I'm TERRIBLY sorry about the wait. I have no excuse besides life- and the fact that Ryohei is a lot harder to make sound genuine then I origionally expected. It shouldn't happen again.
The question was raised if the story would continue into the manga after the anime leaves off, and the answer is unfortunately not. I tried reading the manga but didn't get very far at all, and I don't want to try to reconcile the few inconsistancies between the anime and manga. I much prefer to have a concrete deadline for when it ends. Nothing I write will adress anything that happens after the end of the anime.
As for where this story takes place, I'm starting it after the Battle For the Rings Arc and before the Future Arc, so most of it will take place in the future (if anyone has suggestions for what flame(s) Alex and Cammie should have, I'm happy to take suggestions. I think I know what they'll have, but new insight never hurts). In AlexRider and GallagherGirls I am ignoring anything that happened after Snakehead and Don't Judge a Girl By Her Cover. No guarantees that time (and missions) haven't passed, but none of the events of the books have.
So sorry that the chapter is so short. The rest should be longer, and sooner. Thanks so much for the patience and reviews.
Alex hurried down the hall until he reached Classroom 3-C. As he drew nearer he heard the sounds of passionate yelling coming through the door.
"If your brother does that many sports," the voice was saying, "he should join the boxing club! It's the sport of men!"
Curious, Alex poked his head through the door to see a bleach-blond kid with Cammie backed into a corner. His first instinct was to rush to her aid, but a second look showed that she was smiling. That second glance also revealed that the white haired kid was the one doing the shouting.
When she saw Alex Cammie waved him over. "Adam," she said, grinning from ear to ear, "this is Sasagawa Ryohei. He's the brother that Kyoko-chan mentioned. He was just telling me about the school's excellent boxing club."
The boy rounded on Alex and he was immediately struck by two things. The first was the shaped scar on the boy's right eyebrow. It made Alex wary. Scars like that generally meant fights, and Alex was eager to avoid those if at all possible. The second was that, despite his towering personality, the boy wasn't all that tall. He was muscular, certainly, but he was a few inches shorter that Alex's own five feet and eight inches. It was only the exuberance that he seemed to radiate that made him seem tall.
"The boxing club?" Alex asked, walking up behind Cammie and putting a, what he hoped was a brotherly arm around her shoulder. Cammie had to be getting at something or she wouldn't have brought it up, right? Deciding to play along Alex said, "Do tell."
"Turns out Sasagawa-san is Namimori's boxing captain and champion. But," at this Cammie gave his a very insignificant look," their true powerhouse is one Sawada Tsunayoshi. Sasagawas-san says he's in your year."
Ah, so that's it. "Sawada, huh?" asked Alex, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I think I met him today. Short little guy? Brown hair? Gets called Loser Tsuna to his face and doesn't say anything?"
Cammie raised an eyebrow at this tidbit of information as Ryohei said, "Yes! That's Sawada! He's the most extremely powerful person I've ever met!"
Alex shrugged. "Didn't seem like much to me."
Though it seemed to defy the laws of nature Sasagawa became even more passionate then before. "Sawada hides his extreme power unless he's called on in an extreme situation!"
Alex thought back to all the whispers he'd heard that morning. Whispers about a boy who couldn't do a single chin up. About a boy who couldn't even vault over three boxes. About a bout who was afraid of chihuahuas. Whispers about Loser Tsuna. Could this really be the same Tsunayoshi that was being described so passionately now?
He had to concede that it was possible, especially considering the loyalty that Hayato Gokudera had shown throughout the morning. Or the confidence in Kyoko's eyes as she looked at him. Or the mafia's, Reborn's, interest in him. Could it be that Sawada did exactly as Sasagawa suggested- his his true strength behind a mask of ignorance and incompetence?
Alex himself had done the same thing, used that same mask, countless times to great effect. He knew it worked. But the real question was if Sawada could possibly be that good. Could he be such a good actor that he so thoroughly fooled people he went to school with, that he'd grown up with? Was that possible?
He looked at Ryohei again, taking in his exuberance and confidence and determined not to underestimate Sawada Tsunayoshi.
Cammie turned to Alex as he got lost in thought. "Sasagawa-san would be extremely," Alex smirked at the emphasis she put on the word, "interested in having you join the boxing club."
Alex flinched slightly and a shadow entered his eyes. "I don't know," he said, fighting back memories of bright lights, cheers in a language he couldn't hope to understand, and pain. Lots of pain. "I've had some bad experiences with boxing in the past. Besides," he said, struggling to cast off the shadow, "Yamamoto has already invited me to join the baseball team."
"Yamamoto?" Cammie asked, trying to forget that shadow. She had promised Walker to leave Alex alone, to let him tell her things in his own time. But still, that shadow worried her.
"He's a boy in my class. He's actually the one who introduced me to Sawada in the first place, as well as a friend of theirs- Gokudera Hayato."
"Gokudera Hayato?" Cammie nodded slightly at this before asking, "What's he like?" She turned to Sasagawa, their new treasure trove of information.
"Squid-head is extreme too! Him, Sawada, Yamamoto and I fought together in a sumo-wrestling competition. He was extremely awesome, but he almost died. Then he ended up helping save us all!"
Cammie exchanged a look with Alex. Sumo-wrestling competition? In which Gokudera almost died, and then proceeded to help 'save us all'?
"Wouldn't training for sumo-wrestling cut into your training for boxing? And Yamamoto's baseball? Not to mention school?" The disbelief was evident in Alex's voice. He clearly didn't believe Sasagawa's story.
Sasagawa didn't seem to notice as he said, "Oh yes! I trained extremely with Master Colonello to be at my best! I took three days off of school to train for the tournament!"
"Three days?" Cammie wanted to ask, but she was beaten to the punch by Alex's question of, "Who's Master Colonello?"
"Master Colonello is a friend of Reborn-san and Master Pao-Pao! He helped me train extremely for my match!"
"Is he powerful, this Master Colonello?" Cammie raised an eyebrow at Alex's determined questioning. Surely, at any moment Sasagawa would notice he was being pumped for information. But he continued to babble happily about how extreme Master Colonello was, and then, with very little prompting on Alex's part, how extreme Yamamoto and Master Pao-Pao were. In fact, Sasagawa was so caught up in the descriptions of his extreme friends that the only thing able to cut him off was the ringing of the bell signaling the end of the lunch break.
Alex glanced at the older boy, almost longingly, already regretting the loss of his information well. He hadn't had a chance to get to the topic that most interested him- that of the diminutive hitman Reborn- but he couldn't risk being late for class on his first day.
"Well, Sasagawa-san," said Alex as he slowly left the room, "It was a pleasure to meet you. I don't know if I'll join the boxing club, but I'll definitely talk to you soon." Very soon. As soon as possible, in fact, though Alex, already making a list of questions he could ask the gregarious Sasagawa Ryohei. For whatever reason the older boy admired Sawada, and he seemed to be very familiar with Reborn. With Sasagawa's help, he and Cammie might just make it home in a matter of weeks.
