By like four or five weeks. Maybe. I don't know. Haha. Okay, bye. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 4: In Hide and Go Seek, Verde Would Hide Indefinitely

So far, Verde had been requested a grand total of… three times while the others, six or seven times. Verde tried to analyze why this was, but his trains of thoughts were disrupted by Checkers' next request. For some reason or another, he requested they all live together. In the same building. Live in close proximity for however long. Most likely see each other nearly everyday or at least once a week.

Verde fantasized about leaving the galaxy more than a few times.

Lady Luck was smiling upon him that day. He was somehow the first one to arrive (and it had to be the right building. There was a note from Checkers on the door). If he was even luckier, he could finish setting up before anyone arrives.

But first thing's first. He must stake claim to a large space for his new lab. If anyone's bothered by this… Verde will feel bad. But he won't give it up. It's for science. And also for his mental health.

The next to arrive was Viper with Luce close behind. Which was actually close to two hours and eleven minutes after Verde (he was just that early).

And soon enough the rest trickled in.

"Is he late again?" Viper was getting pretty tired of his tardiness. If this is a recurring trend of Verde's, someone will pay. Hopefully Verde.

"There are glasses on the kitchen counter. I assume it is his, unless anyone else wears glasses," Fon said.

"It doesn't matter if he's here or not since we don't have any jobs at the moment." At this point, Lal was just exasperated.

It'd been four days. During those four days, everyone was wondering where Verde was. He hadn't shown up in those four days. The only indications someone had been in the manor before any of them were the glasses in the kitchen and a room with a missing mattress. Suspicious, no?

On this particular morning, Skull decided to look around the property a bit more thoroughly. After all, they're probably going to be living there for a long enough time, so why not get used to it.

'Man, this place is huge,' Skull mused as he wandered aimlessly around. 'Client must be loaded.'

The manor sat somewhere close to the foot of a mountain. The closest civilization was around four and a half miles away. No one will know if they were to be murdered.

'Wow… That's a scary thought.'

The manor was also surrounded by a thick forest. Perfect place to hide the corpses.

'Okay, let's stop thinking about that.'

As Skull ventured further into the woods, he heard a sudden snap! right behind him. But no one was there. Perhaps it was a ghost. Or a sneaky serial killer, coming to get him.

'Okay. I can't stop thinking about that.'

And with that, he decided the forest could wait for another time, turned around, and got smacked on the back of his head.

… Wait, what?

Colonello wasn't worried. Of course not. He's a manly man. And manly men don't worry… Okay, that's a lie. He's worried. But he's still a manly man. Manly men can be worried, too.

And Colonello wasn't stalking anyone. Nope. Certainly not Lal. Not at all.

Noooo…

Colonello is actually just taking a walk. In the forest. Near the manor. Where Lal is. Checking for dangers. Just in case. Not that Lal can't take care of herself! He's just… worried.

All was calm. Until his eyes were graced with neon purple. Wow. What a color. On someone's head. Wow.

Snap!

Shit, he stepped on a twig. Curse you leafy forest full of fragile sticks!

The kid spun around… But didn't manage to find him poorly hidden behind the tree. Seriously? Is Lal working with someone this incompetent? Unacceptable!

Skull turned around another time to come face to neck with a stranger. An angry looking one who attacked him.

"Did you just noggin-punch me!?" It's not pleasant, you know, being punched in general.

"HUH!? YEAH, I DID! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING BEING SO USELESS!?" Why is he yelling and so angry at Skull?! Makes him want to scream, too!

"EXCUSE YOU!? WHAT DO I THINK I'M DOING?! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, GOING AROUND ASSAULTING PEOPLE!?"

It was a miracle no one inside the manor heard their screaming match (or perhaps they did not care much about any of Skull's affairs).

It was also a miracle they calmed down enough to have a quieter conversation. But only after two more minutes of screaming. And foot stomping.

"Anyway, my main problem with you is that you're not aware of your surrounding," Colonello justified his action.

"Yeah, whatever. I'm going back in." And with that, Skull turned around for what seemed like the millionth time. Only for a heavy hand to fall upon his shoulder like a bear paw.

"No, you're not. You're coming with me to check the perimeter." Skull wanted to refuse. Really badly. But the guy had a gun. What a life this is turning out to be. Kinda like a movie he did once. Except this isn't a movie. Nope. Just his life.

"By the way, don't tell anyone you saw me." Colonello, ass the fourth, wants to be kept a secret. There was no reason for Skull to feel obligated to do anything this random stranger asks of him. In fact, Skull should probably be telling someone about this guy.

You know. This guy. The guy with the gun.

"Why?"

"Because I said so! Okay?!" This guy gotta stop shouting. Doesn't he ever get tired of hearing his voice?

"Okay, okay, whatever, man. Just don't drag me into whatever you-" Skull stopped in the middle of his sentence. He also stopped dead in his track.

"Hey, what's with you?" For all he lectured on about being aware of one's surroundings, Colonello somehow missed the figured on the edge of the cliff. A figure familiar to Skull.

A figure known as Verde.

"He's not going to jump or anything, right?" Skull, whose brain had been wired to horror movies that morning, had nothing really helpful to say at that moment. Not like he really had any time to think or say anything else, because right after he said that, Colonello's sight locked onto Verde and suddenly they were falling off the cliff.

Wow. What a day.

Verde was just chilling in the forest since very early that morning. Taking a walk by himself. Some peace and quiet. Some time to be alone.

He was holed up in his newly set up lab since the first day, one part because of his work and another part because he feared he might run into someone if he left.

But Verde is a pretty outdoorsy kind of person. He can't effectively interact with the majority of the population but he can still go take part in sports and activities that doesn't require other people. He had to get out of there. So he did the best he could.

Which was to fly out the window at breakneck speed in complete darkness and make a run for it to the safety of the glooming woods.

So there he was, chilling in the forest that entire morning. He was standing near the cliff enjoying the way a twisted tree looked like an airdancer when a sudden shout rang through the forest. Verde was so startled he dropped the object in his hand down the cliff. Which was why he was peering over the edges to check it hadn't gone and fallen in the river.

And that's when he heard it. The heavy footfalls coming straight at him at the speed of someone rushing to get to the local farmer's market's mega sale. And then BAM! There he goes, right off the cliff.

It was Luce who happened upon the scene. The scene that is Skull looking about with wide-eyed surprise, holding a large firearm, an unknown sitting on the ground, picking leaves and twigs out of his person, and Verde standing in discomfort, inspecting a small bell.

"...Hello?" The best way to start a conversation. Luce just wanted some answers.

And this unknown shall deliver. But only after Luce promises not to tell anyone of his presence. (Which she did promise, because she saw this man in one of her visions. And also, curiosity.)

"Okay. So," Colonello began. "The kid was like, 'he's going to jump' or something so I panicked a bit and did what my instinct told me to. Which was to give the kid my gun in case he needs protection and so it doesn't get damaged if I have to wrestle green guy over there. So after that, I ran really fast at green guy, you know, to pull him back. But, um, I miscalculated my speed and distance, and just rammed into him. Which, you know, shoved us both off the cliff. Luckily, the cliff wasn't extremely steep so we ended up rolling down and then there was a river next to the cliff. Which we rolled into. And, yeah. That's why we're all wet and muddy and stuff."

"... Ah. I see…"

Yup. What a start to a day.

For some reason or another, everyone was gathered in the main living room. Perhaps they trusted each other enough to be together. Or perhaps they didn't trust each other enough to be out of each other's sights. Or they just didn't have anything to do. Whatever the reason, they were all there.

Which means they were all there to see Luce lead Skull and Verde back inside (Colonello was hiding out somewhere).

Fun time for Verde.

'Wow. What a day. It's like, only noon and I already want to go to bed.' Poor Verde. 'They're all looking at me. Again. Why is this my life? It's probably not too late to collect pigeons. Or maybe I can ask Checkers if I can work from home. But that requires contacting and talking to him. I can't do that. Aahhh… Why is this my life? What do they want?'

"Why don't you go clean up, Verde? We'll all be having lunch shortly, and all questions can wait until then," Luce firmly suggested. Verde has some mixed feelings about Luce. While he is grateful for the escape, she basically ordered him to come back down and be with people.

Mmmmyyeeeaaaahhhhh… Bye.

You know that feeling? You know. That feeling of living through the same exact thing again but there are slight differences each time. And each time, you can do something different for a slightly different outcome. Verde is really feeling that right now. He's been to a few meetings before, and one would think he'd get used to them. But Verde, the unfortunate protagonist of this story, feels worse and worse every single time he sets foot outside his comfort zone.

And there's also the fact his glasses are broken and his spare are missing. Verde's pretty farsighted. Everyone's faces appeared blurry. He couldn't decide which was worse. Being able to see everyone's face of disdain clearly or not being able to see what people are expressing.

If one good thing came out of this it would be nice food. But he still had to eat in front of people. Horrible!

'Boi, Verde looks pissed af,' Skull thought. He wondered why he got caught up in all this mafia kerfuffle.

Despite the questions floating through their heads, everyone kept silent. Verde's luck appears to be coming back.

After lunch was a different story. Lunch was a tense affair of seven acquaintances eating food prepared by one of these acquaintances with sharp utensils clinking every so often in relative silence. After lunch was a tense affair of seven acquaintances sitting near each other with no protective barriers between any of them in relative silence. Silence was not gold in that room. It was lead. And the silence along with Verde's luck were shattered by Viper.

"Where have you been?" It was directed towards Verde, obviously. Though it was not very obvious to Verde. He thought they knew he was in his work space. Verde shifted his eyes to where he thought Viper's eyes were. The intensity of Verde's glare was unsettling to the group.

He was just squinting.

"I was in my room." What are they getting at?

"We checked all the rooms, and you weren't in any of them," Lal explained.

"Did you check the attic?" The attic. The attic that was pretty much an entire floor with its own bathrooms and whatnot. The attic Verde occupied the past few days. The attic no one apparently checked.

In their defense, the only way to get to the attic was a bit obscure.

"There's an attic?" asked Viper.

"? Yes?" It should've been obvious if they just looked at the floor plan.

Sometimes, confusions and misunderstandings might happen because of someone's actions or lack of actions, whether they meant for them to happen or not. Miscommunication can lead to confusions and misunderstandings.

In this case, one could pinpoint the ultimate factor of all this to Verde's anxiety. The next factor would be the extra effort of Checkerface to make sure Verde became the next Lightning Arcobaleno.

To everyone else, he sent a letter. The invitation. But Verde doesn't get many mails and any that he does occasionally receive usually gets recycled without ever being opened. So Checkerface had to personally tell him face-to-face (which ended with tears and a few broken gadgets).

Another thing would be the fact Checkerface gave Verde a floor plan for the manor. It included the attic that was partially closed off some years back.

Back to this situation.

"All right, let's move away from the attic for a moment," Lal took charge. "Verde, do you or do you not know about Flames?"

"I do." Verde was also getting frustrated. Partly because he couldn't see shit.

"What is it exactly that you do for a living?"

"I sell whatever I make or develop to people who want them." Maybe if Verde pretends he is talking with a friendly old friend this wouldn't seem so much like an interrogation.

"Such as the mafia," Reborn joined in. "Delta does that, too. Perhaps you know them."

"I don't know anyone called Delta." Why is Reborn so hung up about this Delta person?

Right then, Reborn took out a small… gun? from his inside pocket. He didn't shoot or anything, but it put everyone on edge. Idly, Verde remembered he doesn't have any old friends.

"This is by Delta. Some of their techs have their signature on it. Look." Reborn held it out a bit, angling it so the light hit the side. He was showing Verde something. Something Verde couldn't see.

"... I can't see."

Ah. Right. No glasses.

"Is this yours?" Fon held out a pair of glasses. It was Verde's spare!

"Thanks." At last, his sight is restored.

Adjusting his glasses back on his face, Verde took another look at whatever Reborn wanted to show him.

On the side of the gun was a small, faint marking. A triangle.

"It may be unofficial, but the majority of the mafia call them Delta because of this," Reborn explained.

"...It's actually supposed to be the letter V," replied Verde. It was at that moment everyone in that room realized Verde and Delta are the same person.

Everything suddenly made more sense than it used to.

That is to say, not that much.

But still. Progress.