"Beep beep beep..."
"Moshi moshi."
"Uncle Sakata, it's Hishirugi."
"Hishirugi-kun? Is something the matter so early?"
Inside the cramped, messy rental room on Futaba Street, the boy lying on the bed listened to the concerned words from the person on the phone. His fingers unconsciously rubbed the corner of his clothes as his voice trailed off:
"Uncle Sakata, I have something at home today, so I'd like to take the day off."
"Okay, if it's urgent, go ahead and handle it. Tanaka-kun is back today, so the shop won't be that busy."
"Arigato!"
Hearing this, the boy's guilt dissipated by more than half. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he hung up the phone.
He glanced at the '08:43' displayed in the upper right corner of his phone screen, cursed under his breath in Japanese, and immediately sprang up. He almost tripped over a plastic bag as he slipped his bare feet into his sneakers.
A gray T-shirt hung on the doorknob of the wardrobe. He yanked it off and pulled it over his head. The back collar was still flipped up, but he had already rushed through the iron door and down the stairs, his keys jingling as they swung against the doorframe.
Just past nine in the morning, under the arcade of Futaba Shopping Street, housewives slowly strolled past the fresh fish store, pushing shopping carts with baby strollers. The silver scales of horse mackerel glistened in the glass tank.
Aunties carrying bulging nylon bags and grandmothers with wicker baskets crossed paths on the sidewalk. Several bicycles jingled as they passed through the morning light.
The boy, known as Hishirugi, stood at the entrance of Futaba Street, panting, his gaze fixed on a bookstore.
"Good, there aren't too many people yet." With that, he wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and strode toward the queue of people outside the bookstore.
Standing at the end of the line, he scanned the crowd ahead—about ten people—and guessed their purpose was the same as his.
They all wanted to buy the second volume of Anohana on its release day as soon as possible.
"Just in time, not too many people in line yet, and the store will open in a few minutes."
"It's all Nishikata's fault. Why did he have to be 30 minutes late?"
"Sorry, sorry, my bad."
Three voices chatted behind the boy. He turned to glance at them and then looked away; three little kids held no interest for him.
His gaze returned to the Anohana poster on the bookstore wall, or rather, to the face of the female lead, Menma.
"Rip... Bang..."
A loud noise drew the boy's attention. People at the front of the line began to surge into the store.
Not long after, the boy happily left the bookstore holding a sky-blue themed book, his nostrils filled with the fresh yeast scent from a nearby bakery.
"Let's go, let's go."
"Let's go get Miyamura's autograph."
"Wait for me!"
The three people from before quickly passed by Hishirugi and disappeared into the alley in the blink of an eye. He didn't stop or hesitate, walking toward the alley in the opposite direction.
---
"Knock knock knock...!"
"Huh!"
The sudden knocking startled Shouko, who was in the middle of something mischievous. She almost dropped her tablet.
"Who is it?"
"Click..."
"Sister, what mischief are you up to?"
Yuzuru pushed the door halfway open, her head peeking into Shouko's bedroom. She squinted mischievously as she observed Shouko sitting on the bed.
"Woof woof..." Hachiko immediately darted into Shouko's room, familiar with the spot, and lay down in front of the wardrobe door, watching the two sisters.
"Wh-what mischief!" Shouko quickly blacked out her tablet screen and hid it behind her, then feigned anger, saying, "And Yuzuru, how could you just come in without my permission?"
Unfortunately, Yuzuru was completely unaffected by her act. "But Sister, your ears are so red. Are you feeling unwell?"
"..."
"It's hot," Shouko hesitated, making a feeble excuse.
"Oh." Yuzuru's gaze finally rested behind Shouko. She smiled at her with narrowed eyes, then motioned for Hachiko to leave the room.
She suspected the secret was probably hidden in that tablet, likely related to Onii-san next door.
Although she knew the tablet's password, she never thought to look. Knowing her sister was up to something was enough.
The girl and the dog returned to the living room. Not long after, she completely forgot about the matter, her attention gradually drawn to Action Kamen on TV.
The sky gradually darkened, and raindrops pattered down on the tin roof outside the window. Streetlights cast flickering halos on the wet streets, and accumulated water streamed down from the eaves.
"Tsuna! Have you checked the comments on your Twitter account's recent post?"
Tsuna saw Shouko anxiously run into the living room. His gaze unconsciously fell on her wet toes, but he quickly forced himself to look away before she noticed.
He cleared his throat unnaturally and asked in confusion, "What comments...?"
"Just after dinner tonight, I saw that your Twitter account's greeting post had received a lot of comments cursing you."
Saying that, Shouko sat cross-legged beside him, pulled out her phone, and was about to open Twitter to show him.
"Stop, stop..." Tsuna reached out to stop her action. "You don't need to show me. Didn't we guess this outcome a long time ago?"
"But those people are all cursing—"
"They're just saying a few curse words; it's nothing." Tsuna waved his hand. "I just asked Jun, and the sales of both volumes are still rising, not affected at all."
"But—"
"Relax, Shouko. They can curse all they want, but they'll still buy it." Tsuna subconsciously comforted her.
"Alright then..." Shouko saw no change in his expression, nor any sign of urgency, and couldn't help but feel relieved herself.
When she had seen those comments cursing Tsuna earlier, she thought he had already seen them and was secretly upset, which was why she rushed over so quickly. How could she have known he'd be so nonchalant?
However, seeing his calm demeanor, she still felt a strange sensation, as if she couldn't quite breathe.
"Then... then I'll continue with that illustration commission." With that, Shouko slowly moved to the coffee table, propped herself up, and began working on her tablet.
Tsuna glanced at her twice and then stopped paying attention, continuing to watch the comedy variety show on TV.
It wasn't until he noticed in his peripheral vision that she was tapping on the tablet more and more frequently that he curiously moved behind her to see what she was doing.
"..."
"You switched to a burner account to curse them back, didn't you...?"
"Ah...!"
"Tsuna, why did you come over without making a sound?" Shouko patted her chest and turned to glare at him.
"Were you just too focused?" Tsuna looked at her tablet, which showed records of her arguing with people online. He felt a bit speechless.
No... it wasn't really an argument. It was more like a one-sided attempt to explain the reasons for Anohana being the way it was, but most of the other party ignored her.
The few who did reply to her even thought she was using her own burner account to explain...
"Shouko, have you finished your commission...?" Tsuna's gaze returned to her.