04 May 2011, Wednesday
He spent a fair amount of time with Nanako during Nature Day, having brought out blunt children's scissors, child-safe glue, and fabric scraps, mostly to show her how she could craft dolls as something to keep her hands busy while watching television. He mentioned getting some buttons or markers so she could use something other than fabric for the eyes and such, but for the moment she was happy to play with what they had.
After lunch he responded to Chie stopping by and asking if he had time by heading out to do some martial arts practice with her, which resulted in another rank for the Chariot Arcana.
He had yet to bother Dojima with the question of whether or not his friends could come over, so he spent the evening with Nanako, then turned back so he could spend the same amount of time with his family. Being a bit short on sleep was worth it.
"So, as you can imagine, Vongola is in a complete pother over the Tsow's mysterious death," Xeul said gleefully.
"Who'd they promote?"
"Lal, for the time being, though she was more than a bit insulted that it was based on her former status as a quasi-Arcobaleno, more so than her actual skills."
"I can't say I blame her," Hayato said, wrinkling his nose. "How people are so blind to the collective distaste of the Arcobaleno to being seen as that first and anything else second…"
Tsuna manfully suppressed his amusement at the irony of Hayato being the one to say that. "If she's in charge, the odds of her coming here to investigate personally drop dramatically."
"…Which means she might bump it straight to Reborn," Chikusa said. "I wonder if I can work up some sort of early warning system that would twig to certain signatures."
"A rune-based solution deployed around some or all of the town?" Mukuro said. "That would be a massive undertaking, though we do have what we did for Namimori as a starting point of sorts."
"Speaking of which," Daemon said, "we need to check in on Nana, see if she's back from her honeymoon. I really want to know about her bloodline." A window opened briefly on the home they knew she'd be occupying, but there was no evidence that they were back yet.
"Damn." Sure, it might not matter in the long run, but he wanted to know. He moved into the kitchen with the intent of crafting a magnificent dinner for his beloved family. Despite having been in Japan again for over a decade, he went with Italian dishes given that he was the only true son of Japan amongst them.
— — —
05 May 2011, Thursday
After breakfast and washing up, Nanako sat back down to amuse herself with crafting dolls, so Tsuna wandered off into town. Part way to the Rokudo house he was nudged off course, so he followed his intuition and changed direction, going through the shopping district and to the shrine they had left Amagi at.
He had the distinct sensation he was being watched, but was having difficulty in pinning down the origin. The shrine was still badly-maintained, with dust furring the wood, dulled paint, and a grungy looking offering box.
As he turned to go a yip caught his attention, and he directed his gaze upward, to the roof of the shrine. There was a fox up there, wearing a red bib with some kind of pink markings on it. Between one second and the next the fox was behind him—which allowed him to see that the pink markings were hearts, and that the bib had a ruffled edging—holding an ema plaque in its mouth.
Tsuna slowly crouched down and accepted the ema when the fox pushed its snout forward like an offering.
Please help Grandpa's legs get better. — Keita
Stuck to the back of the plaque was an unusually-shaped leaf, something he did not offhand recall having seen around town amongst the plant life.
An old man entered the shrine area, causing the fox to dash for cover, and approached Tsuna, his gait slow and his back hunched.
"Oh, not every day you see young'uns like you around here," the old man said. "Nobody lives here at this shrine."
'Why would they?' he wondered.
"I come by to tidy things up once in a while, but lately my legs are so achy, I just can't do it. I've been tryin' to get this place up to snuff, but there just isn't enough money to go around. Well, I s'pose I'll pay my respects. If my legs don't heal, I can't maintain the shrine. That, and… I won't be able to visit Keita anymore. He's my grandson, y'know."
Tsuna blinked at the amount of information he was being given from a complete stranger, who apparently did not require any kind of verbal response. The man must be … lonely?
The old man started to move forward, but stopped and did a comically slow double-take. "Hmm!? What's that you got in your hand there? Could it be…!?"
Tsuna held the leaf up so the man could see more clearly.
"That leaf! That's it! Way back when, my grandmother always used to say a leaf shaped like that was the best kind of ache remedy out there! Ah, what memories! But how'd you get your hands on this!? I didn't think you could find those in the mountains anymore. P-please, young man! Can I trouble you to spare me that leaf!?"
Clearly the man had been spending too much time around excitable youths to devolve into that kind of speech. Tsuna smiled serenely and offered the leaf up. Perhaps later he would review his memory of the event to see if one of his family could pinpoint what the thing was.
The old man carefully took the leaf and brought it closer to his face so he could squint at it. "Ooh, this is it, this is it… Now let's see here…"
Tsuna averted his gaze from the old man's rather impolite actions in placing said leaf onto his leg.
"Oooh, I can feel it! It's working!" the old man said, his expression one of muted bliss. "Amazing! The pain I've been feeling for who knows how long—it just up and vanished! Why, I feel better than I have in years! You really helped me out, young man! I'm so grateful! Now I can go visit my grandson! I'd better pay thanks to the shrine for bringing us together like this!"
The old man headed to the offertory box with far more spring in his step, dropped in some coins, and trundled off happily.
'So, that happened.'
The fox darted back into view looking pleased, then dashed over to the offertory box to peer inside briefly. It came back to stand in front of Tsuna, allowing him to see just how battle-scarred the creature was. It had somehow gained a mouthful of leaves in the time it took for it to turn away from the box and come to stand in front of Tsuna, and pushed its snout forward again.
Tsuna accepted them and the fox yipped again, somehow conveying a sense of mirth. Given the way the fox kept looking between the leaves he was holding and the offertory box, Tsuna started to get the impression the creature was offering a service of some kind in exchange for help with the shrine.
The fox yipped again, and then—
Thou art I, and I am thou. Thou hast established a new bond. It brings thee closer to the truth. Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hermit Arcana.
—flashed up in front of him.
Not being entirely clear on the details yet, but willing to go with it, Tsuna nodded, made his own offering, then left after a parting wave to the creature. He stepped over to the Rokudo house the moment he safely could.
"Why do you look like you just had another strange experience?" Chikusa said.
Tsuna rolled his eyes and displayed his "magic" leaves. "Get a pensieve, please? I'd like to share." While that was being handled he fetched a small box out of storage to put the leaves in, to keep them safe, and set it on the table for the time being.
Chikusa produced a pensieve as the rest of his family gathered around, Tsuna dropped a memory strand in, then they all touched the surface.
Back in the real world he was amused to see the WTF faces his family members were sporting.
"Okay, well, Japan," Hayato said finally. "Supernatural creatures, messengers of the gods…? Something."
"Anyone have a clue what species these leaves are?" he asked. "As you heard, the old man said his own grandparent used to get them from the mountains around here. Or do we need to track down a botanist?"
The general consensus was, "Not a clue."
"I will get a good photograph of one and track down a botanist," Xeul volunteered. "I'm not holding out much hope, though, considering these are somewhere in the category of an old home remedy and a supernatural creature was involved."
Chikusa had a thoughtful look on his face. "Just holding one seems to do nothing, so perhaps intent is necessary for their healing factor to kick in? Intent and belief?"
"Considering that many things are a matter of intent and belief, I would say yes," Daemon replied.
Tsuna spent the rest of the day playing Cluedo with his family, then headed home to prepare dinner.
— — —
"The prime suspect in yesterday's ATM robbery in northern Inaba was arrested earlier today," the news announcer informed them. "The alleged thief is Sushin Pumena, a twenty-six year old former employee of the company which reported the stolen vehicle. According to the police investigation, Sushin Pumena was…"
The front door opening diverted their attention away from the TV. Dojima walked in, his body language radiating weariness. "I'm home," he announced, then sighed. "How many days is he gonna call in sick? These rookies lately sure are—"
"Welcome back!" Nanako interrupted.
Dojima looked at his daughter and sighed almost imperceptibly. "Nanako… I'm sorry I broke my promise again."
"Oh, um, onii-san and his friends played with me instead."
"I see…" Dojima gave him an opaque look. "Thanks."
"Oh, that's a Junes bag," Nanako said excitedly. "What's in it?"
Dojima laughed tiredly. "Good eye. Well, today is Children's Day… So I brought you a present," he said as he draped his jacket over the sofa and folded himself down to a seat at the table.
Nanako cheered and eagerly poked into the bag, hauling out the contents. "Oooh, a t-shirt."
Dojima laughed again. "It took me a while to decide what to get you. You like it?" The look he was giving Nanako did speak of a deep fondness for the child.
"Oh, wow, there's a picture on the front! That's so funny!" Nanako laughed.
His uncle reached into the bag and pulled out something else, then offered it to Tsuna. It was a swimsuit with an odd design on it. "I got you something, too. Not that you're still a child or anything, but fair's fair."
Tsuna smiled as he accepted it, torn between thinking the man was trying, or that it was simply him paying lip service to conventions. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it. I thought you might need one soon. Well, then… Let's eat."
Tsuna nodded and got up long enough to prepare a plate for his uncle, then resumed his place at the table.
— — —
06 May 2011, Friday
After school (and having listened to any number of students whining about upcoming exams) he stopped by the shrine again. The fox did not appear until his fellow victims of school stepped out of the area, which he found odd, but when it did it had another ema in its mouth.
The handwriting was rounded, which seemed to be popular with girls around his age.
I want things to go well with the person I like!
He looked at the fox, who kept glancing back at the offertory box. "You believe if the wishes left here keep getting fulfilled, more people will make offerings and the shrine will benefit?"
The fox yipped and tossed its head.
Tsuna hummed and nodded. "I'll see what I can do." He met back up with his family, at something of a loss after having explained the situation, then let his intuition guide him after Mukuro suggested it, having said, "I don't understand how anyone could reasonably expect to handle this without something like that. The average person isn't going to ask every person in town about it, after all. They'd be more likely to give it up as hopeless from the start."
His family lounged outside the school when he went in. Almost immediately he noticed a girl lingering near the shoe boxes, her hand just moving away from one of them. She spotted him and let out a high-pitched sound of surprise, then looked back at the shoe boxes.
"Oh, I must have made a mistake! This is your shoe box!" She blushed and scurried away, but not before Tsuna got a tag on her.
He checked his box and found a note had been slipped in through the vent. It read: Excuse me for writing this to you out of the blue. I held my emotions back all this time because I didn't want to disrupt your studies, but I just had to tell you… I love you!
His window showed that she had been spying from around the corner and watched him read the note. Another blush ensued. "I didn't even have the courage to sign it," she muttered, "and yet a totally random person now knows my secret! Argh! What's the point of trying to be secretive any more!? I've already embarrassed myself this much, I might as well go confess!" She darted off again, so Tsuna stored the window. Presumably he would coincidentally find out more later.
He headed back out to rejoin his friends, collected the rest of his family, and stepped over to Tokyo to visit a cinema with them.
That evening Dojima was already present when he got in, which made him do a double-take. His uncle was seated at the kitchen table reading a newspaper.
"Hey," Dojima said. "How're things? You should be used to life here by now. You bored? Have a seat. We haven't had time to talk like this since you got here, huh?" His uncle looked like a man desperately casting about for a topic to discuss. "Uh, well, how's school?"
He smiled. "It's not much different from before."
"I see… That's good to hear. Your school days will be over before you know it. Make sure you have fun while you can," Dojima said sagely. "What else…? Oh, yeah… How about your friends? Looks like you have plenty of 'em." For whatever reason his uncle scowled. "I'm not saying who you can and can't hang out with, but… You know what I'm talking about, right?"
Tsuna's smile slipped into its serene form. "Are you concerned that my friends from Tokyo…?"
"Huh. So you did notice…" Dojima nodded, more to himself than to Tsuna. "And I'm worried, what with those two deaths recently. I wish I didn't have to consider things like this, but … the killings began around the time you came to town. My job is all about eliminating the random element. I look only at the facts. If you get caught up in my job, then…"
Nanako appeared from the staircase with a frown on her face. "…What's wrong? Onii-san hasn't done anything bad."
"I-I know," Dojima said. "I didn't mean it like that."
"But you're bullying him," she said stubbornly.
"I'm not bullying him. We were just having a little talk. Maybe we should be thinking about dinner."
Nanako face took on a "I know what you're doing" expression before she looked expectantly at Tsuna.
He smiled at her and nodded. "Let's get started, shall we?"
"Sheesh," Dojima muttered. "She's really taking a shine to you."
He politely ignored that as he and Nanako began dinner prep.
It was not until after the meal had been consumed and Nanako went off to play that Dojima said, "Look… Just don't get yourself involved in anything dangerous. As long as you're safe, everything's fine."
'No, everything will not simply be fine.'
Dojima did look genuinely worried for his sake, so it did not surprise him when—
Thou art I, and I am thou. Thou hast established a new bond. It brings thee closer to the truth. Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hierophant Arcana.
—flashed up.
"Things here might be a little different from what you're used to, but this is a good town. Though it's a little dangerous right at the moment… Well, I'm going to make an early night of it for once, get some sleep. 'Night."
Tsuna watched his uncle go in another quandary of twisted and conflicting emotions. He checked to make sure the front door was locked, then headed to his room to flop down onto his futon. He was being unfair with not taking the man on his own merits, starting with a clean slate, but blood family had a nasty habit of fucking him over and that was hard to shove aside in an attempt to see things from an unbiased perspective.
Daemon stepped into the room and tossed up a Bounding Box, then laid down next to him, not saying a word, just letting Tsuna take comfort in his nearness and the love from his chosen family. He could see where his uncle was coming from with the temporal coincidence of their arrival and sudden murders, but he thought that juxtaposition was a lazy way of looking at things. His status as a bastard and his friends being from a major city muddied things, and was also a sign of reflexive bias.
And his uncle was surprised that his own daughter liked Tsuna so much?
He sighed and rolled onto his side, so he could cuddle up to his brother, and was asleep before he knew it.
— — —
07 May 2011, Saturday
"Oh." Love-Note-Girl noticed him as he was swapping his school slippers for shoes and came closer. "Hey, listen. The confession! It worked! I can't believe it! I'm so happy. I'm glad I got his shoe box confused with yours."
"I'm glad things worked out," he said politely, giving her a nod.
"Oh, that's right! I need to give thanks at the Tatsuhime Shrine! My wish came true! I'll make a big offering!" She smiled widely and dashed off.
'Hopefully the fox will be pleased,' he thought as he finished up and left the building with his family.
Daemon cornered him when he walked into the Rokudo house and said, "She's a match. Your mother is also directly related to Giotto."
"Holy fuck," he muttered. "I never stood a chance, not that they would likely ever have found the connection. Right, I'm just going to assume this is always true when I'm shunted into my own life, unless I somehow come through looking vastly different." He threw up his hands and headed for the kitchen.
— — —
08 May 2011, Sunday
He was barely awake and functioning when his phone rang. He eyed it suspiciously, wondering if Margaret was going to tell him all about things he already knew again, but when answered it turned out to be Chie, who had somehow gotten her hands on his number. That in and of itself was suspicious, but he shrugged it off.
"Um, hello? This is Chie," she said. "I was wondering… Would you mind hanging out with me today? I need to get my mind off studying for a while and do something active."
"Sure," he said, and made plans to meet up at the little park area next to the river at the flood plain, after the shopping was done, then headed downstairs to make sure Nanako got breakfast.
Chie looked pleased with the spot once they were both there. "This looks like a good spot," she said. "Y'know, for my kicking skills. I tried practicing at home, but my parents yelled at me for putting a hole in the shoji."
He considered finding a spot and setting it up to be more training friendly, and then "stumbling" over it so he could show the girl, but that would mean she would be vulnerable if she went on her own to an out of the way place, so he mentally shunted the idea to the bin.
By the time they were done he had managed another rank with the girl, and she left in a much better, more relaxed mood.
— — —
12 May 2011, Thursday
The week had gone by in a haze of exams, which had most students looking harried and stressed out. When the last one was finished and the teacher had exited, Yosuke stretched mightily and said, "It's finally over. What a load off! I bet every student feels like this after exams are over."
"Hey, not so loud," Chie protested. "So, what did you write for number seven? The one about what 'that' referred to in the sentence."
"Um… I put 'her sorrowful expression'," Yukiko replied, looking distracted as usual.
"Oh, crap! I put 'the rice cakes on top of the table' for that."
"Rice cakes?" Yukiko's expression went from distracted to confused. "Wait, was that what the story was about?"
Chie grimaced. "All right, I'm giving up on composition. I'm gonna bet it all on geography! What did you choose for the tallest mountain in the solar system?"
"Olympus mons," Mukuro said smoothly.
Chie looked crestfallen. "Oh, seriously? I chose the wrong one…"
"Oh, I put that one, too," Yukiko said.
Yosuke looked upset. "You, too!? Then it's probably the right answer." He sighed. "Boy, I can't wait for our grades to be posted out in the hall where everyone can see 'em. Geez."
After a moment of silence Tsuna started packing up his things, but moved more slowly when nearby gossip filtered in.
"Hey, did you hear? A TV station's filming here in town."
"They're probably just doing more stuff about that hanging corpse case."
"No, it's not that," the first voice said. "You know the highway nearby? They're gonna cover those biker gangs that hang around here. A friend of mine goes to the biker meetings sometimes. I heard it from him."
"Dude, what're you doing hanging out with a guy in a biker gang? Well, anyway… What do you think about tomorrow's group blind date? We were gonna meet outside, but… It's gonna rain soon, right? Won't it be better to play it safe tomorrow, too?"
Tsuna lost interest and sped up his movements.
"Biker gang?" Yukiko said haltingly.
"Oh, yeah," Chie said. "They raise a ruckus from time to time. I guess your place is too far away to hear 'em."
"We live right by the road," Yosuke volunteered. "The noise can drive you inane."
"I hear some guys at this school are part it of it, too," Chie said.
Yosuke nodded. "Yeah, I know there are some rumors about a first-year student here who's a total hellraiser. One of the guys working at Junes said the dude's been a legend ever since middle school. Although… Was he in a biker gang…?"
"D-did you say he was a legend?" Yukiko asked.
"Uh, it's not what you think, Yukiko," Chie replied hastily.
He left school feeling disgruntled that rain was predicted, then annoyed when he spotted Lal Mirch flitting through town like a tourist. He snorted softly and tilted his head that way, which caused Sin to groan softly.
"Maybe she'll have the tact to stick to the fringes," Sin muttered. "She's usually got a handle on that whole common sense thing and lack of dramatics while on the job."
"Might as well let her get a look," he said. "Let's head to Junes so she can try to blend in with the crowd. So long as no one gets a good look at her face, she might be just fine." A raised eyebrow at Mukuro got a nod back, so he expected one of his Mists to end up poking around in her head again soonish.
— — —
13 May 2011, Friday
He stopped by the shrine after being reminded of that girl's wish by seeing her in the hallways. The fox had the ema in its mouth and seemed to be inquiring about it.
"She confessed to the guy, and it went well. She said she was going to make an offering, but she might have been delayed because of exams."
The fox made the ema disappear and howled … happily, which caused the Hermit Social Link to rank up to two.
Before he left he dropped another offering in the box, though he expected people having their wishes come true would do far more in the end than a simple donation of coin on his part.
— — —
Dojima was already home by the time he got there. His uncle was seated on the sofa, engrossed in a newspaper, while Nanako watched television, though she jumped up as soon as she saw him so she could help him with dinner.
Tsuna was near-instantly in a bitchy mood that evening because once again it was clear the adult of the household blithely assumed his underage dependents would take care of making sure there was food served, rather than taking the occasional stab at providing a meal himself.
'Oh well,' he thought. 'At least his deficiencies mean I don't have to suffer through store-bought stuff or inept cooking.'
"Young men recklessly riding their motorcycles, disturbing the peace of a quiet rural town," was the topic of that night's newscast. "Our special report took a turn for the violent when one of the apparent leaders attacked the camera crew!"
The picture switched from a view of the announcer to footage of the incident. Shown was a blurry-faced young man with bleached hair, garbed in a Yasogami High uniform. "The hell are you punks doing here!?"
Dojima's newspaper went down so he could see the screen. "That voice…"
"This ain't a show! Get bent!"
"Still up to the same old tricks?" Dojima said, sighing.
Nanako looked over her shoulder to ask, "Do you know him?"
"Mm, well, I know him through work. His name's Tatsumi Kanji, and he's quite a handful. He's been crushing biker gangs in the area since middle school. But, I thought he got into high school and started attending class…"
Tsuna spared a look of disbelief for his uncle. Was he so far away he couldn't properly see the uniform? The same one his own nephew wore six days a week?
"Huh," said Nanako.
Dojima shook his head. "Man, that blur sure is pointless. It's completely obvious who that is. The guy's family runs a historic textile shop. I think what happened was, he crushed the local biker gangs all by himself because the noise kept his mother up at night. It's a nice gesture, but he's way too violent. At this rate, his mother'll have to apologize again."
Nanako evidently got bored, as she turned back to the television. "Oh, the weather report's showing on the bottom. It's going to rain tomorrow. I'll make sure to hang the laundry inside the house."
'At least the news people are consistent in their idiocy,' he thought. It wasn't until he was up in his room that a thought hit him, so he opened his laptop, then slid a window into place so he could mention it to his family.
"What's up?" Ken said, being the first one to notice him.
"I had an idea," he replied in Spanish, "and I wanted to see if it was crazy or not."
Ken nodded and called for the others.
"You watch the news this evening?"
They nodded. "It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so we need to have someone keep an eye out at midnight," Mukuro said, then visibly paused. "Oh."
"Yeah, oh. You see it, too?"
"Yes, darling, I think I do. The boy on the news. You think he's next."
Tsuna nodded. "Uh-huh. The others were also featured on the news. One because of the scandal, one because she found the body, and one because the scandal stayed at her inn. And now this boy."
"We'll find out tomorrow night, I expect," Sin said. "Though not necessarily why it happens. I mean, are the Shadows somehow tuning in…"
"It was posited that it's kinda like the collective unconscious over there," Hayato said. "That Shadows are pieces of humanity, or human emotion. And we enter through a TV. Why wouldn't they be tapped in?"
"Mm, people are seeing the broadcasts," Daemon said slowly, "and it resonates? On the other side? That place is a kind of reflection, or dark side."
"I could see that," Sin said, "but not who. Someone is seeing these broadcasts, too, and using them to determine, uh, who's on the mind of the people and who next to victimize."
"We can't very well parse the minds of every citizen of Inaba," Daemon said with a pained look. "I mean, we could, but that would take ages to do."
Tsuna shook his head. "I'd rather you didn't. That's just too much, and too tiring. Another round or two and something else might come clear as a hint. However, tomorrow, while we're in school, will you guys do some research on this Tatsumi Kanji kid? Dojima says his family has a textiles place in town, and he's known for running off gangs who make too much noise and keep his poor mother awake at night. He's a student at Yasogami, but I think he's a first year from the way my uncle was talking."
"Hanamura mentioned a first year yesterday," Mukuro said. "Might be the same kid."
"Right," Daemon said. "We'll do some recon tomorrow, find out more about the boy and his family."
"We should probably check any equipment, and prepare to stock up on healing items…"
"We'll pick up extra food," Xeul said. "Do some of the prep work for you."
Tsuna beamed. His family was awesome!
— — —
14 May 2011, Saturday
The heavens had unleashed by the time he woke up. He only spared it a brief look before he got dressed and stepped over so he could make bentos and breakfast at the Rokudo house. Once his family was taken care of he turned back and stepped to the Dojima house and finished up, then went downstairs to have breakfast with his cousin.
School was boring—of course—and they spent the afternoon doing maintenance on their gear while his twins debriefed them on what they'd dug up.
"Tatsumi's mother has a textiles place in the shopping district. Tons of fabrics, they do some custom work, that sorta thing. The Amagi Inn does a fair amount of business with them, has for years," Daemon reported.
"One interesting note was a scarf we noticed there. It was a twin to the one you guys saw in the TV World hotel room, the noose. It was part of a special order made by Yamano Mayumi. She wanted matching scarves, but changed her mind and only purchased the women's scarf. Odds are she intended the other one for Namatame Taro."
Tsuna nodded as he went over his trench knives, making certain the knuckle part of them hadn't sustained any nicks that would bite into his skin, and that the blades were keen. A part of him was saying—his intuition perhaps?—that he was missing something very obvious, that they all were, but it was like there was a fog in place, obscuring his sight, the same kind as from that one dream he'd had.
"We'll poke around a bit more," Daemon said, "but until we know for sure he's going to be the one…"
"Well, if we get the same kind of clear picture on the Midnight Channel as we did with Amagi-san, we know it's a go. Unless there's something weird going on that day at school, we could just send in clones to take our places, and get our last minute prep done, go in that day, rather than waiting until after school."
Hayato, Sin, and Mukuro immediately nodded.
He laughed merrily and put his weapons away.
— — —
When midnight rolled around it was still raining. Tsuna swung the whiteboard out of the way and waited. Sure enough, a figure appeared. Static and yellow fog obscured quite a bit, but the figure's hair and posture were very similar to the Tatsumi kid's.
He sighed and went to bed.
— — —
15 May 2011, Sunday
The figure appeared again that night. Unlike the night previous, which had been a still image, this one had motion, and it was even more clear who it represented, right down to the symbol on the kid's shirt. The hair was light enough, the uniform jacket was slung off the figure's shoulders, and his posture and the way he moved matched what little Tsuna had seen during that news report.
The image still wasn't clear enough to suggest the boy had been thrown in.
— — —
16 May 2011, Monday
They were walking through the shopping district doing some casual reconnaissance when they noticed someone about their age speaking with Tatsumi's mother. The shop windows made it a little hard to see clearly, but figure was wearing a dapper outfit and had on a cap, all in blue.
Tatsumi's mother suddenly looked toward the back of the shop, at which point the figure in blue bowed and headed out. At around the same time, Tatsumi came strolling down the street toward the shop, and the figure in blue headed straight to him.
Tsuna's brow went up. Let's make ourselves uninteresting, shall we? he wrote, before simultaneously opening a window on the two and turning so he appeared to be checking out a handy vending machine.
"T-tomorrow's fine with me," Tatsumi stuttered.
"Will you be attending school?" the stranger asked. The voice was curiously androgynous.
"Huh? S-school? 'Course I'm going to school."
"Then I'll meet you at the gates after school tomorrow," Blue said, then strode away.
Tatsumi just stared, then muttered, "D-did he—was he interested…? He's a guy … and I'm a guy… But… He's interested in me…?" The kid's cheeks pinked in embarrassment before he abruptly turned and hastened off to his mother's shop.
"I have a window on Blue," Mukuro murmured.
"Awesome," he said. "There was something off about them, so naturally I'm curious." He closed his window, because Tatsumi wasn't doing anything interesting. "Eh, fuck it. I'm gonna go play with Nanako-chan. Catch me up this evening? Or just flash up a message, whichever."
"You got it, Heul darling."
Later on, while he was making dinner, he saw—
Blue is female, crossdressing. Known as the Detective Prince. Will dig deeper.
—flash up in front of him, and subtly nodded, then continued on with his task.
— — —
17 May 2011, Tuesday
Shirogane Naoto, female, nicknamed Detective Prince. Orphaned when quite young and raised by her grandfather. Presents as male so as to be taken more seriously by the police, and actively attempts to solve cases, following in the footsteps of her grandfather and parents, who were all skilled detectives. Is annoyed at being treated like a child, despite being one. She's fifteen.
Tsuna's mouth quirked. So she's got a chip on her shoulder the size of Canada.
Crazy-Egyptian was waving her was-septre around up front and rabbiting on about something or other, not that Tsuna could much be bothered to pay attention.
We can play detective after school and stalk them, he added.
His family could be heard chuckling softly at that.
Once the final bell rang they swiftly departed the classroom, not giving the usual three (though it was more like two) a chance to delay them with inane chatter, and stationed themselves near the front gates.
Shirogane arrived at a brisk walk right about the time that Tatsumi exited the school, and they met right outside the gates.
"I didn't keep you waiting, I hope?" Shirogane said.
"N-no, I just got here, too…"
"Let us be off, then."
The two of them departed and, for whatever reason, walked in silence until they hit the Samegawa Flood Plain. Perhaps they were headed toward Tatsumi's mother's shop? Shirogane finally deigned to talk, but most of what came out were seemingly innocent questions, which all centered on but edged around the recent deaths, and they had the effect of confusing the hell out of the boy.
Tatsumi was clearly not the brightest bulb in the package.
They parted not far from the shopping district and Tatsumi continued on to his mother's shop, whereas Shirogane retreated to nose around town some more. The very fact that she was paying so much attention to Tatsumi was interesting and meant she had likely picked up on the connection between the deaths (or disappearance) of those featured on area news reports.
Either way, Tatsumi was still in the real world.
At midnight, however, he realized that at some point in the intervening hours, the kid had been taken, because he showed up live and in colour on the Midnight Channel. He couldn't quite figure out what the building was being shown, mostly because Tatsumi rose up to block most of it off.
The boy was lacking any upper clothing, which was one possible hint. That he was blushing was another.
"Hel-lo, dear viewers. It's time for 'Bad, Bad Bathhouse'!" Tatsumi said in a rather swishy-sounding voice. "Tonight I'll introduce a superb site for those searching for sublime love that surpasses the separation of the sexes!"
The camera pulled back to show that the kid was dressed only in a fundoshi.
"I'm your host, Tatsumi Kanji, serving you this scandalously special sneak-in report! Goodness gracious, just imagine the things that might happen to me there! Ooo~ooh! Well, then, let's get this show on the road! Tootaloo!" He turned and did a weird version of a campy sneak-walk and exited through a set of shoji at the back.
Tsuna blinked a few times, but it wasn't like he hadn't seen this possibility coming. Tatsumi had been flustered by the very idea of a boy his age being "interested" in him, so he was probably suffering from severe confusion over his sexuality.
He pursed his lips as a window popped open and his family were all wearing similarly quirky expressions.
"So, that happened," Sin said dryly.
Tsuna exhaled and nodded. "Ought to be an interesting dungeon. I will be over as soon as Nanako is on her way in the morning. We can send off the clones, eat, get prepped, and head in."
— — —
18 May 2011, Wednesday
Somewhere during prep there was a rank up message, but Tsuna paid it little attention. He was much too busy preparing bentos and other things to fuel their journey. They were just about ready to enter the TV when Tsuna felt something impinge on his awareness and looked to the side.
The fox was sitting there quietly.
"You coming along?" he asked.
The fox yipped and stood up.
"All right, then. Let's go."
After picking themselves up Tsuna noticed Teddie standing there, facing away from them, with his hands behind his back, though his arms were so short he was unable to clasp his hands together. As a result, the bear looked more like someone bracing an aching back.
"Hello, Teddie," he said. "Has someone been thrown in?"
"Oh… Yep. I think someone's here."
Tsuna cocked at brow at the dull tone. "You think?"
"I can smell something, but I can't tell where it's coming from."
'Ah,' he thought, 'he's embarrassed.'
"Maybe if I knew more about him?" Teddie said quietly, almost sotto voce.
"Easily flustered, loud, prone to violence, has a complex," Mukuro listed off, "wanders off from time to time, sometimes for several days, then returns to his mother…"
Teddie's arms dropped and he inhaled deeply. "Hrm. Oh, I think I found something! It feels like the person who got thrown in! Follow me!" He skittered off.
Shortly thereafter they were at a bathhouse, and Tsuna finally got a good look at the area where Shadow Kanji had been. It was a shower and locker area, and the air was saturated and steamy.
"C'mere, pussycat," came Tatsumi's voice. "Oh… Such well defined pecs… There's no need to be scared… Now, just relax…"
Teddie was far too innocent to understand the implications of what he was hearing, or even the location. And for a bathhouse, there was precious little in the way of bathing pools, and far too many sets of stepped seating, such as in a sauna.
They found Shadow Kanji on Floor 3. He was facing away, clothed only in a fundoshi.
Teddie flailed his arms on seeing the Shadow and made sure to stay at the back of the group.
"Oooooh, my my!" Shadow Kanji suddenly said. "Thank you for your undivided attention! At last, I've penetrated the facility! These images are coming to you live from inside this steamy paradise! But I've yet to have any charming encounters. Could this hot fog be the cause? It's like steam rising from sweat! Mmm, my body's tingling with excitement!"
A second later an overlay popped up in bright colours, with pink hearts and red roses to accompany the words:
Men Only! Tatsumi Kanji in Rosy Steam Paradise
"That elusive thing I truly yearn for… Will I finally find it here?" Shadow Kanji giggled like a school girl, which was mildly disturbing. "Well, then, onward and deeper to reach further realms of romance! Let's get going, damn it!"
Shadow Kanji vanished.
"That was his other self," Teddie helpfully informed them in his role of Captain Obvious. "It's trying to reveal his hidden feelings. It seems much worse than that time with the girl's Shadow. At this rate, it might end up bear naked."
Tsuna rolled his eyes. "Are we good to keep going, or…?"
"Health-wise, yes," Sin said, "but I'm lagging a bit on SP. The Shadows here are a definite step up from the castle."
"What about the fox?" Ken asked. "What do those leaves it sells actually do besides cure one old man's aches?"
A look went around, then Ken huffed and took one from the handful Tsuna had already received and pressed it to his chest. "Huh," he said a second later. "Seems to help with SP."
"All right," he said, "let's take a short break to have something to eat and replenish what we can, then press on. If we get too low, or the Shadows take a sharp jump in difficulty in the next couple of floors, we can teleport out, buy more leaves… Either way, we should drop a chunk of change on more on the way out. The food we brought is very helpful, but I'd rather not risk someone getting overstuffed."
Everyone nodded and took a seat. Food was broken out so they could refresh themselves, though their enjoyment was partly muted due to the extreme mugginess of the bathhouse setting. They continued on afterward and found a mid-boss on Floor 7, a cheerful chap going by the moniker Daring Gigas.
He was nasty, because while he only used physical attacks, he took the time to triple buff himself prior to lashing out, which meant those attacks packed a serious wallop. The moment the buffs wore off Gigas would repeat his triple whammy before going back to attacking.
Thankfully, Tsuna had a Persona which resisted physical, they were well stocked on muffins and onigiri, and all of them were stubborn fuckers who refused to lose a fight. Besides, Tsuna's intuition hadn't been fussed over the idea of them taking the thing on.
The upside to being stuck, literally, in turn-based combat was that they could debate options for as long as necessary between turns, including impromptu games of jan-ken to decide an issue.
Daring Gigas finally went down and left behind the helpfully labeled Bathhouse Key. What it was useful for they would have to wait to find out. The Shadows were definitely getting stronger, and even with his cooking to back them up, that same food did nothing for their increasing weariness. The heat was really draining, and it only got worse the longer they were there.
He cast his eyes over his family members and nodded. "Yeah, we're calling it a day. We have a time cushion, so…"
Traesto was employed to teleport them back to the entrance, and Teddie skittered off in the lead to get them back to the studio.
Tsuna was tired enough that he wanted, badly, to giggle at the silly sounds the bear's feet made, but managed to contain himself.
"We'll be back tomorrow, most likely. If not then, the day after," he told the bear.
Teddie looked happy and sad. "You better!"
Before they exited Tsuna exchanged a bunch of currency for more of those SP-restoring leaves. The price was heinous, but he was hilariously rich, so it didn't much matter in the end. And they could always steal more from the scumbags roaming the planet, or have a few coincidentally lucky runs at various casinos and walk away with boatloads of cash.
It was two o'clock by the time they were back in the normal world, and the times were dutifully marked down with the others. He realized they probably should have gone in on the day before they expected the fog, if only to see if there was any form of time perception fuckery going on.
A check of the latest weather report showed they were good for the next week, so they flopped into various seats to relax for a bit. Not much later the clones entered the house, reported that nothing unusual had happened, and vanished.
Once he stopped feeling so dragged out Tsuna got up and headed into the kitchen to cook a proper meal for his beloved family.
Sin showed up a minute later to assist, as well as say, "Any reason we can't prepare a ton of food and put it all under stasis charms?"
Tsuna's hands paused, then he huffed. "We're idiots, aren't we. We keep forgetting some of the more interesting applications of magic."
"This is a rather different situation," Sin pointed out. "We don't normally have to repeatedly go into combat, and certainly not under such restrictions. You know damn well if we were operating in there with our normal abilities we'd have cleared that castle in no time flat. The bathhouse, too."
"Yeah, well, I'm starting to suspect who the Great Shuffler might be," he grumbled.
Sin's knife paused, then resumed motion. "I'm almost afraid to ask who."
"Kami knows I could be wrong, but I suspect it's a version of Byakuran who succeeded in using the Tri-ni-set to remake his world, then got bored as fuck when it came to actually ruling, and started meddling in other timelines because he basically made himself into a god. I mean, think about it.
"Sure, we're doing good things, offing defects, an additional complication which not so coincidentally gave us a set of non-flame-based powers and was resolved in a way I'm sure would be beyond any normal magical because of their ingrained mindset, and in all of that, in the infinite variety of potential dimensions, where is there a tipping point?
"I think, if it is him, he just likes fucking with us. We're like his favorite TV show or something. He's sitting there watching his version of a window, devouring an endless supply of marshmallows, while his minions do all the work of governing his world. Most people never think far enough ahead to realize that being in charge of something that big means a fuckton of responsibility, and while Byakuran is brilliant, he's also a sugar-addicted nut with the attention span of a gnat at times."
"I'm really kind of hoping you're wrong."
Tsuna shrugged.
— — —
On his way home he detoured to the shrine to see if the fox had anything new, which it did.
I want to clear my mind of snacks. I want to hate them.
As he was passing back through the shopping district a woman who was clearly in a mood snapped, "Don't bother me," at him as he was walking by.
"I'm channeling my mental energy in order to control my urges. I mustn't want snacks… They'll just make me faaaat… Shiroku Store is my enemy… Remember all that dieting and exercise… Do you wanna have to do all that again? Must shun the snacks…"
Then she threw up her hands with a frustrated groan. "Snacks… I want to eat snacks! I wonder if there're any bad-tasting snacks. …Actually, it doesn't have to be bad. Maybe if it were just odd-tasting, I would stop thinking about them…? I want to distance myself from those Shiroku snacks."
She sighed and meandered off, leaving Tsuna to wonder what would constitute an odd-tasting snack.
At home he saw that Dojima was nowhere to be seen, which was both pleasing and annoying, and he dropped his things off in his room before coming back down to start dinner. Nanako appeared out of nowhere to help, her earnest little face paying close attention to what he was teaching her, and they settled in to eat in front of the TV.
Nanako started getting fidgety and shooting him glances, and finally said, "Oh, um… Onii-san…"
"What is it?" he asked gently.
"Okay! Um, well… Are you an only child?"
Tsuna nodded. He didn't think he could count half-siblings he would never have known about under normal circumstances and had never met, and nearly every life he had always been an only child, anyway.
"So you're just like me. Oh, but I have you now, so…" Nanako smiled cheerfully at the idea. "A while ago, Dad told me … that our family won't get bigger… But now I have a big brother!" She beamed, and somehow that counted as another rank for the Justice Arcana.
"Let's talk, onii-san! Um… I wanna hear about your school!"
His school?
— — —
19 May 2011, Thursday
Before the clones were sent off to attend school in their places, he requested they ask around about odd-tasting snacks.
They had breakfast, checked their gear, tossed a bunch of food into storage that was under stasis spells, and headed into the TV.
Teddie skittered on ahead, leading the way to the Steamy Bathhouse, and after a quick discussion on tactics, decided to resume where they'd left off. There were more floors to Tatsumi's "reality" and they were alerted by Teddie that Shadow Kanji was around when they hit Floor 11.
"Status check?" he said.
Everyone responded with various versions of assent to proceed, but he had another issue, one they should have already discussed. "Do we let his Shadow progress to the boss stage, or…?"
Mukuro wrinkled his nose. "This is a game setting. I have every expectation that we'll be prevented from removing the kid from this place until and unless his Shadow is given a beat down."
Ken nodded. "I don't think it matters on the bit where you accept your hidden side, because it didn't matter with the inn girl, but avoiding the big battle? I don't think the Great Shuffler would allow that."
"And if you're worried about his mental state, well…" Hayato trailed off.
"I can play therapist," he said. "Considering what we've been hearing in here, I daresay the kid needs one, or at least an unbiased and nonjudgmental ear. We don't know him from Adam, though. Maybe…"
"Once we get him out of here, we rifle through his brain while we're making his memories of this place all fuzzy," Daemon said, "and figure out a way you could reasonably start talking to him."
"Yeah, that. Because I'm hearing a ton of defensive behavior, so there's clearly something he's wrestling with that's fucking up his head. All right, then. We let it play out, pound the Shadow into the ground, then bail like last time."
"This time, maybe slide him into his own room, rather than the shrine?" Chikusa suggested. "He's been known to disappear for days at a time, so it wouldn't seem too odd to his mother. Make him think he was off as usual? No one needs to know he was kidnapped."
Tsuna nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good. We can always do some of the work in the studio, though it'd probably be better to do it at our house, then shift him into place at the appropriate time. We good to go?"
Everyone nodded, so he pushed open the huge set of double doors blocking the way. Tatsumi Kanji was standing in the revealed room (and which any gamer would immediately recognize as a boss area), staring at his Shadow.
"I-I…"
"Oh, come now," Shadow Kanji said, "enough with the charade. Isn't it awful to deceive people? To deceive yourself? What's so bad about doing what I want to do?"
"That has nothin' to do with it…" Tatsumi said.
"I'm what you really want, aren't I?"
"Hell no!" Tatsumi shot back.
If only they dared to prod the "mind" of a Shadow like this. Having to do rounds of guess which skills to use or avoid every time they encountered something new was a right pain. This setting didn't have a skill like Scan.
"Oh, how I hate girls," Shadow Kanji said in that swishy-voice. "So arrogant and self-centered! They cry if you get angry, they gossip behind your back, they spread nasty lies… They look at me like some … some disgusting thing and say that I'm a weirdo! Laughing at me, all the while!
" 'You like to sew? What a queer! Painting is so not you,' they say. 'But you're a guy… You don't act like a guy… Why aren't you manly…' What does it mean to 'be a guy'? What does it mean to be 'manly'? Girls are so scary."
Tatsumi sounded flustered when he said, "I-I ain't scared of 'em!"
"Men are so much better," Shadow Kanji crooned. "They'd never say those awful, degrading things. Yes, I vastly prefer men."
"Hell with that! What makes you think you can say that shit with my face!?"
"Why, you're me … and I'm you. You do know that, don't you…?"
"No… Nuh-uh! No way!" Tatsumi slashed his hand through the air. "There's no way in hell that you're me!"
Shadow Kanji chuckled darkly. "You're me, and there's no denying it!"
The resulting transformation was just… Tsuna blinked as he took in the new form, absently noting that his family had hauled Tatsumi (who had collapsed backward) out of the line of fire. Facing them was a monstrous form, that of a body builder, split down the center in terms of colouration, with one half black and the other white.
Some representation of dichotomy, perhaps?
Rather than a head, the figure had Shadow Kanji's upper body in that spot, which looked extremely peculiar. Vines wrapped around it's bulging arms and a garland of red roses wrapped around the "neck" like a scarf. Each hand held the symbol of Mars, like massive weapons.
"I am the Shadow, the True Self. I'm just being true to myself. And that's why … I'll get rid of anything in my way!"
Shadow Kanji had two minions with him, one to either side, and they were also bodybuilder sorts that were half-black, half-white.
"This has nothing to do with you guys anymore!" Shadow Kanji said, focusing on Samsara. "Didn't I just say I'm gonna get rid of you!?"
They had initiative, so Tsuna started off with a physical attack to the minion on the left, which the interface helpfully informed him was called Nice Guy.
Once they got into things, they quickly realized that Nice Guy shrugged off elemental attacks and could buff Shadow Kanji, so he had to go, and Shadow Kanji had a physical attack which could hit everyone at once. Tough Guy just liked to plod his way forward to attempt a physical attack, but frequently tripped and knocked himself out for a round.
Roles were quickly decided without discussion, such as debuffing, attacking, and healing.
Once Nice Guy was down, Tough Guy was eliminated, mostly because he could debuff the team. Then they focused on Shadow Kanji, who helpfully let them know when he was about to switch up his attacks with another swishily-voiced bit of nonsense.
Tsuna heaved a sigh when Shadow Kanji was defeated and reverted back to stare at Tatsumi, just like Shadow Yukiko had done.
"Right, let's bail," he said.
They converged, used Traesto, and booked it back to the studio. Teddie was thanked before they exited through the TV stack, and then his Mists got to work fucking with the kid's brains while everyone else flopped down to rest.
"He mentioned sewing and painting," Ken said. "There's a start."
"I could try to intercept him with some of the crafts I've been teaching Nanako-chan how to make," he said. "Maybe go into their shop for fabrics when I know he'll be there, so he can conveniently overhear what I need it all for, see how he reacts. Maybe let him see Sin and I having a tender moment?"
Sin nodded. "A minor display of romantic affection would clue him in that there are people around him who share the same orientation, or at least the one he's confused about. A gentle prod, a little hint or three, maybe ask his advice on something because they deal in textiles…"
"Maybe have a Mist nudge the kid's mother into getting Tatsumi to be the one to help you?" Hayato suggested.
Mukuro looked away from Tatsumi long enough to say, "I can do that and stay out of sight," before turning his attention back to helping the twins mess with the kid's head.
"If I can get him to open up, to know there's someone he can talk to, even if I can't answer his questions for him… People are still likely to give him shit about his hobbies, but if he's confident in what he's doing, I think he'll stop reacting so violently."
"Not that there's anything wrong with kicking in the faces of bullies and bigots," Sin said happily.
Daemon broke away from the Mist huddle to say, "He usually disappears for three or four days at a time, so we should keep him here unconscious through tomorrow, then sneak him into his bed. We've just about got him convinced he was off on one of his usual walkabouts, and that his time inside the TV was just a very weird dream."
"So it's possible we could arrange for him to be at the shop on Sunday, when Sin and I go in, Mukuro as hidden backup, to start nudging."
Daemon nodded.
"Awesome. Yeah, keep the kid an extra day, just to make it more believable."
Daemon nodded again, then returned to helping his twin and Mukuro.
The clones wandered in about then, and the Hayato version stepped up to be the spokesperson as the others faded out. "The usual drivel, but… Hanamura, Satonaka, and Amagi are in a pother over Tatsumi. The way they were talking they're aware he was on the Midnight Channel and are worried for him. Amagi talked to the boy's mother while on a call to them on behalf of the inn, and they're aware that Tatsumi wanders off every so often. Being teenagers and excitable means a lot of nervous energy. And finally, on a side note, Satonaka gave us these after it got out we were inquiring about snacks that don't taste like snacks."
Clone-Hayato handed over three sticks of foil-wrapped gum. "She calls them Meat Gum. We thought they might work for the ema the fox gave you to handle."
Tsuna lifted them to his nose for a cautious sniff and immediately wrinkled his nose. "Girl has weird tastes. She say where she gets them?"
"She found them in Okina City, a little hole-in-the-wall place. Didn't remember the name."
"All right. Awesome."
"One final thing, not that you'll care. You four tied for first place," said Clone-Hayato with a nod, then dispersed.
"Eh, I should have tagged that woman. Hopefully she'll be in the shopping district again, testing her willpower against her weakness for snacks from Shiroku."
"What do you think the Hermit link even does aside from bonuses to fusion?" Sin asked.
Tsuna shrugged and got up. "Maybe a discount on his mysterious leaves? If I have time I'll be back before I need to get dinner started. Otherwise, I'll see you tomorrow. I'd prefer to send in clones for one more day while Tatsumi-san is out cold here."
"Preferably every day that doesn't involve tests or forced activities," Hayato muttered.
"I hear you," he tossed over his shoulder as he departed.
He let his intuition nudge him along and found Snack-Lady quickly enough. She had a keen nose, because when he got near enough she honed in on him.
"What's this smell!?" she cried. "It smells juicy, raw, and yet sweet… Is this the rumored Meat Gum?" She swallowed hard and gave him a pleading look. "Hey, can I have a piece? I want to try it."
He offered one up and watched as she practically snatched it out of his hand, ripped off the foil, and shoved it into her mouth. After a very strange expression indeed and some chewing, she said, "Wh-what is this!? It's like chewy meat! This is also considered a snack!? The world of snacks in indeed vast and infinite. Well, that was certainly different and odd. When I think 'snack' I'll definitely recall this taste now. Thank you. Now I won't linger in front of the Shiroku Store any more."
She started to walk away, but paused. "Oh, yes. I need to visit the shrine. I made a wish to hate snacks there. I'll use my snack money as an offering!"
Tsuna shadowed her to the shrine, but waited outside until she departed, then entered himself. A quick conversation with the fox and an upgrade to rank three of the Hermit link, and he was on his way again.
— — —
20 May 2011, Friday
Tsuna wanted to go back into the TV World to use the bathhouse for training purposes, but he preferred to wait until Tatsumi-san had been safely returned to his mother. Instead, they spent the day talking, playing various games, and basically enjoying time with each other.
That afternoon a clone reported that Chie had asked him to train with her, so he headed out to that little park area by the river to meet up with her, the clone having used the excuse that he wanted to drop his things off first.
"All right!" Chie said. "Today's the day!"
As he wondered for what, he spotted his cousin diverting from the path and coming toward them. Once she got close enough she said, "Huh?"
"Oh, Nanako-chan!" Chie greeted.
"What are you doing?" Nanako asked, still looking confused.
"Hm? Training, of course!"
The confusion remained given the sudden tilt of Nanako's head. "Training… Who are you fighting with?"
Chie hummed. "Myself… I guess?" She laughed a bit uncomfortably. "Just kidding!"
"Wow, cool!" The tilt went away, to be replaced with wide eyes.
"Y-you think?" Chie laughed again, with a little confidence.
Nanako's eyes went very wide. "Oh, a grasshopper!"
Chie started to panic, which was semi-hilarious. "Huh!? N-no way! Wh-where!?"
Nanako looked up at her and said matter-of-factly, "It just landed on your back."
Chie flipped out and started flailing. "Ahhh! Get it off! Get it off me!"
His cousin shared a look with him, then calmly reached out to remove the poor creature and set it in the grass. "…You don't like grasshoppers?"
Chie shuddered and shook her head. "I'm no good with anything with thin, jointed legs! Or anything creepy and squirmy! Ack, now I can't get 'em out of my mind! I can't stand those things!"
"But they're cute…"
Chie stared at his cousin, then smiled. "…You're like Yukiko. Oh, see, 'cause Yukiko's fine around bugs. But me, I totally lose it… Kinda funny, huh?"
"Everyone has fears," he said. "Everyone."
"I-I guess so…" Chie didn't seem very certain of that.
"A lot of kids in my class don't like bugs. It's not just you. Don't worry!" Nanako said supportively.
Chie did a double-take. "Nanako-chan… Ooh, you don't know how happy that makes me. Thanks! C'mon, you wanna train, too?"
Nanako beamed. "Okay!"
"Let's start with form. I'll teach you a kata…"
Tsuna drifted back and sat down on the nearby bench, content to supervise and, when it started to get toward five o'clock, he broke up their fun so he could get his cousin home safely. He wasn't the least bit surprised when all that somehow netted him another rank for the Chariot Arcana.
Later that night, after Nanako was safely tucked away in bed and a Bounding Box had been temporarily anchored around his bedroom (mostly so that Dojima wouldn't check in on him), he stepped over to the Rokudo house.
They all became little ninjas (minus the sneaking around in the shadows part) and stepped over to the kid's bedroom. Tsuna tossed up a temporary Bounding Box, Daemon, Ken, and Chikusa got Tatsumi dressed for bed and settled on his futon, and then they all stepped back out.