At Karakura Elementary School, a short-haired girl stood with her hands on her hips, glaring furiously at Tsuna.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi! Where exactly did you run off to during the break? You weren't at home, and you weren't at Ichigo's place either! Didn't we agree we'd hang out together?"
The one speaking was Tatsuki Arisawa, and she was clearly unhappy that Tsuna had seemingly disappeared to enjoy the vacation on his own.
"Tatsuki, cut him some slack," Ichigo said from the side, trying to defend Tsuna. "My mom said Tsuna had something important to do."
"Oh, your mom," Tatsuki shot back. "Ichigo, you're always clinging to your mother. When are you ever going to become independent?"
Ichigo didn't get angry at the jab. Instead, he just grinned sheepishly. To him right now, being close to his mother wasn't anything to be ashamed of.
"Tatsuki, after school today we'll go train at your family's dojo," Tsuna said casually. "Your new secret technique won't work on me."
Tsuna had immediately seen through her intentions.
With her tomboy personality and the fact that her family ran a karate dojo, Tatsuki loved sparring with the boys whenever she got the chance. Ichigo was usually the one she bullied in these matches.
But Tatsuki had never beaten Tsuna.
Tsuna knew she must have trained some "amazing new move" during the break and planned to use it to finally defeat him.
Unfortunately, there was no way she could imagine the truth.
As someone who now possessed both Fullbring and Quincy powers, Tsuna was far beyond the level of an ordinary human. Even if Tatsuki used everything she had, she would never be able to beat him.
"Hmph! Just you wait!" Tatsuki snorted proudly, flipping her hair as she sat down.
Class was about to start, and once the final bell rang today, Tsunayoshi would finally be defeated—or so she believed.
The teacher hadn't arrived yet, so Tatsuki absentmindedly looked around the classroom.
When her gaze drifted toward the window, a drop of cold sweat suddenly slid down her forehead.
Floating above the schoolyard outside was a fat middle-aged man in a suit, drifting through the air.
What… was that?
A ghost?
Tatsuki could hardly believe her eyes.
Her rational mind told her ghosts didn't exist—but what she was seeing was undeniably a floating spirit.
"T-Tsuna… Ichigo… c-can you see that thing?" Tatsuki asked nervously, pointing out the window.
"Oh, that guy?" Ichigo replied casually. "Don't worry. They sometimes mess around, but they're harmless. Nothing to be scared of."
"You sound awfully familiar with them!" Tatsuki said in disbelief. Ichigo didn't look afraid at all.
And he wasn't the only one.
Tsuna wasn't scared either—but for a different reason.
He was concerned.
The chain of fate attached to the spirit's chest had almost completely corroded, and the spirit itself looked nearly mindless.
That was a sign it was about to turn into a Hollow.
Once the Chain of Fate was fully eroded, a hole would appear in the spirit's chest. A soul that lost its heart would become a Hollow—losing all reason and existing only to devour Reishi.
While Ichigo was enthusiastically explaining spirits to Tatsuki, Tsuna quietly slipped out of the classroom.
That spirit could no longer be saved.
There was no time to help it fulfill its lingering regret and pass on peacefully. The only thing Tsuna could do now was stop the Hollow it would become from wreaking havoc at the school.
As he ran down the hallway, Tsuna couldn't help wondering again why Soul Society hadn't stationed any Soul Reapers in Karakura Town.
He had only spent one month training at the Ishida residence, yet another soul was already about to become a Hollow.
If he had Soul Reaper powers, he could at least perform Konso and forcibly send the soul onward.
But right now, Tsuna could only exorcise it himself.
As he ran, Tsuna silently added learning Soul Reaper powers to his future plans.
---
Meanwhile, outside the classroom window—
Under Ichigo's puzzled gaze and Tatsuki's stunned stare, the soul's chest suddenly opened into a hole the size of a fist.
Its body twisted violently as monstrous claws formed.
A white mask covered its face.
It had completely transformed into a Hollow.
Seeing the Hollow's claw about to strike toward her, Tatsuki let out a frightened scream.
The entire class turned toward the window.
Then suddenly—
the sky went dark.
At least, from Tatsuki's perspective, it felt as though night had suddenly fallen.
The terrifying claw vanished.
...
On the roof of the school building, Tsuna stood with a silver gauntlet covering his left hand.
The gauntlet bore the Vongola family crest along with the emblem of the First Generation.
From it extended long black fabric that spread across the entire school building.
A cloak that dyed everything, devoured everything, and embraced everything—
the cloak of Vongola Primo, embodying the Sky.
The cloak's immense defensive power blocked the Hollow's attack.
From his waist, Tsuna drew a long, slender weapon—
the Seele Schneider Ryūken had just given him.
Tsuna's Fullbring allowed him to wield the weapons of the First Generation Vongola Guardians, giving him incredible tactical flexibility.
But there was one flaw.
He could only use one piece of equipment at a time.
If he wanted to switch weapons, he had to change the form of his Fullbring.
Right now, with the cloak deployed to block the Hollow's attack, Tsuna couldn't use another weapon.
And the spirit bow he had learned earlier was still basically useless.
Fortunately, Ryūken had given him the Seele Schneider, which was more than enough to deal with a newly born Hollow.
A blade formed from vibrating Reishi extended from the Seele Schneider.
Tsuna hurled it straight at the Hollow's mask.
The high-density Reishi vibration sliced through the mask like tofu.
The Hollow disintegrated into spirit particles and scattered into the air.
The Seele Schneider embedded itself in the center of the schoolyard.
---
The darkness lifted.
Tatsuki's vision returned.
The entire class was now excitedly talking about the strange phenomenon they believed had been a sudden solar eclipse.
Only Tatsuki kept staring outside.
Just before everything returned to normal, she had seen a familiar figure flash by.
Tatsuki prided herself on her excellent eyesight.
She recognized that silhouette.
No wonder that troublemaker who loved excitement had vanished right when the chaos started.
With the teacher's arrival, the disturbance gradually settled down.
Tsuna slipped quietly back to his seat.
The moment he sat down, Tatsuki suddenly turned around and stared sharply at him.
"Where did you go just now?"
Tsuna hadn't expected her observation skills to be that sharp.
Ichigo was still laughing cluelessly beside him, yet Tatsuki had immediately noticed.
"My stomach hurt. I went to the bathroom."
"Is that so?"
Tatsuki clearly wasn't convinced, but she held her tongue for now.
She would deal with it after school.
...
After classes ended, Tsuna and Ichigo walked Tatsuki home as planned.
Once they had separated from their classmates and were alone together, Tatsuki finally had the chance to interrogate them.
"Can you two… see that thing? That… ghost?"
"'Ghost' isn't really the right word," Ichigo replied. "They're more like souls. I see them all the time. Nothing scary about them."
"Not scary?!" Tatsuki snapped. "That monster thing wasn't scary?"
She turned to Tsuna for backup.
"Tsuna, you say something!"
Tsuna hadn't expected Tatsuki to start seeing spirits this early.
Originally, she only gained the ability in high school, influenced by Ichigo's spiritual power.
Thinking about it carefully, Tsuna could only attribute the change to both himself and Ichigo.
Tsuna himself had Ichigo-level spiritual potential.
And since Masaki had survived, Ichigo had not withdrawn into himself.
He remained close to Tatsuki.
Under the influence of two spiritually powerful people, Tatsuki had begun seeing spirits earlier than she should have.
In Tsuna's memories, Orihime Inoue and Chad had also awakened spiritual perception because of Ichigo's influence.
Later, they even awakened Fullbring abilities during dangerous situations.
Could Tatsuki also develop Fullbring?
But Fullbringers were technically humans who possessed fragments of the Soul King.
These fragments attracted Hollow attacks to their mothers during pregnancy.
While some believed Fullbringers came from mothers attacked by Hollows, the real cause was the presence of Soul King fragments within the child.
Yet the story had never explicitly confirmed that Orihime or Chad possessed such fragments.
Even so, they still developed Fullbring powers.
Tsuna, however, had no intention of pushing Tatsuki toward that path.
Fighting Hollows wasn't nearly as easy as it looked.
Battle meant risking one's life.
"Hey, Tsuna, why are you spacing out?" Tatsuki said irritably, noticing him staring at her.
A faint blush appeared on her face.
"Stop overthinking things," Tsuna replied. "Maybe you just saw it wrong."
"Saw it wrong? I haven't even dealt with you yet!"
She jabbed a finger at Tsuna's chest.
"That person who suddenly appeared on the schoolyard—was that you? Why could you appear and disappear like that? Some kind of superpower?"
"Superpower?" Ichigo blinked, clearly confused. He hadn't seen that moment.
Tsuna hadn't expected Tatsuki to catch that brief instant when he retrieved the Seele Schneider.
Most people would assume they imagined it.
But Tatsuki had actually recognized his silhouette.
Deciding not to argue further, Tsuna dodged her incoming strike and sprinted away.
"I have no idea what you're talking about!"
His attitude made Tatsuki stomp her foot in frustration.
She immediately grabbed Ichigo and chased after him.
---
Later, at the Arisawa family dojo, after their usual sparring session ended, Ichigo headed home first.
Tsuna also prepared to leave.
As he reached the gate, he suddenly narrowed his eyes and glanced toward the corner of the wall.
A small "cat" was lurking there.
"Come out," Tsuna said. "It's already late. Are you still playing hide-and-seek?"
Tatsuki slowly stepped out from behind the wall, pretending to look at the sky.
"What are you doing? Why haven't you gone home yet?"
Tsuna didn't answer.
Instead, he stepped out of her line of sight.
A moment later—
Tatsuki appeared right in front of him.
"Where are you going, little Tatsuki?" Tsuna said with a smile. "Need help?"
"Oh… I'm just going to buy something. No need to bother."
Tsuna glanced over her karate uniform.
There was nowhere she could possibly be hiding money.
He reached into his bag, took out 1,000 yen, and stuffed it into her hand before gently patting her head.
"It's getting late. If you want to chase me, try again tomorrow."
With that, Tsuna turned and left.
Tatsuki looked down at the money in her hand and puffed her cheeks in annoyance.
He had clearly seen through her plan.
She had intended to secretly follow Tsuna and catch him revealing something suspicious.
Tatsuki was certain that the figure she saw at school had been Tsuna.
He definitely knew something—and was deliberately hiding it from her.
Now it seemed she would have to wait for another opportunity.
Once Tsuna lowered his guard, she would try the tracking plan again.
If Tsuna wouldn't tell her the truth—
then she would find the answer herself.
====================
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