"Mom, I want to go."
"...Tsuna..." Nana's fingers tightened around the letter, and her voice began to tremble. A trace of pain and despair appeared in her usually warm, gentle brown eyes. For a moment, Tsuna almost thought he was about to be persuaded by his heartbroken mother.
After a long while, Sawada Nana finally managed to compose herself, though her face was pale and her voice weary.
"So you know..."
The boy pressed his lips together and looked away from his mother's eyes. His long, curled lashes lowered softly, like the down on a fledgling.
Then he heard his own voice, gentle and calm, yet firm enough to brook no refusal:
"I want to become a mage, even if I can never catch up to my father's footsteps..."
"At the very least, I want to know what kind of world could make him leave you and me behind to protect it."
