Only after hearing this did Shouko hand him her phone and lean in to watch him operate it.
If she caught him lying, she'd bite him to vent her anger.
After Tsuna took the phone, he began searching right in front of her, taking a minute or two to find the answer.
Without hesitation, he held the phone in front of her, letting her choose from the options.
"Read it to me, I don't want to see it." Shouko closed her eyes and leaned back on the bed, ignoring Tsuna's helpless expression.
What could Tsuna do? He'd have been with her from infancy, so he could only spoil her.
Tsuna slowly read off the titles of the movies on the screen:
"Three of these are new to the local theaters. We won't be considering the rest."
"Yeah."
"There's 'Pencil Beware: My Bridegroom'; 'Dynamic Superman: Z'; 'Chrysanthemum Man vs. Peach Blossom Monster'; 'Blue Cat vs. Pot Lid Man'; and 'Me and My Thirty-Six Ex-husbands.'"
The more he read, the more furrowed his brows.
What the hell is this? Can movies like this even be shown in theaters?!
"Hmm..." Lying in bed, Shouko opened her eyes, looking at the ceiling and beginning to hesitate.
"How about Chrysanthemum Man vs. Peach Blossom Monster?"
She sat up and looked at Tsuna, noticing from the corner of her eye that his phone was still on the page displaying the movie titles, pointing to one.
"Are you sure you don't want to consider other movies!" Tsuna suddenly turned his head to look at Shouko.
He was beginning to doubt Shouko's taste. He wondered if he'd accidentally misjudged her...
"Yeah, this is it!" Shouko nodded firmly.
"Okay, I'll buy the tickets tomorrow at the theater." Tsuna had no choice but to agree. It didn't matter what they saw; he'd probably fall asleep by halfway.
The main thing was to relax with Shouko, who still felt a bit worried.
"Then it's a happy decision. I'll go home now." Shouko chuckled, stood up, casually rubbed Tsuna's head, and quickly ran downstairs.
She was afraid someone would catch her and retaliate.
"Be careful not to fall!"
"I won't!"
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"Tsuna! Tsuna! Can you see my messages?"
Tsuna, still searching for information, saw a text message pop up at the top of his screen, with the name 'Shouko' on it.
Hesitantly, he exited the search page and read the message.
"Back to your room?" Tsuna replied casually, then imitated Shouko's previous move, leaning back on the bed.
"Yeah!"
"Yuzuru and grandma are already asleep, and mom is still working in the living room."
"What time are we going to the movies tomorrow?"
"By the way! What do you think I should wear tomorrow?"
"What do you think of a skirt?"
Tsuna closed his eyes for a moment or two before his phone was bombarded with Shouko's messages. He picked it up and glanced at it. He was still deciding which message to reply to when he saw her next one:
"If you don't reply to my message, I'll come and hit you!"
An emoji of a cartoon rabbit with fire behind it followed it.
Seeing this, Tsuna quickly replied,
"How about we talk on the phone?"
As Shouko rolled around in bed, bored, she heard her phone ding and stopped, checking it.
"Huh?"
Just as she saw the message from Tsuna, before she could reply, the message screen on her phone instantly transformed into a call notification.
A Japanese song played.
"Hello?"
"Can you hear me?" Tsuna slowed his voice down after she answered.
"Yeah! No problem!" Shouko replied, nodding her head.
She was still anticipating what Tsuna would say next when he harshly said,
"Get some rest. I'm going to bed!"
"Beep..."
Shouko slowly lifted the phone from her ear, gnashing her teeth as the call ended.
Without hesitation, she rose from the bed, slipped on her slippers, opened the door, and walked out.
"Shouko, it's so late, what are you doing out there?" Yaeko, who was in the living room, saw Shouko quickly walk toward the entrance and called out in confusion.
"I left something at Tsuna's house. I'll get it. Don't worry, Mom."
Shouko changed into her outdoor shoes in the entrance hall, made up a random excuse, and then opened the door and walked out.
Yaeko was about to ask what was going on when she heard the door open and close.
She could only shake her head helplessly and swallow it, then continue with her work.
The Miyamura residence was just a few steps away, so she had nothing to worry about.
————————
"Click..."
Shizuka, still watching TV in the living room, suddenly heard the key being inserted into the front door and turned several times. She quickly paused the TV with the remote.
She stood up from the tatami and wanted to go to the hallway to see what was going on.
She suspected a burglar had broken in. After all, Shouko had only just returned, so she couldn't come back again. Even if she forgot something, she would usually come back the next day.
And from the sound of the key turning, it sounded like a thief was trying to pry open the door.
As she walked out of the living room entrance, Shizuka grabbed the fishing rod that Daisuke had temporarily placed against the wall. He said it was a limited edition rod he bought in Osaka.
Standing in the hallway, she was just about to strike a Neon Kendo stance when the front door opened and her eyes met Shouko's, who had poked her head in.
For a moment, the atmosphere was a little awkward.
"Auntie, what are you doing...?" Shouko was the first to speak up, breaking the tension.
"Haha..." Shizuka explained with an awkward laugh, "Shouko, I want to go fishing with your uncle in a few days, so I'm practicing with my fishing rod here."
As she finished speaking, she actually practiced with the fishing rod a few times to match her words.
"Click..."
"Oh, I'll go find Tsuna. Auntie, you continue. I won't bother you anymore."
Shouko closed the door, took off her shoes at the entrance, and ran upstairs without even changing into her slippers.
Shizuka only stopped swinging her rod when she saw that she had actually gone upstairs.
Just then, a snickering voice echoed from not far behind her:
"Are you really going fishing with me in a few days?"
"Go to hell!" Shizuka turned and glared at Daisuke, who had peeked out of the study.
Daisuke suppressed his smile and returned to his chair in the study to deal with some minor issues that had accumulated during his recent trip to Osaka.
As soon as he sat down, he couldn't help laughing again, and then he heard Shizuka's shy roar from outside:
"If you laugh again, I'll twist your head off!"
Then he quickly stopped laughing.
Things that can make her so embarrassed are rare in the past ten years.
When he heard the sound of the door opening, he also walked to the door of the study and glanced at the door, but saw Shizuka coming out with his fishing rod and making that starting gesture.
He knew that he had nothing to do, but he didn't expect to encounter this embarrassing scene for her, so he wanted to laugh.
As for whether he felt sorry for the fishing rod or not, he said it was nothing. If it broke, the worst that could happen was to buy another one.
(End of this chapter)
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