Tsuna gently pushed his way to the front (being small had its advantages, since most adults didn't mind him because they could easily keep staring over his head) and took the scene in.
The four vigils from earlier had apparently managed to corner the runaway figure, which was a boy around their age with blond hair arranged in a swirl and munching on a lollipop. Said boy didn't look all that worried at being surrounded, in fact he only seemed to be mildly annoyed at the men.
But the sight that had Tsuna groan in despair was the white-haired teen by his side with a shit-eating grin.
Of course Byakuran had to get involved with whatever commotion happened near him.
From what the crowd around him was muttering, Tsuna understood that the blond boy had entered the convention without paying for a ticket. The Sky didn't blame him, the entry fee had been inordinate, and they had only managed to pay without ruining themselves for four tickets because of the hefty bonus Varia had given them for a job well done -and to motivate them to work for them again, when new rooms will undoubtedly be wrecked in the near future. Given that this was an advanced convention, clearly meant for the elite -for all that it was open to all- and that famous figures such as this Verde were in attendance, Tsuna supposed that the price was somewhat justified, but it was still too much to expect children their age to be able to pay.
"It's all fine if I pay for him, right?" Asked Byakuran in a way that clearly conveyed that this was not an actual question. "It's fine, here." He pulled money from his wallet (which held his own money earned from outside of Caeruleus) and waived the correct amount of bills. "Take it. Now you can leave us alone and everybody can go back to enjoying this wonderful convention."
The vigil to whom he forcibly gave the money looked bewildered for a moment. But then, if the fee was paid for the blond boy's entry, there was no longer a reason to chase and arrest him, and a lot of paperwork could be avoided. Eventually, he shrugged, pocketed the bills, handed an extra ticket to Byakuran and told his colleagues to return to their positions. The crowd of onlookers quickly started to disperse once there was nothing interesting to watch anymore.
The blond didn't even look bothered by the whole situation. "Thanks." He said airily to Byakuran when he gave him the ticket. "That was annoying. All I did was enter the convention, it's not like I stole anything." He drawled, then he pulled something from his bag. "Lollipop?" He offered.
The white-haired teen was never one to refuse sweets. "Thank you." He said and started eating the candy. "I'm Byakuran, and these three" He pointed at Tsuna, Shoichi and Hayato, who had remained at a distance from them. "are my friends and co-workers, Tsunayoshi, Shoichi and Hayato. Who are you?" He asked, but Tsuna's Intuition told him that he already knew the answer, which was strange, because the blond obviously had never seen the teen before.
"Spanner." He replied, forgoing the surname like Byakuran had. He eyed them speculatively. "Are you all Japanese? You have Japanese names."
"Ah, somewhat. Tsuna and Shoichi were born and raised in Japan before they moved in Italy. I was born there too but was adopted by Italians early on, and Hayato has never set foot oversees, but his mother was half Japanese and she gave him his name. Why is that?"
Spanner's face still looked as bored as before, but there was a glint in his eyes. "Japan is the land of manga and robots. Have you ever seen robots from up close?" He asked, leaning forward in his excitement.
Chapter 23: That learned about robots
Start from the beginning
