Game on

Chapter 19: Inheritance Arc 3

"So we'll do our own things in the meantime." concluded Souichi "I've got two ideas concerning these blood rituals... Of course, the Tech and Mystic teams will have to work together..."
"Get on with it!" grumbled Gokudera
"Since the Simon were using the blood of their boss to power up their rings, I wondered if we couldn't do something like that with both Tsuna-kun and Kaze-chan's blood as basis, as they are our sky."

"It should be possible." nodded Kazami, already thinking about what she knew about blood rituals, Kiba agreeing silently – and Padfoot on her head yipping his agreement too
"As for the second idea... Well I know that wizard's familiar can be blood-bound, so why not do just that with our animal boxes?" his hands were moving wildly as he explained his idea "The box would be locked to only one person after that, but it also should be more powerful as it would be fully attuned to said person!"

"This is a really good idea." approved Kiba "A mix between Flame-based technology and magical blood ritual!"
"And we've lost the geeks..." sighed Tsuna-kun, a smile belying his words – the fighters around him laughed merrily, as for said geeks they fortunately for him hadn't heard

¤.¤.¤

Enma was trying to hide his nerves by playing with Padfoot, that had for once left Kazami's arms to find him during the lunch hour, while waiting for Adelheid's reaction.
It had taken most of the lunch hour to retell her all of the memories shared by the Vindice, and the decisions made during the meeting; their lunches were laying on the side, forgotten, and the girl was silent, visibly still processing all of what she'd just heard.

He'd made the decision to talk to Adelheid first – because despite her scary attitude toward outsiders, she was the heart of their Famiglia, the one that had always been there for him and the others, just like a mother.
A few meters away, he could see Tsuna, alone for once, who was playing with an animal too – and used as he was to the Vongola X strangeness, Enma wasn't even surprise to see that it wasn't a regular cat or dog but a badger...

The young mafioso was there as a mental support, as he had been told that Enma would use this hour to inform his right hand of all he had learned – yet far away enough that he could hear what the Simon were saying, in order to help Adelheid relax.
Finally, after a long sigh, Adelheid seemed to have come to a conclusion – a conclusion hard enough coming from her, who was the closest to Julie.
"As much as I don't want to, this story you're telling me is probably true." a small smile "I'm still a bit wary of the Vongola, but if you're willing to put your faith in them, then I'll do it too."

[Goal update: Free the non-possessed Simon's from their mind control before the Inheritance Ceremony: 2/6
gain their cooperation for Kozato Enma's plan: 1/5]

"Thanks, Adelheid."

"Now tell your friend to come sit with us. He looks as idiotic as you, playing with a pet at school! I don't understand how Hibari-san stands it!"
"Kyoya-kun likes small animals." explained Tsuna
"A badger is hardly a small pet." frowned Adelheid "And I didn't even know they could be tamed."
"Ah, but Mamoru isn't a pet, he's my partner." corrected Tsuna with a smile that was echoed on Enma's face

As for Adelheid, she was eying the young Vongola with suspicion and finally asked "You know, the Vindice aren't known for their benevolence, so I really don't think they decided to come and share these memories by themselves..."
Tsuna didn't falter – both Kyoya, Hana and his sister had speculated that this girl would guess at their involvement.
"My sister have a gift." he answered "A gift that made it painfully clear to her that all of your minds were tempered with. So we went thought the Vongola and CEDEF archive, hoping to find something about your Famiglia that would help."

"But since Giotto erased any trace of our presence..."
"We didn't find anything." nodded Tsuna "Except vague mentions in his private correspondence." he shrugged "Then the next logical step was to find another organization that existed at the time of Giotto who could have heard of you."
"And you just went to the Vindice?" Adelheid was paling just thinking about it "Your Famiglia is completely insane, Tsuna-san."