"Sister, it's time to get up."
Yuzuru stood by the bed, looking at the sleeping Shouko, and didn't hesitate to shake her awake.
"Slap..."
Her sweet dream was forcibly interrupted, and because of Yuzuru's peculiar way of waking people up, Shouko, who usually wasn't grumpy in the morning, couldn't help but feel a little annoyed.
"Where's Tsuna?" Shouko asked, rubbing her sleepy eyes and yawning.
"Onii-san went to the restroom. He asked me to wake you up." Yuzuru gently rubbed the back of her hand that had been slapped red. "We'll get ready to leave once he comes out."
As soon as she finished speaking, she turned and ran downstairs. While there was still some time, she wanted to spend a little more time with Hachiko.
Hearing this, Shouko could only shake off the idea of staying in bed a little longer. She stood up, smoothed out the wrinkles in her clothes, and left the room.
As she walked downstairs, she ran into Tsuna, who had just come out of the restroom. At this moment, Shizuka also came out of the bedroom, having finished her light makeup.
Yuzuru took Hachiko back to her house, asked Granny Nishimiya to help look after it until noon, and then got into Shizuka's car.
Tsuna quietly listened to the conversation between the two sisters in the car, his gaze sweeping over the receding pedestrians and buildings outside the window.
"You guys go back to the classroom first. I've already checked beforehand. I'll take Yuzuru to the class seating area later."
Shizuka finished registering, drove the car into the school parking lot, and parked it. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she turned back to the three of them.
"Okay."
"Miyamura Auntie, see you later. I'll come find you after the opening ceremony ends."
The two unbuckled their seatbelts, opened the car doors on both sides, and got out. Yuzuru also got out of the car behind her sister.
"Onii-san, good luck with the sprint later! I'll record your cool poses!" Yuzuru shook the small camera hanging around her neck towards Tsuna.
"Okay, okay." Tsuna waved to Yuzuru, then turned and walked toward Teaching Building Number One with Shouko.
The morning light hadn't fully spread over the track fence yet, and several girls holding jump ropes were already standing on their tiptoes, looking toward the rostrum.
The thin mist of early spring wrapped around their chattering discussions, spreading out in circles of joyful ripples on the plastic track.
The footsteps in the corridor, one after another, sounded like marbles bouncing around. Someone secretly stuffed spiked shoes into a desk drawer, and the metal spikes hitting the tin made a crisp clanging sound.
"Miyamura, good morning."
Just as the two of them were about to step into the classroom, a sweet greeting sounded in their ears at the same time.
"Morning."
Tsuna turned back to see it was the girl from yesterday morning who had asked for his contact information. He politely nodded to her and led Shouko by his side into the classroom.
He thought this obvious action of his had clearly indicated their relationship, and the girl should be tactful enough not to bother him anymore.
But he was wrong. The girl seemed not to have seen it and turned to walk toward her classroom after getting a response.
"What did you talk to her about yesterday? Why does it feel like she's become even more enthusiastic?" As soon as he returned to his seat, Tsuna couldn't wait to ask.
"Just... just a normal chat..." Shouko suddenly realized her mistake from last night.
This girl is a good girl, and it was also her first time chatting with a romantic rival while using Tsuna's identity. That feeling was a bit exciting, but she didn't expect to get carried away with the conversation later...
Shouko wanted to take out her phone to show him the chat history from last night, but as soon as her hand touched her pocket, she remembered that both her and Tsuna's phones were in Miyamura Auntie's bag.
She could only verbally explain the general content of yesterday's chat to him.
"..." Tsuna looked at her slightly surprised, unsure of what to say for a moment.
Shouko, using his identity, chatted with a girl who clearly showed interest in him until the middle of the night. Wasn't that clearly implying she wanted others to 'steal' her?
"After school today, I'll explain it clearly to her on the phone. Tsuna, don't worry." Shouko patted his shoulder and promised.
"Alright then." Hearing this, Tsuna didn't say anything more. He still trusted Shouko, especially when it came to her possessiveness toward him.
At this moment, Ajitani also came to the classroom, put down her schoolbag, and went directly to the back row to chat with Shouko. The previous incident was also forgotten by Shouko.
Not long after, Takagi and Nishikata walked into the classroom side by side. As soon as the two of them stepped into the classroom, Teacher Fujiro followed closely behind.
"Clap, clap, clap..." Teacher Fujiro walked to the podium, raised her hand, and sharply clapped the blackboard. "Everyone go to the changing rooms to change. Once you're changed, gather at the track location where we practiced before."
With that said, she ignored the students playing on their phones below and walked out of the classroom without stopping.
The sound of chairs scraping against the floor immediately resounded in the classroom.
Tsuna and Nishikata quickly changed into their gym clothes in the boys' changing room, then tied a red ribbon made of soft fabric onto their left arms before leaving the changing room.
As soon as they arrived at the track, they saw Ajitani organizing the team. Tsuna stood in the front row according to the position in his memory, next to Shouko, who had changed into her gym clothes.
"Tsuna, good luck with the sprint later!" Shouko cheered him on with a serious expression.
"Okay, okay." Tsuna chuckled lightly and raised his hand to rub her head.
"Hey, hey, hey..."
This was the Principal's voice from the microphone on the plaster platform, interrupting their chat and the noise on the track.
"Students, quiet down. I know you are very excited and looking forward to today's Sports Festival.
And I am also looking forward to it, so I'll just say a few words, and then we'll begin the long-awaited Sports Festival."
---
"With the warm support of all the parents as your strength, I look forward to seeing all the students' energetic performances! With that, I declare the opening!!!"
(I hope the students can turn the parents' enthusiastic cheering into strength, and I look forward to your active performances on the field! I declare the Sports Festival officially open!!!)
As the Principal's speech and oath, which lasted for about thirty minutes, concluded, the track and the stands immediately erupted in thunderous applause, and cheers surged through the track like a spring tide.
At this point, it was the final part of the opening ceremony, and the speakers around the track began to play an inspiring piece of music.
The students on the track also began to do warm-up exercises (calisthenics) to the rhythm of the music.
"Tsuna, good luck! I'll be watching you from the stands."
As the music ended, Shouko waved to him and quickly walked toward Shizuka and Yuzuru's seats in the stands.
"Minasan!!" Ajitani stood at the front of the line and shouted to the noisy students behind her:
"Those participating in the class relay race, please head to the starting point of the track to receive your positions. Everyone else, please go to the class seating area to watch and cheer."
As she finished speaking, the speakers on the track also made an announcement, roughly meaning for the relay race students to gather at the starting point.
Tsuna and the other five boys and six girls in the team left the line and walked toward the marked starting point of the track.
This class relay race was simply a competition among all the first-year classes, mainly focusing on team competition.
Afterwards, there were also class competitions for jump rope and tug-of-war, but he wasn't involved in those two events. He mainly participated in the class sprint and relay race.
However, the sprint didn't start until the afternoon.
"Quick, quick, come here and let Auntie see." Shizuka, sitting in her seat, stared intently at Shouko dressed in her gym clothes.
She had seen it once or twice before, but every time she saw Shouko in her gym clothes, she thought she looked absolutely adorable.
"Okay, okay." Shouko sat down next to her. "Auntie, I want to get my phone and Tsuna's."
Shizuka held up her phone, took pictures of Shouko from various angles, and upon hearing her request, handed the bag next to her to Shouko to get them herself.
The parents in the lively stands just smiled when they saw this scene, and their attention was quickly drawn to other things.
"Sister, I want to play on your phone." Yuzuru moved to sit next to Shouko.
Shouko skillfully opened Shizuka's bag and didn't hesitate to hand her phone to Yuzuru, hoping the other person wouldn't disturb her upcoming important task.
Shizuka, on the other hand, began admiring the photos she had just taken. After deleting some she wasn't satisfied with, she started looking around for Tsuna on the track.
The stands were filled with the cheering sounds of each class. The bubbles of carbonated drinks mixed with the vibration of the boys stomping their feet, sizzling under the metal stands.
The speakers on either side of the rostrum suddenly let out static noise. The announcer, dressed in gym clothes, was reading the cheering script, biting her tongue.
Mr. Sakai held a stopwatch, arranging the relay race positions. Intermittent singing drifted from the rostrum, likely from a culture committee member who had secretly slipped a CD of a new Japan idol song to the broadcast station.
"Relax, just maintain your usual speed." Mr. Sakai finished arranging the positions, walked up to Tsuna, patted his shoulder, and comforted him.
"Don't worry, I'm not nervous." Tsuna looked into the distance and chuckled lightly.
He had no particular thoughts about this class relay race. After all, it was about team competition, not individual competition. He just needed to run with a normal mindset.
"Alright, go wait at position number six. It's about to start. Good luck."
Seeing this, Mr. Sakai didn't say anything more, gave him a light push, and turned to walk toward the finish line.
Tsuna withdrew his gaze from his back and walked toward position number six with the other competitors.
---
"What could the password be..." Shouko stared at the password screen on Tsuna's phone and whispered to herself.
After thinking for a moment, she decisively entered Tsuna's birthday on it, but unfortunately, the password was incorrect.
She looked up toward the track, searching for Tsuna's figure, and her gaze stopped at position number six.
It seemed as if her gaze met his on the track. At the same time, the starting gun fired, and she instantly thought of the answer, lowering her head to enter 0607.
As it successfully unlocked, the corners of her mouth couldn't stop rising. These four Arabic numerals were exactly her birthday.
She didn't have much time, because Tsuna would finish running and come back soon. It could even be said that this was her only chance to secretly look today.
She decisively tapped on 'LINE', and the first thing that appeared was the pinned friend with the four large characters 'Shouko' as the note.
She had known about this note for a long time, so this wasn't the main point.
She first looked up, scanned Shizuka next to her with her peripheral vision, and after confirming that Miyamura Auntie wasn't paying attention to her, she then tapped on the contacts list.
Just when she thought she would have to put in some effort to look for any illicit affairs or similar things, there were only seven friends in the friends list...
Moreover, these seven friends were people she knew and had added herself.
The notes above were: 'The Most Beautiful Mom in the World.'
Shouko's gaze lingered on this special note for a few seconds before moving on, then she continued looking down:
'Dad', 'Aunt', 'Nishikata', 'Takagi', 'Ajitani'.
And the most special one, a specially starred friend: 'Shouko'.
That was it, really.
Shouko still didn't believe it and scrolled down, but no matter how she scrolled, only seven friends were displayed.
She then opened the chat history excluding Miyamura Auntie, Uncle Miyamura, and her mother.
Takagi's chat was still from the very beginning when they first added each other as friends, the time when they exchanged greetings.
After that, Tsuna hadn't said a single word to her. He chatted more with Nishikata, but it was all about anime or manga topics, nothing important.
Compared to these two, Tsuna also chatted with Ajitani, but the content was mostly Ajitani asking questions when she didn't understand some math problems. There was also some casual chat, but not much.
She looked through it again and found that there was really nothing unusual, so she exited 'LINE' and then opened the call history.
Most of them were spam calls, but Tsuna didn't answer them. Two more people were added to the contacts list: 'Grandma' and 'Granny Nishimiya'.
"Onii-san, I've recorded all your cool poses."
Just then, Yuzuru's voice sounded in Shouko's ear. She quickly turned off the phone screen, looked up, and her gaze collided with Tsuna, who had walked up.
Perhaps because she felt guilty about doing something bad, she quickly looked away.
"You worked hard." Shizuka took out an unopened bottle of mineral water from her bag and handed it to Tsuna.
Tsuna took it without hesitation, twisted open the cap, took two sips, and waved his hand casually:
"It was just a relay race. Everyone ran 100 meters, some faster, some slower. It wasn't hard."
As he finished speaking, he walked to Shouko's side. Yuzuru was also tactful and gave up her seat for him, thinking of sitting next to Shizuka.
But she failed. As she passed by Shizuka, she was pulled into Shizuka's embrace and rubbed.
"Tsuna, your phone."
"Okay, okay."
Tsuna sat down, took the phone handed to him, entered the password to unlock it, glanced at it casually, and then turned off the screen. He patted Shouko's shoulder, and when she looked over, he silently mouthed:
'If you want to look in the future, just tell me directly. You don't have to do it secretly like this. I won't say anything to you.'
Shouko was stunned after reading his lips. She couldn't figure out how she had been exposed.
Before she could think too much, she heard Yuzuru's cry for help: "Sister, quick, save me!"
When she looked over at the sound, she saw Miyamura Auntie biting Yuzuru's right cheek. Or rather, sucking...
At this moment, the announcement on the track sounded: "All first-year tug-of-war participants, please gather in the center of the track!"