Game on

Chapter 20: Inheritance Arc 4

At this, the twins and their Guardians understood what the old crafter wanted – and all of them presented their hand, the heavy, yet beautiful rings standing out.
"Then what is to become of the Sin?" Timoteo asked, still surprised to see the new shape the rings had taken
"It is to be given back to it's true owner... And as luck would have it, he and his Famiglia are here today..." smiled Talbot, as the mafiosi started to glance around, wondering whom the venerable old man could be talking about

As for the Vongola X and Simon, all were stunned by this unexpected interference which was both useful and troublesome. Talbot himself given back the Sin to the Simon was good, as all mafiosi would accept his word when he said they were the true owner of the phial – but it also broke their plan of orchestrating a fight for the phial.
The twins shared a glance, then another one with Enma – and without words, the plan was amended...

"Step forward, Simon Decimo, and accept the Sin of the Vongola just as the Vongola Decimo accepted the Simon's Penalty."
And Enma stepped forward toward his friend, his Guardians behind him – in the middle of the stunned looks of the other mafiosi, all of them so used to write off their Famiglia as small and useless...

Tsuna took the small phial that was the cause of the event, and turned to his friend "It is a Talbot says, it is time for the Simon to regain was was once their. I look forward to what you'll do with it."
"Shall we test it?" Enma asked with a smile "On our family island in a week, let's have a guardian tournament."
"Let's." Tsuna accepted with a smile

With that, the ceremony, part with the Sin over, was back on – mainly with some grand speech from Nono, followed by the new generation being sworn in.
Meanwhile, Julie – or rather, Daemon Spade – was frowning and asked under his breath "What was this about, Enma? Why are you playing buddy with those killers!"
"Don't be stupid." Adelheid chastised immediately "In this context any hostile word would have painted us as the bad guys."
"So what!"

"So even if we destroy the Vongola, if in the end they are the victim and not the bad guys finally brought to justice, what's the point?" asked Enma with a pointed look
Daemon Spade didn't answer – for of course, he didn't care about the Simon's Famiglia reputation, but he couldn't tell them that, not yet anyway.
At least, he reflected, the brat – surprisingly – had been intelligent enough to rise to the young Vongola declaration of wanting to see what would be done with the Sin.

The two Famiglia would fight, just as he had orchestrated.

¤.¤.¤

The Inheritance Ceremony, after Talbot unexpected appearance, was followed by a garden party that took most of the afternoon and was directly followed by a buffet and a ball in the Iron Fort.
If there was one thing mafiosi knew how to do, it was enjoying life's luxuries, and the Vongola grand event was a testament to that.

The Vongola X official entry in the mafia underworld had been perfect, reflected Squalo – and if the brats had been good back then, they were even better now.
Because their proficiency in fight and intelligence was now completed by a keen understanding of the way things worked in the underworld that made them all the more dangerous.
Seeing the newly named Decimo opening the ball with his twin – which was a strange and stunning picture of power – he saw an occasion he couldn't miss.
And Superbi Squalo was known for his strategic mind for good reasons – one of those being he had an uncanny instinct on which occasion could be used to his advantage, even if it was a dangerous move.

Such a dangerous move as the one he made, by extending his hand first for the second dance with the newly named Shadow.

The girl could refuse him in front of everybody – and doing so would completely shatter the already fragile reputation of the Varia, seeing as he was their current leader. But his instincts were screaming at him that now was the moment to restore the Varia's reputation, by tying them to the newest Vongola generation – and the girl, surprising as always, merely inclined her head in acceptance, stopping the motion her brother had started to prevent him from approaching her further.
With a nod, her brother let her in the shark's arms and went to find Kyoko for his second dance.