CHAPTER 9:
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE VIEWS, REVIEWS, FOLLOWS AND FAVORITES!
So here's another chapter!
I'm sorry about this being so late. You see, when I reread the first version of this chapter I found it too angsty when this story is supposed to be humor. I had to rewrite everything.
WARNING: Some characters might be OOC.
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn
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Vongola Giotto visited Natsumi a full hour before the official visiting hours. It made her nervous.
Was there some sort of bad news? Were the bullies demanding to talk to her or something? Would she be forced to interact with them?
Frankly, Natsumi wasn't ready.
Especially when she wanted them to be chaperoned by Hibari-sempai of all people. She could already picture the conversation with those girls.
So yeah, you're trying to be chummy-chummy with me to show how sorry you are. Now I need to have a civil conversation with you to sell it enough that you won't get expelled. By the way, I got Hibari-sempai babysitting you on your punishment I suggested. Isn't that great? Let's be friends forever!
Definitely not a fantastic way of making friends or heck even just acquaintances.
"I'm sorry to disturb you so early in the morning, Emiya-san," Vongola-sensei apologized.
"It's okay Sensei. Are we going to talk about something urgent?" Natsumi asked.
"…not exactly," he confessed and it made her even more nervous.
She bit her lower lip before hesitantly asking, "Are you going to make me talk to them?"
"Err…no?"
"'No' never or 'no' not yet?"
"…no, not yet."
That made Natsumi slump, "I guess that's inevitable. What are we going to talk about then, Sensei?" Just the thought of having to talk to those bullies was enough to sour her mood.
"I want to talk about the punishment the seniors would receive."
The brunette perked up at that, "Did you, Tatsu-nii and Ara finally agreed on something?"
Vongola-sensei winced at that, "Actually, not yet. We can't seem to agree on anything so…"
"They wanted expulsion, didn't they? They won't budge?"
"Yeah…I was hoping you would help me convince them to change their mind." Vongola Giotto used 'puppy eyes'. It's effective!
Natsumi tried to look anywhere but her Homeroom teacher's hopeful eyes but it was no use. She gave in with a sigh, "I don't want them to get expelled either."
Vongola-sensei perked up at that.
"But I think two weeks suspension is too mild for what they did. And…and I don't even know their faces nor know their names but I'd rather not have to see them or talk to them and I know that's impossible unless they leave or…I leave." Natsumi thought about it long and hard these past few nights. Maybe she could just ask Vongola-sensei to let her transfer without consequences, considering she's one of their scholarship students. Other schools would probably not look as good in her resume unless she could miraculously enter Millefiore Academy after the year had already started. But, it beats being forced to interact with the people that nearly killed her for the rest of the school year.
"We don't want you to leave either!" her Homeroom teacher told her firmly and a bit panicky.
Natsumi's lip twitched up involuntarily at that, "Thank you, Sensei. But can you guarantee that you'll be able to ask for firmer punishment without telling anyone what happened to me? From what I heard, it seems like everyone thinks I was just sick or something."
His eyes were full of guilt as he told her, "Emiya-san, I want you to understand. If it came out they nearly killed a fellow student of theirs, it would follow them for the rest of their days. We'll be hard-pressed not to expel them and they'll have a hard time finding a school that would accept them."
"That contradicts you asking for a firmer punishment," she pointed out.
"They will get a firmer punishment Emiya-san. No one would just know why. And the punishment you had suggested yesterday was perfect," he then gave her a pleased smile, like he finally got his point across.
Natsumi mulled at that for a bit until she finally understood what her teacher meant, "What I suggested yesterday wouldn't sound so severe if it was Hibari-sempai. After all, it's about the 'security of the school' and everybody knows Hibari-sempai takes that seriously."
"Exactly! No one has to know what you had to go through Emiya-san," Vongola-sensei told her with all due sympathy.
"B-but what happened that night…" she brought up but couldn't find the words to continue that thought.
She was bullied and if that fact hadn't made her so ashamed of herself, then them nearly killing her and not being able to do anything about it, not being able to fight back…she kind of hated herself a bit for that. She kept thinking about how it would have turned out differently if she had just fought back or asked for help when it started. But no, she was too weak.
"You'll still have to attend mandatory therapy sessions Emiya-san," Vongola-sensei's voice brought her out of her thoughts.
The brunette grudgingly nodded at that because even she could recognize how much that night affected her thought process. Even until now, questions plague her thoughts. How would the people around her that knew act after this? Would they pity her? Would they think she's weak? Would they laugh at her behind her back?
Natsumi mentally shook herself out of those thoughts and outwardly gave Vongola-sensei a 'sweet' smile that doesn't reach her eyes, "As long as you are the one who'll talk to Hibari-sempai, Sensei."
She could picture him mentally flailing a bit before visibly slumping in resignation.
Serves him right, she thought.
Before the blond could say anything else, the door opened gently admitting Keiko-san.
"Good morning, Natsumi-chan! Ready for today's−" the nurse cut herself off when she finally noticed the extra person in the room. "What are you doing here?!" the already-harried-looking nurse looked even more stressed after finding someone inside Natsumi's hospital room before visiting hours.
The blond teacher apologized profusely to the nurse holding him by the collar. He was then unceremoniously thrown out of the room. The sophomore did nothing but snicker at him.
Again, serves him right. Especially when Natsumi has the feeling Vongola-sensei manipulated the conversation into getting what he wanted.
She grinned even more widely when she heard her Homeroom teacher sound so nervous, muffled as it was behind a closed door while saying, "Alaude, Kyoya, fancy meeting you both here."
She winced though when she heard an almost in sync, "I'll cuff/bite you to death." Then the sound of a fight, screaming, and things breaking were heard.
Meanwhile, Keiko-san seemed to be seeking guidance from the heavens judging by the muttered 'Kami-sama' while looking at the ceiling.
Overall it was an eventful morning that Friday.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*This line is sorry too for the delayed chapter*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Eventually, Tatsuya and Ara found out about Vongola-sensei visiting Natsumi before the official visiting hours. And they weren't very happy about it.
They weren't very happy about the fact that Natsumi had already agreed to a different punishment either.
If looks could kill, Vongola-sensei would have died a hundred times over by now.
Not that he looked any better now after getting tag-teamed by two Hibari's, even if Asari-sensei and Rossi-sensei intervened before Vongola-sensei got any major injury.
"You should not have let him talk to you without the two of us. Who knows what sh*t he put inside your head," Ara told her bluntly.
Both Natsumi and her teacher immediately sputtered in indignation at that.
"I was the one who suggested that originally! You were there when I said it!" the younger girl pointed out.
"And who convinced you it was enough? Was it him?" Tatsuya countered then gestured over to the blond with his thumb.
"W-well…that doesn't change the fact that I don't want anyone expelled!" she argued.
"So you want to go to school and encounter the same people that nearly killed you while walking down the hallways?" Ara pointed out.
And that made Natsumi wince but she steeled herself and told them what she had been meaning to say to them for a while now, "I wouldn't know if it was them. I never saw their faces. No one told me their names or anything about them other than being senior students either."
This time all three adults in the room winced and Natsumi nearly scoffed at that.
"Okay then, assuming it was really just you that decided the punishment but that doesn't seem enough to me or to your brother Natsumi. Do you know how worried and angry and horrified we were when we found out you were in the hospital and had nearly died? We just left and immediately the day after that happened," Ara pointed out instead.
"Especially after you had practically begged us to extend our stay. If we had stayed, if we had been there we would have noticed immediately that you were missing. You never would have been in that much danger from hypothermia of all things," Tatsuya added.
The younger Emiya immediately felt guilty of that. She didn't even spare a thought about how her brother and his girlfriend had felt finding out what happened to her thousands of miles away from her.
"I…I'm sorry, I didn't think of that. I just…I didn't want what happened to get out and I know if you would ask for something more serious then it would have to come out. And I didn't−I don't want anyone getting expelled because of me."
There was silence and Natsumi's eyes were tearing up already when Tatsuya sighed and hugged her, "You're too sweet Natsumi."
The sophomore reflexively denied that claim.
"And we're sorry too," Ara added, "we didn't really ask how you feel about this, didn't we? We just asked what you wanted to do and then shooting down your suggestion anyway."
"That was a d−err…prick move," Natsumi managed to correct herself but the damage was done.
The female blackette snickered, her Tatsu-nii hissed her name and lightly jabbed her side, and the one who made choking noises must be Vongola-sensei.
The mood lightened after that. The three adults decided to talk somewhere else (the two blackettes promising Natsumi they'll not ask for expulsion even if they'll press for a firmer punishment) when Keiko-san asked them to leave because they are stressing her patient.
Natsumi waved at them goodbye with a smile.
No one was getting expelled because of her. That's good enough for her…even if she couldn't talk her way out of the therapy sessions.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*This line is licensed therapist for traumatized, disregarded lines*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Natsumi blinked once. Twice.
What the heck?! She just went to the bathroom for a minute!
Where there had previously been her standard hospital bed was now a king-sized one complete with a new (light blue) blanket, comforter (suspiciously in the same shade as Kikyo-san's hair), and three pillows.
For the love chocolates, the bed is even made of wood!
"W-Wha…h-how…?" Natsumi managed to stutter out after gaping at it for a long time.
"You're welcome," a male voice said behind her and it made her jump.
Natsumi whirled to face the voice and saw Byakuran-san. "Did you do this?!" she asked/yelled.
"Yep, did you like it?"
"No! What happened to my bed?!"
"Hm…probably chilling somewhere near the hospital's dumpster."
"Byakuran!"
"But we weren't gonna fit there so I brought a bigger one," he whined.
"Of course we're not gonna fit in a hospital bed. It wasn't made for two! And who said you could lie down beside me?"
"But watching movies would not have been enjoyable sitting in that awfully uncomfortable hospital chair."
"That's your problem!"
"Exactly! It's why I came up with a solution. Ta-da!" he then gestured to the bed with both hands like a showman presenting the next performer on the stage.
It made Natsumi facepalm.
(She set herself up for that trap too easily. Byakuran snickered.)
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*This line is currently busy comforting the discarded hospital bed, please wait a moment*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Thankfully, Natsumi held the decision on what they would watch so they didn't watch anything horror or gory.
Unfortunately, she was stupid enough to watch something she'll cry over. Hachi: A Dog's Tale.
She was never a pretty crier. She was all puffy eyes, a red nose, and quite an amount of snot.
And when the scene where Hachi was finally reunited with his owner, albeit in the afterlife, Natsumi could no longer hold back her sobs.
Why is she doing this to herself?!
Byakuran-san snickered. Natsumi glared at him, "You heartless fiend."
"I wasn't laughing at the movie, I was laughing at you," he defended himself, smiling at her like a loon.
She elbowed him in the gut.
When the credits rolled, Natsumi decided to choose the next movie too and picked a comedy. 3 Idiots, with subtitles so she could understand.
It was mostly comedy (especially the trolled speech) and there were emotional parts but at least those didn't get her sobbing her eyes out.
(Natsumi was proud of what she eventually picked for the second movie because Byakuran-san seemed to be enjoying it too.)
But if the previous movie was only around one and a half hours long, the second one was approximately two hours and 45 minutes.
It ate up the rest of the afternoon.
A nurse, not Keiko-san because her shift had ended earlier, had asked Byakuran-san to leave and Natsumi let out a sigh of relief when the older teen left without a fuss.
That night, unlike any other night, Natsumi slept rather easily.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*This line vows revenge on the wooden double bed*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
It was the last day of her confinement in the hospital and Sasaki-sensei finally announced that there didn't seem to be any complications.
Natsumi was excited to be checked out that afternoon.
As a celebration, I-Pin managed to sneak in a slice of cake. (The waitress asked about the double bed but thankfully dropped the conversation when the sophomore asked her to.)
"I-Pin-chan, have I ever told you how much I love you?" the older girl asked as she stared longingly and hungrily at the slice of red velvet cake.
The Chinese girl just giggled at that.
The sophomore savored every bite of the first cake she had had for days.
The younger girl couldn't stay long though since she's still needed in the pastry shop. Natsumi waved at her goodbye, thanking her over and over again for bringing her some cake (even Tatsuya disagreed in sneaking her some sweets).
It was afternoon when her brother, Ara, and Vongola-sensei visited her together.
The first thing they brought up was the double bed.
Natsumi nervously explained where it came from and Tatsuya narrowed his eyes at the mention of Byakuran-san. Natsumi immediately changed the topic and asked them what happened to their discussion.
"We finally agreed on something, yay!" Tatsuya announced with forced cheer.
Ara smacked him lightly over the head before addressing the younger girl, "Their suspension would be extended to a month."
Vongola-sensei's face looked carefully blank so Natsumi didn't know if he was okay or not with the extension. Instead, her teacher continued, "Since a student couldn't chaperone them for the six weeks they are going to be 'satisfactorily' cleaning the storage rooms and public female bathrooms, a few of the senseis would pitch in."
"Which senseis?" Natsumi asked, curious.
Her Homeroom teacher just gave her a teasing grin, "Don't worry, they are 'unbribable'."
Natsumi sputtered at that while the two blackettes snickered. Traitors!
"It would be Hibari-sensei, Spade-sensei, Rossi-sensei, and Asari-sensei," the blond enumerated.
Natsumi could understand the first three but the last one, "Don't Asari-sensei seem…too nice?"
Vongola-sensei's brow lifted at that and Natsumi hastily explained herself.
"I-I mean…he seemed so nice. He might end up helping them instead of supervising them."
The blond heir's face had a look of understanding, "Ah…don't worry. Ugetsu is a genuinely nice and easy-going person but even he was upset at what happened to you. He won't let them slack, I promise."
Natsumi bit her lower lip to stop herself from arguing further and nodded instead.
"Don't worry Natsu," Tatsuya interjected, "Ara and I talked to Asari-san as well. I know he won't let them slack."
The sophomore's brows rose in surprise. When did the two talk to her Literature teacher?
She was about to ask just that when someone knocked. Without waiting for a reply, the door opened.
It was Bovino Lambo and what looked like an older Bovino Lambo, only with light green hair and electric blue eyes.
What the heck is with boys and looking exactly like their older male relatives except for a few details?
The greenette immediately left but Bovino-san joined them.
"I just came here because Lampo forced me and also because I want to apologize to Natsu-nee-san," Bovino-san recited the first part like a whine but sounded genuinely contrite on the last part.
The three adults' faces seemed to say 'for what?' but Natsumi ignored them.
"It's okay, Bovino-san. What happened wasn't your fault," she told the younger, albeit taller, boy.
"But you're…" the wavy-haired blackette then gestured at her lying on a not-so-standard hospital bed.
"Wait…what? What do you mean this is your fault? Who are you?" Tatsuya asked in confusion.
"Natsu-nee-san just defended me from the octopus-head," the middle school student explained, which in the adults' point of view didn't really explain anything. It just made things more confusing.
Vongola-sensei decided to just ask Natsumi instead, "Why don't Emiya-san just explain everything from the start?"
The sophomore gave her Homeroom teacher a look, "You just thought of asking me my side now?"
The blond teacher blushed at that and even the two other adults looked sheepish. This time Natsumi did scoff at them.
When Natsumi started her not-really-that-long tale, Bovino-san sat on the bed. (He would have lied down beside the brunette but was glared at by the two older males.)
She told them what happened before she toured the first-year students, then told them the version of what happened that spread via rumors. She reluctantly narrated about getting punched in the hallway, getting juice poured on her, and the glares and sneers she received throughout the day. She told them about walking downstairs from the library but blacking out and then waking up somewhere dark.
She lamely finished with 'you know the rest', not looking up from staring at her fidgeting hand.
As expected, the adults were disappointed in her.
They made her promise to tell someone on the first sign of bullying instead of letting it get worse and Natsumi just nodded along.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*How many cows did you count jumping over the moon before falling asleep? I counted to 1,000 once, didn't work at all*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Natsumi was eventually checked out of the hospital that Saturday afternoon. (The fees paid by a mysterious benefactor. No one even mentioned to her about the double bed. Hmm…)
Her mood hasn't lifted one bit.
Tatsuya and Ara tried to cheer her up by detouring to Hibari-san's patisserie but it only mildly and temporarily lifted Natsumi's mood.
Approximately around the time she and I-pin exchanged a look when Tatsuya said something about her enjoying her first bite of cake for days.
Jokes on you, Tatsu-nii, she thought.
Her good mood didn't last for long, even after Tatsuya cooked her favorite for dinner, pork tonkatsu.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*How you live your life would reflect on whether you have laugh lines or frown lines when you're old*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Tatsuya and Ara found out how Natsumi frequently visits the local orphanage even when she never made any mention of it.
At the sight of worried little faces, Natsumi couldn't help but smile and reassure them that she was okay now. She's not very sick anymore thus she didn't have to stay in the hospital.
Her mood eventually lifted up as she played with the children or listened to their stories. In no time she was freely grinning and laughing.
Especially when the children tasted Tatsuya's cooking and were now trying to convince her older brother to 'stay at the orphanage forever'.
Natsumi and Ara pretended they didn't notice him silently asking for help as the two girls chatted with the orphanage matron, whose eyes were twinkling with mischief as well.
The female Emiya smiled to herself.
It seems like everything is okay again.
(At least until she found out neither blackette has her phone. Where the heck is it then?)
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*This line is scared, the author has yet to stop evil laughing*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
EXTRA SCENE pt 1:
Hibari Kyoya had tracked down every single one of those pathetic herbivores that thought they are above the other herbivores just because they have numbers on their side.
Every single time he gave them his verdict, every single time they reacted the same way, begging and pleading for mercy.
Pathetic.
There is no mercy for those who broke the order of things.
He had just doled out the last of the punishment when he briefly patted the stupid herbivore's phone from where it had always been since he found it, on his pants' right pocket.
He wondered when the stupid herbivore would approach him for it.
Kyoya snorted when he thought of the possibility that the stupid herbivore hadn't even noticed the device missing.
Even the stupid herbivore can't be that stupid. Although he has no high expectations from an herbivore.
(Alaude and Fon pretended they didn't notice Kyoya sneaking out at night.)
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EXTRA SCENE pt2:
Gesso Byakuran hummed as he scanned five different folders in front of him.
Their families are from the upper class, yes, but not even close to the same level as the Vongolas, Gessos, Spades, Giglio Neros and Rossis, and heck the Bovinos.
In fact, they're just about high enough in society to afford Vongola High with no discounts or scholarships usually handed out to those who passed the entrance exam with high scores.
If he remembered correctly, these same families were getting too uppity lately after they officially signed a five-way alliance three years back. They had also annoyed a lot of the older, more powerful families after they got too full of themselves having such a 'strong' alliance.
Byakuran suddenly broke out into a Cheshire grin.
Perfect.
This was for messing with his new toy.
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If any of you are interested in how the angsty version went, here's a short part of it.
"Don't you want to talk to them (A/N: the bullies)?" her Homeroom teacher asked.
"I don't think I want to Sensei. I don't think I ever want to. I…I just don't want what happened to be brought up and just you know…" Natsumi groaned because how does she put into words what she feels, "I didn't even want anyone to know I was getting bullied. Do you know how hard it was to swallow the fact that people can walk all over you because they can and you have no choice but to let them? Because it's just you and there's too many of them and even if you brought it up they'll probably just say something about 'lying' or 'trying to get attention'. And then they'll get believed more because everyone knows them better than that, right? It's why I agreed that everything else that happened was an 'accident' even when you can't actually accidentally punch someone in the gut in the hallways." She might have said the last line a bit bitterly because she might not have bruised but it hurt.
"We're your teachers, we would have looked into it," Vongola-sensei countered.
Natsumi snorted at that, "Really? If there was no evidence that they were the ones that locked me in the storage closet, would you have believed they could do something like that?"
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In other words, it was really angsty for Natsumi. So I tried to change how the conversation went.
And this happened.
Well…I hope you still like this anyway
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THANK YOU CassieInTheDark, Bluegirl-334, konan248, Animeisheaven, Sara, OrnateGluestick, kitten0612, karin angel, Roningirlkisa, Katya Sirin, ArticXice, River Nailo-Chaos, decimo2750, Hana27Reborn and a guest for the reviews, follows, and favorites!
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CassieInTheDark: Natsumi blurting out the cyan hair was a stroke of randomness actually, hahahaha. You're awesome for liking that scene **thumbs up* I don't think Natsumi's coping well with Alaude and Kyoya getting mad though, hehe
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Bluegirl-334: You might think this is it but the revenge is not over yet. Byakuran's after their families' *sses now. Poor girls who messed with Natsumi. Giotto made so many sacrifices (like being the Hibari triad's ire's main focus and actually getting tag-teamed in a fight) so they won't get expelled but Byakuran is still plotting something
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Sara and OrnateGluestick: The rather extreme bullying was not something I could condone either so I gave them a severe punishment that could even lessen Tatsuya and Ara's need for blood. I hope this is acceptable even if they didn't actually get expelled.
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konan248 and Guest: I actually had a hard time formulating this response. And I tried so hard to defend Giotto's point of view and his 'no expulsion' stance but it seems like the opposition is just too powerful, incensed older siblings and the Hibari triad's own way of showing displeasure and all. Not to mention Byakuran and that's just a whole different can of worms from Kyoya's own version of discipline. The bullies didn't get expelled, there's that, but Natsumi didn't want to talk to them either even if Giotto would probably push for it, just so that the bullies could properly apologize. At least the incident wouldn't get out (thanks to Natsumi's unhealthy reluctance) so they would probably still be able to continue their studies without a very negative stigma nipping at their heels
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Animeisheaven: I'm glad you love the extra scenes. It was Alaude's reaction that I first thought of when I decided to make several extra scenes.
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This chapter probably didn't come out as light as it should have been. I just found out that some teachers (some of my own teachers when I was still in high school) had disregarded my younger sister's own explanations (that they didn't even properly hear out before dismissing as a lie) in favor of her classmates' because there's two of them saying it. I was so disappointed in said teachers, one of which was my favorite back then. (Well she isn't anymore, screw her.) The incident might have happened months ago and I just found out earlier this week but it doesn't mean I was less affected by the injustice. Considering it was my mother who had to tell me what happened when said no-longer-favorite teacher pulled her aside to talk to her about my sister's (imaginary) misbehavior. Urrghhh!
This might have caused me to be harsher on the bullies via Hibari Kyoya and Byakuran.
Whoops.
Sorry but not sorry. Picturing those five bullies as the two girls that got my baby sister in trouble. In other words, screw them.
I want to rage badly but I'm 84.5 miles away from home and my sister just graduated and consequently got out of that place so there's no use for it.
Well, in any case, sorry about that rant.
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I hope you still enjoyed this chapter!