Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gokudera definitely was not slacking off. He simply went for a walk, even though it was just inside the Vongola base, but a walk nonetheless.
He had been training with Bianchi to finally be able to use the flames and boxes properly, but, whether he liked to admit it or not, he was not making much progress.
So instead of getting frustrated and still failing at the training, he decided to just leave the training grounds and cool off. At least, that’s what he was telling himself.

Practically stomping through the hallways of the base, that were cluttered with boxes and all kinds of junk, he clicked his tongue while chewing on the lit cigarette in his mouth. He was running out of time to get the hang of theses boxes…

With another clicking of his tongue he turned around a corner into yet another hallway, when he suddenly saw someone walking out of one of the rooms. For some reason, he immediately took some steps back and hid behind the corner and just observed the person from his spot.
He saw a woman, with short, dark-red hair walk out of the room, throwing a small backpack over one shoulder. It looked like she was wearing a suit, but the sleeves were rolled up and instead of a dress shirt, she wore a rust-colored shirt. Closing the door behind her, her gaze lingered on the door for a few seconds before letting out a long sigh.

Gokudera watched, as this woman turned around and made her way down the hallway. The silver haired boy only saw her figure growing smaller and smaller until she was completely out of sight. He had never seen this woman before, so why was she in the base? She at least didn’t appear to be part of the Millefiore family or another kind of enemy, since the base was protected to the knives. They would have noticed any intruder. Her attire also seemed similar to the suits the future Yamamoto and Hibari wore, so was she actually an ally?

None of this was making any sense to him, so he needed answers. Once Gokudera was sure, that she was gone, he rushed towards the room the red-haired woman had come out of. With a swift motion, he slid the door open, and was greeted by a simple bedroom. There were even more boxes placed at the back of the room, but other than a bed, a desk and chair, the room was empty. Had this woman been staying in the base as well? If so, why hadn’t she made any contact with the Tenth? If she stayed here, then it must mean that she was connected to the Vongola family in a way.

While even more questions circled around in Gokudera’s mind, his training or lack of already forgotten, he noticed an envelope on the desk. Even better, it had “To Hayato” written onto it.
He shouldn’t have been curious, yet he was. He shouldn’t have opened the envelope, but he did. It was addressed to him, so why shouldn’t he? He didn’t care if it was meant for his future self. However, as soon as he started reading the letter that was inside, he slowly started to regret his decision.
He read the letter a few times, not truly believing the words, while also feeling his face growing hotter and hotter by the minute.

Dear Hayato,

I don’t know when the actual you is going to be back, but I wanted to leave this letter behind, just in case.
By the time you will read this, I will already be on my way to take care of my people. They don’t have it that easy and I need to make sure that they are safe.
I’m not sure how things are going to turn out, but I hope you will be safe too. Of course, I know you are perfectly capable of protecting yourself and the others, but still.

I also hope I can be with you again sooner than later.
I love you.

Yours, Mai

Even though he read the letter several times, he still hastily folded the piece of paper into its original form and shoved it back into the envelope, partly out of shock, partly out of disbelief. Slamming it onto the desk again, he quickly got out of the room and just walked wherever his feet took him. Gokudera still wasn’t sure what to make of it. Did it mean the he, or rather his future self and that woman were…? Or was that letter a confession from this Mai-person? If so, what the hell was his future self doing? Wasn’t he supposed to do a perfect job as the Tenth’s right hand, especially in times like these?

He tried to get these thoughts out of his head and to focus on the more important things, like going back to his training and to be the perfect right hand man, which he couldn’t say about his future self. Not to mention, it seemed like she wasn’t keen on making it known that she was at the base, so hopefully he wasn’t going to meet this damn woman ever again.

~*~

That same morning was a silent one in the residential area of Namimori.
The quiet was suddenly interrupted by a loud banging sound, followed by a huge cloud of pink smoke. It had only come from the yard of one of the houses and only alerted the people, which were on a lookout close to the home in question. After the smoke started to clear up, one could make out the silhouette of a person. The maroon hair of said person that was short just a second ago was now reaching the middle of her back.

Sitting on the ground, not knowing what just happened, Mai only tried to make out her surroundings. She had been on her way to school, hadn’t she? She was sure she had already made her way close to the school grounds, so why was she now back at her own home? The teen didn’t know that she had just switched places with her future self.

Still not sure, what was happening, Mai stood up from the grass and patted down her school uniform, to rid it of any remaining dirt. She shouldered her bag again, when she heard unfamiliar voices.
“What was that?!”
“It came from the garden!”

Without any restraint, two men wearing suits and black sunglasses entered the property and stared at Mai. She raised an eyebrow at them, being confused as to who they were and what exactly they wanted at her home. One of the men rummaged through his suits pockets and brought out a photograph. They both switched looking at the picture and Mai several times.
“That is… her, isn’t it?”
“I think so, but she looks… younger?”

What the hell were those two talking about? Were they actually looking for her or something? The girl was not able to make any sense of this situation and these guys became more an dmore sketchy to her. The photograph was put away again, and the two guys started walking towards Mai. When a grin began to form on of their faces, she felt how her stomach started to turn a little bit. With every step they were getting closer, she backed away until she hit the wall that surrounded the property.
“You know what? There’s no need to be picky here. I guess it’s still our lucky day. You’re coming with us, missy. So be a good kid and behave.”

Something in Mai’s head clicked and she decided on one thing: these guys weren’t going to take her anywhere. The little bit of fear she had inside her was replaced with determination to get away from here. Furrowing her brows and correcting her stance by putting one foot slightly forward, the redhead slammed the palm of her right hand up onto the grinning idiot’s chin. The few seconds both of them were occupied to understand, what was going on, Mai moved and with a roundhouse kick to the same poor guy she caused them to topple over and land on the ground. Without any hesitations, she broke into a run, out of the garden and through the gate. She ran as fast as she could, not really knowing where she should go.

What the hell…, was the only thing she could think about.
What the hell, what the hell, what the hell?!
With each step she took, she started to panic. What in the world was all this about? Why would anyone want to kidnap her?
Even with all kinds of questions going around in her head, Mai also felt like she didn’t have the time to stew over it all and just focus on getting away from here.

However, around the next corner she bumped into someone, and to her misfortune, it was another one of those guys in suits. He had grabbed her by her wrist and held it tightly.
“And where do you think you’re going, princess? Byakuran-sama will be very happy to see you…”
This guy was awfully close to her face, which made her entire body shake. The panic and resolve took over once again, so Mai did the first thing that came to her mind and slammed her forehead against the nose of the suited man. He yelled out in pain and immediately let go of her wrist. She took this chance, placed both her hands on one of his shoulders to push his upper body down and ram her knee into his stomach. The force she had used was more than enough, apparently, as this guy sunk onto his knees and let out grunts of pain. Mai dashed away once again, praying she won’t run into more of these weirdos.

“Have you found her?”
“No, it’s like she vanished!”
“It can’t be that hard to find a dumb high school girl! Search again!”
Lurking out of her hiding spot just a little bit, she observed how the suits spread out again to look for her. They all didn’t seem to be the sharpest tools in the shed, so she was safe for now. Letting out a long sigh, she sunk to the ground again. She had gotten to a small park that was close to her home and hid between the trees and bushes. She was a rather fit person, but all this commotion and stress already exhausted her.
This was bad…
She still didn’t understand what was going on, but she knew that she needed to get away from here. However, she didn’t know if there were even more of these guys around the town. Not to mention, where was she supposed to go anyway?

Out of nowhere, one hand was put over her mouth; another one grabbed her forearm. She hadn’t noticed someone approaching her from behind, as she was mulling over a plan to get out of here safely. Instead of screaming, she froze up, thinking that it was over now. However, a deep voice told her in a quiet way: “Not a sound, and follow me.”
Without making too sudden movements she turned around slowly, only to see ice-blue eyes looking down at her. It was another man in a suit but for some reason… it felt like she knew this guy.

Once he was sure that she would stay quiet, the man removed his hands from her and got up to start walking. Mai however only stared at him in disbelief and still mused over why this person looked so awfully familiar. When she looked him up and down one more time, she somehow had to think of someone, who she had the displeasure to meet a few years ago. And then, it dawned on her.

“Hibari? Are you really Hibari?” She quickly got up from her spot on the ground and ran over to him, trying to get another look on his face. The man hardly turned to her when he spoke up once more.

“Say one more word and I’ll bite you to death”, he replied and threw a death stare into Mai’s direction. His words caused her stop walking and she made a disgruntled face at him.
Yeah, that was Hibari, alright… Refraining from letting out an annoyed sound, she quickly caught up to the dark-haired male again. Since she had no idea where she should go or if she was able to get out of this whole messed up situation unharmed, this guy was her best bet. At the same time, she had a million questions, but knew better than to get on Hibari’s bad side. The most prominent question however was, why he looked… older?

~*~

With a few stops to check if there were more of those suited guys, Hibari led Mai to the Namimori shrine. There was no word exchanged during the walk, at least not between them. Hibari only sent off this weird bird of his, but the teen couldn’t make out why he did that.
Once they arrived at the shrine, she had to follow him through some sort of invisible entrance. This whole situation was getting more bizarre with each second. However, she didn’t have much of a choice, so she quickly followed the black-haired male, trying not to get left behind.

Once inside, Mai couldn’t help but look around, an uneasy feeling starting to sink in. She grabbed a hold of her bag’s straps in order to at least find some form of comfort. The surroundings changed from a Japanese looking hallway to a blank, cold one. This place looked like some sort of secret base she only knew from all those movies she actually enjoyed watching. But seeing something like this in real life? She had the urge to pinch herself and wake herself up should all of this only be a dream. After some more walking she could hear other sets of footsteps echoing through the halls. There were also voices coming closer. So, could this mean there were more people staying at this place? Were those people in the same situation as her, being transported to some other timeline or something? And even followed by those guys in suits?

Reborn had told Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto that they received another message via Hibird and to check out what was going on. They were told to go towards Hibari’s entrance to the base, which seemed odd, since they still knew that he wasn’t fond of its mere existence. At some point, the three boys could see two figures approaching them, and recognized Hibari, who was with a girl they didn’t know.

“Ugh!”
Realizing who exactly was walking next to the Cloud Guardian, Gokudera let out a rather weird sound, stopping in his tracks. Since he had seen her future self only a few hours ago, he was still able to tell that it was… her.
Tsuna and Yamamoto noticed the other had stopped, and paused too themselves, wondering what was going on.
“Is something wrong, Gokudera-kun?” Tsuna asked curiously.

Before the silver haired boy could answer properly, not knowing if he should tell his boss what had happened this morning or not, Hibari and Mai already came closer and closer.
“Hibari-san! What happened? And who is this?”
Seeing an unfamiliar face, Tsuna and Yamamoto soon shifted their focus on the new arrival.

Mai’s eyes moved from one face to the other, even though one of them didn’t even bother looking at her. Were those guys supposed to help her get back home? Was she going to get answers out of them? She opened her mouth to answer the brunet’s question, but Hibari beat her to it.

“I found her outside, she’s not from this era either. She’s your problem now.”
Without any further explanation, Hibari turned around and left the teenagers behind. Being caught off guard by his words, Mai whipped her head back.
“Oi, Hibari, wait!” she yelled, but the male didn’t react in the slightest. She wanted to ask, what he actually meant by ‘not form this era’. Not to mention, even though she wasn’t necessarily fond of him, she didn’t mind having someone around she actually knew.

The dark-haired’s figure started to fade away, leaving Mai behind with these guys she had never met before. With a sceptical look on her face, she turned her face towards them again.
“What’s… going on here?”

Chapter Text

They said, that they should go back to see some Reborn-person, in order to get any sort of explanation. However, when the guys led Mai to a room with several monitors, which made the thing look like some sort of surveillance room, and they introduced a child wearing a fedora as Reborn, she was convinced that they were trying to mock her.
Her glance shifted between the kid and pretty much every other person in that room before turning back to the three boys and saying out loud what she was thinking.
“You’re kidding, right? You can’t actually be serious.”
“You’re the one who should take this more seriously, Mai Nagoya.”

Hearing her own name yanked her out of her disbelief and made her turn back to the child. Having this twerp speak in proper sentences was the last thing she had expected. On the other hand, after all the things she had had to deal with already, she might as well start to think more irrationally.

“How do you know my name?” the redhead asked rather quietly, her right hand slowly moving to grab the straps of her bag, automatically gripping it tightly.

“I know more about you than you’d think. So, I suggest you listen closely.”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Mai gave a slight nod, even though she now wasn’t so sure anymore, if she really wanted to hear the explanation.

A flood of information as well as introductions later, even though the ones knowing all the details could argue that the Arcobaleno had left out quite a number of facts, Mai had silently listened to his words. However, by the end of the little one’s speech, her grip on the straps of her bag had gotten tighter and tighter, it almost felt like she was about to rip them out.

Her head was full of all kinds of thoughts racing around and it felt like it was going to burst. Instead, her knees finally gave in to all the overwhelming new information and she promptly landed on the ground, startling the people in the room. Staring on said ground, her thoughts were still racing, but there suddenly was a single question forming and she quickly yelled it out.

“What about my family?! What about- “
“Since we didn’t expect you to show up, we have no information on how they are doing” Reborn cut her sudden outburst short.
The twerp’s interruption was able to stop her from going on about her desperate need to know as much as possible and her glance drifted to the floor again.
“I see…” Mai sighed, her shoulders dropping down from all the tension that had built up. Trying to calm down further, she ran her hand through her hair even though it did little to nothing.

Not knowing how to deal with the situation at hand, Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto exchanged glances. Should they say something? If so, what should they even say? They already had had a hard time comforting Haru and Kyoko when they arrived here in the future, how were they supposed to deal with a person they had never met before? Not to mention that Gokudera definitely didn’t want to have to deal with Mai for his own reasons.

Instead, Bianchi got up from her seat, walked over to Mai, who was still on the floor, and offered her hand to the teen. The redhead turned towards the other woman, being greeted with a soft smile.
“How about we meet up with the other girls and get you a nice cup of tea?”
She didn’t feel like drinking some tea would make this mess of a situation better, but there was nothing more that Mai could do now, could she? Letting out a sigh she took the elders hand to get up from the floor.
“Sure, why not…”

Putting an arm around her shoulders, Bianchi gave her a little squeeze and led Mai out of the office, towards the kitchen, still having a soft smile on her lips. Gokudera raised a brow at the sight of his sister being this kind, especially since he hadn’t been in her favour the last few training sessions.

~*~

Kyoko and Haru were almost done with the clean up after the breakfast, so they were surprised when the doors suddenly opened up, especially since they were met with an unfamiliar face. At least, to Haru it was.

“Hahi! Do we have a newcomer?”, she exclaimed, putting down the plate she had been cleaning.
Kyoko on the other hand was quiet, only staring at said newcomer. Bianchi gave Mai a little push, as if to tell her to introduce herself. With a bit of a disgruntled face, the redhead looked back at Bianchi, before taking a small step forward.

“I’m Mai Nagoya. Nice to meet you… I guess” she spoke, her voice being laced with uneasiness and a bit of annoyance.

Once she heard the redhead’s name, Kyoko’s face lit up and she clapped her hands together.

“It’s really you, Mai-senpai!”

This caught the elder’s attention and caused her to raise an eyebrow at the blonde.

“Do I know you?”

Kyoko’s lips curled into a small smile at the question.
“Not really, but we have met before. I don’t think you remember it, though.”

~*~

It happened only a few weeks after the new school year had begun and Kyoko had enrolled to Namimori Middle. She had been waiting on her big brother to finish his club activities and stood by the shoe lockers, when some unfamiliar guys started talking to her.
“Come on Kyoko-chan! We really need a manager for our karate club!”
“You’d be a perfect fit for it!”

Two second-years from the boys’ karate club hovered over Kyoko, trying to get her to be their manager. She had no idea, what tasks came with being a manager for a sports club, not to mention that she had no experience with karate. She only had so much knowledge of boxing thanks to her older brother.
“Uhm, I don’t think I-“she started, but was interrupted by one of her upperclassmen.
“You’d be a great manager! And with a cute manager like you we’d be even more motivated-“

The banging sound of a shoe locker being slammed shut cut off the conversation, startling all three of them. Mai emerged behind one of the rows of lockers and almost glared at the two boys.
“You guys should focus on actually improving. You’re barely at a level where you need a manager”, she stated, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“Ugh, Mai-Senpai!”
The two boys suddenly stepped back while also straightening up, as if they were on a roll call. The redhead let out an annoyed sigh.
“And now, get your sorry asses home.”

Bidding their goodbyes, the two boys scurried out of the school building. The two girls could hear one of them asking why they were even listening to Mai’s order, while the other just told him to shut up and walk faster.
Kyoko let out a relieved sigh. She didn’t know what she would have said or done, if they wouldn’t leave her alone.

“You waiting on someone?”
The redhead’s question yanked Kyoko out of her thoughts and for some reason she also straightened her back, similar to the boys from the karate club. She was talking to an upperclassman after all.
“Uh, yes! I am waiting for my brother but he’s late. He is part of the boxing club” the blonde explained with a smile on her face.
Mai’s glance wandered off to the side, as if she was trying to remember something.
“Ah, I think they mentioned having a meeting or something today… Not sure, how long that is gonna take though.”
“Oh, I see-“, Kyoko cut herself off when she noticed the elder moving over and positioning herself next to her. Mai leaned back on the shoe locker, one hand stuffed in her blazers pocket and taking out her mobile phone, tapping away on it.

Kyoko stared at the redhead, who seemed engulfed by whatever she was doing on her phone, when she suddenly realized what was going on. Mai stayed with her, so she wouldn’t be bothered by other students again.
“Oh, you don’t have to- “she started, trying to tell the other, that she would be fine on her own, when she noticed Mai glancing back at her.
“Hm?” was the only sound the elder let out, as if to interrupt that thought.
The blonde stopped herself from saying anything further and just shook her head.
“N-nevermind.”

After that, Kyoko also moved back to her position, standing next to her upperclassman, fiddling a bit with the straps of her school bag. She didn’t really know if she was supposed to start some sort of small talk but it also seemed as if Mai wasn’t interested in it anyway. Occasionally, the girl glanced at the redhead from the corner of her eye, wondering if the other paid any kind of attention to her. However, it didn’t look like it. For some reason, just standing next to each other gave Kyoko a feeling of safety. Mai did seem a bit intimidating, but at the same time radiated kindness, in her own kind of way and it brought a small smile to the blonde’s lips.

It took at least fifteen minutes, before Kyoko heard her brother yell out her name. Turning towards the direction Ryohei arrived from, her face lit up.
“Onii-chan! You’re late!” she exclaimed once he arrived next to her, her tone sounding a bit sulkily.

Without saying anything, Mai pushed herself off from the shoe locker, stuffing her other hand with her phone into the other pocket of her blazer and walking off. Kyoko was too occupied with listening to her brother’s excuses and noticed too late that the upperclassman was leaving.

~*~

Kyoko smiled when she finished her story, walked towards Mai and took the other’s hands in hers, definitely surprising the elder.

“I always wanted to thank you for your help, but I never got the chance to do it” the blonde beamed.
Being taken aback, Mai stared at the other while trying to remember the whole situation. To her, it hadn’t been that big of a deal at that time. The guys from the karate club were a rather annoying bunch, especially when she was still going to Nami Middle herself.

“I didn’t really do anything, but if you say so…” she shrugged, feeling like she didn’t deserve the other’s gratitude.
“I thought that you would say that” Kyoko laughed, letting go of the redhead’s hands and putting her own behind her back.

“Didn’t they give you trouble afterwards anyway? I think I heard there was something going on…”
With a now sheepish laugh, the blonde remembered the time, the captain of the karate club wanted to basically force her to become the club’s manager.
“A little bit, but Tsuna-kun and the others were there to help me. Right?” she answered, absolutely downplaying that entire situation, and then turned towards Tsuna himself, as if to get him to confirm it.
“Uh, yeah, right…”
Being caught off-guard since he had been listening to Kyoko’s story way more intently than he had planned, Tsuna quickly stuttered out his reply. He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment before noticing how Mai had turned around and eyed him sceptically. It was as if she thought
‘Really? This guy?’
And he couldn’t even fault her for that, since he had been even more reliant on Reborn and the Dying Will Bullet back then.

Meanwhile Gokudera couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Did this actually mean that his future self had been engaging with someone older than him?! Had he lost his mind completely?! He should know that everyone older than was an enemy by default and now this?!
Only when Kyoko had called Mai ‘Senpai’ did he realize that she was indeed wearing the school uniform of Namimori High School.
Unbelievable…
Now it was more than obvious to him how things even got this far in the future. With the future right-hand man of the Vongola family being occupied in whatever his relation with this chick was, it was no surprise that everything went down to shit.
Trying not to huff out to loudly he silently made a vow. He would do anything in his power to not let it get this far with this… person.

While Gokudera was occupied with himself, Kyoko had tried to usher Mai to sit down at the table to enjoy a nice cup of tea. However, the redhead declined, finally wanting to address the elephant in the room.
“I just gotta ask: What is the plan now? How are we going to get back?” Her gaze wandered from one person to the next, hoping she would finally get a rational answer.

Tsuna tried to come up with a way to tell the older what the plan was while still not giving away too much information, especially with Kyoko and Haru still being present. He fumbled around with words, when Haru chimed in.
“The plan for us girls is to help with meals and cleaning up, so Tsuna-san and the others can concentrate on their training!”
“Y-yes, exactly that! What Haru said!”
While he confirmed Haru’s words, Tsuna inwardly prayed that Mai would not question what kind of training they were having or what it was exactly for. Cautiously, he glanced over to the redhead, but was met with such a doubtful expression from her, he had the need to explain themselves more and defend themselves. Her brows were raised and her face gave off pure disapproval and disbelief. She obviously thought this was the dumbest plan in history and also how she questioned if they actually thought she was going to take their word for it. However, before he could even stammer out any words, Mai interrupted his stuttering.

“I see. Good luck with that training then” she said in a rather casual manner while rubbing the back of her neck.
Her words made Tsuna grow quiet, even though he wasn’t entirely sure if she actually meant it or not. Maybe for now he could just believe she was a little bit honest.

“So, I’m supposed to stay here, right?” she asked, directing her question towards Reborn.
“You’ve seen it yourself, it’s dangerous outside. The best you can do now is stay with us, if you want to get back home” the Arcobaleno replied.
“…Fine.”

“Kyoko’s and Haru’s room is already packed, but we still have one available for you. There should be some clothes for you there too” Bianchi explained, still showing a soft smile.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind getting out of the uniform…”
Gokudera had only listened partly to the conversation, but when he noticed the others talking about an available room for Mai, he panicked slightly. She could not see that letter!

He reacted quickly and almost yelled out: “I’ll take her there! I know where the room is!”
He earned bewildered looks from the others because of his outburst, but he didn’t care. It was way more important that he could get to that letter before anyone else.
“Uh, okay” Mai answered, before Gokudera turned around without any further words. Realizing that he meant to take her to said room right now, she quickly moved as well, as to not get left behind. She hadn’t seen a lot of this place yet, but there definitely was a chance that she could get lost in here.
Meanwhile, Bianchi followed them with her gaze and couldn’t hold back a small snicker.

With every step, Gokudera thought of a plan to get into the room first and make sure the letter he had found hours prior got into his hands, all the while not appearing too suspicious. That he already caused the others to be wary or at least questioning what had gotten into him with him volunteering to take their new guest to an available place was not really on his mind.
Arriving at the desired door, Gokudera hesitated for a second, even though he had already been in there once and he didn’t know why exactly. Throwing this little ounce of doubt aside, he quickly slid open the door and made his way into the room. Turning around to face Mai, he walked backwards until his hip hit the desk, so he could block her view.

“So, this is it?” she asked, not really wanting an answer from the silver haired teen. Making a few steps into said room, she let her gaze wander to each corner of it. It didn’t really look like a place someone would like to spend a lot of time in, but she didn’t have much of a choice anyway. She spotted the moving boxes in the back of the room and moved over to them. Assuming these contained the clothes Bianchi had spoken of before, she went ahead and opened up one of them, rummaging through it.

Gokudera had observed the redhead, so he could find an opening to quickly get the letter. He had tried to just grab it by reaching behind his back but no matter where his hand moved, he couldn’t feel the piece of paper. He started to panic and shuffled around when Mai passed by him, still trying to hinder her from seeing what was behind him.
While she was occupied with going through the different pieces of clothing, he turned around to find the desk empty. There were no drawers or anything that could be used to contain a simple letter, but he could not go and inspect the furniture for any hiding places. So, this could only mean that someone got here first and took it. But who would just go inside here and take it? More importantly, why?

“Gokudera!”
“What?!” he instinctively yelled, being startled by suddenly having his name shouted out.
Gokudera had been so occupied by his own thoughts, that he didn’t hear Mai trying to get his attention several times. Her yelling out his name startled him quite a bit and for some reason hearing her calling him by his name left him a tad uneasy.

“I wanna get changed. Go and wait outside, would you?” the redhead asked, having pulled out a few pieces she should be able to wear.
Realizing what she asked of him, something inside him suddenly felt embarrassed, causing his cheeks to flare up slightly.
“Y-yeah, sure…” he stuttered and quickly got out of the room, trying his best to get his mind off of any odd thoughts.
Mai’s eyes followed him while she started to shrug off her uniform’s blazer. The door was basically slammed shut and caused the redhead to scowl.

What a weirdo…

~*~

Another day of rather unsuccessful training left Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto quite defeated. Trying to fight with rings and flames and boxes was way harder than they all hoped for. Not to mention the tutors all three of them had were devils in their own kind of way.
Dragging themselves towards the kitchen, the boys were greeted by a delicious smell when entering it. Not that the meals seemed bad the days before, besides the first time the girls made curry and burnt it, but this time it seemed… different.

“Wow, this smells awesome!” Yamamoto exclaimed excitedly, feeling almost revived from the delightful scent alone.
“It really does!” Tsuna added while the three of them moved to the table to take a good look at tonight’s meal. Gokudera kept silent, even though he agreed with the others.

Kyoko paused with cleaning some of the dishes to turn towards the guys with a bright smile.
“Thank you! But the credit goes mostly to Mai-Senpai.”
“Yes! Nagoya-san is a great help with the cooking!” Haru continued, equally excited.

Mai didn’t really react to the praise and only continued chopping some spring onions. However, by the sound of it, she did it fast and with precision, so the guys could tell that she was skilled when it came to cooking. Gokudera however tried not to stare too much. As to not have her long hair be a nuisance while cooking, Mai had tied up her hair and it made him remember what or rather who he had seen this morning, so he turned his gaze away from her. Sprinkling the cut vegetable onto the last few plates as garnish, the redhead grabbed said plates and moved them to the table.

“You know, you guys don’t need to be so formal. Just call me ‘Mai’. I mean, I’ll be stuck here for a while anyway…”
Her gaze wandered from the girls to Tsuna, Yamamoto and Gokudera, since her ‘offer’ was meant for all of them. She never really cared for all those formalities, so being called by her first name was more than fine for her. Taken aback by the chance to be more familiar with her, even though they all had only met her hours prior, the others looked at Mai with big eyes. However, the girls soon started to beam again.

“Then, we’ll call you Mai-chan!”
“Fine by me.”

With that, the rest of the residents of the base slowly started to swarm in, the kitchen was filled with a lot of noise. In between the clatter of dishware, one could hear Kyoko and Haru being engrossed by the divine taste of dinner.
“This is delicious! Your help made this so much better” Haru continued her praise for the elder.

“Aren’t you guys praising me a bit too much?” Mai raised an eyebrow at the number of compliments she was receiving. This had been going on since they started the whole cooking process, it was beginning to lose a bit of its charm to the redhead.

After another bite, Kyoko chimed in and needed to ask the elder: “How did you get this good at cooking though? You made it look all so effortless.”
“I’m doing all the cooking at home, so…” Mai replied, shrugging her shoulders.
“You must be a great help for your mother then!”

The blonde’s words caught her a bit off-guard, causing Mai to stop in her movements. For a second, she kept silent, before speaking up again.
“For my Dad I probably am. My Mom… doesn’t live with us…”

She rubbed the back of her neck, while the room went awfully quiet all of a sudden. Talking about these kinds of topics always caused this awkward silence and she absolutely hated it. Now that she had brought it up herself, she kind of regretted it. There wasn’t really a reason for her to give out too information of herself, especially sensitive stuff like this. So instead of paying too much mind to it, she decided to just continue eating her meal.

Kyoko however felt awful for making the elder say something like that out loud. She stared at Mai for a while before her shoulders slumped, her gaze wandering down to her plate and starting to poke around her food.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to- “
“It’s fine, forget it” the redhead interrupted her. It was hard to tell if she cut her off because she wanted to change the subject or if she actually meant to tell the other that it wasn’t that big of a deal.

~*~

Dinner conversations were sparse for the rest of the evening. After cleaning the dishes and taking a bath, Mai insisted on spending the rest of the day in her now bed room. Not that she did much, she basically spent the hours going through the clothes that were in the room and simply lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

Kyoko and Haru still came to her to wish her a good night’s sleep, but Mai wasn’t going to get a lot of it. She felt exhausted after everything that had happened today, but at the same time, she was wide awake. There were too many thoughts in her head to shut up and actually try to sleep.

While most of the residents here where kind and welcoming, she couldn’t help but feel something was… off.
Remembering what had happened this morning, she had a hard time to just be satisfied with being told to stay put.
Those losers in suits meant to take her somewhere but she couldn’t figure out why. Also, the mention of some Byakuran-guy didn’t help one bit. Even though the whole situation was more than stressful, she was able to remember that guy’s name. Something was going on, and apparently no one dared to tell her about it.
However, what stuck out the most to her was the fact that, when it was too dangerous for her to go outside… then the same applied to her father. Maybe they really didn’t know if he was safe, but how could she sit here and just hope everything would turn out fine?
Moreover, she didn’t trust that they would go out of their way to find out if he was okay.

No.
She couldn’t stay here. Not until she was sure her family was safe.

Throwing back the blanket, Mai quickly got up, turned the lights back on and started to rummage through the moving boxes of clothing. She was sure, she had seen some dark pants and a black hoodie in between it all.
While putting on the clothes in question, she somehow started to become hesitant again, since what she was about to do was extremely reckless and dangerous. However, at the same time she thought about what might happen to her father, which made her cast aside the doubt and indecisiveness.

“Okay” she breathed out as confident as she could, once she had tied her shoes and had changed into the dark clothes. She turned off the lights again, before slowly opening the door to her room. She stuck her head onto the hallway, checking if someone else was walking around.

Once she was certain she was alone, she put up the hood over her head and began to run down said hallway. She should still remember from which direction she came in here this morning.

Chapter Text

After yesterday’s commotion it was no surprise that Tsuna hadn’t slept that well. With the thought of having to face another day of Spartan-like training he would have rather stayed in bed. Gokudera and Yamamoto had already joined him and the three were walking towards the kitchen, when they spotted Kyoko crossing their path. Not realizing how uneasy she looked, Tsuna started to wave at her.

“Kyoko-chan! Good morning!”

Finally noticing the guys, the blonde quickly rushed over to them.

“Good morning, Tsuna-kun. Say, have you seen Mai-chan this morning?”

It was a simple question, but somehow, a slight bit of panic started to arise within Tsuna.

“Uhm, no, not yet. Why?”

“I thought she overslept so I wanted to pick her up from her room, but she wasn’t there. I’ve kept looking around, but I just can’t seem to find her anywhere.”

While Kyoko only seemed to worry slightly, Tsuna already feared for the worst. He had to think back when Kyoko herself had run away from the base. The only difference was that if Mai actually had done the same, it would be even more trouble finding her.

“Maybe she just got lost? She’s only been here for like a day” Yamamoto chimed in, thinking that there wasn’t any big reason for the redhead to not be around.

Kyoko hummed, agreeing with Yamamoto’s assumption.

“I thought so too, but I don’t know where to look for her.”

“Maybe some of the cameras around this place picked up where she went” the black-haired teen continued, crossing his arms behind his head.

Tsuna’s face lit up after hearing Yamamoto’s suggestion.

“That’s a good idea! We’re gonna ask Gianini-san. You should go back to Haru though, Kyoko-chan. Once we find Mai-chan, we will bring her to you” the brunet offered with a smile on his lips.

Returning the smile even brighter, Kyoko nodded. She was glad that she had met the guys on her search and that she had their support now. Leaving it to them, she turned around and rushed back to the kitchen.

Gokudera however wasn’t convinced yet. For some reason, he doubted that Mai just got lost on her way to God knows where. Once Kyoko was several meters away, he leaned in to get closer to Tsuna, asking in a hushed voice, just in case: “You think she is still in the base, Tenth?”

The smile on Tsuna’s face faded and he let out a long sigh.

“I hope she is…”

~*~

After calling Gianini over to the briefing room, he went through the security camera footage to find out where Mai could have possibly wandered off to. Reborn, Bianchi and Fuuta went along with him, after they saw Tsuna’s troubled face when he and the other two boys asked for Gianini.

“Luckily, we have a camera positioned close to the room she is staying in. Now we just need to go back in time…” the engineer explained while pressing several buttons.

With a last button pressed, the main monitor displayed the hallway with the door to Mai’s bedroom. A timer could be seen in the corner of the video footage, but with every digit it went down, still not showing the redhead leaving the room, everyone grew more uneasy.

Then, at around 2AM, they saw her sliding the door open only slightly, and checking the hallway. When she finally left the room and put the hood over her head, the whole room grew dead silent.

There was no way to sugar coat it:
Mai had run way.

“This is bad…” Tsuna muttered, still having a hard time to wrap his head around the situation. What were they supposed to do now? They had no clue on where she might’ve run off to, not to mention they couldn’t even know if she was safe.
This was the whole ordeal with Kyoko running away all over again, but this time it was even worse.

Letting out an annoyed grunt, Gokudera pinched the bridge of his nose. He did sort of wish to be around Mai as little as possible, but this was not what he wanted.

“Great, and let me guess: an entrance is broken again, so she could get out?”

“That is impossible! After the incident with Sasagawa-san I personally made sure that each and every hatch to our base is secured!” Gianini defended himself.

Remembering past situations, it was hard for Tsuna and Gokudera to trust him.

Tapping on the keyboard again, the engineer used the other security cameras to follow Mai’s path around the base. Once she had arrived at an entrance, she had stopped and it looked like she hadn’t been able to get out.

“See? There she is!” Gianini exclaimed, feeling like he had redeemed himself.

The footage showed the red-haired teen from an upward angle. Her now distraught face was clearly visible, as she seemed to almost give up leaving this place.

“Wait, is she talking to someone?”

The sound was extremely quiet of the footage, but they could see that Mai was suddenly speaking to someone, but because of the angle the camera was placed in, the low sound, as well as the hallway being unlit, it was hard to tell who the other person was. After a short conversation, the redhead started to walk towards the entrance, and was soon out of sight.

After the footage was paused, the whole briefing room was absolutely dead silent. Only seconds after, Gokudera spoke up, saying out loud what everyone was thinking:

“Someone let her out…”

“But… but who would do that?” Tsuna asked in a panicked voice and louder than he intended to.

Growing nervous as well, Gianini started checking the security cameras for their location.

“If I remember correctly, that is the entrance to Hibari-san’s part of the base…”

“I believe I can explain this…”

Startling the people in the briefing room, Kusakabe had appeared behind them and spoken up.

“Kusakabe-san? You know what happened?”

He nodded.

“Kyo-san told me just a few minutes ago.”

~*~

Arriving at the entrance she had come through this morning, Mai skimmed over the security mechanisms of it. This seriously looked like it was out of some action movie… However, she now realized that she hadn’t thought this through properly. Should she just try if she was able to open the door? What if she would set off an alarm by doing so? The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself and having to explain her actions.

The sound of the metallic doors suddenly sliding open yanked the redhead out of her pondering.

“Hibari?” she asked in disbelief. Having no idea that the doors would lead to his domain, she was more than surprised to see the dark-haired male appear, standing behind what looked like a wall of pink-coloured lasers.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Flinching slightly at the question, Mai’s eyes wandered to the side for a split second, trying to come up with an explanation.
“I… don’t see how that’s any of your business…” she retorted and clenched her hands into fists, all the while mentally kicking herself for the lame reasoning. As if that would be enough to make Hibari let her through. However, she was sort of in a time crunch, so she started to think of a way to get past him.

With a mocking huff, Hibari crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Hn. You’re quite the trouble maker, aren’t you?”

Mai’s brows furrowed and she grumbled at his words. God, he was as annoying as he had been during her days at middle school.  

He continued: “However, the deal I had was with the you from this time, so… I don’t care what you do.”

With a now sceptical look on her face, Mai tried to see what exactly he was doing now, but it was too hard to tell. After a beeping sound could be heard and the lasers disappeared, her eyes widened and she finally realized what was going on.
To think that Hibari would actually let her leave the base…

Swallowing the lump in her throat she hadn’t yet realized had formed, she slowly started to walk through the doorway, all the while keeping her eyes on the dark-haired male. She still didn’t trust him; there was still a chance of him reactivating the alarm system and getting her busted. She was even more wary of him because of this irritating, smug look on his face.

However, once she was through and the metallic doors slammed shut behind her, Mai was able to relax a bit. She stared at the elder from the corner of her eye, still not too sure what to make of this… somewhat act of kindness from Hibari. It did not sit well with her that he of all people was her ticket out here, but she was willing to take this chance.

“Thanks…” she murmured before breaking into a run to finally leave the base.

~*~

The briefing room grew silent once again. The fact that Hibari was the one who let Mai go weighed heavy and left them speechless.

“Why… would Hibari-san do that?” Tsuna breathed out after a minute.

After heaving a sigh Kusakabe answered: “Kyo-san said something about there being one weakling less around here… I’m sorry, Sawada-san.”

Before anyone got the chance to berate Hibari’s assistant, Bianchi interfered and spoke up: “Instead of worrying how Mai got out, we should think about how to get her back.”

Moving from her spot, where she had been standing with her arms crossed while listening to Kusakabe’s story, she placed herself next to Gianini. Her voice sounded quite angry compared to her usual tone, which earned her a sceptical look from her younger brother.

“But how are we supposed to know where she is? What if she was caught by the Millefiore?”

Tsuna already expected the worst-case scenario.

“If the Millefiore had her, they most likely would’ve contacted us in some way already. So, I guess we can assume she’s at least somewhere safe” was Reborn’s reply, which did calm Tsuna down a bit.

“But finding out where Mai-nee ran off to… This might be difficult…” Fuuta voiced his concerns while tapping on his chin, deep in thought. While Tsuna and the others had only met Mai yesterday, he and Bianchi were actually rather close to her. However, that only applied to the Mai of this era. They have known the redhead for quite some time now, but it was hard to tell what would go through her younger self’s mind.

The silence that ensued because of everyone’s pondering caused Gokudera to let out a low, annoyed sigh. This was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. It was close to impossible to guess where she was at with the little information they had of her. Not to mention, even if Reborn thought she was probably safe, they couldn’t be sure of it, could they? So, it all was a race against time as well.

Running a hand through his hair in annoyance, Gokudera suddenly remembered the redhead’s little outburst from yesterday when Reborn had mor or less explained the situation to her.

“Do we know where she lives? Or her address where she grew up?”

With the sudden realization that her younger brother’s words made perfect sense, Bianchi hastily shuffled even closer to Gianini to get a better look at his screen.

“We have that address, don’t we?”

The engineer tapped on his keyboard once more and opened up a map of Namimori. After moving said map around the screen for a while, a little mark was placed on one of the properties around the neighbourhood.

“This should be it.”

Sharing the map on the big screen with another tap to the keyboard, everyone was able to see the location.

“If there is a place Mai would go to, it’s there. I have no doubts about it” Bianchi stated full of confidence.

“Now, how do we get there-”

Gianini cut in Bianchi’s thought process: “Unfortunately, the communication devices aren’t ready yet. You would have to memorize the way there…”

“Guess I’ll have to…”

While Tsuna started to discuss that Bianchi shouldn’t go alone, Gokudera started to realize why the area seemed familiar the longer he looked at it. Scanning the map, he was able to locate a few particular buildings and shops so he soon became sure of it.

Mai’s home was awfully close to the store he jobbed at in the current time. Going over the specific places close to it several times more, he was pretty sure that he could find the way there easily. However, he didn’t really want to.

The whole situation regarding him and her bothered him way too much for his liking already, so the thought of having to go out of his way to get her back to the base was even more irritating.

Listening to Tsuna and his sister discussing the best route as well as the number of people that should go and retrieve the redhead, Gokudera let out yet another low groan.

It wasn’t Mai’s fault that he had his own issues with her… And it was a fact, that she might be in danger right now, so he didn’t really have a reason not to go, did he? Not to mention, that his boss would benefit if this situation got resolved sooner than later. God, how he hated to be reasonable sometimes…

“I know how to get there…” the silver-haired finally spoke up, not even trying to hide the annoyance in his voice.

With everyone’s attention being on him but not saying anything, Gokudera slowly started to regret his choice. It was only slightly, but Bianchi’s face started to light up when her brother voiced his claim. Without waiting any second longer, she made her way out of the briefing room, grabbing his arm and yanking him out of his seat in the process.

“Good, then you’ll come with me, Hayato. Let’s go.”

Dragging him along a few steps, Gokudera started to complain and try to shake his sister’s hand away from him: “Oi, I can walk on my own! You wanna leave right now?!”

“Of course, right now! Gianini, open the hatch for us” Bianchi retorted, letting go of the teen but immediately started walking towards said hatch again.

Grumbling once more, he soon followed after her with quick steps.

Reaching the gateway to leave the base and waiting for his sister to open it, Gokudera eyed her from the side and started to wonder what was going on inside Bianchi’s head. Considering how downright cruel she had been towards him the last few days; he was curious what got her to act like this just because Mai ran away.

“Why are you getting so worked up about this?” he finally asked, even though he wasn’t sure if he was going to receive an answer.

Turning towards the silver-haired, Bianchi eyed him, a frown being visible behind the coloured goggles.

“In this era, Mai is a very dear friend of mine, so of course I care about her wellbeing. And so should you.”

Confused by her words, especially her last sentence, Gokudera was about to ask what the hell she meant, when Bianchi opened the hatch for them and broke into a run. Letting out a low growl in annoyance, the teen soon rushed after to catch up to her.

~*~

Even though they used the closest hatch to Mai’s place, it still took Gokudera and Bianchi around an hour to get even close to their destination. There weren’t many of them, but every now and then they spotted some Millefiore guys, causing them to change their route.

The closer they got however, the more Gokudera started to question if they could be so certain about the redhead being at her own home.

What were they going to do if she wasn’t there? Where were they supposed to look then?

Deciding not to voice his concerns, the teen signalled his sister to stop at yet another corner, to check for any enemies. Once he was sure there wasn’t anybody suspicious around, he scanned the displayed names of the surrounding homes, until he finally got to the one that had the name ‘Nagoya’ on its surrounding wall.

“There it is” he whispered and after checking for the Millefiore once again, just to be certain, he ran over to the entrance gate of the property, Bianchi following right after.
Hiding behind the stone walls that surrounded the property, the siblings waited a few seconds before exchanging looks, nodding at each other and rushed towards the front door of Mai’s home. There was no certainty that the front door was accessible, but they didn’t want to appear too dubious by going for a window right from the start.

However, to their surprise, the door was unlocked and they were able to get inside. Still being wary since they might run straight into a trap or anything along those lines, they quickly scanned the entrance. It was rather dark but Bianchi was able to spot Mai immediately, silently pointing over to the small part of her red hair that was visible behind the small dresser on the right.

“I’m going to check the place for the Millefiore. It’s better they can only pick up a Storm ring rather than a Vongola ring. You take care of Mai” the pink-haired woman instructed Gokudera in a hushed voice before cautiously moving towards the next room of the house.

Not getting the chance to object the order from his sister, Gokudera let out a small sigh. Looking over at the tuft of red hair, he recalled Bianchi’s words before they had left the base. Whatever she meant by them, after all this he still planned to be around Mai as little as possible. Still, he had no choice right now, so he slowly stepped towards the redhead and crouched down to her level but was slightly taken aback by what he saw.

She had placed herself next to the piece of furniture, her knees pulled towards her chest and arms placed on top of them. Her head rested on her arms and she was fast asleep.

Considering how she was covered in dirt and how damp her clothes and hair were, he could only imagine what Mai had gone through to get here. Not to mention that she still hadn’t woken up by their arrival and their talking.

The more he stared at her, the more he got the feeling that something was off. Sure, he had no idea what she usually was like, but from what he had seen of her, she came off as a person, who at least  had both feet on the ground and knew what she wanted.

But right now, she just looked… small.

God, this really started to slowly make his stomach turn... Still, he reached out and started to shake Mai’s shoulder.

“Oi… Oi, wake up.”

He kept shaking her lightly even when her eyes started to open only slightly. All of a sudden, Mai’s eyes snapped wide open and she instinctively grabbed Gokudera’s wrist, as if she had to protect herself from an attacker.
She breathed heavily from the shock and stared at his face, though it seemed that she still hadn’t realized who stood in front her.

“Woah, relax, it’s me!” he exclaimed as loud as possible, trying not to be too loud. Her eyes were full of panic and fear, something he didn’t know she was even able to show.

Blinking a few times, Mai seemed to finally fully awaken and realize that there were no bad guys trying to kidnap her again.

“You…” she breathed out, still not letting go of his wrist. Nodding in confirmation that it was indeed him and not an enemy, the teen tried to break away from the other’s hold on his wrist, but it seemed that her grip had only tightened.

Still looking straight into his face, the fear left Mai’s eyes and was slowly replaced by grief and pain. Gokudera’s own eyes widened, as he watched her face grimace, tears only seconds away of breaking out. Seeming absolutely defeated, her head dropped forward, and he could only see how her shoulders started to shake. The hand that held onto his wrist began to tremble as well, while her other hand reached out and grabbed at his shirt.

“O-oi…!” Gokudera was about to complain when she moved forward to lean her head on his chest, not being used to be so close to someone, let alone a girl. However, he stopped himself once he noticed the quiet sniffling sounds coming from the other. It took him several moments to realize, what it meant that Mai, who had run away the night before, was crying like this and basically asking for comfort:

Her family was dead.

Staring down at the mess of red hair, he had no idea what he was supposed to do. He had no idea how and even if he should comfort her in any way. A few minutes passed; Mai was still crying her eyes out when Bianchi came back into the entryway. Turning his head towards her, he could see a pained expression on his sister’s face, which only confirmed Gokudera’s assumption.

“We should leave this place…” the pink haired whispered, as she was looking down at Mai and feeling her own heart ache from seeing the state her friend was in. Nodding, her brother turned back to the redhead, who was still a sobbing mess.

The grip Mai had on his wrist was looser now, so Gokudera slowly moved both of his hands to her shoulders, carefully and slowly pushing her away from him.

“We need to go” he spoke as softly as he could muster.

With her bangs shielding her eyes, Mai’s hand, that was still holding onto the silver haired’s shirt, slowly let go before dropping lifelessly to her side. She sniffled one last time and wiped over her eyes with the dirty sleeve of her hoodie to get rid of the tears. It took her a moment before she lifted her head only slightly more and gave a nod.

Mai’s eyes seemed empty, the dark circles under them only emphasizing how exhausted she was. She truly looked miserable and even Gokudera had a hard time not letting this sight get to him. Bianchi stepped over to the redhead, placing one hand on her back, the other under her arm and trying to get her to stand up on her own.

Moving towards the door, Gokudera turned back to check if the other two were ready to leave. Or at least, as ready as one of them could be. Without any further words, the three of them cautiously started their way back to the Vongola base.

~*~

The atmosphere was heavy in the briefing room when the siblings returned with Mai in tow. Bianchi had asked Kyoko and Haru to lead the redhead to the bath and get her washed up properly.
Meanwhile, she and her brother had called the others to the briefing room to tell them what had happened.

“So… Mai-chan’s family was… killed?”

With Tsuna putting it into words, it felt like everyone was reminded how dire the whole situation with the Millefiore was. When they had arrived days ago, they found out that the other famiglia had gone after their loved ones, and apparently Mai’s weren’t an exception.

Standing with her arms crossed, Bianchi stared at the floor, her brows furrowed.

“It seems like it. The house was empty, but everything was destroyed inside. Not to mention… the pool of dried blood there…” Her voice grew quieter with each word and she could feel herself become angry. In hindsight, she realized that she should have been more cautious of Mai and try to gain her trust. She had relied too much on the person the redhead was in this time era and forgot what she had been like before.

The more she pondered about it, the angrier Bianchi got.

Yamamoto, who had stayed quiet the whole time and was leaning against the back of his chair, his arms crossed as well, decided to speak up: “Why is she even here in the first place? I mean, we didn’t even know her before yesterday.”

The tone of his voice was rather serious, unlike his usual carefree and happy demeanour.

With the baseball freak asking the actual important question, Gokudera slightly sank into his own seat, looking off to the side. Technically, he knew a reason but he was not ready to say it out loud himself.

“Probably because she’s a part of the Vongola family, of CEDEF to be exact. I even trained her for a while” Lal Mirch finally answered the question, seeming rather unfazed by the recent events. Her words snapped the silver haired teen out of his thoughts. Did that mean that Mai being brought to the future actually had nothing to do with was written in that letter?

Meanwhile Tsuna tried to make sense of what he just heard. To him, things didn’t add up and were only confusing him. From the few things Mai had told them as well as the kind of air surrounding her, he thought that she was just like him before Reborn came around: an ordinary person who just tried living her own life.

“But… how would Mai-chan get involved with the Vongola? Like Yamamoto said, we didn’t even know her before.”

“I think she once mentioned that she met you guys in her first year of high school. So, probably around your present time, I suppose…” Bianchi explained, even though it still left way too much unanswered.

“I still don’t get it... How is it possible that someone like her joined the Vongola family, just like that?” the brunet pressed.

Letting out a sigh, Bianchi tried her best to recall a time where the Mai of the future talked about this topic, but to no avail.

“I don’t know, actually. Mai hardly ever talked about things like this, saying it’s no one’s business.”

“I too only met her once before Tsuna and Gokudera came here, but she didn’t mention why she was in the base. She only said that she was leaving again soon” Reborn elaborated.

With a loud scoff, Lal Mirch got out of her seat, walking towards the exit of the briefing room.

“If she was half the Mai that I know, we could have just given her a ring and a box and she could’ve been good support. But like this she’s nothing but a burden” she stated before stopping right in the entryway.

Tsuna and Fuuta were about to complain about Lal’s choice of words, which were way too cruel in their opinion, considering the situation the redhead was in now. However, the dark haired was faster, shooting a glare at the young boss and his guardians: “You guys should get back to your training, so something like this won’t repeat itself.”

Without waiting for them to reply, she left the room with fast steps.

As if he wanted Reborn to say something, Tsuna turned to his tutor, who got up as well and hopped onto Yamamoto’s shoulder.

“She is right. Let’s go, Yamamoto.”

Taking a moment to react, the teen soon nodded and made his way out of the room as well.

Tsuna watched them both leave before he let out a long sigh. As brutal as Lal’s words were, she still was correct. They still had way too much to learn to let this whole situation get to them and hinder them from getting better in using the flames and boxes.

“I guess we should go too, Gokudera-kun…” the brunet muttered and followed the others.

Agreeing with his boss, the silver haired stared at the table’s surface in front of him for a second. A small part of him had thought that Mai being brought to the future was because of some kind of relationship between her and his future self, so of course he thought that was also the reason her family had been murdered.

Surely, he was pissed about the fact that even more innocent people got dragged into this mess, but seeing as things are now, he might have worried for nothing. He shouldn’t waste his time to feel stupidly embarrassed about some letter, especially since it wasn’t even certain if it meant anything. Trying to forget about it altogether, he got up from his seat, stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants and walked off to resume his training as well.

~*~

After several hours of training, the three boys flopped onto the chairs in the kitchen. The repetitive cycle of not getting far with their training was starting to wear them down. The three of them had agreed prior that they just wanted a nice dinner, then a bath and then a good night’s sleep.

However, as Tsuna was about to admire tonight’s meal, he couldn’t help but notice how Kyoko and Haru weren’t as bubbly and cheerful as usual. With his gaze wandering over to the single empty seat in the room, the reason behind their behaviour was obvious. He didn’t want to rub salt in the wound, but at the same time, he wondered how Mai was doing.

“Are we gonna… wait for Mai-chan…?” he asked sheepishly, trying to avoid asking what he actually wanted to know: if the redhead was doing okay.

Heaving a short sigh, Kyoko turned to the brunet, having a worried look on her face.

“She asked to be left alone so…”

“We decided to bring her dinner later on-” Haru continued but was interrupted by the sound of the doors to the kitchen sliding open and Mai stepping into the room.

Her gaze was directed towards the floor and it seemed as if her hair was even messier than usual. The most prominent feature however were the red and swollen eyes. All of this combined with her overall tired appearance made her look… truly defeated.

Being the first to snap out of it and stop staring at the other, Haru spoke up, trying not to let herself sound as concerned as she was: “M-Mai-chan…! It’s good to see you! Come here and eat with us.”

Moving over to the empty seat, the brunet invitingly stretched out her hand towards the elder.

Not reacting to the invitation, the redhead made small steps forward before speaking up, her voice sounding coarse:

“I… wanted to apologize. You told me I should stay here and I didn’t listen. I’m sorry for causing trouble.”

After she was finished, she bowed down, her action emphasizing that her apology was earnest.

Being taken aback by Mai acting this formal, especially after her offer for less formalities the day prior, everyone’s eyes were glued on her. Needing a moment to grasp the situation, Tsuna suddenly got up from his seat, wanting to assure the elder that she didn’t have to go this far.

“Y-you don’t have to- “

“It’s good you’re aware of your own mistake. You should listen to us from now on” Reborn cut his student off, not looking at the redhead as he was basically scolding her.

“R-reborn…!” Tsuna tried to reprimand the Arcobaleno. Just like Lal Mirch, Reborn went too far with his words, at least in Tsuna’s opinion.

However, Mai didn’t seem fazed by those words in the slightest. Standing up straight again after receiving an answer to her apology, her gaze still stayed on the floor. She hadn’t expected to have the others accept her apology, but this was good enough for her.

“I will” she only muttered in response.

Giving another small bow, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room, not acknowledging the calls from Haru and Kyoko to stay for dinner.

Chapter Text

After she was brought back to the base, Mai got even quieter than the day she had arrived in the future. She barely spoke, gave mostly monosyllabic answers if asked something or simply mumbled a response. It felt like a bitter seed was growing inside of her, which seemed to peak once Kyoko’s older brother came to the hideout as well.

Giving off an aura that simply screamed of silent rage, it was clear to see that she wasn’t doing well and she didn’t care to hide it either. She hated every second she had stay at this place. Sure, she had nowhere else to go and would have to make do, but she couldn’t bring herself to see any sort of bright side in this situation.

It didn’t help that Kyoko and Haru seemed to constantly be in a good mood. Little did the red head know that the other two desperately tried to include her and maybe distract her. It simply had the opposite effect.

Standing in the kitchen once again and doing the dishes together, Mai tried her best to tune out the other’s yapping. She wanted to be done with chores for today and just stay in her room, wasting the rest of the day away. After realising that the elder was not reacting to anything they were saying, Kyoko and Haru exchanged concerned looks. They were starting to run out of ideas to help the redhead. Giving the brunette a small nod, Kyoko wanted to try the direct approach once again.

She leaned a bit forward to properly look at Mai, then asked: “Um, Mai-chan, you have more experience with cooking than we do. Do you know any more recipes we could use for a lot of people? We seem to grow a bigger crowd every day…”
Kyoko was aware, that it was a dull question, but she wanted to take any chance to help out the elder.

After hearing the younger’s words, Mai closed her eyes and heaved a rather long sigh. She put down the dried off plate with more force than needed, the clanging sound startling the other girls. Without looking at them, she took another plate and began drying it with the kitchen towel, before she finally spoke up.

“You guys don’t have to pretend to care, you know. We’re all just stuck in this mess, there’s no need to act like we’re friends or anything.”

Taken aback by the redhead’s words, Haru and Kyoko stared at her for a few seconds and stayed silent. Finally realizing what the other had just said, the blonde spoke up again: “T-that’s not what- “

“How about this: we take turns with all the work. You guys do the cooking and clean-up of the kitchen one time, and then it’s my turn. Same with the rest of the chores” the redhead interrupted Kyoko.

“But wouldn’t that be way too much for- “ Haru started to protest, not wanting to put such an amount of work on the elder.

“I’d rather do these things on my own” Mai cut her off as well.

Haru still wanted to voice her concerns, wanting to voice how she thought this setup was way too unbalanced and unfair towards the redhead, but Kyoko placed one hand on the brunette’s shoulder to stop her from saying anything further. Turning towards her friend, Kyoko silently shook her head. Considering how Mai seemed to insist on this separation, it probably wouldn’t matter what arguments they’d bring up, the elder wouldn’t budge.

“If that is what you want to do, Mai-chan…” the blonde finally muttered.

It was obvious that she was against this setup, but the answer was good enough for Mai, so she gave a small nod, still not looking at either of them.

“I’ll start with the breakfast shift tomorrow. I can take care of the rest here as well. You can just… go and take a bath or whatever.”

This time the two younger girls didn’t protest but it didn’t mean they enjoyed doing as Mai told. Kyoko couldn’t help but sigh. Considering her behaviour for the past few days, something like this was bound to happen, Kyoko thought. But being pushed away like this… it still stung.

Grabbing Haru’s arm, the blonde turned away to leave the kitchen and the redhead by herself.

“We’ll leave the rest to you then, Mai chan. But tell us should you need help, okay?” Kyoko wasn’t sure herself if she was only talking about the chores or maybe more than that.

Receiving a mere hum for an answer from Mai, the blonde let out another quiet sigh before dragging Haru out of the room, with the brunette still whispering all kinds of protests, still being against this new setup.

Once Mai heard the metal door open and Haru’s voice become quieter, she was finally able to heave a breath of relieve. However, she could also pick up another set of footsteps entering. Refraining from letting out an annoyed groan, she continued doing the dishes, all the while wondering who in the world wanted something now. Not to mention that they had probably overheard the conversation the three girls had had just now. Hopefully that person simply wanted to grab something and would get out soon.

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Bianchi positioned herself next to Mai, leaning against the kitchen counter and observing her for a while. With the other staying silent for several minutes, the redhead soon started to get the impression that the other waited for her to comment on the talk just now, but she didn’t feel like defending herself.

“You didn’t have to be so harsh towards them. They only mean well” Bianchi finally spoke up in a very stern tone.

Mai only glanced at the pink haired woman from the corner of her eye for a second before continuing with the clean-up. Was she seriously getting lectured right now?

“Wouldn’t it be worse to pretend to be nice when I don’t need them to mean well? Besides, I’m used to not being liked” she countered, her voice sounding almost monotone.

Bianchi’s brows furrowed at the comment. It was as if Mai was a completely different person than the Mai she had gotten to know and call her friend in this time era. How many times had the redhead come to her just to ask her to grab something to eat together? How many times had she met up with Bianchi to just rant about her day?
What had happened to Mai as a teen that would cause her to be this… cold? Of course, the whole situation surely took a toll on the younger, but it seemed like this current behaviour was the redhead’s default. Thinking about it now, it reminded the pink-haired woman how Mai never seemed to talk about topics that were too personal. It was like she was always guarding a certain part of herself, not wanting anyone to look beyond the parts she was willing to show.

Not that she herself was an open book in all regards, Bianchi regretted how she had just accepted those character traits of Mai instead of maybe pushing her, even just a little bit. After letting out a short sigh, she was about to speak up, when the redhead cut her off:

“Since you’ve been eavesdropping, the same goes for you. You can stop pretending to care.”

Still not even looking in her direction, Bianchi was left quite speechless by the other’s attitude and words.

But just like before, she probably wouldn’t get through to Mai, no matter what words she’d choose.

“Fine” Bianchi sighed and pushed herself from the counter, walking towards the entrance of the kitchen. However, she stopped midway and turned around again.

“But just so you know: no one here was pretending.”

Not waiting or even so much as expecting an answer from the other, the pink-haired woman continued to exit the room. Though, Bianchi’s last words actually caused Mai to turn around and glance at the elder, as she was walking out. Raising an eyebrow, she could only scoff and roll her eyes.

“Yeah, right…”

~*~

During breakfast the next day, it was easy to tell that something had happened, that the boys didn’t know about yet. It started with Mai being the only one to prepare the meal and the concerned and almost sad looks on Kyoko’s and Haru’s faces while eating said meal. It continued during lunch and even dinner. The whole atmosphere was uncomfortable to say the least.

While she had told them to start eating, Mai was still occupied with cleaning the counters and stove. No one dared to talk so only the sounds of dishware clanging filled the room. It didn’t help that, once again, they three boys had had a rough day of training and they were all about to pass out during dinner.

A last, loud noise of pots being put away yanked everyone out of their own thoughts.

“If any of you want seconds, they’re on the stove. Come and get me when you’re finished, I’ll take care of the dishes then” Mai explained dryly before walking towards the door in a fast pace.

“Uhm, Mai-chan!” Kyoko suddenly raised her voice and stood up from her seat, causing the elder to stop in her tracks.

“Haru-chan and I thought that… you already did so much today so… you can leave the rest to us.”
Having barely turned around, the redhead eyed the other with a rather sceptical look, but simply shrugged soon after.

“Fine by me.”

Turning around again to leave, the blonde called out to Mai again.

“Wo-would you like to eat with us?” she asked in an almost panicky voice, albeit trying not to sound too desperate.

“I already ate” the redhead replied before leaving the room in a fast pace, the metallic doors sliding closed after her.

Defeated, Kyoko sank back onto her seat, Haru placing a hand on the other’s back to comfort her.

“Man, she sure is grumpy. Even worse than Gokudera…” Yamamoto commented absent-mindedly while shoving food into his mouth.

Said silver-haired teen, who had chosen to sit by himself at another table again like the few days before, only let out a low grumble at the other’s comment. He was way too exhausted to start a fight with that baseball idiot now.

“Did something happen?” Tsuna asked cautiously, having a worried look on his face. He hadn’t been sure if he should ask before, but with the scene they all just witnessed he couldn’t just stay silent.

“Mai-chan asked to take shifts with cooking and housework, saying she wants to do it alone…” Kyoko sighed, starting to poke around the food on her plate.

“Let her, then. She is a stupidly stubborn person. Always has been” Bianchi chimed in. While she was worried about the redhead as well, she couldn’t help but be angry at her current behaviour and she wasn’t afraid to show it.

“If it was only that” Kyoko continued.

“She says that she has already eaten, but I can’t help but doubt it. She hadn’t eaten a lot the past few days either…”

“And with the amount of work she says she wants to stem on her own… That can’t be good for her…” Haru added.

Gokudera had a hard time tuning out the other’s talk about the redhead while he was just trying to somewhat enjoy his meal. Being in such a bad mood, he was content with not seeing her, not hearing her or having anything to do with her. But listening to how she apparently couldn’t even be bothered to take care of herself absolutely set him off. With every word he had to listen to he grew more and more irritated.

Slamming his hands on the table’s surface, he caused the whole room to be startled by the sudden and terribly loud sound. Without even noticing the calls for him, he stomped out of the kitchen towards the redhead’s room. Maybe it was the exhaustion and frustration from training that had finally caught up to him. Maybe it was still some sort of feeling of responsibility, even though he couldn’t be sure if he could be connected to her appearing in the future in any way anymore. However, fact was that he was fucking pissed and if Mai was the one he let it out on then so be it.

Mai herself had been spending her time laying on the bed in her room and just staring off into nothing when suddenly-

BANG

-the door to her room flung open, the sound giving the impression the door was about to be thrown out of its angles.

Getting yanked out of her own thoughts, Mai shot up from the bed, the sudden sound startling her so much, her heart rate was sure to double at least. Once she saw Gokudera in the door frame, however, the shock soon died down and left a feeling of bewilderment and wariness. What did he of all people want now?

As soon as he saw the redheads face, Gokudera got even angrier as he stomped into her room and placed himself in front of her.

“You! You’re going back and eat now!” he shouted, staring her down while she was still sitting on her bed.

Mai was too stunned to react instantly, but once she realized what was going on her brows furrowed.

“What the hell is wrong with you?! You almost gave me a heart attack!” she yelled back, as if to match not only Gokudera’s tone but also the volume.

“Shut up! I don’t care! Get your sorry ass up! NOW!” the silver-haired teen continued with an even louder voice. The more he had to scream to get her moving, the closer he was to just drag her to the kitchen by brute force.

“Excuse me?! You can’t tell me what to do! What is your fucking problem?!”

“You wanna know what my problem is?! Fine!” the storm guardian retorted, his hands forming to tight fists. Way too many emotions had piled up inside him, the rational part in him couldn’t even tell where he was going with this anymore or what he was trying to achieve. The anger had completely taken over.   

“Do you think you’re the only one here who thinks all of this is shitty?! We’re at least trying to get out of this alive but you can’t even be bothered to try and survive this! This whole fucking time you’re trying to act oh so cool and like you don’t care about anything but in the end you’re nothing but just a bitchy, useless brat!”

Staring up at the teen with wide eyes, Mai had a hard time wrapping her mind around the situation at hand. She was too appalled that this… twerp was lecturing her, just like Bianchi the day before, but this time it was even more irritating. Not to mention that he dared to even go so far and insult her!

Once every single word of his had come through to her, it seemed like the other’s rage had taken over the redhead’s mind as well. Gritting her teeth, she shot up from the bed and onto her feet, to be on the same eye level as Gokudera.

“Now you listen to me, asshole!” Mai started to yell as well. She was not letting herself be talked, or rather screamed down like that. Two can play at that game.

“How about you try and put yourself in my shoes for once! My family is dead! Do you expect me to be happy about it?! To pretend like nothing’s wrong like everyone else is?! A few days ago, I thought stuff like time travel was only for movies and fantasy stories, but now it’s real and I don’t even know what will happen when we get back! Or even if we get back! So don’t fucking tell me what I’m supposed to do or what to feel, I…! I’m…!”

The more words that spilled out of her, the more did the anger subside and be replaced by something else. Her voice had started to crack and tears started to well up in her eyes. Every emotion she had had the past few days seemed to suddenly come crashing down on her.

Pressing her palms onto her eyes, she desperately tried to get rid of the tears. She didn’t want to cry in front of Gokudera right now. She was angry, she was in pain, she felt way too many things at the same time. A shaky breath left her before she put her hands down again and faced the other teen, having an almost desperate look in her eyes.

“…I’m fucking scared, Gokudera.”

Once she had put all of herself into words, the tears seemed to be unwilling to stop. She frantically tried to wipe them away, muttering all sorts of profanities under her breath. Observing her with wide eyes, Gokudera only now realized that there was more behind Mai’s actions, than he initially believed. The indifference and desire for isolation on her part were more of a defence mechanism, to try and deal with everything on her own. But in the end and most likely with his confrontation, it all caught up to her, revealing that she too was terribly scared of the current situation.

Noticing that she seemed to start to calm down, Gokudera let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his head. Now he actually started to feel bad for causing this outburst and took a few steps to come closer to the redhead.

“Look…” he started as he grabbed one of her wrists to stop her from hiding her face behind her hands and be able to look at her properly. Surprised, Mai raised her head and stared at the teen with wide eyes.
“No one’s asking you to pretend like everything’s fine. We’re just asking you not to die on us, alright? We’re all scared of this fucked-up situation, but we’re trying to get everyone back home, and that includes you. You’ll just have to trust us on that.”

Being stared at with such a serious and at the same time almost understanding look, Mai had to avert her gaze after he was done with his speech. Her brows furrowed slightly and she heaved a sigh.

“I… don’t trust people that easily…” she muttered.

Rolling his eyes, Gokudera let out a light groan.
“Figures…”

Observing her as she seemed to ponder on how to response, he only now realized what he had done and how awfully close he was to Mai again. Not really knowing why exactly, he started to blush slightly and promptly let go of her wrist, taking several steps back to distance himself again.

“So… are you coming back now or what?” he asked in a rather demanding tone while rubbing the back of his head, not wanting to look at the redhead.

Mai in the meantime was still staring off to the side, mulling over his words from before. She had been acting like a brat, she couldn’t deny that. After being told that the others, of course, where stuck in the same situation and scared as well, she realized that she had never bothered to take a moment to think about anyone but herself. It was easier being stuck with her own problems and the feelings she had dealt with the past few days were way too familiar. Having realized this, she just couldn’t go back to the others as if nothing had happened. Letting out another sigh, Mai finally spoke up again, still not looking at the silver-haired teen:

“I… can’t. Not yet at least. I should do something before that, I think.”

Gokudera could feel his eye twitch at the other’s response. He was instantly starting to get irritated again. Was she trying to tell him that he had gone out of his way for nothing?

Before he was able to protest, Mai continued to talk, finally raising her head and looking at him with a serious glint in her eyes.

“But I’ll join you starting tomorrow. I promise.”

For some reason, he had a feeling that she was being honest for what seemed to be the first time he had talked to her so far. Not that there were a lot of times until now, and after this he planned to keep it that way. However, he still wasn’t convinced. Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Gokudera eyed the redhead.
“And how should I know you’re not lying?”

“I don’t break promises. Not if I can help it” Mai replied immediately.

Gokudera gave the redhead a sceptical look, raising one eyebrow at her. Of course he had a hard time believing her words, especially after her behaviour the past few days.

Sort of understanding where his wariness was coming from, Mai tried to think of a proper reason to believe her, but nothing was coming to mind. Instead, she shrugged and gave the teen a somewhat pleading look.

“…you’re just gonna have to trust me on that.”

Gokudera wasn’t too content with this outcome, but at the same time he was willing to take what he could get. Though, he didn’t like that she had basically turned the tables and ask him to blindly trust her.

“Well, fine. But if you don’t show up tomorrow, I’ll drag your sorry ass there.”

Mai only nodded, before he stomped back out of the room and slamming the door closed behind him. Flinching slightly at the loud noise, the redhead watched the other leave before she sank back onto the bed, a sigh yet again leaving her. She still had some time before they were going to finish dinner…

~*~

“Do you think Mai-chan is really going to join us tomorrow?”

“I don’t know… But Gokudera-kun said she promised, so…”

While tending to the dirty dishes, Kyoko and Haru couldn’t help but wonder if the storm guardians’ words were true. With him being unwilling to tell them any more details, even after being asked several times, they couldn’t help but question what exactly had happened.

The sound of the metallic doors sliding open stopped them in their conversation. With her hands buried in the pockets of her hoodie, Mai entered the kitchen with slow steps, her gaze directed towards the floor. After turning towards the room’s entrance, the other girls’ eyes widened. They hadn’t expected the elder to turn up now. Even having her join them for meals again would have been at least half a miracle.

“Do you guys need some help?” Mai asked. She had lifted her head and was now looking directly at the two girls, her voice clear and even had a kind tone to it. Considering the redhead’s attitude so far, her behaviour was so different now and it even made her appear… more approachable?

Startled at the change, Kyoko and Haru stared at the other for a few seconds, not sure what to make of it or what caused it. The blonde was the first to snap out of it and speak.
“U-um, if you like you could dry off the dishes…?”

Mai nodded at the suggestion and moved to the sink with large steps, rolling up her sleeves on the way. She silently started with her part of work, while Kyoko and Haru were following the redhead’s moves with puzzled faces. Exchanging looks, they both soon began to resume their tasks as well. While the atmosphere seemed more relaxed than the day prior, the setup was too similar to not cause Kyoko and Haru to be nervous. They both glanced at the redhead from the corner of their eyes every now and then, slowly getting the feeling that there was more to Mai showing up and offering her help.

Cautiously putting away another plate, Mai suddenly let out a long breath.

“I think… I should apologize to you guys. I was really mean to you. I’m sorry.””

The redhead suddenly speaking up startled the girls once again, making them stop and turn all their attention towards the other.

“All of this is just so… messed up and you guys just seemed fine with it all, it really pissed me off. And I let all my frustration out on you, even though nothing of it is your fault.”

Staring at her hands holding the drying cloth, Mai couldn’t bring herself to look at the others. While her words were genuine, to her it didn’t justify any of her actions. Sure, her attitude was probably reasonable for someone in her situation, but after Gokudera’s lecture, she started to have a hard time using said situation as an excuse any longer. So, talking to them and actually apologizing was something she thought she simply had to do, before she could keep her promise.
Kyoko and Haru stayed silent way too long for Mai’s liking, even though she didn’t feel as if she was in a position to expect anything from them. Apologizing now didn’t mean that they were in the mood to forgive and forget. She definitely didn’t lie when she had told Bianchi that she was used to not being liked…

“Mai-chan… I think I understand what you’re feeling. The first night we were here I ran away too…” Kyoko finally said, yanking the redhead out of her own thoughts. Out of all things, she definitely didn’t expect to receive sympathy, much less being told that Kyoko of all people would pull a stunt like running away, like she had done.

“You did...? Huh, I didn’t think you’d be reckless like that…” the redhead mumbled, partly in surprise, partly in admiration that she managed to get out of the base on her own.

“Hehe, thank you” the younger replied sheepishly, seemingly not completely realizing what Mai meant.

The blonde’s response caused Mai’s lips to curl into a weak smile.

“That… wasn’t really a compliment.”

As if to avoid the conversation turning awkward or moving in another direction, Haru cleared her throat to get the other’s attention and spoke up: “I think what Kyoko-chan is trying to say is, if something is bothering you, you can always talk to us. You are not alone in this.” During her little speech, the brunette had positioned herself next to Kyoko, to emphasize on how they both were ready to be there for Mai, no matter the issue.

Blinking at the others, soon a small smile started to form on the redhead’s lips, her gaze wandering off to the side.

“Gokudera said something like that too…” she muttered. She definitely wasn’t used to other people being this kind-hearted, each in their own kind of way.

Her smile started to falter, realizing that she shouldn’t take advantage of getting this chance to do better than before. Mai heaved a sigh, her right hand unconsciously moving and gripping at her hoodie. With her gaze still being averted, she finally raised her voice again: “I’m… gonna need some time to adjust to… all of this. But I’m going to try and be… nicer.”

For some reason she again couldn’t look them in the eyes after her words were said. She couldn’t sugarcoat it, she wasn’t going to suddenly change, so she had to be honest and tell the girls what they were going to have to deal with. Slowly and cautiously, Mai started to raise her head again, to see what the girls’ reaction would be. Even though she had witnessed their kindness the past few days, she was still stunned to have them beam at her with probably the brightest smiles she had ever seen on a person.

“Okay!”

~*~

Considering yesterday’s atmosphere, Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei were quite surprised when they could hear happy sounding voices even through the closed doors to the kitchen the next morning. Entering said room, they were immediately greeted by Kyoko and Haru who scurried around like busy bees, as well as Mai, who seemed to take things a bit more relaxed. Reborn, Bianchi and Fuuta were already there as well, seemingly enjoying the peaceful mood. Even Lambo and I-pin were behaving as usual, occupied by their own bickering. It was a whole different scene compared to the day before.

“Oh, good morning, guys!” Haru exclaimed in her usual cheerful voice, seemingly having a little skip in her step. Being a bit taken aback by the joyful greeting at first, the guys soon responded to the girl.
Tsuna’s gaze wandered over to the redhead, who quietly set down another set of plates and he couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved. So she actually kept the promise Gokudera had mentioned yesterday…

“Morning” she mumbled once she noticed the brunet’s stare at her. She wasn’t smiling like the other two girls, but her whole aura seemed softer. Her hair was, once again, tied into a low ponytail, but it seemed that this time she used a bright, yellow scrunchie to tie it together. Just that little speck of colour helped to soften the air around the elder.

Gokudera hated it.

Even though she had mentioned that she was someone who kept her promises, he was still somewhat stunned that Mai had actually kept to her words and showed up, but now he started to regret talking to her and basically causing the change of pace the day prior. It would have been enough to just take minimal care of herself, but even he could tell that she tried to change her behaviour. If she had kept up the mean and unapproachable attitude, he could have either ignored her or respond in the same manner.

“Something looks off about you” he replied to her greeting, purposefully pointing out her new ‘style’.

With just these few words, Mai’s mood started to sour. And here she was determined to treat them all equally and actually try and get along with them, even with Gokudera. Now that went right out the window…
Rolling her eyes at his comment, she set down the plates more forcefully than intended.
“Good morning to you too…” she grumbled, swiftly moving back to the kitchen counter to grab more plates with food.

Not paying any mind to the silver-haired teen’s ‘compliment’, Haru chimed in to explain: “Mai-chan’s hair tie snapped earlier this morning, so I’m lending her one of my emergency scrunchies. I think it suits her well, don’t you think?”

“What the hell kinda emergency would you need a scrunchie for…” Gokudera commented while sitting down on his chair, putting his elbow on the table and resting his chin in his palm.

“Don’t think too much about something you don’t understand, you’ll only hurt yourself” Mai deadpanned, purposefully being loud enough so the teen could hear her. As if she was going to let the earlier comment slide by like that.

“What did you just say?!” he retorted, starting to get pissed off. Mai on the other hand pretended not to hear him. She simply wanted to get back at him, and she seemed to have succeeded, judging from the way he got irritated by such a simple comment.

“She’s right though, octopus-head. Some things about girls are just an extreme mystery” Ryohei chimed in and patted the younger on his shoulder, as if he wanted to cheer him up.

“Don’t act like you’re an expert, stupid lawn head…” Gokudera grumbled in reply.

Mai’s ears perked up at the nicknames. She had heard those several times the past few days, but hadn’t paid too much mind to them. However, now she started to get curious.

“…why are you calling him octopus-head? Like, where is that coming from?” she asked as she was walking back to the table to continue with the table set up.

“Isn’t it extremely obvious? His hair is shaped like an octopus!” the boxer replied, tracing the air around Gokudera’s hair as if to emphasize its shape. The younger teen meanwhile smacked his hands away, getting even more aggravated.

Furrowing her eyebrows at the explanation, Mai actually started to study the silver haired’s appearance with a long hum.

“T-the hell are you looking at…” Gokudera muttered as if to try and get her to stop staring at him, once he noticed her looking at him. He definitely didn’t like being ogled at, especially not by the redhead. It seemed like an eternity, before her humming stopped and her eyes started to widen.

“Pffft- “

After a loud snort, Mai suddenly burst into a loud laughing fit, holding her stomach.
“It really… looks like an octopus!” she was able to press through her laughter. The entire room fell silent, only the redhead’s laugh filling it. It was such a warm and hearty laugh no one had expected she was even able to let out. Especially Kyoko and Haru were surprised at Mai’s outburst that they silently exchanged glances before wide smiles adorned their faces. It might be too soon to assume that things had already changed, but they surely felt that things were heading in a good direction.

While being surprised at first as well, especially since it was the first time they saw a different emotion than indifference or anger on her face, the others also started to feel relieved and hopeful about a shift in Mai’s demeanour.

However, with him being the source of the laughter, Gokudera soon started to become irritated again.

She was laughing way too much for his liking now…

Chapter Text

With the change in atmosphere around the girls, it was as if a normality and routine started to set in. The boys would train, the girls would take care of chores and the rest did God knew what. While there were still way too many questions that needed answers, Mai had to accept that she wasn’t going to get said answers anytime soon. The least she could do is take care of the task she had been assigned. However, she still couldn’t decide if this was better than having to go to school every day.

“With another set of hands, the chores are getting done so fast! Right, Mai-chan?” Haru exclaimed in her usual bubbly voice, after she closed the top of the washing machine. Looking up from the pile of laundry she just sorted, Mai turned her head towards the brunette. Showing her a small smile, the redhead nodded.
“Yeah, seems like it.”

Mai kept her promise and changed her behaviour, especially around the girls. She still wasn’t as energetic and mostly kept to herself, but the air around her let her appear more approachable and every now and then, she would even be able to smile at the others. Kyoko and Haru’s kind and happy personalities definitely helped to actually get her mind off of the whole situation they were in and actually cause her mood to lighten.

“We might even be able to get more free time this way. Is there anything you would like to do, Mai-chan?” Kyoko remarked and turned to the elder, apparently trying to get to know her better and make small talk.
“Hm…” the redhead mulled, staring off into space while thinking of an answer, absent-mindedly placing yet another shirt onto the corresponding pile of dirty clothes. “I mean, I usually spend my days off watching movies all day long, but I don’t think I’ll get the chance while we’re- “
“Let’s go play!”

Interrupting their conversation, Lambo burst into the laundry room, asking to be entertained. In his own kind of way. Her own presence aside, it was even more of a mystery to Mai why the little boy, as well as I-Pin were stuck in this place as well. It didn’t seem like the base was equipped to entertain young kids, so they must be bored to death most of the time. Especially when the only people who could provide any sort of entertainment were busy with household tasks.

“Sorry, Lambo-kun, it’s going to take a while until we’re done here. Why don’t you go play with I-Pin-chan until then?” Kyoko suggested after she had knelt down to be more on the boy’s eye level.
“But I-Pin looks like a red pepper and it’s not fun and-“
Before Lambo could continue with his explanation and end up yapping about anything and everything, Mai moved over to the little boy and placed her hand on top of his head.
“Hold your horses, what do you mean she ‘looks like a red pepper?”
“I’ll show you!” he exclaimed and immediately ran off, obviously expecting the girls to go after him.
Kyoko, Haru and Mai exchanged looks for a mere second and most likely thought the same: either Lambo was trying to prank them or something actually was up with his fellow friend…

Unfortunately, the latter was the case.
I-Pin was tucked into the bunkbed in the girls’ room, breathing unusually heavy. Lambo was not kidding, with her cheeks flushed bright red, she did resemble a vegetable.
“See, told you!” he emphasized and started to sing some sort of song, maybe to taunt his friend, but it didn’t seem like she was able to pay attention to it. Hovering over the little girl, Kyoko checked I-Pin’s forehead but only confirmed the obvious.
“She definitely has a fever…”

The room went quiet for only a few seconds, except of course for Lambo’s little performance, but it was as if one could hear the gears of the girls’ minds grinding. With sudden determination to help the child, all three of them sprung to action.
“We should try and get her too cool down first. I’ll got get some water” Kyoko announced.
“I’m going to go check if we have medicine!” Haru continued, already on her way out.
“Then I’ll check if there’s something easy to digest for her. Don’t want her to throw up the medicine” Mai finished. Not that she was an expert when it came to taking care of a sick person, but she remembered a time where she couldn’t keep down medicine the last time she was sick. Crouching down, she tried to get Lambo’s attention.
“What about you, big guy? Care to help me find something to eat for I-Pin?” She guessed it would be the best for him to not stay too close to I-Pin, so he wouldn’t get sick himself. Only God knows what kind of ordeal that would be. Not to mention that the girl could need all the peace and quiet she could get, but with the little lightning guardian around, it would be very unlikely to provide it.

“Eeeeeh, that sounds boring…” Lambo replied with a dull look on his face.
“What if I tell you that we might find some snacks for you along the way?”
That suggestion seemed to peak the boy’s interest, and it looked like he was about to jump at the idea but held himself back nonetheless.
She wasn’t used to dealing with kids, but after having to spend more and more time with him, she had started to get a feeling of how to get the boy to play into her hands. It definitely helped that he was quite the glutton as well. Leaving the room with the boy on her shoulder, all three girls had their own tasks to take care of I-Pin.

~*~

With Lambo being only slightly interested in their errand, it took him and Mai way longer than expected to complete their task. Way too many times had she caught him snacking on something instead of being on the search for something edible for a patient, definitely testing her patience in the process. At some point she had given up and decided that she would make some rice gruel for I-Pin later on. She had to admit, she had brought this on herself and had expected too much of the little boy. Had she ever been such a handful when she was younger? Hopefully the others were more successful, she thought.

Armed with a small tray and a plate of cut up and mashed-up fruits, the redhead and the little boy made their way back to the girls’ bedroom. Once the door was opened by Mai with her elbow, Lambo barged into the room.
“I-Pin, we’re bringing you food!” he announced while running towards the bed, past Kyoko who just stood in the middle of the room, seemingly frozen in her spot. Eyeing the blonde for a second, Mai didn’t think too much of her blocking the way to the bed, while she was walking towards the table in the room to set her tray down.

“Ara, where did I-Pin go?” the boy suddenly wondered aloud, starting to search the room with his eyes. Lambo started calling his friend’s name over and over again, looking for her under the bed, under the table and every single corner of the small bedroom, even though it didn’t seem like he was actually looking for her. Curious, Mai turned towards the spot she had expected to see I-Pin, but also found it empty. Not to mention that Haru wasn’t here either.

“Kyoko” Mai called out to the blonde in a calm voice, and she could swear she saw the other flinch.
“Where are I-Pin and Haru? Did they go to the bathroom?”

“W-who knows…?” Kyoko stuttered her answer and slowly shuffled towards the door to the bedroom, her back turned towards Mai and refusing to look at her properly.
“What do you mean, ‘who knows’? Weren’t they here with you?” the redhead pressed, starting to get the feeling that something was off.
“Well…” the other started, but never finished, continuing her way towards the entrance and trying to slowly leave.

She still wasn’t that close to them, but given her usual kind and sweet behaviour, Mai could tell that something was up. Could Kyoko actually try and lie to her? And fail spectacularly at that? She obviously was trying to avoid the redhead for some reason, and it surely involved the disappearance of Haru and I-Pin.

With quick steps, Mai paced across the room, and slammed her hand right next to the blonde’s head, stopping her from getting the door to open any further. Kyoko froze in shock by the loud banging sound and she could feel the elder coming closer to her face. She was trapped like a little mouse. The blonde slowly turned around, only to be stared down at with such a furious expression she had not yet seen on the other.

“Where are Haru and I-Pin?” Mai asked in a very low voice. Kyoko regretted turning around now and knew that she was in trouble, starting to actually get scared by Mai’s actions. Somehow the memory of the underclassmen and their reaction from when she first met the redhead came to her mind, and she suddenly understood their behaviour from back then.

After having to explain herself, the room became awfully quiet. Only a very low grumble from Mai could be heard, who had to sit down on the bed, her head in her hands. Even Lambo decided to stay quiet for once and hide behind Kyoko’s legs, cautiously peeking at the redhead. Fidgeting with her fingers, Kyoko observed the elder, wondering what the other was thinking, aside of anything good. Swallowing the lump, that had formed in her throat, she finally raised her voice.

“M-mai-chan, are you… angry?” the blonde asked, more quietly than she had wanted to.
“Of course I’m angry!” Mai snapped back, causing Kyoko and Lambo to flinch in their places, the latter gripping at the blonde’s legs even more and pressing his face onto them.
“Helping Haru to go outside was the dumbest thing you could have done! You know that it’s dangerous, but you both still thought that was the best thing to do?!”

“W-we just wanted to help I-Pin-chan, a-and… it was our only choice to get her- “
“Are you kidding me?! There are so many things you could’ve done instead! If you had just stopped and thought for a second, you- “, the redhead kept yelling but stopped herself midway. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand where Kyoko and Haru were coming from. Of course, considering what she knew about them, it was only natural of them to try and help the little girl as best as they could. But still, the decision to get Haru to sneak out of the base was absolutely insane in Mai’s eyes.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Mai let out a long groan. “Anyway… we have to think of a way to get this right…”
Getting up from the bed, she marched through the room with long steps, not even looking at Kyoko at this point.

“P-please don’t tell Tsuna-kun!” the blonde suddenly yelled, making Mai halt in her movement of opening the door. Kyoko clenched her eyes shut and gripped at her dress, apparently still being a bit scared of the elder, especially because of her selfish demand. Mai turned around slowly, eyeing the younger from head to toe. She definitely wasn’t in a position to make any kind of demands. Though, seeing the other like this, it was obvious that Kyoko was feeling remorseful about her and Haru’s decision.

Kyoko could hear the other click her tongue, then a few footsteps. She was about to open her eyes when she suddenly felt a prickling pain on her forehead. Immediately opening her eyes because of the sudden influx of pain, she reached up to rub her forehead when her and Mai’s eyes met.
The redhead had flicked Kyoko’s forehead and was now looking at her with an expression that the younger could only interpret as a mixture of anger and… concern?

“Stupid Kyoko…” Mai finally mumbled, turned around and left the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

~*~

It took a while to find out her whereabouts without telling anyone about the current situation, but Mai finally arrived at the room Bianchi was supposed to be in. With the sound of metallic doors opening, she saw the elder sitting at some sort of console with several monitors.

“Hey, Bianchi… we have a bit of a problem…” she called out to the other to get her attention. The pink-haired woman turned around in her seat and pulled up her googles. She quickly got up and basically pushed Mai out of the room, as if she was trying to prevent the younger to catch a glimpse of what she was doing in said room.

“What is it?” Bianchi asked after the doors closed behind her with their signature sound.
“Haru went outside” the redhead answered bluntly. There was no reason to sugarcoat it and she actually was still quite pissed about the brunette’s actions. She was not yet ready to advocate for her actions by playing them down.

Bianchi’s eyes widened after hearing the other’s words and it was easy to tell how her thoughts immediately started racing. However, once her eyes wandered back to Mai, the elder’s expression of worry turned dark, eyeing the redhead intently.
“Did you help her?”

Realizing what she was just asked by the other, Mai’s eyes grew large.
“Wha-?! Hell NO! Why would you think I’d- “, she blurted out, wanting to defend herself. The accusation was harsh and she actually felt insulted by Bianchi’s words. Immediately crossing her arms in front of her chest and raising an eyebrow at her reaction, the pink-haired woman caused Mai to stop in her tracks of defending herself. Bianchi had enough reason to believe that the redhead was in on the other girls’ plan. Mai herself had a record of causing trouble after all. Her gaze wandered to the side after realizing this and stayed silent for a bit. After a moment, she heaved a sigh.

“Okay, I’d be lying if I said the thought didn’t cross my mind, but no, Kyoko and Haru came up with it on their own while I wasn’t with them. And even if I did help them, I would have gone out myself” Mai stated, her brows furrowing and her hands clenching to fists at the thought that Haru could be in serious danger right now. God, she silently wished she had gone out in the brunette’s stead, remembering when she had to flee from those weirdos in suits. It was hard to tell if she would have been able to return safely, but she couldn’t help but think that her chances were at least a bit better. How certain could she be of Haru and I-Pin being able to come back to base in one piece?

Observing the redhead, Bianchi started to believe her words. For a brief moment, she could even recognize part of the friend she knew from this time era. The friend who wasn’t afraid to jump into possible dangerous situations if it meant the people she held dear weren’t going to get hurt. The same friend who wasn’t afraid to hold others accountable for their mistakes but was willing to fix it with them. Quietly, Bianchi couldn’t help but let a small smile form on her lips and take a few steps towards Mai. Lifting her hand, she ruffled through her red mane, yanking Mai out of her own thoughts but not giving her enough time to properly react.

“I’ll bring her back” Bianchi said to the younger before making her way down the hallway. Blinking at the elder’s actions, Mai’s gaze lingered on the other. Considering the accusation, she was astonished by Bianchi’s actions, even more so about the fact that she would just up and do what she was about to ask her to do, no further explanation wanted or needed. All of a sudden, Mai remembered Kyoko’s request from before.

“Wait!” she called out, causing Bianchi to halt in her movement and turn around again.
“Kyoko… She asked me not to tell Tsuna, so...”
For some reason it felt like she was imposing even more tasks onto the elder, making her feel a bit uneasy. It was just really hard for Mai to tell what she was thinking about this whole ordeal.

“I won’t tell him. I’ll leave the rest to you.”
Without giving her time to reply, the hitwoman walked off again, leaving Mai behind in the hallway.
Watching Bianchi leaving, the redhead realized that this was the first time she actually spoke to the other in a quite long time. The last time they spoke… was when she snapped at the girls and even Bianchi. Since that, the pink-haired seemed to avoid Mai as much as she could. She was actually nice to Kyoko and Haru, but to her? Now that she thought about it, Mai never apologized to Bianchi for acting the way she did back then…

~*~

Hours passed and there was still no sign of Bianchi returning with Haru and I-Pin. Deciding to try and be patient, Kyoko and Mai moved to the kitchen, but waiting for them to come back proved to be a harder task than they thought. While Kyoko had sat down at the table, seemingly praying that the others were going to return any second, Mai paced through the room, not being able to sit still in this situation. Considering how much time had already passed, both couldn’t help but fear that something bad must have happened.

“Kyoko! Mai! Let’s go play!” Interrupting their thoughts, Lambo yelled through the room after jumping onto the table, once again wanting to be entertained. He unfortunately couldn’t have chosen a worse time.
“Sorry, Lambo, maybe later…” the redhead answered, showing the boy an apologetic smile.
“You’ll have to be patient for a bit” Kyoko added, reaching out to ruffle his hair, but the boy immediately started to scream.

“I don’t want to be patient, I wanna play! I WANNA PLAY NOW!”
Crying and yelling his little heart out, Kyoko and Mai exchanged quick looks with each other, not really knowing what to do. They didn’t mean to upset him, but both were simply not in the headspace to play with Lambo.

As if he alarmed them with his screaming, Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Reborn and Lal Mirch walked into the kitchen, seemingly curious what was causing the ruckus.
“What the hell are you yelling for, stupid cow!” Gokudera immediately complained, trying to get Lambo to shut up in his own kind of way.

“Kyoko and Mai won’t play with me!”
“Then just go play with I-Pin? Where is she right now?” Tsuna suggested, crouching down a bit to be on Lambo’s eye level.
“Not here!”
“What do you mean ‘not here’?”
Flinching at the boy’s answer to Tsuna’s question, Mai and Kyoko averted their gazes, looking anywhere besides the brunet. If only they hadn’t spent their time with being worrywarts and instead come up with a plausible story to tell the others in case they would ask where the other three girls were.

“Did something happen? Haru and Bianchi aren’t here either” Reborn cut in, turning to the two girls for an answer. Rubbing the back of her neck, Mai tried to speak up and come up with a lie on the spot, but Kyoko beat her to it.
“They haven’t come back...” the blonde murmured, her gaze now fixating the table’s surface. Blinking at her words, Mai was stunned that the younger actually decided to tell the truth, despite her initial demand not to tell Tsuna. It seemed like guilt had finally caught up to her.

“You mean they went outside?!” Lal Mirch yelled, causing Kyoko to sink in her seat and tears to form in her eyes.
“I-Pin-chan was sick, so Haru-chan went to get her to a doctor! We didn’t know what else to do!” the blonde cried, now being fully distraught about the whole situation.

“Did all three of you want to have a go at going outside?! As if it wasn’t enough that- “

“Hey, that’s enough!” Mai interfered in a loud voice, causing Lal to stop in her rant.
“She obviously regrets letting Haru go outside, so leave her alone!”
The redhead stepped closer to Kyoko, seemingly trying to show that she was on her side and protecting her, all the while glaring at the Arcobaleno. Lal Mirch was taken aback by the other’s behaviour, not expecting to practically be shut up like that. Realizing that any more words would be shut down as well, she scoffed, crossed her arms and looked off to the side.

“Besides, I already chewed her out for all of us” Mai finally added, softly hitting the blonde’s head with her knuckles. Flinching a bit at the contact, Kyoko slowly looked up at the elder, a small smile forming on her lips, as if to thank her for defending her.
“I asked Bianchi to go after Haru, but they’re still not back. We’re worried they got caught up in something, right?” Mai explained, placing a hand on Kyoko’s head and looked at her, trying to get her to cheer up a bit. Wiping her tears away, the blonde nodded.

“There’s a chance they ran into trouble, if they’ve already been gone for a while…” Yamamoto chimed in. Reborn, who had been sitting on Yamamoto’s shoulder let out a hum, evaluating the current situation.
“That just means, that Bianchi was able to catch up to Haru. She probably has things under control, so we should be able to come up with a plan to bring them back.”

Without noticing it themselves, Mai and Kyoko heaved a long sigh they didn’t even know they were holding themselves. Apparently, things would have been a lot easier if both of them would’ve gone straight to the others. Exchanging looks once again, Mai and Kyoko however still felt bad about this whole ordeal and into what mess it had accumulated. Seeing them still be quite concerned, Tsuna turned to the girls, showing them a warm smile.
“I’ll bring them all back here. Don’t worry, you two” he assured them, causing both of them to show the brunette a small smile in return.

~*~

They were told not to worry, but both Mai and Kyoko still felt uneasy after Tsuna left to retrieve Bianchi, Haru and I-Pin. After Fuuta’s suggestion, they had started to prepare dinner, but they unknowingly were slower and quieter than usual. Every single time the metallic doors opened, both of them turned around in anticipation to see the others, but were disappointed when it was just the guardians, Fuuta or Giannini entering. Now they were all gathered in the kitchen and patiently waiting for the girls to finish preparing their meal. Well, more or less.

Silently observing how they actually fumbled around compared to the usual from his spot at the dining table, Gokudera couldn’t help but almost be entertained by the whole situation. Without realizing it himself, his gaze wandered to the redhead every now and then as he was sitting there, his elbow propped on the table, chin resting in his hand. He had to admit, seeing her worry like that and the way she told off Lal for Kyoko was quite a change from her usual self. While he was concerned about his sister’s well-being, which he of course would never admit, he was also sure that she would have everything under control. Other than that, he was still on not too good terms with her, so he wasn’t going to waste his time brooding over the situation.

For a last time, the sound of the doors opening yanked the two girls out of their thoughts, and finally the one’s they were waiting for entered the room. Kyoko immediately let whatever she was holding fall onto the kitchen counter and rushed over to Haru, embracing her in a tight hug.

“Haru-chan! I’m so glad you’re back! We were so worried!” she cried, tears once again forming in her eyes. Haru soon returned the hug, also getting teary-eyed. Watching the happy and almost tear-jerking reunion of the two friends caused Mai to let out a heavy sigh of relief. Thank God they came back in once piece… Her eyes scanned the rest of the returnees and she was glad to see that even I-Pin seemed to be doing better. However, Bianchi looked like she had been through quite the trouble, being covered in dirt and she thought she saw her face being slightly twisted in pain behind her goggles. Guilt started to spread through her while her gaze stayed on the elder, completely tuning out the rest of the room’s conversation.

Haru rushing over to her excitedly finally yanked her out of her thoughts. She hadn’t listened to a word the brunette said, but she was now standing in front of the redhead, seemingly beaming with joy, for whatever reason. Something about that behaviour rubbed her the wrong way. As if everything was water under the bridge. Frowning at Haru, Mai stayed silent for a second, before turning her back towards her with a huff, acting as if she was resuming in preparing tonight’s meal.

“Mai-chan is so cold-hearted…” Haru whined, feeling hurt by the sudden mood change of the elder. Quickly, Kyoko moved over to the brunette and whispered in her ear: “She was really angry and worried too. You should properly apologize to her.”
Pretending like she didn’t hear the blonde’s words, Mai let out a very quiet grumble and frantically scanned the kitchen counter in order to find something to do, as to keep up her act of being busy and not talk to Haru.

“Mai-chan, I’m really sorry for going outside on my own. I won’t do it again” Haru spoke up, stepping closer to the elder to try and properly look at her, in hope of seeing a reaction from her. With a scowl on her face, Mai slowly turned around, wiping off her hands on her apron. Reaching up, she pinched Haru’s cheeks and pulled on them hard, causing the younger to yelp out in pain. Stopping after what felt like an eternity to Haru, Mai still held onto the brunette’s cheeks, turning her head upwards to properly look in her eyes.

“If you do something like this again, I’ll never forgive you. Understand?” the redhead said in a stern voice, waiting for Haru to reply. Staring at the elder with wide eyes, she only managed to nod.
“Good.” Finally letting go of her cheeks, Mai gave the brunette’s cheeks a very soft clap and turned back to her former task to prepare tonight’s dinner. Meanwhile Haru rubbed her hurting face and Kyoko chuckled.

Watching the spectacle before them, most of the guys couldn’t help but giggle as well. Only Gokudera remained in the same position as before, suddenly letting out a low scoff.
“Huh, didn’t think you’d get this worked up” he commented aloud, just then realizing that he didn’t only keep the thought to himself.

“The hell are you talking about?” Mai instantly spat back, turning around and scowling at him. She just knew that his word were aimed at her. Whatever his problem was with her, she was not in the mood to deal with his annoying remarks.
“Weren’t you the one who told me that we’re all stuck here together?”

Taken aback by the almost aggressive retort, the storm guardian was not able to form a proper response himself.
“Uhm…”
“Well, you were right. So, the least I can do is look out for you guys in my own kind of way. You got a problem with that?”, she continued, now having fully turned towards Gokudera and fixating her gaze on him. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, it felt like she was only accepting a certain answer, not giving him much of a choice.
“Uh, no…”
“Good. Then you two take care of the rest here and I’ll go and patch up Bianchi” Mai stated, promptly taking off her apron and throwing it in the arms of Haru and Kyoko, before making her way towards the pink-haired woman. Said woman was about to protest, but already got pulled to the next available room to be taken care of by the redhead.

With the doors getting shut again, the kitchen fell silent. Mere seconds later however, Kyoko’s giggling started to fill the room.
“Kyoko-chan?”
Trying her best to answer and not chuckle again, the blonde answered: “I just thought, that… Mai-chan sure has her own way of showing how kind she can be.”

~*~

She had talked big but, in the end, there was hardly anything for Mai to patch up. Grumbling at the fact that she made a bit of a fool of herself she continued disinfecting the small cuts on Bianchi’s skin. At the same time the elder observed the sight before her with a bemused smile on her lips.

“I’m mostly fine, you know” she remarked as the redhead seemed to be on the lookout for at least some bruises on her. Glancing at Bianchi only for a second, a small pout started to form on Mai’s lips.
“I know…” she murmured, not looking at the other.
“I just… kinda wanted to make it up to you for… for snapping at you a while ago” she continued, after finally finding a bigger cut on the pink-haired woman. Silently disinfecting it, she then cautiously put a band-aid on Bianchi’s forearm.

“I’m sorry for that.”

Still not looking at the pink-haired woman’s face, Mai lowered her hands and placed them in her lap. She was not necessarily waiting to have the other forgive her or anything, but after today’s events, she realized that an apology was long overdue. Leaning back on the chair she was sitting on, Bianchi took in the sight in front of her. While she surely missed the usual Mai she knew, what she had been seeing today as well as right now definitely came close to it and she was glad about the change in the redhead’s behaviour.

“Do you believe me now that we’re not pretending to care?” the elder asked, leaning forward to try and peek at Mai’s face. After several seconds of silence, Mai heaved a sigh and finally lifted her head to properly look at Bianchi, and answered:
“Yeah, I do…”

A warm smile spread across the hitwoman’s face and she reached out to ruffle through the younger’s hair, albeit a bit too aggressively.
“Could you stop doing that? My hair is already a mess without your help” the redhead grumbled, swatting the other’s hand away. This had been the second time that day her hair got played with after all, much to her displeasure.
“Oh, but it’s just so much fun!” Bianchi laughed and continued to ruffle the younger’s hair, earning yet another annoyed outcry.