Thanks for reading the last scene, everyone, and sorry for the extremely long headnote. Here's the next scene here, and please enjoy. :D

Happy Reading~!!

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"So wasn't I right?" grinned a familiar voice.

"Go away," mumbled Kaia. "Stop talking to me, okay?!" On she walked, back to the bus stop. She looked up to the sky – the clouds were gathering above her head.

Clouds.

"Do you know, by any chance, what Vongola is?" muttered Kaia, not knowing who she was talking to.

"Means clam. It means clam in Italian," answered Mukuro, an intelligent smile aimed at Kaia. "Why'd you ask?" He was behind her, trailing her like a lost puppy.

"Curious," Kaia mumbled, and she lowered her head to eye-level. She was at the bus stop now. "Do you know…who…Hibari Kyouya is?"

The mood immediately changed. She could feel Mukuro frown.

"Hibari Kyouya?" he repeated. "Namimori, third-year. President of the Disciplinary Committee, no doubt about it. Why ask…again?" His gaze was directed at Kaia again. "How are Italian clams and Hibari Kyouya alike?!"

"How would I know?" snapped Kaia. "All I know, he's hiding something. Like all of you. Your name is Rokudo Mukuro, right?!" She turned to meet Mukuro's eye. Mukuro grinned.

"I know I've never told you my name, Kaia-chaan. When'd I ever become famous?" Kaia heard a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"You know what's going on, don't you?"

"What's going on? Well, what's going on is…hmm, depends," Mukuro raised an eyebrow. "Is this about dear Soto and Jasmine?"

"How do you know them?!" snarled Kaia.

"Oooohhhh, in a bad mood, aren't you? Here – let me get you something to eat," beamed the illusionist. He stood up and faced Kaia. "Come on, while you're here, let's get rid of that homesickness."

"Who said I had any homesickness?" retaliated Kaia. She indignantly stood as well. "I'm just hungry." Mukuro laughed. Of course, never forgetting that 'ku' before his laugh.

"I'll pay. You just buy whatever you want," said Mukuro. "I feel bored."

"Then I'll make you bankrupt," Kaia narrowed her eyes.

He could be the one that kills me in the end…

No, there's no use assuming all this.

If he intends to give me a good time before I leave, then why exactly am I resisting everything?

The clock is ticking, ticking, ticking, gone.

I should cherish my last few moments before I'm really gone, I really should.

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"Why did I even come…" Kaia sighed to herself. She looked around at the familiar Kokyou marketplace. There were so many things to buy… But she can't really bankrupt a guy's wallet, right? Mukuro raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, to make me bankrupt, right?" Mukuro chuckled.

That…laugh…it's so familiar for some reason… Like I've been around it for a million years already, and it never gets old. Like nostalgia.

"I was just kidding," Kaia rolled her eyes. She looked to the sky. "Cloudy," she remarked.

"Eh? Ohh," Mukuro looked to the skies as well. "Cloudy…" He grinned to himself – it reminded him of that self-centered, over-proud kid from Namimori, Hibari Kyouya. Mukuro looked to Kaia. "What do you want?? I'm bored~!"

Kaia groaned. How exactly was she supposed to deal with this?

But she noticed she was easing up on him. Perhaps he isn't that bad, right? Probably she was just assuming everything – he actually wasn't that harmful.

"Yeah, you're bored. And I don't have homesickness," stated Kaia. She had homesickness for Kokyou, but she knew that this wasn't her home anymore. She had no true home.

"Whatever. Then what do you want to do?" Mukuro grinned. "I mean, we can't just stand around." He patted Kaia on the head, which slightly irritated her. "What do you want to do, Kaia??"

"How would I know?" muttered Kaia. She looked away, observing the stores. "How's Chrome?"

"Hmm? Chrome? She's fine," Mukuro shrugged it off. He yawned. "Why can't we just do something fun?? I've been doing nearly nothing for the last week…"

"Nothing?!"

"Nothing fun, that is," Mukuro replied. Kaia sat down at an outdoor table beside a restaurant.

She remembered the day after she moved in – the day she went to the Namimori marketplace, the day when the table she had been sitting at had been so rudely crushed by a boy and a long-haired guy with a sword for an arm. But she looked back farther in her past – she didn't like thinking about Namimori.

"Mama!! Look, I can fly!!" The younger Kaia stood atop a circular table, doing a pose like Superman. "I can fly-fly-fly~!!"

"T-That's great, Kaia! But please get down now, Mama needs to go. Come, Kaia! Raiahu Kaiashi, come here right now!!" The playful frown danced on her mother's face. She was laden with groceries, and she had set some of it on the ground.

"But Mama, I can fly!!" beamed the child. Kaia's mother laughed.

"Come on, we have to get going, Kaia. Please?"

"Coming, mommy~!!" rang the younger Kaia, and climbed down off of the table. She ran up to her mother. They held hands, and Kaia's mother gave the young Kaia some of the groceries to hold on the way home.

"You are really bored, too, right?" yawned Mukuro, shaking Kaia out of her thoughts. He looked intently at Kaia. "Don't tell me – you want to eat something here?" He cracked a crooked smile. "The food here isn't that good, you know?"

"I know that," Kaia said. "I've lived here a long time, you know. Come on, I'd rather sit somewhere else anyway."

"Whatever," shrugged Mukuro, and the two stood up and walked off to explore more of the marketplace.

"Do you know the time?" Kaia asked.

"All I know is that it's been around fifteen minutes, I think, since you came."

"Okay. Fifteen minutes, and I'm going back." Mukuro frowned at Kaia's decision.

"Fifteen minutes?" repeated Mukuro. "Just fifteen minutes?"

"Look, I can come back whenever I want," Kaia rolled her eyes. "I just can't be here all the time – my apartment is in Namimori, and my school is in Namimori."

"Fine," shrugged Mukuro. "It just means you have fifteen minutes to spend."

"Hey, I've never seen that here before," Kaia pointed to a building, stories higher than the low-level structures beside it. "What's that?"

"An unfinished building; I think it's for a new company," shrugged Mukuro. "You want to check it out?"

"I don't care, just as long as I still have time to catch my bus."

The two entered the site – the outside of the building looked as if it were a finished project already. But when they eased open the door, they saw just empty space inside. One, big, empty space without separate rooms. The boards were yet to be painted, and there wasn't any furniture inside. Bare light bulbs hang from the ceiling, dangling from unprotected electric wires, shedding light for the workers to work in the building, whose windows had been blocked so that the workers could keep the glass from breaking from the inside. Echoes followed their footsteps as they walked around, admiring the work done by the construction workers. This was only the first level – the ceiling was much lower than it was from outside, and there was a set of stairs to the side. Kaia looked around in wonder, eyes shining in amazement like a child.

"This is so cool!" she breathed. Mukuro suppressed a laugh when he turned his head. Kaia ran to the staircase and looked up to the second level. It was empty as well. Kaia turned to Mukuro and said, "This is so awesome…" Kaia laughed. "Just…" She shook her head in wonder. "I don't know how they could plan and build something this awesome in less than three weeks."

"This is perfect, actually. Let's play hide-and-seek," Mukuro grinned. "I'll hide. You seek, hmm?" And before Kaia could say anything else, he ran up the stairs to the second floor. Kaia turned and just gaped at him.

"What- I never agreed to this!" Kaia just gaped at him, scoffed at him, shut her mouth, and went after him with a crazed laugh. "Where are you?!"

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Kaia really is easing up on Mukuro. O.o

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Have an awesome summer [break] everyone!! xD