Of course, in Toneri's own understanding, he had had no intention of confessing. He had said those words purely because he was moved.
But to anyone else listening, there was no difference between that and a confession.
No wonder Hanabi was so flustered now.
"T-Toneri-kun, th-this is too sudden. I'm not mentally prepared yet..."
Hanabi stammered as she touched her burning red cheeks with her left hand.
"Huh? Prepared? Prepared for what?"
Clearly, Hanabi's response had left the straight-laced Toneri utterly confused as well.
He had merely been expressing his gratitude to Hanabi. What did she need to prepare for?
Just then, Naruto's voice happened to reach Toneri's ears.
"Uncle Soji, Toneri is confessing to Hanabi, right?"
Naruto asked Soji beside him in an uncertain tone.
As for Naruto's form of address for Soji, he simply was not used to calling him Cousin Uncle, so he decided to keep calling him Uncle instead.
Soji did not object to that.
It was just a form of address. It was no big deal.
"Whoosh!"
However, the moment Toneri heard Naruto's unquieted words, his face turned redder than a monkey's butt!
It had to be said that, having had little contact with other people, Toneri was still rather shy.
He had not realized at all that what he had said was no different from a confession.
After hearing Naruto say that, Toneri finally understood.
Come to think of it, his words really had been no different from a confession!
Toneri might not have understood much about human relationships, but that did not mean he was stupid.
If Naruto had already pointed it out and he still did not understand what he had just said, then he really would have grown up for nothing!
"N-No! Miss Hanabi, please listen to my explanation. I-I really