"It's quite peaceful today, isn't it, Rinji?" Naoka, a boy with two-toned hair, grinned broadly as he walked with his hands behind his head next to his tall friend.
Naoka had his hair dyed brown on top, fading into a golden-brown toward the tips. He wore half of it in a ponytail while letting the rest frame his face. His eyes were the same shade of brown as his hair. In contrast, Rinji kept his black hair in a simple undercut, though his most striking feature wasn't his hair, but his piercing blue eyes.
Both were strikers for the Namimori Middle School soccer team, with Rinji serving as the captain. They were currently preparing for a major upcoming tournament.
"Yeah," Rinji grunted in response. "This is fine."
"But man, I really miss Saya-chan. That new girl is crazy cute," Naoka said, his face curving into a cat-like expression. "She's so adorable I could stare at her all day. I'd do anything she asked!"
"…She is pretty cute," Rinji admitted, thinking back to the girl he had only met twice.
"If you had to hold my hand all night, Senior… would you mind?"
If there's a good enough reason, I'd have to do it. I've already committed this much to helping her, Rinji thought, glancing down at the Lightning Ring on his finger.
"There's a girl who needs help," Reborn had told him. Although Rinji didn't fully understand everything, he had known the "Arcobaleno" for a while and felt that Reborn was trying to guide his soccer path. Reborn insisted he should be a midfielder, not a striker. In truth, even without Reborn telling him, Rinji knew deep down that the midfield suited him better.
Maybe… it really is time for a position change.
Rinji's phone rang. It was Dino.
"I'm coming to pick you up! Saya needs help right now!" Before Rinji could even process the words, the roar of an engine reached his ears. Both boys spun around to see a Rosaloy drifting around the corner in a massive cloud of dust—a drift that seemed physically impossible.
"There's Rinji!" Dino shouted, pointing a finger before swinging his whip out of the open car door.
"Aaaaah!" Naoka screamed in terror, while Rinji stood frozen in shock. His mind raced, unsure of how to react to the chaos unfolding before him. As the car sped past, Dino used his whip to snag Rinji and haul him inside, slamming the door shut and leaving Naoka running behind them in the dust.
"RINJIIIIII!!!!" Naoka wailed.
"My, my… you didn't hold back at all with that punch, did you?" Inside the car, Dino had managed to snag Rinji's wrist with his whip just in time. Rinji's fist, now equipped with brass knuckles, was stopped a mere two inches from Dino's face. Despite his calm, stoic expression, Rinji had reacted with terrifying speed. Dino could feel the whip trembling from the sheer force of the strike.
"…Instinct," Rinji muttered, lowering his hand. Dino finally understood why Reborn wanted to recruit Rinji into the Vongola Family. Even if he wasn't a Guardian, he had the potential to be a powerhouse in the future.
This kid is almost as dangerous as Kyoya, Dino thought. "Romario, step on it! Saya-chan is waiting!"
"…What's wrong with her?" Rinji asked.
"It's the Cursed Lightning Day," Dino replied. "That's why we need you."
"He's here!" Dino burst into the room, panting heavily alongside Rinji and Romario. Naoka was the last to arrive, staggering in with limp limbs and his tongue hanging out before collapsing onto the floor from exhaustion.
Upon entering, they were met with a bizarre sight: Tsuna and everyone else in the room had hair standing straight up on end—even Yamamoto's short hair, Jiro and Uri's fur, and the scales on Leon the chameleon. Small, dark clouds hovered near the ceiling, flickering rapidly with green lightning.
Less than fifteen minutes after Lambo had extinguished his flame, the Lightning element inside Saya had begun to flare up again. The pain radiated through every cell in her body. She was so paralyzed by the agony that she couldn't even sit up, though she remained more conscious and stable than the first time.
"Walk slowly, Rinji," Reborn cautioned. "Those are lightning clouds. Don't bring anything conductive near them. If you run recklessly, the static friction will intensify the discharge, and then… kaboom."
Though annoyed, Rinji handed his brass knuckles to the exhausted Naoka. Naoka caught them and gripped them tightly, knowing the drill. The black-haired, blue-eyed boy stepped carefully into the room. He hadn't gone far before a bolt of lightning struck his feet.
"Rinji!" Naoka cried out. Rinji was unharmed, though smoke rose from his shoes. However, when he looked down, his eyes widened and his brows furrowed in irritation.
The soles of his soccer cleats had melted onto the floor!
"The soles are rubber, but they have small metal parts," Yamamoto explained.
"Rubber is an insulator, but it doesn't stop the heat from being generated. Parts of it just melted," Gokudera added. Rinji sighed and kicked off his cleats, leaving them there. Now in only his thick socks, he hoped they would be enough to reach Saya. She lay on the bed, watching him with a pained expression, her breath short and heavy, her face flushed as if burned by electricity.
Rinji finally reached the bedside.
"Ignite your flame and take her hand," Reborn commanded. Rinji obeyed. In a flash, everything returned to normal. Everyone's hair fell back into place. Rinji let go, but ten minutes later, the static returned, and the clouds began to reform.
Rinji stared at the phenomenon, bewildered.
"Looks like you'll have to take a leave of absence to look after her all day," Reborn noted.
Rinji's eyebrow twitched as he saw Saya's pleading eyes. The stoic boy looked at those large, pitiful blue-navy eyes for a moment before slapping his own forehead with a loud thwack.
Good grief. I really shouldn't have let myself get talked into this.
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From Writer:
Yama Rinji: Captain and Striker of the Namimori Soccer Team (Lightning Element).
Nobu Naoka: Striker of the Namimori Soccer Team (Storm Element).