"Shouko, this is yours."
Miyoko, holding a pale pink-covered yearbook, approached her, interrupting her and Tsuna's conversation.
When they both looked at her, she placed the yearbook on Shouko's desk, flipped to an untouched page, and pulled out two pages, handing them to each.
Tsuna reached for it, puzzled, "I have one too?"
He'd noticed the yearbook the moment she approached, but he hadn't expected her to write in it, too.
He stared at the yearbook in his hands. In this pre-smartphone era, it was a reminder of his childhood.
In elementary school, before anyone had their own phone, the yearbook became their only means of communication upon graduation. After all, after graduation, everyone went their separate ways, and any chance of staying in touch depended on the numbers written on the paper.
Some people, out of curiosity or a desire to secretly gather the contact information of their secret crushes, might use the entire class's information as a cover, just to get the page for a specific person.
"Of course, how could I have missed you?" Miyoko reached out and pulled an unoccupied chair over to sit on, waving her hand casually.
Tsuna ignored her perfunctory attitude and shrugged. Just as he was about to pick up a pen and start writing, a hand suddenly reached out and snatched the yearbook away.
"What's wrong?" He turned to look at Shouko, a little confused by what she meant.
"I'll help you." Shouko took out a pencil case from her schoolbag and began writing on it without hesitation.
"This..."
Tsuna was speechless as he watched Shouko snatch away his first yearbook.
Strangely enough, this yearbook had become popular in the class a week ago. Almost every girl had one, including Shouko.
Some boys in the class also bought one.
But the point was, he had never received a yearbook from a girl, except for the one Miyoko had just given him.
He had received a few from boys, though.
Seeing that he was slow to speak, Shouko thought he was angry, and hurriedly explained: "I can recite your zodiac sign, birthday, age, contact information, hobbies, etc., etc. If I write it for you, doesn't it also show that I understand you?"
"That's right."
He didn't care about it after hearing this. After all, after writing this thing, they might throw it into some corner to collect dust in a month or two.
After a few minutes, Shouko picked up the two yearbooks and checked them. When she found that there were no omissions or problems, she handed them back to Miyoko.
"Okay, Miyoko."
"Then I'll go find the next person." Miyoko put the two yearbooks back in place and stood up and left.
After watching her leave, Shouko pulled her own yearbook from her bag, opened the first page, and handed it to the dozing person next to her, not forgetting to remind her,
"Tsuna, this is for you. You must write carefully."
Tsuna rubbed his confused eyes and instinctively reached out to take it. After glancing at her, he looked up at her in confusion: "Aren't you writing it for me?"
Shouko glared at him. "This is mine." With that, she lowered her head and continued to fill in the yearbook someone else had given her, ignoring the confused person.
His brain processor hadn't fully started yet, so he just thought, what's the difference?
He didn't start writing immediately after taking it, but instead admired the graduation quotes and even hobbies left for Shouko page by page.
"Haha..." He couldn't help but laugh at some of the outrageous comments.
Just as he was about to turn to the next page, a pale hand suddenly reached out and snatched the yearbook away.
Before Tsuna could turn his head, he heard the hand's owner's angry voice:
"Tsuna, what are you looking at? These are messages from others, they're private."
Tsuna looked up, only to see a furious Shouko.
"Shouko, I couldn't help myself. I won't do it again next time. Please forgive me, Shouko-san." Without hesitation, he clasped his hands together and apologized.
Shouko, watching him act so dramatic, reluctantly handed it back to him, but this time she moved her chair next to him and supervised him as he finished.
"Since you're already writing in the yearbook, Miyamura, why don't you write mine too?"
Tsuna paused, and he and Shouko looked back, seeing the class monitor, Miki, standing in the aisle with a piece of blue paper.
Before he could say anything, Miki added,
"You've already written to Shouko and the others, so you won't refuse this, right...?"
He had premature Alzheimer's? How could he not remember this? He quickly translated the sentence in his mind, in three different languages: Chinese, English, and Japanese, but none of them made sense.
"Class monitor, I'll give it to you when Tsuna finishes." Before he could move, Shouko reached out and took the yearbook from Miki.
Miki gave Shouko a grateful look and returned to her seat.
Tsuna, still questioning whether his fetal puncture had given him premature Alzheimer's, suddenly understood after hearing the familiar voice.
He slowly turned his head to look at Shouko, whose expression was a little strained. He suppressed the upward smirk and chuckled,
"Shouko-san, are you hiding something from me?"
"How could that be..." Shouko quickly shook her head in denial.
"Miki must have mispronounced me and called me your name!
That's right! That must be it!" Afraid he wouldn't believe her, Shouko hastily added, hoping to make her statement more convincing.
Tsuna, observing her gradually reddening ears and the guilty expression on her face, decided it would be better to trust her than to trust Miu in advanced math.
"Okay, I believe you. Please help me fill out this class monitor's yearbook as well."
Although he didn't believe her, he didn't intend to pursue the matter. He rubbed her head hard and forgave her.
After all, Shouko's yearbook didn't have any male classmates' names in it, so why would he have such strange thoughts about it?
————————
"Shouko, why do you think Shouko and Miyamura Tsunayoshi have the same phone number?"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the classroom, a girl placed two yearbooks on Naoka's desk, pointing to the numbers in confusion.
Several girls who were chatting nearby also returned to their seats and flipped through their yearbooks.
The answer I finally got was exactly the same as what the girl said. The two people's contact numbers were exactly the same.
Miyoko, who was standing by, glanced at the two strings of numbers and immediately realized that the contact number was the landline number of Shouko's home...
"..." Miyoko suddenly felt a little bloated for no reason. She obviously didn't eat much for breakfast...
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