Chapter 69

It takes him three hours to change to his old body. Luckily whatever illusion covering his body still works out and has stretched with his own body. He still feels naked, though. And terribly sore. Not to mention how sweaty he is, which makes the clothes even more uncomfortable as they look all pristine while Tsuna is red on the face, panting on the floor. He tries to stand up, only to end up looking like a baby giraffe giving its first steps. It's all the more humiliating because of Daemon's clone who is in the room with him, sitting on a comfortable chair as he watches amusedly as Tsuna struggles.

After hearing him chuckling for the third time, Tsuna growls. He turns to look at the man but ends up stumbling, face hitting Daemon's knee, which unfortunately for him, it's solid.

He moans in pain as he uses gentle hands to rub his nose. He looks up from where he's sprawled on Daemon's feet when he hears another surprised laugh coming out of the Mist. A surprising honest sound. He pouts, making sure the other can see him, before he leans his sweaty face on the knee and rubs his face on his pants, hoping to at least leave a mark with his sweat.

It only earns him a condescending pat on his head.

The sound of the door opening makes Tsuna lookup. The first to enter is Renato, who merely raises an eyebrow at his position as he holds the others for the others to walk in, before saying, "Am I interrupting something?"

Tsuna gives him a confused look before shrugging it off, using Daemon's thighs as leverage to stand up. He shakes his head when a wave of dizziness hits him. He gives the others a glance before looking down at his sweaty form. A blush creeps up his cheeks. "Maybe I should take a shower first," he says, scratching the side of his neck.

Daemon stands up and offers his arm. It takes a second too long before he understands the meaning. With clumsy steps he goes to the bathroom, being guided by Daemon.

Once alone, Tsuna is not surprised to see the clothes vanish from his body, what he's surprised to find are the real clothes neatly folded outside the shower part of the bathroom. They are similar to the ones he wore yesterday night, without the mask of course. Leaving the tie Daemon put behind, Tsuna goes outside wearing an expensive suit that he's sure costs more than his salary in a whole year.

The Arcobaleno are sitting in the living room with Lal and Skull on one couch while Renato and Fong take the other. Luce sits on a loveseat alone while Verde walks following a pattern only he can understand, both hands holding a couple of papers. Viper is the only other standing, next to the window, where the light can't touch them. The rays of the sunlight the room dark orange as it's late making every space it touches warm and comforting. It goes well with the warm décor, one perfectly made to hosts Skies, as Daniela told him once she presented him the room.

Not that he can bask in the warm feeling his flames give the room, not with all the Arcobaleno present. Not when their gazes immediately snap to him, overwhelming in their intensity.

"So," he starts, feeling self-conscious as he scratches his neck. "You know now, right?"

"That you did a reckless thing as is jumping through a portal without knowing the consequences? Or that you were unable to move for hours until you were lucky the same... 'being' found you?"

He flinches at Fong's sharp tone, but mostly he's surprised. It's easy to assume he's angry and nothing more but Tsuna knows, thanks to his intuition, that Fong is mostly angry at himself. More than that, he's worried and hurt.

"Not that we aren't grateful!" Skull is quick to intervene, earnest. "I am. And I think everyone here is too, but-"

"But you could have prepared, Tsuna," Reborn interrupts, giving a silencing glare at Skull's 'Hey!' "From what we've heard, you came here with only your clothes and rings, nothing else. What were you thinking?"

Tsuna doesn't like the way his voice becomes sterner with each word he says, lips pursing. It reminds him of Reborn, of the few times he saw him really annoyed. They're totally unlike each other physically but the way those eyes glint is the same.

It hurts. That small reminder of his home. It hurts, but it also angers.

"I wasn't thinking," he says through gritted teeth, his voice rising with his next words. "I just saw an opportunity to save you all and took it. What other choice did I have when I found out you always expected to die a dog's death?! All the times we were having fun with everyone and you-you always had...! Argh!"

He ruffles his hair, not caring if he's a mess after that. He points at Reborn. "You were an infuriating person who liked to make my life hell." Lal. "You were always a trigger-happy woman." Verde. "You once tried to experiment on me and my friends." Fong. "You... Er, well, you left I-Pin in my care. And that wasn't very responsible of you!"

With his anger mostly off, he sighs as he turns at last to Skull. "And you were the one who I think got the worse off of the deal."

He slumps on the free seat Daemon conjures behind him. He gives a nod in thanks before turning to the others again. "Did he tell you about me?"

"About you being the Decimo of Vongola, yes," Lal says, crossing her arms. "He also said Reborn was sent to tutor you to take the mantle and that's how you met us all."

Tsuna nods, turning away from Renato's scrutinizing eyes. "I was just a normal kid before that."

Fong narrows his eyes. "A sealed one, weren't you?"

"... Yeah." He coughs, trying to stay away from that topic as much as he can. "There was the Representative Battle and well, we found out that what happened to the Arcobaleno after the curse was over: they turn into Vindice."

"Well, more like they die and then the leader of the Vindice revived them."

"Shut up, D—Er, Misuto." He runs a hand through his hair. "We couldn't help you because—"

"Your Misuto explained it to us," Viper reminds him. "Time is money, so let's not waste it. We know our future selves couldn't be saved because we weren't harmonized with the same Sky."

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