Teru was awoken by Reigen.
"Are you still interested in flames?" The man asked as Teru while's brain was still mostly asleep.
"Nhh." Teru moaned, trying to make sense of the words presented before him. Reigen seemed to take the response as an affirmative, patting Teru's arm.
"Come on, we're going to the gym."
He managed to pull himself out of bed and scrounged through his suitcase for some fresh clothes. He felt somewhat gross, used to showering right after waking up, but if they were going to the gym then there would be no point. It was about this time, buttoning up his jean jacket, that he finally processed the first thing that Reigen had said. Flames. Was the man going to teach Teru how to use them? Or maybe demonstrate what they could do? All of his sleepiness gave way to excitement.
Standing in the hallway was everybody else - along with five kids that Teru didn't know. While Teru's friends were dressed in pretty normal clothes, the five strangers (plus Reigen) were wearing things more suited for physical activity.
"Alright, let's go!" Reigen declared and set off down the hall, apparently their guide to the gym. A gym in a mansion. Huh.
"Where are we going?" Teru asked Shigeo, walking on one side of him while Ritsu took the other.
"Master suggested watch the tenth generation train." Mob answered, face as blank as ever.
"Wait, they're the tenth generation? As in, the future head of the Vongola?" Teru hissed, jabbing his thumb behind them. Mob nodded. Teru looked over his shoulder, getting a better look at them.
They all seemed to be about the same age as him or Mob. There were five of them - one of them being the heir and the four others being guardians? If that was so, then they were two fewer than the Ninth had - two fewer than what his research suggested the guy should have. The group took up the entire hallway in a clear formation. The soft, kind of cute-looking walked in the middle. There was a black-haired kid on one side, laughing about some quiet conversation Teru hadn't heard. Walking on the soft kid's other side was a decidedly grumpy looking silver-haired boy. He was mostly stumbling forward and yawning a lot but seemed determined to keep walking forward. On the far sides and slightly behind the trio was a girl and another guy. One of the girl's eyes were covered by an eyepatch and the gaze of her remaining eye was trained on the ground. The guy had white-hair and a bandage across his nose. He was practically vibrating, like it was taking everything in him not to just run ahead of Reigen.
"The girl tried to attack me." Dimple commented, floating between Teru's group and Reigen.
"Any sensible person attacks you." Ritsu snorted. Dimple's face twisted like he'd bitten into a lemon and Teru chuckled.
"Both Teru and I tried to exorcise you." Shigeo added, giving the smallest of smiles. Dimple stuck out his tongue.
"I didn't attack Dimple." Reigen threw over his shoulder. Ritsu pointed with his hand at Reigen triumphantly.
"Proves me my point." Ritsu said smugly.
They wove through the mansion for a while, passing by only one or two members of the staff as they went. The hour was getting late for those in Italy, but for the Japanese it felt like morning. The group descended a long spiral staircase to a set of steel doors, and Reigen tapped a quick little passcode into the panel beside it. They doors opened up to reveal a large room. It was dark for a moment, but the overhead lights came on as they entered, Teru looked around. There was some usual training equipment near the front, stuff that would've fit in with Shigeo's Body Improvement club. A track traced the edges of the room in a loop. Part of one wall had been changed into a climbing wall. The top of the gym, below the lights, were bars and such, like the world's most dangerous jungle gym.
"There's probably a whole set of bells and whistles to it, but I'm not going to mess with them." Reigen batted the air with his hand. "Mob, Ritsu, Teruki, I need to talk to you guys for second."
Reigen went back outside of the gym and all three of them followed. The door was closed behind them and the stood in the rather cramped space at the end of the stairwell. Reigen stood on the steps, adding some extra height to him.
"What?" Ritsu said, voice tight. Reigen folded his arms, sighing.
"No one here knows your espers." He started. "And I'm not going to make you tell them or anything. The only one they might even suspect is Mob, but there's no proof of that. But, in all honesty, they won't force you to join. They already have espers at their beck and call. So it's all up to you if you want to reveal yourselves or not."
"How can you promise that?" Teru spoke up. "I trust you, but you're not the Ninth. You can't control what he does - what any of the men here do."
Reigen's mouth twisted like it was search for the words he was trying to say.
"I guess you'll just have to trust me. The Vongola have… weird morals." Reigen shrugged. "Believe me, don't believe me, but just know it's not like I announced around that you're all espers. That's all I wanted to say. Now let's get back out there and enjoy the show."
They all shuffled back into the gym. The other kids hadn't done much in the time they were gone. The white-haired one was wrapping his hands slowly while talking the tallest one through it. The silver-haired guy seemed to be struggling to stay upright, and the girl and the soft-boy were supporting him.
"Hey, what's their names?" Teru whispered to Shigeo and Ritsu quickly. Ritsu pointed them out - Tsuna, Hayato, Takeshi, Chrome, Ryohei - as well as their titles - Tenth, Storm guardian, Rain guardian, Mist guardian, and Sun guardian. Teru soaks in the information, noting the lack of the 'lightning guardian', a position he knew for sure the Ninth had.
"Hey, I was wondering if you guys could do a little demonstration!"
For a moment Teru stiffened at Reigen's words (hadn't he just promised not to make them do anything?) but then realized the words were directed to the Vongola. They all looked at Reigen, curiosity in their eyes.
"Ah, we, uh, we weren't expecting, uh, or planning to use our f-flames in training today." Tsuna stuttered out.
"I'm not talking about some amazing theatrics." Reigen clarified with a flare of his hand, settling with the ring facing towards the Vongola. "My student are his friends aren't familiar with flames." To accentuate his point, the crackling green fire lit up on his hand once more. Dying will flames, Teru reviewed in his head. Both Ritsu and Shigeo eyed it curiously, Ritsu's normal irritation at Reigen momentarily replaced by wonder.
"Oh! Y-yeah, we can do that." Tsuna perked right up and then retreated back down. "But, uh, we're not really, um, experts."
"Hey, neither am I. I just want them to get a feel of what they're dealing with here. I'm hoping it'll help them be less jumpy." Reigen shrugged, the fire on his right going out.
"Chrome used something like that." Ritsu said. "But it looked way different."
"They're mist flames." The timid girl said, turning her head away from them in what Teru originally thought was shyness. The earring she was wearing then lit up with soft indigo flames. Reigen had said they could come in different colors, but the shape of it was completely different as well. Mist flames. Mist guardian. Ah.
"An earring?" Reigen asked, peering closely at it.
"The rings kind of, uh, changed. It's a l-long story." Tsuna kind-of-but-not-really explained.
"You want to see some really extreme flames?!" Ryohei stepped forward, putting one of his biceps out towards them. A bangle fit snuggly around it, and with a scream of 'EXTREME' it lit up with pale yellow sparkling flames. "Sun flames by far are the most extreme!"
Teru winced at the loud and brutishness of the boy, reminded of some of the people he used to consort with. He glanced over at Shigeo, and found the esper was positively glowing at the energy the Sun guardian was exhibiting.
"Ooh, my turn!" Takeshi pulled his necklace away from his chest, though the chain still sat around his neck. Light blue flames danced across the necklace's surface, moving more like water when telekinetically held than actual fire. "These are rain flames. A pretty neat trick, huh?"
"Flames aren't a trick." Hayato, who was still swaying on his feet, clearly fight with himself to remain alert, growled. He glared at Takeshi and clenched his hands into fists. His belt-buckle burst into chaotic and ramaging red flames. "You flames show your devotion to the Tenth! And my storm flames make it clear that I am willing to die for him!"
"Hah." Tsuna breathed, looking like he found the words all too familiar, but nonetheless uncomfortable to hear. "I should, uh, show mine, huh?" Tsuna held up his hand, where an elaborate ring sat on his finger. He closed his eyes and an orange fire - looking just like any other fire - flickered onto it. When he opened his eyes, it went back out. "They're, uh, they're sky flames."
"Is it a form of pyrokinesis?" Ritsu mused, chin held in his fist.
"No, they're dying will flames." Hayato growled again. His belt was still on fire and he seemed to be more awake. He glowered at all of them. "It's in the name. They are a manifestation your soul when you are willing to die for something."
"Hayato, don't b-be mean!" Tsuna reprimanded. Hayato huffed and cross his arms, his storm flames finally going out accompanied by another yawn.
"Time to box!" Ryohei shouted and raised both of his fists into the air. Takeshi mimicked the action with a laugh.
"Oh, right!" Tsuna jumped, looking around. "T-training. Um… maybe I'll d-do laps? Usually Reborn t-tells me what to d-do."
"So it's true then. Reborn really does train you." Reigen said. Tsuna nodded.
"It's… um… an e-experience."
Teru didn't like how that sounded. He frowned.
"Well, running is always good." Reigen suggested.
Ritsu and Teru stood back while Tsuna and Reigen ran laps, both noticeably panting around the halfway mark. Shigeo was just a little ways away, weight-lifting some five-pound dumbbells. Chrome had joined Ryohei and Takeshi in learning how to box, paying attention as the man went over the stances.
"So they have these… flames." Ritsu said, eyes trained on Reigen and Tsuna as they hit about the three-quarter mark. "But what do they do? What do they mean?"
"At the rate Reigen is spilling mafia secrets, we'll probably know by the end of the night." Teru shrugged. "If you were to ask me, though, they clearly have different names for a reason. Maybe the abilities of the users change depending on the flame? We haven't seen them in action yet. If they'll 'train' with them, there must be some offensive or defensive capabilities of the flames. Having abilities no other mafia possess must make it easy to stay number one."
"But clearly other people can have flames. Reigen's not a part of the mafia - or so he keeps saying - and Tsuna's guardians all came from Japan with him." Ritsu pointed out. "So what's stopping other mafia, or even civilians or military, from using these besides the fact that it's a secret?"
"There's something about the rings." Teru's eyes darted from Chrome's earrings, to Takeshi's necklace, to Ryohei's bangle. "I'm going to figure this out."
