"..."
Misae gritted her teeth and said nothing, only staring at Tsuna. At that moment, she thought of the equally sharp-tongued brat in her older sister's house…
Shouko, seeing the atmosphere turn a bit cold, quickly explained for Tsuna:
"Misae-nee, don't listen to Tsuna's nonsense! You don't look your age at all. When I first saw you backstage, I thought you were at most in your early thirties!"
"If you don't believe me, you can ask Ajitani-chan and the others; they definitely think so too."
As she spoke, she secretly gave Ajitani and the others a wink when Misae wasn't paying attention.
"Right, right, right."
"Exactly, exactly!"
"You can't tell at all that Misae-nee is almost forty!"
"Clap—"
No sooner had Nishikata finished speaking than Takagi's hand landed crisply on his arm.
"No, no," Nishikata, realizing he had said the wrong thing, quickly waved his hands to correct himself:
"I meant to say, regardless of age, no one would guess Misae-nee is forty years old!"
"..."
"Nishikata, I'm full. Please help me with this piece of meat, if you don't mind."
Takagi said quietly, and without waiting for his response, her chopsticks moved deftly, and the large piece of meat in her bowl was already transferred to Nishikata's bowl.
"Ah…?"
His gaze fell on the suddenly added slice of meat, and Nishikata instinctively held his breath. His ears began to visibly flush red.
The slice of meat lay perfectly intact on the ramen, clearly untouched by Takagi.
But it was precisely this "intactness" that made him start overthinking, a thought that accelerated his heartbeat and filled his mind.
To be fair, although Takagi-san hadn't touched this piece of meat yet, it was, after all, in her bowl, so saliva would definitely get on it.
So what's the difference between this and an indirect kiss? No! This is an indirect kiss! The thoughts in Nishikata's mind became increasingly active.
Except for Takagi, who noticed his abnormality, everyone else was either chatting or playing on their phones, completely oblivious to Nishikata's strangeness.
——
"Chirp, chirp, chirp…"
Under the scorching weather, the lingering chirps of cicadas created ripples of visual waves.
"Then it's settled. Please help me persuade that brat when the time comes, Shouko."
"Mhm, mhm," Shouko, waiting in the shade at the shop entrance, nodded repeatedly. "Don't worry, Misae-nee, I'll bring it up to Tsuna every ten minutes."
"Haha…" Misae waved her hand with a smile. "You don't have to go that far. I'm afraid that brat will come and smash my shop then."
As she spoke, a small black dot, a black street motorcycle, entered the vision of the few people in the shade, gradually enlarging.
"Next time you have filming needs, remember to call me. I'll give you a discount! Also, help me say hello to that brat. I'm leaving now."
Misae raised her hand, drawing a clean arc in the air, then turned and melted into the dazzling sunlight, the hem of her shirt rustling in the wind.
"Then we're leaving too. See you this afternoon."
"Bye bye."
Takagi and Nishikata simultaneously waved goodbye to Shouko and the other person, then turned and walked in the opposite direction of Misae.
After Tsuna arrived, Ajitani also bid farewell to the two and rode away on her bicycle.
"Tsuna, Misae-nee asked me to persuade you. She wants you to be a model at her shop for a day, with generous compensation."
Shouko, wearing the helmet he handed her, perfectly recreated Misae's exact words.
Tsuna didn't speak. He looked at Shouko, first shaking his head, then decisively making a pushing gesture with both hands in front of his chest. That was "rejection."
Then, his fingertips gently pointed in Shouko's direction, his hands clasped over his heart, his gaze gentle and resolute.
Every gesture silently conveyed: "You help me refuse her. I don't want to go. I just want to spend more time with you this weekend."
Shouko didn't understand why he didn't speak, but she didn't press him.
She nimbly got onto the back seat of the motorcycle, her hands wrapping forward firmly around Tsuna's waist, her chin resting lightly on his back, not minding the stickiness of summer in the slightest.
In the following days, she never brought up the matter again. She had already asked Tsuna, and he had clearly refused.
——
"Clap, clap, clap…"
Crisp claps broke through the dimness of the corridor, first reaching the noisy lounge.
Immediately after, Nanase-sensei's figure crossed the light-shadow boundary of the doorway, and the bright lights instantly illuminated her slightly tired but deeply gratified face.
She cleared her throat and raised her voice: "Everyone, you worked hard. That's all for today. The performance was perfect."
Nanase-sensei gave a few more instructions, assigned some tasks to Ajitani, and then was the first to leave the lounge.
"Nishikata, what were you just saying?" Only after her figure had completely disappeared did Tsuna turn to look at Nishikata sitting next to him.
"Right, right, right, at noon I saw someone online who cracked the Grandfather Paradox. He killed his grandfather, but he himself didn't disappear."
"…" Tsuna looked at him as if he were an idiot.
"Tsuna, what does the Grandfather Paradox mean?" Shouko, unlike the two, pushed the person next to her in confusion.
"Simply put, it means…" Tsuna thought for a moment and explained:
"If you travel back in time and kill your young grandfather before he has your father, then you yourself would not be born.
"Then how would you have traveled back in time to kill him? This forms an inexplicable logical contradiction.
"The Grandfather Paradox roughly means this."
"Mhm…"
Shouko rested her chin on one hand, looking at the ground and thinking seriously for a moment. Then, her slightly furrowed brow imperceptibly relaxed a bit, and she nodded gently:
"…It seems that's how it is!"
"And then, and then? How did he crack it?" At this moment, Ajitani suddenly appeared behind the three's seats, asking curiously:
"What about the time travel part? How did he solve that?"
Ajitani, who hadn't heard the previous content, only thought they were discussing some science fiction novel or something…
Nishikata's gaze swept across the curious faces before him, from Tsuna's speechless expression to Ajitani's almost leaning-in eagerness.
He instinctively raised his right hand to his mouth, his thumb unconsciously resting against his teeth, gently biting, and asked in confusion: "What time travel…?"
"Hiss…"
Ajitani gasped. She had understood. She turned around and unhesitatingly left the lounge, carrying the tasks Nanase-sensei had assigned.
She was afraid she wouldn't be able to resist rolling her eyes at Nishikata.
She thought it was science fiction, but it turned out to be a crime…
"What are you guys talking about…?" At this moment, Takagi, who had just returned to the lounge from the stage, walked up to Shouko and the others, holding her skirt, and asked curiously.
"Nothing, just listening to Nishikata tell a cold joke. Takagi-chan, why don't you go change first?"
As she spoke, Shouko handed the white backpack from the seat next to her to Takagi.