Clear to cloudy

Target 32: Playing by the rules

Ren wakes up and stretches happily. Another great day to be alive! The first week of their stay in Tokyo is almost over! Just a two more days to go! It'll be a little while before their day starts so he can go for a run first. He quickly gets in his yellow jumpsuit, putting on his fancy shoes his ring still burning with the comfortably warm sun flames, making him wonder if it'll ever go away… He goes out to run however right outside is Hibari, waiting for him. "I knew you'd go for a run. You really are obsessed with running," he says and Ren warms up for the run.

"Yeah… it's nice…" He says stretching a bit, showing that he's quite flexible, most likely from all that breakdancing he does.

"I want to show you something. Come on," He says walking and Ren confusedly follows him. Hibari leads him into the woods to the spot where Kotsu and Murphy were training and the entire space looks pretty banged up. Ren quickly realizes what the holes and markings remind him of. Their own garden after Kotsu battled Gerald there.

"W-what IS this!? Is this MORE of that game!?"

"This is where your little brother trained yesterday. For the ring conflict," He says and Ren grits his teeth.

"B-but I… I told him to stop it! The guys he's playing with aren't playing by the rules! Why!? Why would he keep playing such a dangerous game!? Even if he IS meant to be super strong he doesn't stand a chance against people who ACTUALLY want to hurt him!"

"If your little brother told you to stop breakdancing… would you do it?" He asks changing the topic slightly.

"That's not even REMOTELY related to this! I need to set him straight when the teambuilding today is done!" He says angrily walking back now having lost his desire to run for now.

"You're interesting Ren!" Hibari yells without facing him still looking at the scene in front of him. "Everyone should drop anything that you find unsuitable… but not you! You can do whatever you want!" He then turns to face Ren again. "I forbid you from talking to your little brother about quitting this game. A forbidding I WILL enforce,"

"Y-you can't DO that! It's my JOB to guide my little brother to the right path!"

"I already said I'd enforce it. I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for your little brother," He says and Ren stomps away trying to forget about it.

-NII-

A little while after Fumie also wakes up looking over seeing Geraldino sitting at the table, pen in hand, trying to copy a drawing Rinoka made for him to practice, but it seems he's not doing well. Sadly it seems Rinoka is not doing great on lighting her ring up either. Fumie quickly gets up as Rinoka is about to cry. "I-I-I can't do it… it's no use! I-I'm useless Geraldino-san!"

Geraldino turns in his chair. "No master! Don't say dumb things like that! You'll get it I'm certain!" He tries but she just sobs.

"Y-you say that every time Geraldino-san… but I don't get it… I'll never be useful to Kotsu-san…" She says before Fumie hugs her in spite of just waking up and not being a morning person.

"That's nonsense Rinoka-chan! I know Kotsu-kun and if you just show up I know Kotsu will be happy! Geraldino's a jerk and an idiot-" "HEY!" "But take it from ME! You'll definitely do it! And when you do I'll be SUPER happy for you!" She says and Rinoka now has newfound hope.

Meanwhile Geraldino finishes the drawing which looks practically nothing like the picture he got and looks at the time. "Well I think it's about time for us to go gather with the others!" He says before quickly crumbling his drawing so his master doesn't see what a failure he is.

-NII-

For the duration of the team-building Kotsu can really feel a strange presence coming from his older brother. Like he's… ACTUALLY angry with him. He can't quite figure out why though.

During the midway break in between exercises Ren grabs his water bottle and takes a large sip and Kotsu sneaks his way up to him. "Hey um… Ren… are you mad at me?"

Ren stops taking a sip of his water and just looks elsewhere. "No. Just never took you for much of a rebel lil' bro."

"A rebel? I'm a rebel…"

"Yeah…" Ren looks around seeing Hibari glancing in their direction, clearly listening in. "You're still playing that game… even after I asked you not to?" He says and Hibari looks to prepare to stop the conversation, but Reborn grabs his shoulder.

"Let them. It's important,"

"Y-yes… I-I realizing that… even though it's a tough win… that I need to do it…" Kotsu says with a little almost embarrassed smirk.

"B-but you could hurt yourself! Why do you NEED to do it?! I-I'm worried about you! It's kind of selfish of you…" He says expecting Kotsu to agree as he's not known for being very selfish.

However Kotsu just shakes his head. "It's not selfish Ren! W-why would you even think I'd do it just for myself! I… had a talk with someone… and she told me I don't need to be in it alone. I have friends to help me AND friends to fight for… I know that if I lose… I'll let down a lot of people I care about. If I lose Cotton might get taken back to Italy against her will… I'll let down Tsugemora who's so proud to be my bodyguard. And I'll let down both Reborn and Primo who've guided me on the way…" he says sounding quite mature for a 14-year-old.

"B-but…" Ren starts but can't think of something to counter his argument. "But those people you need to win against… they're not playing by the rules! They're cheating! It's really dangerous! I don't want you to get hurt!" He says getting more and more upset.

However Kotsu looks at him. "Ren… I know… but I'll play by the rules… and when It's done I promise you that…" He says taking a step forward before raising his hand in a fist with his back turned. "I'll be standing like this… victorious…" He says and Ren just grits his teeth.

"Lil' bro… I… I don't want to watch you get hurt over some stupid game…" He says walking away and Kotsu just looks almost depressed after him.

"Me neither…"

-NII-

The rest of the day goes without the two brothers talking, which greatly pleases Tsugemora as he's always quite jealous that Kotsu talks so much to Ren.

Lately his practice went fine. He's managed to hit every target in rapid succession however his new impossible wall to overcome… Reborn has started forcing Tsugemora to fight him. Of course with lots and lots of restrictions placed on Reborn since it wouldn't be fair otherwise. So to say the least he's very thankful that Reborn can heal him after he gets beaten down so they can keep going over and over.

Kotsu is in the woods with Murphy again swinging his fork around with his eyes closed, in hyper dying will state, trying to imagine opponents in front of him that he beats down. However every time he imagines Zaccaria he can't seem to keep up with his own imagination. He hasn't even FOUGHT the guy but he knows he's immensely powerful.

He falls to his knees sticking the large fork into the ground. "It's too tough… I can't see a way to defeat someone of his caliber…" He says as his flame disappears and he takes a break. Murphy sat watching the entire time and honestly has no clue what to tell him.

"Zaccaria's a tough customer that's for sure… Just beating HIM will be quite a task indeed. As well as Ywan. However from what I can tell your movements are become more and more smooth and your combos are lasting longer, so it seems you're making progress…"

"Yeah… but there's a big difference between making progress and being able to beat one of those two, let alone BOTH of them,"

"THAT'S RIGHT!" Someone yells from a tree nearby. He jumps down and smirks his signature evil smirk. It's Zaccaria!?

"W-what're YOU doing here!?"

Zaccaria holds out his katar and it lights with what Kotsu now knows is a sky flame. However it's much different from what Murphy told him. It's incredibly deep orange and very smooth in its sparkling. Kind of like how Geraldino's rain flame looks more like flowing water than fire. "That's simple Kotsukiba Niruo… I don't really feel like waiting until the conflict to see what you have… So fight me!" He yells angrily and Kotsu jumps a little before Zaccaria jumps at him.

"Secondo-san!" Murphy yells tossing two blue pills after him and like before Kotsu knows that swallowing both will turn him into his hyper dying will form, however he doesn't manage to catch them both and he quickly realizes that Zaccaria is coming at him quite fast so he simply swallows the one he caught, not having time to think. His clothes burst off except for his boxers as he enters the normal dying will mode.

"I WILL FIGHT ZACCARIA WITH MY DYING WILL!" He yells off the top of his lungs and he jumps forward as well turning his fork large. He swings it like it weights nothing.

"Normal dying will mode?" Murphy comments and Kotsu swings the fork down and Zaccaria grabs the sids of the single katar taken quite aback by Kotsu's transformation. "REVERT 30%!" He yells and pulls as the katar turns into the two katars that's simply a large spike each instead of two thin ones. He holds them up to stop Kotsu's fork. He slams it down directly onto the katar and Zaccaria is not only forced to his knees, but Kotsu keeps pushing the fork down and Zaccaria seems to have trouble holding it up. However he manages holding Kotsu's fork in place. He stands up slowly and pushes Kotsu back however thanks to the dying will state Kotsu instantly attacks again swinging the fork wildly and Zaccaria is forced on the defense again blocking over and over with the two katars.

Kotsu stabs forward with the fork after being pushed back again and Zaccaria stabs one of his katars right in between the fork spikes stopping it right before it hits him in the eye. Kotsu lights his ring up and makes the spikes extend and Zaccaria just manages to move back to avoid getting his eyes stabbed out. He jumps back and smirks.

"Using my own favorite technique against me? That's pretty smar-" he starts but is forced to block another attack from Kotsu who isn't listening at all due to his dying will form. He jumps up landing on Kotsu's fork forcing it to the ground and he tries stabbing at Kotsu, but Kotsu lets go of his fork and catches the katar in between his hands. He yells loudly as he pushes Zaccaria back and reclaims his fork. Zaccaria grits his teeth as Kotsu charges again.

"Enough of this madness!" He yells and the left katar lights up with even more sky flames and he ducks under Kotsu's attack spinning at the same time slicing at the middle section of his fork cutting it clean in half making him drop it and he keeps spinning stabbing right for Kotsu's throat with immense speed.

"ZACCARIA! Stop this very instant!" Someone yells and Zaccaria stops right before he hits Kotsu and jumps back. His katars revert back into one. Kotsu's flame disappears at this moment as well as the fight seems to be over.

In the tree a woman jumps down. She has long pink hair and is wearing a black masquerade mask. "Cervello… I was wondering when you'd show up…" Zaccaria says with a smirk.

"That's right. And as a member of Cervello I could have you disqualified! AND Ywan for that matter as you have disobeyed the rules! Which clearly state that it is not allowed to interfere with the opposing teams except during the conflict battles. We do not wish for a repeat of last time."

Zaccaria just shrugs pretending to be innocent. "Well I certainly wouldn't mind if Ywan was disqualified. Makes my job easier," he says smirking and the Cervello woman jumps down. Zaccaria stares at her looking quite scary for a boy Kotsu's age. "So…? You gonna disqualify us or what?"

"No… we may be the epidemy of indifference to winners, however we have been asked to let it slide this time. Now that we are here we have each of you monitored 24 7 and if anything like this happens again then you WILL be disqualified. Understand?"

Zaccaria takes a step back with his hands up quickly glancing to Murphy who's looking at Kotsu's fork, which is whole even though Zaccaria just sliced it in two. "I got it. I got it. I'll back off. I got what I wanted anyway," He looks to Kotsu with an evil smirk. "You won't win with just that strength Kotsukiba Niruo… I hope you'll put up more of a fight when we meet in the conflict…" He says before walking off. The Cervello bows.

"Tomorrow I will ask of you to choose your first guardians for the first round. Please be compliant," She says before jumping back into the tree and disappearing.

"Secondo-san…" He says and tosses Kotsu his fork. "I think I may have an idea for what you can train now," He says with a sly smirk before a bird dropping lands right on his head and Kotsu just lets out a nervous laugh before looking towards Tokyo.

"I guess… we're all playing by the rules now…"