"Who told you to be so…" Ajitani turned around, ready to complain, but her voice abruptly caught in her throat.
She had always denied being a face-con, but at this moment, she hesitated a little.
Ajitani suppressed the turmoil in her heart, forcing herself to look away. A quick glance around revealed that everyone else was much the same as her.
At first, their eyes were stunned by the beauty, even ignoring Nishikata, who was also standing beside him.
It wasn't until a small wolf, wrapped in a fluffy gray wolf costume, with 'fierce' eyes and a hint of 'killing intent,' darted a few steps in front of Tsuna, firmly blocking everyone's view as if to declare its territory.
Most of them then snapped back to reality, quickly turning away with a hint of embarrassment from being caught, pretending to study the floor or the ceiling.
Except for a few special ones who kept staring...
"Class Monitor, did we spend all our costume rental funds on Miyamura?"
Rinko, dressed as a forest hunter, leaned towards Ajitani, asking sourly. Her gaze occasionally darted towards a certain person chatting with Shouko.
"They're all the same," Ajitani looked at her helplessly. Almost a dozen people had already secretly come to ask her this question.
"Rinko, have you ever thought about one thing?"
"What?"
"The factory settings of a face."
"…"
Hunter Rinko silently left her side. She said nothing, yet it was as if she had said everything.
"Tsuna, can you take leave for the three days of the School Festival?"
"Hmm?"
The question slipped out subconsciously, and he immediately guessed why Shouko would ask that.
"Pfft…"
Tsuna couldn't help but laugh. His fingers moved faster than his brain, naturally pinching the two soft mounds of flesh on Shouko's cheeks and gently shaking them from side to side:
"No way, Shouko," he deliberately drew out his words, smiling mischievously. "Are you even going to get jealous over this?"
Shouko nodded her small head vigorously, raising her eyes to look at him from under her fluffy gray wolf hood, her fingers unconsciously curling the edge of her furry sleeve:
"Then will you take leave at that time?"
"Okay."
"Really or fake?"
"Fake." Tsuna laughed and lightly chopped her head with his hand.
Seeing her about to puff up her cheeks, Tsuna, quick as a flash, pinched her soft cheeks. Her cheeks immediately lost their tension, and her lips obediently pouted slightly, as if in silent protest.
Tsuna didn't give her a chance to react, and then lightly kissed her slightly upturned lips, like a dragonfly touching the water.
"…"
Immediately after, a blush 'whoosh'ed up from Shouko's neck, rapidly spreading over her entire face, not even sparing her earlobes.
She didn't even need to turn her head to know, it was as clear as day in her heart that the embarrassing scene just now must have fallen into the eyes of many classmates.
"You you you you you…!" Shouko's tongue got tied, unable to utter a complete word.
"I I I I… what's wrong?" Tsuna's eyes curved into crescent moons, deliberately mimicking her stuttering tone, his eyes full of mischief.
Just then, Shouko's peripheral vision caught Ajitani frozen in place. She was gaping, her eyes wide, looking as if she had seen a ghost.
Nanase-sensei stood right beside her, arms crossed, with a satisfied expression of "I'm shipping it," watching with such relish that she only lacked a bag of melon seeds in her hand.
Shouko felt a surge of hot blood 'buzz' to the top of her head, and her limbs went numb.
"He… he kissed her! Rinko, did you see that!?"
"Stop shaking, stop shaking, I'm going to throw up if you keep shaking. I'm not blind, of course I saw it."
"I didn't expect Shouko and them to be so bold, not even avoiding people."
"…" Rinko rolled her eyes at the air.
"If I had such a handsome boyfriend, why would I avoid anyone? I'd even want to live stream 24 hours of kissing for everyone to see."
"Hiss…" The Girl's gaze returned to Tsuna's face. "That actually makes some sense…"
"Clap, clap, clap…"
Several clear, powerful, and penetrating claps suddenly rang out in the slightly noisy auditorium, followed by Nanase-sensei's clear voice:
"Alright, everyone has rested enough. Let's start preparing for the rehearsal now."
— — — — — —
"Click…"
"I'm home."
"Mom! I'm home!"
"Welcome home. How was today's rehearsal?"
Shouko changed her shoes in the entrance and 'pitter-pattered' along the wooden corridor, turning into the living room after a few steps. "There were a few minor incidents in the middle, but everything went smoothly afterward."
"Then what time do you start tomorrow?" Shizuka tilted her face, her attention completely focused on the girl by the coffee table.
"10:30 AM and 3:30 PM." Tsuna walked into the living room, two school bags casually slung over his shoulders.
"Mom, are you coming with Aunt Yaeko tomorrow?"
Shizuka shook her head. "Aunt Yaeko isn't free. I'm going with the Uzaki family from next door tomorrow."
Tsuna nodded, not pressing further, and sat down cross-legged next to Shouko.
Instead, Shouko couldn't hold back, leaning slightly towards Mom and asking, "Mom, does Aunt Uzaki's child also go to our school?"
"No." Shizuka shook her head.
"Then—"
"Mom, how many of you are going tomorrow? I have free tickets, front row too."
Saying that, Tsuna picked up the school bag he had casually thrown aside and was about to pull out the tickets for her.
"Two." Shizuka held up her index and middle fingers.
"What about Dad?"
"He's only free on Saturday. I'll go with him then, so no need for tickets."
Tsuna nodded, took out two tickets, and handed them to Shizuka, then got up to forage for food in the dining room refrigerator.
— — — — — —
The next morning…
Tsuna held Shouko's hand, standing in the center of the corridor that had undergone a complete transformation.
On both sides of the corridor, each classroom door hung a meticulously drawn class sign. Except for a few that were slightly crooked, the sounds of ding-a-ling and clanging echoed both inside and outside the doors.
Moving desks and chairs, pasting handmade posters, rehearsing short plays in corners, and so on…
People carrying overflowing prop boxes dashed through the corridor like they had fire wheels under their feet, 'thump-thump-thumping' their way through.
The aroma of fried chicken, the sauce of hot takoyaki, and the sickeningly sweet scent of cotton candy had already intertwined and permeated the air.
In their ears were the energetic shouts and mic tests, one after another: "Hello, hello—microphone test!" "Okonomiyaki (Osaka pancake) is almost ready—!"
Interspersed with excited arguments about details and bursts of uncontrollable laughter among companions from various corners.
It was a scene of bustling chaos, yet it couldn't hide the boisterous excitement, almost enough to lift the roof, right before the opening.
The two walked into the classroom through the back door. Since the main venue was the auditorium, the classroom hadn't changed much.
Before they could even sit down, Tsuna asked Ajitani, who was in front of Shouko:
"Class Monitor, do we just need to stay in the classroom now?"