When I got home, I saw mama having tea in the living room. She walked over and almost squealed. She hugged me tightly. "The uniform looks like it was made for you."
"Thank you, mama. I also got the free tuition. Apparently, Yukine's dad runs the academy." Tsuna came downstairs and brightened up when he saw me. He ran and hugged my waist tightly. That was strange. He never does this and usually ignored my presence. His cheeks were red.
"Doesn't your big sister look pretty?" Mama asked. Tsuna nodded, holding me tighter.
"Do you want me to read you a bedtime story?" I asked since this is how he's usually act with mama. He's a very spoiled kid but I didn't mind.
"Yeah!" I opened my arms and he reached up. I picked him up.
"Let's go. You can pick what story you want me to read." When I got to his room, Tsuna ran to his bookshelf. Elf was on his bed. He must have been anxious about something if he grabbed her. "I'll be right back, Tsuna. I'm putting my bass away." I went to my room and put the bass in its usual corner. Aya gave me a look. Iemitsu must have done something. I went back into Tsuna's room. He was under the covers with a book in his hands. I sat on the bed making him snuggle into the covers. He picked out Alice in Wonderland like usual. "Ready?" He nodded and pulled the covers up to his chin, a stuffed animal already in his arms.
Half-way through, Tsuna fell asleep. I tucked him in even more with a smile and put the book back. Elf stood up. "Something has happened." She said quietly.
"I figured." I picked her up and went to leave. Iemitsu was standing near my door. Our eyes met before his looked up and down my body. He obviously didn't like the uniform.
"Come downstairs when you're done settling in. We need to talk." He went downstairs. I shut my door behind me and closed the curtains.
"Why does he have a sick up his ass?" I questioned. Aya grew to full size and wrote on a piece of paper. 'Iemitsu has tempered with Tsuna. It's why he's reverting back to when he was much younger. It's why he's gotten a lot clumsier.' Aya wrote. Before I could respond, she wrote something else down. 'He put microphones in your room.' Why would he do that? I took out a pen. 'He suspects me then.' She nodded. I should have figured. Even though I'm still a child in people's eyes, I'm a witch in his. I guess he'll treat me as such until the day one of us dies. I took my uniform off and put on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. "I really don't want to go down there. I bet he'll berate me for one thing or another." 'Stay hidden.' I wrote on the paper. Aya nodded and proceeded to get the four to hide. I left my room and went downstairs. Only Iemitsu was there. Mama must have gone to bed. "Can you make this quick? I'm tired."
"And I'm tired of your attitude." I rolled my eyes. "There. That's what I'm talking about. You act like you have no respect for me."
"I'm not acting. I don't have respect for you." I said honestly before plopping myself onto the sofa.
"Why is that?"
"My gut hasn't lied to me once."
"I'm not the bad guy." Why did he say it like I accused him of being a criminal?
"What does that even mean? Who is the bad guy then?"
"The Nakamura family." My mind stopped for a few seconds to soak that in. The conversation wasn't even heading towards that, but he decided to use the Nakamura family as scapegoat. I'll have to look into that when I have time.
"What kind of drugs did you take to come to that conclusion?" I questioned with confusion. Anyone would be this confused if their parent decided to berate their child's friends. That came out of left park and frankly, uncalled for.
"Just listen to me this once."
"No." I was willing to listen, but now I'm not. I had to keep my anger under control before I try to actually hurt him.
"Yona." He said in a testing manner.
"What'll you do if I don't listen to you? You're never here to punish me and you're never here for your wife and kid."
"I'm trying to keep food on the table. What don't you understand?"
"And you have to go overseas for that? Are you sure you're not doing this to have some grand affair?" Iemitsu gasped.
"I'd never cheat on your mother. Do not ever question my loyalty to your mother."
"Words aren't that convincing, Iemitsu." It fell silent between us.
"I'd never betray your mother. She's my one and only." I wasn't convinced.
"You still didn't answer my question. What will you do if I don't listen to you?" I asked in a cold voice.
"I'll make sure you have no life. I'll even destroy that bass you love and pull you out of the academy you somehow got in to."
"Go ahead. I've already accepted the offer which means you need an attorney to get me out of the academy against my will. I can always borrow a bass from the live house. Plus, I got in that academy with my hard work. You just can't believe it because you have no faith in my abilities. And since you're always concerned about me using your money, the tuition is free. You have no leverage to pull with the academy ordeal." I spoke harshly, as if I was above him in every way possible. Iemitsu just shook his head.
"I just want us to have a normal father daughter relationship."
"You're not my father and never will be. You can try and act like it, but I'll always reject you."
"Everyone needs a father figure in their life. Let me be that."
"I kindly refuse. You're hardly one for Tsuna. What makes you think being a father figure to another kid will be any easier?" He couldn't refute that.
"Can you promise me you'll come to me if you need help or if you're in trouble?" And to have him stab me in the back?
"No."
"Dammit, Yona! I'm trying to get along with you."
"We'll never get along, Iemitsu."
"Even for your mom?"
"If she asks me to, I'll act like I can stand you. For now, I'll continue the public display of disgust I have for you. Is this all?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Finally. I need to get to bed."
Once the door to Yona's room was shut, Iemitsu sighed heavily. He never liked confronting her. "What do I do, Nono?" Iemitsu questioned. He knew Nono was listening to the conversation. His phone was on the entire time. He needed help.
"That sounded rough." Reborn spoke. Iemitsu could hear the smirk on his face.
"Reborn?" Iemitsu questioned quietly.
"I warned you to not rush marriage, Iemitsu. You're too brash." Nono said.
"What else can I do? She shuts me down every time I try to talk to her."
"I would too if you were my step-dad." Reborn replied.
"You're not helping, Reborn." Iemitsu said.
"I know. I'm on Yona's side."
"Why?" Iemitsu questioned in a rough tone.
"See? You get vicious the second someone is on her side. Why is that?" Reborn pressed.
"We just don't get along."
"Liar."
"She looks like that witch." Iemitsu finally admitted. Reborn and Nono looked at each other with disbelief.
"What witch?" Nono asked.
"Her grandmother. She's an evil woman that wanted nothing but me dead."
"You never told me this. Why does she not like you?"
"We always fought when Nana wasn't around. The way she acted is the same way Yona acts."
"Didn't Nana's parents die years ago?" Reborn questioned.
"Yes. They died in an unfortunate accident." Reborn could hear how strained Iemitsu's voice was but didn't question him.
"Iemitsu…please tell me you didn't kill them." Nono spoke softly.
"I didn't. I'd never do that to Nana."
In my room, I had the pile of broke microphones on my desk. Alter was sitting on the desk in her doll form. "We took care of the problem. We can talk freely now."
"Thank you. I'm sure you all heard what transpired down there."
"We could. You handled him well, master." Alter praised me.
"Now, what's wrong with Tsuna?" I sat down on my bed. The rest came out of hiding.
"Tsuna all of a sudden ran in here and grabbed me. He was shaking. I checked his memories and saw that Iemitsu tempered with his mind." Elf said.
"How did he temper with Tsuna's mind?"
"He used his flame. It tempered Tsuna's flame which is why he's been clumsier than usual. He's been falling everywhere since then." My eyebrows furrowed. I didn't know how to deal with flames. Alchemy was no big deal, but this was something new.
"There might be a way to fix him, but you'll have to experiment before helping him. If you go in blindly, you will kill him." Freya warned me.
"I'll figure something out. Freya, keep an ear and eye out for any changes to my room or the house. Aya, if there are intruders of any sort, take care of them. Elf and Alter, you two will accompany me this weekend."
"What do you have in store?" Elf asked.
"We're going to visit the strongest man in Namimori. He'll be interested in this development. I'm sure he'll help me with anything we need."
The next day, I wrote a letter and gave it to Kyoya. "What's this?" He asked me.
"Give this to your dad. It's very important that only he reads it."
"I'll give it to him."
"Thank you, Kyoya. You're really reliable." His cheeks turned pink. I went to band practice.
"There you are. You were almost late." Ayumu said.
"Asshole stopped me." They all nodded in understanding.
"Now that everyone is here, I thought of some names to call ourselves." Kei said, putting a piece of paper down on the table. On the paper were various names. "Which ones do you like?" He asked us.
"Black rose." Aki said.
"Rarity!" Sayo exclaimed.
"I'm not sure." Yukine said. The Nakamura siblings looked at me.
"I like Magnolia." Ayumu's eyes brightened up. She liked that one too.
"Why that one? It's just a flower." Sayo said.
"Magnolia's represent nobility. With everyone's personalities, we'd be seen as nobles no matter what name we have. We should have a name that matches." I explained.
"And this is why you're our bassist, Yona!" Kei exclaimed.
"Somehow, I think those two had Magnolia picked out and only wanted us to feel included in the decision." Yukine said with a chuckle.
Since no one had a problem with the name, we started on what our image would be. Our music is our own, so our image should also follow the same motif. We sat outside with drinks and discussed some more thing pertaining to the band. "I want us to be ready for the school welcome to play a song." Kei said.
"Will it be okay for Ayumu and I to play?" I asked.
"It should be fine. If not, we'll just play for the festival at the end of the year. We'll also need to get serious once school starts back up. I want to have a playset to have a debut concert." Kei responded.
"We'll have to work a lot harder then and get on Yona's playing field." Yukine teased.
"Huh?"
"Your solo was so cool. You need to go all out like that with every practice and performance. You'll have your own fan club." Sayo explained.
"Either way, we won't need to worry about costumes until our debut concert. We'll need to have them designed soon to go over a few choices. I suggest everyone to brainstorm a few ideas and draw them the best way you can."
"I'll also redraw anything." Aki said. He was the artist of our group and enjoyed designing clothes. He'd probably make our costumes as well.
"Yona, I have a few ideas for a song. Can you help me arrange it?" Kei asked.
"I'll try my best."
"Great. Ayumu is the one that mixes everything including the background noise. Having you two on board will make this process a lot easier." Kei said.
"I might not be much help, but I'll try my best." I said softly.
"Don't doubt yourself. You're good at what you do. You've unscrambled the mess of that one song." Yukine smacked my back.
"That hurt, Yukine. Are you trying to kill me?"
"You'll be fine. Our Yona is strong." I rolled my eyes and drank my tea.
"Anyway, I won't be here for the rest of the week." Sayo said out of the blue.
"Why not?" Aki asked.
"Family from the states are here. I haven't seen my grandparents in such a long time. Plus, my cute cousins are here."
"Sounds like the whole family came." Yukine said. I thought about my grandparents. I wish they could still be alive. "I think we should take the rest of the week off then. It'll give us time to think about things for Magnolia." Yukine declared. That's when most of us broke off. It was just Yukine, Aki, and I. She poked my side. "What's up? You made a face when Sayo mentioned her family. Are there problems at home?"
"No. I just miss my grandparents. They died when I was five, but I still remember them."
"Were you close with them?" Aki asked.
"My mom and I lived with them until my she remarried. They basically raised me from birth till I was around five. Grandpa would always be joking around and in his garden while grandma would read a book and make the best snacks. They always called me their sunflower. It's the little things I miss."
"There's no shame in that. It sounds like they were very warm people." Yukine said.
"They were. It was never a dull day with them."
"I think our theme of flowers is fitting." Aki said. We looked at him. "Yona reminds me of a sunflower. You're bright and stand tall no matter what. I think that's why your grandparents call you their sunflower." Aki explained with a small smile. I could help but laugh.
"I wish that was the reason they called me that. Grandpa just sucks at growing anything but sunflowers. They were his favorite flower." I stood up and stretched. "Well, I need to get back home. Tsuna wanted me to read the rest of his favorite book to him."
"I wish I had a big sister like you, Yona. See you next week."
When I got home, no one was home. There was a note on the table. They went out for dinner. I raised an eyebrow. Mama wouldn't usually do that because she never wanted me to be left out. "Master." I looked and saw Alter in her human form. "We have two intruders tied up and unconscious."
"Bring me to them." She went upstairs and into my room. On the floor were two men in suits unconscious and tied up on the ground. "Did you find anything out?" I asked the dolls. The other three were in their human forms as well.
"No."
"Are there any others around?"
"No. We cleared the area." Aya said.
"Good. Let's transport them to Kazuma. I have a feeling he'll have fun with these two."
"How shall we get him there?" Freya asked me.
"Alter will carry them. Elf, you'll come as well."
"Yes, master." It was a short five-minute walk. We thankfully didn't see anyone on the streets. It was an earie feeling. When we got to Kazuma's, we were greeted by a maid.
"Welcome back, Yona. Master is in the usual room."
"Thank you."
We went inside the main living room and saw Kazuma with a cup of tea near him on the table. He was reading the newspaper. "Yona? You brought your dolls and two men? What is the meaning of this?"
"They're intruders. I don't know why, but the streets were completely clear of people. Even Tsuna and mama weren't home."
"And Iemitsu?"
"With them having dinner."
"That's odd. I'll interrogate them and get back to you."
"Did you get my letter?" He nodded.
"That man is starting to become a troublesome person. Why do you want access to prisoners?" Kazuma asked.
"I want to temper with their flames to see if I can do the same to Tsuna."
"Why would I let you do that? You'll kill prisoners."
"The aim isn't to kill. It'll happen if I go too far. Just think about it. If there are less room in prisons, there's more room for those that break the laws. Plus, if there was ever a prison break, only petty thieves would roam. You won't have any murderers on the run." I explained, hoping he'd give me access.
"I'll accept on one condition for this to happen."
"What is it?"
"You have to let me supervise and tell me everything you're doing."
"That can be done. I will have Elf and Alter present with me. Elf will provide me with backup and walk me through the process and Alter is my bodyguard." Kazuma nodded.
"That is acceptable. I'll bring these two to the detention center. Come here tomorrow and we'll get started."
"Alright. I don't have any band practice for the rest of the week. I'll be free whenever."
Iemitsu was confused when contact with his men went silent. Their trackers were broken and they weren't picking up their phones. They should have gotten rid of Yona by now. There was no way anyone would intervene. Iemitsu put a small device around their house and would drive animals and people away by manipulating their flames. It'd only give them a feeling like the forgot something at home. Thus, clearing the streets. His men had two special devices that negated the effects. They're probably still in the middle of cleaning things up. However, when he got home, Yona was watching TV as if nothing happened. He looked at her with wide eyes.
"We're home." Nana said joyously.
"Welcome back. Where were you?" Yona asked. Tsuna ran into the living room to join his sister.
"We went out for dinner since we didn't know when you were coming home. It was delicious. We brought you back a steak meal. I thought you'd like that." She jumped up and took the meal from Nana.
"Thank you, mama. I'm really hungry. Band practice was cut short today. Sayo's family came from overseas." Yona said as she walked to the microwave. She put the container in and heated up the contents inside.
"Did anything happen while we were out?" Iemitsu asked.
"No. I came home, took a little nap, and then practiced the bass. We have a name for the band by the way."
"What is it?" Nana asked.
"Magnolia."
"Nana, I'm going to go get some drinks from the convenience store. Do you want anything?" Iemitsu asked.
"No, I'm good." When Iemitsu left, he shook his head. Someone interfered. Yona shouldn't be in Japan anymore. He went into the store and picked up some beer for himself. Inside, he saw Kazuma Hibari. He's basically the one that controls the area and surrounding cities. He's the only one that somewhat knows of Iemitsu's involvement in the mafia.
"Fancy seeing you here, Sawada."
"You as well."
"Can you tell me why your men are sneaking around my town?" Kazuma wasted no time in asking his question.
"They're here to protect my family."
"Is that so? Why aren't they normally here?"
"They're my personal bodyguards."
"If that's the truth, why did I find two men arranging on kidnaping your daughter?" Iemitsu's blood froze. It was Kazuma that interfered and took his men.
"What?" Iemitsu feigned shock.
"You keep your business out of mine, but once you harm a Namimori citizen, I won't allow you to be here. See this as your warning. Do keep your men in line or I will. If I didn't step in, they would have gotten a hold of her." Kazuma took his sake and went to pay for it before leaving. When Iemitsu left, he ran into some of his men.
"Sir, did you find the culprit?" One asked.
"I did. We will not do anything at the moment."
"What about Yona?"
"We leave her be. The one that took out our men is watching the house carefully. We must take our time. Once suspicion is taken off the house, I'll send more in. For now, relax and think of ways to quietly and carefully remove her." Iemitsu quietly ordered.
"Shall we kill her?"
"As long as you make it an accident, I won't care. She needs to be taken out one way or another."
"Yes, sir."
The small group said before dispersing. He'd need to be careful about how he proceeds with his secret mission. No one should know about this. If Nono were to find out, he'd be kicked out of the family or even executed. However, the risks didn't outweigh the happiness of never seeing Yona's face ever again. Like that witch, Yona will try to ruin his life and he needed to stop her before it was too late. Sure, Nana would be sad, but she'll get over her eventually. She has Tsuna and that's all she needs.