"Ring... ring... ring..."
"Bang..."
Tsuna, who was sound asleep under the covers, couldn't stand the noisy alarm clock. He skillfully reached out and slapped the alarm clock, then fell back asleep.
"Ring—"
"Clap..."
This time, before the alarm clock rang again, he turned it off and also shut off the subsequent five timed alarms one by one.
He stared blankly at the ceiling for a minute or two before sitting up from the bed, yawning as he stood up.
After stretching, he quickly walked to the wardrobe, took out the clothes he needed for his morning run, and changed into them.
Walking downstairs, he saw that the lights on the first floor hadn't been turned on yet. Tsuna didn't pay much attention, walked to the entrance, put on his running shoes, opened the front door, and went out.
Last night, when he got home, he told Mom that the School Festival was starting today. She said she would sleep in today, and that he, who would be back from his morning run, would be in charge of buying breakfast and other things.
The faint morning light stained the outlines of the buildings, the fluorescent lights of the convenience store blurred into fuzzy balls of light in the mist, and the hum of the coffee machine spilled out as the automatic door opened and closed.
The display window of the bakery on the street corner glowed warm yellow, baguettes bloomed with wheat fragrance in the oven, and the crispy crusts of the first batch of croissants were shedding the dawn.
The night shift security guard leaned against the shelf, munching on a rice ball, the sanitation worker's iron wheels rolled over a floor full of stardust, and two time-spaces completed their transition in the instant the glass door rotated.
"Whoosh..."
Tsuna exhaled and gradually slowed down his running speed. He reached out and turned off the watch that was ringing, then took out a tissue from his pocket to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
He found a random bakery, bought breakfast, and started walking home.
"Click..."
He opened the front door and saw that the lights inside the house hadn't been turned on yet. He took off his shoes, carried the packaging bag with the bakery logo printed on it, and walked to the dining room.
After placing it on the table, he went up to the second floor, took out his school uniform, and went into the bathroom to take a shower.
"This bakery deserves a bad review, they put too much yeast." Tsuna heard Mom's complaint as soon as he came out of the bathroom.
"Tsuna, I forgot to ask yesterday, what time can parents enter your school to look around today?"
"Around nine something, I guess..." He paused while wiping his hair. He really didn't know the answer to this question.
"Click..."
The sound of the front door being opened from outside came. Standing in the hallway, he turned his head and saw Shouko's cute head peeking in from outside.
"Morning, Tsuna."
"Morning, have you had breakfast?"
"Yes, yes." Shouko closed the front door, walked to the entrance, and changed her shoes: "I'll blow-dry your hair for you, wait for me!"
Shouko walked quickly into the living room, not forgetting to greet Shizuka in the dining room.
"Tsuna, do you think your standee will be stolen then?" Shouko's voice, accompanied by the sound of the hairdryer, rang in his ears.
"Huh? What did you say??"
Shouko didn't reply. Only after his hair was dry did she turn off the hairdryer and repeat: "I said, do you think your standee will be stolen by someone?"
"I'm not that charming, okay?" Tsuna waved his hand speechlessly.
"Besides, that standee is made of cardboard. It's not valuable enough to be stolen."
"That's true." Shouko stared at his face for a while before looking away and nodding.
Anyway, there are surveillance cameras in the school hallway...
"You two, that's enough. Staring at each other so affectionately first thing in the morning, aren't you afraid of being cheesy?"
"I'm going to eat breakfast."
"I'm a little hungry too..."
Ignoring Shizuka, who was standing at the entrance of the living room with a teasing look, the two quickly stood up and walked to the dining room.
---
The thin morning mist had not yet completely dispersed, but the pale golden morning light had already climbed onto the eaves of the school building.
Figures carrying prop boxes dashed through the hallway, and as the hems of their sailor uniforms fluttered, they brought down a few early-blooming camellia petals.
Girls tiptoed to wrap ribbons around the cherry tree branches, and the sound of laughter with paint-stained fingertips startled a flock of white doves.
Boys carried wooden boards and shuttled through the courtyard, their foreheads wet with sweat, but they still didn't forget to make a funny face at classmates passing by.
The intermittent sound of piano tuning drifted from the auditorium backstage, colliding with the morning breeze, wrapped in the aroma of takoyaki.
Light danced in everyone's eyes, like a kaleidoscope shattered by the spring breeze, dyeing the not-yet-fully-bright sky the color of youth.
"Minna-san (Everyone), quickly, quickly, get moving!"
As the two walked side by side to the classroom entrance, they heard Ajitani's encouraging words from inside.
"Shouko-chan, you also go to the back kitchen and check the tools you'll be using." Ajitani's peripheral vision caught the two entering the classroom, and she reminded her.
"Okay..." Shouko nodded, said a few words to Tsuna beside her, and walked towards the back of the classroom.
After Shouko left, Ajitani also gave him a command: "Miyamura, can you help put those two standees on both sides of the front door?"
"Yes, yes, yes..."
Tsuna first moved her standee outside to place it, and this scene naturally attracted the curious eyes of the students passing by.
Most of them were boys, and some even took out their phones to take pictures of Ajitani's life-sized standee.
Then Tsuna moved his standee out, compared the left and right sides, adjusted them, and finally nodded in satisfaction.
These two standees placed on both sides of the door were enough to attract the attention of students passing by, not to mention that the two people in the standees had full visual appeal.
"Miyamura, this is…?" At this moment, a slightly familiar voice sounded in Tsuna's ear.
Upon hearing this, Tsuna withdrew his gaze from the two standees, turned his head to look at the source of the sound, and it was Kawai Miki, whom he hadn't seen for a long time.
Seeing her puzzled expression, he explained: "It's for the maid and butler cafe we're opening. What's wrong?"
"N-nothing..." Miki's gaze kept wandering between the standee and Tsuna's face. Then she shook her head: "It just feels like you on the standee are a little different..."
That slightly smiling expression, she had only seen it when he was chatting with Shouko…
"Oh, maybe it's because of the effect of photo editing and beauty filters." Tsuna also observed his standee upon hearing this.
"By the way," Kawai Miki changed the subject. "If I visit your store then, are there any internal discounts?"
"Hmm..." Tsuna also wanted to attract some customers for his class, so he thought for a while: "You can designate a maid or butler to serve you and take a photo together, does that count?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Kawai nodded repeatedly, staring at the face on Tsuna's standee.
"Then—"
Just as Tsuna was about to say something grateful, he felt a surge of resentment from not far away.
Following his sixth sense, he turned his head to look and saw Shouko peeking her head out from the back door of the classroom, staring fixedly at him…
Meeting her gaze, Tsuna involuntarily shivered.
"Welcome to visit then. I still have other things to deal with in my class. I'll go get busy first, see you later."
Tsuna left this sentence and hurried towards the back door.
"Okay..." Kawai also noticed Shouko, but didn't pay much attention. Her gaze shifted back to the standee.
All she was thinking about now was whether the maid and butler cafe could open earlier so she could go in and order Miyamura to serve her and take a photo…
After a while, after confirming that Tsuna had entered the classroom, she decisively took out her phone and quickly took pictures of the standee from several angles.