Tsuna was startled when someone suddenly spoke to him, so he quickly turned around and went back to his desk, fearing he would smudge it on him.
"Clap! Clap!" Tsuna rested on the table briefly, then heard applause. He looked up to see where the sound was coming from and then heard the loud voice of Teacher Yoshinaga. "Children, please go to your seats and sit down. The teacher is going to call the roll!"
The children who had been playing at the back of the classroom, along with the strange couple seated behind Tsuna, quietly returned to their seats, gently waking those who had drifted off to their desks.
Standing on the podium, Teacher Yoshinaga held a notebook in her right hand and carefully opened the first page with her left. Her gaze swept over the classroom. Once she confirmed that everyone was seated, she began to read the names aloud, one by one, her voice steady and clear.
"Miyamura Tsunayoshi!"
"Here!" Tsuna was the first to respond, his voice ringing out clearly. The children behind him quickly followed suit, echoing his call. Each time Teacher Yoshinaga read a name, another loud "Here!" would erupt—until it became a playful competition to see who could shout the loudest.
After finishing the roll call, Teacher Yoshinaga noticed that three children hadn't responded. She looked up and addressed the class:
"Everyone, stay in your seats. The teacher needs to make a phone call and will be back soon."
With that, she picked up her notebook and left the Sunflower Class, leaving the room unusually quiet behind her.
Teacher Yoshinaga stepped outside the classroom and leaned against the wall beside the door. Her eyes drifted toward the kindergarten's entrance. Then, reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her mobile phone and began dialing the number of the first child who hadn't responded to roll call.
The first two parents said the same thing. The children refused to come to the kindergarten, saying that there were bad people in the kindergarten. Seeing that their children resisted so fiercely, the parents were worried that their children were bullied in the kindergarten, so they had no choice but to change kindergartens and come to discuss the refund of tuition at noon.
Teacher Yoshinaga looked at the string of numbers next to the last name, "Nohara Shinnosuke", and continued to dial the phone. Still, after two or three consecutive times showing that no one answered, Teacher Yoshinaga took a deep breath, put away the phone, and turned to walk into the classroom.
Just as Teacher Yoshinaga lifted her left foot, a loud shout came from far behind her: "Wait! Teacher Yoshinaga!"
Teacher Yoshinaga turned and looked at the kindergarten gate, and saw a bicycle rushing into the kindergarten at a very fast speed. When she got closer, she found that Shinnosuke was sitting in the back with his eyes closed, and the one riding the bicycle in front was Shinnosuke's mother, Nohara Misae.
When they were about to reach the kindergarten's entrance, Nohara Misae, who was riding a bicycle, braked suddenly and stopped steadily in front of Teacher Yoshinaga. Nohara Misae smiled awkwardly and said to Teacher Yoshinaga, "Sorry, Teacher Yoshinaga, I overslept today. Shinnosuke is in your care."
After explaining the reason, Nohara Misae turned around and shook Shinnosuke, who was sleeping, then untied the rope tied to Shinnosuke, carried him off the bike and handed him to Teacher Yoshinaga, and then rode away quickly on the bike.
Teacher Yoshinaga looked at the figure of Shinnosuke's parents leaving quickly, chuckled twice, and without saying anything, took the confused Shinnosuke into the Sunflower Class and sat him down, then asked everyone to be quiet and started today's formal teaching.
————————
The peaceful kindergarten life began like this, repeating almost every day. Specifically, Tsuna would go to eat lunch and take a nap with Shoko every noon. He would take Shoko to wash her hands before eating, and then drink some warm water before eating her lunch. After the nap, he would help Shoko put on her shoes and tie her shoelaces.
The children in the Sakura Class had long grown accustomed to seeing Tsuna by Shoko's side. At first, a few of the girls envied her, but in time, even that faded into quiet acceptance.
Teacher Ageo always watched them interact with a warm smile. In the beginning, Shoko secretly thought of her as a pervert. Later, Tsuna explained the reason to Shoko, and she felt relieved.
Tsuna had made a strong impression from the very beginning in the Sunflower Class. The little girls loved playing with him—they thought he was nothing like the boys who still wet their pants or burst into tears during class. Tsuna was different. And he was adorable.
But as time went on, Tsuna began to disappear whenever lunchtime arrived. He stopped playing with the other children in the Sunflower Class. Gradually, he faded into the background, almost like a transparent figure no one noticed.
He only really knew the five-member group led by Nohara Shinnosuke and got along well with them. As for the rest of the class, Tsuna didn't even remember their names.
In the blink of an eye, three months of this quiet, carefree life had slipped by.
On this day, the Sakura Class had physical education—a weekly session set apart from their regular lessons. The sandpit and slide in the playground were reserved especially for them, giving the children a chance to unwind and play freely.
"Dong... Dong... Dong..." The lunch bell rang steadily. Teacher Ageo quickly gathered the children playing outside, guiding them back to the Sakura Class to prepare their lunch boxes.
Shoko walked back to her seat and carefully pulled out her and Tsuna's lunchboxes from the hole in the table. Today, both had been lovingly prepared by Yaeko early that morning during her rare break. Shoko's heart swelled with happiness and a sense of something precious—she couldn't wait to share the meal with Tsuna.
Shoko untied the black cloth strips wrapped around the two lunchboxes, then tucked the cloth neatly back into the hole in the table. Holding a lunchbox in each hand, she skipped over to Teacher Age,o standing by the podium. With a bright smile, she said happily to her:
"Teacher Ageo, I'm going to go find Tsuna to eat lunch together, okay?"
Teacher Ageo glanced at Shoko, who was acting coquettishly with her and thought back to the past three months. During that time, Shoko had visited the Sunflower Class several times to find Tsuna and each time, Tsuna had stayed by her side.
Teacher Ageo instantly retracted her thoughts, stretched out her left hand, touched Shoko's little head, and said in a gentle voice: "Yeah, go ahead."
Shoko nodded happily in response and left the Sakura Class at a brisk pace.
On the way, she also met a little boy with a crew cut and a little boy with a mushroom head who came out of the Sunflower Class to use the restroom. She had been to the Sunflower Class several times and remembered their appearance.
"Good afternoon." She happily greeted the two and walked past them to continue walking to the Sunflower Class.
Mushroom Head and Short Hair ignored her completely—they didn't even catch what Shoko had said. Suddenly, Short Hair stopped, a thought striking him. He turned to Mushroom Head and muttered,
"She's that little weirdo who's always hanging around that kid, isn't she?"
After Short Hair spoke, Mushroom Head's eyes narrowed as he suddenly remembered who Shoko was. Thinking of the monsters from the recent Ultraman movie, he leaned closer and said mysteriously to Short Hair,
"Do you think she's one of those monsters lurking in the world? She wears that red decoration every day, and her way of speaking is just as strange as those creatures.
And that kid… so arrogant and cocky—it's probably because he's got a little monster by his side."
After Mushroom Head's reminder, Short Hair suddenly caught on. He glanced at Mushroom Head, whose hatred for Tsuna was already clear. Wanting to set an example, Short Hair held Mushroom Head back just as he was about to charge forward, and said:
"Let me go first, I recently learned the dynamic flying kick, let me show you how powerful I am."
Shoko was facing away from them, completely unaware of their intentions, with several meters of space separating her from the two boys.
The buzz-cut boy mimicked the action hero he'd seen on TV. He ran forward, and just as he neared Shoko, he leapt into the air and kicked her hard in the back.
Shoko was not prepared at all and was still walking forward happily. Even the person with the lunch box in her arms was kicked and slid about one meter along the concrete floor.
She stood frozen, her whole body aching—her knees and arms burning with sharp pain. Half of her face felt numb, while her nose throbbed with warmth. The hearing aid in her left ear had fallen to the ground, and the two lunchboxes lay scattered nearby, tossed aside by the impact.
Shoko looked at the scattered food on the ground and wanted to put it back. Her mother said that if she wasted food and was picky about food, she would stop Tsuna from playing with her, but she found that she could not stand up at all, and red liquid began to drip continuously on the gray concrete floor.
Shoko began to cry loudly, unable to bear the sharp pain coursing through her body. Through her tears, she saw one foot kick the lunchbox aside, while the other stomped over the scattered food. Believing that Tsuna would have no lunch today because of her, her sobs grew louder and more desperate.