I was going grocery shopping for my mom today while she was airing out our mattresses. I decided to stop by the music store, it had a beautiful grand piano on display and the owner usually had someone come in and play.
This someone in particular was a tall girl, about the same age as me. She had dark red hair that reached around her knees and deep blue eyes, almost like sapphires. I had a sneaking suspicion that she was a foreigner.
She's been playing at this music store for a few months and she's really good at it.
I wish I knew her name. She seems nice enough.
Ah! Oh no, I need to get home before the produce gets warm!
Inside the music store…
As the song came to an end, the red-haired girl stood up, the storekeeper coming to speak with her.
"A wonderful performance, once again, dear!" she said. The girl smiled.
"Thanks for hiring me," the storekeeper 'tsk'ed.
"I can't let talent like that go to waste!" she retorted. The girl let out a short laugh.
"Gee, didn't know my skills could be considered a talent," the girl took out a cell phone and looked at the time, "Is it okay if I get the rest of the day off? I've got something important to do today."
"Not a problem! Go ahead."
"Thanks!" the girl called out.
Stepping outside, the girl looked through her cell phone's history, stopping when she got to a message that held directions.
Sighing, she murmured to herself, "I hope you know what you're doing, Reborn…"
Tsuna's house
After helping my mom put away everything, I went over to Tsuna's house to help him with some of his math homework.
For some odd reason, Gokudera-san wasn't there.
"Hey, Reborn?" Tsuna asked, "Where's Gokudera-kun?"
Turning to look at us from his place at the windowsill, he replied, "Gokudera's going to be a little busy today, he'll be back by tomorrow."
Tsuna and I then gave each other a look and mentally agreed that we should be worried, for what, we didn't know.
Somewhere in Namimori…
The red-haired girl stopped in front of an apartment complex, one hand in the pocket of her cargo pants, the other holding her cell phone.
Letting out a breath, she quietly said, "Well, this is the place…"
Taking another glance at her phone's screen, she memorized the room number and put the phone away.
Reaching the room, she took in a breath and hesitantly knocked on the door, holding her breath as she waited.
She could hear the footsteps coming closer and she bit the inside of her lip as the door was opened.
"What the hell do you w-…Eva?" She gave the boy in the doorway a nervous gaze.
"Hey, Hayato," she greeted meekly. He gave her a flat look before turning around and heading towards the middle of the living room, leaving the door open.
Taking this as an invitation, she walked in, following him to the couch.
There was a tense silence as the two sat there. Gokudera was looking at her with an indescribable emotion in his green eyes and Eva looking back with the same expression.
Not being able to handle the silence any longer, Eva spoke first, "L-look, I know you probably don't want me here, b-but Reborn told me that you were in Japan a-and…" she let out a pained breath, "I-I understand if you want me to leave, I-I'll go and you'll never have to deal with me again!"
Breathing a bit heavily, Eva bowed her head, not wanting to face him.
Gokudera let out a scoff, "Do you remember what today is?"
Eva raised her head, a curious look on her face, "W-what?" Thinking quickly, her eyes widened, "O-oh, i-it's the day I…stopped…coming to visit you…"
"Why'd you stop?" he asked bluntly.
"I…I had to run away…" she replied quietly, shrinking under his gaze.
Green eyes narrowed, "Why? Was someone in my family threatening you?"
"N-no! No," she shook her head, "I-it, it's something…personal."
"And you don't want to tell me?"
Eva nodded.
"Would you be willing to tell me in the near future?"
She hesitated, then nodded slowly.
"Good, now tell me where the hell you've been all this time, you've better have been practicing," Gokudera crossed his arms and leaned back into the couch.
Sinking into the cushions, Eva let out a relieved sigh, "I have, I picked up the violin too, I was hoping maybe we could play Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor together someday."
Back at Tsuna's house
Reborn-san was supervising us while we were working. As if Tsuna and I would slack off, right?
…Yeah, I don't believe me either.
"Tsuna, go tell Mama that you're expecting guests," ordered Reborn-san.
"Wha-? What guests?" Tsuna exclaimed right before Reborn-san decided to jump-kick him right out the door.
"Go," Reborn-san repeated.
I ran towards the open door, "Tsu-Tsuna! Are you okay?"
"M'fine," came the muffled response. Realizing I was alone with the baby tutor, I turned to Reborn-san.
"Reborn-san?" I asked nervously. I was still just as wary around him since I found out that he knew more about me than I cared to admit.
He was frowning just a bit as he looked at me, "If you're wondering how I know about your first and only suicide attempt, remember that I work for one of the most powerful mafia families in the world."
Swallowing I forced myself to start speaking as my body was beginning to lock up, "W-well, I was wondering about that, b-but I also wanted to know…who exactly are we expecting?"
"An acquaintance of mine," nonchalantly hopping on top of my shoulder, he then said, "Let's go downstairs to greet them."
Reaching the bottom step, I heard someone knocking at the door. Tsuna left the kitchen to open it.
It was Gokudera-san and…eh? The girl from the music store?
"Gokudera," said Reborn-san from my shoulder, "It's nice of you to join us, and with a friend of yours."
Tsuna and I looked at each other in confusion. The girl laughed.
"I'll introduce myself," Eva bowed with a sweep of her arm, "Shimizu Eva, at your service, Vongola Tenth."
"EH?" we shouted.
"Don't tell me you're involved in this mafia business too!" Tsuna cried.
"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn-san scolded, "I wouldn't pick just anyone. Eva, here, is studying to become doctor, her skills will be useful."
Shimizu-san grinned, "I'm already well versed in different toxins, poisons, and venoms!"
"That doesn't make me feel better at all!" Tsuna groaned.
The mysterious pianist, a mafia member? I started rubbing my temples, trying to analyze the information. Giving Shimizu-san another look, I noticed something different about her, two things actually.
She was smiling more, her eyes were practically glittering. And, there were some markings around her eyes that made her appear almost catlike.
Shimizu-san laughed, "He's pretty energetic, huh Hayato?"
Gokudera-san nodded proudly, "Of course he is, the Tenth needs the energy to take care of the family!"
"E-eh, Shimizu-san, how did you meet Gokudera-san?" I asked.
"Well, it all started when we were just tiny toddlers in Italy," she clasped her hands together and held them to her chest, "I, a lowly orphan, made contact with the ever-so-handsome Gokudera Hayato!"
"'Orphan'?" Tsuna and I asked.
Shimizu-san nodded, "I'll tell you guys the details later if you want, by the way," she turned to look at me, "Hayato neglected to mention that the Tenth had such a cute friend~."
"Eh?" Cute?
"What's your name? What's your name?" she asked excitedly, putting her face near mine.
Leaning back a bit, I replied, "M-Mifune Chi…"
Her eyes began to sparkle brightly, "Ah! Such a cute name!"
Then she grabbed onto me, or rather, she 'glomped' me.
While I was slowly being killed by suffocation, I could see Tsuna groaning about not wanting to be the boss of the Vongola.
Which, unsurprisingly, was ignored by Reborn-san and refuted by Gokudera-san.
The next day at school, our teacher announced the arrival of a new student.
"Everyone, please welcome, Shimizu Eva," Shimizu-san was standing in front of our class wearing the uniform.
Wow, her hair really is long.
There was a lot of whispering going on, for example:
"Hey, you think that red is her natural color?"
"There's no way her eyes could be that blue…"
"I wanna say she's wearing make-up, but those markings around her eyes don't look like mascara…"
And now for the male comments…
Actually, nevermind. No, let's skip them…who knew middle school students could be so perverted…
Back to Shimizu-san, she was bowing, "My name is Shimizu Eva. Please take care of me!"
So I'm guessing she's going to be a part of Tsuna's family…
Looks like this misfit family is going to keep growing.
Author's Note: Before anyone says anything, please give Eva a chance, I promise, she's important. Especially for Chi's character development. Please and thank you.