Tsuna had fallen asleep on the floor. His back ached, and he felt uncomfortably numb in some parts of his body.
It was just that the shared moment between him and Nagi was so… comfortable. He did not want to get up and leave her embrace, and she seemed just as content to simply snuggle into him.
Eventually he fell asleep, drawn in by Nagi's soft humming.
That was a mistake.
Perhaps because of how late it was, or maybe because Nagi was so damn nice to hold, Tsuna woke up much later than he wanted to.
It was not a big deal, just a single day away from the routine he wanted to develop. Hell, he probably needed the break considering how broken his body currently was.
That was the second mistake.
Waking up and seeing Nagi's sweet face as she nuzzled like a lazy cat was adorable. He did not want to wake the girl and was feeling more than content to just rest with her at this moment.
Sharing the warmth of their bodies and feeling ever so light. He was sure he had a big dopey smile on his face as he looked down at her with such fondness.
That was the final mistake.
His door cracked open. His mother, long since used to waking up her lazy son, barged in without knocking, a happy tune slipping from her lips.
The moment that door opened, he saw exactly how he had screwed up, but knowing why you are fucked does not really help when you are.
Nana paused her stride as she caught sight of the duo on the floor. Her brain processed the girl who very much was supposed to be in another room and the big blinding smile on her own son's face.
Her lips twitched.
She locked eyes with her son, who had all the color in his face drain at the sight of his mother.
Her lips twitched faster.
She was only moments away from bursting into laughter but held it back because she did not want to break this scene up. So she closed the door quietly and bolted to her own room.
She needed her camera.
Tsuna started to scramble, gently shaking Nagi and speaking urgently.
"Nagi-chan, you need to wake up. Please wake up."
For once he experienced the other side of this coin. He could have shaken her harder, maybe even yelled to wake her up, but…
He glanced at the face that had whispered softly to him throughout the night, the smile that even now rested on her face.
He just could not bring himself to push her too hard.
Perhaps he had room for another mistake.
Tsuna resigned himself to his fate as his mother came bursting back into the room with her camera in her hands, a bright smile on her face and a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Snapping photos at near-superhuman speeds, he flinched at that and went even paler, but the die had been cast and this was his fate.
"My Tsu-kun is really growing up!"
She spoke excitedly, her voice bubbly.
The noise she was making seemed to be the final straw as Nagi started to stir from her place on his chest. Seeing her start to rise, Nana paused her frantic snapping of photos and watched, waiting for the exact moment Nagi would know what was happening in this room.
Nagi rose slowly, her head inches from his again as she stared up at him sleepily. Then a bright, soft smile bloomed on her face as she nuzzled into his neck and let out a content hum.
"Morning," she spoke out softly, and Tsuna felt his face grow bright red despite his mother's increasingly wide smile.
He looked back and forth between his mother and Nagi, knowing they were caught but not wanting to break the illusion just yet.
"Morning."
He murmured back quietly. They were caught. Might as well make this a good moment before his mother steamrolled it.
His mother quite literally let out a squeal of excitement at that and started to fan her face with a teasing smile on her lips.
"Oh my, Tsu-kun and Nagi-chan are acting like a married couple already."
Her bright voice and the tone behind it caused Nagi to freeze.
He could see the gears turning in her head as she looked up from her position on his chest to match his gaze with slowly rising panic. Seeing that, he could only give her a helpless smile.
She then turned around mechanically and saw his mother watching them with a wide smile.
Red started to build on her face incredibly quickly, and he could have sworn steam started rising from the top.
That was the exact moment his mother took another photo.
Nagi tried to scramble off of him but in her haste she tripped over her own limbs and managed to land right back on him.
That had his mother laughing some more as she continued taking photos.
Tsuna decided to help despite most of his limbs still feeling asleep. He grabbed her and rose into a standing position. His newfound strength made it simple to pick up the relatively light girl.
She scrambled some more in his hold but settled once Tsuna set her on her own two feet. Once she had that, she took big deliberate steps away from Tsuna and did not look at anyone as her face went near crimson.
"Sorry! …I …I….I"
Nagi immediately apologized and tried to say anything else but she was not finding any words at this moment.
"We need to get ready for school. It's running too late already." Tsuna stated simply, doing his best to ignore his mother's teasing despite his own mortification.
Nagi froze at that and took a look at his alarm clock, her eyes widening desperately as she let out a squeak.
His mother wore a pout on her face and shook her head at her son.
"Tsu-kun is a party pooper, but if you must. We will be talking about this when you both come back."
His mother let out with her pout and put away her camera, making way for Nagi to get out of the room so she could go get dressed.
Seeing the opening, Nagi bolted out of the room, still bright red.
His mother gave him one final wink and left him to get dressed.
He took a deep breath and left this problem for later.
Future Tsuna would handle it anyway, even if future Tsuna wanted to punch past Tsuna.
He got ready quickly and started to go downstairs, taking a hesitant look around to see if Nagi was ready, but it looked like she was going to take a bit longer.
So he grabbed something to eat from the fridge and went back to his room with his snack.
He had one more thing he wanted to use before he left for the day.
The ticket he gained from Nagi's crush on him.
[Desperation]
|Rare Ability|
Your physical stats are augmented by the amount of danger you are in at any given moment. If you aren't in danger it will give you nothing. If you are in mild danger it will give you a common-rank boost in all stats. If you are in danger the rarity will be raised to uncommon. If you are in severe danger it will be raised to rare. If you are in danger of dying at any moment it will be raised to Elite, and if you are facing certain death it will be raised to Epic. This ability does not cost energy.
Or
[Mysticism]
|Rare Trait|
Your energy reserves and recovery speeds are beyond the norm, allowing you to use abilities and spells for longer.
He paused; the choice was not so easy this time.
Mysticism would be an excellent foundation for what he was building. All of his abilities ran on his Flames, and while they were deep, having something like this would only make them better.
It was also something he could use right now. He would not have to wait for a slot to open up as he rolled more and more abilities.
The issue was Desperation was… well, it was a trump card. The final play he had when the odds seemed hopeless. He was always willing to die if it meant protecting something precious to him.
If he had this, then even those hopeless situations did not seem too bad.
He hesitated for a good long moment before selecting Desperation.
The trump card was too tempting.
When that was settled, he finished his snack and went downstairs, waiting for Nagi to come down.
They did not go to the same school, but he could walk her to hers. Then he could use his speed to arrive on time on his own.
Nagi scrambled down the stairs in an oddly familiar way. Tsuna almost expected her to trip over nothing like he did, but while they were similar in many ways, Tsuna could see that she did not have his previous terrible physique.
Seeing him, she paused before continuing and putting on her shoes.
Tsuna went beside her and waited. Again she looked at him for a moment before a small smile started to show up on her face.
"I'll drop you off before heading towards my school," Tsuna spoke out, and Nagi blinked before looking away with an aura of disappointment.
She completely forgot they were not from the same school. She was going to spend all day not seeing Tsuna.
That was going to be torture.
She wondered how hard it would be to transfer schools.