She somehow found the willpower to stay alive after her foster parents were killed by devils who hated her real father...but that was slowly being pushed to the brink with all of danger that followed afterwards.
For the first time, in a long time, she felt she was safe enough to finally...move past of what happened.
Safe enough to go back to what life was like before the people she called 'tou-chan' and 'kaa-chan' were murdered right in front of her.
So she hoped.
Which was why, when everything went silent, the tension was slowly becoming unbearable.
For a moment, Mio seriously began to worry that she angered their new protector, so she had brought her head up immediately in order to apologize for such a transgression.
At least, until she saw something that made her jaw unhinge.
Naruto was staring at her, just staring at her...with tears streaming down his face like a waterfall, and snot trailing down his nose.
The red-head was seriously gawking by this point, unable to believe what she was seeing, unable to even register it.
This was the mighty warrior that slaughtered the stray devils just yesterday? This was the man that frightened her just earlier this morning?
She just couldn't reconcile that the warrior yesterday and this...person in front of her were actually the same.
This guy...
This guy was weird.
...Not that she thought that that was a bad thing.
"Horrible...just horrible! Of course you can come with me dattebayo! You deserve to have some happiness! To feel safe! And if this is what you need to do in order to reach that, then let's go!" Naruto cried as the waterfall tears were wiped away by his sleeve, before grabbing her arm and literally dragging her towards the direction of Kuoh Academy.
"Wa-wait! Not so hard! Hey! If you keep this up I'll kill you a hundred times over! Hey! Are you listening to me!?" Mio cried, getting dragged further and further away from the house from an overenthusiastic teenaged boy.
Maria just watched all this happen with an amused smile.
Life seemed to be making a positive turn for everyone involved.
She giggled a little and trailed after them.
After Mio finally curbed Naruto's enthusiasm, the small group began to walk at a more sedate pace towards the school, with Naruto explaining what Kuoh Academy looked like, and how it was like.
So far, she liked what she heard, but was slightly bummed out that Naruto couldn't really tell her how the teachers were like, since he seemed to either skip their classes or fall asleep on them.
She supposed that, considering his rather spontaneous outburst, she should've expected that.
It took a little bit, but the group finally made it to the gates of the prestigious academy, and Mio couldn't help but marvel at it.
It was huge!
As she had her attention focused purely on the wealthy institution itself, the blond took note of something else entirely.
A girl was standing in front of the gate, welcoming them in, and checking to make sure all of the students there were in their proper uniform.
That girl was Shitori Sona, the student council president of Kuoh Academy.
Naruto cursed under his breath as he searched for a way to warn his new 'roommates' to dodge the president's notice.
But, just like last time they met, the girl with glasses noticed him before he could try and escape.
Damn it.
Naruto plastered a smile on his face and greeted her. "Heya, Shitori-san! What are you up to in this fine summer day?"
"Ah, Uzumaki-san. I am pleased to see you have decided to return to school. I hope your sister is doing well?" Sona questioned, ignoring his sarcastic remark, before she noticed that the teen wasn't alone.
The first one that she noticed was little girl next to Naruto, who was wearing what looked like a classic gothic lolita dress.
Well, she supposed that everyone had their quirks.
But his other companion made her do a double-take for a moment due to the girl's stunning similarity to one of her friends.
"...Rias?" Sona asked hesitantly, before reason finally took control of her momentarily stunned brain.
No. Now that she looked at the girl more closely, there were many differences between the most popular girl in school, and Uzumaki Naruto's companion.
This girl had pink eyes, a more rounded face, her hair was a lighter shade of red, was of far shorter length, and was physically quite shorter than her childhood friend.
The confusion was quite embarrassing for the usually serious student council president.
Mio was shocked by the bespectacled girl's outburst, getting a confused blink out of her.
Who was Rias?
But before she pondered the question further, the bespectacled girl shook her head and then spoke again.
"I apologize for my momentary outburst, I am Shitori Sona. The student council president of Kuoh Academy. It is nice to meet you the two of you." Sona introduced herself politely, before turning to Naruto and pinning him with a stare.
Naruto just raised a brow in response, confused at why the kaichou was looking at him, as if something was his fault.
"Uzumaki-san, while it is nice that you are showing your friends around Kuoh Academy, it is also not allowed. Unfortunately, you can't bring in individuals who aren't students, or aren't related to any students attending here. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to escort your friends off of the premises. Rules are rules after all." Sona stated sternly.
To her, rules are guidelines meant for people to follow so that everyone could prosper to the best of their abilities.
"Uh...well, actually, she is related to me, Shitori-san." Naruto claimed and slightly regretted in the same breath.
He quickly decided to roll with it.
Mio turned to look at the blond with incredulity, unable to understand what the hell he was talking about.
What she didn't realize, was that the teen was trying to, in his own clumsy way, get her a spot in Kuoh Academy. Especially after hearing a bit of her story..
The shinobi quickly realized that only a parent or legal guardian would be able to enroll Mio into Kuoh, due to the rule that Sona just told him.
And since Mio's guardian was Maria, who probably have not 'legally' adopted her, so to speak, that meant that the red-head literally had no way to possibly get enrolled.
At least, within the short time frame that she was probably gonna stay in Kuoh Town with Maria.
Also, Naruto didn't want to make another fake persona like 'Minato' with a clone using a henge again, wary of just making up a 'parent' for her so that he could enroll her in.
Make too many fake personas, and he'd fuck up sometime in the future.
.
.
.
.
.
.
🎉The novel is available in PDF with more than 400 chapters, visit us in our Ko-Fi store🎉
🎉ko-fi.com/gokublack444🎉