"Alright everyone, stop staring." Ajitani quickly stepped forward, trying to shield the standing cutout.
She only felt her face heating up right now.
Shouko, who was in the back row, felt a bit of relief in her heart. Fortunately, she hadn't softened and agreed to someone's request back then; otherwise, she would be the one feeling a little socially dead right now.
But she still felt sympathetic toward Atsuya-chan, just for a few seconds...
"Class Monitor, does Miyamura have some dirt on you?"
"Yeah, you'd even agree to make a 1:1 cutout for this."
"Alright, everyone quiet down." Facing the crowd's chatter, Teacher Fujiro still spoke up to stop them:
"Miyamura, hurry up and open the next one. Everyone is still ready to keep working."
"Mm..." Tsuna nodded, but he was hesitant in his heart.
But in the end, he still opened another cardboard box. With Ajitani going first, when the second one was opened, everyone was surprised, but not overly so.
"I finally know why the Class Monitor was willing to take photos for this cutout."
"You don't need to say it, I can see it too."
"Miyamura, it's not easy for you either."
Everyone looked at the standing cutout; it was Tsuna wearing a butler's outfit, compared to Ajitani's.
His expression was much more subdued, but he still wore a slight smile, holding a delicate white teapot in his hand.
His cutout also had that same sentence.
"When it's over, can I take this cutout back?" At this moment, a voice spoke softly, but everyone heard it clearly, except for Shouko.
They looked at the girl who spoke with even more disbelief.
"Look... look... look..." The girl saw everyone looking at her and started to stutter a bit, but she still braced herself and explained:
"Look at what!? I was talking about the Class Monitor's, alright? Miyamura's, I don't care about that!"
As she finished speaking, she started getting busy, no longer paying attention to everyone's gazes.
She accidentally spoke her true thoughts...
"This cutout can only be taken back by the person themselves when the time comes, and it needs their consent." Tsuna tidied up the cardboard box on the floor and explained.
This was something he and Ajitani had discussed and agreed upon from the beginning.
"Clap, clap, clap..." At this moment, Teacher Fujiro clapped her hands. "Alright, everyone, continue working. Finish early, and everyone can go back and rest early."
As she finished speaking, everyone nodded and began to get busy again, only occasionally did someone's gaze fall upon the two cutouts placed by the wall.
"Tsuna, when the School Festival is over, can I have your cutout?" As soon as Tsuna returned to Shouko's side, she leaned into his ear and whispered.
"No." He shook his head and refused without even thinking.
He planned to make this thing disappear from this world as soon as the School Festival ended.
"Oh..." Shouko stopped paying attention to him and got busy with what she was doing.
After two or three minutes, she quietly leaned over again: "Then how about I trade you two lap pillow tickets for it?"
"No." Tsuna took the opportunity to pinch her cheek but still refused without hesitation.
"Oh..." Shouko returned to the spot where she hadn't finished working yet.
After a while, she checked around. Seeing that no one was paying attention to her movements, she carefully leaned over to his side again:
"Then... then... then five lap pillow tickets plus three massage tickets?"
"No." Tsuna looked at her seemingly pitiful eyes, hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand to rub her head and refused:
"Shouko, I still have twelve lap pillow tickets and five massage tickets I haven't used yet."
"Hmph!" Shouko wrinkled her nose at him, lightly slapped his hand away, and returned to her spot to continue working.
Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Just as Shouko was about to go over again, Takagi's extremely calm voice sounded in her ear:
"Shouko, can we finish our work first before doing other things?"
"Okay, okay." Seeing that she had been caught, Shouko quickly nodded and promised.
Afterwards, until everyone had finished their work, Teacher Fujiro checked and found no issues. She kept four people behind to clean up, and the rest could go home early.
Shouko and a few others walked out of the school gate, said goodbye to the other three, and then aggressively went to find a certain person, holding out five fingers and shaking them in front of him:
"Five lap pillow tickets, five massage tickets, and one... one... one kiss ticket! Can we trade?"
"Kiss ticket?" Tsuna's lips curved up by two pixels as he looked at the pouting Shouko: "Kiss where?"
"You can choose either cheek." Shouko waved her hand grandly, but her flushed ear tips betrayed her.
"Mm..." Tsuna pretended to hesitate for a while, then slowly shook his head: "No, that's too much of a loss for me, Shouko."
As his words fell, he reached out and poked her puffed-up cheek.
"Then... then... then two kiss tickets?" Shouko hesitantly held out two fingers.
But what she got in return was still Tsuna's shaking head and refusal.
"Hmph!"
Shouko let out a light snort, broke free from his hand holding hers, and started running forward, not wanting to walk back with him.
"I'm not talking to you anymore!"
Twilight was like blue ink dripping into clear water, slowly spreading across the sky at four forty-seven.
Boys and girls leaving school rode their bicycles, letting them slide down the slope towards the railway crossing.
The schoolbags in the bike baskets swayed with the bumps, and the omamori hanging from the zippers lightly tapped the metal mesh, making a faint clicking sound.
Tsuna watched Shouko run far away, then suddenly turn around and run back with quick steps, grabbing his hand, and lightly chuckling: "Weren't you not talking to me anymore?"
"Hmph!" Shouko didn't speak, just let out a light snort.
"What were the conditions you just mentioned?" Tsuna looked at her cute appearance, a little wanting to pinch her cheek, but she would likely dodge it.
Hearing this, Shoko changed from her previous pouting state and excitedly repeated: "Five lap pillow tickets, five massage tickets, and two kiss tickets!"
She had also secretly changed it a bit, and didn't Tsuna's words mean he wanted to trade with her?
"Mm." Tsuna nodded very calmly.
After a while, Shouko stared straight at him, not waiting for the next sentence, and finally couldn't help but ask:
"Then what?"
"Then what? I was just asking, it's not like I'm going to trade with you." Tsuna forcefully suppressed the corners of his mouth that wanted to turn up.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The atmosphere suddenly fell silent, then a smile appeared on Shouko's face. Immediately after, she opened her mouth wide without hesitation and bit down on his arm.
Only when he begged for mercy did she let go.
Afterwards, neither of them spoke. After a while, Shouko still took out a tissue from her pocket and somewhat heartbrokenly wiped the teeth marks left on his arm.
"The others stay the same, but if you add the kiss tickets to five, I'll trade." At this moment, Tsuna held up five fingers.
"Hmph..." Shouko didn't speak.
"So, are you trading or not? If you don't, you won't have another chance."
"Trade!" As she finished speaking, Shouko slapped the teeth mark on her own arm.
Tsuna also didn't hold back and pinched her cheek, rubbing it.