Chapter Twenty
(At one o'clock in overnight)
King (Xanxus): I feel like something happened to you.
King (Xanxus): What is it?
Baby King (Tsuna): Do you have some 'Tsuna has a problem' radar now? You're awfully accurate these days.
King (Xanxus): Just say it, Trash.
King (Xanxus): You should be thankful I'm asking.
- Baby King is typing... -
Baby King (Tsuna): Fine.
Baby King (Tsuna): Karma and I had a confrontation three hours ago.
King (Xanxus): WHY?
Baby King (Tsuna): School stuffs.
Baby King (Tsuna): Asano-san asked me in front of the student body to come back to the main building.
Baby King (Tsuna): I declined.
King (Xanxus): Then what's that red devil bitching about?
Baby King (Tsuna): He got angry with the fact that I didn't tell him Asano and I have a somewhat close relationship.
Baby King (Tsuna): Which I didn't see relevant, because we aren't.
Baby King (Tsuna): Asano has known my academic knowledge, that's why he pesters me.
King (Xanxus): That's not irrelevant, Trash.
King (Xanxus): He deserves to know that you have some kind of connection because you're friends.
Baby King (Tsuna): So it's my fault.
King (Xanxus): No.
King (Xanxus): It's not your fault.
- King is typing... -
- King is calling... -
(Four hours earlier)
Tsuna put the last of the large carton milk on the fridge before standing up to restock the medium ones. He arranged them by flavor, by date, and by brand. He hummed along the song playing in the convenient store as his hands work on their own.
He was about to close the fridge after restocking the small cartons of milk when the store's door opened with a jingle of the bells. He turned there to see Karma coming in. His brows furrowed before his eyes darted to the clock. It was thirty minutes after ten. Usually, he kicks out the redhead by ten. But that night, Karma didn't show up in the restaurant nor joined him early in the store. Which begs the question why is the redhead there.
"Karma." He called as he picked up the empty boxes. "I just restocked the milk, if you want some."
The redhead gazed at him for a second before nodding. "Sure."
"Put it on the counter. I'll just set these boxes in the storage." He said while collecting the said containers.
"Got it."
He tried to feel the redhead's mood while doing his work. His intuition didn't help much, but did ask him to be careful and keep calm.
"Asano didn't come here?"
Tsuna paused from arranging the boxes before he continued. At that moment, he realized the reason why the redhead came late. "He didn't, and haven't gone here to buy his usual things."
"Hm..." The other hummed. "You seem to know his items well."
"He buys the same things once or twice a week." He answered calmly as he went out of the storage room. He eyed the single carton of milk on the counter. He doesn't feel right on this. It feels like a confrontation.
"He sure was confident on asking you."
Tsuna contemplated of how is he going to reply to that while getting some biscuits for his friend. "He had been doing it even before I got transferred to Class E." He replied truthfully. Well, it doesn't hurt to be honest.
"He does?"
"Hm." He answered as he checked them out. He pulled out his wallet to pay for the biscuit before laying his hand. "Payment for the milk."
"Have you been close?" Karma asked while handing out a hundred yen. "The way you talked this morning felt like you have been."
He tried not to sigh aloud. "No."
"Why didn't you tell me though?"
Tsuna sighed aloud. "I thought it was irrelevant because Asano-san is just a customer and a schoolmate."
"But I think it is."
"Karma, please get straight to the point."
"I wanted to know if you have been in contact with him since then. You seem close. You even teased him that you rarely does to me back then."
"Now and then are different, Karma."
"This is what's wrong with you, Tsuna." Karma said harshly, brows furrowing as his whole face colors red a little. "You think everything is not important unless they become significant to you. I don't even know how to deal with it sometimes. I've been with you since our last grade in elementary, stalked you to know what kind of person you are, what you like doing and tried to talk to you, but you never accepted my advance to settle a friendship with you. It's like I just became someone important because you think I am important."
Tsuna stared at the redhead with wide eyes.
"I thought I knew you, Tsuna. I thought I know everything about you because that seems to be the case. But with this? I don't know anymore."
The brunet watched the teen take his bag of purchase and walk out of the store in quick pace. Tsuna just stood there for minutes before he sighed and dropped himself on his stool. His mind swirled to analyze and rationalize what happened, what Karma meant with his statements and what they were arguing about.
For some reason, he felt like he did something wrong yet he didn't think he was wrong about it.
Karma looked around while listening to Nagisa. They're at the pier, waiting for the boat that will take them to Okinawa. The class is already assembled and they're just going over their plan to assassinate Koro-sensei for the final time. The said teacher had not yet arrived. And for some reason, a certain brunet is not within sight too.
The redhead shook his head mentally and nodded at Nagisa who turned to Sugino to answer a question. It has been a week since he walked out on Tsuna. The brunet, like how Karma had figured, didn't contact him nor even put an input in their group chat in LINE, except for that one time. No one even tried asking about the brunet's whereabouts the past days. It's like Tsuna didn't exist among them at all.
Did he excuse himself to not be part of the vacation? Or did something happen to him?
"Sawada-kun!"
His head turned to see Fuwa and Kanzaki running towards Tsuna who appeared. The brunet looked like he just woke up with how messy his hair, but looked alive and alert. Also panicked as if he rushed and ran there to the point that he's visibly panting and winded. Gold eyes scanned the brunet for anything and noticed the lack of baggage. His brows furrowed a little from the indication.
Did Tsuna forget his bag and rush there?
"You don't have a bag?" Fuwa asked, blinking at how empty the brunet's hands were.
"Ah." Tsuna uttered before looking at his hands and blinked. "No. I forgot to pack." Then he sighed as if he gives up. "Yeah. I forgot."
"What?!" Some of them exclaimed.
"It's fine. I'll just buy my clothes there. It's a resort. They'll have cheap souvenirs displayed." Then he sighed. "I really thought..."
"We won't leave you behind, Sawada." Isogai assured while patting Tsuna's shoulder.
"A-Ah. Thanks."
"Aren't you going to check on him too?" He turned to Nagisa who asked him that.
He shook his head, glancing at Tsuna who got roped up with Okajima and Mimura's discussion. "He'll be fine."
He didn't see Nagisa's imploring eyes head-on. He did watch Tsuna at the corner of his eyes, getting dragged to anyone who wanted him to listen. The brunet was even pulled by Irina-sensei to listen to her about her plans. They boarded the ship when Koro-sensei arrived with his own pack of things.
Like they planned, group one is to distract Koro-sensei while the other group prepares by the sideline. After another overview, some started to enjoy the view for themselves. Karma sat by the sides too, looking at the view when he noticed Tsuna walking out of the deck and inside the cabin. He stood up to follow and lurk. He thinks there's something wrong.
For the past months he has been with Tsuna, he thought of the latter as someone who is always ready. He knows what he needed to pack even before the day started. When he moves unusually, it always means there's something amiss. Like something will happen and they needed to be ready because it will be very dangerous if they don't. So forgetting to pack his things spells big trouble for them.
"Excuse me." Tsuna softly said to a crew who was stationed inside the cabin.
"Ah. Yes?" The crew replied equally polite.
"Do you have a medicine kit here? I'd like to get some aspirin for my headache."
"Are you motion sick?" The crew asked while moving to the cabinets.
"No. That would be my teacher."
The crew took a bottle of aspirin from a medic kit and handed it over. "Here."
Karma watched as the brunet opened up the bottle, took two tablets then put them in his mouth to swallow dry. He felt his heart squeeze at the indication that the brunet was so used with that kind of medic treatment.
"It must be that painful if you took two." The crew pointed out.
"Nah. It's two-fifty milligram. Had to take two for effectiveness. Thank you, Taku-san."
"No problem. We have a room inside if you want to lay down. You look like you need some sleep, and it's fine since it will take us five more hours before we reach Okinawa."
"I think I'll be fine here."
The crew nodded and let Tsuna sit by the couch while he put away the kit. It didn't take for the brunet to lean sideways and fall asleep by the rest. Karma walked in, just as the crew pulled a blanket from one of the cabinets. The redhead sat beside his friend and guided the latter's head to lean on his shoulder, just like back in the bullet train. The crew put a blanket on them before going away. The brunet snuggled closer and sighed in content, just like back then.
He suddenly remembered what Tsuna looked like a week ago, when Karma vented on him. He appeared surprised and speechless with how he just stared at the redhead. He remembers how those brown eyes widened as if he didn't expect such confrontation. Well, Karma didn't want it to turn out like a confrontation, but he was so worked up that it was too late for him to realize what he had done.
(He was blushing hard out of embarrassment after he realized what he had done. It was so out of his character.)
In his case, it was just something new. For the first time that day, Karma felt so much jealousy consuming him. The same type he feels back when Terasaka started to take much of Tsuna's time, but more potent. He didn't feel such thing back with Nagisa since they have each other, but on Tsuna's case, it was different. Maybe it's the fact that there are people who know more of Tsuna's personality and habits than he does. That there are people who could put Tsuna's mind at ease, enough to banter with him. Just like Asano.
He gazed at the door when Nagisa came in. The teal-head noted their position before coming over. Although Tsuna and Nagisa don't interact that much, they have this kind of mutual understanding. Maybe because Nagisa saw Ietsuna and acknowledged the fact that the latter and his family abandoned Tsuna to death. But he can't wait for Tsuna to pull Nagisa too. They have their own kind of understanding of each other.
"Did you two have a fight?" Nagisa asked, looming over their sitting figure.
Karma thought of what happened. "Sort of."
Blue eyes darted between them before Nagisa smiled. "You'll be fine. From what I know, Tsuna is reasonable."
Gold eyes gazed at his sleeping companion. "He's the type to cut connections."
"Also the type to treasure the ones he thinks are valuable." Nagisa pointed out. "He did sign up on distracting Koro-sensei, you know. He declined on gunning him down with Hayami and Chiba."
"Did he provide a reason?"
"Nope."
Karma hummed lowly. Tsuna is getting attached to Koro-sensei.
"Anyway, see you at the deck." The teal-head bid.
"Nagisa-"
"Yeah?"
He stared at Nagisa before shaking his head. "Nah. Wake me up once we get near the island."
"Sure." The other smiled before going off.
(It wasn't the right time.)
"Are you okay, Tsuna-kun?" Koro-sensei asked with a small frown. "You seem not well. Is it your headaches? Intuition perhaps?"
Tsuna nodded before taking the aspirin bottle from his pocket, and took a swig from the juice the waiter gave him with two tablets. He eyed the waiter, who started to sweat, after he glanced at the remaining liquid on his glass. "You know, this juice doesn't taste right."
"P-Pardon? I-It was made organically." The waiter answered immediately.
Koro-sensei tensed beside him.
He narrowed his eyes at the sweating man for a second before relaxing his facial muscles. Koro-sensei relaxed too. "Alright. I hope I don't feel stomach ache later due to it. Because I promise you," He leaned in and gave a small smirk. "I won't hesitate bashing your head regardless of the fact that it's the chef who made it, got it?"
"Y-Yes, Sir!" The waiter saluted before running off.
"Tsuna-kun?" Koro-sensei called.
"Just he doesn't feel right." He shrugged before giving his teacher a small smile. "Shall we go and do some gliding with the Group One, Sensei?"
"Aren't you going to join your group too?" Koro-sensei queried as they stood up.
He openly stared at the juice his intuition is telling him not to drink, before he downed it. He had worse. "I want to spend some time with you before they cut off your tentacles."
"Oh Tsuna-kun." The teacher gushed. "Come. Let's go and do activities."
He followed Koro-sensei to the glide renting store where Group One is waiting. He went and flew a glide with his teacher as a guide and played in the air, trying to evade the others' assassination attempt. He can't help his smile whenever his teacher laugh with so much enthusiasm. If he remembers right, the next team they're going to join is group four, who are going to do some dolphin watching while group three will explore the caves next. Group two will do some snorkeling. In duration to all that, Tsuna will accompany their teacher to help them with the distraction. It was all to escape the task of shooting at their teacher too.
First of all, he doesn't want to be accountable for anything. His class is confident with his marksmanship, but he rather give the spotlights to Chiba and Hayami because they have remarkable shooting prowess too. He doesn't want them to feel inferior with his ability. Second, he doesn't want to kill Koro-sensei. Knowing his reflex, Tsuna can shot the teacher by projecting what the latter will do to escape. And third, he wants to be alert in case something happens.
The day after he and Karma had a confrontation, his intuition started to tweak him. At first, it was just like a poke. But as the days go on, it started to become painful. Heck, the reason he forgot to bring his bag with him was because his intuition kicked him to wake up. He thought something bad happened to the class that he only put on some short cargo pants, a white shirt, his black jacket and some rubbershoes. Of course he didn't forget his phones and wallet. He panicked so bad that he got surprised that everyone was safe when he got to the pier. Good thing he was able to sleep on the ship. At least with a good rest, he could battle the headache at full force and be alert.
Speaking of rest...
His eyes strayed to Karma who is watching Koro-sensei swim with the dolphins, that looked surprised with him and his tan. When he woke up from his sleep inside the cabin of the cruise, he found himself resting on Karma with Nagisa on his other side, putting him between them. They were sleeping quite soundly. Kayano was sleeping beside Nagisa too, but leaning on the opposite side. Although he really wanted to, he couldn't extract himself from the pile because he'll wake up both, so he went back to sleep. When he woke up again, Karma was also waking up, and Nagisa with Kayano was gone. The redhead patted his head and slowly extracted himself from him while arranging him to a good position. He slept again. The last time he truly woke up was when they docked.
With all honesty, he thought Karma is mad at him. According to his (now favorite) Uncle Xanxus, Karma had a point. Tsuna has that kind of attitude that disregards the rest of important stuffs after picking out the things he deems much important among the group. Karma's side is justified since he did try his best to befriend Tsuna by trying to know everything about the latter (heedless of how exclusive he is). Thus, having communication (both agreed on this 'term') with Asano is included. Although the brunet reasoned that he didn't see it important because Asano is only a customer and a fellow schoolmate for him, which is still is since Asano is persistently trying to scout him for the main building. It threatens to put a gap between Tsuna and the Class E.
In a sense, Tsuna doesn't need to apologize. His view in regards to that issue is quite justified. In Tsuna's defense, he is taking his and Asano's relationship in a professional way, something that is more of an acquaintance than a friend. However, he needs to understand Karma's point while making the redhead understand his too. They need to sit it down and talk it out. Well, on Tsuna's part, easier said than done. He needs timing for that.
"Tsuna-kun!" He looked up to see Koro-sensei waving at him with a bright beam. "Let's go and see Group Three!"
He excused himself to his classmates and ran for their teacher who looks excited. "Alright."
Their adventure continued on until the late afternoon. For the first time too, Tsuna had fun. He experienced the things he thought he won't able to do, except for the snorkeling. He sat that one out.
He breathed out as his breathing became a little too deep for his liking. His intuition warned him of his stomach. He sighed and massaged his temples for it. He thinks the thing his head had warned him about awhile ago is taking its effect. It doesn't feel dangerous, as what his intuition is hinting him. But it's still uncomfortable.
"What are you doing here, Sawada-kun?" He turned his head to see Karasuma-sensei walking towards him. "Don't you have any preparations to do?"
"I'm on the distraction team, Sensei." He answered. He earned a surprised look from the man.
"You didn't volunteer for gunning him down like Hayami-san and Chiba-kun?"
He shook his head. "Frankly, they tried to persuade me, but I really don't want to."
"Sawada-kun, you have the greatest potential to do it."
"There's a difference among do, can, and have, Sensei." He looked over the last group as they resurfaced. "I have the greatest potential to do it because I can pull the trigger and hit Koro-sensei even when he's moving at mach-twenty, but I don't have the will to do it. It's not because I'm scared of killing someone, or chickening out. It's just it doesn't feel right if I kill him."
"It's a matter of mission."
"Even a soldier can back out from the said mission if he isn't willing. Heedless of being suspended from his service. Besides, I don't think this is the right time for this." He peered at his teacher. "This island's atmosphere doesn't feel right."
Those black eyes glinted sharply. "You noticed that too?"
He shrugged. "Of what I heard from Nagisa awhile ago, Brovski-san and your Defense can't contact some hitmen you wanted to hire. If so, maybe someone hired them with much bigger pay. Also, I heard about this island." He eyed his teacher at the corner of his eyes. "But, that's not my point, Sensei. I think something will happen later and it won't be nice."
"Like with Takaoka?"
His face crumpled after hearing the name. "Please don't say that name. It makes me want to chuck this bench I'm sitting on to somewhere it can break."
Karasuma-sensei blinked at him. "You really hate him."
"I want to torture him." He huffed as he glared at the sea. "Killing him is too merciful for all the things he did. You're so lucky you chose Nagisa. I could've made him suffer with pain if you picked me."
"Sawada-kun, you can't do that."
"I don't think it's against the law, especially with his rules."
Karasuma-sensei sighed in resignation. "I should keep an eye on you."
Tsuna covered his lips with a free hand as he chuckled soundlessly. "Kidding, Sensei. I don't want to disappoint any of you."
The teacher gave a small smile and patted his head. "Just keep a straight head, Sawada-kun. You'll do fine."
"I will."
"Tsuna-kun!" They turned to Koro-sensei who is burnt to crisp. "We're eating dinner in the cruise!"
The brunet hummed as he stood up. He blinked his eyes slowly when the world spun a little. "I think I need to drink a lot of water."
"Keep hydrated." Karasuma-sensei advised.
"Yes, Sir." He saluted before following Koro-sensei who started to flail his tentacles in excitement.