Joker and Oracle entered Mementos with them the next afternoon. Joker even stepped up to battle, and damn was he stylish! Tsuna was almost jealous of the young man's flair.
Kyōya shot a look at him saying, "Don't be stupid."
He shook himself a little and got his head back in the game.
And then Joker leveled up, his mask bursting into blue flames. He looked quite startled and turned to Tsuna. "Why am I seeing a message saying I have Rain Flames?"
There was a long, long pause before he said, "Ah, yeah. That's a thing? And it's a thing I … can't discuss, not unless … another thing … should happen. Just, uh, file it for now?"
And then Oracle leveled up. She, too, looked startled, and confused. "Cloud Flames? What?"
Tsuna was pleased that what they were pretty sure of already was true, it was just… Fuck. And he was not going to engineer an "accident" in order to see if they'd harmonize with him.
"Not yakuza," Oracle whispered to herself. "So…"
A look bounced around (that unfortunately? Joker noticed), and then it was back to business as usual. Nothing to see here, move along.
Better than even odds, he thought, that Oracle would immediately scour the internet and/or deep web looking for an explanation. He could only pray these two were savvy enough to stay quiet, much like they had kept hidden their inclusion in the Phantom Thieves.
On the way to the manor after Mementos practice, Oracle (who had been fiddling with her phone) let out a tiny, barely heard, "Oh."
'She's found the answers,' Nagi inserted into his head. 'She knows we're mafia, flame-active mafia.'
He nodded slightly, kept walking, and like a good host, made sure his guests were comfortable before he and Tetsuya headed to the kitchen to make dinner. Not a word was said about her discovery that evening, and Joker and Oracle thanked them for the lovely meal, said they'd be back to see the sparring if that was all right… (It was.)
"So," Hayato said, "that was … interesting."
"And they had the sense to not talk about it."
"Ask questions."
"And are probably doing a deeper dig from their hotel room, with every protection known to hackers."
"Good ones, anyway."
"To figure out just what the hell they made friends with."
He nodded. "That's my take. They're either going to keep coming back, or they'll flee the city, no matter what they said about tomorrow's practice."
"And you're an upright guy and refuse to accidentally-on-purpose make skin contact," Shoichi said.
"That would be entrapment," he said with a frown. "Actually, I worry that my cooking counts as entrapment, because of the Sky Flames."
Reborn shrugged. "It makes a person more likely to be congenial, though I imagine that a Sky could go either way."
"What, like the fossil feeling threatened by sensing that connected to his food?"
Reborn nodded. "Very possibly. Dino had no reason to feel threatened, so he simply enjoyed the food. How did his flames feel to you?"
He blinked at that and thought about it. "Friendly, warm, sorta sunny. The fossil would probably sense all the negatives, then. I have every reason to despise the man, and none of us here are inclined to be friendly or trusting."
Reborn nodded again.
"Which makes it all the more obvious that the defect is highly delusional, and/or very good at pretending."
Ω
On their way to the shrine the next day, Joker and Oracle in tow, the worst happened. Because of course it did. His intuition screamed the alarm, and he was immediately yanked into cover as a bullet flashed by and embedded in a nearby wall. Their two guests were also yanked into cover, a bare second after Mukuro had grabbed him.
"Got it," Mukuro and Nagi said a moment later, just as his passive sensing pinpointed the shooter.
And, because Mukuro was the one to slip off (likely going invisible the second he could not be seen by Joker and Oracle), Tsuna could only imagine the sniper was male. That didn't mean his guardians weren't covering all angles with their eyes, just in case.
He could "see" Mukuro down the man. "The usual?" he said to Nagi.
She nodded. "Letting him know. …He wants one. He'll cover, they carry."
Tetsuya nodded, was touched briefly by Nagi, then set off.
Then it was a removal from their cover to the abandoned shop, to slip in through the back, while Chikusa and Ken stayed outside to keep watch.
Joker and Oracle were being surprisingly quiet, and just observing. And Reborn, for once of late, was not giving him the, "You really need to just kill him," look.
Mukuro and Tetsuya showed up a minute later and dumped the sniper on the floor, and Hayato and Tetsuya began going through his clothing for weapons, cash, anything of interest, while Mukuro rummaged through his brain.
"Freelance," Mukuro said shortly thereafter. "Looking to make a name for himself. How much?"
He leaned, then said, "One year." What to do with him then? Send him to the mountain? Force him back to Italy? Joker and Oracle were probably already weirded out. Killing the man might see them attempt to run, which would mean they'd both have to have their memories altered and be encouraged to leave the city, never to return.
He leaned again, then said, "Once that's done, force him back." He knew Mukuro would get his meaning. "Auto-pilot out of the city."
Mukuro nodded even though he was busy.
"Why are these people so fucking stupid," Hayato muttered.
He moved over to bump shoulders with him, then said, "Because they never learned to think?"
Kyōya pulled him back closer even as he glared down at the sniper.
It was quiet after that, as Mukuro worked. The sniper eventually got up, eyes glassy and unaware, and exited. They all exited after, to follow until they were forced to part ways so they could get to the shrine.
Inside they acted like business as usual. That Joker and Oracle were even still there said something.
'They know if they just never say anything, based on our behavior and what Oracle found, that nothing will likely come of it,' Nagi inserted into his head.
'They are considering the implications of harmonizing with you,' Mukuro added. 'They aren't so stupid as to think what we just did is normal.'
'Then they're aware there would be killing,' he thought.
'Yes,' Nagi sent. 'Oracle is of the opinion you acted that way so as alarm them as little as possible, to expose them to as little as possible.'
'Well, they aren't freaking out, so that's something.'
Kyōya nudged him long enough to pass on, 'Their behavior is encouraging in terms of possibly harmonizing. I will admit neither has been irritating.'
His mouth twitched at that. It was practically high praise coming from his husband.
Ω
"So how much is left?" Joker asked during dinner. "School, I mean."
He looked up and grimaced faintly. "I'm a second year, so… Year and a half."
"University?" Oracle asked.
"…No," he said, then added, "But that won't stop me from learning what I want to learn."
Two brows went up questioningly.
"Business administration, at the least. But that's the beauty of books and online courses and what have you."
Reborn's phone chirped and he was rude enough to check it between bites. "A certain former student is angling to visit," he announced.
He smiled. "Which would be nice. Any idea when?"
"Tomorrow. He's in the area for business."
He allowed his skepticism to show.
Reborn rolled his eyes. "He's in the country for business."
He hummed, checked his family, then nodded. "Yeah. It'd be nice to see them again, and winter break is still a ways off for a—we are still going, I assume."
Everyone hummed agreeably.
"Lunch or just after?" he asked. "Need to know how much to get to feed extra people and for how many meals."
Reborn fiddled with his phone again, then said, "For lunch. I told him it's a sparring day, and a couple of days, no more than three."
Tsuna nodded. "He is a busy man. Okay. We'll just have to switch our schedule slightly." He shook his head. "It'll get back on track after."
"This person…" Joker said. "He doesn't know about…?"
"No. Only this group. We have … criteria."
Shoichi, Hayato, and Spanner drove the conversation in a different direction (at least for the mad scientist group) by engaging Oracle in another tech talk, which edged things away from less safe territory.
Ω
Mafia lessons were cut short the next morning so they had time to go grocery shopping, and they arrived back at the manor as Joker and Oracle showed up. Dino and his men were nice enough to not arrive until shortly before the meal was served.
Reborn had warned Dino and his group to not name names, so there were a lot of "senpai" and "kohai" going around, which made things more than a little confusing. He had also, mentioned after Joker and Oracle had left for the evening, that there would be no talk or displays of Flames.
"So, how've things been going with you two?" Dino asked, a sly little smile on his face.
Tsuna blushed, and immediately scowled because he did. "So not cool. Things are better than fine, senpai. Though that does beg the question. When are you getting married?"
Dino suffered a moment of blind panic at the idea. "Uh…"
He grinned. "What? We weren't a good example for you? Really?"
Reborn grinned, too, eyeing Dino. "That is a good question. Surely there's someone you have your eye on?"
"Not talking about this!" Dino said.
He shared a look with Kyōya, then laughed. "Maybe I should be calling you kohai, and you calling me senpai?"
"Dios mio," Dino muttered. "Wow, this meal is fantastic. Thanks so much."
Sparring afterward was a bit more unwieldy with an extra seven people, but as they had done it before while preparing during the Ring Battles, it worked reasonably well. Joker was even willing to spar with Kyōya, which was a welcome surprise. He didn't last long (not a surprise), but seemed interested in learning more, especially when Kyōya slowed everything down.
Tsuna didn't dare spar with Joker, because that left things wide open for harmonization, and clearly, those two were still deliberating whether they wanted to. Nope, he had to do this right.
Ω
During lunch the next day Dino said, "You know, last time we were here, we never looked around."
"You want to do the touristy thing?" Haru said.
"Yeah."
"Not really a tourist destination, but why not," Hayato said. "You can always get souvenirs of some kind. I did when I first got here."
Naturally, that was when everything went to shit. They were walking through an otherwise empty area when a missile of some sort streaked in and, before his intuition even had a chance to give a bemused hiccup, landed, exploded, and…
When he came to he was in a forest. More specifically, in a coffin! Thankfully the lid popped right off when he pushed, so he did not have to try to harmonize his way through the material. Everyone else was already there. Thankfully. That somehow included Joker and Oracle, but not Dino and his guardians.
"Fuck," he muttered as he got out of the coffin.
Kyōya was up and on his feet a second later, checking him over, and only then did he edge a leg over enough to nudge Tetsuya.
"What the fuck happened?" Ken said roughly. He hopped up and pulled Haru to her feet, then Chikusa.
Mukuro, of course, helped his sister.
"Ni-san…" Nagi said as she looked around. "What…? Are we on the mountain?"
He heaved a sigh and had another look around. "Maybe, but who knows. There's too many trees to see the underlying landscape."
"Checking," Mukuro said as he closed his eyes.
'Huh, apparently he can dream range now while awake?' he wondered. 'Or is going to figure it out?'
Nagi nodded as she moved over to help Oracle.
"Why the hell would someone attack us, dump us here, and then not…?" Tetsuya muttered.
A good fifteen minutes passed while Mukuro was attempting to range. And then a twig snapped, which saw everyone pivot toward the sound.
A woman, with blue-black hair, a visor covering her eyes, and an enveloping cloak. Some kind of headgear… A communicator, perhaps?
"This … is not expected," she murmured.
"Lal?" Reborn said. "What the hell? Why are you in that…?"
Why was she an adult, if that was Lal Mirch of CEDEF?
"Reborn… This is not what was expected," she said. "There are too many of you. Reborn was supposed to come first. Here it was only supposed to be… What went wrong…"
"Lal, stop mumbling," Reborn said. "What is going on?"
"Okay," she said briskly. "The entire plan went to shit, so I have to shift. You're ten years into the future. Everything has gone wrong. Reborn? You're dead."
Reborn blinked slowly. "That must have been something," he said calmly.
"We need to get you under cover, or you'll die, too," she said. "There's a radiation in the air, it specifically targets us. There's no way to…"
A staring contest ensued. She even removed her visor so she could look Reborn in the eyes. Finally, he nodded. "Then let's go."
"Oh, and you'll need to cover any Vongola rings with these," she said, then pulled a handful of chains out of her pocket. "They can track you because of those."
Tsuna heaved a sigh and just pulled the chain off his neck, re-clasped it, then chucked it and his ring into inventory. His primary guardians did the same.
Lal's brow furrowed in confusion, but she shook her head slightly and started moving after shoving the chains back in her pocket. "The Iron Fort fell two days ago."
Tsuna choked and had to be steadied by Kyōya as they walked.
"We're in a state of emergency. There are no survivors from HQ and the ninth is unaccounted for. The CEDEF team that went to the rescue, we lost contact with."
"Who?" he asked.
"The Millefiore Famiglia," she said. "The boss' name is Byakuran."
Reborn, on Tsuna's shoulder, shook his head. "He's from Gesso."
"Not anymore," Lal said. "Gesso and Giglio Nero combined forces, and they're decimating everyone. They want the pacifiers and the Vongola rings. They already have the Mare rings."
Reborn shook his head again. "Why would Aria do that?"
"Not Aria. Yuni, her daughter. There are too many people here. Why? The wrong people. Why?"
"Not the time," Reborn said. "Not if my life is on the line. I already feel … sick."
"Shit," she muttered.
The next surprise was a robot, though Lal said quietly, "It's a second generation Gola Mosca, a Strau Mosca. The military's been selling secrets from its black projects, to famiglie other than Vongola. Stay still, it'll be tracking the rings. If what you did works, it won't see us."
The Mosca was huge, but then, so was the one Xanxus had. The Strau looked more refined to his eyes. It did not matter in the end, because someone attacked the thing from behind, annihilating it.
"Yamamoto-san?" he muttered, shuddering internally at the idea of that boy ever being a guardian of his.
The man strode over and eyed up their group. "Hm? You've shrunk?" he said to Tsuna. "Maybe an illusion? I came here to pick up a CEDEF agent, and find you all? You're looking well, Tsuna."
He sighed.
"Anyway, let's go. We need to get to base. Ten years, huh? Lots of things have happened since the battle for the rings. How nostalgic."
'We're in the wrong future?' he thought, pushing it out to Kyōya, Mukuro, and Nagi.
They shared a look of confusion, but nodded.
'He is the other Tsuna's Rain Guardian,' Mukuro pushed.
"You've been awesome these past ten years, Tsuna! You, too, Gokudera."
"Senpai's probably flipping tables in a panic," he murmured to Reborn.
"Okay," Yamamoto said after several more minutes of mindless chatter. "Here we are. Stick close. This is gonna get strange for a bit."
His brow went up as Yamamoto produced a small cube and pressed it against one of the rings he was wearing. "Don't look away. I'm putting up defensive camoflague."
What happened was a downpour, but it presumably concealed what was really going on, which was Yamamoto revealing a hatch in the ground, which led to steps leading downward. Once they were all inside Yamamoto pressed his hand against a panel, which closed the hatch behind them.
There was, for a brief moment, nothing but darkness, but then lights slowly came on.
"The construction was kind of rushed," Yamamoto said, "but there are six entrances to the complex. You built it, of course, Tsuna."
His mouth went thin as they trooped down the stairs and into what looked like a messed-up parking garage (for motorcycles, maybe), and over to a doorway with beams of light crossing it. "What's that?"
"Giannini made that," Yamamoto said. "From what I get, it's a disruption barrier."
Lal keeled over the second she crossed it.
"What happened!?" Haru asked.
"Don't worry. Her body went into shock from the big change in the environment, since for her kind, this environment is different from the outside."
Tsuna darted a look toward Reborn and twitched his arm. Reborn took the hint and moved down so that Tsuna could hold him safely. Sure enough, he, too, was knocked out when Tsuna moved through the doorway.
Yamamoto picked Lal up and kept walking once everyone was through. "She'll wake up in a bit. So will he."
"Lal-san did say there was radiation outside, targeted at them," he ventured.
Yamamoto nodded. "Yeah. The shock of not being subjected to it down here…? Something like that. I don't fully understand it."
'And he's looking not too bright?' he thought.
Mukuro shot him a look and shook his head. 'He is, actually, he just refuses to use his brain. We won't get much out of him. He's never tried to understand what's happening.'
He rolled his eyes in frustration.
After a good long walk they finally arrived at a more normal area, and a room where they could all sit down and relax. Tsuna settled Reborn down on a chair, then took a seat next to his husband.
"I need to go check on some stuff," Yamamoto said. "I'll be back. There's facilities through there," he said, gesturing at some doors. Then he left.
Tsuna let out a ragged sigh and steepled his hands off his forehead in frustration. "I don't fucking believe this. We're in the future, and it's not even the right future."
"Who was that man?" Oracle asked.
He sighed again and dropped his hands. "Yamamoto Takeshi, in my year at school. I don't know him except to recognize his face, and that his father owns and runs TakeSushi. He's a Rain. Right now? Well, in our time? He's a baseball fanatic. No interest on either side, so we never bothered to get to know him. Clearly, this future's counterpart for me did."
"But he did bring me onside," Hayato said, "if Yamamoto-san spoke with such familiarity."
"So something happened," Haru said. "This Byakuran decided to, what, take over the world? Roped in another famiglia, and we're a main target because of the rings? But we're in the wrong future. Does this mean we don't have to worry about it, once we get home?"
Reborn stirred and blinked open his eyes. "That wasn't nice," he said. "I still feel off, though."
Shortly after Lal stirred and sat up from her spot on the couch Yamamoto had laid her on. "Ugh. Reborn, they came up with some kind of material that'll protect you from the radiation. You're going to need to change."
"And you?"
She shook her head. "They didn't figure it out in time. Colonnello and Mammon are dead already, but for them, they were weakened enough that during a battle with Millefiore… Colonnello sacrificed himself for Mammon's sake, but it didn't work. Mammon ended up committing suicide."
Reborn looked down.
"Verde, Skull, and Fon are dead," she continued. "It's just Yuni and me, and I'm as good as dead. You're all here because Tenth destroyed the Vongola rings. Byakuran wants them, the ones you have."
Yamamoto wandered back in, smiled at seeing Lal and Reborn awake, then said, "So I was going to say we need to find the rest of the guardians. We're missing people. Lambo, for one. And others are in danger. I-Pin, family… And we need to get Reborn shielding."
"Right," Reborn said briskly. "And that is where?"
Yamamoto nodded and produced an outfit. "This'll shield you, but it's still best if you don't leave the base for long."
Reborn took it and disappeared into a restroom to change.
Ω
Yamamoto took them to the factory district in town. There was a hidden entrance there, to the complex. Lambo and I-Pin (whoever they were) had gone looking for Sasagawa and Haru. That news caused Haru to become very confused, because everything they were hearing suggested they (which meant Sasagawa Kyoko?) were clueless noncombatants. They were supposed to head to Namimori Middle from there (why that and not the high school? why a school at all?).
It was also revealed that the defect had swung through five days previous to sweep Nana off on a romantic holiday to Italy, and they'd not been heard from since.
Bianchi and someone named Fūta were on intelligence gathering, the Longchamp Famiglia was missing (Longchamp who?), as well as Mochida Kensuke (that bully?). According to Yamamoto, a lot of the "friends" they'd made over the past ten years had gone missing.
Lal? She said she was going to go on a (suicide) mission to capture Byakuran. Tsuna couldn't exactly blame her, not coming from a past of suicidal ideation, and he wasn't the one who'd had his entire family destroyed.
Naturally, they ran into two members of Millefiori. An explosion caught their attention and, in the distance, Tsuna could see two people, one with the suggestion of horns, and one with braids.
"Kyoko-san! Haru-san! Run! Leave this to me!"
Kyōya gestured upward, drawing his attention to two men hovering in the air. The boots they were wearing were lit red with Storm Flames.
'And if they can get away with that shit?' he thought. 'So can I.'
Kyōya nodded sharply.
Tsuna immediately moved to seal off their Storm Flames, both of them, and took malicious satisfaction when the two men flailed in the air for a heartbeat and then plummeted to the pavement, which knocked them out.
His family moved to confiscate their weapons, every ring they had, anything of interest. All of it vanished into inventory out of their sight. That included the boots, because he wanted to know what the hell those things were. It also made him wonder if he could use his flames to fly without using an artificial construct. Clearly, they were limiting themselves, and that needed to be corrected.
Yamamoto was clearly knocked for a loop, because it took some time before he said, "Members of Millefiore's Black Spell. They go by Tazaru and Nosaru."
Tsuna had a non-verbal conversation with his family, then nodded. He turned and used Zero Point Breakthrough again, icing those two completely, then watched as Tetsuya and Ken dragged the two away to hide them from casual sight.
"V-Vongola," the girl said, presumably I-Pin.
"Gokudera-san," the horned one added, presumably Lambo.
"Didn't I tell you?" another voice cut in, a young woman. "Tsuna would definitely come to rescue us."
Haru eyed her older counterpart suspiciously.
"Is it safe yet?" another voice cut in, a young woman. Sasagawa Kyoko cautiously appeared from one of the buildings.
Oddly to his mind, she had much longer hair than he was used to.
"Okay," he said briskly. "People have been rescued. Let's get them to safety, and away from this nonsense."
Yamamoto stared at him blankly, then nodded. "Right."
Back to base they went, with four extra people. Tsuna's boiling point was getting closer the entire trip. Once they made it back to a room where everyone could sit he said, "You two, you're noncombatants?"
They nodded.
He sighed. "Yamamoto-san, is there a place here they can stay safely, until things are resolved?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Good. Will you please show them where they can stay? And make sure they have supplies? They shouldn't be involved in any of this."
"Uh, yeah," Yamamoto repeated, then shook his head and gestured to the two young women to follow.
Once they were out of hearing distance Spanner said, "I really have to wonder if he even gets that we're the wrong people, the wrong past."
Kyōya pushed a message over.
"Yeah, good point," he said. "What's happened to our counterparts? I woke up in a coffin. That says something. Might not be the truth of the matter, might be, don't know."
Lambo and I-Pin exchanged a look.
"You don't know us," I-Pin said.
"Nope. Don't have a clue who you two are," he said.
"My shifu is… Was. He was Fon-sensei," I-Pin said.
He let out a pained breath. "I'm sorry. Fon-san is a trusted friend. He's never brought your counterpart to meet us. But then, he's only come by a couple of times, to answer questions."
She nodded.
"Bovino," Reborn said.
"Yeah," Lambo said. "Except not. Vongola now."
He eyed Reborn. "Another…?"
Reborn nodded. "Yes. A dead ringer for Lampo."
"Huh. Which means my counterpart wasn't dealing with… Yeah. My counterpart clearly did not stumble into what I did. He was…" He trailed off, mostly because he did not want to upset Lambo and I-Pin by speculating openly about their Tsuna.
"You seem oddly confident," Lambo said.
"I broke my seal at ten years old. I found my family on my own. Reborn didn't show up until shortly before my fifteenth birthday, so we figured out a whole lot on our own. Fon-san did help at the very beginning, letting us know what might be coming, so we … prepared … for that possibility. He came back one more time, because there were questions we needed answers to, answers we couldn't find by hacking. We've never relied on him, he has a life of his own."
Kyōya made a soft, rather rude noise, which caused him to grin and bump shoulders.
"So these box things?" he asked.
The two of them nodded, exchanged a look, and Lambo said, "Box weapons. They're ignited by pressing them against an appropriate ring, and using flames. Each box weapon is a certain type. Those two were using Dark Scythes, they were both Storms. Just, I think, the smaller guy was weaker, so his ring was probably weaker, less purity."
Mukuro produced the two box weapons from inventory and examined them, then tossed them to Tetsuya and Hayato.
"This isn't a good place?"
Lambo shook his head. "No. Come on. We can all go to a training room."
Ω
Much like anything else, they winged it.
Tetsuya spent some time just … feeling … the box weapon before he bothered to press the concave depression against his non-Vongola Storm ring. When it activated a massive dark scythe appeared, poised to be used. "Huh."
Hayato followed shortly after and frowned when he saw this his scythe was smaller. "Not so difficult. Don't like it, though."
"Neither do I," Nagi said. "But if the other side is using these things…?"
"So we learn from them," Mukuro said. "We learn what they can do, then figure it out for ourselves. I don't want to rely on a stupid box for anything."
"Boxes can be destroyed," Ken said. "Rings can be destroyed. We never needed that shit."
"Are there more of these things?" he asked as Yamamoto finally caught up with them.
"Let me get Giannini," Yamamoto said, then vanished again.
"And if they only work for the right flame type…"
"Which means Hayato can use quite a few types," he said, "and Kyōya and Haru can use two each."
Mukuro looked at him, head tilted slightly. "And you can use one? Or all of them?"
"Huh…" He bit his lip. His flames encompassed all. "I wonder if that would teach me to pull out aspects. A wild card, if you will."
Joker snorted softly.
Yamamoto returned, another man with him, along with a case on wheels. The man, presumably Giannini, opened it up to reveal neat rows of box weapons, in colour-coded trays. There were no Sky boxes.
Tsuna shrugged and grabbed one of each type, so he could experiment. The others grabbed their own flame types, all but Joker and Oracle. They were clearly still deciding if they wanted to join the family. Or, had no idea how to, and didn't think they could ask under the circumstances.
It wasn't as if either of them had ever used their flames except inside.
Giannini produced a single box weapon from his pocket, an orange-coded one, and offered it up.
Tsuna's brow rose, but he took it and stepped off to the side, where he had some room, just like everyone else did. Joker and Oracle fetched up against a wall to observe.
The other box weapons went into his pocket so he could feel out the Sky one. It felt like an animal of some kind. It made him wonder what animal would suit him best, because the last thing he would want was a lion. Those creatures reminded him far too much of the defect, sometimes called the Young Lion of Vongola.
He decided to leave it up to chance, not aiming for anything in particular, so long as it wasn't a lion. He fitted the depression against his Sky ring and charged it with his flames. And when it opened, a skylark flew out. He laughed happily.
Kyōya was so pleased he came over to give him a kiss, which he happily received.
Naturally, that was when the local Kyōya showed up, stopped dead in his tracks, and stared uncomprehendingly.
"Gonna have to think of a name," he murmured as he separated from the embrace and watched the bird flying.
'That's assuming we can even keep these things,' Kyōya pushed over.
"Hm, true. I'm sure we can figure something out. And now I'm curious as to what you'd get."
Kyōya ghosted him long enough to see what he'd done, then nodded and moved away to try his own.
He produced a hedgehog, which just made Tsuna chuckle. "That's so you, Kyōya."
"Haru agrees!"
Kyōya picked the hedgehog up and carefully petted it, looking very pleased. He got a small animal, a cute small animal.
That started a free-for-all of people charging and opening box weapons, and there was shortly quite a few animals roaming around. Tsuna just laughed and went for the next box weapon in his collection, to see what it would produce.
He did notice that while the Sky box had no markers other than colour, the other flames sometimes did.
Mukuro produced an owl with mismatched eyes. Nagi produced a cat not unlike the floof still roaming Hibari Manor.
When Tsuna tried the Sun box weapon he got a snake, which somewhat made sense to him if the thing could heal people, Storm produced a porcupine, and so on, animals which in some way fit in with the flame type.
Still, the only one he could see keeping was the skylark, because it was his name, one connection with Kyōya. The others? The snake to heal people outside? Okay. The others, though, would be transgressing a lot on what made his individual family members unique. But, as a training tool, an attempt to teach him how to tease out the aspects of his all-encompassing Sky? That was worth investigating.
He noticed in his peripheral vision that Nagi briefly went over to Joker and Oracle, to say something. She was even nice enough to echo it back to him.
"We just want you to know that we don't expect anything," Nagi said. "There is no tie except friendship unless you two want more than that. You know enough, and you're smart enough to stay quiet if you intend to walk away. Because we're not going to push. None of this—" She waved a hand around. "—should have happened. Hopefully this will all be resolved, and we'll all go back home, and…"
"But you are courting us," Oracle said quietly.
"…We're open to the possibility," Nagi said. "We like you two. We're very aware that … it's a big decision, for anyone. Some of us never had a choice. Tsuna was born into it, unknowing. Others have familial connections or were also born into it. Some of us chose this. That's why we've refused to…"
"No, we get it," Oracle said. "We understand. Plausible deniability all the way. And the two are not connected."
"They're not, except by circumstance. But it has given us an additional source of strength. I'm mostly here to say the status quo is maintained. Well, at least until Tsuna finishes high school."
"Because then you switch countries."
"Unfortunately, yes."
"What about your parents?"
Nagi laughed nervously. "I haven't spoken to either of them in … ages. I lived alone, starting in 2013. My father works mostly overseas, my mother is … known, and is based in a large city. It wasn't until my brother found me that I had an actual family. Blood and otherwise. My parents? They're not parents, they never have been. There's reasons, but…"
"…If we chose to join," Oracle said slowly, "how does that even work? Because I get the distinct feeling it's more than just saying yes."
"Ah. Yeah, it'd be more than just a word. It's … a connection. A bond. But I get the feeling the way it's happened for all of us is not the norm. All of us have bonded through skin contact, usually accidentally. …Like, Tsuna and another reaching down to get loot at the same time, touching by accident, and it happens. Or, during paintball, Tsuna and another ending up dodging into the same space kind of accident? There's a reason he's usually out of touch range around you two. Tsuna's already worried he's unfairly drawing you in because of his cooking."
"He's an exceptional cook," Oracle commented. "There's just something about it…"
"Yeah. He wants to make the best food he can for us, as one way to show us how he feels about us, and it means his flames get involved. Our, uh, guests also noticed that about his cooking. But they're friends, uh, allies, and their own group, so… It doesn't exactly matter? For them."
"And if we were to chose to join, now?"
"Er… Well, then I'd imagine we'd get you rings—though they aren't strictly necessary, normally—and begin teaching you how to use what you already know you have. From what happened inside. Though I can't imagine that you'd be involved in any actual fighting. You're support class, Oracle, so to speak. And you're not accustomed to outside fighting, Joker. No one would expect either of you to step up immediately. Tsuna's been doing this since he broke his seal—which, no, I won't explain. We've all been doing it, as we joined. There've been kidnappers since Tsuna was eleven, assassins—I forget when those started. As I said, it's not a simple decision."
"Did you know everything when you chose?" Joker asked with quiet intensity.
"Not… Not exactly. No. We were still in the, uh, courting stage? I did know about the kidnappers. There hadn't been any assassins yet. My brother found me, my missing brother. He'd been kidnapped right around when I was born. I was getting to know everyone, and my brother, learning how to stand up for myself, to not be a victim. Tsuna and I collided inside, while fleeing a Reaper. I don't regret it for a second. Because no matter what happens, I've found my true family."
"What is the Disciplinary Committee, then?" Joker asked.
"People who were … disciplined," Nagi said. "Inside. And then made part of the DC, to police the city, looking for more. Bullies, originally, most of them. Now they keep the peace, prevent it where they see it. The police, it's not like they cared, nor most adults. It's how it's always been, right? We can only hope that the DC survives once we've moved."
Tsuna was distracted away from all that when the local Hibari stalked over to him. "Hibari-san."
"Sawada."
He shook his head. "No. My name is Hibari Tsunayoshi. The defect is no family of mine. He hasn't been since he watched on as I was crippled at five, and even then I'd argue he's never been family."
Kyōya glided over to stand just behind and to the side, pressing lightly against him.
Hibari blinked slowly, almost like a cat, then nodded. "You must undergo the trial. You will need to be wearing the Vongola Sky Ring."
His gaze slid over to Reborn. The chibi had a peculiar look on his face, one that said "yes, you need to do it" and "no, I have no clue what the hell that means". His gaze next slid to Kyōya, turning enough so he could.
'I have faith in you, omnivore,' Kyōya pushed over.
He pulled the Vongola ring out of inventory, pulled it off the chain, and slipped it onto his finger.
Hibari gestured to an open area of the training room, so Tsuna moved over. What he did not expect was to be engulfed in Hibari's version of the hedgehog box animal. It was pitch black inside.
And very faintly he could hear, in his head, Mukuro inserting, 'It's air tight, Tsuna. You either die or figure out what this trial is. Hibari-san is claiming that your flames and fists can't get you out.'
'Oh, well, that's brilliant,' he thought. 'I'm to be brought to the edge of death to, what? I don't even know. Or I succeed in harmonizing my way out.' He ran his fingers over the ring he did not want to be wearing and pushed flames into it, seeking an answer.
What he got back was visions. Men begging for their lives, a building engulfed in flames, an exploding car, people speaking harsh words, and more.
After the bombardment he heard, "The Vongola's past sins. Murder, revenge, betrayal, an insatiable thirst for power."
'Well that might fucking explain why the fossil never stepped down,' he thought.
"This is the blood-stained history of the Vongola."
Tsuna became aware that he could see again, though the man speaking was a bare outline, a faint light from behind showing his form as a negative. There was a mask of flames on the man's face, Sky-orange, of course, and not terribly unlike his mask inside Mementos. But he was not alone. There were others with him, one of whom was female. Ottavo? The Ninth's mother?
"You, holder of the Vongola Sky Ring," Ninth's spectre said, "do you really have the resolution?"
"The resolution," Eighth said, "to inherit these past sins?"
He was bombarded again, with more deaths, screams for mercy denied, explosions, the crackle of fire, and yet more.
"Do not turn your eyes away. This is the destiny of the successor to the Vongola. This is the purpose of the life you were given."
'Oh, so his sons were born to die. Got it.'
"This is the price we must pay for the power we wish for."
"If it's greater power you want, you must also have the resolution to inherit our great history."
He did a slow spin to get an eye on each of them, all nine. "No one sane would want that kind of power," he said. "Why would I want to bear your sins, inherit your mistakes? Why would I want this kind of power, when it would only prove how weak I'd have to be? I'd much rather burn Vongola to the ground and live the life I want, without the crushing weight of your ridiculous destiny that you were all too weak to stand against. If I die here, at least I die with my integrity intact, not bowed down to a bunch of weaklings who keep shifting the burden to later generations."
There was a long, long pause as the figures just stood there, staring. And then suddenly, the space lit up. There was a table, of sorts, with the Vongola crest. (It was a really stupid crest in Tsuna's opinion. A clam with wings? Crossed guns? A massive bullet? Who came up with that garbage? He made a mental note to ask Haru if she could design something less embarrassing.)
To either side of the table were four people each, dressed in mafia normal, without masks. At the end opposite of where Tsuna stood was a throne. Giotto, he had to assume, given that the man almost looked like his twin. One of the men was a dead ringer for Xanxus. One of them was Ninth.
And that … meant Tsuna was now in the damn ring, his own imprint, which pissed him off.
"Your resolution," Giotto said, "has been unequivocally accepted. Vongola Decimo. To flourish or to perish. It's up to you now. I have been waiting for you. Now, it's time for you to inherit … the proof of the Vongola."
A second later, a blinding light, and he was standing back in the training room. His forehead was on fire, as were his hands. "Fucking dramatic assholes," he said, the sound of it ringing out in the breathlessly quiet room. A look down showed he was wearing a set of gloves, much like the ones Giotto had been wearing.
"Time to spar," Hibari said with vicious delight, then lunged at him.
Tsuna blinked, then met him head-on. This was not his Kyōya. This was someone to force a submission from. Someone who, while Hibari had not exactly looked down on him, was still irritating to Tsuna, especially after having been bombarded during that trial. So he comprehensively kicked Hibari's ass.
"You … are not mine," he said, looking down into the pained eyes of Hibari. "Thanks for the spar. I'm sure a Sun will take care of your injuries." He turned away, keeping his flames misting behind him just in case, and made his way to his husband, who quickly enfolded him in an embrace.
'I have never been so turned on before,' Kyōya pushed over.
He blushed crimson as his flames snuffed out; the gloves vanished, leaving behind only the Vongola Sky Ring. "Kyōya!"
He was hefted over a shoulder like some barbarian bride and hauled away by a very amorous husband, to the sound of Mukuro cackling and Nagi giggling madly.
Ω
When they finally rolled into the dining room for food Tsuna was feeling very relaxed. He was even pleased that there was nothing ready, because it meant he could cook. Tetsuya appeared almost as if he'd been waiting for that moment, and the two of them got to work on crafting a meal for their family.
That damn ring had gone back into inventory the second he had a moment, so hopefully it couldn't perve on their relationship. The last thing he wanted was a bunch of old(er) people watching them make love, his own ancestors. Though, technically, only Giotto was direct. The rest were all cousins. Either way, ew.
Newcomers to the mass quantity of stir fry served up were Bianchi (thankfully wearing a demi-mask, not so thankfully simping for Reborn like there was no other option in life) and a young man (who turned out to be named Fūta de la Stella, which, really, was very unfortunate in Tsuna's opinion, because he had gone looking on the internet eventually and run across some very interesting terms along the way).
Fūta could apparently contact the "Ranking Planet" and determine things that way, like who was the strongest, who most looked out for the people of their territory, or who was most likely to betray his own men, and things like that. It paid well, apparently.
"So, someone who has a clue what's going on, feel like filling us in?" he said as he slid into his spot next to Kyōya. "We don't belong here, but we're all you have, apparently."
"Until we have details on where we can reliably strike, not much aside from training," Bianchi said. "You're all new to box weapons. Using them, countering them."
"Fair enough. I think our mad scientist contingent might be able to chip in on gathering intel, in and around training."
Murmurs of agreement rose up from Shoichi, Hayato, Spanner, and Oracle.
'I honestly wonder if Mementos even exists in this place,' Mukuro inserted into his head.
He pursed his lips. It was an interesting question, but he did not see how they could disappear for hours at a time. Better to spend those hours training outside, working with box weapons to see what they could get them to do, and what they could replicate without them.
And if Hibari wanted to get his ass kicked again, Tsuna was down for that (and the sure-to-be resulting amorous encounter with his husband half out of his mind with lust). He did wonder about other locals. Local Mukuro, Nagi—apparently they shared the Mist Guardian role for the local Tsuna? Sasagawa was out there somewhere. He wasn't sure what to think about certain others. Did their appearance mean that the local Shoichi and Spanner were in the past?
But the local Haru wasn't, so that didn't follow on.
'Just how much intel does the other side have on who came over, I have to wonder,' he pushed over to Kyōya while projecting it at Mukuro and Nagi. 'We should probably get our group together after the meal and talk.'
Thirty seconds later he got back, 'Everyone is on board,' from Nagi, 'though we'll have to manually bring along Joker and Oracle.'
'Right.'
Hibari stalked in (clearly mostly healed up already) and took a seat, then began to eat. He paused halfway through his first bite, blinked, then kept going, though he did send a piercing look at Tsuna before mostly ignoring him.
'Clearly he recognizes the Sky Flames,' he thought, 'even though they're mine and not his Tsuna's. What are the odds his Tsuna doesn't cook?'
'Pretty damn high,' Mukuro inserted. 'After all, his seal persisted, and he'd have probably burned the house down trying, through no fault of his own.'
His mouth twitched at the thought of it.
He and Tetsuya cleaned up afterward, then hauled their group off for a discussion. Nagi and Haru made sure to bring Joker and Oracle along. Whether they joined in the end or not, it would be horribly impolite to leave them with a bunch of strangers.
Once inside a large enough room, Mukuro and Nagi threw up Mist protections. Kyōya and Haru enhanced them with Cloud.
"Yuni?" he said to Reborn.
"Last time I laid eyes on her she was just a baby. I have no idea what's going on beyond what's been stated. She, for whatever reason, merged Giglio Nero with Gesso at some point after she took over as Donna."
"Okay. Byakuran?"
"Three years older than you. Well, three and a half. He'd be thirty in this time period? If he has the Mare Rings, though, it's possible he's prescient, seeing future events."
"If that were true, wouldn't they have already blown this place sky high?" Haru asked.
Reborn shrugged. "Maybe it's a game to him? Some people are like that. They set up situations where it looks like you have a chance, and then they laugh as you fail."
"Original alliances?"
"Neutral, both."
"Makes me wonder about the Byakuran of our world."
"So the only thing we have to look forward to is training with box weapons, stealing ideas from them, and theoretically getting into fights to the death with the bad guys," Hayato said. "And hacking, possibly."
He shook his head. "No. We need to brainstorm keywords. Or throw a dictionary at the interface. I don't care. I want inside Byakuran's head."
Haru thunked her head back against the wall behind the sofa she was on. "Right."
"Uh, better make one of those dictionaries in Italian?" Chikusa said mildly. "Still, a potential problem. If he's not in Japan…"
"You're right. It'd be the same problem as with the defect. Couldn't get to him until he made the mistake of coming for a visit. We can still try. Worst case, we have to slip out of this base and get to the mainland, to Italy. It'd probably throw everyone here into a tizzy, but… Maybe it's a question of belief."
"I need to see how far I can range," Mukuro said. "And we need to know more about where Gesso normally is," he added, eyeing Reborn for a split second.
"Well," Nagi said. "The collective unconscious does rather imply every human in the world, not just a convenient subset. Maybe it's just a question of trying harder, believing more. We've been working on incomplete data from the start. We've done what works, locally. We don't know that it's so limited."
He nodded. "I … assumed that … based on a single conversation. Doesn't mean it's true. But it did give us time to work up to my actual goal of the time."
"The one you came to me about," Joker said.
"Yeah. Also, we might be on break, but we have no idea if we'll go back to when we left, or if the same number of days will have passed. The sooner we get this dealt with, the better. As it is, our friends are probably flipping out over our disappearance, and I can only hope the cat can hunt for itself."
Haru and Nagi exchanged a worried look.
"As far as the box weapons go, they're nice and all, but… Tetsuya already came up with Storm Onibi on his own, when he was twelve. We don't need box weapons, so they're an afterthought in terms of getting ideas. And as far as a calling card, I'm going to place a bet on hacking, or possibly a special delivery."
"First thing," Kyōya said. "Intel on Gesso."
The mad scientist bunch all nodded and exchanged looks, Oracle included.
Ω
While the science group went hunting for intel, the rest of them messed around with box weapons. They weren't all animals, though they were told they started out that way. The two Dark Scythes were one example. Tsuna just thought it was a bit silly? He'd been making lockpicks and knives and such for some time. Why would he need a box weapon? Why would any of them? Did these people have no imagination?
He secured a set of those flame boots to examine, then slipped on the smaller set (though he was inwardly shuddering over wearing footwear some other person had worn—it was a damn good thing he kept spare sets of clothing in inventory) and experimentally tried to channel his flames through them, just the barest amount.
He had seen Iron Man and didn't want to fling himself into a wall!
It apparently did not matter that he had Sky Flames and the original user had Storm, because he could feel his body make a vague stab at rising up off the floor. He pushed a little more into them and hovered a scant fraction up, but immediately cut the feed.
'How the hell does anyone fly with these things and manage to balance?' he wondered. 'Even Iron Man had repulsors in his gauntlets. Maybe imagine it as a platform?' Tsuna removed the boots and put his own shoes on, and tossed the boots into inventory.
Instead of those he concentrated on reproducing the effect without them, but adding his hands to the mix.
By the time he needed to start making lunch he was cautiously hovering around the room, having figured out the bare minimum to how to use all four limbs to move and steer. If nothing else, it was really working the muscles in his torso, which was not a bad thing.
He and Tetsuya made okonomiyaki for everyone. Hibari showed up, oddly enough.
'Either he really likes my cooking or he respects me for kicking his ass,' he thought.
'Or both,' Kyōya pushed over. 'Perhaps he's intrigued at seeing what his Tsuna could have been like, had circumstances been more similar.'
'Huh… Even if the seal was broken so early, the odds of that Tsuna needing him would be low. I went to you because I trusted you to that extent, and you were consistent, even though you scared me. Maybe Hibari wouldn't have been blindsided with the mafia, not with having Fon in the picture, but I expect that Tsuna would have been. As for anything else, though…'
'I would not be surprised if the Tsuna who belongs here is expected to marry Sasagawa's sister.'
He grimaced. 'Yeah, sure, the girl who in some ways is a younger copy of Nana. Ew.'
Kyōya shook slightly in silent laughter. 'Flying?'
'Not too bad,' he pushed over. 'I'll keep working on it. If nothing else, it'll be a template in the event that it works for other flame types. I'm just being cautious so I don't slam face first into a wall.'
'We need to have another meeting tonight.'
He nodded. 'Absolutely. The sooner we can attempt to enter Byakuran's Palace the better. I don't want to be here. I want to be home, with you, with our family. If Hibari is here, does that mean most places on the surface have been abandoned?'
'Or destroyed.'
He frowned. 'What are we going to do about our house when we have to go to Italy?'
'There is extensive security. And if we set things up right, we can monitor the property from afar.'
'Do you ever wonder where Giotto got the Vongola rings to begin with? I mean, if they're imprinting on them?'
Kyōya looked at him directly, a question in his eyes.
'Maybe I should see if Mukuro can find that memory of mine and project it,' he pushed back. 'All the Vongola dons were there for that trial thing. And I think an imprint of me is now in there and I'm not pleased about that.'
'I just found it,' Mukuro inserted. 'That was very strange. I wouldn't be surprised if you're right about your own imprint. Being there might make the ring more responsive to your flames, and/or as the most recent claimant.'
'I'm keeping the damn thing in inventory for now,' he thought. 'It's too dangerous in this place if they can be tracked. Once we're back home it can be on the chain again.'
'Skin contact is probably all that's needed,' Mukuro inserted. 'They shouldn't have to be worn normally.'
And he normally kept it under his shirts, to hide it from outsiders, which meant it was against his skin. Yeah, he didn't like the bump it caused, but it was not that noticeable as his shirts were not form fitting. The sad thing was he would have to start wearing it properly once they got to Italy, as proof of his position. …Wait a minute.
'Why are these rings so important?' he thought. 'Why would Byakuran want them so badly? What is so damn special about them, along with the Mare rings and the pacifiers?'
Kyōya looked at him directly again for a moment, and both Mukuro and Nagi glanced over briefly.
'Your intuition?' Nagi inserted.
He leaned and leaned again. 'Just that they're special. They're not just rings, and I don't get the sense that it has to do with the imprints. Or, that's not the most important factor. It's just an aspect? Maybe it's a leash.' His brow furrowed, trying to understand what he was sensing.
'Something to keep in mind,' Kyōya pushed over.
Ω
Afternoon featured him hovering around again, higher off the floor. At least if he fell he would suffer bruises at worst. As the hours rolled by he got higher and more daring. It helped that the walls were padded. The ceiling and floor were not. Iron Man had made it seem easy, but he wasn't going at the speeds that man usually did. He needed precision and delicacy.
Maybe once they were back? They could go to the mountain, perhaps, and let loose?
Dinner was another dish simple enough to make in quantity. Sasagawa-chan and Miura-chan had stars in their eyes. Tsuna made sure to lean into his husband—not garishly and screaming loudly that he was hopelessly in love or anything, because that would be impolite—but enough to make it clear he was very much taken.
Kyōya played along; it was clear he had seen those starry eyes.
After clean-up they went off to have their meeting. Laptops were produced, flash drives, to show everything the science contingent had tracked down.
Nagi set up with her laptop and started typing in a long, long list of potential keywords, while still keeping up with every bit of data they had found so far.
"Ideas for how we disappear for an aftern—no, never mind. We only need to be missing, so to speak, for ten or fifteen minutes each day?" he said. "We've always gone in after lunch, but…"
"Right," Chikusa said. "All we need to do is go in such that we exit in time for dinner. Or we go in shortly before midnight, to exit at midnight. They don't even need to know we're 'missing'. And with any luck—no, not luck, skill. We'll get in there, fuck that asshole up, and go home."
Ω
Byakuran's Palace was seriously fucked up in his opinion. It was like a game in there, a series of games. Every and any type of game was fair game. The pun made his brain hurt, but there it was, mocking them mercilessly.
Having to play Life on a life-sized board with life-sized cars and life-sized dolls representing children? Snakes and Ladders with actual monstrously-sized snakes? Video-game mechanics in turn-based battles?
"I feel like this Byakuran doesn't see people as people," he said as they rested in a safe room.
"We're all toys for his amusement?" Mukuro said.
"Yeah."
"Then we'll beat some sense into him, force concessions, and go the hell home," Ken said.
"We can't do anything about the people who've died here," Haru said. "We can't bring back the Arcobaleno, or any of the people from the Alliance. But we can stop him from doing worse."
"The big trick is making sure he sees the calling cards and actually knows what it means," Tetsuya said.
"I can bombard him," Oracle said. "Wouldn't be the first time I did it. This is just at a distance. It's more…"
"That we don't know if the Phantom Thieves were a thing in this … reality," Joker said.
He nodded. "But for the first one you went after, the coach guy. He had no way of knowing the Phantom Thieves were even a thing until that moment. No one did, right?"
Oracle and Joker shared a look, then nodded.
"Yeah," Joker said. "Kamoshida Suguru. He was our first target, mostly because we stumbled into it, literally. Skull and I stumbled into his Palace one morning. Skull, Panther, and I dealt with him. So yeah, he doesn't need to know the history, not if Kamoshida didn't."
"Haru wants to know, but Haru understands you may not answer," Haru said. "How do you just 'stumble' into a Palace?"
Joker bit his lip, then nodded. "What we experienced was part of a game. A game between Ya—yeah, you know, I'd rather write that name down than say it, just in case. A game between the antagonist and our invisible ally. I was marked somehow, chosen, tapped, I don't even know what. I arrived in Tokyo because I'd been sent away. There was an incident where I lived. I rescued a woman from what looked like heavy sexual coercion, and he had power, so it got turned around and twisted. I was blamed for like, assault, and I never even laid a hand on him."
"Shido?" he said.
"Yeah. So I was sent away, on probation, due to the shame." Joker grimaced. "I ended up living with Sakura Sojiro as a guardian of sorts, in the attic of his Café Leblanc."
"My guardian," Oracle said. "The not boyfriend of my late mother. He rescued me from my biological uncle, who had been treating me little better than an unwanted mongrel dog."
That got a few slow blinks.
"When I arrived in Tokyo something very strange happened. Everything went funny in Shibuya Crossing. An app showed up on my phone. I never downloaded it. I deleted it. It came back. Had no idea the thing could be voice activated. Skull and I were on our way to school and I guess it was listening, because we must have said all the right words. Next thing we knew we were in a Palace, not that we knew what was going on."
"Huh," he said. "We have an actual interface. Like in a game. We can see, for a potential Palace, stuff like place, perceived place, the keywords. The app, was it from … the antagonist?"
Joker nodded. "Everyone who got pulled in ended up with a copy silently installed on their phone."
"So when … the group … dealt with Shido…?"
"My name was cleared, after we faked my death and then took on Shido," Joker said. "The people I'd made connections with, not just the group, did everything they could to help clear my name. Finished out the year, and then I left Tokyo for my final year of high school."
"And because we were worried that one of Shido's staff would intercept any calling cards, we made it very public," Oracle said. "A good part of the city saw that calling card."
"I get why my parents sent me away, but… I can't say that I've recovered from that. That saving face was more important than believing me. Can I ask why you … sought me out?" Joker said.
"Sure," he said, then proceeded to spill the entire sordid story of the defect, including the seal on his flames, the stifling of his very soul, the mistress, the half-siblings … everything, plus the alarming revelations inside the defect's head, and his too-perfect revisionist "memories".
Oracle spilled her story after a silent period in which Tsuna's had been taken in.
Kyōya looked like he was barely restraining an eye roll at all the sharing when Mukuro piped up with the trio's story, and then Hayato, but Tsuna could feel what his husband was feeling, and he was pleased that it looked like Joker and Oracle were that much closer to joining their family.
Considering a good half of them had tragic back-stories? It took a while to get through.
Joker became Karusu Akira and Oracle became Sakura Fūtaba, but would still be Joker and Oracle around outsiders, around these strangers with familiar faces.