A twelve year old Tsunayoshi Sawada hopped on one foot through the door of his home while tugging on a loose shoe and barely holding a piece of toast in his mouth. He was already late on his first day of middle school, having overslept and misplaced his uniform and spilled juice on his socks. Due to this brisk pace, he misjudged the end of the landing and slipped off the corner of his house's front steps. He twisted in the air and landed on his butt but miraculously, the toast remained in his mouth.
"Maybe this means that the rest of the day will be better?" he hoped, choosing to believe that if his breakfast could survive disaster, then so could he. The clumsy boy had been called 'Useless Tsuna' all through elementary school but today was his first day at Namimori Middle School. He could leave that nickname behind and start fresh. He hoped that he might even make some friends this year.
Rising to his feet, Tsuna dashed toward school. Counting down the minutes on his watch, he prayed to the Kami that he wouldn't be late. Rumors of a demon who would severely punish anyone who broke the rules had trickled down among the elementary grade schoolers. He imagined some kind of oni with a giant club or a surly yakuza-type who would shoot bad kids or a giant dog or…
Lost in his imagination, Tsuna didn't notice the figure ahead of him. If he was paying attention, Tsuna would have noted that the figure in the long, black, hooded coat was extremely out of place. Who would wear such unusual clothing with such thick material in the middle of spring? And why would they be carrying a wooden bucket of water? Unfortunately, Tsuna was not paying attention and collided bodily with the mysterious person.
For a moment, everything was a jumble and then Tsuna found himself lying on the ground, having been judo thrown onto his back. A second later, he was soaked to the bone with unusually warm water that gave him a tingly feeling all over. To add insult to injury, the antique-looking wooden bucket landed on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
The figure in the black coat was in a martial arts stance, looking vaguely like he belonged in some kind of action film rather than being in Namimori. Once he realized he wasn't actually under attack, he looked down at his victim and handed Tsuna a towel that he seemed to pull from his coat sleeve.
Tsuna groaned and accepted the white bath towel, getting up to sitting position. After drying off his face and managing to stutter, "I-I'm s-sorry about that. Thanks for the towel?" he realized he couldn't see the figure's face under the coat hood.
Conversely, the young man in the black coat got a good look at Tsuna's face and howled with laughter, slapping his knee and doubling over from laughing too much. Holding his side with one hand, he eventually placed his other hand on Tsuna's shoulder and said, "Keep it. You'll be needing it." With that, he walked away, still chortling and muttering about needing some kind of replacement prank.
Once relatively dry, Tsuna checked the time on his watch and looked forlornly at the damp, half-eaten toast on the ground nearby. He sighed and started to walk to school. He was already going to be late and hungry. No reason to be tired too. It was only four steps before he realized something was very, very wrong.
Up until that point in life, Tsuna had been one-hundred percent confident that he was a guy. Now, Tsuna was zero percent confident and was starting to suspect that he had been turned into a girl. Yes, he had definitely become a girl. It was very, very obvious when Tsuna looked down at ...her wet shirt. Also, her clothes felt ...off... in a lot of other places too. Tsuna looked around but the mysterious person was gone.
Tsuna had never actually told her legs to stop walking at any point during this shocking revelation and eventually, she had reached the gates of Namimori Middle School. The gates were closed. Standing guard was a single student.
"What business do you have here?" Kyoya Hibari asked sternly, scaring the beejebus out of Tsuna.
"Hieeee, um, my name is S-sawada Tsunayoshi. It's supposed to b-be my first day," Tsuna said, gulping nervously.
"Why are you wearing the male uniform? All students should be wearing the appropriate uniform for their grade and gender." Kyoya's eyes narrowed ominously.
"I d-don't… It's the only uniform I have?" Tsuna answered nervously, not really knowing how to answer the upperclassman's question.
After a tense silence, Kyoya responded, "Go to the school office to receive a temporary uniform for today." Tsuna's response was to be petrified from fear. Kyoya growled, "Go NOW before I bite you to death." Presumably, Kyoya was threatening to use the pair of tonfa that he had just pulled out from behind his back.
Tsuna immediately ran through the small gap in the gate that Hibari was guarding, fleeing for her life. She only stumbled twice before managing to cross the yard and enter the school building. She found the shoe locker with her name and swapped her slightly damp and slightly too large shoes for indoor slippers.
Now that she was a safe distance away from certain death, she found herself asking one of two very pertinent questions. Although she probably should have considered the question of why she was currently female, her brain was currently concerned with continued survival and thus asking itself, "Where is the school office?"
She had apparently asked that question aloud to herself because a passing female student replied, "It's to the right, the first door after the stairs."
Tsuna's heart skipped a beat, partly from being surprised at the unexpected reply and partly because the girl who had answered her was the cutest, most beautiful girl she had ever seen. Tsuna was at a loss for words.
The female student smiled gently at Tsuna, despite the other students she had been walking with all looking kind of annoyed at the interruption, not wanting to be late to their first class after the opening ceremony assembly. She spoke, "My name is Sasagawa Kyoko. Are you lost?"
Someone muttered from behind Kyoko, "Don't bother yourself, Kyoko. That's No Good Tsuna. He's no good for anything."
For a few seconds, Kyoko tapped her finger to her lips as if she were considering a math problem before she gave Tsuna another bright, sparkly smile and said, "You should hurry. Homeroom is going to start soon."
Tsuna simply nodded dumbly as she watched Kyoko walk away in a small group of students. She continued to stand there in a dreamy haze until she sensed a killing intent approaching her from behind. "Hieeeeee," she screeched as she ran toward the school office.
Once safely inside the office, Tsuna took a moment to catch her breath despite the receptionist silently observing the awkward first year.
The desk lady finally asked in an obviously disinterested voice, "Can I help you…?"
"Um...I d-don't…"
"Yes…?" The woman's impatience was growing.
"I don't know...where I'm supposed to be?" Tsuna offered, half as a statement and half as a plea for help.
The woman studied the mousy, brown-haired girl who was wearing a wrinkled, disheveled boys' uniform. The girl's hair was matted down as if it hadn't dried properly, curling up at the ends around her neck. It was also apparent that the girl wasn't wearing a bra under the long sleeved shirt. The entire effect was as pitiable as a wet puppy who had run away from just being bathed.
The lady sighed and asked, "I take it that you missed student orientation last week?"
"Huh?" Tsuna had no idea what she was talking about.
"What is your name?" The exasperation in her voice seemed to condense in the air around her words into a noticeable chill.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi," she answered sounding unconfident.
The receptionist's eyebrow rose but instead of saying anything, she instead fingered through a box of student identification cards. Eventually, she plucked one out of the stack with Tsuna's name on it. There was indeed a resemblance between the girl across the counter and the identification photo but it didn't quite look like the same person.
The woman asked with suspicion, "Are you sure you're Sawada Tsunayoshi and not his sister?"
Tsuna gulped. "I-I'm sure," she answered, sounding like she had just shoplifted.
"Are you a boy or a girl?" the receptionist asked bluntly, giving into her curiosity.
There was a part of Tsuna that wanted to just go with the flow and pretend to be a girl because that's what she was right now. There wouldn't have to be any awkward explanations if she just pretended her student ID simply had a typo on it. But there was a stronger part of Tsuna that was attached to the identity of his true, male self that he had grown up with over the last twelve years. Besides, all he had to do was find that weird person and then he could get turned back into a guy. Hopefully.
"I'm a boy," Tsuna said, on the verge of crying from stress and emotional breakdown.
Still suspicious, the receptionist kept her theories to herself and gave Tsuna 'his' student ID and said, "You're late for homeroom. Head to room 3-C on the third floor."
"T-thank you," Tsuna said with a bow before leaving quickly.
The woman thought to herself, "In any case, the disciplinary committee will deal with it."
Tsuna did her best to open the classroom door as silently as possible. Unfortunately, the sliding door was stuck in its tracks. It didn't help that Tsuna was a little bit physically weaker as a girl, with a comparatively slender upper body and arms. She pushed harder and harder, putting the weight of her body behind her efforts until eventually the door gave away and slammed open with a thunderous crash. Tsuna barely managed to stay standing by retaining her grip on the edge of the door.
The entire class turned to look at the newcomer. The teacher sneered at the rude student that had interrupted his first class of the school year, "Yes? Can we help you?"
About half the class had come from the same elementary school as Tsuna and realized that they would have to endure useless, no-good Tsuna bringing them down for the rest of the year in every activity, competition, and test score aggregation. But some astute student who had moved from another town pointed out excitedly, "It's a girl!"
Tsuna could feel the eyes of everyone in the room turn to do a double take at her. Her heart was in her throat and she didn't know what to do as the class began to gossip instantly, saying things like "I didn't know Tsuna was a girl!" or "The ugly duckling becomes a swan," or "Dang, Tsuna definitely had a growth spurt over break."
"Quiet!" demanded the stuffy, middle aged man standing in front of the blackboard. He pushed up his glasses and told Tsuna, "You can take that desk over there. And since you've chosen to arrive in the middle of introductions, you can go ahead and introduce yourself now."
Tsuna's desk was at the back corner near the windows. Every step she took was like trudging through quicksand. From the corner, she could tell the entire class was interested in the new female student.
"Um...I'm Tsuna...yoshi. Sawada Tsunayoshi. Um...o-okay," she withered, sitting down immediately and making herself as small as humanly possible. Small murmurs and whispers surged through the rest of the students.
At lunch, she was surrounded at her desk by over a dozen nosy students. "Are you really No-Good Tsuna?" "You got really pretty since elementary school." "Why are you dressed like a boy?"
Seeing as Tsuna didn't really have any answers to give, she just nodded along and gave non-committal shrugs and "I guess so" replies. At least the mob had enough decency to let her buy a sandwich from the lunch store before they descended upon her. In between dodging questions and taking nibbles of bread, Tsuna thought to herself, "Maybe this might not be so bad after all?"
And then she realized that she needed to pee. And at that point, Tsuna decided that she must regain her manhood at all costs. After all, physical education classes began later this week. If she had to change clothes with a room full of girls (for example, that Kyoko girl she met this morning) then...well, it just wouldn't be right. That would be crossing a line that Tsuna wouldn't be able to uncross.
"Tsuna, you have a nosebleed," someone pointed out.
The frightened Tsuna bolted from her chair with her hand to her nose and fled to the nurse's office. Upon arrival, she was fortunate to find there was a private bathroom there she could use for the time being. At least until she found a way to go back to normal.
Once her nosebleed was settled, she took a minute to look at herself in the mirror. The girl looking back at her was actually kind of cute. Her face was mostly the same except a bit smaller, but it worked in such a way that she had gone from kinda goofy to kind of adorable. Her eyes and hair were the same honey and chestnut brown. But her hair was a little less spiky and fell down more readily than before. It was still soft but it felt smoother and because of the change in texture, it naturally rested in a style halfway between what his normal hair style and a bob cut like his mother.
The rest of her body was kind of attractive too. Male Tsuna didn't have any real bulk anywhere and that body type carried over to her female self. Except for her chest, which was developed enough that while not overly large, with the way her shirt wasn't buttoned at the top, wearing the boys' uniform gave her a bit of sexy tomboy appeal with a tiny bit of cleavage. Thinking about it made the weight on her chest feel heavier.
In a few years, female Tsuna could probably develop into a knock out beauty. There were a few hints of it showing now though. Tsuna didn't know whether to be grateful or annoyed that she had been transformed into an attractive female. She supposed it was better than the alternative. But she'd rather just go back to being a boy.
The rest of the day had gone somewhat quietly, but only because she had ran out of school immediately after her last class and avoided the conga line of students that would come to gawk at her. She was definitely not used to getting so much attention and she felt mentally exhausted.
Determined to find any clue that would fix her problem, Tsuna arrived at the crossing where she had run into that mysterious figure.
"Yo."
Tsuna whirled around, tripped on a familiar wooden bucket, and crashed onto the ground.
"No need to prostrate yourself before me." The person in the black coat from earlier that morning was sitting on a concrete fence about five meters above the sidewalk. He hopped down and landed effortlessly in front of Tsuna with hardly a sound like he was some kind of superhero or movie martial artist.
"You! You're that guy from earlier! Change me back!" Tsuna pleaded, scrambling to her knees.
The figure pulled back the hood of his cloak, revealing a young man with long, dark red hair wearing an eyepatch over his right eye. He grinned and tilted his head diabolically. "Why should I? You're the one who ran into me and spilled that water all over yourself. I'll have you know that bucket of water came all the way from the mountains of China and I doubt you'd be able to replace it."
"What? The bucket is right here! Just get yourself some more water and change me back!" Tsuna was hysterical by this point.
The red-head shook his head, "Tsk, tsk. It's not the bucket that's important but the magical spring water that was in the bucket that was important. It turns you into whatever last drowned in the spring. In this case, it turned you into a girl."
Tsuna was in shock. "No, no, this is just a dream, right?"
"Afraid not, kiddo. But I tell ya what. I'll be in town for a little while doing some consulting business and I don't really have anything to do. If you can beat me in a fight, I'll go get you the cure to the curse. How's that sound?" he offered amusedly as if he had offered to buy Tsuna lunch to make up for turning her into a girl.
"A fight? I don't know how to fight…" Tsuna replied fearfully.
The eccentric redhead simply shrugged and said, "Standing offer. Take as much time as you need and you can try as many times as you want. I don't really care. I'm just bored."
"Who are you?" Tsuna asked.
"Name is Ikari Haru, shinobi for hire. Just call me Haru. What's your name?" Haru extended a hand to the girl on the ground.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi." Not sensing any danger, Tsuna accepted the helping hand to get back on her feet.
"Well, Sawada-san," Haru spoke amicably, "Let me give you some advice for now. Go home and relax and take a moment to mull over everything in the bath. Things might not be as bad as you think. Oh, and let me give you something…" Like a magician, Haru pulled out a ring.
"What is it for?" Tsuna asked, receiving the jewelry.
"It helps out people like you. I made a bunch of them and I have a couple left over so you can have one too."
"What do you mean by 'people like me'?" Tsuna hesitated, not putting it on but just holding it in his upturned palm.
The one-eyed teenager gave a creepy grin as he said, "Cursed people. Anyways, just think of it like a good luck charm. I promise it will be helpful."
Tsuna just looked at the present. The metal ring seemed like it was glowing orange slightly but it might have just been a trick of the afternoon light reflecting off the metal. Tsuna began to ask, "But what should I...do…"
Haru was gone. He had silently disappeared in the moment Tsuna had taken her eyes off him.
"What do I do about my mom?" She asked but received no answer. All she could do was kick the dumb water bucket she had tripped over earlier, hurting her foot in the process of sending it a few meters down the street.
Once home, Tsuna tried to open the door as quietly as possible but his mother, Nana Sawada, still heard the sound from the kitchen.
She asked from the kitchen, "How was your day, Tsuna-kun?" in between chopping vegetables and tending to a pot on the stove.
"It was fine, mom," Tsuna shouted as she ran up the stairs to hide in her room.
"Are you sure? Your voice sounds kind of weird…" she asked with concern. But when she received no reply, she assumed it was just normal preteen behavior and went back to cooking dinner for the time being.
Tsuna dove under the covers of her bed and hoped that today was just a dream and that tomorrow would be the actual first day of middle school and that everything would be normal and...that…
A couple hours later, Tsuna was startled awake by a knock at her door.
"Tsuna, dinner is ready," Nana spoke from outside.
Tsuna hoped with all her might that her mother wouldn't come into her room. "Uh, I'm not feeling well. Let me rest for a little bit longer?"
"...alright. Are you sure you aren't coming down with something? You sound a little off."
"I'll be okay. Just save me something to eat, please."
"Fine. Then at least let me draw you a bath. It'll be ready in about ten minutes."
"Thanks, mom."
Tsuna vaguely recalled some kind of advice about relaxing. Perhaps a bath would help her nerves?
Trina popped her head out the door to her room, making sure the coast was clear. Fortunately, her mother was nowhere in sight.
She dashed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her, feeling like a thief in her own home. Now came the part of the day she had been dreading since she arrived home: confronting the grim reality of her new body.
She was definitely a little shorter and smaller than when she was a boy. Even though her waist was thinner, she had gained enough mass in other places such that her pants were in no danger of falling down on their own.
Tsuna closed her eyes and stripped down as fast as she could until she realized that she would actually have to be able to see to clean herself. With a huge gulp, she opened the bathing room door with one arm while hiding her breasts with the other arm out of newfound female modesty.
Intentionally refusing to think too much about anything whatsoever, Tsuna went through the ingrained motions of preparing to enter the bathtub, sitting on a stool and dumping a bucket of cool water over her head. "Ah, cold!" It was embarrassing how feminine her voice sounded just then despite no one else being around to hear it.
The hand-held shower head also sprayed cold water, rinsing away soap and shampoo. It took too long for warm water to come out and it wasn't worth the hassle of getting scalded and frozen repeatedly to find the perfect temperature when the heavenly bliss of the furo was waiting a meter away.
"Breasts are really soft," Tsuna couldn't help but think to herself, channeling her innate male fascination with female anatomy. Trying to ignore how stupidly obvious that sounded in her head, she quickly slipped into the bathtub and let out a sigh of relaxation. "Maybe it wouldn't hurt to examine the rest of my body…" Tsuna considered until his brain had to suddenly stop and reevaluate his situation.
Apparently, after getting into the bathtub, Tsuna had turned back into a guy. He didn't really notice it happening but he immediately stood straight up in excitement, spilling water over the edge of the bath. "Yes! I'm a guy again!" he shouted, probably loud enough his mom might overhear that disturbing sentence. "Eep," he squeaked in a much smaller voice.
Once he was dry and clothed in his pajamas, Tsuna tugged on his desk drawer and rummaged around for the ring he had received earlier. He held it close to his desk lamp, pinching it around the edges with his fingers so he could see the words written around the inside. Unfortunately, it seemed to be english so Tsuna had no idea what it meant. "Cast in the name of God, ye not guilty."
Otherwise, it was a plain silver band that would glow warmly for a few seconds whenever it came in contact with his skin. Perhaps foolishly, Tsuna slipped it on his middle finger to see if it did anything else. Close to a best case scenario, nothing exploded nor vanished nor did anything interesting happen whatsoever. The ring wouldn't even glow unless he took it off and put it back on again.
"Good luck charm, hm…" Certainly the ring was just as mysterious as its creator but Tsuna figured it might actually have some hidden use besides being a terrible mood ring so he decided to keep wearing it. It fit perfectly and was kind of nice looking. And it was nice to get a present from someone who wasn't his family for the first time in his life.
All in all, today hadn't been THAT bad. He had been treated more nicely in one day then the entirety of his elementary school experience. Admittedly, he had also been a girl for exactly one day and that sadly was probably not a coincidence. It was probably for the best that he turned back into a guy, however. He didn't really think he could handle all that weirdness and excitement in his life. Maybe the school would believe that he had switched with someone else for the day as a prank?
He lay in bed and stared at the ring on his finger. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day? After all, how could it possibly get worse than getting turned into a girl and meeting some crazy magic homeless person?
The next morning, Tsuna said farewell to his mother and closed the front door. It was a bright, beautiful, sunny day. He had woken up on time, had a delicious traditional Japanese breakfast, and was carrying a shiny new book bag for his new school books. It was a great start to his second day at school.
Except with a peal of thunder, the sky poured an intense but brief spring shower upon Tsuna. It was the kind of rain that lasts only a few minutes and ignores the fact the sun is still shining obliviously the entire time.
Tsuna would have ordinarily ignored the rain since he was in such a good mood but within a few seconds of being in the rain, Tsuna had turned into a girl and furthermore, lost all her clothes which left her completely naked outside her house. "HIEEEEEEEE?!"
She ran back inside her home and slammed the door shut behind her. Her heart was racing like she was a fugitive on the run.
"Tsuna, is that you?" Nana Sawada asked, stepping out of the kitchen into the hallway to see a naked, bewildered girl that vaguely resembled her son.
"Uh...h-hi, mom?" Tsuna said weakly while still covering her naked bits with her arms.
"Oh...Tsuna...Mama always wanted a daughter!" Nana said happily, giving Tsuna a big hug.
Tsuna chose that moment to faint.