Chapter 19 – Business Trip
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)
*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*
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Mukuro’s spring break is about to start. But they haven’t talked properly for a whole week. Unfortunately, Tsuna has been able to go home on time recently. But as soon as he gets home, he has to face the air that is so cold that it is about to turn into ice.
In the beginning, no matter what Tsuna asked, Mukuro would only reply with monosyllabic words such as ‘hmm’ and ‘uh’. So, his mood couldn’t be distinguished by the tone of his voice. Under the circumstances that he was so unresponsive, Tsuna was a person who was not good at this kind of thing. So he also slowly fell silent under repeated blows.
It felt so strange. It was as if his own family members had suddenly become mere co-renters. However, there are still lunch boxes, which he packed and placed for him on the dining table in the morning. But the person who made it has already left the house. Dinner was also still prepared for him. But the two ate relatively silently. If rain was forecast to come tomorrow, an umbrella would be placed on the shoe cabinet for him as well.
Tsuna didn’t know if this was called the cold war or not.
It’s not that he hasn’t tried to settle this matter by talking to him. After eating a dull dinner, Tsuna sat upright and asked, “Muku, can we talk?”
What he received was a decent smile from Mukuro, “Okay. What do you want to talk about?”
“…Don’t you think that there is something wrong between us lately?” Tsuna asked cautiously, struggling with his choice of words. But he saw that the other party didn’t even have any reaction.
“Huh? Is there?” Mukuro shrugged, with a relaxed and natural expression. He acted as if he was surprised. It was as if the question Tsuna asked was abrupt and redundant. He stood up as he placed his hands on the table and smiled slightly. The unruliness he couldn’t hide that was hanging between his brows was gently covered by his bangs. His voice sounded clear and calm, “I think we’re good.”
Tsuna was left with nothing more to say.
Regarding what Mukuro told him before, Tsuna also thought for a long time in shock of suddenly being told of such a thing. It was undoubtedly a very happy thing for him to communicate with Kyoko. Not only that, the other party is someone he used to have a crush on. Even in the lacklustre middle school days, the secret love of a miserable immature boy was as unspoken and beautiful as a pearl.
It would be nice if his marriage partner ended up being Kyoko. He did have such a thought.
But he didn’t dwell on whether the person is right or wrong for him. And he can’t say that there is any passionate love for the other party at all. It has not reached such a deep level. ‘You can try’. That was all there is to it. After all, it’s just a thought at the moment.
After all, Tsuna knew that he was the problem. He is already 27 years old and he hasn’t had a girlfriend yet. It’s terrible…
The issue of the heart is still bothering him. And there is still no communication between him and Mukuro after he returned home. It is more or less like them returning to the beginning of their encounter. But the current situation is much worse than then. When Tsuna thinks about it, as an adult, he wants to be more magnanimous. But facing Mukuro’s calm and uncompromising face, he simply doesn’t know where to start. He knew that every time this happened, the prettier the kid’s smile was, the more he would be rejected by him. At the same time, he was even more annoyed that a very subtle feeling of betrayal rose in his heart.
The circle of life suddenly seemed to lose a corner. It made him feel at a loss.
“Hey, business trip?” Tsuna couldn’t help reading out loud when he saw the email. Although the company department’s arrangement is understandable, he has worked here for so long and he has never encountered a business trip before.
This email is sent for everyone to better prepare for the afternoon meeting, which lists the main topics to be discussed in the meeting. The company pays attention to efficiency and will never allow time to be wasted on meaningless uncertainty. So it is necessary to prepare the materials for your speech before the meeting.
Tsuna clicks down to view the details. The destination is Hokkaido. In order to prepare for the local market pre-marketing activities for the first launch of the ‘White Lover Platinum Series’ that will be launched nationwide, it is not possible to simply send salesmen there. This is because the people contacted locally also have certain important identities. If the people who go to the meeting cannot make a good explanation, there may be a problem of communication stagnation at that time.
He also went with the head of one other team this time. His name is Irie Shoichi. He will also be heading there with the people in their respective teams. There were a total of 8 people. When Tsuna was sorting out the roster of his department, he immediately made the decision to let Shoichi be the leader. What is it really like to negotiate with people? It’s really hard work. Just thinking about it makes him sad. This is not a normal kind of sadness. It was a real sense of difficulty.
After receiving the notice in the morning, Shoichi and Tsuna had a short meeting on organising their respective teams. They selected their entourage and arranged the schedule for the business trip. They finally scheduled the time within one week. An extended time is also considered. But at the same time, the company’s budget must also be considered. So, the two simply summed up the itinerary.
During the meeting in the afternoon, the deputy director announced the matter in public. Uni fully explained the reason and focus of the trip with PPT. She reported the results of the discussions between the two departments together. Through the consideration of the entire marketing department, 3 days were added to the schedule. Then, the ordering of air tickets and the occupancy of the hotel were handed over to the logistics department after the meeting.
A special research team has collected and roughly summarised all the data and reported them to the marketing department. The people below then sorted them out and handed them in. What arrived at Tsuna and Shoichi at the end of the day was a thick document.
In fact, it was also negotiated with the other party. This time, it was a more specific implementation plan. What Tsuna and the others had to do was to make exact arrangements for every detail and contact the person in charge of each store. The national market after the launch in Hokkaido was a matter for higher leaders to decide.
Tsuna can’t imagine how tedious all the work would be.
The departure time is only five days later. It is necessary for them to familiarise themselves with the various processes and market details in these few days. Vongola’s overtime work starts again day and night, which in turn gives Tsuna, who was in a cold war with Mukuro, a chance to relax. Mukuro had gone out when he got up in the morning. And Mukuro had already fallen asleep when he came back from work. The two lived under the same roof but they hardly saw each other’s face for five consecutive days.
Thus, Tsuna couldn’t find the time to tell Mukuro about his business trip. It would have been better to tell him about the fact that he was going to be away for ten days face to face. But it was really difficult to mention it when the two of them were in this state. The day before his departure, Tsuna finally chose to send a text message to Mukuro, explaining in a concise manner about his business trip this time.
As expected, there was no response from him.
Going home early on purpose, Tsuna pushed open the door with anticipation that he didn’t even notice. But the lights were off.
In a few seconds, he looked around the house for a while. But he saw no one. The deserted air in the room also reminded him that there would be no one in the bedroom. The disappointment he felt at that moment really surprised Tsuna himself.
There is nothing to eat in the kitchen. It must be that he hasn’t come home after going out at all. This is rare. Tsuna subconsciously pulls out his mobile phone to make a call.
The flashing light on the phone flickered on and off in his hand. But there was no notification of any new text messages.
“He’s really…!” Tsuna slammed the phone back into his pocket angrily. Even if he was like this, the brat wouldn’t let him go! Tsuna just went to have dinner at the house of someone Mukuro doesn’t like. How long is he going to throw a tantrum for?! It is too much! Puberty is amazing. Tsuna had gone through puberty too! But now it’s like he had to go through menopause first. Hahahaha! How ridiculous!
All kinds of rants drifted through his mind in confusion. Tsuna opened the refrigerator angrily and found some pasta, vegetables, tomatoes, and green beans. After searching up and down, there was no meat around at all.
He sat alone at the dining table and finished eating the bad pasta. Tsuna came to the sink with the plate and was about to wash the dishes. Suddenly, an unknown anger erupted in him. He put the plate into the sink just like that.
I want you to wash it! I won’t wash anything for you! If you have the ability not to wash anything for ten days so let me see you do it!
His thinking became so childish that he couldn’t even understand it. Tsuna didn’t care what Mukuro was doing but he still hasn’t come back. After taking a quick shower, he found the suitcase he used when he came back from Italy on the top of the closet. He packed his bags casually, put on his earphones and locked the door. He then went to sleep with his head covered.
That night, he didn’t sleep well.
The soothing harp melody is looping in his mobile phone. The smooth sound like a stream relaxes the nerves inch by inch. But Tsuna has always maintained a state of half-asleep and half-awake. He wants to check the time on the phone from time to time. It is really quite annoying since he has to get up early tomorrow to catch the plane.
When Tsuna got up in the middle of the night, the living room was already dark. He staggered to the entrance and saw Mukuro’s shoes. Even though he refused to admit it, Tsuna finally let go of his heart that was hanging all night. He finally turned off the music and slept soundly.
After only sleeping for about 3 hours in total, Tsuna still got up firmly at 6 o’clock the next day. He called Ryo-nii. After confirming that the other party was awake, he went to the bathroom with a dazed expression. He rinsed his mouth and took a brief shower. Thanks to the water constantly flushed down from his head, his paste-like brain became a little clearer. He went back to the bedroom and got dressed. He took the luggage and waited for Ryo-nii’s phone call. He then dragged the luggage downstairs.
It’s normal that Mukuro still hasn’t woken up by this time. Today is the beginning of spring break. He would usually wake up very early to go to school. But now, even the biological clock would not wake him up at this time. When Tsuna passed by the kitchen, he deliberately went to look at the sink. There was nothing in it.
For some reason, he always wanted to just sigh. So Tsuna opened the door gently, trying not to make any noise. He spotted Ryo-nii one step earlier when he went downstairs. Ryo-nii rolled down the car window and greeted him.
“Sorry to bother you, Ryo-nii”, Tsuna sat in the passenger seat after putting his luggage in the trunk. It was really difficult to drive to the airport during this time so he needed to ask for Ryo-nii’s help. Tsuna had been keeping his intention to learn to drive for so long. But even if he learned how to drive, it would be useless… There was no way for him to send the car back after driving it to the airport. Tsuna can only blame the logistics department for booking the ticket so early in the morning.
“It’s okay…Hey…were you on a stakeout last night?!” Even in the early hours of the morning, Ryo-nii was as energetic as usual. When he saw Tsuna’s dark circles under his eyes, he couldn’t help asking, “Did you get beaten?”
“…I didn’t sleep well.” Yawning, Tsuna lowered his eyelids halfway and leaned back in the seat. He was about to start a light sleep and completely ignored the non-stop siren sound on the top of the car.
“Fasten your seat belt.” Even an ordinary conversation would become like an order because the voice was too loud. Tsuna woke up. With a robotic nod, he slowly turned sideways to pull the seat belt over his body.
The siren on top of the car went off.
Of course, it is impossible to sleep soundly in a car. The dizziness spreading all over his head is finally concentrated near the temples. It is not like he never stayed up late before.
It’s just that he felt that this time, it is particularly tiring.
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*Translator’s Note: I was a little distracted when I was translating this chapter. Please inform me if there were any mistakes. Thanks. -K
☝🏻Fanart of MukuroXTsuna
Next update: 2023.08.09
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