Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC, Mizumoto Akihiko.
AN: I'm trying to increase my word counts for each chapter. Seems like only a couple chapter left until I can transition into the Kokuyo Arc. As mentioned in previous chapter, I've included a description of Akihiko in the middle of this chapter. It was fun writing certain part of this chapter! Hope you like it!
For a while, everything was pretty peaceful around Namimori. At least it is peaceful in Akihiko's point of view. Tsuna along with Gokudera and Yamamoto, on the other hand, underwent hell training from his sadistic tutor, Reborn.
First they went to the mountain for some rigorous training that involves giant turtle that grow when come in contact with water. But then somehow on their way, got lost in the mountain and unknowingly started a forest fire. Fortunately with Tsuna's help, they doused the fire with the land natural water. But then that weren't really the important part. Tsuna was hospitalized due to that hell training.
News reached pretty fast to Akihiko and Ryohei's ears.
"What! Tsuna is hospitalized?!" Ryohei shouted to the extreme.
"Onii-chan, you mean you didn't know!?" Kyoko scolded lightly. "Haru-chan told me and together, along with I-pin and Reborn, we went to visit him and did an exorcism, though we ended up not doing it since Tsuna said he was fine." That last part was more of a mumbled than actually spoken aloud. It seemed like she was really sad that she didn't get to do some exorcism.
"Exorcism?" Ryohei asked. Apparently that's the only part that caught his attention.
"I-pin?" Akihiko inquired from next to Ryohei.
"Oh, yes. I-pin is this cute kid that knows kung-fu!" Kyoko chirped. "She's so adorable!" She squealed completely ignored her brother's question.
"Yosh, we must go visit him to the extreme!" Ryohei declared and Akihiko nodded in agreement.
"I'll see you tonight Kyoko!" Ryohei said his goodbye and dragged Akihiko along the way to the hospital.
Upon arriving at the hospital, Ryohei asked the nurse behind the counter.
"Excuse us, but which room is Tsuna located to the extreme!" He shouted.
The nurse threw him a disapproving look and motioned them to quite them while she looked up Tsuna's name. Then suddenly she seemed to be in a state of shock as she looked at the computer screen. Because it stated on there that Tsuna's roommate is none other than Hibari Kyoya.
She glanced at the clock; it read twelve o'clock.
"Sorry, but you cannot visit him at this moment." The nurses told them shakily. She is not such a fool as to allowed visitor into the room where the Hibari is currently napping.
"What, why not?" Ryohei exclaimed, confusion written all over his face. He glanced at the clock and then continued, "It's still visiting hour, so why can't we go visit him to the extreme?"
Akihiko quirked an eyebrow in puzzlement and nodded his head at Ryohei's question.
The nurse looked at the two of them and then after a moment, she glanced around as if to make sure no one is eavesdropping. She said in a hush tone, "It's for your safety. The Hibari is napping in that room. It would just be your doom day if you happened to wake him up at this hour." She warned.
Ryohei and Akihiko exchanged a look and Akihiko smiled softly.
"Thank you for your concern." He nodded lightly at the nurse and smiled.
"But we will be fine to the extreme!" Ryohei finished Akihiko statement with a loud declaration.
"W-what, youngster nowadays," she mumbled. "Fine if you want to die that bad, feel free to go there. They are in the room in the far right of the fifth floor." She scowled. Then as Akihiko and Ryohei left, she hollered, "Don't say I didn't warn you."
When the duo reached the room, they were met with a comical sight. Tsuna was trying to persuade Lambo to not let go of the grenade. Off to the side, a kid in Chinese clothing was staring at Tsuna. And then in the corner of the room somewhere, a pile of bloodied bodies lay there like a work of art.
After a minute or two, Tsuna finally noticed Ryohei and Akihiko. "Senpai!" He exclaimed in a hushed tone as not to wake the sleeping Hibari.
"Shh!" Ryohei shushed Tsuna. Quite ironically the loudest person of the group is doing the shushing.
They both went over to Tsuna, who is now sitting on the bed with Lambo smiling happily in his hand.
"Sawada, Lambo," Akihiko greeted softly.
"Hi, mystery guy!" Lambo responded. Now that Akihiko thought about it, he never gave Lambo his name.
"Mizumoto Akihiko." He introduced and softly patted Lambo head.
"Sawada, greeting to the extreme!" Ryohei smiled.
"Senpai, not so loud!" Tsuna replied while trying to hold on to the now squirming Lambo.
"Oh, this must be I-pin to the extreme!" Ryohei shouted quietly, and gestured toward the kid.
"Yeah," Tsuna replied.
Akihiko approached the little kid and said, "I-pin?" He crouched down so that he's the same level as I-pin.
The girl turned around upon hearing her name. "Ni hao!" She greeted in Chinese.
"Ni hao?" Akihiko mimic, despite not knowing the language. He assumed it must be a form of greeting.
They stared at each for awhile until I-pin pointed at herself and chirped, "I-pin!"
Akihiko nodded and mimic her once again. Pointing at himself he said, "Mizumoto Akihiko."
"Mi-"I-pin tried to say the name. But after several attempt she just pointed at Akihiko and said, "Mimi!"
Everything seemed to freeze in place. Then suddenly Tsuna coughed lightly to disguise his laugh, horribly. Ryohei on the other hand, just guffawed loudly. But then he seemed to remember about Hibari and choked on his saliva. Lambo, being the youngest, laughed aloud and joined in the fun. He pointed at Akihiko and said, "Mimi! You are Mimi!" He was quickly shushed by Tsuna, who doesn't want to wake up Hibari.
Akihiko blinked at her and shook his head, "Mi-zu-mo-to" He corrected gently.
I-pin also shook her head and repeated herself, more adamantly, "Mimi!"
"No, Mi-zu-mo-to." He tried again, a little bit forceful.
"No, Mimi!" I-pin shouted. "Mimi!"
Gradually their little "conversation" increased in volume and Tsuna paled as he glanced nervously at Hibari.
"Hieee!" he mentally shrieked. "Guys, calm down!" He said, trying to calm them down. But they didn't seem to hear him.
Ryohei grinned and wrapped both his arm around I-pin and Akihiko to gain their attention. He lifted I-Pin up with one hand and dragged Akihiko up with the other. "Shh, both of you be quite to the extreme!"
Akihiko cheeks tinted pink in embarrassment. "Sorry."
A minute later, Akihiko suddenly found himself sitting on one of the chair beside Tsuna's bed with I-pin on his lap and Ryohei stood behind him, while holding onto a sleeping Lambo.
Earlier, when Lambo fell asleep in Tsuna's arms, Ryohei claimed that an injured person shouldn't use too much energy and took Lambo from him.
"Thank you, senpai, for visiting." Tsuna said. In the inside, he was beaming with happiness. As of several months ago, he wouldn't have had this many people visiting him if he was hospitalized. He has Reborn to thank for that.
"It was nothing. How are you doing?" Akihiko commented.
"Oh, I'm doing great, I'm pretty sure I'll recover before New Year start!" Tsuna laughed weakly.
"Sawada, join the boxing club to the extreme when you recovered!" Ryohei declared, suddenly forgot about Hibari.
"Ryohei," Akihiko reminded him and Ryohei quickly shut up.
"Sorry, Sawada, we didn't bring any get-well gift." Ryohei commented after a while.
"Ah, no, it's ok. I'm really happy that you visit, senpai," Tsuna smiled sincerely.
Akihiko suddenly coughed lightly to catch everyone attention. He fished out a book from the inside of his jacket and gave it to Tsuna. He gave Ryohei a grin as if saying, "It seems like you are the only one without gift."
The book title read, "Genji Monogatari" (The Tale of Genji) And when Tsuna flipped open the book there is a note on the first page.
The note said: "It's such an interesting book. I hope you'll find a love for classic literature. –Mizumoto Akihiko."
Tsuna stared dumbly at the book while his mind was thinking, "Mizumoto-senpai, I don't even understand what we are reading in class… how I could even understand this…?"
Akihiko mistook Tsuna's silence for something positive. He smiled softly and said, "I'm glad you like it."
"Eh? Ah, Uh, I mean, Thank you." Tsuna smiled nervously. At this, Akihiko's smiled grew even wider, very satisfied with himself for picking such nice gift.
"What, no fair to the extreme! Why didn't you tell me, Aki?" Ryohei whined. But then suddenly, he seemed to remember something and search through his sport bag. Since he needed both hands to search for the bag, he had transferred the sleeping Lambo onto Akihiko's hands.
"Aha! Found it!" Ryohei exclaimed in glee. He held on his hand a book that said, "Guide to Beginning Boxing!"
"Here, Sawada, this will help you grow stronger!" Ryohei grinned happily and shoved the book into Tsuna's hands. "You can start studying the basic to the extreme. So that when you recovered, we can have a nice extreme spar!" He said, excitedly and with great passion.
"Ano, Thank you, but I'm not joining the boxing club, Sasagawa-senpai." Tsuna just looked at him funnily but Ryohei, who is now in a virtual world where he is sparring passionately with Tsuna, ignored him.
Still lost in his virtual reality, Ryohei shouted, "Extreme Uppercut!"
"Hieee! Sasagawa-senpai!" Tsuna shrieked in horror. "Are you trying to get me killed?"
Ryohei, Akihiko, and Tsuna suddenly froze when they all felt a familiar aura. They turned around and saw Hibari, who now has his eyes wide open and staring at them impassively.
"Ryohei…" Akihiko muttered.
"Uh, yea, Aki…" Ryohei responded nervously.
"Hieee! Hibari-san, I can explain!" Tsuna started.
I-pin, who had been quite for awhile, suddenly started to act strangely. Akihiko looked at her forehead and saw some nine weird dots.
"Sawada." Akihiko started.
"Not now, Mizumoto-senpai…" Tsuna responded not even bother looking at Akihiko. He, along with Ryohei, was too busy trying to calm the advancing Hibari.
The countdown started. There were five dots left.
"Sawada!" Akihiko shouted, more forceful this time.
"Wha-, Hieee!" He shrieked in his usual high pitch voice. "Pinzu timed super explosion! Could it be I-pin is in love with Hibari!"
"Eh, in love?" Ryohei exclaimed.
"Explosion!?" Akihiko questioned.
The countdown is not at three. In front of them there was an advancing Hibari. Behind them, there was a bomb. How exciting. Acting swiftly, Tsuna dove for I-pin, opened the window and threw I-pin outward just as she exploded.
"Phew," Tsuna wiped the sweat on his forehead.
"Explosion to the extreme!" Ryohei shouted.
One problem solved, though the remaining problem seemed to be a lot more troublesome.
"Herbivores, you woke me up. I'll bite you all to death!" Hibari smirked and raised his tonfa.
"Yosh! Sparring to the extreme!" Ryohei exclaimed excitedly and fished out his boxing gloves from the sport bag.
Behind him, Akihiko stood up and gave the sleeping Lambo to Tsuna. He then pulled out a steel fan from one of the hidden pockets on his jacket.
"Hibari, Ryohei" Akihiko said and give both Hibari and Ryohei a look. This translate to, "It's been a while since our last bonding activities. I wish to join in this spar as well."
"Ho, interesting." Hibari's smirk widened as he readied his tonfas.
"This should be fun to the extreme!" Ryohei bellowed and got into a stance.
Without waiting for a signal, Hibari rushed forward, aiming a tonfa at Ryohei's head. Using his reflex, Ryohei stepped slightly back, causing the Tonfa to barely graze the tip of Ryohei's nose. Ryohei quickly moved forward after the strike and aim several jabs at Hibari, to hopefully penetrate his defense.
"Extreme Rush!" Ryohei shouted the name of his move.
Hibari smirked, and break off Ryohei's relentless jab with a well timed spin of the tonfa. He then kicked Ryohei back with his foot and prepared to move forward.
When Hibari was about to lunge forward to continue his combo, Akihiko intercepted with a swipe of a fan.
Now then one must wondered, why didn't Akihiko just strike from the back while Ryohei is attacking the front? Wouldn't that have been a more effective strategy? If you had said that to Akihiko, he would glare at you and say, "That is dishonorable. Please don't talk to me again." Akihiko would never do that in a friendly spar. And he doubt it would have worked on Hibari anyway.
Using the momentum from the swipe, Akihiko spun and did a kick that aimed for Hibari's head. With one hand, Hibari blocked that kick easily and moved forward, attacking with a lot more ferocity than before. Akihiko ducked and spun out of harm. The he slid his feet toward Hibari and fell slightly forward. Follow up with the momentum, Akihiko swiped the fan in an upper crescent shape to hopefully knocked Hibari off balance. Block! The twin tonfa crossed and stopped Akihiko's fan from proceeding any further.
Then from behind Akihiko, Ryohei rushed forward and threw a powerful cross. Akihiko ducked just in time for the punch to go directly at Hibari's face. Smirking in excitement, Hibari broke the crossed tonfas' position and swung them upward, redirecting the incoming punch to hit the area above Hibari head instead.
Then what happened next went by in a blur. Where Akihiko would swing his fan, Ryohei would duck so that the strike would go straight at Hibari. Then when Hibari would strike Akihiko, Ryohei would guard with his boxing gloves to reduce damage received.
After awhile, Tsuna, who was watching from the side, started to notice something strange about the fight. Ryohei attacks are fast and broad, whereas Akihiko's strikes are short and graceful. For some reason, it reminds Tsuna oddly of the sun and the moon, when the sun set, the moon would rise and vice versa. Occasionally, Ryohei would move in front of Akihiko as to block Hibari's view of Akihiko. Just like the many different phrases of the moon, shining only when the moon reflects the sun. Akihiko is like the moon that shines whenever the sun, Ryohei, permits. His attacks faded in and out and seemed random, but strangely effective. Akihiko would strike seemingly random swipes but actually helped Ryohei go into an ideal position for his next move.
Suddenly, Ryohei was in front of Akihiko again. Instead of moving away for Akihiko to strike, he pulled his hand back and execute a cross punch. With inhuman grace Akihiko jumped from behind Ryohei and used Ryohei's shoulder as steps, he vault high into the air and delivered a strike targeted at Hibari's head. Hibari eyes widened slightly as he prepared to defend against this combination. With Akihiko attacking from above and Ryohei attacking on ground, Hibari was left with two options—move back or take the hit.
In the end he chose to move back. But Akihiko and Ryohei didn't just stop there. Ryohei followed up with another quick jab, which Akihiko used Ryohei's jab as another step and propelled upward once more.
"Senpai, amazing…" Tsuna watched in awe at the battle in front of him. Amazed at the grace and synchronization that Akihiko and Ryohei currently displayed.
Even more amazing was Hibari Kyoya, who held his ground against the two. Like the cloud that completely covered the sun and the moon, Hibari quickly broke through their formation and struck a blow that intended to push Ryohei off to the side rather than hurt him. Without Ryohei's jabs for Akihiko to use as step, he had no choice but to land on the ground. With Ryohei off to the side, the path to Akihiko was wide opened. Grinning like a mad man, Hibari dashed up to Akihiko range and smacked him across the room. Without stopping, Hibari spun around and smack the approaching Ryohei off to the opposite side of the room. Both Ryohei and Akihiko skidded back from the force and smacked against the wall. They fell over when the momentum from the strike was used up. Regardless of how bright the sun or the moon shines, once the cloud loomed over them, they can no longer be seen.
"Hieee, Senpai!" Tsuna wailed.
"Get up, herbivores." Hibari commanded.
"Ha, Hibari, that was one extreme hit!" Ryohei shouted as he recovered from the strike.
"Hm," Akihiko merely grunted as he stood up.
Then without warning, both Ryohei and Akihiko dashed toward Hibari in sync. The fight broke out in much more grace and intensity than before.
From afar, Tsuna thought he saw that Ryohei, Akihiko, Hibari have on a grin, a smile, and a smirk, respectively. They looked as if they were having fun. But then Tsuna glanced around and shrieked again. They had completely destroyed the hospital room! Lambo had long disappeared to who knows where and Tsuna was left alone in a room with people who were destroying stuff like no one cares.
"S-senpai, stop! You are destroying the room!" Tsuna wailed, but the three ignored him.
"Senpai!"He tried again. He received no response from them.
"Onii-san!" He shouted.
This got Ryohei's attention and Hibari used this distraction to aim for him. But Akihiko intercept that strike quickly.
"Sawada, what did you just call me?" Ryohei asked, confused.
Tsuna looked sheepish and muttered, "Sorry, it's just slip…"
"No, it's ok to the extreme!" Ryohei grinned happily. "Did you stop me just because of that? You can call me Onii-san. I don't mind!" He shouted happily and rushed back into battle.
"Ano, that's not why I stopped you…" But no one heard him.
Reborn suddenly appeared from beside Tsuna and smirked. "Dame-Tsuna, you should keep your subordinates in line."
"Hieee! They are my senpai, not subordinates!" Tsuna shook his head frantically.
Smirking sadistically, Reborn glanced at Tsuna and said, "Pathetic, then you should die." Reborn shot Tsuna with a Dying Will bullet.
As he fell in slow motion, the voice in his head echoed, "I regret. I regret not stopping them from destroying the hospital. REBORN! STOP THEM WITH MY DYING WILL!"
His clothes burst into flame, leaving him with his boxer. He charged bravely into the fight.
"RAWR!" He bellowed and smacked all three of them in the head—with a slipper.
"Extreme, Sawada! You are as passionate as ever!" Ryohei exclaimed with excitement.
Akihiko chuckled lightly and Hibari just look indifferent, though he sense a great feeling of déjà vu washed over him, as if this is very familiar. Then he remembered and looked around, trying to locate the baby. But to no avail, he only saw a broken Hospital room. Clearly dissatisfied, he chose to bite these Herbivores as a way to let out his frustration.
"I'll bite you to death!" He growled.
With that magic word, the whole battle resume from where they were left off. Ryohei and Akihiko seemed to regain their strength and fight a lot harder than before. With Tsuna unrefined way of fighting, the destruction of the room becomes triple. But no one really pay attention to those insignificant details. What's important right now is the angry Skylark, who looked as if he would devour the Tuna Fish and two others.
An animalistic punch came from Tsuna, aiming at Hibari, who dodged without blinking. The punch connected with the innocent Hospital bed. Crack! The bed exploded from the force.
"Sawada, great punch to the extreme!" Ryohei shouted happily.
Just then, the head nurse came into the room after hearing all the complaints from the neighboring patients. One looked at the scene caused her gave out an inhuman shriek. She saw in front of, four bloodied teenagers. Correction, two bloodied teenagers, one half-naked and the last one remained unharmed.
"What are you doing, Hibari-san, Sawada-san and you unknown children!?" She raged.
They turned around and looked at her, causing her to flinch back. The pictures the four painted looked dangerous and unapproachable.
"R-regardless, Hibari-san, please continue resting. Sawada, what were you thinking, brining explosive into the hospital? And YOU two," She growled at Ryohei and Akihiko. "You are now on the hospital black list!"
"Eh? Why to the extreme!" Ryohei exclaimed, confused.
Akihiko scratched his cheek lightly and looked away, cheeks slightly pink.
Hibari snorted and both Ryohei and Akihiko turned to him. Their eyes lock and a silent message passed through them, "Ignore her. I'll handle this later." They nodded in respond.
By the end of the day, Tsuna was transferred to a suspicious looking room, where he thought he could enjoy peace at last. But unfortunately, that cannot be as he turned around and saw a tube with floating skulls. He wailed fearfully. But no one came to answer him. Thus, Tsuna spend the rest of his hospital stay in fright.
Several weeks have passed since then and the local streets were devoid of people, yet strangely festive. Then from one of the houses, a young man stepped down onto the street. He looked to be around in his early teen. He is fairly tall for his age, estimated to be around five feet and five inches tall—average when compared to his friends. He wore a pale grey Haori completed with white Haori-fastener. The back of the Haori proudly displayed the family crest—the Wings of the Swallowtail Butterfly Crest. Underneath the Haori were black kimono and hakama. His angular face wore a perfectly emotionless face. His eyebrows are slightly thick that accentuated his deep brown eyes. His lips are gentle looking and well defined. A tiny smile adorned his face as he made his way down the street.
With each step he took, his short, black hair swayed gently in the early spring breeze. He held on his hand a highly intricate fan, crafted by none other than himself.
This is Mizumoto Akihiko in his New Year attire. He had received an invitation earlier from the Sawada household to join them on their New Year activities. Along the way, he saw Kyoko and Ryohei and called out to them.
"Happy New Year (to the extreme), Akihiko(-senpai)!" Ryohei shouted and Kyoko greeted.
"Happy New Year, Ryohei, Kyoko." Akihiko replied with a nod.
"Sawada invited us over for their New Year activities," Ryohei said.
"Me too," Akihiko responded gently.
"Oh, then let's get going!" Kyoko smiled.
The walk to the Sawada household was quite but peaceful. The Sasagawa siblings are both used to the quietness of Akihiko. Eventually they arrived at Tsuna's house with both Yamamoto and Gokudera already there. Haru was there too.
A series of "Happy New Year" was exchanged.
"Thank you for the invitation!" Ryohei shouted to Tsuna and Reborn.
"Eh? Invitation?" Tsuna was confused by Ryohei's statement. He concluded that it must be one of Reborn's games and turned around to look questionably at him.
"Today is the 'Family Versus' Battle in Vongola style. Oh look, your opponents are here too." Reborn noted the approaching group of people wearing black. A person with blond hair stood out from the group.
"Dino-san!?" Tsuna exclaimed in surprise.
"Hey, Tsuna, we came to play 'Family Versus' Battle in Vongola style." The person dubbed Dino replied. Then noticed the other people and greeted them. "Oh, this is my first time seeing some of you. Nice to meet you!" He gave a friendly smile.
Akihiko and Kyoko gave a polite bow. "Nice to meet you too," They said.
And Ryohei merely shouted, "Yo!"
Akihiko gave him a glance of disapproval. Ryohei laughed nervously, "I mean nice to meet you too!" he corrected himself, sneaking a glance at Akihiko. He was met with a warm smile as if saying, "You should be polite to stranger."
But then one thing still seemed unclear to Tsuna's group. What exactly is "Family Versus" Battle in Vongola style?
"Reborn, what exactly is this Vongola style thing?" He voiced the question that was in most people head.
"New Year's 'Family Versus' Battle in Vongola style is a battle between allied families to show their enthusiasms over New Year. It is a tradition that begins the year." Reborn explained. "Each family will participate in a New Year themed event and will receive points. In the end, whoever has the most point will win. The winner is awarded a generous price."
"Oh so it's a just a game this time." Tsuna sighed in relief.
Reborn continued in a straight face, "The loser, on the other hand, will be fined one million yens."
"EH!" Tsuna shrieked.
Reborn suddenly grinned, "It can't be helped. Rules are rules."
Tsuna's friends didn't seem to mind that much. Instead they were all dreaming about the one million yens price. It would sure be nice to get one million yen for New Year.
"Haha, Tsuna, it's a just a game. No need to get so work up over it," Yamamoto laughed lightly.
"It seems fun!" Haru chirped and Kyoko smiled along with her.
"One million yens," Akihiko smiled gently. "That would be nice," He spoke softly, lost in dreamland.
"Haha, Mizumoto-senpai, you want that one million yens too huh?" Yamamoto teased and put a hand over Akihiko's shoulder.
Akihiko's cheek tinted pink. "A man can dream." He coughed lightly and looked away.
"Extreme! This is one extreme game!" Ryohei shouted passionately.
But then Gokudera just had to go be the killjoy.
"Wait a minute, Reborn-san. Why are the outsiders participating the 'Family Versus' Battle?" He jabbed a finger in Ryohei's direction.
Reborn explained, "At the moment, Tsuna's family is considerably smaller than the Cavallone. Due to this circumstance, Tsuna's acquaintances will also be considered as Family.
Ryohei smirked in triumph and pointed at himself. "Meaning I'll also be in the Mongolia Family."He said with great confident.
Akihiko coughed lightly. "Vongola." He corrected.
"It's Vongola lawn-head!" Gokudera bellowed.
"What's that, Octopus-head!?" Ryohei growled.
"You shouldn't argue in New Year. Misfortune will follow." Akihiko commented lightly from the side.
Both Ryohei and Gokudera froze in shock as they registered in what Akihiko's said.
Eventually, they moved to the area by the river due to the fact that Tsuna's room was too small for the event. Reborn sat proudly on a stool he produced out of nowhere. He announced, "I'll be the judge!"
"No grudges held, regardless of who win, Tsuna," Dino smiled as Tsuna shrieked.
Ignoring Tsuna, Reborn announced. "The first round will be fortune drawing."
"EH! How are you going to score then?" Tsuna wailed.
"Simple, Great Fortune is 2 points, Small Fortune is 1 point, normal is 0 point, Small Misfortune is -1 point and Great Misfortune is -2 points." Reborn grinned as he produced a Fortune Box out of thin air.
When Tsuna was contemplating over who he should choose for this event, Ryohei proudly volunteered himself. "Leave this to me!" He exclaimed.
"I don't believe in Fortune." He paused for dramatic effect. "Because I decided my own FATE!" He shouted as he reached into the box.
"This is how I do it to the extreme!" He declared with a fistful of fortune notes. "With this, we'll take the lead in one shot!" He seemed confident of himself.
Everyone was shocked with Ryohei's action. From beside Yamamoto, Akihiko sighed lightly.
"What's wrong, Mizumoto-senpai? You don't seem that confident." Yamamoto asked.
Akihiko smiled lightly and repeated what he said earlier to Gokudera and Ryohei, "Argue. Misfortune."
"Haha, senpai, that's just an old superstition right?" Yamamoto laughed; not believing in what Akihiko's said. But then Reborn started to read aloud Ryohei's fortune.
"Great Misfortune, Great Misfortune, Great Misfortune…." The list went on for quite a while.
Yamamoto paled lightly as Akihiko looked at him, an eyebrow quirked, as if saying, "Told you."
"Negative seventeen points!" Reborn announced.
Then Dino's man stepped up and drew a simple slip. It read, "Small Fortune"
"1 versus -17!" Reborn announced
"EH!" Tsuna, Yamamoto and Haru exclaimed in shocked.
Ryohei walked back to the group, dejected. He was met by an emotionless look from Akihiko's face and Gokudera yelling at his ear, "What were you doing!" he growled.
He simply ignored Gokudera and instead whined, "Aw, come on. It has nothing to do with arguing!"
Akihiko continued to stare at him emotionlessly, though Ryohei swore he saw a slight curve at the tip of Akihiko's lips.
"Aki, stop with that look to the extreme!" Ryohei pouted and pinched Akihiko's cheeks to force him to smile or do something other than looking emotionless.
At first Akihiko tolerated Ryohei's pinching but then it started to hurt. Thus, Akihiko smacked against Ryohei's head. "Stop that," he said and caressed his red cheek—red from the pinch.
From the side, Yamamoto, Kyoko and Haru laughed lightly.
Reborn announced the next activities, "Feather ball! Winner gets 20 points!"
Tsuna seemed excited and looked hopeful. "If we win this round then we'll be in the lead! If it comes to sport then Yamamoto would be the best suited. Yamamoto, we're counting on you!"
"Oi, baseball Idiot, you better win!" Gokudera shouted.
Was that supposed to be word of encouragement? Akihiko wondered as he shook his head and chose to enjoy watching the match instead.
The match between Yamamoto and the opposing team was interesting. It was intense and both players have fairly good forms. Then suddenly, the opposing shouted, "Ha, Chance Ball!" and smashed the incoming feather ball straight at Yamamoto.
"Oh no, Yamamoto!" Tsuna wailed.
"So what," Yamamoto looked serious as he corrected his form and smashed the ball back aggressively.
"Beautiful," Akihiko muttered, referring to the graceful movement Yamamoto have when he returned that smash.
"Eh, Yamamoto is beautiful?" Haru shouted with wide eyes from beside Akihiko, mistaken the comment for something completely inappropriate.
"What!" Kyoko and gasped in shock and turned around to look at Akihiko. Their eyes gleam with a suspicious look.
"I see nothing wrong with that!" Ryohei shouted in respond, completely oblivious to Haru's implication.
Akihiko's right eyebrow twitched with uncontrollable rage at the accusation. "His form is beautiful, idiots." He mumbled.
"Yeah, what do you think he was talking about?" Ryohei looked at the other with great puzzlement.
"N-nothing," Haru said quickly, her face red from embarrassment.
"Ah, he lost" Akihiko commented causing the rest to look back at Yamamoto, only to see the twinkling light of the disappearing feather Ball.
"Out!" Reborn announced.
"Haha, sorry Tsuna." Yamamoto rubbed his head sheepishly.
"It's 21 versus -17" Reborn stated then grinned at Tsuna, "at this rate, you are going to have to pay 1 million yen."
"Next round, Uta-Garuta" (basically a card game that players have to match the last two lines of a poem to the first three lines)
"Ah, literature, Mizumoto-senpai is the most ideal!" Tsuna muttered to himself.
"Oh! It's Haru strong point!" Haru grinned confidently. "Let Haru do it, Tsuna-darling!"
Akihiko was slightly impressed with Haru. Not that many younger people nowadays like to read poems.
"Uh…I was thinking of Mizumoto-senpai." Tsuna said.
"Mou, Haru can do it!" She pouted.
"Go." Akihiko smiled and nudged her gently. He was interested in seeing the girl's ability.
Tsuna seemed reluctant but nonetheless, agreed.
Haru marched proudly onto the play area and sat the traditional seiza (kneeling). She stared into the opponent's eyes, challenging him.
"Begin!" Reborn announced.
Haru was quite good. She was doing fine until her legs gave out. "Hahi! Haru gave up, Haru's feet are numb!" She cried.
Nevertheless, her effort gained the team: two points… While her knowledge of the poems clearly impressed Akihiko, her inability to sit in seiza for an extended period of time causes Akihiko to lose that respect for her.
"Sorry, Tsuna-darling." Haru apologized.
"N-no, you did your best." Tsuna replied.
The next few activities passed by in a blur. Lambo was selected for the Face Puzzle. Actually, he sort of forced his way onto the game. Reborn had people set up a play area for this activity. While Tsuna was too busy debating on who to pick for this event, Lambo had already taken a spot on the play area. Without waiting for Tsuna, Reborn had already started the event.
Tsuna quickly paled and stared at Lambo, speechless. "Ah, you are doing it wrong!" He wailed, becoming fearful of his fate if his team keep on losing.
Akihiko was looking at Lambo with great interest. Instead of putting the pieces of the face onto the paper, he put them all over his face instead. "That is an interesting way of playing." Akihiko commented.
"Haha, that's the incorrect way of playing, senpai." Yamamoto laughed cheerfully.
"I'm done!" Lambo declared cheerfully.
"Lambo lost!" Reborn announced and kicked Lambo away.
"Hieee, no way!" Tsuna cried.
Then I-pin also lost in her event with kite-flying. She was so adamant about flying kite because it seemed pretty fun. So when a giant gust blew through, the kite flew even higher and lifted I-pin up. However, she refused to let go of the string, determined to win this challenge.
"EH, I-pin, let go of the kite!" The rest shouted at the flying I-pin.
Last but not least, Gokudera was picked for a board game. Everything was fine until he landed on a spot that said, "Compliment a family member."
A horrified expression flew through Gokudera's face. He seemed to be frozen in shock. He turned to Yamamoto reluctantly.
"Y-Yamamoto, y-you a—are s-such an a-a-a-amazin- UGH! I can't do it!" He grunted in defeat. "Sorry, Juudaime!"
"Eh…" Tsuna looked really depressed. A gray cloud loomed over his head as he mumbled, "It's over. It's over…"
"Hmm, the point gap is so wide now…" Yamamoto furrowed his eyebrows.
"Ah! What am I going to do now?!" Tsuna started to pull his hair in frustration. If it weren't for the predicament they were in, the sight would have been rather comical.
Feeling bad for Tsuna, Dino said, "Come to think of it, it seems kind of unfair doesn't it?"
Tsuna stopped whatever he was doing to listen attentively to Dino.
"Well it's adult versus kids, after all. I'll give them a handicap." Dino grinned but he totally wasn't expecting Reborn's answer.
"Hm, you got a point there. Let's just say the points from earlier don't count." Reborn declared.
"Hey!"Dino whined, while Tsuna exclaimed in shock. "No way!"
"It's too troublesome. So let's just say, whoever win the next activity will win the Battle. The loser will have to dish out one million yen."
"It can't be help." Dino shook his head but nevertheless agreed to the condition.
Tsuna's team seemed to regain their spirit. "We can win this, Juudaime!" Gokudera shouted enthusiastically.
"Well then, the next event will be Rice Cake. You have two hours, ready, begin!" Reborn started the match.
"Ho, chance." Akihiko smirked lightly, eyes gleaming with anticipation. "That one million yen is as good as ours," He grinned.
"Eh? But they might win." Tsuna stated but then he looked at Dino's teams, who have absolutely no idea how to make rice cake. "Yea, we can win this!"
Producing random fans out of nowhere, Ryohei and Akihiko cheered the team on, as Gokudera and Yamamoto worked hard pounding the dough. Since only two people are needed for the pounding—one to pound, and the other to flip the cake—having too many people pounding would be dangerous for the one flipping the cake, as they ran the risk of getting their hand squished by the hammer.
The girls, on the other hand, were working hard at making the red bean paste to be used as filling for the rice cake. Though halfway through, Bianchi joined in as well. But Tsuna and the other was too busy pounding cake to notice the new arrival. Had they realized earlier, they wouldn't have let Bianchi participate in this round.
The time had finally come for them to present their final product. Tsuna and friends were extremely excited.
"Time's up, bring the cake over so I can taste it." Reborn ordered. "Let's start with the Cavallone."
Dino group came over but they were a little bit embarrassed. "We tried to make it. But with our knowledge, this is the best we can do."
Reborn took a bite and commented harshly. "It tastes bad and is falling apart.
Tsuna did a little mental cheer as he presented their team's rice cake to reborn.
Akihiko, Ryohei, Yamamoto was grinning excitedly. But then they suddenly noticed that Gokudera was not with them and instead, had fainted on the ground.
"Oi, Gokudera, are you ok?" Yamamoto asked.
"Nee-san" He choked.
Then they looked over and saw Bianchi in her beautiful kimono. As Tsuna flipped over the box, he exclaimed in shock, "Poison Cooking!"
"I joined halfway through," She smiled.
"EHHHH! We are going to lose!" Tsuna wailed in despair, implying that there is no way Reborn would eat that poisoned rice cake.
"Nonsense, with strong love, the poison will be neutralized and Reborn will taste the delicious love-filled rice cake." Bianchi took the container of rice cake from Tsuna's hand and brought it over to Reborn. "Here, Reborn."
Both Tsuna and Dino was shocked that Reborn would actually eat it. Then suddenly, three giant bubbles sprung forth from Reborn's nose, indicating that he had fallen into a deep sleep. Bianchi looked at the sleeping Reborn and sighed. "It can't be helped. You guys try it." She said and offered Tsuna and Dino the poisoned rice cake. But none of them wanted it and began to run away. Bianchi was not going to let that happen as she quickly followed them.
"Here, help yourselves," She called to the running boys.
"Hieee, I don't want it!" Tsuna cried.
"Go away!" Dino screamed as both of them disappeared below the horizon.
The rest of the people laughed quietly at the comical sight. The winner of the battle cannot beside due to the fact that the judge was sleeping and that both bosses of the family ran away. Eventually they came back and everyone left the playing field while exchanging words of parting.
Akihiko, Ryohei and Kyoko walked home together since the Mizumoto house is located in the same direction as the Sasagawa.
"It was fun wasn't it?" Kyoko asked her brother and Akihiko.
"Un," Akihiko responded with a nod
"It was fun to the extreme!" Ryohei grinned.
Their expression of happiness seemed genuine.
"I'm glad," Kyoko smiled and together they walked home quietly as the sun slowly went down the horizon.
To Be Continued...
AN: Once again, Reviews are loved!
