"Hey, Takeshi! Have you heard about the Cardinal Global Convention?" Tsuna said excitedly.

"Yeah! I'm thinking of going. The ticket's pretty cheap too, haha." Takeshi replied from the other side of the phone. Tsuna grinned in response as he inputted information on his laptop.

"Mm. I'm actually pre-booking it right now. Cardinal has a good base around Japan, so tickets are super limited! I wonder who else would come…"

One summer had passed and another had come since Tsuna met up with Takeshi. It was finally time for another Global Convention of Cardinal. They were going to be held in major cities of the world, Tokyo being one of them. Tsuna had not dared to venture to earlier conventions, his fear of rejection too strong to even consider the possibility. But he was getting along better, and with a friend on his side, he wasn't going to miss the fun event.

Despite the encrypted nature of Cardinal, many folks were interested in IRL meets and exchanged information regularly, so the conventions were huge events with many programs to entertain the masses.

Many of Tsuna's friends on Cardinal said they would certainly attend. He was euphoric on the thought of making newer friends. Though he was constantly improving, Tsuna was as socially awkward as ever outside his tiny familiar circle, and people at school didn't accept him. That was fine, because he intended on freelancing later in life, anyways.

The one person Tsuna had not asked yet was Solare-san, because he had been absent very frequently from Cardinal due to work pressure. He wondered if he would even come – the man lived on the other side of the world!

He really wanted to meet Solare more than ever, because they spent so much time together it made him a little sad not to. However Solare was extremely secretive. Tsuna knew nothing about the other except for the fact that he was 'drop-dead gorgeous'. He had even tried to hack into Solare's computer once, ending up with a pretty nasty virus that deleted his gigabytes of games and assignment data and Tsuna was left moping for weeks.

Finally the chance came ten days before the convention.

Solare was online!

Tsuna instantly hit him up. Solare-san! Finally! Where were you gone for so long?

Biting his fingernails in anticipation, Tsuna rehearsed the pleadings in his mind over and over again – he had planned the excuses and words extremely well (Takeshi had helped too, actually).

Solare did not respond right away.

I had work to do. He replied shortly after a good fifteen minutes. Tsuna pouted.

You know how much I missed you? What did you do, venture into the Amazon?

Something like that. What do you need me for?

Okay, this was the hard part. Tsuna felt prickling sensation all over his skin as he typed out his answer.

Well… it's not really something. But I kinda wanted to ask you something.

Well, go ahead. Remember, no love confessions.

Agh, God, No! Solare-san, you're horrible!

I know, thank you.

So... um, is your work done?

Yep, I'm free for a couple of days. Want to learn another language?

Oh, um, no. I mean, that's great. But that's not I was going to ask…

Ah, he was messing up so bad.

Spit it out already, dummy.

Well… have you heard of the global convention of Cardinal? It's going to be held in most major cities, like New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Rome etc…

Mm. What about it?

I was thinking about attending it this year… at Tokyo. I've booked tickets already.

I see.

Yeah… I'm really excited about it. A lot of my friends are going to be attending!

Good.

I heard Cardinal is really popular in Italy too… you have many friends too, right?

Yes.

Are they going to attend?

Don't know. Didn't ask. Why?

Well, here went nothing. Tsuna held his breath and typed out,

Um, Solare-san, could you come too, please? Maybe in Tokyo? O-or I can try coming to Rome! I've been talking to you for so long and I really want to meet you in real life. So… um…

The reply was instant.

No.

Why not? At least think about it!

I don't like to repeat myself. I won't come. Not now, not ever.

Tsuna was disheartened. He didn't think Solare-san would be so upfront about it. But… can you at least tell me why?

No. I don't want to explain myself. And one more thing.

Yes…?

I've found some crappy security defects in Cardinal. I reported it to the administrators, but they are too stupid and won't fix anything. So I'm going to quit this.

Tsuna stared wide-eyed at the white screen, not believing what he saw.

You can't be serious!

Solare didn't reply. Tsuna didn't understand why these things always happened to him. He wanted to pull out his hair in frustration.

Solare-san! How can you suddenly leave? At least give me your email or something!

It's for your best interest if we don't keep in contact. Solare replied.

Oh, come on, Solare-san. This is another of your pranks. Cut it out.

I talked to you in my free time and taught you because I had nothing better to do.

But…!

But you better keep what I taught you in mind. And not fuck up. I'm not someone to become friends with, Tsuna. Don't try to dig dirt, do you understand?

Did Solare-san just… say his real name?

H-how do you know my name!?

I know too many things. Now you must do these things…

Just like that, his friendship with Solare-san had come to an abrupt halt. Tsuna dutifully removed his entire chat history with Solare and cleaned every data they'd shared, just liked the man had instructed. It left a bitter hole in his heart. Tsuna had become distant once again, and wrapped himself up in his little cocoon.

"Maybe you'll meet him again, Tsuna." Takeshi said gently, as they sat in a gaming café looking out the window. Tsuna was unhappily drinking his smoothie. "I don't think he'd like you to look like a raccoon, haha."

Tsuna nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah… honor our relationship…or something like that. Right, Takeshi?"

"Y-yeah."

"Which manga is that from?"

"Er… Fairy Tail," Takeshi said, grinning sheepishly. "On the other hand, that convention wasn't too bad, was it, Tsuna?"

"It was nice." Tsuna admitted. "Meeting Sasagawa-san and Dokuro-chan was great. I had no idea he was Kyoko-chan's brother!"

"Haha, you're right! It's a small world, isn't it?"

After Solare had cut off communication, Tsuna had lost interest in attending the convention. Only with Takeshi's god-like persuasion skills and lots of sushi had he managed to stir him out of his little bubble. In that convention they had become good friends with two people they'd met on Cardinal – Ryohei Sasagawa, who was a boxer-in-training, and the big brother of Tsuna's crush. He had a bright and vibrant personality – slightly intimidating Tsuna – but Takeshi went along just fine.

Secondly they'd met a young girl named Chrome Dokuro, who was really shy and had just gotten out of hospital. She was really awkward at first. But she was such a good soul, Tsuna liked her a lot. In the end they exchanged contacts and promised to stay in touch in real life.

"I'm really grateful you're my friend, Takeshi." Tsuna said suddenly. "I probably would have never gotten the courage to go out without you…"

"You saved my life, Tsuna." Takeshi said, slapping him on the back. At that time Tsuna's phone began to ring noisily. He took it out.

It was Nana.

"Mom?" Tsuna answered. "What's it?"

"Ah, Tsu-kun!" She said, giggling happily. "Could you come home please? I've got great news!" His mother was practically gushing in bliss! Tsuna winced slightly at the sound volume and mumbled a reply, cutting the call. He could guess the reason…

Looking at Takeshi apologetically, Tsuna said, "Sorry. I've to go. My mom wants something…"

Takeshi shook his head. "No problem," He replied with his signature grin plastered over his face, "Go home. We'll catch up later!"

"Bye, Takeshi."

Paying the bills, they both exited the café and went separate ways. Tsuna sighed slightly. His guts were lurching in unease again. His mother was only this happy when…

That man was coming to visit.

The last thing Tsuna wanted was to see him.

A/N: Hey! Can you guess who's the guy? (Of course you can, lol I'm so much crappy). How was this chapter? Do you think the storyline is going a little too fast? Should I slow down a bit? Please feel free to give constructive criticism. Your love and support gives me the energy to write. Thank you, everyone!