Re: Remastered Fall For Me

by lazura234

Two friends are selected to play a game in the world of KHR. What tales of adventure, romance, and heartbreak will follow them as they progress through the story, both following and bending the rules? This is a remastered version of Fall For Me by the same authors that wrote back in 2012 until now. Can also be found on AO3.

5. Rain, Rain, Stay Awake

Disclaimer: We don't own KHR at all except our ocs.

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In their shock at seeing Kyoko in the classroom, the two didn't immediately notice the teacher talking to them.

"Excuse me." The teacher stood at the front of the class, stern look on his face. "You are the transfer students, aren't you? I had expected you earlier. Where were you?"

Vi had her teacher's pet mask back on. "Oh, the principal was telling us about the school. He was very informative, but unfortunately, he lost track of time. But he sent us to class, telling us how great of a teacher you were and that he sends his regards." Grinning brightly at the teacher, she quickly charmed him.

Lana paled while muttering to herself of what she was seeing, "She's at it again."

The teacher scratched his head, feeling a mixture of pride and embarrassment. "Well, I guess that's fine then. Anyways, why don't you introduce yourselves." He stepped aside and motioned for them to write their names on the chalkboard.

"Um, excuse me sir." Lana spoke up, "Unfortunately my name is in English, is it fine to write it as is?"

"Sir, I'm afraid that goes for me, as well. You see, we're not from here." Vi interjected.

The teacher seemed lost and confused, having never had to deal with this many transfer students at once. "Er well, I suppose you could write your names in English and then read it out loud for your classmates."

"I have a Chinese name, is it better if I use that?" Vi wondered, curious.

Flustered, the teacher continued. "If you want to use your other name, you can, but you don't have to."

Both take a piece of chalk, each of them writing their names up on the board. Once they finished, they all turned to face the class.

"Lana Vega"

Since her name was in English, a few students got it but not all of them.

"Nice to meet you all, my name is Lana Vega." Lana gave a small bow before resuming her introduction, "Although I prefer to be called Lana more than my surname, and let's all strive for good year!"

Content with her introduction, which sounded so generic and foreign to her in her own mind, Lana stepped back to allow Vi to introduce herself next.

Her name got some strange looks from the students who didn't recognize the uncommon kanji.

張

維 Victoria Chang

娟

"Nice to meet you. My name is Victoria Chang, but my last name can be pronounced Chō in Japanese if you feel like calling me that. I'm flexible about it. Otherwise, you may call me Victoria, or Vi." She bowed to them and continued speaking. "Let's get along this year."

The teacher stared blankly at the duo who managed to completely distract the class from his lecture. "Okay, there seem to be two empty seats by the windows. Take your seats and we can start class."

Vi took the first spot and Lana the one behind that. The teacher began his lecture anew once the two got themselves situated.

"Oh, since you may not have the books yet, go ahead and share with the student next to you."

Lana internally clicked her tongue the moment she realized who was sitting next to her. Lana knew Vi took the the first spot on purpose. Soon the sound of a desk and chair scraping the echoed to her right.

Turning her head to the source of who moved their desk, Lana had to blink twice to realize who's sitting next to her. Orange hair, check. Sparkly shoujo eyes, check. Warm smile to anyone that's friendly, check. Indeed this person was none other than—

"I can't believe we're in the same class!" The girl sent a bedazzling smile toward Lana, internally making the poor girl cringe at how bright it is. Her brightness was suddenly like a star exploding in space. How did she not see this the first time she met Kyoko? Oh yeah, she was too focused on desserts to cate, "And to reintroduce myself, my name is Sasagawa Kyoko."

"Nice to meet you again, Kyoko." Lana started to question as to how many people, especially Tsuna and Ryohei, can stand the sparkly aura of hers when she was basically being stabbed in the eyes with it. Moving her desk over to join Kyoko's, the said girl shifted the textbook over to share. Lana returned Kyoko a smile of thanks, but internally wept at her timing of horrible luck today.

Out of the corner of Lana's eyes, on the edge of textbook was a drawing of a smiley face. Returning her gaze back to Kyoko, who continued taking notes, Lana wasn't truly sure of whether to feel blessed by the school idol like many others or attempt to ignore the drawing which tried to get her to bond with one of the female protagonists of KHR.

Vi turned to see a relatively good looking boy. Like he wouldn't win any beauty contests, but he wasn't by any means ugly. Anyways he was like a solid 6/10, she rated. Not particularly interesting yet. He was sort of plain, had black hair, brown eyes, and pretty thick glasses. An average cute nerd.

"Hi, nice to meet you!" She smiled and extended her hand.

The boy shook her hand firmly and responded. "Hello Chō-san, welcome to our class. My name is Sakamoto Hideki. I'm the class representative, so if you ever need something, you can ask me."

Internally, she was very pleased with herself, having chosen someone who knew what they were doing. He got up and moved his desk next to hers. Placing the textbook in the center between their desks, he continued, "Let's get along."

Already thinking of ways she could twist him around her finger, she smiled slyly, looking up from under her eyelashes. "Okay, Sakamoto-kun."

The teacher continued lecturing once they had the books in front of them. "Okay class, now who can tell me…"

First period seemed to last forever. The hour ended and the teacher left the classroom. Almost immediately, most of the students gathered around the duo's desks.

"So where are you guys from?" A small girl with wavy brown hair asked them. A couple other students nodded and leaned in, curious about the answer.

"America, but if you want a more specific area, it's California." Lana started her explanation, "My parents take me back to visit the Philippines once in awhile."

"I was born in Taiwan," Vi responded. "But raised in Cali most of my life. I go back to visit every summer, so I really have a connection there."

A tall boy with black hair and glasses interrupted. "How do you know each other?"

"Um. We met in elementary school and we've been joined at the hip since." Vi recalled. 'Well, it was actually middle school, but I can't tell them that .'

"Why did you guys come here from California?" A tall blond girl asked.

"We were interested in Japanese culture." Lana managed to convince the students with a common answer.

Vi nodded in agreement. "We were also interested in the schools here and how they were different from American schools."

"Lana-chan, do you and Vi-chan like help getting around the school?" Kyoko asked the duo.

"That's alright." Lana declined the offer given by Kyoko. As much as she liked Kyoko, Lana wanted to keep her personal space clear.

Vi nodded, no longer listening, put her bag on her lap and sneakily started petting the inside.

The class bell chimed and a different teacher walked in. "Alright everyone, let's sit down and get your books out. Well, I see we have new students. You can share with the person next to you."

Vi turned to Sakamoto again, "Well, Sakamoto-kun, I guess we'll be sharing again!" She batted her eyelashes and smirked internally as he pinked a little.

Without any need for speaking, Kyoko immediately shared her textbook with Lana who continued to cringe seeing more smileys on the edge of the next book. Smileys everywhere. Lana prayed that she would get by today without seeing another one after school.

Thus, the day passed, each period becoming increasingly similar to the last. The teacher would come in, intrigued by the new students, tell them that it was okay to share books, and continue with class. After class, their classmates would come running up to them with more questions. "How fluent are you guys in your natural languages? Do you have a significant other? Do you like sports? Do you play sports? Which club will you join?" The two were becoming increasingly tired of answering these questions and were becoming more and more grateful for the interruption the teacher's entrance made.

During lunch, they got several compliments on their adorable bentos and more questions of who made them. The two had trouble holding their laughter as they remembered seeing them in the morning and the fact that Tsunomichi had made the adorable lunches for them. And Vi occasionally 'dropped' food into the bag in her lap.

By the end of the day, the duo was unusually exhausted by the relentless questioning. Classes ended and everyone packed up, saying their farewells and 'see you tomorrow's.

"Kill me…" Lana exasperated unable to take the endless amount of smileys and sea of questions directed at them.

Vi yawned, covering her mouth. "I'm beat. Should we go home or stay here and wait for the thing?"

"How about a nap?" Lana suggested, feeling exhausted from today's class.

"Home it is!" Vi took out her bag and brought out her cat. "Aw it's sleeping. Too cute."

"Nap awaits!" Lana raised her arms to stretch, feeling the need for more rest. As they started walking, she sighed heavily, "Do you want to know what Kyoko drew on the edge of her textbooks every time she shared her book with me?"

Vi hummed, rubbing her face into the kitten's fur. "No what did she do? Little miss sunshine."

"She kept drawing smileys, and during each class period when she shifts her book to me, the smileys increase!" Lana claimed, "She's trying to befriend me in the most uncomfortable way."

Vi held out the kitty towards Lana. "Shhh, just pet the kitty. Animal therapy."

Lana didn't hesitate to pet the kitten held in Vi's arms. The kitten was quite fluffy and made it difficult to not pet the animal.

They arrived home, exhausted. Lana unlocked the door and they all filed into the living room.

Vi dropped onto the chaise part of the sectional and laid the cat on top of her. "Wake me up for dinner."

Locking the front door behind her, Lana grabbed a pillow by the end of the sofa to rest her head on, "Yeah."

By the time they woke up, it was already dark outside. Strangely, the duo did not remember having blankets on top of them before they slept.

"Uh Lana? Please tell me you woke up and put blankets on us." Vi pleaded, eyes wide.

"…I hate to say this Vi, but it wasn't me this time." Lana replied, a little bit surprised.

Vi stiffened up, realizing something was missing. "Where's the cat?" She flipped over the blankets and searched under the table. "Where's the cat?!"

"Um, Vi?" Lana tapped the girl's shoulder, "I think the lights in the kitchen are on."

"Nya?" Vi turned her head very quickly, hitting Lana in the face with her hair. "Nyaa!" she yelled as she ran to the kitchen.

"Blech!" Lana grimaced at getting hit by Vi's hair. "I didn't need that."

Upon entering the kitchen corridor, their eyes widened to see the cat Vi had taken with her eating cat food while being petted by their caretaker.

Hearing the sound of footsteps nearby, Tsunomichi turned his head over to them wearing a smile on his face, "Tonight's dinner is curry! Not too spicy, but a good blend of mild!"

Heading over to inspect her cat, Vi looked at Tsunomichi suspiciously. "Where did you get the cat food?"

"The pet store." Tsunomichi answered to the girl.

"So this means I can keep the cat." Vi responded.

"Yes, at first I was going to return the kitten to the shelter, but they grew on me right after I fed it." Tsunomichi spoke in delight.

Vi pumped a fist in the air in success. "Yus. Cat acquired." Grabbing the kitten, she held it over her head like Simba in victory. "Oh it's a girl."

On the stovetop was a pot of curry and steam was coming out of the rice cooker.

Lana opened the pot of curry to inspect it while reaching for a bowl. "Hey Tsunomichi, what did you put in here?"

Tsunomichi, counting on his fingers, listed off the ingredients, "There's potatoes, carrots, onions, some green onions, and a mix of chicken and beef."

Vi had grabbed a bowl while no one was paying attention. "Really? There's onions in this?" She had already stuck a spoonful into her mouth. "You can barely taste it. Nice." and gave Tsunomichi a thumbs up.

"You actually got Vi to eat onions," Impressed by Tsunomichi's cooking skills, Lana sent a smile to him before proceeding to scoop her own helping of curry and rice, "That's amazing, also thank you very much for making our lunch and dinner for today."

Vi paused before taking another bite. "Oh yeah, I guess thanks for lunch too?" She continued shoveling food into her mouth.

Tsunomichi shook his head and gave the two a kind smile. "Not a problem at all. It is all part of my duty as your caretaker after all. Now, once you are finished just leave your dishes on the counter, I will take care of both cleaning and packing your lunches for tomorrow." Clapping his hands once, he walked out of the kitchen leaving the duo alone.

They each took a seat in the chairs around the island and ate their curry.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me. The cat doesn't have a name yet." Vi spoke up between bites of food.

The cat stared at them with its big blue eyes. Raising a soft fluffy paw, she licked it and scratched at her ear, until her white fur was sticking up in a cowlick.

Vi cooed at it. "So cute."

"We could name her Snow." Lana suggested by the kitten's fur. "What did you have in mind?"

Vi looked away suddenly and mumbled, "When I didn't know she was a girl yet, I was calling her Blue Eyes White Dragon in my head."

"As much as I like the card series, the name Blue Eyes White Dragon is pushing it a bit too far." Lana didn't exactly hate the name, but giving a cat a name meant for a card. "How about a different name?"

"But it matches her!" Vi argued, holding the cat up.. "Look at her!"

Lana raised her hands up to keep the cat's face away from her own, "I don't need to see the cat's face this close, Vi."

"Why don't you give her a normal name instead?" Lana suggested yet again, hoping Vi would choose different name for the cat.

Vi thought for a second before responding, "Miss Ivory Lily Katie. Milk for short."

"Well that's an interesting anagram." Though Lana had to admit the name was much better than the one Vi had in mind before. "So now that we've named your cat, Milk, let's review what we're going to do now."

Vi slumped down in her seat. "We're going to watch over the battle, under orders of Reborn. Still can't get over how freaky that is," she mumbled under her breath. "Gotta make sure everything happens the way it's supposed to. Like our existence here hasn't fucked up the natural order."

"Yeah, I'd rather not see something like that happen." Lana frowned at the thought, "It'd be weird if the plot goes out of hand, and we wouldn't be able to know a single thing of what's going on with the main group."

"Absolutely bizarre. Not to mention we'd lose any advantage that we have by knowing the plot ahead of time." Scrunching her face in frustration, Vi continued her train of thought. "So we have to observe the ring battles. As long as we don't interfere with any big plot points, we should be fine. But do you think that means we shouldn't interact with any main characters?"

"There's no rule that says we can't talk to the main characters, if anything we already talked to one of them." Lana referred while feeling a bit on edge with the memory of talking to the baby hitman. "But to think we're going to see an actual battle unfold right before our eyes, it's still pretty unbelievable."

Vi sat up straight as a thought came to her. "Shit. Do you think we might have to fight in any of the battles? Is that why the Cervello had to train us? We have a training gym in our basement! What the hell?!"

Lana paused to think. 'Vi's right. They gave us these weapons and trained us for a reason. Plus the rules didn't say that we can't harm the major characters.' She clicked her tongue in frustration. 'If only there was some kind of sign proving our need for being here .'

Vi, not noticing Lana lost in her thoughts, continued to freak out. "Oh my god! We can't fight them! What the hell?! Hibari could kill us! He probably has killed people! Tsuna shoots flames out of his hands! That's not a normal human thing! Lana, what the hell?! Oh my god! We're going to die!" she cried. Grabbing Milk, she buried her face into its side and whined pitifully.

"Mrow."

"Huh?" Lana, finally snapping out of her thoughts, glanced over to Vi's distress. "Isn't that the reason why the Cervello trained us?" She pointed out, speaking her thoughts out loud to Vi. "To avoid dying until the end of the game. A form of protection that way we don't need to depend on the major characters if something does happen to us. Or better yet if something that doesn't normally happen in KHR occurs due to our existence here."

Voice muffled by the cat's fur, Vi replied, "I suppose. We sort of have our own powers right? Like what happened earlier with me accidentally shooting you."

"Yeah, and hopefully I'm not the guinea pig next time if you unlock a lethal attack to your power." Lana was grateful for Vi's energy shot, but what would happen if Vi ends up unleashing an untested attack on accident? Lana shook her head at the thought of it.

Still talking into the side of the cat, Vi sounded excited at the idea. "Dude, that would be so cool. What kind of death ray are we talking about here? Because I'd be down with laser blasts. That's some superhero powers right there."

"Hm, but didn't something gleamed in your bag when you did it?" Lana scratched her head in uncertainty, "I think it might be something we have that allowed you to do it. Well I'm pretty sure it wasn't the rings we were training with in that void space area." Suddenly Lana recalled what Tsunomichi mentioned to them before, "Hey, do you think that power has something to do with the other rings we got? The ones with a star and moon symbol on them."

"What the fuck. Just more mysteries. Unknown flames with unknown properties. What even could a moon flame be?" Vi finally lifted her head from Milk and dug out the ring in her pocket to look at it.

"Well we already figured out one of your flames abilities." Lana brought up while leaning against the couch. "You can re-energize people who are tired."

"Neat, I'm an energy drink. It's what I've always wanted." Vi deadpanned with a straight face. "How exciting."

"It's only a support ability, so maybe you have more lethal capabilities that won't show up until we fight someone." Lana then gave an example, "Like in video games, where you have to fight your way in order to learn more abilities."

"I'd rather not almost die to unlock new powers, thanks. No matter how much I appreciate the whole 'evil dude possessing your friends to try and kill you' thing. That was just. Amazing." Remembering the Mukuro v. Tsuna fight, Vi sighed. "I mean, yeah that was very bad and evil. But still? That was sheer brilliance. The whole thing. Wonderful planning. Flawless execution. And he would have gotten away with it to, if it wasn't for those meddling kids."

"But I wonder what flame abilities the star flame ring has?" Lana pondered on what it could be, however nothing came to mind.

Vi tilted her head at Lana and snapped her fingers. "Shooting star. You even have a crossbow to match."

"You think so? I still haven't lit the ring yet or made any use of the star flames like you have." Lana replied to Vi, still puzzled of what star flames can do.

"Checkerface seems like the kind of asshole who likes shitty puns. And giving you a crossbow and a star flame is the best kind of pun." Vi nodded in conclusion.

"Then why did he give you a-" Lana wasn't sure of what to call Vi's weapon and just went with the closest weapon type to it, "machete?"

Vi shrugged. "What kind of joke can you think of with moons and weapons? I can't exactly knock people out with wheels of cheese."

"I don't know, I actually kind of expected him to give you one of those special knives. You know the ones shaped like a crescent moon?" Lana thought back into her mind until the name zoomed through, "The deer horn knives. I mean they're in the shape of a moon right?"

"Hm. Well, I suppose I'm not a dual weapon person. That does sound pretty cool though." Vi recalled the ruler up in her bedroom. "I just got comfortable with the 'machete' though, but I might consider switching it up once in a while. We have a pretty neat armory in our basement, ya know."

"Then again I'm pretty use to using this type of firearm, it isn't as loud as a gun and it might be convenient if we need to cross a building like a grappling hook." Lana remembered what the Cervello mentioned to her when it came to using the crossbow.

"I'm still bitter about that. You get a cool multipurpose projectile weapon. And I get sharp pointy stick." Vi pouted.

"It might be useful if we get caught you know." Lana revealed to Vi, "At least people won't suspect it's a weapon in the first place as long as you keep the machete part hidden. Plus my crossbow won't be useful once it's out of arrows, except for bludgeoning someone in the head and that's probably the last thing I'll do due to the weight."

Vi patted Lana on the shoulder. "That's alright. I can bludgeon someone in the head for you. Anyways we've gotten off track. To sum up tonight. Don't get caught, don't change anything major, don't kill anyone, don't die. Pretty much."

"Anything else? I think that was most of the rules anyways." Lana hummed to herself, already feeling the excitement run through her at the thought of seeing Tsuna.

Tsunomichi came back into the kitchen abruptly. "It's almost 10. You best be heading out soon if you want to hide yourselves before they show up."

Shoveling the rest of the food into her mouth, Vi got up and grabbed Milk and her bowl. She garbled something muffled to Tsunomichi who nodded like he understood. He took the bowl and the cat from her as she left the kitchen, hand to her head in a sort of salute.

"Did you understand what she said?" Lana questioned Tsunomichi about Vi's garbled words.

Tsunomichi shook his head. "Either something about thanks for dinner and she's going upstairs to get her things or that we're under attack by aliens and she's going to be abducted."

"I'm pretty sure it's the first one." Lana deadpanned about the second option Tsunomichi stated, "Unless she actually said that instead."

Placing her dish on the counter, Lana followed Vi upstairs to change so as not to be seen during tonight's battle.

Lana unclipped her bow clip, placing it on the dresser to not lose it. Exchanging her uniform for a pair of dark blue jeans and a black long sleeved shirt, Lana debated whether she should take anything else with her besides her cellphone. Her eyes trailed over to the star necklace sitting on her dresser, unfortunately Lana didn't want to lose it either so she decided to leave it. Only taking her phone, house keys, and finally the rings she received from Checkerface hanging on the chain of her old necklace.

Vi changed out of her rumpled uniform into a pair of black skinny jeans and a dark gray shirt. Thinking it would be cold outside, she also grabbed a fluffy black coat and some gray gloves to cover her rings. She kept the purple scarf on since she was starting to like it. "Hm, I guess that's it? Don't want to stand out too much in the dark." Putting her cellphone in her coat pocket, she headed back downstairs. She decided to keep the running shoes too since they were quiet if she walked the right way.

In the living room, Tsunomichi was waiting for them on the couch, petting Milk. Standing up, he gave them several instructions. "Alright now, make sure you don't stay out too late! Don't catch a cold outside! Be careful you don't get hurt in the aftershocks! Don't pick a fight with any of them! Make sure you try to come back immediately after the match, unless Reborn wants something with you two! I'll be waiting with a nice hot cup of cocoa when you get back! Get back home safe!"

"Oh my god, you're like a mom." Vi didn't seem to know whether to look amused or horrified.

"We can't deny the fact that he's our caretaker anyway." Lana didn't mind it, Tsunomichi actually seemed more concerned for them despite being Checkerface's assistant to say the least.

Tsunomichi sniffed indignantly. "I can't help it, I worry about you sometimes. Now shoo, you're going to be late."

The two were shooed outside by Tsunomichi, who stood inside the door, making sure the cat didn't run outside. After they were out of earshot, Lana decided to bring up a question, "So…how are you feeling about this world? Minus the excitement."

"I'm actually pretty curious about the science behind this, this is absolutely wild," Vi waved her hands in amazement. "Is this actually a parallel universe or a completely separate dimension? Why was it a manga in our world but it turns out to be reality here? How does Checkerface have the power to do this kind of shit?"

"Wow." Lana deadpanned. "I can't believe you would think about the science part of this."

Vi continued speaking as if no one had interrupted her. "Also I was running off the theory that while we're here, time back home has paused. Like while we've been removed, that universe is lacking something that makes it function." She paused in her speech. "But that's not necessarily the case."

"I hope you're right on that theory, because-" Lana paused for a moment to think about her family, "I kind of miss my mom's cooking, dad being a dad when it comes to my future choices, and last but not least actually wanting to see my brother, Will, get married to that pretty lady called Fauna who makes funny star jokes at the planetarium they work at. Like c'mon, get married already and stop stalling brother!"

"Wow, I can't believe you're already talking about marriage. Are they even dating?" Vi asked.

"Probably not." Lana huffed while giving a scowl toward answering Vi's question.

Vi laughed at the absurd situation. "That's hilarious. You're such a meddler. I bet that you're going to have to end up playing matchmaker."

"Do you think I haven't already tried?" Lana heaved a sigh in memory of what occurred, "The short version story of what happened during the plan ended in an utter failure once he found out I was the one who came up with the idea."

Vi sighed heavily. "To be honest, I don't know if I really miss anything back home? I'm mostly sure my ma isn't too worried since we were supposed to go on our trip, right? We're sort of used to not being in contact a lot. Cause like I spend so much time between Taipei and LA, we're not exactly together all the time, so she just doesn't worry too much. Plus this whole thing still feels like a dream, all very surreal."

"Mm, if this really is a dream. Then this is the longest and strangest one we ever had, although I hope nothing bad happens as we continue from here on out." Lana proposed, unsure of what's to arrive.

"Thanks Lana, you just jinxed it." Vi turned her head and looked around. "You know what they say, knock on wood." She knocked her knuckles against Lana's head.

"Ouch! Stop, my head isn't made out of wood!" Lana slapped Vi's arm away while puffing her cheeks out in frustration. "I'm not Pinocchio or a tree!"

Vi let out a short laugh. "For lack of a better wood, heads are an acceptable substitute." She sighed deeply. "How are you feeling about getting to see your boy? Still doesn't feel real."

"I'm excited, but a little out of it." Lana spoke, sounding a bit rattled by the idea of being in the world of KHR. "Now that he's real, I'm just a bit flustered by all of this. I never imagined that we'd get to talk to them in the first place."

Lana then felt her cheeks warm as she mentioned her other reason. "Also I'm a little embarrassed in meeting Tsuna, after all he's one of the first few I had a crush on back home before we bridged onto other shows."

Vi seemed to have no shame as she talked about her own romantic interests. "Mukuro! Chrome! It's like twins but less creepy! Still kind of creepy with the whole, one person thing, but not like an incest creepy!"

She paused for a second. "But like, you know. What are the odds that they would be interested us? Also would that count as interference? Fraternization? Mingling? Do you even want to try to pursue a relationship with your boy-o?"

"I don't know. Never really thought about going into a relationship with someone for a long time. Especially with Tsuna, I mean look that would mean I have Kyoko and Haru as my rivals if it happened." Lana bit her lip, "But what are the actual chances that they would fall in love with us?Our chances are pretty much low if we were ever considering it."

"Well, considering we're complete strangers as of now," Vi paused for dramatic effect, putting a hand on her chin in thought "Oh, maybe a couple years if we're lucky."

Lana mumbled, "I guess so."

The conversation trailed off at their depressing topics and they continued to walk in silence, the occasional scuff of sneakers or odd sound from a house filling the background noise.

The duo arrived at school, the buildings looking eerie in the darkness. Hearing voices approaching the building, they immediately went to hide in the bushes. In peeking out between the branches, they could see the unmistakable trenchcoat-like uniform of the Varia flowing in the wind. The duo overheard them talking as they walked past.

"Ushishishi~" A loud voice rang through the air. "Those kids shouldn't even bother showing up today since they lost so pitifully yesterday to yours truly!"

A second babyish voice butted in. "Weren't you blown up like a firecracker? Gola Mosca had to carry you back to the base."

The first person scoffed. "A prince has servants carry him, of course! And that little bomb display had nothing against me! I won the battle, didn't I?"

Suddenly a piercing cry interrupted the two. "VOOIIIII! Stop your squabbling, you brats! You're ruining my concentration!"

The baby voice whined. "What do you need to concentrate for? They're just kids. You're going to cut him into pieces and that's that."

The voices trailed off as the group headed deeper into the school grounds.

Hand on her chest, Vi hissed at Lana in the bushes, "Oh my god, we could have died!"

"Let's be glad we didn't die." Lana admitted after taking a gulp of air to breath.

"Bless, now where are we going to hide?" Vi got up and looked around.

Unsure of where the next battle would take place, Lana asked Vi on her memories. "Where exactly was the battle taking place anyway?"

Hand on her chin, Vi closed her eyes in thought. "Some decrepit building that was flooded, I think. It wasn't the gym. Or the library. I think it was tall? Like about three floors."

"Hmm...should we follow the Varia?" Lana suggested, after taking in Vi's information, "It's the best way to find the location."

"Well." Vi raised an eyebrow at Lana's suggestion. "Let's hope they don't figure out they're being followed."

At the thought of getting caught, Lana took a deep breath and heaved quietly. She nodded. "Okay let's go."

Quietly and not breathing too loudly lest they be heard, the two followed after the terrifying group to find out where the battle would be taking place.

Without Lana noticing, in her concentration to be silent as a mouse, her ring began to light up softly. Her steps became near inaudible and she managed to miss every crunchy leaf in her path.

Unfortunately for Vi, while following Lana's steps, she took a misstep and stepped on a twig.

-SNAP-

Vi froze in her steps. The Varia ahead of them paused and looked around their surroundings.

Lana quickly turned over to Vi whisper yelling, "Hide!"

Vi, freaking out, immediately dodged behind the nearest tree, making sure there weren't any more twigs in her path. With a determined look on her face and an idea in her head, she jumped and grabbed onto a branch, pulling herself up.

Lana took cover for the tree to the right of Vi, crouched down, and covered her mouth to prevent her breathing to be heard. It wasn't until Lana glanced down at her feet to subdue the fear within and saw the ring around her neck gleaming in a faint pale yellow glow.

"What was that?" The voice sounded like Squalo. "One of you! Go check it out."

Belphegor placed his arms behind his head in a nonchalant manner, "Nah. The prince doesn't want to go into the filthy bushes."

"You damn brat, just go into the bush or else!" Squalo sounded ready to aim his sword arm at the self-proclaimed prince.

Bel harrumphed haughtily. "Fine! Just as long as the baby goes too."

The baby, that the hidden pair remembered as Mammon, sneered. "I don't get paid enough for this."

Bel approached toward the tree Lana hid behind. Feeling her heart rate kick up, Lana tried to calm her breathing rate in hope that Bel wouldn't notice her. By the time Bel was going to peer around the tree, Lana's ring gleamed a bright pale yellow. Surprised by the sudden gleam Lana accidentally leaned lightly against the tree and as if by luck, a family of spiders that was nesting in her tree dropped right on top of Bel's head.

"Fuck!" Bel immediately backed away, trying to get rid of the spiders invading his hair and crown.

Internally, Lana thanked whatever just happened right now and noticed her ring dimming after Bel left her hiding spot alone.

Floating quickly, Mammon approached Vi's tree. Straddling a branch, Vi turned her head and reached an arm out to grab another branch. She stuck her tongue out in concentration, making sure that she wouldn't accidentally fall out.

As soon as Mammon was underneath the tree, there was a loud rustling of leaves. Lana's heart almost stopped at the thought of Vi getting caught or falling out. Suddenly, a large white owl swooped down and collided into the floating baby.

"Gwah!" Mammon, surprised by the unexpected attack, flinched back and accidentally spun into a flurry of backflips. "Aaah! Stupid owl!"

"Quit messing around and let's go, it's just some animals in the bushes!" Squalo, finally fed up with the two's antics, snapped.

As soon as their footsteps faded away, the two simultaneously let out sighs of relief.

Climbing out of her tree, Vi clutched onto her chest in disbelief. "Okay, let's never do that again. Ever."

"Yeah." Lana nodded in agreement, "Remind me if I do forget about it." She added on, "Whack me in the head if I do end up saying a stupid idea."

Vi raised an eyebrow. "Wow, blanket permission to whack you. Awesome. Let's just wait until the nerd herd arrives and follow them." She made herself comfortable in a nearby bush.

"Right." Once Lana could feel her heart rate going back to normal. She glanced at the two rings on the chain of her necklace, "Hey Vi, did you see my star ring gleaming?" Lana was pretty sure it wasn't her sky ring.

The other girl shook her head. "I didn't notice anything. I was busy fearing for my life, ya know?" Vi cocked her head to the side. "What did it do?"

"It just lit up brightly while we were hiding from Bel and Mammon. Then right when Bel approached my tree, my ring started shining a pale yellow flame and surprised me out of nowhere. Thanks to the surprise I accidentally leaned against my tree, but instead of getting noticed these spiders dropped on him. Once Bel left my tree alone, the ring stopped gleaming." Lana explained while grasping onto the star ring held on her necklace.

"Hm, I wonder what kind of power that could be." Vi mused out loud. "Bug summoning? Nightmare inducing? Traumatizing. Definitely." She nodded in agreement with herself.

"Haha very funny." Lana laughed in monotone before continuing her explanation, "I don't think stars have anything to do with summonings or something trauma related."

"Still, but that was really lucky that happened when it did." Vi leaned back and wondered about the chances of that happening, "Saved by the spiders."

Lana blinked a few times after listening to Vi's take on what just happened, 'Wait, what did you just say right now?'

"Spiders."

Exasperated look on her face, Lana shook her head and asked Vi again. 'No before that.'

Vi grinned and thought back on what she had said that Lana could have taken interest in. "Lucky?"

Finally it clicked in Lana's mind as a smile formed against her face, "Yes! That's it!"

"You're telling me spiders are your lucky stars?" Vi asked with a teasing tone.

'No!' Lana frowned at Vi for mentioning spiders, 'The spiders have nothing to do with my ring! It's the luck factor, the star flames increase my chance of luck.'

Vi shrugged carelessly. "Alright but if your ring spawns spiders again, it's officially a pattern." She tilted her head. "Or is that thrice? Once is an accident. Two is a coincidence. Three is a pattern. Or a crowd. Of bugs."

Lana hummed to think back on the properties of the other ring flames and recalled Vi's other flame ring, 'If anything I think your mist ring would be able to spawn bugs than my star flames.'

"Hey!" Shuddering at the idea, Vi denied it vehemently. "I would never. Besides I made an owl appear! Granted I shook the branch it was resting on, but still."

'Still?' Lana raised a brow at Vi.

"That owl saved my life. Thanks baby attacker." She looked up at the sky and raised a hand. "Thank the feathered saviors."

'So let me get this straight, you annoyed the owl's resting spot in order to save yourself from Mammon?' Lana pointed out.

Vi nodded. "It was either that or suffer a horrible death by baby."

'But I thought you love kids?' Lana remembered how Vi would coo at children whenever they were near a park to hang out.

"Well, yes." Vi actually quite enjoyed kids. They were just very cute. "But the Arcobaleno babies scare me."

Lana thought back to when Reborn said her name. "Understandable."

"I hope they don't take too long." Vi shivered into her coat, putting her gloves on.

Lana's expression grew to a grin as she quietly squealed, "We get to see them in real life! Especially Tsuna, yes all the yes!"

Vi gasped. "Rude, speak for yourself." She mourned the fact that she wouldn't get to see either of her baes for like three days.

The sound of teenage boys screaming startled the pair hiding in the bushes.

"It appears that they have arrived." Vi facepalmed. "Why are boys so weird?"

'Dunno.' Lana shrugged, 'Will was weird too whenever it came to Astrology, and sometimes that makes me wonder how Fauna can stand his conversations. Most of the girls he dated didn't give him a time of day.'

"Harsh." Vi winced. "Well, this Fauna should really be appreciated for listening to your bro."

Footsteps got louder and louder as the boys got closer to the girls' hiding space.

Peering out from behind the bushes, Lana and Vi got their first look at the Vongola Decimo and his guardians, minus a couple.

Gokudera was wrapped up in bandages and was being held up by Ryohei, who had a broken arm. Tsuna and Basil were talking quietly between them.

Yamamoto's face was uncharacteristically solemn as he looked down at the blade in his hands.

Unable to handle the serious mood, Ryohei spoke up. "Which building did those ladies say again?"

"Hey, watch it!" Gokudera flinched as he was jostled by the boxer boy's movements. "Those pink women said building B!"

Snapped out of his funk, Yamamoto looked at Gokudera with concern. "Really Gokudera! You shouldn't have showed up in this condition!"

Unable to meet Yamamoto in the eyes, Gokudera scoffed. "I needed to show my support anyways."

In the bushes, Vi muttered, "Like the real tsundere he is inside."

Without missing a beat, Gokudera continued. "Besides, I can't miss the match that you get killed in." He finished with a glare at the other boy.

Yamamoto only gave a laugh and a smile in response to Gokudera's glare, "Hahaha."

Tsuna let out a nervous breath. "You're too relaxed, Yamamoto."

"When do you think they're going to go?" Lana wondered, hoping that their monologue would finish up. She was happy to see Tsuna, but their conversation was taking up so much time.

Vi huffed quietly. "Well they better go quickly, my legs are starting to cramp."

"Well let's go." The sound of Gokudera yelling in pain after tripping on his own bandages yet again could be heard by the two hiding behind the trees. "Agh!"

"Gokudera-kun?!" Tsuna exclaimed in worry after seeing Gokudera fall straight to the floor.

Ryohei laughed loudly. "Ahaha! Falling again, Gokudera?"

Reborn sighed, "He really is an idiot."

Groaning from the ground, Gokudera got up to send a glare at Ryohei, "Stop laughing you ass and help me up!"

The boys' squabbling got quieter as they headed farther into the campus towards the battlefield.

"We should follow them now." Lana told Vi after seeing the main group leave.

Without either of them noticing, Reborn had stayed back in the shadows. "I see that you're here like I asked."

Screaming internally and unable to say a word, Vi just nodded, eyes wide open in surprise.

' Holy cows. ' Lana could feel her heart rate accelerate again thanks to Reborn's sudden arrival, but decided to answer for both her and Vi. "Of course."

"I wanted you to see that the power of the Vongola family is not to be trifled with." Reborn tipped his hat at them and gestured in the direction of the boys. "They may look like that, but they have a lot of potential. You should think twice if you had any plans to challenge us."

"You seem to take pride on them." Lana replied after listening to Reborn's words regarding the group.

Raising a brow, Vi held her hands up in a placating gesture. "We don't have any malicious intent towards the Vongola. We're very neutral parties in this."

Lana then added onto Vi's statement, "If anything, we'd rather be your allies."

Reborn got a considering look in his eyes. "Hm. Well. We'll see about your situation after we finish dealing with our internal matter. I invited you here today to observe our strength. But if it comes down to it, I might ask you two for a favor. If you are willing to help, we can consider that the beginning of a formal alliance."

"Well, it would depend on the favor you asked of us, but I tentatively accept your offer." Vi said after a moment of silence. "Today is still an observation period, of course. I'd like to know what I'm getting into."

"So." Lana began as Reborn stared directly at the both of them, "What are your terms on this favor?"

"I have a bad feeling about the next couple of days. I will call in a favor if I believe the Vongola alone will not be able to handle it." Reborn stated.

"Wait." Vi interrupted. She flinched when Reborn looked at her for cutting in, but continued. "What makes you think we'll be able to handle something that the Vongola can't?"

Staring at Vi until she got nervous, Reborn then nodded. "I see. What I meant was that you would be an additional force, a backup if you will. I wouldn't call you to fight our battles for us, only ask you for assistance in fights we can't withstand alone."

"I see." Lana noted Reborn's favor, "So the favor you're regarding about is in case your group becomes outnumbered by a certain point in time."

"Or overwhelmed. Or if your enemy reveals a secret weapon. Or if they power up at the eleventh hour." Vi added. "What? There's a lot of possible events that could happen, in which case you would call in a favor. So we're basically your contingency plan? A big what-if?"

Reborn looked vaguely amused at the amount of words. "I suppose you could call it that. So do you still accept, knowing all of the terms and conditions now?"

Lana made a look of uncertainty before glancing over to Vi, "What do you think?"

Vi pursed her lips. "Yes. I think it's a good deal. If he calls in the favor, we've got an alliance. If he doesn't, that's fine. We can talk allies on a later date."

"Hm, it isn't a bad favor." Lana admitted before voicing her thoughts about the favor to Vi, "Does this mean we're both in agreement?"

"Yep." Vi nodded, then turned to Reborn. "We accept your terms."

Reborn grinned. "Excellent. The battle tonight is taking place in building B. There's a building adjacent from it with a good view. You should stay away from the roof."

Before he left to catch up with the boys, Reborn turned and smirked at the girls. "By the way, I heard you had a nice first day of school. We'll be seeing more of each other then. Lana and Vi." He left the two girls, who were frozen in shock.

"Well Reborn literally just answered that he's going to continue keeping the promise he mentioned on his note accordingly."Lana deadpanned, unsure of what to say anything

Vi let out a deep breath and took in a couple of short gasps. "Oh my god, I'm surprised I didn't go into cardiac arrest just now. That was terrifying." She rummaged through her bag. "Chocolate. Yes. Good. The calming chocolate bar. Do you want one? I have milk, dark, and white." Vi held up three bars to Lana.

"The milk chocolate." Lana asked and didn't forget to say. "Thank you for the sugar. I think I became sugar deprived after listening to Reborn."

"I think my heart climbed into my throat after listening to Reborn." Vi muttered, biting into a dark chocolate bar. "Well, at least we've got a sort of tentative alliance. Maybe. If he calls on us. How would he even call on us for a favor?"

"I'm pretty sure Reborn has his own way of summoning us without even batting an eye." Lana assumed while taking a bite on her milk chocolate bar.

Vi grimaced at the thought. "That's great," she said sarcastically. "Just what we need. Another person watching over us. At least we don't live in their house. Oh!" Digging in her bag again, she pulled out the map of the school grounds from earlier today. "Building B…Ah! Here. So then this is the one adjacent. I wonder why he said not the roof? Oh yeah, Hibari. Hm, well. Hey, Lana! Let's get in the building soon before the battle starts." She finished off her chocolate bar in three quick big bites.

"Right." Taking one finishing bite on her chocolate bar, Lana followed after Vi in pursuit of watching tonight's battle.

Entering the building, Lana and Vi found a classroom with a good view of the adjacent building.

"Whoa, that monitor is huge. I mean, it looked big in the manga, but seriously? I can't believe that whole building is flooded." Wide eyed, Vi's mouth was open in awe at the battlefield before them.

"I'm starting to wonder how much time the Cervello put in getting it up there in the first place." Lana deadpanned. She did recall their unseen strength when they were training in the grounds, but to think they placed a giant monitor on the side of the building, it sounded insane.

The battle of the rain was about to begin. The tension in the air could be split with a knife—or in this case, a sword.

A loud female voice could be heard through the closed windows. "Then for the ring of rain, Superbi Squalo versus Yamamoto Takeshi. Begin the match!"

Vi went up to a window and pulled it open. "Well, hopefully it all plays out like canon and we don't have to fix anything."

"Tell me if it really is playing out to canon." Lana reminded Vi lightly about her small bits of memories regarding the Varia arc. She frowned in frustration, "If only my memories about this arc returned."

Vi thought back on the rain battle in the manga. "Well, shark boy tries to kill the yam, but the sweet potato unlocks his sword power. He levels up. Gets cut though. I think, loses feeling in an arm?"

"Shark boy? Sweet potato?" Lana found the nicknames Vi unbelievable, but persisted in listening to Vi's explanation.

Continuing as if there was no interruption, Vi rambled on. "All sliced up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Gets the final 8th stance. He makes a new 9th stance. Very emotional."

'I feel like Vi is literally going all out on the codenames. ' Lana internally laughed.

"And then shark boy gets eaten by a shark." Vi finished. "And that's the end of The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D."

"...I'm pretty sure Sharkboy didn't get eaten by a shark by the end of the movie, but if you say so in regards to the actual battle then that's pretty wild." Lana simply accepted Vi's explanation of the current battle taking place, since she had no valid memories to prove whether Vi's are wrong.

Vi looked at Lana with concern. "I still think it's odd that you don't remember much of this. Like, yeah it was a while ago, but to what extent does the memory blank go?"

Lana sent her gaze over to her lap, and wore a frown. "That's what's bugging me a lot." She returned Vi with a look of frustration, "It's like the whole story of Katekyo Hitman Reborn just became a blur in my mind. Except for the Daily Life and Kokuyo arcs, this one only has memories from what I'm deeming was the start of the Varia arc."

"Huh. Now that I think about it, I don't really remember what happens after this arc. It feels fuzzy in my brain. Like those fuzzy wool socks. Like a baby duck. Like our fourth grade teacher's tarantula."

"You remembered the tarantula very well though." Lana replied with a smile.

Vi blinked in surprise. "I brought carrot sticks for it. Of course I remember it."

"Still." Lana tilted her head as she recalled the tarantula that sat in the glass tank of their fourth grade classroom, "How in the world did that tarantula enjoy carrot sticks? I've never seen it eat the carrots before and even during rainy day schedule for lunchtime."

Bemused, Vi copied Lana and tilted her head. "Well yeah. The carrot sticks were for the crickets. That the tarantula ate."

"Wow that's," Lana slightly paled at Vi's revelation. "Morbid. Feeding the food you eat."

"A little, I suppose. The tarantula freaked me out though." Vi shuddered at the memory. "Spiders in general just creep me out. Who keeps spiders as pets honestly?"

Lana decided to add on a point, "Technically speaking those spiders help by getting rid of the flies in your house by using their webs."

Vi put her head in her hands and wailed. "They also freak me out by climbing in my bathtub and hiding in my carpet. And showing up in my bed while I'm trying to sleep! I thought it was the blanket! But it was not! It was death!"

"Well it's not like any of us are going to have spiders as a pet." Lana concluded in affirmation, "That's a for sure. I'm more of a dog person anyways."

"So a werewolf."

"No." Lana sent Vi a deadpan, "I'm not into that sort of supernatural stuff."

Grinning behind her hand,Vi said, "But you said dog person. A werewolf is a dog person."

"Vi, I meant as a dog lover not being a werewolf." Lana argued, standing her ground while crossing her arms with huff.

"But if you're a dog person, then you're a dog-slash-person." Vi countered. "Why don't people just say that they like dogs? Why do they have to say dog person? What's the logic behind that? And why do people also say people person? What does that even mean?" She threw her hands in the air.

Lana groaned in frustration as she face palmed her forehead.

While the two were talking, the battle was playing out exactly as Vi recalled.

They looked back to the screen when they heard screams of terror.

"Aah!"

"An artificial hand?!"

Yamamoto seemed to have been stabbed by Squalo's fake hand sword, but at the last minute, a wave of water came crashing down on him. Squalo's eyes widened in shock as Yamamoto appeared behind him, sword in position. Not fast enough to dodge the blow, Squalo was knocked out by Yamamoto, who caught the other half of the ring as Squalo fell to the ground.

The Vongola guardians watched as Yamamoto held up the completed rain ring while wearing a grin on his face. "I got it!"

"He did it!" Basil exclaimed in surprise while Tsuna smiled at the screen, glad that Yamamoto came out alive from the battle. "Yamamoto."

Then out of nowhere a sharp laughter entered the air as the two glanced over to see that the leader of the Varia in his chair. Laughing like there was no tomorrow, "You suck! You lost, you piece of trash!"

Lana raising a brow at Xanxus, turned over to Vi to ask. "Why is he laughing out of nowhere?"

"Wow harsh. Just abandoning your poor wife." Vi clucked her tongue. "After all he's done for you."

"Wife?" Lana tilted her head in confusion, trying to make sense of who Vi meant until it slowly clicked. "Oh. Squalo."

A Cervello suddenly stopped them. "Please wait. It's too dangerous to enter the aquarion right now. Since the predetermined water depth has been reached, a vicious sea creature has been released."

"No way!" Tsuna yelled in surprise.

On the screen, Yamamoto looked around in confusion. "Wait. What are we going to do with Squalo?"

"Mr. Squalo was the one who lost. So we cannot guarantee his life," the Cervello responded.

Yamamoto nodded and mumbled something to himself. To everyone's surprise, he then leaned down, put Squalo's arm around his shoulders, and propped him up.

Lana glanced again at Vi with a questioning look. "So does he end up saving him or not?"

"Nope." Vi shook her head. "No spoilers. You gotta watch."

"Whaaaaaat?" Lana puffed her cheeks out, "At least let me know what's going to happen next!" Then grumbled about how it was unfair that Vi remembered most of this arc.

Before long, the shark had appeared, attracted by the blood from the two bleeding swordsmen. It rammed against a pillar, knocking them to the floor below.

Upon seeing the vicious shark on the giant screen, Lana screamed while clamping her hands to her mouth to hide it, "Is that a shark?! What in the world is happening right now Vi!"

Vi hummed the Jaws theme and continued watching the scene in front of them.

On the screen, Squalo kicked Yamamoto off of him and the shark sped up towards the platform Squalo was on.

"Ohmygawd." Lana gasped in shock as she slowly removed her mouth. "Is he literally sacrificing himself?!"

"Kid… Your sword skills aren't bad." Squalo looked at Yamamoto. "You just need to throw away that unnecessary kindness."

In a flash, the shark lunged up, jaws wide open, gaping maw hungering for blood, grabbed Squalo and pulled him under in one swift action.

"Squalo!" Yamamoto yelled, as the air bubbles disappeared and a pool of blood spread in the water.

Lana shrieked to herself while pleading to Vi, "Please tell me he's not dead. Please let him have a disney princess ending where he is actually alive and not dead yet."

"Spoilers." Vi deadpanned. "But you know what they say. If it looks like it's dead, swims like it's dead, and quacks like it's dead, it's probably dead."

"Bhahaha!" Xanxus roared with even more laughter, "That piece of trash's last moment was to become fish food!"

"The scramble battle for the ring of rain was won by Yamamoto Takeshi." The Cervello announced on screen, "Now I shall announce the next cards of the battle."

Vi perked up at that last sentence. "Lana, Lana!"

"What?" Lana still seemed pretty pale from the revelation of Squalo being dead, especially with the bravado he put on when the Varia entered school grounds not too long ago.

The Cervello declared. "Tomorrow night's battle is between the guardians of mist."

Vi turned to Lana with a huge grin. "Ohohoho~"

"Really?" Lana sent Vi a blank look.

"I am looking forward to the battle, if you can't tell." Vi said with a huge grin on her face.

"Alright well, we have to wait for the Vongola to leave before we can leave."

Lana and Vi ducked down as the Vongola walked past the classroom they were hiding in. The boys were speaking loud enough that the girls could overhear them.

Tsuna sounded indignant as he cried, "So why can't you tell me about the mist guardian?"

"You'll find out tomorrow, dame-Tsuna. Concentrate on your own battle." Reborn scolded his impatient student.

Gokudera butted in with his thoughts. "Well if we don't win tomorrow's battle, the Tenth won't even get a chance to fight!"

Vague as always, Reborn only told them, "Trust in Tsuna's father's decisions."

Seeing that the Vongola and the Varia had both left the area, the two decided to leave the building as quietly as possible to avoid getting spotted by a certain skylark. By the time they reach the last window of the hallway leading to the school grounds, another being was standing right there at the entrance.

Lana clamped her mouth shut using her hands to cover her loud scream, "Holy cow!"

Repressing the urge to scream again, Vi narrowed her eyes at the shadow. "Didn't you leave? Good god!"

Reborn stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself. In fact, there was a smirk on his face when he glanced up at the two. "So what did you think about that battle?"

Lana squeaked out her question, while trying to hide the fact that she knew of Squalo. "Did the man on the screen really die?"

Reborn looked down. "It would appear so, wouldn't it? Things like that are only natural in this line of work. Your reaction tells me that you're not used to this part of the mafia. How exactly is it that you came into this field?"

Defensive, Vi narrowed her eyes. "I don't think that's any of your business, is it? We're not obligated to share anything without getting something in return."

"Interesting. Alright, I'll leave that subject alone. For now." He reluctantly let their odd behavior go and changed the subject. "Meanwhile, there's going to be another battle tomorrow featuring our mist guardian. You should come see it."

Composing herself a bit better, Lana answered Reborn's mention regarding the mist battle. "As long as my friend agrees to it, then we will."

Somewhat dubious of the hitman's questioning, Vi warily responded, "Well, it depends. Was that a suggestion or a demand?"

"An invitation. I'm sure the match tomorrow will end up being quite the spectacle. And a solid display of the strength of our guardians." Reborn nodded conclusively. "Well, it doesn't matter to me. Feel free to show up tomorrow. I trust you'll be able to find the location on your own."

"Yes." Lana replied simply.

Vi pursed her lips. "We'll be there."

"Good. " Reborn smiled smugly and made a move to leave them alone. "You should be quick in getting home. There's one left lurking these halls right now." He walked out of the building, leaving the two girls confused at his last statement.

"Cryptic as always." Vi muttered under her breath as she held the door open for Lana. "What does that even mean?"

"Did we forget something?" Lana mumbled out, trying to think of what Reborn meant.

Suddenly, the two girls heard the distinctive sound of birdsong.

Vi turned in circles, confused at the noise. "What the hell, it's like 10pm. What kind of bird is screaming this late?"

"Midori tanabiku Namimori no~"

Lana immediately paled upon recognizing the cute singing, "That's no ordinary screaming. That's the song of the reaper heading toward us." Lana glanced at Vi whisper yelling, "Start running for your life now."

"Holy fuck, we're going to die." Vi's eyes widened when she heard the iconic Hibird. She quickly shut the door behind her and sprinted after Lana.

"We're not having an early meeting with him! Not now, this is the worst timing of them all!" Lana grumbled in between as she ran in the direction of their house. "Gawd he has the worst timing out of all the characters!"

Vi cursed out the discipline committee leader in between breaths. "Stupid. Asshole. Why. Oh. My. God! Sadist. Fuck! Dying!"

They continued running home without looking back, in fear of seeing the cloud guardian behind them. By the time they reached the gate, Lana almost keeled over on the gate completely exhausted. Vi was gasping for air leaning on the wall next to her.

"I can't believe we have to see him starting tomorrow." Lana huffed while trying to maintain her breathing.

Vi waved her hand. "It's good. I have a plan. I might get punched in the face, but it's still a good plan."

"Why do I get the feeling that your plan might almost get us killed by him?" Lana muttered to herself as a sudden chill crept against her back.

"Because Hibari is an uncontrollable variable. He's impossible to calculate for. A wild missile." Vi frowned.

The front door opened as they passed through the gate. Tsunomichi, cat in his arms, stood in the doorway with the porch light on. "I see you've gotten home safely!"

"Uh, kind of?" Lana could still hear her heart pounding due to so much adrenaline rushing through at the last minute. "No, not really. I think we just barely escaped an unavoidable battle."

"Ah, why don't you come in now. It's freezing outside. There's hot chocolate in the kitchen," said Tsunomichi, quickly ushering them into the house.

Vi shivered and passed through the entryway. "I am so cold. I don't even understand how you can deal with this. I am suffering so much." She headed into the kitchen.

"Thank you very much, Tsunomichi." Lana thanked the caretaker, "You've really done a lot for us despite being so terrified of Vi. Did you perhaps finally got used to her nature?"

"Oh dear heavens no! But I must admit that it's nice to take care of others." Tsunomichi smiled and closed the door to keep out the cold air.

"I see." Lana seemed content with Tsunomichi's answer and excused herself to go get some hot chocolate too.

A loud shout of "Thanks!" sounded from the kitchen as Lana reminded Vi to be grateful to their caretaker.

"Ah, how easily I've grown fond of them." Tsunomichi sighed, petting Milk slowly. "Only makes it harder when I think of what's going to happen to them."

In the kitchen, the duo drank their hot chocolate peacefully, not knowing of what lay in store for them.

"So what exactly do you think is going to happen tomorrow?" Lana pondered at the thought for a bit.

"Same thing as today, except maybe Hibari will make an appearance," Vi guessed, sipping at her drink.

"Hibari Kyoya and Sasagawa Kyoko are going to school tomorrow?" Lana groaned remembering what took place earlier, "I'm absolutely not looking forward to that...Hibari sending us the death glares…and Miss Sunshine's smileys at all. I mean I don't hate her, just wish she toned down the smiles and sparkles everywhere and hope that the personification of the bringer of death doesn't cross paths with us at all."

"Did you count them all? How many could there possibly have been?" Vi asked, curious about exactly how cheery Sasagawa Kyoko was.

"Oh believe me, I've been keeping count since school ended. Um…let's see." Lana recalled from today's classes, "Okay so first time we met it started out with only three. Not too much trouble, but at least an attempt at being friendly to me. However, when second period happened, I noticed that the number of smileys increased from three to six. At first I thought I was seeing things since Kyoko doesn't seem like the type to enforce her friendless on you. Moving on to the next class, guess what…more smileys in her other book! Only this time it went to nine smileys, which made me internally panic at the sight of it. I've never seen anyone so keen on befriending me, especially Kyoko out of all the characters in KHR. Anyways, my paranoia increased when the smileys during our fourth class when the smiley increments went from three to nine. There were now eighteen! Eighteen smileys scrawled from top to bottom edge of the book! Who has the time to draw smileys that fast?! Then the fifth class it resumed again in increments of nine, which led to twenty-seven! Last but not least…" Lana paused for a moment, and finished her count in a deadpan tone, "Thirty-three smileys. Thirty-three smileys. She drew thirty-three smileys on her last book. Just to get my attention on wanting to become friends."

"Wow, Lana, take a breather." Vi added more hot chocolate to Lana's cup. "Calm down. Why does she keep drawing them though?"

Lana took another sip of her mug, "How should I know? I feel that if I draw them, I'll be slapped with more sparkles."

"That sounds absolutely hilarious." Vi snickered. "The only way to fight it is with more glitter. Bring a tube of sparkles with you and just…" She paused and waved her hands dramatically. "Ya know."

"What? Do you expect me to just drop a glitter bomb in her mailbox?" Lana frowned upon the idea of delivering one, but then another thought came into mind. "Actually Ryohei probably wouldn't like that, but Kyoko totally would."

"Ha! She'd probably love one of those and thank you the next day!" Vi laughed.

Lana slammed her face onto the countertop, crying in frustration. "Why?" Turning her head to look at Vi from the side of the countertop Lana then asked, "What about the guy sitting next to you?"

"He's cute, I guess? But in a little brother kind of way." She took another sip of her drink, remembering what he looked like. "So his name is Sakamoto Hideki and he's our class rep. Also I'm in the works of getting his eternal love and affection which basically gets me immunity for the year."

"Eternal love and affection? Isn't that like you're using him on purpose to avoid getting in trouble?" Lana mentioned, keeping her cheek against the cool surface of the countertop.

"Well," Vi shrugged. "I wouldn't go that far. I'm just giving him attention so he's more partial towards me. Like watering a plant so it gives you flowers."

"That's an odd analogy to put on the class representative." Instantly Lana thought of a plant with a small sign labelled Sakamoto, but then decided not to think further once a face appeared on the plant.

"In this case, I've found the plant with the most potential, so I can get the best squash and win the county fair." She nodded decisively. "I want my blue ribbon. Which is a metaphor for an in with the student council. And then student council president. And then, the world!" She ended her spiel with maniacal laughter.

"...First off, this isn't our world." Lana pointed off immediately, "Second of all, if you end becoming student council president, doesn't that mean you're going to have to answer to Hibari most of the time? He isn't the disciplinary prefect for nothing."

"I'm working on that part of Plan DPAC," Vi announced, pronouncing her new acronym as 'depack'. "It's a work in progress."

"What is the full name for that acronym?" Lana asked, kind of worried of what would transpire.

With a pleased face, Vi cleared her throat. "Dismantle the Patriarchy, Assume Control. I will be a kind and just ruler."

"Not a dictator?" Lana eyed Vi.

Vi shook her head, eyes looking innocent, but with a sly grin. "No, of course not. No dick."

Lana was going to say that was not what she meant, but she didn't want to press further onto the subject, Lana could feel herself fatigued from all of the events that happened throughout today.

"Alright." Lana finished getting up from her spot and went to wash her mug, "It's time for sleep."

Vi yawned, raising her arms over her head. "You go up ahead, I'm going to find Milk." She placed her cup in the sink and slowly plodded out of the kitchen. "Nya? Nya!"

Once Lana finished washing the mugs and placed them into the dish dryer, she went up the stairs straight for her room. Taking another set pajamas, only this time it was a plain white t-shirt and a fluffy blue pajama bottoms. Plugging her phone into the charger, Lana then removed her necklace holding her rings into her school bag for safe keeping. Grabbing a towel from her closet, she went straight into the bathroom to take a quick shower. After finishing her shower, Lana changed into her pajamas.

Vi found the cat in the living room, in a shiny new cat bed. The cat was already asleep and she would feel bad for waking it up, so she left it sleeping and placed a small blanket over it.

She headed up the stairs and went into her room, yawning the whole time. She removed her scarf and coat, placing them back into the closet. After taking all the candy out and placing them back into a bowl, she took her phone and plugged it into the wall. Putting her rings in her jewelry box on her desk, she carefully made sure they were intact. Grabbing her pjs, she headed to the bathroom just as Lana was finished changing.

"The shower is open if you need to, Vi." Lana stated taking the hair dryer while heading back into her room to put away her laundry.

"Ya thanks, I'll take you up on that," Vi mumbled, walking into the shower door. "Ow."

"You're welcome," Lana spoke before closing the door to her room. Once she dried her hair completely using the towel, Lana placed her clothes into the laundry basket she started drying her hair. By the time she finished, Lana went straight back into the bathroom after unplugging the hair dryer to see Vi finished with her shower. Lana held out the hair dryer for Vi to use.

"Nya thank." Vi murmured under her breath, taking the hair dryer into her room.

"Yeah." Grabbing her cup, Lana proceeded to brush and rinse her teeth. At that point, Lana returned her cup back to her side of the sink for bed, "Good night Vi."

After drying her hair, Vi dawdled back into the bathroom, dragging the hair dryer behind her. "Night!"

Closing the door behind her, Lana made sure she had everything for class the next day. Books received from school by the end of the day were already packed inside her bag. Phone charging on the wall. Rings chained on necklace. Pens, pencils, and an empty notebook leftover from studies back in her world. Laptop is off.

"Now to bed." Lana set her alarm clock for the same time, and went straight to sleep in the comforts of her bed.

Vi brushed her teeth, already half asleep, toothpaste dripping out of her mouth. Flossing and mouthwash done with, she dragged herself back to her room, turned her alarm on, and passed out on the bed. She was soon overtaken by sleep.

Vi opened her eyes to the sound of classical music. She was standing in a large open space with a white tile flooring stretching to what seemed to be eternity. "Where the hell is this?" Gazing into the distance, the horizon seemed to be hazy. Looking around, the space was completely unoccupied apart from herself. Nearby, there was a white circular table with several books on it. Stepping forward to take a closer look, she realized there were nine books of varying size arranged in a circle.

There were three specific books that caught her attention, because they were distinctly unlocked. Two were a bit worn through, like they had been read multiple times in the past. One was pretty normal looking, with a purple bookmark about midway through. On the cover of these three books was gold script in her handwriting. The first two were labeled 'Daily Life' and 'Kokuyo' respectively. The third was was labeled 'Varia'. The remaining six were shiny and new, but wrapped tightly in a single silver chain, making them impossible to open. These six had no titles and were distinctly unlabeled.

Looking around the space, it seemed vaguely familiar to her.

"Am I dreaming right now?" She wondered out loud.

She spotted a chair next to the table and took a seat.

Picking up the first book labeled 'Daily Life', she flipped through it quickly, trying to skim. The book seemed to be a complete transcript of everything that occurred in the Daily Life arc. As she flipped through the pages, lines in the book began rising off of the page as well as what seemed to be snapshots from the manga floating in the air around the book.

"Whoa. That's definitely not normal."

She watched as scenes played out and her memories resettled themselves in her mind.

Mechanically flipping through the many pages, she quickly reached the end of that book and observed as the words and pictures sank back into the pages.

"Well, that was certainly an experience."

Mumbling to herself, she turned to face the book that said 'Kokuyo'. "On one hand, I get to see the bae. On the other hand, the bae gets punched in the face and taken to jail."

Nevertheless, she was curious as to whether the contents in the book would be the same as what she remembered. Eyes brightening up as she got an idea, she placed the book on the table.

Opening the book to the first page, she estimated the number of pages. "Okay. Let's see…" Sticking her tongue out in concentration, she quickly flipped multiple pages at once, trying to get through a chapter per flip.

Multiple scenes started playing in the air, showing the events of the Kokuyo arc. To the left showed the beginnings of the arc, with students at Nami middle getting beat up and Gokudera fighting Chikusa. In front of Vi were multiple scenes around the middle, including Yamamoto fighting Ken, Bianchi fighting M.M, Birds being creepy, and Tsuna fighting Lancia. To the right was the finale of the arc showing the battle between Tsuna and Mukuro, where Tsuna unlocked Hyper Dying Will Mode and Mukuro getting punched in the face. Vi winced at the sight. "Ow, flames to the face."

Finished with the Kokuyo arc, she turned to the third unlocked book. The 'Varia' book.

"So the current arc." She flipped the book open and began turned the pages rapidly to get to their current place in time.

Viewing the remaining ring battles in fast forward while catching words in the air like 'Mammon', 'Ninth', 'Mosca' rekindled her memories of the entire arc, from the beginning when Squalo chased Basil to Japan to the end when they celebrated both the return of Lambo from the hospital and the end of the so called "sumo match".

"This is unbelievable. How did I forget all of this?" Staring at all the books in amazement, she realized something.

"Wait, does that mean there's six arcs I can't remember? Why are they locked up like this?" She looked down at the remaining locked books in anger, trying to will them open.

She grabbed the one closest to her and read the cover. The title was unclear and kind of blurry, but if she squinted and tilted her head at a specific angle, Vi could almost make out a faint 'Future' on the cover.

"There's a future arc? Why can't I remember it?" She slammed the book against the table, hoping for something to happen.

"What the hell?! Were my memories sealed or something? How in the world—Checkerface!" Vi snarled the name out in realization.

Her eyes opened as her alarm sounded and her arm automatically swung to the side and knocked the alarm off the table. The room was dimly lit with the faint glow of the morning sun. "What the heck was that dream? Oh my god, I'm going to murder Checkerface."

---

Lana opened her eyes to the sound of a sharp whistle and the steady beat of rolling wheels. She found her surroundings completely unfamiliar to her compared to the usual eternal escalator or running around in a monster doll house dreams.

"Where am I?" Lana mumbled out as she raised both of her hands to rub her eyes. Blinking out the watery eye sensation she'd get from rubbing her eyes out too much, the girl began to realize that the scenery was moving. Completely opening her eyes wide, Lana glanced around the area to get a full scan of where in the world she was at. Her surroundings seemed to be an old passenger car of a train. There were a total of nine tables in the center of the walkway, each holding up a small black wooden treasure chest tightly bound by a padded lock and chains. Other than those, there were only four pale green sofas, an entry way leading to a latter part of the car, a vintage looking carpet covering the entire floor of the passenger car, and finally a few windows with curtains the same color as the sofas. Slowly getting up from the comfy sofa, Lana glanced around to see if there were anyone else.

Putting her hands around her mouth making a makeshift hand horn, Lana called out, projecting her voice, "Hello? Is anyone here?"

But there was no response. The only sounds she could hear were the train's wheels and the train's whistle, echoing quietly in the distance. Going over to the closest window behind her, Lana tried to open the pale green curtains to see where in the world she was. Upon parting the curtains, Lana flinched back at what she saw.

"I-is this really?" Lana sputtered out in shock as she removed her hand from the curtain. 'The sky?! ' She exclaimed backing away in a few steps out of panic.

Grabbing onto the arm of the sofa, Lana started hyperventilating. Her eyes wide as she attempted to calm herself down by muttering, "Breathe in. Breathe out," in a high paced tone. When she calmed down, Lana mumbled to herself trying think of what last happened. ' Let's see. I recall going to bed not too long ago, but how in the world did I get in here? There's no train stations according to the Namimori map we received, plus Reborn expected us tomorrow night which means he wouldn't be the one to place me in such a predicament. '

'Maybe this is a dream? Unless this has something to do with Checkerface.' Shaking her head, Lana then decided to recline pinching herself for now since she was slightly cautious of whether she'll wake up immediately before finding any clues.

Raising her head up, Lana's focus zeroed in on the chests sitting on the nine tables. The treasure chests were all uniform due to their seemingly similar appearance in shape and size. Although what piqued her interest were three in particular. Moving closer to the three treasure chests on her left, Lana came up to the first chest sitting on the farthest end. Looking at the treasure chest's cover revealed golden etchings, with the words ' Daily Life ' in cursive handwriting.

"Daily Life?" Lana eyed the treasure chest for few minutes, wondering about the meaning behind the words. She decided to examine the padlock. Holding the lock in her hand, Lana noticed that it felt crusted along the backside as if there were something brittle on it. Upon turning the lock over, she remarked in surprise, "The back is practically rusted over!"

Turning the padlock back around to examine the keyhole more closely, Lana's eyes widened at what she saw.

"Holy…" The once solid iron padlock had rusted completely while she was examining it, and without further ado, shattered into multiple pieces. Almost simultaneously, a light began shining, causing Lana to shield her eyes with her arms, "Fudge!"

'I hope I didn't trigger something dangerous!' Lana thought as the light started to dim, revealing the box's cover completely wide open. Not a single chain or padlock in sight to keep the box bound.

"Okay?" Lowering her arms down, Lana peered over the box to see what was inside it. She raised a brow upon what she saw. An odd pile of photographs. Slowly reaching into the box, the girl retrieved the top picture. After taking a quick glance at the picture, she returned the photo back to its respective box. It was Tsuna in Dying Will Mode confessing to Kyoko. Lana silently gripped her hand closer to her stomach. A churning sensation went down her gut as her eyes trailed over to the second box.

'If this box is the daily life arc…then the second box is Kokuyo, I believe.'

Heading over to the next one, Lana opened it the same way as she did the previous one from before. As she reached out into the box to reveal more photos revolving around Tsuna's group progressing through Kokuyo Land in order to defeat final photograph in the Kokuyo treasure chest was none other than Tsuna slamming his enflamed glove into Mukuro's face. Placing the photos back into the chest, Lana muttered to herself in fear. "If I tell Vi about this photograph, she is going to strangle me."

Gulping at the thought of how she might die by Vi's hands, Lana slowly glanced over to the third chest. Lana made way over to the next one to find the same cursive gold writing on the treasure except the title was none other than the current arc she and her friends. 'Varia .' As previously done, Lana immediately opened the treasure chest hoping to receive the missing blanks surrounding the upcoming battles."Here it is." She breathed out in relief as she lifted each photograph. "Now…if this is the Mist battle, then the next one is gonna be the Cloud battle." Though Lana felt another bead of sweat roll down her face as she continued to stare at a explicit image of a rather large amount of explosions happening in those chapters swirled throughout her mind, "We're definitely not going to this battle."

Lana shook her head in horror, "I don't want any of us to get hit."

Shuffling through the next set of photos revealed pictures of the final battle, including Gokudera saving Lambo from Levi's parabolas. She sighed, finding a reason as to why she couldn't fully hate him. Scratch that. Maybe that scene only took off one percent of her full on hate for the squid, but Lana wasn't sure if the other treasure chests had either more good squid acts or scenes of where he was being a giant prick to everyone. Flipping to the end of the Varia arc showed Lancia handing Tsuna his ring out of gratitude for saving him during the Kokuyo arc.

"Okay." Lana confirmed as the scenes came together in her mind, "Everything is finally making more sense now." Shifting her gaze over to the remaining six treasure chests on the right, Lana proceeded to see if she can open the next one. The first one labeled as 'Future' .

'There was a future arc? ' Lana raised a brow as she continued to stare at said treasure chest. Curious of the what the chest held, Lana opened the treasure chest in hopes that it would shed some vital information of the arc after the Varia. Unfortunately for Lana the lock this time wouldn't open causing her to raise a brow at the item. "It looks like I can't open this." Moving the treasure chest around, it seemed like there was no way of prying it open. There was no opening or an implement on board the train. "I don't think I can look further into the next arc. That means six treasure chests left." Or six unknown arcs that are going to happen before the end of the game.

But she wondered to herself a little interested of what would occur in the next arc, "Maybe we get to see the future versions of the Vongola?"

A sudden thought came into Lana's mind. 'Maybe it has something to do with the Ten Years Later Bazooka?' Then another except this time it was about a certain someone. 'Wait does that mean we'll get to see the ten years later version of Tsuna?!' Lana blushed at the thought of a twenty-four year old Sawada Tsunayoshi. 'Oh man I'm gonna die if we do end up meeting the future version of him.'

Enough with her internal fangirling, Lana decided that it was high time for her to wake up. She can't get any more clues seeing that the treasure chest isn't going to open for her. Lana then placed a hand against her arm and gave herself a hard pinch. The next thing Lana knew was finding herself in bed, minutes before the alarm was going to ring. "That was quite a journey."