Chapter 10
Just as Himeno and Julian went out of the school to the grounds, a lot of people were already outside the gate. They are all composed of parents, and the students from Nami-Middle and Nami-private.
"Wow, as always, a lot of people are here again," Himeno said happily. She was one of the people who made these kinds of festivals into big things, considering that she is also the Student Council Informant of everything that is on right now.
"Well most of this is because of you," Julian said making the brunette stare with question, "If it weren't for your persistence and passion on festivities, the school wouldn't have this kind of popularity," he praised, "And besides, next year, you are one of the candidates to be the next Student Council President!"
"Don't get your hopes up. I don't want to be too superior in this school. I feel contended in just being the Informant of the SC and the SPD Commissioner if you don't mind," Himeno replied, looking uninterested in the expectations of her friend. "This is only school things, not like what I do outside," she explained.
Just then, the SC president, Risa Benibara came to them, "Suiri, the opening is about to start," she informed with excitement in her blue crystal eyes that goes well with her blonde hair. "There will be no festival without the main Emcee's opening right?" she said as she dragged Himeno to the main stage of the grounds with Julian following in tow.
Just at the grounds, every student and parent was there, including Tsuna and his guardians, well…except for Kyouya who was only watching in a 'safe' distance away from everyone.
Everyone was waiting excitedly for the festivities to begin.
"Wow, I'm already hyped up for the opening!" Yamamoto exclaimed, getting impatient.
Tsuna smiled. "Me neither," he agreed. 'I wonder if I will get to talk to her again…Himeno Suiri…' he thought.
Just then, a huge explosion came at the west side of the school building. Everyone on the gronds and in the other unaffected places scattered to get out of the damaged building. Himeno and Julian saw it and were filled with worry.
"This isn't the doing of the Vongola right?" she asked Julian.
"That's impossible, look," he said pointing to the grounds area where some of the Vongola are, trying to know what caused the explosion.
"But who would do this?" Himeno asked. As if on cue, a plate fell on front of them from the explosion in front of them. Julian picked it up and saw a familiar crest.
"Dad," he replied with a sad but angry look. "Himeno, on behalf of my dad, I'm sorry for causing such trouble," he apologized, "He had intercepted that the Vongola would come here along with the Decimo and his guardians, so they would obliterate them quickly, because they fear that some civilians might get hurt," he explained.
"It's fine if you're not in this fiasco that your Dad arranged," Himeno replied. "All we have to do now is-" before the two could move, they saw men in white with different weapons coming for the Vongola. Himeno thought that the men looked familiar but shrugged it and left the thought for later. Right now, she needs to get everyone to safety and prevent them from knowing that the mafia is in this mess. If she fails, the school's reputation will decrease something that all of the students were afraid to happen. Their school was an institution of prestige and discipline. No one dared to ruin it but the outsiders.
"Himeno, we need to get everyone out of here now. Bad things will happen if the civilians discover that the mafia is behind this," Julian warned. Himeno silently nodded before she ordered the School Police to lead the students to safety along with Julian.
With the Vongola, after the explosion, they all went in alert. Everyone was in the grounds, thankfully. The west wing was where they were an hour ago inside the auditorium. Good thing they decided to leave early for the opening ceremony, which will not happen because of the ruckus.
"Shit, what will we do now?" Gokudera tensed, "We can't use our box weapons when there are many civilians,"
"Where are Ayako and Seishiro?" Narumi asked.
Then realization hit Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto. "They went back to the auditorium to polish Ayako's recital…" Yamamoto trailed off, worried of his son.
Gokudera started to run for the auditorium when Yamamoto stopped him. "Let me go Yamamoto! I need to save Ayako!" he shouted. Just as he shouted that, Himeno heard the silver haired man.
The brunette then looked at her squadron, "I need to go to the west wing to see if there are some people stuck there," she informed.
"But Commissioner, you might get hurt," said one of her members.
"It's better than the ones caught up in there." She then turned to Julian, "Juls, come with me," she instructed and they ran inside the building with the Vongola taking notice of the two.
"Where are they going?" Gilbert wondered.
"They probably checked if some people were stuck there," Yohannes said.
"Maybe now is a good time to go," Anya said. "As part of the squadron, we have the right to," she informed.
"Let's go," Rinsel said, then turned to the adults, "Juudaime, you and the Nami-Middle brats-(their reply: Hey!)- stay here,"
"We will go there and see if the two are there," Martin continued.
Tsuna nodded in agreement. "Be careful," he said before the mini-Varia parted with the adults and their children. Just then, the white men attacked them, and they were more than happy to battle them. It will just take few moments for it to be done.
When Himeno and Julian arrived at the west wing, all they could see is are clouds of dark smoke. A few moments later, they heard some coughing sounds coming from the auditorium at the end of the hall.
"There are some people there!" Julian shouted. 'If I get my hands on the one leading this attack I'll-' before Julian could continue, they heard Seishiro's voice coming from the auditorium.
"Is there someone there?" he shouted.
"Sei-kun! This is Himeno, I'm with Julian, are you okay?" she asked.
"I-I'm okay, but Ayako is unconscious right now," he replied.
Himeno and Julian tried to walk through the auditorium, but some cement and some building foundations were crumbling down, especially the cement blocks. "Dammit, there's too much rubble," she complained.
"It's too dangerous to go in," Julian said.
"Still, we need to save them before this place collapses, or else something worse will happen." Himeno reasoned.
Then they heard some footsteps running to where they were. They turned around and saw Yohannes and his group. "Who's in there?" the raven asked.
"Aya-chan and Sei-kun are inside there," Himeno informed.
"The rubble from the explosion made the way too dangerous," Julian informed.
"Not dangerous enough," Anya said.
Himeno went to worry mode, "But you could get hurt going alone. I'll come with you," she proposed. They all agreed and went inside the dark clouded way.
"Shit it's too dark," Jonathan complained as he went through some wooden planks.
"Should've brought my goggles when I had the chance," Martin said.
Himeno was walking trough some wood when Julian saw some concrete above her fall heading her way. Julian's reflex got the best of him and pushed her away, "Watch out Himeno," he said as he pushed her along with him. Good thing too, because some blocks also fell.
"Suiri, are you okay?" Athena asked through the dust.
"I'm fine," she replied as she sat up, "Are you okay Julian?"She asked.
Julian groaned before he sat up, "Yeah. Just some few scratches," he replied smiling.
A few minutes passed and Yohannes finally spotted Anya and Seishiro just near the auditorium exit, "I found them!" he shouted.
Everyone tried to go through the wood and cement to come to the exit of the auditorium.
They spotted Seishiro in no time who was covering the unconscious Ayako from the falling rubble. Seishiro tried to get up carefully not to get anything bad to Ayako with their help. But there was no time to stay there, as Rinsel felt that everything is about to collapse. "We better hurry or this building will go down with us," she warned. Unbeknownst to them, Seishiro was about to tell them something, but he saw Julian and Himeno, so he just kept his mouth shut.
They all heed her warning as they tried to run carefully from all of the things that could make them trip and fall. But the four Varia didn't notice that they dropped something along the way.
When they got the two out of the collapsing building, they all went out to meet the medics that Julian called beforehand and placed Ayako on the stretcher with a very worried father, while Seishiro did too, seeing some serious injuries and collapsed when he finally saw his girlfriend safe, ending up in the stretcher too, and were rushed to the hospital with Gokudera and Yamamoto in tow.
It wasn't long before they realized the change in the four girl's hairs. "What the? Rinsel?" Martin said looking at her as if his eyes fell from its sockets.
"What?" she asked, looking at him clearly. Wait…clearly? She looked at her wig earlier. It was gone. So does the other three's. "Shit…" she gritted her teeth. The other three noticed it too.
Himeno ran her hands through her hair, "The secret's out earlier than expected," she said disappointed.
"What the hell did Suiri do to you?" Yohannes demanded looking shocked.
Athena just smiled, "Just some fun," she answered.
Anya scoffed, "What's your problem? It's just hair," she stated.
The others just stared blankly until Regine tossed some sense into them by whacking each and every one of them.
Tsuna then came to Himeno, "Suiri-san," he called.
"Yes sir?" she asked.
"Thank you for your assistance, and also, Gesso-san's. If it weren't for you, Ayako and Seishiro might be in more danger now," he said. The two just bowed.
"It's all in the work sir," she replied.
Then their attentions were called by the principal at the main stage, "Attention to all students, and parents. Because of an accident that occurred at the West Wing, the school will be closed under maintenance for at least three months. I'm sorry to the students who are using the West Wing which is the second years of high school and the sixth grade Elementary Division. Since all of you have your curriculums, it is highly recommended that you are home schooled for a while until the West Wing can be used again. As for the music festival, it will also be cancelled, but as for the Music Video Contest, it will be held after the maintenance is complete. I'm sorry for the inconvenience," he said as he left.
Some students in the second year of middle school sheered for joy, but some groaned. They knew that this means when they get back, they will be tested to see if they really did what was told to them.
"Aw man, no school? How can I get out of the mansion now?" Julian complained.
Himeno giggled, "It's fine. You do have the greatest groups of tutors in payroll," she said.
"And you have the biggest library and tons of books money can buy." He replied.
Himeno just smiled brightly, "It's not my fault I'm part bookworm," she replied as they walked away from the Vongola. Before they could go, Himeno turned back, "I'll see you guys soon! Oh, and keep the hair," she bid and left to go see if anything went wrong with the evacuation that happened earlier as she talked to Ai who was there with the brunette's squadron along with Shinkiro and Risa.
"What did she do to you…?" Jonathan wondered.
"None of your business," the four replied as they left to go back to the Vongola Japanese Base.
That Night
Tsuna and the others got back to the base to find surprised eyes of the four girls' fathers. They began to blab on what happened that made them change their hairs, if it weren't for their wives who told them that it's not up to them to judge what a girl wants to do with their lives, which evidently put an end to that issue.
The next one that was discussed was the incident that happened at Nami-Private just a few hours ago. They ran late because they had to pick up Anya and Seishiro at the hospital earlier. It would seem not only Nami-Private was attacked, but also Kokuyo and Yuumei. Who had the same conclusion as Nami-Private, and what they will do while fixing up the mess.
"So, what really happened that the auditorium exploded?" Gokudera asked the two.
"We were the only ones left at the auditorium at that time," Ayako explained. "Then we heard some ticking sound all of a sudden, and Seishiro and I tried to look for it,"
"When we found it, the Millefiore crest was engraved on the bomb. When we looked at the timer, we only had fifteen seconds to get out," Seishiro continued. "But even if we use our athletic prowess, we didn't see that there are other bombs above the door, and it collapsed on top of us. Ayako was hit by something and fell unconscious. I tried to get help, and when I heard Suiri and Julian's voice, I shouted and they helped me along with Yohannes and the others,"
Then all fell silent. What in the world are they planning now? Their answer was answered when Irie intercepted a video comm. Tsuna instructed to answer it and their eyes were filled with shock and anger in seeing Byakuran's face with a foxy grin.
"Hello Vongola!~" he greeted with his usual smile.
Gokudera was instantly filled with fury, "You bastard! How dare you put the children in danger?"
Byakuran pretended to be surprised. "Huh? Oh, you mean in the auditorium? That was suppose to be a decoy to get you guys fight for me to see if you're not yet tired in finding Himeno-chan~"
Tsuna gritted his teeth, "What do you want Byakuran?" he asked.
"Hmm…well, I did do that to piss you off a little so you could agree with what I want to settle who will win on the second round of the war…" he trailed off.
Tsuna's eyes furrowed. "What is it?"
"I just found out that Vendice has some agents from Vendetta Assassination Organization, which is working under them. It seems that they have a fifteen-year-old tradition that once two rival families have almost a decade of feud, they can be requested to bring out some of their agents from Vendetta at their disposal to be equally distributed to the two families to see to it that the war would end to prevent unnecessary things happening in the mafia, and the normal society." He informed.
"And?" Tsuna said asking to continue.
"And I want to use that kind of procedure." Then his face turned serious, "So, are you up for it?"
"The one who loses shuts up forever and never attack again?" Tsuna bargained.
"Deal," Byakuran replied. "Then I'll see you guys on the battlefield of Italy soon~" he said and cut the line.
"Juudaime…" Gokudera murmured.
"Are you sure of this Tsunayoshi-kun?" Irie asked. "We've gambled with him before," he reminded.
"That's all the choice we have to stop this fiasco for good," Tsuna decided.
Phew! That one is done…BTW, I'm setting ILGGGGC on stop. Permanently, since I've lost all will to continue it because of the Manga and Anime's progress all over the story arcs. Sorry…
So for the ones who reads ILGGGGC (That's a long acronym…note to self: shorten the title.) and also reads this, you got lucky, because I'm going to erase it within a week. This message is also in my Profile.