Authors Note: SO ITS A HAPPY NEW YEAR, WELCOME TO YEAR 2024 AND FOR THIS LONG DUE UPDATE, i HOPE THAT YOU'D LIKE IT!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Ah, maybe I was the one with a separation anxiety disorder.' Tsuna thought dazedly, standing rooted on his place, not even trying to reply to the ominous greeting he received.
In front of him was a person he'd never wished to encounter again, not before and not for eternity. Sharp slanted eyes, handsome face, bastard attitude. You name it. The man that sad casually on one of the chair tables was the epitome picture of a bully if you could ever find one that can topple it.
"What? Dame-Tsuna, cat got your tongue. Should I pull it out? Come on, it's been years, you should say something!" The student exclaimed, gathering laughter from his peers.
Hideyoshi Masao, excellent grades, charismatic aura, demon personality. He was Tsuna's main tormentor and the origin of the 'Dame-Tsuna' moniker that grew up stuck with Tsuna as others had viewed. Ranging from physical to verbal bullying, as well as downright student manipulation, he was and still perhaps is the utmost vile person you'd meet hiding behind the most angelic smiles.
Comparatively, Tsuna is a boss, or rather a boss to be. He was soon to be the Vongola Decimo, so what is a bully in return? It's already been 5 years since he last saw the guy. Lesser since he met Reborn and ever since, Tsuna had changed. He should be unfazed already, right?
But still Tsuna stood frozen, as there was a bubbling uncomfortable feeling from the pits of his stomach as cold sweat formed from behind as feelings of trepidation washed over him unsure of what to do or what to think. He is aware he should speak, laugh it off, but his jaws were locked tight in an adamant refusal to speak. This would most certainly piss Hideyoshi off but, he really wasn't sure what to say.
As Hideyoshi frowned, and the buffoons that surrounded him snickered sensing the danger Tsuna was digging for himself, Tsuna felt he should response in some way lest Hideyoshi get upset or it could be worse.
"What are you doing standing here in the hallway? Class will be starting soon." A deep and snarky voice called out from Tsuna snapping him out of his stupor. Soft bells began to ring in the back of Tsuna's mind seeing how he was sneaked upon and not having any idea until he was close, that's not everyday occurrence.
"Proceed to your seats if don't want to be marked absent, oh... and seat properly" The man said as he went past Tsuna tapping him on the shoulder while directing the last part to the students who were still too busy to fix themselves. Taking this cue for granted, Tsuna went ahead to the empty seat at the back, placed by the window. Typical empty seat. Perhaps due to the sunlight that slips softly into the room when the morning sun hits the school.
When everyone was settled, the morning greetings rang out quickly then the man introduced his self.
"The name's Kagiura Rentaro, your homeroom teacher for the whole school year and your Oral Comms subject teacher. Recently hired, and technically your supervisor for all sorts of things within the school. If you have questions go ahead and ask, not that I promise to answer questions unrelated to academics accurately."
His introduction was brief and that was all the students needed to start firing questions which their teacher, Kagiura-sensei, answered rapidly as well in short sentences or phrases, sometimes just giving a short yes or no.
He was enigmatic, looks are above average but probably not as handsome as Gokudera, Xanxus or even Hibari. There were only a few of the students who did not join, which Tsuna was a part of. He opted to observe first and reassess what happened earlier.
It was certain that Tsuna had some reservations when a bully from the past resurfaced, and as anxiety flooded his mind, he began thinking what the supposed implications is of this suddenly happening. He retracted his mind how this could impact the life Tsuna had built for himself. Would it be better if he just let it be? Or will letting things be eventually become a harm for his family?
"... awada"
But then, what effect can Hideyoshi alone present to his family? In the end Tsuna decided to just let it be, it's still normal teasing, nothing too excessive.
'Yep, let's do that.' He thought finding his heart calm down.
"Sawada!" A clear gruff voice snapped him away from his thoughts as laughter bubbled from his surroundings. Noticing that he had delved too deep into his thoughts, Tsuna grimaced as he met the new teacher's face who had his brow lifted as if questioning what's got him so focused.
"Sir?"
"Your attendance, Sawada. Or would you like it to be marked as absent, since it looks like your head's not with us yet." With a biting remark, Kagiura-sensei said, eyebrows raised in question. Tsuna flustered in response, a bright red flush growing from his neck which he only replied with a soft whisper of his presence. "Again, Sawada." Kagiura-sensei urged further, and Tsuna cried out this time speaking louder with a 'Yes sir!'. Kagiura-sensei saw it fitting and moved on to call students from across the room then first class of the day began.
~~~~~~~~~
Lunchtime came swiftly after 4 grueling hours of sitting, listening to soft murmurs of non-understandable lectures about these and those subjects. Not that Tsuna hadn't already made a rough encounter with these topics or even more advanced progress having Reborn for a tutor. He had always proclaimed to be a whole step ahead than the rest of the year. A tall order but not as hard as it should sound.
The gang met up in their usual spot on the rooftop, exchanging their thoughts on the first day and of what noteworthy events had transpired for each of them.
For Yamamoto and Gokudera, it was a mundane life that couldn't be any more than peaceful on their own terms. Kyoko, Hanna, and Chrome's had a new student, a dashing teen who made the classroom laugh amiably with his first sentence. As for Tsuna, he told them about the new teacher he had and how peculiar he seemed but made no moves to mention his encounter with a past... classmate. I mean there's no need to add unease but that would only be valid if the mentioned classmate had done him no inconvenience.
How Tsuna wishes it will continue to stay like this.
~~~~~~~~~
"Now turn to page 45 for the basics of Oral Communication. That will be your basis for the graded performance your gonna have starting next meeting." Kagiura-sensei's voice drawled out the morning to a dull session as it always had now that they are a few weeks in their academic year.
Not much had happened to Tsuna as weird as it could be for the mafia heir. Especially with Reborn being absent again. Tsuna noticed that the infant has been going to and from the house in ungodly hours doing God knows what but still never seem to forget Tsuna's Training. Every time Reborn is away, he'll leave a robot look-alike that whips Tsuna into his training schedule.
He sits quietly gazing outside daydreaming, tuned away from the soft noises of the morning and peacefulness radiating from having a normal day in class, aside from a few pangs of pain ringing from his body of course.
'It hurts likeeee hell... Damn you as always Reborn!'
Though for Tsuna's own opinion, it was never an unwelcome ache. This morning as well was a hellish one, because the robot made Tsuna run a 25-kilometer run around Namimori and had him strengthen his core for producing flames with the help of the pills which will continue in the afternoon. It was a consensus that both student and teacher agreed to when Tsuna forget his pills during a one-time pinch.
Anyways in a strange way, Tsuna felt bored. Wait Bored? Tsuna is feeling bored?? With the peace he loved so much?? Oh no, Reborn has completely rubbed off on our dear Tsuna. One day his moral compass might just tip over between chaotic neutral or something. Tsuna felt goosebumps just thinking about the influence Reborn had on him.
But let's retract, Graded performance? What was that about? Tsuna was snapped off from his daydreaming when new information announced by their teacher rang loudly, a bit more enthusiastic that would be left unnoticed by unobservant people than Kagiura-sensei's usual drawl.
"What is starting?" Tsuna mused to himself sitting up a bit more slightly to listen intently.
"Looks like that had your attention. The graded performance will be in the form of impromptu conversations that you'll be having with me, your teacher. I'll prepare a box of prompts that you'll pick randomly inside, which can go from 'a friendly date with your neighbor' to a 'news report of the murdered victim' etcetera. Each have 6 minutes to partake in the conversation, would that suffice?" Kagiura-sensei explained to the class, earning him whispers and murmurs on the difficulty of the task and the questionable rules it could have.
One student raised a hand in question. "Sir, will it not take long if it's 6 minutes of conversation per student? Our session only has a 1 hour to be conducted unless the sequence will be continued in our next meeting?"
"That's a rational question, let's see..." Having heard the question, Kagiura-sensei contemplated to himself as he looked over his class and decided, "Well you can form groups of 2s and 3s but no more than that as having too many members might clash with the basics of what I must teach. Yes, let's settle with that. Anyone else that would like to add??"
Silence
"If you don't, I'll explain further. You are given 100 points in the beginning, in groups of 2 or 3, you'll be having a six-minute conversation with me depending on the conversation prompts, and it must be a full-on English conversation. I would accept nothing less than logical responses and in-line answers. Rules for points deduction: Anyone that seems to stray from the prompt given will be deducted. Incoherent and inconsistent English will be deducted. Irrelevant and not understandable grammar also deducted. And biggest deductions would most definitely be, half baked responses that you just blurt out WITHOUT any form of thinking." Each rule was emphasized as their teacher walked back and forth in front of their blackboard, holding up his figures to have their attention longer as he confirmed to his students. "Are we clear? You can now proceed to make your groups."
After that was a chorus of yessirs and the rest of the class clamored to continue talking to each other looking to find their partner for the task.
Tsuna looked to his neighboring seats to see that they were already talking to somebody, and when he caught eye contact with another student, that student whipped around so fast to avoid looking at him which happened more than once after. Tsuna felt his heart twitch at the blatant ignorance.
Now here comes the problem, as many of you might know, Tsuna doesn't really have much popularity with the common civilians, and he has quite a reputation, so when groupings are being made it was only natural that of the unaware students would like to be in a group with him. You'd think, he's already in High school, and his 3rd year, so it should have died down!! Even if Tsuna was still clumsy but his grades were already decent, just the right average and was never as abysmal as it was before Reborn. And just English conversations? That's completely a piece of cake for Tsuna now, if you just remove his hesitation and weird fixation on being 'Normal' or at the very least average which he was not.
Many of his Guardians would agree wholeheartedly with one another just to see their boss shine as he should, at the same time they don't want their boss to be seen as he was in his glory, talk about confusing,
"Well, seems like there's 1 of you that will be left without a group so the conversation will only take place with me and you. Of course, because it's only you, you go first. I can have the name of the student??"
"Its Dame-Tsuna sir!" Hideyoshi Masao exclaimed from the other side of the room. Wow, way to go really. Having Tsuna feel the outright isolation is a new feeling all together especially after Tsuna and his friends were separated. Or perhaps it was already there, just buffered by his guardians around him hence he never really noticed. Still, it hurt all over and Tsuna views this as just reality.
"Dame-Tsuna? Why is it Dame-Tsuna?" Having heard of this moniker for the first time, Kagiura, the teacher was taken aback slightly as the whole class laughed at themselves or loudly.
"Yes, Ren-chan! It's Dame Tsuna, cause like he's no good really. A disaster on shoes, leave your eyes away from him, he'd just be running on his boxers or falling around the stairs. He'd tend to blotch things over and ruin things before fixing it." Another student chipped in from the front, leaning over his table as if he would not be heard. Those who did hear snickered.
But he was, and Tsuna's sent into a spiral of thoughts.
'waaaaaaait?? Eeeeeh? That's how the school sees me?? Is that supposed to an upgrade from the no-good status who can't do anything?" Tsuna did not know what to feel, whether discouragement, sadness, or shame in the sudden enlightenment of the situation and the teacher in turn only raised an eyebrow at the student who filled him in. The school bell then rang indicating the signal for their breaktime.
"Well, either way, Tsunayoshi will be conversing with me and will be the first to converse with me. And there goes the bell. Make sure that everyone is prepared, and Oh Sawada, a word if you please."
Tsuna thought he could have escaped and was about ready to go when they were dismissed but, Kagiura-sensei called for him. He frowned in worry as he thought that maybe he's in trouble, but then again, trouble with what? If anything, Tsuna was the one who was laughed at so in understanding of this he waited for the rest of the students to file out with his teacher.
Unnervingly enough, the teacher just stared at him in a deadpan manner, indifferent and cold, with how those light blue eyes eerily shone through his glasses. Tsuna couldn't break eye contact, clutching his bag in awkwardness as he waited to see what his teacher would do or even say.
Sweat formed in the duration it took the last student to get out and it was trepidation all over.
'How... creepy.' The mafia don thought in undisguised tension.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi. 17 years old. About average in every subject since 3rd year in middle school and basically abysmal before that. Hm, were you called Dame-Tsuna for a long time?"
"Umm... Yes sir." Okay strange, Tsuna did not expect that opening intro and question. "Probably since Elementary, and well they are quite onto something actually since I wasn't a star student. It's fine though sir, really, its not a big deal. I'm already used to it. Sir..." Tsuna explained feeling a bit hesitant to continue further and sound utterly depreciating.
"Used to it, huh... are you fine with it? Sawada Tsunayoshi, being called such? Not really endearing if I have any say, for a nickname." It becomes weirder as the teacher stepped away from his desk, seemingly approaching him in soft unbidden steps.
"It's not really doing any harm is it sir? Umm... I mean, it's a nickname that already stuck so in a way it's a sort of remembrance of me and my quirks, that's why... Though it sucks being remembered in a negative manner, err.. I am alright with it. I hope that doesn't irk you in some ways?" At this point Tsuna would have been rambling, in a very awkward manner because as long as Tsuna speaks, the man in front of him just gets more and more... what's the word? Overbearing and menacing. But Tsuna's H.I never rang loudly to indicate danger so Tsuna could only stand there, his head caving into his shoulders.
"Have you ever thought of correcting it?" His teacher still insists and hints on something that Tsuna is unsure of. Perhaps his teacher wants him to stand up? But who is this man to tell him so?
"No sir." Tsuna firmly replies this time tensing a slight frown moving deeper in suspicion.
"Just somebody around. Now let me ask you, are you No-Good Tsuna? Even with the support of your Famiglia behind you?" And wait Hold on... Famiglia? Not Family?
"Who are you?"
"And you, are you really no-good... Tsunayoshi-kun?"