ATOS Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Pain

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)

֍֍֍

On the way to Namimori Hospital, Tsuna pursed his lips anxiously. Without saying a word, he led Mukuro forward but was suddenly pulled by the strength of Mukuro’s hand.

He lowered his head. Mukuro looked up at him. He was quiet and obedient so Tsuna couldn’t believe that he was a child who had used violence at all. When he met those eyes and thought of what Mr. Ando said to him, Tsuna’s heart sank like a stone. He couldn’t describe how sad he felt.

The child lifted the bang on his forehead with his other hand, “Are you going to flick my forehead?”

Tsuna’s heart skipped a beat. He then closed his eyes tightly to calm down. When he opened them again, his whole face looked stern, “So you know you’re wrong?”

Mukuro only hummed in answer.

“How are you wrong?”

“What I did shouldn’t have been seen by others.”

………………

No! Where did his education go wrong?! Tsuna couldn’t hold himself back and instantly flicked Mukuro’s forehead with a crisp sound. The child’s forehead immediately turned red.

“Why did you pierce the chopsticks into his hand?” It didn’t feel real for Tsuna when he asked this… But, why? How could Mukuro do something like this? Tsuna squatted down and looked at Mukuro with eyes full of worries.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t pierce his nerves. I avoided it.” There was a misunderstanding from the point of view of Tsuna’s worry. Mukuro explained quite seriously and the corners of his mouth hooked slightly into a smile. It was as if he was very satisfied with his actions. To emphasise his satisfaction, he added an explanation, “His hand will not be broken so there should be no trouble.”

Tsuna inhaled deeply and felt a headache due to Mukuro’s indifferent attitude. He’d rather not venture into the details of how Mukuro managed to ‘pierce through someone’s hand with a blunt instrument that precisely avoids piercing the nerves’ so he said, “Muku, you can’t hurt people casually.”

“I didn’t hurt people casually.” Mukuro frowned and furrowed his eyebrows slightly, looking childish. Hearing such words coming from the mouth of the person in front of him made Mukuro very uncomfortable. His smile hadn’t had time to dissipate yet so it was combined with a frown on his face. He made an almost sinister expression, “It was him who wanted to steal my phone. I just taught him a lesson and that is not to touch anything that isn’t his.”

“If someone did something wrong, you are allowed to hurt him?” Tsuna asked earnestly, “Then if others think you are wrong, are they also allowed to hurt you?”

After he finished asking, he found that Mukuro looked back at him as if questioning his logic. It seemed that Mukuro didn’t see anything wrong with that at all.

Tsuna sighed to himself. Mukuro’s thinking patterns are definitely different from other children. In his final analysis, he found the root cause. When he bathed Mukuro, he had checked thoroughly for any bruises or wounds but it didn’t appear like he was physically abused. However, thinking of what that research institute was capable of doing to children, the so-called ‘abuse’ must be even more insidious than he could have imagined.

“Muku, you don’t like pain, do you?” Tsuna no longer felt any anger in him at all. The child was not at fault. It was those people who had made him experience the nightmare were at fault.

Being asked this question, Mukuro reached out and touched his own forehead. He then said in a low voice, “…there are exceptions…”

Pain is no stranger to him. There is no lack of drugs in that cold white place that had not caused him pain. He was never given anaesthetics because they are unnecessary. As the objects of observation, it was their role to faithfully reflect the true feelings of pain in the body.

Sometimes when he had to endure the effects of the drugs, he felt that fainting was a kind of kindness. But unfortunately, he was always sober when they were tested on him. There were many times when he thought that he would die. But he had survived time and time again, experiencing the highest form of pain that this world could give him.

But every time Tsuna flicked his forehead, despite the little pain, there was real attentiveness and emotions in the pain. Thus, he felt happy from the bottom of his heart for the pain caused by such reasons.

However, it was impossible for Tsuna to guess Mukuro’s twisted mind. He was only surprised by his answer. He then shook his head with a wry smile, “Pain is a bad thing. If someone is hurt, there are people who will worry about him and feel sad.”

As Tsuna dragged him to walk quickly, Mukuro’s scarf unravelled a little. Tsuna stretched out his hand to help him tidy it up with his brows looking full of concentration, “For example, if Muku gets hurt, I will be very worried and sad. That boy too. Someone will worry and feel sad for him. A good boy shouldn’t do such a thing, okay?”

I don’t give a damn about others, Mukuro thought to himself.

This was the first time that Mukuro had his own thoughts on things. In his memory, even taking care of his own feelings was exhausting. So why should he care about other people’s feelings?

But he knew that Tsuna wanted him to nod. So he nodded without hesitation.

“Good boy.” Tsuna lightly touched the bridge of Mukuro’s nose with his fingers in satisfaction. He then held his hand and stood up, “Then I will apologise to your classmate later.”

Ishibashi’s guardian is only his grandmother. Although she loves her grandson dearly, this old woman is very considerate. The fights between children are out of anyone’s control. After the doctor’s examination, it was found that Ishibashi’s hands are okay and it will work just fine in the future. However, Tsuna took the initiative to be responsible for all the medical expenses. He also made sure that Mukuro showed the attitude of admitting his mistake. So in the end, the old woman just kept nagging about dealing with her own grandchild.

After the matter was over, Tsuna thought to himself that it was rare for him to have a time off. So, he took Mukuro to buy clothes. Mukuro’s summer clothes were all the last season’s products that he bought randomly during the spring which were on sale. Mukuro usually walked around in his school uniform. The matter of adding more clothes for him was not the priority so Tsuna has been repeatedly delaying buying them due to his work. So now, it is time to buy clothes for Mukuro.

He stood by the counter and watched Mukuro dangling around uninterestedly in front of the hanged clothes. Tsuna suddenly remembered something. Today is June 4th…

June 9th is the birthday date he set for Mukuro.

Luckily he remembered! Recently, he was messed up with the hell of his company’s affairs that he had almost forgotten. If that really happened, Tsuna will feel very guilty towards Mukuro and he might have caused Mukuro to be sad.

But why didn’t this kid remind him about this at all? Would he not be disappointed if he really had forgotten?

Just as he was thinking, Mukuro came over with some clothes he had picked. Tsuna glanced at the clothes in his hands. The colour was relatively plain, “What do you want for a birthday present?”

Mukuro was stunned hearing the question. The stupefied look on his face made him look more in line with his age than usual. Tsuna couldn’t help but remind him, “June 9th is coming. Is there anything you want?”

“Birthday present?” Mukuro finally remembered and turned around as he piled the clothes on the counter expressionlessly,, “I don’t want anything.”

“Eh? You don’t want anything?” Tsuna paid the bill while repeating Mukuro’s words in disbelief, “For example, mountain bikes, game consoles, computers, and such? Don’t you want them?”

“…Anything is fine?” He lowered his eyelids lightly. The light from the top of the counter cast a shadow under Mukuro’s eyelashes. His voice also appeared to be erratic under the warm yellow shade.

“It’s not right to say that I can give you anything you want…” Tsuna took the change from the cashier and picked up the clothes bag. He then took Mukuro and walked out of the store. He smoothly said, “But Muku can tell me what you want. I will try my best to fulfil it.”

A child’s desires are usually limited, so Tsuna will try to make his first birthday as memorable as possible. This was what Tsuna thought he would do. But he heard Mukuro say, “Then, can I tell you what I want on that day itself?”

“Eh? Wouldn’t it be impossible to get a present on the same day?” Tsuna turned his head to look at the child. Mukuro then raised his head slightly and looked forward, but there was an obvious smile on the corner of his mouth.

Under the sunshine, it is a gesture of anticipation.

Nonetheless, the consequence of Tsuna taking a day off is double hell for him. Tsuna could only bite the bullet and listen to Chief Kawahira’s understatement and heavy work reassignment for him. He immediately applied for the exemption to leave work on time on June 9th even under great pressure.

“Tsunayoshi, you are so courageous.” Kawahira smiled softly that his eyes behind the round glasses were also bent into crescent shapes, “You do have the confidence to bear the grievances of everyone.”

He really didn’t have that confidence at all. Tsuna raised his hand subconsciously to wipe off the cold sweat on his forehead, “Well… I really have something important to do that day. If I stay at work all night, I will be very troubled.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Kawahira smiled, looking very friendly. He tapped his fingers on the table slowly, “Vongola still has this kind of freedom for their employees. But I hope you can finish your own work on time.”

“I will definitely do that.” Tsuna quickly expressed his gratitude. He must answer this kind of question resolutely. Kawahira nodded, “Okay, that’s all right. You can go to work first.”

After he left Kawahira’s office, Tsuna first went online to order a chocolate cake for that date. He has to make up with work for his exemption in the next few days. He definitely doesn’t have time to go to the cake shop to order it in person. He’s afraid that he will forget to order once he gets busy so he settled the matter earlier on so that he can be rest assured.

Facts have proven that Tsuna had quite a good idea to work his way on the complicated work he was going to face. These days, he felt like he was similar to a spinning top, unable to stop working at all. The others in the office were also the same. They kept the curtains closed since when they lack sleep, they can’t stand the bright light.

If someone were to put some plants in the middle of them, they would look like they’re part of the game Plants vs. Zombies.

Everyone is paying close attention to the calendar. July 25th is the end of their hell period. They just want everything to die off quickly!

Such days were basically filled with work. On June 9th, when Tsuna was about to leave work, he received a call.

“Ah, yes. That’s me. Who are you?” He clamped the phone between his ears and his shoulder as he took the A4 paper that had just been printed out with his free hand. “Oh! Just come up directly. I’m on the 7th floor.”

After a while, the delivery guy from the cake shop came up with a white box. When Tsuna signed for it, many eyes gathered to look at him. He felt like their gazes could stab him. It made him become pressured.

He sent a text message to the child to tell him not to cook. He could not make the birthday boy cook for himself on his birthday… It hurts his conscience. 

Suddenly, the avatar named Simon on his MSN flashed. Tsuna clicked on it.

“Is it your girlfriend’s birthday today?

It’s true that today is someone’s birthday. But it’s definitely not his girlfriend, okay!

But due to him asking for exemption for a birthday celebration, it is a good idea to let them think that way at this time. So Tsuna only replied with, “Hehe.”

֍֍֍

*Translator’s Note: People at work really love to gossip. I don’t like to gossip but I have to hear them in order to fit in hahaha -K

Next update: 2023.05.30

֍֍֍