94. Melancholy

94. Melancholy

"Eh?"

It was a delightful day, where one Ninomiya Rei was out in a family restaurant, for tea, supervised by the one and only Kuma-sensei. 

Well, Kuma-sensei picked out the place because it's near the hospital, but uhm--

"Why isn't everyone from Shimon and Vongola here??" someone raised his voice angrily, his voice reverberating through the whole restaurant, causing a big ruckus and having heads turn to their group in displeasure.

What is this miraculous, godly coincidence?

Sitting on a table on the other end of the restaurant, I wouldn't have noticed them if not for dear Dera boy's incredible vocal capacity.

Standing up with my strawberry parfait, I excused myself.

"Don't get hurt," Kuma warned absent-mindedly.

-

"Who ever said we were under you??" Aoba Koyo yelled in disagreement, "At least call us equals!" he demanded. "You really are a bunch of idiots!

"What did you say??" Ryohei yelled back, ready to initiate another one of their moron quarrels.

Taking the chance with his loud yelling, I stuck a spoonful of vanilla cream and strawberry into his mouth.

Taken by surprise, Ryohei let out a shocked screech of indecipherable something, and nearly choked.

Be glad I gave you a strawberry.

"Rei!" Takeshi and Tsuna responded in unison.

Ah, did Tsuna just call me without an honorific? Yay.

"Yo," I greeted, taking the spoon Ryohei shakily handed back to me, "I was with Kuma on the other end. What's all the shouting about?"

"Ninomiya, don't do that!" Ryohei scolded me, "Also that thing is extremely sweet! Cut down on your sugar levels already!"

"Shut up, protein carbohydrate meat head. None of that ever went into your brain."

Instantly struck down, Ryohei sat down, defeated and dead.

"Anyways," I turned to the Shimon gang, putting another scoop of ice cream into my mouth, "Are you the new transfer students? Cool! I'm Rei, nice to meet you."

All of them looked visibly taken aback, and perhaps a little hesitant in responding. 

The silence was incredibly awkward as not even Suzuki Adelheid knew if she was to respond-- was she supposed to acknowledge me, or ignore me as her personality suggests?

Should I tell them I'm a Vongola?

"Hi, Enma-kun!" I turned to him, "Your injuries okay?"

Everyone flinched.

"Eh-" he was surprised to be suddenly mentioned, "Uh- uhm, eh- ye... yeah...." 

His eyes-- eye, because the other was hidden behind a medical eyepatch-- was darting all over the place, nervousness taking over his speech and thoughts and making him unable to compose a proper sentence--

"Well, I'm glad!" I grinned. 

"Rei-san," Tsuna interrupted, (internally I winced at the return of the accursed honorific), "How- Why- How do you know Enma-kun?"

Wait, Enma gets the 'kun'? He gets the 'kun' and I get a 'san'? 

I chuckled, "Saw him on a coincidental day out!" I answered easily.

"Rei, are you sure you should be out of the hospital so often?" Takeshi asked, visibly concerned.

I pouted, "What, you don't want me out here?"

I chuckled. Everyone was staring at me with conflicted gazes-- some viewed me as a concern; some a matter of interest; others, as a nuisance.

Who was I to suddenly barge into their conversation and make myself at home?

Surely, it was a clear sign for me to leave.

"Well, good luck with all that body-guarding thing you're arranging," I told them, "and the inheritance ceremony whatevers." 

Waving a dismissive goodbye, I walked away.

-

Synchronously, Takeshi and Tsuna slammed the table, eyes shooting toward Reborn in a wave of panic.

Other eyes turned to the source of alarm as well, with less forcefulness as those two.

"I didn't say anything." Reborn simply told them with a sigh.

Out of sight, I snickered.

-

-

Getting on the car, I strapped on the seat belt and sighed.

"Why the long face?" Kuma asked, getting in the driver's seat and throwing out the toothpick between his teeth. "Did your friends get you down?"

"Course not," I chuckled, "I'm just depressed I have to look at your face again."

"Young man, I will deck the shit out of you-"

"You're gonna get in trouble with Amano-sensei." 

"Dammit!" 

Punching the glass, Kuma calmed down and, with a sigh of his own, began driving.

"So, what really?" he asked again, with a gentler tone now. For a second, he sounded like a father-- or a teacher, much more than he usually was.

And so, in respect to him, I decided to answer it normally.

"We're growing distant," I admitted. "Me and everyone else." Biting my lip, I leaned against the glass and watched the outside. The rumbling of the car was headache inducing, but was a great distraction to my murky, negative thoughts. "And soon, I won't really belong anywhere."

Letting one hand off the wheel, Kunomasu-sensei's warm palm came to my forehead and settled there.

"You're not feverish," he deduced. "Please say things like that only when you're sick," he told me, "Otherwise, your beloved Takeshi told me I could slap you once per syllable."

At that, I paused.

Everything just came to a stop-- then I burst out in giggles. "Looks like Takeshi's got everything predicted further than I can!" I joked.

At that, Kuma cracked into a smile, and turned his focus back onto the road.

I smiled in relief. 

"Thanks." I said.

Turning back out to the window, I felt a sense of melancholy-- a calming, soothing one, free of depressing thoughts. My eyes drifted close-- and somehow, even though I didn't feel particularly sleepy-- I fell asleep. 

"...Rei?"

-

-

"My, look who's here again."

And there I was again.

Sitting on the grassy plains of an illusory subconscious, feeling the gentle, cold winds scattering my hair and letting it fly into a mess. The skies in this world were unnaturally, painfully blue.

Lying down and facing that cloudless blue, I sighed.

"Don't you ever get tired of this place, Mukuro?" I asked.

Sitting down beside me, he reached down and flicked my in the forehead. "I believe a proper greeting is due in order," he smiled.

I pouted. "Hi, Mukuro," I greeted lazily, "Why am I here?"

"Hi," he greeted back, "As for you, I'm not quite sure. I don't call anyone here, I simply speak to the ones that find this place."

"You don't strike me as a chatter," I sat up. "I suspect the only ones qualified are Chrome and I?" 

Mukuro simply smiled.

I shuddered. "You're creepy." 

"You're welcome," he didn't miss a beat.

Sitting down there, we fell into an oddly comfortable silence. I leaned on his back and closed my eyes. When did I fall asleep? I don't recall.

"You might want to know," Mukuro suddenly spoke up, "But your presence here means something about your condition."

About my condition?

"Why, am I dying?" I asked jokingly.

"Unfortunately, that is exactly so." Mukuro had to answer, breaking my joking mood.

It was a stab to the chest, but, hard to say, it wasn't surprising. 

"I see." I could only answer. I wasn't particularly worried about actulaly kicking the bucket. I was alive, after all-- but what if that was a parallel world? What if that world isn't the one we'll go into, in the future? What if in this route, Ninomiya Rei dies before then? Russo died, and he was a zombie. 

Mukuro patted me on the head.

"Regarding your condition," he spoke up, surprisingly cheery, "Have you considered approaching an illusionists to prolong your life?" 

At that, I bolted up in alarm. 

There was that alternative.

There was a way to ensure I lived longer.

"But-" I stuttered, "Who?"

The illusionists we know... Mammon? He's in Italy, and the us of this generation aren't-- Fran? He only appears in the next arc...

"Mukuro...?" I turned to him.

"Unfortunately," he sighed, "I don't have as firm a link to you as I do Chrome." 

Ah, and that was my last alternative. I sighed. Looks like things aren't supposed to go that well in reality, eh. 

"I hope I at least live well enough to see you when you come." I admitted, "Not for you to make me illusory organs, but just so I can see all of you look your coolest."

Mukuro eyed me, appalled-- then ruffled my head roughly, messing up the placement of every lock of hair.

"You're one cheeky brat," he chuckled, "Let's hope so happens, then."

-

-

-

When I woke up, I'm not really sure how long passed. Days?

When my eyes cracked open, I somehow knew there was something different. I felt like I'd slept for a long time. Longer than usual, but not too long perhaps...

The door creaked open, and the Nurse in charge walked in with her tray of medical items--

Catching sight of me, she dropped it all in surprise-- which made me flinch, startled by the noise-- and the nurse jumped back out the door.

"Fujimiya-san, Rei-kun's awake!" she called.

Seeing my phone at the side, I reached toward it-- 

Something felt off.

What's the timeline...?

I had eight missed calls, three from Gokudera, and five from Ryohei. Both of them had sent me a whole lot of messages, probably in a panic. 

That, or was Kuma and Amano too busy to tell them I was in a semi-comatose sleep?

Sifting through all of them quickly, it all told me to 'hurry and come'. 

'Hurry'

'Where are you?'

'Are you awake'

'Are you fucking asleep'

My eyes widened.

My hand shot up to my mouth-- all my senses flew up, shooting to dangerous levels as I registered all that went on.

The heart machine I was connected to rang, beeped, screamed like a siren-- but I didn't register. The IV drip, with a finished bag, stopped flowing and its alarm rang for the nurse call--

All I could think of what that one message.

Yamamoto's in critical condition.