After discussing the novel for a few moments, Yuki returned to her seat with the book and continued her unfinished oil painting.
Shouko and Ajitani chatted briefly before Shouko continued coloring her unfinished illustration, while Ajitani stared blankly at the chibi character on her drawing board.
The book cover for Anohana and the promotional posters in the bookstore had been completed under her expedited work and then optimized by Futaba Publishing to reach their final versions.
If they had used her rushed color paintings directly, there would have been many issues.
Time passed unnoticed. As the five o'clock bell rang, Shouko and Ajitani packed up their things, greeted their seniors in the club, and left the Art Club.
After multiple failed attempts to persuade her along the way, Shouko could only explain the reason to Tsuna, who was waiting at the school gate, and the three of them walked together towards the bookstore on Futaba Street.
Tsuna thought about how long it had been since he had walked with Shouko, so he decided to park his motorcycle at the school gate and accompany the two.
It was just that Ajitani, who was chattering beside him, was a bit too bright...
Across the crosswalk, Tsuna and the two could see the Futaba Bookstore nestled on the street corner, its natural wood exterior glowing under the setting sun.
The entire glass window on the second floor looked like a honey cake, reflecting the gradually changing orange-pink sky.
A bronze wind chime hung at the entrance, and a promotional poster over a meter tall stood beside it. The content on it was exactly Anohana, which Tsuna had put on the shelves today.
Unlike the book cover, this time it featured the grown-up protagonist group gazing across space at the female lead. The sharp-eyed Ajitani even noticed an issue on the poster.
Ajitani pointed at the poster with a blue sky background, her heart filled with uncontrollable curiosity.
"Shouko-chan, why are Menma's eyes teary on the poster??"
This was a bit different from what Shouko had told them. Shouko said it was a healing story, but looking at the poster and the female lead's small expression, she couldn't see any healing at all.
"Ajitani-chan, it's just a poster. You can't tell anything from it. And if I told you, wouldn't it be a spoiler?"
Shouko brushed her off with a laugh. She no longer felt the guilt she had when she first lied.
Instead, she felt a little anticipation, looking forward to seeing Ajitani-chan's expressions and reactions when they read the content of the second volume.
She just inexplicably wanted to see it and satisfy her small 'wicked pleasure' at the same time.
Tsuna ignored the two behind him. As he pushed the door, a chime rang, and the cool air from the air conditioner mixed with the scent of paper wafted over him.
Four rows of bookshelves divided the space like a tic-tac-toe grid, with white signs with black lettering hanging at the top of each aisle.
The long wooden table by the window was the liveliest, with three girls in school uniforms sitting around it, their textbooks covering scratch paper filled with formulas.
"Is it faster to use vectors for this problem?" The ponytailed girl's mechanical pencil poked a small black dot on the paper.
The short-haired girl next to her suddenly slapped her thigh. "Wait! I have something similar in my mistake notebook from last week!"
Such discussions occurred almost daily in this bookstore.
The spiral staircase next to the cashier was painted mint green, and several books waiting to be shelved were stacked on the steps.
Intermittent laughter came from the second floor. Through the railing, several boys could be seen sitting in the tatami area, their backpack straps dangling and swaying from the low table.
The coffee machine gurgled in the corner, and the burnt aroma of latte floated in the air, mixed with a boy's hushed complaint from upstairs: "Why is this reference book thicker than a brick?"
The three entered the bookstore without attracting much attention; everyone continued to be busy with their own affairs.
Ajitani held Shouko's hand and, following the signs, went straight to the new book section of the light novel aisle.
Tsuna, on the other hand, went to the cashier and inquired with the female clerk about the sales of Anohana today.
However, even when Ajitani brought the light novel to pay, the female clerk did not reveal any information.
It wasn't until Ajitani successfully paid that the female clerk looked around and slowly spoke:
"If I remember correctly, this book has only sold about eight copies since it was put on the shelves at 8 AM this morning.
Most people just came to ask, understood the situation, and then left."
Tsuna thanked her and then walked out of the bookstore with Shouko, who was waiting.
To be honest, the result was similar to what he had expected, even slightly exceeding his expectations.
It was a new book by a new author, without any reputation. He thought selling five or six copies a day was good, especially since the price was also a factor; it was expensive.
Additionally, it was the first day of release, and the books were packaged in plastic wrap, prohibiting free browsing, which was another reason.
Tsuna and Shouko saw Ajitani off at the crossroads where they parted ways, and then the two returned to school.
It was past five in the evening in late April. Students who had just finished club activities walked out of the school gate with their school bags, their uniform shirts billowing in the wind.
They laughed in twos and threes, turning into convenience stores to buy iced sodas. The rumbling sound of the train passing on the distant tracks mixed with the cicadas' chirping, spreading through the air.
"Miyamura Auntie, I'm home!"
"I'm home."
Receiving no response, Tsuna guessed that his mom had probably gone grocery shopping and hadn't returned yet.
"Tsuna, when do you think our school will start swimming lessons?" Shouko, who had changed her shoes first, asked casually.
As the temperature rose, she was no longer satisfied with the old fans in the classroom and began to miss the two swimming lessons a week.
"In about half a month." Tsuna shrugged helplessly. "Shouko, you should be praying that our class isn't chosen to clean the swimming pool then."
"Have to clean the swimming pool...?"
"Yes, it's not like junior high. Our school's swimming pool needs to be cleaned once a week."
Tsuna didn't understand why she was surprised and walked into the living room ahead of her.
"Then the water in the swimming pool would be—"
Before she could finish, Tsuna waved his hand to interrupt. "Don't worry about that, it's changed daily; it's just cleaned once a week."
If the water was changed once a week, to be honest, he couldn't imagine what it would be like.
"Oh." Saying that, Shouko tossed her school bag onto the sofa and walked to the tatami beside him to sit down.
"That's fine then, everyone will clean it together, so it should be quick."
"Nanase-Sensei will probably only call six or seven people. For one classroom, Shouko, you should just forget about it."
"Oh."
With a few simple sentences, the topic ended. Shouko continued to start a new topic, while also taking the opportunity to take out the homework assigned by the teachers from her school bag to write.
Neither of them chose to bring up the sales of Anohana being put on shelves in the bookstore today.
Not long after, Shizuka returned home. Seeing this, Shouko also went back to help Granny Nishimiya prepare dinner, and Tsuna was also dragged by Shizuka to the kitchen to help out.