CHAPTER 19:

WELCOME TO ANOTHER CHAPTER!

Thank you for reading A Not So Ordinary Life of a Background Character!

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn

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Natsumi could only apologize profusely about the unsalvageable flour and cooking oil, the reusable bag now sporting two holes, and the rest of the groceries in the said bag now covered in cooking oil. Although Fujii-san reassured her it was fine ("Life in Namimori had been crazy ever since those Italians arrived"), Natsumi still promised to buy replacement flour and cooking oil.

After giving the twins, Ichirou and Jirou, the bag with the snacks to distribute, Natsumi went her way. The twins are the eldest in the orphanage at fifteen years old and are a reliable pair. The main reasons the two hadn't been adopted were because they hadn't wanted to get separated and because they felt some responsibility over the younger kids.

Natsumi was on her way out when she saw a couple signing some paperwork, an excited and wary eight-year-old boy darting between Madoka-san and the woman. Masahiro-kun spotted Natsumi and gave her a wide grin. She grinned back with a thumbs up. She hoped it worked out well for the boy. He was one of the more energetic ones that got way enthusiastic playing catch with Yamamoto Takeshi last year when he and the rest of Tsuna-chan's fanboys visited.

The memory of those troublesome lot stayed with the children for weeks on end. Madoka-san was also thankful for the donation from the Vongolas that came a day after the visit. Natsumi felt grateful for them, too. She just wished they hadn't gotten the children's hopes up for another visit when…they hadn't returned since then.

Natsumi shook that thought off and decided to run the frustration she felt off for two blocks. Thankfully, she felt calmer after the brief run. She felt relieved that she got the last bottle of cooking oil (even if it was a 2-liter one), and after getting the flour, she proceeded to wait in line for the next half an hour.

For two items.

The female Emiya could only entertain herself by replaying the shocked then furious expression on Vongola Xanxus' face.

Yep, no regrets.

The next day, Natsumi was woken up by the sound of her phone ringing. She groaned and looked at the caller ID. It was Madoka-san. Natsumi immediately swiped to accept the call, "Madoka-san? Is everything all right?"

"Everything's all right, Natsumi. I'm sorry for calling you this early and this suddenly," Madoka-san apologized.

Natsumi instantly relaxed as she eyed the digital clock telling her it was 8:48AM. The earliness made her yawn, "It's fine, Madoka-san. Is there anything I could help you with?" The orphanage matron usually called her on the weekdays if they needed more hands, especially now when the workers sometimes take vacations with their family for the summer.

"Could you come here this morning? You don't need to hurry up. Just be here sometime before lunch," Madoka-san asked.

Natsumi was a bit confused by that but relented, "All right. See you later, Madoka-san."

"See you later, dear."

After doing her morning routine, cooking and eating breakfast, and cleaning up, Natsumi made her way towards the orphanage. Taking her time, it was actually almost an hour and a half after the phone call that Natsumi arrived. Around 10:15 would be when lunch was about to be prepared, and she wanted to help.

"Natsumi-chan!" Fujii-san called out, "Madoka-san is in her office."

That got Natsumi nervous, "In her office? Did she say why?"

The middle-aged woman gave her a mischievous grin, "Not gonna tell you, sorry. But I can assure you that you are not in trouble. Now don't be nervous. Madoka-san actually just got to her office a little before you arrived."

"Oh," Natsumi breathed a sigh of relief. Waving at the middle-aged woman, the sophomore then made her way to Madoka-san's office.

Natsumi expected Madoka-san seating behind her desk, doing paperwork as usual. She didn't expect a glaring Vongola Xanxus in the chair usually used by prospective adoptive parents.

"Oh, you're here, Natsumi," Madoka-san greeted casually.

"Finally," Xanxus grunted.

"Ignore him," Madoka-san told Natsumi, "He's been here since 8:30AM, so he's a little grumpy."

The female sophomore's jaw dropped. The call this morning suddenly made much more sense. Vongola-san must have pissed off Madoka-san somehow and purposely made him wait for Natsumi. She shot the male sophomore a wide-eyed look, silently asking what he thought he was doing here. He only glowered back.

"Now that you're here, Natsumi," Madoka-san spoke, instantly getting the attention of both teens, "You can accompany Xanxus-san."

Natsumi was almost afraid to ask but, "Accompany where?"

Madoka-san just gave them a pleasant smile. For some reason, Vongola-san flinched.

Natsumi frowned as she held two different brands of canned tomato in her hands.

"Just get both," Vongola-san told her impatiently.

Natsumi just rolled her eyes and put the cheaper one in her cart while returning the other. They have the same weight, the same kind of tomatoes, and the same nutritional value. She then retrieved two more cans of the cheaper brand and put those in the cart as well.

Vongola-san had given her free rein in how much she could buy for the orphanage, with the blessing of (or most likely coerced by) Vongola Timoteo-sensei. Natsumi didn't want to be unreasonable about it, though.

Looking at the almost empty shelves and the rather pitiful selection they have left, the female Emiya couldn't help but mutter, "I wish we could have gone yesterday."

"Why does it matter? The options are still awful, and sh*t's still on sale," Vongola-san commented.

"I'm going ignore the 'options are still awful' comment since you're probably used to the more high-end products, probably fresh from whatever farm, but there are a lot of things missing now with all the empty shelves. Case in point, there's no cooking oil left, like you know, the one that you shot yesterday. As for your second comment, it might still be on sale from today until Friday, but now the discounts are only 5-10%. Yesterday and the day before that, when I did my own groceries, it was 25-50% off."

Vongola-san only scowled at her in response, making her roll her eyes.

"You're done?" Vongola-san asked. He actually sounded surprised rather than sarcastic or irritated that Natsumi had expected him to be.

"Yes. Although I am very thankful that you decided to feel some responsibility and buy the orphanage their much-needed groceries, I'm not gonna abuse that privilege," Natsumi explained.

Vongola-san's scowl turned into something more like a contemplative frown. He gestured for her to go ahead before storming off somewhere.

There was a brief moment when Natsumi felt a little afraid that the male sophomore had ditched her. She merely shrugged it off, not even a beat later. She brought her own money. And if that wasn't enough…well…

Madoka-san reassured her Vongola Timoteo-sensei knew what was happening, and Natsumi wasn't above snitching.

Thankfully, the female Emiya's fear was unfounded. Just as the last few of the items in Natsumi's cart were to be scanned, Vongola-san reappeared. Natsumi couldn't help but blink incredulously at the cart full of what seems to be the last of the junk food available, bottles of fizzy drinks, and enough sweets to make any dentist cry.

Natsumi took her eyes off the overflowing cart and looked at Vongola-san with wide eyes. Vongola-san just glared back. Natsumi only snapped out of it when the cashier asked if that cart would be scanned together with hers. She replied a yes, making the cashier look at the overflowing snacks in dread before sighing. The woman behind Natsumi looked like she was gearing up for either a protest or a screaming match, but one glare from Vongola-san shut her up real fast.

Vongola-san had to call someone to bring a car. Now, he and Natsumi were waiting at the parking lot with two carts full of groceries and snacks.

"What," Vongola-san spat in her direction. In his defense, Natsumi had been failing to suppress an amused smile.

"Nothing," Natsumi replied, making the black-haired sophomore glare at her. Before this, Natsumi would have cowered at the sight of Vongola-san's infamous glowers. She only grinned back. "So you've been in the orphanage since 8:30 in the morning, right? Anything happened?" she asked.

Vongola-san merely snarled at her before looking away.

This only confirmed Natsumi's theory that something had happened in the orphanage. Something that made Vongola-san even more aware of the situation of other orphans compared to his. Natsumi could only smile before looking away from her year-mate.

She knew those children could win over anyone, even the infamously grumpy Vongola Xanxus.

She was so going to ask just what happened before she arrived.

The next day, Madoka-san called Natsumi to inform her that a very sorry-looking and sheepish Vongola Giotto-sensei went to the orphanage. Apparently, he was there to donate both monetary funds as well as books, school supplies, toys, new mattresses, pillows, blankets, clothes, store-bought multi-vitamins, child-safe medicine for common ailments, and…first aid kits?

In any case, Natsumi was still grateful for any donations the orphanage got.

The thing about the school field trip disaster this year was that Natsumi thought it was over when Tatsuya caught no news of it. Or at least she thought he didn't because he hasn't called her about it yet. She forgot about other consequences of such a traumatic event.

Case in point, Natsumi and Tsuna were walking home together after the two of them, plus Kyoko, Hana, and Haru had a girls' day out at the mall. It was the last Saturday of summer vacation, and they wanted to do something relaxing together. Natsumi brought up an anime paraphernalia shop in Tokyo that had recently gotten popular in social media. Tsuna, who had a great love for mecha animes (who knew), expressed wanting to visit the shop.

"We could go tomorrow if you're free. It's just a two-hour train ride away, after all," Natsumi offered.

Tsuna immediately froze. The fluffy-haired brunette wasn't able to entirely hide the fearful expression on her face.

"Tsuna-chan? Tsuna-chan, it's fine if we can't go tomorrow. Is everything all right?" Natsumi asked in concern.

Tsuna visibly forced herself to unfreeze before sighing. "No, no, it's just that–" Tsuna looked around like she was afraid someone would overhear, and in a low tone continued, "–it's just that ever since the field trip, I–" she swallowed "–I couldn't ride a train without–without having a panic attack. I was–I only got off the train seconds before it exploded, you know? I couldn't even find the stupid door if Hibari-sensei hadn't carried me out. It's because–before that, I was just thrown all over the place, and I was just so disoriented. And even with all the noise, the bomb ticking down just sounded so, so loud and–." Tsuna choked in a sob.

Oh, Natsumi thought, that makes sense. Natsumi grabbed Tsuna's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I–" Natsumi bit her lower lip "–I understand, in a way."

Tsuna gave her wide, questioning eyes, tears gathering at the corners.

Natsumi took a fortifying breath and continued, "I didn't really notice at first. It wasn't something common like a train." Because Natsumi couldn't afford to be afraid of public transportation, unfortunately. "But…remember last May when Sinclair-sempai and Colonello-sempai got into an argument between which is better, a handgun or a sniper? It turns out I am now deathly afraid of snipers. I might even have a phobia. I don't know. It's just that, after seeing Colonello-sempai's sniper, I fled. I kept flinching at lights reflected from anything shiny. Windows, mirrors, heck shiny paint jobs. I just…I just kept imagining it was snipers pointed at me, you know?"

Tsuna gave her a sympathetic look before squeezing Natsumi's hand back reassuringly. There was a moment of silence before Tsuna spoke, "That field trip…it was a disaster, huh?"

"Yeah," Natsumi agreed, "it was a disaster, all right."

It was Sunday, the day before school starts. Meaning, Natsumi was helping the children at the orphanage get ready. She was starting to think Vongola-sensei didn't really research just how many children there were in the orphanage…or what their ages and grade levels were.

Thankfully, Madoka-san put her foot down. The children were given one pencil each and one more as spare, for a total of two. And exactly two. They all would get one rubber eraser each as well. For pens, all those in need could get one red, one blue, and one black each. The younger ones also had a field day when they got a crayon set of sixteen colors each. Usually, the orphanage could only afford the eight-color sets, and each set had to be shared between kids in the same class.

Natsumi mentally shook off that sad thought. In any case, there was a lot leftover from what was donated. Considering the Vongolas donated enough for 100 kids when there are only 38 kids. Not to mention the 500 notebooks geared for the lower grade levels and the 800 notebooks for those on the higher grade levels…Well, they were put in storage. She was sure those were enough notebooks to last the orphanage for years.

After all that excitement, it was pretty late in the afternoon when Natsumi finally got home.

The female Emiya sank into her couch and just…rested. For two hours. But who was to blame her? Kiddos excited about their very new school supplies were as worse as kiddos in sugar high.

Or maybe they were on a sugar high? With how much sweets Vongola-san bought for them…

Natsumi felt even more tired, and she was already resting.

Natsumi had eaten dinner, cleaned, and done her nightly routine. She was just checking her bag last minute before going to sleep. You know, in case she forgot some homework or project or something. She was going through her Math workbook in case she missed a page when her doorbell rang.

Checking through the peephole, Natsumi's eyes widened before immediately opening the door. "Kikyo-san!" she greeted cheerfully.

The cyan-haired teenager smiled back, "Natsumi-chan. Good evening to you."

"Good evening as well. Wanna come in?"

Kikyo shook his head, "No need. I only meant to give you something."

Natsumi blinked at that. Her eyes widened when Kikyo presented a simple navy blue box.

Kikyo gave her a smirk and said, "If you don't mind, can you open it right away?"

Gingerly, Natsumi took the box and opened it. Inside was a silver bracelet with a cyan-colored tear-drop charm. She gasped. "It's so pretty!"

Kikyo's smirk became wider, "The pendant is made of chrysocolla chalcedony. I thought you might like it since you seem to hold quite the amount of fondness for my hair color."

Natsumi reddened at that.

The older teenager's smirk softened into a smile, "May I help you put it on?"

"Yes," she instantly agreed. "Please," she added as an afterthought.

Though it may not be as romantic as putting on a necklace, Kikyo putting the bracelet on her left wrist still made Natsumi's heart do Olympic-worthy flips. Haru-chan should take pointers from Natsumi's heart.

"I love it, Kikyo-san. Thank you," Natsumi said as she beamed up at him.

"I'm glad you do." Kikyo then took her left hand and kissed the back of it. "You're welcome."

Natsumi's dying blush roared to life once more.

It goes to say Natsumi's brain was entirely too active to get some sleep that night.

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An advantage of having a Tue-Sat schedule was the happiness one could feel knowing it was Monday but sleeping in anyway. The disadvantage was knowing it was Saturday, yet you need to get up early.

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CaneVerde: Alas, Xanxus had been forced to apologize, so Natsumi suffered his presence even before school began. As for updates, I could only wish to have a definite schedule for uploading new chapters. Haha. With my adjusted work schedule, I would most likely upload somewhen from Saturday late night to Sunday. CaVe sounds awesome, while CV actually gives me flashbacks from when I got lectured about the difference between resume and CV XD

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Mystic Moon Flower: I kinda want the Hibari brothers to stumble into that conversation, too, actually…

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END OF CHAPTER!

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So I actually mistakenly published the unedited version of this chapter instead...whoops. Sorry! This poor author is mortified.