'Hey'- Soren
'Hey'- Narrator-San
"Hey"- Soren's OOC
'Hey'- Author-San
'Hey'- Soren's intro
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Ciao! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday seasons! Time to get festive, ne? I hope you all enjoy this chapter and wish me the best of luck. Giotto is a scary guy, huh? Who knew, right? Right
Okay, enough. Quit poking fun at him. He's a lot more nicer than you!
Ah, Narrator-San, you're back!
Not for long. Sorry, Narrator-San. You're still on standby until the end of this arc.
Yes, boss!
Okay, everyone. Together now...
Hai!
Of course!
We hope you like this chapter!
~*~*~*~*~
The rest of the month passed without any trouble. My daily life consisted of interacting with Elena (and Daemon) and Asari.
Sometimes, I would visit and speak with Knuckle. Most of our conversation is usually about healing. He has given me a few lessons on the art of medicine and how to apply first aid to superficial wounds.
G and I are mutually indifferent toward one another. He looks at me. I look at him. We nod. We leave. It's a good relationship we have there.
And Alaude? Damn, I avoid him like the plague. Hell no am I getting near that platinum Italian counterpart CIA agent. We are both agents. I am the CIA-Quartermaster-in-modern-reality to his Italian-head-of-a-secret-intelligence-agency-in-an-anime-universe. And he kinda sucks at talking...
As for Lampo, he and I actually got along splendidly. He has become friend number four. Elena being number one. Asari ranked two. And Knuckle ranked three. The lightning guardian is right there at four.
It's actually quite a funny story, how we met.
It all started when I was visiting the Vongola Library...
"What are you doing?" Lampo asked lazily. He was sleeping next to the window behind the bookshelf. I must have woken him up, judging by how he was watching me read the novel placed in my hand.
"Reading. It is a wonderful book, Crime and Punishment. Simply fascinating." I lied.
Actually, I was thinking of a way to repaint my walls in the guest room. That orange is just... too much.
He rose an eyebrow. "With the book upside down?"
I paused and realized that yes, I was holding the book the upside down.
"Uhh, it is known to be true that by reading the words upside down, it helps with your concentration and gives more visual appeal to the story." I could feel myself cringe internally while spouting random bullshit to this man.
Suddenly, the lightning guardian's eyes lit up. "Really?! Teach me!"
And that was how we became friends. Turns out, Lampo likes innovations.
He now started to teach some of the Vongola soldiers to read upside down, so in the case of emergency that any important documents in the enemy's territory are ever turned in the wrong direction, it will be easy to read that stuff and store it into memory.
Ah, and it all started with my fantastic, bullshitting skills.
Anyway, with that said, a month passed peacefully during my stay in the mansion. And now it comes down to this. The not-a-date That Giotto has proposed we go on.
I am standing by the gates of the mansion, all dressed and ready. The cold mid-October air has made the streets chilly and icy. I was wearing a cloak and some riding boots and pants (because apparently, Giotto wants to go on the not-a-date by horseback), and then stuffed myself with multiple layers so I don't freeze to death.
"Oh, you're here." Giotto's charming face appeared in front of me. He was wearing his usual Vongola boss outfit, pine stripe suit, fancy looking mantel, a tie. I stared at him with a deadpanned look.
"How are you not freezing?"
He blinked. Then he seemed to have realized something and then started to awkwardly rub the back of his neck while acting abash, like Asari.
"Maa~ maa~ don't worry about it." And then he patted me on the head.
The hell?!
Before I could yell out any loud profanity, Giotto already disappeared somewhere and came back in a matter of seconds with two horses.
He smiled brightly, eyes closed and charmingly (fakely).
"Let's go." A proceeded to mount the white stallion.
I looked at the black mare that was left for me and then shrugged, slowly and as gracefully as possible, climbed onto her back.
- which made Giotto gape.
Fvck yeah! The old Soren might not know how to ride a horse, but I'm a goddamn agent. Of course I know how to ride.
"Race ya!" I laughed, and then abruptly started my 'ride.'
As if anticipating my excitement, the black mare whinnied loudly, snorting and blowing smoke from her nose as she swept into the forest trail exiting the Vongola territory.
Behind me, I could hear trotting and saw that Giotto was slowly catching up.
I laughed. Laughed with great merriment as I found the breeze hit our faces and the acceleration that made my heart race. Hell yeah! This is the most adrenaline I've gotten in months!
(The protagonist is an adrenaline-junkie...)
Ahem, as I was saying, Giotto and I rode our horses until we made it to the outskirts of the forest.
I laughed when we came to halt. "That was great!" I said.
The blonde just frowned slightly, a look of awe still present on his shocked face.
"D-did you learn... how to ride?"
I tilted my head. "I have."
"But, that's impossible! Aren't you afraid of horses?!"
What the fvck is he going on about?
I scrunched up my eyebrows. "Who gave you that information?"
Red seeped into his pale face and before he was about to retort, Giotto crosses his arms and looked away in a haughty fashion. "N-no one!"
I was wary since I, myself, have no memories of the previous Soren being afraid of horses. Whoever told that to Giotto was obviously wrong.
With a shake of my head in dismissal to the topic, I chuckled and nudged Giotto. "Come on. I believe you wanted to take me somewhere?"
And then a look of realization dawned on the Primo's face before a cold looking exterior covered his being once more.
"Let's go." He said in a clipped tone.
~*~
We rode for another twenty minutes on a forest trail until we reached a cliff.
"This way." Giotto indicates to a path down from the rocky pathways and I could see a town appearing in the distance.
Another ten minutes and we finally reached he entrance of the town.
"Where is this place?" I asked in wonder. Clearly, we were no longer in Vongola or Corona territory.
"You'll see." Giotto answered before trotting into the town.
As we went in, I could see that the place wasn't as nice as the civilian areas I've been near the Corona Manor. The buildings showed aged, stacked on top of one another and looked like they barely provided any breathing room. The roads were covered in trash and the people all looked weary, distant. The shops that were opened did not have any life and no one seemed to be happy.
At the same time, I could still see beauty in this place as well. Despite the homes and buildings looking so old, there was history. Lights, however few, flickered continuously with life. There were plants growing on the buildings, mold and moss, and crumbling walls. But in the end, I could still see the appeal to this place.
As I admired the place further, Giotto suddenly halted his mount. "Welcome to the slums." He said, giving me a look.
"The slums?" I asked. How could he call his place a slum? It was such a beautiful place.
Glancing around, I did notice some features that indicated that this was a poor and seedy area. The people looked hungry, deprived, hollow even. There wasn't much clothes on their backs, and I saw that many were starting to look at Giotto and I with burning eyes of hatred.
I was not prepared for such a surprise. Giotto took us to a slum? I eyed him curiously. What was his game?
Giotto's POV:
He was surprised that his fiancée could ride that horse. Even more so when she challenged him to a race. Giotto remembered his last encounter with the man-chaser that involved a horse, and she was shrieking like there was no tomorrow that it irritated him to no end.
She kept crying and saying how she was afraid of the horse and it made Giotto slightly awkward since he didn't like to see the girl cry.
Because that would mean he needed to clean up the mess.
But now that Soren was acting so calm around her own horse, it made him question whether or not she was just acting to get his attention.
Probably, considering her history as a man chasing idiot. Giotto grumbled internally.
"Where is this place?" The woman has asked, and it made Giotto very disgusted at her ignorance.
Was the brat so spoiled that she barely understood what the slums were? That sheltered she lived in was obviously different from the cruel world, and it made Giotto want to vomit blood at the thought that she was to be his wife someday.
Of course, he knows and notices the changes that had gone on with Soren Corona. He could tell she was capable of business. But Giotto still looked down on her as she only knows a life of grandeur and luxury.
He was very humble. He grew up in the slums. Now that he has the money, Giotto wanted to be sure that the life of the poor was far from him. He built the Vongola Manor as grand as it could get in order to forget the memories and tragedies in his life because nobles like Soren Corona would continuously take and use money like it was water.
"The slums?" What a stupid question. Couldn't she tell by the rundown buildings and miserable looking people.
They all stared at them with hate and Giotto knew why.
Envy and malevolence.
"It's the town where I grew up." And where you last pulled one of your tantrums.
A sudden realization dawned on the ignorant girl's face.
Soren's POV:
Holy shit, I forgot about this!
Wracking through the original Soren's head, I found a piece of memory that indicated that she had thrown a huge fight in this town with one of the orphans and tried to destroy the area with her Grandfather's authorities.
Luckily, that never happened, but it did cause a bad rep to form on the idea of this idiot girl.
"... Oh... I remember now..." I looked apologetically to Giotto and tried to make myself seem ashamed and sad.
He grunted in response.
We rode slowly for a little while more before he turned his horse into an alley way.
I followed behind in bewilderment until I saw an area that was both dark and looked grimy.
The sun seemed to suddenly disappear. There was the smell of smog and miasma.
I gasped. What is this?
I turned to Giotto.
"This was my childhood Home." He said impassively.