The two released their joined hands at the school gate, avoiding the teachers' disciplinary checks, and held hands again after school.
"I'm back!"
"I'm back."
Shouko, who had changed her shoes, was the first to enter the living room. Seeing the empty room, she was a little confused. "Auntie isn't home at this time?"
"She probably went to the neighbors' house who moved in next door a few days ago," Tsuna said as he walked into the living room and casually tossed his backpack onto the sofa.
"Hmm..."
Hearing this, Shouko began to recall. It seemed that someone had indeed moved in a few days ago, but when they came to visit her house with gifts, she happened to be at Tsuna's place.
At the time, Grandma had even mentioned their name to her, but she didn't think much of it and quickly forgot. Now, trying to remember... it seemed a bit difficult...
"Stop thinking about it, the surname is Uzaki," Tsuna said, raising his hand and rubbing her head.
"Let's go, let's go upstairs. Let's hurry now and send the illustrations to Jun quickly."
Shouko is currently 158 cm tall, and Tsuna is half a head taller than her. He will definitely grow taller later, so he doesn't need to worry about Shouko surpassing him like before.
As for the new neighbors, he didn't have much of an impression, only barely remembering their surname. Let alone these past few days, he hadn't even seen their faces once.
"Tsuna, don't rub my head, I won't grow taller!"
"Alright, alright..." He withdrew his hand, casually brushed it off, and took Shouko's hand, walking towards the second floor.
Only the simple Shouko would believe Takagi's nonsense like that.
"Click..."
As soon as the door opened, Shouko went straight for someone's bed with a clear goal. Tsuna was used to it and walked to the desk to press the computer's power button.
While the computer was booting up, he also checked the eight black-and-white illustrations and two color ones.
In the past half a month, he felt like he had lost a lot of hair, but the result was good. He had perfectly completed the task.
He even drew two more than expected, so wasn't it a perfect completion?
"Is something wrong, Tsuna?" Shouko sat up from the bed, seeing him staring at her drawings without saying anything, and felt a little worried for a moment.
Tsuna shook his head, his gaze returning from the tablet. "No, I was just thinking about something."
After speaking, he turned back and smiled at Shouko on the bed, then found Jun's friend on 'LINE' and simultaneously sent the illustrations on the computer to her email.
"Jun, I've sent those illustrations to your email. Please check if they're okay."
After waiting for about ten minutes without a reply, he stopped paying attention, turned off his phone screen, and put it aside casually. She should still be at work and not have time to check messages.
"How is it, Tsuna? What did Jun say...?"
Unlike his unconcerned demeanor, Shouko was nervous from the moment he sent the message.
Tsuna shrugged, explained that she was at work, and comforted the nervous Shouko a few times before pulling her to do homework to help distract herself.
Anyway, just keep her busy.
For the rest of the time, whenever she asked about the issue, he would skillfully change the subject until Jun actually sent a message, ending it.
"Tsuna, send me the second volume too. How about I help you check for typos and things?"
Both of their eyes fell on this message at the same time, and Tsuna was a bit speechless for a moment.
She had come to him a week ago, asking him to send her the second volume, but he had brushed her off.
Since he didn't know the sales of the first volume yet, he wasn't very keen on sending the second volume. What if the first volume was cut short?
Moreover, he felt that Jun's purpose wasn't just to check for problems, but rather to see the continuation of the book...
"..."
"Jun, did you see the illustrations?"
After sending this sentence, he waited for another ten minutes before receiving a reply.
"I can tell they're a bit rusty..."
Shouko looked at this sentence, and before she could feel discouraged, she immediately saw the next message.
"But there are no problems with these illustrations. I'll notify the factory tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, and they will start printing."
"Can you finish a sentence next time?"
Tsuna was a little speechless. For a moment there, he had already started thinking about how to comfort Shouko.
"Tsuna, about the second volume...?"
"It passed, Tsuna!!"
Before he could reply to her, the girl beside him excitedly gave him a koala hug.
"..."
"Congratulations, Shouko Teacher," Tsuna said, unceremoniously dropping her back onto the bed.
"Right, Tsuna, ask Shouko whether she wants to use her real name or a pen name for the illustrator section when it's printed?"
"Stop, stop, stop, look at this message first," Tsuna quickly raised his hand to stop her actions and held the phone in front of her.
Shouko is getting more and more clingy to him now.
However, she used to like being close to him in private; it's just that everyone was younger back then... in all aspects.
Shouko took the phone from his hand in confusion. "Why does Jun know that I'm the illustrator?"
Tsuna paused at her words and explained, "I mentioned it to her a week ago. I didn't expect her to still remember."
As soon as he finished speaking, he quickly followed up, "Do you want to use your real name or a pen name?"
As for the illustrator, he hadn't thought about it that much, so he couldn't give Shouko any advice on this. It seemed like it didn't matter whether it was her real name or a pen name.
"What should I call it... hmm..."
Indeed, this question was a bit difficult for her, she really hadn't considered it.
Most of the past half a month had been spent drawing illustrations, coloring, and optimizing...
"No rush, think about it first. It's okay to tell me later."
"Okay, okay."
After speaking, Tsuna casually brushed off Jun on LINE again and found out the exact printing time, the day after tomorrow.
So, including tomorrow, there is about half a day for Shouko to think of a name.
Seeing that things were pretty much resolved, the two continued to do their homework. Shouko was also able to concentrate on her homework this time.
It's just that the result was a little different from what he expected. This time, Shouko couldn't calm down. She just wanted to eat something good to reward herself.
In the end, she still dragged Tsuna to a famous dessert shop nearby to buy desserts. Seeing her so happy, he didn't choose to dampen her spirits or anything.
As dusk began to fall, the March wind carried the scent of faint cherry blossoms past the stone street corner, and the setting sun cast the shadows of the two onto the warm curtain of the convenience store.
By the time the two finished shopping and returned home, it was already past six in the evening. Originally, after they quit the club, they would normally finish school around 3:30, but with only a few days left until graduation, they had been getting home an hour earlier.
"Miyamura Auntie, I'm back!!"
"I'm back."
As soon as they opened the door, they smelled the scent of fried fish coming from the kitchen.
"Dinner is ready," Shizuka said, walking out of the kitchen wearing a black apron, wiping her hands with a tissue.
"Shouko, Yuzuru just came to find you to go home for dinner."
Shouko's action of changing her shoes paused. She could only obediently put the shoe she had just taken off back on, waved goodbye to the two, and turned to leave Miyamura's house.
As for why Yuzuru didn't call her? That's because from the time school ended until she got home, she hadn't gone back to her house to get her phone...