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It had been more than three months since the day of the car accident nearby, and life carried on just the same.
The day after the accident, Tsuna had taken Shouko to the scene, but by then it had been almost completely cleaned up. If you didn't look closely, you'd never guess a serious accident had happened there.
When they got home, Tsuna noticed Shouko seemed different. After he gently asked her about it, Shouko told him, still a little scared, that she'd taken the same road to the convenience store to buy glue that night, probably just ten minutes before the girl who was almost hit.
As a result, Yaeko gave her a strict lecture for dozens of minutes, with Shizuka backing her up. Tsuna had tried to speak up for Shouko, but Shizuka had pulled him aside with a look that told him not to interfere.
In the end, only after Shouko put on her cutest face and repeatedly promised not to do it again did the scolding finally stop.
About half a month later, Tsuna heard from his mother and the neighbors that the little girl had been so traumatized that she didn't dare go to school for a week or two, and in the first few days, she was so scared she didn't even leave her house.
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"Matsuoka."
Tsuna glanced lazily at Teacher Minagawa as she called the absent-minded Miu from the podium. Predictably, there was no response.
Tsuna sat by the window in the back row, propping up his chin with one hand as he watched the daily routine play out. He knew what would happen next: if nothing unexpected happened, Miu would be called out to stand in the hallway again.
At the start of every month, Teacher Minagawa would reshuffle the seating, changing everyone's desk partners, except for Tsuna and Shouko.
When there was still no reply, Teacher Minagawa repeated, more firmly, "Matsuoka Miu."
"Miu…" Chika, who sat beside Miu, gently shook her shoulder.
Miu snapped out of her daydream, turned her head to Chika in confusion, then followed Chika's glance to the front, only to meet Teacher Minagawa's calm, piercing stare.
"Matsuoka Miu."
"Yes!" Miu jumped to her feet, answering quickly.
Teacher Minagawa lifted the Japanese textbook slightly, peering over it. "Read from the third line."
Miu didn't even bother to look at her book. She snorted lightly and said with feigned innocence, "I don't understand Japanese."
Teacher Minagawa raised an eyebrow, looking at her slowly. "Then sit down."
Miu stayed standing, stubbornly staring back at her teacher from her place.
A tiny smirk tugged at the corner of Teacher Minagawa's mouth. "Class is over."
"Great!"
"Go stand outside."
Miu trudged to the hallway with a sulky look, pressed herself against the wall, and muttered, "Why me…"
Miu was a regular in the hallway. Everyone was used to it by now; every few days, she'd get sent out at least once.
"Alright, let's continue." Teacher Minagawa raised the textbook again and moved on without missing a beat.
"Ah…" Tsuna sighed under his breath and slumped forward, resting his head on the desk.
Shouko, who was listening attentively, noticed Tsuna's unusual mood. She turned her little head toward him and asked in a soft, worried voice, "What's wrong, Tsuna?"
"Miyamura Tsunayoshi."
Tsuna was about to brush it off, but he froze when Teacher Minagawa's calm voice called his full name.
"Yes!" The chair scraped the floor as Tsuna shot up straight, not wanting to join Miu in hallway purgatory.
"Pay attention. Sit down."
"Yes, ma'am." Tsuna sat back down obediently.
Teacher Minagawa didn't say anything more; she knew it was pointless.
This boy always looked half-asleep in class, but somehow never failed to get perfect marks on his tests.
Once, she'd even called his parents to ask if they'd secretly enrolled him in some cram school that was draining him out, but all she got back was, "Haha~, Tsuna's just been smart since he was little."
After that, she'd given up worrying. As long as his grades stayed up, he didn't fall asleep outright, and didn't distract others, she let him be.
Tsuna leaned closer to Shouko and whispered, "Don't worry, I'm fine. You focus on studying."
He wanted to reach out and pat her cute head, but when Teacher Minagawa cleared her throat, he awkwardly held back his hand.
"Mm!" Shouko nodded happily, reassured by Tsuna's words. She didn't tell him to pay attention either; she'd tried during their first year, even pretending to be his teacher at night to go over the day's lessons with him.
He'd listen quietly until the test results came out—then he'd end up tutoring her instead. He wasn't as stern about it as he was when helping her practice pronunciation, but Shouko loved every version of Tsuna anyway. Hehe…
"What are you giggling at, Shouko?"
Tsuna asked in a low voice, curious. He'd just told her to study, but instead she was softly giggling to herself, her eyes still fixed on Teacher Minagawa at the podium.
When she didn't reply, Tsuna gently nudged her arm. Shouko snapped out of her thoughts, her ears turning red as she stammered, "N-No…nothing, Tsuna. You need to study too!"
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Ring… Ring… Ring…! The school bell rang.
Teacher Minagawa didn't drag the class out for even a second. She closed her textbook neatly and reminded them, "Students on duty; don't forget to clean up." Then she strode out of the classroom.
Tsuna slid his books into the desk's storage compartment, stood up, and looked over at Shouko. He asked gently, "Let's go?"
"Tsuna, did you forget something today?" Shouko was packing her books and stationery into her bag, but she didn't stand up. Instead, she looked up at him with wide, blinking eyes.
Tsuna met Shouko's gaze and, for a moment, ran through every promise, every event, her birthday, their plans, but nothing came to mind.
He was about to ask when a sly voice piped up from behind: "Today's your turn on duty with Shouko."
Tsuna turned his head to look at the lower corner of the blackboard. Sure enough, his and Shouko's names were written there. He silently thanked Miu in his heart, but didn't praise her out loud. She'd get too full of herself.
"Ah—so it is. Then you two go ahead today," Tsuna said to Miu and Chika. Over the past weeks, the four of them usually went home together after school, splitting off only at the last fork in the road.
Chika just nodded calmly. "Yeah."
But Miu immediately threw herself dramatically at Shouko, hugging her tightly and rubbing her face against hers, muttering about how she didn't want to be separated.
"Then stay and help us clean, Miu," Tsuna said dryly, pulling her off Shouko and giving what he thought was a reasonable suggestion.
"See you tomorrow!" Miu zipped past him in a flash, dragging Chika out of the classroom before he could say another word.
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