Chapter 77

After the Vongola group hurriedly bid farewell to Takashi Natsume and the group of yokai, they received a warm send-off from the yokai, who practically beat drums and gongs as they left.

The monsters' thinking was simple: the Vongola were good in every way, except that they were too strong, too troublesome, and too good at destroying homes. Their Hachihara was only so big, and every place was their home; they didn't want their homes to be torn down by these people.

As they boarded the vehicle for the return journey, everyone had dark circles under their eyes, especially Sawada Tsunayoshi, who was utterly exhausted. They had demolished the inn, and had had to make do with whatever they could find to sleep in the previous night; how could they not be tired?

What made them even more exhausted was that after returning to school, they received devastating news: the monthly exam was coming up soon. After a physically and mentally exhausting school trip, they had to immediately enter the inhumane review phase.

Even the usually carefree and naturally shrewd Takeshi Yamamoto couldn't help but let out a wry smile. Not to mention the academically challenged Tsunayoshi Sawada, whose wails pierced the sky.

Rokudo Mukuro, however, lived an exceptionally comfortable life. Chrome and the others went to school as usual, while he had money and free time. He would often visit his chocolate factory or watch Sawada Tsunayoshi and the others suffer terribly from studying.

Everything was wonderful and peaceful, but only if the little sparrow could stop bothering him...

He now doubts whether he made a mistake by using the cloud bean doll to fool the little sparrow a few days ago.

Since Hibari Kyoya went to the place ten years later, he must have seen Hibari from ten years in the future. Hibari has been appearing in front of him frequently these days, and his ultimate goal is to get his pet Hibari back.

Rokudo Mukuro was picking out his favorite chocolates in a shop when he suddenly noticed a commotion at the shop entrance. Without even looking up, he knew it was Hibari Kyoya again.

"Hibari-kun, you've come!" The shop owner was a kind old woman who wasn't afraid at all when she saw Hibari Kyoya arrive; instead, she smiled.

Hibari Kyoya's voice was indifferent, but he stood there obediently. "Yes, collecting protection money."

The old woman said with a smile, "Okay, I've already put this month's money here, here you go."

After receiving the protection money, Hibari Kyoya did not leave immediately. Instead, she went into the store. Upon seeing Hibari Kyoya, the crowd scattered, and no one dared to gather in front of her.

Hibari Kyoya went straight towards Rokudo Mukuro, saying, "Rokudo Mukuro, let's have a fight. If I win, you can give me the Hibari Beans."

Rokudo Mukuro watched Hibari Kyoya's spirited performance, while he himself felt rather uninterested. The weather was lovely today, the sun was blazing, and he had no desire for any strenuous exercise. Besides, this little sparrow was too cunning; he gave him the Cloud Beans after winning, but didn't even mention what would happen if he lost?

He waved the chocolate in his hand and decisively refused, "Kufufu~ No."

Hibari Kyoya was also a willful and self-centered person. He pretended not to hear Rokudo Mukuro's refusal and directly swung the Floating Bean Cane at Rokudo Mukuro's face.

The instant the floating cane touched Rokudo Mukuro, Rokudo Mukuro's figure turned into a wisp of indigo smoke and disappeared from the spot.

Hibari Kyoya immediately turned around and looked back, and sure enough, Rokudo Mukuro appeared behind him.

"kufufufu~ I already said I don't want to fight today."

"Then hand over the cloud beans to me."

I'll give it to you in a couple of days.

“You said the same thing yesterday.”

Rokudo Mukuro clicked his tongue. Couldn't this little sparrow understand human speech? "I said I'd give it to you in a couple of days. I'm leaving now. Go collect your protection money."

As soon as he finished speaking, Rokudo Mukuro's figure disappeared from the spot.

Watching Rokudo Mukuro's figure disappear, Hibari Kyoya gripped his Floating Float Cane tightly. A genjutsu? It's just a genjutsu, right? He'll definitely study it thoroughly, and one day that pineapple-headed guy won't be able to escape him!

When Rokudo Mukuro finally broke free from the battle maniac Hibari Kyoya, he ran into Sawada Tsunayoshi head-on.

"Mukuro!" The moment Sawada Tsunayoshi saw him, he flashed a big smile.

What are you doing?

Sawada Tsunayoshi gave a wry smile. "It's all because of Reborn. He insisted on drinking hand-ground coffee. I'd say instant coffee is still coffee, isn't it? He made me come out to buy coffee beans, and when I get back I have to grind them for him, brew them for him, and serve them to him."

He clutched his head and yelled, "This baby Reborn is so difficult to take care of!"

Rokudo Mukuro chuckled, his eyes gleaming with schadenfreude. Not only is he difficult to please now, but he'll remain so in the future. However, his coffee-making skills have only improved with each passing year. He recalled how, in their past life, they had teased Sawada Tsunayoshi, suggesting that if he didn't become the Tenth Vongola Boss, he could open a coffee shop to support himself.

"Mukuro, what are you doing?"

"Oh, buy chocolate."

Rokudo Mukuro, looking at the silly Sawada Tsunayoshi in front of him, suddenly remembered something. According to the development of events in his previous life, Varian and his group would be arriving soon, right?

He looked at Sawada Tsunayoshi with pity and kindly reminded him, "You should work on your abilities during this time. Although with my help you can now avoid your clothes tearing, it's still not enough..."

Sawada Tsunayoshi's lips twitched. Is that helping? It's more like throwing them straight into a horde of monsters and yokai. Although he didn't understand why Rokudo Mukuro would say that, he still nodded blankly, "Mukuro, I'll do my best."

Furthermore, what does "not having his clothes explode" even mean? Wasting an outfit every now and then, is that something he wants? Isn't it all caused by Reborn?

"By the way, Mukuro, do you want to come to my house? My mom's been talking about you lately. Let's invite Chrome, Chikusa, and Inu too." Sawada Tsunayoshi extended a warm invitation; he didn't know when it started, but his house had become increasingly warm.

"I won't go. I'll tell Chrome, Chigusa, and Inu about your invitation." Sawada Tsunayoshi's house was indeed very lively, but in the end, the liveliness would cause a lot of trouble. Before long, a big thing would happen. He just wanted to spend the last peaceful period of his life in peace and didn't want to go to Sawada Tsunayoshi's house to join in the fun.

...

The peaceful days of chaos didn't last long before Rokudo Mukuro was confronted by Sawada Tsunayoshi's father.

When a middle-aged man wearing a white vest, orange overalls, a hard hat, carrying a shovel, with a stubble beard and looking disheveled knocked on his door, Rokudo Mukuro's first reaction was disdain.

This man is actually Sawada Tsunayoshi's father?! Is Sawada Iemitsu perhaps the father that Sawada Nana picked up from a trash can for Sawada Tsunayoshi?

Seeing Rokudo Mukuro open the door, the man laughed heartily and squeezed in without any hesitation, "Rokudo-kun, I've heard so much about you!"

Before he could even glance at Sawada Iemitsu's mud-covered boots, he stepped onto the floor that Chrome had cleaned up, and replied with a forced smile, "Kufufu~ Just kidding with your son."

“Hahaha…” Sawada Iemitsu put down the shovel on his shoulder. “My son is so well-behaved, isn’t he? He’s just like Nana and me, so well-behaved and smart, and he looks just like Nana…”

Rokudo Mukuro really wanted to punch someone right now; he didn't want to see a middle-aged man showing affection in front of him.

“You should tell these things to Aunt Nana when you get back.”

"Yes, yes, you're right. How could you kids understand the love between Nana and me? My darling, wait for me, I'll be right back..." The middle-aged man wore a silly smile.

Then, his expression turned serious, and he looked at Rokudo Mukuro with a very serious gaze. "Rokudo-kun seems to be very familiar with us Vongola."

"So-so." Rokudo Mukuro shrugged, completely unconcerned about Sawada Iemitsu's probing.

“Ordinary people wouldn’t know the internal phone numbers of the Vongola,” Sawada Iemitsu said meaningfully. Ever since he learned of Rokudo Mukuro’s existence, he had always found him fascinating. He was familiar with the internal workings of the Vongola, yet he wasn’t one of them.

After receiving a tip-off call, when they finally managed to find this person after going through a lot of trouble, both headquarters and the external consultant department believed that Rokudo Mukuro was one of their people, and at the time they were quite envious that the other party had acquired such a talented individual.

But who knew that it turned out later that this person wasn't a member of the Vongola family at all...

Rokudo Mukuro asked directly, "What brings you here?"

“Oh, it’s like this, I came here to…” Sawada Iemitsu smiled familiarly as he spoke, pulling something out of his work pants pocket that Rokudo Mukuro recognized very well.

Before he could finish speaking, Rokudo Mukuro interrupted him, saying, "Oh, I refuse. Please leave."

This time, it was Sawada Iemitsu's turn to be dumbfounded. Holding the Vongola Ring box, he froze on the spot, stunned for a second before immediately realizing what he had said. "Wait, I haven't finished speaking yet, Rokudo-kun, I meant to..."

"Oh, I refuse."

"No! Let me finish speaking before you refuse." Sawada Iemitsu was getting a little frustrated. Didn't Reborn say that this boy had a high level of affection for his son? Why did he find this kid so difficult to deal with?

"kufufufu~ Is there any difference between me refusing after you finished speaking and refusing directly now?"

It seems there really isn't any difference...