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Chapter 75: Look Back
Six days had passed since Bell left for his training outside the city.
"I'll put the materials over here, Miach-sama."
"Thanks for the help, Tsuna."
It was noon. Tsuna was currently helping out at the Blue Pharmacy, the home of the Miach Familia.
"…You can take a break now, Tsuna."
"Yeah. Got it."
Accepting a glass of water from Naaza, Tsuna sat down in a nearby chair to rest.
Ever since the War Game was officially announced, Tsuna had fallen into a routine: intense training in the morning, followed by helping out the Miach Familia in the afternoon.
Bell should be coming back today, right?
Reborn had messaged him via the smartphone he'd left behind, informing him that they would be returning today.
Over the past few days, Tsuna had used the phone to keep Reborn updated on their situation: the date and format of the War Game, Lili's successful rescue, and Welf and Mikoto officially joining the Hestia Familia.
The War Game was scheduled for three days from now, but because the battlefield was a two-day journey from Orario, Bell needed to return today so they could deploy in time.
He's absolutely not going to be okay...
Tsuna was relieved that Bell hadn't actually died, but he knew for a fact that the boy wouldn't be returning unscathed.
Right on cue.
"I-I'm back…"
"Pfft!?"
The door to the Blue Pharmacy slowly creaked open. Standing in the doorway was Bell Cranel. He was using a broken tree branch as a makeshift cane, his clothes were shredded, his body was battered beyond belief, and his face was sunken in like a dried husk. Taking one look at the withered boy, Tsuna violently spat out his water.
Losing the strength to even grip his branch, Bell collapsed face-first onto the floor.
"S-Save me…"
"Bell!? Are you okay!?"
"What happened!? Who did this to you!?"
Seeing Bell looking like he had one foot in the grave, Naaza and Miach scrambled over in a complete panic.
"It's fine. He's just a little tired from training."
I-I knew it…
Reborn casually strolled into the pharmacy a few seconds later. Hearing Reborn brush off Bell's near-corpse state as 'a little tired', Tsuna immediately understood that his tutor had subjected Bell to absolute hell.
"I'll heal him."
Tsuna had a mountain of complaints he wanted to hurl at Reborn, but healing Bell was the priority. Entering Hyper Dying Will Mode, Tsuna immediately applied his Sun Flames to Bell's battered body.
"So that's the new power you got from your Falna."
Tsuna's primary attribute was the Sky Flame. Normally, a person could only wield one flame type efficiently. While some rare individuals possessed multiple flame affinities, secondary flames were usually much weaker. Yet, Tsuna was generating Sun Flames with an output equal to his primary Sky Flames. Instantly deducing that this was the result of the Falna's system, Reborn smirked in satisfaction.
"More importantly, what the hell kind of training did you put him through…?"
Having finished treating the worst of the injuries, Tsuna dropped out of Hyper Dying Will Mode. Though he dreaded the answer, he couldn't stop himself from asking what exactly Reborn had done.
"Hm? Nothing major."
.....
"Dodge my attacks and climb back up on your own."
"Pfft!?"
As Bell desperately clawed his way up a massive sinkhole of quicksand to avoid being swallowed alive, Reborn repeatedly dropped him back into the quicksand.
"Climb out of that whirlpool on your own."
"Aaaaaaaah!?"
Reborn had tossed Bell into a massive, raging whirlpool in the ocean. Standing safely on the coastline, Reborn shouted instructions while Bell was violently spun around like laundry in a washing machine.
"Beat those guys."
"Don't ask the impossibleeeeeee!!"
Reborn calmly commanded while Bell, whose upper body was completely bound tightly in rope, sprinted for his life from a horde of ravenous monsters.
"This is endurance training."
"Gyaaaaaaah!!"
While Bell sat under a roaring waterfall for meditation training—still entirely bound in rope—Reborn casually tossed a live electrical current into the water.
"Try escaping this forest."
"Aaaaaaaah!!"
Reborn used a flamethrower to set the entire forest ablaze, cutting off all escape routes and forcing Bell to frantically search for a way out of the inferno.
"Cut all of these with your knife."
"Huh!?"
Reborn whipped his arm forward, throwing something at blinding speed. The object shrieked past Bell's head and completely pulverized a massive boulder behind him. Rolling out from the dust was a spiked metal sphere.
It was a Micro Hammer—a specialized throwing weapon Reborn had commissioned from the Vongola R&D department during a past tutoring program. It was designed to shatter solid rock and concrete with ease.
"Alright, here we go."
"Uwaaaaaaaah!!"
Reborn hurled the Micro Hammers as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Screaming his lungs out, Bell somehow managed to parry and slice the incoming projectiles with his knife.
"Now dodge my attacks while holding that boulder. Don't drop it."
"Goho!?"
Forcing Bell to hold a massive rock that threatened to crush his spine under its sheer weight, Reborn ruthlessly launched a barrage of physical attacks at the boy.
.....
"And yeah, that's about it. Other than that, we just sparred a lot. You know, training in deserts with extreme temperature shifts, mountains with thin air, rocky cliffs where one wrong step means falling into an abyss, and valleys with heavier gravity."
"Ah… I see such a beautiful field of flowers…"
""...""
I-I shouldn't have asked…
The training had clearly left Bell deeply traumatized, to the point where he was currently hallucinating the afterlife.
Hearing Bell's screams and about training methods that could hardly be called training, Miach and Naaza were completely paralyzed, their jaws dropping to the floor. Tsuna deeply regretted ever asking.
"Alright, you're all healed up and full of energy."
"In what world!? You've completely mentally scarred him!!"
Though Bell's body was physically healed, his spirit was clearly shattered. Hearing Reborn declare him 'full of energy', Tsuna couldn't help but interject as the straight-man.
"Take tomorrow off to rest. The War Game is in three days. Get your condition in order, Bell."
"Grandpa… Long time no see… I'm so tired… I just want to live peacefully with you forever…"
He's seeing things he definitely shouldn't be seeing right now!?
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