Looking at their assets, they definitely didn't seem like they couldn't afford a tutor, and hiring four or five at once wouldn't be an issue.
It's just that hiring a tutor in Japan feels a bit 'risky'...
Takina Inoue, on the other hand, wasn't as composed as him. She fumbled a bit to take out her phone from the belt of her white patterned kimono before adding Tsuna as a friend.
Tsuna only put away his phone after she added him as a friend. When their eyes met, the girl looked away first.
The three parents beside them ignored the two and continued their conversation.
Since Nakama saw that his goal of helping his daughter was achieved, he no longer steered the conversation toward Tsuna.
As soon as Tsuna accepted her friend request, the girl immediately clicked on his profile picture, wanting to see if he had any selfies or similar photos.
Suddenly realizing the current situation wasn't quite appropriate, she casually put her phone away again.
Afterwards, Nakama politely declined Shizuka's request for them to stay for dinner and had Takina say goodbye to the three before leaving the Miyamura home.
Shizuka glanced at the time, stood up to go to the kitchen to prepare lunch, while Daisuke took out his phone to send a fishing invitation to his fishing buddy for the afternoon.
Tsuna was sprawled on the sofa, watching TV. It was a holiday break these past few days, so he was taking time off and didn't want to write...
---
When the morning light penetrated the lead-gray clouds, the icicles on the eaves dripped their thirty-seventh drop of water, and the mechanical sound of the convenience store's automatic door opening and closing startled the jackdaws on the power lines.
The thin golden sunlight pierced through the cloud gaps at twelve minutes past noon, and the glass curtain wall of the department store refracted the light beams into rhombic light spots, drifting through the white mist exhaled by young office workers holding hot coffee.
The four o'clock bell chimes drifted from the direction of Senso-ji Temple, and the withered ginkgo branches traced Sanskrit-like patterns in the wind.
It wasn't until Shouko returned that his 'leisurely' life was broken.
Click...
"I'm home!"
"Welcome home," Tsuna's faint voice came from the living room.
"Where are Uncle and Auntie?" Shouko walked to the entrance of the living room and was puzzled to see only a 'strangely posed' Tsuna inside.
"Dad went fishing, and Shizuka and Aunt went shopping."
Tsuna turned to look at her and saw her lightly smiling as she lifted the exquisitely packaged dessert box in her hand and shook it at him.
"Tsuna, come over and have a taste. This chocolate cake is absolutely amazing." She placed the cake on the coffee table, then turned and walked over to him, reaching out to pull him up from the sofa.
Like a puppet on a string, he was pulled by her to sit by the coffee table. Shouko even thoughtfully helped him open the box and pushed a slice of cake towards him.
She got up again, left the living room, skillfully went into the kitchen to get a sterilized fork, returned to the living room, and handed it to him.
Under her expectant gaze, Tsuna scooped out a bit and put it in his mouth, nodded, praised the cake, and then, following the usual routine, pushed the cake he had taken a bite of back in front of her.
"You eat it. I just finished eating, and I'm not very hungry."
"Then you can eat it later. I'll put it back in the fridge first."
Shouko hesitated for a moment but still firmly refused. She re-packaged the slice of cake and put it in the refrigerator in the dining room.
"..." Tsuna didn't say anything the whole time, quietly watching her actions.
He had long anticipated her excuse and hesitant behavior, and this excuse was even exactly the same as the previous times.
It's just that the time she put it in the fridge, it was eaten by his greedy Mom.
"Tsuna, did we have guests this morning?" Shouko asked curiously after returning and sitting beside him.
Tsuna nodded. "Yeah, Dad and Mom's university classmates came to visit for the New Year. How did you know?"
"I saw a New Year's food gift box on the dining table that I hadn't seen this morning, so I guessed."
As soon as she finished speaking, before Tsuna could say anything, she lightly patted him on the back with her hand, pretending to be angry and threatening:
"Also, don't slouch! Be careful you turn into a hunchbacked old grandpa!"
"Okay, okay, okay." He didn't choose to sit up straight, but instead lay directly on the tatami mat, looking at Shouko's profile.
Seeing this, Shouko also lay down, turned her head to meet his gaze, and shared the interesting things she encountered while hanging out with Takagi and the others that morning.
Tsuna listened quietly, occasionally responding with a sentence to reciprocate the emotional value the girl was sharing.
At fourteen thirty-two, the ferry whistle on the Sumida River startled the flock of pigeons circling the tip of the Skytree.
When the sunlight completely sank behind the twin towers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku at fifteen fifty, the cold wind, carrying the melody of "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" from a piano cram school, shattered against the painted reindeer on the department store window.
At sixteen o'clock sharp, the announcement of Ueno Zoo's closing resonated with the Buddhist bell of Zojo-ji Temple.
"Tsuna..."
After replying to the message from Ajitani, Shouko began to show hesitation on her face.
Tsuna paused the TV playback, looked at her embarrassed expression, and instantly guessed what she wanted to express:
"If you want to eat it, go get it. I won't say anything to you."
"What if you want some?"
"Just leave a bite for me."
"Okay, okay, I'll leave two bites for you!" Shouko held up her index and middle fingers to him, grandly patted her chest, and it even bounced back a bit.
As soon as she finished speaking, she got up to get the cake from the fridge.
Don't misunderstand, that bounce was because Shouko's down jacket was of good quality.
She returned to the living room and started to enjoy it, occasionally feeding him a bite.
It wasn't until after sixteen-thirty, when Shizuka and Yaeko returned carrying the ingredients for tonight, that she quickly finished the last bite.
As soon as Shizuka and Yaeko returned, they went straight to the kitchen to start preparing the ingredients for tonight. Shouko tidied up the coffee table and also went to help them.
Only Tsuna was left in the living room, and later he was called by Shizuka to peel garlic.
As was customary for the New Year, both families would eat together. The main dish was New Year's Eve Soba, but the side dishes were still very abundant.
As for why they were eating Soba today, Shizuka had explained it to Tsuna and Shouko when they were little.
The general meaning is that according to tradition, on December 31st in Japan, on Omisoka (New Year's Eve), most families choose to eat Soba noodles.
The saying in Japan is that Soba noodles are easier to bite off than other noodles, symbolizing "cutting off the worries, illnesses, and disasters of the old year" and welcoming the New Year with a refreshed mindset.
Because "Soba" (そば) is a homophone for "そば" (meaning 'nearby' or 'by one's side', often used to imply closeness), it symbolizes "family gathering together" and also implicitly contains the wish for "wealth to draw near".
Furthermore, the noodles must traditionally be eaten before midnight on New Year's Eve. Eating them after the New Year is considered "cutting off good luck too late" and may affect the fortune of the coming year.
"You kid, you're zoning out even while peeling garlic," Shizuka said with a laughing scold, lightly flicking his forehead.
Yaeko and Shouko beside them continued busy with their tasks, lightly chuckling, having long been accustomed to this scene.
As for whether Shouko felt bad for him, she did, but she had just finished cutting chili peppers, and if she went over to comfort him, he would most likely refuse anyway.