Hello, readers. Yeah, a double update... which happens quite a bit fast, I see. But that's not the reason of me writing this (the stress with the previous job thingy).
I have a question, and I have a feeling that I have to ask this. This was the first time I had browsed KHR stories since about a month ago. And as far as I remembered, when I opened this manga's fanfiction last 2013 (that long), I remembered that there is a fanfiction story entitled 'Haru's Sleeping Habit.' It was like 16 chapters? I could not remember. But when I looked at it just now, the story was not there anymore! *crying sounds*
Now my question is: could the author of the fiction story with that title, sort of like, continue the story? Ha-ha, I know it sounded lame and idiotic and selfishingly daring, but you, whoever you are, are my sole inspiration in writing my first epic fail of a fic here, 'Breakup, Kiss, Then Make-up.' I was so immersed in that story, it encouraged me to make of my own while waiting patiently for the update. And I was devastated when I could no longer see your fic anymore! (Why, for the love of HibaHaru, Why?!)
If you guys have read the first story, there is a reference of the former's story you would find. If you read the part about the 'butler and maid cafe,' that came from that story.
And that's how I love your work!
Anyways, I am still waiting here broken (Broken? Not broken, just a broken-hearted soul) and still alive (and wailing)...
DJ Broken Wang
Haha, my pseudonym came from that, actually.
Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn is a canon anime and manga made by Ms. Akira Amano with ArtLand. The plot is owned by the owner and it is not her responsibility if there are any coincidences with either the real life or other fanfictions inside the site.
oooOOOooo
2-in-1 ID Game
Chapter 16
oooOOOooo
"I'm drained."
Despite of the happy atmosphere around them, and amongst the people celebrating this cheery event, the short-haired brunette walked with small swaying movements and a slightly swirling eyesight. It was dark, and that did not help with her situation. Yes, she was aware of the physical state she was in.
She was a complete mess right now.
"Oh, come on Haru. Cheer up!" The long-haired woman accompanying her jeered, as she elbowed her shoulder. She released an annoyed sigh upon feeling the other's jab, but she let it go. They were nearing towards that place, anyway.
Walking beside the two woman was a gruff Kusakabe, who remarkably changed his outfit to a butler-styled uniform in an Italian restaurant. From the regular eyesight, he seemed cool and nonchalant even if he was tuned out of the female conversation, but actually, he was experiencing an internal mental turmoil from bewilderment upon Reborn's forceful demand to change his scholastic get-up because this place is not a middle school campus. He still liked that gakuran, though.
He was still having an internal mental conflict, when Miura Haru the Ice Queen lawyer turned her attention to him and asked, "Who is this... 'Reborn,' anyway?"
"Yeah," the other woman joined in. "It would be nice to see our client face-to-face... Instead of being an anonymous guy giving opinions by paper and ink - ouch!"
She received a sharp pain on her left side, courtesy of her junior's pinch. She tried to retaliate to the one who inflicted that, when the man in the weird 90's answered. "You'll learn soon enough, Miss Miura."
Haru just gave him a strange look, while Bianchi sarcastically replied, "Well, she's not the only one who wants to know."
"Kusakabe-san, he's waiting inside." A man with the same uniform as his informed him. Upon hearing that, he guided the two women inside the room beyond the tinkling ruby beads and candy scents.
And while being used with the background, the man turned his head towards the two woman who seemed mortified with what they were seeing in front of them.
"What the hell is going on? I hope my eyes do not play tricks with me right now." Haru said.
"... Unfortunately," The purplish-scarlet haired woman followed up, still grasping the reality by clinging to her abused side that was beginning to fade away. " You pinched me, so what we're seeing right now is not a dream."
The brunette nodded dumbly as she stared at the one they were supposed to talk to.
"Ciaossu." The new voice, Reborn, greeted.
"Thank you, dear riders, for participating on our speed dating event! Remember that this will only happen once, in accordance to our fiftieth anniversary of the I-heart-You Events Place!" A young female with long blue hair(1) wearing a costume of queen of hearts twirled around as she announced in a happy voice. She seemed so happy, she blatantly neglected the tormented cries of swaying people and the violent stench of vomit everywhere. There was a time when she accidentally kicked a person walking like a zombie as she happily pranced around like a wild gazelle. And she did that several times to several people without noticing it.
The shades-man(2) wearing the same ace of hearts standing beside her didn't seem to mind, though, as he made his own scene.
"The next time it will happen would be at our centurieth anniversary!"
He then shared a look with the blue-haired girl as they started their happy news. "Let's give a round of applause to - " Then, they both took a deep breath as they prepared to yell -
"THE BIGGEST! BADDEST! AND THE FASTEST! GYRATING MACHINE EVER!"
However, the atmosphere around them was not as vivacious as theirs. Yes, there were few who clapped their own hands for courtesy, but that 'few' were very few. Almost half of the participants were lying half dead on the floor. Several of the responses they received were 'Guaaah' and 'Muuuh,' pretty much like the dead came back to life - but in the opposite way, of course.
Oh, yes. It was true that the general public went out of light from the height of their ride, but there were some who had the gall to scream, "Your ride sucks!" and "Child's play!" as well as -
"Let's do that again! But this time, no seatbelts, please!"
And while the mass groaned after hearing that dialogue, one angry man -
"VOI!"
- whose voice could beat a mob, screamed a bountiful of profanities as he stood firm beside the two emcees in card costumes(3).
"DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY HOURS I HAVE TO PATIENTLY MAKE MY HAIR STRAIGHT?! VOI! VOI! VOI!"
The two did not seem to notice the hair freak (they were wearing vacuum-thick earphones) as they continued they jolly time.
"Kindly go to the hall for the raffle, thank you!"
"And you are free to throw up in our throwing up booth for twenty-five hundred yen!"
"VOI! LISTEN TO ME WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU!"
From the starting point of the gyrating machine, however, three people remained stationary, as they wait for the others to appear. One of them was hunching with a blue-green face.
"Have you seen Ryohei and Hana?" Takeshi, who had just came in to their rendezvous spot, asked Kyoko with a curious look.
"Uh... yeah... Nii-chan had just been dragged by Hana to... reprimand him." Kyoko heaved a long intake of air as she remembered the embarassing incident.
"Oh... He kept on saying 'Extremely extreme,' which was funny. I completely forgot that we were not on a rollercoaster ride." He then laughed, which was responded with "I thought so." by the auburn-haired woman.
"How about lending me a hand here, Mr. Yamamoto... " The hunching, spiral-eyed Gokudera asked as he hunched tighter, a hand on his mouth.
And at last, Takeshi finally noticed him as he turned around. He supported the silverhead, while the other, in response, pointed on a random bush as he pulled him towards that... place -
"Where are you two going?" Kyoko asked.
The silverhead, who was containing his spit and mucus inside his mouth, stuttered as he explained. "The - the John... You k - k - know?... The John?"
"He'll throw up." Takeshi clarified, which was responded by an angry fist by the silverhead. However, he reiterated what he heard earlier when he was still in the cabin.
Bear in mind that the cabin was tightly sealed with a great pressure, how he could still hear minute voices, that's a mystery.
"But I heard the emcee earlier said that littering is strictly now allowed, right? And there are several throwing up booths here - well you have to pay, though."
"How much?" Gokudera asked.
"Ah... Two thousand and five hundred yen." was his reply.
Upon hearing the amount, the poor ex-lawyer changed to a shade of dark purple as he tried to force down the contents of his stomach.
"Sorry... All professors must exercise role model and you know that. You have to keep it in for now." Kyoko said with a small sweat appearing on her forehead.
Yes, Gokudera tried to swallow his bile back to his esophagus, but his digestive system had a mind of its own as it rejected the sour-bittery mucus back to his mouth. As a result, Gokudera forced his eyes to close as he stopped his breathing -
"Guaaah!"
- like those half-dead bodies around them.
And like the two emcees earlier, Kyoko and Takeshi continued their talk as if they were surrounded with cotton candies and food stalls. The only difference was that they were not wearing any costumes, and Takeshi was still carrying Gokudera on his shoulder. However, he wasn't bothered by it as he used his free hand for counting off.
"So you are here... and me, as well... Gokudera at my support... Ryohei, and Hana... And it all leaves to Kyoya who is one of the last people to drop down."
"And speaking of Kyoya, his cabin's here... " Kyoko answered, as the two of them turned their attention to the dropping cabin with the label, 018.
When the cabin extravagantly opened (with sound effects and large fogs for visuals), the ravenhead boomed with a congratulatory smile. "Welcome to the land of the living, Kyoya!"
"Shut up... " A rude, tired, and low voice said, as the cloud of white smoke cleared, revealing the scarlet-faced skylark.
Assuming for a funny reaction like earlier, the ex-baseball drafted asked if the other needed his assistance.
"Are you going to throw up?"
Instead of answering him like he always did, Hibari turned his attention to the shiny marbled floor they were standing on as he jumped towards it, laying face-down... kissing the shiny surface.
"LAND! I'M IN LAND!"
"Ugh! You're such a melodramatic!" Kyoko rose her nose in the air as she stomped out of the scene, leaving Takeshi to babysit the two - they seemed drugged, but they're not - passed out men.
oooOOOooo
"So, how did you find the speed date? Amazing, isn't it?" The same face in the monitor flashed in front of the only lawyer as the owner of the voice talked to Haru.
Yes, the cherub mask hiding the fedora-wielder owner of this place was talking to her right now, was also the same person the brunette's goal on meeting with. The 'Reborn' who chose to hide with the use of white curtains and special lighting effects was now talking in front of her with that ridiculous mask, making him more suspicious-looking than intimidating.
Earlier, the two of them, followed by the two blonde males, went inside the special private hall (for what purpose? No one knows), only for them to see a gigantic screen in front of them. And yes, they saw 'Reborn The Meister' in the form of that masked man with a fedora - was this an asylum, maybe they were in a different room. With a questionable look, the four glanced to Kusakabe.
Is this the 'Reborn' we were talking to? They all thought without voicing it.
Unfortunately for them, the regent-haired ravenhead on a butler costume nodded his head as if he was saying It's alright.
Is he seriously going with this?! Haru thought before trying to mask her own hesitation for a moment.
"Well," She began. "Aside from experiencing dizziness from constantly changing speed date partners per ten seconds and being hyped up from out-of-this-earth speed like a real-life astronaut would - which was my dream when I was young - it was amazing; I could not put it into words."
Actually, I was so pissed, I don't know how to put it into words, nuthead. She silently added in her head.
The masked man remained still in front of her for a moment. Silence loomed the atmosphere as Haru glanced strangely around the empty room she was in.
Oh, she almost forgot. Her co-workers were politely kicked out earlier, just so this loony had a private talk with her.
For what?
Then, the heavy silence was broken when the man in front of her tittered for a moment. Yes, tittered - not chuckled, nor cackled - like a kid. Now, Haru was thinking about the not-so-many escape plans she memorised from the map of this place.
So what if her friends were toast?
As long as she lived, that's all that mattered.
After that awkward moment, the man spoke. "Attorney Miura, did you know about the reason I was called 'Reborn The Meister' until today, for these years I held this event... here, every year?"
Instead of answering, the brunette remained silent with a curious look in her eyes. So, he continued. "... Then answer me this; have you ever handled a case wherein you have to defend a dead victim of a homicide?"
What now?!
"I could see in your eyes that you hadn't handled any homicide cases before. Rape and slay, mercy killing, crime of passion... or genocide."
Haru remained silent, but her short temper went in haywire. This twit did not just mock her, right? Yes, she was a lawyer, yet she hadn't handled a case with that degree... and she would never defend a weak victim or an uncool defendant. The moment she knew that the case she would handle cannot be won, then she would leave it. No questions asked.
Reborn the masked cherub then sighed deeply, sounding as if he pitied her, then he continued. "A good lawyer has an intellect to get him out of a pinch for a brief moment. He can come up with several tactics to his opponents in just a short amount of time. And in order to achieve that, he must use his sharp tongue to anger and confuse the other. Then, he constantly stab the chinks of their armor as he made the final move. Kinda like a chessboard... " He then straightened his head to fully face her. "Like you, attorney."
When the masked man turned his head, Haru slightly looked at the other with wary eyes. He was reading her and what's in her mind. That was strange enough.
But, what was stranger is the man hid his facial expressions with a mask and a fedora...
What was a secret of this 'Reborn,' that he even chose not to be physically involved with meeting her?
She let Reborn continue as she left her own thoughts wander.
"But a great lawyer goes in the actual crime scene and try to re-enact what had happened... They even tried to imitate what is in the killer's mind in order to find out evidences the police overlooked... "
He then slowly tilted his own head as he let her absorb everything that he said.
"... But the thing that made them the best... they tried to isolate themselves away from the reality as they remained immersed to the case. As if they were the killer or the victim... They almost broke their loved ones from the inside, physically by almost killing them, or mentally by almost taking their own life... in order to defend their client. Whether they were defending a killer or a victim."
Haru almost blanched as she stared at the figure in front of her. As if she was being sucked in by an illusion. Goosebumps raised on her shoulders, as a thin sheet of cold sweat ran to her cheek. But she tried to calm herself down by closing her eyes and inhaling a long gulp of air.
"I don't want to be rude, Reborn, but why are we talking about this?"
"Are you sure that was the question you are going to ask?" He asked back. When he was met with an empty stare, he continued. "But you haven't heard about them being sued or thrown to an asylum, correct? That's an amazing ability of those lawyers...
"They tried to step in the shoes of both the killer and the victim, but they know when to step out of the illusion they created ond go back to reality. Defending is just a job, after all."
Silence enveloped the room once again as Haru took deep breaths and the man on the monitor and the man waited for her to respond. And when she did, she raised an eyebrow. "Why are you telling me this?"
Being happy as if she flipped the bingo switch, the man raised its voice to a happy one.
"Miss Haru... " He then constantly pointed his head from left to right until he finished speaking. "... You'll understand it in the future. Two months later, we shall meet again in a courtroom... You will remember this meeting that we have... And I know... You will understand how nonsensical this talk is. And I'll be 'Reborn The Meister,' once again!"
And I don't think this will progress any further. "Ha-ha-ha! Yeah, I think so, too. Oh, the raffle is about to start, right?! So, what if you'll excuse me from now on?" Haru asked in her hasty rushed voice.
"Oh, yeah! Sure, sure, you are now dismissed." The masked man answered as he gave her a dismissive wave.
Haru walked out with a strangely hurting temple and lightweight sporting her mighty steps. She was met with three pairs of eyes; all of them were curious about what happened from that room. Although the scarlethead's was laced with worry.
"What happened there?" The three asked.
Instead of replying, Haru plainly walked out as she shoved the three out of her way. She seemed calm, but the act she showed meant that she was only moments from venting her anger towards anyone.
Dino asked the two, "Is she okay?" as he was answered with Ukyo's "I don't know." and Bianchi's "Whatever happened there is her issue, not ours. Don't worry about it."
"Okay... " Dino skeptically said.
Little did they know, there was a silhouette of a man wearing a fedora who was behind a standing Kusakabe, sitting all along.
oooOOOooo
(1) One of the Six funeral Wreaths who is the real holder of the rain attribute Mare ring is Bluebell. The only thing I remembered is that she has blue hair. That, and she announced 'Bomba Ammonite.' According to the anime, she died after being backstabbed by their green UMA (The Hulk VS Shrek? Hahaha XD).
(2) The gaylord in shades and parka that was mentioned by the delusional Gokudera last chapter is one of the members of the rowdy Varia. I missed these guys, even if they annoy me sometimes, especially this,
(3) VOI VOI VOI! You know who spits this obnoxious line, right. The voi man, Squalo. Haha :)
