Yaeko was stroking the teacup wall unconsciously with her thumb beside the coffee table in the living room. A brief wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows and then quickly smoothed out.
Finally, she let out a silent breath and turned to look at Shizuka, who was absorbed in watching a TV series. "I'll be bothering you with Shouko for the next few days, Shizuka."
Shizuka reluctantly pulled her attention back from the TV. "Okay, if you say that again, I'll be angry. Tsuna's here, so why would she bother me?" She reached over the coffee table, grabbed an orange, and handed it to Yaeko. "Have an orange. What's the trouble?"
After Yaeko took it, she asked in confusion,
"Is Yuzuru really not going? Didn't she happily agree to it back then?"
"Yeah," Yaeko nodded, pausing to peel the orange. "Maybe it's because neither her grandmother nor I is going..."
She also suspected that Hachiko wouldn't go either, and would stay at their house for a few days, so she simply didn't want to go.
"Okay," Shizuka shrugged, thinking it was possible.
After all, Yuzuru preferred to stay with Yaeko and Grandma Ito, unlike Shoko, who desperately wanted to cling to Tsuna all the time.
Meanwhile, Tsuna and Shoko were in a large mall, choosing swimsuits for tomorrow.
Tsuna was sitting on a bench outside, waiting for Shoko to come out after shopping, when a familiar voice called out,
"Miyamura?"
Tsuna looked over to see Miki and a girl with gray hair who looked familiar. He nodded to them and then looked back at Shoko, who was chatting with the staff inside.
But Miki saw it was Tsunayoshi Miyamura and clearly wasn't about to let him go.
She pulled Nao over to the empty seat beside him and asked curiously, "Miyamura, why are you here? Are you out shopping too?"
She followed his gaze across the store, her eyes fixed on the sign: "Women's Swimwear Shop."
At this time, Nao beside Miki also followed his gaze.
Before she had time to brainstorm, she saw Shouko chatting with the clerk, and instantly figured out why Miyamura was sitting here.
But she turned her head and saw Miki stunned. As a friend of six years, how could she not guess what unhealthy things were in the other person's mind at this time?
Without hesitation, she raised her hand and patted her arm. When Miki came back to her senses and looked at her puzzledly, she was a little speechless and whispered,
"Miki, put away the evil thoughts in your mind. Miyamura is waiting for Shouko."
"Oh oh..." Miki looked inside the store after hearing this, and sure enough, she saw Shouko holding a pink gradient striped swimsuit and chatting with the clerk.
Tsuna inconspicuously moved his butt toward the edge of the bench, creating some distance between him and Miki before he nonchalantly responded,
"I'm waiting for Shouko to come out, what about you guys?"
When he first saw the two of them sitting down, he wanted to get up, but then he thought, he hadn't done anything to offend Shouko, so why should he get up?
But his body still instinctively moved toward the outside.
Miki withdrew her gaze from Shouko in the store and turned to look at him.
Seeing that there was still room for another person to sit between the two of them, she didn't mind and took the initiative to move closer to him, asking curiously,
"Are you going to the beach?"
She asked, but in her heart, she already felt that it was probably true. After all, they both came to buy swimsuits, so they couldn't be going to the swimming pool, right?
But no matter which of these two guesses, she was so envious!
Before Tsuna could respond, she saw Shouko hurriedly walking out of the store out of the corner of her eye.
Taking advantage of Miki's momentary inaction, Shouko suddenly sat down between Miki and Tsuna.
She didn't forget to squeeze closer to Tsuna, then turned around and feigned surprise to greet them both.
"Miki and Nao, what a coincidence? Are you here to buy swimsuits too?"
"No, I was just shopping, and I saw Miyamura and came over to say hello." Miki chuckled and waved, completely unconcerned with Shouko's behavior.
"Shouko, you probably haven't bought anything yet, right? Go ahead and buy some. Miki and I's movie is about to start, so we're leaving now."
Nao stood up from the bench, nodded to the two, and dragged Miki away.
She wasn't as tolerant as Miki, and she sensed a hint of hostility in Shouko's words but quickly dismissed the thought.
After all, in the year they'd been together, Shouko had always been adorable and delicate.
Except for that time when she and Miyamura fought Shōya, but she had long forgotten that incident.
"Bye." Shouko smiled and waved at the two, watching Miki reluctantly being half-dragged, half-pulled away by Nao.
The two stopped at a corner. Miki looked at Nao in confusion, "Why are you doing this so suddenly? Did we book movie tickets?"
Nao rolled his eyes at her and continued walking. Miki glanced back at the two people in the distance, then back at Nao in front of her. After a moment's hesitation,
she followed Nao's footsteps.
————————
After confirming that the two were far away, Shouko raised her hand without hesitation and pinched his cheek, forcing him to look directly into her eyes. She said angrily,
"You, you! Didn't I just ask you to wait for me outside? And you're flirting—"
She didn't finish the second half of her sentence before she lost it. It felt like it wasn't Tsuna's fault, and seduction wasn't appropriate...
But seeing the two of them almost touching, she felt a little uncomfortable... and she didn't understand what was going on.
Tsuna felt the pain in his face and reached up to grab her hands, which were rubbing and pulling at him.
"My bad! I should have gotten up and gone in to find you." He rubbed her delicate, boneless hands and changed the subject: "By the way, have you chosen a swimsuit?"
Shouko shook her head, noticing the others around, and tried to break free from his grasp, but when that proved ineffective, she let him do it.
"Then let's go. I'll go in with you. Don't kick me out this time,"
Tsuna said softly, releasing her left hand and taking her right. He stood up, then pulled her up.
Shouko, remembering what had just happened, didn't send him outside as she had done before.
She nodded and was led into the swimsuit shop.
Because of the shop's unusual requirements, he was politely asked to wait outside, just like the other men waiting outside.
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