"No need, school starts on April 1st, I'll just drive you there."
Shizuka extended her palm towards Tsuna, the meaning self-evident.
After he took a grape from the coffee table and placed it in her palm, before Tsuna could say anything, she changed her tone and complained,
"I'll have to prepare your lunch box early in the morning, and I haven't even said anything yet."
As soon as she finished speaking, she stuffed the grape into her mouth and raised her index finger to poke Tsuna's forehead gently.
"Auntie, don't we just report to the classroom, get our textbooks, and leave?" Shouko asked in confusion, even stopping to rub Tsuna's head.
Shizuka swallowed the grapes and began to explain,
"That's all elementary school routine. When school starts, you'll find your class and start classes."
She added a reassuring word,
"But we'll probably just talk about some precautions and stuff that day, and school will end around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. It's okay."
"Then I'll have to tell Grandma about it when I get home."
Shizuka immediately guessed what Shouko was saying and waved her hand.
"No need. I'll prepare your lunch box by then. It'll be good for Grandma Ito to get some extra sleep."
"But..."
Shouko hesitated, thinking that Grandma woke up naturally at 5 or 6 every morning. After preparing breakfast for everyone, she'd go watch TV in the living room.
It shouldn't be a big deal to have her prepare her lunch box the day before, right?
"No buts. It's a happy decision."
"Okay, thank you—"
Shizuka raised her clenched fist, and Shouko swallowed the last word of thanks that was about to come out.
"That's all right. I'm going to go talk to Yaeko." Seeing her agreement, Shizuka turned off the TV with the remote, stood up from the tatami, and prepared to leave.
"Mom, it's still raining outside."
"I take an umbrella, it's just a few steps." Shizuka ignored her son's attempts to stop her and walked out of the living room.
Only when the door slammed shut did Shouko release Tsuna's head. She pulled her phone from her pocket and began tapping away.
"Are you texting someone?" Tsuna wondered.
"Yeah, I forgot to ask if Miu and the others were going to the same school as us," Shouko replied, her movements unabated. Tsuna stopped asking questions and took out his phone to play Tetris.
Three or four minutes passed, and as the blocks fell faster and faster, Tsuna gradually became more focused.
Suddenly, a slap hit his arm, and his phone fell onto the tatami. When he picked it up, the payment page was already on the screen.
Tsuna turned his head to look at the person who started this, and asked with a fake smile,
"What's wrong?"
If she didn't give him an explanation, he was going to let Shouko know what was coming.
"Miu and the others are not from the same school as us. I'm so angry."
"Aren't there Shinnosuke and the others? Have you asked?"
"I just asked, and there's really no one from the same school as us, just the two of us!"
Tsuna saw her puffed-up cheeks and wanted to reach out and poke her, but he forced himself to suppress the suicidal idea.
Otherwise, he might not be able to poke her, and she might bite his finger instead, and that would be a loss...
Tsuna exited the settlement page, ready to start the game again, and comforted her casually,
"It's okay, we can make new friends then. And don't you still have me?"
Shouko thought that was right. If she could choose who to go to the same school with, she would still choose Tsuna without hesitation.
As for going to the same school as Miu and the others, and being able to see Tsuna when she got home from school, she had never considered it.
"Okay, don't be angry. How about we compete to see who can get the highest score in Tetris?" Seeing that she didn't say anything, Tsuna hurriedly spoke up to divert her attention.
In the end, the two of them played Tetris and Snake in the living room for the whole morning.
————————
"Knock knock knock...!"
Shouko, who knocked on the door for a while without receiving a response, couldn't help but shout inside:
"Tsuna, are you awake?"
As for why she had to knock on the door? It was because he said a few days ago that they were both grown-ups and had to respect each other's privacy, so she had to knock on the door before going in.
If there were no response, she would go in.
She didn't understand, but she did it anyway.
"Tsuna, are you awake?"
Shouko asked again, knocking on the door, her knuckles making a crisp sound against the wooden door.
Seeing that there was still no answer, she took hold of the doorknob and turned it gently, only to see Tsuna curled up in the quilt, fast asleep.
"Wake up, lazy pig!" Shouko walked over to the bed and started shaking him frantically.
"I know! We're just going to see the school and get acquainted with the route. Why do we have to go so early?" Tsuna grabbed her mischievous hand and sat up, then let go.
He was regretting it now. Yesterday, his mother said that he could go to school a day early to see the class Shouko and he had been assigned to, get acquainted with the route, and explore the school.
She had said that was not necessary before, and he felt that it would be just as well to explore the school after school started. But before he could open his mouth to refuse, Shouko nodded in agreement, and he had no choice but to agree.
And then this early morning scene happened.
"How can it be early? It's already half past nine, okay?" Shouko grabbed the alarm clock from the bedside table and shoved it in his face:
"Look!"
Tsuna rubbed his blurry eyes, glanced at the time on the clock, then retracted his gaze and began to unbutton his pajamas slowly.
Seeing this, Shouko put the alarm clock back in its place. From his actions, she knew that he was going to take off his clothes. Without saying anything, she prepared to go downstairs and wait for him.
After he took off his pajamas completely, he turned around and wanted to take the clothes from the bedside table that he had put there before going to bed last night. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shouko standing at the door in a daze, staring at his upper body.
He ignored her and put on the clothes. When he was about to take off his pants, he saw that she was still looking at him, so he reluctantly advised:
"Shouko, can you go down first? I let you have it for free in the first half, and I don't have anything to say, but you have to pay for the second half, okay?"
"I have money—"
"Bah! I'll go down now!"
After saying this, Shouko quickly closed the wooden door and hurried downstairs, afraid that he would see her red ears.
Shizuka, who was leisurely eating breakfast in the restaurant, heard a burst of hurried footsteps and guessed without hesitation that the owner of the footsteps was Shouko.
After swallowing the food in her mouth, she turned her head and shouted towards the stairs:
"Shouko, is that brat awake?"
(End of this chapter)
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