Evening...
Tsuna suddenly smelled the earthy scent in the air, guessing that a heavy rain would come soon, and couldn't help but quicken his pace home.
"Click..."
"Mom, here's the soy sauce you wanted."
Shizuka took the soy sauce from his hand and impatiently waved him out of the kitchen. He could only return to the living room to watch variety shows with Daisuke.
After sitting for a while, Daisuke lowered the TV volume and spoke indifferently: "Your book has received a lot of negative reviews these past few days. Do you want to deal with it?"
"Our Miyamura still has influence in that area?!" Tsuna feigned surprise and looked at him. "Dad, are you going to bring home a baby wearing a suit and a yellow pacifier in a few days?"
Daisuke didn't speak, merely glancing at him faintly.
"No need." After waiting for a moment, seeing that his old man had no reaction, Tsuna felt bored and waved his hand. "This is pretty much the effect I want. Most of those negative reviews are because the female lead's ending didn't meet their expectations, so don't worry."
"Alright then." Daisuke nodded. "If you encounter any insurmountable difficulties, come find me again. Hiring some internet trolls can even make the dead sound alive, and a large number of people will believe it."
With that, he turned the TV volume back up. At the same time, a rumbling thunder came from outside the window, and raindrops pattered against the glass.
After dinner, the rain gradually subsided, and Shouko appeared punctually at Tsuna's doorstep, holding a small umbrella.
"Why didn't you wait for the rain to stop before coming over?" Tsuna leaned against the bathroom doorframe, watching Shouko rinse her sandy feet with the showerhead.
"Because I wanted to spend more time with you." Shouko smiled, her eyes curving as she met his gaze.
"Not enough?" Tsuna was completely unfazed, teasing. "Now we're only missing eating and sleeping together."
"Not enough, I…"
"I... I want to be with you twenty-four hours a day..."
"Alright." Tsuna looked at her eyes, which were dodging due to shyness, and nodded in agreement without hesitation.
"!!!" Shouko suddenly looked up and met his gaze, even suspecting her hearing aid was malfunctioning.
"You will never lack any food money, and my bedroom can still fit another bed. As long as you don't mind, you're welcome anytime."
The smile wouldn't disappear; it would only transfer from Shouko's face to Tsuna's.
"..." Shouko stopped speaking, silently turned around, and faced away from him.
Tsuna smiled at her, turned, and left, returning to his second-floor bedroom.
Shouko's awkward confession, he agreed to it, but it seemed she misunderstood the meaning of his words just now. Or perhaps both of them misunderstood each other's meanings.
However, a formal confession should also be put on the agenda, he thought silently.
Moreover, the uncharacteristic Shouko must have had a master guiding her from behind.
"Ah... Achoo!!"
In a white-themed bedroom, Takagi-san, leaning against the back of her chair, raised her hand to feel her forehead temperature. "Could it be a cold? It shouldn't be."
Only after confirming there was nothing abnormal did she slowly lower her hand, then sighed deeply, staring at herself in the small mirror. The corners of her eyes looked like two dots of rouge, and even her nose was red.
"Sigh..."
"I hope I won't look any different when I go out tomorrow. It's all Miyamura's fault."
"I wonder if Shouko-chan will be angry if I throw the book at his face tomorrow…"
No sooner had she spoken than she smiled and shook her head, shaking that whimsical thought out of her mind.
She continued to open the lower volume of Anohana on the table, but after a few glances, she closed it again. The thought she had just shaken off resurfaced.
---
"Ding-dong... Ding-dong... Ding...!"
"Coming, coming." Shouko had just come out of the bathroom when she heard the doorbell ring, a little curious who it could be.
Daisuke, in the living room, had just been kicked by Shizuka and consciously got up to open the door, only to see Shouko walk past, so he silently sat back down.
"Click..."
"Ajitani... Ajitani-chan!?" Shouko looked in surprise at Ajitani, who appeared at the door. "Why are you here? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I sent you a message on my phone, but it's been unread, so I guessed you must be at Miyamura, the kind who doesn't have her phone with her."
Ajitani held a small black umbrella, and fearing that Shouko wouldn't believe her, she even pulled out her phone from her pocket and showed her the chat history.
"Shouko! Who is it?" Shizuka's questioning voice came from the living room.
Shouko turned back and shouted toward the living room: "Tsuna and my friend, Ajitani-chan." With that, she quickly turned back and called Ajitani in.
"Hello, Uncle and Auntie." Ajitani politely greeted the two in the living room.
Shizuka knew that Ajitani had something to say to Shouko, so she told them to go upstairs to find Tsuna. The two of them went up to the second floor, their footsteps pattering on the floor.
Only when the sounds gradually disappeared did Shizuka turn to Daisuke. "Did you notice just now? That child Ajitani's eyes were red."
Seeing that he completely ignored her, she nudged him again. "Do you think something might have happened in her home?"
"No, she wouldn't come here for something like that." Daisuke shook his head, denying it without even thinking.
"Could it be…" Shizuka's eyes gradually widened. "Could it be that Tsuna, that brat, did something to hurt Ajitani's feelings?!"
"..."
"These aren't important."
"These aren't important?! Then what is important?"
"Yes, it's important for you to watch fewer of those melodramatic Mary Sue family dramas right now."
Shizuka didn't speak, slapped his arm, and then drove him out of the living room; she was going to binge-watch her drama.
---
"Knock knock knock...!"
"The door's unlocked, just come in." Tsuna said without lifting his head, staring at the dense text on the computer screen.
"Click..."
Shouko opened the door and came in. Tsuna's peripheral vision noticed someone following behind her. He looked up and saw it was Ajitani, very puzzled. "Class monitor? Why are you here?"
As he spoke, he glanced at the time: '20:06'. "It's so late, is there something urgent?"
His peripheral vision noticed that Ajitani's eyes were red, and he vaguely guessed why she had come, but he also felt it was a bit too absurd...
"I—"
"Wait…" Tsuna raised his hand to interrupt her and quickly voiced his guess. "You didn't come to find me because of the second volume of Anohana, did you? Like wanting to beat me up?"
Before Ajitani could speak, Shouko was amused by his words first, laughing as she waved her hand to deny it for her. "Tsuna, why would you—"
But before she could finish, her peripheral vision noticed that Ajitani beside her nodded slightly.
"!! Ajitani-chan, you…" Shouko then looked at her in surprise.