"Shouko, do you know how dangerous your behavior is?"
Tsuna's voice was a bit strained, the soft touch pressing against his abdomen pulling at the calming mantra he was silently reciting.
The child is still young, and it's illegal…
"Tsuna, what did you say? I didn't hear clearly."
Shouko looked up, her puzzled gaze falling on his tightly closed eyes, then slowly sliding down his nose to his lips.
An evil thought flashed through her mind.
"I said… Mmph…"
He was physically interrupted before he could finish speaking, so he simply stopped explaining and tangled with her.
"Tsk tsk tsk…"
"The year hasn't even passed by much, and everything is already coming back to life. As expected, spring is approaching."
"!"
"Mom… Mom… Mom!?"
Hearing Shizuka's voice, Shouko abruptly pulled away from Tsuna, and whether it was an illusion or not, she blinked and instantly teleported back to the coffee table, sitting down obediently:
"Mom… Mom, weren't you out buying groceries? How… how did you come back so quickly?"
Her voice grew softer and softer, her ears visibly turning red.
"I was just doing my makeup in the bedroom; I haven't left yet." Shizuka leaned against the doorframe, trying hard to suppress her laughter.
"Mom, from which sentence did you start listening?" Tsuna, unlike Shouko, sat up on the sofa, looking calmly at his Mom.
He and Shouko were already in a relationship, almost like they were engaged even without being officially so.
And both sets of parents agreed, so he felt that such scenes wouldn't be rare at home in the future, unless they moved out.
"Pfft… Cough cough cough…" Shizuka finally couldn't hold it in, choking on her laughter: "Just, just that one sentence…"
Saying so, she pinched her voice, imitating Shouko's sticky yet serious tone: "Tsuna~ you smell so good!"
"!" Shouko's head was already as low as it could go, her face and ears so red they looked like they were about to bleed.
"Ew…" Tsuna got goosebumps all over.
The difference between hearing it from his Mom's mouth and from Shouko's mouth was simply too great.
"Hahaha…" Shizuka waved her hand, still laughing, and stopped teasing the two of them, turning and leaving with her laughter.
"Bang!"
The only response they received was a dull thud of a door closing, her laughter cut off by the sound.
After confirming that Shizuka had truly left, Shouko perked up again and snuggled closer.
Since they had already been discovered, she might as well continue.
Besides, Mom only laughed and didn't stop them, which meant she tacitly approved…
"That's right! It must be like this!"
"Huh?"
Having figured it out, Shouko became even more brazen.
...
On a winter evening, the daylight faded quickly, and the scenery outside the window was enveloped in a hazy blue-gray.
Futaba Publishing.
"Jun, to celebrate the start of work, do you want to go out for a drink with us tonight to relax?"
A mature woman in a women's suit wrapped an arm around Jun, who was still typing away on her keyboard.
"Ah!?"
Jun was startled by the sudden movement, but seeing that it was Senior Tachibana, who had always taken good care of her, she didn't struggle free.
The woman's perfume quickly filled the air around her.
"Senior Tachibana, really, you startled me."
"My apologies, my apologies."
The woman apologized with a smile, the small tear mole under her left eye flickering Smartly with her blinks, particularly eye-catching:
"So… later…?"
Saying so, her free hand lightly mimed a gesture to her lips, thumb and forefinger lightly pinching together, as if holding a small wine glass, and she even pretended to pour it into her mouth.
Jun thought about the past two days and could only shake her head in refusal: "Senior Tachibana, next time for sure, my treat."
Seeing this, the woman didn't press the matter, chatted for a few more sentences, then smiled and released her:
"Alright then, I'll go with Girl and the others. If you change your mind, check the location posted in the group."
"Mhm, mhm."
Jun nodded, watching Senior Tachibana and several colleagues leave the publishing house together before retracting her gaze.
"Sigh…"
She sighed softly and continued to busy herself with her work.
To be honest, she did want to go and relax a bit, but nothing could go wrong with Miyamura's matters, so she could only bear it for now.
Tsuna was her money tree now; she didn't have any other authors under her who could compare to him.
"Ding-a-ling…"
"Hmm?"
Just as her hand touched the keyboard, her phone, which had been off, suddenly lit up, showing an incoming call notification. Jun answered, puzzled.
"Moshi moshi? Is the second volume of Koihana finished?"
"Jun, Miyamura's new book is releasing tomorrow. Can you help me get an autograph?"
Both spoke at the same time, resulting in simultaneous silence from both sides.
"…"
Jun, who had just answered the phone, now just wanted to hang up.
"Alright?"
After a while, a sweet voice rang out from the other end of the phone again.
"Maybe."
"Really!?"
"If you send me the second volume these two days, I'll help you get an autograph from Miyamura."
"…Can we change the condition?"
"Heh heh…"
There was silence again for a while.
"I'll definitely send it to you within these two weeks, so will you just help me get one, alright~?"
"No."
"Alright then, bye—"
"However…"
Just as the other party was about to hang up, Jun suddenly changed the subject, interrupting her:
"If you send it to me within this week, I might be able to help you figure out a way for you two to meet, but whether you can get it will be up to you."
The Girl on the other end, who had been slumped over her desk at her workstation, instantly revived, eagerly asking:
"What, what, what??"
"Mid-next month, I want to host a gathering for authors. You two should be able to meet then."
"…A lot of people?" The Girl started to wilt a bit again.
"No, just about ten or so, the authors I've signed."
"Alright then, Jun, don't forget me then!"
"You send me the second volume this week first. I've been busy lately, and my memory is a bit poor. I'm afraid I might accidentally forget something, you know…"
"Absolutely, absolutely!"
"Beep beep beep…"
Without giving Jun a chance to change her mind, the other party preemptively hung up the phone.
Jun locked her phone screen, her gaze turning to the winter night outside the window, which had completely plunged into darkness.
The cold seemed to seep through the glass. She subconsciously rubbed her somewhat stiff neck, then let out a heavy sigh, as if to exhale all the fatigue accumulated throughout the day.
Without further thought, she began to neatly tidy up the documents and stationery scattered on her desk, preparing to leave her increasingly chilly workstation.
— — — — — — — —
Inside a brightly lit office building, the winter chill couldn't penetrate at all due to the heating.
"Haha… Hahahaha…"
"Suzuki, what are you giggling about?"
"You wouldn't understand."
The Girl named Suzuki recovered from her silly giggling state and earnestly wiggled her index finger at the Girl who had come close to her.