As if looking through a tunnel, he saw his hands reaching out to open the worn doors of his classroom. He cautiously peeked through the narrow gap that he had made, just to check if he had gotten the right classroom, and immediately heard Yamamoto's carefree laughter.

Shit. He slammed the door quickly shut, not particularly caring how loud the crash sounded. He took a deep breath. In, out, in, out. Two mental breakdowns in a day were a bit much, even for him, the sarcastic part of his brain helpfully supplied. Despite the overwhelming urge to just turn and run, ideally never seeing another person that he knew again, he decided to face the dangers of the education system, and make himself proud, for lack of a better expression.

Once more, he scrounged up just enough scraps of courage to push open the door, and hurry quietly over to his window seat. Except nothing could ever be that easy when it came to him, could it? His heart was pounding hard, his palms were sweating, and his feet couldn't seem to walk straight. He was so unsteady, in fact, that he lost his footing and tripped. While this was very much in character for Past Tsuna, this Tsuna felt quite embarrassed by the whole ordeal and did not feel very expectant at all of the next weeks in which he would have to pretend that nothing had changed and he wasn't an alternate version of himself.

Once he managed to peel his face off the floor he was greeted with mocking laughter. Expected, but unwelcome nevertheless. He managed to stumble his way to his seat, steady his breathing, and open his textbook by the time the bell rang.

If he remembered correctly, his English teacher was a slightly eccentric foreigner by the name of Mrs. Walters. Hypothetically, if she randomly replaced your grandmother one day you might not have noticed. She always seemed slightly lost, and if the uncontrollable urge to help her arose, it would be completely understandable.

Speak of the devil, here she comes. Her haphazard footsteps echoed down the hall, slightly off-beat. She opened the door and made her way to the front of the board. She was dressed in her signature outfit, loose overalls, and as many colorful things as she could fit under and over it. Most notably, her rainbow shoes. They were very clunky but fit her perfectly.

As per usual the minute she entered the class fell silent, trying to absorb the colors suddenly assaulting them. Perhaps the point of her unconventional fashion choices was stunning her students into silence?

Whatever the goal was, the class fell silent. She took her place at the desk and rattled off a list of subjects she was hoping to talk about during class. She was never known for staying on track, often rambling for hours on this subject or another. This lesson plan was particularly ambitious so the students settled down for another lesson on nothing in particular.

She began the lesson, and Tsuna suddenly remembered why he was so fond of her. She taught well, despite the first impression she made. Also, she never called on him during class. That was honestly what made her his best teacher. The anxiety of having to stand up in front of the entire class and somehow manage to think at the same time was overwhelming. It was half the reason he never came off as smart or even at a functioning IQ level. Seriously, his classmates had reason to think nothing would ever come of him.

In that aspect at least Reborn had done good by him. Tsuna knew Reborn would hit him whether he got an answer wrong or right, so what would it hurt to try to answer correctly? Tsuna was under no illusions. He knew he wasn't exceptionally smart. He had never called himself a genius. His family, Gokudera in particular, had always been more than willing to help him in that respect.

He only needed to be above average to be the good boss he was, and he had no problem claiming that. Even he wasn't self-deprecating enough to claim that he wasn't a good boss. A couple of decades as boss of one of the biggest Mafia Famiglia ever were enough proof of that.

An ear-piercing ringing made him start. He looked around him, disoriented when he realized that the bell had rung to signify the end of the first period.

Next was Geography. His Geography teacher, despite his gentle appearance, was a serious stickler for the rules, and would often rant about the "factory of destruction" that middle schoolers apparently were. Rulers, scissors, and pens were strictly forbidden in his lessons, for fear that the students would desecrate school property, mainly by drawing on the tables.

The door opened softly, and all the class stood up to welcome the teacher. Mrs. Walters brushed by Mr. Saito, and he bade her good morning with a slightly disdainful look.

Tsuna could afford to lack off in this class. Even though Mr. Saito called on him, he didn't pick him out specifically. Plus, his questions were so difficult that none of the other students could answer them anyway, so he wouldn't be judged for his feigned incompetence.

He was surprised he remembered all his teachers so well. A lot of time had passed since he was in middle school. On the other hand, middle school was a very formative period in his life, so he supposed he could see why he'd remember his old teachers. Oh, he was definitely not looking forward to seeing Nezu. The old teacher had made his life hell in the three years that he could.

He took a look at his schedule (why did he even have that?) and saw he had Nezu for the next lesson. Perfect. Just perfect. A sharp rap on his desk caught his attention. He looked up with a start, to see Mr. Saito calmly looking down at him. He swore the old teacher could make a fortune as an interrogator because despite himself he felt his body shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"Since you can afford not to listen to me during my lesson, I assume you can answer the question, right?" Mr. Saito asked pointedly. Frankly, Tsuna hadn't listened nearly enough to answer any kind of question, and it showed.

He gaped, mouth open on an intelligent "Uhh..." when he caught sight of a finger gesturing towards the whiteboard. Apparently, Yamamoto had decided to take pity on him and point him towards the question, which was written on the whiteboard.

'Which mountain is Sicily's highest?', was scrawled in Mr. Saito's usual chicken scrawl.

Of course, he knew the answer. He had hidden out on Mount Etna once during an enemy attack.

Now, don't get him wrong here. He was well aware that he shouldn't answer the ridiculously easy question. He knew he shouldn't draw attention to himself, that a low profile was essential to his survival. He really didn't mean to blurt out the answer. Alas, that was exactly what he did, damn Reborn's conditioning. His mind snapped into a mindset where if he answered wrongly, or didn't know the answer, a grenade would be thrown with unerring accuracy, a habit Reborn had never really grown out of.

"Mount Etna!", came the panicked cry, entirely too loud. Complete silence greeted it. Tsuna flinched inward, angling his head down almost apologetically, and cautiously raised his eyes to look at the faintly surprised face of his teacher.

"Um.. yeah? I mean, yes, that's correct." Mr. Saito caught ahold of himself. He returned to the front of the class. Tsuna barely refrained from groaning but settled for burying his head in his hands and shaking it slightly in self-admonishment.

He could feel everybody's questioning gazes boring into the back of his neck. At least the period was almost ov-the bell rang.

As fast as he could, he took out the books for his next class' laid them out on the desk, and almost ran out of the class before the inevitable whispering could start. He needed some air.

On his way out, he bumped into someone's shoulder roughly, pushing past them, not staying to hear their indignant shout ring out behind him, however familiar the voice sounded.

A/n: So that's that for this chapter! Poor Tsuna, first day at school and already managing to screw up... and the day isn't even over yet. On a completely unrelated note, I wonder who he pushed aside in the hallway?

Stay tuned~