Chapter Text
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tsuna stared at the envelope in his hand. "So, I get salad."
"Dinner salad, to be exact." Eizan answered from his perch.
He was going to say 'same difference' but he mummed. "No conditions? Anything?"
"No." The upperclassman smiled, causing Tsuna's left eye to twitch as his intuition hummed.
He shrugged instead of pressing for answer. He can just wait for his opponent. "Okay."
He's here in the ninth seat's office, which was Etsuya Eizan's in general. He's one of the three organizers who came up with the themes of the dishes they will need to make and present to the judges.
Honestly, he cannot feel easy with this man's presence and being there alone. Whenever he sees the upperclassman or hear the guy's name in general, he remembers Reborn's message about some people searching about his personal information. Eizan must be really searching for a way to blackmail him or bribe him since his tutor hadn't say anything. Regardless, he needs to be careful on making him back away with any means.
"Congratulations on making it to the tournament, Sawada. You and Yukihira are formidable." Eizan praised lightly.
He gave the fakest charming smile he could muster. "Thank you, Eizan-sempai. We'll try our best to be get through this first round."
The brunet's smile gave an edge when he noticed a nerve on the upperclassman's forehead getting prominent before it slowly went away. "I heard you're a son of a housewife."
Tsuna's intuition clicked here and there, causing him to relax further. "Yes. What about it?"
"Your information is secured not only here in the academy but also outside." The ninth seat said flippantly. Tsuna thanked the heavens for giving him Shoichi, Spanner and Verde. "Why?"
"I don't know." He said in an innocently clueless tone. "But why are you researching about me, Sempai? I mean my tutor had told me there are some people lurking around my hometown and asking things to the folks there about me." He smirked a little when the upperclassman stilled. "Too bad the prefect caught them and extracted some information."
"Who are you?" Eizan asked with edge in his tone.
Tsuna went near the table and took a pen before taking the notepad that was nearby. "It won't be nice if you suddenly hear the words from my mouth. You'll probably won't work well if I do." He put the pen on the holders and placed the pad faced down to the table. "We won't want that, do we?"
Eizan was about to get the notepad and open it when Tsuna's opponent opened the door. The brunet's face lit up as he watched Shun walked in. He waved at the teen who raised a hand in greeting. They made a high-five before swiftly slapping their hands again downwards after making their arms fall. He laughed when the auburn smiled in satisfaction. They had been perfecting that greeting since a week ago.
"We're having salad party tomorrow." Tsuna broke the news before gesturing to Eizan who was watching them. "Go on. Make him explain."
Eizan glared at him behind the glasses, as if he got the gist the brunet was ‘cooking’. "You're the fifth match for tomorrow and your theme is as what Sawada had said, salad. Dinner salad with dressings. It can be Japanese or western or any kind."
Tsuna smirked tauntingly at the upperclassman behind Shun. Damn. Reborn will be really proud of him.
"Huh. And we'll be cooking for lunch." Shun commented.
"After the first match, right?" He noted before nodding to their upperclassman. "Thanks, Eizan-sempai. We'll be going now." Then he gave a bow with Shun.
When they got to the stadium, he let the auburn go first. When Shun was out of sight, he started to chortle. The upperclassman's face was really funny. It's like he was experiencing a constipation. What more if he suddenly got a hold of where he was affiliated to?
The first match between Houjou and Marui were ending when he went in. He was by the back since he couldn't find a good seat to sit. He went 'o' when Senzaemon Nakiri went out of his seat, took the big brush from one of those naked men on the side, wet the tip with a black ink and started to write in the white paper as if he was fired up. It almost reminded of what he does whenever he gets shot by dying will.
It was Miyoko Houjou who won. When the second match was announced, he smiled. It was Soma's and Alice's turn. He started to wander around to see if he could have any seat near the railing so he could cheer on Soma. That kid needs a cheerer even if he says he doesn't (not like Soma did say that because as long as Tsuna's the one cheering, he won't mind).
"Aren't you gonna cheer your best friend on?" He looked back to see Hayama leaning on the wall, green eyes on him. "He's up next."
"I am." Tsuna answered as he flapped his arms in panic. "But I can't see any good seat near the railings so I could cheer him on."
"You can go to your dormmates." The other suggested, nodding to the group of people at other side.
"But they're on the other side." He complained then blinked. "Hey. It's easy to complain to you, Hayama-san. I don't even feel nervous around you."
"Huh." The dark-skinned teen blurted.
"I know right." He nodded.
"Come on. Let's go down so you can look at any seat." Hayama urged.
"Okay okay." Tsuna responded as he followed the teen.
They went down to the railings and looked for a seat. They saw two empty ones near the judges' side. Tsuna scrunched his face in thought of whether he should shut up or cheer. He looked at Hayama who was saving his seat while seating on the other available one. The teen eyed him questioningly. Right there, Tsuna decided to forgo his dignity to shout.
(What? It was Hayama who asked him to cheer on Soma.)
When Soma made his appearance, Tsuna cupped the corner of his mouth and shouted the redhead's name when everyone was just quiet. They all looked at him, even the judges craned their heads to eye him. But his eyes were on the redhead who was searching for him. He called out the redhead's name again. When yellow met brown, he raised a hand and waved it. Yukihira beamed at him.
When Alice Nakiri entered, all of them groaned in despair for the redhead's luck; thinking he'll lose. Tsuna rolled his eyes and cupped his mouth again.
"Go Soma! You can do it!" He shouted again with a smile, making the redhead look at his way again and smile too. "Show them what you're made of! Go Soma!"
"Thanks Tsuna!" The redhead shouted back with a raise of his hand where the towel was tied.
"Ow. Tsuna-kun! Not gonna cheer for me?" Alice pouted.
Tsuna laughed before shouting an answer. "Sorry, Alice-chan! I'm rooting for Soma but good luck!"
Soma laughed when Alice pouted more.
"You sure are a game changer." Hayama commented from behind him.
The brunet rested his arms on the railing and smiled as the announcer started the timer and both cooks moved to do their own dishes. "I try my best to be supportive, Hayama-san. We fight for the things that are important to us. Like Shiomi-sensei for you."
Hayama stared at him. "How did you know that?"
He knocked on his head with a cheeky smile. Not that he'll tell the other that it was so obvious and he heard other students talking about who Hayama is fighting for. "Intuition."
As the cook off proceeded, Tsuna watched while thinking of what he should do for his match tomorrow. A dinner salad. There are variety of dish he could make. Dinner salad is usually served prominently in the Western continents. It contains poultry and cheese most of the time. It's pretty broad since there are varieties of ingredients to choose from.
He moved his lips to the side as Soma started to toy a cheap candy. He can recognize the candy since he bought some when he was a child because he wanted to try it. Last night, he stayed up with Soma so the redhead has someone to be with while experimenting. But for some reason, the redhead felt different yesterday. Not distracted, just thoughtful and always looking at him.
The brunet discreetly touched the lower part of his eyes. Maybe Soma heard him cry when he excused himself? He couldn't help it. Bento was one of the things he enjoyed with his guardians in Namimori before it slowly dwindled to eating his lunch alone behind the sports club building. It hurts him how he felt so lonely and pathetic that time. But yesterday, Tsuna felt amazing because Soma made him special again. Because he felt like that bento was made for him.
Tsuna dubbed the corner of his eyes with the lower parts of his thumbs before focusing on the battle and his dish for tomorrow. Gah. He almost teared up.
The match went down to Soma being the victor for being able to grasp what a bento really is. Something that can be enjoyed. Alice's bento was good, but it was more of sophistication. He sat back after cheering a lot, and massaged his throat. He hopes he doesn't get a hoarse voice later.
"Try drinking boiled ginger with honey later." Hayama advised. "It's a good remedy for sore throats."
He beamed.
"Don't give me that look. You have to cheer louder for Yukihira since I'm gonna defeat him." The other huffed, looking away.
He narrowed his eyes on the teen before smiling again. "Soma will win."
Hayama smirked. "That's some faith."
"That's what friends are for." Tsuna answered before patting the other's shoulder. "Good luck to you too."
When Megumi went in, Tsuna cheered as loud as their dormmates. He was watching and thinking about his theme when he felt his phone vibrate. He took it out of his pocket and looked at it. A message from Soma. He opened it up and read the content with curiosity. It's not every day that he gets a text from the redhead when they're usually together.
"Hayama-san, I'm going." He bid as he patted his mittens and pills before slipping the phone on a different pocket. "Who are you going to fight tomorrow?"
"Hisako Arato." Hayama replied.
"Oh. Good luck. You two are going to battle on the same field." He wished before moving for the stairs.
"What about you?" He looked back to see green eyes staring at him at their corners. "Who's your opponent?"
"Shun Ibusaki. The smoke prince." He answered before a thought crossed his mind. "You can watch us after your match." Then he ran up to the stairs.
He ran around the venue to get to where their dormmates were. When he was getting near, he saw Soma, who was by the corridor; waiting for him with the same bento box he presented to the judges in hands. He stopped running and stared at the redhead who looked back to him. The redhead has this determined expression on his face that scared Tsuna a little.
What is he determined about?
"Here. You haven't eaten lunch, right?" Soma asked as he handed the container.
"Y-Yeah." The brunet answered as he took the offered bento and the chopsticks. "Is there something wrong?"
"No. Nothing at all." The redhead answered as they sat on the free seat behind the students who are watching Tadokoro and Kurokiba's cook off. "Did you get your theme for tomorrow?"
"Yup. It's dinner salad." He answered while opening the bento and placed them on the seat. "Itadakimasu." Then he started to eat.
Tsuna had to take a deep breath as he ate. He feels so special for eating something like this. He can feel his heart thrumming in warmth. It was far tastier than yesterday. He even had to scrub his eyes with his sleeves to remove the tears that were threatening to fall.
To eat a bento again with a friend... He felt so special.
"Why are you crying?" Soma asked softly. Not worried, just asking. The kind of questioning he appreciates from the redhead. "You cried yesterday too."
"Before I came here..." Tsuna sniffed, trying to contain the pain that is starting to blossom on his gut. "I was left to fend myself. I had friends I ate bento with; but things happened and the last time I ate a bento was before I left the town. I don't remember if I ate all of them or I only ate fourth, but I know I was alone."
"What happened?"
Tsuna laughed a little, hollow and pained as he recalls everything before shaking his head. "I was replaced by my twin. Anyway, yesterday, I kinda remembered how it felt to be lonely. But today, eating this again, you made me feel special. Eating a bento with someone again; I missed that."
Soma gave him a half hug. "I'll never leave you alone, Tsuna. Even if we part ways at some point, I'll always call you."
"Thank you, Soma." He breathed before they parted. He gave a smile. "Thank you."
He got a grin in return.
Tsuna grinned evilly as he stared at the drooling picture of Soma. The redhead was asleep when he left the dorm. Yukihira was pretty tired yesterday since he needed to stay up for his bento idea, so he needed to sleep in. Who knows if the redhead is awake now.
The brunet raised his arms heavenwards and stretched as much as he could. He feels sleepy too since he has been thinking of what kind of dinner salad should he make until midnight, and started to do some testing till four. He snickered when he remembered the picture he sent to Reborn. The hitman will really demand him to make the salad he will do today. That guy is a sucker for good western dishes.
He brought his arms down when he saw Hayama coming in. He gave a smile from his spot on the bench and a lazy wave. The guy looked a little exhausted; however, who wouldn't be? Everyone who fights in that stage will get exhausted with all the thinking you'll need and the cooking you'll do.
"Good job. You made it!" Tsuna said with an exaggerated throw of his hands. "Yehey!"
"Shut up." Hayama snapped without heat. The brunet only chuckled. "You're up next."
"Yeah." He stood up and took his case and white apron. "I'm gonna make some dinner salad, would you want some?"
"I'm not a fan of it."
Tsuna shrugged. "No prob. Anyway, bye bye."
The brunet waved a hand to Hayama who only stared at him. He walked out to the stadium and closed his eyes a little from the light. It was blinding. When he got to the stage, he placed his knife case to the kitchen before standing by the side, waiting for Shun to show up.
The auburn did show up with his white chef uniform. Truly, Tsuna felt outdressed with his white long sleeve polo tucked under his black slacks. But he doesn't mind. He can't move with the usual white chef uniform nor can he afford it since he's low on money these days.
(Really. Even his intuition kept on vibrating 'bad omen' in his mind.)
He stood there, hand on the edge of the kitchen while Shun was on the same spot, arranging the sleeves of his white top. Tsuna smiled at the auburn who nodded back. They'll have to give it their all since Shun will not want to fight someone who's half-hearted and they don't have to be scored by numbers. So, he can go all out, thinking that every judge is the perfectionist Reborn with gun totting Leon. He's already shuddering at the painful criticism he'll gets if he serves something stupid.
"Now, the fifth match of the first round..." The emcee announced.
Tsuna took his time to take his apron and put it on.
"Begin cooking!"
On cue, they moved. Tsuna pouted as he shuffled around his mind for the right song to hum. He grinned when he remembered Lambo's song. The kid... Seriously. A conceited obnoxious child with a subtle kind heart and childish wonder. He missed his ex-lightning guardian.
Putting the pan he needs to use on the counter, he sauntered to the pantry for the ingredients with a basket. Most of them were there; some weren't which he was carrying with him. He did get a hold that the next match will serve desserts so he'll have to make a good dinner salad. He had been thinking what kind of dinner salad would Reborn wanted to eat. It was something he almost forgot since he was so absorbed on the thought of what to make. (He shuddered at the thought of forgetting Reborn. He'll die if the hitman gets a hold of that thought.) So, he really stayed up late doing things with Reborn's demon mode in mind.
He looked over Shun who was starting his wood. Not really well-verse with how smoking does, he kept an eye on what the auburn will do while doing his own thing. Hey. It's fun watching people cook as much as he likes to cook.
"Hello Sawada-san!" Tsuna looked up to see the cameraman smiling at him. "Do you have anyone to say hello since you're one of the crowd's favorites?"
The brunet tilted his head to the right with a thoughtful look as he stopped marinating the salmon. It's so nice he talked with Ikumi about marination that one time. "Well," He looked at the camera and smiled brightly. "Hello, Reborn! If you're watching, I'll really try my best to cook this for you! Thank you!"
"You're welcome." The cameraman smiled back before moving away.
Tsuna giggled. Reborn will be so pissed.
He's torn between throttling the brunet or praising him for making him salivate on the forming salad the child is making. He had to gulp a lot of time and satiate his craving with the picture of the salad. Fuck it. Just why does Tsuna have to pick up his teasing attitude of all things to learn?
He glared at Skull who was snickering beside him. They're streaming the same video to see how Tsuna will fare with the salad theme. Reborn didn't teach the brunet how to make salads, but he did brief him how it goes. It was one of the things he was craving for years but he couldn't bare for his student to make it since he doesn't want him to suffer. And they didn't have much time to do it after Iemitsu and Ieyasu came.
In his mind, he's already listing the things he wants Tsuna to make. Payback is not that sweet if the receiving end doesn't suffer right.
"Oh. His opponent served first." Skull said as the auburn teen, Shun Ibusaki, served his own salad dish.
"Hmm. Smoked salmon, potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts and cheese with arugula and avocado." Reborn mused. "Interesting."
"He made a ponzu dressing." Skull nodded. "It does look tasty. Western salad with Japanese dressing."
"Alder woods are good for smoking." The hitman commented after he heard the auburn's answer why the smoked ones tasted sweet. "But apple wood chips are naturally sweet. If you burn them, they'll have a good taste. It's a good choice."
"Huh. If you rate it from one to ten stars, what will it be?"
"Probably three. The ponzu dressing is brilliant. Ibusaki must be really conversant about the smoking method of cooking. This can be one of his specialties or his already."
"He is the smoking prince according to them. Oh. Look. Tsuna looks really amazed." Skull snickered. "I never saw him look like that before."
"Have you seen Yukihira yesterday? He had the same expression. He must've got it from that kid." He scoffed. 'And probably learned the food teasing from the redhead too.'
"Positive reviews, but bad news, he couldn't make the director strip. Ah. Tsuna's next."
Reborn cursed when the brunet served the dishes and smiled cheekily to the camera with a peace sign. That brat is going to get it next time.