“About Fuuta, I’ve already handed it over to the consultant outside the door and your people. Haven’t you received the latest news yet?”

Dazai checked his phone and replied, “I’ve received it. Mr. Mori said for me to entertain you. Later, you’ll be able to see Fuuta’s ranking—”

Hyakki didn’t need external forces to entertain him and declined. However, Dazai continued, “Fuuta agreed to rank for the Port Mafia three times.” These three opportunities were obtained by Dazai, with Mori agreeing to give him one chance to rank.

Hyakki frowned; indeed, he needed to be present. Mori was a shrewd old fox; if Fuuta ranked for something he shouldn’t, it would be disastrous.

The people Mori sent… Were they little foxes? Yokohama did seem to have some talent compared to other organizations.

The suited little infant coldly agreed.

“Alright.”

Sawada, sitting on the ground, was completely confused, not daring to speak. Rubbing his sore head from being kicked, he suddenly screamed, his body wracked with intense pain from overexertion.

“Ahhhh, it hurts so much—!!!”

The other members of the Vongola Family laughed heartlessly, but the silver-haired boy quickly ran over, offering some comfort to Sawada, but it did little to alleviate his pain.

For dinner that night, the Vongola Family members were treated to a hotel arranged by the Port Mafia.

Dazai, being sensible, didn’t bother them. He had Hyakki to take care of, and wasn’t it fun to tease Nakahara a bit? Why rush to interact with these strangers?

The next day.

The playful sounds of Ranpo and Ippei echoed in the hotel lobby, attracting the attention of other guests. Sawada felt a bit uneasy; honestly, he had never stayed in a five-star hotel before. Alas, he was just a commoner’s child, completely unable to adapt to such high-quality treatment.

“Hyakki, should we stop them?” Sawada was afraid of being looked down upon.

“You decide for yourself,” Hyakki replied with a thick skin.

Sawada recoiled; deciding meant pretending not to see it. He absolutely didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire between Ranpo and Ippei, two five-year-old troublemakers.

Fuuta sat on a single sofa, looking even quieter than Sawada.

He had been sent back by the Port Mafia last night and reported on the events of the night, ensuring that he hadn’t leaked any information about the Vongola Family before narrowly avoiding punishment from the family.

“Boss, I don’t want to stay here either.”

Unfortunately, the only one absent was the unruly Hibari Kyoya, who had gone out looking for a fight.

The hotel managers quickly dealt with the other guests with insight. By ten o’clock in the morning, there were no more guests arriving in the lobby.

Two boys walked through the revolving door, one in front of the other, with peculiar styles, holding hands affectionately.

At such an age, with outstanding looks that couldn’t be concealed, the bandages wrapped around them and the way they played together made it impossible to imagine the scars and flesh beneath the bandages from suicide attempts. People always thought they had a great relationship, envying the bond between childhood playmates.

In fact, they had only known each other for less than half a year.

Dazai arrived at his destination and greeted the members of the Vongola Family.

“Good morning…”

Before he could finish speaking, Ranpo burst into laughter in the lobby. “Hey, outsiders! Ranpo has heard of you, the Port Mafia, right? Ranpo wants to prove himself as the strongest—!” The bouncing cow-headed child grabbed a toy grenade and was about to throw it at them.

The next second, Ranpo saw Dazai and Hyakki’s faces clearly and his pupils dilated instantly.

He started crying out of fear.

“Waaaaahhh—! The bandage weirdo is here again!!!”

“Ah, Boss! Help! The monster from three years ago is here, and Ranpo can’t beat him!”

Almost rolling in fear, the child dressed as a little cow ran towards Sawada, who could best protect him.

Sawada didn’t know whether to feel relieved or tearful: [Ranpo, you remember me now of all times!]

Hyakki’s brow twitched.

The monster from three years ago?

Ranpo was lively and mischievous, and there weren’t many things that could scare him. This little devil was a killer trained by the small-to-medium-sized Italian Mafia Povino family, carrying a rocket launcher every day, and was the future guardian appointed by the Vongola Family. Even in childish words, there was a lot of information hidden.

Three years ago, Ranpo was only two years old; for a two-year-old Mafia child to remember someone…

It had to be either an old acquaintance or someone from the future.

The surprise on Dazai’s face was genuine, seizing onto the keyword “three years ago.” He had never traveled abroad, let alone known members of the Mafia family in Italy.

“Vongola Tenth Generation, this child—” Dazai pointed to Sawada’s back.

“Haha, just call me Sawada.” Sawada faced Dazai, sweat beading on his forehead, feeling no warmth, only a sense of helplessness from meeting a stranger who was difficult to deal with.

He quickly pulled Ranpo in front of him, feeling the shivers running through Ranpo’s body.

“Ranpo? Don’t casually call people names.”

However, Ranpo’s fear was real.

Childhood shadows appeared before his eyes, and in such a sudden and unexpected way, the stimulus was significant enough.

Dazai’s smile gradually faded, and even Sawada felt something was off from Ranpo’s fear. Because Ranpo’s fear wasn’t directed at Dazai, but at the yukata-clad youth beside Dazai. That was a genuine handsome youth, with no bandages on his face, beautifully hollow and lifeless. Following Dazai, he was like a delicate puppet, not giving off a sense of horror.

“Are you referring to Hyakki as the bandaged weirdo?”

Dazai, with Hyakki, walked towards Sawada, and Ranpo’s screams grew louder.

Sawada’s scalp tingled. “Ranpo, these are two people, not monsters!”

Hyakki interrupted him. “Just watch.”

Sawada, not yet tainted by darkness, felt a strange fondness for Hyakki at first sight, and most of his aversion to strangers disappeared.

Hyakki calmly observed Sawada’s attitude, his inherited intuition guiding him.

But Ranpo’s reaction surprised eve Sawada; tears gushed from his eyes.

“He’s not human, Ah Sawada!”

“This, this bandaged weirdo has no face! He’s scarier than the anatomical specimens at home by countless times! How could someone become like that and still live!”

“Monster, leave! Ranpo will never surrender!”

Despite trembling with fear, Ranpo dared to shout at Hyakki.

Dazai murmured in his melancholic heart, “Interesting.”

[Changed color?]

Hyakki’s heart gaze shifted to Sawada, puzzled by the warm white flames of life emanating from him.

Where was the orange glow from before?

He reached out his hand, the instinct to pursue beauty taking precedence, wanting to trigger other colors in the darkness.

Sawada blinked his golden-brown eyes. “Eh?”

Sawada’s eyes flickered. “You want to see other colors?”

The brown-haired youth scratched his cheek with his finger, embarrassedly saying, “Without my Death Ball, I can’t use the Flames of Death, and you touching my forehead won’t do anything…”

Dazai was surprised. Was this guy talking to Hyakki?

“Don’t hurt the Tenth!”

“Gokudera, he’s just getting close to Ah Sawada. Ah Sawada doesn’t seem to oppose it.”

Hyakki’s hand, about to touch Sawada’s, stopped in mid-air. Gokudera Hayato’s dissatisfaction and Yamamoto Takeshi’s laughter were both isolated from the spiritual world.

[What is this…]

His heart’s gaze shifted downward, and he found a pink glow in another small flame of life.

[A pink… special item?]

With a tilt of his hand, Hyakki’s hand touched Ranpo’s explosion of hair.

Ranpo petrified.

“Hyakki!” Dazai stepped forward, afraid he would be injured by this child who didn’t know his own strength. But Ranpo, who was initially terrified, calmed down, looking at Hyakki with teary eyes, trembling hands digging out a pink grenade from his explosion of hair and handing it to him.

“It’s for you…”

“Someone asked me… to give it to you…”

Hyakki, beguiled by the bright color, reached out to receive this unknown special item.

Three years ago.

Growing up in the family, Ranpo broke a ten-year rocket launcher while playing. He was transported to the world ten years later, where he saw a person lying on the bed without facial features, skin, or limbs, their long hair disheveled, their body assembled into the appearance of a normal person.

This scene became Ranpo’s nightmare for three years, unforgettable to this day.

He retreated in fear, sticking to the wall, not daring to look up, remembering the low, tired voice in his ears.

Ranpo

[This is a trade.]

[If you don’t, you’ll have this nightmare of breaking the contract for the rest of your life.]

It was too terrifying. Ranpo refused to admit this was human; humans couldn’t be so ugly.

It was just a grenade; if you’re not afraid of death, go ahead and use it!

As the pink grenade left his hand, Ranpo shrank back into Sawada’s arms, covering his ears, closing his eyes, muttering to himself, “The nightmare is gone, I completed the trade.”

The pink grenade in Hyakki’s hand suddenly exploded.

Pink smoke enveloped him.

With “No Longer Human” as his backing, Dazai suddenly couldn’t laugh anymore, his hand touching nothing.

“What is this—?”

“A ten-year rocket launcher.”

Hyakki was extremely displeased, staring at his figure disappearing in the pink smoke, “This grenade exchanges the person with their self ten years later for five minutes. However, due to some unexpected circumstances, it has been classified as a banned product and is no longer in production. Anyone who knows about the ten-year rocket launcher wouldn’t dare to use it. It can’t fulfill any wishes to change the past…”

Using a ten-year rocket launcher to change the past? This was an impossible plan.

The past couldn’t be changed.

After undergoing tests by the Vongola Family, the ten-year rocket launcher didn’t traverse the timeline but parallel space, meaning the exchanged person came from—ten years later in parallel time!

The pink smoke dissipated…

A long-haired youth appeared in the smoke, much taller and more mature in stature than before. His features had matured, and his cold, grey-brown eyes were now filled with tears.

“Are you… Doro… ro… ro?”