Café Munio: Chapter 12
"Have you heard?" The whispers of gossip spread throughout the classroom. "Have you heard?"
Yamamoto joined Tsuna at the corner. "They're talking about the kidnapping that happened yesterday," he explained.
"Who was kidnapped?"
Yamamoto shook his head. "They didn't say," he said doubtfully. "It was probably said on the news, but our classmates don't know."
"I see," Tsuna said, glancing out the window at the light drizzle of rain. "I hope the victim's okay."
"It was probably an important person, or at least wealthy," Yamamoto ticked things off on his fingers. "I hope they're okay too."
Gokudera slammed open the classroom door and leaned his dark blue umbrella in the corner of the classroom. "I'm not late," he grumbled to the teacher, who had sent him an irritated look.
He slid a desk and chair over to Tsuna's corner and sat down just as the bell rang.
"Utter bull feces," he snorted, nodding in the vague direction of whispering classmates.
Yamamoto looked amused. "Who banned you from swearing this time?"
"No one," Gokudera claimed. "Personal goal."
The English literature teacher entered the classroom in a bustle and set her overflowing basket of papers down on the teacher's desk.
"Good morning, class," she said with a smile. "Today we will continue on our section about English poets, and today we will focus on Edgar Allan Poe…"
The class groaned.
After school, in the café, Tsuna was wiping plates when Reborn entered the kitchen with a grim look. "It's your friend," he said, his fedora managing to block the light so perfectly that his eyes were hidden. "Haru."
"Haru? What happened?" Tsuna said, quickly leaving the plates to dry on a rack and turning around.
"Remember that kidnapping that your wonderfully pure-mouthed friend called 'bull feces'?" Reborn said, "Well…"
Tsuna remembered that Reborn had not been there when Gokudera made his comment, but ignored that for now and instead pieced it together. His anxiety level spiked and he inquired, "What? Is she okay?"
"We can't say for sure," Reborn said, already leaving the kitchen. "Oh, and this came for you today." He tossed a pale cream envelope onto the kitchen table and left.
Tsuna wiped his hands dry and picked up the envelope. It was addressed to Sawada Tsunayoshi, in Café Munio, which was strange. Maybe this was a prank by one of his friends?
He opened the envelope, and the white sheet of lined paper inside read:
Near the edge
Ebony feathers are
Eyes see all
Midnight leaving an
Ominous shadow to grow
This was definitely a prank, Tsuna snorted, but then he noticed the small print at the bottom of the paper.
Will you do this for your friend, Sawada Tsunayoshi?
Well, Tsuna let out a puff of air as his insides froze, shit.
"A ransom, probably," Gokudera immediately slammed his face into the table and groaned. "This is going to be a lot more complicated than I thought."
"This makes no sense," Yamamoto reread the sheet of paper, "Maybe it's an anagram."
"They don't even rhyme!" Tsuna wailed. "Edge, are, all, an, grow. What is this?"
"I don't know," Gokudera huffed.
"If it helps, when you say the first column aloud it's pronounced 'Nemo,'" Yamamoto offered with a grin.
Gokudera rolled his eyes. "Very helpful."
The next day in the café, Fon heard Tsuna muttering the same phrase over and over again, under his breath.
"Nemo… Edge, are, all, an, grow. Nemo."
Needless to say, the Chinese chef found it hilarious. "What is this about Nemo, Tsuna?"
"It's about the kidnapping that happened," Tsuna said gloomily. "We don't have any leads, at all! And this creepy raven came to my room with a message, saying that we have a week left. Haru's in a lot of danger!"
"A raven?" Fon said, slightly interested. "They can be trained to carry messages?"
"Apparently so," Tsuna said, "Hey, the sign's blowing down." Indeed, the wind had sent a corner of the sign outside the café fluttering in the breeze. "Ayy! The other corner's falling too! Fon, could you help me for a second?"
The two went outside and smoothed out the sign, securing it back in place.
Tsuna glanced upwards, then jumped back with a squeak of fright. "There it is again!"
Fon looked behind him. "Yatagarasu," he pronounced, eyeing the bird. "The rolled up message sure looks like a third leg."
"What's that?" Tsuna panicked, looking torn between rushing into the café for safety or hiding behind Fon, and ending up standing frozen on the spot.
"It's a Japanese mythical creature, I suppose. It's a three-legged crow that symbolizes rebirth, rejuvenation and guidance," Fon explained. "How ironic."
The raven landed on a table, and tore the message from its foot much in the same manner as a human would toe off a shoe. Then it flew away again.
Now that the raven was gone, Tsuna unfroze and asked, "Yatagarasu?"
"It's a new yakuza group that appeared around a month ago," Reborn was suddenly standing behind Tsuna, appearing in the silent and very creepy way he usually did. "I'm surprised you know about them. Never thought you'd be the type to be up to date on news about the underground, Tsuna."
"What? No, Fon was just telling me about how the messenger raven…" Tsuna trailed off. "Hang on a second."
"See? It all makes sense!" Tsuna shouted, looking close to tearing his hair out in frustration as he paced back and forth and around the room. "Their messenger bird is a raven, and when it has a message tied to its leg it looks like yatagarasu. Yatagarasu is a new yakuza group! And when you say the last words of the poem that we had, it sounds like 'Edgar Allan Poe!' We learned about him in English literature class! Argh, now where are those kidnappers located? Haru…!"
"Ah… Tsuna, slow down a little," Yamamoto said, looking slightly worried for his friend's health. "What did the new message say, anyways?"
"It just warned us that we're running out of time," Tsuna waved it off. "Anyway, we have a lead now!"
Please note that all my information about Yatagarasu came from Wikipedia, so if I'm wrong please tell me. If it's offensive, I definitely did not mean for it to be offensive, so apologies in advance! Tell me so I can correct it.