"What's wrong... Hirohiko, what happened?"
Beneath the hazy emerald glow, Chiba's expression gradually stiffened. Feeling the atmosphere suddenly turn cold, watching the joy steadily fade from the faces and eyes of the people most important to him, replaced by sorrow and pain deeper than the last, and then seeing his best friend lying there without a sound, his heart kept sinking, lower and lower.
Unable to hold back, he raised his voice and asked again.
But this time, his voice lacked confidence and trembled slightly.
"Chiba..."
Seeing the change in her student's expression, Kushina's already fading joy was instantly swallowed by heavy grief. As she called to him softly, tears had already welled up in the eyes of the usually stubborn and strong-willed woman.
If...
If I hadn't been so naive, if I hadn't been so ignorant, if I had been stronger...
Hirohiko... Hirohiko wouldn't have died...
Chiba and Yukina wouldn't be hurting either...
It was all my fault. I was too weak, too unworthy as a teacher! It was... it was all my fault! I... I couldn't even protect myself!
At that moment, remorse and self-blame filled her heart. After uttering those two words, she opened her mouth, but could no longer say anything.
If her tightly clenched hands could move now, blood would likely have already flowed from them.
Wh... what should I do...
H... how am I supposed to tell Chiba...
How do I tell Chiba so... so Chiba won't be sad...
Wh... what do I do? H... how should I say it?
At this moment, as she looked at Chiba, whose expression had clearly changed, beyond the surging grief and pain she could not erase, Yukina's heart was filled with only these chaotic, helpless thoughts.
Seeing Chiba like this made her chest hurt even more.
She