Bribe
Continuation of Chapter 7 - Ribbon
Midori bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited for Sawada and his Guardians to arrive. Hopefully he wouldn't have to fight at all today, but if he did, he was ready. He was all tricked out, with his ribbons wrapped around his arms, spares around his torso, and almost as many knives as Bel. The rain was an annoyance that he wasn't pleased to be dealing with, although he knew the thunderstorm would have been an asset to his predecessor. Bel had certainly mentioned it enough; the Prince seemed to take it as a personal offence that he wasn't the youngest Officer any more, and that his 'kouhai' used knives like him. Even his ribbons were deemed too similar to Bel's wires for the Prince's tastes.
He heard the group come stomping up the stairs, and watched in amusement as they stared in shock at the battleground. He didn't really have room to comment; that had pretty much been his reaction as well. Once the Cervello had finished explaining, his opponent – and who decided to have a five year old fight anyway? – declared it a playground. Great. So his opponent wasn't even one of the competent child assassins. If he's been facing a mini-Bel, he would have felt a lot better about this. He could only hope that his plan worked.
He waited patiently as Sawada's group finished their little team meeting, including a little circle-cheer thing that he found kind of adorable. Fred and George had threatened to paint Wood's broomstick bright green the one time he had brought the idea up though, so he had never taken part in one. Sawada tried to talk the brat out of taking part. Why didn't he just forfeit on his Guardian's behalf? He had to know that it was allowed. The boy was acting as though the decision was entirely down to the child. Did he not understand being a boss at all?
Midori jumped down from the area above where he had been waiting with the other Officers when the Cervello announced the start of the battle. Sawada jumped and shrieked as he appeared. Was it really such a shock? It wasn't as if he had been hiding. Really, this boy was the one that was supposed to be more competent than the Boss? He would be lucky to last a week as Decimo; the best thing he could do would be to get himself killed quickly before he could do too much damage. Luckily, Boss was here to oblige.
It wasn't a surprise that the brat got zapped almost as soon as the match begun. It was a surprise that he survived, but he supposed there had to have been a reason he was chosen despite his youth and incompetence. It just figured that it was because of an inborn ability rather than any real skill. That kind of thing would never pass in the Varia. You needed real talent – they didn't care about bloodlines or any of the other nonsense the rest of the Mafia adored.
Here was where things got tricky. The Bovino were known for having all kinds of gadgets, and any one of them could be threat, despite the uselessness of the one wielding them. He was going to do this a different way.
"Hey, Lambo," he called softly, making sure his face was set in a gentle smile. He hoped it didn't look as fake as it felt. "Do you want candy?"
"Candy! Candy! Give Lambo-san the candy!" the brat demanded. It was like dealing with Dudley all over again.
"I'll trade you the candy for that ring of yours, Lambo-san," he said.
"No! Don't give him the ring, cow brat!" the storm potential yelled from behind them.
"You can't tell Lambo-san what to do!" the child whined, before pulling the ring out of his hair. If there was one thing you could trust, it was the contrariness of children.
One quick swap later, and a bemused Cervello was calling the match. Bel was complaining about the lack of bloodshed, but really, what did he expect? Squalo nodded at him. He might not understand not wanting to kill children, but he understood not fighting unworthy opponents. Together, they jumped off the roof and into the night, leaving the children shrieking about unfair tactics behind them. Honestly, would they have preferred it if he had killed the brat?