"Are you hungry? Do you want to get up and have some breakfast?"
Shizuka saw that he had been in the same position for five or six minutes, and now he was still staring at the ceiling.
She wondered if there were some hidden complications that the doctor hadn't discovered.
Tsuna tried to pull his hand out of Shouko's arms but failed, then shook his head. "It's okay, I'm not hungry yet."
"You haven't eaten all night, and you're not hungry?" Shizuka glanced at the trash can, which contained only a few tissues and two disposable plastic cups.
"Yeah," Tsuna nodded. Since he couldn't break free, he might as well enjoy it...
"Okay, I'll ask the doctor when you can be discharged." Seeing this, Shizuka stopped trying to persuade him. After all, he wasn't a child anymore.
She stood up from her chair, put her phone in her pocket, and quickly left the ward.
"So soon? Didn't I just check in last night?" Tsuna watched her leave, not looking back until she closed the door.
But it would be better to be discharged early. He felt he was fine anyway. When he got home, he'd tell his mother he'd stay home to recuperate for a few days. Without giving it much thought, he slept off, holding the still-sleeping Shouko in his arms.
A moment later, Shouko quietly opened her eyes, confirmed he was asleep again, and went back to sleep. If she missed this opportunity, she didn't know when they'd get to sleep together again.
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"Shouko, it's time to get up and have breakfast. The sun's burning your butt."
Shizuka, who had returned to the ward at some point, gently rocked the sleeping Shouko.
Seeing no reaction, she turned her attention to the other man, who was sleeping like a dead pig. Without hesitation, she slapped him across the butt.
"Slap!" "Get up and have breakfast. It'll be noon if you don't."
"Mom, why are you treating me differently?" Tsuna opened his eyes and looked at her speechlessly.
Seeing that he was awake, Shouko, who was in his arms, stopped pretending to sleep. She gently rubbed her eyes and feigned a waking greeting to Shizuka.
"Good morning, Aunt Miyamura..."
Shizuka reminded them, noticing they were both awake. "Get up and have breakfast. Tsuna, you'll need a checkup later. If you're okay, you can be discharged."
She then helped them unpack the two bento boxes on the counter.
"Okay," Tsuna nodded, getting out of bed to rinse his mouth.
But Shouko beat him to the punch. Seeing her run into the bathroom with the pink dress, he understood.
"Tsuna."
"Yes?" Tsuna turned to look at his mother, puzzled. He had a feeling she wouldn't say anything nice next...
Shizuka spoke earnestly, "You're only in the first grade of junior high. Some things are too early to go too far. You understand what I mean, don't you?"
"I don't understand..." Tsuna quickly shook his head.
"Okay, I'm glad you understand. I don't want to be a grandmother so young..." Shizuka bluntly stated.
Tsuna rolled his eyes at his mother speechlessly. They haven't even grown all their hair yet, so whether they can have a baby is another matter.
After a while, Shouko came out of the bathroom: "Tsuna, I'm fine, you go..."
"Yeah."
"Click..."
After hearing the sound of the bathroom door being locked, Shizuka handed the two hearing aids on the bedside table to Shouko who walked forward.
"Thank you, Auntie." Shouko smiled at her.
"Shouko..."
Shouko stopped picking up the sandwich in the lunch box and asked in confusion: "What's wrong, Auntie? Do you want to have some more breakfast?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she pushed her lunch box in the direction of Shizuka.
When Shizuka heard this, her heartfelt words were stuck in her throat, and she couldn't say anything.
Shouko is so well-behaved and sensible, she blushes when she is teased, she shouldn't do that...
"It's okay, Auntie is not hungry, you eat it." Shizuka shook her head and pushed the lunch box back to Shouko.
After Tsuna came out of the bathroom, the two of them had breakfast together.
Afterwards, Shizuka took the two of them to do some examinations, and time flew by in the blink of an eye to two o'clock in the afternoon.
After the doctor came to the ward and told Shizuka about Tsuna's general condition, the three of them didn't have much to pack, so they quickly completed the discharge procedures.
"Mom, I want to rest at home for a few more days." As soon as he returned to the familiar living room of his home, Tsuna spoke without hesitation.
Before Shizuka could even ask if she agreed, Shouko, who was standing beside Tsuna, spoke up.
"I don't agree. And if you take so many days off, your studies will definitely fall behind."
She knew Tsuna could take it, but she probably couldn't, and her mother wouldn't approve.
Unless Tsuna's injury was serious, and she said she wanted to take care of him, that was a possibility...
Shizuka shook her head, denying his request. "The doctor says you're fine. Just avoid strenuous exercise at school for the time being."
"Oh, right," Shizuka thought, "and you should stop your morning run for a week."
"Okay..." Tsuna nodded, not asking any more questions.
He'd thought Shouko would stand up for him, but she was the first to object...
Shouko and Shizuka sat on the sofa together, watching a TV series, while Tsuna went upstairs to get his phone.
He flipped open the phone, and a local news report appeared on the screen. Bored, Tsuna clicked on it to check.
The gist of it was that a fisherman had caught a body at Futaba Harbor this morning. The police had confirmed the deceased's surname, "Takeuchi."
The following names were kept secret.
Tsuna glanced quickly and moved on to the next item.
This kind of thing happened almost daily in Japan, and he'd already seen over a dozen of them.
Furthermore, Futaba Harbor was dozens of kilometers from his home.
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The next day, as he and Shouko entered the classroom, several girls surrounded them, expressing their concern.
Of course, their concern wasn't for Tsuna, but for Shouko...
"Shouko, why did you take the day off yesterday?"
"Yes, yes. Are you feeling unwell?"
"Could it be a cold?"
"Why did Miyamura-san take the day off, too?"
Shouko returned to her seat and answered their questions, but she didn't mention Tsuna.
That was what they'd agreed to last night.
As someone who had been left out returned to their seat, Nishikata poked him in the back.
"Hmm?" Tsuna, who was still trying to catch up on some sleep, turned back to look at him, puzzled: "What's wrong, Nishikata?"
"No, I just wanted to ask why you took yesterday off."
"It was just a minor cold, I'm fine now." Tsuna shook his head to indicate that it was nothing serious.
"Okay."
Seeing him yawn listlessly, Nishikata gave up the idea of continuing the conversation and let him go back to sleep.
(End of this chapter)
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