In front of the Tea Ceremony Club booth, the three of them stood at the end of the line.
Shouko stood on her tiptoes, looking at the senior in the kimono performing the tea ceremony gracefully, while Ajitani stared at the fruit in the freshmen's hands and unconsciously swallowed.
Tsuna looked around, wanting to kill time while waiting in line, when his sleeve was suddenly grabbed by Shouko:
"Tsuna, why don't you go check out other clubs first?"
She saw that the Tea Ceremony Club line was almost all girls, and Tsuna did seem a bit bored...
He wasn't very interested in the fruit that could be obtained by queuing; he'd probably end up giving it to her anyway.
"Hmm..." He looked at his reflection in Shouko's eyes, hesitated a bit, and finally nodded.
"Okay, I'll go look around at other clubs. We'll meet up at the Art Club later?"
With Ajitani accompanying Shouko here, and being in the school, nothing unexpected should happen.
It's not like getting a piece of fruit would somehow lead to some kind of face-slapping plot like in a Dragon-King-level novel...
"Mm-hmm." Shouko let go of his sleeve and nodded.
"Miyamura, you can rest assured, I'll keep an eye on Shouko," Ajitani said, patting her flat chest in guarantee.
Tsuna nodded at her, then raised his hand, ignoring the surrounding students, pinched Shouko's soft cheek, and left the line.
"Nagisa, quick, look, that first-year student left."
At the front of the line, the girl distributing fruit to the students couldn't help but lightly pat the arm of the slightly reserved light-brown-haired girl beside her.
The girl called Nagisa looked up, glanced at the back of the leaving boy, and quickly averted her gaze:
"S-senpai... How much longer do we have to hand these out? I want to go back and help with the Drama Club..."
"What a shame, it looks like he probably has a girlfriend."
She shook her head, staring at the boy's retreating figure, as if she hadn't heard the girl beside her, and muttered.
"Nagisa, did you say something just now? I was spacing out and didn't hear clearly," the girl belatedly asked the girl beside her.
The girl lowered her head, her expression unclear, but seeing her shake her head, she didn't pay her much more attention and continued to survey the students present.
When Tsuna passed by the Wind Ensemble Club.
Listening to the saxophone and flute players improvising a piece under the wilting cherry blossom trees that was very similar to "Gakuen Tengoku," he stopped to listen.
Shouko had told him to look around at other clubs, but for a moment, he didn't know where to go.
But going to the Art Club too early would just mean waiting alone, so he might as well wander around.
"Junior, do you want to join our Wind Ensemble Club?"
Tsuna looked in the direction of the voice and saw an average-looking senior wearing glasses walking towards him with a flyer.
Tsuna took the flyer he handed him; it had a subtle texture. Looking at the various instruments printed on it, he asked:
"Senpai, are there any assessments to join the Wind Ensemble Club?"
The man chuckled and waved his hand. "It's not like high school. Now, as long as you're interested in these things, you can apply."
Seeing him seriously examining the flyer, the man thought there was a chance and quickly added: "If you join now, you can even get one-on-one guidance from third-year seniors."
"Thank you!"
"Clap... clap... clap...!"
As the two under the cherry blossom tree finished playing, the students listening instantly gave a warm round of applause.
Tsuna glanced at the two of them, returned the flyer in his hand to the senior beside him, his eyes showing slight apology:
"Sorry, Senpai, I've already joined another club."
"Okay."
The man didn't insist, took the flyer back, exchanged a few more pleasantries with him, and then continued looking for the next person.
Seeing that the free music was over, Tsuna continued wandering.
He aimlessly wandered through about eighty percent of the clubs afterward; it could only be said that the clubs in Japan were indeed quite interesting.
Afterward, Tsuna slowly made his way to the Art Club's recruitment area, following the map in his memory.
The Art Club recruitment booth was set up in the open corridor on the first floor of Teaching Building One.
Sunlight streamed in diagonally through the floor-to-ceiling windows, as if casting a soft-focus filter over the entire space.
It was far from the noise of the sports field, with only the rustle of pencils against drawing paper and the occasional sound of an ocarina (the recruitment BGM for the neighboring Handicrafts Club).
The air was filled with the faint scent of turpentine and the woody smell of sketch paper.
Tsuna walked up to a long table made by joining two desks together.
Looking at the flyers piled haphazardly on the table and a large rectangular stand beside it that read "Art Club Recruitment," with some chibi avatars decorating the surroundings.
"Tap tap tap."
He slightly bent his index finger and tapped the table, trying to wake up the girl behind it, who was leaning back in her chair, dozing off with a beret covering her face, her hair blue and wavy.
Seeing no reaction, he spoke up and asked, "Senpai, these flyers on the table are okay to look at, right?"
After waiting a little while with still no movement, Tsuna unceremoniously picked up a flyer from the table and started looking at it.
The flyer, printed on kraft paper, was sealed with wax. The title was written in brushstrokes: "Descriptionこう!" (Let's Draw the World in the Art Club!), and the back was printed with a collection of chibi avatars of club members.
It looked a bit chuunibyou, but it was very fitting for the teenagers in Japan.
"Tsuna, how long have you been waiting?"
"Miyamura, sorry to keep you waiting."
Just as Tsuna was engrossed in looking, the voices of Shouko and Ajitani sounded in his ears.
"Just a few minutes earlier than you guys." When the two walked up, he naturally handed the flyer in his hand to Shouko.
Shouko also fed him the fruit she had gotten from queuing earlier.
She had observed when she came over that there were no patrolling teachers here, so this action was very safe and wouldn't be discovered, okay?
Ajitani, on the side, 'naturally' ignored their actions and picked up a flyer from the table to look at it herself.
"Is this the only senior here for the Art Club?"
Shouko looked around and only saw the one dozing off in front of her.
The classroom behind her had its doors and windows tightly shut, and she wasn't sure if it was the dedicated classroom for the Art Club or something similar.
"Let's wake her up and ask," Tsuna suggested.
"Is that okay...?" Shouko hesitated.
"Senpai, time to wake up!" Ajitani put down the flyer in her hand and directly started shaking the girl.
The beret on the girl's face also fell to the ground because of Ajitani's action, and only then did the three of them clearly see the girl's face.
Hmm...
Tsuna thought it was just an ordinary face, except for a mole under her left eye and one below the right side of her mouth that made her instantly memorable. There was nothing else...
His gaze lingered on the girl's face for a few seconds before he withdrew it.
And Shouko's gaze also lingered on his face for a few seconds before she refocused her attention on the girl's face.
"Alright, alright, I get it. If you keep shaking, my brain will be scrambled."
The girl's tone was sleepy; she unceremoniously lightly patted away Ajitani's hand, yawning and rubbing her eyes.
Ajitani bent down and picked up the white beret that had fallen to the ground because of her action. When returning it to her, she didn't forget to pat off the invisible dust on it.