"Ears? What about ears hurting?" Her ears felt incredibly hot right now.
"No… it's nothing." He had still underestimated the destructive power of his physique combined with being wet; the child was already dumbfounded.
"Slap…"
Tsuna suppressed the corner of his mouth and lightly slapped away her secretly reaching hand. "Continue with your illustration commission. I'll go back to my previous spot." With that, he turned and returned to the shower area.
"…" Shouko rubbed the back of her hand, staring at his back, feeling a 'little' unwilling.
"First, plan out the prominent support points for my next movements in this illustration," Tsuna suggested, leaning against the wall and tilting his head.
"Mhm… mhm mhm…" Shouko nodded mechanically.
"You're a bit distracted, Shouko. Can you really draw the illustrations well like this?"
Tsuna watched her gaze constantly shift between his face and the wet fabric, feeling a bit helpless.
He had considered just finding similar pictures online for Shouko to draw from, but the moment the thought surfaced, he felt uneasy.
Ultimately, he decided against it. It was better for her to observe him directly, allowing her to observe and draw from multiple angles. However, it seemed… it probably… might have backfired…
"Tsuna…"
"What is it?" Tsuna looked at her, puzzled by her hesitation.
"When did you get those abs?" Shouko asked, blushing, pointing at the wet fabric that bulged with his breathing, stammering:
"Last week… when we went to the beach, how come I… I didn't see them?"
"Is that the main point?" Tsuna was speechless.
"Mhm mhm." Shouko nodded repeatedly without hesitation.
"…" After a moment's hesitation, he slowly covered his abdomen with both hands. "Is your illustration commission your priority right now, okay?"
Shouko held her tablet, clasped her hands together, and pleaded, "Then can you answer my question first? I'm curious."
"Did my upper body get wet the 7 days we went to the beach?" Tsuna retorted helplessly.
"It seems that's true…" Shouko recalled, nodded, and continued to press, "Then why didn't I see them during swimming lessons before?"
"At that time, the lines weren't clear, so it naturally wasn't easy to notice."
Then Tsuna patiently explained to her when he started training and when it became noticeable.
"Oh…" Shouko nodded, half-understanding. If Tsuna hadn't explained, she would have thought it could be achieved in a week or two…
"Let's continue. If you don't focus, Shizuka will be back soon, and you might not be able to observe anymore."
"We can next—"
"No way!" Tsuna crossed his hands. "This is your only chance."
"…" Shouko puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction, but his words had an effect. She reined in her wandering gaze.
She returned to her usual serious study, though her hand was occasionally restless. Tsuna always noticed and lightly slapped away her wandering hand.
"Tsuna, I want to take a photo!"
"Don't even think about it." Tsuna saw her aiming the tablet at him and immediately turned his back to her. "It's good enough that I'm letting you look. You want to have your cake and eat it too?"
"Tsuna, listen to me." Shouko put down the tablet and listed examples on her fingers:
"Look, if I only see it once, I might forget it tonight, and that won't achieve any learning effect.
Next time I get a similar commission, I'll have to come find you again, bothering you." She now wished for more such commissions.
"And, if I can take photos from different angles, I can observe them carefully. Later, if I forget, I can just take them out and review them. See how convenient that is?"
"…" He retorted without hesitation, "You said all that, but the last sentence was the main point, wasn't it?"
"Tsuna~" With that, Shouko was about to start acting spoiled again.
"Stop." Tsuna turned back and directly covered her mouth with his hand. "If I let you take photos, what benefit do I get?"
"Mmm mmm mmm…"
Shouko's heart tightened; this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She immediately pressed her hand onto his stomach and rubbed it twice, even playfully poking the bulging abs with her fingertips.
"Thump…!"
"Ah…"
Tsuna stepped back a few paces, putting some distance between them. "You're a bit much, Shouko."
"I made a profit!"
"…"
Shouko realized she had accidentally blurted out her thoughts and immediately changed the subject. "Tsuna, what benefit do you want?"
"I've changed my mind. Don't even think about it." Tsuna shook his head. "Continue with your illustration."
"I was wrong…" Shouko quickly begged for mercy.
"No way…" Tsuna was unmoved, reminding her, "Hurry up, if it gets any later, your dear Auntie Miyamura will be back soon."
Later, even after Shizuka returned, Shouko still asked several times without giving up, but Tsuna mercilessly refused.
Shizuka thought the two had some kind of spat, but seeing how they were constantly sticking together, it didn't seem like it, so she didn't intend to pry.
Past 6:30 PM, cicadas chirped, riding the sunset and summer heat, rising and falling in the gradually slanting sun. The heat waves steaming from the asphalt road were pressed inch by inch into the tree shadows by the twilight.
"Tsuna, I'm going back to help Grandma prepare dinner first. I'll come find you later."
Without waiting for his response, Shouko rose from the sofa, waved her tablet at him, and quickly left the living room.
"Click…"
She crossed the Miyamura in a few strides and return into home, scattering the lingering sunset glow everywhere.
"Click…"
"I'm home."
"Welcome home…"
"Woof…"
Yuzuru and Hachiko's voices, mixed with the donggan superman theme song, came from the living room.
Shouko changed her shoes in the entryway. Passing the living room, she saw Yuzuru resting her head on Hachiko, with Action Kamen playing on the TV. She only glanced and then looked away, skipping back to her bedroom.
"Something's not right…" Yuzuru heard her sister close the bedroom door, turned the TV volume to the lowest with the remote, and said suspiciously, "Nine out of ten things are off."
"Hachiko, you think so too, right?"
"Woof…" Hachiko wagged its tail and nodded very humanly.
Yuzuru made a decisive move, rising from the tatami and heading to Shouko's room, with Hachiko wagging its tail following behind her.
——————————
"Hehe…"
Inside her room, Shouko sat on the bed, her gaze fixed on the photo on her tablet, and she unconsciously raised a hand to wipe her tender lips.
"You didn't let me take it openly, but you didn't say I couldn't take it secretly.
Sure enough, sometimes Tsuna isn't necessarily smarter than me, hehe…"
She immediately made several copies of the photo, then kept only one in her album, transferring the rest to a hidden private collection with the note 'Tsuna'.