Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is owned by Akira Amano. The Gamer belongs to Sangyoung Seong and Sang-a.
Tsuna thought that Kurokawa Hana was scary. Everyone had heard about the one incident back in kindergarden, where one of the bigger kids had made Kyoko cry. Nobody knew what Hana had whispered in his ear, but he burst into tears and stayed far away after that.
So Tsuna was unsurprisingly afraid when Mama had called him downstairs to tell him that Hana wanted to talk to him. Tsuna didn't want to, but Mama told him that that would be rude. Then there was nothing else to be done but wait for the tea to be ready.
Tsuna smiled nervously at Hana. Hana stared stonily back. "Sawada-san," she began. "I left a week ago from a Kyoko that disliked violence and had no interest in fighting. I come back to find that she has suddenly developed a fighting team with a complete stranger, and is dedicated to this 'dungeon' game with her monkey of an older brother, the Demon of Namimori and you." She paused to sip her tea. "I'll admit; I didn't think much about you. You're normally quiet, ridiculously clumsy and quite possibly the one of the stupidest people I have ever met." Tsuna flinched and looked down. He knew he was bad, but hearing all his problems spoken of so casually still hurt.
Hana studied his reaction. Then she put her tea cup down and gave Tsuna the scariest smile he had ever seen. "So, are you going to explain this? Or will I have to get creative."
Tsuna crumbled.
…
"…" Hana stared at the screen in front of her. Her left eye was twitching ever so slightly. Then she took a deep breath and exhaled sharply.
"So. Let me get this straight. Kyoko-chan is convinced that she must become a healer to help her older brother, and as a part of that she must participate in these dungeon runs and kill MONSTERS?!"
Tsuna winced and nodded.
Hana scowled and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well, I'll see if I can talk her out of it," she muttered under her breath.
…
She wasn't. In fact, Kyoko seemed even more determined to continue being a "Battle-Sister" than before. She also became determined to convert Hana as well.
"It's scary at first," Kyoko said, "but then you realize that it's being a superhero! With your friends and everything!"
Tsuna wasn't so certain that seeing the gamer ability as a superpower was a good thing. Unlike the TV shows, people could get really hurt here, like Hibari. From the look Hana gave Kyoko, it seemed like she thought the same.
"But don't you get hurt?" Hana asked, quietly.
"Well, yes," Kyoko said. "But they can be healed. Ah! That reminds me. Tsuna-kun, food can heal people, right?"
Tsuna started when he heard his name. "Um, yes? Th-that's why I've been learning to cook," he replied.
Kyoko clapped her hands. "That's great. I've always thought having a cooking group would be fun. Won't you join Haru-chan and I? We can make healing food for the dungeons."
"A-ah, sure? B-but shouldn't you be thinking about what Hana said? I-I mean, this is really, really dangerous, and I don't want anyone getting hurt."
"Exactly," Hana jumped in. "You were really unhappy when your brother was hurt. What if that happened to you?"
"But that's why I'm learning how to heal people!" Kyoko chirped. "Anyways, I think you're being too hard. I bet if you just went on a trip with us, you'd realize how fun it was! Our next outing is in two days. Come join! Tsuna, let's get together tomorrow to cook for the trip, okay?"
Tsuna and Hana glanced at each other. It was clear that Kyoko wasn't going to be persuaded to change her views. For better or for worse, they were in this together now.
…
"Dang it, dang it, dang it," Hana said as she paced in the street. Tsuna stared at her. Those sounded like bad words that Mama told him never to say. Hana had to be really upset. He was kinda upset too. If Kyoko didn't realize it was dangerous, then she might do something silly and get herself hurt. Like, like, she could get bitten by a spider and be poisoned. Tsuna didn't know what he'd do if she got hurt.
"Tsuna," Hana said sharply. Tsuna jumped. It appeared that while he had been worrying about Kyoko, Hana had made up her mind.
"Tsuna," she repeated, pinning Tsuna with a look that was not quite a glare but was close. "You are going to tell me everything you've learned about this game. Everything."
Tsuna gulped.
…
"So let me get this straight: You can use this "observe" ability to see how anything affects you in the game?" Hana asked.
"I-I never thought about it like that," Tsuna admitted. When Hana gave him a glare he squeaked and nodded furiously.
"And you never thought to look at foods and see which heals the most?"
No, he hadn't, Tsuna realized with a sinking feeling. Honestly, he was so stupid. How could he not realize that? He really was-
"Hey!" Hana said. Tsuna blinked at her. Hana sighed and pinched her nose again. "Look," she started. "You're a bit of a stupid monkey, but you're the smartest monkey of the lot I'm working with, and apparently you're the only one that an ounce of sense. So stop looking so upset with yourself and help me. Being mad with yourself doesn't do a bit of good."
Tsuna sniffed and nodded at her. Then he rubbed his eyes, realizing that they were a little wet.
"Good," Hana said sharply. "Now, let's use your observe ability to examine the food in the kitchen. I'll make a chart of what gives what health."
"'Kay," Tsuna said softly.
…
The kitchen was interesting. By far the best health food was some leftover's from last night's dinner. The pastries Mama had in the cupboard were decent too. But what was more interesting was when Tsuna looked at the sliced bread.
"It's listed as an in-gree-di-ant," Tsuna said. "And next to the in-gree-di-ant title is a thing that says basic inside these moon things."
"Like this?" Hana asked, drawing out the symbol.
"Yes!"
"Those are parenthesis signs. I think that it means that the bread is considered a basic ingredient."
"O-oh. Er… What does that mean?"
"It probably means it's a very simple or common ingredient. Or that the quality is basic."
"O-okay…"
"You don't get it, do you?"
"No…"
It took a while for Tsuna to get it. Tsuna almost felt he would have gotten it quicker if Hana didn't fluster him so much, but that seemed rude. Still, they completed their survey of the kitchen.
Hana looked at her list with interest.
"Huh," she said. "It looks like the completed food is worth more health than just the raw stuff."
She tapped the notebook to her chin. "Tsuna, you have money, right?"
"Y-yes?"
"Good. We're going to the store."
"Hiiee?"
Hana shot Tsuna a glare. "One kitchen is good, but I need to know more. Logically, the next place to go would be a store, so I can compare food there as well. We'll also be looking at First Aid stuff and anything that looks useful, okay?"
"Y-yes!"
…
Tsuna had never been to such a big store without Mama before. The massive aisles and brightly colored stacks seemed so much bigger when he was with Hana. Not that Hana let him stare for long.
"Come on," Hana said as she dragged Tsuna along. "We'll start by comparing the breads with the pastries. If I'm right, the pastries should give more health than the bread, and some of the pricier bread will be better than basic."
Tsuna just nodded. It wasn't worth arguing, even though his arm was starting to hurt a little from where Hana was gripping it.
It turned out that some of the pricier bread was better than basic. Some of the loaves of bread labeled as "ar-tis-an" or "or-gan-ic" was listed as "Good" quality.
It was towards the end of the bread section that Tsuna got two new pop-ups. "[Observe] Leveled Up!" "Your [Observe] skill has reached level 10! Your [Observe] will now tell you basic background info!"
"U-um Hana?" Tsuna started.
"Yes?"
"It says I can now see basic back-ground info about things…?"
Hana went still. Then she snarled "Dang it!"
"HIEE! I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Tsuna cried.
"No, no, calm down. I said CALM DOWN!" Hana said when Tsuna kept whimpering.
"I'm not angry with you," Hana explained. "I'm just frustrated because now we'll have to redo everything and we only have so much time before there's another dungeon run."
"O-oh."
Hana sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let my temper take ahold of me and scare you like that. I'm just-" She waved her hands in the air for a few seconds. "I'm scared and frustrated and- and they don't even get it." Hana put her hands down, a quiver in her voice. "They think it's just a game, that they can't get hurt. A-and I've always been the one to be responsible and make sure everything is okay, but I- I can't do that here, it's too big a-and I- I don't know what to do."
Tsuna, on impulse, grabbed Hana and hugged her. She stiffened for a moment, then reached out and grabbed him tightly. They stood there for a moment, then she pushed him away. Tsuna let her.
Hana took a shuddering breath, then put on a fierce face.
"Okay. Let's do this," she said. But as she turned toward the beginning of the bread aisle, she paused and murmured, "Thank you."
In front of Tsuna a window popped up. "Kurokawa Hana is now your friend!"
..
It turned out that the background info didn't really add much, although Hana did make a kinda happy snarl when this one brand mentioned it was made in illegally dirty factories. That bread was the only loaf with a "Poor" quality.
Other than that, it seemed more complicated foods did, in fact, grant higher health, but they were also more expensive. Hana and Tsuna pooled their money to buy a loaf of the "Poor" quality bread, and a loaf of the "Good" quality breads. Hana told him that they would take several pieces of bread from each loaf, plus one of Mama's loaves, and toast them to see how well the quality affected the health given.
When Tsuna and Hana got to the medical section, they were quickly overwhelmed. Sure, bandages were simple to understand, but a lot of the things had really specific uses, and penalties for using them incorrectly. In this case, Tsuna actually knew more than Hana did. After some discussion, Hana decided to join Tsuna and the other girls for lessons on First Aid, and that they should both buy basic First Aid kits with extra bandages. They'd come back later once Hana was able to better see what they would need and had had a chance to grill Grandma on what was used for what.
Then they went home.
..
Tsuna got out the old toaster he liked to use while Hana examined her [Cooking] skill level.
"Hey Sawada-san, what's your cooking skill at?" she asked him.
"U-um… level nine!"
"Huh, I'm at level five. We should both cook to see how much level affects health as well."
"Okay… u-um Kurokawa-san?
"Hmm?"
"Y-you can call me Tsuna, you know."
Hana looked surprised for a moment, then smiled. "Tsuna-kun then. And you can call me Hana."
"Sure!" Tsuna smiled back at her. Then he turned to the toaster and started toasting bread.
..
Hana and Tsuna examined the results of their experiment.
"So," Hana started. "Right now it seems that quality and level have equal effects on how much health a food item gives you."
Tsuna nodded. That seemed to make sense.
Hana seemed deep in thought for a minute. Then she muttered, "This is going to ruin my appetite for dinner."
"Huh?"
Hana turned to Tsuna. "What toppings do you have?" she asked. At Tsuna's confused look, she explained.
"What do you have that you can put on toast, like butter, jam, anything like that?"
"O-oh! Let me show you!"
Tsuna and Hana grabbed several jars and containers and brought them over to the table. Then they spent the next couple of minutes smearing different spreads over their toast. The different flavors of jam only had minor differences in health given, but butter had the lowest health given and cream cheese the highest.
Then Tsuna got the bright idea to put all the spreads on a single piece of toast. The end result was… interesting.
"FrankenToast," Tsuna read aloud for Hana. "Food Item. A ton of things on a piece of toast. Looks disgusting. Probably tastes disgusting. +10 HP"
Hana snorted. "Nice, but can you imagine Hibari eating that?"
Tsuna blanched as Hana snickered at him. Hibari would murder Tsuna if Tsuna tried to give him that.
Still… "What are we going to do with all this," Tsuna gestured at the food.
Hana shrugged. "Eat it, I guess."
Tsuna made a face. He didn't mind toast, but there was a lot of toast.
"Maybe we could feed it to the birds?" he suggested. "I'd feel bad throwing it out."
Hana opened her mouth, but then shut it, looking thoughtful. "Hey Tsuna-kun, do you think that if birds will eat this, monsters might as well? We could use it to bait traps."
Tsuna was surprised. That hadn't occurred to him. "That's a really good idea Hana-chan!" he said.
They put all the toast into baggies and cleaned up.
As it came time for Hana to go, she hesitated. "Tsuna-kun?"
"Yes?"
Hana bit her lip. "Can I borrow some money?" she asked. Then she flinched and looked away. "I'll pay you back, but if this is something that keeps on happening, I'll need a weapon. I can ask Dad to enroll me in archery classes, but I'll have to buy all the equipment I want to use at places other than the studio. So can I?"
Tsuna blinked, startled. Hana continued after a second. "Don't get me wrong, I hate owing people-" "How much do you need?" Tsuna asked.
Hana blinked at him, then mumbled, "I don't know."
Tsuna opened his account. Each boss left money, so he had about 10,000 yen now.
"Is ten thousand okay?" he asked.
Hana choked. "That's way too much!" she shouted. Then her brows furrowed. "I'll borrow 6,000. That should be enough combined with my own money."
Tsuna handed her the money. "Thanks," she said as she dropped it into her pocket. Then she looked up at him. "Stay safe," Hana said.
Then they both said their goodbyes and Hana left.
..
The next day Tsuna told the others about what Hana had found out. Mama, after finding that the girls wanted to make a cooking group, cheerfully volunteered to help. In fact, Tsuna had never seen her so happy.
He wasn't certain how he felt about that. On one hand, it meant more time with Kyoko and learning how to cook, and Mama was happy. On the other hand, it seemed to encourage Kyoko and Haru that participating in dangerous monster hunts was a good idea.
When Mama wasn't listening, or was off doing something else, Tsuna explained to the others what he and Hana had figured out the other day. Haru and Kyoko both decided that that meant they needed to get super good at cooking, as soon as possible.
"Hahi! Then we could like samurai wives, healing our husbands and protecting them at the same time!" Haru said.
"Naginata were used by samurai wives after all!" said Kyoko.
"Ah, speaking of weapons," Tsuna hesitantly started. "Hana said she'd look into learning archery."
"Really? That's wonderful!" said Kyoko, Haru nodding vigorously next to her. "I hope she realizes how fun this is soon."
"U-um, I think she's learning because she's worried about you. She wants to protect you, so she's trying to learn more about fighting." Tsuna tried.
"I'm not worried, I have you, Nii-san and Hibari-san protecting me," said Kyoko.
"And Battle-Sisters fight together!" Haru added.
Tsuna gave up trying to convince the two girls to be more careful.
..
The day of the dungeon run was hot and muggy. The forecast said it was likely to rain in the afternoon, so Tsuna and the others decided to meet in the morning. The others were cheerful, but Tsuna noted that Hana had bags under her eyes.
"You okay?" he asked.
Hana took a deep breath. "I will be," she said like it was both a wish and a promise. She had with her a bow on her back and a baseball bat. "For inside places, when I can't aim," she said when Tsuna looked at her. "Smart," said Tsuna in return.
They went to the spider dungeon first. Hana interrogated Tsuna about what was likely to happen on the way there. Tsuna tried his best to remember, but he couldn't remember all of it.
"How many silk sacs were there on the ground?"
"I don't remember exactly… it was more than one or two, but there weren't a lot."
Hana nodded distractedly, brow furrowed.
"Hana?" Tsuna asked.
"I'm trying to think of a strategy," she explained.
"O-oh, well, I'm not sure if that will be helpful right now, because we're here."
Hana looked up, blinked and paled. Then she took a deep breath and stood up tall.
"Tsuna? Could you call the others? I'd like to share my strategy," she said, and her voice was impressively steady.
Tsuna nodded. "Hey everyone!" he yelled. "Hana has an idea!"
Ryohei, Kyoko and Haru all smiled and headed over. Hibari… kinda rolled his eyes but headed over too.
"Okay, so," Hana started. "It sounds like what we have is a hole in which a bunch of monsters spawn and then a few monsters spawn on the outside, right?"
Everyone nodded.
"Okay, so Hibari-san and Ryohei are our best fighters and Tsuna has all the area attacks, so they should take care of the main swarm like you did before. Kyoko, Haru and I will search the surroundings, take out the others. If we need help, we'll yell for either Tsuna or Ryohei. Tsuna and I both have first aid kits, so someone with a kit is with each group. Will that work?"
Everyone nodded, save for Hibari who just waved an acknowledgment. "Hahi! What a good plan!" said Haru.
"Okay, so that's it," Hana trailed off, clearly uncertain what to do now.
"A-alright!" Tsuna said. "Let's do this!"
Ryohei and the girls cheered. Hibari and Hana just readied their weapons.
Then as a group they headed in.
..
It was certainly more organized, Tsuna thought. Now that Hibari and Ryohei knew what to expect, they didn't seem to have any trouble. Hana had screamed the first time she had seen a spider, but quickly shook off her fright and killed it. The girls were watching each other's backs, and didn't seem to have any trouble.
Tsuna absentmindedly noted that he'd need to start preparing more Molotovs as he readied another. A spider went flying towards his face. He flinched, but punched it hard enough to send it flying into the flames.
Across from him, the circle of fire lit Hibari's face up from below, making him seem almost like a demon sent to torment all who opposed him. Ryohei didn't seem any friendlier either.
Ouch. Another spider just bit Ryohei on the ankle. It died even quicker, and the pain just seemed to make Ryohei even fiercer.
"Tsuna!" Hana yelled.
Tsuna met Hibari's eyes and stepped away, running to the girls.
They were fighting a massive, swollen spider.
The girls were doing their best to keep it at bay, but it was much thicker than what they could pierce with their wooden naginatas.
''Clear a path!" Tsuna yelled. "Let Hana shoot it!" He readied a Molotov.
Hana nodded and nocked an arrow. As soon as she had a clear shot, she let the arrow loose.
It hit the spider right on the abdomen, and it thrashed about. Then what made it so thick became apparent.
Thousands of tiny baby spiders crawled off their mother and headed towards the girls and Tsuna. Tsuna threw the Molotov and yelled "Stomp on them!"
The girls and Tsuna jumped on the spider babies that survived the flames. The spiders crunched underneath their feet.
"Don't forget their mother!" yelled Hana, as she let loose another arrow. Kyoko tried to hit the massive arachnid, but was too busy keeping the spiders from crawling up her leg.
Tsuna picked up a discarded stool and threw it at the mother. It screamed and finally died.
Then Tsuna helped the girls kill the last few tiny spiders, then headed back to the center just in time to see the boss drop down.
He and Ryohei worked together like before to kill the queen together. It almost got loose a few times but it finally died just like the others.
The group took a few deep breaths in the violent end of the battle.
Tsuna looked over at Hana. "You okay?"
Hana nodded, gasping. She held up a finger for a few seconds while her breathing slowed. "Okay," she said. "Next time, we should all wear pants and boots. Make it harder for something to go after your legs."
"It's a good idea," Tsuna said as the others looked like they might protest. "Onii-san, at least one spider bit you- speaking of which, here-" he handed Ryohei a healing potion to remove the poison effect "-and Kyoko and Haru, I don't think you liked the spiders crawling on your legs." The girls shuddered and nodded, but Haru still seemed a bit mulish.
"Haru wants to look cute fighting," she said.
Tsuna took a breath and thought. "Um, you want to be a designer when you grow up, right?" he asked.
Haru nodded.
"Then, do you think you could design an outfit that's cute and practical?"
"Hahi! Sure!"
"I'll help too!" said Kyoko.
"I'll be on hand to ensure the "practical" part," said Hana.
Tsuna nodded. "Okay. Good. Anything else?"
There was a round of no's. "Alright. If you're injured, eat something. We'll leave in about five minutes."
As everyone turned to their tasks, Tsuna was distracted by a pop-up. "Due to repeatedly showing good qualities and by completing the requirements, you have earned the Passive Effect [Leader]. [Leader] requires you to have at least five followers and show leadership in the field. With five followers, [Leader] grants you +20 rep with all followers, +(# of followers up to 50) rep with allies and -(# of followers up to 50) rep with enemies."
B-but that made no sense! That would mean that Hibari Kyouya was a follower, and Hibari followed no one. The game must be mistaken. And where did it get off calling his friends followers? They were friends, that's it!
Tsuna ignored the little voice that reminded him of all the times that Hibari had listened to him and that friends could be followers at the same time. The game was mistaken and that was the end of it.
He was broken from his thoughts by a muffled rustle from the corner of the room.
While everyone else was distracted he walked over to where he heard the rustling. Something small was moving under a sheet of webbing. He pulled back a corner and looked into four dark eyes.
The black spider underneath the webbing was small and black, about the size of one of Tsuna's hands. It clicked its mandibles in an almost panicked way and it backed up against a wall. Tsuna raised a foot to stomp it flat but… it just seemed so pitiful. It was trembling in the same way he did when the bullies backed him in an alley. Tsuna put the foot down.
"Oh?" said Hibari from behind him. Tsuna whirled around.
"So one survived?" Hibari raised a tonfa.
"Ah-ah, wait!" Tsuna said.
"What?" asked Hibari in a bored tone of voice.
"Ah, um…" Tsuna looked at the others who had noticed what was going on. Kyoko, Haru and Ryohei all seemed mildly curious, but Hana looked concerned-Hana!
"Hana was wondering if spiders could be lured with food into traps. We can use this one as a test subject!" Tsuna gave Hibari a brilliant terrified smile.
Hibari looked at Tsuna for a moment then shrugged and put the tonfa down.
Tsuna breathed an internal sigh of relief. Then he turned around and pulled a baggie from his inventory. He broke off a piece of the bread inside and placed it about half a meter away from the spider.
The spider hesitated. "Maybe we're too close?" Hana suggested. "We are crowding it after all." Everyone moved back a few steps.
The spider slowly stepped forward, then grabbed the morsel and scuttled back to its place against the wall.
"It's kinda cute," Kyoko decided.
Both Tsuna and Hana shot her incredulous looks, but Haru nodded. They turned back to the spider, who had finished the bite. It was still in the corner but it didn't seem to be trembling so badly.
Tsuna offered the spider a second piece, and the spider didn't hesitate to grab it. It didn't go back to the wall either.
This time, when Tsuna offered the spider a piece of toast, he held it out. The spider was hesitant, but once Tsuna didn't move for a few seconds it scurried forward and nibbled it in his hands. Tsuna… Tsuna might have been a bit enchanted. Just a little.
Then when the spider was done, it just short of… rubbed against his hand, like a cat. It was surprisingly soft.
"Congratulations! You have tamed [Baby Jumping Spider]! [Baby Jumping Spider] is now your pet! Name [Baby Jumping Spider] [Y/N]?
Tsuna choked. "Tsuna?" asked Hana, worriedly.
"It says I tamed the spider. It says it's now my pet. It's asking-" Tsuna choked back a hysterical laugh "-if I want to name it!"
The groups looked at the spider that was now nuzzling Tsuna's hand.
"You could call it Kuro, because it's black," Kyoko suggested. Again, Hana and Tsuna shot her incredulous looks. Then Tsuna sighed and covered his face with the hand not being crawled on by a spider.
"Okay," Tsuna decided. "Name pet Kuro."
"Your [Baby Jumping Spider] is now named Kuro! Kuro is at LV 1."
"Herbivores. This had better not stop us from going to the other dungeons," Hibari said.
Tsuna sighed again then picked up Kuro and placed it on his shoulder. "It won't," he told Hibari.
At least, he hoped it wouldn't cause problems. Of course, that meant that at the next dungeon they went to Kuro jumped off his shoulder and onto the face of his attacker.
Hibari thoroughly approved.
…
AN: So, good news is that I got into a good college. Bad news is that I got into a good college, and good colleges require a lot of work. This story is neither abandoned nor dead, but I'm not making any promises for when it will be updated again.
Now, about this chapter: I realize that Kyoko and Haru are not exactly present in a good light. To be truthful though, these girls are nine when their fourteen-year-old selves ignored almost all mafia on-goings despite meeting Dino's famigalia, Mafia Land, and the Ring Battles, THEN left a safe place unarmed while there was an entire mafia famigalia trying to kill them. They've got good hearts, and honestly I'm going to try to give them more power then what they had in the manga/anime, but they NEED to sort out their priorities.
As for Hana, my personal headcanon is that she witnessed a mildly traumatic event as a small child that made her realize how powerless and dangerous children are, and that's why she hates them so much. Let me know what you think!
Sawada Tsunayoshi
Vongola Heir
LV 6
HP 88
FP 70
Strength 10
Constitution 14
Agility 10
Intelligence 8
Wisdom 14
Luck 4