Chapter 13 : enemies at the gate
There's still this problem about Kyoko's request to work out. It's nothing as easy as 'convince the Committee to vote for her,' since she could easily have done that herself, just as well as with Kusakabe. It's not as if the Committee hasn't gotten a taste for her baked goods from the previous term, when she'd been trying her hardest to bribe Kusakabe into taking Tsunayoshi into the Disciplinary Committee. The infighting that had broken out had been frighteningly excessive.
Honestly, Tsunayoshi doesn't know why she thinks he has any sway with them at all, even assuming that Hibari has any concerns with him. It's not as if Hibari will order them to do any favors for him.
Which now means that Tsunayoshi is in the awkward position of trying to figure out how to get Kyoko elected Student Council President against the incumbent President, Tomaso Nerina.
As reluctant as he is to try his hand at convincing the Committee about anything, Tsunayoshi completes his gofer duties - this time picking up a packet from a student rather than delivering one - and then he meets with Nakamoto, as he arranged earlier that day.
Despite everything, it had been a surprisingly easy thing to do. After that badly handled meeting on the first day of school, where Nakamoto had seemed like his life was under threat, and who had not not showed up after school, Tsunayoshi had wondered if they weren't going to get along anymore. For some time, it seemed like Nakamoto had even been avoiding him, not that Tsunayoshi had a lot of time to pursue the thought between his usual duties and Shioya and now Yamamoto and the study group - but thankfully, that's no longer the case. Despite looking slightly anxious at being approached, Nakamoto had agreed with his request without much trouble.
It's not terribly clever, meeting in the shadows behind the school, but Tsunayoshi isn't really trying to hide what he's doing anyway. There's no need to make anyone overly suspicious about it. If Hibari gets irritable about him using his underclassmen, then he'll be twice as irritable at Tsunayoshi for trying to hide it.
Nakamoto stands there in the shadows against the wall, not particularly trying to hide, either. He looks a bit unfamiliar, the way he always does when away from Hoshino - of all of the Committee members that Tsunayoshi has met, Nakamoto was always the one that had looked the most welcome and friendly, even if he finds it particularly easy to harden his jaw and demand money from shops.
"Sawada," he says tonelessly, but he seems to relax, his grip easing a bit on the packet of papers in his hands.
Tsunayoshi had quickened his pace when he'd seen Nakamoto already there, despite being fairly certain that he'd been more or less on time. "Nakamoto-kun! Sorry. Were you waiting?"
"Only because I got here early," he says, and makes no move to hand the packet over.
Tsunayoshi blinks. There's no evidence of the harsh expression that Nakamoto wore at the beginning of the year - his face isn't really made for in the first place, a trait that Tsunayoshi unfortunately seems to share. He looks almost inquisitive - searching, maybe. Tsunayoshi shifts uneasily under his regard, but - there doesn't seem to be anything for it.
Finally, Nakamoto says, "why do you want the Committee's information on Tomaso Nerina in the first place?"
Well, that is a bit unusual, so it isn't strange that Nakamoto would ask, is it? All this time, Tsunayoshi has been more or less content to simply be around the Committee, mostly for the sake of being where Hibari is without crowding him. He hadn't wanted to join, and no one had wanted him to, but he'd worked together with them to further their goals on occasion - Kyoko would probably say that 'it's about time to balance the scales, right?' But that's not really how Tsunayoshi feels about it at all.
"I've been caught up in something annoying, to be honest," Tsunayoshi says, wry, averting his eyes self-consciously. "Since I usually keep out of school affairs, I don't really know much about it? I thought the Committee dossier would be a good place to start learning about the President."
Nakamoto waits for a moment, like he expects further explanation, and then sighs. "You always have such a laid back attitude about dangerous things, Sawada," he says. "Even about things that endanger your companions."
Frowning, he protests: "I'm not really laid back about this at all."
Nakamoto doesn't seem particularly judgemental about it though. "A kid like Tomaso-chan has powerful adults backing her up, you know," he warns. "Not the least of which is Di Tella Arturo. All the children attached to the Tomaso name have people like that - it's been like that for about twenty years now."
"Ah-" Well, if they know the approximate time that changed, then: "What happened then?"
But Nakamoto can only shrug. "There's a lot of things that we haven't been able to discover," he says apologetically. "A lot of people change their ways of doing things without there being obvious reasons for it, because they're watching for stuff that doesn't seem important to the rest of us, or isn't in the papers. Maybe at that time, they got a threatening letter, but unless it's discovered, we'll never know."
That's - a bit different from what Tsunayoshi had thought was going on. All this time, he figured that the dossiers that the Committee created were in regards to school life. Pinning it down to the moment the first Tomaso child started to have - what? Bodyguards? He would have thought that it was a matter of public knowledge.
"The Hibari family probably knows," Nakamoto adds, watching him, "but there's no way of finding that out without drawing their attention."
Never once has Tsunayoshi given consideration to Hibari Kyoya's home life, outside of the time he'd decided that Hibari had never let even his mother or father bring him to heel - unless they'd beaten him into such. He remembers, sharply: the tense, unhappy edges of Hibari's expression, like a tiger with an infected tooth.
The back of his tongue is bitter - char and sulfur and ash. He thinks about something with Hibari's instincts not flinching in the face all-consuming fire that waits, banked, inside his chest between lungs and heart. The idea of someone in particular putting that tight, cornered expression on Hibari is unpleasant. A bit itchy, and not in the almost pleasant way he'd felt about Hibari at the start of term. His head throbs in sharp aches that echo through his bones and pulsates in his fingertips. He should be choking on so much smoke and sparks.
Ahh. It's bad.
"Sawada," Nakamoto says, and then flinches under Tsunayoshi's gaze, pale. He avoids meeting his eyes. "The Hibari family is generations strong."
Generations strong and widespread like a complex root system, Tsunayoshi thinks, remembering suddenly that woman that had approached Iemitsu, saying things about Tsunayoshi that Iemitsu had laughed off. Come to think of it, she'd been part of the Hibari clan herself, hadn't she? And Iemitsu, despite the way she was speaking about the family he supposedly cared about, had been more or less respectful.
"What about Di Tella Arturo?" Tsunayoshi asks.
Nakamoto swallows. His throat clicks. "Di Tella has been in service to Tomaso-chan since she was five years old," he says. "Although as far as we can tell, he's never taken assassin work, he doesn't hesitate to kill to protect her." He holds out the packet, and adds, "we haven't been able to locate records of his life before being contracted to the Tomaso family."
Tsunayoshi hums as he accepts the packet, breaking the seal. His first curiosity is any information they have on Di Tella, meager as it is. He never accompanies her onto the Nami campus, but obviously picks her up and drops her off. He's younger than Tsunayoshi expects, honestly. He would have been fairly young when he'd been contracted to Tomaso.
There's no way even Tsunayoshi can get a gut instinct in regards to a photograph, but he can tell already that Di Tella will be a pain.
Sighing loudly, Tsunayoshi closes the packet and tugs at his hair restlessly with his free hand. "Kyoko-chan sure is the troublesome type," he laments. "Getting caught up in this kind of thing really isn't equal to finding out about Saitoh-kun."
No, a troublesome thing like this is dangerous, it's true, but wasn't he just thinking that Kyoko would say something about balancing the scales? If making deals with Kyoko is unfair, then won't others also not want to make deals with her? He's sure if he puts it that way, not even Hana will be able to argue with him about it.
"You shouldn't get tangled up in something like this over a girl, Sawada," Nakamoto says with a slight frown.
It seems that despite his weird reaction earlier, Nakamoto is actually worried about him - that's a kind of nice. He seems like someone with a good head on his shoulders, Tsunayoshi thinks with a small smile. "It's not like that," he reassures him, "I'm just returning a favor."
It's a bit dishonest to try putting it that way, and maybe Nakamoto senses that since he doesn't look relieved at all. Worse than that: he looks a bit despairing. "Sawada, don't get caught up in accepting favors," he says reproachfully. "You'll make Hibari-san's mood even worse if you get involved with the wrong kind of person."
"I'm the last person who wants to bother him," he tries to say, but Nakamoto gives him such a wild look of disbelief that he cringes a bit and then grows sullen. Alright - so fine: he frequently provokes Hibari, but it isn't like it's ever a conscious decision to do so! There's nothing he likes about getting bitten to death, after all!
Feeling pressured to try again, Tsunayoshi sighs and amends it. "I'll be careful, Nakamoto-kun. It really is the last thing I want - disturbing the household you belong to by causing Hibari-senpai problems, I mean."
For a moment, Nakamoto seems strangely more unsettled by his words than reassured. It's a bit odd to watch someone other than Haru decide to forget something as a 'Tsunayoshi thing,' but the expression is so similar that it can't be anything else. "Don't let this come back on me," he says, resigned. "I made copies of those files, but I don't want to be killed for doing a favor, either."
"It really isn't all that bad to get bitten to death," Tsunayoshi says, and smiles to reassure Nakamoto's doubtful expression. "Don't worry, Nakamoto-kun. I'll watch out after you."
"That's not as reassuring as you think that is," Nakamoto says.
(No, but it will be. The world had stretched. Tsunayoshi has not forgotten that; it echoes through him, still.)
-0-
A few days later finds Tsunayoshi loitering around the top of the school building once again. The patterns of behavior he'd noticed more than a year ago when he'd been haunting Kyoko's footsteps is still more or less accurate - and through trial and error, he's managed to remain unnoticed after attending to his Committee duties and wait around the club room.
It sure is handy to be known by the Literary Club's leader, and have a reputation for being willing to clean up after the club as long as he can borrow the key to the room. Thanks to that, he's aware of when the light in the Student Council room goes out, and Tomaso leaves the room alone. She's always the last to leave, well into the evening.
Before she can make it very far, Tsunayoshi grabs up the bag of trash in one hand and dashes out the door, pausing only long enough to shut and lock it. "Ahh, Tomaso-chan!" he calls out.
She pauses and turns as he stuffing the key into his pocket, snatching his bag from beside the door. It's obvious that she doesn't recognize him at all, not as Hibari's and not as Dame-Tsuna. Just how out of touch can one person be, Tsunayoshi wonders, even as he smiles. Like most girls, Tomaso Nerina is taller than he is by some measure, but not unusually so. She doesn't seem overly guarded at his approach, even as she straightens her shoulders and back just a slight bit more.
"Yes? What can I help you with?" she asks as he comes to a stop before her, dropping both his school bag and the trash bag at his feet.
She even sounds like she means it. Doing one bad thing doesn't necessarily mean that a person is completely bad, Tsunayoshi reflects - or she's very good at acting. He keeps his shoulders rounded, his face tilted slightly - the shy, wary behavior of a useless kid more often bullied than not. "Ah, I was wondering," he says, shifting his feet, harmless, useless, mostly beneath notice. "Tomaso-chan is the kind of school president that likes to work on school unity, right?"
"That's right," she agrees, warming enough to smile a bit now. "A unified school is important. Society is built on the bonds that we humans form with one another so that we can all collaborate and exist in harmony with each other - or, that's what I believe."
Wow - what a soundbite, Tsunayoshi thinks, reminded particularly of Yamamoto talking about TakeSushi. It's just - she lacks the chrome finish that Yamamoto had. She really believes something like that.
It's an easy enough thing to believe, though, so he can't really blame her for that. It's just that Tsunayoshi has been denied connections over and over again since he was a kid - of course he can't connect with her ideas. As the one who has been called Dame-Tsuna for years, it's hard to be sympathetic at all.
In the same way that Haru simpers at adults she doesn't like or trust, Tsunayoshi clenches his hands in front of him and gives Tomaso Kyoko's sunglare smile. "I believe that, too! Spending time together and getting to know one another will help everyone get along and understand one another better, right? I thought that might be the case for Tomaso-chan!" As she turns towards him with her smile getting larger and warmer, he continues. "I also wanted to do my part - I thought, maybe a test of courage would be a good plan for the school? But not everyone likes those things, so a field trip instead! If people experience something new together, they're surely going to grow closer!"
It feels like he's really overselling it, but Tsunayoshi clenches his teeth and commits to it with all his resolve. After all, with a favor like this, then Kyoko will have to owe the Committee one. It can only help Hibari if the Student Council President feels in their debt. If Tsunayoshi can lessen Kyoya's workload even a little bit, then maybe they'll both be able to relax a little bit, and maybe then Tsunayoshi can find a way of pulling that infected tooth.
"A field trip," Tomaso says, frowning with concern. "Like what? It's not easy to get funds for that kind of thing."
"Don't worry, I thought ahead on that, too," Tsunayoshi says, waving her concern away before fetching a flyer out of his back pocket. "See? In a few weeks, the hotel out in the mountains, past the shrine? It'll have a special. There are enough cabins out there for Nami's third year class to stay for the weekend."
"A few weeks?" Tomaso echoes musingly.
Yes, and one week after that, the School Council election would occur. Preparing for something like that might bite into Tomaso's campaign time, unless she's able to nominate a committee to take care of the details, but everyone's moods should be pretty high just after a field trip. A week is enough time for anyone that has had a bad time to get over it or at least hear their friends reminisce fondly enough that they'll be convinced.
She takes the flyer from him.
-0-
Not the next day, but the day after that, Student Council President Tomaso Nerina announces about the good field trip opportunity she's discovered for them all, and the impromptu sporting event being held to raise funds for it. Although it hadn't really been much of a problem in the first place, any lingering sense of discomfort that Tsunayoshi felt about the entire situation evaporates.
"Way to go, Tsuna!" Yamamoto congratulates him under the explosion of excited chatter, and grabs onto him just as completely as Haru ever has. Tsunayoshi oomphs a bit because Yamamoto is going through some kind of growth spurt and does a lot of exercise to maintain his position as star hitter, and Tsunayoshi isn't at all as fragile as his short frame suggests, but there's something to be said for being caught off guard.
"Don't 'way to go' me," he complains under his breath, although he doesn't struggle, either. Just because he doesn't feel guilty about it doesn't mean he's happy about doing it. It might be necessary that he succeed for the sake of various outcomes, but he can't be happy about tricking someone.
Can't they all just come around to his way of thinking?
Speaking of that, his head throbs dully. He doesn't need to look to know why that is, but he glances anyway. It reminds him of an unpleasant fact: during the field trip, Yamamoto's friends will want to hang out with him.
Being a class field trip, that means Haru won't be along with them - and even if the eligible members of the Disciplinary Committee come along, and that means Hibari Kyoya will, they'll no doubt be running herd on the class to keep them out of trouble… or roughing them up for further funds, one or the other. That means that Tsunayoshi will be on his own, most likely.
It feels like a chill goes down his spine about it. It'll only be for a little bit and there's nothing even sideways permanent about it in the first place, but under the stabbing pain of his headache: that feeling comes back. The one that warns him with certainty that he'll die if left alone.
"Tsuna?" Yamamoto says, and only then does Tsunayoshi realize that he's grabbed onto the front of Yamamoto's shirt and is wrinkling it beneath his white knuckles. It doesn't seem to deeply worry him, but he's obviously a little concerned over it - over Tsunayoshi, rather than the shirt. Then again, he can't figure out how to properly wear his tie, so wrinkles probably don't even register as a problem at all.
"Ah," he says, letting go. "Sorry, I'm a bit nervous about everything."
Grinning, Yamamoto says, "don't worry about it! If it's Tsuna, then it'll work out great!"
"I'm really not as lucky as that," he says, even as Yamamoto leans back across the aisle and settles into his desk. Somehow it's a bit difficult to remain pessimistic with how Yamamoto is radiating faith at him. Is he a buddha? Even Tsunayoshi's headache seems to fade a bit, and usually that takes Yamamoto using him as an armrest.
"It'll be fine! Anyway, you have me and Haru watching your back, and Hibari-senpai, too!" he points out.
True - Haru did most of the hard work in his case. After Tsunayoshi had aired his concerns to the two of them during their study session, thinking of Nakamoto's words, Haru had been dead set on backing him up. It had taken a bit of work for Haru and Tsunayoshi to break into the school and then the school council room after that, but Haru's determination wasn't to be underestimated. She'd made copies of all the treasury books that had been available, luckily going back a few years, and then she'd taken them to her father.
Hideki had looked the three of them over, smiled mildly, and confirmed Kyoko's suspicions regarding Tomaso's behavior. He'd then asked Tsunayoshi a few other strange questions regarding the entire situation, seemed to find it funny in some manner, and patted Tsunayoshi on the head.
It had been Haru's idea about the field trip, though. Both she and Yamamoto had helped coach him on how to appropriately submit the idea to Tomaso, so really: it's because of Haru and Yamamoto that any of it had worked so far. None of the successes has been due to Tsunayoshi at all.
Still, things really have been going his way recently, which he can only attribute to so many people coming together and being willing to work for his sake. So in the end, Tsunayoshi smiles at Yamamoto. "Thanks. You're right about that."
Yamamoto brightens, pleased to have gotten his way. "Say, Tsuna, it's nothing that has to be done soon, but Pops wanted me to invite you again - ah, this time at home, instead of the shop."
"Hey, is that really fair?" One of Yamamoto's baseball friends demands, unable to hold his tongue over this newest insult. "You never invite us over to your dojo!"
"Now, now," he chides, a little surprised. "It's not like that! That's Pop's, anyways, so I can't invite anyone where I'm not allowed myself."
It doesn't go over well with the boys, who start heckling Yamamoto over it, thoroughly distracting him by making him explain that it was his father that extended the invitation, not Yamamoto himself, so it's a totally different situation than they think. It kind of saves Tsunayoshi from replying, but at the same time, those guys' jealousy over Yamamoto is really getting out of hand.
Certainly Tsunayoshi doesn't want Yamamoto to be lonely, but it'll become a problem if they refuse to accept that Yamamoto doesn't want to be their head of household. They can't force him into a position like that - it isn't fair to Yamamoto. Normally, someone being put on the spot like that would start to resent it, but one way or another, Yamamoto's personality is twisted in strange ways to the point that it doesn't seem to bother him at all.
Although maybe Tsunayoshi shouldn't be casting stones, since he'd only resented it a little bit himself, and that was mostly because no one was considering his opinion in the matter. Haru and Yamamoto had simply worked for his sake and followed his lead until he'd finally given up on the whole thing and was ready to step up on his own accord. They never forced him into it. It's hard to resent them when it's like that.
And also unlike those baseball kids, Tsunayoshi isn't careless enough to be happy about being invited to Yamamoto's father's house - or dojo, for that matter. Especially dojo. Maybe Yamamoto's father also thinks Tsunayoshi's resolve is pitiful.
Maybe he means to deny Tsunayoshi's words after all?
Tsunayoshi had only said them to break the stalemate between Yamamoto and his father, but - that doesn't mean he wants those feelings so easily thrown away. And Yamamoto is a dutiful son, but it feels like if his father tries to push it, no one will be happy in the end, will they? What if he tells Tsunayoshi to stay away to avoid taking responsibility for doing such a thing? Does Yamamoto's father expect Tsunayoshi to give up first, and does he mean to frame it as being for Yamamoto's sake? As if Yamamoto hasn't been staying awake during classes these days and not skipping class and seems more energetic than before.
Tsunayoshi's head aches. His chest hurts like crackling heat and the back of his tongue tastes bitter.
Why can't Yamamoto and Hibari's families just support their children the way Haru's does?
Even Tsunayoshi's mother has welcomed everyone with open arms, and she and Tsunayoshi had lived as shut-ins for years and years.
Ahh. There's no way for Tsunayoshi to rest easy about this.
-0-
Even though Yekaterina has gone back to her job, Hideki still visits Nana plenty, mostly bemoaning that he's not much of a cook even though Haru has assured Tsunayoshi that it's a lie - a good cook he might not be, but he'd been able to teach Haru more than enough in her youth that she's become accomplished in her own right. Thanks to Nana's fretting, Tsunayoshi has the vague idea that Nana probably brings them containers with meals quite a lot, as to lessen the burden on Haru. It isn't really anything that involves him any more than her afternoons with Shioya, but it's a bit interesting, he thinks.
Being aware of Haru's school schedule for the sake of the study lessons, it's not difficult to arrange things so that instead of attending his gofer duties for Hibari, Tsunayoshi arrived home in time to catch his mother on the way out the door.
"Wait up, and I'll help," he says.
"My, my," Nana says when he gets done putting away his school things and comes back to take most of the load of food containers from her. "My Tsu-kun is so thoughtful!"
He's not really at all, but he let's the comment pass without more than a self-conscious laugh.
"But you are home early," she points out on the next breath, tilting her head and blinking inquisitively at him. "Why would that be?"
"No particular reason," he says, because it's not like he got shooed away or chased. "I finished up early, but Yamamoto-kun is busy with baseball and Haru is busy with gymnastics, so I came home."
Nana hums, clearly seeing right through him, but she doesn't press the point. Instead he listens to her tell about the gossip in the neighborhood, and who has moved in and who is thinking about moving out because of the school that their kid got into this year. He thinks he remembers that she used to do this a lot when he was younger, although she'd eventually given up on it and even went so far as to buy him a video game so at least he wouldn't just be staying in his room and staring out the window all the time.
It had taken some time for him to become interested in the video game even, now that he thinks about it.
"The Irie family from our neighborhood are having a few problems themselves," she muses. "Tomoko-chan asked me about it since I have my Tsu-kun, but it's a different problem altogether, after all."
Tsunayoshi tries to remember who the Irie family is, but his memory has always been a bit dull since he became fragile. And before that is so long ago that he can't even remember the faces or names of his friends. "Tomoko-san was asking… for her child's sake?"
"That's right. She has a son - now that I think about it, Shoichi-kun is your age! Only, Tomoko-chan has been sending him to special private schools even before middle school, so despite being from the same neighborhood, you've never met."
It's such a contrast to Tsunayoshi's frustrations with some other families he could name that his shoulders sag. "What kind of problems are they having? Maybe we could help?"
Nana brightens, clapping her hands together. "You think so? That would be wonderful, Tsu-kun!"
"W-well, it doesn't hurt to take a look," he says, a bit taken aback by her reaction. "We don't know that we can't help unless we try." He doesn't know that he can help, either, but someone working hard for the sake of another should be given a few breaks, right?
"Recently it seems that Tomoko-chan's Shoichi-kun has become a bit of a hermit," Nana says. "Apparently he's been struggling to make friends to begin with, but now he's withdrawn completely and has started refusing to come out of his room. Tomoko-chan says that he's still submitting his schoolwork online, but the teachers are telling her that it's not a long term solution.
"Tomoko-chan asked me: how did I get Tsu-kun to go out and make friends, but-"
She's been fidgeting a bit all along, but now she looks at him, and her expression is pale and tight and a lot awful, her eyes wide but her pupils only pinpricks. Her mouth thins and trembles.
"I didn't know how to answer that," she finishes weakly.
It's not like Nana is wrong, he thinks even as a chill goes up his spine and his heart thumps hard. The Tsunayoshi before Then probably never would have heard Haru, let alone thrown himself into danger for her sake. He certainly wouldn't have had the training to escape. At best he would have been beaten by those men and Haru would have disappeared anyway. At worse-
(Would his heart had ignited for Haru's sake the way it had for Nana? He doesn't know. Tsunayoshi can't say either way. And if it had, surely Haru would have never stuck by his side in that case.)
Ahh. It hadn't been a good thing, but because of That, he's come quite a long way.
"I'll meet with Shoichi-kun," he says gently, while Nana stands beside him, barely breathing, with the haunted eyes she'd had while she sung lullabies. "I don't know what I can do about it, but looking into the matter isn't impossible."
He already has so much to do, but: Tomoko is working hard for the sake of her son, even going as far as to approach Nana about her dame son. She deserves a helping hand, he thinks. It wouldn't be fair to her if Tsunayoshi could help and he just decided not to.
Nana is quiet for the rest of the walk, but she's mostly recovered by the time they get to the door of the Miura home. After she rings them in and Hideki welcomes them, she takes the containers from Tsunayoshi and into the kitchen.
"Tsuna-kun, it's been a while," Hideki says, smiling at him.
Well, that's true enough. Since the last time they spoke one-on-one was when Tsunayoshi was trying to set up the study groups. "Sorry," he says, "there's been a lot going on. Thanks again for looking at those books for us."
"It's no problem," he says, waving the matter away. "I can't properly charge for something as simple as school finances, and with such a lazy cover up. Although - I wonder: what came of that?"
"It's still a work in progress. Haru is helping me figure out how to handle it delicately," he answers a bit awkwardly. Regardless of the circumstances, he doesn't know how Hideki would feel about the way they're going about it. "Actually, I wanted to ask you a question."
"Hm? And what's that, Tsuna-kun?'
"Um-"
Suddenly, Tsunayoshi wonders how he's supposed to explain himself. Hideki has never once indicated that he has recognized Tsunayoshi as Dame-Tsuna, or as if 'Sawada' means anything to him the way it seems to when it comes up around some adults. Despite how badly Tsunayoshi has disrupted Haru's life again and again, Hideki has never indicated that he's against their friendship. Even if, technically, by joining Tsunayoshi's household, Haru is leaving her family's.
At last, he says: "no matter what, you support Haru, right?"
Hideki's face is unreadable as he leans back slightly and folds his hands together. "To a point," he says evenly. "Haru-chan is a good girl with a good head on her shoulders, if a bit lonely. For the most part, it's best to allow her to learn for herself. After that point, I am still her father, and if I must become a tyrant for her sake, then a tyrant I will become."
There's a very strange look on his face as he gazes at Tsunayoshi - one that seems to say: we are alike in this, you and I. It makes him feel a bit queasy.
Tsunayoshi is no tyrant. He refuses.
If the thought would have ever occurred to him, having watched Yamamoto stand against his father is more than enough to keep any such inclinations at bay. The day any of his friends feel the need to set their feet against him, Tsunayoshi will let them go completely without a single grudge and with his full support. He doesn't want to cause them distress or give them a reason to hate him; he wants them to feel completely at ease when they're with him.
Isn't that the best way to make sure that someone will always come back?
"Why do you ask?" Hideki asks at last.
Tsunayoshi blinks, breaking the deadlock. "Not every parent wants to let their kids be friends with someone like me," he admits with an uncomfortable smile.
"I see," Hideki says. "I wonder - shouldn't you be talking to Shioya Tadamasa about something like this?"
Of all the things that Tsunayoshi might have accepted from Hideki, mention of Shioya was one of the last. "Ehh - how do you know about Shioya-san?" he asks in surprise.
"You shouldn't underestimate Tadamasa," he says easily. "Knowing that he's involved takes a weight off my mind. I'll leave it to his capable hands. Ah - that aside: your question. You feel that a friend of yours doesn't have the support of their family? Specifically to become your friend?"
"Something like that," he admits, because this isn't just about Yamamoto, but he doesn't know the specifics of Hibari's situation - beyond that his family isn't keeping up with him and something is causing him sore teeth. Whatever it is, it'll bother Tsunayoshi until he can take care of it, even if he has to yank them out with his own hands - maybe in that way, he'll finally become useful in the only way he can. "But also that they just don't seem to support them, so… I don't know what I should do."
"I see. That's a very difficult situation, Tsuna-kun, I can see why you might struggle with it," he says.
Tsunayoshi feels himself flush a bit and he averts his gaze, fidgeting. He's never been praised for asking a question before - actually, for as far back as he can remember, asking questions had been greeted with exasperation and frustration. You won't get it anyway.
"Unfortunately, there isn't an easy answer in this case. Despite everything, you're only a kid, and your friends are their family's responsibility. It's impossible for you to replace them in your friend's life. If at all possible, respecting that parent's decision and not putting pressure on your friend would probably be the best way of going about it."
It's not the kind of answer that Tsunayoshi could ever rest easy hearing. It's not an answer at all. The only part of it that sounds good is the part where he doesn't make the problem worse, but if it were easy sitting back and letting someone suffer, Tsunayoshi wouldn't be here asking these kinds of questions.
"If nothing else," Nana says brightly from the doorway, "there is always running away!"
The both of them startle at her sudden words, but it's Hideki that seems the most perturbed. "Nana-chan," he says, taken aback.
She doesn't look at him, smiling sweetly at Tsunayoshi. "Mama's been saving up for a long time, Tsu-kun. If your friends ever need it, they can always come live with us! Living in a full house has always been a dream of mine!"
"Mom," Tsunayoshi says, the way he might at Yamamoto, with more shock than censure. Come to think of it: don't the both of them casually deny what's directly in front of their faces in the same way?
"I want my Tsu-kun to have a large family, so something like this is easy," she says, and then turns her smile on Hideki, and there's something like so what will you do about it to her expression.
The effect it has on Hideki is a little amazing. The normally calm and unflappable man stutters a bit and seems at a total loss, as if this is nothing he can find a reasonable way to argue against. Finally he says, "Nana-chan, something like that will cause problems for the families."
"They're the ones causing problems for themselves," she says calmly, walking into the room and setting her hand on Tsunayoshi's shoulder. "If they want to keep their precious children, they should listen to them."
It seems obvious and plain when she puts it that way, even though some part of Tsunayoshi is protesting that it really isn't that easy. Why isn't it? he wonders. More than anything else, it's Hideki's expression that makes him think that way.
"My Tsu-kun and I aren't tyrants," she adds gently, still smiling serenely. "If they want those children back, then treating them well is all that it takes. We wouldn't keep them against their own will if they'd like to go home."
Hideki sighs, looking troubled. "Nana-chan, please be reasonable," he says. "There's no way that everyone else will continue to mind their own business when it comes to your son if you start doing something like that."
Nana presses a finger to the bottom of her chin, blinking. "Strange that they'd mind their own business over worse things, isn't it?" she muses. "Maybe the whole town needs a little shaking up. Say, Tsu-kun, you can do it carefully without startling everyone, right?" She looks down at him with bright eyes and a warm, trusting smile.
Tsunayoshi wants to say 'no way' - but. He doesn't want to cause problems and draw attention to himself - but. Shaking up the entire town over a few families sounds like the height of carelessness - but.
Ahh. It's for Yamamoto and Hibari's sake, isn't it?
"Um," he says, and then looks at Hideki apologetically, since he'd come all this way and bothered the man for advice only to discard it, "I'd really prefer it if everyone could get along, but - it's not like I want to make enemies!" He waves his hands around, palm out, but his anxious nature is soothed a bit when Nana gently squeezes the shoulder under her hand. "But - there are certain things I can't just let pass, you know?"
Hideki crosses his arms over his chest, still looking troubled as he peers down at Tsunayoshi. He says nothing either way.
It's a bit disappointing that after getting praised earlier, that Hideki would withdraw his support, but it's not like Tsunayoshi can back down from this now, no matter what. All the same, this is Haru's father who is prepared to become a tyrant for her sake, so-
"What kind of person would I be," Tsunayoshi says, "If I left my friends struggling in dire straits, Miura-san? Not every family supports their kids like you support Haru. You said she has a good head on her shoulders - wouldn't she be also be troubled if she knew?"
Hideki blinks. "That's blackmail," he says, sounding surprised and a little affected.
'Blackmail' sounds like a wonderfully nonviolent solution, even if it may result in resentments and hard feelings. Tsunayoshi doesn't want hard feelings between Hideki and himself, because if Haru's parents start to trouble her, then everything that Tsunayoshi has been struggling with recently will go off-kilter somehow.
(He'll stretch.)
"Please, Hideki-san," Nana says gently, "at most that's just a feeling of 'guilt.' I'm sure you're a fine father whom Haru-chan could be proud of."
If anything, Hideki only looks deeply impressed with Nana's words, as if she's caught him off guard. Still, it seems unlikely that he'll bend on his position, and as if sensing that, Nana dips into a polite bow that Tsunayoshi hastily echoes. On that note, they turn and take their leave of the Miura household.
It takes as long as walking a block away before Tsunayoshi blinks owlishly up at Nana. "Did - um. Did we just declare war on Namimori?" he asks, and hears himself begin to grow shrill with alarm.
"Oh my!" Nana stifles her giggles behind her fingertips, and then peers down indulgently. "Of course not, Tsu-kun! Don't be silly. That was only an informal declaration of willingness. We would need a much larger household with many more allies before going to war with Namimori!"
What part of that is humorous! Be more serious about something as dangerous as that! But he doesn't shout it after all, despite the anxious sigh that escapes him in reply.
"No - but, it annoyed Mama a little bit, the way Hideki-san was speaking," she continues on more serious note. "It isn't fair if parents project their own desires on their children that way." She looks at him. "You should ask Mama for advice now and then, too."
Tsunayoshi just looks at her for a moment before wryly pointing out: "It's a bit hard to run away across a country when it's Japan."
"Oh!" she says, blinking. "So it is!" Then she clasps her hands together and declares: "Then we'll get a boat!"
"Mom!"
-0-
NOTES:
Tsunayoshi: [jumps to conclusions] parkour! Vongola style!
I ended up having more rational adults in this story than I expected… even if Hideki has fallen into that trap of 'women take care of men' even when it's his own just-barely-teen-daughter. He also kind of advocates just… letting parents do whatever to their children? Which is. :\
Granted, he has a point regarding what a dangerous thing these two space cadets are getting up to, but at the same time… hideki pls.
Nana of course is not a rational adult. I don't know what she is, really, except that she gave half her genes to Tsuna and raised him and now they're both like this. This is why therapy is a thing! Or should be! Or would be, except when you retire from the mafia, it's just to many years of heavily repressing your trauma into a molotov cocktail of homicide and alcohol!
Whatever it sounds like, Nana is a civilian: she's depending on implications and instincts regarding the situation. Although after Tsunayoshi asked her about households, she did start reading the philosophies of Sun Tzu and things like that.