293: A Little Bit of Liking
"How did you know!?" Nishikata sprang up from the tatami mat.
Tsuna glanced at him and then went back to looking at his computer. "I guessed. Because even if you cared about that question, you wouldn't ask it out loud."
"..."
Nishikata wanted to retort, but found it difficult. If it weren't for Takagi and the others asking him, he really wouldn't have had the nerve to ask.
Tsuna saw him fall silent and ignored him, focusing on the work at hand.
"Then… when do you plan to confess to Nishimiya…?"
As he asked, the sound of a keyboard followed.
Nishikata saw him deep in thought and, for a moment, thought there was a chance to get the answer he wanted.
"It's a secret." Tsuna collected his thoughts, shrugged, and then asked with a light laugh:
"I wanted to ask you, when are you going to confess to Takagi-san? How many years have you been secretly in love?"
"Wh-wh-what confession!?"
Before the disappointment could well up in his heart, Nishikata waved his hands repeatedly, denying excitedly, "When did I ever say I liked Takagi-san!?"
"..."
Tsuna saw his ear tips flush red faster than his face, turning completely red in an instant, and just smiled without speaking.
"Miyamura, I'm telling the truth!" Nishikata saw him ignore him and started to get a little anxious.
Nishikata moved closer to him. "I really don't have a crush on Takagi-san, okay?"
"Alright, alright, I get it, I get it."
In the hot weather, Miyamura was a little annoyed at how close he was clinging.
"I can swear to the hea—"
"I know if Takagi-san likes you."
Tsuna's faint words brought silence back to the room.
"Okay." After a long pause, Nishikata hesitantly spoke again: "Actually, I do like Takagi-san a little bit…"
To prove the credibility of his words, he even raised his right hand, making a small slit with his index finger and thumb to demonstrate.
Tsuna pulled out a smile, looked at him, and spread his hands. "Actually, I was just saying it randomly. I don't know either."
He knew that almost anyone in their class who played well with them could tell a little bit; only Nishikata himself was foolishly unaware, or perhaps emotionally slow?
Is this the legendary "the one involved is confused, the bystander sees clearly"?
"..."
"Miyamura, I'm going to fight you!"
"It's so noisy next door. I'm a little curious what they're doing." Ajitani flopped over like a lazy fish.
"From the sound of it, it seems Nishikata is begging for mercy." Takagi looked at Shouko, who was already deep in slumber, and guessed.
---
The sun in late July was still scorching, and the beach at four in the afternoon was bleached white.
The tide had receded, revealing a stretch of wet sand. Several children ran over with plastic buckets to dig for clams. The ice cream vendor's proprietress tilted her parasol back, and the sea breeze, carrying the scent of fish, rustled the plastic sheeting.
"How is it, Tsuna?" Shouko, in her swimsuit, turned around gracefully in front of him. "Does it look good?"
"It looks very good, conservative yet playful." Tsuna nodded, carefully observing her.
She wore a one-piece swimsuit with a skirt hem, a light blue skirt that barely reached mid-thigh, plus a loose white t-shirt worn over it. The subtly revealing look made Tsuna exclaim how cute it was.
Compared to Shouko, he was just in dark blue shorts and a white t-shirt, which looked somewhat simple.
"Of course, it looks good. I spent over 10 minutes helping Shouko-chan pick it out."
Just then, Ajitani, having changed into her swimsuit, walked out of the beach changing room, feeling very proud of her own taste.
Her swimsuit was a fresh and cute girlish style—a white split bikini, which also incorporated elements like ruffles, bows, and hollow lace to emphasize its cuteness.
"Yours is also very cute." Tsuna took a quick glance and withdrew his gaze, commenting casually.
The four waited by the wall for a while. When Takagi walked out of the changing room, the ruffled one-piece swimsuit she wore made Nishikata stare blankly.
"H-how… how is it? Does it look good?"
Takagi felt a hint of nervousness at that moment. She knew from Nishikata's reaction that this swimsuit choice was very successful, but she still wanted to hear his personal review.
Seeing Nishikata unresponsive, Tsuna gave him a helpless, gentle push.
Nishikata, realizing he had been a bit out of sorts, awkwardly scratched the back of his head, nodding repeatedly to indicate it looked good.
"Let's go, let's go! The sun isn't as scorching now, we can have fun to our heart's content!" Ajitani ignored the awkward Nishikata, impatiently pulling Shouko and the others toward the beach.
"Let's go."
Tsuna lightly patted Nishikata's shoulder and took the lead, following the three in front. Nishikata, seeing this, also hurried to catch up.
As their plastic slippers first touched the sand, the hot sand underfoot made one instinctively pull back their feet. Ajitani, swinging her newly bought fluorescent green water gun, rushed into the sea.
Tsuna's shorts, soaked with seawater, clung tightly to his knees, dripping salty water with every step.
Nearby, several high school students in swimsuits were building sand sculptures. The tide surged up, collapsing the castle spires, erupting in a chorus of laughter and playful curses.
"Look what big treasure I found!" Ajitani's cry attracted attention from around.
She shook a half-piece of fishing net she had picked up from somewhere and laughed loudly. "We can catch some small crabs or small shells to take back for an extra meal tonight!"
Tsuna and the other three immediately joined in, bending at the waist and blindly scooping in knee-deep water.
"This is worse than not catching anything…" Tsuna looked at their half-hour's haul, with only seaweed and a few thumb-sized small crabs dangling at the bottom of the net.
Ajitani's interest came and went quickly. Soon, she organized stone skipping, beach treasure hunting, and digging sand pits to bury people.
Finally, tired from playing, the five sat on the stone steps in front of the ice cream stand to rest, discussing the several elementary school students nearby who were vigorously tapping barnacles with plastic shovels.
"I'm already looking forward to the beach fireworks display in two days." Ajitani licked her half-melted ice cream, mumbling indistinctly.
"Is there any difference from a regular fireworks display?" Shouko leaned against Tsuna, tilting her head curiously.
"It's just—"
"Are you all here for summer vacation?" At this moment, the ice cream stand owner interrupted Ajitani with a hearty laugh.
"Yes, yes." Shouko nodded.
Then the ice cream stand owner enthusiastically introduced the differences of their beach fireworks festival to them until new customers arrived and interrupted him.
"Test of Courage?" Nishikata mumbled, looking at the busy owner's back.
Before he could ask more, Ajitani spoke up to explain: "The fireworks display starts at 8 PM, with teams of two completing challenges, and the winning team gets a mysterious prize."
Then Ajitani shrugged. "I know you're going to ask what the mysterious grand prize is, but the grand prize is different every year, so I don't know either."
As her voice fell, she raised her finger and pointed to a forest in the opposite direction of the beach. "At that time, the organizers will use thick ropes to enclose a general area in that forest, and it will be held there."