Ryohei

Note: To make it clear, these chapters are more or less timeless (though I reckon they all take place before Tsuna graduates from Namimori Middle) and are not in chronological order. Sorry for any confusion!

I don't own KHR.

Ryohei was uncharacteristically silent as he stared at the two boxers battling it out in the ring. It was the last boxing tournament of the school year, as well as his last one as a middle-school student. As such, not only was this an important event for Ryohei but a bittersweet one as well. He was extremely excited to move on to the high school boxing world, but he was also going to extremely miss training and fighting with his fellow club members. So he had to beat whoever won this match for the club members he was leaving behind, as well as for himself. He was going to give everyone, including himself, one last extreme memory to cherish until the end of time!

This might have been a lot of pressure for anyone else, but it extremely wasn't for Ryohei. It also helped that his family and friends were here to support him.

Ryohei tore his eyes away from the match and directed them to where they were sitting on the stands. Kyoko was holding a giant poster saying 'Go To The Extreme Ryohei!' along with Haru and Hana (his heart beat a bit faster at the sight of the latter). Tsuna, Gokudera, and Yamamoto were sitting on the same row as them, all of them wearing varying degrees of concentrated expressions as they looked at the match. Lambo was sitting on Tsuna's lap with a shrunken grape lollipop in his hand and I-Pin was sitting on Gokudera's lap with her fists clenched as she intensely stared at the two fighting boxers. Fuuta, who was sitting by Yamamoto, turned his attention away from the match and when he saw Ryohei looking at them, waved at him. After extremely waving back with an extreme smile, Ryohei turned his attention to Hibari, Mukuro, Master Colonello, and Lussuria (the latter two made sure to sit in between the former two), who were sitting on the row below the others.

Even though Ryohei had extended the invitation to all of them, he had still been pleasantly surprised when these four accepted. He thought that Hibari and Mukuro just wouldn't want to for various reasons and that Colonello and Lussuria would be too busy with their extreme jobs. But they all came, much to Ryohei's pleasant surprise. Lussuria even brought a camera and had been either taking pictures or filming the matches this whole time. Ryohei was extremely happy that they all were able to come, even his parents managed to take off time from their jobs to watch him box (they were sitting on the row above Kyoko's).

However, in spite of himself, Ryohei felt a bit sad that Reborn hadn't been able to come. Reborn had to leave Japan a few days ago, for reasons Ryohei couldn't recall to the extreme. All Ryohei knew was that no one, not even Reborn himself, knew exactly when he would be back. Reborn had promised Ryohei that he would try his best to be back for the tournament but clearly, he hadn't succeeded. Ryohei wasn't upset or angry, however, he knew that sometimes things just weren't meant to be. At least he would be able to see the videos and pictures Lussuria extremely took.

It was just that Reborn had tutored Ryohei to some extent too, so Ryohei would have extremely loved it if he had managed to come.

"Ten!" Ryohei's attention quickly turned to the match in front of him, to see that one of the players was on the ground and was struggling to get up. The referee, who was kneeling beside the fallen boxer, had his hand raised as he counted down with his fingers. "Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Thre-"

The fallen boxer had managed to get on one knee before completely collapsing again. Ryohei had to wince at that. The poor guy had really gotten a good beating.

"Three! Two! One!" the referee cried as someone rang the bell. The referee then rushed to the standing victor, grabbed his wrist, and held his arm high in the air. "Ishida Souma!"

As the crowd erupted into cheers, Ryohei inhaled deeply before letting it all out. From what he could tell from the fights he saw of him, Ishida had a mean left hook and was quick on his feet despite his burly built. This, plus the fact that he was obviously an extremely experienced fighter, meant that Ishida was going to be tough to fight, let alone beat (without flames or maximum cannon that is).

But Ryohei hadn't sworn to live his life to the extreme for nothing.

So when the small break was over and his and Ishida's names were called, Ryohei got up from his seat, with nerves of steel and as ready as he would ever be. His fellow club members wished him good luck as he did so, causing Ryohei to nod at them in reply before heading to the ring.

"Go Ryohei go!"

"You can do it dear!"

"Beat him up!"

"Make him cry for his mama!"

Ryohei gave a quick glance at his friends and family, who continued to enthusiastically cheer him on while most of them wore supportive smiles. Grinning at their encouragement and love, he stepped up onto the stage and climb through the ropes to get into the ring itself. Ishida, who had entered the ring just a few seconds before he did, stared at him with cold eyes, like Ryohei was just another granola bar for him to snack on despite not being really hungry. Ryohei wasn't intimidated though and nodded at him as he stretched his arms one last time. Ishida just did some quick warm-ups instead of nodding respectfully back, but Ryohei wasn't offended. Compared to Hibari and Gokudera, this was nothing.

Then the referee motioned them to the center of the ring. Ryohei obeyed and a second later was face to face with his opponent, who was a few centimeters taller than him. As the referee informed them about having good sportsmanship and so on, Ishida continued to look at him like Ryohei was a sliver of well-done steak. When the referee was done talking, Ryohei held his hand out only for Ishida to turn around without any change in his facial expressions as he headed to his corner of the ring. Ryohei just sighed as he did the same. As he stood there, with his back facing the corner, Ryohei let out one last deep sigh. He could do this, for his club members, for his family, for his friends, and for himself. He just had to box to the extreme, just like he always did.

Ryohei looked once more at the stands but instead of just glancing for a second, he ended up staring with eyes that were wide to the extreme.

Reborn was there. He was sitting right by Ryohei's parents and seemed to be chatting amicably with them. Then grown-up tutor turned his head and locked eyes with Ryohei. Even from here in the ring (which really wasn't that far away but still), Ryohei could see that the man's eyelids seemed to droop with exhaustion. But Reborn just gave him a genuine smile as well as a supportive nod.

He easily could have just gone to Tsuna's house to sleep in his hammock. Ryohei honestly wouldn't have even blamed him. But instead, he pushed himself to come here...for Ryohei.

Ryohei felt his heart become almost overwhelmingly full of love and appreciation as he gave Reborn an extremely wide smile. Then he heard the bell ring, causing Ryohei to snap his attention back to Ishida, who was already making his way towards him with those cold eyes of his. But Ryohei truly didn't care as he made his way to meet him with his boxing gloves raised.

Reborn had made it after all! How could he possibly lose now?!

And after three rounds of him hitting, blocking, ducking, circling around Ishida, and standing his ground...Ryohei won. Sure, Ishida had definitely left enough bruises on him that he probably was going to be sore tomorrow, but Ryohei had won.

And when the referee raised his arm and declared him the winner, not only did his fellow club members roar victoriously but his family and friends either clapped with vigor or wore happy, proud smiles. Or both.

Ryohei just continued to grin widely to the extreme as he accepted his trophy with victorious euphoria.

For after winning his last middle-school match surrounded by people who loved him so much, how could he not be extremely euphoric?

This chapter may be simple, but Ryohei is a simple guy, so I think it fits.

But what do you think? Please leave a review on your way and I will update shortly! Probably after New Years though. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and have a great New Year!