"Dong… dong… dong…!"
"School's out. Be careful on your way home."
As the school dismissal bell rang, Teacher Fujiro, who was standing at the podium, closed her Japanese language textbook and quickly walked out of the classroom.
The quiet classroom instantly became noisy after Teacher Fujiro left.
Shouko put the textbooks on her desk into her schoolbag and looked at him, asking, "Tsuna, you go report to the Track and Field Club first. I'll go to the Art Club and tell Teacher Fujiro and the others for you?"
"Uh-huh, ma—"
"I don't want to hear that last sentence." Shouko reached out and covered his mouth, interrupting him physically.
Tsuna helplessly raised his hand and grabbed her small hand. "Alright, alright, I get it."
"Then I'll wait for you at the Art Club."
After saying that, Shouko gently broke free from his hand, stood up, said "See you tomorrow" to the two people behind her and Ajitani, who walked up, and then quickly left the classroom through the back door.
"See you tomorrow, everyone."
After watching Shouko leave the classroom, Tsuna withdrew his gaze, stood up, waved to the three of them, and also left the classroom.
"Bye-bye." x3
During lunch break today, Ajitani was curious why Tsuna had been out with Mr. Sakai for so long yesterday.
Later, after getting Tsuna's permission, Shouko explained the whole story to the three of them.
So when they saw the two, who were almost inseparable, leave separately after school, they weren't curious at all.
---
The chirping of cicadas outside the teaching building and the whistles from the sports field intertwined to form the backdrop of summer.
Tsuna, who had walked out of the classroom, followed the map in his mind and arrived at the far left end of the first floor of Teaching Building No. 1.
Looking at the silver sign inlaid on the door frame that read 'Track and Field Club Room,' he confirmed that he hadn't gone the wrong way.
"Knock knock knock…"
The classroom door was open, but Tsuna didn't choose to walk in rashly. Instead, he knocked on the wooden door first to let the two students inside notice him.
The fifteen-tatami-mat-sized Japanese-style room was covered with worn tatami mats.
Six blue iron lockers were arranged along the east wall, with several pairs of spiked shoes of different sizes piled on top of the lockers.
The glass cabinet on the west wall displayed old photos from the Showa era and yellowed championship banners, forming a subtle contrast with the modern heart rate monitor in the corner.
The north wall was covered with training schedules, with the September one marked with dense annotations in fluorescent pen.
This was the general content Tsuna saw when he glanced inside from the doorway.
"Student, what are you doing?" A boy with healthy skin and a buzz cut inside was the first to ask curiously.
"Why are you standing at the door? Come on, come in and talk."
At this moment, the voice of Mr. Sakai, who had appeared behind Tsuna at some point, was heard, interrupting his explanation.
He turned around and greeted Mr. Sakai behind him, and the two people inside the classroom also quickly echoed a greeting.
"This is 'Miyamura Tsunayoshi' I told you about."
Mr. Sakai led Tsuna into the classroom and introduced him to the two people, who looked confused.
Then Tsuna and the two of them introduced themselves to each other.
The two had also heard Mr. Sakai mention Tsuna yesterday, and they were indeed very curious about Tsuna, who was invited in by Mr. Sakai.
As for feeling unconvinced or anything, that never crossed their minds.
Now they were both third-year students and would graduate in about half a year, so they had more thoughts of just slacking off.
Moreover, it was also very comforting to have an excellent junior take over their position when they left.
After introducing themselves to Tsuna and chatting with Mr. Sakai for a few minutes, the two left the Track and Field Club room and went to the sports field for their daily training.
---
"How does it feel? Is it similar to what I told you yesterday?"
After the two left the classroom, Mr. Sakai said to Tsuna with a smile.
"Uh-huh, not bad, not bad." Tsuna looked around at the indoor facilities and perfunctorily replied to him.
He had only been here for the first day; how could he feel anything…
He looked at the relay batons of past captains stored in the iron box on the windowsill and curiously stepped forward to check them.
He saw a note from the first Art Club Leader pasted on the inside of the box lid to his juniors:
"When you hear the sound of spiked shoes stepping on the curve, it is the resonant frequency of our heartbeats."
Mr. Sakai stood quietly to the side, watching him and choosing not to disturb him.
Later, as time passed, more and more members of the Track and Field Club came in and also got to know Tsuna.
Seeing that it was almost time and that he had greeted almost all the members of the Track and Field Club, Tsuna said "Goodbye" to Mr. Sakai on the side, left the Track and Field Club, and headed to the Art Club.
He had discussed with Mr. Sakai yesterday that as long as he insisted on morning runs every day and further increased the distance, he could go to the Track and Field Club once a week on Fridays and do a professional training session and a small test under the supervision of Mr. Sakai.
This was the reason Tsuna agreed to him; otherwise, he would never join two clubs, even if he died.
Of course, there was also a prerequisite, which was that the test results each time could not regress too severely; otherwise, the training would be increased.
---
"Knock knock knock…"
Tsuna stood in front of the closed classroom door of the Art Club, raised his hand, and knocked on the wooden door without hesitation, until Teacher Fujiro's voice came from inside:
"The door is not locked, just come in."
Only then did he stop knocking, twisted the doorknob, and walked in.
He nodded and greeted the seniors inside and Teacher Fujiro, and immediately locked onto the empty seat next to Shouko.
She also intuitively patted the empty seat next to her.
As for the same-year student who took leave yesterday, he was a face he had never seen before, so it seemed that Shouko's guess was wrong.
He also nodded and silently greeted the other person and then quickly walked to Shouko's side and sat down.
---
"Tsuna, Tsuna, look, how is this painting I drew?"
As soon as he sat down, Shouko eagerly shared the work created by her artistic cells.
Tsuna looked at the unrecognizable painting on her drawing board and was at a loss for how to praise it…
"It's nice…"
"Slap…" Shouko unceremoniously lightly patted his arm, wrinkled her nose at him, and said dissatisfiedly, "Nice what? Nice what… This is a line exercise Teacher Fujiro asked me to do first, drawing straight lines, curves, and parallel lines. You just say it's nice, can't you be more sincere?"
"…" Speechless Tsuna.
No wonder it didn't look like anything…
"Just right, I can teach you the basics Teacher Fujiro just taught me now, so you don't have to trouble Teacher Fujiro to say it again."
Shouko's little emotions came and went quickly.
"Okay, thank you, Shouko Teacher." Tsuna nodded. He knew that it was time for Shouko's favorite cosplay session.
"Keep it down…"
Hearing this, Shouko quickly looked around, and only after seeing that the seniors were busy with their own things did she silently breathe a sigh of relief.
When it was just the two of them, she still enjoyed Tsuna calling her Shouko Teacher.
But calling her that in front of so many seniors she had only known for a few days… She wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into…