Chapter 07: Interlude: IRL

Sugar Beat Bakery, Namimori City, Japan (16:36, December 26th 2022)

"Thanks for stopping by. Merry Christmas."

Nana Sawada sighed as she dropped her tired smile, her recent customer leaving the bakery while she sagged into her stool. The frequently cheerful woman was nowhere as happy as she would've been during Christmas, especially with her son trapped in that damned death game.

After all, the sole person she would've spent it with wasn't present. With a heavy heart, Nana closed shop and made for her car.

Reaching the hospital, Nana went through the procedure as she'd always done for visiting hours before heading up to Tsuna's hospital room.

"Merry Christmas, Tsuna... at least, once more after yesterday." Nana stated mirthlessly as she replaced the flowers she'd placed at his bedside before. Finally, she deigned to look at his sleeping face, wishing that she could kiss his forehead goodbye as she'd always done...

If not for the damn NerveGear in the way, the headset's light calmly beeping as it always did to showcase her son's brainwave activities within that death game.

"...see you tomorrow, Tsuna." Compromising with a kiss to her fingers she then placed upon her son's pale cheek, Nana vacated the hospital room, and soon the hospital as well.

Namimori General Hospital, Namimori City, Japan (09:52, March 9th 2023)

"So, have you heard? A new counsellor transferred here today."

"I heard that they were called to check on the ISF patients."

"Eh?! That means they've gotta be high profile, right?!"

"No kidding. I hope that they're nice. The last thing I need today is excess anxiety."

"Speaking of the ISF patients, don't you think it's kinda amazing that nobody from our city's died?"

"Don't jinx it. I don't want to see Sawada-san and those other parents crying again."

"...yeah, that was in bad taste. Sorry."

She chose that moment to separate from the two nurses, walking towards the boy's room and knocking before she entered. A moment later, she sighed in mild exasperation. "Fuuta, for what reason were you connecting to the Akashic Records for?"

Fuuta, called Futa de la Stella by the greedy mafia she'd secured him from, smiled sheepishly as he disconnected himself and caused gravity to properly reassert itself. "Sorry, Gwy-"

"No." She demanded with a soft finger pressed against his lips. "Don't speak my true name so lightly, boy. You'll burn your own voice out."

"R-Right. Ms. Smith." Fuuta amended, causing the woman to retreat away and pick up his file. "So you said that I was getting discharged today, right? Is there someplace you will be taking me?"

"Actually, I'll be dropping you off with a woman." Ms. Smith revealed. "Nana Sawada, a single mother with a son that's an ISF victim. Considering the plans I have for her son, you'll be a good stopgap to let her regain some of her lost emotional composure until Tsunayoshi returns."

"So you want her to adopt me?" Fuuta's eyes widened at her declaration. "I... I thought you guys didn't prefer to be interfering in worldly matters."

"That can't really count considering that my colleague and I collaborated on this." Ms. Smith casually revealed as she finished filling up the file. "Get dressed, Fuuta. We leave, immediately."

Fuuta obeyed as he slipped off the hospital bed, wincing a little as his bandages stretched while changing his clothes. "Still, how are you going to convince Sawada-san to adopt me? Even if you're who you are, you're a Storm, not a Mist."

Ms. Smith scoffed. "Just who the hell do you think I am? I don't need the Mist of Construction to weave a good story."

Sawada Residence, Namimori City, Japan (11:27, March 9th 2023)

Nana almost wept as the woman before her gave a most heart wrenching story, the boy beside her looking so lost as he gawked at the woman he'd visited her with.

According to this 'Kuroko Smith' from the government, poor Fuuta had been horribly neglected by his parents until he'd run away, despite his young age, having been missed for three whole years despite her department's greatest efforts to find and help him.

"A-And now, we can't even properly find him a home, with the ISF problem still ongoing." Kuroko solemnly placed a hand against her chest. "Every parent I've found so far don't want to either potentially replace their already lost child, make their child feel replaced after the ISF situation's dealt with, or be potentially taken advantage of during this crisis."

"I do understand." Nana nodded in commiseration. In Namimori alone, there were 49 ISF victims in the hospital. 37 of them being underage, while the remaining 12 were adults. By some miracle, they'd all somehow remained 'alive' so far. "Yamamoto-san and I actually bonded a little over that. Our boys are in that game, and we've had to spend every terrifying moment hoping that we don't get a call from the hospital that isn't already been sent out to every other guardian simultaneously."

After all, no news was supposed to be good news.

...right?

"Don't worry, Fuuta-kun!" Nana declared. "Kuroko-san, please let me adopt him!"

"Eh?" Fuuta blinked.

"I'll take good care of him!" Nana pressed on, clasping Kuroko's hands in her own. "Tsuna-kun will be so happy to have a little brother when he wakes up!"

"I'm so glad I could count on you, Sawada-san." Kuroko looked like she wanted to tear up again, despite her sunglasses. "Now just sign these papers here, and you'll receive a tidy sum to help settle him in."

Rakurakuken, Namimori City, Japan (14:00, March 12th 2023)

"Just what were you two thinking?"

Kuroko rolled her eyes. "Sure, that's what you lead with. No 'It's been a while, Kuroko.'?"

"It's been one thousand, three hundred and eighty-five years, Kuroko." Kawahira retorted drily. "What did you and Akihiko do?"

Resisting the urge to chuckle, Kuroko took a sip of her miso before replying. "We didn't exactly plan this together... but our plans just... coincided a little."

"I only have one concern." Wisps of Indigo escaped Kawahira's eyes for an instant. "Will your plans be interfering with the Tri-ni-Sette?"

"Not directly, at least." Kuroko admitted with a shrug. "But hey, you shouldn't be complaining. After this is all over with, every single subject of mine are going to end up at Arcobaleno-level in terms of Flame alone when it's all over."

"Complaining?" Kawahira dropped his unfinished bowl, reality beginning to warp around him. "How is it that you came to such a conclusion? Do you think that I desire to sacrifice more and more humans to keep this planet's furnace alive?"

"Could've fooled me." Kuroko replied fearlessly, even as reality began to bleed away from her as her Storm slipped out. "You aren't exactly hesitant."

"...no matter how much you try, it won't work." Kawahira replied after a while. "Even amongst us, the Day Flame was notoriously difficult to come across."

"That's where you're wrong." Now it was Kuroko's turn to become heated. "The Day Flame will return. There's already a prospective Sky Akihiko's alerted me about. He's already been able to create pseudo Bonds and Bond with multiples of the same Flame, something impossible for the 'great' Skies of this era."

"You said the same thing about Ieyasu Sawada, didn't you?" Kawahira shot back. "And where did that get you?"

Kuroko's knee smashed into the table between them, sending it flying straight up and clearing the way for her blazing fist to smash into his face.

At least, that's what she would've desired had he not stopped her fist cold in his palm.

"Watch your tone, Mist." Kuroko warned.

"And you need to watch your temper, Storm." Kawahira rebutted, pushing her back and easily catching their falling table. "Luckily, I've already cloaked us from the others."

Indeed, not a single person around them seemed to have even noticed their brief bout of violence. Kuroko huffed as she took back her seat while Kawahira set down the table.

"...one last thing." Kawahira finally stated. "The Flame users of this era are shameless with their greed and depravity. How do you plan to keep your test subjects safe?"

"The mafia can't even control seven Arcobaleno." Kuroko scoffed. "How do you think they'll even last against at least three thousand Arcobaleno-level individuals, especially after they've spent so long doing very little unconnected from fighting monsters. The worst these Flame users ever had to deal with are each other and the Vindice."

"Kuroko..." Kawahira's brows raised in realization. "Three thousand is nowhere near an insignificant number. You can't tell me that invoking the Day Flame from at least one of them is your sole objective."

"You should ask Akihiko for that. He's the one that got so many people with his game." Kuroko replied as she stood up from the table and dragged her fingers across the air, leaving scarlet scratches that used her Disintegration to 'decay' the space between her and a desired location. "Bye."

And with that she stepped through, leaving her peer to his thoughts.

"Ah, Nana-san? Sorry for calling you again like this. But there's another child I need to speak with you about. This poor girl called Nagi..."

KingVessel: Just a little sneak peek at what's happening at home. Now, back to Aincrad!