When they paid the bill, Lu spent half the money in the envelope Chisen had given him.
The afternoon sunlight had grown much gentler.
The three left Yakiniku Q and wandered aimlessly along Konoha's shopping street.
Emi bought a serving of Three-Color Dango and two matcha shaved ices from a roadside dessert stall.
She pushed one of the shaved ices into Hei Lingqi's hands.
"After eating barbecue, the temperature inside your mouth is elevated.
Eating something cold constricts the blood vessels and helps restore the sensitivity of your taste nerves." Emi solemnly used principles of pathology to explain her reason for eating dessert.
Hei Lingqi held the cup of shaved ice, cold vapor rising from it, and scooped a spoonful into his mouth with a plastic spoon.
The intense cold mingled with the slight bitterness of matcha and the sweet freshness of syrup, triggering a faint, "ice-chilled" sensation in his cerebral cortex-
a stabbing pain.
He frowned slightly, but did not resist the sensation.
He realized he was beginning to distinguish between "pain from injury" and "stimulating tactile sensations."
Without realizing it, they reached a rise near the edge of Konoha.
An open lawn stretched across it. Ahead lay a river winding through the village, and behind them stood the enormous rock face carved with the faces of successive Hokage.
Quite a few ordinary villagers were flying kites with their children on the lawn. Colorful kites swooped and fluttered through the blue sky on the autumn wind.
Lu found a clean patch of grass and sat down, propping himself up with his hands behind him as he looked at the sky.
Emi sat beside him, slowly eating her Three-Color Dango.
Hei Lingqi stood at the edge of the lawn without sitting down.
He still held himself in a stance that