At first, as a few of them were stopped, Shouko's peripheral vision noticed the tips of the young man's ears were red, and he was holding a pink envelope in his hand.
Well... anyone with a discerning eye could tell that the other person was here to confess their feelings, and she naturally wasn't blind either.
Moreover, over the past three years, she had indeed received several love letters that inexplicably appeared in her desk drawer, but she had always thrown them away as pranks.
As the other person's words came out, the two people beside Shouko both looked at Tsuna, who was following behind them, in unison.
However, upon seeing the complete lack of any unusual emotion on his face, they quickly retracted their gazes.
Putting everything else aside, the courage to try and steal someone in front of Miyamura was quite commendable.
"Looking for me...?"
Shouko felt a hint of surprise; putting everything else aside, over the past three years, it seemed like he was the only one who had confessed to her face.
"Who is that person?"
"Not sure. He seems to be from Class 3, and looks like he's here to confess to Nishimiya."
"So, Hero? Trying to steal someone in front of Miyamura?"
"What are you talking about!? Seriously, they aren't even together, how can you call that stealing someone?"
"Hmm... it really does seem that way. So, do you think it's still not too late if I go and confess to Miyamura right now?"
"It should be in time. While Shouko is distracted by the confession, seize the opportunity to get in. You'll definitely be able to say it before Shouko chokes you to death."
"Right, right, right. You died because you confessed to Miyamura; he'll remember you for a lifetime, and maybe even regret it forever."
"Hmm..." The young man felt the gazes constantly falling on him from around and the whispers, and nodded 'shyly'.
"Let's go to a less crowded place on the first floor to talk."
Although Shouko couldn't hear what the whispers were saying, she also felt that more and more onlookers were gathering.
The young man quickly scanned the increasing crowd around him, held the pink envelope in both hands, extended it toward Shouko, bowed directly at a 45° angle, and bravely shouted out:
"Nishimiya! I like you, please go out with me!"
"..."
Tsuna and the others could feel the surrounding discussion growing louder, and he and Takagi simultaneously felt a sense of speechlessness.
Shouko's meaning just now had been so clear; she wanted to find a less crowded place to reject him.
She wanted to give him some face while there were still a few days left, but she didn't expect him to take those discussions as encouragement and become even bolder...
However, it made sense for the other person to think this way; there were only a few days left until the exam, so why care so much? They didn't even know if they would be in the same high school.
In stark contrast to the two of them was Ajitani, who was a little excited; this was one of the essential parts of a junior high graduation ceremony.
Taking advantage of graduation, bravely express the youthful emotions buried in your heart.
"I'm sorry, classmate, we don't know each other, and I don't want to accept a confession from a stranger, and..." Shouko's words paused, and she quickly turned back to glance at a certain person behind her.
'This is bad...' Tsuna's gaze met hers, and he had a bad feeling...
"And I have a boyfriend!"
As her words fell, Shouko ignored the shocked and surprised looks from the people around her, quickly turned around, and walked to Tsuna's side.
After a moment's pause, as if steeling herself, she extended her left hand, wrapped it around his sturdy and warm arm, and at the same time, didn't forget to playfully wink at the surprised person.
"This... this, this, this..." Ajitani didn't know what to say for a moment...
Shouko's move effectively cut off all the girls who wanted to confess to Tsuna during the graduation ceremony; similarly, the same applied to those who wanted to confess to her.
"I don't believe it! I've been quietly paying attention to you for three years! Miyamura is just your childhood friend, when did you become a couple!?" The young man's emotions were clearly quite agitated.
"!!!" The onlookers were even more surprised, but the scattered students from Class 2 didn't think much of it.
They had been classmates for three years, and in the first year, you could say they didn't know those two very well.
But now that they were about to graduate, if you still said you couldn't see the two of them liking each other, that was definitely "emotionally insensitive."
"?"
Shouko was full of question marks and immediately decided to prove it to the other person. She was also indirectly helping Tsuna get rid of the girls who wanted to take advantage of the graduation ceremony to confess!
The important thing was that the atmosphere was already here, and she believed Tsuna would understand her good intentions, hehe...
And Tsuna, who had come back to his senses, looked at the young man in front of him, not knowing what to say. How did the other person just self-destruct?
However, at this moment, as the pseudo-boyfriend that Shouko had publicly acknowledged, he should indeed step forward and say something.
He raised his other hand and decisively blocked Shouko's mouth, who was about to kiss him to prove their relationship, "Classmate, Shouko has already rejected you in the first half of her sentence."
After saying that, seeing that she was still unwilling to give up, he slightly bent his index finger and gently flicked her forehead.
Seeing this, Shouko only 'piteously' let go of him, walked back in front of the young man, and bowed slightly.
"Thank you for mustering the courage to tell me, but I'm sorry, I cannot reciprocate your feelings.
Moreover, whether Tsuna and I are a couple or not doesn't need to be proven to outsiders."
Hearing this, the young man could only retract the love letter that had been extended halfway, met Shouko's gentle gaze, nodded dejectedly, turned around, pushed through the crowd, and quickly left the scene.
Shouko watched the other person leave, but the discussions didn't decrease at all, so she decisively took Takagi and Ajitani by the hand and smiled:
"Let's go, let's escape from here too."
Tsuna watched the three people push through the onlookers and could only choose to silently follow.
For the entire afternoon, the few of them were taking photos and snapping pictures everywhere, completely forgetting about the little interlude that had just happened.
Then, according to the time Teacher Fujiro had mentioned, they returned to the classroom on time, and at this time, the classroom was still discussing the confession incident that had just happened. It wasn't just once.
It seemed like Shouko's confession was just the beginning, and several more confession incidents had occurred subsequently.
"Miyamura, where did you guys go just now? I couldn't find you anywhere." Seeing the few of them return to their seats, Nishikata couldn't help but complain.
He had wanted to take a photo with the few of them, but he couldn't find them.
Tsuna gently massaged his legs, "We just walked around everywhere and took pictures everywhere."
"But-"
"Cough, cough, cough..." Just then, Teacher Fujiro walked into the classroom, interrupting Nishikata's words, "Alright, quiet down, the sooner I finish, the sooner everyone can leave school."
When in school, few sentences had more appeal than this one, and the noisy classroom immediately quieted down.
"Let's take a group photo after school."
Nishikata said in a low voice and stopped talking, listening carefully to Teacher Fujiro's words along with Tsuna in front of him.
"Clap, clap, clap..." Teacher Fujiro clapped her hands, a subtle smile on her face, "Dismissed, I hope everyone gets good grades."
Everyone said goodbye to Teacher Fujiro on the podium one by one, and most of the girls also asked to take a photo with Teacher Fujiro. She didn't refuse and put on a clear smile.
The group of five was not left out either; Teacher Fujiro stood in the center, and three years of time were captured in a small photograph.