And Then, Silence

The Dinner (story 7.5)

Tsuna sat first on his respective place, the head of the table, before the others followed. Gokudera on his right side and Hibari on his left. That way, the cloud is somewhat away from the middle of the crowd and if confusion arises to make him angry, the rain is just beside him to calm the chaos. Much to the storm's annoyance, the sun is beside him. Though his loud personality is cancelled by Chrome and Chikusa's silence who also disciplines the wild Ken. With Mukuro present, and specifically just beside Ken, the animal is quite behaved. Fuuta, Lambo, I-pin and Nana are seated on the same side to watch each other. A vacant chair is on the other end of the table, specifically reserved for Reborn.

Tsuna frowned, his tutor is missing dinner again.

The long table is more than enough to handle the whole family but not their ruckus. Back in Italy, they usually get a new dining table every month. Tsuna hopes that it won't be the same case this time.

The maids and butlers casually set the plates and the food on the table. No sign of panic as their argument is getting heated. Afterall, as staffs for a influential family, being adept in combat is required. For the sake of dodging or catching any rogue utensils in their way.

Back to the guardians argument about time, another question is raised.

How long is a while?

"Wait. Let me clear something out." Gokudera slammed his palm flat on the table. All attention went to him. "What are we talking about? Is it the two word a while or the one word awhile?"

"Isn't it just the same?" Yamamoto asked.

"They're not. The two word a while is a noun phrase, consisting the article 'a' and the noun 'while' meaning its ' a period or interval of time. The one word awhile is an adverb that means 'for a short period of time'." the storm adjusted his glasses and then pointed on the board that magically appeared for him to write the words. "See? They're not the same."

"I don't know, sounds the same to me." Ryohei interjected.

"You idiots! Jyuudaime, tell them."

"I will not partake in this argument."

Tsuna successfully bailed out to avoid a squabble with his family yet the others seem to be attached with the topic.

"Okay. Assuming that the two are the same --"

"They're not!"

"Both terms are expressions of time, and we are just assuming." the rain waited for Gokudera to react which didn't come so he continued. "So back to the question how long is that period of time."

"What if its based from the context?" Fuuta joined in. "Like we should pay attention at how the phrase was used."

"True. But how about when the understanding of the sender and the receiver about the word is different?" Chikusa countered.

Fuuta gave a minute of consideration before nodding in agreement. Tsuna smiled as the two who rarely joins in openly said their opinion.

"How about being specific on the duration of your absence? For example, using 'just a minute' or 'I'll be gone for a year.'"

"Don't ignore the main question!"

"A year is a 'short time' for others while for some 'a minute' is what they call short. But what really is time? If time is an illusion, does that mean that our moments together is not true but seems to be true or true but seems to be false? Some says that the only real thing is now. How about earlier that we just called now, was that an illusion? But people's perception about time is different. If so, then we who had known each other for years would actually be a month for others. Then i--"

Bodies fell on the floor.

"I think you broke them."

Sweatdrop.

"Well done, my dear Chrome."

A chuckle.

"...I'm sorry."

Silence.

The sky opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. Tsuna has no idea what to say.

At least the table is safe this night.

....

To all my teachers:

I challenge you all for AN EXAM BY COMBAT!

<(¤o¤)/

Why did I even write this?