33
Visiting Namimori middle wasn't on Gojo's schedule today but as he hovered in the air above the city, he thought he might pop by to say hi. It would be a good time to check out the Mafia too. The Jujutsu sorcerers tend to stay away from those kinds of people but Gojo had heard about an odd curse.
The Arcobalenos.
Adults cursed to remain in an infant's body forever. Yet they could still eat, live and walk about with the same adult minds. Now, that was a strange curse. Normally the curses would eventually kill the person being cursed or bring misfortune to those around them...but that wasn't what was happening with the Arcobalenos.
So he dropped himself onto the fences on the school's roof. Gojo saw Tsunayoshi's flames. The fires were visible this time, glowing strong against the storm as the other teen stood before two girls with pink hair and dark skin.
His eyes found Tsunayoshi's opponents and he knew they were a bunch with blood on their hands. They were feared. They were cursed.
But not enough that a cursed spirit was formed. Actually, that might not be the proper way to put it...it was precisely because the Varia was so feared that no cursed spirit was formed around them.
Even in death, their enemies didn't dare to challenge them again. Gojo laughed as he tried to focus on the two Arcobalenos on the roof.
And his six eyes told him everything.
The rules of the world were written all over their cursed tiny bodies like chains and a binding talisman. They told of a tale of a species born long before mankind, of power that kept the balance between life on earth and evolution. But like all things, they must fade eventually.
The earthlings' numbers diminished and so did the earth's power. So they chose seven human sacrifices that became the Arcobalenos. Then Gojo lost interest in the story.
It was a tragedy. A cliche story of death and desperation.
Naturally, Gojo was unable to connect to it.
When he was born, the heavens and this world rewrote all theirs rules for him. And this curse...it was something that could only be undone by the one who casted it. It was a curse that can only be broken by the consciousness of the world itself if you must.
And the world had already chosen its path.
So Gojo kept his eyes on Tsunayoshi's fire. The fire of life that would burn away all this depressing information. He didn't plan on fighting or interfering with the mafia's fights, Yaga would never let him hear the end of it if he did.
But then he learned who was fighting tonight. A child. A child that would surely die was being sent on the battlefield and he could tell Tsunayoshi didn't like that idea (Getou and their strict junior would probably feel the same thing). Gojo scanned the one who identified as Tsunayoshi's father. He wasn't a saint of a man that was for sure. Sawada Iemitsu didn't kill less than the Varia.
He also had the fire.
However, those flames were nothing like Tsunayoshi's. They were...not as pure. Maybe it was because the adults naturally have more to consider, more responsibilities to bear and that tampered with his fire even if they appeared brighter or stronger.
And something told him Iemitsu had orchestrated this joke of a battle.
Gojo decided then, he was going to fuck things up for the mafia big time.
"I am holding the ring and standing inside of the fighting ground so technically that means I am the Thunder or whatever right now doesn't it?"
Screw what the higher up will think. He wasn't afraid of taking on the world.
Gojo Satoru was the strongest.
And he wouldn't be himself if he didn't do all these spontaneous stunts however he liked. Thunder? Lightning? None of that mattered. He was Gojo Satoru, the owner of the six eyes and the Limitless cursed technique.
Although he didn't like the whole "the strong has to protect the weak" slogans, how could he call himself the strongest if he can't even prevent one kid from dying right now?
Levi, his opponent, was a good assassin. A dedicated man with a heart filled easily with jealousy but he was good in what he did. His only downfall was that he chose to fight Gojo.
The fight ended.
And like all games, the enemy's boss had to come out to make some threats.
"As for you, Sawada Tsunayoshi." That man with scars and black hair smiled down at them. "I'm excited. Looks like you are not completely useless after all. Show me the strength that drew the old fool's attention in the first place. But if you lose the subsequent ring battles...all that is the most precious to you shall perish! I will execute that as my first order as Vongola's Tenth."
Xanxus? Was that his name? All Gojo saw was a walking humanoid ball of raging flames. The negativity was so strong that it made the air thicken with the same disgusting feeling as a curse. This was a man in pain. He was one that cursed the world like all the other madman Gojo had seen before.
They wallowed in their pain and broken pride until they burnt themselves out.
So Gojo threatened him back. Curses, after all, was his specialty. No one would object if he took one out prematurely would they now? To his absolute joy, Tsunayoshi joined in.
"It would just make you look pathetic." As the words came out of the other teen's mouth, Gojo's own grin got wider.
It was the madness that made jujutsu sorcerers shining through Tsunayoshi's mask. It made Gojo remember the tale he heard long ago, a story of white lily and black lily. The white lily symbolizes purity and modesty while the black carried the message of a curse.
And there was nobody that could embody both simultaneously better than Tsunayoshi.
When all was settled, Gojo tagged along to the Sawada house. Tsunayoshi's mother, Nana, was surprised but she welcomed them with open arms. It was late, yet the housewife served them desserts and tea, believing the lie that they had just finished training for the upcoming martial arts tournament.
Toji was one of the coaches while Gojo is a senior in the club from a different school.
"I see!" Nana clasped her hands around Toji's as she shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you Fushiguro-sensai! Thank you for taking care of my Tsu-kun. It's already so late. How kind of you to be escorting the kids home!"
"No, the pleasure's all mine." Toji smiled back at her. There was not a single trace of annoyance on his face. "Tsuna is a good kid and wonderful student. It's my job to make sure he is safe."
If you didn't know his true nature, Toji looked like he sincerely believed in education and providing the youth these days a brighter future. He was the young teacher with dreams and passion.
And he was handsome to boot.
"Hey Tsunayoshi, your mom is a little..." Gojo pointed to his own head with the spoon for the tea. The cookies in his mouth suddenly became tasteless as he watched the friendly teacher and parent conference before them. "Empty up here isn't she?"
Tsuna sipped his tea with a faint smile. "One less person to contribute to the productions of curses."
The white haired teen leaned his head on his palm and averted his gaze. Staring at Toji for too long was making him lose his appetite. "Ha, I guess that's true. By the way, since I am in this mess, who is fighting tomorrow?"
"Gokudera and the Prince The Ripper—Belphegor." Reborn was sitting beside Tsuna. "In terms of fighting ability, Belphegor is the most talented of the Varia."
"A fighting genius?" Gojo liked the sound of that. Maybe he should sneak out of Jujutsu High tomorrow and come check the fight out. "What about this Gokudera? Is he any good?"
"It will be a tough battle."
The way the cursed hitman said that made Gojo realize he was serious. But all of these were tough battles. They were a bunch of teenagers without cursed powers up against elite assassins.
Yet Tsunayoshi didn't seem too concerned. Which was very uncharacteristic of the teen.
"Tsunayoshi~" Gojo leaned in closer. "You have a plan?"
"Sometimes..." Tsunayoshi set his cup down. He stole a glance towards Nana, who was chatting excitedly with Toji about her son. "Even geniuses have a few unfortunate accidents. Won't you agree, Gojo-san?"
His words sent a slight chill down their spines. And Gojo decided that it was time to take his leave. This was enough excitement for one night.
He would save some of the fun for later.
As he strolled down the quiet streets, he examined the ring around his neck. It was made nicely but the rules of the world were engraved within it as well. It wasn't just some pretty stone the underlings kiss in show of their loyalty. This...was a piece of this world's foundation.
Gojo laughed. "So you've got something to talk to me about?"
Reborn came out from the shadows and the hitman didn't look particularly pleased.
"Gojo Satoru..." Half of Reborn's face was hidden underneath his hat, making him unreadable. "You're from one of the elite three clans of shamans aren't you? They say to beware of the Gojo's boy with the six eyes."
That made Gojo stop in his tracks and turn around. "You people sure dig deep."
It was no secret in the jujutsu world but for an outsider like Reborn, he must have gone through some real strange and distant contacts to get this information.
Reborn nodded. "It's part of my job."
"The same one that involves trying to kill the bastard?" That bastard was Toji. But Gojo didn't need to elaborate as the hitman got the idea.
"...Yes."
"I don't really care if that guy dies or not. Heck, it might even be better if you do succeed. I have got a beef to settle with him but honestly, if someone else does the job for me, I won't complain either." Gojo lifted his bangs to show the scar on his forehead.
"You don't like him," Reborn stated flatly. "Looks like the feud between you two isn't something simple either so why don't you kill him?"
Why doesn't Gojo kill Toji?
He had no doubt he would have done it if they encountered each other right after the Star Plasma Vessel mission. But fate played a trick and they missed each other. He should have done it at the park that day too. But there was Megumi and the Ten Shadows. Then...Tsunayoshi happened. And Gojo became intrigued like a moth to a flame.
All fires needed fuel to keep them burning.
The flames would be gone once the fuel runs out.
What would be left then? Nothing but ashes and soot.
"Tsunayoshi wouldn't like that would he? Also, it looks like the opportunity just never came back up again."
"If you are Tsuna's friend, wouldn't you want the better for him?"
"And who am I to decide what is better? That guy is a bum in my eyes but one man's trash is another man's treasure isn't it?"
"I see." Reborn didn't push him further. It was nice speaking to people who had a brain. "Do you know something about the Arcobaleno's curse then?"
Silence rained upon them. Reborn knew Gojo was hiding something and Gojo knew Reborn knew that.
So Gojo sighed.
"All of your questions are basically the same thing." Gojo's answer made Reborn frown. The white haired teen bent down and his blue gaze landed into an abyss of black. "Tell you what, Arcobaleno. Here's your daily dose of lessons in curses from the strongest jujutsu sorcerer alive right now! Even if you don't know anything about curses, remember this: Love is the most twisted curse of all."
Yes, love.
It was love that powered the Arcobaleno's curse. The earthlings' love for life and earth's love for its creations...that twisted with the desperation to survive and resulted in a cruel curse.
It was a pain to exorcise or dispel a curse like this. But undoing it was an entirely different matter. Like untying a ball of yarn that had become tangled, the person who was cursed must undo every single knot in order to lift the curse.
So this was one curse Gojo had no intention of touching. The love of a world wasn't something he particularly wanted to get his hands on and he certainly wasn't going to try and exorcise it by force.
That would just produce a mountain of dead bodies.
As for Toji and Tsunayoshi...well, that was something even he doesn't understand. Love was something even a rocket scientist or the greatest of philosophers couldn't figure out. And Gojo, despite all his gifts and talents adored by the heavens, he was still just a teenager.
Who can blame him if he didn't understand what love was?
#
The night for the Storm battle, Gokudera nearly showed up late. He had spent the day with Shamal perfecting his technique and narrowly got to the designated battleground on time.
Technically he didn't have to fight. He had already given the ring back to Tsuna but he knew the mafia too well. They would never stop. Eliminating the problems at their roots or before they budded was a common practice. So he wasn't really surprised when the Varia came in like a wrecking storm. It doesn't matter if they quit. As long as they were still associated with Tsuna, they would continue to be considered his guardians. So he fights.
Not only for Tsuna but also to ensure their friends don't die. He...he didn't think he would enjoy this so much. Before he set foot in Japan, he didn't think he would get so accustomed to the day to day lives of school, homework, bickering, and hanging out with peers his age.
They don't call him names. They don't ignore him because of his mixed blood or illegitimate birth. He wasn't just a bastard son in the shadows, only ever needed when his father felt like he could be used to earn some praises and laughs like a court jester. So Gokudera was willing to put his life on the line for that.
"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna greeted him.
The white haired teen that stole the idiot cow's place wasn't here tonight. Neither was the man, which was slightly strange but Gokudera didn't question it. There was no rule saying all the guardians have to be present during the fights anyways. They let the Cervellos explain the rules for tonight's battle while Gokudera tried to calm down.
Tonight's battle was indoors and there were hurricane turbines that can generate massive winds installed all over the place. If he got hit by it, he would definitely go flying out of the building along with all the chairs and desks.
"...If neither of them can obtain the ring within fifteen minutes then both are unfit to be the storm guardian. Consequently, the bombs in the turbines will go off and destroy the whole floor."
Both of them will die if there was no victor. A death match. How fitting of the mafia.
"Let's extremely cheer on Gokudera then!" Ryohei shouted with his fist raised in the air. Although he lost the Sun ring to Toji, he still stayed as part of the audience. A back up guardian, according to Reborn.
"What?" Gokudera sputtered as he backed away in horror of the embarrassment. Whatever anxiety was in him was now gone.
"I have been wanting to do it since the first battle!" the boxer said. "But the white hair guy just showed up out of nowhere and it feels weird to do it to scarface. So let's do one for Gokudera today!"
"Ha!" Yamamoto smiled too. "Sounds fun! Let's do it."
"Hey you idiots! I don't need that either!"
"It's alright, Gokudera-kun." Tsuna placed a hand on Gokudera's shoulder. "It's nice that everyone is gathering like this isn't it?"
"Tsuna..." Gokudera gave in. He scanned the faces of his...friends, and he joined in on the embarrassing circle as Ryohei yelled encouraging lines one after another.
But even he couldn't hide the curves on his lips.
"Don't push yourself too much," Tsuna told him right before Gokudera stepped into the battlefield. His opponent, Belphegor, was already standing there and looked much more relaxed.
The blond even came up to Gokudera mentioning how stiff he looked as he patted him on the shoulder.
Then the Cervellos announced for them to start. It was a hard battle. In less than three minutes, Gokudera had knife wounds around his body while Belphegor remained unscratched.
The prince, Varia's genius, was reading the wind currents and using them to his advantage. His knives rode the winds as they cornered Gokudera but Gokudera's bombs were being blown away by the violent winds.
"Belphegor is a true genius." The baby from the Vaira commented as if Gokudera was dead meat already. "He is probably the only one who can do it in these winds."
As much as he didn't want to admit it, Gokudera knew that was true. This was something that took talent and experience. There was no way he could do the same instantly.
For a second there, Gokudera felt something slithered past him but when he looked down there was nothing.
Huh?
But he didn't have time to think too deep. He figured out Belphegor had attached strings on him before the match. The knives were attached to the strings and they followed it to Gokudera.
"That only gets you fifty percent. You still can't do anything in this wind." Belphegor's smile grew wider as he shot another dozen of knives out to ride the winds. Gokudera dodged narrowly again but there was no way he could counterattack if this continued. The prince's attacks weren't leaving any openings for Gokudera to regroup and use his bombs.
The knives came in close and Gokudera expected to be hit by at least one of them.
Only, the aim for these knives were off. At the last second, they got swatted to the side and embedded into the wall.
That wiped the smile off Belphegor's face.
"...Did Bel make a mistake?" Although they couldn't see, Squalo's voice still came through the sound system the Cervellos set up.
Belphegor was grinning but Gokudera could tell he was starting to get a bit mad. "The prince doesn't make mistakes."
He raised his hand and more knives shot out. But the same thing happened. A sudden strong gust of wind knocked them to the side as they did with Gokudera's bombs previously.
And Gokudera took the chance to launch his new technique. The rocket bombs changed direction right as they travelled towards Belphegor. They made it safely past the howling winds and landed a direct hit.
That would have taken a normal person out but this was the Vaira they were up against.
"Ushishishi..." A slightly creepy laughter filled the destroyed hallway. "The blood of a royal!"
Belphegor was injured and the red flowed out of his injuries. But he didn't look like he was in pain. Instead, he came charging at Gokudera at full speed. The knives shot out again, which Gokudera dodged but he still got cut.
Like magic.
"Ugh!" Gokudera started running. He needed distance or he would get affected by his own bombs too. That was when he felt it again, something slithering through on the ground between his legs.
"Ushishi, you have nowhere else to run to." Belphegor's voice closed in as they raced into the library. He raised his arm but then the prince stopped and confusion flashed across his face.
His arm had gotten caught in thin wires and Gokudera could see them cutting through the prince's jacket.
"The wires? That's how you cut me!"
"Voi! Bel! What the heck are you doing messing up like this?" Squalo's voice thundered through the battlefield.
But even Belphegor looked confused as he retrieved his arm. Steadily, he shot another set of knives with his other hand and Gokudera prepared to roll out of the way. But he didn't need to. The aim for those was way off.
As if they had didn't have enough drive to propel them any further.
"...Is he losing control because of the blood lost?" Mammon questioned his teammates but none of them could provide an answer.
Squalo scanned the monitors showing the battle but found no trace of anything out of the ordinary so he turned to look at the brats that were also in the audience ring with them. They looked shocked too but they were happy at the enemy's mistake.
"There's something else here," Belphegor suddenly said and the smile was gone. "What did you do?"
Gokudera had no idea what he was talking about. But then he remembered Kokuyou. He remembered seeing Reborn and the others fight something...something invisible.
Toji. That man wasn't here. Why wasn't he here? He would never have left Tsuna's side in a time like this. Not unless he had something else to do. What was so important then?
Gokudera could only think of one thing.
Tsuna..! He didn't think the brown haired teen would go so far. He didn't know if he should be pissed that Tsuna didn't think he would win to the point that he would try to interfere or be touched that Tsuna would do something like this to keep him alive. But this was his opportunity.
"Something else…?" Squalo turned to the brats and nearly got his sword out when he realized all of them were looking at Tsuna with confusion on their faces. "Hey! What did you do?"
Tsuna only smiled at him. "I don't know what you are talking about."
Squalo scowled. "The Cervellos...aren't you going to do something about this? They are cheating aren't they?"
"...We haven't detected any signs of cheating within the battlefield. There is no evidence showing the fight had been tampered with." The judges mentioned to the monitors. And that was true. There was no one alive other than Gokudera and Belphegor inside. There were no signs of things being moved by an outside force as the two battled.
Belphegor's knives were getting deflected by the winds before they could hit. Sometimes, he would have to stop or jump back as books came crashing down from the bookshelves nearby as well. But all of that was natural. They were causing a big ruckus and the books weren't glued in place. They fell and the wind turbines were doing their jobs too.
Yet the Varia knew something was wrong.
"You little shit!" Squalo's sword was out and he stomped towards Tsuna. Yet the Cervellos got in his way.
"Tonight is the storm battle. Any other fighting between the guardians and the candidate for boss are prohibited."
Squalo clenched his teeth but he turned to Mammon and the baby vanished from the room. Presumably to find the culprit.
"Ushishi, doesn't matter then." Belphegor started attacking the space around Gokudera as well. "I will slice up whatever it is along with you."
Right after he said that, he tripped on a fallen book.
In any other situations, this would be comical gold.
But that alone wasn't enough to stop Varia. Belphegor still managed to line up enough wires around Gokudera to corner him. But the silver haired teen bombed the floor and he used the wires against Belphegor.
Multiple bombs exploded and the impact was great. It sent the bookshelves and books flying while the rubble crashed into the floor. As Belphegor laid on the ruined school grounds, Gokudera attempted to take the ring from him. He felt it again then, something grazing by the exposed skin on his arm. It felt like human flesh pressed against his skin.
But there was nothing there.
He felt himself getting dizzy. His vision was a haze of static gray and black. He had lost too much blood at this point.
It should have been done then. All he needed to do was grab the ring.
But Belphegor moved.
The blond fought him for the ring as the Cervello started the count down to the bombs. If they didn't get out of here, both of them would be blown to bits. Gokudera could hear the explosions closing in and his strength was diminishing as the blood left his system.
"Hand over the ring, Hayato!" Shamal's voice sounded from the announcers.
Gokudera clenched his teeth as he punched Belphegor while they were tangled on the floor. "How can I go back empty handed?"
How could he?
He couldn't do anything other than let Tsuna go when he asked for the ring back. The teen he wanted to follow and call boss for the rest of his life rejected him. Why? Because he was too weak.
They already won two of the battles but those were achieved by outsiders. The white haired teen and the strange man both came from the same roots. Tsuna didn't like that they had to fight but he wasn't worried. He trusted them to bring back a shining victory. Meanwhile, Gokudera was too weak so Tsuna had to worry about him. He had to go on the run to keep all of them out of danger's way.
If Gokudera had been a little stronger, if he could prove he was just as good as the other two...maybe, maybe Tsuna wouldn't have to leave.
"There's no longer any meaning to this battle!" Shamal's voice sounded so far away.
"Even if I die here, I won't withdraw"
"Gokudera Hayato!" Tsuna yelled and that got an ounce of Gokudera's nearly fading consciousness. "Stop joking around! Do you think I really care about these stupid rings? Winning or losing...that is pointless! The only reason why we are fighting is to keep everyone alive, so what's the purpose of it all if you go ahead and die?"
At that moment, the past semesters flashed across Gokudera's mind. They had snowball fights, they watched fireworks, they ate hotpot and desserts together. All of them.
And he lost his grip on the ring just as the explosions reached the library.
He could feel the heat of the explosion but he also felt something else. Skin pressed against his and there was a ticklish feeling of hair on the nape of his neck.
Somehow, he survived.
Gokudera appeared at the end of the hallway.
"Gokudera-kun!"
He heard footsteps as his friends circled around him.
"I'm sorry, Tsuna..." Through hazy eyes, he saw the other teen's blurry face against the light. "I want to see the fireworks with you all again so I came back."
Tsuna helped him flip onto his back. "I'm glad...thank you, Gokudera-kun."
Back on the battlefield, Belphegor wasn't dead.
"Shishishi," he laughed. "I'm the winner. The ring?"
His voice ended at an oddly high note. Within Belphegor's hand, there was no ring. Only a broken necklace chain was left.
The storm ring...it was a few feet away from him. It must have gotten blown away during the explosion.
The Cervellos picked up the ring and collected Belphegor. "Since neither side obtained the ring in the end, the storm battle is a tie."
"This is all wrong!" Squalo came towards them angrily with Mammon and their cloud guardian following close. "They obviously cheated so the ring should belong to us."
"Prove it," a voice said from the windows. When they all turned around, Toji was sitting on the frame of the window and he had a convenience store's plastic bag in his hand. There was beer inside. He smiled. "Prove that we did something."
"How about we start by figuring out where you disappeared to during the fight?" Squalo sneered.
"At the convenience store down the road. I'm not interested in a fight between two brats." Toji shook the bag in front of them all. "Also, by that standard, your boss, that umbrella dude and the one with the sunglasses are also very suspicious."
"You really think we are going to ignore the fact that Belphegor made amateur mistakes while using his most trusted weapons? He's insane but he's not an idiot."
"Accidents happen all the time. Maybe he's just having one of those days."
And the concrete above Toji's head cracked and crumbled. The man moved away from the spot as the whole metal frame and concrete came crashing down. There was a deep slash in the building, caused by Squalo's sword.
"Such a hot temper." Toji shook his head as he threw a first aid kit out of the plastic bag to Tsuna. "I told you, prove that we did something. Otherwise you just look like sore losers."
Mammon floated towards the judges. "Cervello?"
The girls shook their heads. "We did not catch anything unusual on the camera monitors or audio systems. Infrared didn't show anything either."
And they had witnessed the whole fight from start to finish. At least a dozen pairs of eyes yet none saw anything out of the ordinary.
Tsuna had finished giving Gokudera first aid so he stood up and wrapped his arms around Toji's. It was a show of affection Gokudera had gotten used to despite his internal struggles against it.
"We're done for the night aren't we? Let's go, Toji-san. Gokudera-kun needs professional medical attention."
"Hey Sawada—" Squalo started but he backed off when something attempted to hit him from the side.
"Hibari!" Yamamoto identified the newcomer, who had attempted to strike Squalo with his tonfas.
"Breaking into the school and vandalizing the properties...are all of you prepared to be bitten to death?" he asked coldly as he surveyed the wreckage made from his beloved school.
"You're the cloud guardian?" Mammon sat on Gola Mosca's hand.
"Another brat," Squalo scuffed as he raised his sword. "How many times should I slice you open before I move on to that guy?"
His grin was menacing but Hibari didn't back down. He was prepared to fight.
The Cervellos stepped in. "Please stop. Any brawls outside of the official battles will result in disqualification."
So Yamamoto tried to intervene, even if he only achieved to make Hibari madder. It took some convincing for Reborn and the Cervello promising to repair the school for Hibari to back down for now.
The Varia had to take their leave as well. But the nasty glares they shot Tsuna and Toji before they left indicated they weren't going to let things go easily.
"Tsuna..." Gokudera whispered and the brown haired teen returned to his side. He couldn't tell exactly what Tsuna was thinking but he could feel that weird sensation of something close by again.
It felt like hair.
Yet there was still nothing in his field of vision. No one else reacted abnormally either. They walked past him without any trouble.
In any other situation, he would be excited. He would want to know everything he could about what was going on. Was it the supernatural? Was it the unexplainable forces? But as he felt more and more hair tangling upon his numbed limbs, all he felt was fear.
Tsuna helped Gokudera up and his fingers brushed by the back of Gokudera's collar. And instantly, the feeling of being wrapped in a cocoon of hair was gone.
"Tsuna, what—"
Tsuna placed a finger on his lips. "You should save your strength, Gokudera-kun. You fought really well tonight so it's time to rest."
That smile on his friend's face was warm and reassuring. It held nothing that signaled danger or problem but Gokudera couldn't relax.
"The important thing is that you survived tonight. I'm glad."
Gokudera doesn't know what the others were thinking. But as he glanced between Toji's nonchalant face and Tsuna's concerned one...he could only sigh. He thought back to the fireworks and the casual days of hanging out with his friends.
"Yeah, I lived."
And that was the only thing that mattered.
