Seeing that Nishikata was not nervous at all about performing on stage, Tsuna stopped saying anything more.
He silently listened to Nishikata ramble on about a bunch of evidence Takagi-san hadn't discovered yet.
By the time Ajitani returned backstage with the venue setup crew, Nishikata was still chattering non-stop, and Tsuna was starting to get a headache.
"What are you two talking about?"
At this moment, Ajitani walked past them, then backed up, looking at the excited Nishikata and the calm Tsuna.
"No... nothing," Nishikata said, looking at her curious expression, and fearing she wouldn't believe him, he nervously added, "We're talking about where to go after the show."
She finally gave them a meaningful, "I don't quite believe it" look, her gaze lingering between Nishikata and Tsuna, before turning around decisively and heading toward Shouko and Takagi.
Almost simultaneously, the microphone in the front stage area hummed to life, followed by the host's voice cutting through the background noise.
Before this sound had completely faded, Nanase-sensei's energetic shout rang out from the entrance to the front stage:
"Second act, hurry up! You can go directly on stage to wait! Relax, just treat it like yesterday afternoon's rehearsal!"
"Clap, clap, clap..."
Saying this, she clapped her hands twice vigorously, making a crisp sound backstage.
The once lively backstage instantly lost more than half its people.
Nishikata watched the gradually departing crowd, his heart once again starting to feel nervous, until Tsuna's slap successfully redirected his attention.
---
"Tsuna, it's my turn to go on stage next. I'm getting nervous again. What should I do?"
Hearing Shouko's words, Tsuna temporarily put down his phone. He looked up, directly observing Shouko next to him.
What kind of nervous look? He didn't see it. Her brows weren't furrowed, her lips weren't bitten, and her eyes looked... quite normal?
It was just that, the moment their eyes met, her gaze "whoosh" went to another place nervously, and then she unconsciously licked her lips, which felt really obvious...
He didn't see any nervousness, but he saw a lot of nervousness.
"Nervous?" Tsuna collected his scattered thoughts and continued in the direction she wanted to hear:
"Then Shouko, what do you say we do? How can we alleviate your nervousness?"
On the other side, Nishikata suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and very sensibly got up to chat with other friends.
It wasn't until he walked away that Tsuna and Shouko simultaneously and tacitly averted their gazes. Shouko met his gaze again, nervously picking at her fingers:
"Just... just what you said, isn't there a way to eliminate my nervousness about going on stage?"
Tsuna genuinely didn't see any 'nervousness' on her face when he heard her words; she looked quite normal.
It was just that her little eyes kept unconsciously glancing at his lips, stealing a glance, then quickly moving away, and then glancing again...
It made him feel a bit like he had misjudged. Was she hinting or being overtly obvious?
...
The two chatted for about ten minutes, circling around the topic of where to go after the performance.
After the second act ended, as soon as the stage curtain closed, Ajitani quickly organized the venue setup team to go on stage and change the scenery and props.
"Then it's settled, after this, we'll start exploring from the left side of the teaching building!"
Saying this, Shouko unconsciously swept her tongue over her lower lip as if savoring something, as if that soft touch still lingered on her lips.
Finally, she reluctantly got up after Nanase-sensei's reminder and urging.
Using the action of getting up, she quickly glanced at Tsuna beside her, and that inexplicable surge of emotion mixed with a small "desire for revenge" suddenly came over her.
She suddenly raised her hand, fingers spread, and while he wasn't paying attention, she vigorously ruffled his soft black hair several times!
Without giving him a chance to react, she quickly withdrew her hand and, with light and hurried steps, "swish, swish, swish," darted towards the stage.
"..."
Tsuna smoothed his messy hair, not looking away until Shouko's figure disappeared into the aisle.
"Buzz buzz..."
Feeling his phone vibrate in his hand, Tsuna lowered his head to look at the lit screen.
"Miyamura-sensei, Futaba Publishing has just released the announcement for 'I Want to Eat Your Pancreas.'"
"Do you and Shouko want to repost it?"
"It's good to increase the buzz."
Tsuna looked at the messages Jun sent him on 'LINE.'
After replying "Okay," he switched to Futaba Publishing's account on 'Twitter' to view the latest announcement.
A promotional poster for I Want to Eat Your Pancreas featuring the male and female leads, along with a dozen-word promotional blurb.
Tsuna quickly scanned it and then clicked into the dozens of comments. Perhaps because the announcement was just posted a few minutes ago, there weren't too many comments yet.
Unlike the Anohana comment section, which was largely overrun with people cursing him because of the ending.
"No way? Miyamura-sensei is starting a new book so soon? (tilts head in confusion.jpg)"
"Looking at this art style, I feel like Miyamura, that old scoundrel, will write a sweet romance this time."
"'I Want to Eat Your Pancreas'? Looking at the art style of this announcement, it doesn't seem like horror or mystery."
"I'm a prophet, the male lead will definitely die this time. If he doesn't, I'll eat *! I'll eat it live!"
"The promotional poster this time was also drawn by Nishimiya-sensei. Could it be that these two have some unspeakable little secret? (suspicious.jpg)"
"The male lead this time is so ugly, but the female leads of both books are so cute! (licking screen.jpg)"
Tsuna briefly looked at a few comments with the most likes and replies, and without hesitation, he also reposted it from his personal work account.
"Ajitani, Ajitani, look quickly!"
Rinko's surprised cry came from a seat not far from Tsuna's left, and he turned his head in confusion to look at them.
The few people present were also attracted by the commotion caused by her loud voice.
"Rinko, can you calm down for a bit?" Ajitani noticed the gazes falling on them and felt a little helpless.
"I can't calm down at all!" Rinko slammed the armrest of her chair. "That damned Miyamura, that old scoundrel, just released a new book announcement! Do you know that!?"
"Ah...?"
Rinko saw the surprised expression on her face and guessed that she definitely didn't know, so she immediately held up her phone to show her, and the content inside was Futaba Publishing's new book announcement.
Ajitani scanned the screen, then subtly looked in Tsuna's direction, and their eyes met. She could only give an awkward smile and retract her gaze.
After all, Rinko didn't know that Tsuna was the Miyamura, that old scoundrel, she was cursing, so she couldn't really say anything to persuade her.
Hmm... When she first finished Anohana, she cursed him the same way in her heart...