Living Room, 1st Floor, Sawada Residence

"With your current strength, none of you will win. Compare to Abele who is a moon, you two are just turtles."

Blunt, almost to the point, and absolutely Reborn-like, Hide sighed, massaging his temples as the Sun Arcobaleno voiced his opinion after suddenly dragging the two Vongola candidates into the living room right at the moment they stepped their foot in their house.

The Sawada siblings turned to him, twin frowns marring their features. Hide and Reborn were seated comfortably on the couch at the furnished living room, discussing their current level against the Boss of Disscordo, Abele.

"Shouldn't we discuss this earlier when we were with Haji and the others?" Hide asked.

"I'm talking about YOU TWO," Reborn changed Leon into a stick and pointed it right in front of Hide's face. "Since your role as Vongola Boss candidates are vital."

"You're going to give us another special training menu, right? And I bet we'll start tomorrow." Hide said with bored face, already expecting many things from his tutor.

"That was smart of you, Hide. But unfortunately, two days from tomorrow, both of you will help Shinogu and the others in decoding the clue given by Abele, so the training will start the day after."

"Is the code really that hard?" Saki raised her brow in question.

"I'll send you the code letter to your cell phones. That's all that I want to tell you guys for now. Good night." Reborn returned to Hide's room first.

"I'm going to bed too then. Good night, Brother."

Saki was going to return to her room, but when she didn't hear usual good night reply from Hide, she turned to see Hide looking at the ceiling in deep thought and seemed that he didn't hear her call.

"Brother?"

Saki called him out again, but there was no response. Pouting, Saki sat beside Hide and placed her face right beside his ear.

"Brother!"

Hide couldn't stop himself from yelping and jumping in surprise as a voice sounded quite literally right next to his ear. He scowled up at his little sister leaning oh-so-innocently by his side, but Saki merely shot back a winning smile, and said,

"It's been quite a long time since I heard that high pitch voice."

"Geez, give me a break, Saki!" Hide said in annoyance.

"You're the one who didn't pay any attention! What's gotten into your mind?" Saki asked with a pout.

"…It's just…" Hide frowned as he remembered the Disscordo Boss. "That man, Abele…"

"What about him?" Saki asked slowly, waiting patiently.

"Somehow, I have a feeling that I know him…" Hide said uneasily. "I have a strong feeling that I've met him before…"

"Are you sure?" Saki asked again, frown also marring her feature now.

Hide covered his face and closed his eyes, trying to remember about his enemy to solve the sense of nostalgia that filled his chest the moment he met face to face with the Disscordo Boss.

However, every time he tried to remember, only a headache that he got. Clutching his head tightly and felt that his vision started to get blurry, Hide dismissed his attempt to remember and stood up.

"Never mind. I'm going back to my room. Good night, Saki." Hide returned to his room ahead, ignoring Saki's worry face.

"Brother…"

Morning, Dining Room, 1st Floor, Sawada Residence

"Good morning." Saki greeted as she yawned, entering the dining room.

"Good morning, Saki-chan." Kyoko and Nana greeted at the same time as they prepared breakfast while Reborn was eating.

Saki sat on her chair, looking at the toast and egg in front of her on the table. When she was completely awake from her reverie, she realized that one person was missing, her brother. The chair beside her was empty and there was no toast or egg on the side.

"Where is Brother?" She asked, looking from side to side.

"Hi-kun said that he's going for a jog. It's been a long time right? The last time he jog was when he was still joining Karate club." Kyoko stated, remembering old times.

"Well. It's better than doing nothing." Reborn wiped his mouth with handkerchief, having finished his breakfast. "I'll be going then. See you later, Saki."

"Bye, Uncle." Saki waved her hand as she saw her uncle left.

Karate Dojo, Namimori Town

Hide was looking at the building in front of him. It's the martial arts gym where he used to train. He chuckled as loud shouts echoed throughout the whole gym loud enough for the neighbors to hear. It was still early in the morning, but there were already many people training in the dojo.

His father, for some reason, assigned him to this gym to learn martial arts skills for self-defense when he was seven. When Hide asked him why at that time, his father said that he needed to be strong so he won't be bullied. But now Hide knew that the real reason his father assigned him here was to train him into proper mafia boss.

At that time, he was actually reluctant to join, but after encouragement from his father and brother, he finally relented. At first, it was painful and he wanted nothing more but to quit. However, now he was really grateful of his father and brother. Because not only he could protect himself, he could also protect his friends and family with this knowledge.

"Hidetada-kun?"

Hide turned beside him, meeting face to face with a bald tall muscular man wearing black belt karate uniform. He was carrying what it seemed like a plastic bag full of vegetables and fruits.

"Kanbara-sensei!" Hide beamed, recognizing the man.

"It really is Hidetada-kun! It's been a long time! How are you?" The man, Kanbara, approached Hide, ruffling his head. "Wow. You've grown up since the last time I saw you!"

"T-thank you, Sensei. You just returned from shopping?" Hide looked at the plastic bag that Kanbara was carrying.

"Yeah. My wife is sick, so I'm doing the housework for today. Now that you're here, why don't you come inside and watch the training? It's been a long time after all."

"Is this another attempt to drag me back into the dojo?" Hide asked teasingly.

"No, no. Some students and I really missed you. Come on, come in." Kanbara pushed Hide into the dojo. Hide didn't resist and went along with his former trainer.

They entered the gym where one of Hide's former trainers, Kazushi-sensei greeted them. He escorted them to the training room. There, Hide saw the disciples ranging from boys around his age to adults were training hard. Most of them were students from his school. Hide recognized several of them as his classmates. Hide smiled a bit. This brings back a lot of memories when he was still training here.

That time, he also used to train as hard as he could so he won't disappoint his dad and won't waste his effort for signed him in the dojo. He eventually gained black belt and even trained some of his juniors. But he stopped for a while when his father suddenly brought him and his entire family to Italy because there's something urgent so all of them needed to be there for a year.

After he returned from Italy for his brother's funeral and all, he trained again for next few years before he stopped for good to accompany his family after his father's disappearance.

Kanbara patted Hide's shoulder, making the latter looked up to his former trainer. Kanbara offered him a glass of Oolong tea, which he accepted.

"How is school? Is it fun?" He asked.

"It's fun. Yesterday, we just finished our school festival." Hide answered. "Although the Disscordo's appearance ruined our mood…"

"I know that. My son went to that festival. I couldn't go because I need to watch over my trainees."

"How are your trainees then?"

"All of them are promising. Last month our dojo won another junior tournament." Kanbara pointed at the newest trophy on the shelf proudly.

"It sure brings back memories." Hide chuckled as he recounts his training years in the dojo.

In order not to shame his family, he trained ten hours a day, five hours in dojo, five hours at home with his brother. As the result of the trainings, he won Junior Karate National Championship, and several other championships.

He could still feel the moment his friends from the dojo threw him up together when he won the championship like it just happened yesterday. People surrounded him as they congratulated him. The happiest moment for him was when his father told him that he was proud of him. That compliment was worth more than any trophy in the world.

"Is he a new trainee, Kanbara-sensei?"

A man wearing light brown trench coat and cap that covered upper half of his face approached them. Hide couldn't help but wonder how he was able to see with his cap covering him like that. Hide then blinked. His voice was somehow familiar to him.

"Oh! Ryuzo-san! No, this is Hidetada Sawada, the trainee that I've told you before. Hidetada-kun, this is Ryuzo-san. He sometimes trained some trainees here with us." Kanbara introduced both of them to each other.

"N-nice to meet you… Ryuzo-san…" Hide greeted, bowing politely.

"Nice to meet you, Hidetada-kun." Ryuzo greeted back. "So you are Hidetada-kun, Kanbara-sensei and Kazushi-sensei talks a lot about you. Are you considering returning to this dojo?"

"No, no! I-I just wanted to see after long times!" Hide shook his head frantically.

"That's too bad. Even though you're so talented." Ryuzo sighed in disappointment.

"I have a family business, so…" Hide trailed off. He wouldn't exactly called Vongola a normal family business, but since most of his family, his grandfather, his father, and his siblings were involved, it was not a complete lie.

"You mean the mafia business, right?"

Hide's eyes widened once the words left Ryuzo's mouth. His body froze, not daring to move as he slowly raised his head to meet Ryuzo's and saw a grin that quickly disappeared into a smile.

"Since you've come after long times, let's train, Hidetada-kun."

Before Hide could react, Ryuzo dragged him into the training hall. All trainees bowed when they saw them along with Kazushi-sensei and Kanbara-sensei entered the room. Kazushi-sensei instructed them to form a circle and they did. Hide began to get nervous when it was only he and Ryuzo inside the circle.

"I want to test your skill. So please give me your best." Ryuzo said, motioning him to come at him.

"Ryuzo-san, it's impolite to wear your cap during a match. Please at least take the cap off until it's over." Kazushi told Ryuzo.

"Oh my, I'm sorry. Very well then." Doing like Kazushi told him to, Ryuzo threw his cap away and caught by one of the trainees.

Hide's body was petrified the moment the other man's cap was thrown, the moment he revealed his face. A cold sweat formed on Hide's face as he stared disbelievingly, hoping that he just imagining things, hoping that it was just a coincidence. But his intuition screamed at him otherwise.

That slicked black hair,

The stern face with noticeable cheekbone,

The pair of crimson red eyes,

There was only one person that he knew perfectly fit the feature…

"Abele…!"

"Alright! Start!"

Before Hide realized, Abele made his first move, coming straight at him. He lunged at the Vongola candidate with his right arm, the range and speed of the attack impressive to him.

But Hide blocked it in time, and came at Abele with his own right fist, a familiar assault that used to be known as a "shut down" move by Kazushi-sensei. It was know to be feared for its sheer speed and as a retaliatory strike. And Hide did the job quite well with the technique, his fist crashing into Takahama-kun's stomach, winding him completely.

"Not bad at all, Vongola boy." Abele whispered, which Hide heard but remained quiet.

Hide jumped back a few good feet, and Abele wasted no time in running after him, making an attempt to trample Hide as he ran along. Hide rolled to his right, just as the stomp came, and quickly rose up, sweeping low at him with his left leg as he did so. Hide knocked Abele to the ground, and Hide followed up by sliding forward and kicking out in a low right roundhouse kick, catching him while he was on the ground. To finish, Hide brought said same leg down in a kick, flipping forward and bringing his heel down on his chest, knocking the wind out of him.

"What the heck-he's freakishly strong!" One of Hide's classmates with bob hair commented with tone of amazement.

"I know that he is athletic and all, but I didn't know that it was to this extent!" Another of Hide's classmates commented.

But Hide ignored what they were saying and panicked a bit, Hide was looking at Abele. He knew that Abele wasn't serious and merely playing along. He highly doubt that someone that was weak capable of being a boss of such a big Family such as Disscordo. Abele stood up again, his smile still plastered on his face that saying to come at him.

"I guess I have to try…" Hide convinced himself.

Hide began approaching Abele, and came at the latter with a left body thrust punch, intent on sending him to the floor. Unfortunately, though he was not fast enough, and Abele got him slammed with his right step-in elbow, which the black haired man continued by ducking in quite low and delivering a right uppercut to Hide's legs, effectively cutting them out from under him.

Finally, Abele punched downwards, using his right arm once again to smash Hide's face against the floor.

"That's enough!" Kazushi-sensei concluded.

Hide groaned in pain, covering his face with his right hand. Hide didn't get a time to get a hold of himself as Abele pulled his unused left arm, making him stand up.

"You're as good as Kanbara-sensei told me, Hidetada-kun. I'm looking forward to fight you again next time…" Abele bowed politely before retrieving his cap and walked towards the exit.

"Wait! You're-"

"Sawada, you're amazing!"

The trainees immediately surrounded hide as Abele left the gym, preventing Hide from approaching the older man. Despite Hide's effort to politely excused himself so he could approach the black haired man, the trainees just won't listen to him and kept showering him with compliments and such, including his former trainers Kanbara and Kazushi.

Karate Dojo, Namimori Town

Abele was washing his face with water from the tap and then wiped it with his towel. He pulled his hair and tied it together. Abele sensed someone behind him, but he didn't bother to turn around since he knew whom it was and he won't do anything to harm him. Not today at least.

"Do you have something to ask, Hidetada Sawada?" Abele said while opening a bottle of soft drink.

"I highly doubt you came here without knowing that I used to train here. Were you trying to test me?" Hide asked to the point, looking sharply at the black haired man.

"Yes. I want to know how strong you are. And I'll say that you're not disappointing." Abele answered honestly, still not looking at Hide.

"But not satisfying either, right?" Hide crossed his arms.

Abele chuckled, finally facing the younger boy behind him. Abele smirked amusedly, without a hint of mockery behind it. His crimson eyes clashed with Hide's orange ones. This, somehow, delighted the Disscordo Boss even further. He started to walk towards Hide, prompting Hide to prepare with defense stance.

"There was no need to be so cautious, Hidetada Sawada. I have no intention to kill you…yet. Those eyes of yours, it runs through in the family…"

Abele stopped when his distance with Hide was not so far, which only increased Hide's anxiety.

"First Giotto the Vongola Primo, Tsunayoshi Sawada your father, Mitsusada Sawada your older brother, and now you, looking at me with those eyes and standing in my way…"

Hide lowered his guard when he heard Vongola Primo's name was mentioned, which confused him. "Vongola Primo getting in your way? What do you mean by that?"

Abele took that moment as a chance to grab Hide's shoulder painfully and pushed him to the wall behind them.

"That's right. It must be fate for you, the descendant of Vongola Primo to get in my way. Since he failed last time, his descendants must do the clean up." Abele's grip on Hide's shoulder tightened, causing Hide to wince in pain.

"What…are you…talking about?!" Hide grabbed Abele's hand that was holding him, trying to get it off his shoulder.

"Even when you were young, you looked at me with that gaze." Abele let go of Hide's shoulder and jumped behind him in time to evade Hide's punch.

"So we really had met before! That explains why I felt that I knew you the moment we met at the festival!" Hide rubbed his shoulder, trying to ease the pain from the tight grip.

"I'm hurt that you didn't remember me at all. Even though I've been watching over you…even before you were born…" Abele laughed softly, frustrating Hide more.

"You're not making any sense here! Don't joke me around! Hide shouted angrily, finally losing his patience.

"I am not joking." Abele stated truthfully.

While Hide didn't sense any sign of lie behind his words, the face that Abele was making made Hide thought otherwise no matter how much he trusted his intuition. Either his intuition was making a false alarm or this man was clever enough to hide his true intent.

"I can swear you for that. However, the truth is never a cheap thing. In order to know the truth, you must move forward. Whether you will find out the truth or not, it depends on the choices you make."

Abele raised his right hand towards Hide. "But the current topic now is, you have three questions for me."

"First is why did I come here?" Abele raised his pointer finger.

"Second is what is my goal?" Abele raised his middle finger.

"Third and the thing that you want to know is did we kill Mitsusada Sawada?" Abele raised his ring finger.

Hide clenched his fists tightly. He inwardly and quietly breathe in and out to calm his anger so he won't explode. He mustn't lose his composure now of all times and he reminded himself that if he started a battle here, the people inside the dojo would be involved and that was the last thing he wanted to happen.

But the most important was, Hide knew too well the difference between them. It was just like Reborn has said yesterday, compared to Abele he was too weak right now and has no chance of winning.

Noticing Hide's miniscule movements, Abele chuckled again before he spoke, "The answer for your first question is, as I said before, I just wanted to test you. And as you've said, you're neither disappointing nor satisfying."

"As for the second and third questions, you'll find out soon enough. But if you want a clue, that would be… Your forgotten past." Abele pointed his head to emphasize what he was implying.

"My forgotten past…?" Hide uttered confusedly.

Hide and Abele noticed people started to come towards their direction and Abele chose that moment to end their little conversation. Wearing his cap, he turned his back on Hide.

Hide was frustrated because he couldn't get the answers that he wanted, but decided to let his enemy go. He couldn't take a risk of being killed right now, not when there were many people who had placed their hopes on him.

"I don't know what your goal is, but I will do whatever it takes to bring you down." Hide declared boldly, his voice calm and straight, having regained his composure.

"Will you?" Crimson orbs widened in interest, taking on the image of innocence as he gave a cheerful smile, which didn't follow with the words he said next.

"Then please do all you can to stop me, Hidetada Sawada." With one last wave and a bow, the Disscordo Boss disappeared in the throng of people.

Once the Disscordo Boss' feature disappeared from the view, Hide looked down, staring on his right hand before covering a part of his face with the same hand as the Disscordo Boss' words sunk into his mind.

"…My forgotten past…"

Alleyway, Namimori Town

"So, back already, Boss?" Azarel asked, grinning while leaning on the wall with his hands in his pocket, waiting for his boss.

"Yes. I had to make slight change of plan."

"Oh? In what way if I may ask?"

"I gave a hint to Hidetada Sawada regarding 'that'."

Abele threw something to Azarel. When the Mist Guardian caught it, in his hands was a black box weapon with torn pattern, making the Mist Guardian grinned. He knew that his boss meant.

"What's with the sudden change of plan?"

Azarel asked as they walked out from the alley together, putting the black box weapon into his pocket.

"Fufufu, that is for me to keep, Azarel."

Evening, Living room, Hibari Residence

Akihisa moved away the sofas to one of empty guest rooms with help from her servants or to be precise, Hibari's subordinates during his times as leader of Disciplinary Committee. They then placed carpet and several cushions in the room before placing the large table from the dining room in the center of the room.

Saki hummed all the way she arranged plates and glasses, large bowl, and eating tools on the table. As Saki finished, she rushed to the fridge and wrote something on her note after observing the inside of the fridge. Shortly after, she called someone through her cell phone, asking that she had ordered. Akihisa chuckled at the sight of the blond girl's expectant and happy face that she found adorable.

"How is it?" Akihisa asked after Saki ended her call.

"It's ready by tomorrow morning. They will deliver it. It's good that tomorrow is Sunday so we have no school." Saki replied.

"Then, you only need to wait until tomorrow night." Akihisa winked.

Hide's room, 2nd Floor, Sawada Household

After returning from the dojo, Hide skipped his dinner, his appetite went away after his shocking encounter with the Disscordo Boss. Hide didn't need telepathy to know that Abele was a dreadful man. He was surprised that he was still in one piece when the man left.

The man, despite not giving any murderous or hostile intent, was so intimidating just by the way he talked and the way he moved. Just remembering that man gave Hide an uneasy sensation in his chest, and this also gave him a sense of doubt.

"Can I become strong enough to defeat him in such a short time…?"

Hide quickly shook his head. No. He mustn't be pessimistic. He must be confident of his own potential. If he wanted to defeat Abele and end the war, he needs to believe that it will happen. He is not alone. He has friends that will watch his back.

Feeling much better now, Hide looked at the clock, wondering where Saki could've been at this hour and not coming home yet. His mother did say that Saki said she had business with Akihisa, but just what kind of business?

He suddenly remembered something and brought out a piece of paper from his pocket with phone numbers written on it and clicked the numbers on his phone. He waited as the number dialed until the person he called answered the phone.

"Grandfather Talbot how is it? Is it finished yet?" Hide asked.

"I already finished it. Please come to my place tomorrow." Hide nodded in response.