The utterly disastrous canal cruise finally ended, and Tsuna and Daphne were at long last freed from their aquatic prison of humiliation.
"I-I'm sorry… I ended up doing something unnecessary and made things weird…"
"I-It's fine… You don't need to apologize…"
Tsuna bowed his head guiltily, apologizing for obliterating the Raider Fish and inadvertently turning Daphne into a public spectacle. However, knowing he had moved solely on his instinct to protect her, Daphne couldn't bring herself to be angry.
"Besides, you looked… really cool…"
"Eh? Did you say something?"
"N-Nothing at all!!"
Daphne had muttered the words so quietly they were barely a whisper, but when Tsuna caught it, she immediately snapped at him to hide her embarrassment.
"A-Anyway!! T-Thank you for saving me back there… Tsuna…!!"
"!?"
Daphne turned to him and offered her genuine gratitude. Seeing the normally fierce and combative girl act so incredibly meek and vulnerable made Tsuna's heart skip a beat.
Come to think of it… Up until this moment, Daphne had firmly believed that Tsuna was a rear-guard specialist who relied entirely on illusions and healing magic. But after witnessing the technical precision required to instantly incinerate a mid-air Raider Fish's core with a single beam, she was forced to drastically reevaluate him.
If my eyes aren't deceiving me… While she wasn't on the level of someone like Finn, Daphne possessed a remarkably sharp tactical mind and had survived her fair share of deadly battles. Putting the pieces together, a shocking realization hit her: Tsuna might actually be stronger than Bell. He might even be stronger than that monstrous Elf who had helped them during the War Game.
"So, where to next?"
"…Hey. Just who exactly are you?"
"Eh?"
"I honestly thought you were just a dedicated backline supporter. But seeing you instantly vaporize that Raider Fish just now proved me wrong… You're stronger than Bell Cranel, aren't you?"
"T-That is…"
"I knew it."
Tsuna's panicked hesitation was all the confirmation Daphne needed. Her deduction was spot on.
"Why did you go out of your way to pull a stunt like that during the War Game?"
No matter how strong Tsuna was, the Hestia Familia had been at a massive disadvantage. Daphne simply couldn't comprehend why he would choose to hide his overwhelming combat power and gamble everything on the risky strategy of inciting a rebellion.
Of course, if Tsuna had fought seriously, he could have effortlessly dismantled the entire Apollo Familia by himself. But even Daphne's sharp intuition couldn't predict that he was currently sitting at a level far surpassing a First-Tier adventurer.
"That fight belonged to Bell. Even if I told him I'd fight, I knew he would never step down… Besides, at the time, I thought I was going to be returning to my homeland right after the War Game ended. I stayed behind the scenes so that everyone would be capable of fighting and surviving without my power after I left. Though, if things really went south, I was prepared to step in."
"I see… I understand your reasoning, but are you really okay with that? That was the perfect opportunity to carve your name into Orario's history."
If he was planning on leaving anyway, Daphne figured he could have at least gone out in a blaze of glory, securing eternal fame and legend. She was genuinely baffled by his lack of ambition.
"It's true that my Dying Will makes me a little better at fighting… but I have no intention of using it as a weapon to dictate how I live the rest of my life. I don't need massive wealth, status, or fame. As long as I can find a small, quiet happiness that makes me smile, that's all I really need."
"You don't care about status or fame…? Then why did you even become an adventurer in the first place?"
"To repay a debt, I guess."
"Repay a debt?"
"Yeah. A lot of things happened, and I ended up collapsing right in front of their old headquarters. Bell and Hestia took me in and let me join their Familia. But, well, our Familia was incredibly poor back then. I figured if I became an adventurer and started earning money, I could make their lives a little easier."
"Considering they were secretly sitting on a 200 million Valis debt, I'm not entirely sure if getting picked up by them makes you lucky or cursed."
They had given the homeless Tsuna a place to belong, but doing so meant dragging him into a financial black hole. Daphne honestly couldn't decide if his fate was a blessing or a tragedy.
"Hey, do you really have no intention of converting to another Familia?"
"Probably not… Besides, it hasn't even been a year since I joined, so I can't undergo Conversion anyway."
"Right…"
"Why do you ask?"
"N-No reason!! I just thought it must be incredibly tough staying in a Familia with a 200 million Valis debt, that's all!!"
Daphne brushed off the question with a logical excuse, but deep down, a new plan had begun to form in her mind. She wanted to recruit Tsuna into the Miach Familia.
Since she had absolutely no intention of shackling herself to a 200 million Valis debt, the only way she could stay by Tsuna's side was to bring him over to her side. It was impossible right now, but once his one-year waiting period was up, she could make her move and achieve her goal.
"Were you… actually worrying about me?"
"W-What if I was!? I-Is that a crime!?"
"No. You're really kind, Daphne."
"!?"
Struck by his sudden, gentle smile and sincere praise, Daphne's face burned brilliantly, and her heart began hammering wildly against her ribs.
"Y-You'd better take responsibility for this…!!"
"Responsibility?"
"The responsibility for making me feel like this!!"
"W-What are you talking about…?"
"Jeez, you are so incredibly dense!! I'm saying… I…!!"
Seeing Tsuna blink in genuine, innocent confusion finally pushed Daphne past her breaking point. Blushing furiously and glaring at him with fierce determination, she steeled her resolve to confess right then and there.
However—
"T-Tsunayoshi-sama…!?"
"A-Anna!?"
Just as Daphne opened her mouth, a trembling female voice called out Tsuna's name. Tsuna whipped his head around to find Anna standing a few feet away, her face deathly pale as she shivered uncontrollably.
"W-What exactly is your relationship with her…? D-Don't tell me she is your…!?"
"N-No!! Daphne and I are just friends!!"
"T-Truly?"
"Y-Yeah!!"
"Oh, thank goodness… Then there is still a chance for me. A chance to become your girlfriend, Tsunayoshi-sama."
"Huh?"
While Anna let out a massive sigh of relief at the word "friends," Daphne's expression instantly went completely blank, every ounce of emotion draining from her face as she processed Anna's devastatingly bold declaration.
"…Excuse me, who the hell is this woman?"
"Ouchouchouchouch!!"
Sounding exactly like a girlfriend who had just caught her partner cheating, Daphne reached over and ruthlessly pinched Tsuna's cheek, pulling it hard.
"P-Please refrain from such violence!!"
"Wha—!?"
Seeing Tsuna in pain, Anna immediately lunged forward, grabbing Tsuna by the arm and forcefully tearing him away from Daphne's grasp.
"Are you alright, Tsunayoshi-sama?"
"Y-Yeah…"
"Thank goodness…"
"So, Tsunayoshi-sama… what exactly were you two doing?"
"What were we doing…? We were just hanging out. Daphne asked me if I wanted to get tea a while ago, so we did."
"I see… She did mention you saved her during the War Game, didn't she…"
"!?"
Hearing Tsuna's explanation, all the pieces clicked together in Anna's mind. Just as Tsuna had saved her from Ted's twisted game, he had saved Daphne from Apollo's terrifying obsession. And just like her, Daphne had completely fallen for her savior.
Realizing that Anna had instantly seen through her feelings, Daphne was left entirely speechless.
"I-I absolutely will not lose to you either!! Even if you are an adventurer!!"
W-Who the hell is this girl!? Being suddenly declared a mortal enemy by a completely normal civilian she had met mere seconds ago left Daphne utterly bewildered.
Wait… To me 'either'? Despite her confusion, Daphne's sharp mind caught the odd phrasing in Anna's declaration of war, and a sense of deep unease washed over her.
"T-Tsuna…!?"
The distinct sound of groceries hitting the cobblestone echoed through the street, accompanied by a trembling, familiar voice. Tsuna turned to see Ryuu standing a short distance away, her face just as deathly pale as Anna's, her entire body shaking in shock.
"W-What exactly are you doing here…!?"
Isn't she from the Hostess of Fertility…? Wait, don't tell me!? Apples and vegetables rolled across the street, but Ryuu didn't even notice. The sight of the boy she loved standing intimately between two fiercely possessive women had caused her brain to completely short-circuit.
Daphne didn't know her name, but she instantly recognized Ryuu as one of the waitresses from the Hostess of Fertility. Seeing Ryuu exhibit the exact same despairing, betrayed reaction as Anna, Daphne instantly realized that the Elf was also madly in love with Tsuna.
You've got to be kidding me… There's someone else besides that masked Elf from the War Game…? Having assumed her only real competition was the mysterious, overpowered Elf who had assisted them, Daphne clutched her head in sheer agony at the revelation of two entirely new rivals.
Since Daphne didn't know that the masked Elf and the waitress were actually the exact same person, she currently believed she was fighting a three-front war.
Just how many women has this guy accidentally seduced!? At that exact moment, Daphne realized with terrifying clarity just how agonizing, chaotic, and impossibly difficult the path to becoming Tsuna's girlfriend was going to be.
Naturally, the situation only devolved into deeper, more explosive chaos from there.
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