"Aieeeeee! PERVERT!" A girlish voice screamed out, disturbing Tsuna from his thoughts and drawing another amused chuckle from Reborn. He turned toward the noise and caught sight of a bright red girl who was covering her eyes with her hands while peeking through the gaps in her fingers.
She had brown hair pulled into a ponytail, leaving some parts to hang forward in bangs. From what he could see, her eyes were brown as well. She wore a school uniform that he had never seen before, so this girl went to a different school than him.
She was staring at him, both fascinated and disturbed by the sight before her. Tsuna was confused for one brief moment before everything clicked into place as the information he was reading from her and his own memories caught up.
When he burst into flames, all of his clothes except his boxers had literally melted off his body. A feeling of sheer mortification ran through him as he started to stutter and go red himself. He looked around desperately for some sort of out.
"Ciaossu," Reborn greeted the newcomer from the side instead of helping.
Hearing Reborn's voice shifted the girl's attention away from Tsuna for a moment as she looked over at the small child by his side. She froze as she caught sight of the small child standing beside the near-naked boy.
She turned almost mechanically back to Tsuna, no longer covering her face. Her eyes were in a fierce glare, and she looked at Tsuna like he was the scum of the earth. The mortification Tsuna was feeling started to expand tenfold.
He could see the dots connecting in her head, and he could not even blame her for her thoughts. How else was she supposed to take the sight she found before her?
"A filthy pervert, and you are dragging that sweet angel into your degeneracy! You should be ashamed!" The girl screamed out as she marched forward to Tsuna, ignoring her previous discomfort as she got into his personal space and poked at his chest harshly.
That poke might as well have been a tickle, but the mental damage Tsuna was currently feeling was near overwhelming.
"Wait, wait! I know what this looks like, but I can explain!" Tsuna shouted back desperately. He had no idea what he could say to save this, but he did not want this girl thinking he was a pervert who went around flashing small children for his amusement.
Reborn was not even a fucking child; he was a supernatural creature using that innocent image to hide his insidious ways!
The girl paused for a moment, seeing his earnest plea and maybe seeing something trustworthy in his eyes for just a brief second. Then Reborn opened his stupid little mouth.
"Tsuna's not a pervert. His clothes could not handle the heat from his Dying Will Flames. He could not control them as I forced him into that state in our life-and-death battle," Reborn announced with all the seriousness a toddler could be capable of.
The girl looked over at the baby with a deep frown, and Tsuna was completely and utterly flabbergasted.
Was Reborn really throwing the truth out so willy-nilly!? Was the supernatural side of the world not hiding from the rest of it!? What happened to the supernatural masquerade he assumed was in play!? Was Tsuna even more ignorant of common sense than he thought he was!? Perhaps everyone knew about Dying Will Flames and supernatural babies, and Tsuna just happened to miss that lesson in class because he was a fucking dumbass!?
"What does that even mean?" she questioned Tsuna sternly, and he found himself flabbergasted once more. He had no idea how to fucking follow up on that!
His mind spun desperately as he looked at the increasingly wary girl. At least he could see from her intentions that she did not believe the supernatural part of those words, but she did assume he got into a fight with a toddler.
With that fact in the holster, Tsuna managed to grasp onto a lifeline.
"A game! I was playing a game with Reborn! We were 'fighting,' and my clothes caught on fire from an accident around here. I was so overwhelmed with my near-death experience that I did not even remember that I was not wearing any clothes. I swear on everything I am, that is the truth!" Tsuna rambled out desperately, using the truth but using tone and misconceptions to pass by the line here.
That life-and-death battle truly was a "game" to Reborn. His clothes did catch on fire from an accident he had no control over, i.e., being shot in the head from a magical creature. The information Reborn was throwing at him really did overwhelm Tsuna's mind, forcing him to forget about his near-naked state.
The girl looked over at Tsuna suspiciously. He seemed earnest, but she was not about to trust a pervert just because he looked innocent. She instead faced Reborn to get the truth of the situation. Babies were sweet, innocent angels after all; they would never lie unless being forced by someone else.
"Is that true, Reborn-kun?" the girl asked with a sweet, almost doting tone.
Tsuna looked at the horrifying creature with dull hope. He did not want his reputation to drop from no-good to fucking freak.
Reborn smirked and thought about messing with his newfound student some more, but he was actually pretty satisfied with Tsuna. Far more skilled and talented than expected, and he had all the instincts that made someone truly great in the supernatural world.
He even saw a pathetic, less awesome him in Tsuna.
Reborn doubted he would ever find a student as talented as his new ward.
"Yup. Tsuna flopped on the ground like a dead fish when the flames went away," Reborn replied "innocently." Tsuna felt the tension bleed from him again. He looked at Reborn like he really was the sweet, innocent angel this girl thought he was. He could have sworn a beam of light struck the small boy at this moment, emphasizing all the goodness in the world.
The girl frowned at that but accepted the words for now. She looked at Tsuna with a smidge less hostility, but disappointment still radiated from her.
"Still, you should not play such dangerous games with babies," she chastised before she took off her blazer and handed it toward him. Again Tsuna felt relief from the less hostile attitude and smiled brightly at the girl as he took the blazer and started to put it on. It was a little tight, but it was better than being shirtless.
"Thank you. You're right. I won't be playing that game anymore. I promise," Tsuna spoke out sincerely. The next time he attacked Reborn would be when he was strong enough for the prick to take him seriously.
Before he could continue, the girl frowned and got into his personal space, taking the blazer off of him and wrapping it around his waist instead, covering his lower half.
"Mou, are you stupid? Why would I care if you are shirtless?" she chastised, but there was a hint of a blush on her face again as she caught an eyeful of his new physique and the changes the Hanma Bloodline had put his body through.
Tsuna blinked at that and let out an embarrassed laugh. Right, the more pressing issue was his current pantless state. He did not think much about it because boxers might as well be shorts, but his new physique made his current boxers too tight, showing off way more than Tsuna wanted.
[Feat Achieved! Fuel Haru's future wet dreams!]
[You received one Bronze Ticket]
Tsuna blinked at that screen and once more blushed up a storm, looking at the still-glaring girl with a strange feeling building in his stomach.
"I'll return your blazer later. I need to head back home to get another uniform. What school do you go to? I can drop off the blazer there after school. Oh, and what's your name? I'm Tsunayoshi Sawada, but most people call me Tsuna," he asked with a bright smile. He never thought a girl would have thought about him that way before.
He almost felt giddy at that, his luck really was changing.
Seeing that smile, the blush on the girl's face increased slightly, but she coughed and looked away. A frown was still on Haru's face. Tsuna might be cute, but she was not going to forget what he was doing before!
"My name is Haru Miura, and I go to Midori," Haru offered after a moment, not seeing the point in hiding information from Tsuna.
Tsuna took in her words, and surprise flashed in his eyes. Midori was the toughest school in the city. She was one of those elite students; even top students like Hana could not keep up with the strict standards Midori wanted from their students.
"Okay. I'll bring your blazer to your school later today. Thank you again, Miura-san," Tsuna flashed another smile and shuffled off toward his home, waving Haru off as Reborn followed along with an amused smile dancing on its face.
Haru hesitated for a moment, wanting more information but knowing she was going to be late at this rate. So she just accepted things ending as they did for now.
She could always investigate this Tsuna later. She was not going to let a bad influence corrupt another sweet angel, even if said influence was just so… manly.