"Then Tsuna, you can't peek."
Shouko turned her back directly and wrote on the ema with the pen the miko had just handed her.
"..." Tsuna felt speechless, but he didn't choose to lean over and peek.
"Okay, thank you, Miko Sister."
"Hehe... you're welcome."
She chuckled softly, took the ema Shouko handed her, glanced at it briefly, and waved at the two:
"Alright, nothing else, you two take care."
"Bye bye."
"Okay." The two said goodbye to her and left along the way they came.
The miko stood in place, watched the two walk away before retracting her gaze, and slowly walked back to the inner hall with the ema that had a line of text written on it.
Later, she returned to the front garden because she had forgotten to get the broom.
"Shouko, what did you write on that?" Coming down from the hillside, Tsuna felt increasingly curious.
Shouko shook her head: "It won't come true if I say it. When what I wrote on it comes true, I will tell you."
The dissatisfied Tsuna squeezed her cheek and stopped asking further questions.
That ema will most likely be the first one hung at the highest point. When he has a chance later, he can sneak a look, and it will be the same.
"Let's go, it's almost noon, let's go home and rest for a bit, then go see a movie this afternoon?" Tsuna looked at his watch and asked.
"Okay, okay." Shouko nodded without hesitation.
"This afternoon, let's call Yuzuru too. She went out with friends this morning, so she should be free this afternoon."
"Okay."
As his words fell, the two quickened their pace home, and on the way, they happened to meet Yuzuru and Hachiko, who were also returning home.
If you ask why she brought Hachiko with her when she went out, Nishimiya Yuzuru said: "Don't underestimate our bond!"
In the blink of an eye, the noon rest time was over.
"Yuzuru, are you going to see a movie?" Shouko glanced at the sun outside, confirmed it wasn't that hot, returned to the living room, and invited.
"No, if I walk around outside for a bit longer, I'll feel like I'm going to be dried up."
Yuzuru, with her head resting on Hachiko's belly, refused without hesitation.
She couldn't understand why watching TV with the air conditioning on now wasn't better than going to see a movie? And with such a big sun outside, the two were really not afraid of heatstroke.
"Are you really not going?"
"No, Sister, you and Tsuna go have fun."
Yuzuru waved her hand and put her attention back on the TV.
"Alright then."
Seeing this, Shouko didn't try to persuade her further. After saying something to Ito in the living room, she went to the entrance to change into her outdoor shoes and left.
"Click..."
It wasn't until the sound of the door closing came that Yuzuru adjusted the position of her head rest and put her mind back on the TV.
"Is Yuzuru not going?" Tsuna sat by the coffee table, peeled an orange, broke off half, and handed it to Shouko in front of him.
"Okay, okay." She nodded and reached out to take it. "Yuzuru probably thinks it's too hot outside and doesn't want to go."
Tsuna also hesitated a little upon hearing this: "I suddenly feel it's a bit hot outside too, how about we just watch at home?
Besides, you don't apply sunscreen when you go out, be careful not to get tanned."
"Then will you dislike me if I get tanned?"
"No." Tsuna shook his head without a hint of hesitation.
"Hehe." Shouko swallowed the orange in her mouth and snorted softly. "Then that's that."
"Just right, I have a bottle of unopened sunscreen in my room. Shouko, just take it back and use it. You two can apply it when you go out later."
At this time, Shizuka, who was lying on the sofa watching a drama, reminded them.
"And, if my fair and tender Shouko gets tanned, I'll feel bad."
Upon hearing this, Shouko thanked Shizuka and went into the master bedroom to get the bottle of sunscreen she mentioned.
Which girl doesn't want to be fair-skinned? Although Tsuna wouldn't dislike her getting tanned, she herself did.
"Tsuna, I'll help you apply it."
Shouko opened the bottle of sunscreen in her hand. Just by looking at the packaging and smelling the scent, she knew that Miyamura Auntie wasn't using cheap stuff.
"Okay." Tsuna nodded. He obediently let her handle it.
If Shouko hadn't wanted to help him apply it, he wouldn't have planned to use this stuff...
In the following few minutes, after Shouko finished applying it for him, she refused his request to apply it for her and applied it herself.
"Mom, we're going out to see a movie, want to come along?" After Shouko finished, Tsuna turned his head to look at Shizuka, who was slouching on the sofa.
"No, it's deadly hot outside." Shizuka refused with a wave of her hand without turning her head.
"Then we're heading out."
"Miyamura Auntie, bye bye."
Seeing this, the two didn't try to persuade her further. They got up, said goodbye to her, and walked out of the living room side by side.
"We're leaving!" x2
"Be careful on the road, Tsuna take good care of Shouko."
"Got it!"
"Click..."
---
The crimson river of streets, painted by October's maple leaves, was swept into scattered gold by the November wind on a frosty morning, leaving only a few stubborn ginkgo leaves hanging on the branches, rustling in the twilight.
"Dong... dong... dong..."
As the bell for the end of the first class in the afternoon rang, Tsuna withdrew his gaze from outside the window.
After waiting for Teacher Fujiro on the podium to announce the end of class, he planned to nap on his desk for about ten minutes.
But this time, it didn't go as he wished.
"Clap clap clap..."
Teacher Fujiro reached out and patted the blackboard behind her. "Quiet down, everyone. I have an announcement, although you might already know it."
The previously whispering classroom quieted down because of her words.
"In a week, that is, next Thursday and Friday, the school will hold a School Festival, lasting for two days. I won't participate in what our class organizes, but you can discuss it among yourselves. Once you've decided, have the Class Monitor come and tell me."
As soon as Teacher Fujiro's words fell, the previously quiet students could no longer contain their excitement and immediately became noisy.
"School Festival, School Festival!!!"
"I told you the School Festival would be held a few days after Culture Day! You didn't believe me, now you're proven wrong, right?"
"Our class must vote to hold a Maid Café!!"
"Go hold a Maid Café at your own house, the School Festival must be a stage play!"
Teacher Fujiro, on the podium, looked at the noisy students. The corners of her mouth curved up slightly as she shook her head, quietly picked up her Japanese textbook, and left the classroom.
Seeing Teacher Fujiro leave, the students became even noisier.
Tsuna, who had originally planned to take a nap, couldn't sleep in such a noisy environment either.
"Tsuna, what do you think our class is most likely to organize for the School Festival?" Shouko moved her chair and leaned in to his ear.
She was afraid he wouldn't be able to hear clearly in such a noisy classroom...
"Clap clap clap...!"
A sudden slapping sound rang out in the noisy classroom, and everyone looked towards the source of the sound, their chatting gradually dying down.
Tsuna, who was just about to speak, was also attracted by this sound. Shouko beside him followed his gaze.
It was Ajitani, standing at the position where Teacher Fujiro had been earlier. She was rubbing her red right hand in pain.