"Why must you waste your talent with these tasteless lies?" Nezu demanded harshly. He had Tsuna stand at the front of the class after seeing the boy didn't turn in his paper. When questioned for why, Tsuna tried to explain what happened. He didn't make it one sentence in before Nezu started shouting.
"It's ridiculous!" Nezu continued with a shake of the head. In the class, most of the students were snickering. Kyoko looked worried, while Hana was already working on her other classwork. Some students just looked bored. The Nezu-Tsuna show was a regular one in 1-A and it got tiring at times. Yamamoto even looked to be sleeping.
Nezu leaned into Tsuna's space with a sneer. "You clearly have the capability at a higher academic career. Instead, you decide to throw that away by being a delinquent and chasing after fairytales." Tsuna silently took a step back and hoped that this would just end quickly. There was no stopping Nezu once he was on a tirade.
"The Universities won't stand for it." Nezu warned. "If you pulled this at my alma mater you would be thrown out on the spot. The University of Tokyo would sooner shoot you for the insult to the academy." There it was. Nezu always worked in his credentials as a teacher. He loved to remind everyone just where he graduated from. He often remarked that the school was lucky to have him.
Nezu fell silent and stared at Tsuna expectantly. "I have proof?" Tsuna offered warily. The teacher held his arms up in waiting. Taking the cue Tsuna returned to his desk. On his way there, one of the boys that sat in front of Tsuna stuck out their foot and tripped Tsuna.
The loud clatter of Tsuna hitting the ground sent the class into raucous laughter. They were loud enough to startle Yamamoto from his impromptu nap. The boy blinked in surprise before catching the sight of Tsuna's prone form.
"Aha, did you lose your balance again?" Yamamoto asked. Tsuna gave him a rueful smile but didn't respond. He picked himself back up and continued his trek to his desk. Fishing the paper from the dirty bag wasn't too hard. By now the page was flaky and crinkly after being soaked. The mud had stained the page and obscured most of the problems and answers.
Tsuna carefully made his way back to the front of the class. This time he made sure to avoid any other attempts at making him trip. When next to the teacher, Tsune held up the paper for inspection. Nezu scowled at the page and pinched it in the cleanest corner before holding it up to his face.
"I fell into the mud by the entrance walkway. My things scattered out from my bag, and they all got dirty. I couldn't redo the homework because you assigned us a worksheet." Tsuna paused and when Nezu still looked doubtful he continued. "Sasagawa Kyoko and Kurokawa Hana can both confirm my story."
Kyoko nodded her head quickly when Nezu looked at her. Hana sent Tsuna a narrowed glare but nodded as well. Nezu eyed them carefully before letting out a scoff. He tossed the paper back to Tsuna, nearly hitting the boy in the face.
"You're friends are likely trying to cover for you." He claimed loudly. "I don't know why they hang out with you. You'll only hold them back from their true potential. I'm sure you tricked them with your intelligence, but I know it's just a farce. You're just a useless waste of space that has no ambition." Nezu was smiling as he said this. As if he were proud to tear down a boy less than half his age.
The words hurt. Tsuna was secretly terrified that Kyoko and Hana would realize that they were better off without him. They weren't bullied for being his friends, but he could tell that they weren't being accepted by the other students with warm arms either. The longer that they stayed with Tsuna, the more people would begin to turn on them.
If he were a braver person, Tsuna would push them away. He would save them from his social status as the school's pariah. He wasn't brave, however. Tsuna was a coward. He was scared to lose them. For more than just the threat of losing his club. He was scared of losing their friendship completely.
The thought of him holding the girls back was a persistent nightmare of his. Tsuna only hoped that they never noticed how much better things would be without him.
The second part of Nezu's insult, however, was wrong. Tsuna did have an ambition. He was going to graduate from school with the grades needed to leave Namimori. He would climb the path needed to become an archeologist and he would travel the world and discover lost cities and ancient cultures. He would solve the mysteries the world had to offer.
And he would never return to Namimori again.
The implication that he didn't have that drive irked Tsuna. It was just enough of a hit to his pride that he fought back. Normally Tsuna would just take Nezu's words and let them wash over him harmlessly. Now he couldn't help but bite back.
"I was pushed aside from Mochida and his friends." Tsuna stated calmly. Nezu scoffed once more and began to call him a liar again. Tsuna ignored that and continued on. "They were running away from Hibari. If you still don't believe me, you can ask Hibari and Kusakabe. They were there as well." While Hibari hated rule-breakers the most, he held no lost love for the teachers. He tolerated them at best. Nezu would never risk gaining Hibari's ire to fact-check Tsuna.
Hopefully, Hibari never found out that Tsuna used his name as a threat twice in one day.
Though, judging from the look on Nezu's face it didn't seem like he would be asking the prefect any questions. Kusakebe might hear of it. The school's gossip chain was legendary and Tsuna had no doubt that the right-hand man had a thumb on the pulse of it.
"I'll see about doing just that." Nezu stuttered. Tsuna nodded, but he knew that the man was lying. "Go back to your seat. I'll give you remedial work that needs to be turned in by Friday." And with that Tsuna returned to his seat.
The rest of the day passed with relative ease. The other teachers were more understanding of Tsuna's morning incident. He expected that. Nezu always was one for the flair of the dramatics. The man was all bark and little bite. The math teacher, Daichiro-sensei, was a more intimidating figure. The old man might not yell or mock students, but he ran his class with an iron fist and a no-nonsense attitude. No one acted out during his class.
He wasn't pleased that Tsuna's worksheet was too ruined to turn in. Like Nezu, he gave Tsuna remedial homework to make up for it. Unlike Nezu, the worksheet was due at the end of the day.
When lunch began and the room cleared, Tsuna stayed at his desk. He pulled out his bento and the worksheet and got it started. Kyoko and Hana didn't take long to join him. They both pulled up their own chairs and unpacked their bentos.
"Is that the math sheet Daichiro-sensei gave you?" Kyoko asked. Tsuna nodded and leaned back to let her see it more clearly.
"It's basically the same as what we had to turn in. There are just more problems to solve." He explained. Kyoko nodded and pulled back to focus on her lunch. Next to her, Hana was eyeing the students that were still in the room critically.
"Sato Nafumi dropped out of the chess club." She remarked. Tsuna glanced up to where she was looking. The girl was sitting in the corner of the room with a couple of her friends. They were huddled together and giggling at a book in her hands.
"She won't stay." Tsuna said with a shake of his head. Hana scowled darkly and began her scanning of the room again. She had grown used to Tsuna's uncanny ability to know who would stay in the club and who would go.
Granted, the only people to actually stay were Hana and Kyoko. Everyone else, Tsuna had known on sight that they might check the club out but they wouldn't stay. He didn't know how he knew, just that he did. Hana complained about the skill often.
"Why can't you figure out who will stay?" She asked, repeating the question for the hundredth time. Tsuna shrugged silently. He didn't control how his insight worked. If he could, Tsuna would make it so he could find people who would stay in the club. It certainly would make things easier.
"I wonder if I can ask my brother to join." Kyoko piped up. "If Hibari doesn't have to join each meeting, then Ryohei wouldn't have to either." Hana shook her head before Kyoko could go too much further.
"Hibari's special. No one would expect us to force him to every meeting." That was true. The fact that they convinced him to sign up at all was a miracle. "Besides your brother would try to find a way to make it work and I refuse to be in that tiny room with him at the same time." Tsuna had never Sasagawa Ryohei before. He's heard enough stories from Kyoko and Hana to have an image in his head, however.
A tall muscular boy with tanned skin, with a scar on the left eyebrow. He was energetic, loud, and loved strawberry-flavored shaved ice. Sasagawa wasn't the smartest but he was strong and a very kind person. Kyoko thought of him as the best older brother. Hana called him the biggest monkey of them all.
"How about we ask him if it's close to the deadline and we have no other options left?" Tsuna offered. The girls agreed on it, and the matter was settled. Hopefully, it wouldn't come down to begging Sasagawa for his help. It didn't seem fair to rely on him through his connection with Kyoko.
"We wouldn't have this problem if the student council hadn't changed the minimum requirement of members needed for a club." Hana grumbled. "It's been rigged. Kinamoto has too much power and is abusing it." This was a common complaint of Hana's.
Hana was certain that Kinamoto was purposely trying to take the club down. While it certainly felt that way at times, Tsuna was unsure. Kinamoto was just trying to follow the rules that were set in place. They were the ones giving her so much trouble.
"We still wouldn't have enough people." Tsuna pointed out. "Haru doesn't count. She doesn't even go to this school." Miura Haru was a girl that Kyoko had bumped into while cake shopping. The girls had hit it off and Kyoko had mentioned the club to the girl.
They haven't been able to stop her from coming back ever since. Haru showed up after school every day. Honestly, it was almost impressive how quickly she was able to get there. It was also a wonder why no one stopped her. The girl was always in her school's uniform.
"If Kinamoto didn't notice then it does count." Hana retorted. While it was putting them in the gray area, Tsuna could admit that Hana had a point. "And it doesn't change my point. Having clubs need to have eight members minimum is ridiculous."
Luckily before Hana could really get her rant going, Kyoko changed the subject. Tsuna tuned out the girls and focused on his schoolwork. As he worked through the problems steadily, a strange feeling overtook him.
Tsuna tensed and looked up. He felt like he was being stared at. Whispers and stares following him were common, but this was different. The feeling was more intense somehow. A shiver went down Tsuna's spine as he glanced around the room. No one was looking at him or the girls.
To the left.
Tsuna swung his head to the side and looked out of the large windows that lined the wall to his left. Class 1-A had a clear view of the main gym and baseball diamond. In between them was a large oak tree that was a popular spot for students to eat lunch under. Tsuna could see students outside but they were all just enjoying their lunch.
Tsuna's eyes were naturally drawn to the branches of the tree. The leaves had bloomed so much that it was hard to see into the canopy. Once branch stretched almost parallel to the class windows. Tsuna narrowed his eyes when he saw something shift in the shadows of the leaves.
"Tsuna?" Kyoko asked, noticing Tsuna's distraction. He didn't respond right away. Instead, Tsuna kept staring at the branch. There was something there. He just knew it. As if answering his thoughts, the leaves rustled and a squirrel dashed out across the branch.
"It's nothing," Tsuna replied slowly. "I thought I saw something weird but it was just a squirrel." The feeling went away, but Tsuna couldn't relax the tension in his shoulders. He forced himself to look away from the window and went back to his math work.
He couldn't relax for the rest of the day.
It was rare that Tsuna didn't go to the club room after school. Usually, he was the one leading the way to the hidden staircase. Tsuna couldn't bring himself to go today. Not when he still felt that odd sense over his skin.
It didn't feel wrong, per se, but it felt weird. It was like Tsuna was reading through his notes at the club and he just knew he was missing some part of the puzzle piece but he couldn't figure it out. Normally that's when he would ask Kyoko or Hana for a second opinion.
Tsuna didn't tell them about this. He didn't want to. It was likely nothing serious and was just him being paranoid. They wouldn't believe him and would think him to be crazy. Or worse, they would believe him.
Kyoko would treat it like a novel mystery while Hana would suspect Kinamoto behind it all. Tsuna himself was unsure why he felt this weird sensation. While he didn't feel eyes on him anymore, Tsuna couldn't help but feel as if he was still being watched. Even when it was just him on the road back home.
Maybe his class was right and Tsuna really was crazy.
Tsuna hiked his shoulders up with a shake of the head. He just needed to ignore it. If he pretended it wasn't there for long enough, then it would go away. Tsuna kept repeating that to himself as he walked through his house gate and entered his home.
His mother was in the kitchen. She was making dinner already, humming a soft tune under her breath. When hearing the door open she looked behind her to give Tsuna a large smile.
"Welcome home!" She called out.
"I'm back!" Tsuna replied on rote. He slipped out of his shoes and began making his way to the laundry room. "I'm going to need my bag put into the wash. I don't know if you want it to be washed separately or not so I'll just set it next to the washer."
Tsuna sat the bag on the floor and pulled out the books and contents. He'd have to throw away most of the pencils and other utensils but that wasn't too big of a problem. He had plenty of extra in his room. He was going to have to throw away one of his notebooks, something that was more valuable to him.
Tsuna had spares, but the notebook was filled with his class notes that he would need for studying. Tsuna steeled himself to having to copy everything down into a new book. Tonight was not going to be fun, he just knew it.
When the bag was empty Tsuna set his muddy uniform on top of it and left the room. "If it can't be washed by tomorrow I can use one of my old ones until it's ready." Tsuna continued from before as he walked into the kitchen. He dumped the unusable supplies that were ruined into the trash.
"Sorry about the trouble." Tsuna looked up to give his mother an apologetic smile. The motion was paused as he noticed what she was wearing. It was her blue turtleneck and the green apron. She only wore those on special occasions or when there were guests.
The feeling that Tsuna was trying to ignore skyrocketed.
"It's no trouble at all!" His mother assured. She left the stove to give Tsuna a proud look. "I know that my Tsu-kun is just so adventurous like his papa, it's no surprise that you would get dirty every now and then." Tsuna chuckled nervously as his mother blushed and daydreamed of Tsuna's 'grand adventures' and his supposed similarities to his father.
Tsuna couldn't refute her claim. He had never met his father to give an accurate opinion on his likeness to the man. Still, Tsuna was sure that he was completely different than the man. For one, Tsuna wouldn't leave his wife to raise his son on her own for years at a time.
"Is something happening tonight?" Tsuna asked to change the subject. "You're wearing the green apron today." His mother snapped out of her reverie and gave him a beaming smile.
"Yes!" She exclaimed. "There was a flyer in the mail today. There's a tutor that will help those your age to be the world leaders of the next generation! We just need to give them room and board, and they'll tutor you for free!" Tsuna sighed at his mother's excitement.
"It sounds like a scam." He said. Hopefully this time she didn't accidentally get pulled into a pyramid scheme again. That was a mess to get his mother out of. "I don't need a tutor anyway. I'm passing all of my classes." Tsuna wasn't the top in his class, but he was in the top ten at least.
Nana raised her brows at the claim. "That may be so," she agreed. "But all your reports have notes from your teachers about your 'delinquent' personality and actions in class. I know that they're just misunderstanding you." She walked forward and cupped Tsuna's cheeks with a loving smile.
"That's what you need help with. This tutor can help you learn how to show everyone just how amazing you are." She kissed Tsuna's forehead before pulling back. She returned to the stove and continued cooking. "I already hired them. Just give it one month. If you still don't think they're helping, then we'll go back to how it is now."
Tsuna couldn't argue against his mother in the face of her love. It was unfair how she could just pull out that unending love against Tsuna. He'll fold every time. He knew that his teachers gave his mother problems at the conferences. That his reputation was hurting her as well.
"Okay." It was only fair if he gave in this once. He firmly believed that once the month was over the tutor would be gone. He really didn't need one for his studies and Tsuna doubted they could help with the teachers. It was impossible to drop a social stigma in such a short amount of time.
"When will they be here?" He asked regretfully. He'd have to clean his room and make it presentable. The room was in a constant state of disarray. Clothes were skewed across the floor and his bed was never made.
Tsuna's desk was buried under books and papers. One of the drawers couldn't close from how full it was. He had filled it with papers and books he managed to acquire from the local community college. Most of the books were written biographies of famous archeologists or historical deep dives into ancient cultures.
If Tsuna didn't want his tutor to have the same opinion of him as his classmates, he needed to organize the room. He didn't want his first impression to be that Tsuna was a messy and crazy person.
"He's already here!" Nana said with a giggle. "He's in your room. He said that he wanted to 'get an accurate assessment' of you." She shot him a knowing look as he paled. This was revenge for him failing to clean it properly. She never asked him to, but Tsuna always made it a goal to get the room presentable for his mother. He always failed.
"Mom!" He whined. Tsuna spun and dashed out of the room. His mother's laughter followed his heels as Tsuna ran up the stairs. The door to his room was already open. Tsuna wanted to die. He wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole.
Tsuna stumbled into the room with apologies falling from his lips. "I'm sorry. I didn't know mom hired a tutor and that you would be here. I would have cleaned up if...I...knew?" Tsuna's words trailed off as he didn't see anyone in the room. At first.
His eyes were pulled downwards and standing in the center of the room was a small toddler. He was dressed in a black suit and fedora. The fedora had an orange stripe around the base and, oddly enough, a small gecko sitting on the brim.
"Uhm," Tsuna started.
"Ciaossu. My name is Reborn and I'm going to be your tutor." Said the kid with a yellow pacifier on his neck . Tsuna just had gotten mugged on his way home. He had to be having a strange concussion dream after getting beat up. Surely. This wasn't real.
"You're a baby." Tsuna pointed out dully. He walked into his room and squatted to be at the kid's height level. "You are a literal toddler. You can't be my tutor. Where's your parents, does my mom know you're here?" There were so many questions that Tsuna had. These were the more important ones. If his mom got conned by a baby then he didn't know what he'd do.
Before he could ruminate on his mother's gullibility, Tsuna found himself crashing to the floor. He groaned in pain that radiated from his head where the toddler had kicked him. How could a baby jump that high? Or have enough force to slam Tsuna into the ground so easily? That felt worse than any of Hibari's attacks.
Tsuna didn't think that was possible.
"I'm your tutor, Reborn. You should show respect to your elders." Reborn instructed. Tsuna pulled himself up into a sitting position. He rubbed his head gingerly and eyed Reborn carefully. Even if he looked like a toddler, he spoke clearly like an adult. He also had the strength of an adult.
"You are within the top five smartest students in your class. You only have two friends, but they are loyal and well-liked in the class so most physical bullying is kept to a minimum. You've even managed to reach an understanding with Hibari Kyoya, someone who is notoriously feral. Impressive, for someone who's just settled on being above average." Tsuna balked at Reborn's words. Was the man stalking him? How did he know so much about Tsuna already?
"However," Reborn continued, ignoring Tsuna's reaction. "You are at constant odds with the teachers, student council, and most of your peers. You only make passing grades by the grace of the remedial work and extra credit you can get in your grasp. The friends you do have came to you of their own volition instead of meeting you naturally. Likely out of curiosity of the rumors that circle around you. Students and teachers alike verbally abuse you every day. They call you useless and weird." His tone was factual and merciless. Tsuna bristled at the end, snapping a glare at Reborn.
"Teachers shouldn't make fun of their students." He retorted. It wasn't as if he liked Nezu's lectures and the passive annoyance of the others. Tsuna would love it if the teachers would treat him like a normal student for once.
"They why do you let them do it?" Reborn coolly replied without pause. "You refuse to stand up for yourself against anyone. You have an obvious authority problem but you don't act out on it. You just let everyone walk all over you, for what?" Tsuna looked away. It was a question that Kyoko and Hana asked him a lot when the words thrown at Tsuna were a little too harsh or he showed up at the club with a split lip and his books missing.
"I asked you a question." Reborn kicked Tsuna's shin, causing the boy to yelp in pain. Tsuna thought it had been rhetorical and that the man was going to keep listing all his faults. When Tsuna didn't immediately reply, Reborn lifted his leg again.
"Okay!" Tsuna scrambled back, hitting his head on the door and knocking it shut. Reborn straightened and waited as Tsuna tried to sit back up. Tsuna rubbed the back of his head and mournfully wished for it to be Sunday again. The weekend was so much better.
"Middle school doesn't matter in the end." Tsuna said with a sigh. Reborn tilted his head curiously.
"Explain." He ordered. Tsuna raised a brow at the commanding tone but did as asked. He didn't want to get kicked again.
"In the grand scheme of things, middle school doesn't matter. I do have a goal and dream. So long as I keep my grades up, the teachers can't really do anything to stop me from achieving it. The others have even less power to stop me. So it doesn't matter what they do or say." Tsuna shrugged silently. "Besides, if they weren't picking on me, it would just be someone else. Better it be me, who doesn't care than someone who would get hurt."
Of course, that wasn't completely true. Tsuna did care, though he tried to ignore it. The words did hurt over time, and it was tiring to be faced with such opposition every day. He was only able to get through it by pure determination and will.
If Tsuna didn't have his dream, then he suspected he would have been even more susceptible to the bullying. It was one of the reasons why he clung to his dream so tightly. It was also why he was so devoted to finding Takamagahara. That obsession was what got him through the years of bullying so far.
He didn't want to know what he would have been like without it.
"What is your dream then?" Reborn asked. He had been silent during the speech. Unlike most of the adults in Tsuna's life, Reborn was actually listening to what Tsuna said. And he wasn't ignoring it or making fun of it. Which was strange. By this point most just berate him for not being a normal student or that he was being too serious.
"To be an archeologist." Tsuna didn't have any hesitation in his answer. This was one thing that he was never afraid to admit to. "Or to at least study archeology and history, so that I can do my own expeditions. It would just be easier as an archeologist. After that, I'll be discovering the secrets the ancient world left behind and I'll be out of Namimori. And I'll never come back."
"Your mother would miss you." Reborn said idly. It was a good point. Sawada Nana had lived in Namimori her whole life and never planned on leaving it. She would miss Tsuna terribly. The thought of leaving her alone in the house ate at him, but Tsuna couldn't be swayed.
"She knows my plans, and she understands them." When Tsuna had told them to her, she didn't look even slightly surprised. She just said that Tsuna was like his father and she would support him in any way she could. "I'll make sure to call, and I might be able to bring her along to some digs as a vacation." Unlike what a certain man has done over the years.
"Interesting," Reborn said. "For your honesty, I will now reveal my true purpose here." What? Tsuna blinked in surprise as Reborn pulled out a folder from out of nowhere. He pulled out three papers and sat them in front of Tsuna.
When he looked at them, Tsuna regretted it. They were autopsy files. With pictures. What the hell was this?
"I was sent by the ninth generation boss of the mafia family, Vongola. His sons have all perished, and you are the only remaining heir. Enrico, the oldest, died in a shoot-out." Reborn pointed to the picture of a man in a dark suit lying on a bloody cobbled street. His body was filled with bullet holes.
"The middle child, Massimo, drowned." There was a picture of a bloated body on an autopsy table. Tsuna felt his stomach twist and he didn't know if he would get sick or not. Reborn didn't look even the slightest bit bothered.
"The youngest, and favorite, Federico was found in a rival family's basement. The only thing left was his bones." The bones were gathered into a box when the picture was taken. A box. Who did that?
"There's no way any of that is true." Tsuna denied shakily. Even as he spoke, he couldn't help but be unsure. The autopsy reports looked real enough, despite the unprofessional pictures. And Tsuna was fairly good at knowing when he was being lied to. This didn't feel like one of those times.
"Even if it is true, what would it have to do with me?" Tsuna continued. He tore his eyes away from the photos and looked to Reborn. "I'm not involved with the mafia or anything like that." Maybe Reborn had the wrong person. Surely he needed someone who was involved with the Yakuzza or something. Not Tsuna.
"You are the only remaining heir." Reborn pulled out another page. This one looked older, yellowed with age. He handed it to Tsuna, who reluctantly accepted it. The paper was a family tree. And odd one, that didn't name spouses, only fathers - and one mother - and their children.
"Giotto was Vongola Primo. When he retired from the family and gave it to Secondo, he moved to Japan. He married and had a family. You are a descendent of that line through your father." Sure enough, the line of Giotto reached down through the ages until finding Sawada Iemitsu and through him, Tsuna.
"Why can't he be the heir?" Tsuna asked. He shoved the paper to the ground and looked to Reborn hopefully. "He's related too, so he should be the heir. Not me." Let Iemitsu deal with this. It was his problem, not Tsuna's. The man was never around anyway, being a mafia boss shouldn't change that.
"Impossible," Reborn said with a shake of his head. "Iemitsu is the head of CEDEF, a subdivision that is associated with Vongola but is ultimately separate. A spy network, so to speak. Being the boss of that puts him out of the running." Tsuna let his hand fall in a hangdog motion. Of course. It would be too easy if that was the answer.
Tsuna wasn't lucky enough to dodge this so quickly. Any goodwill he had for his father for the man's involuntary help with the club was gone. Tsuna hated the man. He was a deadbeat father who left his wife to raise his son on her own and then has the audacity to leave Tsuna to take the brunt of a problem he never wanted.
"No." Tsuna refused. Reborn cocked an eyebrow. "I refuse to be a part of this." He would not be an heir to some mafia family in Italy. Tsuna mentally crossed the country off his list of potential university locations abroad.
"You will." Reborn assured confidently. "Vongola Nonno hired me to make you into a suitable candidate to become Vongola Decimo. I always get my job done, because I am the greatest hitman in the world." Hitman. Great. Tsuna's tutor was a weird toddler-shaped hitman that wanted him to become a mafia boss.
How was he so unlucky?