"Oh, thank you!" Kyoko thanked the Chinese child for picking up her wallet. I had been dragged out shopping with her, since Hana was busy.
"Kyoko, you really should be more careful. And yeah, thanks for picking up my friend's wallet."
The child nodded, and hopped off. I watched her leave, before my attention was brought back to Kyoko. As we continued to look around the shopping district, I thought about what I-pin's arrival meant, according the manga timeline.
So, Dino's coming soon, eh? Tsuna's going to get his first taste of the real mafia.
The child came to Namimori Middle the next day. Kyoko was sweeping the halls with me and Hana, and was the first to notice the child wandering throughout the hallways.
"Oh, it's you! Thank you for picking up my wallet yesterday."
Tsuna was sweeping a little ways away from us, and looked towards our direction at the sound of Kyoko's voice. He looked surprised for a moment, then headed over. I-pin squinted at us, then turned around, squinted at him, and pointed up several times. She ran away afterwards, and Tsuna followed a minute later. Kyoko picked something up off the ground.
"She dropped something. We should return it."
"You go. Hana and I can manage without you for a bit." I told her. Hana nodded in agreement.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Okay then-"
"Kyoko." A teacher called out to the girl. "Can I talk to you for a moment? Hana, you too."
"Sure."
"Oh, okay." Kyoko turned to me, "Sorry, sensei's calling. Can you return it to her instead?"
I internally sighed. Why did this world seem so determined include me in the mess? "Sure, no problem."
"Here, I'll put your broom away for you."
Kyoko took my broom and I headed for the rooftop. When I arrived, I-pin had begun the countdown, but I headed over and offered the rod to her.
"There you are. You left this behind."
"Nee-chan!"
I-pin started clinging to my legs, and I contemplated letting her explode on me, just to save myself the pain of constantly trying to avoid and getting dragged into everything. However, Tsuna snatched the child away from where she had been tightly holding onto my legs, making the option of suicide by tiny Asian girl no longer available.
Gokudera opened the door to the rooftop, saying something about noodle bread. I took the opportunity to rush past him and back into the relative sanity of the school.
A few minutes later, an explosion was heard in the air. I munched on stolen noodle bread. It was tasty.
It was the weekend. I headed downstairs for breakfast. I-pin was sitting at the table, with Tsuna and Reborn. Lambo wasn't there yet. I grabbed my breakfast and headed back upstairs. I wasn't in the mood to deal with this today.
(My personally soundproofed room made a stand with my music in keeping the mayhem from reaching my ears. I was able to draw in peace. It was relaxing.)
Dammit. Why, oh why, was Tsuna still somehow shorter than me? It had been normal when we were younger, but when we reached adolescence, obviously the deity known as Puberty (yes, capitalized) had taken one look at Tsuna and gone, "Nah."
When we met Tsuna's admirer while running an errand, I had attempted to hide behind Tsuna. Needless to say, it didn't work.
Haru, still tightly gripping - seriously, she should not have been that strong - the sleeves of Tsuna and I, rushed towards the cake shop, dragging us reluctant Sawada siblings along with her. I was considering ditching my jacket in an attempt to escape, but Haru seemed to read my mind and shifted her grip to my wrist.
Great. Now how was I going to escape?
Haru let go of my wrist when we entered the cake shop. Finally. Tsuna noticed Kyoko, and looked on cloud nine, then panicked as he thought of the potential misunderstanding. I snorted. Did he seriously not get it? She just didn't think of him that way. Hell, I doubted she thought of anyone that way, never mind Tsuna. (Okay, maybe I was selling him short. Still.)
As Haru and Kyoko discovered they both celebrated self-appreciation day and enthusiastically discussed the sweets sold within the shop, I started shuffling over to the glass door.
Shuffle. They were talking about something called Tarte au Fromage. Shuffle. Tsuna was dismayed over them ignoring him. Shuffle. Okay, I was almost to the door. Shuf-
"Instead of standing around and talking, why don't you come over to our place so you don't have to be in a hurry?"
Reborn. That was alright. I could still es-
"Nee-tan, where are you going?"
Shit. So close.
And that, my friends, is how I found myself sitting in Tsuna's bedroom, eating (poking with a fork) cake with a future mafia don, his two wife candidates, and his future self's subordinate. And his future adviser, couldn't forget him either. Also, a young assassin who worked for the Chinese triads.
I casually stabbed the cake one more time, before realizing that Kyoko and Haru had asked me a question.
"Sorry, I wasn't listening. What did you ask me?"
"Haru asked if you also celebrate self-appreciation day."
I waved my hand dismissively, saying, "I don't need to. I eat whatever I want, whenever I want."
"Eh, aren't you scared you'll get fat?" Kyoko asked me, surprised. I shrugged.
"Not really. I burn off everything really quickly anyway."
"Lucky!" Haru looked incredibly jealous of my fast metabolism.
"You know, Tsuna's the same. See, even though he sucks at sports and used to spend all day reading manga in his room, he never got fat."
Haru and Kyoko stared at us Sawada siblings enviously. Tsuna rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. They sighed and turned their attention to I-pin. I placed the mangled cake into my mouth thoughtfully. I had never thought about it before. Tsuna really was incredibly thin for someone who had never really exercised outside of PE classes.
Oh, this strawberry was nice. I savoured it, closing my eyes in bliss, and missed the crucial moment when I-pin gave the gyoza buns to Haru and Kyoko. I heard two thumps on the ground.
Lovely. I decided to keep my eyes shut. Bianchi's voice was heard, a poof, and then the cow brat's cheers. Tsuna's panicking hurt my ears so I covered them, resolutely ignoring everything going on around me and hoping they would forget I was there.
"You can't! Nee-chan-!"
"Then I'll shoot her too."
Wait. What?
Two shots were fired at the same time, then another shot was heard. I felt a sharp pain in my forehead.
And in that moment, I regretted. I regretted not doing enough with my life. I regretted wasting the second chance I'd been given. I regretted leaving things unfinished. I regretted...
Tsuna was thrown backwards by the force of his nosebleed. Kyoko and Haru stood with different coloured flames on their heads.
"I must go."
"Eh? Wait! Hey, what about your clothes?!" As Tsuna hurried after them with coverings, he glanced back at his sister, who was...
...sitting there calmly, finishing off her cake. Tsuna wanted to stop and wonder what exactly her regret was, but the girls marching down the stairs in their underwear were a more pressing matter, and he ran after them, yelling.
...not being able to finish my goddamn cake in peace.
Omake - The Gamer
What was this.
I stared at the screen floating in front of me, showing some kind of stat screen.
Species: Human, Borderline Mary-Sue
Level: 9000+ Next level: N/A
Age: 13
Strength: 9000+
Agility: 9000+
Athleticism: 9000+
Intelligence: 9000+
Wisdom: 9000+
Luck: 9000+
Charisma: 9000+
Specialty: Being OP
After coming out of Dying Will mode, this had appeared in front of me. Reaching out a finger, I pressed the [Back] button on the bottom corner of the screen, and a menu screen appeared. I stared at it for a moment longer, then pressed the [Skills] option. A whole load of skill boxes appeared, and I reeled back in shock, although I really should have expected it.
I skimmed through the skill titles, occasionally pressing on some to see what they were, when something caught my eye.
[Role Insertion]
Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I pressed it to see the description.
[Role Insertion] (Passive) Lv 9000+
This skill creates or takes over a noticeable role in the in the main story and gives it to the player. The player is not given a choice in the matter.
Activation chance: 95%
Well, that explained a lot.
(Yes, I overused the 'over 9000' joke.) A relatively long chapter just because I like the number 13. Also, because I haven't updated for a few days. All reviews will be replied to here now, as I don't want to spam people's inboxes with my replies.
Reaper Senpai: I'm leaving the outcome of the fight in the air, as we don't our main character to lose, but Hibari isn't allowed to lose either, and the current him doesn't seem the type to leave a fight as a tie.
Theta-McBride: I'm glad you did.
turtlehoffmann2251: I'm happy to know that.
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed. Tell me if there's anything you particularly want to see.
Review?
Disclaimer: Ahahahaha... ha. I wish I owned KHR.