"Tsk..."
With a simultaneous click of their tongues, the two guards watched unwillingly as Chiba took Yukina's umbrella from their hands. Then, under their looks as if he were an idiot, they watched the pair walk into the rain and finally disappear behind the curtain of rainfall.
"How... is this kid usually so sharp? Even the Hokage hired him as acting Hokage assistant. Why does he seem so dense at a time like this?!"
Then one of the guards complained, his face full of exasperation.
"No! This isn't just being dense. He's missing a screw!"
The other guard—the one who had fetched Yukina's umbrella—complained even more bitterly.
This was agonizing!
It was simply too agonizing!
The atmosphere had been so perfect just now. They had even been planning to head out into the rain so as not to disturb the young couple. But unexpectedly, the girl had already stepped forward, and Chiba ended with an "oh," then bluntly changed the subject like some steel-hearted straight man, completely shattering that wonderful atmosphere.
They had even used the umbrella to remind him afterward, but this kid's head was practically made of rebar. He couldn't turn a corner at all! He had actually asked what they meant! This—what a perfect atmosphere that had been! And afterward, he had even made the girl accommodate him!
This was... this was...
Unbelievable!
With that atmosphere, he could have confessed!
And yet... and yet...
As they watched the drizzling rain outside, resentment surged through their hearts again.
"Still, perhaps only someone like Chiba would be the best choice for Yukina. A boy so oblivious to girls that he seems completely incapable of thinking in that direction."
But after that intense resentment, the indignation on the guard who had fetched the umbrella slowly faded. With a sigh, he