On Monday, the dismissal bell rang more languidly than usual. The students on duty slowly wiped the blackboard, and the homework assigned last Thursday was still piled by the podium.
A few girls squatted in front of the shoe cabinet, complaining about the Golden Week compensatory days off. Cicadas were already testing their voices on the bare cherry blossom branches, and the automatic door of a distant convenience store chimed as newly replenished soda water in the cooler dripped with condensation.
Tsuna and the others waved goodbye in the sunset.
Ajitani hopped onto her new bicycle, bought last weekend. The wheels had barely turned half a circle before she easily overtook Takagi Sana and Nishikata, who were walking side by side.
Before she could proudly ring her bell, a familiar engine sound came from behind her. Tsuna, carrying Shouko, sped past her on her left like a whirlwind.
Initially, she had wanted to walk back with Takagi, but after a week of thought, she decided to cycle to and from school.
Takagi and Nishikata were different from Tsuna and Shouko, so the clever Ayumi didn't want to disturb them.
And in the past few days, there had been more and more discussions in the class about Anohana, with most people speculating about the plot development of the second volume.
Even Nishikata, this morning, unable to contain his curiosity, asked about the author of this book.
"Miyamura, in the second volume of The Flower We Saw That Day, do Jinta Yadomi and his friends find a way to revive Menma?"
(Jinta Yadomi: Protagonist of Anohana)
Nishikata poked Tsuna's back with his pen, and as soon as Tsuna turned around, Nishikata couldn't help but ask with curiosity.
He had initially bought the book simply to support Miyamura, but he never expected to be so deeply drawn into it.
Especially with the increasing discussions among classmates about the book's plot, his curiosity grew even more.
There were still about ten minutes until class, and although his question wasn't loud, it completely caught the attention of Takagi-san and Ajitani nearby.
They were also very curious about this question, but they hadn't asked Shouko because they didn't want spoilers.
"Why do you think so?" Tsuna asked back with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh…" Nishikata organized his thoughts and explained his speculation:
"Only Jinta Yadomi can see Menma's soul, and I feel that's already a bit supernatural.
Combined with what happened between him and his friends later, I think there's a high possibility that the plot of the second volume is about reviving Menma.
And also, Shouko-chan told us it was a healing story, so that possibility is even greater."
Takagi and Ajitani, after hearing his analysis, actually found it quite reasonable.
Shouko looked at their thoughtful expressions, trying hard to control the corners of her mouth from turning upwards.
"Of course, that's assuming he's not a psychopath, but I believe Miyamura, you wouldn't write the male lead as a psychopath, otherwise you might get flamed by readers…"
Meanwhile, Nishikata stroked his chin, feigning deep thought. At this moment, he felt his IQ had surpassed Einstein's.
Tsuna couldn't help but applaud him after hearing it. For a moment, he even thought Nishikata's analysis was right—a genius, an absolute genius.
"So, do you want spoilers?"
"No." Nishikata waved his hand. "I'll wait for the second volume. Otherwise, if I hear the spoilers, I might not be interested in buying the second volume."
Tsuna shrugged at that, letting him be. Anyway, if Nishikata wanted to hear it, Tsuna would just make up a rough outline on the spot, following the direction Nishikata suggested.
"Nishikata, although your analysis makes a lot of sense, I think even if you ask Miyamura, no matter how smart Miyamura is, he can't tell you the subsequent plot. After all, he's not the author."
At this moment, a boy who was quite close to Nishikata leaned forward, interrupting their conversation.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Seeing that the few of them weren't speaking, his gaze subtly swept over Ajitani. Seeing her looking back at him, he secretly gloated and continued:
"Someone like Miyamura, who has such good grades, probably reads very few novels, right?"
"Hmm…"
Tsuna nodded. What the other person said was true; since he started writing novels in his first year of junior high, he really had read very few novels.
"So, Nishikata, it's useless for you to ask Miyamura. He probably hasn't even read this book, so if you have any questions about this novel, you might as well ask me."
The boy patted his chest:
"I've read this novel at least twice these past few days. I know all the hidden details inside, and I can even analyze about seventy to eighty percent of the content of the second volume."
Although the author of this book was also named Miyamura, there were countless people with the same name in Japan. He had never thought that the author Miyamura was this Miyamura in front of him.
Moreover, the Principal of this school also shared his surname. Why had no one ever suspected that he was the Principal's son? Although he indeed wasn't…
"..." x4
Tsuna was different from the other four; he was listening with great interest.
Seeing that the five of them weren't speaking, he wanted to say something more, but he was interrupted by the ringing of the class bell.
He hastily left with a remark: "I'll come back after class to analyze it for you," and returned to his seat.
"Miyamura, Sato doesn't have a problem with you, he's just a bit—"
"Stop, stop, stop." Tsuna raised his hand to interrupt him. "Don't worry, I know what you mean. I didn't misunderstand. And surprisingly, I'm quite interested in hearing his analysis."
This person is a bit 'pretentious'… He completed the interrupted sentence in his mind for Nishikata.
Nishikata, seeing this, said nothing more.
The few of them had all promised Shouko and Tsuna to keep it a secret, so they had never revealed that Tsuna was the author of this book.
Naturally, no one in the class knew, unless Tsuna held some kind of book signing event…
The time for one class passed in a blink of an eye, with someone lost in thought.
The boy named Sato also returned to the back row and began to analyze the continuation of Anohana for the others.
As they listened, everyone gradually realized that his main purpose for being there wasn't analysis, but Ajitani…
With his constant glances towards Ajitani, anyone with eyes could understand.
However, to be fair, his analysis also made sense to everyone.
The yawn from morning reading hadn't finished, the lunch box from noon break was already empty, the sunset stretched the shadow of the student on duty long and pinned it to the blackboard, someone's water bottle in the back of the classroom clattered to the floor, and the dismissal bell, mixed with the sound of the baseball club hitting balls, exploded in the twilight.
---
The next morning…
"Uh…"
"That shouldn't be…" Shouko, who had been half-asleep, instantly woke up.
"I just bought it not long ago… Why is it so hard to put on today… It was fine yesterday…"
Shouko, refusing to believe it, tried to button it a few more times, finally taking a deep breath before successfully fastening it.
"As long as I don't do any strenuous exercise today…" Shouko muttered and continued to change her clothes.
There was definitely no time to buy a new one now; she would have to wait until after school today. But fortunately… there was no physical education class today, so there wouldn't be any strenuous exercise…
Shouko sighed softly, only able to silently blame a certain person. Lately, because she hadn't been exercising much… and because of a certain person's frequent feeding…