I knew it!
He was definitely going to get hit!
That was so satisfying!
Watching the boy clutch his head as if he were about to cry out in pain, along with the large red swelling on it, Chiba secretly reveled in his misfortune. Yet because of some subconscious fear triggered by what had just happened, he remained rooted in place.
"He ended up like this because of Yukina."
However, Chiba's delight was abruptly cut short. Kushina had already walked to his side. After leaving him with a meaningful smile and those words, she disappeared through the entrance, her footsteps slowly ascending the stairs.
That smile, brimming with the threat of just try not to heal him, made Chiba shudder from head to toe.
"Is that you?"
At that moment, the boy's voice rang out upon noticing him. There was surprise in his tone, along with some inexplicable emotion. The beginning of the question sounded startled, but by its end, his voice had become subdued, perhaps even dejected.
"Ahem!"
Chiba coughed lightly, concealing the embarrassment of having been frightened by Kushina. At the same time, he finally turned his gaze fully toward the boy. When he saw the boy sitting on the wooden bed beneath the firelight, his faint, not-yet-hidden embarrassment instantly vanished, and he frowned.
Though he disliked the boy before him, he had never expected him to end up in such a state. The question slipped out immediately.
"Y-you... what happened to you?"
Chiba's face was already filled with gravity.
Even while upstairs, he had sensed that what he was about to see below might be more troubling than the situation he had previously understood.
But he had never imagined it would be this troubling.
He knew the boy before him, and knew him quite well. In a