Tsuna had a loving mother called Nana Sawada.
Nowadays, she was worried about her child’s well-being, having repeatedly received reports from his homeroom teacher about his poor grades at school.
As a mother who deeply loved her child, she naturally wanted to find a solution to help with Tsuna’s problem.
Not just with his grades, but also with his recent low confidence and incapability to make friends.
Tsuna’s bad grades were fine to her.
Nana just wanted to find ways for her son to live a life without regret.
She wanted him to live while feeling like it was great to be alive.
Nana checked the mailbox.
“I wonder if he sent a letter today~”
She hummed brightly but then widened her eyes.
Instead of a letter… she found something else.
A glossy black-and-gold flyer:
A Home Tutor Who Will Raise Your Kid To Be A Leader Of The New Generation — Reborn.
Nana blinked before smiling.
A leader…
She could already imagine it.
Her son, Tsuna, filled with charisma and confidence, surrounded by various people who follow him.
“Great!
This will help him make friends!”
Exactly the kind of help Tsuna needed.
“The fee is only room and board… Not bad,” she hummed.
She pressed the flyer to her chest.
“Tsuna will be surprised, but this will be good for him!”
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When Tsuna got home, Nana presented the flyer as if handing him an award.
“A home tutor?
For me?”
Tsuna blinked.
He was recently pondering on how to take his first step on improving himself, but the answer unexpectedly came on its own?
“Yes!
Look, look—such a professional design!”
Tsuna read over the flyer, dread soon creeping up his spine when he saw the exaggerated advertisement.
“…Mom… this looks like a scam.”
“The fee is free as long as we let him stay and feed him.”
“That makes it more of a scam!”
But Nana placed her hands together, already resolved about her decision.
“He’s already arriving tomorrow.
Be polite when you meet him!”
Tsuna sighed.
At worst… I’d just call the cops.
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Tsuna went to school very early in the morning.
He wanted to see if Mutsumi was fine.
Arriving at their classroom, Tsuna sighed in relief after he saw Mutsumi sitting at her desk.
She looked normal, as if she didn’t even get kidnapped yesterday.
Even her routine of always being the first to arrive at school stayed the same.
At this time, the classroom only had two of them, so Tsuna gathered his courage to talk with her.
“G-Good morning, Mutsumi…!
I’m glad you’re fine and safe…”
Her head turned to him, her gaze looking complicated.
“Sorry for what happened yesterday… It’s normal for bad incidents to happen around me, so I’m sorry for involving you!”
As she apologized, Tsuna felt she appeared distant, as if afraid of getting closer to him.
Getting kidnapped for her is normal…?
Mutsumi, just what kind of life do you live?
Tsuna thought briefly.
“But you don’t have to worry, my family always protects me.”
Mutsumi wore a confident expression without any hint of fear.
Still…
Tsuna couldn’t help but understand her feelings.
“Having to experience all that… I’m sure it must be very hard and frustrating… I can say so because I lived all my life with bad luck.”
Although his bad luck couldn’t compare to her sufferings, there was a common ground between them.
“And above all… You must feel lonely.”
He stared at Mutsumi’s widened eyes, now realizing why she suddenly appeared distant to him.
Although she tried her best to appear normal, that previous incident must have affected her, especially when she saw how Tsuna almost got choked to death by the kidnapper.
So now… She must be trying to distance herself from people to prevent them from being caught in her situation.
“What happened yesterday is not your fault, so please don’t blame yourself.
Even if I almost die that day, I don’t feel scared or blame you.”
Tsuna let out a small, awkward smile as he said those words with a flushed expression.
After hearing those words, Mutsumi couldn’t help but widen her mouth as she felt her heart that had grown heavy and dull growing warm.
“You’re right… You got me.”
For the first time, she smiled genuinely.
“Thank you, Tsuna!
Your words really comforted me.”
She gazed tenderly at him.
“Do you remember how I couldn’t finish my words before being kidnapped?”
Tsuna nodded.
“What I wanted to say was….”
She took a deep pause, her eyes shining resplendently while approaching him.
“…Since you don’t have friends, how about I become your very first friend?”
Her face was so close to him, forcing Tsuna to take a step backward with a reddish expression.
He was completely bewildered before smiling with joy.
“I’m happy to have you as my friend..!”
“I’m glad.
Hehe~”
Mutsumi giggled softly.
Taking his seat, Tsuna felt his resolve had hardened even further.
If there was any change today, it was the fact he tried his best to seriously learn from his teachers.
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Tsuna slept soundly with a joyful smile plastered on his face.
Until his whole body suddenly shuddered to warn him of great danger.
Bang!
As If guided by something again, he rolled aside from his bed before something blurred past where his head had been.
“Ciaosu!”
A tiny voice chirped loudly.
Tsuna jolted upright and saw someone atop of him.
It was a baby wearing a black suit and fedora while holding a smoking gun.
What caught his attention even more than the green gun was the strange yellow pacifier on the baby’s chest.
“…I’m dreaming.
I’m dreaming, right?”
Tsuna muttered dazedly.
Ignoring his dazed reaction, the baby nodded at him.
“No Good Tsuna, you got a nice reflex.
I’ve misjudged you.”
Tsuna stared, trying to process.
“How do you know that nickname?
No, who even are you?!”
The baby tipped his fedora with deadly confidence.
“I am Reborn.
Your home tutor starting today.”
Tsuna did remember his mother talking about hiring a home tutor for him.
But this…?
“…Okay, I’m calling the police to report a lost child.”
“Just try it and you’ll see yourself in the missing posters tomorrow.”
Reborn immediately kicked him in the face.
He was so fast that Tsuna couldn’t even react, his face planting hard on the floor.
“Ow!
What’s your problem!?”
He tried to stand but Reborn blurred again, sending another kick with perfect form straight to his jaw.
Even if he could sense the danger, Tsuna could only flail because it was hard to respond in time.
“Why is a baby so strong?!
Who raised you?!”
“The answer is simple.”
Reborn said with a smug expression.
“I’m not a pathetic wimp like you.
After all, I’m a hitman.”
“…Hit… man?”
“A hitman.”
Reborn repeated, raising his gun at him.
Tsuna squinted while sweating slightly.
“I know that’s just a toy gun.
You can’t intimidate me like—”
BANG.
“…!”
The bullet pierced his pillow cleanly, sending cottons flying away.
“…Okay.
I stand corrected.
Please continue.”
Reborn gave a satisfied nod.
“I’ll go straight to the point.
I’m not just any ordinary home tutor.
My true task is to make you into a mafia boss.”
Tsuna blinked upon hearing that.
“…A mafia boss?”
“Correct.
I was sent to train you to become a leader who will lead the mafia.”
Tsuna’s stomach churned.
A mafia boss?
The baby called Reborn didn’t seem like he was lying.
But his mind screamed.
No way!
Not in a thousand lifetimes!
If he remembered correctly—mafias were infamous crime syndicates.
Drugs.
Human trafficking.
Arms dealer.
You name it.
If Mutsumi ever heard he became a criminal like the person that kidnapped her… she’d avoid him forever.
Most importantly, if he ever accepted this nonsense, his peaceful, normal life would get totally destroyed.
“I refuse.”
Tsuna said firmly.
“Even if I die, I won’t become a mafia boss.”
Reborn smirked, pointing his gun toward Tsuna.
“Then die.”
BANG.
The world went silent.
Tsuna collapsed lifelessly into the floor.
His eyes were widened in shock and fear as his thoughts spiraled with anger, humiliation, and despair.
Shot to death…
by a baby…?
Just when he finally decided to start changing himself…
He died pathetically like this.
In his dying breath, Mutsumi’s gentle smile flickered across his fading consciousness.
I’ll never see her again.
I didn’t even got the chance to confess…
His mother’s face also flashed in his mind.
With me dying, she’ll be left alone in this world.
I don’t want to see her cry…
Before everything went dark, Reborn’s smug yet deadpan expression before he shot him appeared the last.
He took away everything from me!
Unforgivable!
I regret not being able to at least hit him once before dying….!
An intense, primal regret ignited in his chest.
I don’t want to die like this!
Suddenly, a brilliant yellowish-orange flame exploded from Tsuna’s forehead followed by a yellowish glow spreading throughout his skin which incinerated his clothes, leaving only his underwear intact.
Tsuna shot awake, his eyes blazing with intense light.
“REBORN!!!”
He roared thunderously.
“WITH A DYING WILL!
I WILL TEACH YOU A PAINFUL LESSON!!”
Reborn raised a brow.
“Oho… such pure Sky Flames.”
He smirked, satisfied.
“As expected… from my student.”
Tsuna felt as if his entire body had been unshackled.
Heat surged through every vein like molten fire.
His muscles pulsed with overwhelming strength.
Every fiber of his being was alive!
But his mind?
Only one thought existed.
It was to teach that baby hitman a painful lesson for ending his short life that was about to bloom with countless new possibilities.
And his brilliant plan was…
To spank him.
What better way to discipline a baby hitman than a good old-fashioned ass whooping?
Tsuna bellowed like an angry caveman and launched forward.
He moved so fast the air itself yelped.
Reborn casually leaned to the side.
Tsuna rocketed past him….
SMASH!
….And crashed straight into the wall with the force of a rampaging bull, cracking it deeply.
Tsuna popped out of the crater without any pain or injury.
His chest heaved as his hands trembled but only slightly from the sheer force of the momentum he’d just taken.
He lunged again, arms wide like he was about to grab a hyperactive toddler at a family reunion.
“EVEN IF I DIE, I’M SPANKING YOUR ASS!”
Reborn didn’t even blink.
“You’re still a hundred years too early.”
Reborn leisurely grabbed Tsuna’s arm and slammed him into the floor.
BOOM!
Tsuna gasped, almost knocked out from the impact, but his fingers clenched around Reborn’s sleeve.
Pain shot up his arms, tremors shaking his muscles but he refused to release his grip.
Reborn raised a brow.
“Oh?
You’re unexpectedly tenacious.”
Tsuna clenched his teeth, his eyes blazing with ferocious determination as he refused to let go.
“You’re… not escaping… this spanking…”
Reborn clicked his tongue.
“Leon.”
The green gun he held shimmered, morphing into a polished green hammer weighting several tons.
Reborn swung down.
Tsuna felt danger, but it was too late to evade.
WHAM!
Tsuna crossed his arms, blocking the hammer with every ounce of strength.
The force sent him skidding across the floor and crashing into the opposite wall.
Pain surged through his arms and shoulders, yet the flames on his forehead burned brighter, refusing to allow weakness.
His legs wobbled but his mind remained sharp and focused, never wavering.
This time, he didn’t charge blindly.
His eyes sharper and clearer than ever guided every move.
He leapt as his arms swirled like a storm, making a blur of grabbing, swatting, and jabbing motions.
Reborn danced effortlessly through the onslaught, reading the feints with ease.
Yet Tsuna’s eyes had finally begun to read and anticipate his moves.
For the first time, he saw an opening born from Reborn underestimating him.
He dove forward following that opening.
Before Reborn could blink, Tsuna swung his hand downward.
SLAP.
A tiny, whisper-soft spank.
It was like a light graze but it connected directly on Reborn’s tiny hitman butt.
“…”
Reborn blinked slowly.
Tsuna wobbled on his feet, arm still outstretched with his eyes innocently blazing with victory.
“I… I DID IT… I SPANKED YOU…!”
Reborn looked down at him with an amused expression.
“…Interesting.”
Tsuna’s flames flickered violently before fading away.
His knees buckled followed by his arms going limp.
It didn’t take long for his entire body to lose strength.
The next moment, he dropped unconscious to the floor.
Reborn smirked faintly as he stared down at unconscious Tsuna.
“Looks like my new student is gonna be an interesting one.”