CHAPTER 11:
WELCOME TO ANOTHER CHAPTER!
Thank you for reading A Not So Ordinary Life of a Background Character!
So…anyone who expects some action written in this fic should be prepared to be disappointed. My English teacher in college told me I can't write action scenes for crap and frankly she's right. I'm not even going to subject you to it. (It was one of the 'bloodiest', i.e. my teacher's red-colored pen, piece that I've ever written…at least not counting my high school research paper first draft.)
Yeah…I'm probably not gonna write any detailed fight scenes in the near future…
In any case… my posting of the last chapter is literally fueled by my happiness for passing my entrance exam. The first half of the chapter was what I've managed to write for an entire month and the last half was written within the few hours of the day I found out I passed.
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn
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When Natsumi closed the door of Hibari-sensei's faculty room behind her, she was fully prepared to hear the sound of chaos to start right after. But when only silence followed, she was a little confused.
Vongola-sensei looked d*mn ready to start and win a revolution while the Hibari brothers were fully ready to counterattack.
Slowly and cautiously, Natsumi pressed one ear against the door. Still, she couldn't hear anything. Was the room soundproof or something? She wouldn't put it past the blond Hibari to demand such privacy.
"Emiya-san," a masculine voice called out and it made her jump away from the door. Natsumi turned towards the voice and she was sure she has that 'deer caught in headlights' look on her face. Meanwhile, Spade Daemon-sensei just looked amused.
"S-Spade-sensei! I−! Uhmm…I was−!" Natsumi couldn't form the words because one: she was just caught eavesdropping by a teacher, and two: wow he just looks like an older Rokudo-san with shorter hair, and you know, without the red right eye.
"Attempting to eavesdrop?" Spade-sensei oh so kindly finished for her, still with an amused tilt to his lips.
Natsumi felt herself grimace guiltily at that, "M-Maybe…"
"Hm…pray tell me, what seems to be so intriguing that I caught you with an ear pressed on Hibari-sensei's door?" the teacher feigned a curious look but his eyes were glinting.
The sophomore started fiddling with the ends of her straight dark brown hair, a tick she has when she's nervous, "N-Nothing sensei."
Spade-sensei took a step towards her and practically loomed at her, "Is that so? I see…If I remember correctly, doesn't Emiya-san already have two detentions? Perhaps this attempt at deceiving a teacher meant that it wasn't enough. Do you need a third one, Emiya-san?"
"V-Vongola-sensei already voided the detentions," Natsumi blurted out.
The blue-haired teacher leaned back, seemingly satisfied, "Ah." He then looked at the door, a smirk on his face. When he turned back to her, he already has a polite smile on his face, "I was just here to inform you that there seems to be a pair of adults waiting for you at the main gates."
The brunette just blinked at the sudden change of topic. Spade-sensei then turned on his heel and walked away while Natsumi dumbly stared at the back of his head. She had just noticed that the teacher's hair is a lighter shade of blue than her classmate's when he abruptly turned back to her again. It caused her to look down at the floor, a bit embarrassed being caught staring after a teacher.
"You might want to hurry down Emiya-san. The two have been waiting for a while now," he reminded her.
The female Emiya had just opened her mouth when someone shouted 'Spade-sensei'. The feminine voice came from the direction of the stairs.
Sawada-san came into view looking like she just ran a marathon, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. The amber-eyed girl took a moment to catch her breath before presenting the two-inch-thick stack of paper with colorful dog-ears in her hands to the teacher.
The teacher thanked her before taking the said stack of paper and resuming walking.
Sawada-san just seemingly noticed Natsumi's presence because she went wide-eyed when their eyes met.
"Oh my gosh Emiya-san, I'm so sorry!" Sawada-san exclaimed before the straight-haired brunette could get a word in.
The two of them walked together towards the shoe lockers while the fluffy-haired brunette explained that Spade-sensei caught her, Sasagawa-san and Kurokawa-san walking together towards the main gates and gave all three of them different tasks. Sawada-san had tried to finish her task, which was delivering a message to Elena-sensei, as fast as she could. But when the amber-eyed girl had delivered Elena-sensei's reply to Spade-sensei, the man had asked her to deliver a small box of papers to the Publishing Office. Then the Newspaper Club members started panicking about how they haven't printed out the latest batch of articles yet. While Sawada-san helped the club members print out and dog-ear the articles, the Newspaper Club President Haneda Norihiro, explained that Spade-sensei is the club's advisor.
"I haven't told your brother yet about your detention and I don't know how Kyoko-chan and Hana-chan are doing with their own tasks yet," Sawada-san confessed, a bit frantic and a bit teary-eyed.
Natsumi then tried her best to reassure her classmate that it was okay, she didn't mind that the fluffy-haired brunette didn't get to inform her brother what happened. The female Emiya then tried to wave off the other's apologies.
The brunettes were in the process of putting on their outdoor shoes, Sawada-san still apologizing to Natsumi, when Sasagawa-san and Kurokawa-san caught up to them.
Then during their walk towards the main gates, Sasagawa-san had joined Sawada-san in apologizing to her while Natsumi had to continuously reassure them that they had nothing to apologize about. Meanwhile, Kurokawa-san was just exasperatedly sighing at them every now and then.
That was how Tatsuya and Ara found the four of them at the main gates.
"Do I want to know…?" the male Emiya hesitantly asked.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*The author had renewed her contract with the Line Factory*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Natsumi, Sawada-san, and Sasagawa-san were talking over each other, trying to explain to Tatsuya what happened. In the end, Ara had to tell them to please shut up, they are not making any sense and Kurokawa-san had to be the one to explain the situation.
"It's the fault of this 'Spade-sensei'. End of discussion. Now, do your girls want to join us? We're going to the movies," Ara concluded for all of them.
All four sophomores blinked at the sudden change of topic.
Kurokawa-san was the first one to snap out of it, "Which movie?"
"That new superhero movie, Shazam. Seemed comedic for a DC movie," Ara answered.
"You guys paying?" Kurokawa-san asked, which earned twin exclamations of 'Hana-chan!' from Sasagawa-san and Sawada-san.
"Of course!" Natsumi immediately answered.
Sasagawa-san and Sawada-san were about to protest when Tatsuya cut them off.
"Please join us. I'm glad Natsu has some friends at school. She became a bit of a loner ever since we moved here to Japan and I was getting worried she still hasn't made friends at school," the male Emiya then gave them a charming and amicable smile.
Natsumi wasn't fooled. Her brother just tried to convince the three girls to come with them and insult her at the same time. The meanie. She turned to her three year-mates and saw that the look on their faces that just screams they had a realization of some sort.
Okay, so what if she eats lunch at school alone. Or go to the mall alone. Or she only casually talks to the rest of their classmates. And doesn't have anyone that she could call a close friend.
Alright, maybe she doesn't have friends at school. She has friends in other places! Like I-Pin-chan!
"We'll join you at the movies! Let me just text my mother," Sawada-san decided as she took out her phone.
"Me too. I'll call my brother for a bit, excuse me," Sasagawa-san said before walking a few steps away and dialing a number on her phone.
"Let me text my parents too, excuse me," Kurokawa-san told them as she was typing something on her phone.
Natsumi stared longingly at the phones they were using. When the heck is she going to be able to get her own back? Then she remembered the fury on Hibari-sempai's face when he realized she skipped her detention with him.
Well…she'll probably have to buy a new one instead at this point. Her contacts and her favored songs are on the other phone though. Darn.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Unexpected line*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
It was while walking towards the shopping district, where Namimori's lone cinema is located, that they encountered one Miura Haru. And she was…a character. Natsumi grimaced at her own failed description, even if it was just inside her head.
The girl was their year but was enrolled in Midori High. Natsumi would have wanted to enroll there but the elite all-girls school didn't offer any scholarships and discounts.
Miura-san is a very energetic and enthusiastic girl that refers to herself in third-person. And apparently, she is Sawada-san's childhood friend.
As promised, the Emiyas shouldered the cost of the tickets but when the siblings also offered to buy the food and drinks, the other sophomores outright refused and even marched towards the food stall to buy their own.
The group of seven enjoyed the movie in varying degrees and when they came out of the theater, four of the five sophomore girls were sporting a new crush.
"What was the name of the protagonist again? The younger version?" Sasagawa-san asked with a giggle.
"Asher Angel," Natsumi replied with a grin of her own.
"Haru thinks she's in love," Miura-san then swooned.
"He's very…" Sawada-san trailed off but the other three kindly provided for her.
Sasagawa-san: "Handsome?"
Natsumi: "Attractive?"
Miura-san: "Both?"
It made Sawada-san giggle, "I'm with Haru-chan here, he's both."
Then all four giggled.
(A.N: By the way, the author feels a bit like a pedophile in this part, being an adult and describing a sixteen-year-old as 'attractive' and all. But since Natsumi is around the age of the said actor, I thought it appropriate that she'd have a crush on him. And also I may have assumed here that all of them could understand English very well.)
While the two adults only looked on amused, Kurokawa-san sighed at their antics.
They ate dinner at a family-owned restaurant and arrived just in time before Hibari Fon-san's patisserie closed.
After reassurances from the said owner that he didn't mind staying open for a while more, the group of seven settled around the small shop. Tatsuya and Ara had a table to themselves and the five girls allowed the couple their privacy. Meanwhile, the sophomores managed to squeeze around a circular table even if they have to drag extra chairs.
"We should watch more movies together," Sawada-san concluded.
"Haru agrees! Movies with more cute boys and fewer monsters," Miura-san interjected.
The two, Sasagawa-san and Natsumi grimaced at that.
Kurokawa-san scoffed, "They aren't that bad."
"They are…grotesque," Natsumi countered and earned three nods.
When Kurokawa-san looked like she was about to counter, Sasagawa-san clapped her hand once and instantly earned all their attentions. "Why don't we order?" she suggested.
After they all got their own choice of cake and tea, the talk moved on to other things. They let Miura-san rant about the competitive atmosphere in Midori High and then let her whine about how the rest of them were in the same school while she's all alone in another. Then they let Kurokawa-san described how the other class was doing and then let her rant a bit about 'immature monkeys'. Sasagawa-san then told them about how sometimes she just couldn't keep up with the overwhelming energy of her older brother and uncle, Sasagawa Knuckle-sensei. Sawada-san then told them about how she and her mother are bonding over her learning to cook but carefully didn't comment anything about her father. And lastly, Natsumi ranted about all the schoolwork she had to catch up with and how she had to play baseball with the boys tomorrow because she missed the girls' turn last week.
Even Kurokawa-san was sympathetic about that, "Good luck with that, the monkeys in our year are crazy."
Natsumi sagged back in her chair, "I'm dying tomorrow, aren't I?"
Cue reassurances from her year-mates.
The night ended with the seven of them parting on their ways, not before helping Hibari-san clean his shop. I-Pin-chan is apparently having a day off today.
Natsumi, Tatsuya, Ara, Hibari-san, and Tsuna-chan (it feels so good to call girls around her age with a more familiar suffix, no offense to her dear I-Pin-chan) went one direction, and Hana-chan, Kyoko-chan, and Haru-chan went the other. Not long after, Tsuna-chan and Hibari-san split with them, the pastry chef walking the amber-eyed girl to her home.
"Today seems like a good day," Tatsuya remarked.
Natsumi's mind turned towards the miserable day at school that the happenings of tonight barely eclipsed, "I guess…could have been better though."
Her dear brother snorted.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*I'd like to purchase some of your finest lines, please*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The next morning, Natsumi made sure to leave for school extra, extra early just so there wouldn't be a chance of meeting either Hibari-sempai or Hibari-sensei. Her dear brother looked so amused she actually woke up early. And then he gave a comment that started another bad day.
"It seems like you're eager to get crushed in P.E. later," Tatsuya said.
It was supposed to be a teasing comment but it still reminded Natsumi of her impending doom. Shooting the male Emiya a glare, she hastily left for school.
While walking, Natsumi had been contemplating all the excuses she could use. They thought she was sick the whole week last week, right? Maybe she could fake not feeling well or something. Oh, wait, Sasagawa-sensei probably knew what really happened. Natsumi hoped Kyoko-chan made good with her promise to ask her uncle to take it easy on the brunette.
Natsumi was so distracted that she completely forgot about the other Sasagawa.
Her only warning was a shout of 'EXTREME' and then something, or rather someone knocked her off her feet then decided to shower her with dust. The female Emiya was left coughing on the ground as the shouting went fainter and fainter.
How the heck did she forget about Sasagawa-sempai?
"Are you okay?" a meek, masculine voice asked.
Natsumi took the hand offered to her, still coughing a bit, "I'll live." When she finally got a clearer view of the concerned stranger, the first thing she noticed is the compass-patterned eye.
"I-I see. Y-You might want to change," the boy pointed out with a stutter.
The female Emiya looked down even though she knew what she was going to see, her uniform dirty and her whole body covered in dust. She sighed, "And a shower."
"You still have time," was Cozart-san's attempt at being reassuring.
She looked at her wristwatch that had thankfully survived the ordeal intact and without a scratch. Class is still an hour and a half away. She should hurry back home if she wanted that shower. Natsumi then turned to her former classmate, "Thank you for helping me, Cozart-san. See you around."
The red-head, who wasn't in his uniform yet probably out of the house for something else, gave a hesitant wave instead of a reply. She belatedly realized he was holding a paper bag, with delicious-smelling bread inside. For breakfast?
She mentally shook her head, it wasn't her business, then gave him a wave as well before fast-walking home.
She thought that was the end of it when she didn't encounter anyone noteworthy on the way home. She put up with her brother's fussing and Ara's demands to know what happened before a hurried shower. Only then did she notice the scratches below her elbow because ouch water suddenly hurts. They were only superficial, not even bleeding, so she left them alone.
She hurriedly put on her uniform, silently cursed the fact that her hair isn't shorter than it currently is as she brushed it, stole a strip of bacon from her brother's plate while he was busy frying another egg, then rushed out of the house before Tatsuya could yell at her for the 'offense'. Meanwhile, Ara just watched the younger girl's antic with an amused expression.
So there she was, sipping the last of the taste of the bacon from her fingers as she closed the gate. When she turned around, fingers still in her mouth, the first thing that her mind process was Hibari-sensei standing in front of his own gate. Natsumi, the stupid little girl that she is, froze in that position.
Hibari-sensei looked at her, briefly glanced at the fingers in her mouth, then stared at her in the eye again with a raised eyebrow. He looked utterly unimpressed, even with the small bruise on his left jaw.
"Natsumi!" there was a yell from inside the house. It was her brother. The Emiya residence's front door opened and the yelling resumed, "Did you steal my bacon?!"
That jolted Natsumi out of her frozen state and she ran for it.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*BBB: Bacon Best Breakfast*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Vongola-sensei has a bandage over his nose and a small split on his lower lip. He looked a little roughed up and it gained him a lot of concerned inquiries from mostly the female students. He looked sheepish while he reassured everyone that he was fine and made sure to give Natsumi an assuring smile. She did her best to smile back. But she couldn't look at her homeroom teacher's face for too long before looking down guiltily.
Thankfully no one noticed.
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At least she hoped no one noticed. No need for another incident.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Line has its straights and curves*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The sophomores, both classes, had P.E. before lunch. A good thing. You can't throw up if your stomach is empty. One would think that mere P.E. wouldn't be enough to make someone attempt to eject their stomach from their bodies but if their teacher is one Sasagawa Knuckle with his ULTIMATE P.E., the chances are higher than a nerd's average grade.
"And remember Emiya-san, you're bat just have to ULTIMATELY touch the ball!" Sasagawa-sensei explained.
Natsumi nodded meekly because as easy as that sounds it really wasn't because the pitcher is Yamamoto Takeshi.
While Tsuna-chan and Kyoko-chan encouraged her to do well, Hana-chan plainly told her that she hoped she survived. It earned her a light reprimand from the other two. Natsumi just smiled and thanked them.
"Let's do our best!~" Yamamoto-san shouted from the pitching mound while Natsumi settled near the home plate.
The baseball ace's smile is so sincere that Natsumi couldn't help but smile back. It didn't stop her from whispering a prayer hoping she'd live through this.
"Don't worry you'll live," the catcher replied and Natsumi turned to him. He has average features and Natsumi determined he was her fellow background character. "Me though? I have to catch those balls," the boy grumbled.
Natsumi had to search her mind to recall his name. Sugino Shinsuke. He's a tall guy, as tall as Yamamoto-san, and was mocked because instead of playing a sport, he joined the dance club.
She then raised her bat and bent her knee a little just as Sasagawa-sensei taught her. She felt awkward doing it though.
Natsumi suddenly had a realization that she had graduated from a background character to a supporting character just yesterday evening. Whoops.
It was a bad time to get distracted because she belatedly noticed Yamamoto-san positioning himself to throw the ball. Suffice to say that Natsumi missed the ball by a mile.
Some of the boys scattered in the field snickered. The guy playing the shortstop, the player in between the second and third base, even stood up in a relaxed position and shouted, "There's no way she'll hit the ball guys. Just relax!"
What a b*stard, was Natsumi's immediate thought. The reason she hadn't decided to march right up to him and swing the bat at his head was because Sugino-san grumbled the same thing she just thought and a little because of the fact that Yamamoto-san was openly frowning at his teammates.
"ULTIMATE concentration, Emiya-san!" the PE teacher reprimanded.
"Yes, sensei!" Natsumi replied obediently.
This time she was more prepared but even if she came close to batting the ball, she still missed. The catcher hissed. There were even more snickers. Now Yamamoto-san is openly scowling at his teammates. Her friends looked outraged on her behalf. Natsumi was pretty sure Hana-chan was muttering something unflattering about 'stupid monkeys'.
"Please, please hit the ball on the next pitch. My hands might come off if I have to catch another ball thrown by Yamamoto-san," Sugino-san pleaded in a low tone.
"I'm trying!" the female Emiya whisper-yelled.
While Natsumi prepared for the next pitch, some of the boys supposedly on standby to catch the ball from the outerfield had gathered towards the shortstop player and now they seemed to be just talking, occasionally snickering while looking in her direction.
The f*ckers.
(If Tatsuya could ever read Natsumi's thoughts, she would have been very acquainted with the taste of soap with how frequently she cusses internally. Hey, at least she doesn't say them out loud.)
This time, she watched Yamamoto-san carefully. She knew that if she tried to bat after she had seen the ball thrown, she would be a tad too late. So she'll try to swing her bat just as the ball leaves the pitcher's hand and hope to the high heavens that she'll actually swing where the ball would be instead of a random direction.
The ball left the baseball ace's hand. Natsumi was halfway through swinging the bat. She hit the ball.
In the wrong direction. Because instead of going high, the ball remained low.
Let it be said that thanks to archery, Natsumi's arms have surprising strength in them. And that she's really accurate.
Still, this one Natsumi would forever claim was unintentional.
The ball hit the shortstop's vital regions.
There was a high pitch scream.
"Ushishishishi, the Prince is now interested in playing baseball."
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END OF CHAPTER!
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Frankly, I was quite reluctant to let Natsumi be friends with the main cast because she was supposed to be a background character. And well, with all the crap that happened to her, she might as well have friends to help her deal with them.
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Thank you Salimiome, kaze senju the wolfwarriorgirl, QuibblerReporterLuna, Micha247, VividReader365, Crows-Love-Henry, Emerald180, sinegas22, snowfloat, Writing-stuff-4-fun, Kiur, gingerchicken, mide1718, Zakath1, AJKitkat, Scarlet Clown, The Lovely Zombie, arizona118, blueorangatan, tigerblood917, Amusedsomang, Beasttamer99, IceBlack, yama-chan82201, Thelonewolf87, rickrossed, Ectomotive, Yui123, sabri10chase, CryingHands, AnimeFreak9096, mslagle3199, Animeisheaven, Princess, konan248, Bluegirl-334 and two guests for the reviews, follows and favorites!
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Animeisheaven: Yep, the Hindi movie. It was quite popular in my hometown during the year before I graduated high school and when I watched it I felt like I could take on college or something lol. I just had to mention it. And I'm also glad you still read this story
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Princess: I'm happy you think my AU is awesome. Thank you!
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Bluegirl-334: No mention of Byakuran's revenge yet. Sorry, there weren't any details in the Hibaris vs Giotto fight because again, I'm crap at action scenes. Thank you! And unfortunately, more misfortune finds its way to Natsumi
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Guest1: I'm glad you liked my OC and hopefully, Giotto had earned dome of his honor back : ) The way that some of my readers, including you, could gain strong emotions from the scenes I write encourages me to write better.
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konan248: I tried my best with writing Byakuran. Honestly, he fights me sometimes when I write him. Sometimes when I try to string the story somewhere, he would be like lol no, this way to the curvy route, who wants a boring straight path? I'm honestly thankful my Byakuran is earning positive responses. Thank you! And well, she's a long way from gaining that phone back with an angry Kyoya.
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Crows-Love-Henry: Thank you for giving this story a chance! I also hope that karma would bite those bullies *sses when they least expected it. I hope you continue to enjoy this story!
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sinegas22: Thank you! And thankfully I passed the exam! Woooo!
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Writing-stuff-4-fun: Unfortunately that might not happen but it did give me an idea for something… Hmmm…
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AJKitkat: Thank you for taking an interest in this story. I hope you keep reading!
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Guest2: Thank you so much! And also I understand that you worry over the fact that my intended hiatus went beyoooond when I was supposed to come back. I'm not abandoning this story so I hope you keep reading and keep loving it!
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Amusedsomang: Thank you and I'm glad I could go back to updating this with a peaceful mind.
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Sorry about the later than it should be chapter but urrggghhh, overtime at work. Like I already dedicate 9 hours (including 1-hour lunch break) a day for you not to mention 3 hours of transportation every day added into it and still you ask for more hours. Urrggghh! If I didn't need money to continue studying and you know, survive every day I'd sleep all day every day. That's how much I love my bed.
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In any case, SEE YOU ON THE NEXT CHAPTER MY BELOVED READERS!