"Miyamura, will you be holding a signing event on release day next Thursday?" Nishikata raised his hand and asked curiously.
"I haven't thought about it at all, neither a pre-signing nor an on-site signing," Tsuna shook his head and declined without hesitation.
"Pre-signing means signing over a thousand copies, and on-site signing could be an unknown number. I'm afraid my hand will be ruined, and it would be troublesome.
Moreover, I haven't even considered showing my face for a short time."
The second volume of Anohana and several subsequent 'healing' novels were still to be released, but he had no intention of showing his face, fearing that he'd be swarmed by enthusiastic fans on the street...
"Then, in that case, wouldn't our signed books be limited editions?"
Ajitani stroked her chin and pretended to ponder. "Wouldn't that also mean they could be resold for a good price? Earn a profit from the signature?"
Tsuna looked at Ajitani, who was daydreaming late at night, with a speechless expression. "Class Monitor, don't even think about it. If you put it online, who knows if anyone will believe it."
"..."
"Everyone, sorry to keep you waiting. Shall we leave now?"
At this moment, Shouko, who had changed into her yukata, walked down from upstairs. She was about to join their conversation when Ajitani, who suddenly stood up, grabbed her hand.
"Let's go, let's go, let's go now!" Ajitani smiled and looked back at Tsuna. "Miyamura, can I borrow Shouko for a while?"
"..." Tsuna didn't speak.
Ajitani took his silence as agreement and pulled the bewildered Shouko out, shouting loudly, "Grandpa, Grandma, I'm going out!"
Takagi and Nishikata hurriedly got up and followed. Tsuna, who was behind the others, didn't forget to close the door before leaving.
The salty sea breeze on the beach mixed with the charred aroma of grilled squid. Vendors had already set up red lanterns, and plastic stools scraped across the concrete ground.
Little girls in yukatas chased their playmates, holding apple candy, sand falling from the soles of their slippers.
"Isn't it lively?" Ajitani led them to the entrance of the temporarily formed street of stalls and stopped.
Nishikata looked at the octopus ball stand, crowded with sweaty necks. The proprietress's spatula moved so fast it left afterimages, and he unconsciously nodded.
"Then let's go in pairs!" Ajitani suggested loudly. "Miyamura, you're with me and Shouko-chan. Nishikata, you're with Takagi-chan. How about that?"
"Ah...?" Nishikata looked at her in surprise, wondering if that would be too deliberate.
"No problem!"
But before he could object, Takagi-san playfully raised her hand and agreed.
"Ah?" Nishikata's surprised gaze shifted to Takagi's face.
Takagi noticed his gaze, turned her head, and playfully winked at him. He immediately blushed and quickly looked away.
"Good! Then it's happily decided!" Ajitani clapped her hands, drawing their attention back. "Let's meet back at this entrance at 9 o'clock."
After getting Nishikata and Takagi's nods of agreement, Ajitani took Shouko's hand and squeezed into the crowd, not forgetting to remind Tsuna, "Miyamura, remember to keep up."
"..." Tsuna gave Nishikata a 'good luck' look and then hurried to catch up with the two in front.
He still understood Ajitani's well-intentioned plan.
"Nishikata, what did Miyamura's look just now mean?" Takagi, taking advantage of Nishikata's brief distraction, leaned closer to him and 'curiously' asked.
"Ah!?" Nishikata suddenly pulled away from her, his ears turning red.
"No... nothing," Nishikata waved his hands in a panic. "Miyamura just had a simple eye discomfort, that's all."
"Oh, I see," Takagi put her hands behind her back, a slight smile on her lips, and didn't ask further, seemingly believing what he said.
Takagi smiled and extended her right hand to him. "Then for the next hour, please take good care of me, Nishikata."
As her words fell, she also winked her left eye at him.
Nishikata's Adam's apple bobbed heavily, the gulp echoing particularly loudly in the bustling fireworks festival. He felt as if the whole world had gone silent, along with the rapidly rising temperature of his face.
Just as he hesitated whether to reach out and take her hand, Takagi wiggled her right hand at him again, as if waiting for his answer.
He finally mustered the courage to reach out, accompanied by the distant, looping announcement from a police loudspeaker: "The viewing area's mats have a limited weight capacity; please do not run or push."
As he was about to touch her, he felt his throat tighten even more.
Takagi suddenly changed her hand gesture and excitedly pointed to the stall opposite. "Look quickly, there are very few people at that grilled squid stand. Let's start browsing from there!"
Then she bounced two steps away, leaving his hand suspended in mid-air, directly facing the pancake vendor's round, stiflingly amused face.
"..." Nishikata, his face flushed, withdrew his hand, gave the uncle a simple-minded smile twice, and then turned to follow Takagi-san's footsteps.
The moment she brushed past him, he caught a glimpse of Takagi-san's cunning smile, but then he thought it was just his imagination.
---
"You two are ten minutes late. You have to be punished!" Ajitani raised her hand and pointed at the two who had squeezed out of the crowd.
"Sorry, sorry," Takagi put her hands together and apologized sincerely. "As compensation for being late, Ajitani-chan, I'll treat you to takoyaki."
With that, Takagi took a bag from Nishikata's hand, took out three portions, and handed them to Tsuna and the two girls.
Ajitani accepted it without hesitation. "Then I'll reluctantly forgive you."
Unlike the three girls who started bickering again, Tsuna quietly retreated to Nishikata's side. "Any significant progress in the past hour and a half?"
Nishikata shook his head repeatedly, denying, "No... nothing, just a simple stroll and trying out the mini-games at those stalls."
"..." Tsuna noticed his ears were so red they could drip blood and felt that his statement wasn't very convincing.
"Miyamura, Nishikata, hurry up! We're heading to the Test of Courage now!"
Hearing Ajitani's call, Tsuna didn't ask too many questions. He patted Nishikata's shoulder and followed the three who had already walked some distance ahead.
"Miyamura, believe me, nothing really happened!" Nishikata's faint voice came from behind him, but he just nodded perfunctorily.
The group arrived at the registration point for the Test of Courage. The entrance was a path enclosed by faded red fabric strips, with two pale paper lanterns hanging on crooked wooden poles.
Pine branches for mosquito repellent burned in a tin bucket, the smoky scent mixed with the sweet stickiness of popcorn, and distant, eerie screams faintly echoed.
Faded talismans fluttered in the night wind, fake spiderwebs clung to the edges of the lanterns, adorned with dew-like sequins, and the entrance archway was a temporarily built dilapidated torii, with gray-white wood exposed where the vermilion lacquer had peeled off.
"We're here, we're here! You go register, I'll wait for you at the exit to see which of your two groups comes out first."
With that, Ajitani waved to Shouko and the other three, then decisively turned and left, giving Shouko and the others no chance to stop her.