Summary: From the moment he had woken up to see names and levels floating over people's heads, Sawada Tsunayoshi knew that something was really wrong. | Drabble series, crackish, very, very mild All27 that will show up later.

Inspired by, and making use of some of the mechanics in, The Gamer by Sun San-young and Sang-ah

This is a pilot chapter. I am unsure if I will continue this.

Game start!

Ten year Sawada Tsunayoshi had a problem.

"Tsu-kun, hurry up! You're going to be late for school!" his mother frowned down at him from beside his bed. Now, that wasn't a problem – rather, it was a near daily occurrence – the problem was the orange thing that was floating on top of her head.

[Sawada Nana, Level 30]

Without bothering to acknowledge his mother's words, Tsuna jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Sure enough, in bright orange letters, a strong of words floated above his head.

[Sawada Tsunayoshi, Level 10]

It was in that very moment, that Tsuna realised that something was terribly wrong with the universe.

Menu

The first time Tsuna accessed the game menu, he got a huge shock. Anyone would have, if the entire world around them dimmed, and everything crawled to a stop. An orange window had flickered into existence before him, and Tsuna realised that he couldn't move his feet at all.

He would never admit to anyone that he had just stood there and cried for three solid minutes.

The next time he activated the game menu, he was prepared. This time, he took note of what was written on the screen.

"Status, skills, party, items, and quest log, huh?" Tsuna muttered to himself. "Oh man, this is so complicated."

He chose to look at 'status' first. Apparently, he was a ten year old at Namimori Elementary, with absolute zero popularity and academic skill. Well, nothing he already didn't know, but it was kind of depressing to have it confirmed. He quickly moved on to skills and wasn't surprised to see that there were only three of them.

[Blood of the Vongola, innate ability, Level 1]

Tsuna tried to find out more about it, but it seemed that that was all. He moved to look at the next one.

[Hyper Intuition, passive ability, Level 0

Requires Blood of the Vongola Level 1]

Curious, Tsuna tried to find out more about it.

[Hyper Intuition give one extraordinary perception of the world around them. Hyper Intuition can be increased by observing people and trying to predict their next action, and by following your instincts!]

Alright, that was weird. Moving on.

[Flames of the Sky, innate ability, Level -1]

…What the hell?

Quests and Storylines

At first, Tsuna wondered why there was a gold question mark floating above his mother's head. Then he approached her and found out.

"Ah, Tsu-kun!" his mother exclaimed. "Could you run to the shop to get me a few things for dinner? Thanks!"

[Quest accepted: Retrieval type. Read more?]

Tsuna blinked.

[Quest details: Retrieve ingredients for dinner from the grocery store. 2 hour time limit. Quest rewards: 300xp]

"…Okay mum." Tsuna nodded and walked out of the house without another word. Nana paused in her actions, frowning contemplatively.

"Hmm…" she muttered. "Usually I need to convince him to go to the shop for me. I wonder why the sudden change of heart."

Somewhere on the way to the store, something registered in Tsuna's mind. He stopped in his tracks.

"Game menu. Quest log."

Sure enough, sitting above the list of accepted quests were the words "Story: Pre-Chaos".

"Hiieee! What's that supposed to mean?!"

Social Bonds

Tsuna was in the midst of taking a carton of milk from the shelf when something told him to turn around. Remembering the Hyper Intuition skill, he did so just in time to witness a trolley, stacked with cardboard boxes, rolling towards a young girl with black hair at a dangerously high speed. Both the person pushing the trolley and the girl seemed unaware of each other, and Tsuna could only predict one possible outcome.

Ignoring the screens that showed [Hyper Intuition has gained a level] and [Quest accepted: Rescue type], Tsuna quickly ran forth and grasped the girl's wrist, pulling her out of the trolley's path.

"Hahi!" the girl squeaked in surprise. She frowned at Tsuna. "Hey, what was that—" She was interrupted by the sound of the trolley barrelling past behind her. She blinked. "Oh."

Suddenly, the surroundings dimmed and froze, and a loud and obnoxious voice started bellowing in his head. "You have established a bond with Miura Haru," it yelled. "Your Miura Haru bond is now level one!"

"Hieee!" Tsuna shrieked in surprise. This was just absurd! He hoped that he could at least turn down the voice's volume.

A few days later, he came to the depressing conclusion that he was unable to do so. He sighed and wondered what was becoming of his life.

Fighting to Protect

"Onii-san!" When Tsuna was going home one day, he heard a familiar voice call out desperately. He didn't even need to think about what to do next.

[Quest accepted: Rescue-combat type]

Following his instincts, Tsuna hurled his bag at one of the nearest boys who were surrounding Kyoko ([Sasagawa Kyoko, Level 10]) and a white haired boy ([Sasagawa Ryohei, Level 13]). Really, this Hyper Intuition thing was pretty handy some times.

Another one of the boys turned to regard Tsuna. He sneered. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded. Tsuna shook in fear, but determinedly held his ground. Without warning, he threw himself at the boy who had been restraining Kyoko, startling him into releasing his grip on the girl.

"Kyoko-chan, run!" Tsuna yelled. Kyoko seemed taken aback for a second, before she nodded and a scary, determined glint entered her eye. Following Tsuna's lead, she, too, ran towards the boy closest to her and somehow managed to tackle him onto the ground.

No, Kyoko-chan! Tsuna wanted to sob. Not like that!

"EXTREME!" the white haired boy – Sasagawa-san? Sasagawa-senpai? Ryohei-san? – yelled out and punched another boy in the face. Said boy was staring dumbly at Kyoko who was currently rubbing another boy's face into the ground. Tsuna didn't blame him; he was staring too.

What happened to the nice and sweet Kyoko, the Kyoko who wouldn't even hurt a fly, that he knew?

With Kyoko's newly awakened side, the fight was quickly finished and the boys fled. As they ran away, Tsuna caught sight of their level: 13. Curious, he turned to Sasagawa Ryohei to inquire if those boys were his classmates.

"No, they aren't. Those unextreme boys are my upperclassmen!" he said loudly. Tsuna wondered if he always talked like that.

"Um, then what age are you…?"

"I'm eleven!"

"Eleven?!" But his level was thirteen! Tsuna had soon realised that a person's level corresponded to their age, or so he thought. Why was Sasagawa Ryohei level thirteen when he was merely eleven?

[Quest complete] The orange screen flickered in front of Tsuna but he didn't even flinch, already used to the strange mechanics of this game thing. [Gain 1100xp. Sawada Tsunayoshi has gained a level.] Tsuna blinked in surprise. Huh. That was new. He snuck a glance at Kyoko and her brother's levels, and were somewhat taken aback to see that they, too, had gained a level.

"You are Sawada Tsunayoshi, right? From my class?" Kyoko asked. Tsuna nodded, blushing slight. Kyoko-chan was talking to him! Kyoko smiled. "Thank you for helping us! I'm Sasagawa Kyoko and this is my brother, Ryohei!" Tsuna's blush darkened.

"Um, it was no problem," he muttered. "It was the right thing to do after all. I couldn't let you get hurt, Kyoko-chan."

"Can I call you Tsuna-kun?" she asked. Tsuna nodded and Kyoko's smile seemed to increase in brightness.

"Tsuna!" Tsuna squeaked. He had forgotten about Kyoko's brother. "You're an extreme man! If you need any help, you can call me!"

"S-sasagawa-senpai!"

"Tsuna." Ryohei put his hands on Tsuna shoulders and looked at the small brunet in the eyes with intimidating intensity. "You can call me Ryohei. We are extreme men, after all."

"O-okay, Ryohei-senpai." Tsuna couldn't follow Ryohei's logic, so he just accepted it. It would be better on his psyche in the long run to not question some things.

Everything suddenly darkened and Tsuna sighed, preparing his ears for…

"You have established a bond with Sasagawa Kyoko. Your Sasagawa Kyoko bond is now level one!"

"You have established a bond with Sasagawa Ryohei. Your Sasagawa Ryohei bond is now level one!"

Yeap. He knew that thing was coming.

When everything turned back to normal – well, as normal as they could get – something orange flickered in front of Tsuna.

[Sasagawa Ryohei has permanently joined your party as an active-combat type. You can now request to fight alongside Sasagawa Ryohei for an indefinite period of time.]

Well, that was new.

Theme Music

Tsuna was late today.

Tsuna was late today.

"Hiieee! I'm late!" Tsuna shrieked as he ran out of the house at top speed. However, he knew that it didn't matter. He was late, and that person would be there to deal out the 'appropriate punishment'. It was just incredibly unfortunate that that person believed the 'appropriate punishment' to everything was to be beaten (hah, bitten) within an inch of one's life.

"Herbivore," that person hissed. "Why are you late?"

"Hiiee! Hibari-san!" Tsuna shrieked in reply. Sure enough, there was a raven haired boy standing at the school gates, holding a pair of steel tonfas in his hands. Above his head were the words [Hibari Kyoya, Level 26] and… wait, what was that noise in the background? Was there a piano playing? But why? And how was the sound so clear?

Hibari got tired of waiting for an answer, and surged forth to attack Tsuna. Tsuna, in turn, let out his trademark shriek and threw himself to the side to avoid getting hit. This made Hibari raise an eyebrow and step forward to hit Tsuna once more. Again, Tsuna managed to evade Hibari's strike. To his ever-growing horror, Tsuna noticed a strange glint enter Hibari's eyes, and it only continued to grow in intensity as Tsuna was able to continuously dodge Hibari's attacks.

[Hyper Intuition has gained a level]

[Hyper Intuition has gained a level]

[Hyper Intuition has gained a level]

[Passive skill: Unconscious Evasion has been created!]

Oh god, this was so not the time! Tsuna couldn't afford to pay attention to all these pesky pop-ups that were in the way! And to make things worse, that ominous piano music was still playing!

Then, Hibari did something terrifying. He smiled. It was not a nice smile. In fact it was a horribly terrifying smile that was filled with so much bloodlust that Tsuna could feel it from two metres away.

[Passive skill: Sense Killing Intent has been created!]

What? Tsuna was so caught off guard by the sudden pop-up window that Hibari was able to catch up to him and, well…

"I will bite you to death."

When Hibari walked away, the piano music went with him. Tsuna had the startling realisation that the music was actually Hibari's theme music. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the absurdity of it all.

"You have established a bond with Hibari Kyoya!" the Voice boomed in his head, words echoing all about. "Your Hibari Kyoya bond is now level one!"

Tsuna curled into a ball and started to whimper.

Cooking Skill and HP

Skills, Tsuna soon realised, could come from the most illogical things.

[Passive skill: Cooking has been created!]

[Cooking can help you cook delicious food that can help recover your HP and MP. Raising the Cooking skill by eating and cooking!]

"…" Tsuna stared at the bento in front of him, at a loss for words. He didn't even know where to begin.

"Tsuna-kun, are you alright?" Kyoko asked from beside him. Tsuna quickly snapped out of his daze.

"I'm fine Kyoko-chan," he laughed sheepishly. "I just spaced out for a moment there."

Ever since Tsuna had 'saved' Kyoko, Kyoko had dragged him to eat with her and her friend ([Kurokawa Hana, Level 10]), every day. It was a dream come true for Tsuna.

"You've been staring at the bento for a while now," Hana commented. "Why, are you interested in the food?" She meant it as a joke, but was rather startled when Tsuna started to nod slowly.

"Yeah, I guess I might be interested in cooking."

"Okay then!" Kyoko smiled brightly. Or rather, her smile brightened, considering the fact that she rarely ever stopped smiling. "Why not you and Hana-chan come over to my house this weekend and we can bake together!"

"Really?" This had to be a dream. The sweetest dream ever. Tsuna was going to Kyoko's house! Kyoko's house!

"Of course! See you this Sunday!"

Tsuna was ecstatic.

Tsuna was walking home from school when he got hit by a car. Now, that in itself was a cause for alarm but what was more disturbing was that Tsuna sustained minimal injuries.

Tsuna's voice was shaking as he said, "Game menu. Status." He scoured the screen, searching for a reason for his current status when his eyes landed on the 'Buffs' section.

[Optimum Rest. Sleeping for 8-9 hours per day allows one to take 40% less damage, and increases vitality and constitution by 10%]

Okay, this was just bullshit.

Author's note

I wrote this on a whim, so I'm really, really unsure if I should continue. Probably not eh.

Trying out video game mechanics in fiction. This is a result of many different plannings of game stories all converging together. I hope I'm within the guidelines for this.

Tsuna will be the only one with this ability. Tsuna will not be telling anyone about this ability.

#Edit: smoothed over a couple of typos.

#Edit: changed Ryohei to active-combat type