thanks to Plume85 for the review! I always love to see what you readers think of this story, especially since I've kept it to myself for so long I really appreciate your opinions, criticisms, reactions hehe

here's the next chapter!

Chapter 5: I Join the Power Rangers

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you weren't gonna go easy on me."

"There is no such thing as 'going easy' in the real world, Nami-chan. It's kill or be killed!"

"But we're playing shogi!"

"Your point?"

I groaned, moving my piece to a random spot on the board. We decided to take a break from kendo practice, which was pretty chill. All I really wanted was some pointers on how to accurately knock out someone with minimum effort or movement, so after Tsuyoshi-san had helped me out with that we decided to take a break by playing some shogi... which I'm incredibly terrible at.

"You're too passive, Nami-chan!" Tsuyoshi-san moved his piece, and that's when I realized he won. "You need to be more aggressive!"

I made a face. "But being aggressive takes too much effort!" I fell backwards onto the tatami mat, staring at the ceiling. "Why can't we all just be friends?"

"That's not how the real world-"

"Stop with those realistic statements and just let me be an idealistic teenager for a while, Oji-san," I whined.

He laughed heartily, and as he began to clean up the shogi board I found myself remembering something that had been weighing on my mind. "Oji-san."

"Hm?"

"Do you know who my father is?"

The atmosphere suddenly got tense, as Tsuyoshi abruptly halted from cleaning up. Soon enough, though, the tension vaporized and he began to clean up again. "Of course I don't, Nami-chan. I've only known you and your mother from Namimori, after all. Why do you ask?"

"…You seem to know Reborn for who he really is. I was just wondering if you knew he invited me to join the mafia, more specifically this clam group that Tsuna is supposedly leading and Takeshi is a part of. Since he has some sort of connection with my father, I figured you might've also known..." I laughed awkwardly. "B-but that's ridiculous, right? After all, you're just an ordinary sushi chef living in a small town in Japan… there's no way you would have any idea what I'm talking about. Especially since the mafia probably doesn't even exist… In fact, maybe it's just some sort of Italian myth-!"

"Nami-chan."

I winced. "Sorry, I'm just trying to convince myself. With all I've seen already, from a two year old talking like he's a full-grown adult to the various explosions happening on the daily in this town, there's no way the mafia doesn't exist. I just thought I'd play dumb a little longer... considering that's long gone now." I sat myself up, noticing the guilt written all over Tsuyoshi-san's face, and I smiled. "You don't have to tell me about him. I'll figure it out myself, when I get the chance. When are you going to let Takeshi know?"

What a day. Who knew my work hours could get any worse than just dealing with rude customers? Now I have to deal with a mopey boss who refuses to tell his son that he's in the mafia just when I've come to terms with this mafia-affiliated town.

Ugh, I need some healing…

"...Kamiya-senpai?"

Perfect timing, my smol little tuna!

"Tsuna~! My cute little kouhai, did you come to visit me?~" I squished his cheeks, to which he whined immediately, "K-K-Kamiya-sempai, t-that hurts-!"

"You bitch! Let go of Juudaime this instant, or I'm going to make you explode!"

Juu… daime?

In my state of confusion I let go of Tsuna's cheeks, who had already turned to his silver-haired friend in panic. "G-Gokudera-kun, this is public property, please don't!"

Gokudera-kun widened his eyes and immediately bowed in dogeza, shouting, "I apologize for my actions, Juudaime!"

"G-Gokudera-kun, p-please get up-!"

Even without Tsuna's chiding, the teen abruptly rose and then glowered menacingly at me. "Woman, come outside so I can punish you for manhandling Juudaime! It seems that I can't do it here, so I demand you come outside with me!"

Wow, just my rotten luck. Right when I've accepted that the mafia exists, I meet the leader of the main mafia crew, who I had forgotten belonged to it in the first place, and his stupidly loyal lackey, who was serious about getting me to leave the premises to explode me to bits.

With an unimpressed gaze, I grabbed the cigarette in his mouth and tossed it into the ashtray. "Sorry, Tako-kun, I'd love to go outside with you and get blown up but I'm afraid I can't leave the premises during work hours. Maybe after, okay?"

Whether it was in anger at me taking his cigarette, refusing his offer, calling him an octopus, or all three, the teenager started to sputter, his face reddening. "Y-you-bi-how dare you-I'm going to-!"

Tsuna seemed shocked at what I had done to his friend, but he quickly got over his shock and immediately apologized. "Sorry about Gokudera-kun, Kamiya-senpai. He can get a little aggressive, but I promise he has done no harm, I think."

'I think?' Woah Tsuna, you're losing faith in your subordinate here.

Speaking of 'subordinate'...

"Where's Takeshi?" I asked, looking around for his signature spiky black hair.

Tsuna smiled. "I figured we were taking him away from baseball too much, so I convinced him to go to practice. He told me to tell his dad that he'll be home late, which is why I'm here, but... I didn't know you worked here, Senpai."

I blinked. "Oh, you didn't know? I thought your mom would've told you, I always run into her when I finish work, you know."

He frowned. "She does?"

I blinked. Oh. Nana-san probably didn't tell because she knew I'm not supposed to be working.

I smiled, and found myself ruffling Tsuna's hair, which was incredibly soft and fluffy. The Sawada family is an extremely considerate and welcoming bunch, aren't they?

…How in the world did you get dragged into this mess, Tsuna?

Tsuna blinked, before panicking. "K-K-Kamiya-senpai?! Are you alright? W-w-why are you crying, uh what can I do to help-?!"

Confused, I felt teardrops at my eye, and quickly wiped them away, apologizing, "Ah, don't worry about it, I think I put my contacts in the wrong way-"

"A Vongola should never make women cry, Dame-Tsuna!" A blur of green appeared and hit Tsuna in the face, materializing in the form of Reborn holding a chameleon.

Ah. So it was Reborn.

I was just about to grab the first-aid kit for Tsuna, when I realized there was barely a mark on his face as it dissipated pretty quickly. He simply rubbed his cheeks with a frown. "Reborn, for the last time I'm not becoming a mafia boss!"

As I watched them bicker with one another, I blinked, surprised, but just smiled in defeat.

The crybaby Tsuna I once knew really was growing up. He had managed to take this insane situation of getting involved with the Italian mafia and not let it get to his head. And though he had somewhat grown, he was still the same smol bean I had known my whole life.

"I'd say Tsuna's a really important friend to me, Nee-chan. I feel like everyday's more fun the more time I spend with him."

"Reborn."

He turned to me, and smirked. "So you've decided, huh?"

I grinned. "I'll join your weird clam mafia group! Are we gonna fight evil like the Power Rangers? Oo, are we the Clam Power Rangers?!"

Gokudera, whose presence I had forgotten, seemed to find his vocal chords and whipped out dynamite. "YOU STUPID WOMAN!"

"GOKUDERA-KUN, NO-!"

And with that, I officially became a member of the Vongola family.