Chapter 7: After-School Tutor
There were a few people milling about. Some were sitting, some were standing, but they all hushed when they saw him enter the room.
Tsuna cast a cursory glance at the other students, no one really catching his eye as suspicious or dangerous but he had expected that anyways. At this point, surveying any new area he entered was just a habit, just like taking the very back seat at the very corner of the room was a habit. It afforded a clear view of both doors, which meant he could track anyone coming in and out. Sitting next to a window wasn't necessarily safe, but that was why he had Takeshi and Gokudera as his extra set of eyes. Honestly, his habit was just being more alert than an average student would need to be.
But that was on par for the course as the groomed heir of a Mafia.
A few people stared as they walked to their chosen seats, and Tsuna didn't recognize them from among his classmates so he surmised they had to be from other classes. It would make sense, given that his classmates had already learned not to stare at him, lest they incur Gokudera's wrath, but students from other classes would be a little more bold.
He couldn't blame them; a wimpy, pathetic little kid like Dame-Tsuna was suddenly no longer wimpy or pathetic? Anyone would be curious.
Tsuna paid them no mind and slumped down in his seat, folding his arms on the table and resting his cheek in the crook of his arm. Yamamoto sat to his right with relative silence, but Gokudera had that look on his face. He'd apparently become tired of the staring and shoved a desk with his foot, causing a loud scraping noise that made a few of the students jump in fright. They quickly looked back at the blackboard.
"Che," Gokudera said, plopping down in his seat with a sour look on his face. "I don't know what I'm doing here."
Yamamoto smiled brightly. "We're here to make sure Haru-chan is okay! And maybe learn a little more from her," he said, scratching his chin. Gokudera turned to him, flames coming out of his mouth.
"I know what you're doing here, dumbass! But why am I here? My grades are perfect, and I could care less about that stupid girl!" He made a noise of annoyance and stuffed his hands in his pockets, slumping down in his seat.
"Well Haru-chan is a member of the Family, right?" Yamamoto said, leaning back in his chair to get comfortable. "And we have to take care of our Family." Gokudera knew he couldn't argue that, especially not with Tsuna's eyes concentrated on him. He dismissed the comment with a noncommittal "che" and fell silent.
When Haru finally entered, it was with her usually cheery disposition and aplomb. Tsuna straightened as their eyes met from across the room. He smiled at her and watched the slightest tinge of pink flutter over her cheeks.
"Wow! There are more of you than I expected," Haru said, taking her position at the teacher's desk at the front of the room. She was holding a few books, and deposited her Midori school bag at her feet. "Some of you might know already, but I'm Miura Haru! I'm a student at Midori High, but I'm doing an independent study here at Namimori. Good to meet you!" She bowed in greeting.
What greeted her back was a chorus of, "Good to meet you, Miura-sensei!"
"A-ah! You don't have to call me sensei, I'm not really a sensei," Haru said, a little frazzled. "Please just treat me like one of your classmates! I'm pretty much the same age as you anyways." She smile sheepishly, placing a hand on one of her red cheeks. Light laughter filled the room, people instantly smitten with Haru's easy-going personality. A male student's hand raised. Tsuna's eyes quickly darted to him, recognizing him as Kei from his class.
"Then can I call you Haru-chan?" His smile was cheeky and slightly flirtatious, and his question made Haru flush a little red. Tsuna's eyes narrowed. Yamamoto and Gokudera noticed his mood, and turned their gazes towards Kei as well.
"Well…" Haru said, fidgeting a little. It was obvious that the question made her a little nervous, and Kei laughed.
"I'm joking, Miura-san," he said, but Tsuna could detect a hint of falsity to his tone. Haru seemed to relax at the response, though, turning back to explain the rules for the after-school tutoring session. Tsuna tuned out a little at this point, but his eyes were still surreptitiously trained on his male classmate. If he remembered correctly, Kei didn't usually have trouble with math. In fact, Tsuna recalled hearing some of his female classmates gushing over how Kei had received a near-perfect score on the last quiz.
"... so, in summary, please work individually on your homework. If you have questions, you can call me to come help, okay?"
There was a chorus of 'yes's to Haru's explanation, and people began pulling out textbooks and pencils. Tsuna twirled his mechanical pencil idly between his fingers, his textbook and notebook open but ignored in front of him. Instead, his gaze was still trained on the back of Kei's head.
Haru was at the front of the room, flipping through one of her Midori High textbooks. It looked like she was doing homework of her own. Kei looked up and started to raise his hand, about to call on Haru for her help. Tsuna opened his mouth.
"Haru?"
Haru's head jolted up, blinking owlishly at Tsuna and his raised hand.
"I need some help," he said, his voice almost echoing through the room. He could see Kei's eyes trained on him from his peripheral vision.
Haru smiled brightly and walked over to his desk. "What do you need help with, Tsuna-san?" She was leaning over his desk, peering at his textbook, trying to figure out which question had presumably stumped him. He pointed randomly at one, and watched closely at Haru's cute, pondering expression. "Oh, this one is a little tricky," she said, before launching into an explanation that Tsuna only half-listened to. The other half of his attention was spent on watching her lips move, the gloss from her lip product making them shiny.
"Wow, thanks Haru-chan! That was really easy to understand," Yamamoto said, scribbling in his notebook. Gokudera just looked bored, balancing his pencil on his top lip. Haru smiled brightly from Yamamoto's praise and then turned to him.
"Did you understand it, Tsuna-san?" she asked.
"Yeah, thanks Haru," he replied. She made a move to leave, but Tsuna reached out and snagged her wrist. "Ahh, Haru?" She turned back, confused. Tsuna grinned sheepishly at her. "Do want to walk home together later?"
Tsuna ignored Gokudera's sputtering protests, too enthralled with the speed at which Haru's face lit up.
"H-hahi! Yes! H-Haru would love to!" The blush that ignited over her cheeks didn't abate, even after another student had requested her help and she'd spent the next five minutes leaning over their desk. Her voice didn't recover either, as she spent those same five minutes tripping over her words. Tsuna watched her the whole while, a light smile playing at his lips.
"Tenth," Gokudera whispered, leaning towards him, seated backwards on his chair, "Are we really gonna walk her home?" His expression looked as if he had tasted something sour. Yamamoto leaned forward towards Gokudera.
"We can't let Haru-chan walk home alone. What if some weirdo comes?" he said. Gokudera scoffed at him.
"That girl is the weirdest weirdo out there!" He exclaimed. He turned back to Tsuna, his expression becoming slightly more serious one. "Besides, Tenth, shouldn't we deal with that gang that's been popping up around Namimori?"
"Oh, yeah," Tsuna muttered, remembering that recently there have been some disturbances within the city. Much of it was petty theft, graffiti, and mild destruction of property, but a Mafia Rule was to protect their territory. Tsuna knew that as acting Head of the
Japanese Branch, he couldn't let a smaller gang challenge Vongola's authority.
"Ryohei's been out all day, but he hasn't come across any incidents," Yamamoto said, clicking through his phone. "He thinks these guys are probably still high school students, since it seems like they normally operate after school hours."
Tsuna cushioned his cheek on his hand. "Then you guys meet up with Ryohei after we're done here. I'll walk Haru home first and join you after."
The surety in his tone was testament to how comfortable Tsuna had become in his role as Head of the Japanese branch. Gokudera and Yamamoto chorused, "Yes, Tenth," in response, though the both of them did not bother to look at Tsuna directly. This was intentional, of course, to make it look like just a regular conversation between friends. But Yamamoto's eyes flickered up from his phone, the hairs on his neck standing up in response to being watched. He searched the room swiftly.
Kei was watching them from the other side of the classroom.
Yamamoto smiled genially at him. He turned away.
Hm. Interesting.
Yamamoto went back to his phone, texting Ryohei with the details of the current plan. He would deal with Murakami Kei later.
