Oh, my gosh I have five reviews already! Thank you so much to:
xD: It's great that you enjoy this *smiley face* Virtual hug for being the first reviewer!
misoriri: Yep, Tsuna's just… kind of oblivious of everything going around him, even if he does have his intuition.
x3: Ooh, now I understand… yay! Thanks for telling me how to make waffles *hides face in shame* They're my favorite breakfast item, but I've never actually made any.
Guest: I try. ^-^
Haraguroi Yukirin: Ooh, look, it was your review that motivated me to update today!
Oh, and I forgot this in the past chapters. Disclaimer: Nope, KHR is not mine, or there'd be so much sexual tension, between basically everyone, that's so thick you could cut it with a blunt fork.
Café Munio: Chapter 5
After the café closed, Lal had thoroughly beaten them into the ground and then buried them, alive and shrieking, in their grave. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
It wasn't too far off, though, because Tsuna felt a lot more humble. He'd also learned a lesson: Never leave bananas around Colonello, because according to Lal Mirch, this had happened twice before. It always started with Colonello stepping on a banana, too.
No bananas. Got it.
Tsuna dragged his feet as he trudged home. He was nearing the junction when he heard two arguing voices from just around the corner.
Well, it was more like one arguing voice and one laughing voice. Tsuna vaguely heard something about dynamite and quickly went pale as the hiss of something being lit could be heard.
Ignoring his screaming intuition (again), he raced around the corner and took a deep breath to try and stop whatever the duo had been arguing about.
Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered it wasn't dynamites that had been lit. Instead, there was just a silver-haired man with a very sour expression on his face, who was smoking a cigarette and tucking a lighter into his pocket.
"You don't understand anything, do you, stupid baseball idiot?" the silver-haired man growled.
"Oh, I do," and Tsuna noticed that the second spiky black-haired man was holding a textbook, "I just choose for you to teach me. It's a lot easier to understand if you teach, anyways. It's also more fun to spend time with you!"
"Shut up and go die!" the silver-haired man roared, turning an impressive shade of red.
Tsuna decided that both of them were around his own age, and that it'd be a better idea not to interact with them. He stood as still as possible as the two passed by, and was almost about to relax when the black-haired guy with the nice eyes called out.
"Yo, aren't you Tsuna?"
They knew him? Tsuna was shocked at that fact—he was the type of person to try and disappear in his seat in class. He didn't have any friends, and wasn't about to try and make anymore after a disastrous, and humiliating, attempt in fourth grade.
"D-do I know you?" Tsuna asked, just as realization hit him and his eyes widened in shock.
He did know them! They were very popular, actually, and even in his own grade. Tsuna had sometimes watched with envy as all the girls flocked to them on Valentine's Day, each of them carrying their own box of chocolates.
Tsuna had often wondered about this tradition, since it didn't really make any sense to him. If you liked someone, did you go up to them on February 14th and hold out an overflowing box of chocolates like 'hey, I got these for you, try to eat them slowly okay? You might get fat.'
This possibility seemed even more real since some of the chocolates were those really high-quality, creamy, sugar-filled ones that would make you gain five pounds per piece.
Still, it was pretty hard for Tsuna to stay away if he ever got to eat those high-quality chocolates. They were chocolate, after all.
Anyway, these two were extremely familiar to Tsuna. He had no idea how they—or at least, the star baseball player—knew him, since Tsuna was 387% sure he'd never spoken to either of them before.
Yamamoto Takeshi grinned at him and walked nearer, dragging Gokudera Hayato with him. "Fancy seeing you here, Tsuna! Do you live nearby?"
"A-ah, I do, actually," Tsuna said nervously. He pointed to the closest house, which, coincidentally, happened to be the one they were standing in front of.
"Oh, right here?" Yamamoto said in surprise, before laughing. "Hayato and I walk past every morning and every afternoon, you know."
"I told you not to call me Hayato!" Gokudera yelped. "I don't know you that well! I don't even want to!"
"We've been friends since sixth grade," Yamamoto frowned at him, "I think we do qualify as best friends."
"It's not like I agreed!" Gokudera argued back, and Tsuna sweat-dropped and wondered if the two had been having the same argument for the past six years.
Before the quarrel could escalate any further, Nana opened the door and smiled at all of them. "Ah, Tsu-kun! Are these you friends? Invite them in, won't you?" she said happily. "It's been such a long time since you've had friends over!"
Eight years is a long time, Tsuna thought sadly, but Yamamoto grinned at Tsuna and said, "You're mother's so nice! Can we go in, Tsuna?"
Well, Tsuna couldn't have said no, even if he'd wanted to.
The duo, now trio, ended up sitting in Tsuna's bedroom as Gokudera frustrated himself explaining the math problem to Yamamoto.
"Ah, I see," Yamamoto said, forehead creased in concentration as he worked out a problem on a sheet of paper, "Is the answer -47?"
Gokudera looked incredulous that he'd gotten it right and nodded.
Tsuna just watched the two of them, without making a sound.
"Say, Tsuna," Yamamoto said as he stretched, exhausted after all the math, "Your mom's awfully nice. You're really lucky, you know."
"Oh?" Tsuna was startled by the sudden inclusion of him in their conversation. "A-ah, well, my dad's never home."
"My mom left when I was little," Yamamoto said, shrugging, "So I don't really know what it's like to have a mom."
"O-oh. I see," Tsuna said uncomfortably.
"Idiot! Don't you see you're making him uneasy?" Gokudera scolded.
"Ah, I am? Sorry, Tsuna," the so-called 'baseball idiot' said apologetically, and Tsuna nodded in response.
For some reason, Tsuna found that the three of them meeting at his house after his work had become a daily occurrence. Nana was absolutely delighted, exclaiming about how her 'dear Tsu-kun was finally going out and having fun with friends like he should be!'
A week after their meetings began, Gokudera brought up the question. "Hey, Sawada," he said gruffly, "What do you do after school? Not that I care, of course," he added hastily.
"Ah, I work at a café," Tsuna answered. Even though he'd begun to loosen up around these two, he still found it strange to relax completely.
"A café?" Yamamoto inquired cheerfully. "Which one?"
"Oh, it's the new one two blocks away," Tsuna replied. "You could visit any day after school, really. Just remember to order something, because Lal doesn't like people coming into the café just to sit down and chat."
"The new one? Oh, I remember!" Yamamoto exclaimed. "We'll visit you one day, Tsuna," he promised, and Tsuna smiled gratefully at both of them (even if Gokudera huffed and turned away).
True to his word, Tsuna's two new friends entered the café the next day, with Yamamoto greeting Tsuna with a cheerful 'Yo, Tsuna!'
"Hi, Yamamoto, Gokudera," Tsuna said in return, and Skull, who was on duty today, inspected them from a distance.
"Are these your friends?" the pierced, purple-haired man asked curiously.
"Y-yes," Tsuna said awkwardly, not being used to seeing people with a chain hanging down half their face.
"Hmm," was Skull's vague reply. Tsuna snatched some menus off the shelf and ran over to their table.
"What are you going to order?" he asked. "If you like coffee, you really should order coffee, because Reborn makes absolutely wonderful espresso."
"What did you say about my espresso?" the said man's voice sounded from behind Tsuna, and the brown-haired young man felt chills go down his spine.
"Ah, Reborn!" he gave a fake laugh. "I was j-just praising your coffee-making skills," Tsuna explained, his voice raising in pitch with every word.
"Hmm, I see," Reborn said, before going back into the kitchen and leaving the door swinging ominously behind him.
Tsuna smiled in relief as he turned back to his friends. "So, what would you like to order?" he said, as professionally as he could.
"Was that Reborn?" Yamamoto asked. When Tsuna nodded in response, the baseball player grinned and said, "He has cool sideburns!"
Tsuna thought about the curly sideburns on either side of the fedora-wearing man's face, and reluctantly agreed. "They're certainly unique," he piped up.
Yamamoto was inspecting the menu as Gokudera gave his order of cheesecake and an espresso. "Tsuna," the friendly baseball star said, frowning, "Why do you not have any sushi on this menu?"
"Well, it is a café," Tsuna said, "And most cafés don't have sushi, do they?"
"Well, that's true," Yamamoto agreed, and ordered a chocolate milkshake.
Sushi might be a good idea, Tsuna thought. Maybe we can have something like a sushi-day. The problem is, who will make the sushi?
After his friends received their desserts, Tsuna voiced his thought to Skull, who was idly standing to the side, leaning against the wall and playing with his lip piercings.
"That's a pretty good idea," Skull said. "I dunno, we can just bring it up to Lal later."
Yamamoto and Gokudera left, after Gokudera said stiffly (as he gulped down coffee) that this was indeed fine espresso, and he wouldn't mind coming again for the coffee. Yamamoto reminded Tsuna of their daily meeting at Tsuna's house and they left with a tinkling of chimes.
Lal thought it was a great idea too. "We'll see if we can have Sushi-Day this week," she said. "I'll have the advertising poster ready by tomorrow. Find someone who makes good sushi, okay?"
Tsuna agreed, and after fifteen minutes, his work shift ended and he rushed out of the café.
During the unusually silent study session, Tsuna brought up the topic. "Do you know anyone who can make good sushi?" he asked. "We've been thinking of having a Sushi-Day. I thought it'd be a good idea after you said something about not having sushi on the menu, Yamamoto."
"My father makes great sushi!" Yamamoto said excitedly. "He owns Takesushi," Yamamoto explained.
"Takesushi?" Tsuna gasped, realizing that it was in fact the best sushi restaurant in Namimori.
"Idiot, you make good sushi," Gokudera reminded Yamamoto with a scowl.
"Oh yeah, I'm Dad's apprentice," Yamamoto informed a gaping Tsuna. "I can come help out with the sushi!"
"Really? Thanks, Yamamoto!" Tsuna brightened up. "Oh, and Yamamoto," he said nervously, "Could you be the sushi chef, then? Lal will pay you and everything, I'm sure!" he added, afraid that Yamamoto would refuse.
Yamamoto was disturbingly expressionless for a moment until his face broke out in his classic grin and he agreed enthusiastically.
Tsuna breathed in relief and excused himself to rush off and call Lal Mirch.
"That was fast, Sawada," she said, giving one of her rare praises. "And the apprentice of Takesushi, too! Great job," the military woman said, before abruptly hanging up.
"When can you come to the café, Yamamoto?" Tsuna asked anxiously. "It should be a weekend. If you call Lal Mirch, she'd be willing to negotiate terms with you."
"Is Saturday okay?" Yamamoto inquired. "I have a game on Sunday to play in."
"Ah, sure, Saturday," Tsuna said happily, and collapsed onto his bed, tired out. "Today was horrible," he complained. "The gym teacher made us run so far!"
"It was only four hundred meters, Tsuna. And I'm sure you didn't do that bad, maybe you're feeling a little under the weather today?" Yamamoto said consolingly.
"I wish it was like that," Tsuna said miserably. "But I get this tired every day on a regular basis."
"Oh, I see," Yamamoto said, before returning to his homework. Tsuna decided to do the same, and grabbed his backpack, as Gokudera napped on the floor.
(Because Gokudera was the type of genius who could finish his homework in the few minutes before class and get everything right.)
Saturday was a full day of work for Tsuna, though he thought he might be able to bear it since Yamamoto would be working as well.
By the time Tsuna arrived at Café Munio in his work shirt and jeans, Yamamoto was already there.
"The old man was ecstatic at me being able to get a temporary job," Yamamoto explained, "So he sent me here really early with everything. You have such high-quality tuna," he continued admiringly.
"Oh?" Tsuna couldn't tell the difference between ordinary, supermarket tuna and high-quality tuna even if it was a matter of life or death, so he settled for that simple answer.
"Well then," Yamamoto beamed, rolling up his sleeves, "Should I get started?"
Lal had put up posters everywhere in Namimori, and customers came pouring in at the promise of slightly cheaper, Takesushi-standard sushi. Yamamoto's dad had called once, complaining that they'd taken away all his business, but the laughing before he hung up showed that he thought everything was terribly funny.
(Yamamoto later told Tsuna that it was because the old man was now certain that Yamamoto would be able to take over the shop with no problem.)
To both of their surprise, a blushing red and stuttering Gokudera had showed up as well, insisting that it didn't matter what idiot was making it, sushi was sushi and this was mighty good sushi at that.
Yamamoto had a very busy day, but Tsuna, Colonello, and Skull were equally tired out at the amount of running around they had to do in order to serve all the customers.
Profits were a lot greater than Lal had previously anticipated, and she promptly decided that Sushi-Days would be more frequent in the future.
At the end of the day, Gokudera was waiting for both of them in Tsuna's bedroom, already seated around the small table and busily completing his calculus homework.
"What took both of you so long?" he said grumpily, but Tsuna took that to mean that he'd missed them.