Chapter 88
And Step Into A New Environment
I've changed a few ages to make things more interesting, but in general most people are the right age. I think it's only Spanner and Shoichi's ages I've changed, making them a year younger. And since Fran is never given an actual age as far as I know, I'm making him the same age as Tsunayoshi, we can say in the future he looks young for his age.
"Could all students please report to the courtyard. The Dean will soon be making his address."
The children look at one another, before Tsunayoshi smiles, turning towards where all of the other students were heading. "Well, I suppose we go this way then?"
Mukuro shrugs his shoulders, but turns and walks in that direction anyway. Hayato stays at Tsunayoshi's side, walking with him and pointing out things of interest around the school. Chikusa, however, turns in the other direction, grabbing the back of Ken's collar as he tries to leave.
"Let me go byon! I don't wanna goooo!" Ken howls, scrambling against the hold, trying to run towards the gates. That scary Luce wasn't around, so now he could sneak off. Who needed to go to school anyway? He was sure it was going to be boring, he'd rather nap on the grass in the park across the road instead. Like any wild animal, Ken turns around as best as he can in Chikusa's hold and attempts to bite Chikusa's hand. Chikusa sighs and retaliates by smacking Ken in the nose with one of his yoyos. The beastchild lets out a high pitched yelp, both hands going over his nose to protect it.
Their actions have drawn the attention of other children, all looking their way and whispering in groups. At first they had thought a fight was going to happen, but then they had listened to the rather strange noises the blond one had made. A howl, growling and a yelp like a kicked puppy. Strange.
Ken, still growling low in his throat, wonders why he even agreed to come in the first place. He was already feeling constricted and penned in, a feeling he didn't like one bit. The walls were so high and the gate reminded him of his cell's back metal bars.
"Ken, Chikusa, hurry up, you're going to be late!" Tsunayoshi shouts, running over to them. "Let's go, let's go!" Tsunayoshi smiles. The children around wonder if they are going to have to save the innocent looking boy that ran up to the feral beast.
Ken grumbles, turning away from the smile. "Okay, I'll go. But only so Luce won't come after me with her bag."
They meet back up with Hayato- who gives Ken a smack on the head for 'being a bother to Tsunayoshi-sama'- and he directs them to the line where they needed to be. Mukuro was nowhere in sight, most likely off with the second years who were lining up somewhere else.
As they are walking past, a small hand reaches out and grabs the hem of Tsunayoshi's jumper. Feeling the tug, Tsunayoshi stops and turns towards the person. His eyes light up and he (gently) leaps on the person.
"Enma!" He shouts happily. "So you came too!"
Enma nods, carefully returning the hug, glad that most students were too involved in their own conversations to be watching them. "I'm glad to have found you Tsunayoshi," Enma says quietly. "A-are these friends of yours?" He asks gingerly, looking at the three rather scary people at Tsunayoshi's back. One, who he was pretty sure was called Hayato, he remembered the silveret from the time when Tsunayoshi had been kidnapped, was glaring at him, a blond one was licking his lips as if Enma was something to be eaten, and the one with a hat on looked rather emotionless.
Tsunayoshi leans backwards, one hand still on Enma's shoulder. "Yeah! They all live with me. Well, not in my house but in The Shed." Enma blinks at that, it was a strange place to live, but who was he to question the Arcobaleno? (As long as Tsunayoshi was never sent there since it sounded suspiciously like a cover up for a dungeon.) "That's Ken and Chikusa, they and Hayato will be in the same class as us."
"Students! It is a pleasure to see you all here today."
"Oh, it looks like the Dean's speech is starting," Tsunayoshi whispers. He pulls Enma with him, the others following as they sneak to the back of their class line.
"My name is Professor Borin, and I am the Dean of this school."
Borin, Borin… Why did that sound so familiar? Tsunayoshi thinks. The voice sounded familiar too.
"All of you are here for an important reason. To become part of the future generation."
Oooh~ That sounded so familiar. But where had he heard it before now? A mission with one of the others maybe? A… a tutor! That's it, a tutor had had this voice.
Tsunayoshi stands on his tip toes, trying to look over the heads of the taller children around him. After a few seconds he stops, realising that the others were just too tall. Instead, he takes a peek to the side, looking down to the other end and seeing…
… Reborn?
What was Reborn doing here? Although it was no wonder the voice had sounded familiar. Tsunayoshi remembered a few months back when he and Reborn had snuck into the house of a Mafia Boss, pretending to be the child's tutor and the tutor's son. They had snuck in, gotten some information, stolen a few black market books from the library and left again.
"Ne, ne, Hayato, do you see Reborn up there?" Tsunayoshi whispers, pointing towards the Dean. A Dean who just happened to have curly sideburns and liked to wear a hat.
"Hmm, no I haven't seen Reborn since last week Tsunayoshi-sama." Hayato replies, taking a good look at their new Dean. Hayato didn't like the look of him though, he looked too nice and friendly. This school took in Mafioso's children, there was no way a civilian was the head of it. Plus Hayato didn't trust adults anyway, they were always lying.
Tsunayoshi pouts, taking another look at the Dean. He was sure it was Reborn! So instead he asks Ken, Chikusa and Enma. All three say it's not Reborn either. That makes Tsunayoshi want to gape at them; It couldn't be more obvious that the Dean was Reborn! Although Reborn had said he had to go to a job this morning… this surely wasn't the job he was talking about, was it?
Tsunayoshi put the thought out of his mind, instead smiling to himself, pleased that Reborn had gone to such lengths to keep an eye on him. Especially in such a public way, usually Reborn was hiding in the trees nearby instead. It was amazing the effort Reborn went to to show he cared.
"That is all. Teachers, please escort your children out of here."
Tsunayoshi jumped, realising that he had missed most of the speech. He follows the other people infront of him, eventually entering a classroom. The students are milling around, chatting or deciding where to sit.
"Yo, Tsunayoshi!"
A shout makes Tsunayoshi look up, and he sees Takeshi waving at him from the back of the room. With him were Haru and Kyoko. All three (four if you included Ryohei) were already good friends from all the time they spent together. Dodging people and desks, Tsunayoshi makes his way over to the others. Ken and Chikusa, not up to being introduced to every single person Tsunayoshi knew- which they believed was a lot- went to the back corner and claimed the seats there. Chikusa plays with his yoyo with one hand, the other on the desk propping his head up as he observed his new classmates. Meanwhile Ken places his feet on the table, chair leant back, and chewed a piece of bubble gum.
"Hey Takeshi, Haru, Kyoko. I didn't know you guys were coming too." They weren't Mafioso's children after all. (It was later explained that letting their children come to this prestigious school was a perk of accepting the Mafia Row job.)
"Well pops just told me I was going to school and took us here this morning. Did you know they have a baseball club here?" Takeshi explains, before pointing out of the window to the baseball pitch outside.
"Che! Is baseball all you can think about?" Hayato growls, offended that this child had brushed off Tsunayoshi-sama's kindness like that and hadn't even greeted him properly.
"Hmm? But I like baseball. Tsunayoshi and I play it sometimes." Takeshi replies, smiling at Hayato despite the other's anger.
"Hey, why are you so grumpy?" Haru asks, hands on hips as she leans forwards. Hayato growls under his breath. This woman got on his nerves every time he had seen her- which thankfully wasn't often, only when the whole island got together.
Kyoko smiles at the arguing trio before smiling and greeting Tsunayoshi politely as usual. Tsunayoshi replies back before leaving the trio to argue whatever it was out. He had a feeling that arguments like these were common, or were going to become common at least. In fact he could practically hear the arguments in his head now…
Shaking off the feeling, he looks around the room to see who else he recognised. He spots the mechanics at the front of the room, so Tsunayoshi goes over to them, Enma trailing behind. Just as he is about to call out to the pair (who are already bored and tinkering away at something), he gets a harsh slap on the back.
"What's up, Tsunayoshi-chan?" Asks Naito, grinning broadly. Somehow Naito had already defaced his uniform, safety pins adorning the collar and rips at the elbows and knees. Behind the Tomaso heir is Lunga, looking blank as he nods his head in time to the music playing in his headphones. Pantera is there too, somehow having found a lace parasol in the same shade as the green uniform. It's hard to tell what she is doing since her eyes are hidden under her bangs as usual.
"Ah, good morning Naito," Tsunayoshi smiles, pretending that the pat on the back hadn't hurt. He smiles at Enma, who had jumped at the sudden arrival, assuring the timid child that he was fine. "You're in this class too? That's cool."
Naito puts his hands behind his head, still grinning stupidly. "Yeah, as cool as an ice cube. I'll catch'a later, I've got my eye on this sweet chair." Tsunayoshi watches the Tomaso children go, picking chairs at the back centre. Once sat down, Naito fiddles with one of his piercings whilst humming loudly (and unbearably out of tune) some sort of rock song to himself.
"They were… err… different," Enma comments, looking at the weird trio too.
"Hmm, well the Tomaso are different in general." Tsunayoshi explains before continuing on his journey to see the mechanics.
"Good morning Shoichi, Spanner. Where are the others?" Tsunayoshi asks, not seeing any of the rest of the Gesso Family.
"Not here." Spanner says, concentrating on the screwdriver instead of Tsunayoshi.
"A-ah, what Spanner means is that Byakuran and Daisy are in the year above us and the rest are in the big kid's school. Bluebell is still at home, although she threw a fit when we told her we'd be leaving." Shoichi shudders, remembering the tantrum she had thrown. Seeing that look makes Tsunayoshi thankful that Chrome hadn't gotten too mad at them.
"So what are you working on?" Tsunayoshi asks, peering down at the small box.
In answer, Spanner lifts the box up so Tsunayoshi and Enma can see it. He then pushes a button and a monster resembling a pacman ghost springs out of the box and into the faces of the two boys.
"Heeii!"
"Yaaah!"
Both jump and scream at the scare. Tsunayoshi, being the clumsy little boy he is- his life wasn't currently in danger- catches his foot on the desk and falls over, accidentally taking Enma with him. They land loudly in a pile on the floor.
The class had gone quiet at the scream, and some of the other students come closer to check on them. What they see is two adorable boys clinging to each other in fright, eyes wide and teary from the pain of the fall.
"Hey, isn't he cute? His hair is so fluffy like a plushie!"
"The other one is cute too, especially with than bandage on his cheek."
"But you're not seeing the bigger picture. Look at them both, I just want to hug them and check they're okay."
The pair are oblivious to the whisperings going on, instead trying to fend off Hayato who had immediately run over at the noise.
"What do you think you're doing?" Hayato shouts, turning to the pair of mechanics, eyes flashing in anger.
"Testing our latest creation." Spanner replies, unfazed by Hayato's anger- now an angry Byakuran, that was something to be scared of.
Hayato pauses in his tirade, blinking before looking down at the device. "You made this?" He asks, picking it up to examine it. Tsunayoshi was half waiting for the glasses to appear on Hayato's face, he seemed so engrossed.
"Alright alright, settle down brats," grumbles the teacher, walking back into the room. "Hey you two, get off the floor." He sneers, lip raised in disgust. Tsunayoshi and Enma quickly scramble back up. "Pick a seat, any will do." He waves his hand in an uncaring manner.
Tsunayoshi looks around, deciding to sit in the middle row next to the window. He stares out of it, looking at the sports ground below and the city beyond that.
"Che, back off wench, I'm sitting here!"
"Maa maa, it's just a seat, although I really want… hey when did Enma get there?"
"Haru likes this seat desu~ And that means that Kyoko should sit here."
"Okay Haru, that's fine with me."
"… Ladies first I suppose. Haha, that means this seat is mine then."
"That means that we should be able to sit here then, right Claire?"
"Yes Miria, I do believe that Rose-sama would be happy with this position."
Tsunayoshi blinks at the commotion going on around him, wondering what all the fuss was about. Looking around, he finds Hayato to his right, Enma sat directly behind and Takeshi with the seat diagonally behind to the right. Ken and Chikusa were sat behind Enma and Takeshi. In front of him was Haru, with Kyoko to Haru's right, Spanner and Shoichi infront of them, right at the front of the class. To the right of Takeshi and Hayato were two Cervello girls, still with their black masks on their faces.
"Hey, shut it!" The teacher says, voiced raised. "Now that you're all settled we can move on. I am Nezu-sensei and I shall be your homeroom teacher."
"Now this is just hypothetically speaking… Let's just say there is a sole student that scores in the 20 range and painfully lowers the class average… According to me, who's come through an elite course, that kind of person will just be baggage and a burden on the education-conscious society."
"Boy are you mean Nezu-sensei, telling them to dig up a time capsule that isn't buried."
"Why are the test scored of an elite man like you in the time capsule of our ordinary middle school?!"
Tsuna blinks, looking again at the man who was to be their teacher this year. Was he really the same man? Were they… were they going to be okay with a teacher like him?
"Now listen up brats, I'm about to start the literature lesson."
The next few chapters will be more of setting up as such, but then we move onto the more interesting stuff. So I hope you'll stick with it.
See you next time!
Phantom Hitman 1412
First Published 17 March 2013