CHAPTER 5:
Another chapter! YAY!
Thank you for continuing to read A Not So Ordinary Life of a Background Character!
So this chapter is a bit later than I would have liked…
Byakuran is STILL a very hard character to write so forgive me if he's a bit OOC. Actually, forgive me if any of the characters are a bit OOC.
Disclaimer: I do not Katekyo Hitman Reborn
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"No," Natsumi flatly said.
"Why not?" the albino she still doesn't know the name of asked with a bit of a whine in his voice.
Frankly, the situation Natsumi was in right now could have come out of a romance scene. There she was crying alone in the playground/park because of how unfair life had been recently when suddenly a handsome young man approaches her to comfort her. They talk a bit and now the guy is insisting he follows her home.
Except there's nothing romantic about the whole thing.
Natsumi had been crying alone in the playground (during 1 freaking a.m.) because life had been throwing too many lemons at her recently and she's getting sick of lemon juice. The young man dressed in white (seriously, what's with his clothes? Did he just got out of some sort of cosplay event?) didn't approach her to comfort her though. The albino just stopped in front of her and then ate his bag of marshmallows while watching her freak out. They had an argument, not some deep conversation because the guy had the gall to demand some sort of compensation when she screamed at his face for scaring her.
He was also insisting on following her home not because he was concerned about her getting home safe at this late hour but because quoting his words 'feeding him is the least she could do after bursting his eardrums.'
Natsumi was very much tempted to scream 'b*llsh*t' or maybe 'f*ck off'.
And she still doesn't know his name.
She took a deep breath instead to calm herself because she's still alone with a guy in an empty playground and she was d*mn sure that if the guy had wanted to harm her she wouldn't be able to outrun or overpower him. The best she could do is scream for help.
Looking at the guy, he didn't seem to be someone who'd hit a girl for being rude to him.
No, the girl would probably just go through a series of unfortunate events and make everyone dismiss the whole thing as extremely bad luck.
And Natsumi already had enough bad luck that she didn't need the albino to add more of his own version of 'bad luck'.
Very, very reluctantly, she gave in to his (irrational) demand and just let him follow her home.
Natsumi would have happily spent the walk silently but the older teen (who she still doesn't know the name of) just had to open his mouth.
And then they got into another argument.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*The author does not promote inviting strangers into your home*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The older teen…was not a bad conversationalist, Natsumi has to give him that.
"…and I really think their only fault was being born in such a situation," she reasoned.
"Sometimes being born in the wrong place at the wrong time is a misfortune one just must live by. Being born an unfortunate is not their fault, dying with no improvement in their lifestyle is their fault," the albino answered.
They were currently having a conversation about children born in poverty and why they must be helped, at least be given an opportunity for a better life. Well, Natsumi is of that opinion. She thinks the white-haired teen is just arguing with her for the sake of arguing.
"How is it a baby's fault his family could not afford for him a lifestyle that would extend his life beyond toddlerhood?"
"If the said family could not afford a baby, why have one?"
"Because some people are not educated enough to know their options, they probably couldn't afford education if they can't even afford an extra mouth to feed. Maybe education itself isn't even available where they live."
He looked a bit amused at that, "I was of the opinion we are talking about street dwellers in cities."
"Three words, Third World Countries."
"Most of them have good educational programs."
"The problem is the reach of those 'good educational programs'."
"…why are we talking about this again?"
Natsumi glared at him then scoffed, "Because you changed the topic, which you are trying to do now again." Truth told, she really doesn't remember what their original topic was either, just that she felt strongly about it and just wanted to argue her point.
Which she's also doing now…
How does he know what makes her tick anyway?
"Gesso," a male voice suddenly said and it startled Natsumi because as far as she was aware it was just her and the albino still out on the streets that late.
She turned her head forward and saw Hibari-sensei leaning at the gate to his own house like it was perfectly normal to be leaning at your gate at half-past 1:00 AM in the morning. His arms were crossed and he was glaring at the albino beside her. He looked like he was still in his outdoor clothes consisting of loose pants and a light purple V-neck shirt. (Natsumi was tempted to call the color of the shirt 'lavender' but she just couldn't use 'lavender' as a description for Hibari-sensei even if it was just his shirt. 'Lavander' is supposed to be soothing and relaxing, and honestly, can you really say the same about Hibari-sensei?)
More importantly, is 'Gesso' the older teen's name? Or is it a greeting? Or a word in a language she has no knowledge of?
(Which just reminded her that she still doesn't know his name!)
"Alaude! Good morning!~ Fancy meeting you in front of your house this late. Or is it this early?"
The brunette stared at the white-haired teen like he was insane. To call the scariest sensei of Vongola High by his first name so casually…does he have a death wish? Why commit suicide while she's nearby? Is he trying to get her killed alongside him?
"Curfew had passed three hours and thirty-two minutes ago," the blond sensei pointed out instead.
Oh sh*t, Natsumi immediately thought as the History teacher's brows furrowed in irritation.
Hibari-sensei was pissed.
And the stupidly suicidal albino just smirked at him before putting his arm over the brunette's shoulders, "Ah sorry, we'll just go inside then." The older teen did not sound the slightest bit apologetic.
It just made the blond angrier as he reached for something.
"I'll cuff you to death."
To Natsumi's ears, it sounded like her doom.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Don't stay out too late, it irritates skylarks*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
3:00 AM found Natsumi serving tea to two guests at her home. One was her History teacher and neighbor while the other is an older teen she still doesn't know the name of.
Both looked rather rumpled but neither was seriously injured.
"I'll make us something to eat. Don't fight in my living room or you'll pay for everything you break," Natsumi warned.
Hibari-sensei gave a small nod.
Meanwhile, the albino cheerfully told her, "I don't mind paying for what I destroy~"
She narrowed her eyes at that because from what she had gleaned from his personality so far, he'll find a way not to pay a cent even if he manages to destroy her whole house.
Natsumi dismissed it as a 'hopefully would never be my problem' case and proceeded to walk back to her kitchen.
"And by the way," the white-haired teen suddenly called out which forced Natsumi to turn back to them, "we never got to exchange names. My name is Gesso Byakuran."
Natsumi regretted every decision she made in her life.
Because Gesso-san's not-so-innocent remark made Hibari-sensei violently twitch.
"Please don't start a fight inside my house," the brunette weakly pleaded with a whimper.
Miraculously, Hibari-sensei stopped reaching for his weapon.
The older teen is still wearing a sh*t-eating grin on his face like he just discovered an awesome cheat code and couldn't wait to it try out.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Drink plenty of water…and pee constantly*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Natsumi served each of them a bowl of the vegetable stir fry she cooked.
It wasn't anything special, just something quick and easy. Because despite the tension in the room, Natsumi was getting rather sleepy and she wanted to be reunited with her bed already.
In fact, she had her eyes close 'temporarily' when the doorbell rang repeatedly.
"Byakuran!" a muffled voice yelled from the other side of the door. It sounded awfully familiar to Natsumi.
She groaned before rushing to the front door.
It was Vongola-sensei.
"BYAKURAN!" the Math teacher yelled as soon as the door cracked open but looked surprised when he found one of his students behind the door instead.
"You don't have to shout this early in the morning Sensei," Natsumi deadpanned before opening the door wider.
The Vongola Heir had the decency to blush and stutter out an apology before excusing himself to enter her home. He immediately spotted the two sitting in the living room.
The space-saving set in the living room was composed of two armchairs facing each other, the two-sitter couch opposite the TV, and a low coffee table in the middle.
Hibari-sensei and Gesso-san sat opposite each other on the armchairs and Vongola-sensei immediately sat on the couch near the white-haired teen.
She offered to make some tea but the Math teacher declined and told her to sit beside him on the couch. Once she was seated, Vongola-sensei then proceeded to give them a lecture.
For Natsumi, it was about why she shouldn't stay out too late and way past curfew. Then the Vongola Heir proceeded to lecture her about not letting strangers inside her house no matter how pushy they are. (A look was sent in Gesso-san's direction but the teen just continued eating the bag of marshmallows he pulled out of nowhere.)
For Gesso-san, Vongola-sensei seemed to have prepared a speech that went on and on for too long starting on not sneaking out and losing his guards. Then why heirs shouldn't stay out too late unaccompanied because what is something happened to him? By the time the lecture was covering appropriate behavior and why one shouldn't force people to host them and cook for them, Natsumi's eyes were closing on their own.
She doesn't remember falling asleep.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Having a full stomach makes one sleepy*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Natsumi woke up tucked into her bed and she wondered if everything that happened last night was just a bad dream.
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Nah, she wasn't that lucky.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*I don't remember half the things I do when half-asleep*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Natsumi was spring-cleaning her room when the doorbell rang. She hurried downstairs, still dripping with sweat and her hands with dirty water when she opened the door.
It was her brother and a woman around his age.
Natsumi slammed the door at them before locking it again.
She ignored the frantic apologies and retrieved the pail of dirty water from her room. She had been using it to wash and rewash the cloth she had been using to wipe off dust and it was already a dark greyish brown.
When Natsumi opened the door again, it was immediately followed by her throwing the dirty water at Tatsuya's face before slamming the door back again.
He didn't call to say his arrival was delayed. He didn't even answer her calls.
Part of Natsumi was angry but part of her was relieved that her brother was okay.
But since her brother didn't seem like he was injured or sick, Natsumi settled on letting anger win out.
It didn't take long for the door to open again, letting in a dripping wet Tatsuya.
"Natsumi! That was uncalled for!" the male Emiya yelled.
The female Emiya was taken aback at first that her brother raised his voice at her but it quickly turned back to anger as she yelled back, "You didn't update me about being delayed! I was so worried you b*stard!"
"It was out of my control!"
"You didn't even call to‒"
"My phone died and‒"
"You could've charged your phone then called me, you‒"
"You know how stingy they are about‒!"
"Stop. It." The woman with Tatsuya intervened, even physically getting in between the siblings. She was quite taller than Natsumi, probably about 5ft8 to her 5ft1. She was curvy but she didn't look soft. In fact, her arms were muscled and her build was quite athletic. Her straight black hair was tied in a high ponytail. She has an aquiline nose, but her features were East Asian's down to the shape of her light brown eyes.
The woman turned to Natsumi and said, "You calm yourself down first. You go and take a shower." The last sentence was directed at Tatsuya.
The high school student just huffed before washing what she could in the sink while the elder brother went straight to the only bathroom in the house.
The woman just sighed at that.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*I'm all out of lines, I'm so lost without them*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Thankfully, Tatsuya had already made a habit of putting important documents and gadgets inside waterproof plastic bags so anything of his that did get wet wasn't anything irreplaceable or washable.
Natsumi patiently listened as her older brother explained how the truck they hitched a ride with broke down. They had to wait for either rescue to arrive or the next truck to pass through. In the end, the next truck was faster but the route was different so they needed to ride a bus then a taxi to the airport. Their original flight was long gone but luckily the next one was just about to leave so they immediately got two tickets and boarded the plane. He only discovered his phone was dying when they were already calling for the passengers to put their seatbelts on. He had asked inflight if he could charge his phone somewhere and was denied. The plane then decided to circle a few times because of air traffic. Namimori was just two hours away from Tokyo and they decided to just head straight here without calling because it's been a long journey and they just really wanted to sleep.
By the end of it, Natsumi was already feeling quite guilty.
She immediately ushered them upstairs, Tatsuya to his room and the woman to the guest bedroom.
The two females barely had time to introduce themselves to each other, the woman's name was Arabella Williams, before the two crashed into their respective beds, exhausted.
Natsumi will just have to tease Tatsuya about his girlfriend some other time.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Too exhausted to be witty – this line*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The second floor of the Emiya Residence was divided into four rooms, three bedrooms, a common bathroom, and a study/library, the latter of which Natsumi had added a new bookshelf dedicated to novels and atlases.
The first floor was divided into the living room, the kitchen attached to the dining room, and lastly the garage. The attic was filled with random knickknacks and boxes of memories while the basement was the laundry room and where the ancient heater was located.
Natsumi, thanks to popularized movies and series, hated going to the basement because obviously, that's where the supernatural beings hang out other than the attic. She wouldn't dare enter the place unless it's fully lit.
Thanks to soaking her brother's clothes with dirty water, Natsumi had to go back to that dreaded place outside of the designated laundry day. The traveling bag that was unfortunately slung on his shoulders when he got a face full of water was also thrown inside the washing machine. She made sure to empty all the numerous pockets and threw in what was machine washable, set aside what wasn't, and laid down to dry everything else.
In other words, she just made more work for herself. She could only blame herself for this.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*This line lists down exhaustion as reason for quitting its job*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The two didn't wake up until the next morning. Natsumi didn't bother waking them up for dinner after peeking into their rooms and finding both of them sound asleep.
The female Emiya served them some omelet rice and preened when they praised how delicious they were.
The youngest in the room then told Tatsuya what happened to his belongings, "I washed what I could but I just laid out the rest to dry."
Her older brother thanked her and she smiled back in relief.
The high school student's smile morphed into a smirk as she turned to the other female in the room.
Time to regale her with the stories of Tatsuya's childhood misadventures.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Too exhausted to be witty – this line*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The rest of the day was spent spring cleaning and with Natsumi already cleaning most of the rooms yesterday, the three of them only needed to clean the attic, the garage, and the basement.
There was no way Natsumi was tackling those without back-up.
The three exchanged stories as they cleaned and the female Emiya was cackling at how awkward her brother was.
"He seriously stalked you?!" the only brunette asked in disbelief.
"I did not stalk her! It was not stalking!" the male blackette interjected.
"For six months he managed to track down where I was most of the time and somehow show up there 'for a project'," the female blackette said, pretending not to hear her boyfriend's rebuke.
"It was a coincidence! We were just in the same area!" Tatsuya insisted.
"Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that after you confessed to me how much you like seeing me at my element," Ara, as she preferred to be called, countered with a smirk.
Natsumi cackled.
Ara's profession was finding new trails for hiking and making sure there were noticeable landmarks and of course, that the trail was safe.
Tatsuya started muttering something under his breath that the younger Emiya couldn't quite catch.
"What happened next?" the brunette prompted.
"B*llsy photographer approached my group, me in particular. After that, he kind of just grew on me like some sort of persistent fungus."
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*The author can't remember making half the lines above last night*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The three decided to eat out for lunch because none of them remembered cooking.
They decided to eat at the nearest fast-food restaurant, seeing as they needed to get back to cleaning immediately ("When was the last time you cleaned the basement?" "…s-shut up!").
Despite eating at the same place numerous times already, Natsumi found that she was enjoying this a bit more now.
Probably because she wasn't eating alone.
Most definitely not because Ara is regaling her with anecdotes of her brother's awkward ways of showing affection.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*To those brave enough to dine alone in public instead of just getting a takeout, we salute you ‒ League of Lines*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Thankfully, the cleaning was finished late that afternoon. When dinner was brought up though, none seemed to have the energy to cook anything.
Thus, after getting a quick shower (again), they went out for dinner and Natsumi had a place in mind to take them.
TakeSushi, the best sushi restaurant in town.
Ara decided to buy a bit of everything on the menu, curious as to how they would taste.
The older female probably saw the look of alarm on Natsumi's face because she smirked at her and said, "Don't worry, I'm paying tonight."
"T-That's not what I'm worried about! Can we eat all of that?" the brunette asked.
Yamamoto Tsuyoshi is truly a master of his element because of the wide range of dishes he could make.
"Oh ye of little faith," Ara replied in English, making a show of putting a hand over her heart.
The high school student blushed a little at that though she absentmindedly noted that the young woman's accent didn't seem to be from any part of the US she knows. Maybe another country?
"Don't worry Natsu, Ara has a big appetite," her Tatsu-nii reassured her.
"I especially like eating more at night it seems, even though apparently that's inadvisable," Ara confessed.
"Inadvisable? Why?" the female Emiya asked.
"Something about being inactive at night or whatever. I wasn't listening much when I got the lecture," the older female answered with a shrug.
"You should have listened if it's about your health!" Tatsuya interjected.
Ara just snorted at that, "She wasn't a doctor or a nutritionist. She's a sales agent trying to make me buy diet pills."
The male Emiya blinked at that.
"She could have been telling the truth, she would have made a bad representative of a product if she lied to customers just to sell something," Natsumi pointed out.
The couple turned her in sync. The male blackette blinked at her and the female blackette looked at her like she said something funny.
"Poor, naïve little girl," the older female cooed at her.
…what?
The two then just continued eating and Natsumi reluctantly joined them, not really sure what the heck just happened.
After a while of silence that only the brunette probably felt awkward about, she asked, "What did you like about Tatsu-nii anyway?" She was curious because Ara seemed like a very cool person who would have had many admirers.
"I like his cooking," the female blackette answered bluntly.
It was Natsumi's turn to blink. Granted her brother does cook the most delicious of food, was that the main point of her liking him? (Natsumi remembered how fondly Ara looked back at the ways Tatsuya tried to woo her so she knows it can't be just that.)
"And oh, his toned *ss," the older female added in English, like an afterthought.
That made the siblings blush, Tatsuya sputtering in the same language about how Ara shouldn't say inappropriate things in front of his sister.
The female blackette just seemed unfazed.
The brunette decided to change the topic immediately, "Where are you from, Ara?"
"I'm from Canada," the older female answered, "though I'm half-Korean, half-Canadian."
Natsumi's mouth formed an 'o'. So that's why she couldn't recognize her accent.
"I hear you like Coeur de Pirate," Ara continued.
The female Emiya blushed at that, "I just know three of her songs and liked it." Which was true because she only knows Comme des Enfants, Crier tout bas, and La petite Mort. She liked La petite Mort the most out of the three.
Ara snorted at that, "Probably the same three songs your brother liked."
Natsumi blushed redder. Due to her brother traveling around, he often hears the songs of local popular singers that if he liked enough would eventually find a place in his playlist. And since she'd sometimes go through his playlist, some of them would eventually find their way into hers.
It's how Nyusha's Higher and Natalia Lafourcade's Tú sí sabes quererme would sometimes play while she does her homework or writes another chapter in her novel. She might not actually understand what they were saying, including Coeur de Pirate's songs, but she does appreciate the melody and the singers' voices.
Besides, going from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' You Better Pray to Tú sí sabes quererme to Blackpink's Ddu-du Ddu-du to 5 Second of Summer's Wrapped Around Your Fingers just made her playlist quite more fun to listen to.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Beware of false advertisements*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Natsumi thought the three of them wouldn't be able to eat all of the food they ordered until then. Ara seemed to have a bottomless stomach then and there. The female blackette probably ate about 80% of what they ordered.
"Wow, the food here's delicious. I'm usually not into seafood but I'd probably eat it every day if it's this d*mn good," Ara said after she ate the last sushi, an anago (saltwater eel) nigiri.
"I've been meaning to say this but please don't cuss in front of my imouto," Tatsuya told her.
It made the female blackette smirk at Natsumi but the brunette pretended not to understand what she was implying.
(Natsumi might have muttered a few choice words earlier that Ara managed to overhear. She doesn't feel guilty about it because the box falling on her toes hurt.)
"Anyway, who are those guys eavesdropping anyway?" the older female asked while pointing at the stall behind Natsumi.
The brunette has a feeling she was better off not knowing who said eavesdroppers are. She turned anyway.
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I hope you don't mind me cutting it off here? Haha…you do?
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Thank you Lesmeal, Animeisheaven, Bluegirl-334, MossyDuck, Mitsu21, Amani. Sheih, CassieInTheDark, konan248 for the reviews, follows and favorites!
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By the way, what did you think of Ara?
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Animeisheaven: Byakuran kind of just suddenly wanted a scene. I was actually supposed to have another character comfort her but he just went like 'comfort her? Nah let's piss her off and get her in trouble instead!'
konan248: I don't think Natsumi is looking forward to the next school year as much as you do and for a very good reason (muwahahahahahaha). Her second year would start either late next chapter or the next, next chapter instead because I wanted Natsumi to bond with Tatsuya and Ara more. As for Keanu Reeves, well…he had been my crush since I watched Constantine, and even more after John Wick. I just thought, hehe why not Natsumi too?
Mitsu21: That had actually happened to me, though I didn't full-on scream, more of just a startled shriek. The guy just laughed off my apologies. (I know wearing light colors would make you more visible at night but a white shirt and light-colored pants?) Also I just really love Byakuran's pure white costume. I hope you liked this chapter as well.
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By the way, I would really like some song suggestions sung by your local artists. So if you have the time to either pm me or just tag it in a review, I would love to check out your suggestions.