"Thump thump..."
Tsuna stopped Shouko, who was about to walk directly into the teachers' office. He knocked on the wooden door under her puzzled gaze.
There were only three teachers in the teachers' office at the moment, all of whom Tsuna knew. His action naturally drew the attention of the three who were chatting.
"Excuse us."
Tsuna released Shouko's hand, greeted them, and then walked in.
"Ex-excuse us!" Shouko quickly echoed, following closely behind him.
Seeing that Tsuna had come to find Teacher Fujiro, the two teachers dispersed and returned to their respective desks.
"Is it about the Art Club?"
Teacher Fujiro looked at the two who walked forward, noticing out of the corner of her eye that they both held a piece of paper, and she roughly guessed what it was about.
"Mm." Tsuna nodded, stepping aside to let Shouko stand beside him. "Teacher Fujiro, Shouko and I would like to apply to join the Art Club. We need your signature here."
As he finished speaking, he took the paper from Shouko's hand, stacked it with his own, and handed them to Teacher Fujiro, who was sitting in her chair.
"What?"
Before Teacher Fujiro could speak, Mr. Sakai (Physical Education), who was sitting nearby, couldn't help but ask first:
"Kid, didn't you ever consider joining the Track and Field Club?"
Last semester, he accidentally learned that Tsuna insisted on jogging every morning, and in physical education class, he also performed very well.
More importantly, he was the advisor for the Track and Field Club. Getting a promising talent who could persist in morning jogs for exercise to join the Track and Field Club would definitely be worth it!
But last semester, Tsuna hadn't joined any club, so he assumed the other party wasn't interested or had some other reason.
So he had never discussed this matter with him.
Teacher Fujiro wasn't annoyed by his interruption and said calmly, "Mr. Sakai, you should respect the students' choices."
After saying that, she refocused her attention on the two club application forms.
Tsuna also gave Mr. Sakai an apologetic look.
He wisely didn't interrupt again, nodded at Tsuna, and continued with his own work.
Now that he knew this kid had the idea of joining a club, he would have a good chat with him later. After all, no one said you could only join one club in middle school.
Moreover, he planned to have this kid represent the first-year students of the Track and Field Club in the sports festival.
Of course, the premise was that he had to be faster than the other first-year students in the Track and Field Club.
But that wasn't a problem. He could just find a random reason during physical education class to test all the students in Class 2.
While he was lost in thought, Teacher Fujiro also signed her name on the two application forms.
"Just drop these into the Art Club's mailbox later," Teacher Fujiro handed the two club application forms back to them and added:
"After the recruitment period ends, they will send a student to notify you."
She had high hopes for these two students, especially Miyamura Tsunayoshi, not because he had a father who was an Art Club Leader, but because of his grades and other aspects.
"If there's nothing else, head back to the classroom. Class is about to start," Teacher Fujiro habitually tapped the desk.
Tsuna and Shouko thanked her and quickly left the classroom.
"How did it go?"
When the two returned to their seats in the classroom, Ajitani, who was sitting in Shouko's chair, was the first to ask.
"She signed it very readily," Shouko couldn't suppress her joy and showed her Teacher Fujiro's signature.
Putting everything else aside, the name Teacher Fujiro signed was quite beautiful.
"That's good then," Ajitani moved half of her seat over to let Shouko sit down.
"Class Monitor, you were worrying a bit too much, weren't you?" Tsuna sat back down in his seat, looking slightly helpless:
"It was just getting Teacher Fujiro to sign. Besides, the parents have already signed, so how could she possibly refuse?"
"That's true," Ajitani rubbed her temples and nodded.
"Thump... thump..."
"Class is starting, Ajitani, you should go back," Shouko noticed that the students around them were all rushing back to their seats and reminded her.
"Okay, okay, I'll come find you to play after class."
Ajitani rubbed Shouko's cheek, stood up decisively, and walked back to her seat.
——————
"Is this it?"
"Mm..." Tsuna looked at the 'cat-shaped mailbox' in front of him and hesitated for a moment, "It should be here."
"Then should we put them in?"
"Yo."
At this moment, a voice behind them interrupted their action.
When Tsuna turned around to look, he realized it was the upperclassman who had been dozing off at the Art Club recruitment booth yesterday.
"Just give them directly to me," the girl wearing a white beret extended her hand to the two. "You don't need to bother with the mailbox. I'm the Art Club Leader, just give them to me."
The girl took the two club application forms and added:
"Also, if you're not in a hurry to go home, you can come with me to the Art Club now for a short Q&A session."
Upon hearing this, Tsuna looked at Shouko to see her decision. He didn't have anything else to do at the moment; 'Anohana' was already finished.
If she wanted to go, he would call his mom first to let her know.
"Mm-hmm."
Shouko understood his meaning through Tsuna's gaze and nodded decisively.
"Then let's go," the girl saw her nod, turned around, and walked ahead.
Shouko and Tsuna followed her. Along the way, he didn't forget to call Shizuka to explain the reason.
"Upperclassman, are there many people in the Art Club?" On the way, Shouko followed behind her and asked out of curiosity.
"Hmm..." The girl quickly counted in her mind, "If you two can successfully join and become regular members, there will be a total of eight."
"Ah...?" Shouko was surprised, "Is it that few??"
Even Tsuna, who was beside her, felt a little surprised. With so many students at Wave Wind Middle School, he didn't expect the Art Club to only have five members, not counting him and Shouko.
The number of members had just barely passed the passing mark...
He didn't know much about other school clubs, but because Shouko wanted to join a club, he had inquired about a few things regarding Wave Wind Middle School.
Here, a club needed four members plus an Art Club Leader to be formed; otherwise, it wasn't allowed.
"Oh, the five I mentioned are the ones who are basically at the Art Club every day. I didn't count those who come to the club for a while once a week."
"I see," Shouko nodded upon hearing this and pressed on, "Then how many are there including those invisible members?"
"About ten or so," as she finished speaking, the girl casually waved her hand, "I don't remember the exact number clearly."
"Alright..."
Shouko and Tsuna suddenly felt that this Art Club Leader seemed a little unreliable...
"We're here!"
Following the girl's gaze, she pushed open the slightly old walnut wood door.
Their eyes swept past the shelves filled with ceramic pots and landed on the students frowning in front of their palettes. The scent of turpentine and Oolong tea intertwined in the twilight.
In the center stood a plaster cast of Agrippa, its base stained with years of paint splatters.
On the display wall behind it, the misty pink of watercolor cherry blossoms and the sharp lines of charcoal portraits stood in contrast, held by copper nails.
"How does it feel?"
"It's great."
"Wait--"
Tsuna's mouth was covered by Shouko before he could finish speaking.