After dropping them off at home, Shizuka headed straight for the pre-booked restaurant.
While waiting for their food, Shouko excitedly shared interesting stories from her school trip, and Shizuka couldn't help but laugh along at the funny parts.
Tsuna, silently scrolling on his phone, seemed a bit out of sync; at first glance, the laughing pair looked more like mother and daughter than mother and son.
Upon returning home, Shouko greeted her grandmother in the living room, then rushed back to her room to put the necklace from Tsuna's grandmother in a safe place.
Just past 4:30 PM, a Staff Member from the shipping company called, asking Tsuna to sign for the package shipped from Osaka that morning.
The next morning.
"Miyamura! Coming to play baseball?"
"It's so early..."
After Tsuna replied from the dining table, he didn't receive any more messages from the other side, so he didn't think much of it and continued eating his breakfast.
Until...
"Ding-dong..."
An uninvited guest appeared at the Miyamura's door, ringing the doorbell every five or six seconds.
"Coming, coming."
"Click..."
"Yo!"
"You're..."
"Playing baseball?"
Nishikata, dressed in a baseball uniform with a baseball bat and glove slung over his shoulder, raised an eyebrow at a bewildered Tsuna.
"..."
"Kitano and Tanaka set up a game. Coming? You're the only one left," Nishikata grinned, showing his pearly white teeth.
"No—"
"What, what, what?" Shouko 's cute head suddenly popped out from behind Tsuna, blocking his refusal that was about to come out.
After the two greeted each other, Tsuna explained why Nishikata had appeared so early.
"Nishikata wants me to play baseball."
"I want to go too!"
"I haven't even agreed yet."
Tsuna exasperatedly pinched her soft right cheek: "And didn't you promise Takagi and the others, your class representative, that you'd go shopping with them later last night?"
"Then... then I'm not going."
"..."
Tsuna ignored her antics and politely declined Nishikata, who was still waiting at the door:
"Sorry, Nishikata, I want to rest properly today. You guys go have fun."
Nishikata tried to persuade him a couple more times, but Tsuna stuck to his answer, and seeing this, he no longer insisted.
"We'll be at the open field by the Futaba Stream. If you want to come, we'll be waiting for you anytime." With that, he waved and turned to leave.
He knew the chances were slim before he came, but he still wanted to try. If Tsuna could come, the team would gain a good player.
"Tsuna, what are the rules of baseball?" Back in the living room, Shouko flopped onto the sofa and asked.
"You don't know?"
"I don't know."
"Then why do you want to join the fun..."
As Tsuna sat down on the other end of the sofa, he saw Shouko wiggling over like a caterpillar, which made him both amused and helpless.
He then explained the rules and gameplay of baseball in great detail, but Shouko still looked bewildered and kept shaking her head.
"Hiss... Let me think..." Tsuna pondered how to explain it more simply.
"Change the name of baseball to 'throwing grenades'."
"Throw... throwing grenades?" Shouko looked even more confused.
"Yes, imagine the ball in baseball is a grenade," he said, rubbing Shouko's hair, which was resting on his lap, thinking for a moment before continuing:
"Someone throws a grenade at you, and you need to hit it out with a bat. You have three chances. If you miss all three times, you'll be blown up."
"If you hit it, you have to turn around and run as fast as you can, because the opponent will pick up the grenade and chase you. If they catch you, you'll be blown up."
"...I kind of get it..." Shouko's brain, which had stopped thinking, was forcibly filled with strange knowledge:
"Then what do 'home run', 'running to first base', 'second base', and 'home plate' mean?"
"A home run means you hit the grenade out of the field with one swing, the opponent can't pick up the grenade, and you win."
"And a base is like a safe house. You're only safe on a base when you're running away, and you need to reach a base before the opponent gets the grenade back. Three bases mean three safe houses, but you only win when you return home, which is home plate. That's roughly the underlying logic of baseball."
"Got it, got it."
"Ding-dong...! Ding-dong...!"
"Shouko-chan!"
"Your two best friends are at the door, go open it for them."
Tsuna was too lazy to wonder why Takagi and the others would ring his doorbell when calling Shouko. He just gently patted Shouko, who was oblivious on his lap.
By the time she went to open the door and returned to the living room, the fiery clouds in the sky had already merged into one.
The Miyamura couple were now in the living room, discussing where to go for their wedding anniversary on the sofa, while Tsuna quietly leaned by the coffee table, peeling an orange and scrolling on his phone.
"You're back? Where did you go today?" Shizuka paused her conversation with Daisuke and smiled at Shouko at the door.
"I..." Shouko's eyes met Tsuna's immediately, and she saw him lightly waving the peeled orange at her.
— — — — — — — —
The days since the school trip felt like a gently turned page of a calendar.
In the faint morning light, the soft rustle of uniform skirts against stand-collar school uniforms sounded again. A few casual greetings by the shoe cabinet.
The soft click of bento box lids opening on the rooftop during lunch break, the dull thud of doorframes at club rooms after school, all blended into the tinkling of bicycle bells on the way home.
Repeating one ordinary day after another.
And the news that the long-awaited Sports Festival was about to be held was brought by Ajitani the next day.
Of course, this was a rumor she had overheard by chance when she went to the teachers' office early in the morning.
When the class bell rang, Nanase-sensei also brought the news: it would be held at the end of this month.
She also arranged for the physical education teacher to assist everyone, and so on...
Days passed one by one, and while Tsuna was lost in thought, the first weekend after the school trip arrived.
Evening.
A bedroom full of girlish charm, with light pink walls and a giant white chickenzilla plushie leaning by the bed, decorating the room.
"Ding-dong..."
The phone buzzed on the table, and the screen lit up.
"?"
Ajitani, who was applying a face mask in front of the mirror, tilted her head in confusion, unlocked the screen with her fingertip, and saw a new group chat had mysteriously appeared on 'LINE'.
All her familiar friends were in this group, and the group owner was still Junko.
Junko: "(Image)"
Junko: "(Image)"
...
Junko: "All the photos taken at the hotel during our school trip are here."
Tsuna: "Junko-nee, I remember you said you'd create a group that night? How many days has it been?"
'Miyamura of Nishimiya' has been removed from the group by the group owner.
"..." Tsuna looked at this message, speechless.