Chapter 38 – The Email
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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Everything began without warning. Tsuna was fully engrossed in his work at the company when this happened. Almost everyone using the company’s MSN email accounts received a new email notification almost simultaneously.
Tsuna didn’t notice immediately. With ‘White Lover Platinum Series’ about to launch officially, a whole year of hungry marketing efforts had been condensed into this quarter. The decisions made in the next quarter were crucial. Besides advertisements, the company’s PR efforts had also garnered attention from some official media outlets.
Teams 1 and 3 were about to set off for Hokkaido again… So, regarding the Sales Department…
The door swung open. Reborn’s appearance took Tsuna by surprise. From his expression, Tsuna could sense that Reborn was in a considerably bad mood.
“You received it too, right?”
Reborn’s direct question left Tsuna puzzled. “Received what?”
“The email.” Reborn’s face grew colder, not giving Tsuna any time to wonder. He walked straight up to Tsuna’s side and leaned over to manipulate the mouse. He clicked open the mass-sent email. With an initially nonchalant glance, he browsed through the contents. Tsuna became utterly frozen.
“Vongola’s Heir with the Largest Shareholder Status: Sexual Orientation Revealed.”
The email began with an enlarged photo, taken under the bright hospital lights at the entrance. Tsunayoshi’s features were unmistakable.
“Is this the result of you telling me not to intervene?”
Without being distracted by Reborn’s impending anger, Tsuna urgently continued reading. What surprised him even more was not just the photo itself, but the fact that not only his identity had been exposed. But also Rokudo Mukuro’s.
Ten years apart in age. They have been living together since the age of twelve. And he was a victim of the Millefiore.
Tsuna felt like he was about to faint.
In this email, he was portrayed as a lecherous man aiming for a younger boy involved in perverse activities. God, it was like they were accusing him of being the one with lecherous motives towards someone else!
“They chose this timing.” Reborn half-squinted his eyes. He understood that someone had clearly put a lot of effort into this. “Quite a bold… move.”
The blow was too significant. Was it aimed at Tsunayoshi Sawada personally? Or was it directed at Vongola as a whole?
“Re…- Reborn…” Tsuna’s voice was panicked and devoid of any ideas. He instinctively looked to Reborn for help. His gaze was met with Reborn’s stern expression.
“Find the person who did this. The clarity of this photo suggests it wasn’t taken with a cellphone. This indicates that the person who captured this photo had been following you closely to get a shot like this.” Reborn rapidly scrolled through the email once again and then closed it.
“Find them… How do I even start?” Tsuna swallowed hard. “How do we go about finding them?”
“Chances are higher that it’s targeted at you personally rather than at Vongola. Otherwise, the initial release point of this content would have been an entertainment magazine. It might be an employee within the company. But we can’t guarantee they won’t leak this to the media.” Reborn closed his eyes briefly. He let out a sigh and then straightened up. “Immediately contact those gossip-hungry tabloids. Make sure they don’t get hold of this content and publish it in their own magazines.”
“I’m just the Deputy Director now…” Tsuna asked in a soft voice, doubting his authority to engage the Public Relations Department to act on his behalf.
“This is not solely your matter.” Reborn’s voice seemed to have gained a slight edge, likely due to his frustration. “Can you spare a bit of brainpower to remember what I told you? Who are you? You are Vongola’s Tsunayoshi Sawada. Before being Tsunayoshi Sawada as an employee, you were already the heir of Vongola.”
Tsuna’s hands were still resting on the table. His shoulders hunched and he avoided looking at Reborn. This made him appear even more frail. Reborn’s gaze settled on the delicate tips of Tsuna’s pale ears, visible through his soft hair. Reborn let out an almost inaudible sigh. “I’ll handle the Public Relations Department. But endure the peculiar looks of those within the company. It’s your punishment for being so careless.”
Suppressing his own frustration, Reborn withdrew his gaze. He truly felt like he had exhausted all his patience and leniency on this inept student.
“Continue to complete today’s schedule diligently. That’s what you should do.” Reborn’s tone was authoritative as he finished speaking. He waited for Tsuna to reluctantly nod before leaving the office. He had other matters to attend to.
However, after stepping out of the office, he halted for a moment. He pondered for a few seconds and then pulled out his phone, searching his contacts for an unfamiliar number he had never dialled before.
“Hello.” Once the call connected, he couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh. “Brat, there’s something quite interesting that I’m eager to share with you.”
After briefly explaining the situation, he didn’t wait for the other person’s response before hanging up. Reborn just wanted to make sure that this presumptuous brat understood how detrimental his presence could be.
But what Reborn hadn’t anticipated was that while the group of rather proud and standoffish members of the Public Relations Department disappointed him, Rokudo Mukuro unexpectedly provided him with a surprising result.
Sitting at a fast food restaurant outlet, Reborn wondered how many years had passed since he had last set foot in such a place.
Mukuro and Reborn sat face to face. They both wore displeased expressions as if they were owed millions of dollars. The air around them seemed to convey a clear message: ‘I don’t like looking at you.’
“You can handle this person yourself. Or I can take care of it as well,” Mukuro tossed a document folder to Reborn. The people from the magazine had even gone to the school looking for him! It was obvious that Tsuna’s situation had worsened. He had visibly lost weight over the past few days.
When had he become a victim? This was infuriating! Kissing Tsuna wasn’t meant to provide material for them!
Mukuro smiled from the corner of his mouth. Sooner or later, he would make those people true victims in every sense of the word.
However, what bothered him even more was that Tsuna hadn’t told him about this situation. It was both out of concern and a lack of trust. In Tsunayoshi Sawada’s eyes, Rokudo Mukuro was still a child in need of protection.
Yes, he was still a child to him.
“They even hired a detective agency.” Opening the document folder, Reborn found a photo of Kensuke Mochida at the beginning of the first page. He flipped the paper and saw the name of the detective agency on the second page. “How did you find this out?”
“This idiot actually used your company’s network to post those things. He probably thought using a proxy IP would solve everything.” Mukuro responded dryly with an uninterested expression.
Reborn’s eyes narrowed sternly. “You hacked into the company’s network?”
Mukuro glanced at him as he smiled lazily. “If you want to think of it that way, then go ahead.”
In reality, hacking wasn’t his strong suit. But that was fine. Chikusa could take care of it. Right now, he was pondering which student of Kokuyo High could be useful in performing other tasks for him.
The students themselves had limited abilities at this stage. But their parents are capable. Very few middle school students could realise just how powerful their classmates could be as resources. A single person could pull together a social network encompassing their family and an entire school’s worth of students could create a vast web of connections.
By this point, Mukuro’s understanding was more akin to that of someone in a superior position than Tsunayoshi Sawada’s.
“Though I hate to admit it, things have taken a turn for the worse,” placing the items on the table, Reborn observed the young man before him. “I shouldn’t have put my trust in a bunch of naive idiots. But now that the situation has attracted societal attention, we need to make some compromises.”
The focus was on Tsunayoshi Sawada and Rokudo Mukuro’s identities. Tsuna’s identity had been completely exposed in this incident. This unintentional slip could become the biggest scandal in Vongola’s history. Meanwhile, Mukuro’s identity was tied to the events of a few years ago involving the Millefiore, which the public would inevitably recall.
“What are you trying to say?”
“Leave.”
The conversation was straightforward. And then they both fell silent. The atmosphere was growing tense. On the table, aside from the document folder, there were cups of iced chocolate and coffee, untouched. The ice was already starting to melt.
“I’ve been pondering about this issue for a while. The school has already made arrangements for you. The option of studying abroad is a good one, isn’t it?” Reborn tapped his index finger on the table. He tossed another document folder to Mukuro. “In the end, you are the cause of this. If you disappeared, the speed at which social news would come up with updates would be quite optimistic.”
“If that’s the only reason, I won’t accept it.” Mukuro smirked challengingly. But he did not see the expression of backing down from Reborn as he had expected.
“Of course this incident isn’t the sole reason. At most, it could be considered a trigger that allowed me to truly witness your instability,” Reborn said calmly. His hands crossed casually on the table, emitting an aura of invincibility.
Yes, this situation would eventually be resolved. In Reborn’s eyes, it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. What was more challenging was to handle Mukuro.
“I can clearly see in you the traits of a spoiled brat. But growing up being doted on by someone like Tsunayoshi, it’s inevitable to become arrogant.”
Mukuro remained silent, choosing not to respond.
“Regardless of how your childish infatuation could be twisted, have you considered what it will become if it continues like this?”
“How could I not have thought about it?” Mukuro spoke each word deliberately. There was a hint of resentment in his voice due to being underestimated.
“Oh? Will things really develop as you envision? And if not, what will you do then?” Reborn’s voice was light but firm. “Is it possible that even you are unsure of it?”
Mukuro wanted to say that it couldn’t be true.
But the truth was he wasn’t sure. If Tsuna actually chose someone else to be with,… what would he do?
His knuckles tightened as he was startled by his own imagination.
“Then let me ask you again. What can you offer him now? He has Vongola behind him. What about you? You want to rely on him while also wanting to possess him?” A chuckle escaped from Reborn’s mouth as his gaze turned disdainful, piercing straight into Mukuro’s heart. “Boy, there shouldn’t be such good things in this world, right?”
If words were a weapon, Reborn was undoubtedly wielding them with skill. The sense of defeat that arose from facing this man the last time now wrapped around Mukuro’s heart once again. Unconsciously, he clenched his fist. His expression shifted between clarity and uncertainty. “I won’t leave. I absolutely won’t.”
“That’s why I dislike interacting with brats like you. Immature thoughts combined with a paranoid personality make it feel like a waste of effort to tame you. It’s easier to just send you straight to the crematorium,” not bothering to hide his impatience, Reborn sighed heavily as if explaining was a bother. Then he leaned forward. His face was devoid of any expression as he looked at Mukuro.
“Listen, I will never approve of you being with him. This is a terrible outcome for both Vongola and Tsunayoshi. And perhaps even for Iemitsu. When the outside world uses you to hurt him, do you have the ability to resist it? Would he rely on you who possesses him like a dog clutching onto its bone?”
With each word from Reborn, Mukuro’s breath grew heavier. He wanted to shout and to tell him to stop. But he knew there was little to refute Reborn’s words.
Undeniably, for the current situation, whether Tsuna’s attitude toward him or the circumstances which Reborn had described, it was like a quagmire without an exit.
Mukuro was well aware that this couldn’t continue.
So he lowered his gaze. He was lost in painful contemplation.
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*Author’s Note:
I feel that Reborn bullies Mukuro. But Mukuro’s reactions are quite enjoyable to watch ↑ ↑ -YXF
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Next update: Tomorrow
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