A/N:

@rozelrie: Thank you. I'll really try. Hahaha. But we'll see if someone from the mafia will recognize Tsuna. He's not really hidden.

@Hina-cchi: We'll see. :)

@ZeAwsumOtaku: Hm... Good point. Although Tsuna did stay in a love hotel, just worded it as a motel because I didn't know that how they call it that. Love Hotel. Hahaha. But it's fine. I have no problem with you pointing out things. I'll like that even.

@Thanh T T: We'll see. Hahaha. I just reviewed the chapters I just did, and there mi~ght a scene...

@foxchick1: Soma and Tsuna are like two opposite poles. They attract each other, but not in 'that' way. But yeah. Some of friendship can't be broken that easily.

@CAD270895: Tsuna and Erina, distant relatives? That's a good thought to digest. But don't you think he'll be like more on European? Reborn at its finest. About Natsu... We'll see. :)

Anyway, massive thank you for all the favorites, the follows and the reviews! Thank you. They made my week. In advance note though, I hope you don't get mad at me for doing something I shouldn't in this story. I'm apologizing in advance for disappointing you, but, yeah.

Look out for some customs that may defy Japanese culture or something. Like holding hands and hugs. No suggestive ones.

Anyway, go on. Hahaha.


Chapter Five

Soma sighed in relief as he stepped inside his room and turned on the lights. He sat on his bed, thinking how nice his bath was. It was well deserved for his opinion since he was running around, class after class, without any break.

After putting away his towel, he looked around his room. He then realized how different the setting was. That it was his first time going away. He thought of the house he always comes home to for fifteen years. Flopping on his bed, he lamented how quiet it was.

He looked at his door when he heard a knock from there. When he heard the soft voice of his friend, he sat up immediately and opened the door. Tsuna stood there on his usual sleep wear, a bunny in his arms. Both adorably tiltled their heads, asking permission to enter, and he permitted with a small blush on his cheeks.

"Why are you here?" He asked, curious.

"Just wanna keep you company. This is your first time being away from home, right?" The brunet responded while settling on the floor. "This is Usa-chan, by the way. I took him from Yuki-chan."

Soma sat on his bed a stared at the bunny before moving his eyes to his friend. "Isn't this your first time too?"

"No. It's my third." Tsuna answered with a small wistful smile. "The first was pretty stressful. I had to be away for the sake of others. It was the same on the second time. And now, I just want to be free for this one. It was hard at first. You need to do some adjustments, but knowing you, you'll do fine."

"Tsuna." The ranga called before smiling appreciatively for the stay and honesty. It wasn't everyday that Tsuna shares something valuable to him. "Thank you."

The brunet beamed. "You're welcome."

Both basked themselves in silence. Soma went to lay on his bed, keeping an eye on his companions who started to play. He began to remember those days Tsuna spent his time in the Yukihira house.

To his opinion, Tsuna is not that bad. He's the best even. He helps around the house, tells Soma what he'll do as if asking a permission if he can do it, and always indulges him to a talk about himself. The neighbors love him as much as they love the redhead. Even the animals go around and try their best to have the brunet's attention. Too bad, Soma has all of it.

He noticed how Tsuna wears shirts and jackets. Always the jackets, especially hoodies. The pills, gloves and headphones were tacked in his pockets almost everywhere they go. There's also the lenses too. How he always pats his hair, as if trying to secure something, only to freeze and realize that there's nothing in there. He observed the alert stances whenever they walked home in the evening after going for a little shopping. And the way the other looked so sad and nostalgic whenever he quotes something his tutor or mother said.

He rarely saw him use the newly bought phone (the old one was given to the teller of the phone they purchased from). He never once heard the brunet say anything about contacting his mother. As if that call Tsuna received after they got the new phone was already enough to ease his parent's worry. Then there's the bath. Like awhile ago, his fellow teen faltered when he offered a scrub. It's like he has something he doesn't want Yukihira to see. Soma may dismiss that, but he's still curious.

Tsuna has been anything but bad to him. Sometimes, he finds himself whining and complaining to the brunet. And the latter will take it in a stride, always looking at him fondly and encourages him to do it more. He never gets angry nor shoos him away. The brunet was like a combination of a good friend, an understanding mother and a dependable older brother. Sawada even tolerates his ways of making others eat his squid with peanut combination. What interest him the most was when Tsuna gladly ate some and suggested other food that can be a good or bad combination, like banana and ketchup, or octopus and icing. His father will have a good laugh once he meets Tsuna.

He sighed. He just hopes that Tsuna will trust him enough to confide him his secrets.

He peeled his eyes away from his friend when Tsuna was about to glance at him. When he looked at his ceiling, he almost jumped out of the bed when a guy opened the tile of his ceiling and smiled down at them.

"No wonder I couldn't find the other, you were together. Come, you two. We're having your welcome party." The guy said before closing his little window.

He and Tsuna looked at each other and shrugged. Even the bunny was trembling in shock at the sudden appearance of that guy. Seriously, the people in this dormitory are weird.


Tsuna stayed behind Soma as they sat beside Tadokoro in room two-o-five. Letting his guard down, he looked around the vicinity they entered. There's a lot of bookshelves filled with books to the brim from both sides, though on his left is a big bed. There's a window ahead with a study table on its left. It's rather clean too except for the wine bottle near the lady, with long magenta hair and orange eyes, sitting on a black luggage, and the plates of food in front of them.

There are seven people in there, excluding them and that sempai who told them to come (and almost gave Soma a heart attack). He blinked when he noticed Yuki sitting on the bed. The guy who made the lounge room a smoke room was there too. There's these two rough looking guys, one with black hair and another with dyed blond. There's also a studious one with round glasses.

They're not that weird. But then again, what kind of weird was he looking for? At what standard too? Mukuro perhaps? He almost snickered at what he thought. His ex-mist will probably have a field day with him if he says that.

"Tsuna-san!" Yuki called from her spot with a good wave. Tsuna smiled and waved too. "You brought Usa-chan!"

"I couldn't let him go and roam around." He put the bunny between the space of his crossed legs. "It's dangerous for him, even though he's a little animal." Ah. That reminded him of Hibari.

"Anyway, why are you here again?" The guy with glasses asked, exasperated and irate. "I told you, I'm busy studying for the written exams. If you like to party, feel free to do it in another room! Why do it in mine?!"

"It can't be helped." Yuki shrugged as she inspected her nails. "Marui's room is the biggest room in here. And it's always clean when we come too."

"Don't just go and sit on my bed!" Marui shouted in indignation.

Tsuna sweat dropped at that.

"Well, I never thought we'd be together with Tadokoro-san in the same dorm." Soma commented while glancing at Tadokoro.

"You're right." Tadokoro murmured before she suddenly went still and looked at the redhead with surprise and awe in her expression. "Wait! That means that Soma-kun-- You passed the dorm entrance exam skill test at your first try?!"

Soma smiled and took Tsuna's hand, taking the latter by surprise. "Tsuna and I did. We somehow managed."

"Wow!" Tadokoro exclaimed, eyes looking back and forth between them. "That's so amazing. I don't think there's much people who passed on their first try." Then she visibly slumped.

Yukihira shrugged. "I guess so."

"It's actually by luck, Tadokoro-san." Tsuna said with a wave of his hand and a shy smile. "I only passed by sheer luck while Soma did on his own creativity."

"You're so shy!" Soma said as he pinched Tsuna's both cheeks. "Why can't you be proud of what you've done? That orange panna cotta is creative too!"

"Shh!" The brunet shushed before chuckling when the redhead let him go. "It's a secret of how we got in here, okay?"

Yukihira's eyes widened and nodded like a child. "Okay."

"Hey hey!" Tsuna looked back to see the guy, who called them there, enter the room, looking a little surprised. "I called everyone in the dorm, but not even half of them are here."

"Well, it can't be helped." The rough noiret guy among them shrugged.

"Isshiki-sempai tells us to gather almost everyday so everyone's got tired of it." The rough blond guy seconded with a nod.

"They got tired? That can't be, right? I mean Tadokoro-chan always participates." Isshiki-sempai pouted.

Tsuna chuckled, hugging the rabbit closer to his chest as he remembered how everyone in his family gather almost everyday in school too. Even though Mukuro is in Kokuyou, he will always have a time to show up and rile up everyone. Hayato will shout threats and Takeshi will try to placate. Nii-san will talk about extremeness and about being a man. Then Hibari will suddenly arrive and attack them with his usual catchphrase.

He shook his head lightly as he looked down to the floor. It has been weeks. Months even, since he experienced those. He misses them dearly. Ieyasu must be really happy by now. His best friends are the best right and left hands, onii-san is the best brother one can have, Hibari will always be there and Chrome and Mukuro are always on vigilant with him. Lambo will always welcome him home with Ipin and Fuuta. Bianchi will also smile at him with their Mom saying 'Welcome back'. And Reborn... Reborn is there to guide him.

Oh how much he suffered to gain such life, only to be taken away from him.

"So,"

Tsuna looked up to see all of the people inside the room are looking at the two of them.

"I'm a second year, Isshiki." The guy, who invited them, introduced himself with a welcoming smile. He reminds him of Dino. "You can call me Isshiki-sempai. Welcome to Polar Star dorm, Soma Yukihira and Tsunayoshi Sawada."

"Thank you." Tsuna nodded with his own smile.

"Okay! Let's have a toast!" Isshiki-sempai announced with exuberance. "All of you grab a drink!"

The room went to full party mode.

Tsuna took the cup Tadokoro handed to him and gave a small thanks. Ryouko Sakaki, the lady with magenta hair, poured him some drink from the bottle he noticed from awhile ago. Although it was a far cry from the assassinations he receives and the place is trustworthy to be relaxed, he still didn't drink the liquid since his intuition hummed him about it. It wasn't alcohol but close to it. He won't risk it, even if it will make Reborn happy.

He looked at the side and noticed the guy from two-o-eight. He must have stared since the guy looked at him. He grimaced before making a small smile and slid the cup towards him.

"You can have it. I don't drink." He said.

The guy perked up, interested. "How did you know it's alcohol?"

"Ah. The smell?" Tsuna replied in an unsure manner. "My father once made me drink when I was little, so I kinda had this sensitive nose for alcohol. But it's not entirely made up of alcohol."

"Oh. That's some nice sensitivity." The guy nodded. "Sawada, right?"

"Tsuna is alright." He offered as he picked a food from the plate that was offered to him by Yuki. "Do you want some?"

"Sure." The guy answered as he reached out and took some. "I'm Shun Ibusaki. Since you're letting me call you by your nickname, you can call me Shun."

"Shun-kun?" He tested.

"Just Shun."

"Hm. Shun?" He tested again. The other nodded. "Thanks."

"Hey," Tsuna focused on Soma, who looked confused with his attention on Sakaki and Yuki. "you know what that 'Elite Ten' is?"

The brunet slanted his head a little to the left. "Elite Ten?"

"Wait. Should I be asking if that's a food?" Soma joked with a teasing grin darted to his friend. Tsuna laughed at that.

"Eh..." Sakaki voiced out in disbelief. "You're seriously asking that?"

"You two really entered Tootsuki without knowing anything, huh?" Yuki mused.

Tsuna laughed nervously. If he didn't run away, he wouldn't be meeting any of them today. Or probably asking Reborn or Shoichi about the school. He did learn that the director, Senzaemon Nakiri, is part of Mafia but in the food business. Heh. He'll tackle about that in the future.

"Tootsuki Elite Ten council is a committee formed by the best ten students in the internal evaluation. Here in Tootsuki, many affairs are left for the students to decide. What to do in those affairs is decided by the members of the Elite Ten in their conferences." Sakaki explained with patience.

"It's truly the highest decision making organ in the academy. They're directly below the director in the organizational chart. Even the lecturers must obey the Elite Ten." Yuki added. "Decades ago, when the dorm's rooms have no vacancies, a lot of the Elite Ten came from Polar Star."

"It seems there was even a year when the Elite Ten was made entirely up of Polar Star student-"

"Really?" Tsuna blurted out, awestruck while Sakaki continued to explain to Soma.

"Yes." Shun responded. "Fumio-san talks about it almost all the time."

The brunet chuckled. "I bet you're one of her victims?"

Shun only sighed, making him laugh more.

"-Erina Nakiri is one of the ten." Sakaki continued that the brunet heard.

"Woah! She's really amazing." Sawada praised, making Tadokoro look at him. "I mean she was our proctor in our entrance exam, and she has excellent grades. I'm not good like that."

"You're a good cook though." The bluenette pointed out.

"Nah. I'm honestly no-good." He smiled before watching the others.

Tadokoro looked at him with a new light. "I can sympathize. I feel like I'm no good with anything, especially with my scores in class and my poor performance."

Tsuna pursed his lips as he looked back on the day's event. "But you know, you also got your A because you helped Soma cook. He wouldn't know the ingredients and procedure of the beef bourguignon if you weren't there. So you should also thank yourself. Sometimes, even no-good like us have some skills here and there we haven't yet discovered or we're just too shy to show." And he winked.

Tadokoro flushed a little before smiling widely. "Maybe."

The others who went out came back with more food and beverages. He discovered that the drink Sakaki gave was a juice made from rice. He didn't point out that it has a small alcohol content in it. Soma was ecstatic about it though, really amazed that Tsuna couldn't help himself from smiling. The redhead could use some socialization from people he can relate with in terms of cooking.

The party was really at full swing. He didn't mind being left alone by the side when Shun went out to get some of his smoked food after the others complained of not having enough food to enjoy the party. Even the others gave their own contribution. He couldn't help the laughter and grimace that crossed his features when Isshiki-sempai stripped his clothes and left an apron only. It escalated the gathering more. Soma was so into the party, even Marui couldn't help joining. He did nimble on the squid with peanut butter delicacy Soma took out. He can stand the taste. Bianchi has much worse.

After a few hours, the party died down. The girls have curled on the floor like the others. The only ones not asleep was him, Soma and Isshiki. Even Shun, who was sitting beside him, went for a nap. Placing the sleeping Usa-chan to Yuki's waiting arms, he went to silently clean up the place. He doesn't want to trouble Marui from cleaning everything in the morning.

"Ah, Tsunayoshi-kun. You don't have to do the clean up." Isshiki-sempai said with a gentle smile. Tsuna shook his head as he put a blanket on Marui's sleeping figure.

"It's okay. I don't want to trouble him with the mess he'll see. At least he only has to sweep the room or something with the mess arranged in a pile." He answered.

"You're so nice." The older teen whistled before smiling pleasantly. "Even so, welcome to Tootsuki Academy and Polar Star dorm, Tsunayoshi-kun and Soma. Best regards, yeah?"

Tsuna nodded while Soma gave a positive respond. "Yeah. Same here."

"Hmm. We're out of food." Isshiki-sempai observed as he took the empty plate and stood up. "There should be some left slice of Spanish mackerel. I'll make something."

The brunet grimaced when Soma said, "You're gonna cook looking like that?"

But Isshiki-sempai only smiled before going out.

"Na, Tsuna." Soma called as he started to pick up the cups beside him as well. "Did you have fun?"

He froze and looked back to the redhead who's staring at him with his yellow eyes. Tsuna asked himself. Did he had fun? It's not as fun as the ones in Namimori, but he did have some good laughs like any other.

"You've been hanging at the back since the start. I thought you were feeling awkward or something." Yukihira elaborated.

Sawada blinked and chuckled. "I had fun, Soma. It's you who I was worried about. You were never one to socialize. I thought it will be hard for you to fit in a group of people who also know how to cook. Good thing you're naturally friendly. Perks of facing clients, huh?"

"Hey. Don't take that as a jab. I was only pertaining to those people in the ceremony." Soma pouted.

"Kidding, kidding." Tsuna placated as he placed the plates beside the empty cups the redhead had stacked up. "But thank you." He smiled a grateful one. "Don't worry about me, Soma. I can take care of myself."

"I know. And I saw you talking to Ibusaki. At least I know you're warming up." Tsuna followed the redhead when the latter leaned on the bookshelves. "I'll bet this year's going to be so different from what I expected."

"Hmm..." The brunet hummed in thoughts.

They shared a contented silence, waiting for their sempai to come back. It was their usual thing. They never demand noise, as long as they're okay, they're okay.

Tsuna didn't know when he fell asleep, but he found himself waking up with Soma cleaning his knife. He looked up to see who is he leaning on, only to panic when he saw Shun's blue eyes looking at him. He hurriedly sat back straight and winced. Soma probably noticed him awake because the ranga smiled teasingly.

"Sorry, Tsuna. I thought you were going to lean to me, but you went for Ibusaki." Soma said with a sly smile.

Tsuna glared at him. "You could've taken me."

"Isshiki-sempai and him had a cook off." Shun informed while sitting upright too. "It was interesting."

"Oh." Then the brunet winced. "I'm so sorry, Shun. I didn't notice I blacked out. I was awake when Isshiki-sempai came in though."

"No worries." The other waved off.

"Anyway, bathroom, Tsuna?" Soma questioned while picking up his knife case after arranging his knife in there. "You can come with us on the way out, Ibusaki."

Tsuna tried to examine himself and nodded sheepishly to the redhead. "Yeah. Sorry about this, Soma."

"It's okay. Don't want some ghost taking you somewhere." Yukihira teased as they got up.

"You're afraid of ghost, Tsunayoshi-kun?" Isshiki-sempai questioned after arranging the last bottles on the side. "That's quite strange in your age."

The brunet blushed in embarrassment.

"He is. Even if you say there's no such thing in the dorm, he won't still be okay." Soma snickered while taking his hand. "Come on. Thanks for the battle, Sempai. Tomorrow at latest."

"Hmm." The older teen only hummed, still smiling pleasantly.

He, Soma and Shun went out of the room. Tsuna waved Shun a goodbye with another soft apology on leaning on him before they proceeded to the bathroom. Soma waited for him outside while he did his thing.

It's not his fault that he still has nightmares about Daemon Spade and the Vendice. They still scare him. Especially the former since he had done a lot of things to his family. Remembering how he suddenly pops out anywhere just to get his revenge does not settle well to Tsuna. Up until now, he fears that Daemon Spade will come get him for being Primo's descendant and the Vongola Decimo-

Ah right. It has been three months.

"You okay?" Soma queried when he got out.

Tsuna blinked and smiled softly. "Why won't I be?"

Yellow eyes stared at him for a sec before saying something that changed the subject. "You should've tasted Isshiki-sempai's Spanish mackerel. It was full of spring."

"I bet you fought it off with your own version." He remarked as they made their way to the stairs.

"I did! And he said it was good!" The redhead gloated. "I'm gonna challenge him for his seat. He owns the seventh seat in the Elite Ten."

Tsuna stared at his friend, unsure with the idea. "Are you sure? Don't you think it's too easy for you to challenge him like that? Don't tell me you're going to wake up early tomorrow just for that?"

"I was planning to." The redhead nodded.

He sighed. "Soma, sleep is important. You said that once. Are you going to risk your health and never cook again?"

They stopped by the stairs.

"I'll sleep in just a little." The ranga sheepishly said.

Tsuna contemplated before shrugging. He doesn't want to burst the other's bubble. "Okay. Sleep well, Soma. You will need a lot of energy if you're going to challenge the seventh seat."

Yukihira beamed. "Yeah! Good night, Tsuna."

Tsuna nodded. "Good night, Soma."

He watched as the other ascended the stairs for the third floor. When Soma went out of view, he descended the stairs for the ground floor and went for his room. He locked the door softly behind him and sat on his bed, watching the sky outside the window. With a melancholy look, he wondered all night about his family in Namimori.