A/N:

@Kae Membrana: Thank you for your smile-inducing reviews! They cheered me up yesterday a lot. And yes, the three are somewhat... friends in a way. hahaha.

@NoaRien: Thank you.

@Amaryllis Flick: Hahaha! Tsuna can be indirectly demanding even though it's the people around him who ask things for him. But I won't be that confident about Tsuna... He's still our little fish.

@shironeko black: Thank you. I hope you enjoy this one as well. And well wishes to you and your family too.

Here is the update! Hahaha! I hope you're well, people. Especially your physical and mental health.

Anyway, go on.

Chapter Six

"Yo." Tsuna greeted with a quirky smile while removing one bud from his ear.

"For someone who looks dead on his feet, you look cheery." Katsuki commented as they walked in the campus side by side. "What's with the hair?"

"What's with yours?" He countered back, grinning when the other scowled at him. "Just so you know, this is my signature look. A lot of my friends pointed out that I look like a lion with this hairdo of mine. And this is natural, from roots to the tips and came from my very ancestor."

"You're old then." The blond insulted.

The brunet rose a brow. "Then respect your elders. I want you to address me properly."

"And why would I?"

"Because you said I'm old."

Tsuna ran away with a laughter when the blond tried to capture him in a headlock.

It's actually their first day in UA. Right now, he's wearing the complete uniform he was forced to wear by his Dad. He discovered that grey school uniform is really different from three piece grey suit. If he wasn't taught to be a gentleman, he won't be wearing the uniform and put on his own jacket.

He was going to forgo the necktie, but his Dad said 'no' and told him to be a proper student for once. The hero didn't see him slip his headset in his bag nor loosen up his tie though. Unlike Katsuki, Tsuna only loosen his tie a little while the other dragged it. Oh well, everyone has their own preferences. Maybe he should request for a coat with a hood.

When his Dad came home one night and told him that he passed, he only blinked at the man and went back to cooking. Shouta slapped the back of his head with how dead his reaction was. They decided to celebrate before talking about the requirements he needed to finish. Well, there's the ID, the uniforms and the books. There's also the sketch for their hero costume. He got assured that his hero uniform won't be permanent and he can request for his own adjustments. To say he worked late for it was an understatement. His Dad even laughed at him on how enthusiastic he was of it.

But that's not the reason why he's dead tired on the first day of his class. Some apartment building near them got caught in a fire. He was one of the first to respond and pulled out as many people as he could as a hero tried to extinguish the fire with his quirk. He had to save five children from four different floors, one teenager who woke up with her ceiling on fire, and a support hero who almost fell from the tenth after an explosion from one of the rooms.

He had to be there to see if there are more people inside. When the authorities announced that no one died, he was able to breathe nicely. Good thing he saw his Dad first and was able to go home before Shouta saw him. So to compensate, Tsuna made himself wake up early and cook breakfast before his Dad can even have a slightest clue that he was there.

Tsuna looked up to the label on the door, while being dragged by Katsuki with his book bag strap. Well, he got caught, got a slap on the back of his head and got tugged. He can already imagine Hayato shouting at Katsuki for manhandling him. He shook his head as he followed the blond inside their room. Well, there are people already inside, some were part of his group in the practical test. When Katsuki let go of him, Tsuna went for the single seat at the back of the room. Obviously, he's the odd one out.

"Hi!" A girl, with short shaggy purple hair, black eyes with gold pupils, and purple skin, greeted with smiles. "I'm Mina Ashido! You're that kid with powerful blasters at the practical exam, right?"

Tsuna gave his own cheery smile. "Tsunayoshi Sawada. Tsuna is fine, Ashido-san."

"Oh! You could call me Mina too!" Mina offered with hyped energy all over.

"Then Mina-chan." He agreed.

"This is Eijiro Kirishima." Mina introduced, motioning to a redhead with red eyes. "You didn't see him in our arena because he was in B."

"Yo." Kirishima greeted with sharp teeth showing, eyes twinkling.

He can't help smiling widely and offered his hand. "You can call me Tsuna."

"Cool. Not one for formalities!" The redhead commented, as he took the brunet's hand. "Same! Are you friends with that blond you came in with?"

Tsuna glanced at Katsuki who was arguing with the glasses guy in the practical exam. "Kind of." 'More of he respects me.'

"Is he cool?" Mina queried.

"Well," He grinned cheekily. "for me, he is. But we have our own opinion, right?"

"You're right." Mina nodded, thoughtful.

"But," He leaned in, making the two lean in too. "he's a tsundere."

He laughed as the two cracked up.

"Hey, isn't that-"

The three of them looked at the door to see Shouta sleeping out of his yellow sleeping bag.

"It took you lot eight seconds to quiet down. Life is short, kids. You're all lacking common sense." The man drawled, surveying them. "I'm Shouta Aizawa, your homeroom teacher. Pleasure meeting you." Caramel eyes met black ones for a sec before the latter glanced away as Shouta took something inside his sleeping bag. A blue uniform with white linings. "Wear these immediately, then shove off to the P.E. grounds."

They all went for the dressing rooms after the hero went out. Tsuna didn't talk like anybody else, as he removed his uniform and put them on the locker before putting on the blue uniform. He wrinkled his nose in slight discomfort. Well, the uniform is cotton and comfy, with the sleeves stopping by his elbows. The neckline is like a collar, but it's okay. UA's logo is emphasized on the upped uniform too, with the 'U' outlined from shoulder to chest level, then below is the 'A' with its legs extending to the white outline of the pants.

What Tsuna finds uncomfortable is the way the clothe is pressed on him. He feels self-conscious showing off the body mass he accumulated for five years. Not even his Dad had seen them. Wearing baggy clothes have been his getaway from prying eyes, and suddenly showing them off in UA doesn't really feel nice for him.

As what Shouta instructed, they gathered at the P.E. ground. Their homeroom teacher is already there. Tsuna stayed at the back, having a thought of what will happen. His Dad is freaking eccentric sometimes. He has his own idiosyncrasies when it comes to his students' first day. Tsuna wonders if he'll fit in to his family.

"You guys are complete?" Eraserhead asked, earning the four eyes' answer of 'yes'. "Good. We're having quirk apprehension test."

"I knew it." Tsuna mumbled as his Dad turned around and started to walk away.

"Quirk apprehension test?!" Some of them exclaimed in surprise.

"What about the ceremony? And the guidance councilor meeting?" The brunette with floating quirk questioned.

"If you want to be heroes, we don't have any time for frilly niceties." The man looked back to them. "You all understand the school's reputation for freedom on campus. Well, that 'freedom' goes for us senseis too. Softball pitch, standing long jump, fifty meter dash, endurance running, grip strength test, sustained sideways jumps, upperbody exercises, seated toe touch.

"These are all activities you know from middle school, naturally. Physical activities where you were barred from using your quirks. The country hasn't gotten around to standardizing those sorts of records or keeping track of average performance levels. Well, that's negligence on the part of MEXT. Bakugou," Aizawa addressed to the blond who perked up. "how far could you pitch a softball in middle school?"

"Sixty-seven meters." Katsuki replied.

"Stand there." Shouta nodded to a big circle with a small pitcher mound. Katsuki complied before catching the softball. "Try using your quirk this time around. As long as you don't exit the circle, anything you do is fine. Don't hold back."

The blond stretched his arm before taking a position. "You got it." Then he pitched with an explosion. "Die!"

Tsuna blinked before tilting his head to the side. "Die?"

"Before anything else," Shouta called out as a beeping sound was heard from his hand while the ball Katsuki fired off fell to the ground. "one must know what they're capable of." Then he showed them a device with numbers of seven hundred five point two with a unit of meter. "This is a rational metric that will form the basis of your 'hero foundation'."

Tsuna winced when his classmates started to exclaim how cool was that, and how unbelievable was Katsuki's new record. Some even exclaimed how fun it looks. He didn't try to placate them. Why would he? He can sympathize with his Dad's thoughts and feelings.

The brunet does not qualify himself as a hero. Reborn pounded that to his head. A hero is a Symbol of Peace and scare off the criminals. Tsuna is not, and will never be. He first became a mafia boss before he turned the Vongola into a vigilante group, like what it originally was four hundred years ago. He is a vigilante for twenty years, and being one is not a joke. After coming to this world and doing his own works at the age of ten, he's a justification of how hard it is for the heroes to do their jobs. Even the underground hero ones. To see his Dad get home, wounded and bleeding? Because it's work. Because it's their job to save others.

Hero works are dangerous, that's a fact.

"So you were planning to spend your three years here, having a good ol' time? What happened to becoming heroes?" His Dad remarked, taking the others by surprise as he glares at them with vengeance. "All right then. In that case, new rule: the student who rank last in total points will be judged 'hopeless' and instantly expelled."

His fellow students stared at their teacher in astonishment as the latter grinned sardonically at them while combing his hair with a hand. Yup. He should've never taught that to him too.

"Our freedom means we dispense with students as we please. Welcome to this. The Department of Heroics."

Voices of complaints were heard that Tsuna didn't bother to hear.

"Natural disasters, massive accidents, ego mad scientist, etcetera. All kinds of calamities can happen when we least expect them." Aizawa continued on, ruffling his hair again. "Japan's now positively drenched in 'unreasonable'. And it's our job as heroes to reverse it all, and restore reason. If you were counting on a friendly chat at the local Mcdonald's after school, that's too bad. From now on, for the next three years, all you can expect from your life at Yuuei is one hardship after the next. This is Plus Ultra." Then he raised a hand, giving out a challenging smirk. "I expect you to overcome these trials and climb to the top."

Tsuna can't help smiling at the challenge.

"Now then, that was the demonstration. Time to step up to the plate."

Caramel eyes glanced away when expectant black eyes looked at him. Not that he can't have his Dad proud or something. Heck, he's also a kid who loves to get praises from his parent, be it an adoptive one. But, Shouta shouldn't expect him to top every trial, right? Even with his 'quirk' and 'ability', he can't just show them off. That's not how he works.

He did alright in all trials. Sometimes in the middle, rarely near the top. He didn't really break his personal records since he didn't use his quirk nor ability. He can't rest burns, thank you very much. He has to keep them low too, since he doesn't want much attention. He kept his head low everytime as well, so he won't catch his Dad's eyes. He doesn't want encouragement.

"Next." Shouta called out before throwing them a new ball.

Tsuna stepped back and let Midoriya catch the ball. He looked away when he got a subtle glare from the hero. He watched everything from the side. At some point, he had to purse his lips to keep his smile to himself when Midoriya was able to impress his Dad. When it was his time to go, he stared at the man who told him to-

"Start all over?" He repeated. "But D-D-Aizawa-sensei-" He had to bit his lower lip to stop himself from snickering at his almost mishaps. Damn. The man has a good pokerface. "I was able to do it nicely. Why again?"

"You didn't use your quirk. I know so because I was watching your practical exams." Shouta nodded to the first trial. "Go on, Sawada."

Tsuna sighed before running for the first trial.

He couldn't look at his classmates who kept on glancing at him from the trial six after their teacher told him to start over. How can he? When all of them were using their quirks, he was just using his own physique? When the robot said the signal, he pulled on his dying will and used his hands as boosters to reach the goal. He didn't mind the new record that made some of the onlookers' jaws drop.

He was given the grip strength test machine. He stared at it with exasperation and gripped it with what he had. Next was the standing long jump, which he busted by just flying over and landing on the far end. The sustained sideways jump was pretty simple, and he broke his record at first. But since start over, he did it all over again. He stalked towards their teacher who grinned at him.

"Don't hold back." The teacher taunted, sides of his lips quirking.

Tsuna's orange eyes narrowed a little before he took on a pitching form, remembering how Takeshi taught him some years ago. "With my dying will." And he pitched it. He turned back to the teacher to see the meter. "How far?"

"A thousand." The other smirked before shooing him away. "Go on now."

He let his flames snuff out as he huffed. "How's your eyes?"

"Dry. That kid made it dry." The hero sighed.

Tsuna flickered the eyedrop he always had in his pocket before going for the others who were already doing the next trial. "Keep it up, Dad."

"Sure, Tsuna." Eraserhead hummed before putting eyedrops on his eyes.

By the end of the day, all of them passed. Eraserhead told them that the expel thingy was a ruse. Tsuna didn't want to see the result, but Mina pointed his name for him. He was just below Katsuki, who looked at his hands and dragged him off to where Recovery Girl was, with Midoriya in tow. He can feel the tension in the air between the two. Especially from Katsuki. With some reasons, he became the mediator between the two of them too.

When his hands got healed, the three of them returned to the locker room to change. Midoriya was the first to go, not wanting to agitate Katsuki. And since the blond is not doing anything nor saying anything, Tsuna didn't talk too. They proceeded to the rest of the day.

When he got home, the brunet realized how tired he was. He was able to change in his sweats and cook dinner. Before he even registered what he was doing, he found himself laying on the couch and trying to relax.

"Tired?" Shouta asked him when the hero got home and checked on him.

Tsuna lifted his head from the plush cushion and glared at the man. "You are one heck of a sadist."

"Aw. Don't be mean. You already know how I work." Aizawa teased before going somewhere. "Have you done dinner?"

"Yes. Just placing them..." He can't help his eyes from dropping as he let his head fall back. "will be..."

"You look sleepy, Bud." He heard his Dad stated.

"Just tired..." He sighed, feeling his consciousness slipping. "I was..."

"It's fine. I'll call them that I'm taking the night off."

"Hm..."

"Go to sleep. We'll eat later."

And Tsuna did.

"Sawada."

Tsuna looked up from his doodling to see Hizashi gazing at him. "Yes, Present Mic-sensei?"

"You're being called to the principal's office." The hero informed before gesturing him to go. "Get back as soon as possible."

"Yes, Sir." He answered while pulling his earphones on.

The hall was fairly quiet since he's the only one out. Classes from other sections are ongoing like theirs. So far, their morning classes were normal. There are the normal subjects such as English, Japanese, History. There's also Math. And in his opinion, having new teachers for those subjects makes them a little bearable. Not that he doesn't entertain himself with small music and doodling.

These days, he had been thinking about his old life. He got so used to the Quirk world that he can only refer for his old one as an experience that he shouldn't forget. He missed seeing this new world's version of his ex-guardians. Or maybe his guardians in general.

Sighing, he removed his buds and knocked on the door of the principal's office. He heard Nezu permitting him to come in, so he did. He closed the door behind him before taking a seat after he got directed to it.

"Good morning, Nezu-sensei." He greeted.

"Good morning, Tsuna." The principal smiled. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Adjusting nicely to the new school." He disclosed with honesty, taking the cup of tea he knew was for him.

"Good to hear. How's Aizawa as your homeroom?" Nezu mused.

Tsuna sighed. "Sadist."

Nezu chuckled before turning the computer monitor to the brunet's way. "A lot of teachers are wondering what quirk name are we going to put. You didn't specify here while you did when you went to pass your costume sketch."

Tsuna pursed his lips. "You can put Dying Will."

"Dying Will?" The principal questioned, clicking the letters to form the words. "Why that?"

"Well, my ability isn't like a fire. It's flames. It's pretty different from the fire quirks. I don't explode, nor just make fire. I harmonize." He breathed as he tried to remember what Reborn told him and how his flame type works. "In an instance, we can say that the human body is an orchestra. If one organ fails to play, there's an imbalance. My flames, or dying will, will be the reason why that one organ that failed to do its duty will be able to perform again. It's like until it was given enough supplements, I will still be able to make it work."

"Oh." The principal uttered, eyes blinking.

He turned sheepish. "I know it's kinda complicated, but when you see it in action, you'll know how it will work."

"Does Aizawa know of this?" Nezu asked.

He shook his head. "Dad doesn't know my quirk, except for the... Other one."

"Other one?"

He winced. "I don't really like using it because it's my trump card. So can't it be not recognized?"

The principal sighed, oddly fond. "But you have to tell me what it is."

Tsuna nodded, relieved.

When he got back to class, Tsuna got tugged by the others to the grand mess, where a hero named Lunch Rush was cooking. He ate with Ojiro, Satou and Kouda. Ojiro is a martial artist, Satou has a quirk named sugar rush (Byakuran will love this guy) and Kouda is a shy person who can talk to animals. He bonded with the three a little, about mundane things and the practical exam.

After that, they went back to class to have their afternoon class. What he didn't expect was All Might teaching them Foundational Hero Studies.

"For this class, we'll be building your hero foundation with various trials where you'll get tons of credit for it! Let's jump right in this!" He proudly showed a rectangular plate with 'battle' on it. "The trial of battle!"

Tsuna perked up like how others did.

"And to go with your first battle," The Symbol of Peace gestured to the wall on their left where rectangular outlines can be seen. It slowly opened and showed some see through panels with numbers on them. "We've prepared the gear we had you send in requests for to match your quirks!"

The brunet grinned, getting a little excited to see if the school really made his request.

"Get changed and we'll be ready to go! Everyone gather at ground Beta!" The hero announced while walking for the door as others took their battle uniforms. "The garb you bring into the battlefield is vitally important, boys and girls! And don't forget. From here on out," All Might stopped by the door to look back to them. "you're all officially heroes!"

"Yes!" His classmates shouted in unison.

Tsuna went for the last number, which was twenty-one. He opened the glass and took the packet out. He stared at it before sighing. He just hopes nothing serious will go through that afternoon.