Chapter 5 – Beautiful Things
Novel Title: 跨越千万星辰 (Across Thousands of Stars)
Author：御小凡 (Yu Xiaofan)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 泽田纲吉 (Sawada Tsunayoshi -MC), 六道骸 (Rokudo Mukuro -ML)
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During the time they were cleaning Mukuro’s room, the kettle made a sharp sound. Tsuna took Mukuro to the kitchen. He turned off the fire on the stove and poured the water into a thermos. He then turned around and continued to take Mukuro to do the cleaning. Such a big cleaning was rarely done so Tsuna simply took Mukuro by the handle. All the rooms have been cleaned once and when the cleaning finally ended, it was already 12 o’clock.
After sending Mukuro off to take a shower, Tsuna stood in front of the refrigerator and pondered what to cook for lunch. There was still some curry and rice leftover from last night. And there were only a few vegetables left in the refrigerator. So he might as well make some vegetable salads. He would just go to the supermarket at night to restock the ingredients at home.
Mukuro took a bath quite quickly. He came out wearing home sandals before the curry was fully reheated. Tsuna was stirring the salad in a bowl and Mukuro watched him carefully from across the kitchen counter.
“Oh, good. The hair has been dried well.” Tsuna poked a cherry tomato which had been cut in half with his chopsticks. He leaned over and wanted to feed it straight to Mukuro’s mouth, “It’s quite okay. Open your mouth.”
Mukuro ate it in one bite and frowned slightly. This kitten-like appearance amused Tsuna and he couldn’t help but laugh, “Do you think it’s too sour? But it’s high in vitamins so it’s a good thing to eat.”
During the meal, Tsuna keenly noticed that Mukuro had never taken a piece of tomato at all, so he took the initiative to place one into Mukuro’s plate. He saw him quietly pushing the tomato aside.
“Don’t be a picky eater.” Supporting the table with his hands, Tsuna leaned over and flicked Mukuro’s forehead, “Children who are picky eaters won’t grow tall.”
Touching his forehead, Mukuro looked at the little red fruit on his plate for a while. He then silently stuffed it into his mouth. Tsuna smiled and placed another piece for him.
The little kid’s face obviously became ugly.
Oh oh, now he knows how to show a tantrum! That’s good, Tsuna thought to himself amusedly.
“Eat it a few more times, maybe soon you will fall in love with it.” Tsuna ate one himself and was in a good mood. The sour tomato was dipped in a slightly sweet and slightly salty salad dressing. It was obviously delicious.
“No way.” The words slipped out quietly from the tip of Mukuro’s tongue, but Tsuna still heard it. So, he made a promise with a smile, “This is the last one. I won’t force you to eat more.”
Glancing at him and confirming that he was serious, the kid breathed a sigh of relief and ate the last piece of tomato on the plate.
The tableware was cleaned by the two of them together. Tsuna thought that if Mukuro was not allowed to do housework, he would be regarded as a guest completely. The relationship between family members was accumulated through doing housework together like this.
After the two of them finished tidying up the table and kitchen, Tsuna decided to take Mukuro to buy clothes according to his itinerary for the day. Looking out from the window, the whole earth looked cold and windy. He didn’t need to feel it to know how cold it was outside. He put on the usual down jacket for Mukuro and found a scarf of his own to wrap around Mukuro’s neck. Since it is an adult’s scarf, it’s a little too long for Mukuro so it’s more suitable to be wrapped around twice. But half of the kid’s face is covered in them and he looks even cuter when with a woollen hat placed on top of his head.
Tsuna put on a thick coat on himself as he turned off the lights and electricity. Tsuna then naturally went to hold Mukuro’s hand. When the kid was touched by the hand, he stiffened for a while but quickly returned to normal and let himself be held by Tsuna. They headed out and went downstairs.
It was only at this time that Tsuna realised that it was probably good for him to have a car. As soon as he got out of the building, he couldn’t help shivering. Tsuna turned to look at Mukuro but found that the child didn’t feel cold and only looked calm.
The commercial street during working hours is not particularly crowded. Tsuna, who is not good at shopping, took Mukuro straight to the children’s clothing store. He never cared about it before, but now he found that children’s clothes are completely different in size and style from adults’ clothes.
“Welcome.” The clerk smiled and bowed down sweetly to say hello to Mukuro, “Oh, what a cute kid. What kind of clothes would you like?”
Mukuro didn’t speak. He just looked up at her.
The clerk was stunned for a moment. She then suddenly stopped talking, straightened up and asked Tsuna, “What kind of clothes do you want to choose for your child?”
Tsuna had no idea about the clerk’s reaction. He wanted to respect Mukuro’s opinion, so he simply said to the clerk, “I’ll just take a look around first.”
“Okay, please call me if you need me.” The clerk’s smile was inexplicably not as sweet as before. She turned and walked to the counter. Tsuna and Mukuro walked through the shelves one by one, but the child kept showing a kind of ‘whatever is okay’ attitude. So, it was really troublesome for Tsuna.
“Did you see that child’s eyes?”
Just as Tsuna was taking out a grey woollen coat and asked Mukuro to put on the coat for a try, Tsuna suddenly heard whispers from the other side of the counter. It was the voice of the clerk from before.
“It shocked me so much. How could it be blood red?” Her tone was subtly mixed with surprise and a little disgust, “I dare not take a second look. It’s so scary.”
Tsuna’s heart tightened. He hurriedly turned to look at Mukuro. To his surprise, the child continued to put the woollen coat on his body as if he didn’t hear her.
“What disease is it? Could it come from his parents? Why don’t they do something about it? Those eyes look really scary.”
A surge of anger rushed into Tsuna’s heart.
Obviously Mukuro is a victim, why should he be accused like that? It’s just that the colour of one of his eyes is different. How could an adult even have such a degree of discrimination against a child?
With a rare gloomy face, Tsuna no longer chose together with Mukuro. He just randomly picked up a few sizes that could fit Mukuro and quickly paid the bill at the counter. He then left the store hastily.
Although he is no longer in the mood to continue shopping, it is true that the children’s clothes are in urgent need of buying. After the incident at the children’s clothing store, Tsuna has become very sensitive to the attitudes of the people around him towards Mukuro. He clearly saw people watching him.
When they looked at Mukuro’s red right eye, they had a strange expression on their faces.
It was as if they were looking at an alien.
Tsuna felt that this is not fair for the child. And he felt sorry for him.
But this is indeed a problem. He doesn’t care about it and Ryo-nii doesn’t care about it either. But many people cared a lot about it. Children are extremely sensitive people. If this goes on, it will only cause a lot of unpleasant memories for Mukuro.
On the way back, Tsuna took Mukuro to an optical shop and bought a pair of brown contact lenses for him. He didn’t talk to Mukuro until he stepped into the house.
Tsuna and Mukuro sat on the sofa and he briefly explained what the contact lenses are for. Tsuna took out the lens care solution and read the instructions on it for a long time. He then opened the contact lens case after confirming he understood the instruction. “Come on. Try it on first. The clerk said this contact lens has high water content so it will be more comfortable to wear. If it is uncomfortable, we can change it.”
Mukuro looked at Tsuna without speaking or moving. The expression on his face was originally a very focused expression, but because it was too focused, he looked like he was in a daze.
He stared blankly at Tsuna who handed him the contact lenses.
Tsuna’s heart twitched in pain. He closed the lens case with a ‘snap’ and hugged Mukuro into his arms. The hug was so tight that Mukuro was taken aback by it.
Mukuro, who was in his arms, opened his eyes wide in surprise.
“What’s so scary about it…” Tsuna said sullenly. He then let go of Mukuro, tilted his head to look carefully at Mukuro’s right eye. He then frowned.
It seemed that Mukuro was ashamed of being looked at like that. So the child half-closed his eyes and tried to dodge him.
“You…” Mukuro’s eyes trembled slightly and he pursed his lips tightly. He looked pitiful, “…don’t you think it’s scary?”
Ahhh, so he actually cared about what people thought. Tsuna felt distressed. How could he not care about what people think. No matter what, Mukuro is still just a child.
“Why should I feel scared?” Tsuna reacted automatically. He bent down and gently printed a kiss on Mukuro’s right eye. He murmured in a low voice, almost whispering, “To me, this is the most beautiful pair of eyes I have ever seen. Why should I be scared?”
The touch of the kiss on his eyelids was so warm. Mukuro felt that his whole body was soaked in this warmth. His thoughts were a little confused and he was in a trance for a moment. It was as if the feelings of coldness and despair in the past could be wiped away by this warmth little by little.
After the warmth was gone, he heard Tsuna say, “You know… beautiful things have to be hidden. Those people don’t deserve to see them.”
Facing the smiling face blooming in front of his eyes, Mukuro had a very strange feeling. His nose seemed to be hit by something and he felt sore. The soreness gradually spread to his eyes and it was about to overflow. Mukuro quickly lowered his head and suddenly reached out to take the lens case. After opening it, he twisted his fingers around the contact lenses and was about to put them directly into his eyes.
“My God!” Tsuna almost pounced on him and managed to catch him in the act before he poke his own eye. Twitching the corner of his mouth, he took the lenses carefully and held them with his index finger, “Kid, are you trying to wear contact lenses or trying to poke your own eyes…”
After cleaning the glasses with contact lens solution, Tsuna held the lens with his right finger and put his left hand on Mukuro’s shoulder, “Lift up your head.”
Raising his head obediently, Mukuro watched Tsuna’s face gradually enlarge in front of his eyes. He held his breath unconsciously, while Tsuna’s breath caressed his cheek lightly. It was like a butterfly flapping its wings on his cheek.
“Don’t close your eyes.”
So gentle.
This guy named Tsunayoshi Sawada is such a gentle person, Mukuro thought to himself silently.
“Ah?! Did I hurt you?” Tsuna, who was unavoidably unfamiliar with doing this kind of thing for the first time, was shocked to see that Mukuro blinked once and tears slid down from his eyes. He thought that it must be his hand that caused Mukuro to feel uncomfortable and made him cry. “Hurry up and blink a few more times. We can take them out if you feel uncomfortable.”
Tsuna wasn’t aware that it was his words that made Mukuro cry. Mukuro raised his hand to wipe the corner of his eyes. He stared at the water stains on it in a daze. He then slowly clenched his fists with the tears in it and then slowly opened them again. He raised his eyes and looked at Tsuna with his eyes filled with tears. He suddenly reached out to caress Tsuna’s face.
“Hmm?” Tsuna stopped moving due to the abrupt reaction. It’s a good thing that the child is willing to have skin-to-skin contact with people. So he asked encouragingly, “What’s the matter?”
“You.” Mukuro’s hands followed the curve of Tsuna’s face and touched the corners of Tsuna’s eyes, where there is always a gentle bend. It was as if there were no hardships in life for him. Just looking at him will make someone feel happy from the bottom of his heart, “…are also very beautiful.”
Tsuna was overjoyed when he heard it. He hugged Mukuro into his arms.
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*Author’s Note: =-=. I’m still writing daily. -YXF
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*Translator’s Note: So, Mukuro has complete heterochromia eyes. The right side is red in colour. I’m not sure if I had explained this before so I’ll just write it here. I’m not sure what the other eye colour is. It could be brown since Tsuna bought brown contact lenses. In the anime, his left eye is blue in colour. Anyway, I feel really sorry for Mukuro T.T!! -K
Next update: 2023.05.09
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