Caution: The recording below is based on an RL interview in an article I read a couple of months ago and contains disturbing themes. I had to include them despite the other parts in the original I cut because I love this part! The next chapters will also be darker in tone compared to the A part of the fic.
"We are all powerless in the face of evil. No, no, that's not true. We are powerless when we wait for other people to act on our behalf. Yes, that's it. The truly powerful man is the man who stands alone."
-F.H. Batacan, Smaller and Smaller Circles
Ussēndayo.
[play]
Woman's voice: Hello, Kyoya-kun. How are you today?
Kyoya: It's a good day.
Woman: That's great! On a scale of one to 10, how will you rate today?
Kyoya: A ten.
Woman: Wow, such a high score. How old are you now, Kyoya-kun?
Kyoya: Nine.
Woman: I see [pause] then you're in elementary school?
Kyoya: No. Mother and father said I won't be going to school like Yuu-nee and Kei-nii and Nami-neechan.
Woman: Oh [pause] can I know why?
Kyoya: Teacher was boring, so I stabbed teacher's face with the pencils jii-san gave me until there were lots of holes.
Woman: How old were you?
Kyoya: Six.
Woman: Oh, I see pause How did you feel when you did that?
Kyoya: Happy.
Woman: Why did it make you happy?
Kyoya: Because I thought that someday I was going to kill somebody for real.
Woman: Did you ever try?
Kyoya: I choked Tsuyoshi-san's baby.
Woman: Do you think that's the reason you're here?
Kyoya: No.
Woman: Then why do you think you're here?
Kyoya: [long pause] Because no one likes me.
Woman: That's not true, Kyoya.
Kyoya: But mother and father don't visit. Nami-neechan's gone. You look at me like everyone does. And I can't keep it away. It keeps building up, and then I have to do it. I have to bite you all to death.
-18-
"Let me ask a question," said Reborn a minute after Tsuna pressed the stop button. The tape Tsuna nicked had presented some juicy information in piecing together the enigma known as Hibari Kyoya. It may tell them why he left the Vongola as well as bridge the events from where Yamamoto Tsuyoshi left off until Kyoya's return to Namimori. Their faces, however, showed none of the fascination he expected them to wear on hearing a child Hibari expressing his murderous tendencies. Chrome and his tutee were tremulous, eyes fixated on the wall as they continued processing what they have just heard.
It had only been less than eighteen hours since Dino left for Italy, two hours since he made final contact with Yamamoto Takeshi and forty-five minutes after Tsuna shared everything that happened from when he opened Hibari's sister's room. The past few days were a lot to take in. He had been used to lasting up to 97 hours per mission in his days of yore, killing or losing his partners, but losing a comrade like Fon was a first time in forever. He felt he was getting old, but laughed at himself whenever he looked at the mirror. Stress was not enough to make him grow up, unfortunately. He looked at the remainder of Tsuna's guardians in the semi-circle, sans the Bovino kid as he went, "Let's pretend that each of you is on the way to the airport to catch a flight, but your car breaks down in the middle of god-knows-where. What do you do?"
"Uh, Reborn…" Tsuna trailed off. "How does this have to do-"
Jesus Christ, it had been a year of preparing this dunce for this moment and nothing seemed to have entered his head. "I called Hibari this morning." Reborn placed his phone on the table. "His desertion ruffled a lot of feathers. Made factions of the Vongola go on a full-scale manhunt to track him down. If you want me to keep talking, answer my question, dame-Tsuna."
"Ok, I'll call a friend or you to pick me up," Tsuna pressed, intent to keep the conversation rolling instead of letting Reborn bide his time. This must be what frustrated him the most about him, he mused with a smirk; his hyper-intuition rarely, if at all, left a dent on his home tutor.
"I'll book a later flight," Gokudera grunted.
"Look for a taxi," suggested Chrome.
"And what if those options don't work?" Reborn said, tapping the table. These kids are naïve. As expected. These were teens conditioned to embrace conformity than deviancy. Products of a collectivist culture. They gave reasonable options, but not his kind of option.
"Geez, then commute, take a bus, train, whatever…" Tsuna rolled his eyes. "This is Japan, for crying out loud…"
"Or get a tow-truck driver," was the mist guardian's meek reply.
"Well, here's another possibility," Reborn said. "You could take a taxi, but not pay for it when you get to the airport. It's a quicker and cheaper way to get there on time. Have you thought of that?"
"…You're crazy," Tsuna said in shock. "Why would I-"
"Precisely, you don't think of that, because that's not a morally good thing to do," said Reborn. "You blind yourself from the possibility of immoral actions, but it wasn't impossible until I suggested it." He turned at Gokudera. "You thought of that option, haven't you?"
"It's not a question of what you can't but what is inadvisable to do."
"You do understand what I'm trying to say," said Reborn. "Ok then, I will ask another question. Listen to me, because I am trying to ingrain into your head what kind of person your ex-cloud guardian is. Why do you think my suggestion was wrong?"
Tsuna bit his lip and let Gokudera speak first. "If I do that, I might get arrested."
"If my mom finds out she'll kill me. Dad… not so much," Tsuna shrugged.
"Then it's not because it was immoral per se, but because we did not play by society's rules like we were conditioned to. We expect punishment then." Reborn was getting pissed off. He was looking for a different answer. Gokudera was not even trying to help him at all.
"Because it will make me feel bad," said Chrome, making the baby turn his full attention at her. "Because… the taxi driver may have kids and-"
"Ok, then let's go back to Hibari's example." They were finally getting somewhere.
"I don't understand," his tutee interjected. This was getting cumbersome. Reborn began to tap furiously at the table. "You still haven't explained to me why you decided to help Hibari even though you said he's now an enemy of the Vongola."
"Answer me first then. Why do you think Hibari's actions were wrong, if that's what you got from the tape?"
It was Chrome who answered again. "Because he hurt someone. Because he wants to do it again."
Reborn nodded. "Do you see where I'm getting at now? It's no longer merely an issue of deviancy. He harmed another human being and a person of authority. A person capable of punishing him." His tutee wanted to open his mouth, so he continued. "He doesn't fear punishment, nor does he fear performing acts of cruelty. He even admits to relishing it. People like him don't have a moral compass, and this is rare. But it's rarer to have a person like Hibari who never developed a moral compass since he was a child. He did choke Tsuyoshi's child to death when he was barely three, didn't he?"
"Gee, maybe it's because his parents were a bunch of assholes," his student put forward.
"Yeah, but didn't you say the same thing about your parents? I'm sure Chrome and Gokudera's were worse than yours. Why then didn't you grow up to become like Hibari Kyoya?"
Tsuna finally looked at him dumbly, eyes wide and then sombre. He finally got it. He stuffed his hands on his pockets as he paced to the left corner of the room. Gokudera merely looked on at Reborn who only nodded at his direction.
"Maybe it's not just because you had a shitty life that made you want to kill everyone. It's just that shitty life made it easier for traits like Hibari's to manifest. And that's what's unfair. Life dealt him a shitty hand, but he still plays with what he has. If he had been given the choice to change, like us normal people have, then maybe he would have stayed, if not for your sake, then for Namimori's sake." Reborn drank the rest of his doppio on the table. "Just knowing the context of this recording is enough for even a dunce like you to think that Hibari never had a chance even as a kid to live a normal life."
"What, so I'm supposed to dance to your melodies about empathy now?" Tsuna said bitterly. "I'm not that stupid Reborn. What's in it for you, helping him if he is what you say he is? You haven't been bending your self-imposed rules of immunity and loyalty to the Ninth until his siblings came and-"
"Murdered and skinned my friend's face, set Namimori on fire, and killed a lot of people who were a major part of my other idiot student's life," Reborn said flippantly. "I'm a gambler through and through, you know that. It began by accepting the Ninth's offer to go to Japan and training a kid who had zero chance of making a difference. It's still a game, but the stakes are higher now. I'm not just staking my reputation anymore. I'm staking my position as the Ninth's close associate and your home tutor to make sure they pay. But I've got my hands tied. I don't have any cards left. That's why I'm gambling it all on this one card. Your wild card. I'm no longer playing this game alone."
Fucking hell. The look on his tutee's face despite his attempts to drop his guard seemed to not be working.
"But this is not a game, Reborn," he said, in an expression that made him both proud and livid because it was a side he showed only once. Back at Namimori shrine, on those steps. When his student became the teacher. When he made a promised he kept. "This was never a game. If this was a game, then it would have ended by now. Our checkmate." Tsuna said in a wistful tone as his gaze penetrated Reborn far better than his orange eyes could. "I'm sorry, I thought you were thinking we're collateral again."
"If you were, I wouldn't have shot Hibari Yuu and her mooks who sniped you," Reborn sighed. "And this is not a fucking chess match, you got that?" he added in a gruff voice. The whiny Tsuna two days ago was not manifesting this time. It shook his very core to see this aura emanating from him. He was using his rawness and melancholy with such ease in shooting him down. His training was paying off. He had to congratulate himself with the leftover champagne later.
"Yeah. I never got to thank you," Tsuna said with a smile. "Sorry, I've been forgetting a lot of stuff nowadays. Too wrapped up in my bubble."
"W-Why is the Tenth a-all brooding all of a sudden?" Gokudera gasped, ruining the moment and making the baby draw out his gun.
"You really have to fawn at the wrong time, don't you?" Reborn snorted as he pointed his gun at him. "Anyway, I should thank you for steering us on track again instead of going into more sappy shit. Hibari's the most wanted man in the underground right now. The Vongola's more than happy to get his mangled body for a generous sum. By generous, I meant enough to buy a fucking country."
"I thought the Ninth-"
"Yeah, he's losing support and power even outside the family," Reborn's onyx eyes darkened further. "Who knew our wild card could bring down the biggest underworld power to its knees… The other families are also in chaos since it was unheard for deserters to be ceremoniously left alone. Paranoia's the number one problem in the underground now. A lot of them are killing would-be deserters. The Vongola is also clipping its members as we speak."
"Reborn's not telling us everything," Tsuna said as he took out his phone. "Dad called earlier. He told me to check social media. We're trending on Twitter and Google."
"What?" said Gokudera and Chrome in unison as they turned on their phones.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Now Reborn was more than pissed off.
"Oh right, I forgot you're an old timer," his tutee said, enough to make Reborn smack him in the face at the insult. He took the remote of Reborn's hotel room and turned on the TV.
Every Japanese news channel was showing the outside of their hotel. The tutor could not help but curse as he saw the headlines: The heir of the Mafia could be Japanese. The future Mafia Boss is a junior high school student? Video captured shows the future Don in Japan. Teenage Boss linked to Namimori incident…
"The Ninth had to stay in Italy to do damage control. My dad will be picking us up in two hours."
Reborn scanned the newsfeeds and livestreams from Gokudera's smartphone, only to throw it at Gokudera's unprepared arms when the thumping from the locked doors become more prevalent, followed by rowdy voices and jibes. Based on what the TV was feeding them, they were at the other side of the mahogany.
"Dad told me the Omertà had been broken. You were right. We chose the wrong people to cross."
-18-
"Didn't expect you to call so soon," said a brash voice on the other end. "How are things?"
"We're leaving Japan in half an hour," Reborn said as he put on his Leon sunglasses and recoiled on his leather seat. It pays to get a good stretch sometimes, especially inside a private jet.
"That's not the best course of action," the voice noted. "The family's in an uproar. Consolidating with companies in Silicon Valley, using their moles to lessen the damage, but it's been done. It doesn't stop with your wimpy student. Law enforcers are ramming through our hideouts from different countries… The leaks are appalling. Everyone's pointing fingers everywhere. They might even use that pipsqueak as a scapegoat."
"And where are you and your lackeys now, Squalo?" he cackled. "It doesn't sound like you're in the HQ."
"Voi, we're on a mission right now. Your pal, remember? We finally got a lead on where they are. Mammon's another key to this fiasco. The CEDEF head may debrief you on arrival."
The baby hummed. A seat behind him, his student was succumbing to sleep, his right hand's shoulder the perfect pillow. The mist guardian was across his aisle, eyes looking out the airplane window in wonder. This must be her first time. "Hibari gave me a quick run through about his siblings before he left," he said before a pause. "Take care of yourselves."
His laugh was static on the other end. "Are they really that dangerous?"
"The eldest was enough for me to draw my gun to kill. I only got her finger. She did not even try showing her abilities to me. Hibari warned me that flames wouldn't work on them."
"Now that gets my blood running. Finally, a fucking challenge," he boomed. Reborn could imaging Squalo's mood whiplash as he continued over the phone. "You helped Hibari escape didn't you? It won't help you. I've been tracking their whereabouts."
"Oho, did you put a tracking device on your disciple's phone?"
"Nah, my stupid disciple's posting on Instagram. Fucking hell, I've never met a buffoon like him. It's like the entire Mafia's not watching his every move."
"You really care about Yamamoto a lot, don't you?"
"Not a fucking chance," Squalo scoffed. "If the militant knew about you helping Hibari escape his death sentence, it might cost you."
"I know what I'm doing."
"Jesus Christ, you are as reckless as they say. My Boss' old man can't protect your student anymore. He might lose both his candidacy and his life if you keep this charade going. You are not doing what's beneficial for the Vongola."
"I am doing what I think is beneficial."
"This is fucking insane. You want my honest opinion? Leave that fucking pipsqueak, let him be strip off his rank and live a normal life. What you're currently doing will lead you nowhere."
"What are you talking about?" the baby cooed. "I'm taking the quickest possible shortcut."
He could see the revelation dawning on Squalo by then. He was a good player, but of course, Reborn was better. Squalo may act brazen, but he is calculating, aware of when he will lay down his cards. He is nothing like Reborn. He plays just for the thrills and seeing his poor opponents not knowing what hit them.
"This is the last, Reborn." Squalo finally said his name. "Leave Sawada Tsuna and not risk making the Vongola your enemy."
By then Reborn began to laugh. The audacity. The boldness. The fear. He could taste it all, and more. "I should say the same to you," he said coldly, his grin wide. "Don't forget who you're talking to." He hung up.
No turning back. That was a declaration of war. He will respond in kind, but now he needed his nap.
Notes:
Ussēndayo = STFU (in layman's terms)
I had to cut down a lot of scenes from my original draft lmao. Will definitely post them in the next several chapters though.