Five
WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A BIT OF GORE/SCENES SUGGESTING VIOLENCE HAS OCCURRED. PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH IT. WE WILL GIVE A RECAP IN THE NEXT CHAPTER.
IF YOU WISH TO CONTINUE TO READ, WE WILL GIVE A GORE WARNING BEFORE THE SCENE HAPPENS
Akane stared out of the window, head in her hands. Staring out, Akane watched the blurred hills pass. The trees were stretched and only the sun looked perfectly normal, stalking every single one of them as always, telling them that there is always someone watching. Akane had just decided to drift off into slumber when Yoritomo interrupted her.
"Oi, chibi. You want any?" He held a box of sushi to her from across the table they were sitting at. Akane reached across the small table on the train and took one without much thinking. Yoritomo sat facing her and Karina was beside her, next to the aisle. Umira was staring at her phone, seated beside the boring Yoritomo. The only boy in their group looked a lot better after looking so sick on the airplane they took to Fukuoka.
"Thanks, and don't call me chibi," she muttered half heartedly. They had been through this so many times.
Kari suddenly swerved her head around like a hawk and grinned cheekily. "You two lovebirds are so close, you're already sharing food!" She took a sushi from Yoritomo and gulped it down. "Besides, you didn't care if he called you 'chibi' when we were small, now, did you? Are you cheating on your boyfriend? Hmm?" She said teasingly, though mouth stuffed.
Akane turned red while Yoritomo just shrugged ever-so-lightly, as always. "N-no! Besides, that was when we were in elementary school, and I was shorter than most of you then, but now I'm about the same height! And Yori-kun's sharing food with you, too!"
"About. I'm still a few centimeters taller than you, and I'm younger," Karina mused, eyeing Akane maliciously. She ignored Akane's last comment.
"So!? A few centimeters doesn't make me chibi to you!"
"I didn't know that Akane-san and Yoritomo-san were an item," Umira, who sat across Karina, said, joining the conversation. She pushed up her glasses, and took the whole box of sushi when Yori offered her some. "Do you have a ship name?"
"We're not an item!"
"Hush, Aka-chan. You mean one of those couple name things?" Kari asked, a bit unfamiliar with the term. The class president nodded.
"What's a ship name?" Akane asked curiously, completely unfamiliar with the term.
Umira and Karina turned to face Akane and Yoritomo with evil smiles and glinting eyes. They laughed like evil maniacs, causing chills to be sent up and down Akane's spine. She clutched her gray beanie in her hands tightly, regretting that she had asked. Yori, on the other hand, was leaning against the back of his seat with a bored look, as usual. He ran his right hand through his hair, his left against the windowsill, glancing at the two plotting girls with an unconcerned look. He didn't exactly care what they said; it was just rumors anyway. But though he didn't act like it, he always listened to what his friends said. It was only polite and respectful to do so. Though Hitobi Yoritomo didn't know what a ship name was, through their conversation, he could guess, just like Akane.
"Akatomo?" Kari asked.
"Yorine?" Umira suggested, cheeks getting red from excitement.
"Hitoma?"
"Nemo?"
"Akayori?"
"Tomone?"
"Chirumaakane-hitobiyoritomo?"
"No, too long! Yoriaka?"
"Psh. What about Akayori-akayori?"
"...Chirubi?"
At this, Karina slammed her hands onto the table and stood up, startling Akane, Umira, and everyone aboard the train, except for Yori, who was still sitting there with a hand in his hair, looking bored. "YES! THAT'S IT! BECAUSE YOU KNOW HOW YORI KEEPS CALLING AKA-CHAN 'CHIBI', AND CHIRUBI KIND OF SOUNDS LIKE CHIBI, SO YES!"
Akane suddenly went tense. She felt the tingling feeling inside of her and tried in vain to push it back down her stomach. Nobody noticed the suddenly rigid Akane. Umira, who was into the conversation, frowned, and took her class president stance. Her back straightened, and she sat with great authority and posture. She pushed up her glasses again. "It sounds a bit weird… but alright. Let's make it a tentative ship name then – we can always change it later."
"NO! WE SHALL USE CHIRUBI! CHIRUBI FOREVER! HEARTS AND RAINBOWS!" Kari shouted, making a heart sign with her hands between Akane and Yoritomo.
The purple-haired girl stood up, adjusting her glasses yet again. The lenses caught the light of the sun and shone dangerously. "No, Sawada-san," she said seriously in her class president voice. Karina immediately stiffened at this. You knew you were about to be in trouble when Kawasaki Umira started to use your last name and put on her president act. "I think we should…"
Akane stopped listening with that and tried again to blink back the tears coming into her eyes. She put her head in her hands and squeezed her eyes shut in attempt to stop thinking. But it was impossible to stop thinking when you actually try to do so. Then it appeared, despite Akane's struggle. Her thirteenth birthday... The day her mother passed away. Akane remembered it vividly. She knew that she only started thinking about this was because that the name Chirubi was much too close to what her dad used to call her mother- Cherub. Her father had said that it meant a baby angel, and her mother was, in fact, his angel. It was a cloudy day, and Akane remembered her pink fuzzy slippers that she received from her mother when she woke up. She remembered taking the slippers and looking up at her mother, who smiled down at her. Her mother's brown curls touched Akane's cheek when she kissed her on the forehead and wished her a happy birthday. However, right after that, her mother had said something about work. Akane didn't remember that part clearly since all she remembered was getting mad, knowing that her mother's intentions were to leave her and go to work. At that moment, Akane had flung the slippers down the stairs and stomped back into her room with teary eyes. How Akane regretted that now, because she never got to see her mother alive after that.
"Aka-chan? Aka –"
"Chibi. Snap out of it."
"Akane-san? We were tal-" Umira suddenly stopped and inhaled. sharply.
Akane looked up to see the three other members of their little party looking at her worriedly. That's when she noticed that her eyes were filled with tears, and a few tears were rolling down her cheeks. Akane sniffed twice and quickly wiped at her eyes.
"E-eh…" She murmured, not sure what to say. Did she really just start crying? Karina looked very concerned, and Akane flinched when Karina reached out to grab Akane's arm.
"I'm really sorry…. Aka-chan. I really am. Is it because of me? I'll stop teasing you, I promise. I didn't mean to make you cry. At all."
Akane shook her head. "No… It's alright. I just… Nevermind. It's not because of you." Akane choked as she spoke. Yoritomo finally lifted his eyebrows and seemed to actually care about what the girls were talking about for once.
"Oy…" Yoritomo said. "They were just teasing…" He took a napkin out of a tissue box and handed it to Akane. "You okay?"
Akane took the paper and nodded, not really using it. "I know." She whispered, afraid that she'd trigger her emotions even more if she said anything else. Umira was just looking at her and patting her while slowly exhaling.
"Why did you cry?" Karina asked after a pause of silence. Akane was almost back to normal again, except for the red tint at the edges of her eyes.
"Old memories." Akane forced a shrug as if it wasn't a big deal. Karina narrowed her eyes. Akane looked away, she knew Karina knows what she was thinking about. After all, she had shared her pains with her best friend. "I'm fine, really." Akane said with a smile. "Here, I've got some cards, let's play." She said, though she really didn't feel like playing. Karina instantly spotted that.
"I know a game… Though it only could be played by three people. The dealer keeps score. Akane, why don't you be dealer?" She said. Gratefully, Akane nodded and the girls exchanged glances. Karina stared deep into Akane's eyes, almost as if saying that she knew of her pain and was there for her. Akane blinked in reply. It didn't mean anything, maybe acknowledgement, but not really. She just blinked, and it was free to be taken as anything Karina would like.
…..
"Ha! I won again!" Yoritomo said, going pretty hard-core with the card game. He seemed almost hyper for the first time.
Karina grit her teeth. "Argh! And this was supposed to be my game…" she muttered. Yoritomo just chuckled proudly.
"Well, looks like my skills defy your luck!" He stretched and crossed his legs.
Then she slammed her pack of cards down hard onto the table. "Congratulations, Yori-kun~" Kari said with a cheerful smile, much like the one on Kazuto's face before he got mad two chapters ago (Akane: Wait, Kazu-kun got mad? Regi: um, er, spoilers! Ailurophilek: How is that a spoiler? Regi: *whispers* for the characters it is! Ailurophilek: Oh, right. Gotcha.). Hearing Kari say that made both Umira and Akane sigh. She was about to call for a rematch. Again. They had been playing cards for an hour now, and Karina only won one round so far. Yoritomo, on the other hand, seemed to be on fire. He won seven times in a row, counting this one.
"Yes, congrats to me. And if you'd like, I'd be happy to play another round." Yoritomo said, eyes closed and face smug. Akane could tell that Karina itched to slap that expression off of his face.
"Hey, we're almost there, why don't we talk about ourselves a little. I know we are all from the same school and all, but now we're actually a team… You know, if things go well, then a family!" Umira piped up.
Akane facepalmed. "That sounds… A little… too… intimate…" She trailed off.
Umira's eyes widened. "No! I didn't mean it that way!" Umira wailed and both Karina and Yoritomo bursted into laughter.
"She has a point though." Karina said approvingly, she then turned to Akane. "So, Akane, what ring do you plan to take?" Akane hesitated. She actually didn't think of that yet. Silently, she ran her thoughts through the possibilities.
"Ones that I can light up?" Akane said uncertainly, trying to remember all the information Karina had sent them through an email last night. It included information about some rings, and to bring some weapon. Honestly, Akane sort of regretted what she had gotten herself into after seeing the word 'weapon'.
"Yeah, duh!" Umira humphed. "Of course! We all have a flame circulation, but which type?" Akane was suddenly dumbfounded.
"Uh… Was I supposed to know?" Akane asked, feeling like a jerk but Umira actually took a while to reply.
"Right. I guess not. I was told by my father. He said that I had lightning running through my veins… So I guess I'm lightning then." Umira sighed. "Of course, it's not as if I don't think lightning is congenial for me, it's just that sun would suit me even better. Besides, he doesn't even know about this mafia stuff, so he probably thought I was joking and played along." Karina raised an eyebrow, nodding.
"Tell me about your weapon then." Karina said, excitement in her voice. Umira beamed.
"Okay, okay." Umira began with a big breath. Akane could tell that it was going to be a long speech. "So basically, they are my shiny babies. You must be respectful of them. I'm going to take them out and I know they may seem useless, but trust me, I can fight with them." Umira said, surprisingly briefly. Swiping her short purple bangs to the side, she reached down under the table and into her back pack. Then she groped for something with her tongue curled over her top lip. Umira's eyes literally lit up when she took out a box just a little longer than her hand. It was thin and was made out of metal. Akane could feel anticipation within her, stirring as Umira lifted the top. Without noticing, Karina and Akane both leaned forwards for a good peek at the weapon Umira so treasured. Akane frowned when the content came into view. Karina made a laughing noise. It was a pair of chopsticks. Akane couldn't understand. How could a person fight with a pair of metallic chopsticks? She understood that one could poke another in the eye with them but if taken like that, anything is a weapon, really.
Yori lifted an eyebrow, and Akane could tell that he was trying not to laugh. "Ch-chopsticks?" He asked, with a strangled voice, as though he were choking on something. Probably choking on laughter.
Umira set the intricate metal box, decorated with dragons, on the table in a serious manner, and took the chopsticks out of the silk cushion. "Excuse me, can I have a bowl of ramen?" She asked a waitress politely. In almost no time at all (considering the fact that they were on a moving train), a bowl of fresh ramen was set down in front of the class president. The other three people made no movement or sound, eager to see what the class president was about to do with chopsticks and ramen. Umira picked up a bunch of noodles, and paused, looking at Karina, as if asking for permission to go on with her performance. The dark haired girl nodded, and Umira twisted the noodles onto the pair of flat, metal chopsticks, then raised it up high for all to see. The fluorescent lights shined upon the noodles, giving it a halo effect. After a short pause, the chopsticks moved again, this time towards Umira. They all held their breath. What would she do with it? How would she attack? In that moment, it seemed as though time itself stopped, waiting for the girl with glasses to make her move. Umira opened her mouth, as if to speak. Then she ate the noodles.
Karina stared at her class president for a second, as if in shock. "Is that it?!"
Akane yelped in surprise and dropped her beanie, her hands quickly going to cover her ears. Yoritomo, who sat opposite of her, banged his left arm against the window, startled. Only Umira was unfazed, and continued to eat her ramen.
"What? I'm hungry."
"YOU'RE GOING TO FIGHT BY EATING RAMEN WITH CHOPSTICKS?!"
"Ramen is absolutely ambrosial – and no, that's not how I'm going to brawl."
"Then what were you doing?! You're supposed to show us how your weapons work!" Karina screeched.
"Hmmm? I never said anything about showing you guys how they worked..."
"Umira!"
"Just let me finish my ramen. Please."
Karina stared at Umira like she was going to explode, but then sighed, sat back down, and ruffled her dark hair, a habit passed on to her by Yoritomo.
And just like that, after what seemed like hours of waiting for Umira to finish and Karina to stop having temper tantrums, along with Yoritomo and Akane pretending not to know them, they arrived at Tokyo.
...
"Um, sir, why do we only get two keys?" Umira asked the man at the front desk. He had just "checked" them in, and gone over their extremely detailed profiles with a highlighter. It was a little creepy when a stranger knew everything from your birthday to your preference of what type of food; salty, sweet, etc. The man peered at the purple haired girl through his glasses, and smoothed his suit.
"Kawasaki Umira, eh? Being a part of a strong mafia family is not as easy as you think. Sometimes, you have to bunk with others. Boys in one room, girls in another."
...
"Well, at least I have my own room," Yoritomo said with a strong dose of smugness.
"That's why we're going to have our meetings in your room," Karina said in a sing song voice, and marched into Yoritomo's room. "Hope you don't die of loneliness."
Akane giggled. "Yori-Kun, I don't think each one of us need separate rooms. It's not like we're gonna take up the whole space…"
Yoritomo was surprised by the sudden voice of the rather quiet girl. Well… Quiet these days anyway. "Well, I'd like the whole space." Yori said, unwilling to let his smugness be trampled. Then he inspected the room. There was yellow wallpaper that looked quite old. The paper was slightly peeling at random corners and it looked as if nobody had taken care of it. Yoritomo walked across and gently touched the wall. Dust flew off into the air and a smudged white spot appeared on the wall. Yori frowned and looked at his finger. It was smeared with dust. He dismissed it with a wipe of his finger on his black jeans. Walking across the clean, marble floor, Yoritomo's footsteps were the only sound in the rather silent room. He looked at the floor and grimaced. It was so shiny and clean, contradicting the wall. The floor seemed to be cleaned just recently by janitors. As he walked. Yoritomo's footsteps seemed to be the only sound in the rather silent room. Of course, it wasn't empty enough to give off echos, but if it were, the room was definitely big enough. All the while, the girls seemed to be quietly staring at something. Yoritomo lifted his eyes and followed the girls' gazes to a slightly ajar door. He could just see the outlines of clothing inside.
"Oy… Hitobi-kun…" Umira managed. "I think we must be in the wrong room."
Finally, someone had spoken up. Yoritomo furrowed his eyebrows.
"I see." He said and went over to open the closet, which was fill with suits. "Yeah, maybe you are right." He said.
"But it doesn't make sense!" Akane shook her head. "How come our key could unlock the door then? And this is room 211, no?" She then whipped out the key and looked at the engraved numbers. 'No.211' It said. Akane shrugged and passed the key to Karina.
Karina nodded, looking deep in thought. "Let's ask the front desk." She said briefly before crashing onto one of the two bunk beds and picking up the phone.
Yoritomo looked at the closet and opened it's door. The space inside was rather cramped and four blazers hung from the clothes hanger. Nothing else was able to fit. What puzzled Yori was that all the clothes looked exactly the same. Whoever lived in this room must be a boring person, or people. From which side the buttons were on, Yoritomo knew that they were all guy suits. A sudden slam brought Yoritomo back and he looked up at Karina, who was fuming with anger. She had literally just smashed the phone down, nearly breaking it on the dial pad.
"So?" He asked.
"Those suits are the clothes we must wear. Something to do with 'protection'." Karina said with disgust. "I just hope the girls' mandatory clothing won't be as ugly, and it doesn't fall past the thigh."
Yoritomo blinked and slowly comprehended the situation. "So these are for us then." He murmured.
"WHERE IS THE WASHROOM?" Umira suddenly screeched. "I NEED IT." She said. That triggered something from Yoritomo's memory. Umira was holding in her urine from when they just got off the train. She started ranting about it on the bus that lead them to this hotel, especially assigned for the candidates of the mafia competition. Yoritomo shrugged and pointed to a random door. Umira didn't need to be indicated twice. She sprinted across the ground and onto the carpet without taking off her shoes… Well, Karina didn't either when she flipped over the lower bunk bed. Then she slammed the door close behind her. Yoritomo chuckled at her rush but was interrupted by a yell. The next second, Umira was stomping out of the room, face red.
"That was NOT a washroom!" She huffed and zoomed into the last unexplored door. Yoritomo whistled and watched as Akane took off her shoes and went into the door Umira came out of. Finally, someone respects him enough to do that simple action. Yoritomo took off his shoes too and followed suite.
"It's a study." Akane said simply. There was a desk in a corner and a bright yellow lamp that was turned on. A comfy black chair was placed by the desk and there were empty shelves along the walls.
Karina was crawling up and down the bunk beds, exploring them. That was when Umira finally came out, looking civilized again. Though of course, her purple hair was still messy and her blue eyes were still extraordinarily blue.
...
"Okay, let's make things clear."
Both Akane and Kari looked up from unpacking in the girls' room. Umira stood near the window, glasses flashing. She stood with great authority.
"Not the president act again!" Karina wailed. Umira glared at her and she fell back to silence.
"As you all know, we're going to be sharing a room now. And I'd like to set up a few ground rules. One."
Umira whipped out a large crayon out of nowhere and drew a line on the carpet. "The space surrounding the bunk by the window are all mine. You may not cross the line unless I have given you permission to."
Akane and Kari nodded, knowing better than to argue with her.
"Two. All your belongings must be put away in an orderly manner."
Karina pursed her lips at this. She wasn't exactly the neatest person in the planet.
"And three. Never. Ever. Never bother me when I'm reading comics or eating ramen."
The two other girls both sweatdropped at this rule, but nodded. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, which they were thankful for, 'cause who knew how long Umira was going to continue her speech for?
"Come in!" Kari called out.
A familiar man pushed open the door and stepped inside. Karina took one look at the man and ran towards him, wrapping her arms around him.
Tsuna smiled warmly, but peeled the blur of brown, furry haired girl off of him. "Kari, I did tell you that I can't be biased."
"I can't even hug you?"
"No signs of affection. Most of the other competitors are all strangers, and I have to treat you that way too."
Karina frowned. It was obvious she was planning to use her advantage as the Tenth's daughter to win, despite her father's warnings.
"Is this your team behind you? You do know that the requirement is to have seven, don't you?" Tsuna stared at his elder daughter with a stern look. Looking to his eyes, Karina shivered. It was eerie how much that stare looked like Kazuto's a few days ago. Though her father's eyes were a warm brown color-just like her's- instead of her twin's sharp, piercing blue, it was even more penetrating.
"Of course I do," Karina replied with a steady voice. "There are the boys, too. Oh and some of them can't make it here yet." She lied.
"Well, you'd better hope they'll come soon, because the contest has been moved to this Wednesday."
"WHAT?!" Karina jerked away from Tsuna and her tall figure, which was up to her dad's chin, almost seemed as if it were about to crumple to the ground.
"It's been moved, Sawada. That's why I'm going to visit all the teams - to check up on them and to tell them that it's now on Wednesday. Mafia members do have to adapt quickly, no?" And with that, Kari's father walked off, leaving her in total confusion and anger.
In the background, Umira was beaming and with a high pitched voice telling Akane how lucky and excited she is to see the tenth vongola mafia boss in person. Akane was simply focused on the fact that the date has been moved and was more appalled than ever. They weren't even prepared in the least bit.
WARNING: DO NOT CONTINUE TO READ UNLESS YOU ARE FULLY SURE YOU ARE OKAY WITH MILDLY GORY SCENES
"Aka-chan, I'm going to go to the gym place with Yori and Umira to train first, 'kay?" Karina said with a lot of determination in her voice, watching Akane continue to unpack her bags. It was clear that she had made up her mind to start hardcore training with them, and that she was getting impatient waiting for her friend. "When you come down, remember to get a weapon."
"Yeah, sure, I'll be there in a moment," Akane replied, looking through her bags for any weapon. She knew she could use Kari's kitchen knives, but they seemed too dangerous. Then again, weapons were supposed to be harmful. Why couldn't there be some unsharp weapon with no bullets or things alike? A weapon that was actually kind of safe but still a weapon at the same time. Maybe she'll go with a baseball bat, if only she could find one around here.
After finding nothing, Akane decided to go to the 'gym place', as Karina had called it. Maybe they would have safe-but-still-weapons weapons there. Just before she left the door, Akane realized that she had her grey beanie on. Could she wear it to training? Looking at the uptight uniforms the Vongola had forced them to wear, she guessed not. When she took it off, however, Akane's head felt extremely light and unusual. She usually wore that beanie when she could, and when there was the appropriate weather. Since winter had not quite yet passed, going out without the gray headpiece felt weird. Though Akane couldn't wear it when she went to school, she usually wore it on the weekend and any other time, making it like another limb of hers. As she walked out, her brown eyes lingered on the hat, not wanting to leave it there, not wanting to separate with it. It felt as though someone would be disappointed if she didn't wear it.
Maybe she was just being paranoid.
Really paranoid. About a hat.
Akane sighed and shut the door behind her. She took a strand of hair and curled it around her finger absentmindedly as she walked through long, narrow hallways to the gym.
Was this a bad choice?
Why did she go with Karina to join some mafia group that's involved in danger, assassination, and tons of other horrible stuff?
What if the moment she walked through the gym doors, everything in her life would be turned upside down?
What if everyone she knew died?
What if they were all in danger?
Why did she even agree to join the mafia, out of all things, in the first place? Just what was so intriguing about them?
The girl took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. She had already made a choice. Now was not the time to be thinking about this. She pushed open the doors and stepped in.
And in her mind, at that moment, she regretted every single choice she made so far about the mafia.
Red. Blood red. Warning red. Stoplight red. Danger red. All over the floor, even splattered on the walls. Akane took a step forward, and her foot stepped into a puddle of blood. Her breath hitched when she heard the sound, and her whole body began to shake uncontrollably.
Someone extremely familiar, with long, dark hair, was laying on the ground on her stomach. Her eyes were wide with fright. The girl reached towards Akane, dark brown eyes imploring her to save her. Blood dripped down her head, forming a large pool underneath her. The girl's dark brown hair was wet and sticky. "A...Aka-chan…"
-End of chapter 5-
Ail: DUN DUN DUUUUUUN~ This suspension… Make sure you anticipate for the next chapter! Hey, I gave myself an abbreviated name!
Regi: the most wonderful cliffhanger in the universe. WOAH WAIT we wrote the last sentence first, which then got deleted and stuff, and how did it turn so… bloody…? It was supposed to be a bit funny-happy-ish… AILURO DON'T BE SO EVIL
Ail: Hey! Firstly, I wasn't the one who wrote the ending. I was just about to ask you the same. Why so gruesome? Second, IT'S AIL! AIL! AIL and that's that! Humph. (It sounds like 'isle' if you say it a few times… Such a name. See why I don't like nicknames now?)