The Sound of a Silent Life

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Someone actually wants to snatch my Tsuna!? And they confessed to him before me? This is too much! The point is, can't the other person see that I'm the one who's inseparable from Tsuna? Is this a provocation!?

What if Tsuna agrees? Wouldn't that be like imprisonment in those TV dramas? That's not good... Auntie and Mom wouldn't approve.

Unlike the random thoughts in Shouko's mind, Tsuna recovered from his brief surprise instantly. The first thing he did was ask if it was her prank. When he looked up and saw that the girl was stunned, he immediately dismissed the idea.

"This, this, this..." Shouko stuttered when she saw him looking at her, but kept freezing at the start, her brain completely overloaded.

"Shouko, calm down first. I don't think it's what we think it is," Tsuna hurriedly reassured her, afraid her little head would get too tangled up.

Shouko thought he made sense, prayed silently in her heart, didn't reply, put down the schoolbag in her hand, and went over to wait for him to open it.

Tsuna slowly opened the pink envelope, and inside was a piece of pink paper. He thought that if nothing unexpected happened, it really was a confession letter.

"Tsuna, take it out and have a look!" Shouko also saw the paper inside, but when she noticed he hadn't taken it out for a long time, she got almost incoherent.

"Yes, yes!" At that moment, a sudden female voice sounded, and her tone clearly showed her impatience.

"Ah!" The voice startled Shouko, and Tsuna, standing next to her, had already noticed the girl when he opened the envelope.

Still in shock, Shouko turned her head to look at the source of the voice. Only when she saw it was a familiar friend did she slowly calm down and ask in confusion, "Class monitor, you scared me! But why are you here?"

"Sorry, sorry." The class monitor stood in the aisle on Shouko's side, gave her an apologetic look, then waved his hand and chuckled as he explained:

"I was on duty today. When I came back to the classroom, I saw you two sneaking around here, like you were about to do something shady, so I quietly came to check." After he finished, he exaggeratedly covered his mouth, then said:

"I didn't expect Miyamura to receive a love letter — but then again, it'd be strange if Miyamura didn't get a love letter."

"No, no! It's not a love letter!" Shouko protested unhappily when she heard that. She hadn't even read it yet; how did he know it was a love letter? She retorted in frustration.

"Then we won't keep you from cleaning. Shouko and I will leave first." Tsuna grabbed her schoolbag from the table with the hand holding the letter, and with his other hand, he led Shouko past the class monitor and out.

The monitor quickly tried to stop them. "Don't go! I'm curious too!" But there was no response, and the two just walked faster.

"Tsuna, Tsuna, take it out and let me see!" As soon as they walked out of the school gate, Shouko couldn't wait any longer.

Tsuna nodded silently, loosened his grip, opened the envelope, pulled out the paper, and quickly read it. He shifted his gaze from the top, glanced at her, and said lightly, "It's a love letter."

"What!" Shouko froze where she stood, her eyes seeming to lose their sparkle.

Seeing her reaction, Tsuna secretly chuckled, then finished what he hadn't said yet: "It's anonymous though. It's probably just a prank or something."

When Shouko heard that, she instantly perked up, looked up into his eyes, and asked urgently, "Really?" Then she realized she was too slow and snatched the pink paper from his hand.

He didn't get angry at her for snatching it. Instead, he raised his hand and gently rubbed her head, saying softly, "Why would I lie to you?"

It said how she admired him, how she liked him, how she swore she'd do this and that in the future, and how he had unintentionally given her motivation; but unfortunately, after reading the whole thing, there was no name anywhere.

Shouko read it carefully two or three times. After confirming she hadn't missed anything and that it really was anonymous, she quietly let out a sigh of relief and chuckled, "I knew it was a prank the moment I saw it."

"Really?" Tsuna looked at her teasingly, reached out to take the paper from her hand, and put it back into the envelope.

Shouko nodded guiltily. "Yes!"

Tsuna casually humored her, "Yes, yes, Shouko is the best. She could tell it was a prank right away." He stuffed the letter into her schoolbag. Some things just weren't fun once exposed.

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"Aunt Shizuka, I'm back!" After Tsuna opened the door, Shouko shouted into the house.

"There are snacks in the refrigerator," Shizuka's voice called from the living room.

The two slipped on their slippers at the entrance and walked into the living room, where they saw Shizuka standing on the tatami in a strange posture. Shouko couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Auntie, what are you doing?"

Before Shizuka could answer, Tsuna spoke up, "She's practicing yoga." Sometimes he really didn't get the point of it.

17:26 PM

"Mom, did you see the envelope I left on the coffee table?" Tsuna asked after Shouko left the entrance. When he returned to the living room, he found that the love letter he'd taken from Shouko's schoolbag was gone. He asked Shizuka, who was preparing dinner in the kitchen.

"No, what about it?"

"Nothing." Tsuna figured he'd just misplaced it and started searching the whole living room, including the dining area.

"What are you looking for?" Shizuka asked, watching her son rummage around before finally giving in to her curiosity. Tsuna waved her off and said lightly, "Forget it. It's nothing important." He figured Shouko probably took it back secretly; otherwise, how could something so obvious just disappear?

Unlike people who hold their phone while looking for their phone, or use their phone to call their mom or roommate to ask where their phone is.

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The next day at school, aside from Tsuna himself, only the class monitor and Shouko knew about the confession, but the class monitor wasn't a gossip, and Shouko was even less likely to spread it, so no one else in class knew that Tsuna had received a love letter.

In the afternoon, just one class period before school ended, Tsuna was surprised to pull a magenta envelope from the gap in his desk again.

This time was completely different from yesterday. Yesterday, the other person took advantage of him going to P.E. to slip it in. But today, except for a quick bathroom break, he hadn't left his seat at all.

And when he went to the bathroom, Shouko was sitting right next to him, so it was really suspicious...

"Alright, class is starting, everyone back to your seats." Before Tsuna could check the letter, he was interrupted by Teacher Minagawa, who had just walked in.

"What's wrong, Tsuna?" Shouko had just returned to her seat from Miu's side. Seeing him deep in thought with his head down, she couldn't help but ask curiously.

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