Chapter 36: Ranking the Next Step
This idea hit me when I was writing the chapter in Mafia Row about him but I couldn't find a place to put it. But since we are on the subject now…
This is kind of a filler chapter showing what others are doing after Shinichi left. The next plot arc will start next chapter. So feel free to ignore what I write about Fuuta- like I said, a plot bunny attacked and was determined to be written. It held me at gun point I swear.
And whilst in the manga Bermuda calls everyone with the honorific –kun, I'm going to stick with him calling everyone by their last names.
Things around the Vongola mansion had suddenly gotten a lot quieter. Kaito had disappeared totally, the only sign of his leaving being a note on Tsuna's desk saying:
Off on Holiday
Signed Kaito, KID, Magician and Hunter.
On holiday indeed. Everyone knew he had gone to find out where Shinichi was. No one knew when he would be back, or even if he was going to be successful. The Vindice had more than one prison, and that was assuming the lessons were going to take place in one of their prisons. So there were no magic tricks, no rings of maniacal laughter, no pissed off Gokudera complaining about being a target for said magic tricks. Lambo and Fuuta were quieter too, and certainly more bored since Kaito and Shinichi played with them a lot. Both missed their big brothers terribly.
The second reason it was so quiet was because Mukuro had disappeared too. Chrome had stayed behind in case one of the Mist Guardians were ever needed. Plus she didn't know Shinichi as well as the others. In her opinion, if Shinichi wanted to go train, then Mukuro should let him. However with Mukuro now gone, Hibari had no one to fight with, therefore leading into the mellow and quiet calm state of the mansion.
However there was excitement in the mansion today for it was the day the mechanics arrived. Tsuna and some of the others would be glad to see them again. Lambo being one such person. Lambo adored Shoichi and the two had had a close bond ever since their return from the future. The bond had actually started when Lambo had been kicked through Shoichi's window one day, leading into the events that caused the whole future fiasco. Shoichi was very tolerant and patient with Vongola's youngest Guardian.
Whilst eager to see Shoichi too, Tsuna and Gokudera actually wanted to see Spanner more. Tsuna had created a weird yet working relationship with the future Spanner and that relationship has continued once they returned to the past. Spanner was quite down to earth, when it didn't come to machinery, and was in fact a very good listener and advice giver. His short replies and overall work-focused personality was actually quite calming. In return, Gokudera had been the only guardian to understand Spanner's theories and blueprints. Both geniuses had worked together to create a lot of new things, starting with new security to new communication devices. All such devises were tested and made Guardian Proofed. It was amazing that Spanner could make anything so sleek and aesthetically pleasing with the amount of protection the vital parts needed from Guardian Abuse. All such devices had to be bomb proof, water proof, insulated against Lambo's flame sparks, and able to take a very good hit from a boxer's punch or a prefect's tonfa. Now the equipment also needed to be able to take a hit from a flying football and still be able to work even when saturated in stage smoke and sleeping gas.
The mechanics had a lot of work cut out for them, making equipment for this lot, but they wouldn't have it any other way. Shoichi, with his many time traveling trips, knew this the best.
It was a rather confusing sight when the doors to the Vongola Italian Mansion were opened for them, and they found Tsuna sitting on what can only be described as an orange throne. They weren't sure if they should go up and kneel before Tsuna or not. The confusion was apparently evident in their faces since Yamamoto came up to them laughing.
"Maa maa guys, don't worry. You should know that Tsuna doesn't want you kneeling at his feet. This is just a tradition we started when we were doing missions" He slings an arm over Shoichi's shoulders and forces the man to walk forwards. Spanner follows along, placing a lollipop in his mouth as he looks over the entryway. Yamamoto whispers into Shoichi's ear what he had to do.
Stepping forwards, he stands infront of Tsuna and smiles. "I'm back"
Tsuna smiles back in return and stands before giving Shoichi a hug. "Welcome back home" Tsuna says before patting him on the head.
Shoichi steps to the side and Tsuna turns to Spanner. "Hi" is all Tsuna gets out of Spanner, but that's more than enough.
""Welcome back home" Tsuna says once more. In this instance, Home was not Italy or Japan, but where the majority of them were. Or at least from Tsuna's point of view. For most of the others, Home was where ever Tsuna was. He was their Sky after all.
There is a small silence until Lambo can't take it anymore. "Shoichi!" he shouts before running over and giving the man a hug. Shoichi hugs Lambo back.
"Ne Fuuta, Shoichi's back" shouts Lambo turning around as he points to Shoichi.
Shinichi smiles at the happy scene and kind of wishes he was there to join in. The screen, however, soon zooms in on one person in particular.
"You should look after this child, especially as he grows up. He's similar to you" comments Bermuda.
"Huh? Fuuta is? Why's that?" asks Shinichi. Sure Fuuta was a smart individual, filled with both childish and adult logic. But he didn't want to be a detective.
"You must make sure that he never has to kill anyone for he is half a Star Flame user too."
Shinichi looks at Bermuda and really wishes that his face wasn't covered in bandages. It would be so much easier to read him then. The same went for the rest of the Vindice. It's not like he was squeamish or anything. He dealt with dead bodies, he was sure a zombie-like appearance wasn't going to affect him. So all in all, he couldn't tell if Bermuda was joking with him or not.
"You are joking right. And half user?" questions Shinichi.
Bermuda nods and looks up from the screen to face Shinichi. "No I am not. There are people around you with mixed Flames. However you don't see too many since the people around Decimo all have very pure flames. Gokudera is a multiple flame user and utilises his specific trait in his weaponry. He is lucky that his storm flame is so strong and pure with the other flames in his body too. The Leader of the Varia is a Half Flame User and utilises both Storm and Sky flames to create the Flames of Wrath as they are so called. The Failed Arcobaleno Lal Mirch is also a multiple flame user."
"Is Kaito?" Shinichi asks, Kaito could use all the flames after all.
Bermuda shakes his head "No he is not. It is just the way Moon Flames work. This child Fuuta De La Stella is a half Star half Lightening User."
Shinichi looks sceptical "Fuuta is not like Lambo though." Which was quite a convincing argument.
"The Bovino child is not the personification of all lightening users. The man known as Lightening Gamma from the Giglio Nero Family is not like Bovino either. The main point of Lightening users is their willingness to take hits for others, to hit hard and fast and the willingness to be a distraction. A Young Stella has shown some of these qualities, but is over shadowed by the loudness of Bovino. When Stella was possessed by Rokudo before we captured him, Stella was determined to protect Decimo and the information he held, even to the point of not sleeping for 10 days. He didn't ask for help since he wanted to draw the attention away from the others."
"Hmm, Fuuta is quick to try and draw the blame away from the other children" muses Shinichi, but he had always attributed that to being friends or a big brother figure.
"When he does his rankings, it is done in a rather flashy way." Comments Bermuda.
Shinichi nods, remembering his first and only experience with the Ranking side of the boy. It had been at a time where Fuuta was helping Lambo to decide who needed their attention the most. Shinichi was rather surprised when things started to float in the air and Fuuta's eyes had…
"His eyes glaze over when he does rankings, just like mine do" gasps Shinichi.
"That is not all. When taken to the basic fundamentals, Fuuta's rankings are actually the amalgamation and ordering of facts. His Star flames analyse the people infront of him and through things like body language, past observations and other such signs he can usually answer the question. Of course there is the slight 'psychic' feel, where people's feelings change depending on what they are told. It's the same way that people believe in horoscopes. But everything Fuuta says is based upon the facts of information available to him. Hence why his rankings, when he was 9 was out of 86,202 Mafioso, since that's how many he had met by that age."
"But no one has died around him, or is that cancelled out by the lightening flames?" says Shinichi, since that, for anyone else but him, was a bad side effect.
"You do know how he ended up living with Decimo right." Shinichi nods "How else do you think he survived so long with Mafioso on his tail at the age of 9? The Mafioso chasing him all mysteriously died. When running away from them Stella would go where his flames told him subconsciously. And so as the Mafioso followed him, they got caught in accidents; getting run over or getting shot by an opposing Family also after Stella, accidents such as that. Of course the boy had run and hid by that point, not realising that these men had died. He just assumed that they had given up on finding him. The pure flames of Bovino, and especially Decimo, stopped the effect from affecting people of the house like Decimo's mother, or other school children."
"That's rather sad really. It's a worse childhood than I had. But what about the whole Ranking Planet and the levitating of objects whenever he ranks things. I've never made anything float."
"Well, the 'Ranking Planet' is obviously a star. I cannot say if he really is communicating with a planet or not. Fuuta hates the rain because clouds are needed for rain and the clouds block the view of the stars, even in the day time, thus disconnecting him from this 'ranking planet'. And did not the Pet Arcobaleno tell you how the levitating worked?"
Shinichi thought back for a second. "Let's see it was: "When Fuuta does a ranking, the energy gathered in his body creates distortions in his magnetic field which then negates the effect of gravity around him"."
"That's close. The distortions come from his Lightening flames. They have similar properties to electricity. So the flames excite the particles in the air around Stella causing the distortions and the weightlessness." Bermuda explains.
"So are you going to bring Fuuta here?" asks Shinichi, curiously. Bermuda shakes his head and jumps onto Shinichi's shoulder.
"No I am not. Now I do believe it's time for your lesson to begin."
Kaito stares up at the mountain and frowns. This was not what he was expecting. He really should have planned better. But he was in such a rush to go and find Shinichi that he just hadn't thought to actually research these mountains. Nor had Byakuran told him this rather important detail: They were covered in snow and blizzards.
So it seemed that some shopping was in order. He'd have to waste a few days fixing the new equipment to his specifications and modifying his old equipment to make it blizzard proof. He had done a heist in the snow before, about two years back and had been pleasantly surprised by Tantei-kun's ability to snowboard, although that was expected with his skateboarding skills. However he didn't make it a habit to plan heists in snowy places, and as a result, very little of his equipment was ready for it. And even he wasn't crazy enough to hold a heist in a blizzard.
Kaito glares at the mountain once more, damning it for making his job harder, before he shivers. Thick warm clothes would be the first on that shopping list.
So walking into town, he puts on a disguise and walks into a shop designed specifically for snow gear.
"Good afternoon Sir. Is there anything I can help you with today?" asks the sales assistant, a sporty young male about the same age as himself.
"Actually, I was thinking of climbing the mountain over there. Could you recommend the best equipment for the job?" Kaito replies in character. He'd had his eye on a few items ever since he walked into the shop, but there was nothing wrong with a second opinion.
The assistant pales slightly and looks through the window at said mountain. "Haahaa, are you sure about that? I wouldn't recommend that Sir. At this time of the year there are blizzards and storms and very high snow drifts. It's practically impossible. You would have to wait another 3 or 4 months to even attempt it. And even then, that Mountain isn't suitable for a beginner."
Internally, Kaito clicks his tongue. Trust the Vindice to have their place so well protected. It's not going to be easy.
"Really? That's a shame. But I might as well buy the equipment now. I can go and find a safer mountain to practice on" says Kaito, forlornly. Of course he had no intention to go and find a safer mountain. But this man wasn't going to sell him anything if he thought Kaito was going to go off and attempt the dangerous climb. "Could you recommend one in the area?"
The sales assistant relaxes and smiles. "Of course. I think the best mountain…" and Kaito pretends to listen as he walks around the shop examining the equipment there. Adding in the odd comment or question made it sound like he was listening. "That one had very good insulating properties. Lots of our customers tell us it's the best for cold conditions" They eventually got around to picking out equipment and Kaito went over every piece with his experienced eye, checking the stitching, the metal work and joints as if he was checking over his glider. After the sales assistant saw this, he started to take Kaito a little more seriously.
So a couple hours later, Kaito came out of the shop with everything he would need from a tent and a sleeping bag to grappling hooks, ropes, gloves and warm clothing. When he gets back to the hotel room he is staying in, he spreads everything out and sets to making the modifications he wants. Everything had been paid for by his Vongola credit card. He had taken it to a cash machine to check how much was on there and his eyes widened at the number of zero's he saw. It was more than most of the jewels he stole were worth. Looking back over the statement, he'd noticed that the large lump sum had arrived the day before. It was Tsuna's way of looking after him without following the thief around. Kaito had smiled at that. And he wasn't afraid to use the card. It wasn't as if he was running from them or anything. If fact, it would show them that he was still alive until the point at which he met Shinichi.
He just hoped that the detective would be alright until he was there to watch his back.
"M-Mukuro-sama? Are you really sure we need to be here?" asks Ken, looking up at the stone castle. And really who lived in a medieval castle anymore anyways?
"Yes we do Ken. That damn pupil of mine won't come out to meet his master. Something about a fake prince" replies Mukuro, walking boldly up to the front doors.
Ken and Chikusa look at each other and then to where Mukuro was and sigh. "How troublesome" says Chikusa, before loosening his weapons and checking that there were enough needles in them.
"What are you doing here?" asks a voice from above them. Ken and Chikusa look upwards, Mukuro just smirks and laughs, not needing to look up.
"Kufufu, I'm a little busy for a rematch Mammon. Why don't you go and drink some milk. Maybe you'll finally grow up" Mukuro smirks, knowing he's hit on a sore point for the illusionist. Ken growls as tentacles appear and start to climb up Mukuro's legs.
"Would you like to say that again when my pets have eaten your soul?" Mammon asks, her voice icy.
"Oya, maybe you are forgetting who won our last match. I seem to remember that I won." Smugly reminds Mukuro. He taps his trident and the tentacles turn into Lotus vines. "Now run along Arcobaleno, I'm not here for street tricks."
Mammon floats back up and over the top of the gate. "You can take your student, he's driving me up the wall. He's even worse than Belphegor at times. You can't blame me if I end up attacking him you know"
"Kufufu, nor would I. He needs the practice after all. I'm sure you can mould him into a nice obedient soldier for me. It'd be nice to have someone do the hard work."
Mammon turns to look back down at him "Why you…" she growls but is interrupted by a pair of grabbing hands.
"Mammon, you are you talking to? You should ask for the prince's permission first." A blond head appears over the gate and looks down on the three intruders. "Ka-ching" he growls before throwing a few knives in their direction. With a flick of his yo-yo, Chikusa send them to the floor. "What are you peasants doing here? You aren't worthy enough to be in the prince's presence"
"We haven't even done anything yet you deranged mongrel." Shouts Ken back. He jumps back at the knives.
"Huh? Why are you shouting at trees you fake prince?" asks the voice they've come to see, with as little emotion as normal.
"The Prince does not talk to trees Froggie. Only mad people do that" defends Belphegor, turning his head to look at the Frog.
"But you are mad. You think you are a Prince. We really should find a mental asylum for you. You'd fit right in." reasons Flan. "Ouch. That hurts you fake prince…" As per usual, Belphegor had thrown knives into his chest.
"Oi what are you doing? Don't bend the Prince's knives" and indeed three bent knives are thrown over the edge of the gate and land at Chikusa's feet. Flan soon follows, chucked over the edge by Belphegor.
"Come on Mammon, it's time for Afternoon tea" says Belphegor, not caring for Flan's safety at all. Instead he grabs the floating Baby, hugs her to his chest and walks off.
Mukuro sighs, "Ken" and Ken bounds forwards to catch Flan before he fell to the ground. They wouldn't be able to get the information they needed if Flan forgot it through a bump to the head.
"Oh thank you Master. I thought it was the end of me" says Flan, not sounding thankful or scared at all. They all knew Flan could have saved himself if he really wanted to. Flan wasn't in the Varia for nothing.
"Let's go. I want to be away from this horrible castle." Orders Mukuro, spinning on his heels and walking through the trees. Ken puts Flan down and bounces after Mukuro, Chikusa hot on Mukuro's heels too. Flan checks the knife wounds he's received, sees they aren't too bad and starts to follow the rest.
"Ne, Master, where are we going? This isn't another kidnapping is it?" asks Flan after having walked in silence for too long. Kidnapping was the term he used whenever Mukuro took him away without any warning. He was being 'kidnapped' from the Varia. Not that they cared. Flan always had the feeling that Belphegor preferred Mammon anyway.
"Yes Flan it is" says Mukuro. "So be quiet until we've reached the house." That though, was never going to happen.
"Oh no. How horrible. I've been kidnapped. Ohh the trauma." Pretends Flan. Ken jumps over and hits him on the head.
"Shut up, byon. We've got important work to do. Shini-chan's been kidnapped and we are going to rescue him" explains Ken quickly.
Flan blinks at them all, not expecting any of that. Especially the rescuing part. It's not like his Master had a heart.
"So some criminals are going to save a Detective? Master, I don't think it works that way." clarifies Flan, since he couldn't see the logic in that.
"How troublesome" remarks Chikusa before explaining "Shinichi is currently in Vendicare and we are going to get him out."
"Oh, naughty naughty Detective then. Why is he there? Shouldn't we leave him there?" Flan ignores the dropping atmosphere and continues on walking.
Mukuro whirls around and stabs his trident into Flan's hat. "I will not leave one of my tools in the hands of people like them."
"Oh, so it's one of those 'I trump you' missions. How boring" complains Flan, ignoring the trident adornment to his hat.
"Boring?" scoffs Mukuro before putting on a dangerously fake sweet smile "Oya, we can't have that. I'm sure you won't be bored with the position of Distraction for the Vindice."
"Ahh, I can feel the love" says Flan, words contradicting his flat tone. Mukuro just pulls the trident out and continues on walking.
The sooner Shinichi was back in his possession the better.
"I'm sorry Tsuna, but according to these readings Shinichi is still in the building. His communicator must still be in his room, or at least left there." Comments Shoichi, looking over Spanner's shoulder at the screen. "Spanner, take the time recording backwards" Spanner complies, pressing a few buttons. "Well, as you can see, Shinichi left the Mansion not long after you did. Gokudera said that Reborn took him away whilst you were dealing with Nono. He is then taken to this building here, and stays there for a while. This must have been where his mission was taking place. And then…" Spanner, Shoichi, Tsuna and Gokudera watch as Shinichi's communicator dot just disappears off the screen. "That must be when the Vindice come for him. As you can see, the screen's changed back to the mansion."
"Hmm, with all of these other trackers, it shows that we are all in the room, so it's definitely the time when Juudaime summoned the Vindice." Comments Gokudera, leaning over Spanner's other shoulder. They watch the dots stay still until eventually Tsuna's dot moved to be infront of Shinichi's. Reborn refused to have a tracker on him, so they couldn't tell where he was. However Gokudera knew this was when Tsuna had been kneeling infront of Reborn and told the Hitman why he didn't want to kill. A few moments later, Tsuna's dot moves towards his dot. "Then the Star Arcobaleno throws Juudaime at me. And Shinichi leaves soon after."
"But he doesn't" comments Spanner. "The signal shows that they move to another location in the mansion. It's the same location where the signal is coming from now." This is proven by the map on both screens.
"Hey, where is the signal coming from anyway? We've never found out where their rooms are. They just mysteriously appear every now and again." Comments Gokudera. As a Right Hand Man, it was his job to know where everyone was at any given moment in case Juudaime ever required them.
Spanner types a few commands and the map moves, becoming a 3D image for them to observe. "Tsuna's room." Comments Spanner.
"That can't be right." Says Tsuna. "I think I would know if they were sleeping in my room."
"Well that's where the signal is coming from at the moment. Maybe he just left the communicator there." Suggests Shoichi.
"And Kaito's?" asks Gokudera. Maybe that one could lead them to the pair's rooms.
A few more key taps reveals another dot on the scene. "Same place" informs Spanner.
"We had better find the communicators then. Spanner and I have an update for them anyway" says Shoichi.
"Leave it to me Juudaime. I'll have them found in no time. You just wait right here."
"Heeii, Gokudera! It's my room. I think I'd best go look for them" says Tsuna worriedly.
"Don't worry Juudaime. Your privacy will be maintained. I won't tell anyone what I find."
"Gokudera! " shouts Tsuna, slightly embarrassed; He didn't know what Gokudera was expecting to find that needed to be kept a secret.
"Why don't you both go? You'll find it quicker that way" recommends Shoichi. "Spanner will play a song full blast through them and you should be able to use that to track them. I'm afraid that we can't track them closer than to tell you in what room they are."
Tsuna smiles as he stands from his seat. "That's alright Shoichi. We'll be back in a moment then. Come on Gokudera"
"Yes Juudaime!" shouts Gokudera, standing up straight and giving a salute. Tsuna laughs, more than used to Gokudera's rather strange enthusiastic reactions to his orders. He runs forwards and hold open the door "After you Juudaime"
Gokudera follows Tsuna up to his room and within moments, it's a total mess- or at least more than it usually is.
Tsuna is the first to find one of them in a chest of draws containing some clothing. He finds is nestled in a pile of T-shirts. It was Kaito's, judging by the crescent Moon emblem on the side of it and the overall whiteness of it. Below it was a note, signed with a grinning KID character.
I won't tell anyone about the Hibird underwear. Nor about the Dynamite, the Sword, the boxing glove, the tonfa, the pineapple, and the cow print underwear you own. Get them especially printed? But I was wondering, where's the KID printed one? You aren't going to leave us out are you?
"Heeii! even when he's not here, he still can tease me!" screams Tsuna in dismay. He notices that there is one more line at the bottom of the page:
Of course I can. Who do you think I am?
He could imagine Kaito's laugh and the grin on his face as he planned this. He screams quietly as he rips the paper up and throws the pieces behind him.
"Juudaime, what's wrong?" asks Gokudera, looking in Tsuna's direction.
Tsuna turns a bright smile on him, but Gokudera can see the twitching eyebrow "Wrong? Nothing's wrong Gokudera. Anyway I've found Kaito's communicator. Any luck your end?" Gokudera shakes his head.
"I'm sorry Juudaime." Shouts Gokudera, slamming his forehead on the floor. Tsuna walks over and grabs the back of Gokudera's shirt to hold him aloft and stop the -what surely must be painful- head banging.
"Keep on looking Gokudera. What type of Right Hand Man stops in the middle of a job?" That did the trick, Gokudera was back working in seconds. The years had taught him many ways to pull Gokudera out of these apologising trances. Bringing up the hopeful position of Right Hand Man usually worked.
After another five minutes, Gokudera finally heard the tinny music in the back corner of the room. Moving a pile of Manga and action books he finds the communicator sat on nothing other than a Sherlock Holmes book.
"Juudaime! I have found the communicator" he says, kneeling infront of Tsuna and presenting the communicator. Unlike Tsuna's headphones, these communicators looked more like a square Bluetooth headset, set to rest inside the ear with a mouth piece coming unobtrusively down the side of the face. Shinichi's was a navy blue with a white star on it. The rest could get away with this sleek design. However Tsuna's headphones not only contained a holographic display device, but also all the programming needed for the Flame Assistant that activated with the command Operation X. However these headphones also worked as an MP3 device- which Tsuna had been using to drown out the screams of his victims. His voice commands could even activate his phone assuming it was in his pocket.
Tsuna takes the communicator from Gokudera and looks at them. He sighs. Seems like he was going to have to trust that they returned safely then. He was quickly learning that the waiting and trust was the hardest part of being a Boss.
They arrive back at the Mechanic's lab and hand the devices over. "Do you want mine too?" Tsuna asks Spanner.
"Yes. I'm updating all of them" he replies, holding his hand out for it.
"You won't be needing it will you Tsuna?" asks Shoichi, taking Gokudera's one from him.
"No. I'm just out for a pleasure trip around town tomorrow, so I doubt I'll be needing it. As long as you don't need my phone too." Shoichi shakes his head.
Tsuna looks down at his watch and notices the time. He looks towards Gokudera and they both nod. Gokudera grabs Shoichi's arm whilst Tsuna pulls Spanner out of his chair.
"O-Oi! Gokudera, what are you doing?" asks Shoichi as he's propelled towards the door.
"Well it's time for dinner. If we don't take you now, you'll end up starting the project and not coming out until it's done. Let me get at least one good meal in you before you go and hibernate." Laughs Tsuna "I don't want death by starvation and overworking to be on the death certificate. People will think I'm a bad Boss."
"Tsuna we aren't that bad!" insists Shoichi. Both Guardians just give the pair a disbelieving look.
"Says the people who were locked away for three weeks figuring out how make robots to do chores, when we employ people called maids who will do it for us." Combats Tsuna.
"At least make a robotic chef or something." Chides Gokudera, opening the door once more. Light gleams in the eyes of the two mechanics.
"Mini-moska used to do that" comments Spanner.
"It would need to be able to cook the food and most likely store it as well." Adds in Shoichi. "The question is do we make it an all in one unit or specifically a chef. We'd have to make it a kitchen then too"
"Or do we make a fully automated kitchen? There could be robotic arms to move things from place to place, like from the fridge to the pan. They would also have knives to chop everything up" wonders Spanner. "The oven, the food processor and other equipment would work by itself."
Tsuna and Gokudera look at each other once more and sigh. So standing behind the mechanics, they place their hands on the mechanics' shoulders and push them to the dining room. These two were going to be useless and dead to the world around them now. Tsuna waits a few seconds and then rolls his eyes as Spanner gets a note book and a pen out to start drawing.
The Tenth Generation snigger when Shoichi and Spanner are pushed into the room and pressed into chairs. The Ninth Generation look on confused since they had never seen this before. It was just another shock from the next generation. And they thought they were weird. Nothing could compare to the oddness of the Tenth Generation; an amazingly dysfunctional yet working Family.
"Don't worry Timoteo. This is perfectly natural. And they aren't being rude if they don't talk back. But when they get like this, nothing short of a mechanical failure can faze them. The mansion could be on fire and they'd still be working away. Of course when the mansion is under attack, or we're in trouble, then they are focused and on the job. There's no better strategist than Shoichi. If I didn't bring them to dinner like that, they wouldn't have made it at all until they collapse from exhaustion and the maids find them."
Just another odd quirk to add to the long list that was the Tenth Generation.
The phrase about distortions in Fuuta's magnetic field comes from the Haru Haru Interview, desu~.
Join me next time for the start of the next Arc including my Favourite character after Gokudera.
Phantom Hitman 1412
First Published 06 June 2012