76. World

"Do you hate me now?" Russo teased. 

"We're currently in quite an incredible part of the plot, so could we leave this for later?" I groaned, rolling my eyes as we made our way down to the field, where the other non-combatants had gone on ahead of us.

Yes, we are fast-forwarding to the end of the match. 

"I've watched this scene about a hundred times, so I'm pretty bored of it." He informed cheerfully, with an asshole's smile on his face.

"Noted with no thanks," I grumbled sharply at him. 

We were almost there now. It seemed the conversation had started without us-- we were missing out on the big conversation. Our appearance there has to be quiet or we'd ruin the mood.

Being mob extras were annoying. We had no place or role to fill in, and no space for lines or intervention or involvement.

"That aside, don't you think I'm kinda like Daisy? We're both zombies!" Russo piped up cheerfully again, as if he had zero worries in this universe. 

Ah, good point, I thought, being misled for a short moment.

Wait, not quite... something's a big distinction between Daisy and Russo, I know it. It's at the tip of my... "Actually--" I stopped in my tracks, finding the need and urge to think this through, "Daisy's undead because of his Sun Flames. The both of us are alive because of Void and-"

Night Flames, with the element of Transportation.

I stopped myself before it slipped off my tongue-- did Russo have those flames too? I had them-- no, it was Drew who had them. I've never tried lighting a flame after the Kokuyo Arc, but I don't believe those Night Flames were mine to control at all. 

I had initially thought it belonged to Void-- but if so, wouldn't Russo have them too? 

Telling Russo about the Night Flames may be irrelevant to the situation. Night Flames may not be what makes us undead.

"Flames, huh..." Russo mumbled after my half-hypothesis, "...you're actually pretty smart, aren't you? I've never been able to think stuff like that through." 

I pouted, "What's that supposed to mean?" I whined childishly at the comment, "Despite how I look, I was gunning for the scholarship of this prestigious college in my previous life!"

Not that Drew ever got the chance to take the entrance exam before she died.

Nor the opportunity to tell her brothers that little dream.

-

"Rei, what do you think?"

The moment I stepped into the scene, Reborn turned to me with a question. Everyone else seemed to spin toward me as well, and I was at the center of attention.

Wait what? Why the sudden- am I supposed to say something? Oh no this is turning into an awkward silence--

"Huh?" I stopped, confused. Rei? That's me, right? "Sorry, what were you talking about?"

"He missed the big part of the explanation, why the sudden question toward him?" Dino sighed, diverting his focus at Reborn. He didn't seem to see the point or reasoning or motive behind Reborn's actions and decisions.

It seemed the rest were quite confused as well-- Irie, Tsuna, Ryohei, Gokudera, Takeshi... They all eyed us with a strange, judging gaze-- they didn't seem to take this sudden entrance intervention well. They were a little conflicted on how to react.

"He doesn't need any explanation." Reborn said, matter-of-factly, turning back to me. Without missing another beat, he repeated his question. "Rei, what do you make of the current situation?"

Russo had been behind me, listening in-- upon Reborn's line, he let out a contented sigh. "What's this?" he chuckled, "You haven't been hiding your knowledge?"

A rhetorical question, I decided. My face dropped back into a poker face-- and my eyes darted around to ascertain the situation.

"It's been a while since Kyoko and Haru and the others got down here..." I spoke to myself in an audible volume, "Everyone has this 'end of the world' face... and Byakuran's not here yet."

"Not at the rematch deals yet. But it's probably after Irie's explanation." Russo mumbled back.

Eins.

"Alright, I know where we are." I lifted my head quickly. "I'm not really sure what you're looking for, Reborn. What do I think of the situation? We don't have much time, so for now I'll just go down to spoilers."

"Much time...?" Tsuna barely managed to ask.

"To sum it up quickly-- Don't worry, you guys!" Russo gave a reassuring smile, "We're nowhere near the end yet!" 

Zwei.

"Irie-kun, I need you to recall something from a past time ago." I crouched next to him, "It's a deal you made with Byakuran in a prior, leisurely Game of Choice. That's the key to our last chance at this battle."

"Wha-" Irie barely had time to react either,

"Hurry or our natural backup plan can't be cued in!" Russo added.

"Natural what?" Gokudera managed a 'huh?'.

Standing back up, I cleared my throat. "We've lost the Choice Battle, and that fact won't change." I spoke up, "But that isn't the end. Not yet."

Drei.

I turned right around to meet Gesso Byakuran in the eye. I couldn't resist the smug smirk that crawled its way up my face.

Russo spun around too-- and let out a soft chortle.

Byakuran-- he looked furious. No, that's not the right word-- it seemed a mixture of confusion and surprise. He was taken aback-- no, bewildered. Because something unexpected has occurred before his eyes.

"Byakuran!?" Tsuna called out in surprise at the white-haired male''s appearance.

Byakuran barely registered that yet. His eyes were fixed on mine. His lips parted to speak-- and he did so very slowly, ominously-- 

"...Who are you two?"

This sent a chorus of surprised gasps throughout our companions-- including the Millefiore's Funeral Wreaths. Even more so as they remembered Byakuran's abilities.

Byakuran, someone who had the knowledge of countless parallel worlds-- and he did not know the identities of the two people before him now.

What does that make the both of us?

"I've been waiting for this moment, for so long," Russo breathed beside me, a tangy, euphoric excitement I've never heard before in his tone. "A canon character, genuinely confused at this anomaly in their little journey. This is the best."

Deep in my heart, I honestly agreed.

Having been realized as an abnormal was such a recognition, acknowledgement-- and was so breaking the barriers of canon plot devices-- It was so exciting to imagine. 

Much more if a normally calm and collected, know-it-all character is puzzle, taken by surprise-- it was such a satisfying sense of achievement. It was such a guilty pleasure.

I saw Byakuran's fist tighten in irritation. 

After all, another thing he hadn't expected had come by into this timeline.

But at the next moment, I let out a deep, deep, sigh. Why, oh why-- why couldn't this have happened when Takeshi and Tsuna weren't around? The aftermath seemed quite a hassle to deal with.

Takeshi looked mortified. Tsuna looked horrified. Gokudera looked doubtful-- and Ryohei looked like he still didn't understand what on earth was going on.

"I'm not a masochist," I snapped at Russo, "But I honestly agree."

-

We're halfway through the Future Arc, I realized. We're at the climax. We're almost there. Almost at the Future Final Battle.

Ah-- I think I'm gonna miss these little moments I have with Russo. These anticlimactic synchronizations. Wherein our minds link and begin to think as one-- 

despite having only met in this world for very short, it was a very fun time.

But when we reach the end of the final battle...

Will I have to part ways with Russo?