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FICTION

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Chapter 14: Crazy Train, Part 2

Sometimes Bruno just believed things were normally meant to be bizarre.

Between Stands, dreams, magic and… turtles with the ability to house objects and people inside its 'inner room', he learned that things were never getting easy on him despite his recent promotion. Coco Jumbo was, from what he could remember, something that he heard the boss having. A small turtle that was discovered having the means to provide protection to a large group of people. Diavolo had purposely left it at the station, with Narancia spotting it and Bucciarati taking care of it as he knew what he was supposed to do with it. The very key they had recovered in Naples was meant to unlock its 'secret'.

｢Mr. President｣ was the solution to their current problem. Temporarily so. The ability of Coco Jumbo would allow most of the group to remain inside it and keep undetected from anyone sent to check on their presence within the train. Maybe he was expecting too much, but he knew for a thing their arrival at the train had been the cleanest operation possible and no one had followed them inside. It was an advantage Bruno wanted to exploit to the furthest while also relying on the fact neither Sakura or Caren had been notified to others of La Squadra. So, the two girls would take turns and change when possible as those that kept the turtle safe in the seat they had picked within the vehicle.

The trip was meant to be calm and quiet, with the plum-haired girl being the one that began the shift and kept an eye out for any surprises while she was sitting alone. Worry was always there due to what happened recently, with Trish being quite vocal that it would leave the fellow girl exposed to that set of kidnappers sent after her. Sadly, there wasn't much of a choice. They would have to take a risk and leave the turtle only if strictly necessary. Caren was tense, Giorno looked unfocused and fairly annoyed by the circumstance, and the entire team was staring at the situation Sakura was in with clear tension. Bruno too was having second thoughts on the strategy, considering putting the young 'nun' in charge of this matter if that meant lessening the odds of trouble. Then he realized that would just piss off Abbacchio, and he knew that, at this point, there wasn't much of a best choice out of the many flawed ones at his disposal.

To make things worse, his deduction tied to La Squadra, and their interest in tracking down any possible vehicles leaving the city to reach Northern Italy proved to be correct. Two familiar faces passed by the compartment where Sakura was staying. Prosciutto led the charge, while Pesci aimlessly looked around closely behind.

Prosciutto was a man of slim build, having short blond hair braided into three short mats at the back of the head and cold blue eyes. He was currently wearking a dark two-piece suit. Meanwhile Pesci held an athletic build, with his most recognizable feature being the lack of a chin. Such feature was unusual, and enough to gain the sneers from some colleagues back at work. His hair was shaved, save for a couple of green locks originating form the top of his head. His current outfit was made by a dark jumpsuit with a black fishing hook in pink hearts motif, matched by arm warmers and shoes. Over that, the man had a sleeveless long coat decorated with fur.

Both men gave passing glances at Sakura, giving her not much of a look as they proceeded to check the rest of the train. Relief washed over the Squad Leader, knowing that his plan was working as intended. He knew these two weren't people to underestimate considering their high kill spree, with Prosciutto being the veteran between the two, while Pesci had 'potential' as Polpo had once told him. Naive and easy to fright, but not someone to consider a complete waste of time in having around.

Sakura sighed calmly, seemingly relieved at the lack of tension during that brief interaction, and she looked ready to enjoy the rest of the ride on her lonesome… when that plan crashed and burned down as soon as the two men returned to her compartment and knocked at the door. Pesci peeked his head inside after shifting the door open.

"Hey kid, can we sit inside?" The green-haired man asked with a quiet but at ease tone. "The other compartments are full."

A lie. Bucciarati could tell, everyone in the turtle could- same for Sakura, but she seemed to handle the pressure just right in not behaving too nervous compared to a normal girl being subjected to that unexpected situation. Bucciarati thought about it, perplexed by the development but excluding the chances they actually thought Sakura was tied to them. No, the situation had to be different than just some advanced plotting against them, it sounded so risky to put themselves in that closeness if they knew they were there. Yet, instead of refusing the offer since she could actually do that with small risks, the girl nodded.

"Sure."

A happy smile appeared on the man's face as he took his partner inside with him and they took the two seats in front of the girl.

"Apologies for my… colleague. He can be quite creepy when he wants," Prosciutto muttered, getting a gasp out of his partner and prompted some bickering between the two.

That interaction stunned Bruno as it highlighted a possibility he didn't consider because too absurd to be true: The two assassins wanted to sit there because Sakura looked as the least suspicious, so sitting in her compartment offered them a degree of safety that none of the others would provide. They were disguising themselves… near to where them, their targets, were disguising by. It would have been an amusing joke to tell around, but this was reality and… it wasn't a simple situation. Even thought Pesci was at ease, Prosciutto wasn't. A man with experience and a degree of awareness of danger, it was clear the man wasn't going to be at rest until he was back in a safe hideout with his partner or lying dead or unconscious due to some fighting. But while the situation kept uneasy for them all, Pesci decided to speak up about something he had noticed.

"Nice turtle."

Sakura's lips twitched. "Thank you."

And that was just the beginning of a thorough explanation about turtles as the man was instantly intrigued by the reasons tied to the girl having that kind of pet.

"Woah! You really mean that turtles can also do that?"

Sakura nodded calmly, offering a polite smile as she could tell this assassin wasn't as bloodthirsty as she thought him being. Pesci was what she could describe as a man-child in this regard. Boredom left him prone to be quick for distracting conversations and he seemed quite keen to the subject brought up. The man was friendly enough to not be too pushy about it, but his eagerness about learning more 'silly' things as his partner called them was clear to anyone watching this unusual scene.

"My father told me as much, and he is a marine biologist."

"So cool! I never had the chance to get some legitimate info about that kind of stuff," Pesci pointed out in delight, yet he soon deflated with the second half. "Never got the chance of checking any aquarium actually..."

That actually sounded fairly sad in Sakura's mind. In a way, it was reasonable to assume that not many kids in Italy ever had the chance to visit an aquarium with either how sparse those are in some areas, and how expensive some tickets can be for a single visit.

"It's not that impressive," The slimmer man, Prosciutto, replied calmly. "You get the same stuff on TV through documentaries."

"But it's not the same," Pesci whined back. "Things are repeated from books and sometimes people are even wrong about it."

"He is not wrong," The plum-haired girl agreed truthfully. "I mean, one thing that dad tends to do when those go live on TV is that he calls out any mistakes or misunderstanding some narrators do when reading some of the non-verified facts."

"See!" The chinless man shot back with a smug look aimed at his partner. "Also, since your father is a marine biologist, did you get the chance to… I don't know, pat a shark?"

The girl perked at that question. "I actually tried to do that once, but dad said I was too young to do something that and that adults are best to handle that scenario."

"Your old man has common sense," Prosciutto admitted flatly, while an undeterred Pesci pressed more on the topic.

"What about dolphins?"

"I actually help feeding them when needed," The teen replied confidently. "Play even when possible."

"With an inflated ball and stuff like that?" The chinless man pushed for more details and the girl nodded mirthfully. "So cool! Man, I'm so jealous now."

It was quite the entertaining conversation. Sakura had no reason to lament any of it despite the current circumstances but... Prosciutto looked interested by something else about this matter.

"Still, what brings a young girl from the States such as yourself to make a solo trip to Florence?" Prosciutto inquired quietly.

Sakura blinked at that comment, but offered a slow nod to it. "I've been doing solo trips to Italy for a while. I just visit a friend of mine that lives in Florence and then… make it back to Rome and get back home after a week or so."

"That sounds expensive," Pesci thought aloud. "I mean, isn't that a lot of money for those brief trips."

"It's not frequently, and I care a lot for my friend."

"I bet. If you're out there making these expensive trips, this friend of yours better be caring a lot back at you."

Sakura's gaze lowered to the turtle, a fond smirk on her lips. "I believe so."

Just as she started to muse a bit about their first meeting together, how little they were and how fun that experience had been, her world was suddenly shifted from calm and pleasant to abrupt and shaky as she found herself yanked away from her seat.

"Heads down!" The yell came out of nowhere from the previously quiet Prosciutto, the man's hand grasping her shoulder as he shoved her close to the ground.

Confusion skyrocketed in Sakura, but it made way to dread as she heard a window crack and saw a small black ball with red electric crackling around it slam on the seat she had been sitting by just mere seconds ago.

"B-Bucciarati?" Pesci asked, but the blond shook his head negatively. "Then what are we to do?"

"Make sure the civilian isn't hurt while we took care of this bastardo. Whoever caused this trouble, I can tell they are trying to hurt the kid."

Pesci nodded, revealing what looked to be a fish rod. "Gotcha."

The two men started to give each other orders and brainstorm the situation as they tried to find the source of this attack, with Sakura blinking in surprise as she pondered over the situation. Here she was, stuck under her seat, holding close Coco Jumbo so it wouldn't leave her as the whole ordeal escalated due to this sudden attempt at her life. Could it be that the Magi sent after her had tracked her down to the train? A shiver went down her spine but… at least her identity was preserved. The two assassins weren't aware of the fact the gang was inside ｢Mr. President｣. Instead, the duo looked ready to find and kill the attacker and… that was convenient in many ways than not. Perhaps the two groups would end up distracting each other for long enough for the train to get to Florence and for her to get off without having to fight. That sounded like a brilliant plan…

But Sakura could tell that life was never that easy and that this looked to be way more complicated than she wanted it to be.

AN

Things are just getting complicated. A fight, a possible revelation and… a complete change of fate? Could it happen? After all, the final battle will not be as simple as in the normal timeline. Something inside Diavolo is resonating deep within…

REVIEW Q&A!

Cat-Plant: I have a plan for Jonathan's Disc. The final part of this trilogy will answer to some unattended questions from the first part, and some from this one. A proper closure to this saga.