"Sakurada Nene?" Shouko paused her action of changing shoes, a look of surprise on her face.
Yuzuru didn't understand why her older sister was surprised, but she still nodded honestly:
"Yeah, she's the other girl in your Kindergarten seven-person group."
Only after her words fell did she chase with a question: "What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing, just a little surprised."
Shouko shook her head, quickly finished changing her shoes, took the school bag from Yuzuru's hand, and walked quickly to her mom's bedroom door, raising her hand to knock.
"Knock knock..."
"The door isn't locked."
"Click..."
"Shouko." Yaeko, who was lying on the bed, sat up and finally saw who had come. "Have you decided which training class you want to enroll in?"
Shouko walked into the room, gently closed the door, walked to her side with the school bag, and shook her head.
Shouko directly closed the door on Yuzuru, who had also wanted to go in.
"So mysterious."
Yuzuru looked at the closed door, muttered softly, and then ignored it, quickly running back to the living room to find Hachiko's leash.
"Grandma, Hachiko and I are going out to play!"
"Be careful on the road, and remember to take a plastic bag and a small shovel."
Nishimiya Yuzuru, who had just run to the entrance, scratched the back of her head, turned back to get those two things.
"Grandma, I'm leaving!" She waved at Ito, who was sitting by the coffee table, turned her head, rubbed Hachiko's head, and ran off:
"Hachiko, let's go!"
"Woof!" Hachiko followed closely beside her.
"Remember to be back before dinner."
"Got it!"
"Woof woof!"
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"Morning, Tsuna."
Tsuna was walking and wiping his semi-dry hair when he heard Shouko's voice from the dining room.
"Have you had breakfast, Shouko?"
"Tsuna, hurry up, or you'll be late!"
Shizuka's voice sounded at the same time as his.
"What time is it..." Tsuna quickly walked back to the living room to get the hairdryer, still muttering a small complaint.
"I'll help you blow-dry it." Just then, Shouko's voice sounded behind him.
"Okay, okay."
Tsuna enjoyed Shouko's hair-drying service for a while before Shizuka, who had walked in, chased him to the dining room to eat breakfast.
He spent five or six minutes quickly finishing the two sandwiches Shizuka had prepared for him, then ran back to his room to get his school bag and walked with Shouko to the entrance to change shoes.
"Auntie, I'm leaving!"
"Mom, I'm leaving..."
"Be careful on the road."
"Click..."
The pale purple horizon transitioned to gray-blue, and the traffic lights at the street corner flickered in the thin fog, creating a cool-toned morning base.
The sound of bicycle chains rubbing and the silent rhythm formed by the crowd pouring out of the subway entrance hinted at the city's awakening pulse.
"Tsuna, should we go find Teacher Fujiro after the first class?"
On the way, Shouko thought of the club application form, her gaze shifting from the traffic light across the street to the boy's face beside her, and asked.
"Hmm..." Tsuna yawned and responded listlessly: "Okay, we'll tell Teacher Fujiro, and then we'll go find that senior in the Art Club."
Last night, in order to finish that last volume, it was already past one when he came to his senses.
The refreshing effect of his morning run and shower this morning felt like it was about to disappear.
"Tsuna, what time did you go to bed last night?" Shouko looked at him like this, inevitably a little worried.
"After one, to finish writing the last volume of Anohana."
Tsuna glanced at the traffic light, saw it was still red, and decisively reached out to rub Shouko's head to refresh himself.
Shouko lightly patted away his pig hand, a little angry about the goodnight he had sent her on his phone last night, but in the end, she couldn't help but pinch his arm.
Didn't he get the refreshing effect he wanted? Tsuna's sleepiness instantly dissipated by more than half.
Just then, the traffic light at the intersection turned from red to green, and the students in school uniforms suddenly quickened their pace, the water bottles in the side pockets of their school bags colliding with their keychains, creating a faint metallic sound.
"Let's go, we should hurry too." Tsuna held Shouko's hand back.
"Okay, okay."
The steaming mist from the office workers' thermos cups and the crisp sound of the high school students' school bag charms colliding became the most vivid visual and auditory symbols of dawn.
"You two, what a coincidence."
Just as the two were about to reach the school gate, a familiar voice sounded from behind them.
Before Tsuna and Shouko could turn around, Nishikata's greeting followed: "Miyamura and Nishimiya-san, good morning."
"Morning."
"Nishikata-san, Takagi-chan, good morning."
After speaking, Shouko bounced over to Takagi's side, while Nishikata also walked to Tsuna's side. The four of them continued walking towards the school, two in front and two behind.
"You're acting strange." Tsuna eyed Nishikata suspiciously.
"Wha...what's wrong?"
Nishikata couldn't quite stand his gaze mixed with teasing, and chose to look straight ahead, avoiding eye contact with him.
"Be honest." Tsuna went straight to the point, asking in a low voice: "How long does it usually take you to walk from your old house to meet up with Takagi in the morning?"
"Hehe..."
Nishikata scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and when he turned to look at Tsuna, he subtly glanced at Takagi, who was laughing and talking with Shouko behind them, out of the corner of his eye.
Seeing that she hadn't noticed him at all, he quietly replied:
"Miyamura, the renovation team on my side left yesterday, so I went back home to stay yesterday."
"Is that so?" Tsuna looked at his shifty appearance, clearly not believing him.
"Yes, I am. There's no benefit for me to lie to you." Nishikata nodded with feigned firmness.
"Alright, I misunderstood you. Let me apologize—"
"No need, no need."
Nishikata quickly waved his hand to interrupt him, although his expression and words didn't seem very sincere...
"Tsuna, what's wrong?"
Nishikata's action naturally attracted the attention of the two behind them.
"Nothing, you two continue." Tsuna shook his head to indicate.
Shouko gave Tsuna a deep look before continuing the conversation she had just had with Takagi Sana.
Finally, at Tsuna's reminder, all four of them quickened their pace and entered Class 2 of the first year within the last ten minutes or so.
And as the class bell rang, Teacher Fujiro also walked into the classroom on time with her textbook.
————————
"Knock...knock...knock...!"
Teacher Fujiro closed the Japanese language textbook in her hand and casually placed it on the podium desk:
"Class dismissed. Those who need to go to the restroom should hurry up, don't tell me you want to go to the restroom during class again."
After her words fell, she glanced at the few restless students below before retracting her gaze and walking out of the classroom.
"Let's go, Tsuna, let's go find Teacher Fujiro." Shouko withdrew her gaze from Teacher Fujiro and quickly reminded him.
"Okay, let's go." Tsuna took out the club application form signed by Shizuka yesterday from his school bag.
Meanwhile, Nishikata and Takagi Sana, who were behind the two, simply glanced at them before looking away.
Earlier on the way, Shouko had already told Takagi and Nishikata what they were going to do, so they weren't curious about what the two were doing now.
"What are Shouko and Miyamura going to do?"
Ajitani walked forward, looking at the backs of the two who had left through the back door, and asked curiously.
"They're going to find Teacher Fujiro."
"Oh, then I know what they're going to do."