"Tsuna, I'm going back to sleep now. I have to get up early tomorrow," Shouko said, finishing the last bit of water in her cup and standing up.
"You don't have to get up so early," Tsuna replied, watching her walk lightly toward the door with the empty cup, trying to persuade her.
Shouko had been packing his school lunch since the first semester. If she didn't do that, she could probably sleep for another thirty minutes.
"No," Shouko said, pulling open the door and shaking her head at him before leaving the room, not forgetting to close the door behind her.
"Click..."
Only after the door closed did Tsuna withdraw his gaze. He checked the time: '22:13' — and continued writing Anohana, which he hadn't finished writing over the winter break.
Now, only the last volume was left.
He was 100% confident in this light novel, but unfortunately, he ran into a short-sighted editor.
He had even chosen an editor who had been at Futaba Publishing for four or five years, expecting it to pass, but it didn't...
Tsuna raised his hand to rub his brows, shaking off the random thoughts in his mind, and sped up his typing.
He still wanted to finish the last few hundred words for today before 10:30 PM, then quickly go to bed. He had to wake up early tomorrow for his morning run.
Meanwhile, Shouko went downstairs, washed the cup clean, put it back where it belonged, and then slowly walked to the entrance of the living room.
"Auntie, same as usual tomorrow—no need to prepare a lunch box for Tsuna."
Shizuka stopped her yoga stretch, turned back to look at Shouko standing at the door, and nodded, "Okay, but it's no tr—"
"It's no trouble, Auntie. I'm going back to sleep now. Good night."
Shouko quickly interrupted her, afraid she might say something polite. She waved her hand and quickly left.
"Click..."
Shizuka stared blankly at the door for a moment, until the sound of the main door closing reached her ears. Only then did she snap back and continue the stretch she hadn't finished.
——————
"I'm home!"
"Lower your voice, your grandma and sister are already asleep," Yaeko's voice came from the living room.
"Oh," Shouko quietly closed the main door, changed into her slippers in the entryway, and quickly walked into the living room.
"Mom, aren't you done yet?"
Shouko walked over and sat beside her, noticing that she was still staring at her laptop and not paying attention to her. She asked with concern.
Yaeko Nishimiya answered distractedly without turning her head, "Did you see if Uncle Miyamura was resting when you came back?"
"No," Shouko didn't know what she meant but still shook her head honestly. "I saw Uncle Miyamura was still in the study; he should still be working."
As Shouko finished speaking, the only sound left in the living room was the occasional clicking of the keyboard.
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
After about ten minutes, Yaeko stopped what she was doing and looked over at the quiet Shouko beside her with confusion.
"Um..." Shouko hesitated for a moment, then nodded, pausing. "Mom, I want to learn how to draw."
She had actually prepared herself for her mother to refuse and lecture her, but she still wanted to ask, unwilling to give up.
"Okay," Yaeko nodded calmly, "Reason?"
When Yaeko asked for the reason, Shouko somehow felt that, at that instant, she lacked the courage to say it.
When her godmother asked for the reason, she could say without hesitation that it was to be Tsuna's illustrator.
But facing her own mother...
The words of explanation were stuck in her throat, unable to be uttered...
"Dong... Dong... Dong..."
Listening to the minute hand of the clock on the living room wall ticking.
After a long time, Yaeko saw her looking down and not speaking, and chose to say the answer she thought was in her heart:
"Is it because of Tsuna that you want to learn?"
"Um..."
"Then have you ever thought that Tsuna might not be able to be this light novelist at all?"
Yaeko Nishimiya still had a sentence she hadn't said: "He has to inherit his father's office in the future; where would he have time to be a light novelist?"
But she still chose not to say it. Saying that sentence would be equivalent to completely shutting down Shouko's words.
"I don't believe it!"
Shouko suddenly looked up and met her gaze, shouting firmly, "I believe in Tsuna! I've read the novels he wrote, and I believe he will definitely succeed!"
Yaeko looked at Shouko's eyes at this moment, which formed a strong contrast with her usual cautious manner when talking to her...
"Then—"
Shouko saw that she still wanted to say something, interrupted her, and shifted her gaze:
"Mom, get some rest early. Good night!"
Before her voice fell, she stood up and quickly left the living room.
"Click..."
Only when the sound of Shouko's door closing rang out did Yaeko come back to her senses.
This was the first time Shouko had shown such a strong attitude in front of her, although she didn't maintain it for long and became timid...
She put her gaze back on the computer but found she couldn't concentrate at all. Her daughter's excited look from just now flashed in her mind from time to time.
"Sigh..."
Yaeko closed her laptop, rubbed her slightly sore eyes, and was about to stand up to take a bath when her peripheral vision caught sight of someone standing at the door.
"Mom?"
"Were we talking too loudly and woke you up?"
"No," Ito at the door shook her head with a loving expression, slowly walked over, sat beside her, and pulled Yaeko back who was about to get up.
—————————
"Ring... Ring... Ring...!"
"Bang..."
Shouko, still in bed, based on past experience, reached out and directly turned off the noisy alarm clock and fell back asleep.
"Ring... Ring...!"
"Bang..."
As the second alarm she set rang, she reached out and turned it off again, rubbed her groggy eyes, and sat up from the bed.
Because of what happened last night, she didn't fall asleep until around midnight.
She stared blankly at the bed for a while, pulled back a bit of the curtain covering the window, and looked at the sky that had just started to show a sliver of white.
She looked back at the clock again, raised her hand, and slapped her cheeks hard to wake herself up, then quickly got out of bed.
First, she prepared lunch with Grandma, then washed up, went back to her room to change into her school uniform, which took about thirty minutes.
Why not wash up and change into her school uniform first before preparing lunch?
Of course, that's because doing it the other way might make her face feel oily, and her school uniform would also have the smell of cooking oil.
The important thing! She was afraid Tsuna would smell it.
"Mom, why are you awake so early today? Aren't you sleeping in?" Shouko walked into the dining room and saw an extra person at the dining table. She asked in confusion after seeing clearly who it was.
"Yes," Yaeko swallowed the food in her mouth, "There's something important at the office today. I have to go early."
"Oh."
Shouko nodded, walked over to her, pulled out a chair, and sat down, looking at the hearty breakfast prepared by Grandma on the dining table, and swallowed.
"If you have an art training class you want to join, just tell me when you get back. I'll look into it then."