11 April 2011, Monday
Tsuna blinked a few times in confusion. He had been sitting on the train one moment, feeling bored and sleepy, and the next he was sitting in an absurdly spacious limousine. He could see through the windows that outside was dark and foggy. Inside was a study in blue and black. A woman was there, blonde, imperious-looking, dressed in blue, and also a man.
He was quite short, balding, and had a nose that came straight out of anime, as well as eyebrows that looked as if the artist had gotten a little carried away. The man's appearance suggested evil dictator, one who did not get enough sleep if one were to judge by his bloodshot eyes.
"Ah… It seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny," the man said, chucking. "My name is Igor… I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… It is a room that only those bound by a 'contract' may enter… It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future. Now then, why don't you introduce yourself…?"
Tsuna's first thought that was the man was infected with a bad case of Ellipsis Syndrome. Igor's name alone was bizarre considering they were in Japan, and the man's voice was oddly high. It reminded him a bit of Voldemort, though far less openly psychotic.
"Shouldn't you already know?" he said dryly. "I am Dojima Tsunayoshi."
"Hm, I see. Now, let's take a look into your future, shall we? Do you believe in fortune telling?" Igor did not appear to require an answer, as he kept right on going. "Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different…"
'Wouldn't that imply that the future cannot be accurately viewed with such cards?' he wondered. 'Or that it's so mutable even people like Aria see a multitude of possibilities, rather than a definitive path?'
"Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?" Igor continued as he dealt cards into an arrangement, then flipped one of them. "Hm… The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent.
"The card indicating the future beyond that is…" Igor flipped another card. "The Moon, in the upright position. This card represents 'hesitation' and 'mystery'… Very interesting indeed. It seems you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you."
Igor looked at him directly. "In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of some sort, after which you will return here. The coming year is a turning point in your destiny… If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost. My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen.
"Ah! I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you." Igor waved a gloved hand toward his companion. "This is Margaret. She is a resident of this place, like myself."
She turned golden eyes on him. "My name is Margaret. I am here to accompany you through your journey."
"We shall attend to the details another time. Until then, farewell."
With a start he was seeing the view out the train window again.
"What is it?" Sin asked. "You look a bit weirded out for having just woken from a nap."
"I get the feeling," he said slowly, "that our mysterious shuffler is up to something again. I just had a very peculiar dream. I'll see if I can 'share' it later. There's far too many people around."
Daemon's brow went up. "Mind if I take a peek?"
He shook his head. "Of course not." He felt his brother poking around a moment later, swiftly latching on to his dream.
Thirty seconds later Daemon was sporting a very confused expression. "What the hell?" he muttered.
Tsuna was briefly distracted by a blue butterfly that had no business being there fluttering by and that, oddly, no one else appeared to notice, but turned his attention back to his brother. "Thoughts?"
"For one, I'm surprised it's taken this long for this universe to spring something on us. I had been thinking it was just more of the same, but in a… Like taking a breather. Simple, uncomplicated, and not stressful. But now, with that dream as a portent of things to come… As for the dream itself, I can't say I like the idea of anyone getting into your head like that. It reminds me far too much of Checkers' ability to drag people in via the subconscious."
That was a good point, he thought. Checkers could drag people, the unconscious, into a shared dream. Of course, so could his Mists, once they'd fucked around with the concept for a while and tested it on defects. Tsuna could probably do the same, but given that his control was a bit shaky when it came to meddling with people's brains, he'd never bothered to try.
"Which makes me wonder if…" He manifested a Bounding Box, just to be on the safe side. "Are we dealing with a Mist, or something else entirely?"
— — —
When the train pulled into the station his family split from him. Half immediately went to the new house. His Mists opened windows on him, and Mukuro and Xeul then left. Daemon would stay behind invisibly, at least until he could not easily follow.
As Tsuna waited outside, on the steps of the station, he briefly reflected on the news report showing on the screens at the station in Okina City. A city council secretary, one Namatame Taro, had brought shame to himself by being caught having an affair. 'It's amazing,' he thought, projecting to his brother, 'how people just love a good scandal. They tsk and shake their heads, but they revel in it.'
'Most people are hypocrites in one way or another,' Daemon replied. 'Most people are very good at lying to themselves, at denying their very human and primal desires. People dress things up with pretty clothes and faces and manners, but underneath it all, we're a kind of savage at the core.'
'I wonder sometimes how much is animal instinct and how much is … I dunno, the results of evolution, the two warring. I know I certainly feel no regret from removing defects from the gene pool.'
'And yet some would say we are deserving of the same for so many murders.'
Tsuna snorted. 'I've died how many times now? I rather doubt the one in charge minds our actions or I expect we'd have been spanked well before now, each and every time. Every life leading up to the solution taught me something new, and eventually gained me a proper family. Well, most lives teach us something new, but that might just be so we don't get abysmally bored.'
"Hey! Over here!" a man called.
Tsuna looked toward the voice to see a man around his mother's age, with short, dark hair, sporting a five o'clock shadow. He was wearing a suit, but the jacket was flipped over one shoulder and held there with his left hand.
Once Tsuna trotted down the steps and a bit closer the man—his uncle—said, "Well, you're more handsome in person than in your photo. Welcome to Inaba. I'm Dojima Ryotaro. I'll be looking after you. Let's see… I'm your mother's younger brother … and that about sums it up."
Tsuna bowed before saying, "It's been a long time." He barely remembered, but then, he hadn't spent much time poking at the memories his body had prior to his awakening.
"So formal!" Dojima chuckled. "You've really grown. I still remember when you were in diapers. This here's my daughter," he said, briefly resting a hand on the little girl's shoulder. "Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousin."
Nanako looked distinctly uncomfortable and shy, unwilling to look at him directly and sticking very close to her father. "… 'lo," she said quietly.
Dojima chuckled again. "What're you so shy for?" he asked, then winced when the girl poked him. "Well, then, let's get going. My car's over there."
'I will see you in town, brother,' Daemon sent. 'Windows are following, just in case.'
'See you there.'
The ride in wasn't too bad, but the station was clearly on the outskirts. His uncle stopped at a petrol station in what looked like a shopping district, and Nanako shot off to the bathroom as soon as she slipped out of the car (though the attendant was a bit condescending in directing her to where it was, and Nanako, in return, a bit snippy).
"Are you taking a trip?" the attendant asked.
"No, we just went to pick him up. He just moved here from the big city."
Tsuna blinked, wondering how Namimori counted as a "big city" when it probably wasn't that much bigger than Inaba.
"The city, huh…?"
"Fill up my car, please. Regular's fine."
"Right away, o-kyaku-sama!"
Dojima wandered off out of the way and lit up, which Tsuna found irritating, especially as the man had such a young daughter.
"Are you in high school?" the attendant asked. Tsuna couldn't actually tell what gender they were, but they had odd, longish grey hair, appeared to be in their early twenties, and had such a slender build that he couldn't get any clues from that either.
"Does it surprise you to see how little there is out here? There's so little to do, I'm sure you'll get bored fast. You'll either be hanging out with your friends or doing part-time jobs. Speaking of which, we're actually looking for part-time help right now. Give it some thought, why don't you? We don't mind if you're a student. But, oh, I should finish this up." The attendant nodded and patted him on the shoulder as they walked past.
His immediate reaction was a sense of outrage that a complete stranger would touch him, but that was quickly subsumed by a distinct sense of queasiness. His family must have noticed considering that one of the invisible windows following him flickered for a moment.
He was distracted by Nanako returning. "…Are you okay?" she asked. "Did you get carsick? You don't look too good…"
He also felt a little dizzy, but Dojima swept by to pay for the petrol, and then they were off again.
The Dojima residence looked like a million other family homes in Japan, with precious little space between the front and the concrete fence that marked the property line. He expected there would be a larger area out back.
Once inside he immediately saw that it did not share a floor plan with the house in Namimori. The ground floor was taken up mostly by the kitchen and living area. A hallway off to the side was hiding the staircase to the first floor, and more than likely Dojima's room (mostly based on the shape and size of the dormers he had seen before coming in).
Dinner was taken at the low table in the living area, which required them to sit on cushions. There was a television in the corner, but it remained off, and long curtains hid what he expected were sliding glass doors leading to the back yard. Someone had prepared by purchasing sushi earlier in the day, and that along with juice was their meal.
"All right, let's have a toast," Dojima said, then lifted his glass before taking a sip. "So, Tokyo, huh? It must have been a bit of a shock, but getting stuck in a place like this because of… It's rough being a kid."
Tsuna smiled politely.
"Well, it's just me and Nanako here, so it'll be nice having someone else around. So long as you're here, you're part of the family, so make yourself at home."
The polite smiled slid into a serene one at what he perceived as an insult. "Thank you for your kindness."
"C'mon, there's no need to be so formal. Look, you're making Nanako all tense."
Nanako looked more like she was embarrassed.
"Well, anyway… Let's eat," Dojima said and had just picked up a piece of sushi with his hashi when the muffled sound of a phone ringing emanated from the man's jacket, which had been draped over the couch behind him. "Ugh… Who's calling at this hour?" the man complained as he fetched out his phone.
"Dojima speaking. …Yeah? …I see. …So where is it? …All right, I'm on my way." Dojima ended the call and muttered, "Looks like I made the right choice to skip the booze…" He sighed and got up, grabbing his jacket as he rose. "Sorry, but I gotta go take care of some business. Go ahead and eat without me. I don't know how late I'll be. Nanako, you help him, okay?"
"…Okay."
Dojima slipped his jacket on and headed for the door, but paused after he opened it. "Nanako, it's started raining. What did you do with the laundry?"
"I already brought it in," she said.
"All right. Well, I'm off." He was out the door a second later and closing it behind him.
Nanako immediately produced a remote and turned on the television. The news was on.
"—for this week. Next, let's take a look at the hourly breakdown of tomorrow's weather."
'Hourly!?'
"With storm clouds moving in from the west, expect rain throughout the day tomorrow in most areas."
"Let's eat," Nanako said softly, then picked up her hashi.
His mind went blank for a moment trying to figure out what, if anything, to say to the girl. "…What does your dad do?" he finally asked.
Nanako glanced at him briefly. "He … investigates stuff. Like crime scenes. My dad's a detective."
"And now for the local news."
Nanako turned her attention back to the TV.
"City council secretary Namatame Taro is under fire for an alleged relationship with a female reporter. His wife, enka ballad sensation Hiiragi Misuzu, revealed to this station that she will likely pursue damages." Images of both were briefly displayed for the viewing audience. "In response, Eye Television has decided to cancel all of announcer Yamano Mayumi's televised appearances. Until allegations of an affair with Namatame-san are resolved, she'll remain off the air and out of the public eye."
"…This is boring," Nanako said, then brightened up when a commercial came on.
"At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products! Every day's great at your Junes!"
Nanako started to sing along with the jingle.
Tsuna was honestly a bit sad seeing the girl only perk up for a store jingle, and that a girl her age had been left home, alone but for a stranger, with no idea when her father would return.
Once they were done eating Nanako showed him to the room prepared for him, one of the two up there, and wished him a good evening. He opened a window on her the second her back was turned just to see what she would do, which turned out to be going back downstairs to tidy up.
"I'm starting to feel shades of Durzkaban prior to my awakening, except Dojima isn't abusive," he muttered as he took in the room.
One of the windows following him flicked into view, showing his family.
"She's very self-reliant," Xeul said. "She has to be. She even does most of the shopping."
Tsuna sighed and shook his head. "Well, I live here now. There's no reason why I can't take up some of the slack. Shopping, cooking…"
"Much as I hate the idea, I don't think we should be popping in there anytime soon," Sin said. "Sorry, tesoro, but it looks like you'll be sleeping alone for a while."
He wrinkled his nose. "Tomorrow is a school day. If I don't meet you on the way, I guess … at the gates?"
Sin nodded, along with Hayato and Mukuro.
The window winked out, so he looked around the room again, knowing full well at least one of his twins would be taking a shift that night to keep an eye on him. Boxes were set against one wall, ones his mother had shipped ahead of him, which contained clothing and various other things.
The futon had been set up for him, which was thoughtful of Dojima—or Nanako, at her father's direction. He rolled his eyes and resolved to start handling things a mere child should not. And he didn't much care at the moment if anyone felt insulted by it.
He also resolved to strongly consider setting up runic wards on the house, if only for Nanako's sake. Tsuna set about putting things away, then got ready for bed and settled in.
— — —
12 April 2011, Tuesday
Everything around him was shrouded in white fog. He could barely see ten feet in front of him. The ground beneath him was fashioned from cubes, red with black edges and sides, and they seemed to form a pathway.
Tsuna wasn't the least bit inclined to try to step off it and wander blindly into that fog, so he followed the path before him, wondering just what the fuck was going on this time.
"Do you seek the truth?"
He paused. The voice was androgynous and echoed all around him, which made the origin impossible to determine.
"If it's the truth you desire, come and find me."
'What I wouldn't give for my brother to be hooked into my brain right now,' he thought.
Up ahead was a peculiar sort of door, or portal. It consisted of red and black square … rings, like square picture frames framing each other in sequence, the colours alternating. He could sense something beyond it, something that made him feel vaguely uneasy.
The fog was even thicker on the other side, and even the ground was lost to it. It was like walking in an endless cloud. Up ahead was the barest sight of a figure, as if someone was using a faulty Disillusionment charm, or was made of more of that fog, just thick enough to stand out.
"So… You are the one pursuing me. Hm… Try all you like."
Tsuna's eyes narrowed, doing his damnedest to see through the illusion—or what he assumed was illusion. The figure got slightly more visible.
"I see… Indeed, you possess an interesting quality. But … you will not catch me so easily. If what you seek is 'truth', then your search will be even harder."
Tsuna frowned when the fog abruptly thickened and he lost sight of the figure. He realized at that point that he was wearing a set of brass knuckles.
"Everyone sees what they want to… And the fog only deepens. Will we meet again…? At a place other than here… Hm… I look forward to it."
Everything went black.
He could hear someone's voice. Nanako? Tsuna opened his eyes to see his new room.
"Whoever is watching, open the window," he murmured, and sat up as Daemon's face appeared. "Check my memory of the … whatever … I just had."
Daemon's brow went up, but he nodded, and Tsuna shortly felt his brother rifling around in his head again. "What the fuck," Daemon said flatly.
Tsuna shrugged. "Inform the others. We can show them later. I need to get ready."
"I will do so. Since you're awake…"
He nodded. "Hopefully I'll see you this afternoon. For now, breakfast."
By the time he got downstairs he was annoyed to see that Nanako had already made breakfast and had it waiting for him. Why she had made fried eggs, bacon, and toast was completely beyond him.
"Good morning," she said as she set her plate on the kitchen table.
"Good morning," he replied. "I had not expected you to make breakfast, but thank you," he said as he sat down. "Would it upset you if I cooked meals at times?" He looked around and saw that his uncle was nowhere to be seen.
Nanako shook her head, though she looked a bit dubious. She must have realized why he was looking around, as she said, "There was some kind of trouble. You're starting school today, right? My school's on the way, so … let's go together."
He smiled at her and nodded, then began his meal. "Is it all right if I call you Nanako-chan?"
She nodded after a moment.
"I usually go by Tsuna. Tsunayoshi is just too long for everyday life. Where do people usually do their grocery shopping? I like to cook, so…"
She brightened up. "Junes!"
He nodded and had a bite of egg on toast. "I will have to investigate. Hopefully they carry plenty of fresh goods. Do you like to cook, too?"
"Um… I don't know how to cook much. I can toast bread … and cook sunny-side up eggs in the morning. Dad can't cook, so I buy dinner."
"Well, you let me know if there's something you'd like. Now that I live here, I should help, too. It wouldn't be fair otherwise."
She nodded again, back to looking dubious.
They finished up, dishes were quickly washed and set to dry in the rack, and they were off. Part-way down the street Nanako handed him a key, saying her father had left it with her for him—which said a lot about how often the man was absent—and led him to the flood plain.
She pointed out where they would part, saying, "You go straight from here, across the river. Turn right on the other side, then left onto the first street. You should see other students headed there by then. My school's this way. Bye." She quickly walked away, not waiting for a response.
"Gonna take time for her to warm up to me," he muttered, and started walking again. It was fairly obvious when he was supposed to turn, so he continued on, various buildings lining the street, and he deftly avoided a young man on a bicycle who was going a touch too fast and lost traction due to the rain, and ended up crashing. He just kept following other people his age in uniforms.
Tsuna was relieved to see the school up ahead, if only because his family was there. He sped up and was shortly being greeted by Sin, Hayato, and Mukuro. "Oh happy day, we get to go to school," he said dryly.
Sin rolled his eyes. "Let's go let them know we're here."
Not too much later they were escorted by a secretary to Class 2-2 and abandoned to their fate.
"Awright, shut your traps!" said the hilariously ugly teacher. "I'm Morooka Kinshiro, your homeroom teacher from today forward! First things first! Just 'cause it's spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons. Long as I'm around, you students are going to be pure as the driven snow!
"Now I hate wasting my time, but I'd better introduce the transfer students. These sad sacks have been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage. And they're as much losers here as I know they were there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on them! Tell 'em your names, and make it quick."
Tsuna's brow went up; it was almost like being back to dealing with Nezu. Being the leader he stepped forward first and bowed. "Dojima Tsunayoshi. Please take care of me."
Sin went next, introducing himself as Rokudo Sen, then Hayato as Rokudo Hayato, and Mukuro as himself.
"Now listen up!" Morooka said. "This town is miles away from your big city perverts and assholes, in more ways than one. You better not even think of getting involved with the girls here, let alone abusing them! But what do I know… It's not like the old days. Even here, kids grow up so damn fast. Every time I turn my back, you're fooling around on those damn phones, checking your life-journals and your my-places…"
Tsuna zoned out, mostly because the idiot kept droning on about the proverbial good old days. He gave the man credit for appearing to care about his students, and wanting them to be safe, but he was clearly too far removed from that age to understand just how wrong of an impact his words would make.
"Excuse me!" a brown-haired girl called out, almost desperately. "Is it okay if the transfer students sit down? There's open seats here."
Morooka snapped out of his rant. "Huh? Yeah, sure. Hear that? Your seats are over there. So hurry up and siddown already!"
Tsuna exchanged a commiserating look with his family and took one of the two seats closer to the front, mostly so that someone could protect his back.
The brown-haired girl leaned over to whisper, "He's the worst, huh? Rotten luck for you guys to get stuck in this class. Well, we'll just have to hang in there for a year."
"Sucks to be a transfer student, ending up in King Moron's class on the first morning here," one of the male students whispered to his neighbor.
"Yeah, he won't think twice about suspending someone if you get on his bad side," was whispered back. "Then again, we're all in the same boat."
"Shut your traps!" Morooka bellowed. "I'm taking roll, and I damn well expect you to respond in an orderly manner!"
Tsuna zoned out, only briefly paying attention when his own name was called so he could say, "Present," and was surprised when Morooka finished up with, "That's all for today. Normal lectures will start tomorrow."
Students started to shift restlessly, waiting to be given permission to leave, but stilled when a chime was heard over the school intercom, then, "Attention, all teachers. Please report immediately to the Faculty Office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."
Morooka scowled. "Hrnh. You heard the announcement. Don't go anywhere until you hear otherwise." He departed, still scowling.
The brown-haired girl, Satonaka Chie, made an annoyed sound. "He's seriously getting on my nerves."
Tsuna had just turned toward Sin when sirens started sounding in the distance. A number of students dashed over to the windows.
"Did something happen? Don't those sirens sound really close?" one boy said, peering out through rain-dampened glass. "Ugh, I can't see a damn thing. Frickin' fog…"
"Yeah, like every time it rains lately, it gets all foggy," the boy next to him complained.
"Hey, did you hear?" a girl added. "I hear a paparazzi's looking all over for that announcer."
"Oh, yeah," the second boy said, going up on his toes as he tried to get a better view. "You mean Yamano Mayumi, right? I heard some guys spotted her at the shopping district."
"I heard that, too," said the first.
"Are you serious!?" The second boy turned and eyed a girl with long black hair and a red cardigan. "H-hey, Yukiko-san. Mind if I ask you something? Is it true that announcer's staying at your family's inn?"
The girl dropped her gaze demurely. "I can't discuss such things."
"Y-yeah, I guess not." He went back to staring out the window.
Tsuna's brow went up as he stared at Sin, then murmured sarcastically in Italian, "Isn't this fun?"
Chie heaved a sigh. "Sheesh, how much longer is this gonna take?"
"There's no telling," Yukiko said.
"If only we could have left before the announcement came on. By the way, did you try what I told you the other day? You know… That thing about rainy nights."
"Oh… No, not yet. Sorry."
"Ah, that's okay. Well … it's just, I heard a guy in the class next door yell something like, 'My soulmate is Yamano, the announcer!' "
The intercom chimed again, which caused everyone to go silent.
"Attention, all students. There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the school zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police officers. Head directly home. I repeat…"
"Incident!?"
The noise level abruptly spiked again.
Tsuna got up and grabbed his bag, preparing to go. If they were leaving after barely having been at the school for an hour, they could get an early start on other things.
Except, of course, Chie got up and immediately grabbed his attention. "Hey, you guys are new. You probably don't know your way around yet. Why don't you come with us. Oh, right. I'm Satonaka Chie. Nice to meet you. And this is Amagi Yukiko."
"Oh, nice to meet you all. I'm sorry that this is so sudden…"
"C'mon, don't apologize like that. It makes me look like I got no upbringing."
A serene smile slid into place. "Nice to meet you both. Dojima Tsunayoshi, but I prefer Tsuna."
His family had just finished with the usual pleasantries when Bike-Accident-From-Earlier came into view, bearing a nervous expression. "Uh, um, Satonaka-san…? This was really awesome," he said, holding out a plastic case. "Like, the way they moved was just amazing to see. And… I'm really sorry!" he cried. "It was an accident! Please just have mercy until my next paycheck! Seeya, thanks!" The boy started to back away.
"Stop right there!" Chie exclaimed. "What did you do to my DVD!?" And then she hauled off and kicked him in the groin.
The boy went down with an agonized roll of his eyes and a loud groan.
Chie cracked open the case and scowled. "What the!? I can't believe this! It is completely cracked. My 'Trial of the Dragon'—!"
"I think mine's cracked, too," the boy rasped out. "C-critical hit to the nads…"
"A-are you all right?" Yukiko asked.
Chie scoffed. "He's fine. Let's ditch him and go home."
The two girls blithely tagged along as Tsuna and his family departed, with Chie insistent on being something of a tour guide along the way—and he had a sneaking suspicion she wanted to ask questions about "the big city".
At the gate they were stopped by a strange-looking young man who did not wear a Yasogami uniform, though he was dressed in a school uniform. It was possible he went to a private school, or one in the next town over.
"You're Yuki, right?" the boy said, his soulless-looking, fish-like eyes and creepy monotone making it a surreal experience to witness. "Y-you want to go hang out somewhere?"
"What? Wh-who are you?"
Tsuna ignored the gossips that appeared as if in response to the "juicy" scene.
"Um, s-so… Are you coming or not?"
Yukiko shook her head. "I—I'm not."
"…Fine!" Fish-Eyes scowled and ran off in a huff.
"Wh-what did he want from me?"
Chie gawked. "What did he want…? Obviously, he was asking you out on a date."
"Huh? Really?"
"You had no clue? Sheesh… But then again, that was way over the top. It was creepy how he called you Yuki all of a sudden. I've never even seen the guy before. Where did he come from?"
"Yo, Yukiko-san. Turned down another lovelorn fool?" Bike-Accident-From-Before came into view, pushing his bike along. "Man, you're cruel. You got me the same way last year."
"I don't recall doing that."
"Whoa, you serious? So then, you wanna hang out some time!?"
"…I'd rather not."
Bike-Accident-From-Before sighed. "That'll teach me to get my hopes up. Anyway, you better not pick on the transfer students too much."
"We're just curious, is all! C'mon, we better get going. People are staring."
Once away from the gates and the majority of other students Chie said, "So… What caused all of you to move here? I mean… This town is…"
"Our father was tired of living in Tokyo, wanted a quieter place," Sin said.
"My mother just got remarried," he said, keeping to the lie. "She and her husband went on a month-long honeymoon and will be settling in Tokyo. I came here to live with her brother."
"Oh, wait, you're not from a big city?"
He shook his head. "No, a town not much bigger than this one. Seemed rather more attractive to me than such a massive place. I've spent time in Kobe and Osaka and Kyoto, so… Yeah. Things can be far too hectic in a larger city. Besides, my mother deserves her happiness. She's been widowed since before I was even born, so…"
Chie pulled a face of dismay for probing. "Ah…"
"It's fine," he said with another shake of his head.
"Well… There's not a lot here, but we do have, um—there is something from Mt Yasogami… I think our dyed clothes or pottery or something is kinda famous. Oh wait, there's the Amagi Inn! Yukiko's family runs it. It's the pride of Inaba!"
"Huh? It's … just an old inn," Yukiko said, a look of distracted confusion on her face.
"Oh, no way," Chie protested. "It's been in all sorts of magazines as a hidden treasure. It's a great inn! It's been going for generations, and Yukiko here is going to take over someday. The inn usually attracts a lot of visitors to Inaba. It pretty much keeps this town going," she said earnestly.
"…I don't think that's entirely true."
"So, tell me. You think Yukiko's cute, huh?"
Tsuna looked at Chie in disbelief, then smiled serenely. "I wouldn't know. I prefer men."
Chie blinked. "Eh? That's a real thing?"
"Yes."
"Hey, what's that?" Yukiko asked.
Up ahead was a blocked off area. Police, police cars, tarps…
"So that high schooler left school early, and as she came down this street…" said a lady who looked like a housewife on her way back from shopping.
"Wow. Who could imagine that hanging from an antenna?" Another housewife.
One of them must be the mother of the young boy who was staring over the barricade.
"I wanted to see it, too."
Tsuna frowned at Shopping-Housewife.
"Uh, you got here too late. The police and fire department took it down just a moment ago."
"Well, I think it's terrifying. I can't believe a dead body showed up around here."
"Wait," Chie said, her eyes going wide. "What did she just say? A dead body!?"
Tsuna didn't think that required an answer, and was just about to move along, when of course Dojima showed up in his official capacity.
"Hey, what're you all doing here?"
"Just passing by. The school let us go after warning us about…" He trailed off and glanced over at the scene.
"Huh. I should have figured that would happen. That damn principal. We told him not to let people through here."
"…You know this guy?" Chie asked.
"I'm Detective Dojima, his guardian. Uh… Well, how should I say this… I hope you get along with him. But you should all really get moving, and go straight home. This is no place for kids."
Tsuna was about to again move on, but a younger man barreled by, dressed similarly to Dojima, and was very noisily sick.
"Adachi! How long are you going to act like a rookie!? You want to be sent back to the central office?"
"I-I'm sorry… Nngh…"
Dojima sighed. "Go wash your face. We need to gather information!"
The girls finally started moving.
"Was this what that announcement was about?" Chie murmured to Yukiko.
"What do they mean? Hanging from the antenna?"
"Hey, Yukiko…? Why don't we go to Junes some other time?"
"Good idea."
Chie turned to them. "All right, then. We're taking off. Starting tomorrow, neighbor, let's do our best!"
He watched as they wandered away and heaved a sigh. "Kami-sama. We're not even here a day and shit happens."
"Unfortunately, you're going to have to go straight home," Mukuro said. "I get the feeling if Dojima-san finds out you didn't…"
"Yeah," he said as they started walking again. "And I don't think he'd appreciate you guys coming with me, not this early on. I'm going to get out my laptop when I get there. I'll just overlay the screen and talk that way. Or I step over, and then turn back. Or I wait until later and do the same."
"Well, whatever you do," Sin said, "start by anchoring some protection. We can talk about something more permanent after?"
"Also yeah. Okay, I need to go this way. We'll talk in a bit."
Back at the Dojima residence he immediately got to work on creating an anchored Bounding Box for the place. Probably the only reason he had not thought to do so the night before was because he knew his family had been standing watch to guard his sleep.
After that he went downstairs to begin preparing lunch, having decided to make ginger pork. Nanako wandered in when he was nearly done and shot him a surprised look, and after putting her bag away came back to quietly ask, "Can I help?"
"You can check the rice and the steamer," he said as he worked the wok. "Or get plates ready, whichever. There's enough for the two of us. I didn't think your dad would be back for lunch."
She nodded and set to work, fetching out a step stool to give herself added height. It was only a few minutes later that they were seated and eating, and she adopted another surprised look after the first bite.
"Let me know if there's anything in particular you don't like, so I can avoid them any time I cook," he said. "How often does the shopping get done?"
She nodded and said, "I go once a week."
He blinked. "How do you manage to carry so much food on your own?"
"A wagon. Can you teach me how to make this?"
Tsuna smiled. "Sure. As a bonus, it's not a difficult recipe. If cooking talent runs in the family, you'll be a master chef in no time."
Nanako looked dubious again, but there was a hint of a smile peeking out.
After lunch he retreated to his room and opened his laptop, then moved a window into place over the screen, open to the other house. A quick whistle saw his family clustering around their side of the window.
"Hola!" he cried happily, deciding to speak in Spanish so that Nanako couldn't understand anything she inadvertently overheard, especially as he had left his door open to avoid the appearance of trying to hide something. "So, a death already, and we've barely even arrived."
Xeul shrugged. "We'll see if it develops into anything interesting. I admit, finding a corpse hanging off an antenna is a new one for me, but…"
"You set up the Bounding Box, I assume?" Sin asked.
He nodded. "The moment I got back. And I'm planning to train Nanako-chan up to be a master chef, if possible. Girl could go far in life and she seems like a sweetheart, though she's understandably shy right now. I am not at all happy just how much time she's on her own, but it's not like I'm in any position to interfere much."
"I was thinking of doing a little browsing tonight," Daemon said, "and get all the teachers' plans for the year. That way you four can get all that homework done ahead of time. And with your memories, quizzes and tests should never be a problem."
"If it turns out to be as easy as I expect," Hayato said, "we can just send in clones on most days and only show up for tests."
Tsuna nodded. "Well, otherwise, business as usual. Eyes in the normal places, at least for semi-regular updates. I'm more curious about these weird dreams I keep having. Which reminds me, I need to pull copies of those memories so you can all see them. Hang on."
He pulled two vials from storage and set to making copies, then sealed them and shifted both through the window. "It's deeply unfortunate that I won't be able to cook meals for you guys, but I expect you'll manage somehow."
His family all frowned, but nodded. "Better to ensure no accidents happen because a six year old girl is using appliances she really ought not to be. A toaster is one thing, but even those can catch on fire and burn a house down. That she was frying eggs and bacon, well…"
"Again, shades of Durzkaban, minus the abuse. Or at least, intentional neglect. I expect that come next shopping day, I can lay in enough supplies to not only keep myself and my cousin adequately fed, but store enough to make bentos for our lunches."
Chikusa shook his head. "Let us buy the extras. You could shift here, make them up, then turn back. I should think it'd be suspicious to begin with, you making meals for extra people and the girl wondering where all these ingredients are coming from."
"Good point. I'll do that instead. Hopefully we'll be able to properly scout the town tomorrow, to know where best to purchase things. I understand there's a Junes here, but the family-owned places might be better in the long run."
"Well, since there doesn't seem to be much we can do today," Mukuro said, "I'm going to go do a bit of shopping, then go play video games to pass the time. We'll see you in the morning? I'd say for breakfast, but I expect you'll be making sure your cousin is seen to. She's just a child."
"Yes. All right. I will step over first thing and see about making bentos for lunch, then come back here and make breakfast. Are we meeting at the gates, or…?"
Sin shook his head. "We can meet you on the flood plain, walk the rest of the way in with you."
"Okay. I'll see you in the morning, then. Sleep tight. Oh, and I'll prepare an anchor."
Everyone nodded, so he dismissed the window and looked around again. The television up against one wall was ancient, in his opinion, but then so was the one downstairs. He'd have preferred a flat-screen, but that would have to wait until he could check out shopping opportunities. He expected, though he would have to get one of his Mists to double-check, that Dojima would have no idea just how much money Tsuna might have, and they could always fiddle with his brains just a tiny bit to not ask questions like that.
He heaved a sigh at having to live without his family, without his lover, and went downstairs to inventory the cooking supplies so he knew what he had to work with for that evening, and then to find out where the washing machine was hiding. After that he investigated the exterior.
The back yard was fairly narrow, surprisingly enough, and one side yard—if he could even call it that—was only wide enough to handle Dojima's car. The other side was set up to dry laundry, the cords low enough that Nanako would only need a step stool to manage. All in all, the house was rather bare and lacked in personality, which was depressing after years and years of living in places brimming with memories.
Nanako wandered back from wherever she had disappeared to and sat down to watch TV.
"Any thoughts on dinner?" he asked her.
She gave a little shrug. "I usually just make an egg or something, with rice. Or a pre-made meal."
"How about oyakodon? The stuff for that is here."
"Um… Okay."
"Have you ever made it before?"
She shook her head.
"Would you like to help? Start to learn how? Or does you father not want you touching any knives just yet?"
"He doesn't like it."
Tsuna nodded. "Then you can watch, if you like. You can still start to learn that way, if you're interested. Does your dad get home at any particular time…?"
She shrugged again. "It depends."
"Okay. I'll make enough for three, and if he's not here in time… We'll figure it out then. I'll get started a little before five."
Nanako nodded and turned back to the TV, so Tsuna wandered upstairs again to play a video game on his laptop. Maybe once he had replaced the television in there he could hook up a console or two.
— — —
They had dinner in the living area rather than sit at the table, mostly so they could watch TV as they ate. Nanako had been very attentive during the whole process, and helped by starting the rice.
The news was on, but then it was around that time.
"Our top story this evening concerns a bizarre case in a quiet suburb. Around noon today, a woman was found dead near the Samegawa River in Inaba. The deceased has been identified as Yamano Mayumi, a twenty-seven year old announcer at the local television station. The initial results of the Inaba Police Department's investigation have revealed—"
"Ah," Nanako said. "The Inaba Police Department. Th-that's where Dad works!"
"Are you worried about him?" He had no clue how such a young child would view a job like police officer.
"A little. But that's his job, so this stuff happens."
"The body was found hanging from a large television antenna atop a local resident's roof. Authorities are uncertain as to why the body was in such a state. With the cause of death also uncertain, police continue to investigate whether the death is an accident or a homicide. A thick fog common to the area has slowed their progress, and plans to fully canvass the area are delayed until tomorrow."
"They found her on the roof? That's scary…" Nanako was frowning, but perked up when a Junes commercial came on.
"At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products. Every day's great at your Junes!"
His cousin immediately started singing along with the store jingle. " Every day's great at your Junes! " She looked at him expectantly.
He didn't have the heart to refuse, so he sang along, too.
Nanako got another surprised look. "You memorized it already? I'm the best one in my class!" she said, then continued to sing in between bites of her meal, the news report seemingly already forgotten.
— — —
13 April 2011, Wednesday
The next morning he woke up early and stepped over to the other house. He quickly set to making bentos for the four of them for lunch, then whipped up breakfast for everyone (but himself). The smell of his cooking brought everyone out and he had to stop briefly when he was pawed over by various happy family members.
"Will you guys bring my bento along? I don't want to take it with me and subject it to an extra hour."
Sin nodded. "Of course, tesoro."
He gave Sin a quick kiss. "Awesome. While you guys are having breakfast, I'm going to set up that anchor. I know you might end up doing the runes for warding, but this will provide some peace of mind in the interim without someone needing to stay awake all night."
When his hour was up he stepped over to the one park in Namimori—'I really need to designate a place for this in Inaba,' he thought—turned back, and stepped to his bedroom at the Dojima house. The time turner was tucked into a concealed pocket in his bag for the moment for retrieval when it was safe to put it back into storage, then he went to get a shower.
By the time he got downstairs Nanako was already making breakfast, so he didn't make a fuss and instead fetched out plates to help her. A short time later the dishes were done and they were out the door. He parted with her along the way and met up with Sin, Hayato, and Mukuro, with Sin handing over the bento for him to tuck away.
"I continue to hope we can start using clones," he muttered as they continued on to the school
Along the way Bike-Accident whizzed by on his bike, managed to have another accident, and somehow ended up rolling around head first in a large metal trash can. "S-someone…"
Tsuna rolled his eyes and walked over to steady the can so the boy could extricate himself.
Bike-Accident looked highly embarrassed as he picked his bike up off the pavement. "Whew, you saved me. Thanks! Um… Oh, yeah, that's right. You're one of the transfer students, Dojima Tsunayoshi. I'm Hanamura Yosuke. Nice to meet ya."
"Tsuna is fine," he said, then turned slightly to invite the others to speak.
"Rokudo Sen," Sin said, eyeing the bike. "Are you all right? That was quite a tumble you took."
"Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I may have to get my bike checked, though. Say, did you guys hear about that incident from yesterday? They found that announcer lady hanging from an antenna! You think it was some kind of warning? There's no way something that weird could've been an accident."
"Too early to tell, really," Mukuro said smoothly. "Rokudo Mukuro, by the way."
Hayato shrugged. "Rokudo Hayato."
"Dangling a dead body over a roof like that… That's just messed up," Yosuke said. "Then again, it's pretty messed up to kill someone in the first place. Oh crap, we're gonna be late if we don't go!" He hopped back on his bike and pedaled away furiously.
Tsuna shook his head as they started walking. "That's two days in a row he's had an accident on that bike."
— — —
It turned out that Morooka was the philosophy teacher, of all things. "Be quiet, you idiots! You guys are in high school, aren't you!? Can't you shut up during class? Don't you have any common sense? First of all, my job is to waste my precious time teaching you assholes philosophy! And since I'm so nice… I'll straighten up your rotten attitudes while I'm at it! Aren't you honored!? And I'll be going especially hard on any of you morons that're curious about the murder! Got it!? Now get your books out!"
Tsuna zoned out so hard it was lunch before he surfaced.
"I hope someone was listening this morning," he said as he opened his bento.
Hayato rolled his eyes. "At least keep one ear open. You might get called on in class."
Tsuna wrinkled his nose and started eating.
He halfway zoned during the afternoon portion of classes and was approached by Yosuke once the bell went.
"So, you getting used to this place?"
"More or less."
"Wow, that was fast. There isn't much to do here compared to the big city, but there is a certain … something you can't get anywhere else. The air's clean, the food's great… Oh, you know about the local delicacy? It's grilled steak, man! Like that's anything special, huh? I know a place you can get it cheap. Wanna come? You helped me out this morning, so it's on me."
Chie apparently held powers of teleportation, because she appeared suddenly, a frown on her face. "What about me, huh? No apologies? My 'Trial of the Dragon'—!"
"Urgh… You always come around when I'm talking about food…"
"How about it, Yukiko? Don't you think he should treat us, too?"
"I'll pass… I don't want to gain any more weight. I need to help out at the inn today, anyway."
'More weight?' he thought. 'The girl is slender like a willow and she's worried about weight?'
"Wow, Yukiko-san! You started training to take over the business?" Yosuke asked.
"It's not like that! I'm just helping out when it gets busy. Well, I should be on my way."
"Oh well," Chie said. "We should get going, too."
"Huh? Do I seriously have to treat two people?"
Tsuna shook his head. "It's cool. We—" He indicated his family. "—were planning to check out Junes, and whatever shopping is to be had in Inaba. Yesterday wasn't a good day, understandably, to learn more about the town."
"Uh…"
"…How about you treat Satonaka-san because of that mishap with the DVD, and show us where Junes is?" he suggested.
"…Junes has a food court," Yosuke said, "but they don't have grilled steak."
Tsuna shrugged and looked at Chie, who almost pouted.
"Well, it might not be grilled steak, but… I'll help show you guys around," she said.
Junes wasn't that difficult to find. Instead of heading east to get home, they went south-ish. Junes was so huge it was hard to miss given it loomed up over the older, more modest structures.
Yosuke led them to the food court and bought a round of soda over to a table. "I'll buy you some grilled steak another time," he said to Chie as he passed out cups. "So, this is Junes. The food court, anyway. This location just opened up recently and my dad was assigned to manage it. So our entire family came out here about six months ago."
"It's weird," Chie said. "It's only been half a year since this place opened up, but I haven't been to the local shopping district much since. A lot of stores started closing, and… Oh, uh…"
"You can't blame it all on Junes, can you?" Yosuke said, looking faintly annoyed. "…Hey, it's Saki-senpai! Sorry, be right back."
"Saki-senpai?" Hayato asked.
"Oh, that's Konishi Saki. Her family runs a liquor store in the shopping district. …I think she's working here part-time, though."
While Yosuke was off talking to Konishi, Tsuna asked, "You said stores were shutting down?"
Chie nodded. "I guess it's hard to compete. Junes carries just about everything, really. The place is huge!" she said, waving a hand at the building's façade.
"I take it you've always lived here," Mukuro said.
"Yep! It can be kind of boring at times…"
"Sometimes peace and quiet is greatly desired," Hayato said. "Tokyo has so many people and the buildings are so tall. It's very crowded, people rush everywhere, barely talk to each other. Traveling via subway is cramped and hot and uncomfortable. There are parks, so there's places to relax or fish, but…"
"Huh," she said. "I'd still like to visit a city, though I guess it would be kind of strange to have thousands of people around you don't recognize, all the time." She looked away when Yosuke came back, trailing behind Konishi.
"Are you the transfer students?" Konishi said. "It must be nice to have someone else from the big city to talk to, huh? I don't see Hana-chan hanging out with the other guys much."
"N-not necessarily…"
"He doesn't have too many friends, so I hope you all get along good. Hana-chan's a good guy, but he can get nosy sometimes. You gotta tell him right to his face when he starts to annoy you."
"He's a great guy," Tsuna said, mostly out of irritation for her attitude.
Konishi laughed a bit tiredly. "I know, I'm just kidding."
"C'mon, senpai. There's no need to worry about something like that."
"Well, my break's just about over. Back to work I go… Laters!" Konishi nodded and headed for the building.
"Oh, uh, senpai!" Yosuke called, then laughed uncomfortably when she didn't look back. "Saki-senpai says I'm annoying, but she's even nosier than me. She has a younger brother, and she treats me pretty much the same way…"
Chie leaned forward in her chair. "Oh, you don't want her treating you like a brother, huh? Oh, I get it... So that's how it is. The daughter of a local family-run liquor store and the scion of the invading chain... The flame of forbidden love!"
Yosuke's eyes went wide. "Wha—!? Dude, it's not like that."
"Oh reaaaally… Well, I know just the thing to cheer up a lovesick heart. You ever hear of the Midnight Channel? You're supposed to look into a TV that's switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night. While you're staring at your own image, another person will appear on the screen… And they say that person's your soulmate."
"What? For a second, I thought you were actually going to say something useful… How can you get all excited over such a childish urban legend like that?"
"Childish, huh? You don't believe it, do you!?"
"Of course I don't!"
"Well, it's supposed to rain tonight! Let's all try it out—then you'll see!"
"Try it out…? Wait, you haven't even tried it out yourself!? Wow, I'm trying to remember the last time I heard something this stupid… All that aside… You know that incident yesterday? You guys think it was murder? Oh, what if the culprit behind it was still lurking around…?" Yosuke laughed.
"Sheesh, you shouldn't joke about stuff like that. Now who's the childish one…? All I am saying is, you guys better try it out tonight." She got up and waved, then took off at a jog.
Yosuke shook his head and finally sipped some of his drink. "So you're all from…"
"I'm from a small town," Tsuna said. "Bigger than Inaba, but not massively so. These three came from Tokyo most recently."
Yosuke's brows went up. "Most recently?"
Sin smiled. "We used to live in the same town as Tsuna, but moved away a few years ago. We all thought it was hilarious that we ended up together again, here in Inaba."
"How come you all moved? If that's okay to ask."
"I don't mind," Tsuna said with a shrug. "My mother got married, went to live with her new husband in Tokyo. The owner of the restaurant she was chef for wasn't especially happy about that, but… My step-father wasn't too keen on having a teenager underfoot, so I came here to live with my uncle."
Yosuke displayed a surprisingly empathetic look of surprise for a moment. "Wow…"
"Our father decided to retire early," Mukuro said. "I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he still traveled a lot, though."
"Well, since you guys were interes—"
"Hanamura-san!" a female voice called.
Yosuke's head whipped around toward it. Tsuna's gaze followed to see a cluster of three people wearing Junes aprons.
"Uh, damn. Sorry, I gotta go. Just check the store out, right? I'll see you at school." Yosuke jumped up and took off.
Tsuna finished his drink and looked at his family. "Shall we?" he asked in Spanish.
Junes was fucking huge, and it really had no business being in such a small town. They did seem to have everything, including a massive electronics department with a ton of nice flat-screen televisions. He made mental notes on the prices before they headed off to check out the grocery area.
"I wonder what this Midnight Channel thing is," Sin said.
"I'm going to try it, for a laugh if nothing else," Tsuna said. "I have to wonder if you're supposed to be alone to make it easier for your mind to play tricks on you, though."
He grabbed a basket and started adding various goods to it. Nanako had done a decent job shopping, but she had underestimated the amount required with an extra mouth and him preferring to make his own lunches. He also had the thought to make up a number of meals which could be frozen and reheated, so that it would be easier to deal with Dojima's irregular schedule.
"It's a little weird to run into an actual urban legend," Hayato said, "but exciting, too."
Tsuna shot him an understanding smile. He doubted Hayato would ever entirely leave behind his fondness for mysterious happenings or beings. The walk back to the house went fairly quietly, and they did take note of what was on offer in the shopping district, where Dojima had stopped to fill up his car. There were a lot of closed places, but a fair number of shops were still operating. The street itself wasn't very well populated, lending credence to the assertion that Junes was drawing away too many customers and putting a serious crimp in local-owned businesses.
His family did not come in with him, mostly because he did not want to alarm Nanako, and Dojima had yet to meet any of them. They just handed off the bags they had been carrying and said they'd talk to him later.