After securing another 40,000 yen in his bank account, Tsuna saw his guests off with a kind smile, though they didn't leave in quite the same spirits.
Karasuma ended up borrowing money from Irina since he was broke, and she was pretty loaded, while Korosensei still owed him 8 million yen, a debt he promised to settle for helping remove Kaede's tentacles, which was due this week.
Despite the lingering soreness in his body, Tsuna's spirits were high. His mood was so good that even his morning third leg didn't seem to subside.
He spent the next few days recovering, feeling more relaxed than he had in a long time.
"Phew..."
Tsuna let out a satisfied breath as he made his way back to the secluded hill on the outskirts of Tokyo. The lush greenery provided ample shade, with the wind rustling through the trees, creating an atmosphere of peace and comfort.
This time, he didn't wear his weight buckle to reduce the stress on his body, allowing him to recover faster, and indeed, it was working quite well as the soreness had dissipated by a large margin.
"I should be able to wear the weight buckle again tomorrow..."
Tsuna mumbled as he slowly walked toward one of the trees before turning.
He was facing the usual spot where he usually trained.
It was an odd scene where the ground was filled with bumps and holes, its condition noticeably different from the rest of the hill.
Closing his eyes, he sat down and began to meditate. Tsuna could feel the connection between the two energies coiling within his body—his chakra and chi—strengthened after helping out in the last battle.
Opening his eyes, he couldn't help but mumble, "As expected, there's nothing better than a real fight with my life on the line..."
"And the most valuable thing I've gained..."
He slowly stood up, raised his hand, and then slammed it down.
The atmosphere shifted sharply, and the ground trembled. A small circular area in front of him began to sink deeper into the earth.
"Ten times gravity..." Tsuna muttered, gripping his hand tighter.
The ground trembled more violently, sinking further as he continued, "...Twenty times..."
As he pushed further, feeling blood rushing to his nose, Tsuna's expression twisted into a crazed grin.
He stared at the deep pit in front of him, and the depth was shrouded in shadow. It was unknown how deep the put was as he mumbled to himself, "This is more than plenty..."
His mind wandered to a certain Uchiha who could bring down meteorites.
Just by bending gravity alone, Tsuna felt his power level had soared, even though his body was only at the peak of human capability.
"I think I'd do well in A rank with my body and experience alone..." He quietly evaluated his strength and compared it with the place he was going to before smiling, "But with my bending..."
He's quite confident to play around in S rank!
"Alright then, let's close it up..."
Taking a deep breath, Tsuna slammed his feet into the ground.
The hill shook slightly as the earth seemed to come alive, the pit he had created slowly rising and closing up, leaving a patch of ground that clearly differed from the rest.
But he didn't dwell on it. He was done with his training, feeling exhausted after testing his limits with gravity bending. As he walked through the city, a sense of peace washed over him, bringing relaxation to his entire body.
He smiled slightly and mumbled, "It's peaceful..."
However...
"...Or not..."
Tsuna's smile slowly faded, his lips twitching as he sighed deeply upon arriving at his place.
There, he saw two girls—one with silver hair and the other with red—staring at each other warily in front of his restaurant.
Feeling a headache coming on, he spoke up, "Care to tell me why you're both here?"
"..."
Alice and Rindo narrowed their eyes at each other before turning to him, now both smiling.
"Ahaha, I haven't seen you around the academy, so I thought I'd come to check on you..." Alice said, and Rindo laughed along, adding, "Oh? What a coincidence, I'm doing the same."
"Hmm?"
The smile slowly faded from Alice's face as she shot a sharp look at Rindo, who was smirking back at her, making Alice roll her eyes in annoyance.
"..."
Tsuna scratched his head, noticing the tension between them. They were staring at each other more intensely, like two cats about to fight over territory.
"This bitch," Alice thought silently, glaring at Rindo before her gaze dropped, feeling slightly alarmed by what she saw.
She couldn't help but think, "A worthy opponent!"
Alice had originally come to tease Tsuna out of boredom at the academy, but meeting this senior in front of her had unexpectedly irked her. She didn't know why, but she felt threatened by Rindo's presence for some reason.
Meanwhile...
"Ohoho, she looks like fun..."
Rindo thought, amused by Alice's angered expression.
She was acting on a whim, eager to stir things up for a bit of entertainment.
"It's fine if you two want to keep this up, but I'm going in," Tsuna interrupted, making both girls blink in surprise before quickly following him inside. He headed to the counter to make himself some breakfast when Rindo's eyes gleamed with a thoughtful look.
"Tsuna, are you going to make breakfast?"
"Yeah, why?" he responded.
"Fufufu, since your beloved senior is here, why don't you just sit back and let me cook for you?"
Rindo offered with a playful smile.
Tsuna's eyes lit up, intrigued by the idea. "Really?"
Seeing this, Alice pouted and growled, "Grrr... I can do that too! Tsuna, let me cook for you!"
"Oh?"
Tsuna's eyes sparkled with interest as he watched the two girls glare at each other, clearly ready for a cooking showdown. He chuckled and started to say, "Sure, you both can cook togeth—"
But a sharp glare from both of them quickly changed his words, "...or separately. I eat a lot anyway."
Both girls frowned but nodded, heading toward the kitchen to start cooking with whatever ingredients Tsuna had in his refrigerator.
As they checked the main ingredients, Alice blinked and thoughtfully tapped her finger on her cheek. "Tsuna, why don't you have any pacific saury?"
"Hmm? You're right," Rindo agreed, nodding. "I thought you had the final round in a week or two, right? Are you not preparing for it?"
"...Ah, right."
Tsuna paused, and a realization hit him...
He had totally forgotten about the final round!
"No way..."
Both Alice and Rindo stared at him in disbelief, exchanging looks of speechless shock at his careless behavior.
Despite this minor oversight, Tsuna managed to secure pacific saury with the help of both girls, who used their connections after cooking him a protein-packed breakfast.
As he ate to his fill, he noticed Alice looking a bit dissatisfied as she took a bite of Rindo's cooking, while Rindo herself wore a smug expression.
Tsuna, however, couldn't care less and continued eating.
After a while, he finally managed to get the two of them to leave his restaurant. Otherwise, they might have stayed all day, and he would've ended up with a migraine from their bickering as he then spent the rest of his day as usual.
However, the next day was a bit different as Tsuna found himself staring at a blue screen in front of him in his room.
He opened his inventory, where two golden tickets lay peacefully. His gaze lingered on the one labeled "One Punch Man" as his eyes gleamed with determination.
With a decisive click, he chose to use it.
"I guess it's time to go see our bald hero..."
As his words echoed in the room, a beam of blue light enveloped him before the room immediately fell silent.
The wind breezed through the open window, carrying a single leaf that gently drifted down onto the pillow bringing a slight peaceful ambiance to the empty room as Tsuna's figure vanished without a trace.