"The weather is so nice today."
Sitting on the chair Chiba had moved over, Kushina gently pressed her lower back and stroked her belly. Looking at the clear blue sky and breathing in the crisp autumn air, she felt the warmth of the sunlight that still carried a trace of summer heat. She narrowed her eyes slightly and sighed.
"Yeah."
Minato Namikaze, seated beside Kushina, smiled faintly as well. All the unease and panic from before had vanished without a trace. Yet from the corner of his eye, he kept looking at his wife, his gaze brimming with tenderness.
It seems like there's nothing for me to do here.
Hearing their words and sensing the affection between their sidelong glances, Chiba, who stood at the cave entrance to the right of the pair sitting against the rock wall, suddenly had that thought.
Watching them, Chiba was reminded of an internet slang term from his previous life.
Dog food.
That was right. There were no particularly intimate gestures. They were merely sitting together and commenting on the weather. There was no cuddling, no loving gazes, let alone hand-holding or kissing. Yet the atmosphere of mutual support, love, and understanding made him feel as though he had been force-fed a mouthful of dog food.
The affection in their sidelong glances was already enough to surpass all those romantic scenes from the anime of his previous life, complete with pink bubbles and special effects.
To be honest, Chiba had never had much luck with women and had barely interacted with girls. He was fully aware that he was a straight man of steel. Even so, the quiet atmosphere of reliance between them, more moving than any embellished spectacle, filled him with a warm sense of envy.
Unconsciously, amid his helplessness, a smile gradually