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Teacher Minagawa said to her with a forced smile, "No. If you buy something expired, just go to the Education Committee and complain directly to the canteen owner. But it won't do much good — the canteen belongs to the principal's family."
Tsuna, sitting below, was stunned when he heard this. Why did he feel like she'd just made an enemy of the canteen?
"Any other questions, Matsuoka?"
"No more."
Teacher Minagawa nodded and gestured for her to sit down, then continued calmly, "Classes start at 8:30 in the morning. As long as you arrive before then, you're fine. You'll have a break at noon until 1:30, and school ends at 2:30 in the afternoon. On Wednesdays, you'll have classes until 3:30 because I'll teach you an extra foreign language class.
Each class lasts about 45 minutes. If you need to go to the toilet during class, just raise your hand and say so. This isn't kindergarten — if you soil your pants, the teacher won't clean you up."
Her last remark made the whole class burst out laughing.
"Shouko, did you hear what Teacher Minagawa said clearly?" Tsuna turned to ask Shouko, who was still staring ahead seriously.
"Hmm…" Shouko nodded slowly, then quickly shook her head.
"…It's fine. I'll explain it again on the way home." Tsuna knew Shouko had trouble keeping up because Teacher Minagawa spoke so fast.
"Alright, that's it for today. You can go home now." Teacher Minagawa clapped her hands on the podium and sat down in her chair.
Suddenly, the classroom was filled with the scraping sound of chairs. It was the first day of school, so few people knew each other yet — everyone packed up quickly.
"Let's go too, Shouko!" Tsuna stuffed his books into the cubby under his desk - there was no way he'd carry them all home.
Shouko paused, stopped putting books into her bag, and looked curiously at the books Tsuna left on his desk. "Tsuna, aren't you going to take your books home to read?"
"Nope. They're too heavy, and I can just take them out when Teacher Minagawa teaches." Tsuna made up an excuse.
He added quickly, "Besides, if I fall behind, I can just ask you to teach me, right?"
When Shouko heard this, she suddenly imagined helping Tsuna pronounce words, just like when he'd helped her speak back in kindergarten. She could scold him and even "punish" him if he messed up, and he couldn't resist! Thinking about this "punishment" (which was an innocent child's play) made her ears heat up. (Don't overthink it — it's just normal kids' teasing! (￣┰￣) )*
"What are you daydreaming about? Why are you grinning?" Tsuna looked at Shouko speechlessly. She'd spaced out and then started grinning to herself.
"Nothing! It's nothing." Shouko quickly shook her head, her face turning red. Tsuna wanted to ask more, but a familiar girl's voice interrupted him:
"Shouko! You smell so good!"
Shouko froze as someone hugged her from behind. A face pressed close to her, sniffing her scent like a mischievous puppy.
Tsuna saw it was Matsuoka Miu, and he couldn't bring himself to scold her because standing beside her was the girl with the side ponytail: Ito Chika.
Ito Chika noticed Tsuna looking and greeted him stiffly, "Hello. My name is Ito Chika, but you can just call me Chika."
"Hi. Just call me Tsuna." Tsuna nodded back politely.
Hearing the two greet each other, Miu finally let go of Shouko and introduced herself briefly to both Tsuna and Shouko.
When Shouko was released, her face was still flushed from being rubbed by Miu's cheek. After she shyly introduced herself to the two girls, she scrunched up her nose at Tsuna, as if blaming him for not rescuing her.
"Alright, you three, wrap it up. I still need to lock the door." Teacher Minagawa's voice came from the podium. Though calm, her tone made it clear she was done waiting.
Tsuna noticed they were the only ones left in the classroom. He helped Shouko pick up her bag stuffed with eight books and gently lifted her from her seat.
"See you tomorrow, then?"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow!" Miu said, raising her left hand to her forehead, extending her index and middle fingers in a playful salute.
Tsuna and Shouko also turned to Teacher Minagawa, told her goodbye, and then walked out of the classroom.
"Tsuna, look, their desks aren't like ours." As they passed by Class B, Shouko pointed through the window at their seats.
Tsuna looked too Class B's desks were just single desks, not joined together like in Class A. He couldn't help but wonder if their teacher was that powerful.
After exchanging a glance, the two continued walking out of Minato Elementary School. Just outside the school gate, Tsuna once again saw the hedgehog-haired boy and his parents. This time, the boy noticed them too. His eyes first fell on Tsuna and Shouko holding hands, then flicked up to glare at Tsuna.
The boy's eyes narrowed when he saw Tsuna holding Shouko's hand with his left and carrying a pink schoolbag with his right. He pouted at Tsuna with disdain, not realizing the bag wasn't Tsuna's.
Tsuna didn't care at all about the look. Go ahead and pout, he thought. When we grow up, I'll be the one who wins.
"Are they your classmates?" the hedgehog-headed boy's parents asked gently when they saw who he was staring at.
"What do you care!" the boy suddenly snapped at the woman holding his hand, cutting her off mid-sentence. But the gentle look on her face didn't change; she simply fell silent.
Shouko, curious about the loud voice, glanced over, though she hadn't heard what was said.
"What is it, Tsuna?" Shouko saw Tsuna also looking at the mother and son.
"It's nothing. Let's go, Shouko." Tsuna didn't bother explaining that there was nothing to explain. He just took Shouko's hand and led her home.
On the way back, Tsuna repeated Teacher Minagawa's instructions to Shouko.
"Aunt Shizuka! I'm home!" Shouko shouted as soon as they opened the front door.
"It's your first day — how was it?" Shizuka walked out of the living room, knelt halfway at the entrance, and asked Shouko gently.
Tsuna, who was changing his shoes nearby, was completely ignored. Shizuka had asked him countless times before, but he always gave halfhearted answers or made Shouko answer for him. Eventually, Shizuka gave up and asked Shouko directly because Shouko would tell her everything, right down to how many times Tsuna went to the bathroom.
"It was great! I met lots of new friends, and Tsuna and I are seatmates!"
Shouko said happily after changing into slippers. She took Shizuka's hand and led her back into the living room, excitedly telling her all about her day.
At the end, Shouko even told Shizuka what she'd seen at the school gate, which made Shizuka curious enough to turn to Tsuna, who was now peeling oranges at the coffee table.
"I don't even know how to explain it, dear Shizuka. If I say it the wrong way, you'll just kill me."
Tsuna honestly didn't know how to explain it. If he imagined himself in the hedgehog-headed boy's place, and Shizuka in that mother's place, he'd probably get smacked silly.
"Hey, don't say things like that, child. It's unlucky." Shizuka Miyamura patted Tsuna's head.
Shouko softly added, "That's right."
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