Chapter 31:
Before putting on the work clothes.
"Good Morning Tsunayoshi!" shouts Luce as she slams open the bedroom door.
Tsunayoshi rolls over and groans. What was it today with women and loud entrances? There had been a similar scene earlier on this morning at the Marvellous time of 4:00AM.
"Oi you Lack-wit. Get up and out of bed already."
"Ahh, but Lal, I was having such a nice dream. You and me were on the beach, watching the sun set together"
Lal swings her arm out and to the side, slamming into the wall to her left. "The only thing me and you would be doing on a beach is terrain training and sand crawling. Definitely not something as time wasting and useless as watching the sun set. Now get out of bed before I make it so you can never see another sunset for a week."
"Yes Ma'am"
"Lal, don't be so loud in the morning" Tsunayoshi whines
"Oh, do you want to come along as well?"
Tsunayoshi shivers at remembering the narrow escape he had had this morning. But still, why did Luce have to burst in loudly too? Why couldn't they be like Viper and be nice and calm?
Tsunayoshi doesn't have time to ponder that question as the covers to Colonnello's bed are whisked off and the cold air covers his body. Knowing trying to resist is futile, he sits up and rubs his eyes. "Good morning Luce" he mumbles.
45 minutes later and a lion is once again walking down Mafia Row. And where is this lion off to today?
A Tailors.
But this isn't just any Tailors. This Tailor caters specifically to Mafiosi and offers suitable services. Everything is hand made to fit perfectly, since Bosses always need to look their best. These suits come in any shape and colour a Boss wants; short sleeves, long sleeves, tails on the jacket. But the most important bit is what goes on inside the suit jackets, or indeed any other clothes made by this company. Bullet-proofing is the most common addition, as are stab proof vests. Pockets where knives and guns can hide are nearly always included as are pockets for ammunition. These special pockets can be found in jeans, hoodies or any other civilian wear as well as the suits since Mafiosi are nearly always on duty.
For the woman, similar protection measures are available, as are the multitude of pockets, but these are instead incorporated into suits, dresses and skirts. Handbags can be both stylish and useable, with secret pockets for accessing weapons quickly. This Tailor also makes dress gloves with disguised brass knuckles, hairpins with tiny knives or broaches with sleeping gas in them.
And the best thing was, none of it was visible. To anyone's eyes, these modifications couldn't be seen. The fabric didn't look bulky, the movability wasn't compromised, there were no bulges to show where guns were kept.
Luce stops a little ways away from the door of the shop and giggles "Remember what I told you?". She fluffs up the fur on his hood and lowers it over his eyes. Little does she know that this was exactly what Reborn had done before.
Tsunayoshi nods and takes off at a run. Luckily enough he doesn't trip on his way there. He bursts into the shop, throwing the door open and stands infront of the counter. Raising his hands in the air, he growls
"Gao~!"
One second passes, then another and finally one more before the woman he growled at blinked, screamed and ran to hug him.
"That was so cute. This outfit is super adorable!" she looks up as Luce walks into the store "Did you make this yourself?" her eyes sparkle.
Luce looks proudly at Tsunayoshi. "Yes I did. It took a while, but doesn't it suit him and Natsu?"
When Tsunayoshi raises Natsu to his face and rubs his cheek against the mane of the lion, the seamstress has to agree.
"So this is your shop Sakura?" Tsunayoshi asks. He recognised this woman from yesterday- the dance and gymnastics teacher.
"That it is Tsunayoshi" agrees Sakura. "I do most of the design work and deal with the customers when they want to order something special. My husband does all of the accounting and the boring bit" she laughs "All of my helpers help to make the clothes, cut the cloth up, do the stitching and everything else basically. I work on the really important pieces or anything that's hard and tricky to do. It's a lot of fun."
Tsunayoshi looks around the shop. "Wow… so you helped to make everything in here?" he asks in wonder. The clothing was really pretty.
"Yep. Would you like to try something on?" it was a good thing that Tsunayoshi had his back to the two women. The hungry look they were giving him might just have made him run out of the shop in fright. His intuition causes him to shiver though.
"Um, okay then" he agrees. It was most likely the reason Luce had brought him here in the first place. So he'd make Luce happy and go along with her wishes.
"KYAAAA!" shout both women and suddenly there is a flurry of activity infront of him. Luce pushes him into the changing area away from the front of the shop so no one could spy on his cuteness. After that, she leaves to go and decide with Sakura what to put Tsunayoshi into.
Tsunayoshi smiles, glad Luce is having so much fun. He blinks when something yellow cartwheels in and lands infront of him. It's a yellow… puff-ball… thing with a mask on.
"Grr" it growls, causing Tsunayoshi to fall backwards in fright with a squeaky "Heeii"
"Hahi? I'm so sorry desu~. Haru didn't mean to scare you." The mask is removed to reveal a young girl, about his age with brown hair and eyes. A yellow gloved hand reaches towards him to help pull him up. He accepts her hand and gets pulled up by a strangely strong grip. "Haru is the Namahage. Do you like Haru's costume?"
Tsunayoshi looks the girl over and realises he doesn't have a clue as to what she is supposed to be. He'd never heard of the Namahage before. "I do like the costume, but I don't know what a Namahage is."
Haru takes a large step backwards with a dramatic gasp. "It can't be so. You don't know what a Namahage is?" She made it sound as if the world was going to end. Tsunayoshi shakes his head.
Haru puts on a serious and scary face, up-lighting her face with a torch she pulled out from under her costume. "The Namahage comes to your house with a knife in one hand and a drum in the other. They ask if there are any naughty children around. It's so scary desu~"
Hmm that did sound scary. "A-and what if you have been bad?" he asks shakily.
And suddenly the scary atmosphere is gone, the torch disappeared and Haru is thinking. "Hahi? Haru doesn't know. Haru is a good girl."
"Oh, is that your latest Haru?" asks Luce kneeling infront of the girl.
Haru nods "Haru is the Namahage!" she announces.
Luce fakes a gasp. "Oh how scary. But I'm afraid that Tsunayoshi has been a good boy."
"Tsunayoshi? Oh my God desu~. Haru never asked for you name." Haru turns to Tsunayoshi and bows.
"Haha, That's alright Haru. It's nice to meet you" says Tsunayoshi. He tilts his head and the hood falls over his eyes. He lifted one paw-shaped glove to move it and is unexpectedly bowled over by a hug.
"You are so cute. You're not a scary lion at all." She screams into his shoulder.
"Now now Haru. Could you get off of him please? Mummy has some clothes we want him to try on." says Sakura coming back with a pile of clothes laid across her arms.
"Hai desu~" says Haru letting go of Tsunayoshi and taking a few steps backwards.
"That was my daughter Haru, she likes to cosplay and dress up. I help her make the costumes, but she tells me what she wants. I managed to talk her out of using real straw for that costume. In case you are wondering, it's a Japanese tradition. Whilst Haru was born here, like Takeshi, Ryohei and the others, we Japanese from Mafia Row Central like to remember out roots, so we teach the children Japanese traditions and the language." It was reasonably safe to give birth to a baby here. Whilst there wasn't a hospital, only women gave birth, so Shamal was happy to help. If anything went wrong the Bovino's had the facilities to help.
"Wow, that's cool." Compliments Tsunayoshi.
"Yeah, it's nice. So that's why the first item I've got you is a Yukata!" she says whilst presenting the piece of cloth.
So whilst Tsunayoshi had guessed that today he would be playing dress up, there were two things he had not been expecting. The first was for Haru to also dress up in complimentary outfits. The second was for there to be a camera. After being dressed up time and time again, he would be forced to pose with Haru for some pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.
"Ahh Tsunayoshi" happily sighs Luce "You make such a cute model. You're a natural."
That may be so, but he wasn't exactly trying all that hard; all he was doing was smiling or pouting… basically whatever he felt like whilst wearing the outfit. When it came time to wear a suit, he put his 'Reborn' expression on, pretending to be mysterious and cold. When it came for the army clothes, he pulled off the salute he'd seen the others give Lal. When it came to sports, he shouted a loud 'extreme' whilst punching the air just like Ryohei was doing.
And then came a range of outfits containing lots of fluffy material. He was placed back into his bunny outfit, back into his lion outfit and placed into some new ones too. He became a cat, a dog, a squirrel based upon Cosmo's appearance, and even a cow, although he didn't know why that animal in particular.
Whilst they had him in the bunny outfit, Luce gasps and digs around in her handbag. "You won't believe what Tsunayoshi did last time he was in this outfit. See, he's rather creative himself, especially when it comes to face-painting. He's even better at it than Lal and Colonnello are. He got into Elena's make-up and decided to become a field of flowers to show off his camouflage skills to Lal. And this is the result." She pulls out a small piece of card. On it is a picture of him poking his head out of the flowers, the recently caught knife in his hands.
"Oh~ that was fun. When did you take that?" Tsunayoshi asks, also looking at the picture.
"Whilst you were busy complimenting Lal" she smiles.
"Wow this is really good Tsunayoshi" compliments Sakura. "You could earn some money with face painting, you know"
"Tsunayoshi should do Haru's face too. Haru wants to look like flowers" cheers the excitable girl.
The sports shoot was interesting too. Haru was already quite good at gymnastics, taught by her mother. She showed of her skills whilst her mother was taking photos and Tsunayoshi was amazed with what he saw- she was really good for a girl her age. Whilst he could do some of the moves, like forwards rolls, they were more defence, dodging and escaping tactics rather than specifically Gymnastics.
It was at the point that he was dresses up as a cow that something unexpected happened. The temperature dropped, the air became tense and a sense of danger filled the atmosphere. Tsunayoshi and Luce ignored it, having built up a tolerance by now. However Sakura and Haru didn't have the resistance like they had and frozen in their tracks.
All turn around to find Reborn leaning against the wall, fedora pulled down low as usual.
"Oi Luce. Go home" he orders.
Luce puts fists on her hips and defiantly asks. "And why should I?"
Reborn takes a look out of the window and says calmly "Some people are being rather naughty and need a good smack. I thought you'd like to do the honours"
Luce sighs and rubs a hand across her forehead tiredly. "Alright I'll go. Come on Tsunayoshi, time to leave."
"Go now" Reborn orders. "I'll watch the brat."
Grabbing her handbag, Luce walks out of the shop after saying her goodbyes to Haru and Sakura. Both Miuras look at Reborn and Sakura pushes the frozen Haru up the stairs into the 'home' part of the building. Reborn was always business whenever he came in this shop.
Reborn walks over to Tsunayoshi and looks him up and down. "Reminds me of the Bovino's." he mumbles before turning sharp eyes to Sakura and pushing his fedora up to see her better with. "Tsunayoshi, I told you I'm going to get you some proper clothes and now's the best time. Mrs Miura, I want you to make a suit for him. A proper suit. Understand?"
The woman nods and scrabbles for a pad of paper and a pen. "Of course Reborn sir. Are there any specifications you'd like?"
"As much protection as possible. This brat has a habit of getting in the middle of trouble. And knee pads in the trousers, he's always falling over. I want a bullet proof vest, that had better be stab proof and chemical proof too." Explains Reborn. He wasn't planning to give Tsunayoshi his own gun yet so he didn't need any pockets to hide them in. Bullets and knifes covered the normal mafia fare he might encounter whilst being chemical proof guarded against anything Verde or the Bovino's might use. Sadly there was no protection from Flames, but so far very few knew about them, so it shouldn't be a problem.
"What colours do you want it in Reborn?" Sakura asks after having written all that down. "Black of course. Oi brat what colour do you want the shirt in?" he asks Tsunayoshi
Tsunayoshi thinks for a moment before replying "Orange"
"Orange it is then" smiles Sakura.
"There's no way I'd let you do that!" Luce is surprised to hear that that was Skull of all people.
"Ha, isn't that a little bit discriminatory? You've allowed him to go watch Army training. I do not quite see what is the difference." That was Bermuda, his voice ever calm as normal. Although Luce thought she could hear the annoyance- his tone was a little more sarcastic than usual.
"Tsunayoshi wasn't involved in that, he was just watching" explains Skull as Luce opens the front door.
"Nor will he be involved" counters Bermuda.
"I'm afraid I agree with Skull. I don't think Tsunayoshi is quite ready for an experience like that yet." Says Fon.
"But you've allowed him into the most dangerous houses in the Mafia?" asks Bermuda unbelievingly.
"We were always there to make sure no trouble came about." Defends Viper, apparently taking the other's side too.
"As I shall be. I won't let the boy out of my grip. There is nothing for you all to be mother-hening over." Luce walks into the living room to find what the argument is about.
"LUCE" shout all the others (apart from the soldiers who are out of the house) as they turn to face her.
"Will you tell him-"
"Will you explain to them-"
"Why Tsunayoshi"
"Why Tsunayoshi"
"Should not be allowed…"
"Should be allowed…"
Luce's eyes widen as she hears the reason for the argument.
"I'm obviously not the only one considering this." Bermuda states after telling her his plan "You heard what Reborn asked Tsunayoshi the other day. He obviously plans to do so too"
"I know what you mean. But I'm going to put my foot down on this. I will not let him do so until he's older and understands a little better. Let's wait another few years."
A few minutes later, Tsunayoshi comes running in. "Ahh, Luce, you never dressed me up like this. I need an outfit to look like Bermuda too" he smiles happily and goes to sit on said man. "I'm going to need two capes: one to look like Viper and one to look like Bermuda. Oh! And a hat too like his. And you've got to get me some robes like Fon has and some leather like Skull and a lab coat to match Verde's and a big hat like yours too."
Bermuda laughs as he bounces Tsunayoshi on his lap. "Is there anyone you don't want to dress up as?"
Tsunayoshi thinks about this. "Um, just no more wigs like for the Cervello. It was hot and itchy."
"That's understandable." Says Fon walking in with a glass of juice for him "Maybe we can get you an outfit like mine when we go visit some friends of mine tomorrow."
"Really?" he asks excitedly, almost spilling the juice as he suddenly moved.
"Hey, be careful." Reminds Fon. "If you're good, I'll ask them to make one for you"
"Okay. I'll be good!" Tsunayoshi agrees.
I hope last times clue makes sense now. Haru loves to cosplay after all, and Mafiosi always need clothes. So any guesses on who Fon's friends are?
And here is hint #2 at my next mini arc. Any guesses?
Join me for another house visit.
Phantom Hitman 1412
First published 10 June 2012