After changing their shoes at the entrance, Ajitani walked into the house and looked around, asking curiously, "Grandma, where's Grandpa?"
"Your grandpa went to the pier to play chess with Old Uncle Deng." The old woman, preparing to cut watermelon for them in the kitchen, reminded Ajitani once more:
"Ajitani, the rooms on the second floor are all tidied up. Take your classmates upstairs, put down your luggage, and rest for a bit. You must be exhausted from the car ride, right?"
Meeting the old woman's kind gaze, Nishikata awkwardly clutched his backpack straps and shook his head repeatedly to indicate he was fine.
"Let's go."
The wooden staircase creaked under the weight of five people's footsteps.
"Miyamura, you and Nishikata will be in one room, and the three of us girls will be in another." The group stood in the wooden corridor on the second floor, and Ajitani pointed to two adjacent rooms.
"Mm-hmm." Tsuna and Nishikata nodded simultaneously.
"Of course, if you want to be with Shouko-chan—"
"Let's go, Ajitani-chan. I suddenly feel so tired."
"Mmm… mmm…"
Before she could finish her teasing remark, Shouko, who was beside her, suddenly covered her mouth. Takagi, in tacit cooperation with Shouko, pulled open the wooden door and let Shouko drag her into the room.
"See you later, you two." Takagi gave Nishikata a playful wink before stepping into the room and closing the door.
"Stop looking, the door's already closed." Tsuna patted Nishikata's shoulder. "Let's go in and put down our luggage too."
"Oh… oh, right."
As Tsuna pushed open the blue wooden door, a faint scent of camphor wafted out.
The room was about fifteen square meters, with some yellowed marks on the walls and a light gray water stain from rain seeping in near the window on the ceiling.
On the left were two blue-and-white checkered bedsheets, folded and placed on the yellowed tatami. The old-fashioned wicker wardrobe door directly opposite the entrance didn't close properly, revealing half a clothes hanger and folded towels.
In the corner stood a metal drying rack with peeling paint, on which hung a dark sun protection shirt that had been forgotten.
"To think we'll be staying at the class monitor's house for seven days… It's a bit hard to imagine." Nishikata placed his bag on the folding table under the window and began to examine the room they would be staying in for seven days.
"There's a lot more you can't imagine." Tsuna teased, casually tossing his backpack onto the tatami and sitting cross-legged.
"Thump, thump, thump…"
The two, still discussing how to spend the next seven days, simultaneously looked at the wooden door.
"The door's not locked."
Ajitani opened the door, covering her eyes with both hands. "You two didn't do anything bad in there, did you…?"
"…" Tsuna looked at her hands covering her eyes, but the gap between her fingers couldn't block her sight, making him a little speechless.
"Class monitor, what bad things could two males do in a room?"
"I wouldn't know." Ajitani shrugged, muttering softly.
"Tsuna, Ajitani-chan said she's taking us to stroll around town. Want to come along?" Just then, Shouko popped out from behind Ajitani.
"Then let's go."
The wooden staircase creaked and groaned as the five of them walked down.
"Grandma, I'm taking my friends out for a stroll. We'll be back later."
"What about the watermelon—"
"We'll eat it when we get back."
Ajitani smiled and waved, then linked arms with Shouko and Takagi, leading them forward. Tsuna politely said goodbye to the old woman and followed the three.
Nishikata, mimicking Tsuna, stiffly said his goodbyes and hurried to catch up with him.
The gray-blue coastline was cut into a jagged shape by the breakwater. The concrete road undulated with the terrain, flanked by two-story residential buildings with blue roofs and white walls.
On both sides of the sloped road in the town center stood Showa-era izakayas, with plastic lanterns swaying from the eaves. Faded pink noren curtains were printed with the characters "Hamayaki" and "Teishoku."
A wooden pier extended from the reef area, with a dozen fishing rods all pointing toward the deep blue sea, their floats bobbing with the waves.
Due to being by the sea, Tsuna noticed that most of the passersby he saw during their stroll had darker complexions.
"Should we go buy swimsuits?" The group stood at a crossroads waiting for the traffic light. Ajitani checked the time and suggested.
The town was neither too big nor too small. In just over an hour, under the guidance of Ajitani, the four of them had gained a general understanding of this seaside town.
"Sounds good."
Shouko and Takagi had no objections. They had already planned to go to the beach that afternoon; now they just needed some nice swimsuits.
Nishikata, who had almost wilted, instantly perked up upon hearing this.
"Then let's go." Ajitani saw that the two boys behind her also had no objections, so she pulled Takagi beside her and walked back.
"We passed a swimsuit shop just now. Let's go there, buy what we need, and then go back to rest."
"Tsuna, will you help me choose later?" Shouko moved to Tsuna's side.
Seeing this, Ajitani and Takagi exchanged glances and, with unspoken understanding, started talking to Nishikata, trying to draw him away from Tsuna to give the two ample space to chat.
Tsuna watched Nishikata being led away by Takagi and the others, feeling a bit helpless and amused at the same time.
"Me choose?"
"Yes, you help me choose, and I'll help you choose." Shouko nodded.
She silently thanked the two ahead. If Nishikata had been there, she would have felt a little embarrassed to discuss this topic.
"I have to buy one too?" Tsuna was a little surprised. "I even brought the school swimsuit the school gave me."
"…"
Unlike the two behind them discussing swimsuits, the three leading the way released Nishikata once they had created some distance.
"Takagi-chan, it's been a semester now. Don't you think Miyamura has any plans to confess?"
After saying that, Ajitani gave Nishikata a blatant look.
"I don't know." Takagi watched the children chasing and playing ahead, shrugging. "In junior high, early relationships were forbidden, but I'm not sure about high school. Still, they definitely have feelings for each other."
With that, she also glanced at Nishikata, just like Ajitani.
"…"
"Then will they just skip the dating process and throw their marriage certificate in our faces?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Ajitani turned her head and stared at Nishikata for a moment.
"…"
After that, every time they said something, they would look at Nishikata, making him almost forget how to walk.
"Expected second semester—"
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Nishikata raised his hand to interrupt their conversation. "I know what you mean, but Miyamura has never told me when he's going to confess, okay…?"
"No way?" Ajitani clearly didn't believe him.
"Why would I lie to you?" Nishikata spread his hands helplessly. "When we're together, we usually talk about anime or games or something. We've never even talked about romance…"
"…"
Takagi and Ajitani questioned him a few more times, but seeing that he genuinely knew nothing, they could only let him go.
As they neared the swimsuit shop, Ajitani and Takagi discussed for a while before suddenly both turned to look at him.
"By the way, Nishikata, can I ask you for a favor?" Ajitani spoke first.
"Wh-wh-what?" Under Takagi's direct gaze, Nishikata couldn't help but feel a little nervous.