The Cafeteria - Kyoya Hibari

How many years had passed since then is a fact only Tetsuya Kusakabe knows clearly, but there used to be a cafeteria in Namimori Middle School. Located on the ground floor, near the stairs to the first on the other side had been a wide room with rows upon rows of tables that now were separated by thick concrete walls, its functions replaced with other classrooms for committees. The faculty office was nearby, but the teachers cared little about the renovation and certainly did not dare to ask considering it had not been the principal's idea.

Sometimes, students would complain. Having to go outside every lunch break to buy their lunch was a trip they would have preferred not wasting their time on, and a spot where friends could gather with guaranteed lunch was nothing if not an advantage, though other schools used to the facility would utter otherwise in light of the quality of the food. Now, there was the roof, if the head prefect was not there; the courtyard, where few seats could be found to enjoy a meal comfortably; and the classrooms, the student body's main spot by far, but it was lacking. At one point, about two years before one Tsunayoshi Sawada had entered the school, there was uproar on the matter of a cafeteria, proposed to the only committee that held authority over the school, surpassing even the principal.

The Disciplinary Committee had no qualms about outright refusing the request for a cafeteria, and all voices of protest against the Disciplinary Committee had ceased in but a week through force. Even so, the protests were enough to breed an already underlying resentment for the Disciplinary Committee, which had culminated in one attempt at Kyoya Hibari on the following year, costing a boxing match for one future Sun Guardian. Regardless, Hibari's decision was final and Kusakabe had no objections, and had not been allowed to voice them if he did.

The cafeteria would never return. Hibari would make sure of that.

Thinking back on that mental assertion strictly of the past is a tall young man gazing at his school from afar, as it stands proud on the town of Namimori, peaceful as always; just as he had left it. Travelling the world is interesting in its own right, but it cannot be compared to appreciating his beautiful town, the embodiment of his ideals. Now, years after he had graduated, a grown Kyoya Hibari sometimes comes to reminisce the highlights of his school years as he walks through the streets of Namimori calmly and quietly, alone to his leisure.

Alone to remember the cafeteria, which was no more of his own volition.

. . .

The year was unknown. Not even Hibari remembered his own age by that point, but it was a time the Disciplinary Committee was just as strongly enforced as ever, and the peace unquestionable. Hibari's null class attendance afforded him the advantage of avoiding all crowds as he wandered the school building, usually on the grounds of a patrol. Though, approximately two hours before the student body's official lunch break, Hibari would walk with another objective, and the patrol was just a bonus to the itinerary of descending floors and approaching the other wing of the school to reach for the cafeteria.

That had been a time Kyoya Hibari could simply bring no lunch to school, and when he had no need to demand one out of Kusakabe. Naturally, the chairman had far better things to do than to buy one himself, or even to cook of all things, so he had willingly decided to rely on the school's own resources; the lunches of the cafeteria. Stocked with high-class ingredients if only because Hibari was a resident visitor, the cafeteria had considerable popularity with the student body, but Hibari was not one to mingle with the crowds of rowdy, eating students, and not even he felt the need to bite every single student to death on an empty stomach every week day.

He pushed the door open, flimsily so, and neglected to close it behind him almost as if he were too familiarized with Kusakabe doing so in his stead. He would walk ahead in sound, clear steps, his natural composure of nonchalance never wavering, even as he spotted the usual staff sending him glances of anxiety. Four other women were still better than dozens upon dozens of students if they made a point not to disturb him, so he was neutral as he walked to the modest counter, able to watch one of the women warning a short elderly woman with a hunched back of Hibari's usual presence. Hibari had not bothered showing further signs of being there, and, now near the counter, he simply awaited the input of the old woman who had turned around in a quarter of a moment and treaded to the counter unfazed.

She did not even need to squint to know who it was, and he was not especially impatient, knowing she was slow by nature. Her height barely surpassed the counter, her body ommitted from the neck down, and her wrinkly features were telling of her age. She frowned unceremoniously, almost as if unimpressed by Hibari, and Hibari himself did not appear offended by her apathy; it was amusing, even. He would reflexively smile, slyly as always, and watch the elderly woman whose name he never did remember utter the fewest words: "The usual?" No politeness; no rudeness: it was simple sagely wisdom that had her refrain from fearing the tyrant of the school, and it was not ill-received. The woman's eyebrows were arched in light attentiveness to Hibari's expression, and she saw him shake his head just as calmly and slowly as the old lady, and not because he was that much older than the average middle schooler. He only happened to be aloof enough to act at his own pace, which matched the old woman's at peaceful times such as now.

"I'm thinking of a change in menu," Hibari said in a tentative fashion, laced with the light toxicity of a taunt. "How does duck sound to you?" The women by the kitchens would hear him perfectly, and they would immediately whisper among each other of the daring demeanour of that 'outrageous middle schooler' who seemed to practically control the school for reasons unknown; Hibari had always been able to hear them, of course. However, his focus was never on the herbivores that were hardly worth his time, but on the reaction of the elderly woman older than even the school.

She would bite her lip at first, pondering on Hibari's words with added meticulousness, but Hibari was thankfully patient enough to wait that minute out. Then, the corners of her lips would curve in a smile not quite confident or content, but not meek nonetheless. A wry sort of smile rested on her face, unfitting of her beady eyes coloured black, and she commented, "You ask a lot out of a middle school." As always, she could add some time or another, but it never did matter to Hibari.

"Are you saying you can't do it?" Hibari retorted easily and effortlessly, much like the other times he would hear that first round of a non-protest; a mere expression of the old lady's opinion. She huffed, and he knew immediately that she was not being convinced as much as she had always been convinced to begin with.

"Don't look down on me just because I'm short," she shot back with earned defiance that accompanied her folded arms, which Hibari only could note because he had been behind that counter before to see her do it. "How many years do you think I've been your personal cook for?" It was an irrelevant question, adding only to the interaction despite being meaningless in nature.

"Who knows? I don't remember trivial things like that," Hibari said, the same song and dance. Vaguely amusing interactions such as those were commonplace, but the needlessly prideful edge in the woman's behaviour practically warranted the carefree retorts that came to him thoughtlessly, if only to see a negative reaction. He would often spot the terse creasing of her eyebrows whenever he displayed his general apathy for situations intensify the more he continued, and even now, it was no different.

"Enough for you to get me a raise, that's how much," she answered in a dry manner, as only a half-hearted hypothesis. Something she did not truly demand out of Hibari, though Hibari himself was more or less of equal status to the principal.

In that sense, her lackluster counter was a good way to avoid seeming insolent in the eyes of the prefect, since she did not truly mean to impose herself on him. It was something she was good at, really; never truthfully interfering with Hibari's business. Conversely, Hibari found it easy to say, "Why not simply retire by now?"

It was then that half-baked displeasure was no longer evident in her features, and Hibari would notice perhaps the fewest moments of resolution in her expression. Her lightly squinted eyes as if focusing on something important widened the twinkling light in her eyes, and she smiled with the simplicity of any instinct after less than a moment of thought processing Hibari's tried and tested question. "I'd die before being taken away from this school," she would always state, "Nothing you don't know already." And in truth, he did know that. It was another reason he would engage her to begin with.

Hibari would concede then with a wider smirk than before, and shrug. "I'll be waiting."

"Yeah, you sit tight on that corner, why don't you?" she audibly muttered, turning back with unexpected quickness. Meanwhile, Hibari would watch the warrior on her own battlefield, and find appreciation in the fact that his school could house someone who would meet his demands so easily. As expected of someone more knowledgeable on its History than even the current principal, he would think to himself with an elegant nod of his head, caught by the few women who would get snapped at by their elderly boss for their absent-minded staring of 'that boy', a complete enigma to them. The old lady, however, saw no enigma anywhere, and focused only on cooking, on being challenged and rising up to his expectations, all of it despite her age. An old, weak animal she was, she did happen to have developed the tools necessary for her own survival, and Hibari never shied away from convenient individuals.

. . .

Another unknown day of an unknown year, marked only by an event of instability in his school that carved the moment in his memory. "The usual?" Even so, the cafeteria routine remained more or less the same. That time, however, Hibari did not object to the usual question.

"I'm not in a good mood today," he said almost as if to warn the lady before she would overstep her boundaries, "so make it quick." Hibari's necessity to take matters into his own hands only contributed to his impatience, but he hardly felt any obligation to tell a simple cafeteria lady of circumstances that not only displeased him, but did not concern her. She certainly would not wonder, or ask questions, or show curiosity. In fact, her slowness was the same as always, and the only visible change to her expression upon hearing the near-threat was a slight twitch in her frown.

"It's done when it's done," she retorted, claiming only the obvious before a Hibari less than understanding of any possible logic. "Make it so the waiting calms those urges of yours." As such, Hibari's gaze narrowed dangerously, but his weapons remained out of his direct grasp as he thought on the woman's usefulness. He did know that the others were not quite as skilled at cooking as she was.

He could have thought of that one fluttering second or another, but no such things mattered with Hibari as the prominent mental image of the vandalized wall of the school's gymnasium was fresh on his mind. His frown deepened, and he merely asked as a final word of caution, "Do you really think you can give orders to me?"

"Fire me if you're so miffed," was her quick answer, unlike her usual slow demeanour. "No use bullying the old lady on a whim now, is there?" Her eyebrows were lightly raised, conveying doubt, as if expecting better out of Hibari. It was something he could note in a coherent fashion, a direct, concrete action that had more worth to Hibari than words. Only after considering that stance, unrelenting like the inevitability of the weather did Hibari begin to think through her statements, taking about a quarter of a second of mere staring to realize the waste of time he himself was causing by arguing with the older figure.

Now, Hibari was the one to huff as he headed for the usual seat by the corner, leaving her only with the muttered affirmation: "I'll only calm down after I can leave this place." In other words, after eating lunch. Phrased as an objective fact but lightly implying a challenge, he would have expected the woman to react the same wry, but competitive way as usual, though he was not curious enough to bother looking from his seat by the very corner of the table closest to the counter. It was an easy endeavour, but Hibari's mood had little in the way of thinking through such simple notions.

"That's your hunger talking." He heard that clear assertion from her raspy voice and would have ignored it if not for the slightest thought in his mind echoing the fact that she was probably correct in that assessment, even if it was irrelevant. The cause of it paled in comparison to the solution, but she was sure to cover that as she continued: "The moment you're full and out of here, you'll be raising hell I'm glad I'm not part of."

He really did have no use biting her to death, but he did have other targets he was sure to be able to find; the solution was that simple. He had glanced her way to check if she was rejoining some of her younger co-workers, and finding that she was, he finally showed something similar to a smile. Not because she was crowding (seeing as she was only making use of the co-workers to begin with) or because she was so irritatingly slow when he happened to be in one of his worse moods, but from that pinpoint response. Indeed, he would bite others to death soon after he was out of the cafeteria. Mentioning that appealing prospect was precisely part of her plan, even if it seemed like a reflexive form of venting her cynical view on the abnormal middle school student that was Kyoya Hibari. With an end goal in sight, he was able to wait more patiently, but he never did admit her initial elderly advice had been correct all along, because Hibari did not like sparing words to things of the past.

. . .

A Summer afternoon, still not quite allowing the sky to darken by hours past the classes in Namimori Middle School. "This isn't lunchtime," the old lady immediately uttered the moment she saw him almost precisely in front of her when she was leaving through the door out of the kitchen. She had almost missed him, and had stepped back after flinching and catching sight of the blackness that consisted the general colour scheme of Hibari's clothing. "Up for dinner now?" She was frowning as if upset by being suddenly assailed with his presence; she was used to Hibari behind the counter.

Even so, there was no fear in her gaze, as always. "It's still early for that," Hibari simply responded, glancing briefly towards the window showing a faintly blue sky. "I'm here for other reasons."

"You already heard all about Nami-Middle's History as far as I know," she said, assuming that was her only use to Hibari outside of lunch hours. Truthfully, it was, so the rarity of such encounters was considerable to the point not even Hibari would think of the idea of seeing her for any business other than what he would usually come up to her for.

"That's not it, either," Hibari cleanly stated, since his thoughts did not drift away from the matter at hand. His posture was relaxed, but elegant, indicating he was far from impatient in speaking to the old woman, even if she would often speak at a leisurely pace. "I came here to ask something out of you."

"And what's that?" she asked, almost as if because that was the natural question to utter rather than any bout of genuine curiosity. It was practical and reasonable, so it was especially good in ensuring a quick transition to Hibari's topic of interest.

"It's the usual request," Hibari said. His gaze was almost as if phasing through the old lady to look into the kitchen, which had naturally been kept clean by the staff diligently considering Hibari was a resident visitor. The three other women had left early, and the woman would usually stay for longer to check on anything, particularly missing ingredients or stains that could have been glossed over. The former was especially necessary, since she had to report that to Hibari himself. He had a hand on the school's stocks, as expected, and there were heavy consequences to negligence in reports. Thankfully, the elderly lady happened to be meticulous in her observations of the cafeteria. "I just figured I'd have you prepared beforehand."

"Oh, being in the cafeteria on break?" She smiled wryly thinking of the familiar prospect, of being alone in what was decidedly her kitchen simply to cook for the Disciplinary Committee. It was something that was not quite expected out of other school's cafeterias, and it was simultaneously volunteer work as she would receive no extra payment, thus giving it the status of a request rather than anything else. "You really like making these old bones work." Hibari was unexpectedly hardworking when it came to his committee's matters, so it was not rare of him to stay by the vacation, even if only for a certain few days, all of which he would warn the woman of beforehand.

"You say that, but you'll do it anyway," Hibari said with a smirk, as if entirely certain and confident of his claim, daring her to prove him wrong in an already won battle. The woman did not even try, shrugging instead in a dull fashion.

"Not much to do at home, after all," she said, and he nodded in return, acknowledging her confirmation. Any other individual would have thought of the idea of free work as tiring and a hassle, but the woman always seemed to like opportunities to be at school, and a cooperative means to an end was nothing if not convenient to Hibari.

Even so, said means to an end was not directly affiliated to the Disciplinary Committee, and constituted her own individual. Knowing the weight behind the request that was not an order, Hibari asked now with a frown after remembering a crucial point: "What would you like in return for that?" Another familiar question to the woman's ears, but it was an obligation, as far as Hibari's pride was concerned. Even if she almost seemed like she was as much a part of the school as the walls, she held an undeniable will of her own, and it was her willingness to accept the favor that led to its execution in the first place.

"Can't say anything pops to mind," she said, frustratingly enough, blinking as if truthfully clueless. She seemed like the picture perfect ditzy grandmother for that one second, but her demeanour would otherwise never imply much of her considerable age, including her decision to actually stay by the cafeteria on vacation. "Put it on that debt tab you keep on me for some reason and take it easy."

She waved her hand dismissively, and Hibari's frown deepened under the expected response that he had no means of rectifying. "You do these things by choice," Hibari explained in a faint attempt to pressure the woman, "so I always end up owing you." Though, Hibari partly just felt like venting the matter on her. "It's honestly troublesome, so could you just pick something already?" Always worded in an interrogative fashion, but never telling of a real choice, Hibari's calm demand carried more nonchalance than true intimidation. Hibari himself was not especially reliant on direct intimidation as much as he was pure brute force, so it was to be assumed his icy glare would be enough to sway anyone.

However, Hibari never did expect the old woman to take the liberty of naming something she wished. "Why not just force some poor sap to do it?" Instead, she had that to offer in order to avoid the concept of debt entirely, but the previous debts would have remained either way. Furthermore, she likely knew that naming random favours would only lead to an irritated Hibari seeing as his pride was involved in keeping even and free of all others. To take his voluntary, direct action lightly would be to quickly incur his quiet anger.

She only showed apathy to said action she did not even demand, so Hibari was usually inclined to feel little more than slight frustration. After all, apathy had no restrictive properties whatsoever, and he was already familiarized with the woman's attitude. "Because I like making use of the school's cafeteria," Hibari answered, forgetting to add that the elderly woman's cooking skill was seemingly the staple of Namimori Middle School's food quality, as she was the first and reccurring cafeteria staff. Replacing her was viable, but contrary to the original spirit of the school's aesthetic, so it was a reprehensible option to Hibari.

She, on the other hand, furrowed her eyebrows as she mulled over the response. Hibari did not think to note it was the vague nature of his outward reasoning that would cause the pause, especially since he held no regard for the way he was interpreted. "Isn't the school yours?" she ultimately uttered, unapprehensive smile unwavering. "You could even force me."

"... You would die if I tried," Hibari lowly muttered, but the silence allowed the elderly woman to lightly pick up the general sentence, "so there's no point." It was the first thing that had occurred to his mind, looking over the creature in front of him. A frail, weak animal, but not one concerned with survival by that point, possibly from her age, but he knew there was something more to it. In the very same way the old woman wished for nothing out of Hibari, she had nothing she could be threatened with, conversely. If moved by force, her health would be at stake; if moved by the prospect of leaving Namimori, she would simply cease to exist by her own hands.

Desperation to stay in Namimori at the cost of something she would be against would imply she had something to fight for, after all. She planned to spend her last days in Namimori Middle School, but she kept her dignity, as if that were the only boundary none could overstep, and a lack of self-attachment, in turn. That very same woman remarked, thinking Hibari was only talking in physical terms: "Not very good at holding back, are you?" Then, her expression softened, her smile gentle, showing lacking concern. "Well, you'll find ways of paying me back eventually. You usually do."

It was an obvious statement to Hibari, warranting no pertinent response. As such, he huffed, similarly knowing there was no way of solving his main problem currently, and said, "I'll be going now." He turned around and walked away quickly, left to his own business, and willed himself to ignore the nagging feeling of the restraint of unrepaid debts. Still, with her, it was only routine.

. . .

"What...?" the strained, weak voice of the sickly old lady in a mask uttered faintly, muffled, from a certain Monday she had been the victim to a common cold. It was something even he would go to the hospital for, but the elderly woman who proceeded to cough was seemingly intent on never resting from school. She would usually be helped in greater amounts by the rest of the staff, and she would give them directions. It would have been disappointing to Hibari, if not for the fact that her demeanour would change under those circumstances as well. Though, he did wonder how she had not died yet.

Regardless, Hibari smirked in face of her rare glare, caused only by her bad mood. "That's not the usual question," he remarked; another taunt. It did not rile her up exactly as desired, and the tension in her posture instead relaxed, and her eyebrows returned to a more normal position rather than the previous creased, pent-up movement. Her breathing was somewhat heavy, but she had taken the appropriate precautions in making sure the cold would not spread, gloved, suited with an apron and her mouth and nose covered. Had she a fever, she probably would not be able to stand, he noted, considering her physical condition.

She sighed, as if tired for once. "Just you wait over there like you usually do," she muttered dryly as a weak, trembling arm guided her finger to point over the counter to the table by the window, where Hibari's usual seat was located. Hibari sent a brief glance to that area, but refrained from moving just yet.

"... You actually appeared," he said, ignoring her words in favor of his own spontaneous statement. Hibari was only not impressed because he knew her well enough already, but he did always show some curiosity in regards to her beahviour.

Meanwhile, the woman retracted her arm slowly, and retorted, "Were you expecting me of all people to stay home? I've got better things to do than being sick."

Hibari hummed pensively, filling the silence that his musing on the matter would have taken up. Whether it was unintentional or not was a mystery of its own, but there was no precise telling what ideas could be coursing through his mind with that smirk and aloof gaze, and the old woman crossed her arms as she awaited his input. "You really don't change, do you?" was the comment he contented himself with, and even the tone in his voice was uncanny in its vague nature.

It was a mystery not even the healthy old woman would care to know or notice, and her ill self was no different. "Comes with the age," she said, plainly and bluntly, "I'd be kicking the bucket by the time you had my stubborness changed."

"Do you think that'll be soon?" he asked, his question just as honest as the old lady's perceivable demeanour. That straightforward, unempathetic curiosity was not unheard of when it came to Hibari, but it was apparently enough to have the woman pause.

She seemingly considered the topic carefully, and her eyebrows furrowed further. "Well, Hibari," she drawled out, "What do you think?"

"Me?" he uttered not out of doubt or confusion, but sheer interest. She never would have avoided the topic, seeing as she had no consideration for herself to begin with; it begged the question of why she decided to shoot the question back to Hibari. He played along, expecting interesting results: "I don't think anything. If you die, that's all it'll be."

"And then I'm the one who doesn't change," she countered, expecting the uncaring viewpoint, only to cough in succession to the quick statement. "I can't even imagine you as an old man..." She took a deep breath, while Hibari did not even let himself ponder on the woman's words further.

"I didn't come here to chat," he instead said, attempting to cut the conversation off. Now that he thought about it, he did happen to be hungry.

"Sure you didn't." Hibari saw her roll her eyes before turning away from the counter. As he walked for his seat quietly, he heard: "You just like eating after trying to taunt a sick old woman." The set of words had him stop in his tracks, and his thoughts did drift to the elderly woman then. He would not exactly speak expecting something specific, like a fight, but the way she phrased his actions seemed oddly fitting.

"... So you do notice," he muttered and resumed his trek to that nearby table with graceful steps.

She did not answer him, and he was content with the following silence.

. . .

"The usual?" The year and day were unknown, but Hibari was certain he was in a good mood that day. The cafeteria was usually a spot that would ease his spirits (if he was alone) because of its intrinsic connection to the facilities of a school, particularly his, but even beyond that notion was something that could cause him to ignore his hunger to some extent.

"I saw an old photo album just this morning," Hibari said in a calm, but quick fashion, almost as if he had failed to hear the woman's question. He was already smirking victoriously, and the old woman was blinking in light of the information given. "It had pictures of Nami-Middle on its inauguration."

"I thought you couldn't find those," she admitted with some awe and softly pressed her rugged hand to her mouth. She appeared to still be processing Hibari's accomplishment, almost forgetting the main purpose of Hibari's presence.

A rare sight, but Hibari was not particularly attentive to such things at the time. "It was only a matter of time before I did," he responded, and his eyes narrowed as if marking the very moment he thought of something of considerable importance. "Do you want a copy?" From anyone else, the offer could be seen as a show of politeness, but the elderly lady was not so ignorant as to associate Hibari with pleasantries.

Conversely, his ulterior motives were always exceedingly clear when it came to offers, and she smiled in less of a cynical fashion than usual before huffing. "I wasn't expecting that, but sure," she said, "I wouldn't mind remembering those times a little better." Hibari closed his eyes as if in a quiet acknowledgement of her answer, and he remembered thinking of the circumstances then; of the fact that the discovery of that piece of History was entirely due to the woman's information. In the end, there was still more debt piling up than that single offer could cover.

"I do owe you, after all," Hibari said, and left a small dossier on top of the counter. He headed for the same seat, unwilling to converse further. He would observe past the counter from afar, but his mind was instead focused on what he had gathered about Namimori Middle School, his prideful fortress, because Hibari did not ever feel like dwelling on issues he could not yet solve.

. . .

That day was not a school day, or so he remembered. It was the middle of a Winter break, and Hibari had headed for the cafeteria expecting the familiar presence of that old woman. Naturally, she was there, and he approached her wordlessly, awaiting her own routine question even as he was by the counter. "The usual?" Since she only had to appear at the designated lunch hour, she would often by idling by whenever he arrived, as she would often be far earlier than necessary. Even so, the smile she would give him when she faced him behind that counter would be brighter than in other days, almost as if it were all that much more exciting to be at the school on break.

"... You really only live for the school, don't you?" Hibari was only curious in reaction to that enthusiasm, though it at least did not worsen his mood in any manner. He had been smiling since before he had stepped foot into the cafeteria, but his eyes had only narrowed now, and he spotted the old woman's stance stiffen ever so slightly.

"For the school, huh? That's how you think it is?" Her eyebrows rose in that slight show of doubt, as if urging him to better think on the matter; a challenge, like many others. He locked eyes with the woman, black against greyed blue, and none were particularly fazed by the implied provocation.

In fact, it only urged Hibari to speak further, to confront her: "You're like an animal waiting to die," he stated as he leaned closer to the counter, the sleeves of his uniform's jacket grazing the glass and wall, "Though, it's not normal to pick a school as the last spot. Those waiting to die usually pick somewhere they can be alone."

That clearly-expressed viewpoint was met with a shrug, and the elderly woman acted as though completely guarded from any danger behind the counter, staring up at Hibari, as even he managed to be taller than she was. However, even if that counter were not creating the perfect distance, he was sure she would be just as unfazed. After all, she was unafraid of death. "Well, no point in keeping up living if I'm alone," she said, "I live for the people that come and go from the school." And not the building itself, despite its meaning and splendor? What of the woman's dedication to the school? Were her admiration for those who created the school to begin with, it would have been more logical.

Her purpose, conversely, supposedly lay on the students, transient and usually weak. Now, Hibari was the one to display doubt, and his eyebrows arched faintly before remarking, "That's definitely something I can't understand. I live for myself only, and do as I please."

"And I'm doing as I please," she retorted quicker than usual, as if expecting the answer, "Nothing strange about that." It continued to birth further thought in Hibari's mind, which, for once, actually pondered on the old woman's lifestyle in a concrete fashion. He would sometimes think on her actions, her viewpoints, her perceivable ideals, anything he could act against and reap results, whatever they happened to be. Now, though, he was thinking on what she would do that had no involvement with him or his interests: for example, of when she would speak to others, something entirely irrelevant to his own pursuits.

Verifying only conversations with Kusakabe and the co-workers, the latter only for professional purposes and the former in supposed privacy, Hibari voiced after seconds of silence, "You say you live for others, but you don't mingle." If not for the rowdy environment inherent of a cafeteria, she would not have crowded at all, and her job would have hardly allowed her to converse with others the same way she would, and briefly, with Hibari. It was only natural, considering she was awaiting her own death, but it had little alignment with her own statement. What would someone willing to die live for to begin with?

"Well, you have people like Kusakabe, don't you?" was the woman's only answer phrased as a rhetorical question, signifying how seemingly simple the matter happened to be. Truthfully, it was simple, especially when Hibari's vision of Kusakabe as an expendable tool and loyal watchdog was nothing if not clear. While Hibari's strength was unquestionable, and being alone was feasible to him, it was convenient to make use of others, and they did offer of their own volition. Kusakabe, for one, was someone Hibari was so familiarized with that ordering him around was second nature.

"... I see," Hibari ultimately muttered, associating the woman's view of people with his of those who were convenient. If people served her purposes only, and she wished for nothing herself, were the transient students of the school there for her amusement? The cafeteria lady was always a strangely passive, but sly existence; she was more than she let on, even if she was not physically strong. "You're not just a suicidal herbivore, are you?" Instead, Hibari was liable to see her as someone who awaited death and took advantage of life. While it was not a label that warranted his respect, it did make him wonder, and that was enough, as far as he was concerned. It was still an improvement from those he would want to bite to death just by catching sight of them.

"Who knows? I don't go keeping track of people's philosophy shenanigans," she responded while waving her hand dismissively, as if to shoo away an insect. Her dry demeanour suffered no changes, and it showed only the fair balance of respect and disrespect expected out of someone even more apathetic to life and death than Hibari was, a feat in and of itself. "I just cook." It was a practical affirmation, a claim Hibari could not and did not want to counter.

Hibari huffed, and took a step back from the counter. "I'm waiting," he warned before turning around to head for his seat, noting the woman's penchant for knowing what to say to him. If anything, the elderly would have to be intelligent to keep on surviving with bodies so deteriorated from age.

. . .

It was a day like any other, as far as Hibari was concerned. Peaceful as it should be, save for the strange high-pitched noises that would occasionally come from the classrooms. Hibari was naturally neutral to the matter if it did not interfere with his itinerary, and the quiet hallways and cafeteria did not warrant any issue. When he did arrive by the counter and was noticed by the elderly cafeteria lady, however, she did not immediately walk his way.

She headed to the side, ommitted by the walls past the counter and returned with a bag on her hands. "Well, well, Hibari-kun," she drawled as she placed it over the counter. She smiled wryly, her teasing cynical but genuine in its lack of malice: "Kusakabe and the rest of the crew haven't been doing their jobs, that's for sure."

Hibari blinked, and took a few seconds simply staring at the plastic bag. "What's that?" he ended up asking, as nothing pertinent occurred to him when seeing it. Though, the jab at the Disciplinary Committee's performance had caught his attention fully. What exactly would pass under their radar?

"Your fanclub gave it to me," she explained and pointed to Hibari, "to give it to you, because we apparently get along." She chuckled, amused by the mere thought. Hibari had promptly ignored that last remark over the more important matter of the bag, slipped in supposedly through the woman, interfering with his time in the cafeteria; he thought he had already crushed his fanclub. He was unaware of the fact that the old woman was simply referring to them that way as a jest, and grimaced. "They're catching on to your schedule."

"Throw that away," he cleanly ordered, his cold gaze locked onto the woman's to further assert his point. Inwardly, he was already thinking of acting on a second fanclub extermination, but was unsure, for once, as to whether the notion would amuse or irritate him... Which, in turn, irritated him. It was at least certain they would be bitten to death, but he had to focus his efforts in—

"It's perfectly edible chocolate," the old woman stated as a protest, and Hibari finally remembered Valentine's Day existed that very moment.

"... Is that so?" Hibari's eyes narrowed dangerously, locking onto that bag almost like a target to erase. At the very least, it was a small bag; the amount was tolerable enough. Besides, even if they, frustratingly enough, did not even have the courage to face him directly (and individually), the day did happen to be appropriate... Although Hibari did wish it did not exist. "I'll take just the chocolate, then."

The woman nodded in approval, probably uncaring of the details behind Hibari's thought process, and gestured to the bag. "Good choice," she remarked with a smile, only for her eyebrows to crease and her hand to stop with her index finger risen as she continued to utter: "After all, food isn't something you should waste, now, is it?"

"Is that supposed to be a lecture?" Hibari calmly retorted, unfazed by her words entirely, especially when other things were on his mind. One of them being the fact that the crowd of girls had managed to secure a free passage to send him things, even if only for a year. His irritation only burned stronger the more he thought about it, but the old woman seemed almost unaware of that.

It was only natural, since she had never been directly faced with Hibari and his Valentine's Day troubles. "It's more than you ever get when you don't show up for class," she countered, but that fell on deaf ears in comparison to the definite annoyance that would haunt him until that accursed day, and he was not thinking of Valentine's Day. "Anyway, the usual?"

Hibari grabbed at that bag, and scowled. "The usual. Also, don't ever accept anything from them." He said no more and stomped for his seat, his mind already flashforwarding to White Day, the bane of Kusakabe's existence. Not only would he get bitten to death in the girls' stead, but he would also be charged with giving back gifts for Hibari, who could not possibly stand being around the origin of his anger without biting it to death. Regardless, he would at least pay them back diligently before absolutely blocking any other means for gifts to surge in the school grounds ever again.

For the years to come, he never did receive gifts again. At least, not until a certain five year old child's attempt.

. . .

A new year had arrived, but it brought no true changes to Hibari's routine. However, that very static routine would supposedly constitute the bulk of peace in Namimori Middle School, and Hibari had pride in being the reason for its absolute safety. The cafeteria, too, remained the same, and she would welcome him as always. "The usual?"

"You always ask that, don't you?" It was almost as if the old woman herself felt no refreshing need for variation, but that was already a reason for curiosity. Hibari was smiling, content with normalcy and especially content with affording to ask that question to the woman if only to see if she would be troubled searching for meaning that could or could not be there all along. Either way, it was simply another sort of taunt, and more of the same song and dance.

"And you're still here," she retorted, and left it at that for a change. It was a different pattern, a challenge clashing with the other challenge. Her expression had shown little for Hibari to base his thoughts off of, as her wry smile was almost a default expression, and her eyes glinted with faint determination that he could not place and did not entirely care for placing.

As such, Hibari hummed pensively, only half-invested in the matter. "I don't know what you're talking about," he plainly uttered as if to invite an explanation, but he truthfully only voiced that aloud because it occurred to mind.

"Have you ever thought about graduating?" the old lady asked with a similarly straightforward stance, and Hibari's eyes narrowed in sudden understanding. If it was about the school, there did happen to be some interest in the topic, after all.

"Oh, that? That should be obvious." His uniform remained in place, and he was positioned in front of the counter of the cafeteria, still with the intent of making use of school facilities. The clarity of the answer was comparable to the authority of the Disciplinary Committee, even in the way it was bound never to change.

The old woman seemed to pick up on that in seconds, and grimaced, surprisingly enough. "Obvious, huh? Never mind, then," she said, briefly casting her gaze downwards, displaying slight disappointment; perhaps even weariness. "Pretend I never asked."

It was a new kind of reaction, and centered on a topic seemingly pertaining the school. Hibari remarked, smirking, "Now you got me curious. Could you explain yourself?" Were he in a worse mood, it would have been a threat, and worded more assertively, but Hibari was not quite counting on biting the elderly woman to death considering her physical stature. She had faced Hibari again, and recovered the smile.

Though, regardless, she had taken a few seconds to respond, "Well, you do have this thing for wanting to control the school." Then, she shrugged, almost as if resigned. "Maybe that's what you're supposed to do for now. Until you do graduate."

"And what makes you think I'll graduate?" The retort was immediate, implying a certainty not even Hibari had bothered to truly think over: it was simply the set of words that slipped out, and it illustrated the point neatly enough. Not only that, but it warranted an answer from the woman, who was seemingly bound to have an interesting perspective.

"Being a student in Nami-Middle's enough," she said, the vagueness in the statement promptly matching expectations, even if not entirely comprehensible to Hibari. The old woman had crossed her arms, and Hibari was able to spot that. Naturally, he was not surprised to hear her speak up: "Now, do you want food or did you come here for chit-chat?"

The practical purpose outweighed the casual pastime, and in assessing his priorities, Hibari concluded he was not truly that interested in her business. "You're hiding something," Hibari said, "but I guess I'll leave it at that, for now." He turned around to step for his seat, but spared the old woman a glance, seeing her frown momentarily. Whatever it was that she was thinking, it did not truly matter to Hibari, because his true priority was himself only.

. . .

Soon enough was a time period in the cafeteria days in which Hibari could somewhat understand that the cafeteria lady would not have all that much longer to live. Hibari entered the cafeteria at his normal pace, approached the counter at his own pace, but the old woman was not the same after noticing his presence. The staff was staring her way in a particularly tense manner, and one of them even whispered about taking her place in talking to Hibari; a prospect that was only brought up in especially bad days for the woman. He was soon sure of why that was when he noticed her walk even more slowly than what he would expect out of her, and finding that her breathing was a little ragged, but it was not out of a cold since she was wearing no mask that day. "The usual...?"

"... You're slow." Strained voice notwithstanding, Hibari's first thought on the matter pertained her movement, especially because that had considerable weight on the time she would take with his food. Unlike the ordinary cafeteria with any other student, Hibari's order was not the same as the designated menu, and required special attention, cementing the reason Hibari would appear all that much earlier than the student body.

"That's not anything you didn't know already," she retorted, unable to even let out that usual cynical smile. She instead frowned vacantly, and her eyes were unfocused. It was rare for someone like her to be distracted, but it was clear her mind was elsewhere, only partially engaged in the conversation. Hibari was not particularly offended, and he was assuming the motive was involuntary.

"You're slower than usual," he uttered to dispel all doubt, and watched that blank frown deepen with more genuine displeasure. He was sure to have hit the mark with the comment, but the small victory was not quite as important as the old woman's answer, depending on its implications.

"Just having a bad day," she said, succintly so, "Nothing you'd actually care about." And it truthfully was something Hibari would normally apathetic towards, and that did not change. He felt nothing in particular for her strained self, but his curiosity was evident; it was also adjacent to other priorities.

In light of another mound of seconds spent staring at the old woman, whose speed was such she did not have the time to react and say her piece about the silence, Hibari pensively hummed in slight interest, but not enough to be completely resolute. "Are you in pain?" he asked as though it were any innocent question, a mere happenstance of nature.

The confirmation came in further with the old woman's grimace before she countered, "If you can tell, you don't need to ask."

"And you still come to work." He would have inquired on her eagerness to die as a taunt, but the words had faded from his mind, leaving only the enigmatic meaning of the first statement. There was no surprise in the elderly lady's flawless attendance (beyond the fact that she had not yet the necessity to be hospitalized), but the mysterious nature of the illness he did not truly care to know was perhaps telling of the little days she had left to live, and that was relevant to Hibari, even if only slightly.

For the first time in the conversation, the old woman was eyeing Hibari resolutely, even if that grimace was not able to disappear alongside her previously uncharacteristic demeanour. "It's the only thing I have," she stated, and closed her eyes briefly, as if rationalizing something that she did not speak out to Hibari.

Hibari would have followed that statement if just for his own goals, but in reminding himself of his hunger, he found it trivial by comparison. "Well, it's your life," he loosely replied and left for his seat, neutral to the prospect of something she could be hiding. Instead, he wondered how long she would have to live, and if she would not die before he could at least get his lunch.

. . .

"It's not lunchtime," she warned, and that time, the sky was dyed an orange hue, fitting the afternoon. The cafeteria lady had already left the kitchen by the time Hibari had entered the cafeteria, and her steps were as clumsy as they continued regularly being since the first time he noted her weakening state. Her hands visibly trembled, but her gaze was not unfocused now.

"I know," he retorted as he stopped by a row of tables, a moderate distance away from the old woman who was eyeing him wearily. Then, her eyebrows furrowed, and she grimaced.

"You didn't come all the way here just to go on some more about me dying, did you?"

"... Is that what you think I usually tell you about?" Hibari retorted with slight amusement, smirking even in face of the pending issue of the woman's health. She was still trying to walk closer to the door, slowly, but she was crossing the other side of the row of tables and, as such, kept a distance from Hibari.

"It's what would have you giddy seeing me react to, for one," she responded, but her gaze was not in Hibari primarily. She had instead glanced at him once, and mustered a smile much more dully than she normally would. "Believe it or not, I know you well."

"Do you, now?" It was not something he imagined from an inherently distant individual, but he simultaneously did not mind playing along for the sake of argument, staring at her expectantly even as she neared the door.

She turned around when she was by the midway point in the path to the door, and directed half-lidded eyes to Hibari. "I know enough," she asserted, "that I don't need any prying into your business."

"I'm not here to rile you up," Hibari said, only as an afterthought.

"If you wanna pick on somebody, you should make it people your age," she warned with a slight stern edge, but not with the same kind of energy as before. It was a change Hibari was adapting to as it went, but it only solidified his purpose in that afternoon.

"I already do," Hibari responded simply enough, but seeing the old woman cross her arms was proof enough that she was unconvinced by the blunt answer.

"Only people your age," she stressed, albeit without raising her voice. She would usually not do so at all, but her distance from Hibari and strained tone made her words faint to the ears. Calmer than before, maybe even solemn through her softened expression, she then continued: "See, Hibari, you shouldn't be bothering with people who'll die soon. You'll regret it."

A direct affront to his current self, and he now at least knew that the old woman was just as aware of her nearing impending death as he was. Regardless, he found something fundamentally wrong with the phrasing, uttering, "And what makes you think I'm 'bothering' with you?" It was almost as if he would talk to the dead as a pastime, as if he had no other pertinent reason to appear beyond school hours to speak to the old lady. Proudly solitary as he was, Hibari found the prospect preposterous to begin with, but any following answer could catch his interest, so his gaze was more expectant than anything, inviting a retort.

The weakened woman, however, did not even afford for that. She huffed, dismissing the taunt before saying, "Well, whatever it is, you should have better things to do."

An irrelevant argument; how disappointing. Hibari faintly shrugged, and focused instead of better notions, uttering back, "I do whatever I want." Though, through that statement, the old woman had come to raise her eyebrows in pure skepticism instead.

With a cynical smile, she retorted the same way one would say an objective fact, even if worded as a question, "Humans can't fly now, can they?"

"I don't let things like that stop me."

The woman closed her eyes before his own blunt statement, pondering lightly on the perspective it belied. Common sense and such viewpoints were essentially useless to Hibari if his desires willed him to pursue whatever he pleased, and the old woman was likely conciliating that response with his usual demeanour, knowing it to be true. Regardless, her eyes opened softly and slowly with the smallest tinge of wry amusement, maybe resignation. "You might die earlier than me, then," she said, but not even as a warning or advice, "living on the edge like that."

"I won't die," Hibari calmly stated, "After all, I'm not weak." A few seconds of silence permeated the cafeteria with the weary old woman staring straight into Hibari's eyes, which he was similarly using to lock on to the woman's, marking the assertive nature of his position. Hibari's distance from her was the same, and he would keep it that way at his leisure, seeing no need to note more from her current physical condition than he already could. However, he was starting to assume the pauses she was taking were more for health-related reasons than due to deep thought.

"I'm just waiting for the time you become town president," she said, slowly, tentatively with a wider smile, "even take over the world." Her eyes twinkled under the faint afternoon light almost as if projecting a miniscule image of the very scenario, which Hibari could not and did not care to see. It was apparently an amusing enough mental image to warrant a chuckle out of the woman, and she elaborated on the reason despite Hibari having never asked: "People like you either soar high and melt under the sun, or crash and burn."

A misunderstanding, then. A hypothesis the elderly woman did not believe in, which was the precise reason she could laugh at all. Hibari, for one, was unfazed enough to casually answer along the flawed hypothesis, "I don't plan on either of those." Instead, he did think over the words that would have constituted as astute advice to perhaps someone else, glancing towards the window displaying the darkening sky. "The sun is too bright for me, anyway." Such was his conclusion, because he wanted only the peace Namimori would provide.

The woman did not seem especially impressed with the answer, and was beginning to tap her foot impatiently. "Well, you do you, I suppose. How about you tell me that business of yours, now?"

Cutting to the chase was nothing if not beneficial to Hibari, so he immediately asked, "Do you have something you want done now?"

"Huh?" was the woman's immediate reaction, and a rare one considering she would usually brush aside any confusing part of Hibari's demeanour out of apathy. It was a probable sign of the old woman's current condition, but not something he needed to dwell on in face of much more important matters.

"You like referencing your death a lot, so I'm sure you must have thought of things you wanted to do before dying," Hibari said as the first thing that occurred to his mind, and he frowned already expecting the troublesome side of the cafeteria lady. "I want to know them, because I still owe you." Regardless, as it stood, it was particularly relevant now to reach some sort of agreement with the woman on her debts, since he would get no chance after her death. Although her death would simultaneously mark the erasure of the debts by default, Hibari's concern was with the present, and the present had the woman still standing before him and still with her unparalleled ability to have nothing she wanted to be paid back with.

"Really?" She had truthfully forgotten, the tiredness overwhelming, and she took a moment to ponder on her own. Hibari's eyes narrowed in trying to understand the meaning behind that stance, but it was soon made painfully clear when she spoke up with a grimace: "The problem here is that I don't have things like last wishes. As long as you don't get me fired, I don't have regrets. Too much trouble thinking about them."

"... You really don't change," he ultimately remarked, also a set of words he had put little thought into uttering. What they represented exactly, not even Hibari was sure, but there was little interest in knowing, as well.

"You also don't change and your hair isn't grey yet," the old woman retorted quickly for once, only to sigh. Hibari assumed she would not be leaving the spur-of-the-moment answer at that if she did not want to start truly displeasing him, and the slight wait after that sigh did prove him right, at least. "Anyway, if there's anything you're doing to make us even, it's getting me a plumber to fix that dish washer."

Finally, a feasible, practical suggestion, even if small in his view. "Is that all?" he asked, if only to make sure. It would not be his responsibility if she did protest against his actions after he had executed them, but he would rather a smooth process when the individual in question was not worth biting to death.

"It's all I need, so consider the whole debt paid then."

Admittedly enough, he had not expected the one action to account for the multiple instances of debt, but the convenience of the notion warranted a smirk. "Really, now? There's still leeway for more." He seemingly dangled the much more advantageous hypothesis to the old woman's figurative sight, almost as if to dare her to change her mind knowing it would not be. He was met with the usual wry smile, and immediately confirmed the assumption without the need for words.

"Do more yourself if you want to do more," she countered dismissively, but her body language was lacking, "I told you everything already." She appeared ready to leave, stepping further back into the door's direction, and Hibari huffed in reaction to the response. Then, he began to walk the same way, his gaze on the old lady unafraid of death whose days were undoubtedly counted as if to watch for any other affirmation, or for any movement that could catch his interest.

There was none, and the elderly woman allowed him to tread past her. It was at that moment he closed his eyes, and neared his hands to the door before cleanly speaking: "Expect it done in a week."

However, not even a week was the old woman able to last.

. . .

It was only natural, as such, that Hibari would be in a bad mood that Monday he heard from Kusakabe (who had conversely heard from the principal) that the cafeteria lady had been hospitalized since Saturday.

"What are you doing in a place like this?" Hibari asked, almost as if ignorant, when he entered that white room of the hospital he also happened to have authority over. Even so, he had always known why she was there, and he had heard Kusakabe's report on the matter, as well. The clock struck midday, lunchtime, but there was nothing in his stomach to speak of, which only did increase his inner irritation. His piercingly icy glare was completely locked onto the furthermost hospital bed of the room, and he glanced at none of the surroundings as he approached the old woman.

Near the doorway was Kusakabe on standby, supposedly intent on visiting the old woman, himself; details Hibari cared little for, but the old woman had looked past Hibari to briefly note that. She would blink little in her sorry state, and her head tilted slightly to the side to take sight of Hibari. "What does it look like?" she retorted, her voice weak, unworthy of the defiant tone from the strain on it alone. "I'm lying down here because I can't move."

"I thought you said you'd die before being separated from the school," Hibari stated, if only because those hollow eyes of hers signified death as well as her prospective corpse could, and he knew better than to expect a full recovery. Or his cafeteria lunch, for that matter.

"That was the plan, but I guess I'm not dying in my sleep after all," she acknowledged without even the strength to shrug in a smooth fashion, but she did try. The attempt was meaningless, even displeasing, but Hibari's mind was already on a different train of thought.

"You still have time," he uttered as a fact. Her body had yet to stop moving, after all. Were she dead, he would not have been in the hospital to begin with, holding business of his own. She was dead to the school, but not dead officially; not exactly his preferred way of seeing her, all things considered. Was it so hard not to trouble him by simply starting to die a few days later?

"It's not as comfortable when it's a hospital bed." The old woman frowned, and her gaze searched through the surroundings as if seeking for something to muse about, but the building was empty of natural meaning and entertainment; vacant as her fading life.

Hibari's eyes narrowed in face of the opportunity laced into the words, even if it happened to be unintentional. "Do you want to move away from here?" he asked, already sorting out the better-equiped locations in his mind he could transfer her to, if only she accepted.

"You don't owe me anything anymore, remember?" And even in death, now away from the school, she would not simply make it easy for him. The old woman probably did not take her life yet simply on the slim chance she could recover and begin working again, but it was a needless sense of hope to have.

... No, not hope. Thinking back on that woman, it was more plausible to assume she had no expectations, and was awaiting her death patiently knowing it would come without any effort from her part. A few seconds passed with vacant, transient thoughts of that nature in Hibari's mind, in the middle of a waiting time for perhaps a more convenient answer to his offer, but he found no such thing. As such, he took the liberty of clarifying his reasoning: "I still didn't get that dish washer fixed, and you won't get to use it."

In other words, he had not paid her back at all, frustratingly enough. The old woman conversely shook her head slowly as if in playful disapproval. "Boys your age shouldn't be so fussy," she said, almost as if lazily; a far cry from her usual diligence.

"You're the one who's needlessly stubborn," he quickly retorted, his voice never more than the usual soft tone but there were signs of breathy interference, associated mostly with the slight anger and hunger he felt alongside the circumstances. None of it was planned; it was a simple whim, an expression of his mood. "Are you that intent on keeping an upper hand on me until the moment you die?"

The lack of a visible reaction in her features added to the displeasure of the situation, and the old woman's reaction time was fittingly slow. "I just don't have any ambition," she uttered, and paused for another moment, a moment of silence Hibari could wait for knowing it was just the byproduct of her weakened self. The justification sounded like nothing more than an excuse, but it also happened to be truth for someone like her, who longed only to stay at the school. Though, it still did not fix anything, so it hardly lingered in Hibari's mind. "Well, if you want to get the debt paid now, how about you listen to me? A day without work gets you thinking..." Another pause, but the response at least seemed promising. "And I just about found this last wish thing you mentioned the other day."

"So, that thing is to have me listen to you? Why?" For the first time in the conversation, Hibari showed himself curious, and his question was not entirely a very indirect challenge. It was more than rare for the elderly woman to prioritize speaking over any other worthwhile action, and she would usually never assert herself over others. Whatever changes her condition had brought her, they had even forced her of all people to talk as a wish.

"There's just something I think you might as well take to your grave," she responded in an orderly, calm fashion, "and you know I don't sugarcoat anything. Not even with you." It was almost as if planned from the beginning, thought through the days she had been still in her bed, outside of her home or the school. The novelty of the almost elegantly uttered words of the cafeteria lady did draw his attention futher, and erasing his debt through listening, even if it was not something he liked doing was still a convenient option in favour of any other action that would take much longer.

"... Go on, then," Hibari muttered, and he glanced towards the window showing the morning sky. Beside the old woman was nothing of importance; no signs of other visits before his own. She had always been a lonesome figure, and it seemed that not even now, others would come to her. He could afford noting her solitary self with neutrality in the time the old woman had spent in silence, and the fewest seconds in clearing her throat in preparation for the exertion of her voice.

"See, Hibari," she started, her voice unusually gentle, "I think you're too far gone at this point." Hibari immediately looked back at the old woman with a frown, his cold gaze fixated on her as a reflexive warning sign that he would not quite go through with (yet, if he ever felt like it) out of his debt and curiosity. "Anything anybody tells you, you'll just follow your own path. Still, I have a feeling the reason you're so turned away by people is because they don't treat you right. They're either below you, or above you; there's no in-between. Maybe if you found that in-between early on, you might've turned out a good kid after all."

Hibari's eyes narrowed, portraying emotion he did not bother understanding, but he assumed it was confusion and anger. "What are you trying to say?" he asked after mentally sifting through what he would decode as piles of verbal nonsense that hardly compared to more interesting activities such as biting others to death, but there seemed to be a meaning behind that old woman's words. Whatever it was, Hibari had nothing better to do than to try to understand it in the middle of the commitment he had involved himself with, though he expected the aged lady to have some wisdom to her, like she tended to for the sake of better navigating her hollow life.

"I'm saying you're a delinquent so bad there's no way you'll turn back," she asserted, and part of Hibari was assailed by an instinctive urge to take out his weapons. The other, however, was able to stop the action before it occurred on the simple basis that Hibari had no interest in the dead. "But on the other hand, you've still got a whole life ahead of you, and lots more people to meet. One day, you'll be surrounded by those in-betweens wherever you go, and you'll have a much more fun life than you think you're having. Just then, you might start being less of a hopeless case and graduate from the school." Such words were conveyed with a smile akin to the usual wry and dry demeanour of the woman, who never before had spoken at such length and in such a manner. It appeared she had all that much suppressed when it came to her own opinions of Hibari, who grimaced.

"... Did you just want to freely insult me?" Even his question sounded faintly dull with the smallest hint of an accusation, processing the fact that he was, for the first time in his life, called a hopeless case for reasons he did not even truly care to understand, regardless of whether that was the point of her words or not. Whatever the concept of 'in-betweens', equals happened to do to contribute to Hibari's life was entirely a foreign notion that involved more people than himself as the center of the circumstances, and there was more than a logical stretch or two in the mere suggestion that Hibari was the one who had yet to experience fun to its fullest. It was not his fault most would not even come close to his caliber, and it was certainly not his fault herbivores existed to annoy him.

The former cafeteria lady chuckled in a strained manner in light of Hibari's stone-cold expression, unlike how any other person would react seeing him potentially annoyed. "Why else do you think I'm using up your debt on this? Anything else, and you would've had me in the afterlife by now. I don't sugarcoat, but I'm no idiot." So she said, but she would probably not have stated anything different even if he was not in her debt. The moment she was sure she would not return to the school, she would have no reason to preserve her life. "And, well, we never did pry into each other's business, did we? You ordered food, and I'd make it," she said as her expression softened, and her gaze reflected something beyond the current surroundings. If her life happened to be flashing before her eyes, Hibari wondered if it still counted as paying her back if she died midway. "Having someone like you challenge me would bring me back to those times I simply dedicated myself to cooking, so it was in both our interests, really. There's no room for admitting to anything there."

That last sentence was a mere fact, and the rest seemed to be irrelevant under the straightforward truth of the distance between Hibari and the cafeteria lady. She served his ends, and remained passive to Hibari and his endeavours. 'Getting along' or not was a moot notion before the truth of the matter, which tied itself to the lack of true concern for both parties. At least, as far as he knew, since the old lady had now deemed it worth her time to offer him advice. "Why are you telling me this?"

That question had apparently been accounted for in the woman's plans, as she was quick to answer, "Because a school isn't meant to keep youths like you in; it's meant to make sure they get out of it." For once, she looked to the side, towards the sky, almost as if to see what she would soon be joining were she to fall asleep one last time. "And that's why I decided to stay working in the school for as long as I lived."

"... I don't understand." It was the most he was able to coherently put into words in the spur of the moment, because he had no particular emotional response to the matter. Not even anger; simple confusion derived from statements he found incoherent. As always, he had no grasp on the old woman's own ideals, but he would not have cared before, had he no choice but to listen to her. His mood soured in light of the confusion, and he was already scowling.

"Don't reduce your life to this, Hibari," the old woman urged, her gaze still away from the prefect because she knew he would be there. And he was there. Listening, even though he had better things to do with his life (like eating lunch, biting something to death; anything at all). "If school was ever for something, it's to broaden your horizons." An arbitrary concept that did not correlate with his own ideals, and his own ideals were the school's by extension. It was a flaw that did not exist, evidently. "Let yourself be challenged for once, and you'll come and go just like all others." Since when did he ever need, want or care to be as any others? Was it an advantage to leave his school when it represented all he needed already? To begin with, she knew nothing of his life outside the cafeteria, did she? If so, there was no meaning to her arguments at all, Hibari had noted at the time; and yet, he supposedly had to listen. "Now, I don't wish for miracles, but I did want to see you graduate one day. Not out of any debt, but because you're on your way to live a life that suits you. The sun is too bright, but leave the ground eventually, will you?" Hibari's eyes captured every second of movement in the woman as she turned around to finally face him, and her gentle expression faltered upon seeing the exceedingly noticeable irritation in his gaze. She had not averted her eyes, but she did frown, almost as if disappointed, of all things. "Maybe it's still too early for you to understand," she said, "but if you do listen, and experience more things, you'll get it eventua—"

"I'm leaving." Enough was enough. Listening was as simple as grasping the other party's conclusion to their words, rather than focusing on every word itself. At least, that definition served his purposes well enough to consider the debt paid, and that was all that mattered, in the end.

He was going to turn around when she said, quickly perhaps out of obligation under the circumstances, "Not listening to any more?"

Hibari did not hesitate to step away regardless, and countered, "You've explained yourself already."

"What about the debt? There's still one more thing I was going to tell you."

... Hibari stopped in his tracks and turned around, sending a glare her way. Even through that, she smiled to utter her last words: "Thanks for visiting, Hibari. You can stop wasting time on me now."

Hibari huffed, and walked away from the room, ignoring Kusakabe passing by him to enter it in turn. That was his first and last visit to the hospital for the elderly woman, and she passed away that very night.

. . .

Hibari stepped for the cafeteria, calmly and slowly, though a frown adorned his features. It was supposed to be the same song and dance, only without that old woman to interact with him in the others' stead. Even so, to smoothen the process of getting his food was her only practical purpose in the cafeteria, and Hibari had already extracted all information about the school the woman possessed. As such, it stood to reason that Hibari's usual attendance to the cafeteria would be almost unchanged.

... Yet, the moment he had neared the counter, hearing the women whisper among each other fearfully trying to decide which one was brave enough to face the tyrannical middle schooler, he felt his mood sink low enough to warrant an instinctive release of his tonfas. It was admittedly aided by the memory of that old woman talking down on him, but she was no more, while the other staff was still present to annoy him. It was clear which people he would focus on, then. Even despite the light memory of the woman slowly walking for that counter, asking that very same question he was neither keen on or adverse to; but it at least never annoyed him.

The two women could not see the weapons he was gripping, and when one tall young woman tip toed for the counter with an artificial smile, already another aspect of her he did not like, he had decided to test the waters. Hibari did happen to be hungry, after all. He reminded himself of that rather than the hospital and the past sight of the counter, and locked eyes with the woman expectantly. "G-good morning. Is there a-anything in particular you—"

"The usual," he stated without regard for whatever she was barely managing to tell him, hoping to quicken the situation. He was sure that waiting around, seated by himself would at least calm him somewhat. However, against his expectations, the woman was tilting her head to the side ever so slightly, a trembling hand over her mouth as she sent glances her colleagues way as if requesting her help. Said colleague had probably not even been listening to the conversation, shivering in the background and shaking her head slowly to signify her helplessness before the situation.

"The..." Another glance. Hibari could count them by the passing seconds. "Usual...?" Hibari's increasing anger went without saying, and he leaned closer to the counter. He had not noticed the motion himself, but it stemmed mostly from his urge to bite something to death, evident in his unyielding, sharp gaze completely locked onto the herbivore in front of him.

The woman had practically jumped back in fear, even before he had spoken: "You were here before she died, weren't you? Make it quick," he ordered, "or I'll bite you to death." Simple and straightforward, the command should have given them no room for argument, and had they been that old woman, he would have gone to that seat and wait, trusting them to be at work. However, they were not her, and he did not need to threaten her to begin with. It was convenient, seeing as he only wanted to eat: she would cook, and he would await that; maybe even amuse himself amidst the impatience. Now, he would stare at the fearful women like the unreliable weaklings they were, and the feeling of relaxation associated with the cafeteria was crumbling by the second.

Hibari snapped out of his remembrances of the dead woman, even if brought up for comparison's sake, and watched the woman behind the other try to step aside, heading perhaps for the door, almost as if to escape. The tall woman, who at least had the boldness to try to face him, was taking far too long to say something or to start acting. "Actually, I, we—" When she did, he did not figure she had decided not to face Hibari's future anger were she to commit a mistake in giving him the wrong order, because Hibari had no regard for the circumstances of others. As far as he was concerned, he wanted food in the allocated time period he had demanded it, and he would get it no matter the circumstances. He would have perhaps clarified it were he in a better mood, but the more he continued thinking back to the sheer ease in entering and having a conversation that would never affect anything or bind him anywhere, the more he would start not thinking of the current situation. "Um, the staff here was usually charged with washing the dishes," she said, and upon glancing back, was noting her cowardly companion's shifty self nearing the exit and stepped back herself. "The others, th-they didn't appear today—" Her words were useless, since he was not listening. Instead, her fatal mistake lay in that one step noted immediately by Hibari's predatory gaze: if only she had simply agreed, known what to say, walked with a clear destination, anything at all— How odious herbivores were, truly. And now that old woman, the keeper of the ideal cafeteria in his school despite everything was gone irrepairably, leaving behind a gaping hole tainting the harmony. How irritating, how truly infuriating—

The next thing the woman knew, there was a tonfa shoved through the glass encasing what would have been a small shelf to place prospective plates of food, and an arm uncaring of the glass shards that could have stuck to its skin stretching ever closer to the woman. That familiar counter was a nuisance now without that woman barely seen behind it; it stood stiffly before his path to biting the two to death. Whoever they were, whatever they were, and it never did matter as they were all the same. The woman shrieked, frightened, and that only served to make the snapping sound within the confines of Hibari's mind fade in realization of his own actions, and he eyed his arm in a strangely apathetic manner.

It was rare for Hibari to feel pain. Most would be knocked out before they could hurt Hibari. It hurt now, and that had also perhaps contributed to his waning bout of extreme fury, but he felt nothing if not the slightest tinge of displeasure from the wasted action and time. The counter had yet to disappear, even if he could now easily jump over to bite the two to death. Reminding himself of their existence, having been distracted by the arm before, he looked up to locate the women and started to analyze the situation. They were heading for the door out of the kitchen, which would lead to the cafeteria room, in turn. They thought they could outrun Hibari, pitifully enough, but that was not a factor to be attentive to in comparison to the damage he had caused to that counter; school property... Hibari grimaced. It was almost as if that glass had not been meant to exist at the time. As far he could understand, the cafeteria itself felt like a burden then and there.

Somehow, Hibari was not hungry anymore. Regardless, a strange sense of emptiness filled him as he finally retracted his bleeding arm and thinking back on the cafeteria, and he watched the two women pass him by with fearful whimpers, dashing at their top speed. The usual crowding herbivores; ones he would ignore in favor of her if only so he would not be destroying the very kitchen he needed used for his lunch, back then. Though, now that he was there, without her to face him in that cynical manner that challenged him to taunt and anger and push her further, Hibari started to see that it was not simply her practical use that had him always feel like saying something more to the elderly lady whenever he would see her. He would have risen his fangs to strike at the easy prey, but decided instead to close his eyes, pretending not to see them. "I lost my appetite." Following that quiet, somewhat weary mutter was the thought of his situation. He wanted Kusakabe for now, at the very least... And perhaps the infirmary. Nothing else.

After all, whatever it was that Hibari lost in the cafeteria, it had originated from that woman, and she was dead. Hibari did not mull over the dead: knowing that he could never get back what was once with her, he treaded away from the cafeteria, never intending to step foot on it again. As far as he was concerned, it no longer existed. The fact that the two women quit their jobs was only a bonus to his following measure of closing the cafeteria down from lack of staff, and a way for his thoughts never to drift to the old woman and her berating words ever again.

Naturally, he had not attended the principal's speech honouring her memory, and he did not attend her funeral, either. When he received a report from Kusakabe detailing he did, Hibari sent him flying onto the shut door of the reception room without hesitation, but not even he knew why he did, and he certainly did not question it further. From then on, the topic of that woman and the cafeteria had become taboo for the Disciplinary Committee and the student body alike, while Hibari himself had been quick to focus on other matters so as to float past the issue that did not exist anymore, like a cloud in the sky moving on from the storm.

. . .

Years later, and that day supposed to be like any other ended with a small consideration. The slightest recollection that Hibari had let slip through, and replaced instead with more thoughts on that destined meeting. That very moment he was chasing that bizarre herbivore whose transition to bold strength was still incomprehensible, he had been interrupted. He had faced that small infant, smirking in pre-established victory despite there being no battle to begin with between the two. If he had bothered to taunt Hibari, however, he certainly would not deny the chance.

His fang clashed with only a makeshift weapon that truly was not the infant's preference. The thought of a weapon on that unknown existence had already been unexpected, but the fact that he had not budged a single milimeter from the considerable strike was the best part. "Wow," Hibari uttered marvelling the standstill caused by the infant's strength able to match his own. "You're impressive." He remembered only those words intensely, as the rest of the events were less important. In comparison to that respectable strength which he had never encountered before, crowding herbivores were simply not the least bit relevant. He was sure then that he had finally found someone of his caliber.

And that infant left the school, composed as any powerful entity would be in face of none who could possibly rival him, bidding farewell to the herbivores by the gates and leaving them behind to assert his own way of life. A match; that infant was a someone worthy of being able to act as cheekily as he did. He was a challenge he would take his time to overcome, a prospective fight he was looking forward to greatly in the future, but he was in no rush because he knew he would continue being there. He gazed through the window of the reception room at the gates, and even the crowd was leaving, by then. Hibari's thoughts, however, were still in how he could ever get that infant to fight him, and what sort of things that infant could bring as a novelty to the school.

It seemed like a first time, and it should have been, facing someone worth his time, with an attitude befitting their strength. However, thinking back to that daring, but not malicious wording in that infant had the faintest undesirable memory surface him, warranting a scowl.

"But on the other hand, you've still got a whole life ahead of you, and lots more people to meet. One day, you'll be surrounded by those in-betweens wherever you go, and you'll have a much more fun life than you think you're having. Just then, you might start being less of a hopeless case and graduate from the school."

He dismissed it immediately, unsure and uncaring of why it had surged to begin with. After all, Hibari was still not planning on graduating any time soon, and that woman was still wrong. Wrong, and dead, away from his affairs. He had consequentially only thought back on her again years after, letting himself watch and act upon whatever he pleased in the middle of the conflicts and events brought by that small animal and the infant.

Incidentally, that particular year was the one marking his graduation from Namimori Middle School, and he did not regret either prospect.

. . .

Now, a grown Hibari is free to reminisce and look down on his younger self for his lack of foresight, but he never does dwell on that part. Frustrating as it was, Hibari had been bested by a mere old woman and her sagely advice, and only many years later did the deceased woman prove herself right before him by doing nothing whatsoever. A weakling, she certainly was, but she had a head on her shoulders. After all, she had almost been able to predict the reason he had graduated from Namimori Middle School later into his life, and he had been left in the dark for years on the meaning behind her words. Regardless, Hibari can smirk thinking of the topic, of the fact that he had indeed found those 'in-betweens' she had told him about, because that is all that matters, in the end; the results. Whatever resulted from the past pales in comparison to the achievements of the present, and Hibari knows better than to use reminiscing for anything other than his self-satisfaction, because some things are worth thinking about. Their worth, in the end, is in the way he can continue to improve taking reference from the past and applying it to the future, and re-affirming his current strength as a consequence. His current strength, and his love for the town of Namimori, which gave him so much to experience.

Hibari is still not a man to dwell on the dead, so instead he amuses himself thinking of the many possibilities that have opened up to him when it comes to fighting stronger opponents, growing ever more powerful, travelling the world and seeking knowledge— Nothing of which his younger self had in clear sight in comparison to his more thoughtful future self, who can establish goals and acknowledge that part of them exist due to his meetings and partings through life, and his flimsy connection with one mafia boss who will inevitably be bitten to death one day. However, until that day, he will make the most out of trying and biding his time, and pursue more than his proud fortress standing even ten years after the turn of events with that noisy crowd he still can not truly tolerate being in the presence of.

"Hibari, Hibari...!" The clear voice of that very first bird resounded left and right, and Hibari calmly followed it with his gaze. "Having fun? Having fun?"

"Fun?" he had initially uttered, finding the bird's question unexpected. Even so, in light of his meeting with the infant prior to the conversation, and that rowdy crowd's reccuring messes, some strange feeling had him inclined to keep that easy smirk he was keeping before. "Sure. I might just be having fun." Then, he looked away from the bird, and into the endless sky, somehow content with the newfound expectations he held, which he had only now noticed. For some reason, the infant was not the first figure that had come to mind, but even that did not matter, in the end. "I have a feeling lots of interesting things will happen from now on."

Such a short moment in his life occurs to him haphazardly as he muses further on that old woman, finding that even back then, he was starting to know the effects of being involved with others who could stimulate him. That small animal who he once held not even a sliver of respect for is now an admirable opponent along with his ever-impressive tutor, and it was that horizon he was shown through the sky the Vongola boss so encompassed. Hibari has learned and grown, truthfully, just as she had told him. In evolving past the boundaries of even the school, he finally graduated, and faced that future the old woman had seen in him before her death. As such, he does not gaze at that building from afar missing its scenery, but as if to bid it another farewell, to use the past as just another tool and incentive to continue his work in the Foundation, chasing after his true interests and keeping the peace of Namimori under unwavering ideals.

"Kyo-san." He hears a voice from behind him, and he turns around calmly, almost as if expecting his presence.

"Tetsu," he acknowledges still with that smile on his face which would have wilted were he only a few years younger and conscious of Kusakabe's submissive demeanour. That, too, is something he looks past now that he has faced the contributions Kusakabe ultimately had to his life. Unlike with that old lady, Hibari is not willing to make the mistake of shunning his words entirely rather than taking up that challenge and expand the sky of his life.

His subordinate— his friend from far too many years to count— smiles along with Hibari, and the twinkle in his eyes almost conveys that he knows what Hibari is thinking at the moment. "Still reminiscing?" he asks softly, humbly, but his voice carries a certain confidence to it that marks his certainty on the topic.

"No," is Hibari's answer, but even that fails to faze Kusakabe, and Hibari knew that would be the case. "I was just about done." He briefly closes his eyes, only to glance back to the school building for one last mental parting with those memories. Then, he starts to walk forward, passing by Kusakabe. "Let's return to the base."

"At once," Kusakabe utters as he follows behind his leader with a composure boosted by familiarity. The two have a long way until the base's entrance proper, only because they are more than willing to walk there rather than taking a car. It is the usual procedure for Hibari and the day he would return to Namimori from one of his trips; a tradition none complains about. Even one Tsunayoshi Sawada would sometimes join in at his own discretion, bring his crowd with him unwillingly despite the secrecy of his own trip and incur the irritation of his cloud guardian under the pretense of the chaotic noise and unwarranted gathering. That kind of behaviour continues to characterize Kyoya Hibari, but he has certainly changed in ways only the few who carefully observed him can see.

Kusakabe, for one, seeks to prove it now when a piece of information popped to mind, received while Hibari was out walking through the town, peaceful as always. His smile wider, his gaze expectant, Kusakabe says in that unintrusive tone of his, "By the way, I've heard just today that Nami-Middle has plans to finally re-introduce a cafeteria." In spite of the topic, truthfully not one he has brought up in decades from the rule against that special room before, Hibari continues to walk, showing no changes in his posture. It is almost as if he has not heard Kusakabe, though Kusakabe himself is sure he did and is patient enough to wait for the reaction with hidden joyful nostalgia.

The first thing Kusakabe hears is a faint, low hum of vacant interest. Then, a rhetoric question: "Is that so?" Kusakabe knows then that Hibari's expression, though he cannot see it from his position, has changed by only the slightest margin. He can already imagine that smile widening, and his leader knowing fully well of Kusakabe's intentions with bringing it up, but he is far past caring about minute things such as those. Instead, Hibari marks his position firmly, and focuses his gaze on the cloudy sky. "It's about time they did that, really."

Hibari does not dwell on the dead, but Kusakabe is different. As such, hearing that from Hibari, he sees that elderly woman smile from beyond that sky Hibari had gazed at, and he believes that despite everything, she would be proud of him now.

Now, with Kyoya Hibari truly free.

Author's Notes:

Wooot, done! I tried especially hard with the narration considering it was a standalone piece that served as a character study of sorts, so I wanted it to exude character, in some way. This isn't something that's easily noted right now because of the third person perspective, but I didn't really feel like going for first person with Hibari either (omg it's super unnerving going for Hibari's perspective), so it's a very ambiguous third person limited narrator that switches to Kusakabe by the very end to set up the continuation to this. Yes, this is a two-shot. A two-shot about Hibari, Kusakabe and the cafeteria, basically; next up is Kusakabe's side, yeeeeaaah! Hype!

I personally am looking forward to it just because the narration will be taking a much less dismissive nature than it is over here with Hibari not remembering or caring about anything lol Anyway, the idea comes from Hibari loving the school and never being shown eating at school. Like, does this guy starve or what? You only see him eat in the OVA. So, then, I thought about the school cafeteria, and the fact that it was never once shown at all. Hell, there probably isn't a cafeteria in Nami-Middle, which is pretty awkward considering schools usually have a cafeteria, especially elementary and middle schools. Still, where the hell's the cafeteria and what does Hibari do for lunch (rather, we never even see Hibari on lunchtime at the roof)? Seeing him as the lover of the school that he is, I decided to play around with the idea of Hibari diligently getting lunch from the cafeteria.

However, anyone who's been to school knows that the cafeteria sucks because the quality of the food just... Isn't good. So, I concluded even Hibari would do something like that just so he can eat at the cafeteria, but people crowd there (and his own outrageous requests take too long lol)! Making him do it on class hours. This is basically the initial set-up; the OC existed mainly because I wanted to experiment Hibari interacting with an apathetic old lady who's been through too much shit to care about this kid. Well, somebody had to interact with Hibari on the cafeteria, so I made it her, and I made Hibari have more of a reason to stick around. Besides, the moment I knew I had to make up an OC, I was certain she needed to be this reeeeeeaally old lady and her cynical but competitive personality spawned from there. Hibari interacts with her for several reasons, some of which I want to leave ambiguous, but he basically respected her old woman self. Hibari reccurringly reacts poorly to being humiliated, but he always seems to react positively to being challenged: she doesn't hold back on him, and that in turn amuses him because he feels like he's being challenged, so he pushes back. Basically, it ends up being more fun for Hibari when you're not licking his boots, go figure. This is the lesson he ends up learning in the future, so I'm sure this isn't spoiling anything.

I say all of this like it's a certainty, but Hibari is a character that you can basically put any past to. I'm open to any interpretation of his past and theories about his ideals and personality because there's a lot of good ground to fill the gaps left by the series on Hibari, and I applied just another one of my plausible views on Hibari with this story. Like, seriously, I have a huge Hibari-centric story/character study underway that goes off of another interpretation with other headcanons, all while trying to get Hibari in-character the best I can; I accept practically anything if it's Hibari theories. Anyway, I ended up using this cafeteria idea to expand on Hibari's character, particularly to answer questions like 'Why did he end up graduating Nami-Middle in the future when he was sticking way past middle schooler age in the series?' and 'Why does his secret Foundation base not have any connections to Nami-Middle?' or 'Why does Hibari start opening up to Kusakabe in the Future?' among other things about the state of Hibari's life in the Future, because it felt appropriate. So, even more than about the cafeteria, this story is a character study on Hibari's growth as a character, which I also tied in to early on in the story with Reborn's appearance and his consequent involvement with Tsuna.

It was fun pulling back stuff from the actual series and even that one drama cd about observing Hibari that seemed to complement the lesson the OC tried to convey to Hibari perfectly, and I hadn't thought back to those before actually writing that. I was basically writing the ending of the one-shot and got reminded of the drama cd and Hibari's line about now having fun and then I thought back to the meaning behind Hibari's meeting with Reborn, which is listed in the light novel as his 'important memory' and I started seeing that in the context of this story, this is an important memory to Hibari because Reborn is the first person he is able to respect; almost like an equal by nature. Then in comes Tsuna, who he can't actually discern (though he ends up finding a way of identifying Tsuna by the Shimon arc) and his whole crowd and the next thing he knows all sorts of stuff is happening and, hey... This is actually fun, even though all these people should be below him. Well, wouldn't that be because they don't actually treat him that way? Or, in other words, since they're trying to take in Hibari as someone with an equal standing (a comrade in their fights) and Tsuna himself actually starts to develop strength that can rival Hibari's, Hibari and his views are being constantly challenged... Or so goes my interpretation, and that he eventually leaves Nami-Middle behind and moves on to pursue all this fun stuff.

Meanwhile, Hibari pre-cafeteria incident is a more immature Hibari, and because he doesn't actually understand what the heck the OC was going on about and the cafeteria started pissing him off, he closed it down. Hibari is very prone to getting angry, but he isn't loud, if anything. Still, I think that Hibari is extremely practical-minded so as he grows and figures out the OC is right, he just sort of recognizes it and moves forward. Even in the past, he just closed down the cafeteria and moved forward. Hibari just can't be bound to anything, and he's only ironically bound to the school because he still had to grow or so goes the character study, but even that's voluntary, in the end.

The OC herself actually had more to her than meets the eye, but Hibari's side of the story correlates with his perspective on her and he plain doesn't care, so you never even get to know her name. Meaning I'm not talking about her anymore! No, these notes are all about Hibari! And seriously... Why don't people make Hibari TALK? Let the man speak, he speaks all the time! Really, just look through the series: when he first sees Tsuna and the others in the reception room he doesn't just go 'hn. You're in my territory, herbivores; I'll bite you to death', he first remarks on the uselessness of the members of the Disciplinary Committee that were supposed to be on standby there, asks who Tsuna and the others are, responds to Gokudera and after kicking his ass tells him all about how he hates herbivores who crowd and how he's biting them to death, but no, it's not done there! He comments on Yamamoto's fighting style at length, speaks to Tsuna when prompted, taunts him after hearing him tell him to stop and even in the manga when Tsuna gets into Dying Will Mode Hibari retorts wondering if it's some sort of gag. But, no, let's go even further with Hibari in the hospital: when Tsuna finds out it's him he's sharing a room with and asks what Hibari's doing there, Hibari doesn't just say 'Hn. Got a cold, herbivore.' or whatever, he gives Tsuna a lengthy explanation of how he got a cold and even though he's basically recovered he's sticking around just in case, only to warn him of the sadistic game he's playing with everybody he shares a room with- You know, because Hibari. Actually. Talks! The Haru Haru interview in the anime had him silent, but the one in the manga actually had him speak with Haru, and he remarked all sorts of stuff; this guy's full of roundabout remarks and everybody likes pretending HN and herbivore are his favorite words! Ugh, make it stop!

Hell, even MONSTER TAMER TSUNA jokes about this with Hibari's appearance where he remarks on the door not being able to stay open, only to respond to Tsuna's question and proceed to make a lengthy self-introduction before ending it with the words 'Oh, and let me make this clear; I'm not much of a talker.' Which was a joke on the fact that he actually talks all the time! His ACTUAL deal is that he talks only when he feels like talking, so he has huge selective hearing and can just ignore you if he doesn't care about what you're saying or has nothing to say. Thing is, he usually does feel like talking so yeah HE TALKS. Please, just let me read a fanfiction of Hibari where he speaks in full sentences and roundabout remarks and questions that always sound like he's curious or taunting you! Anything for a Hibari that's in-character! (oh and while you're at it please make Bel speak in first person thank you very much) I know Hibari's hard to write; I have nightmares just because I'm trying that hard to understand his character so believe me, I know how hard it is, but I just wish the things Hibari said in most fanfiction would actually correlate more to what he says in the series. Also, Hibari's age is set in the wiki as 16 years old, but official profiles of Hibari have his age as a question mark, so his age is canonically unknown. I don't think even Hibari remembers his age because according to the manga's Haru Haru interviews he doesn't remember or know his height, weight and blood type (and reportedly only remembers his birthday because there's no school then) lol Hibari's meant to be that aloof, yes, which is why he can be such comedic gold in the series.

But, uh, I should just leave the Hibari rants at that since hahaha if I don't stop myself I could make a whole novel about Hibari's character just in these notes. So, on another note, there's this drama cd that never got a translation as far as I know which is about Tsuna going to meet Future Mukuro before he returns to the past to thank him for his contribution to beating Byakuran, but he ends up finding Fran instead... And just when he's about screaming for help in his mind because Fran's the awesome comedic gold he is, HIBARI strolls in wanting to fight Mukuro and omg it's epic, everybody should hear Tsuna, Hibari and Fran in one room talking. Maybe if you look for it someone's translated it because otherwise it's just sad that nobody can enjoy the sheer awesomeness of that drama cd (hell if anyone asks I'm translating the hell out of it myself but I have nowhere to put that translation on ;_;) Whatever the case, hopefully you can look forward to the Kusakabe side? It's made to complement this one!