Chapter 30
And Train Hard
Colonnello peaks his head into Verde's room and finds Tsunayoshi exactly where he suspected the boy to be. So creeping in quietly, he picks the sleeping boy up and carries him outside without disturbing the scientist.
"C'mon Tsunayoshi, time to wake up" Colonnello whispers as he walks down the stairs.
"Hmm, Colonnello? Where are we going? I thought I was going out with Reborn today?" asks Tsunayoshi sleepily. Once in the living room, Colonnello puts the boy down and smiles widely at him.
"Well you are. But today might be intense so I'm going to do a warm up with you, kora. We wouldn't want you to hurt one of your muscles." He explains as he walks over to the stereo.
"But Colonnello, I've only just woken up" complains Tsunayoshi, wishing to be back in the warm bed.
"All the more reason to do it!" counters Colonnello, pushing play. A dance track starts up and Colonnello turns to face Tsunayoshi. "C'mon, it'll be fun, kora! Start jogging- got to raise your heart rate up first."
Tsunayoshi rolls his eyes, sighs forlornly over the missing sleep and starts to copy what Colonnello is doing. Once he could be bothered to actually do it, it was rather fun. It was more interesting doing it to music. Especially when they started to sing along, not caring whether they were waking the house up or not.
"1,2,3,4 and swap to the other side. ~Listen to the stereo tonight~"
" ~tonight tonight. Hurry up~"
"~Let's play again!~"
Both turn around to find Skull sat there, cup of coffee in his hand, singing along to the song too. "Haha, don't let me interrupt, it looks pretty fun."
"We're going to slow things down now, kora. Hold each stretch for 8 counts okay" orders Colonnello, after shrugging his shoulders at Skull.
"Got it Colonnello" chimes Tsunayoshi, spreading his feet and stretching out his hand.
"Ahh how darling" coos Luce when she comes down to start on breakfast. It looked very cute since both were still in their pyjama's, or at least Tsunayoshi was. As usual Colonnello was topless with just the trousers on. She wondered whether it would look cute with them in actual sporting gear. Well, she'd find out later.
"Colonnello, this one's hard" whines Tsunayoshi, laying flat on the floor with his feet just above the floor.
Colonnello looks around the room quickly before hissing "Don't let Lal hear that. This is her favourite one because it's so hard"
"It is?" asks Tsunayoshi before his eyes narrow in concentration. "I had better be really good at it for her then"
Colonnello chuckles, a hard thing to do with his stomach muscles taught as they were. "That's the spirit, kora!"
They finished a few minutes later and ten minutes after that, breakfast was ready.
Reborn, in his usual suit and fedora, and Tsunayoshi, in some sports clothes Luce had made him wear, walk back into Mafia Row Central. Reborn looks downwards at Tsunayoshi and clicks his tongue "Che, how are you supposed to walk when you can't even see over the damn thing?" he asks.
Tsunayoshi holds his package closer to him, making sure that Reborn wouldn't take it away. "I am fine" he insists before tripping up the kerb. Reborn, of course, makes no move to save the boy and just continues on walking. Luckily Tsunayoshi caught his footing and didn't fall over.
"We're here" he states and Tsunayoshi looks up at the building. It was quite tall with lots of windows.
They walk inside and are greeted by a group of people. "You came Reborn!" shouts a man before walking towards them. The rest of the group of adults walk over too.
"Hn, of course I did. I don't miss appointments." Replies Reborn.
"True true. So who's this little guy with you? I don't think you've ever brought anyone along with you before." Asks the man, looking down at Tsunayoshi with bright green eyes. The man was very tall, well built with lots of muscles. He had short silver hair too and was wearing shorts, trainers and a sleeveless top.
When Reborn doesn't answer, Tsunayoshi takes it upon himself to do so. "I'm Tsunayoshi, nice to meet you" he smiles and the couple of women in the background sigh at his cuteness before pushing the man out of the way and crouching down to be on his level.
"It's nice to meet you too Tsunayoshi. I'm Mai Sasagawa and the swimming teacher here." This woman had chestnut hair and bright brown eyes.
"I'm Sakura Miura. I teach dance and gymnastics when I'm not running my Store." This woman had long dark brown hair tied up into a swinging ponytail and dark brown eyes.
"You should join my swimming class in a few minutes" says Mai excitedly.
Sakura pouts at her before saying "No, He could come and do dance with me"
The two men in the background sigh and decide to intervene before another shouting match was started.
"Darling, now is not the time and he doesn't even have any swimming gear with him." It was the first man who had spoken. He pulls her up by the elbow and pushes her towards a corridor. "You'd better go before you are late." He insists. She relents and turns to wave at Tsunayoshi before disappearing.
"I'm sorry about my wife, she gets a little excitable sometimes." He says. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Daisuke Sasagawa and the owner of all of the Sporting Facilities on Mafia Row Central. This is our main branch, but there is also a Ladies Only Gym, football fields, rugby fields, running tracks, boxing rings, tennis and basketball courts and other facilities for practically any sport going. There are also a few shooting ranges, including a clay pigeon shoot. I myself teach boxing as well as being a personal trainer for people in the actual gyms. I've also hired on people to teach those sports we lack and to work the hours we aren't here. And I believe you've already met my friend here" and Daisuke points over his shoulder to the man who was attempting to push Mai up some stairs.
"Come on Mrs Miura, it's not like you to be late" shouts some children's voices from the top of the stairs.
The man laughs "The children have spoken Mrs Miura"
Sakura stops fighting and waves at Tsunayoshi. "Bye Bye Desu~" before running up the stairs "yes yes, has everyone got their Tap shoes on?"
The man then turns around and Tsunayoshi finally realises who it is. "Hello Tsuyoshi" says Tsunayoshi.
"Hey there Tsunayoshi. Did you have fun with Takeshi yesterday?" he asks, stopping just infront of Tsunayoshi.
"Yes I did. He's really good at throwing a ball!" then Tsunayoshi tilts his head. "But what are you doing here?"
"Me? Well I teach both Kendo and Fencing. I would teach more but running all of the restaurants takes up most of my time" the man laughs and rubs the back of his neck, a gesture he'd seen Takeshi do a lot.
"And you had best be leaving too. You've got to open Takesushi don't you?" asks Daisuke.
"Yes, I do. Well it was nice to see you again Tsunayoshi. If you ever want lessons, give me a call okay" Tsunayoshi nods and watches as the man leaves the gym.
"Extreme run!" comes a shout from far away.
"Onii-san. Wait up!" comes a girls shout.
"Ah, I know. Extreme carrying!" comes the male shout once more. There comes a girl's excited giggle before a scream of joy.
The pair of children come running in and Tsunayoshi finds that, like the conversation suggested, a boy was carrying a young girl.
"Daddy!" the girl shouts and the boy stops infront of him. Daisuke picks the girl up.
"And where have you two been?" he asks laughing.
"I was following Onii-san but I couldn't keep up." Whines the girl. She had light brown hair and huge brown eyes. The brother was a little older than Tsunayoshi, with silver hair and grey eyes.
"I got bored waiting so I went on an Extreme run." Informs the boy. It was quite a common sight in this gym to find the boy running down the corridors shouting 'extreme'. Sometimes the girl would be trailing behind, not able to run as fast, nor for as long as the boy. However the brother always made sure to wait for her, or carry her if she got too tired. The boy looks around the room and notices Reborn.
"Ah, Reborn. Come for another extreme workout?" the boy asks, running over to Reborn and giving the Hitman a fist bump.
Reborn smirks. "Not today Ryohei. Actually I've brought along a friend who wants to do a very extreme workout with you. Think you can handle that?" Tsunayoshi didn't like that look. It was Reborn's training look. He was starting to guess why Colonnello had forced him to warm up that morning.
"EXTREME" The boy bellows. Tsunayoshi winces from the loudness of it. "Of course I can! Let's go!" Tsunayoshi ends up dropping what he was carrying as he is forcefully pulled along by Ryohei.
First on the extreme training regime: running up every set of stairs in the building… and then back down to the start. Running up and down stairs was more tiring that he thought it would be, however Ryohei seemed used to the long run. Next he dragged Tsunayoshi back up one set of stairs and burst into Sakura's dance lesson.
The dancers in the room look in his direction and smile before continuing with what they were doing. They were all around 7 and used to these random interruptions by now.
"Hmm, I've never seen this type of dancing before" comments Tsunayoshi. They were staying really still and moving only their feet. However this weird tapping sound happened every time one of them moved.
"It's called Modern Tap Tsunayoshi. There is metal on the bottom of the shoes to create the sound." Explains Sakura
"You guys are too slow. You've got to be more extreme" roars Ryohei, running over to the stereo. He spins the dial for the tempo and the music gets faster and faster.
"Speed round girls!" claps Sakura. The girls stopped the dance they were doing and started on the basic steps matching the speed of the music. It was all good practice for their footwork skills in Sakura's opinion. Tsunayoshi looks at their feet and attempts to copy what they are doing before falling over due to lack of balance.
"OOII You can't rest now Tsunayoshi! We've got more to do yet" shouts Ryohei grabbing him and running out of the door.
They ran up the next set of stairs and into what was the gym. There wasn't anyone in at this time since most of the Bosses would be working. Ryohei runs over to one piece of equipment and pulls Tsunayoshi onto it.
"Just stand there." Ryohei jumps around to the other side of the machinery and presses a button. Tsunayoshi jolts at the machinery starts to move and he feels himself moving backwards. He takes one step then another and before he realises it he's running. Ryohei just stands there cheering and pressing the speed button.
"Um Ryohei, I don't think I can run any faster" warns Tsunayoshi running as fast as he can.
"Nonsense! Real men push their limits. Just remember to live life to the extreme!" shouts Ryohei, pushing the button once more.
"Ryohei! You aren't supposed to be using this equipment!" shouts a man's voice from their right. Tsunayoshi takes a quick look over and sees it's one of the many assistants he's seen around the place- they all had the same yellow shirts on. "Stop the machine right now!" the man didn't seem to be very happy. However at that point, since Tsunayoshi wasn't looking at where he was going, he trips and goes flying off the end of the treadmill.
Reborn, however, is there to catch him before he slams into a pillar. "Hmm, so that's how fast you can run. It's better than most children your age." Tsunayoshi smiles at what is most likely a compliment in disguise from Reborn. "However it can still be improved" and Reborn smirks at him.
"I'll work hard Reborn" assures Tsunayoshi. He didn't want to disappoint Reborn after all. He turns to look at Ryohei who is currently receiving a telling off from the assistant. "Oh dear" Tsunayoshi says.
"Oi Ryohei. That's enough running. Tsunayoshi's a fighter too you know" remarks Reborn, an evil glitter in his eyes. Ryohei's eyes light up at that and Tsunayoshi finds himself once more being dragged along the corridors.
When they stop once more Tsunayoshi finds himself in the middle of a boxing ring. "Right. Put this on" demands Ryohei, handing over some head gear. Since Boxing was his favourite sport, he knew the most about it, including all of the safety regulations. "And this" he adds, handing over a mouth guard. Finally he sits infront of Tsunayoshi and grabs his hand before starting to wrap a white bandage around it. Tsunayoshi had noticed that Ryohei's hands were already bandaged from the moment the boy had first run into the foyer at the start. Finally two red gloves are placed onto his hands.
"Yeah! Let's have an extreme match!" announces Ryohei at top volume.
"Oh, Onii-san, this is where you were" says the girl as she walks in.
"That's right. Me and Tsunayoshi are going to have an extreme boxing match Kyoko! Are you going to watch?" asks Ryohei, running over to the side of the ring closest to her.
Kyoko just sighs. "Onii-san, I don't see why two men would fight in their underwear with oven gloves on. It just doesn't seem right." Tsunayoshi giggles at her strange description of Boxing.
"What? It's a battle of manly spirit. How can you not see that?" asks Ryohei astounded.
Ryohei turns to face Tsunayoshi when he hears the ding of the bell. Tsunayoshi looks over to find that it was Reborn who had interrupted the siblings' fight and rung the bell. "Normal rules apply, 3 minute match." He announces.
Tsunayoshi ducks as Ryohei aims a jab at his shoulder. "Reborn! I don't know how to play this game!" screams Tsunayoshi, jumping away from another punch.
"It's simple. Punch him. All your hits must be above the belt though" Reborn supplies, watching with sharp interest.
"What does that even mean?" Asks Tsunayoshi attempting to punch Ryohei back.
"It means no hitting below the belt" informs Reborn. Tsunayoshi rolls his eyes- trust Reborn to answer with the exact same thing with just different wording.
"What belt? He doesn't have one on" claims Tsunayoshi meeting Ryohei's punch smack on. His arm goes numb from the force in Ryohei's punch.
"Don't hit him on his hips or below." Sighs Reborn finally giving the information away. When he sees what attack Tsunayoshi is setting up for he adds in "No kicking either, fists only" Tsunayoshi gives him a what the hell? Look before ducking under another punch. "Tsunayoshi! Attack back. Defend yourself or are you just a wimp?" shouts Reborn. The shock of the shout forces Tsunayoshi into action and he punches upwards from his crouched position, smacking Ryohei in the jaw and sending him stumbling a few steps backwards.
Ryohei laughs and cheers "YEAH! Extreme punch." And comes forwards to attack Tsunayoshi with more vigour than before. During their sparing match, Tsunayoshi gets in a few more hits, but none of them were as good as his first one. However, he does land more punches that Ryohei does. However it's not because Ryohei lacks skills- he's very good for a 5 year old- but because Tsunayoshi is far too good at dodging hits.
Eventually the bell rings and both lower their fists. "That was an awesome match to the Extreme!" decides Ryohei punching his fist into the air. "I've got to get better though, you dodged too many of my attacks. I know! Come back after I train some more and we'll have a rematch."
Tsunayoshi laughs "alright then" He didn't mind since it seemed that Ryohei didn't want Tsunayoshi to punch back, just dodge- he could handle that.
"NO! I've got an even better idea. JOIN THE BOXING CLUB!" Tsunayoshi didn't know anyone could shout that loudly. It was amazing that Ryohei never lost his voice.
"Heeii" screams Tsunayoshi, backing away from Ryohei who seemed to be on fire. "I couldn't do that!" He quickly drops the gloves, mouth and head guards and exits the ring, chasing after Reborn who had already left.
"OII Tsunayoshi. Join the boxing club!" insisted Ryohei as he runs after Tsunayoshi. They eventually arrive back at the foyer. Daisuke grabs his overactive son and stops him from chasing Tsunayoshi.
"Hey son, had an extreme day?" he asks. Ryohei certainly seemed even happier than usual.
"Of course. Every day is extreme!" Ryohei replies and both father and son laugh loudly.
"Um, Ryohei? I wanted to give this to you. To say thanks for such a fun day." Says Tsunayoshi carrying a huge stuffed toy. It was about the same size as he was. Ryohei's eyes sparkle as he sets his eyes upon the Kangaroo with Boxing Gloves on.
"YES! Extreme toy! It's just the right size to shadow box with too!" he shouts taking the kangaroo out of Tsunayoshi's hands. "I shall name him…"
There is a very long and expectant pause. It sounded like Ryohei was thinking really hard to come up with a name for it. Tsunayoshi was sure it was going to be something really interesting
"Kangaryuu!" Ryohei announces. Tsunayoshi laughs at the simplicity of it.
As soon as he arrives back home, Colonnello grabs him and lifts Tsunayoshi onto his shoulders. "C'mon Tsunayoshi" he says. The little boy is too tired to do anything but let Colonnello carry him.
A few moments later, they arrive at a clearing and Colonnello puts Tsunayoshi down. He throws down a blanket and the two lay down on it, just staring up at the sky through the canopy.
"Why do I get the feeling we've done this before?" he asks.
"Because we have, kora" replies Colonnello. "When we first got you. I came out here and you painted my face. Even then you had done a better job than I had." Colonnello almost whispers as he smiles gently, not wanting to destroy the peace of the place.
"So what are we doing here now?" asks Tsunayoshi, eyes trailing the clouds above.
"Well sometimes, you need to do this. You just need to stop and let your body recharge. If you keep on working you'll wear yourself out. Why else do you think Lal even allows days off?" Colonnello explains.
"That's true. But it's nice… to just lay here like this… with you." Says Tsunayoshi as his eyes slowly close.
Colonnello looks over to find he's fallen asleep.
A little while later, Colonnello carries the sleeping child back through the forest and into the house.
"Tsunayoshi you're!" shouts Luce before noticing that he's asleep and shutting up. She doesn't want to wake him. "You should put him to bed Colonnello. At least tomorrow will be less effort"
Colonnello just looks nervously at Luce, highly disbelieving. "Luce, your shopping trips are not relaxing in any shape or form."
He walks up the stairs and feels sorry for Tsunayoshi. He's going to be dressed up like a doll tomorrow. And not just by Luce either.
Yay, I like this chapter better than the last one. Not a lot of Kyoko here, but she'll appear later on. I've actually had fencing lessons, which were rather fun. I did it for over a year.
And I'm starting to like MY Bermuda a lot better than the manga one. I nearly started crying when I read the latest chapter- he's so mean. It makes you wonder if Reborn's ever going to be an adult again.
Join me and Luce next time!
Phantom Hitman 1412
First published 07 June 2012