"Okay, your physical examination reports, the class monitor will help hand them out."
Teacher Minagawa walked into the classroom with a stack of white papers and passed them to the little girl with round glasses sitting in the front row.
"Tsuna, you guessed right, the physical reports really are being handed out today."
When Shouko heard Teacher Minagawa's words, she turned in surprise to look at the boy sprawled lazily on the desk beside her.
Tsuna turned his head lazily to look at her profile, nodding offhandedly. "Yeah."
Every year, on the second Monday of the term, the whole grade had their physicals. The next day, Teacher Minagawa would come in with the reports, three years running, never late. There was nothing to guess.
Shouko ignored his half-hearted attitude and was about to say something when a girl's voice interrupted her.
"Shouko, Miyamura — these are yours." The class monitor came down the aisle next to Shouko's desk, handing the top two reports to her.
Shouko took them politely with both hands and said softly, "Thank you." The class monitor gave her a quick smile before moving on.
Shouko placed Tsuna's copy on his desk and murmured, "Tsuna, here's yours." Then she picked up her own and began reading it carefully.
Tsuna didn't even glance at his report. He felt as if he were tossed into a field; he could plow a few acres for some cows, and there was no way that anything was wrong with him. So instead, he lay lazily on his desk, quietly admiring the side profile of the girl who'd been with him for nine years now, almost ten.
She wasn't quite the same little girl anymore, she didn't flush bright red just because he or his mom teased her, she wasn't so easy to fool, and sometimes she'd even talk back with a bit of reason. Is this what Mom called growing up?
It wasn't just her mind; she'd grown taller, too. Yesterday, she'd come back from the checkup beaming about how she was 1.25 meters tall now. He was still ten centimeters taller; so for now, there was no risk of being overtaken. If he did end up shorter, though, wouldn't it be a bit ridiculous for him to protect and take care of her while looking up at her?
Well, that was only temporary. Everyone knew girls hit puberty faster. He was 1.35 meters tall now, but by fifth or sixth grade, or maybe middle school, she might shoot past him.
And it wasn't just her height, her round, chubby kindergarten cheeks were gone. The balance between cute and pretty tipped more and more toward pretty these days. Her skin was still fair, no matter how much sun she got, so fair that a light poke would probably leave a mark.
And maybe because she had him, always there, protecting her-she wasn't like some of the hearing-impaired kids he'd seen before.
She had a bright, gentle vibe about her.
Sometimes he still caught a flash of shyness or self-consciousness in her eyes, but that had mostly faded since kindergarten.
When she grew up, she'd be beautiful for sure; though he wondered what kind of yellow-haired boy would get to marry her in the future. Heh heh.
"Tsunayoshi, what are you grinning at? Do I have something on my face?" Shouko turned to him, curious. He was lying there watching her, giggling to himself every so often. She lifted a hand and touched her own cheek.
"Nothing. I just thought of something funny," Tsuna said lazily when she interrupted his thoughts.
Hearing that only piqued her curiosity. She glanced at Teacher Minagawa at the blackboard, no danger, then leaned in and whispered, "What's funny?" She really wanted to know, anything that made Tsuna laugh had to be worth hearing.
"You," he said plainly.
Shouko lightly tapped his arm, her face calm this time, not the slightest blush. "Don't joke around," she muttered, then turned her attention back to her own report, and his, since he hadn't even looked at it.
Seeing this, Tsuna let out a silent sigh.
Having done kindergarten and elementary twice now, he'd figured something out: the mind of a grade schooler came in two types. One was kindergarten to third grade, blissfully clueless. The other was fourth to sixth grade, starting to grasp the bigger truths, but still laughably childish next to older kids.
Starting around fourth grade, they'd begin to get embarrassed, get curious about boys and girls liking each other, and peek at the bigger world. Some girls started liking Japanese pop idols, male models, makeup, and fancy bags. Boys got hooked on anime, manga, sports, sketchy websites, and computer games.
Too bad, in this world, touchscreen phones were just starting to appear, mobile games were basically snake, plane shooting, or box pushing. Nothing more.
He'd noticed, too, that some girls started to find boys childish, which was fair, considering some boys did ridiculous things. Like grabbing friends in the hall to yell anime catchphrases and strike poses, jumping to slap door frames for no reason, pretending to shoot an invisible gun at a cute girl in the hallway, then muttering dramatically, "Ah... missed!" Or walking with friends and randomly competing to reach the highest tree branch overhead.
"Alright, Tsuna — here's yours back. It says you're healthy." Shouko finished reading his report and passed it to him.
"Got it. Now be good and listen to Teacher Minagawa's lesson," he said softly, his thoughts once again cut off by her.
Pa pa pa! Teacher Minagawa clapped her hands on the podium, drawing everyone's drifting attention back to her. She said mildly, "Okay, students, gather up your health reports and make sure to show them to your parents. For now, our main task is math class."
"Aaah..." A few kids groaned. Everyone knew math class was the dullest part of the day.
Pa pa! Teacher Minagawa rapped the podium again, less patient now. "Quiet down!"
Tsuna watched her with mild amusement. Back in first grade, everyone had been terrified of her. Now, after a few years, they all knew she was a classic 'cold face, warm heart' teacher — strict, but kind when it counted.
——————
Dong... Dong... Dong...!
"Okay, time for lunch break! For PE this afternoon, remember to go straight to the gym," Teacher Minagawa said, closing her textbook and putting it neatly in the corner of the podium before walking briskly out of the classroom.
"Yes! Lunchtime!" Miu jumped up in excitement, grabbed her lunchbox from her desk, and trotted over to Shouko and the others so they could eat together.