First Words:


Since the last Target, this story got 3 favorites and 4 followers, thank you! ^^ However, I have somewhat bad news: you know this weekly schedule I have with this story where I upload every Monday? Welp, I'm gonna be uploading once per month from now on; I'm basically gonna change to a monthly schedule. This is so I can guarantee I will be ahead of you and that I'll at least almost always have a Target to upload, as you've really been catching up to me lately. Hopefully this won't be too bad for anyone, but yeah... see you next month?

Also, another important announcement: if you came in here from the alerts or favorites tab of your profile (or your email), after reading this Target, please go to the Katekyo Hitman Reborn category. Trust me, if you didn't read the Author's Notes at the bottom (after reading the actual Target, of course), you'll be in for a surprise, though I don't know whether you'll find it awesome or not; at least I do ^^

Haru's speech patterns = I should've told you this before (because she appeared before), but I decided to ommit her third person speech, as in, she's technically talking in third person, but I'm not writing it that way because it sounds really weird. Also, if you find any out-of-place emphasis, that's actually Haru's Engrish; she likes doing that kind of thing.

Anyway, enjoy!


Target 7: Hahii! Dangerous Misunderstandings


As days passed, Mammon had noticed a few changes in Tsunayoshi Sawada and his daily life.

The most notable one was, of course, the annoyingly cheerful friend he had made from the fluke that had been his previous plan; at the very least, Mammon reasoned, it did make Hibari not care about Tsuna anymore... and instead, he seemed completely focused on meeting Mammon again. "Where is the baby?" Hibari would occasionally ask Tsuna, only for him to truthfully say he had no idea.

As far as Tsuna knew, Mammon could be anywhere. Beyond these changes, Tsuna just seemed less depressed in general: Mammon remembered seeing his dejected expression when walking to school, and how the only time his mood seemed to brighten was when Kyoko Sasagawa was in his line of sight. Now that he had a friend, Tsuna would visibly look forward to going to school, having found one more reason (beyond Kyoko) to do so. Due to this, Tsuna had become much more motivated to study, making him not complain about everything as much as before; that was at least something to be glad for in Mammon's perspective.

As he thought about it, Tsuna hadn't argued with Mammon at all when he got home on the day Mammon had exacted his last plan, even though he had clearly done something the oh-so-kind-hearted Tsuna would consider 'cruel' or 'terrible'. It wasn't like Tsuna had forgotten about it since he had talked a bit about that to Mammon but beyond that, he hadn't bothered Mammon as much as he had expected. While Mammon did not at all care about Tsuna's social life, he had to admit it brought him some benefits.

... However, it was still greatly displeasing having to tolerate Yamamoto coming over to Tsuna's house. "Wrong," Mammon said after looking over their answers, his expression showing clear disinterest, "Again."

"Me or Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked with a smile, seemingly curious.

Mammon shot him a sharp look. "Both, since you're both idiots." Tsuna could have at least gotten a friend with good grades; that would have made everything so much easier for Mammon.

"Mammon...!" Tsuna whined, mostly bothered because Mammon was also insulting Yamamoto, a guest and his friend. Not only that but, despite being aware that he was not the most intellectual of people, being called an idiot still offended him.

After all, even if it was true, it was still an insult. Besides, the fact that his home tutor was calling him that in front of his friend was somewhat embarrassing. Yamamoto chuckled. "You're harsh...!" he remarked, still smiling cheerfully.

Although Mammon had been paid to tutor Tsuna, having to also deal with his jolly friend was not something he had signed up for: however, since he was posing as an actual home tutor, he could not simply refuse to look over his answers as well. Besides, it wasn't like Yamamoto would leave if he did so: he would stick around anyway so there was no point; he would still annoy Mammon. "Hmph, just do this again," Mammon said while handing the two sheets of paper he had looked over to Tsuna. With a displeased frown, he added, "He's closer to the answer than you are, Tsuna."

Somehow, Yamamoto happened to be more intelligent than Tsuna, even though Tsuna was the more perceptive one: while Mammon didn't like Tsuna and had already thought he was closest thing to a hopeless case he had ever seen, he admittedly found it worse that Yamamoto could outsmart Tsuna if he put his mind to it. Whatever the case, since Mammon didn't want them to be stuck on the same problem (as that would prolong the time he would have to bother with Tsuna and Yamamoto), he found himself with no choice but to say that Yamamoto was the closest to the answer, implying he was better. "Really? Nice!" Yamamoto said, "Maybe we can finally get this one solved now."

"Yeah..." Tsuna muttered, somewhat disappointed in himself; even so, he didn't feel sad. If anything, studying had become less depressingly dull ever since he had Yamamoto with him. Giving Yamamoto's question sheet to him, Tsuna glanced at Mammon before taking his eraser.

Instead of how he actually looked (an infant), Mammon had the illusion of the equally mysterious-looking young man that was officially his home tutor. Even without having his face covered (though it wasn't his real one), he managed to still let out a mysterious and fairly gloomy presence... or had it just been Tsuna who thought that? Seeing as he was, for the most part, surrounded by oblivious people, he could never be too sure. "You know," Yamamoto suddenly spoke up, "I've been wondering this for a while but does your brother have the same name as you somehow? At least, I remember Tsuna calling your brother 'Mammon', and he does the same to you."

Mammon glanced at Tsuna from that question directed at him, seemingly neutral. Brother? he thought, That's what he came up with? While Mammon had already intended to have Yamamoto think his actual form and the illusion were separate entities, he did not want them to be that closely related. I guess I shouldn't have expected any more than that. Tsuna did always seem to agitatedly shout out his name every time he unexpectedly appeared in front of him, after all: he wasn't exactly what anyone could call a master of subtlety. "It's—"

"I-it's because Mammon's brother is called Mammon Junior...!" Tsuna blurted out, that being the first lie that had popped to mind in the middle of his panic. "But that's a mouthful so I just call him Mammon too when they're not together!" Aaah, that was such a bad lie, why did I have to talk when Mammon was about to handle it...?! Tsuna thought, a clearly helpless expression on his face.

Despite that, it remained unnoticed by Yamamoto, who was grinning cheerfully. "Oh, I get it now; that's pretty interesting!" He... He believed it... Tsuna's head sunk to the small table in front of him with a blank gaze, as if tired. Meanwhile, Tsuna's lie took a bit to process for Mammon.

. . .

... Simply amazing, he concluded. What a complete idiot. 'Bad at lying' was definitely going to be added to the list of things Tsuna was terrible at; it was a pretty big list already... As much as Mammon would have liked to deny Tsuna's words, he could not do so without compromising Tsuna's credibility and, consequentially, his own. "If you do, stop asking stupid questions and get working." In other words, Mammon had been dubbed 'Mammon Junior'.

Tsuna was going to pay... literally. Yamamoto chuckled, as if somehow Mammon's words could be taken that lightly; Mammon's frown deepened. "Alright, alright," Yamamoto said in a carefree manner, "You've got it hard, huh, Tsuna?"

You have no idea, both Mammon and Tsuna thought at the exact same time, one with a blank look and the other with a troubled frown. "Uh, let's just focus on this problem, okay?" Tsuna suggested, not feeling up to answering Yamamoto's question in front of Mammon, much less informing him that Mammon was around not just to tutor him academically, but to tutor him in all possible areas so he could become a mafia boss.

"Gotcha," Yamamoto said, chuckling afterwards. "You're really diligent." In truth, Tsuna just didn't want Yamamoto questioning anything else: while oblivious, Yamamoto was also a very curious individual. Tsuna only smiled nervously in response before he saw Mammon suddenly standing from his seat and leaving. "Hmm? What's up?" Yamamoto asked.

Displeased, Mammon stopped in his tracks to answer Yamamoto. "Beyond the fact that you're annoying, nothing." With only those cold words, Mammon left the room, not even bothering to look back and notice the frown on Tsuna's face and Yamamoto's sheepish smile.

Mammon was a fairly patient person: if something could, eventually, bring him benefits, he would gladly wait and persevere until said benefits would show themselves to him. However, Yamamoto's presence in Tsuna's house held him no benefits, serving only for Tsuna to have a more entertaining time; Mammon couldn't care less about Tsuna having fun. Even so, Mammon was admittedly out of options: he could stay with Tsuna and Yamamoto, be downstairs with Nana, or aimlessly wander Namimori.

... Needless to say talking with Nana Sawada was the last thing he wanted to do (that would be like talking to Yamamoto, Mammon figured; they were both cheerful and oblivious) and Mammon never liked aimless wandering: things had to be done for a purpose, and he wasn't going to waste his time walking of all things. With that in mind, Mammon found that he was better off still being around Tsuna and Yamamoto, even if he found Yamamoto annoying; he had already reached that conclusion before he left Tsuna's bedroom.

So, instead of actually leaving like Tsuna had thought Mammon had done, Mammon was after something else, something that would at least make overseeing two idiots more tolerable:

Strawberry milk.


. . .


Meanwhile, Dino Cavallone had been pondering something while lying on a grassy hill near the Cavallone mansion, only for Reborn to suddenly jump on his stomach. "AGH!" he immediately stood up straight, a troubled expression on his face. "R-Reborn..." he muttered, seeing Reborn smirk at him. "You didn't have to do that."

"If you weren't just lazing around, that is," Reborn countered, "What are you doing here?" It hadn't been that long before Reborn returned from his trip to the Vongola Headquarters, having done more than just talking to the Ninth: in general, since he had gotten a chance to do that, Reborn talked to a few other people he knew, so he spent more time than Dino initially thought he would with the Vongola.

The time Reborn had been absent had been quite pleasant, Dino admitted; after all, there had been no Spartan training. Instead, he had gotten to just go outside, have fun... Unfortunately, such times wouldn't last forever. "Well, I was just thinking about what kind of guy this new boss candidate is," Dino answered with a smile, "You came over to the Vongola to check that out, didn't you? I just heard about it yesterday though: he's from Japan, apparently?"

"Yup," Reborn casually answered, "and the son of Iemitsu Sawada to boot; must have way more potential than a loser like you."

... While Dino was still smiling, it had a considerably weak, forced smile, he noted. "Don't say that, Reborn..." he muttered, though it seemed more like he was pleading instead, "I'm practically done with your training, so I'm not like how I was before." Only with those words did Dino cheer up, a prideful smile on his face. "I've gladly accepted my position as the Cavallone boss."

"That still doesn't mean you don't trip on your own shoe laces whenever you don't have any subordinates around you," Reborn pointed out, unfazed by Dino's words; in fact, he was still smirking. "Or make a mess while eating, or accidentally spill water over every electronic device you go near, or hit yourself with your whip in the middle of a ba—"

Embarrassed that Reborn's list was somehow very long, Dino spoke up, "Those are all coincidences—"

"Don't interrupt me, Pipsqueak Dino," Reborn immediately countered whilst jumping to kick Dino in the face, knocking him to the ground.

"Ow...!" Still on the ground, Dino caressed his face, the pain of Reborn's surprisingly very strong kick lingering on there. "You really don't hold back, do you?"

That hadn't been an actual question, seeing as its answer was too obvious: Reborn never held back when it came to kicking his pupil in the face. "Hmph, you've still got a lot to learn; no wonder I wasn't pulled out of tutoring you for the Vongola boss candidate." While Dino had grown considerably under Reborn's tutelage, it all amounted to nothing when none of his subordinates were in the vicinity: that was a fatal flaw, so Reborn could not say his work was done just yet.

"Now that you mention it, I did hear he got a tutor: what kind of guy is he?" Dino asked, honestly curious. Rumors would usually spread fast within the Vongola and its alliances, but it was admittedly impossible for him or anyone else to have even known of the Vongola boss candidate's tutor; Reborn just happened to be a special case.

Being the strongest hitman in the world, Reborn had many ways to gather information though, as expected, they weren't the most conventional ones: Dino dreaded the next time he would see a great variety of bugs stuck to Reborn's body, somehow providing him with information. "That's the strange part: he's from the Varia," Reborn answered, a somewhat serious expression on his face. Naturally, Reborn didn't like the Varia: after all, they had attempted to overthrow the Ninth, one of the only people he truly respected and admired; there was simply no way Reborn wouldn't find them untrustworthy.

"The Varia?!" Dino reacted, seemingly surprised. Unlike Reborn, who knew the tutor's name, Dino had immediately imagined the only person he had gotten to know from the Varia teaching the poor child that was the next Vongola boss: Squalo Superbi.

"Vooi, run around this whole area twenty times or I'll cut you apart, ya hear me?!"

"Y-y-y-y-yes, Squalo-san, right away, just please don't slash me with that sword!"

"It's Master Squalo to you, brat!"

"O-of course, Master Squalo!"

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get runnin'!"

"Y-yes, Master Squalo, right away, Master Squalo!"

"Voooooi, just fucking do it already!"

"AAAAAAAAH—"

... Right afterwards, Dino regretted that mental image and started feeling immense pity for the Vongola boss candidate. "He's sure got it rough," Dino remarked with narrowed eyes, choosing to hide his disturbed expression in favor of not revealing what he had just thought to Reborn, who would surely hit him again if he were to find out.

"He's got it more than 'just rough': who knows what the Varia could be planning." Having not even put that any thought, Dino found himself somewhat surprised at Reborn's words: as he was implying, the Varia was untrustworthy. While Dino couldn't speak for all members, he was at least aware that Squalo was completely loyal to Xanxus, and Xanxus, who was frozen at the time, wanted to become the Tenth Vongola boss.

There was no way whoever was teaching the Varia was there with good intentions, Dino noted, a more serious expression on his face. "As an ally of the Vongola, I can't just let that slide without at least checking on whether that tutor's actually doing his job," he said, somewhat determined.

Reborn smirked. "That's the spirit," Reborn stated, though it seemed like he was pulling out a gun, "But, for now, I've got to get your training back on track; after that, we can go check on the boss candidate."

... Dino immediately stood up and took a few steps back, hiding his fear with a nervous smile. "So it's come to this, huh?" One bullet had been shot literally centimeters from Dino's feet, making him flinch. "I should've known...!"

With that, he ran away, wondering if the Vongola boss candidate also had to suffer through the sort of training Reborn would give him.

... However, judging by how unique Reborn was, it was already obvious that his answer was a big, fat 'no'.


. . .


On the next day, Tsuna left the house with a smile on his face: that had started becoming commonplace with Tsuna, so Mammon paid it no mind... not that he cared the first times he noticed either. If anything, at first, he just mentally took note of that and left it alone; Tsuna's happiness was nothing he was concerned with.

However, ever since Tsuna had started encountering Yamamoto while walking to school, a rather unpleasant request had been made by him: so as to get Yamamoto not to ask too much questions about Mammon's actual form, and anything related to the terrible lies Tsuna had told him, Mammon was to accompany him either without being seen or with the form he would assume while at Tsuna's house (with the exception of his bedroom... if Yamamoto hadn't started coming over). Hearing Yamamoto's chuckle, Mammon glanced at him with a frown. "You're a really dedicated tutor! At least, I don't think most of them follow their students around like this."

This time, Mammon was visible as Tsuna's home tutor, meaning he had to tolerate Yamamoto talking to him. "It's just out of convenience: I usually go out to sightsee anyway, so I might as well accompany Tsuna while he's going to school." Naturally, Mammon crafted a perfect lie to counter Yamamoto's words, though he was already not so pleased with having to bother.

Perhaps he should've just made himself look like some sort of bird and followed Tsuna around that way, though even then, he would have to tolerate hearing Yamamoto talk in general: despite that, Mammon was completely sure that was better than having Yamamoto strike up a conversation with him. "That makes sense!" Yamamoto said, smiling at Mammon.

... Mammon had never thought a day would come where he would wish to be in the company of every single one of Varia's rowdy members, but it seemed like it had actually come: Mammon just could not stand overly-cheerful, kind, naive and, most of all, oblivious people; he'd dislike them even more if they happened to be idealistic.

Needless to say Tsuna and Yamamoto fit in with many of the criteria for Mammon to not stand them, but he had to deal with them anyway, so he figured he had no choice and simply resigned to that being a mere obstacle he would have to overcome as a consequence of accepting a paid job: that way, at least, he wouldn't feel as annoyed about it. After all, it had all been for money.

"I've finally been able to catch up to you!" Everyone immediately turned around from the female voice they had heard behind them, though Tsuna looked visibly disturbed.

Meanwhile, Yamamoto was looking at her curiously with a smile on his face. "Who are you?" he asked, "A friend of Tsuna's?" No, that's definitely not a friend of mine...! Tsuna thought, staring blankly at the girl he recognized as Haru.

"I'm not that person's friend!" Haru immediately denied, "He's a suspicious, dangerous individual who traps babies in his own house!" She pointed at Tsuna accusingly, though Yamamoto only chuckled as if he had heard a funny joke.

Meanwhile, Tsuna was even more shocked at how strange Haru happened to be. How did it come to that...?! "And why would he do something like that?" Yamamoto asked, playing along.

"Because he's dangerous!" Haru promptly answered with a serious gaze, making Tsuna want to hide somewhere far, far away from her. That's not a proper answer! "That's why I, Haru Miura, can't let him go!"

It looks like she does try to follow us evey day, Mammon remarked with a frown, Good grief, how troublesome. Since he could always notice her, Mammon would use illusions to make sure she wouldn't bother them: however, having gotten sick of doing so, Mammon decided to test the waters; he immediately regretted that decision. "That's just your assumption," Mammon countered, "Don't bother us over your childish delusions."

"Hahii, they're not childish delusions; they're the truth!" Haru defended, "I saw Tsuna-san leading poor Mammon-chan to his home many times already, after all! There is no way he isn't taking advantage of him!" Although Haru did seem quite determined and passionate while saying that, everyone else's reactions did not at all match that.

Yamamoto still thought she was telling a joke, Tsuna was incredulous and Mammon was annoyed. "That's not it at all!" Tsuna protested, "Why would you even think that?!"

"Then what was it?" Haru questioned, glaring at Tsuna as if he were her nemesis or something of the sort. "If he isn't related to you then why else would he come to your house beyond you manipulating the poor baby?! Besides, I haven't seen him at all lately: now, you've been walking with this mysterious man," she pointed to Mammon while saying that, "and this happy-looking classmate of yours." Afterwards, she pointed to Yamamoto. "What did you do to Mammon-chan?!"

How do you even know our names?! Tsuna thought, finding it creepy that she was able to memorize it from their first encounter, or even during the time she had been stalking them, if she had been doing so (something within Tsuna told him that was exactly why she knew their names). "Nothing, that's what I've been telling you!" Tsuna exclaimed, a troubled frown on his face.

"I can't believe you!" Haru said, "You're not trustworthy!" Ugh, this conversation isn't getting anywhere...! Needless to say Tsuna was somewhat frustrated, wanting to go to school already. Unfortunately, he had a girl like Haru in his way, who he had thought wouldn't bother him again.

After all, she hadn't come in the past days: why would she suddenly do so today? "But he's telling the truth," Yamamoto said in a fairly carefree manner, "At first, I couldn't really understand what you were saying, but you're referring to Mammon's little brother, aren't you? Mammon's actually this guy," Yamamoto pointed at Mammon for a while as he said that, "and he happens to have a little brother called 'Mammon Junior'; kind of confusing, right? Since he's Tsuna's home tutor, Tsuna's also friends with his little brother."

... Somehow, Yamamoto had managed to salvage the situation without even knowing it; Tsuna stared at him in awe. Nice, Yamamoto! I never thought his obliviousness would come in handy... "Hahi?" Meanwhile, Haru seemed confused, processing Yamamoto's words. "Y-you mean, Mammon-chan was actually this mysterious person's brother all along?!"

"Exactly," Mammon responded, taking advantage of Yamamoto's explanation. Who knew the Mammon Junior thing would actually come in handy? At least Yamamoto had been useful for something, Mammon noted. "And since I tutor Tsuna, he frequently comes to his house; not that this is any of your business."

For a while, Haru stood there with an incredulous expression on her face, staring at Mammon.

. . .

"Hahii, I'm so sorry!" Haru bowed three times as she apologized, looking genuinely regretful and surprised at the same time. "Since Tsuna-san acted so strangely when I first encountered him, I had no idea he was actually one of Mammon-chan's friends!" I was the one who acted strangely...?! Tsuna countered in his mind, a blank look on his face. "Please forgive me; I didn't mean to cause you any trouble! I simply wanted to protect Mammon-chan's pure and angelic heart, and become his friend!"

To make it worse for Tsuna, it seemed like the remorse she had was only for Mammon's, or rather, his apparent brother's sake, and not Tsuna's. "He doesn't need any more friends," Mammon bluntly told her, "especially one like you, so don't get in over your head with protecting him or whatever; you've only wasted our time." Preferrably, after those words, Haru would leave and never bother Tsuna and Mammon ever again: as far as Mammon was concerned, Haru was nothing but a nuisance.

... Haru sniffed. "F..." Tsuna started feeling bad for her, while Yamamoto wondered what she was doing; Mammon didn't care. Her head cast downward, making no one be able to see her expression, Haru's fists shook. Somehow, Tsuna noted, he had been able to pick up on that and, as far as he could see, Haru seemed sad. "Forgive me; I'm really sorryyyy!" Haru had started dashing in the opposite direction from everyone as she shouted that out, seemingly wailing in absolute sadness afterwards, that sound echoing in the distance...

Looks like I finally got rid of her; good grief... Mammon thought, still showing himself disinterested in the situation. "I wonder if she's alright," Yamamoto said, looking somewhat curious: she seemed sad to him, but he could never be too sure without actually seeing her.

"Probably not..." Tsuna replied, still staring off to where Haru had run towards. Well, I guess I won't see her again, he thought. While that was a good thing, he didn't really want to hurt her feelings just so she could leave.

Even so, it couldn't be helped with someone like Mammon around, Tsuna figured. "Just get going already; you're really going to be late otherwise," Mammon said, wanting to get all events related to Haru past him. Besides, punctuality was important: at least, no one in the Varia would be late to anything, no matter what.

"Gotcha!" The fact that Yamamoto had been the one who responded to Mammon made him feel slightly annoyed, but Mammon soon brushed that off and just started walking. Due to that, both Tsuna and Yamamoto followed, both looking somewhat thoughtful as they caught up to Mammon.

It had really been the last they'd see of Haru...


. . .


... Or so they thought. "Hello!" Just when the three had arrived to Tsuna's house, Haru happened to have somehow answered the door, already inside.

"H-Haru?!" The first to outwardly react was Tsuna, whose eyes had widened in shock. "What are you doing here?!" She's in my house...! Why?! Had his mother let her in?

If so, Tsuna wouldn't be surprised, but he still wished Nana were more careful. While the three slowly stepped inside, Haru responded in a determined manner, "I'm here to make up for my mistakes!" Both Tsuna and Yamamoto looked at her confusedly when she said that while Mammon frowned, annoyed already. Hm, this girl truly is troublesome; she can't even go away properly.

"Mistakes?" Yamamoto questioned. As far as he had seen from yesterday, Haru had simply misunderstood a few details; those weren't mistakes in his mind.

Haru nodded, still somewhat serious. "Yes, mistakes, errors, wrongdoings! I've committed them all!" How dramatic, both Tsuna and Mammon commented, though only Tsuna had a blank gaze as he did so. "I took Tsuna-san for a dangerous person that would take advantage of the pure and angelic hearts of babies, when he was just taking care of Mammon-san's brother! Not only that, but I disrespected Mammon-san by implying he didn't take care of him!" Haru explained, almost teary-eyed. However, right afterwards, she started smiling confidently, changing moods that quickly with her thoughts. "So, with that in mind, I have decided to make up for what I did and start our relationships over!"

What does she mean with that...? Tsuna thought, still fairly confused despite the explanation. Even so, before he could express that, his mother had approached them. "Welcome back! Dinner's already ready, all thanks to Haru-chan's help!" Nana said, seemingly in a good mood.

"It was no problem!" Haru cheerfully responded, proud that her efforts were acknowledged. "It was the least I could do for everyone!" She nodded, almost as if to assure her words further. She's already getting along with mom...! Tsuna thought, somewhat alarmed at how easily she had been able to step right into his life.

The fact that Nana approved of her wasn't helping that in the least either. "Oh, there's dinner? Can I stay over?" Yamamoto asked, grinning at Haru and Nana in a carefree manner. Yamamoto doesn't seem to care... That fact disheartened Tsuna slightly; the only person that was on his side was Mammon.

"Of course you can!" Nana said, "You're always welcome here!" She had also gotten used to Yamamoto's presence after a while, and thought he made for a great friend of Tsuna's, who didn't have one before. Tsuna making friends was something she had never expected, so the fact that it was indeed happening made her have more hope for Tsuna than she used to: before, she thought Tsuna would be able to accomplish nothing. After all, he was good at nothing.

However, ever since Mammon appeared, things had begun to change; needless to say she did not regret the decision of hiring him at all. "What are you planning to do here after this?" Meanwhile, Mammon had gone straight to the point, searching for ways to avoid having her around him as much as possible in his mind. "After dinner, he'll have to study; you won't have anything to do afterwards." In other words, she was better off leaving, or so he wanted her to understand.

It didn't seem like it worked how it was supposed to. "Study?!" Haru questioned with wide eyes, somewhat surprised. "I can help you with that too, if you'd like!" Her determined expression, combined with her confident smile, indicated how much Mammon had actually made her want to stick around more. I'll have to think of something else... "Tsuna-san is from Namimori Middle school, right? I happen to be from Midori Middle school, which is actually an elite school so you can leave it to me; I can definitely be useful to you!"

... Mammon connected the dots: if she was at an elite school, one that would require really high grades to enter, it meant Haru could actually help Tsuna, making Mammon have to do even less work than he did before. Even though she was annoying, unlike Yamamoto, she did seem to have certain uses, and Mammon wasn't about to let them go to waste. Tsuna, seeing Mammon smirk, had a bad feeling about the situation. Haru is in an elite school?! And wait, she wants to help me out...?!

While Tsuna thought that, Mammon said, "It does seem like it. If you're that willing to help Tsuna study, then I'll have to take you up on that offer." While Mammon disliked annoying people, he found exploitable annoying people quite tolerable. "That way, I might just acknowledge you as someone worthy of being my little brother's friend."

Haru immediately brightened; Mammon's lie worked perfectly. Witnessing that, Tsuna couldn't help but stare blankly at the situation. He's the actual baby though... "Of course!" she exclaimed cheerfully, only to turn to Tsuna. "Tsuna-san! It'll be my pleasure to work with you! Let's do our best!"

Admittedly surprised, Tsuna found himself with no particular answer to give. "Uh—" Before he could even do anything further, Haru was already shaking his hand and then focusing on Mammon again. What, seriously?! I'm going to start studying with Haru?! As far as he knew, Haru was a middle school student; that was the extent of his knowledge on her. Due to that, he didn't feel something like that to be the best of choices, though that didn't mean he didn't trust her.

From the look in her eyes, straightforward and passionate, Tsuna could tell her intentions were genuine... somehow. Either way, he knew Haru wasn't going to do anything terrible, but he still felt somewhat hesitant. Meanwhile, Mammon took a step forward, almost as if to overshadow Tsuna. "I'll look forward to that then," Mammon said, "For now, I'm going to eat dinner since it's already done." After those words and still with a smirk, Mammon left the area, heading for the kitchen.

He had truly gotten someone who could actually make Tsuna stop complaining about him not explaining anything, and free of charge too: anything beneficial that was also free of charge was good in Mammon's mind, even if Haru happened to be annoying; he could handle that. However, that logic hadn't even popped to Tsuna's mind so, with a blank gaze, he thought, Somehow, even Mammon started approving Haru...


. . .


At the Sasagawa residence, Kyoko welcomed her brother home, who had just come from Boxing club practice. "Oh, Kyoko! You look like you're in an extremely good mood!" Ryohei, her older brother, remarked with a curious expression. While he was oblivious to most things, he would usually attempt to pay attention to Kyoko, so he could also tell whenever Kyoko was sad or very happy... sometimes.

Either way, Ryohei would try extremely hard. "Hmm? I guess I am..." Meanwhile, Kyoko hadn't even noticed she was like that today, but she was aware that she had been in somewhat of a good mood lately; after all, it hadn't been the first time anyone pointed that out. "You know, I have this classmate of mine and before, his grades weren't very good, and he would always seem down in general," she explained, "But now, he's been studying really hard, and I've seen him around another classmate, having fun; I just feel really happy for him, I suppose."

Kyoko had never been able to handle someone clearly in distress or not in a good situation: whether indirectly or directly, she felt the need to do something for them. Unfortunately, in Tsuna's case, he seemed to shy away from her a lot, so she thought he didn't really want anything from her: besides, when the whole school practically upheld his infamy and Tsuna not having any qualities for her to defend, she couldn't really do anything for him, no matter how popular she was (not that she was aware of said popularity). "Is that why you're like that? Makes me wonder who that guy is to the extreme..."

"His name is Tsunayoshi Sawada," Kyoko informed, "Like I said, he's in my class." She wasn't exactly sure whether her brother being curious about a classmate of hers was a good thing or not, especially when considering his habit of inviting others to his Boxing club. Even so, Kyoko wasn't just going to stop Ryohei from doing what he felt like doing, which was why she had told him the details he would need.

However, she did hope Ryohei wouldn't trouble Tsuna in the same way he had troubled many others. "Sawada, huh?" Ryohei briefly wondered if he knew of someone with that surname: despite Tsuna being well-known for how terrible at everything he was, Ryohei's mind did not think of him at all. If anything, he just didn't even know him in general; Ryohei was not one to pay attention to such things. "I guess I'll check on that guy someday!" he concluded and grinned excitedly at Kyoko. "For now, I'm extremely hungry! What's for dinner, Kyoko?!"

Kyoko giggled, having somewhat expected that sort of reaction from her brother already. While Ryohei had told her he would see Tsuna 'someday', Kyoko wondered if that would be true: it honestly seemed more likely that Ryohei would forget about Tsuna entirely, and Kyoko did not feel the need to remind him either. Although if he truly were to check on Tsuna, she figured, things would become quite... extreme, and not even she would know what would come from that.

... In an optimistic fashion, Kyoko decided to hope things would go smoothly.


Author's Notes:


... And so Haru becomes a recurring character...? Omg I hope I didn't make her OOC: in general, she's the kind of person who can feel a range of emotions in a short amount of time (mostly in an exaggerated manner), so I kind of struggled since Haru didn't fall in love with Tsuna. Instead, she just wants to make up for her mistakes and becomes friends, I guess. Isn't that just rare? This story really just makes canon be completely different.

Anyway, Mammon getting annoyed by Yamamoto: Mammon just strikes me as the type of person who can get pretty annoyed at chipper people, especially when they're idiots (in his perspective); however, he's also a level-headed individual. Due to that, he can tolerate a fair amount of stuff, like, for example, Haru when she proved herself useful: while Mammon strikes me as the type to get annoyed at chipper people, he's also the kind of guy that will totally use people for his benefit.

Dat Dino moment though...! Seriously, why is Dino such a great character for comedy? He's so cool (being strong and reliable) yet awkward (being super clumsy without his subordinates) at the same time, it's just amazing: the fact that he can't act as cool when around Reborn further accentuates this fact. Also, when he imagined Squalo training Tsuna: it's not exactly how it'd happen, but that's Dino's imagination, not mine ^^'

... Despite that, I actually made it happen. No, I'm not joking, I actually wrote a spin-off story about what would it be like if Squalo were the home tutor, and it's going with as much force as this one: it's actually a thing, seriously. I'm going to publish it with this target and it's gonna be glorious, believe me: the beginning might be a little like this series', but the rest is wildly different because Squalo is Squalo and omg I'm just having so much fun with it aaaaaaah—

Uh, whatever the case, look forward to the next target? And hopefully the next target of that new story... ;D