A/N I am currently doing a revamp of the original first 8-9 chapters of this story, in order to bring them up to the quality of the later chapters, since when I first began this story, it was basically a shitpost that I had from when I was a middle schooler. I feel like I can definitely write it out better than I had back then, and I hope that the quality is a huge step up from the original.
However, as a result, I have some ground rules.
1. Chapters might get combined. I can write a lot more now than before, and I may combine really short chapters together, or kinda skip some in order to go for more important details. I was doing the exact same thing for Ripple in the Flames Slight Shift.
2. I may go and mess with chapters outside of the first 9, in order to get the character relations about even with each other, so it might seem out of character in a sense because of that.
3. Power scaling is going WAY down, I was a dumbass with it at first and it showed, thus I'm going to streamline it and make it actually understandable.
4. I'm going to be releasing each chapter update with either a new chapter, or an omake if possible, so while I may have a chapter update ready, I might not post it until then so that those that do not wish to read the early chapters again will have something to read as well.
Well with all the rules in place, let's begin with the Revised Chapter 1 (for real this time I swear it's not going to become the Future selves story again I promise ;~;)
Okay, I've been in a lot of different situations because of my job, but this one took the cake. Let me explain.
My name is Arthur Moebius, but most people know me by another name, Char Mossirren. Yeah, that Char Mossirren, the one that's the CEO of Mossirren Inc. and yada yada yada! Point is, I should be used to this kind of thing, but not once had I been kidnapped.
Last thing I remember, I was heading to sleep in my apartment, having left a message for my Mom to wish her happy birthday and that I would be heading over to wish it to her in person, and when I woke. I woke in a classroom somewhere I never even knew existed.
The Teacher, I assume anyways with how she stood at a chalk board, which really made me question their technology standards, looked towards me and asked me something in what I vaguely guessed was Japanese. Though the company was in many places in the world, I only really knew two languages at best, English and Italian. I tried learning Japanese, but the words just always sounded like gibberish to my ears and nothing connected for me.
I vaguely recognized a piece of chalk being thrown at me by the teacher which I casually caught, confused at the motion. Silence fell in the classroom as all eyes fell on me, the odd man out (quite literally, seeing as no one was above the age of 15 from the looks of it.) to do...something.
"Moebius-san." She said, before saying something in Japanese once more. She pointed at the chalk board, before motioning me on over. I shrugged mentally, well used to getting into trouble, much to the chagrin of my co-workers, before walking up to the chalk board. Figuring that she wanted me to introduce myself, since why else would she call me out like that, I turned to the class.
A few people stuck out to me, a silver-haired kid in the front oozed of danger, even if in his eyes spoke of being intelligent, having been studying him ever since he woke up. Whether or not that spoke of intelligence or wariness was anyone's guess really, but he felt it was intelligence from the notes neatly organized on his desk, which were of a level that even I had rarely seen within our R&D group. They would love to have him explore just to pick his brain for ideas.
Another kid, this one being a dirty-blonde haired kid that's hair defied the laws of gravity, sticking up like some Goku superfan or something. I tried to hide the chuckle, but I guess it came out a bit from the way his head drooped a bit from that. He looked pretty miserable, but when the other kids tried to cheer me on, my humor faded. Bullies, I had my own memories of them, and well, I had my own memories of being one as well. I apologized mentally to the kid, hoping he got the message, but saw no reply. Sighing a bit, I turned to the last kid I noticed.
The last one was a dark haired girl that had heavily glared at me ever since I woke up, and even when I looked at her kept that glare active. She looked just as, if not even more, intelligent then the first kid I noticed with how quickly she noticed how out of place I was. I raised an eyebrow at the company she kept though, noting how air-headed the blonde she sat next to was, but said nothing more.
The teacher proceeded to snap me out of my musings as she motioned for me to write my name on the chalk board, looking very annoyed all the while, as I did so. What, did she think I was slow? Not my fault I didn't understand Japanese! Annoyed, I wrote my name as I normally did, before turning back to the class and bowing my head a bit to show some respect, even if they were underlings to me.
"Hello, my name is Arthur Moebius and I am lost. Any of you guys know where we are?" I introduced, hoping that someone understood English, but none of them showed any sign of knowing. I shrugged before trying to exit the class. The teacher tried to grab me as I showed my annoyance.
"Idioto! Parlare Giapponese, non Inglese!" The silver-haired in front yelled at me, slamming his hands on the table to get up as he did so. I smiled back towards him, happy to finally understand what someone was saying, even if it was an insult.
"Oh, Italiano huh? Sai dove siamo piccolo?" I asked, smirking mentally at my returned insult. His face grew redder than a tomato with rage as he shouted something in Japanese, much to my annoyance and the class's shock apparently, before saying a name from the sound of it.
Namimori, Japan. My face darkened a bit as I realized how far I was kidnapped at last. I operated out from Texas, but somehow overnight, I was transported here, to a rural town outside Tokyo. I thought a bit before looking at the uniform I was dressed in (I looked in disgust as I realized that whoever had grabbed me must had stripped me and then put a uniform that was made for an adult, here's hoping they didn't do anything else to me...) and realized that there was nothing on my person. No phone, no wallet, no nothing. Annoyed from the situation I found myself in, I hardly realized the door to my left opening.
A student, dark-haired once again, stormed on in with his hands on two tonfas. The class froze with shock and fear as he walked in, while I merely looked at him in intrigue.
"Salve, Come Stai?" I asked, mostly bored and just not in the mood to question why he wasn't already arrested, maybe the Japanese did things differently? The fear in the teacher disproved that one right away.
He didn't seem happy at my choice of language if the brief and rough Japanese given was anything to go by. I rolled my eyes before choosing English.
"Hi, how are you since you hate Italian for some reason?" I asked, annoyed as once again the Japanese rolled off in hateful vibes. Great, he didn't know either of the languages I could speak, fantastic.
"Who are you?" I heard, snapping my head back in attention towards the newcomer, happy that someone could understand.
"Arthur Moebius, got kidnapped and landed here somehow, you?" I said with a cheeky grin, but he didn't seem amused.
"Kidnapped?" He asked, the accent rough around the edges, it took a bit for me to understand as I nodded.
"If you want, I can give you the number to my workplace so you can confirm it, but I don't know any Japanese." I explained. He nodded as he walked out of the class, with me right behind him.
It didn't take that long before I noticed that there were a few people following me, but I really could care less. A hand grabbed me as the Tonfa boy stared, obviously annoyed at something.
More Japanese flew around, this time between Tonfa boy and Goku kid before Goku kid looked towards me. "Sawada Tsunayoshi, it is nice to meet you." He butchered badly, but I appreciated the effort.
"Arthur Moebius, piacere di conoscervi." I answered kindly in response. He smiled as he let go of my arm, letting me follow Tonfa boy into the office.
It was pretty organized, as if the owner was a vice principal or something, then he sat down and it came together for me. How the hell is this kid a high ranking official here! He carries weapons out in the open and makes even the teachers afraid! My thoughts ran wild, but I tried my best not to let it show on my face. Best not to leave that much of an impression here. He reached for an old flip phone before handing it to me. I rolled my eyes as I dialed the number I remembered by hand.
"Hello?" Pika's voice came out the other end, much to my amusement. "Who is this?" He asked as I chuckled.
"Your boss you dumbass, got kidnapped to Japan somehow." I told him, only to hear him laughing his ass off.
"Arthur? How the hell did you do that!" Pika asked, both between laughing and worry. I rolled my eyes.
"No idea, but I woke up in a school of all things, and I kinda need a pickup, any flights on the end out or something?" I heard him typing as he groaned.
"Doesn't look like it, why can't you just use your phone or something." I deadpanned, even though I knew he couldn't see it.
"I would if I could, they took my phone AND wallet, why else would I call your personal line from a random phone?" I asked him, annoyed at the thought. He had the nerve to chuckle.
"F-Fair point. Well, first you gotta get your stuff back, it would be bad news for your phone to get in the wrong hands, even worse for your wallet. You wouldn't be able to keep up your nickname and all that. If you fall, we all would. I can keep the fort down for now if you need." I thought about it before sighing.
"I'll try, but if nothing else, keep your line open to random calls every now and then, I still need to give these guys proof of my existence you know, on top of that, I wouldn't want to force the work on you guys." I told him as he scoffed.
"You just don't want to deal with Arc when you get back!" I coughed at the accusation but really couldn't deny it.
"W-Well, I mean..." I tried but he only burst out laughing.
"Don't worry, I'll cover for you. I can try and give you an estimate of where it is, but even our tracking software isn't perfect. Just be careful in Japan. It's really bad now, where even are you in Japan anyways?" Pika told me, definitely worried. I smiled a bit at the thought.
"I think Namimori, yeah, definitely Namimori with how this kid is nodding to that." I told him, only to hear more clicking of a keyboard, I didn't like the sudden inhale he did.
"Yesh that's a really bad area, and it matches perfectly with where the tracking is showing your phone to be. Apparently your wallet is somewhere here still, so I'll get Grov and Gale to help look for that, so thank god for that. Just make sure to get your phone back, I'll stay in touch okay?" Pika asked as I nodded.
"Yeah, I'll try to find it, if nothing else I'll just borrow another phone and make you annoyed at Caller ID.
"DON'T YOU EV-" I ended the call with a grin upon my face. It always cheered my up talking to him, but it didn't change my predicament.
A message, this time in text, appeared on the flip phone's screen. I sheepishly looked at the angry message, before opening the image of my ID and showing it to Tonfa boy.
"Told you I wasn't from here, apparently my phone is nearby, if that gets into enemy hands, they could shut down entire power grids with the tech loaded on there." I explained, as he growled at me.
Taken aback by the mere action, I barely registered him talking, "And why would you have that?" He asked as I scoffed.
"You're one to talk." I said simply, and he tried to hit me with his tonfa, only for me to jump back a bit.
"I'll bite you to death." He said, most likely repeating it in Japanese before putting his phone on the desk, grabbing both of his tonfas, and trying to smack me with them.
I opened the door and slammed it shut on him before running off. I could have won, but I really wasn't wanting to be called a child beater, and my pride was on the line. Sure running wasn't much better...but still the thought counted! I grabbed Sawada's hand as I rushed on past, noting how he didn't even say anything and started running alongside me. Well that was until a loud crash scared both of us.
Tonfa kid glared at me with bloody murder in his eyes. "HIEEEEEEE!" Tsuna screamed as my eyes widened.
"What happened to helping me!?" I asked as he held a tonfa out. "No I don't want to get bit to death!"
Just as if things couldn't get worse, a baby in a tuxedo jumped out and landed on Sawada's head and stared at me.
"Ciaossu!" the BABY said as I stared at it, before looking towards Sawada, who merely looked used to this. I stared back at Tonfa boy, who looked at the baby as if he was a -was that a gun? "You shouldn't underestimate like that." It told him, gun cocked and loaded right against my forehead.
"This would be the part of the dream where I reverse the situation around on you guys, right?" I nervously chuckled, barely ducking under a tonfa before getting hit by the second one. "G-Guess not." I stuttered out from the pain, man that hurt! He went around doing that to people!? I got up with a grunt, not once forgetting the gun looming my way.
"Who are you?" The tone of the vertically challenged person shifted to a darker one, promising of death, "And don't you dare call me that again." He added as I scoffed.
"Give me a name or I'll think it again." I countered, annoyed as crap at everything happening around me.
"Reborn, now you give yours." Reborn demanded as I got up, left hand holding my right from the pain.
"Arthur, Ar-" I tried to give the last before grunting from the next tonfa hitting me, I gave a gutural yell before sidestepping and tackling him, flinching from having used my right side in the attack. I pushed him off of me as I got back up. "Arthur Moebius." I finished before focusing back on the fight in front of me.
"Hn." Tonfa bastard grunted as he stared at Reborn, who was STILL POINTING THE GUN AT ME BY THE WAY. I gulped when I heard the safety click off.
"Dame-Tsuna, meet your last Guardian." Reborn coldly stated as he stared at me.
"Oh hell to the no." I quickly responded, flinching back at the gunshot narrowly missing me, "I'm getting my phone and then getting the fuck out of here. Thanks, but no thanks. He is NOT my kid, trust me on that." I explained, noting the blush that went across Tsuna's face.
"Idiot!" Reborn kicked me in the face, knocking me to the ground like a train passing through. "You don't have a choice." Reborn said, pointing his gun at me.
I grinned.
"I always have a choice. It may be this or death, but I still have a choice damn it. Either way, I know something you don't Reborn." I said, not once letting my grin fade.
"No you don't." Reborn said coldly, breezing through my bluff like it wasn't even a challenge. I rolled my eyes.
"Acrobalano." I said, having heard the name before when dealing with Military contracts. He stiffened as I shrugged. "But hey, I guess I don't know what you don't so that stays by me." I said casually, as if I didn't just make a bloodthirsty baby want to kill me just a tad more. I moved to get up, but the gun pushed back down towards my head once more.
"What did you just say?" Reborn's voice echoed menacingly for his small figure. I gulped, fear filling as I took a deep breath and calmed myself. Relax, remember what Pika always told you about clients...they can always be reasoned with.
"I said Acrobalano. Rainbow in Italian." I replied short and to the point, he growled at me.
"WHY did you say that?" He said, scaring Sawada from the looks of it. Even Tonfa boy took a step back. Me?
I was doing everything I could to keep that calm facade I was holding, while deep inside I was screaming bloody murder.
"Because I met one of you before." I finally said, my brain celebrating as it found the memory I was desperately searching for. It didn't celebrate for long as the gun leaned closer towards me.
"When and why do you know that information." Reborn demanded as I smiled.
"Now, now, let's calm down a bit." I tried to say, only for the gun to fire, my ear starting to bleed from the noise and the graze of the bullet. Shit that hurt like hell! "Oi! What was that for!?" I said, mostly to distract myself from the pain.
"As far as I see it, this isn't a negotiation table, and I'm the one with the gun here." Reborn coldly said as I scoffed.
"Yeah and I'm the one with the information here, so unless you want to kill your informant or make him feed you nothing but cold-hard lies, I suggest we back the fuck off with this bullshit." I spat back, finally getting Reborn to concede.
"Not conceding." I heard Reborn tell me, though I really could care less, I finally got to sit up, "Run and I will kill you. Now, when and why do you know that information?" Reborn said as I noticed Sawada go for trying to stop Reborn. I smiled at him.
"I would be breaking company policy if I spoke of that, but I can say that I spoke to the Rain Acrobalano, he explained his position and wished to make use of our trade, we agreed but made sure it stayed above board and went from there. That is all I can say." I explained pointedly, making sure to leave enough breadcrumbs to make him leave me alone.
"And where do you work?" Reborn poked as I scoffed.
"Classified." I rolled my eyes as the next few answers were the same.
"What do you do?"
"Classified."
"What position are you in the company?"
"Classified."
"Is there anything you can tell me about your job?"
"Yeah, I can tell you that we are a company."
Reborn didn't take kindly to that, and the next thing I knew, a gun was heading to my face, and all I saw was black.
Seems like that phone was going to have to wait... was the last thing I thought as I sank into unconsciousness.
A/N As you can see, I'm taking a drastically different approach to the beginning of the story, but rest assured that it will make sense down the line. I just figured that I never really had Arthur act like a company head and wanted to play with that plot point a bit more. It kinda changed a bit of the interactions. That and I wanted to take advice from a review that pointed out my own criticism with it, they kinda just instantly became friends. Here well...it should be pretty obvious that this is a nearly completely different beginning then before. It'll make sense in the end of all these rewritten chapters, I swear XD
Until then, enjoy the omake!
-Char
P.S. Please don't expect these to be that regular. I have inconsistent writing at best, and most of the time I write at around 3-4 in the morning, meaning that I don't do it that often for my own health. I hope you enjoy the story!