About ten minutes passed, and Shouko looked around the classroom and saw that all the students had returned—except for the one next to her, so she was staring at the classroom door for a long time.
Finally, because she was worried, she asked the homeroom teacher, Takeuchi, who was sitting in a daze at the podium, "Teacher Takeuchi, do you know where Tsuna went?"
As soon as she asked, the other students in the classroom cast curious glances.
Teacher Takeuchi replied casually, "Miyamura went downstairs to buy something." After speaking, he took out his phone from his pocket, glanced at the time, and added, "It's about time. Don't worry—Miyamura should be back soon."
Just as Teacher Takeuchi finished speaking, Tsuna appeared at the door and didn't forget to knock to signal his arrival.
"Did you buy anything?" Teacher Takeuchi asked impatiently, abandoning his earlier lazy tone as soon as he saw Tsuna return.
Before Tsuna could answer, a gruff voice interrupted him.
"Kids, this is the class, right?"
Everyone in the classroom saw a middle-aged man carrying two boxes appear behind Tsuna at the door.
"Just put them on the steps by the podium," Tsuna said, quickly entering the classroom and making way for the sweaty man.
The room erupted into commotion again. Some eagle-eyed students had already noticed the man was carrying two boxes of drinks and roughly guessed Tsuna's purpose.
After the man placed the boxes on the steps, Tsuna bent down, pulled out a yellow bottle from one of the boxes, and handed it to him, remembering to say, "Thank you for your hard work."
The middle-aged man nodded politely, then opened the bottle and guzzled several gulps, wiping the sweat from his brow with his sleeve before it could drip into his eyes.
"Teacher Takeuchi, will you distribute them?"
Tsuna watched the man leave the classroom, then took two purple-wrapped bottles from the box and placed them on the podium, asking the homeroom teacher.
"Okay," Teacher Takeuchi agreed without a second thought.
Seeing this, Tsuna pulled two yellow-wrapped bottles from the box and returned to his seat.
"Tsuna, you didn't buy all these drinks for the whole class, did you?" As soon as Tsuna sat down, Shouko asked eagerly.
Before he could nod in affirmation, Teacher Takeuchi spoke on his behalf from the podium.
*Pa pa pa!* Seeing Tsuna return to his seat, Takeuchi slammed the blackboard vigorously. Once everyone had quieted down, he slowly explained:
"These two boxes of honey mulberry lemonade are from Miyamura. They're good for soothing your throat. I wish you all good luck in getting first place.
Come up one by one in an orderly manner, and keep quiet."
As Teacher Takeuchi finished, the classroom erupted in cheers, with many students thanking Tsuna for his generosity. After all, if someone treated you to a drink, then offering a few compliments was a small price.
"These two bottles are for you two."
As Shōya and Shimada approached, Takeuchi handed them the two purple-wrapped bottles from the podium and explained,
"You two don't have to sing in chorus. But I specifically asked him to buy these for you to refresh yourselves. Consider it a personal treat from me."
Shōya and Shimada didn't hesitate. They thanked him, accepted the drinks, and returned to their seats.
After spending five or six minutes making sure everyone had a bottle, Takeuchi asked the class to quiet down. The performance still had about an hour left.
Although it was called an hour, there were actually only about 30 minutes remaining, since they still had to go downstairs to prepare.
The previously noisy crowd below, observing this, fell silent.
About ten minutes later, one of the boys finished his drink and discovered a round hole in the lower half of the bottle, unprotected by plastic wrapping.
After consuming the dark liquid, he saw a note on the other side of the wrapping that said, *"One more bottle."*
Seeing he had won, the boy got another bottle and excitedly shared the news with those around him. The news quickly spread—from one person to ten, and ten to a hundred.
Most people found this quite novel, though a few had already tried this type of drink and were used to it.
Some boys, eager to see if they had won, downed the 300ml bottle in just three or four gulps. Many bottles revealed "One more bottle" inside.
The students who had already finished theirs were surprised to receive another, and whispers spread around the classroom.
Those who hadn't finished yet, piqued by curiosity, also drank theirs quickly.
Even Shōya, who had been wary of the drink at first, got a little playful and downed his in a few gulps.
When it turned out just as they'd heard, and he also earned another bottle, Shoya urged the two people around him to check theirs as well.
Seeing there was nothing wrong with the drink, Shimada and Keisuke unhesitatingly unscrewed their bottles and finished them in a few gulps.
"You both have another one too."
Seeing them finish, Shōya grabbed their bottles and began examining them.
The two kid took their own bottles and looked carefully. Just as Shoya said, they had also won.
"Takeuchi-sensei!"
"What's wrong?" Takeuchi, who was staring at his phone on the podium, looked up, puzzled.
The boy checked the time and asked curiously, "My drink won. I get another one, right? We still have plenty of time. Can I go down and exchange it?"
As soon as he said this, the classroom erupted again:
"And me, me too!"
"Mine won too!"
"Isn't this drink a guaranteed winner?"
"Takeuchi-sensei, can so many of us go down...?"
*Pa pa pa!* Mr. Takeuchi, now a little impatient, tapped the blackboard again and finally made a decision:
"Kawai, collect their winning bottles in a large bag and give them to Sato and Anchan—those two boys—to take downstairs and exchange."
One of the boys had been the first to ask, and the other was sitting next to him.
"Huh?" Miki was a bit reluctant to do the task.
But as the class monitor, she had no choice but to walk up to the podium, take out a black plastic bag, and start collecting the bottles one by one.
Later, Teacher Takeuchi saw she was too slow and asked Naoka to assist.
In the end, only seven or eight students were left without a winning bottle; the rest had been collected.
"You two, hurry up," Teacher Takeuchi reminded the boys before they left the classroom.
"Tsuna, how did you manage to buy all these winning drinks?" Shouko, who had been watching from her seat, couldn't help but ask in confusion.
Tsuna just shook his head, didn't answer her directly, and replied vaguely, "Maybe they were lucky."
Shouko, not realizing he was brushing her off, rolled her eyes and changed the topic.
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