10 Year Mishap

13

It was bad! It was really, really bad! He thought Aria was gonna be on his side, but nope! She tried to turn him over to the Japanese police as a stowaway the second they landed! Luckily, his Hyper Intuition warned him to her actions, but that didn't stop the slight sting when he watched the interaction from afar. At least she didn't give away his name or his persona. It was nice of her, all things considered.

Shaking his head, he continued his trek down the road. He had gotten a taxi to Namimori, knowing that Aria probably knew exactly where he was going, but had gotten out right on the edge of town. This was for several reasons, the biggest being that he didn't want anyone to see where he was going. After all, he was going to re-disguise himself, so he couldn't afford witnesses on his location. He'd have to wait until night, though, to steal some clothes. He'd also probably have to swindle some money from some people, but that was a future problem. For now, he'd check up on his mother. He wouldn't interact with her directly, just check in from afar.

The walk into town was uneventful, the road was very empty. Namimori was a small town, so not a lot of people drove, it wasn't an uncommon thing for the roads to be devoid of cars. The main road was also usually empty because of the same reasons, as well as the fact that the only buildings on the main road were the schools and major businesses, all of which could be accessed by literally every other street.

Eventually, Tsuna reached the neighborhood he grew up in. He had expected to see his mother, but he hadn't expected her to be so young! She looked like she did when he was about five. But that didn't make sense. The Ten Year Bazooka sends the user - victim - ten years forward, not twenty-ish years back! This obviously needed more investigation. For now, he made sure she was okay. When he got closer, he realized that the biggest surprise of this trip was the four year old in her arms.

"What the hell?" he whispered to himself when he turned the corner. He was slightly freaking out on the inside, but he wasn't going to show his panic. "Okay," he coached to himself quietly, "Don't panic, Tsuna. We need to get a place to stay." Promptly pushing the matter aside for now, he checked his money reserves. They were abysmal at best. "Okay, new plan. Swindling or robbery." He was no stranger to working under the law, the Mafia was literally his birthright, but he really didn't want to have to rob anyone. Swindling was the more morally acceptable choice of the two, but he'd wasn't going to let moralities stop him. Surviving was his first priority right now.

His walk led him the the outskirts of town, opposite direction from the schools and branching off a ways from the main footpaths and roads. It was still a rather nice neighborhood, but the broken path he took when the end of the street offered left or right took him straight into a path guarded by trees. It wasn't a forest path by any means, just more nature-filled than the rest. It worked wonders for remaining relatively inconspicuous. The worn path led under the trees branches and to a very old, very traditional styled house. It had obviously hadn't been used in quite a few years, and Tsuna was willing to count it as some deity taking pity on him and allowing him a place to stay. Making sure the building was stable, he found that the inside wasn't nearly as damaged as the outside looked. It was mainly dusty with a few broken windows, the paper doors were ripped, and some of the floor and wall boards were rotted. The outside was largely covered in vegetation, so there was really not too much work to be done.

"Well," Tsuna said after he finished looking around, "It's not much, but it'll work." He quickly cleared a spot for the night and got to work. He didn't have a charger with him, but he had his phone. He sent a message to Reborn with little hope that it would go through before he set to scamming people and getting small amounts of money transferred to a temporary bank account he'd made. The sudden account would be the only immediately suspicious thing, but the small bits of money would not be missed from those he stole from. All in all, the process took up the whole night and he didn't get a lick of sleep. His phone was to die, so he quickly left his shelter to go get clothes, food, and a portable charger. He would've gone through with stealing in the night, but his morals kept him from causing some poor lady stress because he was selfish.

The walk, much like the day before, was -uninterrupted and quiet. Most people weren't up this early in the morning. Those that were, were all opening shops for the day or going to their jobs. It was a very mundane life that Tsuna found himself sometimes longing for. He had grown up with the illusion that that would be his life, only for any hope of a quiet retirement replaced with a mallet to the head and a history lesson about relatives he didn't even know he had.

The nostalgia wore off when he walked into a clothing store. He was still technically female, but he was going to get some more masculine clothes. So, he did just that. Leaving the building with a single bag of clothes, he made his way to the shopping centre. Here, he bought non-perishables like bottled water and canned food. Leaving with two more bags in his hands, he went to pick up a portable phone charger. He didn't have anywhere to charge it, but thats way a small cafe was his last stop for the day. Did he feel bad about using stolen money and basically gaslighting the back into thinking he exists? Not in the slightest. Okay, maybe he cared a bit about the gaslighting, but that was it!

Now fully set, he sat in the corner of a small cafe and charged his new portable charger. Halfway through his meal, he plugged in his phone. Against his better judgement, he checked for any messages. When he found none, he sent another to his former tutor. "Hey," he sent, "I don't know what's going on or where I am. I don't even know if you'll get this. I've managed to keep my digital presence basically nonexistent, and no one knows who I am. Aria is the only exception, but I don't think she's completely on my side. For now, I'm hiding in Namimori. I've found a place to stay as well as funds, but I don't want to be here any longer than necessary. Please get me home soon."