"Dong... dong... dong...!"
As the school bell rang, Tsuna and Mr. Sakai returned to the gymnasium.
"Nothing more to say. School is out. Be careful on your way home, students," Mr. Sakai said as he stood in front of the assembled team, shouted, and was the first to leave the gymnasium.
The four teams immediately dispersed, and the previously quiet and empty gymnasium instantly became noisy.
"Here, the juice you like to drink."
Tsuna slowly walked to Shouko's side and handed her the bottle of 100% strawberry juice he had gotten for free.
Shouko took it without hesitation, unscrewed the cap, took a sip, and then asked doubtfully, "Did Mr. Sakai look for you because of the Track and Field Club?"
Tsuna hadn't drunk the juice yet, bad review!
"How did you guess that? Did Mr. Sakai tell you in advance?" Tsuna was a little surprised. Logically, Shouko shouldn't have this ability…
"No. Takagi-chan guessed it." Shouko shook her head and returned the bottle of juice she had just taken a sip of to him.
"So it's really Mr. Sakai inviting you to join the Track and Field Club?"
"No wonder..." Tsuna nodded, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from his heart. "Pretty much."
"Let's go change back into our school uniforms first. We can talk on the way."
"Okay, okay."
---
"So Mr. Sakai wants you to join the Track and Field Club, and you'll represent the first year in the short-distance and marathon races at the school sports day?"
The two stood in front of the Art Club entrance, summarizing the whole process Tsuna had told her earlier.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Tsuna raised his hand, bent his index finger, and knocked on the wooden door. "But this will be decided after competing with other first-year students in the Track and Field Club."
"It's okay, I believe in you." Shouko smiled at him encouragingly.
"Click..." At this moment, the Art Club classroom door was opened.
"Hello, teacher, we are here to pay the fees." Tsuna saw a young female teacher he had never met open the door and quickly greeted her.
Shouko looked at the teacher inside the door, a woman with brown wavy hair and a white dress with cherry blossom patterns, and quickly echoed his greeting.
Teacher Fujiro nodded to the two of them and stepped aside. "You must be Miyamura-san and Nishimiya-san, right? Hsiao-Hsueh told me about you two yesterday."
As she finished speaking, she carefully looked at Tsuna, nodded thoughtfully. "He certainly makes a deep impression at first glance."
"Teacher Fujiro, what did Senpai tell you about us?"
Shouko walked into the Art Club, saw that there was no one inside, and then turned her gaze to Teacher Fujiro, who was about to close the door. She was very curious about her words.
"Haha..." Teacher Fujiro waved her hand with a slight smile. "Not important, not important. Come, have a seat first. Also, when you talk to me, you don't need to use honorifics. Just treat me as your friend."
Tsuna noticed that when Teacher Fujiro smiled, she had very obvious dimples, and her eyes were particularly beautiful at that moment.
"Okay."
"You don't need to be so nervous, Nishimiya-san. We still have more than two years together. That's too tiring," Teacher Fujiro chuckled and comforted her before turning to walk to the coffee table where the tea was placed.
"Two, plain water or tea?"
"No, no, we'll do it ourselves!" Shouko, who had just sat down, stood up in a hurry, trying to stop her.
Since she was a child, no teacher had ever poured her tea, and she had never met a teacher like this. It was inevitably a bit awkward.
"Just plain cold water is fine, thank you, Teacher Fujiro." Tsuna, who was sitting calmly on the chair next to her, seemed much more at ease. He didn't stop Shouko's actions either. Shouko had to experience this kind of thing before she would change later. Of course, this is limited to such situations. Individual extreme cases are absolutely impossible for Shouko to experience.
"Here, I'll trouble Nishimiya-san to take it to Miyamura-san."
When Shouko walked to Teacher Fujiro's side, the other party had already poured the water. She turned around, paid attention to the distance between her and Shouko, and handed her the white disposable cup in her hand. She was careful not to turn too quickly, as she feared the nervous Nishimiya-san might step forward to stop her, and if they didn't control the distance well, both of their clothes might get wet.
Similar accidents had happened many times, and she had gained some preventive experience.
"Thank you, Teacher Fujiro." Shouko quickly thanked her before reaching out to take the cup from her hand.
"Arigato, Teacher Fujiro." Tsuna echoed, and when Shouko returned to his side, he repeated: "Thank you too, Shouko."
After speaking, he reached out to take it, but Shouko raised her hand and dodged it.
"Hmph, hmph." Shouko sat down, lightly snorted, and said playfully, "Who said I was going to give it to you? I want to drink it myself. It's your fault for not getting it."
Teacher Fujiro, who was standing not far in front of the two, quietly watched them play.
She had heard about their relationship yesterday—childhood sweethearts who had known each other since they were one year old. It was identified as an enviable relationship, and the probability of the two getting married in the future was extremely high!
Tsuna wasn't annoyed and let her do as she pleased. Anyway, she would still return the cup of water to him later. However... there was a high possibility that the water had been drunk by her...
"Teacher Fujiro, can I pay those fees now?" At this moment, Tsuna spoke softly.
"Oh... um... okay." Teacher Fujiro, who was originally engrossed in watching, was interrupted by his voice and nodded.
"Your parents understand the fees, right?" Teacher Fujiro picked up a water cup next to her and took a sip.
"Okay, okay." Tsuna nodded in response, opened his school bag, and prepared to take out the fees. "The club fee, activity fee, and material fee total four thousand yen, right?"
(4000 Japanese Yen = $39.36 USD in 2001)
"Yes, that's right." Teacher Fujiro thought for a moment in her mind before nodding and explaining, "A one-time membership fee of three thousand yen and one thousand yen for the club's daily operations and daily painting consumables (such as paints, drawing paper, sketchbooks, etc.). The latter two items are fees that need to be paid monthly. Of course, this is required if you are a regular member of the Art Club. If you only come for a while each week, this is not required."
"Shouko and I both understand this. Both of us have chosen to be regular members of the Art Club."
Tsuna took out his wallet from his school bag, then took out his and Shouko's fees from it, and handed them to Teacher Fujiro in front of him.
As for why Shouko's money was with him, it was because Aunt was not very comfortable with Shouko carrying such a large sum of money last night, so she asked him to keep it.
Teacher Fujiro took the fees Tsuna handed over, looked at them carefully, confirmed that there were no counterfeit bills, and then put them into her wallet, while also not forgetting to remind him:
"By the way, there are other miscellaneous fees, such as participating in competitions, sketching trips, and training camps (collective accommodation training). You will be notified about these later."