"So, Kushina asked me to come eat, and that's why she sent you to find me?"
Removing the fox mask from his face, Kakashi looked at Chiba before him, then at Hirohiko standing behind him, and finally at Yukina, who had somehow moved behind Chiba and was standing there like a demure young wife. He frowned and asked with utmost solemnity, "Is that it?"
"Mm."
Chiba nodded.
Just now, after Chiba had sat alone in Yukina's room thinking for an hour, Hirohiko, Yukina, and Kakashi—whom he had not seen in quite some time—had come up to Hirohiko's room. Chiba had gone straight over and relayed Kushina's invitation.
And that had led to Kakashi's question.
"Uh..."
Yet upon hearing Chiba's particularly straightforward "Mm," Kakashi's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. He seemed rather troubled.
Smack!
The moment that expression appeared on Kakashi's face, a hand landed on his shoulder.
"This is Teacher Kushina's invitation! Teacher Kushina's!"
Chiba spoke with a grave expression and extreme earnestness, lightly patting Kakashi's shoulder as he spoke.
"Well, if I don't have a mission during the New Year, I'll go. If I do have a mission, there's nothing I can do."
Kakashi's expression stiffened slightly. After considering it, he said this.
Smack!
But before he could finish, another hand landed on his shoulder from behind.
"Kakashi, this is Teacher Kushina's invitation."
Then Hirohiko's weighty voice slowly sounded from behind him.
Hearing that, Kakashi, who had been about to say something else, abruptly fell silent. Chiba and Hirohiko each had one hand on one of his shoulders, patting him from front and back. Kakashi looked at Chiba, then Hirohiko, then Yukina, who wore the same solemn expression. The stiffness on his face became even more apparent.
The atmosphere immediately sank into silence, growing heavier by the moment.
When Hirohiko's