My childhood sweetheart is Nishimiya Glass

Chapter 294 The Test of Courage?

"Won't there be any danger?"

Ayami took a bite off the tip of her popsicle, shook her head, and said in a muffled voice:
"No, there will be signs to guide you, and the organizers will also check for potential hazards before the event starts."

“But these two are a pair…” Nishikata’s gaze shifted from the children chasing and playing in the distance, and he hesitated, unsure how to begin.

"You guys can participate then, I'll skip it. I've participated seven or eight times already." Ayumi Azurani waved her hand dismissively.
"That area will never change, and there are no staff members dressed as ghosts to scare people anymore; we've long since gotten tired of it."

"But--"

Ayumi snapped her fingers. "Alright, it's decided then."

Having said that, she stood up, aimed at the trash can not far away, and made a precise shot. Then, satisfied, she turned back to look at the four people.
"Let's go, let's collect some pretty seashells and then go home!"

"Uh-huh."

I ate two meals of grilled squid by the fishing port, watched the fishing boats go out early and return late, and refilled the orange soda in the convenience store freezer. Two days of summer vacation passed by in the sound of cicadas.

At the yukata rental shop, yukatas were piled high on the wooden racks. Shoko and her friends were leisurely picking out different patterns, while the shop assistant was squatting down adjusting their obi (sashes). The curtain of the fitting room swayed every now and then.

Ayumi Ajitani watched as Tsuna was pushed into the changing room by Shoko to try on a yukata. She gave Takagi a raised eyebrow and a look, and the other immediately understood and went to hold Shoko back, while she moved closer to Nishikata.

"Nishikata, how's the thing I asked you to do the day before yesterday? Did you get any information out of him?"

"..."

The old fan overhead creaked and groaned, and the sound of cicadas drifted in from outside the door, leaving Nishikata momentarily speechless.

He recalled that over the past two days, every time he asked Miyamura about it, the other party would cleverly change the subject, and each time it ended in failure...

"So it failed?" Ayumi Ajitani guessed the answer at a glance, seeing his hesitant expression.

“Hmm…” Nishikata nodded with difficulty.

"That's it."

Ayumi Ajitani waved her hand helplessly. She hadn't had high hopes to begin with, and it was somewhat unrealistic to expect Nishikata to get information out of Miyamura.

"Don't worry, I will pay you the fee for the commission."

“No…no need, it’s just a question—” Nishikata instinctively wanted to shake his head to refuse, but he stopped when he heard about the reward she mentioned…

"I'll find a way to put you in a group with Takagi for tonight's test of courage," Ayumi Ajitani promised, patting her barren chest.

“Isn’t this bad…?”

"What's wrong with that? Isn't it normal for men and women to be in a group? Do you really want to be in a group with Shoko-chan?!"

"No, no, no, pretend I didn't say anything."

Nishikata quickly shut up. Seeing Miyamura come out of the dressing room, he decisively distanced himself from her, afraid that she would change her mind, and also afraid that Miyamura would hear what he just said and then strangle him.

"How is it?" Tsuna walked up to Shoko and the other girl. He felt the linen fabric rubbing against his skin and it was a little itchy. The new yukata still had a faint smell of starch.

He planned to buy a new yukata directly. He didn't know how many people had worn the rented yukatas. Although they would be cleaned, he still felt a little uncomfortable about them.

"You're very handsome, young man." Before Shoko could even comment, the middle-aged male shop assistant stepped forward, repeatedly looking her up and down and praising her.
"The dark bamboo leaf pattern is positioned perfectly at the shoulder line, making the person look particularly upright. With the belt tightened, the lines of the shoulders and back are highlighted, giving me a bit of my handsomeness back in the day."

"..." The scattered customers present were speechless, especially when their gazes fell on the two of them, they were even more speechless.

"..." Tsuna couldn't stand the other person's incessant chatter, which consisted almost entirely of praise that was never repeated.

Finally, after receiving Shoko's feedback, she immediately bought the gray yukata she was wearing. When leaving the yukata shop, Shoko also bought a yukata that was mainly white with blue cherry blossoms as embellishments, while Takagi rented an orange and white yukata.

Under the persuasion of the shop assistant, Nishikata eventually rented a black yukata, while Ayumi Ajitani came empty-handed and left empty-handed. After all, she lived there and could still wear the yukata she bought two years ago.

----------

The fireworks display booths had just set up their lights when the sea had already swallowed half of the sun.

The streetlights lit up one after another along the breakwater, and the waves, carrying fragments of gold, crashed onto the shore.

Ayumi Ayami's wooden clogs clattered on the floor, mingling with the chirping of cicadas outside, as she eagerly announced, "Ready to go!"

"Remember to be careful when you're playing outside." Grandma Acigu wiped her wet hands with a tissue as she walked out of the kitchen, reminding her again.

Ayumi Azumi turned to look at the old woman: "Grandma, are you really not coming with us? I heard it's going to be a lot of fun this time."

“Whenever you say this, don’t you say it?” Grandma Acigu chuckled and waved her hand. “I’m getting ready to sleep soon.”

"alright."

Seeing that nothing was being done, Ayumi stopped trying to persuade them and waited for Shoko and Nishikata, who were chatting in the living room.

"Class monitor, should we go straight to the courage test or wander around first?"

Once she sat down, Tsuna shifted the conversation to her, hoping she could distract the somewhat talkative Nishikata.

"Let's go check out the stalls on the beach first. The stalls there change every year, so I'm really looking forward to it."

Afterwards, Ayumi Ajitani shared some interesting stalls she encountered the year before last with the two of them. Tsuna and Ajitani listened quietly, nodding from time to time.

Grandma Acigu sat with them for a while before getting up to go to the bathroom.

"Is the glass still ready?" Ayumi asked curiously as she watched Takagi come down in his yukata.

"Just a few more minutes." Takagi glanced at Nishikata's reaction without batting an eye, then sat down in the chair next to her, satisfied, and asked curiously:

"Miyamura, isn't the second volume of 'Anohana' going to be released in a few days?"

Tsuna nodded and guessed, "Did Shoko tell you?"

He hadn't actually mentioned the specific release date of the second volume of "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day" to anyone, only revealing that it would be during the summer vacation.

“No.” Takagi shook her head, took out her phone from the pocket hanging on her waist, and showed him its contents:

"Futaba Publishing's official website just released the first preview of 'Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day,' saying that 'Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Volume 8' will be released in August, so I guessed it would be in the next few days."

"Really?!" Ayumi Ajitani took Takagi's phone and looked at the announcement message.

"If it's going to be released in the next few days, will we be able to buy it at a bookstore nearby?" Nishikata asked curiously, while also worrying that he wouldn't be able to buy it right away.

"I'm not sure if we can buy it here, but don't worry, it won't be released before we go back to Tokyo."

Tsuna chuckled and shrugged, revealing inside information to them: "It's going to be released next Thursday. If nothing unexpected happens, we should already be home."

"Thursday!? Is it genuine?" Ayumi Azurani's eyes lit up as she looked up at him.

"..."

"Class monitor, I'm the author..."

(End of this chapter)