The next day.
"Tsuna, did you resubmit last night?"
"Yeah." He swallowed the food in his mouth and nodded, looking at the energetic girl beside him, while also feeling a bit curious. "How did you know?"
He hadn't told Shouko about this last night, unless...
Shouko blurted out directly, "I came over this morning and saw your computer wasn't turned off. As soon as I opened it, I saw the automatic reply message in your email."
"..." Hearing this, he continued eating breakfast, which was pretty much what he had guessed.
She sat on a chair beside him, her eyes fixed on his mouth, swinging her feet as she pressed, "He said they'd reply within seven days. Tsuna, do you think it will pass this time?"
"Probably." Tsuna paused his movements, recalling the personal profile he had looked at last night, and explained:
"This time, I chose someone who just started working and graduated from university not long ago. They should be eager for an opportunity to prove themselves or something."
"Ding dong..."
Shouko was about to say something else when the doorbell interrupted their conversation.
"It must be Takagi-chan and them. I'll get the door." She stood up, turned around, and left the dining room.
As she had expected, the two people at the door were indeed Takagi and Ajitani.
She came back and told the person eating breakfast, then grabbed her shoulder bag from the living room and went out shopping with the two people waiting at the door.
Suddenly, he was the only "lonely old person" left at home. Shizuka had gone to Nishimiya to chat with Yaeko, and Daisuke had gone fishing with his fishing buddies early in the morning.
"Ding..."
Just as he was hesitating whether to go back to sleep or write, the ringtone of his phone beside him interrupted his thoughts.
He picked up his phone and saw that it was a message from an unexpected friend.
"I've been dumped, come keep me company."
Tsuna looked at this inexplicable message, feeling bewildered while quickly recalling what had happened with Shin-chan over the past few years.
The final conclusion was that he had never seemed to hear about Shin-chan having any girlfriends...
And speaking of girlfriends, Ai was more likely, but she and Shin-chan weren't in the same school in junior high.
Putting his thoughts aside, he sent three question marks back immediately.
"???"
"I received Sister Nanako's wedding invitation this morning..."
"(Holding head and crying.jpg)"
Looking at the message that was replied to instantly and its content, he was momentarily speechless, not knowing how to reply.
He had met the Sister Nanako Shin-chan mentioned a few times when he was in kindergarten. She was a very beautiful and gentle girl, but he didn't have much of an impression of her afterward.
But that wasn't the point. The point was that he had never heard of Shin-chan and Nanako being together...
And the age gap between them made it unlikely...
"What about Zheng Nan and A-Dai?"
"Masao went to find Ai, but he hasn't replied yet. Bo has to help his sister watch the store. He can't get away this morning, but he can come in the afternoon."
"..."
"Wait for me."
"Tsuna, it's best to bring some food too."
"At our age, I can't buy alcohol..."
"Don't bring drinks, just bring some 'Crocodile Mountain Mr. Chocobi'."
"..."
Seeing his reply, for a moment, he didn't want to go. He even suspected that Shin-chan might have run out of pocket money this month and was just using this as an excuse to trick him into buying food because he was craving it...
"Okay."
He turned off his phone screen and put it in his pocket, quickly finished the last few bites of breakfast, cleaned up, then grabbed his jacket from the living room, changed his shoes in the entryway, and turned back to the empty house to shout:
"I'm heading out."
"Click..."
——————————
'My name is Kazeno Jun, and this is my second month working at Futaba Publishing. I have one more month before I'm no longer an intern.'
'As for why I, an intern, could become an editor, I'm not quite sure myself. Maybe it's because of my "major"...'
"Hey! Last stop, are you getting off or not!?"
"Ah? Oh oh oh, yes yes yes."
The girl wearing round-rimmed glasses nodded in a hurry, picked up the shoulder bag beside her, and quickly ran off the bus.
As soon as she got off, she turned back to thank the driver on the bus, then ran toward the tall buildings in the distance.
Tokyo in early March had not yet shed the biting cold of spring. The morning wind carried the cold light of the electronic screen in front of the subway station, sweeping across the hem of her tightly wrapped black suit.
Her patent leather high heels tapped out a hurried rhythm on the crosswalk, and her shoulder bag hit her waist with the swing of her running, making the corner of her work badge inside her pocket flip up.
The photo on her badge showed her with exquisite makeup, forming a strong contrast with her hair, which was now messy from the wind.
"Jun, if you don't hurry, you'll be late."
The security guard in front of Futaba Publishing, holding a thermos cup, looked at the girl coming out of the elevator and couldn't help but tease.
Kazeno Jun looked at the electronic time, '8:57', at the front desk. Her pace quickened by a few points, while also not forgetting to reply to the old man from just now:
"Grandpa, I'm going to be late! Let's chat after I punch in!"
The old man looked at the girl's retreating back, shook his head helplessly, and withdrew his gaze. If she was late this time too, counting the previous times, this would be her seventh time being late this month.
"Done, done, haha, I almost was late."
Kazeno Jun, standing in front of the time clock, raised her hand to wipe the fine sweat from her forehead, then turned and quickly returned to her cubicle.
"Knock knock knock..."
A man wearing a plaid shirt knocked on her desk, and when she looked over, he explained, "Kazeno, the president wants you to go to his office."
"..." The girl, who had originally thought everything would be fine, instantly deflated. She thanked him and could only reluctantly get up and walk toward the president's office.
There was no escaping; she could only face it...
"Knock... Knock..."
"Enter."
The girl bravely pushed open the wooden door in front of her. The first thing she saw was the middle-aged man sitting in the boss's chair. She walked into the office, turned around, and closed the door. Before he could speak, she preempted him:
"Dad, I wasn't late this time. You can't lecture me about that."
"..." The middle-aged man paused, glanced at the girl in front of him, and raised his hand to rub his faintly aching head. "Your mom asked when you're moving back."
"I don't want to."
Kazeno Jun's immediate refusal made a vein throb on the forehead of the middle-aged man opposite her. "It's nothing. You can go out.
There's only one month left. If you don't show some results, even your grandpa pleading for you won't help."
"Alright, alright..."
Seeing that he wasn't going to talk about her being late, Jun gave a perfunctory reply and turned to leave the office, leaving the middle-aged man to continue rubbing his head in the office.
As soon as the girl left the office, she greeted colleagues passing by, and those colleagues, hearing this familiar voice, also responded enthusiastically.
Jun returned to her cubicle, skillfully typed in her password on the keyboard, waited for a while, then clicked on her email and started reading manuscripts.
As for whether she liked this job, she probably did. The main thing was being able to read other people's works in advance, provided they could attract her.
She could also urge for manuscripts both online and offline, which was a dream of hers when she was in school. Moreover, her colleagues were also enthusiastic, and the key point was that everyone didn't know about her 'relationship' with the president.