"What... what happened? What's wrong with him?"
Dragging his exhausted body inside after waving goodbye to Hirohiko, Kakashi froze slightly at the sight before him. Then, turning to Yukina, who was gathering the Braille documents on the desk and preparing to end the day's work, he asked.
"I don't know. He's been like that ever since he came back."
Yukina clearly knew what Kakashi was asking and answered at once.
"What was he doing before that?"
Kakashi stepped forward to his desk. After glancing sideways at Chiba, he asked again.
"The Anbu took him away just now. They said something had happened. When he came back, he was like this. He even told me not to bother him. He probably ran into some difficult problem. I imagine the Hokage gave him another new assignment."
At that, Yukina's lips curved into a faint smile.
"What difficult problem could he have run into? He's in charge of the expansion project now. What other assignment could Teacher Minato give him? The expansion project has probably completely 'taken over' his time already."
Kakashi frowned in confusion. A plan as massive as the expansion project surely meant Chiba could not be assigned anything else.
"Well, I don't know, then."
Yukina shook her head, indicating that she had no idea.
So... what exactly is this guy so depressed about? Kakashi did not ask any further questions. He merely looked once more at Chiba, whose upper body was slumped over the desk, face buried in its surface, looking as though he had burned out completely—or as though all strength had left him. Kakashi raised his brows helplessly.
No!
No, no!
No, no, no!
Ah! My head hurts, it hurts! At that moment, with his eyes tightly shut, Chiba's heart was filled with powerless irritation.
No matter how