A/N:

Shorty if you want my love
You know all you gotta do is hit me up
And I'll be on my way (and I'll be on my way)

Anyway, go on.


Chapter Twenty-Three

Brown eyes blinked. "Uh..."

"Eh?" The whitehead blurted with a tilt of his head to the right that Yuni mimicked. "Not Tsu-chan?"

He can't help smiling a little as he crouched down to see both children. "Shouldn't you be apologizing first, hm?"

"Oh." Yuni uttered in understanding.

Both bowed shortly. "We're sorry."

"Okay." He hummed and got wide smiles at the end.

He ushered the two by the nearest wall to keep them safe and keep an eye on Nagisa who sat by a table with Yuuji, the kid.

He peered at the two children. Byakuran and Yuni looked like they're in the same age. Around nine years old, if Tsuna calculated it correctly. They both look adorable with their baby fats and all. They can even pass on as twins with how paired their clothes are. Which begs the question...

"Why are the two of you here?" He quizzed.

"Yuni-chan saw you entering here, so we waited!" Byakuran answered cheerfully.

Tsuna sighed. "You're so lucky the tabacco smoke and smell of drug don't linger around your heights."

Yuni 'hehe'-ed sheepishly. "Sorry, Tsu-chan."

"Are you with Gamma though?" He asked, shameless of revealing what he knows. "He'll pull his hair out searching for you."

"He'll be here." Yuni assured with her dreamy smile.

"Maybe we can move somewhere hushed to talk?" Byakuran suggested.

"I can't right now." He apologized. "I'm with my class and we have something to do. Maybe tomorrow? You can visit me by the hotel down the beach. I'll wake up early just to talk to you two."

"Eh..." Byakuran pouted sadly.

He can't help crouching down again and patting the white-head's hair. "I promise. I just can't now since my classmates are in danger. We're up against dangerous people to retrieve something important. Sorry, Byakuran."

Purple eyes went to the floor before they peered at him shyly. "Promise?"

"Promise." He eyed Yuni. "I will come tomorrow. But, you have to be with Gamma, okay? Safety purposes."

"Okay!" Both children responded positively.

"Nagisa! Tsuna!" They turned to see Kayano.

He stood up and smiled softly to the two. "Bye."

"Bye!" The two bid with waves of their hands.

He went for Nagisa who also stood up and took the other's hand. It was a bit shaky but okay. They met up with the girls by the other entrance and was about to listen to what they got when Yuuji came up and offered for them to see his 'amazing' dance moves. He sure wanted to impress Nagisa with how he tried to dance. It failed though, since he kinda hit someone's drink and almost caused a trouble. When Yada-san called Okano-san, his eyes went for the sides to see Byakuran and Yuni casually slipping away.

In summary, they were able to move after Okano-san hit the man bullying Yuuji on the face with a simple round kick. Yada-san called for the personnel to carry him out, which led them the passage. It was so simple that he and Nagisa deadpanned the idea. After glaring at Karma and 'politely' asking him not to take any more pictures of them in women's clothing, both of them changed away. Nagisa still got teased though.

"Why do they keep on teasing me and they won't say anything about you wearing a dress too?" Nagisa sighed in protest as they ascended the stairs.

"It's because you-" He poked the teal-head's closest cheek. "-blush a lot. They won't bother you if you don't feel embarrassed about it. But then again, not everyone can handle such outfit change. It also wounded my pride, if you're doubting. Besides, there's more embarrassing thing than that."

"What kind?"

He remembered his counterpart and gave a small smile. "Running around in printed boxers alone."

Nagisa gaped at him. "What?"

He waved a hand. "I'm telling you, it happens to someone unfortunate."

"That's worse." The other cringed.

He chuckled soundlessly.

When they got to the seventh floor, everyone tensed up after Ritsu told them that the rest of the floors will be VIP floors. It's much different since other than the security personnel, there are other guards hired by VIP guests to keep watch on the floor. It was quite pulse raising, but it can be done.

Koro-sensei tasked Terasaka and Yoshida to do it though. Tsuna took Koro-sensei when the latter was handed to him and watched along to see what his classmates were going to do. While the two get readied, the delinquent tasked Kimura to get the guards to their spot. Kimura, being clueless of what to do, was helped by Karma. He and Nagisa glanced at each other, then shook their heads. Trust it to work if it was Karma's words.

The rest of the class backed away to give the three some space. Kimura went out and approached the two. Tsuna stared hard at Karma who laughed after hearing what Kimura said to the two guards. The redhead cheekily grinned at him before shrugging. To say the guards were down pissed was an understatement. Their heavy steps resounded, and when Kimura passed by running, Yoshida and Terasaka attacked with tasers in hand. They knocked the two guards off their feet and stunned them.

"I bought these to test out on the Octopus. I didn't think I'd debut them like this though." Terasaka reckoned as they looked stared at the unconscious guards.

Tsuna inspected the two too, and passed Koro-sensei to Nagisa so he could rob them off their weapons and other items.

"You... Bought them? Weren't they expensive?" Kataoka questioned.

Terasaka took a gander at the brunet's way, who was busy taking out items, before looking away. "Let's just say I came across some money recently."

"That's a nice weapon, Terasaka-kun." They heard Koro-sensei praised.

"Huh." Tsuna uttered under his breath as he inspected a military tag from one of the guards' pockets. He looked up to Karasuma-sensei who's frowning in thoughts. "What do you think, Sensei?"

"They... Look familiar."

"In terms of hairstyles, I think they're related to him." He observed as he showed him the tag. "I don't really like where this is going."

"You're not alone." Karasuma-sensei sighed as the brunet took out the revolvers.

"Good find, Tsuna-kun." Koro-sensei remarked to him. "You should give one each to Chiba-kun and Hayami-san."

He twirled the guns, holding out their handles for the two to take. "Here."

The two stared at the weapons in contemplation.

"Karasuma-sensei has not recovered enough yet to fire accurate shots." Their teacher pointed out for them to understand. "Currently, the ones most capable of putting those to use are you two."

"E-Even if you say that, this is so sudden-"

"However!" Koro-sensei cut off Chiba. "Your teacher will not allow killing. Using your skills, there should be any number of ways to defeat your enemies without harming them."

"Why not Sawada instead?" Hayami questioned. "He's a marksman as well."

Karasuma and Koro-sensei glanced at each other.

"If I do take one at this state I'm in, you'll see blood flowing in no time." He answered. Well, the situation is different during Takaoka. But, he also wants them to gain back their confidence in their talents. He knows how painful it is to lose something you like doing after realizing you aren't still good with it as you expected. There's always a room for improvement though. "So please take them."

The two did take them and tested their grips. They looked doubtful, but that's Koro-sensei's job to fix.

"Well, then, let us move on." Their teacher announced. "Judging from the state of the hotel, it doesn't seem as though the enemy has large number at each position. There should be only one of two remaining hitmen at best!"

"Yeah!" Terasaka yelled. "Let's hurry up and beat the shit outta them!"

Tsuna stood up after hiding the things he took out on their respective places and followed his classmates. With Ritsu's instructions, they entered the concert hall for a shortcut. They were already half way when Ritsu and he alerted everyone that someone is about to come. Everyone took cover behind the flush seats and kept quiet as they waited.

Brown eyes peered from his cover to see who it is. He slowly made his breathing shallow and slow, almost undetectable, as the footsteps resounded. When the door opened and the individual came in, Tsuna identified him easily. It was Gastro.

What Tsuna knows, from his counterpart's memories and the things he discovered when he hacked some systems, is that Gastro was a military man who became a hired assassin. He's a true marksman, second to Reborn. He has obsession with the tastes of guns—to the point that he uses them as utensils and cleans them everyday for efficiency purposes.

Tsuna slowly backed away to his hiding spot when he noticed how those eyes glinted sharply. Gastro went for the stage and faced them. The brunet anticipated. Other than being a marksman, Gastro is also known for his senses too. He could hear the light breathing so it will be inevitable to be discovered.

"... Fourteen?" Gastro mused aloud while on the stage. "No. Fifteen rabbits. The breathing sounds young, too. It mostly sounds like mid-teens. I'm surprised. So everyone who could move busted in here, huh?"

Tsuna was unable to stop himself from jumping a little when he heard a sudden gunshot and some glass shattering. The fuck. He escaped being detected by breathing, but he'll be find out with his jumpy reaction.

"I'll tell you this." Gastro announced. "This hall is completely soundproof, and this gun is real. That means no one's coming to save you guys before I shoot everyone dead. You guys aren't prepared to kill, right?!" He shouted the last statement. "Just surrender quietly and go grovel in front of the boss!"

The brunet put a hand to his chest when he heard another gunshot and winced. He's so fucking jumpy even though his intuition alerts him. He doesn't remember drinking coffee during the day, nor had any chocolates. He wonders what's making him fidgety...

Oh right. He saw how his counterpart almost died in Gastro's hands. It took Reborn's intervention to keep his counterpart alive. He remembers experiencing two shots on the right shoulder (centimeters apart), a fatal shot on the side that caught his liver, and two on both calves. That's something praise-worthy since his counterpart was trained to dodge bullets by the greatest hitman himself. It was excruciatingly painful, and it took nine hours of operation for his counterpart to get stable since three of the bullets punctured some blood vessels and almost went to shock due to blood loss. Gastro was kept alive that time so he could suffer the same fate in Reborn's hand. But since his counterpart was a saint (how can he be that kind after almost knocking on the death's door?), he ordered them to let go of the assassin, but under one condition: He kills his contractor since Vongola will double the pay he will receive. Gastro abide and it was good.

(Reborn was so disappointed that his counterpart had to fake having pain in order to distract him. Reborn knew that he was faking it, but he still indulged the acting. At the later date, the man almost praised his counterpart for an Oscar award-winning acting. The latter flushed in embarrassment.)

(To really make up for it though, his counterpart gave his hitman a lot of missions. It was Reborn himself who gave up and returned the untouched folders to spend more time in the mansion.)

Still, the pain of having those five bullets on his counterpart made him wary of the hitman. He is someone to be feared. Although the brunet wonders why in hell is Gastro doing there, working under that pig. Because with his counterpart's memories, he knows Gastro, Grip and Smog have their own kinds of morals, and endangering budding class of teenagers is one of the big no-nos for them.

Either ways, he turned to Hayami, who was the one to lately pull the trigger. She must've targeted the gun on the hitman's hand but missed with how she grimaced. He risked a look to the man before ducking when he saw him fumbling with the light controls. It took seconds before the lights went blinding on them.

"What an unexpectedly delicious job!" Gastro yeeted. "I feel good today." He hummed happily. "My gun is delicious."

Tsuna turned to Hayami again when he heard a gunshot from Gastro's way. As he expected, the man retaliated the same way, missing his target on purpose too. He could've shot Hayami straight on the head if he was serious.

"I never forget the location of an enemy who has fired a shot. You won't be able to take a single step from where you are." Gastro nonchalantly remarked. "The two hitmen guarding the lower areas are assassins, but I'm different. I'm a military man. I'm no stranger to being outnumbered like this. Through my numerous experiences, I've developed a method of grasping the location of my enemies, and I've learned to get a feel for the conditions of their guns from their taste. You juniors are way too early to take me on. Now then, there should be one other stolen gun."

Silence.

"Hayami-san, continue to remain on standby! It was wise of you not to fire right now, Chiba-kun! The enemy has not yet determined your location! Sensei will command everyone while watching the enemy, so let us wait for the right movement!"

Tsuna huffed a laugh at Koro-sensei's bold declamation. He was stationed right at the front seat, directly where Gastro could see him as his audience. Gastro even tried to shot at him, but Koro-sensei only mocked him since he's currently impenetrable. When his intuition told him to get ready, he did. They were going to play the shuffle game.

Koro-sensei gave precise instruction to confuse Gastro. They shuffled here and there, quick on their feet and attentive to not get confused. Although it was a dire situation, the brunet had fun. Everyone has their own nicknames too. Karma got milk addict and spices collector. Nagisa was called for his two twin tails and Sensei's weakness list-er. Terasaka's names were quite funny too, while Tsuna was called out for his sleepiness and secretive score.

Everything was so fast and confusing. If Reborn was in Gastro's position, he could've used chaos shot to home on his targets. Good thing the hitman didn't accept the invitation, if he was invited. They could've been put into so much trouble.

"Now then, it's about time for your assault, Chiba-kun." Koro-sensei called out as they all breathed heavily from the sneaky shuffling. "After Sensei's next instruction, fire at your own will. After that, Hayami-san, you will follow suit. Your objective is to seal the enemy's movements."

Tsuna peered at Chiba who is across him, before looking back to where Sousuke is.

"However, before that, I have some advice for you emotionless workaholics." Tsuna felt like he's part of the 'emotionless workaholic' their teacher is pertaining. "You two are extremely nervous right now, correct? After your shots missed me, both of you have developed some doubts in your own abilities. For you, who never give any excuses or complains, I'm sure people have begun to rely on both of you. And even if you are distressed, I'm sure you would never show anyone."

The brunet hummed under his breath. Other than the nervous thing, he could relate to never giving any excuses nor complains since he needed to do his works himself. Not like he has anyone to say about his troubles or complains. He's an orphan technically.

"But it's alright." Brown eyes turned to where their teacher is. "There's no need for you to embrace the pressure on your own. If you miss, we can just shuffle the guns and everyone here, and then change a strategy where anyone from the class can shoot. Everyone here has experienced training and failure, so they are capable of carrying out this strategy. By your side, you have fellow companions who have experienced the same things you have. Be at ease and pull the trigger."

Then there was a pause.

"Seat number twelve? Stand and shot!" Koro-sensei called out and Sousuke raised something from his side.

Three gunshots were heard.

When Sousuke pulled up the dummy he had beside him, Gastro shot it on the head. It was a bull's eye; too bad it wasn't a student. While in the state of shock, Chiba shot on Gastro's way. The latter wasn't hit, and almost celebrated, only to get hit by the whole panel of the hanging lights. When he tried to grip his gun again, Hayami shot it away.

Everyone stood up when Gastro went unconscious. Terasaka was the most enthusiastic among them to tie the assassin up, followed by the Yoshida and Nagisa. He looked up to Karma who stood in front of him, offering a helping hand for him to stand. He took the hand and stood up. Tsuna patted the dirt away from his clothes before walking for the stage to see Gastro being duct taped while the two marksmen were being praised by their classmates.

"Are you okay? Not shooting the gun yourself?" Karma whispered to him.

He shrugged. "It's better this way honestly. I don't want to outshine anyone."

"You're not outshining anyone." His friend insisted as they ascended the stair for the stage.

He eyed the redhead dubiously. "Karma, we can't be certain of that."

"For someone who's very recluse of his life, you have a lot of insecurities." Karma remarked.

He glanced away for a second. "I'm still working on it."

Karma hummed understandingly. "Anyway, what do you feel about this? You've given us a lot of hints awhile ago, but I can't still figure it out."

He stood in front of unconscious Gastro as he thought of the right words to say. "I have a conclusion of who is behind all of these. You should've noticed that I know Smog, Grip and Gastro. Not literally, but by paper." He sighed as he combed his hair with his left hand. "What I know about them is that they're not the type to kill kids. Especially teenagers around our ages. If ever, they were being lenient with us.

"Smog could've killed Karasuma-sensei awhile ago with the most lethal self-made poison he has. Grip could've killed you regardless of how ready you were. He won't use the anesthesia too, and will literally crush your skull. Gastro? He could've shot Hayami on the head when he tried to shot her. I even think they switched the 'virus' to something with the same symptoms of the original serum, to keep us safe and to make their boss believe that they did do their jobs.

"In terms of the boss," He peered at Karma who looked serious with the information he's giving out. "who is the recent person we have encountered that has a grudge on Nagisa? Someone who will specifically call your best friend out among the twenty-eight students the Class E has like he knows his weakness very well?"

"You mean Takaoka?"

He nodded. "Evidence one, Karasuma-sensei and the government are the only ones who knew we are on a summer vacation here in Okinawa, which leads to Takaoka to know that information too. Evidence two, he called Karasuma-sensei so casually and asked for the weak girl and boy of the class, pertaining to Kayano and Nagisa. And evidence three, the men Terasaka took down with the stun guns were part of the military. From the haircut itself and the way they stood by the entrance of the door. Also, they have military tags in their pockets, clearly stating their names, birth date and status. Takaoka is the only one who can order his trainees to do that since they aren't soldiers yet."

"Should we tell them too?" The redhead asked as after a second of gathering his thoughts.

"We shouldn't." He answered as he stepped forward to follow the class that went on and started to move for the other door. "They won't believe me. Even Karasuma-sensei won't believe me after I gave obvious hints."

"What about Koro-sensei?"

Tsuna faltered before shaking his head. "No. Just..." He glanced back to Karma. "Just be careful. Takaoka is probably not in his right state of mind at this moment since he was able to do this. There is no guarantee that he will give the 'antidote'. He'll probably blow it up even, then kill all of us after beating Nagisa up in a guise of a rematch."

"Those things you've said sounds like a plan."

He smirked lightly as they got out. "Well, if I was Takaoka, they will be the things I will do to threaten all of you. He's a sore loser."

They proceeded to go out cautiously. Tsuna eyed those people on the move and caught notice of something. He returned his eyes to Karasuma-sensei who snatched the only guard up the next hall and made him unconscious. Everyone was surprised with how their teacher was now able to move and made a quick flex of his ability after his certain extent of recovery.

"Everyone, I hacked into the personal computer's camera on the top floor." Ritsu informed them and showed the footage of a man sitting on a chair, back facing them. "We can observe the situation above. The entire upper floor has been reserved. As far as I can tell, the only one remaining is this man here."

"This guy... Is the mastermind, huh?" Sousuke voiced.

"Isn't that everyone infected by the virus on the TV?" Yoshida took notice. "So they're being recorded?"

"You can tell he's getting off by watching them. That damn psycho." Terasaka spat.

"Regarding that boss, I figured something out." Koro-sensei announced.

Tsuna didn't meet those gold eyes that glanced to him.

"That mastermind is not an assassin. He hasn't put the hitmen to proper use. Originally, those hitmen were hired to assassinate me. However, I have entered this form. Because of the need to be alert lessened, he probably spread out his watchmen and guards. But that wasn't the original assignment for the hitmen. Had they displayed their skills to their fullest extent, it would have been a fearful situation."

"Indeed. We won the previous firefight through tactics, but that man didn't miss his target by even a single centimeter." Chiba pointed out.

"Karma-kun's situation as well. Had the enemy not been guarding the hallway, and had instead snuck up behind us like he normally does, you would have most likely been killed instantly from the power of his grips."

Yellow eyes glanced at him, and this time, Tsuna met them head on. "I wonder."

"Karasuma-sensei?" Kataoka called to their teacher who was staring thoughtfully on the guard he knocked out.

"No." The man shook his head as he stood up. "Now, we're running out of time. This guy's assuming we're coming up from the elevator, but if there's no activity until the time limit for negotiations, then he'll probably remain on high alert."

Tsuna sighed as Karasuma-sensei started to instruct them. He was listening earnestly when he felt his left shirt sleeve being tugged. It was Nagisa.

"It's Terasaka-san." The teal-head whispered, peering at Terasaka who looked shaky as he noticed earlier. "I think he's infected."

Tsuna stepped back from the group and turned to Nagisa and Terasaka. The latter glared at Nagisa when Tsuna took his hand. It was pretty warm. "Stand straighter." He instructed. "Knowing you, you don't want to lose over a sickness."

"How the heck are you fine after experiencing this?" Terasaka whispered back to him.

"It differs from one person to another." He replied before taking the other's bag to rummage. "Where did you put the bottled water I put in here?"

"It's at the side."

Tsuna took the water and opened it. "Here. Drink a lot. As I've said, it's not a virus and it's not dangerous."

"Are you sure?" Nagisa asked.

"Trust me, it's not. If it is, I won't be here. Just drink a lot so it gets flushed out later. Water is the best remedy for any diseases." He advised.

"Hey guys? You okay there?" Kimura called out to them.

Tsuna glanced at the two before nodding to their classmate. "Yeah. We're fine. Just cooking up some trouble."

Kimura eyed them suspiciously. "You and Nagisa, cooking up trouble with Terasaka?"

He shrugged. "Kimura-san, do you really think I'm not capable of pulling up some silly pranks?"

"No- Wait." Kimura paled. "You can."

He gave a small sadistic smile to Kimura just as Karasuma-sensei called them to go for the top floor.

If only Kimura knew Tsuna can't.