Chapter 9

Surely it wasn't a good time for Dino. He was deep in trouble, and this was all Reborn's fault., who had decided to train the blond boy on the road. Dino, with his whip into his hands and the relaxed expression of one who's seeing death approaching very quickly, was mentally making his will and praying that the bear Reborn set on him would be merciful and let him have his bones still fine.

- REBORN! BUT WHY?

- You're a failure.

- BUT!

Reborn smiled.

- That bear has already eaten its meal.

- AND WHAT'S THAT FOR?

The tutor had already fallen asleep with eyes open. A terrorised Dino looked at the animal before him and began to randomly move his whip, while screaming in terror and hurting himself. The bear, wisely, following that instinct that is proper of the animals, let the thing die and left. At that point Dino applied what Dante wrote in the Divina Commedia: "and I fell as a dead body falls".

When Dino reopened his eyes, he found himself on a street full of dust. His hair was like a broomstick. Standing up with some difficulties, he brushed off the dust as better as he could, then began walking home.

At a certain point he felt his head hit something, or better, someone, who cursed and said:

- Shit, Dino, your head is incredibly hard…

- Wha…

The blond boy observed his "victim" speechless. The latter gazed badly at Dino and barked:

- And with this it's two times!

- S… Sorry!

The white haired boy had the temptation to beat the blond to a pulp, but seeing the conditions of the latter he just stood up brushing his front. Looking better at Dino he said:

- Did you go playing in the mud?

- … I could say the same thing of you.

Effectively Squalo was not in better conditions than Dino, snce he had some sword fights for hours. He replied sarcastically:

- You're wrong. They told me mud-bath treatment was perfect for my skin, so I decided to go for a try.

Dino looked at him, pausing for a bit before laughing quietly.

- Voooi, now, what's up?

- N… Nothing…

Squalo breathed annoyed, then said:

- … C'mon, come with me.

- Where are we going?

- We're going at least to wash our faces, if we come back home in this condition they'll lynch us.

So, once stopped at a little fountain, they washed hands and heads under the water, wiping off a bit of the dirt they had accumulated. After this, Squalo said that he would go home and told Dino to do the same, before the blond would be considered lost.

Once arrived at home, Dino threw his dirty clothes into the washing machine and went to do do a shower. He leaned tiredly on the wall, and began thinking. Dino had casually met Squalo, and for the umpteenth time the white haired boy had helped him, even if it was clear how annoyed was Squalo. By the way Dino had noticed a wound on the other boy's arm, that was badly hidden and worse bandaged. Dino said to himself that the day after he would have brought some bandages. So he could have returned a bit of the great help Squalo had given him till that moment willingly or not. He could have at least avoided that the wound would be infected. A kick on the head arrived from Reborn.

- You're thinking too much, you must make some action, don't do nothing at all.

- Re… Reborn…

- Tsk.

After saying that, the tutor vanished. Dino finished his shower, went into his bed and fell asleep, leaving all thoughts for the day after.