31. Bazooka

"Is that all for math?" I asked, putting down my pencil.

"Yeap!" Takeshi laughed. He closed his book, breathing a sigh of relief. "Now all that's left is... Modern Literature, and English."

Tsuna slumped against the bed, whining something inaudible in exhaustion and no get me out of this homework hell already-

"Let's take a break, then," I suggested.

At that, Takeshi let out a relieved sigh as well. Gokudera stretched, turning to his Boss and asking him if he wanted something from downstairs.

As if on cue, Lambo charged into the room, laughing, "Rei, Play with Me!" he declared, walking past Takeshi and trampling on Tsuna's stomach before standing on the table.

I chuckle. "Alright, just a little." I agreed, silently offering a prayer that Tsuna over there was still alright, "What should we play?"

But Gokudera wasn't letting that offense go. He instantly grabbed the cow by the head and pulled his cheeks apart, "You Stupid Cow! What on earth are you doing to the Tenth!"

"I'm alright, Gokudera-kun... Haha," Tsuna whined, clutching his stomach, slowly recovering. Well, Lambo's feet weren't that painful anyways--

"Shut up, Ahodera!" Lambo yelled back, "Let go of me!"

"Apologize to the Tenth!" Gokudera demanded angrily.

"Blerrghh!" Lambo stuck out a tongue. He reached into his afro and took out a grenade. "Go die, Stupidera!" he declared, grinning mischievously and--

Without hesitation, Gokudera threw both Lambo and the grenade out the window.

------

"WAAAH!" Lambo was crying out loud, but I held him tight, rubbing his head soothingly.

"Now, now, Lambo," I tried to calm the child down, to no avail.

"Goodness, SHUT UP!" the one that pulled the last straw was, again, Gokudera. He yelled at the crying child angrily.

Lambo froze for half a second, before tears dripped down again, he sniffled, and mumbled under his breath. "To... le... rate..." he sniffled again, "WAAAAAH!!!"

Lambo's tears burst out like a dam as he reached into his hair, pulled out the purple bazooka and turned the gun barrel towards himself.

What he didn't notice was that he was holding the gun the other way around. The nozzle was aimed directly up-- it was aimed directly at my face.

"Wait... Huh?" it took me a moment to realize it too, "Wait, Lambo!"

BANG!

------

Ten Years in the Future (POV: Rei)

When the pink mist cleared up, I was in... a hotel room? It was huge and grand and looked to be a 5-stared room. The walls were a velvet red, with intricate trims and designs in gold and black. The floor was a soft, carpet flooring, with similarly delicate designs.

The bed was king-sized, and it looked like future me had just gotten out of bed.

Where am I? I looked around, trying to find signs of where I was. I looked out the window-- I was in a quiet part of town. I spotted brochures on the bedside table, next to the phone.

I picked them up and-- They're all in Chinese??

I looked through them quickly, finding an advertisement of the hotel I was in.

"Wha-" I gasped, "I'm in Sichuan?"

------

Present (POV: Third Person)

"Woah, what was that!" Takeshi was first to react, amazed at the sudden burst of smoke that filled the room up in seconds. "Rei, you alright?"

"Stupid Cow, what did you do!" Gokudera yelled next.

"Oh no, he fired the Ten Year Bazooka at Rei-san!" Tsuna shrieked, panicking now.

Coughing sounds that did not belong to the three of them were heard. However, Lambo's crying overwhelmed it all and gave an irritating background noise.

The coughs paused, and a soft murmur of "Now, now," could be heard. "Don't cry."

And to their surprise, Lambo instantly stopped crying.

The smoke cleared up, and in the middle of the room stood a tall man, cradling Lambo gently in his arms. The man saw the three, and smiled.

He stood perhaps taller than Takeshi, and he wore a Chinese changshan. The Chinese garb was green, with golden trims and designs of incredibly high quality. His hair, long to the middle of his back, was pulled to a low ponytail. His overgrown bangs hung over and covered his left eye.

"I'm sorry, but do you perhaps know the date?" the man chuckled slightly.

------

Ten Years in the Future

"What is TYL Me doing in freaking China!" I whined, "My first in a lifetime chance to get transported into the future and I have no idea what the hell's going on!"

I slapped myself.

No, Drew, stop that. No.

I sighed, putting down the brochures and deciding the investigate the closet. And sure enough, it was quite empty. There was a normal shirt, normal jeans and a hoodie on the left, cleanly separated from the clothes on the right--

I just stopped.

That's... a suit.

"Well, obviously, future me's gotta have a suit or two..." I tried to assure myself. Why am I even worried, future me is probably a working Mafiaso in Vongola.

But something caught my eye.

Behind the suit was another coat. A coat with long sleeves, stripes in faded yellow and black.

Giving in to curiosity, I brushed the suit aside to get a closer look. My mouth instantly hung open as I registered the garb's appearance.

"Wha-" I gasped,

"The Varia Uniform?!?"

-------

Present

"Me?" the male pointed at himself, "Who else could I be? I'm Ninomiya Rei, of course!"

Lambo was latching on to Rei's shoulders sulking and sniffling as he tried to calm down. Rei had given him a huge lollipop, so he was occupied with that.

Tsuna was just pointing at him, his current state a complete loss of words. His mouth was agape as he tried to figure out what he should ask first.

"Woah!" Takeshi awed, "Is this your newest magic trick, Rei?" he asked.

Gokudera tutted, annoyed. "Your characters overlaps with I-pin. You're undermining her, stop that." He spat, the only insult he could think of at the moment.

Rei chuckled at the comments. "It's not a trick, Takeshi. Well, it's magic. Let's just say I transported myself ten years into the past, with magic."

"Woah! That's so cool!" Takeshi instantly believed it, "So, are there flying cars in your time?" he questioned, absolutely interested now.

"He believed it???" Tsuna freaked out. After all, this was Yamamoto, the one who absolutely refuses to believed the goddamn Mafia is not a game. But one line from Rei and he believes in this insanity??

Rei is terrifying.

"Hm?" Gokudera perked up, noticing something, "Are those rings?" he pointed out, nudging towards the male's hands.

Rei's sleeves were long enough to cover a little beyond his wrists, but at movements, the multiple rings on his fingers glinted in the light.

"Eh??" Tsuna was interested too now, "Rei-san, are you married?"

Rei burst out laughing, "No, no!" he denied, stepping over and showing the three his hands, "They're not on my ring fingers, see?"

Sure enough, there were four rings, one on each of his pointer fingers and middle fingers.

On the left hand were simple rings:

A dark grey-- but not quite black-- steel ring, with no designs on it whatsoever.

A silver ring with three gems on it-- red, green and blue.

The ones on his right hand were simple ones.

On his pointer finger was a black ring with one purple stone on it;

but he wore an incredibly intricate ring on his middle finger. A gaudy ring with intricate, intricate designs--

If the three had looked closer, they would have noticed the words VARIA inscribed on the middle of the ring.

------

Ten Years in the Future

"Oy, Hijau!" the door was suddenly kicked open.

I jumped, startled by the sudden sound. I turned over quickly, panicked. Who-?

The man was someone I didn't recognize. He wore Taekwondo garb, was tall and quite muscled. He looked angry for half a second before his gaze softened.

"Huh? Do you look younger?" he questioned. He spoke in Chinese

I stepped back defensively. Now what? Deciding I had to just go with the flow, I swallowed, taking a breath.

"Nihao!" I greeted him, putting on the cutest smile I had, "Who are you?"

The male raised an eyebrow, "Y'know what, I'm not even gonna ask. It's one of your weird magic tricks again, isn't it, Hijau?" he sighed, "I hope you turn back soon."

Hijau? Was that my codename here?

Why Hijau, though, that's not even Chinese-

"VOI! Hijau, hurry the fuck up you piece of-" a slightly more familiar voice came into earshot.

Now, readers, who has a gruff, deep, and annoying loud voice, and is very famous for his exceedingly original shout, "Voi"?

"Why the fuck do you look younger??" he yelled.

I kept my face straight, scratching my cheek. "I got shot by the Ten-Year bazooka!" I giggled.

Superbi Squalo wore his usual black coat, the sword on his arm hidden from view. He rolled his eyes and groaned, mumbling something about "that Bovino Famiglia thing again"

"Eh, Sayu, what's this Bazooka thing?" the Taekwondo man asked.

Sayu? I was confused for a second. He was referring to Squalo, so it's probably Squalo'ss codename. Sayu... Sounded kinda familiar.

Ohh, Shark in Chinese.

What kind of codename is that?

"Whatever, let's get going!" Squalo yelled, "We're gonna be fucking late, and it'd be your fault for taking your goddamn time!" he scolded.

"Late?" I piqued, "What's the situation?"

"For the mission, of course!" Taekwondo Man chimed in, a smile on his face. "But you sure we're going with Hijau in this state?"

"He'll turn back in five minutes!" came Squalo's annoyed reply.

Mission? Was this a mission for the Varia? Or the Vongola in general? What kind of mission is this? Why would Squalo be with me? Who is Taekwondo Man?

Why are we using code names?

And when I was lost in thought, a pink smoke engulfed me.

-------

Present

"I'm so happy! Takeshi's so tiny again!" Rei fawned over the baseball player, awing at the fact he was taller than the baseball idiot.

Takeshi laughed back, "Well, so this is how it feels to be shorter than Rei!" he was enjoying himself too.

Gokudera sweatdropped. "Why are you wearing Chinese Clothes?"

"I'm actually on a mission in China." Rei explains, "This changshan was something I got from I-pin's Master. Isn't it cool?" he showed it off, proud of how good he looked in it.

"Mi-Mission??" Tsuna freaked out, "Wait, Rei-san, what kind of mission?"

At that, Rei stopped for a long moment, thought for a while, then grinned like the devil. "Mafia, of course!" he answered happily.

A strangled squeak erupted from Tsuna's throat.

"We're still playing the Mafia game?" Takeshi was surprised, "Cool!"

"This is not a game, dammit!" Gokudera yelled at the Idiot.

Rei giggled again, "Well, this is a nostalgic scene!" he said, smiling a tad sadly, "I'm rarely back at Home, so I don't really see you two together anymore."

This made the two stop.

"Eh-" Takeshi was surprised, "We don't see each other often?" Takeshi sounded a little heartbroken, "Why?"

At that, Rei panicked, "No, no we still meet!" he tried, "But my base of operations is different from where you two are." he explained.

"Huh?" Gokudera raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you working for the Tenth too?"

Rei smiles, "Of course I am!" he says.

He did not give a further clarification.

"I guess it's been about five minutes," Rei stepped back again, taking Lambo off his shoulders and putting him on the table. "So, before I forget.."

Rei took out a ring from his finger. It was the ring on his left middle finger-- a dark grey steel ring with no designs on it-- and Rei tossed it towards Tsuna.

"Huh? Eh? Wait, wha-?" Tsuna was taken aback, but caught the ring anyways, "Huh?"

Rei grinned. "Give it to my current self," he told them. "Tell him it's a gift from the Void!"

And he disappeared into pink smoke before Tsuna could inquire any further.

--------

------

Ten Years in the Future (POV: Third Person)

When the smoke dissipated again, their Rei was there, chuckling.

Squalo tutted. "Great, you're back. What sort of moron are you to get fucking hit by a bazooka?" he reprimanded, holding in his loud volume and pretty much failing.

"I'm sorry, Sayu." Rei smiled, "I'm back."

"C'mon, we're gonna be late!" Taekwondo Man called over, "Hijau, you don't get breakfast!"

"Ehhh??" Rei whined, "But I'm hungrryy!"

------

------

Present (POV: Rei)

Time: 1:00 AM

I couldn't sleep. I was exhausted, but I couldn't sleep.

Lying down on my bed, I fiddled a ring with my fingers, eyeing it. but no matter how long I stared at it, no designs would appear on it, nor would any answers to my questions just naturally pop up.

I got out of bed and turned my desk lamp on. Pulling on my hoodie, I settled down at my desk, and reached for the books I stacked up at the side of my table.

A green leather journal.

I spent a good hour reading. Reading. Reading. Reading. Reading up on anything that had to do with the Varia. Why would I be in the Varia in the future?

The Varia had no place for me.

At around 2:30 AM, I closed the book, giving up. I sighed, slumping at my chair, turning back to the ring.

A simple but cool ring. Made of a material I could not identify, in a colour not quite black as gray, and not quite gray as black.

Placing it under the light, I observed the ring again. Something about the ring felt comforting. Familiar. Soothing. It made me forget all my worries and send me into a silent, peaceful state of blissful nothingness.

Nothingness.

My eyes widened as I dropped the ring.

"The future you said... it was a gift from the void... or something like that."

This ring felt like that world. That empty space of nothingness, where no pain is felt, no sorrow is gained, and no regrets are left behind. The place where all my worries melt away into nothingness, and I end up wanting to stay in the Void, to live there like a broken doll--

Why would my future self give me this?

If my future self had this, doesn't it mean I would eventually get it? Why would my future self personally hand it to me? Or does it mean-- my future self got it in the same way I did?

If my future self handed it to me, which in turn I will hand it to my past self after ten years-- huh? That was confusing. Where did the ring come from, then? Is this a paradox?

URGHHH!! I wanted to groan, but I kept quiet because of the time.

I sighed.

But, maybe, my future self gave me this to assure me. I may be thinking a little too deep, but this ring seemed to send me this message:

"Ninomiya Rei is alive, even Ten Years in the future."

I smiled. I put a hand at my chest, right where my surgery scar was.

I won't die.

I picked up another journal. A brown leather journal with my name scripted on the cover. It was the favorite of all the notebooks I got from my birthday.

I flipped it open. The first page contained a picture of Rei, Takeshi and Kyoko when we were children. I smiled at the sight of it.

The following pages were filled with photos as well, with little captions on the date and situation. I had spent all night on my birthday writing these down, because I wanted the memory to last forever.

I turned the book around, and lifted the back cover. It contained, not a picture, but a drawing. With Drew's art skills, I had created a drawing of her. Of Drew Cite.

And the page was followed by more drawings of her. Her Brothers. Their memories-- The last drawing I had was the only colored one. A drawing of them three, smiles on their faces.

A small smile crawled onto my face as I brushed my fingers over the art. "Eve is the red clown," I whispered, "Zen is the blue clown," my fingers landed on Drew, "And Drew is the green clown."

"Red, Blue, Green." I said in Chinese, then I switched languages, and said "Red, Blue, Green," in English. "Rouge, Bleu, Vert." I continued, in French. "Rosso, Blu, Verde." was Italian. "Aka, Ao, Midori," was Japanese.

Huh? That was the point where I noticed something. Something, terribly, terribly frightening. Mortifying. A fact I could've gone without knowing.

A fact I wished I never realized.

Red, Blue... Green?

A vision of the path rose in my mind. Fear filled my senses as my train of thought brought me in a direction I did not want it to.

"Mera and Biru. You just need to tell me where these two are." The hand on her face left her mouth as the man asked again, this time giving her something that sounded like names.

Usually, this was the point I would forcefully stop myself. I would slap myself and force my thoughts onto something else, to quickly run away from the topic that would bring me back to tears. The topic of her death.

But this time, I couldn't stop myself.

Which language was it again?

The one... aah, yes, it was from Asia, when Drew heard it. The land where there were some people who wore shawls to cover their heads due to their cultures.

Eve, Zen, and Drew.

Red, Blue and Green.

Merah, Biru, and...

Hijau.